Sooner rather than later, I think ;)

Posts are naked without pictures, so here's another little somethin' girlie sewn for Mirabel. Blanket and cozy pants, featuring Hello Kitty; having a little girl gives me an excuse to continue my Sanrio obsession!

Braxton-hicks have been messing with me since about 16 weeks, but lately they've become more painful and they've changed. Before, they'd just cause my belly to tighten up, now they're causing pain way below my belly, and today I started having some lower back pain/cramping with them too. I only have bad ones about 4 times a day, very spread out; the usual tightening ones happen about 10 times in one day though. Every time I get the ones that are lower down and in my back, I wonder "Is this it?!". I'm only 35.5 weeks, but I have a feeling this baby will be here around 37 weeks. Watch, she'll probably arrive at 41 just because I said that :P. Monday I go back to the doc and get checked out! She'll also do a quick ultrasound to make sure Mirabel's head down. I haven't seen my baby since about 20 weeks, can't wait to see her!

...And Thursday we fly south, to Houston. Jose is worried that Mirabel will come before then; we are both ready to get outta here! We need the vitamin D! :P Right now we are just in "let's do everything to avoid labor" mode, so I'm no longer walking a mile to my doctor appointments/church :). Full term isn't until 37 weeks, but these early contractions have me a bit concerned that it might happen before then.

Thursday... just a week away! That's also the day we (or I, yep me!) will be buying a car. I can't believe it. I don't like the idea of having more debt (undergrad debt is still being paid off), but I am thrilled that I qualified for a CR-V loan with Honda, without needing a co-signer! This is progress for me, I feel like a big girl now! Of course, that isn't the mark of adulthood, but there is something very liberating about being financially independent. All my student loans required co-signers (because I didn't have a credit history/job), but thanks to my husband (who does a fantastic job of paying the bills on time) my credit score is pretty darn good! I don't mind making the money, but I do not like paying the bills... I leave that to him, and he enjoys it, thankfully :)! There will be no Forester this time. Turns out the middle seat in the back (which is supposed to be safest for babies) doesn't work very well with car seats because it has a strange hump. I read on a few forums that this is a pretty significant problem, and I didn't like the sound of it. I called Subaru and they confirmed my fear; their manual even recommends that children be placed on the right or left, by either side door, because of the hump. How strange and disappointing. Hondas are family-friendly cars, though, you can easily and safely fit 3 car seats in the back of a CR-V, so we're going with that one instead :D.

The next few updates will be more exciting, I think :)...