36 Weeks Today ~

(This one is my favorite from the ultrasound this week, you can see how plump his little lips are and we noticed there is a foot in the left of the picture too.)

The countdown continues… and in fetal developments: most of the bones (soft skull aside) in their little body are now completely hardened, providing a solid structure from which they can now make their grand debut into the world. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are structurally ready for a secure launch. In physical fitness news: their muscle tone has also improved over these past few weeks, and you’ll definitely be impressed by their steel-like Ulnar grasp (a newborn reflex that occurs if you lay your finger in their palm). Finally, in the fluids/excretion department: the amniotic fluid-to-baby ratio has fallen over these past weeks, although they’re still swallowing fluid, and some vernix caseosa. They will be more than ready to swallow and digest milk after birth. Just in case you didn’t get it quite yet: you’ve got yourself an adorable and hungry 6.5 lbs (in our case about 7 1/2 lbs) 20 inch (not sure on length) baby—are you ready?

We ordered carpet for his room this week, it's coming on Monday. Then we can put his crib together and move all of the furniture in.

I didn't post the "Doctor Update", so I'll post it here. The appointment went well, we passed the non-stress test again. The minimum time for the test is around 20 minutes, but I think we were done in 15, so we had to sit the for another few minutes before we could leave. I am measuring 2 1/2 cm larger than what I should, but I don't think that is a big deal. As most already know the ultrasound showed that the baby is around 7lbs 2oz. (let's hope our childbirth instructor is right when she says that the ultrasounds are usually 1 to 2 lbs heavier.) We had our last class on Monday. We are now certified to have a baby.

I had a very nice shower given by my sisters, step-mom, aunt and cousin. Thank you. It was wonderful and the baby got a lot of nice things.

Jared's co-workers had a shower for us this week also and gave us a lot of nice things too, they put a lot of work into it.

I think the last thing we had this week, we went out and celebrated my 33rd birthday after the ultrasound.