Due Date

I knew all the statistics. Something like 80% of first time moms go past their due date. Only 5% of babies are actually born on their due date.

I knew that the whole process of a due date is pretty arbitrary. It's called an estimated due date for a reason. LMP + 1yr - 3m + 7d. It's math, see? I don't trust math.

My family tends to have late babies anyways. It's why they come out with so much hair. (Teagan, I'm looking at you, kid) We cook our brownies short and our babies long.

So, I did my best to keep the date of June 15th out of my head. It didn't mean anything! When people asked when the baby was due, I said "Oh, the end of June" or "In 2 weeks." I figured that then people wouldn't keep saying "Haven't you had that baby yet?" (They still did). I thought that sure, I'd have a baby by the end of June, because my doctor would induce me. No big. I can wait.

It didn't help.

I think the problem started when I began having contractions on Saturday, the 11th. They weren't regular or even very painful, but they WERE contractions, and that was awesome. Any contraction was going to be useful, and at my last doctor's appointment, I had been progressing nicely. Could I actually have this baby near this day that I hadn't let myself think of? Jon and I got everything ready, and started waiting. I started thinking that this could happen, and happen SOON.

But then, on Tuesday, everything just stopped, and hasn't started again. It's been surprisingly frustrating! When I thought something was happening, and now it's not? Kinda disappointing. And every day since then has only made it more so!

It's not even that I'm that uncomfortable. I'm sleeping (relatively) well, I'm not that hurty. I've been really lucky. I'm just...anxious to meet this kid!

We HAVE been taking advantage of this, Jon and I. It's our last chance to be just the two of us. We've done puzzles, eating dinners out, and gotten the whole house clean and ready. It's been lovely.

And now here I am, 41 weeks pregnant, and scheduled to be induced tomorrow. I can't wait to meet this little boy!

This is why.

When I tell Jon I love him, he usually says, "Why?"

For his 25th birthday, (Happy birthday, beloved!) here are 25 reasons I love him.

(This is going to be super cheesy. But he loves cheese! (Ha, not this kind...) And it's his birthday!)

1. Every morning, before he goes to work, he kisses me goodbye. Even if I'm asleep.
2. He is so adorably geeky - a few weeks ago he got really excited, because he got to take apart his computer and put in a new graphics card. And he enjoyed it.
3. The thing is, he is GOOD at the geekiness. Our computers always run really well, and when they don't he usually can figure out what to do. We have ALL of our movies on a hard drive hooked up to the TV, and the resulting home theatre system is kind of spectacular. (Even though I made fun of it while he was ripping all the movies. I was wrong.)
4. He is very silly. It keeps our marriage fun, and keeps me laughing. Like the little ridiculous songs he will make up, about anything.
5. Jon is thoughtful and deliberate. He thinks and researches things carefully before forming an opinion. I love it when we have conversations about big things, like politics or education, because I always learn something. We've started watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and it's been prompting a lot of that kind of discussion, and it's AWESOME.
6. He is willing to get excited about the things I'm excited about (or at least give them a chance). It is so much more fun to watch Doctor Who with him than by myself. I love sharing the experience, and having someone to talk to about it. (He also can predict when something will give me nightmares. I should listen to him more about that...)
7. He pays attention to how to make me happy. I feel loved by touch, and he doesn't really get that, but he still makes a major effort to hold my hand or rub my back because he knows it makes me happy.
8. He's...kind of five years old, sometimes. He loves the nasty Kraft Sliced Individually Wrapped American Cheese-like Product, and string cheese, and little fiddly toys like magnets or rubik's snakes.
9. He talks to me about his life beyond me. I understand the basics of his work, and more importantly, I know how he feels about his coworkers. He involves me, instead of just coming home and saying "Oh, work was fine."
10. Jon always treats his parents right. He respects them and their advice, and he is ALWAYS willing to help out, even when it's not necessarily convenient for him. My parents have been adopted into this, as well, and it makes me love him more when I see how well he treats them.
11. He's awesome with our brothers and sisters, too. With 12 siblings ranging from 2 years older to 21 years younger than he is, there are a LOT of people to please. But he isn't just a brother to them, he tries really hard to be a friend, too. I'm trying to learn from his example.
12. I love his voice. It's smooth and lovely, the kind of voice you'd expect on the radio or something. I especially love it when he sings. (We met when he sat behind me in choir. He thinks I paid attention to him because he hit me with his choir music, but I had already noticed his fabulous voice.)
13. This is the part where I put something scandalous, that isn't appropriate for a family blog. Eh heh heh. Oh, I know! I love his eyes. I really hope our little boy gets his wonderful blue eyes, that change color with his mood or the light. Also, his dimple on the right side. I die from the dimple.
14. He gives ROCKING awesome gifts. Thoughtful, wonderful things that you didn't know you needed. A jewelry armoire so I could hang up my necklaces, a spectacular camera so I can take beautiful pictures, he even picks out shoes for me, without any assistance! His gifts to everyone else are just as cool. It probably helps that he starts planning for Christmas in September, because he gets so excited.
15. He is such a hard worker. He wants our family to be well-cared for, and he makes sure of it!
16. When I am scared or worried or sick, he knows how to set aside his natural worrywart tendencies and be the optimist for a little while, and tell me everything will be okay. I can't tell you how much that has meant to me in the last nine months. If he can believe it, so can I.
17. He trusts me with technology, even though he probably knows better. I have a smartphone! Who thought this was a good idea?!? I really love it, though, and try to overcome my techno-slayer genes.
18. He fills up my water bottle every night and puts it in the fridge before he goes to bed, so that I'll be sure to drink enough water the next day.
19. When we got married, Jon got the advice to tell me he loved me as often as he was hungry. I don't know if he tells me QUITE that often, but he does tell me ALL the time. Multiple times a day, just randomly. It's lovely, and makes me smile every time.
20. He cooks. He cooks well. He pretty much WAS the cook in our house for the first year, and he still often will make breakfast if he's around. The other day he had work off and cooked all three meals while I sat in my Mom Chair and read stuff on the internet. Also, his chocolate chip cookies are kind of amazing, even if the panel of (very biased, cause they were my family) judges picked my recipe over his. I love them, and hope he'll make them while he's on paternity leave. (Hint, hint)
21. He takes care of his belongings. He sees ownership as a stewardship, and respects the things that he has spent money on or been given. Our car, the computers, his books, everything is cared for and in good repair. It's another thing I'm learning from him, because I tend to "love" my things into oblivion.
22. He's my good luck charm. He always tells me "Don't fall" as we are going down the concrete steps to our basement apartment. I HAVE fallen a few times, cause I'm graceful like that, but never when he warns me first.
23. He is good with money. We budget and save and keep track of it and it's all because he knows how to take care of it. If our finances were left solely up to me, we might be in trouble.
24. He honors his priesthood. Watching him give a blessing is one of my favorite things in the entire world.
25. He thinks I'm beautiful. Even first thing in the morning, even when I'm sick, even nine billion months pregnant with all the stretch marks and the swollen-ness. He looks at me, and I am beautiful.

Sorry, love. I know this probably really embarrassed you, but I thought you should know WHY I love you. You will always be my most favoritest.
I love you, Duck.

Always,
Goose