keeping busy...

What a crazy thing it is to be a first time mother-to-be. No matter what I read and how many conversations I have with friends about what labor might be like, I'm still left feeling like I'm awaiting an incredibly intense and emotional experience with no idea what to expect. I'm trying to just have trust in myself and in my body that I instinctively know what to do and that nature wouldn't give me more than I can handle. My midwives are awesome, and I know that Dan and my mom will be a labor dream team, and that gives me confidence too.

But still, the waiting-for-baby game is killing me. Every day seems to bring a few more Braxton-Hicks, some cramping, and no labor. So apart from near-daily chats on the phone with my mom and spending time with friends--which are the very best distractions--here are ten other things I've been doing to keep my restless self occupied:

1) Organizing a recipe book: I finally took all my recipe printouts, sorted through for keepers/tossers, and then organized the ones I wanted to keep by category and assembled them in a binder. Pretty exciting, eh??

2) Backing up all my pictures: I already had them all backed up on an external hard drive, but I organized the drive and then burned CDs for a secondary back up of about 5 years worth of digital photos.

3) Cleaning out random closets/drawers/shelves: An entire shelf of glass jars in our kitchen has been culled to only those that could be matched to lids; the cabinet under the bathroom sink now only contains products we actually use; the junk closet in the office has been organized. My friend Cate also helped me clear out my closet of clothes from MIDDLE SCHOOL which were (shockingly) no longer in style.

4) Packing a few boxes for peace of mind: I've packed away all books I've already read, winter coats and shoes, work clothes (won't need them for the next three months, and they don't fit anyway!), etc. Realistically, this makes a very small dent in the overall packing burden...

5) Fretting: this is a real time-waster.

6) Baking bread: I've pulled Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads off my shelf. I love his Bread Baker's Apprentice book and this is a sort of whole grain version of that. Every loaf of bread is at least a two-day process, so good for restless people like myself, less good for normal people.

7) Walking: I'm trying to still do two miles a day, weather permitting. My friend Kristina and her new baby Amelia join me about once a week, which is fun...speaking of...

8) Holding other people's babies and pretending they're mine: Adorable little one month old Amelia is especially good for this, although they change so much already in the first month!

9) Pregnancy massage: I had one of these today, courtesy of my wonderful brother, and it was amazing. The table has a cut-out for your belly, so it was the first time I've been able to lie face-down in about 6 months - I felt weightless and unpregnant for a full hour!

10) Reading: I'm re-reading some of my books about labor (especially Ina May, because she really builds you up), and then distracting myself with some novels that have nothing to do with labor .

Any other ideas??