1.  It’s here!  Italy day is here!  Now if I can only finish packing, I’ll be ready to go in approximately, um, 5 hours.

Yikes!

2.  Yesterday, on the 12th floor of an apartment building in Manhattan, an egret flew by at eye level.  An egret.   Heading where?  The lake in Central Park?  What the hell?

3.  The mylar balloons from my shower are still aloft.  Balloons just make me happy.

4.  I’ve worked down to Santa’s face on the xmas stocking that is my current handwork of choice.  Unlike some previous gigantic, computer-generated patterns, the face turned out rather nice and I have high hopes for the rest of the pattern.  Which will, no doubt, get worked on quite a bit during my time in Italy.

5.  Today marks the beginning of my 34th week, and Thor woke me up by kicking the shit out of my ribs.  I’ve been dreaming about him, and about the three of us living in our new Perfect house almost exclusively this week.  Boring dreams, about him asking to paint his room yellow.  About baking bread for dinner. Lovely dreams.  Wonderful dreams about everyday family stuff that is the stuff of fantasies and rainbows to me.

Of course, last night I also dreamed that while in Italy I sampled a local delicacy – Kidney Gelato.  Yes, it was just as disgusting as it sounds.  No rainbows there.  Blech.

1.  Dinner with Mo last night was wonderful.  And losing easy access to her wonderfulness is one of the few things I’ll regret about leaving this city.  Fortunately, we’re planning on being down here all the time so the Boy can stay connected with his kids, so while he’s hanging out with them, I’ll go bother her.  Lucky Mo.

2.  Rain.  Rain that’s upped the humidity, but dropped the temperature significantly.  I’ll take it.

3.  Today is the day for packing errands that did not get run yesterday.  Feeling better for a lot of sleep, though feeling sadder since today is the “drop Nellie off in Manhattan, after which she’ll be carted off to the place of theoretical doggie joy upstate.”  I hate thinking that she’s going to think that we’re abandoning her to the care of these new people, but I’m really glad we decided to splurge on the nice doggie spa.  Alleviates my guilt a little bit, knowing she’ll have grass & trees to play amidst.

4.  We signed the contract & put down a deposit on the house yesterday.  Dang, this is moving fast!

5.  Made a big batch of “nature candy” (1 part peanut butter, 1 part honey, 2 parts dry milk, all mixed together, rolled up in tubes of waxed paper, and meant to be sliced & eaten cold.  Deliciousness from my childhood, and despite the heartburn that I think the peanut buttery goodness provoked, totally wonderful and I’m having more today.

1.  Freedom from work!  Wooohoooo!  Everyone at the temp branch was really nice – one of the ladies brought in a gift for Thor! – saying nice things about me, and promising to say them to the Princess, as well.  My meeting with HR went well, and it’s going to be easier for me to stay on as a “child care furloughed” employee for 48 months than just to quit.  Which is fine by me.  My union is going to put me on short-term disability, so there’s an extra few hundred dollars coming in for the first few months.  All good things, and best of all?  When I go to the doctor today, I don’t need to ask for a doctor’s note.  (Well, actually, I DO need to ask for notes with which to fly.  ie: my due date, an explanation of the needles in my carry-on, etc.)

2.  The dog came up on the bed for a 10-minute snuggle this morning.  I tell you I MISS this dog when she sleeps on the floor at the foot of our bed.  Nice that she came up for some ‘pack time’.

3.  Doc appointment today is the last one til mid-August (at which point my various appointments take over my life.  Another reason I decided to begin my maternity leave in mid-August.)  OB appointments are boring these days, since I’m getting sonograms so often.  He listens to Thor’s heartbeat, weighs me, says, “Here’s what to look for if you think you’re in pre-term labor,”  and  “I want you to call me if anything feels wrong.”  Not that I mind that my doc appointments are boring.  Boring is good.  Boring is really good.

4.  Dinner with Mo tonight!  Woohooo!

5.  Today is errands-day.  Pick up thank-you cards for everyone, pick up a few travel items, look for another sun dress or two.  Begin the epic packing.  Buy an electricity converter or two.  Eat toast.  Download Italian language apps to my iPod.  Make sure I have all the contact info for Italian doctors that I’ve amassed.  Look up Italian words for pregnancy-related words.  You know – fun stuff!

1.  Um, where to begin?  Well, I’m the luckiest woman in the world and I am so well-aware of that fact.

2.  The Perfect House looks like it will, in fact, be our Perfect House.  We put in a low bid, they countered within a few hours, and we’re going to be discussing details today.  Details like getting to cherry pick through their 10,000 book library. Their counter-offer came in right where we hoped it might + the added book bonus?  I think we just bought a house, folks.

3.  Last.  Day.  Of work.  And not even a full day at that, because my day begins with an 11am meeting with HR to discuss my imminent departure.  Three cheers for getting to go in late to work on one’s last day!  Woohoo!

4.  Flying to Italy on Friday.  Holy crap!  That’s in, like, three days!  Wow!

5.  My husband is the coolest, most wonderful man in the world.  I know, most women say that about their husbands.  But mine?  He really is.  Plus he has great taste in houses.  And books. And I get to live with him in our house with our kid and dog and gazillion books and a flock o’ chickens.  He’s the most wonderful and I’m the happiest.  And the luckiest.  And days like today, keeping a gratitude journal like this seems sort of pointless because, really?  Every breath is breathing in gratitude and trying not to hyperventilate.

1.  Chickens are ok at the New Perfect House.  It’s, well, perfect.  As perfect as the previous-Perfect-House with the added bonus of being located in a good school district.  The boy got tears in his eyes when he told me how much he liked it.  I certainly liked it – (what’s not to like about a barn that’s been converted to a 2 story library/office.  For two writers, this house is as close to perfect as I can imagine.)  And the Boy is moving on this – he’s moving fast.

I think we’re moving to NH, folks.  And within the year. Goodbye NYC (at least full-time)  Woohooo!!!

2.  Heartburn has eased so much.  It still occasionally plagues me, but it’s much more rare, and it’s obvious at the beginning of the night if I’m going to have to sleep sitting up or not.  This has made it easier for my poor stressed SI joints to recover, and for me to get a modicum more sleep.  It’s all very good.

3.  Tomorrow is my last day of work.  Do I need to detail how happy this makes me?

4.  Thor’s 32+ week anatomy scan went well – though he is a big boy.  They’re estimating 5.5# already, and his head and abdomen are in the 95 – 97% range.  His arms & legs seem to be catching up a bit, which is good.

Giganto head, though – glad for the brain-capacity, sad for my tender lady-bits.

5.  Chips and salsa and yogurt for lunch.  Yum.

2.

1.  While last night’s sleep wasn’t as refreshing as I’d hoped (much hotter last night than the night before) it still felt good and I feel ok this morning, though I think my hips would prefer I never ever lie prone again.  I seriously begin to understand the appeal of the Barcalounger…

2.  I still heart this amazing house.  I’m tempted to post pictures of it, but am hesitant because then one of you who has a teaching degree will realize how amazing it is and buy it, planning to homeschool your kids.  Seriously, it’s sort of fun to be hoping that we’ll figure a way to make this work.  (Private school?  Move to Manchester in 10 years or so for the school terms, keeping ‘home’ as a summer home?  Homeschool?)  And fortunately, we have a long drive this morning/afternoon in which to discuss all the possibilities.  Since we’ve never done this before it’s really quite fun to be making plans – long-term plans – with the Boy. Just like a married couple.  Just like a new family.

3.  Coffee in the morning, made right in the kitchen of the house where you’re staying.  Coffee.  First thing in the morning.  Wow.  (Now where is my coffeemaker, anyway?  I know I used to have one.  Must.  Find.  Soon.

4.  Saw the most beautiful yellow finch at The Perfect House yesterday.  It was practically oriole-orange/gold, but definitely finchier.  Did I mention there’s a bog/wetland on the Perfect House’s property?  Did I mention how much I love bogs & boggy-birds?

5.  I am feeling so fortunate, so blessed these days, by everything going on that reminds me of where I was one year ago, five years ago.  I adore my husband and he loves me.  I am having a baby who is already the delight of my days.  I am in a position of financial security that lets me plan to do things based on what I WANT rather than on what I MUST do to survive.  I am blessed, and I am reminded of that, and I am so grateful.

1.  Nice being up here where it’s at least 5* cooler than in NYC.  Every little bit counts.  I’ll take it.

2.  Found The.  Perfect.  House.  Unfortunately, it feeds into the worst & second to worst high school & middle school, respectively.  This is a problem.  Perhaps on many different levels.

3.  I ate an incredible hot dog for lunch today – no, really! – and a wonderful grilled chicken/veggie dinner coked by our friends tonight.  That + Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast = a practically perfect food day.

4.  The dog had a blast today.  Besides all the food she scammed out of us, she also got to run & gambol at 6 different houses.  She thinks this traveling stuff is great.

5.  I slept almost 6 hours straight last night & hope to do the same again tonight, due to extreme exhaustion.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

1.  Heading up to NH again tonight after work to look at a whole new slew of houses.  I’m exhausted & dreading another weekend spent away from home (away from my BED!) but it’ll be fun, nevertheless.  And the phrase ‘striking while the metal is hot’ comes to mind, since I never expected the Boy to do anything but drag his heels over the whole ‘let’s move four hours away’ project.  Looking at houses is fun.

2.  The dog braved the a/c last night and crept up into bed with us.  I’ve missed her warm little body curled up next to mine. I certainly sleep better – dog toes in my ribs, and all – when she’s there.

3.  Apple strudel for breakfast.  Not super-sweet, but super-apple-y.  Yum.

4.  Construction out front is almost done – and it looks great.  And was relatively stress-free.  Three cheers for cheap, foreign-born masons who just get jobs done instead of trying to sell you things you don’t need.  $35,000 quote vs. $4000 quote.  Guess which one we went for – and we couldn’t be happier.

5.  My co-workers at the Realm of Pain threw me a baby-shower yesterday and I was touched to the bottom of my bitter little heart.  We typically send a card around to collect money for ‘occasions’ like this, which they did, but they also cooked a big meal, bought one of my favorite Tres Leches cakes from a bakery we all like, and about half the staff also went out and bought special things for Thor – he’s going to be lucky if he gets to wear everything once before he grows out of it.  People came in from other branches they’ve been posted to, people stayed a day later after their transfers went through.  I was in tears practically the whole time, and I don’t recall ever feeling quite so loved and understood by people I work with.  I won’t miss the job, and I certainly won’t miss the ROP atmosphere.  But my co-workers?  I’m gonna miss the hell out of them.

1. Fake cooked Sushi for dinner.  Because it’s cool and high in protein and contains nothing to make my stomach react.  Plus I get to eat it on the couch because it’s one of our favorite eat-in-front-of-the-tv takeout dinners.  And the couch is officially my favorite place in the world.

2.  Feeling much reassured by my hospital tour – more to come on that in a real post.

3.  It’s a little cooler today.  Probably won’t last, but it’s nice for the moment.

4.  The Boy is going to start moving his office out of the room that will become our room so that the baby can have our room.  Which means we’ll be able to buy a crib.  Which means I guess this kid can come just about any time (after, say, September 1) that he feels like arriving!

5.  The manager at the branch I’m currently working at confessed to me that for years now, he’s just been copying my book orders for teens and buying them for his branch as well.  Since this guy used to be a YA librarian, too, I took this as a great compliment and it really made my day – also, even though I’m totally temporary, he’s letting me order additional books for his teen section while I’m there.  Love.  Buying.  Books.

1.  My tour of Beth Israel’s Labor & Delivery (& NICU) is tonight and I’m excited.  Rather more so than the Boy, who is maintaining his blase attitude about all things childbearing.  Tell me honestly, city-blogger-buddies – did you/do you plan to call a cab when you’re in labor or spring for the hospital’s valet/parking service?  On the one hand, not being treated to his swervy, “I’m imitating a crazy cab-driver” driving style on the big day might be nice, but on the other, treating an unlucky cab driver to the uncomfortableness of dealing with a backseat passenger who’s in active labor might be horrible.  What’d you do?  (And what this has to do with my hospital tour & why I’m grateful for it, I really don’t know…)

2.  Dinner last night was great.  I really like these folks, and it’s always wonderful to see them – plus, she’s one of the best cooks I know, and dinner was spectacular – grilled salmon.  Yum!

3.  A meeting at the Central branch today to discuss what’s coming up at the library in the next fiscal year.  Not that I have much stake in such things, but it’s time not spent trying to impose order on a room full of kids &/or crazy Russians wearing jaguar-prints and way too many rhinestones.

4.  For whatever reason, the a/c in our bedroom last night really cooled things down.  Usually it puts forth a valiant effort, but doesn’t really accomplish all that much.  I had to turn it down last night.  I liked that.

5.  5 more days of work before the Italy trip and – hoping, here – before my maternity leave takes effect.  Seriously, I’m so exhausted that I’m having fewer guilty feelings and am pretty sure I’m going to simply stop work mid-August when I get back from the trip.  Even crazy Russians apologize to me when I have to stand up and help them with something.  I look poppable, and I feel like I’m going to fall asleep mid-sentence.  I think it might be about time to just get some rest and let this kid finish cooking, as of month 9.