It is hard to believe that it's already the end of October! Seems like fourth of July was just a couple weeks ago and I was thinking that I was going to be pregnant forever! Now we are down to about five weeks and it doesn't seem possible that I will be a mom by Christmas! I think it really started to sink in when I was dressing the other day and caught a profile shot of myself in the mirror. My only thought was "Holy cow! Look at the belly on me!" I've known that I will continue to get bigger until the end, but I am just starting to get how much bigger "bigger" is going to be. It certainly makes getting in and out of the back seat of a van a challenge! I also find myself making involuntary noise when I get up or sit down - kind of an "oof" sound. But I really can't complain. This pregnancy has been really fun and easy. I love feeling all the movement and seeing little parts sticking out. Hard to believe that this part will be over so soon.

I remember just loving Halloween as a kid - my parents always came up with the best costumes for us. Since we were DIRT poor for so long, they always made our costumes. One year my older sister Sheila was a magician, I was the lady sawed in-half and Allison was the rabbit sans magic hat. I found this cute snap shot of the lion, the witch and the bunny from a different year.

I hadn't planned on celebrating Halloween this year except to hand out candy. But dad brought home a pumpkin and we ended up carving it. And you can't just throw all those good seeds out, so I ended up cooking those up into a tasty snack. However, I wasn't going to need a costume since I wasn't going to be going out. That is, until Allison (my younger sister) invited me to her boyfriend's birthday/costume party. At Peggy Whitmore's half joking suggestion, I sewed up a pumpkin costume!! I have to admit, it was really fun and the best part was getting to use all my "natural" assets. It's the first time in a really long time that people didn't start up conversations asking when the baby is due. You will just have to guess how much of the padding was added...

September and October were very busy months for me!! I have been getting in contact with old high school friends that are still in the area and meeting their families and getting caught up. I started a seminar on Thursday nights called Being ExtraOrdinary and Mom and I graduated from our childbirth classes. I spent a couple weeks in Albuquerque. I had the most wonderful baby shower! We had a ton of fun playing goofy shower games - like pin the baby on the breast. Jeri and Joan really outdid themselves and I came away feeling truly celebrated and loved. I also got to see all my old Albuquerque friends and had lunch and dinner out about every meal. I spent two full weeks at the ProLaw office and remembered what it was like to work around people again. I have to admit that I miss getting to actually SEE people, but also realize that I would never get the same amount of work done.

The last two months have just flown by. And when I sit down to think about all that I have done and all that is happed, the thing that sticks out for me is how wonderful it is to have friends and family such as you. Thanks for being a part of my life!