Party! My good friend Barb coordinated a baby shower/party for Marc and me this past weekend. The turnout was tremendous (the picture only shows the folks who stayed past 6pm for the "cocktail hours" and broke out the shotski - the tame portion of the party started much earlier). Our last guest departed at 7:30am the following morning, which is indicative of the good time we had. Thanks to everyone who was present - we missed those of you who couldn't make it. OK, truth be told, it was so packed for a while there, we probably didn't even notice you didn't show. Tell me you were there and I might buy it.

In other news, Marc's name change finally went through. We are so excited! For those who don't know, Marc has been going through a long process to change his last name to his biological father's name - it's a complicated story, but suffice it to say Marc and I are both very pleased to be able to pass along his paternal family name to our child. It feels like the right thing to do to honor Marc, the close relationship he had with his dad, and his strong family ties. I am so happy for him to finally achieve this long sought-after goal.

We are counting down the final weeks until birth. I'm beginning to get larger than I ever thought possible; however I'm happy to announce that I can still touch my toes and still even place my palms flat on the floor. One of the many benefits of what yoga will do for you. I can also still wear my low-rider jeans, although I can't say they're quite as comfy as they used to be. *sigh* Some things have to be temporarily sacrificed, I suppose.

I'm going to stop working around the beginning of May, to have some time to relax and prepare for labor and delivery. I'm looking forward to taking longer walks with Plaide, swimming, and of course continuing my yoga practice. I'm also anticipating lots of nesting behavior: like laundry chores to wash and organize all the great hand-me-downs we've acquired. Think I'll also make some meals to freeze, so we don't starve in our first weeks home with baby.

After the birth, we have lots of family support to look forward to: My Aunt will be here immediately following the birth. She's the closest "mom" figure for me - she's known me (and my own mom) all my life. I'm so excited to share this time with her as a surrogate grandma to our child. She's going to be a pillar of strength and calm support for Marc and me. My cousin (her daughter) has been hired to be our live-in nanny for a few weeks after my Aunt departs. She's done a lot of nanny work and having her here will be a huge help with running errands and providing baby support during our transitional time. They are both incredibly nurturing people. Marc's mom will also be visiting during this time and we're looking forward to having grandma in Denver to bond with her first grandchild. My dad and his wife will be spending some wonderful quality time with us for the month of October for more grandparent bonding. This is only covering our blood relatives. We have so many close friends and "family" members here in Denver who will be present to provide support and care to us, that we're confident this child certainly won't be lacking for attention. We aren't the first in our circle of friends to have children within the last year or so and we're looking forward to all of our kids growing up together and causing trouble, just like their parents. ;)

Do I have anything to report beyond baby-talk? Well, we've had lots of visitors: My cousin (the nanny) visited us in early March for a ski vacation. My dad was here for a weekend in late March while on his way to Alaska for the summer, and Marc's mom was here this past weekend for the baby party.

We're still talking about taking the Airstream out and about this summer. We've been invited to a wedding in Poland, that we're seriously considering. And we won free landscape design for our bland little yard! Hope to have a new look to show off this summer so we can spend loads of time enjoying the beautiful Colorado weather with friends and family. We've already purchased a shiny new grill and are itching to fire it up. BYOMeat.