We hope you all had a wonderful Father’s Day honoring the dads in your life! We had a great time Sunday catching up with Grandpa Bob, Michael, and Ashley — and we enjoyed some long-distance celebrating with Papa Hissem, Grandpa Steve, and Grandpa Engel.

Our “countdown to due date” ticker sure isn’t slowing down — and neither are we! This past week was spent at a prenatal class (Breastfeeding 101), at church events, and at a sweet baby shower for friends adopting from Korea. Now that we’re one day away from 35 weeks — I’m once again sliding this post in at the last minute.

Just for fun, I found a cool diagram showing trends in birthdays:

Baby Eberle’s due date ranks pretty high on the “commonness” spectrum (although not nearly as popular as September babies). We think he or she will LOVE having a summertime birthday. Just imagine the party possibilities: the pool, the lake, the park, the zoo… But boy, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?!

Here’s how we did at Week 34:

Baby’s size: Whew! We’re looking at about 5.5 pounds and a little over 18 inches. That’s a lot of baby — and 5(ish) weeks still to go!

What’s keeping Baby busy: This sweet one has been busy getting into position! I had my 34-week appointment on Wednesday, and the OB told us that the precious head is already pretty low in my pelvis (a great sign!) — and I’m 50–60% effaced. We have another check up next week (36), and then we’ll be heading in every week til Baby Eberle arrives!

What’s keeping Mom and Dad busy: We have a few more nursery projects to complete before little tot arrives. Fun stuff, really…converting the closet to offer a little more function…adding a mirror and cool art to the walls…washing and hanging a few pairs of precious baby clothes…etc. We can’t wait to post pictures when it’s all complete. We’re simply smitten with how the room turned out…it’s so happy and peaceful, the perfect place for a baby to sleep, play, and grow!

Cravings: Fruit of all sorts…watermelon, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, banana, oranges, strawberries, watermelon, strawberries, watermelon, strawberries. Oh, and avocado too!

Struggles: Meet my new desk chair…

No joke! I’ve had trouble staying comfortable in a normal chair for longer than an hour or two (which if you can see my must-finish-pre-baby assignment list, you’d realize the severity of this problem). Thankfully our birthing classes raved about the benefits of yoga balls…so I happily dug out this blue beauty from my Birmingham days (back then we used these at our desks to help strengthen our core…), and TA-DA! Magic. No more soreness = A lot more productivity!

Joys: We’re feeling ready. Yes, we still have three dozen items on our to-do lists (which may or may not get done), but when it comes to becoming a mommy and daddy, we simply can’t wait! Our baby classes have done an exceptional job of relieving delivery-day worries (as have the “you can do this!” messages from so many precious friends and family) — so now all we really must do is practice patience…rest up…and wait for our lives to change 🙂