Counting Down

Yesterday, Peter and I made a stop at the neighborhood Hallmark store. With the slow, methodical scan of a stubborn bar code by one of the card shop's most aged employees and the swipe of my card, I felt much better equipped for the holiday season. Mission Advent calendar was successful. And while the two day late selection was rather pitiful, I did return home with the bonus of getting to open two doors worth of prayerful words in a row.

In my lifetime, I've opened about 700 windows on little paper Advent calendars.  And at the age of 30, I still love the process: the slow reveal of sacred scripture, the private ritual, and the sweet anticipation of my favorite day of the year. 

This year though, I feel like I've been unlocking window after window of a seemingly never-ending Advent calendar for the past six months. TheBump.com as well as other click-here-for-all-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-pregnancy sites, invite women to count down, week by week with them, to their due date. From week one to week 40, the so-called experts at The Bump give you the opportunity to open a new page that corresponds with your baby's maturation. But instead of a prayer, piece of chocolate, or cartoon of something I might find under the Christmas tree, each page contains a fruit or vegetable, representing the approximate weight and size of baby Lo. Along with this visual, are facts and figures related to her development and the side effects for me. 

Last Wednesday, I opened window number 26. What started as a poppy seed, and progressed to a kiwi, pear, then cantaloupe, is now the size of a head of lettuce - about 14 inches; 2 pounds. She is getting cuter, growing eyelashes, batting those eyelashes, starting to take breaths, and kicking (in my case, a lot.) Good news for baby meant more unpleasant perks for me: headaches, trouble sleeping, and minor to major swelling. Awesome. 

Next week, I'll be turning the corner and opening the last window of my second trimester. While I've been pretty patient thus far, I'm thinking this next phase of the count down will be a lot like those last ten days of Advent. The days when excitement is building, when you just want to rip open every last window left in the calendar, when the Santa-induced insomnia escalates, and when you try to make each day as fun and busy as possible so Christmas comes a little faster.

So through this Advent portion of my nine-month countdown, from week 27 to week 31, my plan is to curb the restlessness with a day-by-day countdown of project and party ideas, recipe and restaurant tastings, and the moments and memories that make the month of December so amazing. 

As a preview, tomorrow brings a Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese tasting, aunts, cousins, and a full dining room table.

Lo.