Welcome to my happy place…

We’re just about into single digits to the due date around here, though I know from past experience that those things are merely suggestions (Freddie was 4 days late, and those 4 days felt as long as the entire pregnancy, I swear).

That hasn’t stopped me from keeping my eye on the calendar like a high school senior with graduation day fast approaching. And boy have I been busy. I cooked a metric ton of food to put in the freezer, which is notable because I usually loathe cooking (I also baked lemon cookies with lemon buttercream frosting for a potluck and made hummus from scratch, because hey, why not?).

In case you want the recipes … the first is Mediterranean Tuna Noodle Casserole (I added a bunch of garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the sauce to keep it from being too bland). The second is Vegetable Enchiladas (I subbed my fave taco seasoning for the plain cumin, and I added about double what the recipe called for). And finally, I made Salisbury Steak with Onion Gravy and a carrot and potato mash … basically homemade tv dinners!.

I’ve got the hospital bag all packed with the following (seriously, moms, this is all you need/will use):

• Going home clothes for me and the baby
• Going home blanket for the baby
• Pacifiers
• Basic toiletries
• Nursing bra
• Robe (seriously, cannot recommend a robe in the hospital enough)
• Crocs (aka shoes that can be destroyed)
• Snacks
• Phone charger
• Pillows (because the hospital never has enough, for real)

I’ve got the carseat installed, I’ve got the baby room set up, I’ve cleaned everything in sight … what I’m saying is YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND SHOW UP ANYTIME, KID.

And so now I’ve got just under two weeks left, two weeks which have the possibility of feeling like an eternity and a half. So what have I been doing? Well, turning to books, of course!

I finally pulled ILLUMINAE by Jay Kristoff and Meagan Spooner off my shelf (where it’s been sitting since the day it released) and burned through it. Holy wow, was that a wild ride. I grabbed GEMINA, the sequel, this weekend and plan to get that read, since those are definitely not good e-book reads and e-book reads are all I’ll be able to do once I’ve got an infant in my arms and a toddler running away from me. I also reread Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, which I’ve been meaning to do for years. Let me tell you, that book holds up. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend you get on that. And I just started a galley of Katie Cotugno’s October release (yes, she has TWO books coming out this year), called TOP TEN. I’m about a third of the way through, and holy crap you guys, it’s amazing. I think it’s going to be my favorite of her books.

On deck to read I’ve got:

• Lucky in Love by Kasie West (galley)
• Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (galley)
• When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (been waiting for this release all month!)
• I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo (another one I’m so excited for!)

All this reading has meant that for the first time in weeks, I can sort of forget that I’m enormous and hot and achy and uncomfortable. We’ll see how many of them I get through, or if I have to add to my list if I burn through these. I’m definitely going to try and keep myself busy so that I don’t go bananas trying to wish myself into labor (which is definitely not the most far-fetched labor-inducing tip I’ve ever heard).

Make sure to follow along on Instagram stories to see what I’m reading … and Instagram is probably where I’ll go first when this kiddo decides to make his debut! So make sure you’re following me, mmmkay?