Dear Graysie,

I’m so bored! I spend my days waiting…. I wait for my parents to come home from work, I wait for my friends to get out of school, I wait for my doctor’s appointments, I wait for contractions, I wait for your arrival, and mostly I wait for my life back. I feel like a prisoner in my own body and my punishment is waiting.

I’ve never really been one to “sleep in” so I’m usually up by 7:30 a.m. This makes my day very long. I get excited when I wake up and it’s 8:00, or better yet 8:30, because at least it’s an extra hour I don’t have to be waiting. After I get up, I make my way downstairs to eat breakfast. I try to take my time eating my bowl of cereal or piece of toast; anything to make the time go by. I then turn on TLC and catch at least one Baby Story, it’s my research for your birth. By the time my “research and preparation time” is over it’s around 9:00 a.m. I make my way back upstairs and take a shower, do my makeup, hair, and get dressed. I can usually stretch out “getting ready” to 2 hours. By 11:00 I’m ready to go to the gym. Now I’m sure getting ready for 2 hours and then going to the gym sounds ridiculous, but I have about 6 weeks of time to kill. At the gym, I ride on the elliptical for 30-45 minutes; I’ve asked my doctor and she’s reassured me (and my mother) that this is perfectly safe for you. I end my “gym time” with a cool down of walking on the tread mill for about 15 minutes. By now its 12:30 and I only have 2.5 hours to go until my friends are out of school. I drive back home and eat lunch. After lunch I watch another Baby Story; you can’t be too prepared for birthing a baby. It’s 2:00 by now and I usually try to lie down for 30 minutes. I attempt to nap, but most of the time I just lie there waiting for “nap time” to be over with. I then read for awhile (I LOVE to read; novels, magazines, almanacs, encyclopedias, even the back of a shampoo bottle). I spend my last 15 minutes of “waiting” touching up my makeup and hair. By 3:00 I’m out the door and on my way to Lauren’s house. If she has something to do, then I wait until my mom get’s home from work around 4.

My evenings are not quite as structured. They are easy to fill and are normally spent hanging out with friends, watching tv, eating dinner with my parents, or playing Yatzi with my family. By 10:00 p.m I’m in bed and hopefully sleeping. Night time is great! For 8-10 hours I don’t have to consciously wait on anything. I’ve never really looked forward to bed time, but currently it’s my only escape from my torturously boring reality.

Love, Amanda