I have a car! After 6 hours of test-driving, spending good money to have a mechanic look at it and then having to come home without it last Saturday because there was no pink slip or recently passed smog test, the car came through. And the owner was a very nice new mom, so we bonded over babies and relatively easy pregnancies and all that too (it didn't hurt that when she came to pick me up this afternoon her first comment was, "Wow, you don't look 6 months pregnant at all!"). So now I'm the proud owner of a wine 1999 Toyota Corolla, with four doors and airbags and a backseat what fits a Graco SnugRide with EPS foam.

The things I care about these days.

Life has been insane. Seriously. Bekah, who is one of my closest friends and was a damn good toy buyer, left work two weeks ago (she's going back to school to get her Marriage and Family Therapist license, and she's going to be awesome at it). The new girl is really great, but even the best new person is still new, and Bekah hadn't had time to fully train her before she left, so I've been training for the past two weeks. And doing my new duties.

The upshot is that I feel as if I'm working three full time jobs in the time I'm at work, and since I actually *care* about the company, I'm bringing a lot of the stress home. Home, where I'm trying to buy a car (check! Yay!), hire a doula, sign up for birthing classes, clean out my closets, revise a novel, crit Tim's novel, eat well, get regular exercise and now do pre-term labor checks for two hours everyday so if I do go into labor early we can mature Pixel's lungs in time so he doesn't asphixiate. And I know I spelled that wrong.

And I'm sure I'm forgetting something on that list. Did I mention baby brain* is kicking in sometimes?

Ok, enough whining! Some baby positives!

1. The glucose test wasn't bad at all. The syrup tasted like that orange drink from McDonalds, which gave me pleasant childhood flashbacks, and they let me out to walk around for the hour between drinking that and having my blood drawn, so that was nice. And the guy who took my blood totally flirted with me to distract me from the needle. They said they'd call if it came back with a problem, and I'd get a letter if it didn't, and it's been two weeks without either. I'm choosing to believe that it's all good, because...

2. As of my last prenatal appt., I've only gained 8 pounds this pregnancy. My doctor high-fived me, because she's not worried (it's not like there wasn't fat for the baby to live off of even if I was going hungry, which I'm not). Of course, the fact that before we discussed my weight I was talking about how much fudge-covered cherry ice cream I've been eating lately probably convinced her I wasn't dieting or anything. I think I've put on a bit more since then (it was three weeks ago), so the lovely stretch of "I can eat anything and not gain an ounce!" is likely over. But I'm pretty sure that Pixel is doing the extra cardio because...

3. Pixel is kicking all the damn time. He's kicked me so hard I've gasped in pain twice. He wiggles, squirms, dances and turns over a lot. It's not nearly as disconcerting as I thought it would be, but instead very... companionable. I talk to him when no one else is around (though if Tim's in the other room he'll sometimes go "What?" thinking I'm talking to him. I usually make up something so he doesn't know, which is just silly) -- in the mornings, when he wakes up after I've had breakfast, I always say, "Good morning, baby boy" (or honey, or Pixel, or sweetie, or baby). I'm trying to get him into music I like, because they say what they hear now will be what lulls them to sleep after they're born. Of course, with the heavy call volume at work lately, I'm terrified my boy will only sleep if I'm discussing sex toys. Sigh.

Anyway, I think I've gone on long enough here. I'm still excited about my new car, even though I usually don't like driving. Driving it home from San Francisco through rush hour today, I had the iPod plugged in and was singing songs from Chicago at the top of my lungs, while the kidlet kicked along, and it was just exhiliarating. Life, she ain't so bad after all.

* I know I'll not only get my brain back, but also gain a greater ability to multi-task, a few months after the baby is born, but right now it's very disconcerting to not be able to hold as much in my head/ depend on my brain. Scary.