Pregnancy Update, the picture is at the end. :)

Bullet points help me organize my thoughts.  It's ok if these are all boring to you.  They will be interesting to me someday, and sometimes people ask me about this stuff:

• Scheduling.  This season of pregnancy has been full of filling the calendar!  With everything from birth classes at the hospital, to registering, to meeting with a pediatrician, to an increasing volume of Dr's appointments, to showers, to coffee dates with friends I want to see pre-baby.  Whew!  We have full weeks, and my non-work days are never lacking in events and errands.  Now we've started to schedule lists of goals for baby room and house projects.  Even though it sounds crazy, being really scheduled is the most helpful thing for us to get it all together.  But I feel like my calendar is the other half of my brain sometimes.
• Sleeping.  Thankfully, I am still sleeping, though it is getting more difficult.  I wake up hurting a few times each night.  At those points it's time to heave over to sleep on my other side and give my other hip/leg a chance to get sore. :)  I am not supposed to stop halfway and sleep on my back, but sometimes I fail and accidentally fall asleep on my back.  (Back-sleeping is bad for circulation of blood to baby and my body.) This is getting increasingly tricky.  If anyone has tips for me, let me know. Bert has graciously adapted to sleeping with THREE extra pillows in the bed in my attempts to cocoon my body in approved sleeping positions.  I also have a clock-like wake up at 3-4 am, and I have to work to fall back asleep after that.  Most of the time it works. *I realize I have nothing to complain about in this arena, because others have had it much, much worse.  I don't mean this to be complaining, just explaining.  It may be interesting for me to look back on someday and remember.  Or not.
• Working.  Yes, I am still working.  Our plans are for me to continue a while longer.  It's going well and I am still enjoying it.  Though at the end of a shift I am always ready for two things: sitting and fooood.  I usually spend the last 30 minutes of my shift dreaming about what I will eat after it's over.  Yum.  I love Panera food.  My co-workers are pretty great and we often have fun shifts together.  I will definitely miss them when I am home full-time with baby ike.
• Eating.  Did someone say food?  Hunger frequency is high, as usual.
• Baby Room.  Nothing much has changed on this front.  Other than the hefty list of tasks that has begun.  Oh yeah, and we got the crib!!!  My parents graciously blessed us by giving us Baby's crib and mattress!  And coming over to set it up!  We just hit a small snag in a damaged crib piece which requires another phone call to target to try and get another replacement piece that fits.  But when it's done - it will be wonderful, and I will show pictures.  The only other baby room progress is that I've finally decided how to arrange the furniture.  Which I brainstormed while I couldn't sleep the other night at 3am. :)
• Registering. I am officially registered!  Thanks to help from my wonderfully helpful sister-in-law, Jill.  Bert and I started the registries, wrote a list of questions, and then Jill helped me answer all of them while scouring the aisles at Target and Babies'R'Us.  (Both can be found with my name in the version of Beki Eikum.)  It was SO fun to plan for all the little items that Baby Eikum will be using in our new and exciting daily life that gets closer each day.  
• Gender.  People often ask if I have a feeling about if the baby is a boy or girl.  I don't think so.  I'm not sure how that works.  Sometimes I imagine the baby being a boy or girl, especially when we are talking about names or baby clothing.  But those are just imaginings, not actual hunches.  I'm trusting what my mother-in-law said at the very beginning: that as soon as you meet your baby you don't care at all whether it is a boy or a girl -- you just love it immensely.
• Another thought on gender.  I thought maybe it would get more difficult to not know the gender as the pregnancy progressed, but it's actually been the opposite.  I am so happy to not know.  I am excited for shower gifts to be non-clothing, and I love not fielding the pink world just yet - if that is a reality for us.  And my anticipation for the moment of meeting our baby keeps getting more wonderful.  Faithfully, I have seen a 70%/30% split in reactions from people.  Most people think we're crazy for not finding out, but I promise you that there is a 30% group that gets excited with me and is totally understanding.
• Baby Movements. This baby is active and I love it!  Sometimes the kicks hurt and/or tickle, but overall I love that the baby is more and more making it's presence known to me frequently during the day.  I am often reminding the baby however, that my ribs are not a xylophone.  Also, if you've ever done TaeBo, you know that punching move where your fists circle around each other?  There are times I am convinced that the baby is doing that in the womb.  Just saying.  I am also entering the phase of being able to feel specific body parts as the baby shifts to new positions.  It's so wild.
• Bonding.  I am working on a song repertoire now so the baby will be familiar with certain soothing songs later.  I regularly sing "Thy Mercy My God" because the verses are so rich, and I've been told that if I practice being relaxed now, it will be easier to relax during labor.  That's my primary relaxing and baby bonding song.  Even now, there are times when I need to occupy my mind on something instead of thinking about whatever pain may be going on.
• Visual Effects.  FINALLY.  Here is a picture of me at 30.5 weeks.  (By now, I am 31 weeks.)  That means 9 weeks to go folks!  Approximately 2 months.  What?!

A verse that has been really helpful in my pregnancy has been Psalm 28:7:

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

Memorizing that verse has already been helpful in putting fears to rest, casting cares on my strong Savior, and knowing that my strength is in God, not myself.  Thank you Lord for your perfect word!

(If you've read this all the way through, you deserve an award!)