Baby Shivan and her friend Stetsi's progress

March 12, 2009 was an amazing day. I couldn't stop smiling. My dearest friend Manju gave birth to a baby girl, Shivan Arya Haridas. Here is the first mom-daughter shot.
Manju is a mom! I vividly remember the two of us sliding down her stairs with toilet paper stuffed in our pants back in elementary school or enjoying a lazy summer together talking about boys, eating lots of ice cream, and talking about what we want to be when we grow up like it's so far away. Now, we'll be talking about our wishes for our girls when they get older and probably wishing they will stop growing up so fast. Congrats Manju and Abi! We love you guys.

I'm going to miss sharing the pregnancy ride with Manju but I'm very appreciative of all the gems of wisdom she's shared about her labor already; epidural is our friend! I've reached the single digit countdown; Being at this point of 9 weeks to go feels like she's coming tomorrow and like we still have all the time in the world before she shows up.

If it wasn't for Shivan's arrival, I would say this past week was one of my worst. I got sick with a cold for the first time during my pregnancy, felt short of breath a few times, extreme fatigue, had quite a few episodes of painful cramps, and much more generally achy than usual. Sitting too long hurts my butt, laying on my side gives me side cramps so I need to roll back and forth like I'm a dog scratching his back, and standing too long makes me a little light headed. Being active has actually helped the most in feeling pretty good, just need to shake the shortness of breath and I should be smiling much more next week.

My mom treated Stetsi to her first nursery rhyme over Skype the other day, the same nursery rhyme she sung to me. Thanks Mom for singing "Hoppe Hoppe Reiter" to Stetsi. I'd like to believe Stetsi really appreciated something a bit more appropriate compared toThe Bangles and the Stetson Cologne jingle her uncool parents keep subjecting her to.

I uploaded my Week 31 pregnancy shot to our Picasa Pregnancy Album. This is the first 4 week interval where I really noticed a difference (definitely feeling it!). Wow, I'm getting big. Keep in mind, mornings are the slimmest which makes sense because it's when I feel the best. I'll take a morning/evening shot one of these days so you know what I mean.