Hooray!!

What a wonderful weekend! I've been out of the office since Thursday, and we're experiencing technical difficulties with our computer at home, otherwise I would have posted sooner! There's so much to share; please bear with me through a long post!

Last Thursday was my birthday. Other than having a bit of a hectic day at work, I had a great day. It was filled with well-wishes from family and friends, and even Abigail decided that she wouldn't give me heartburn. :-) Thank you to everyone for making my day so special!

I had the day off on Friday, as did Carey. It started out with a trip to Dr. Siegel's office for our 37 week check-up. (Technically, we didn't hit 37 weeks until today, but Dr. Siegel is on vacation the last two weeks of August and wanted to see us himself one more time before he left.) I gained another 2 pounds, and Dr. Siegel is very happy with Abby's position, the size of my uterus, and Abigail's heartbeat. But, perhaps the best news is that my test for Group B Strep came back NEGATIVE!! Hooray! In case you missed this earlier post, if my test had come back positive, I would have been administered antibiotics during delivery to prevent the transmission of the Strep to Abigail. I was so relieved to find out that antibiotics won't be necessary. :-)

Saturday afternoon, we had a tour of the maternity ward at Huntington Hospital. We saw the type of room where Abby will be born, as well as the nursery and recovery rooms. The staff was all very friendly, and it was nice to see the areas where the 'action' happens! Plus, while we were there, two little baby girls were discharged with their very proud parents. So cute!

Saturday night, Carey took me out to dinner for my birthday. He asked where I wanted to go, and I told him that I'd been having a craving for Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster. So, being the wonderful husband that he is, he found the nearest location and took me there! Mmmmmm!!! One of the many baby-related emails that I receive daily suggested that parents-to-be enjoy one last night out before the baby is born, with no baby talk. Well, Carey and I decided that dinner on Saturday would be a baby-free, to-do-list-free event. It was so nice to relax and just chat about whatever, not what needed to be done around the house or what our next step is in Abby preparation. (Of course, these things are never far from our minds, but making a conscious decision to avoid talking about "to do's" made for a pleasant meal.) Not that I needed a reminder, but dinner on Saturday did remind me how lucky I am to have Carey as my husband, how much I love him, and how much fun we have when we're together. :-)

Then, last night, Bart, Melissa, and the girls brought over cake to celebrate my birthday. What kind of cake, you ask? Why, Fudgie the Whale from Carvel!! My favorite!! I love me some Fudgie the Whale! :-) We hadn't really had the chance to see Bart and Melissa since they returned from Paris, so it was great to spend some time with them and our nieces. A perfect end to a fabulous weekend!

Finally, when we weren't doing all of the above, we were painting our downstairs bathroom. You may remember from my first slide show that our downstairs bathroom, which is on the smaller side, was painted dark blue on the walls and ceiling. Don't get me wrong: I love dark blue. (In fact, that was the color of our bedroom in our apartment in Hoboken.) But, the color was just too dark for such a small room, and painting the ceiling the same dark color made the room feel like a cave. Carey let me pick the new color (Timeless Lilac), as well as all the bathroom accessories. We had to clean the walls before starting, which involved bleach, so Carey was a champ and took care of that himself on Friday. On Saturday, we also had to use Killz, which is super primer, to cover up the dark blue and prevent mold and mildew build-up. Another smelly task, so another Carey-handled task. On Sunday, we painted the walls and ceiling. Finally, a not-too-smelly task that I could handle, so I did most of that work, and Carey helped with the hard-to-reach spots. (Baby bellies do not make for easy bending over...) I still have a wall border to put up, as well as all our bathroom accessories, so pictures will be forthcoming. But, I have to say, I LOVE IT! I'm so glad that we painted the bat cave bathroom!

Thanks for hanging in through such a long post. I hope that everyone had a great weekend and will have a great week ahead! (Abigail has been kicking throughout this entire post, so I think she wants me to tell everyone that she says hello, too!)