And now we begin the first full week of leave.

We're off to a banner start, as the air conditioning may or may not be on the blink again. It's hard to say, because it was relatively cool last night and this morning, so the house is reasonably comfortable. On the other hand, the AC unit hasn't stopped blowing, that I've noticed, all morning, which seems a little off.

Also, just in case that weren't enough, the cat - who used to pee on things on the floor if we didn't get up to feed him fast enough - actually was fed this morning, then came upstairs and peed on some laundry anyway. And now he's wandering around the house looking for Matt and meowing pitifully.

Of course, this whole leave thing has been a bit rocky since Friday, when I went to take a nap and asked Matt to call my cell phone to wake me up before my doctor's appointment - then forgot to take the phone upstairs with me. Luckily, I'd remembered to set my alarm as well, but Matt didn't know that. He lost an extra half-hour somewhere because instead of just meeting me at the doctor's, he had to come home to make sure I was awake. Oops.

(I might as well have skipped the appointment, though. I haven't dialated any further, and the doctor said that although they were ready for me to deliver Any Time Now, he suspected I'd be back in the office at the end of this week for another routine checkup. Which isn't what I'd really wanted to hear, even though my own personal guess for delivery isn't until the 10th.)

The rest of the weekend was pretty good, though. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening over at my parents', chatting with them and my brother and eating steak for dinner. Sunday looked like it was going to be slow and uneventful, but then Kris called to see if we wanted to meet for lunch.

We wound up meeting the Brandts and Jeremy and Elizabeth for lunch at the Cheese Shop. Kris and Emma and I parked ourselves at a table outside and sent everyone else in to get lunch. We'd been waiting maybe ten minutes when it started to rain. Just a sprinkle, so we sat back and smugly watched the tourists run for shelter.

As expected (this is Williamsburg) the rain stopped again after about three minutes. Another few minutes later, it started up again. And then stopped. And then started again. And then... started coming down harder. Well... hell. At least I felt more comfortable. A few minutes later, Elizabeth came out to suggest that we eat in the cafe in the Barnes and Noble, across the street. We agreed that was probably for the best, and we dashed (Well, okay, Elizabeth dashed. Kris maneuvered Emma and the stroller, while I waddled along as best I could) over to the bookstore.

The boys found us about five minutes later, and we settled in to eat our lunches. We'd just gotten our sandwiches unwrapped, pretty much, when the lights flickered and then went out. But the cafe is situated in a corner of the bookstore with lots of windows, so we shrugged and went on eating.

We were about halfway through lunch - which is to say, Matt and I were nearly done eating, while Braz and Kris had each had perhaps one bite of their sandwiches between trying to convince Emma to eat her grilled cheese - the manager at the B&N decided the lights weren't going to come back on spontaneously, and started sending people around to get all the non-employees out of the store.

So we adjourned back to the Brandts'. Kris mentioned the possibility of swimming in the pool, once the rain had passed, so Matt and I detoured home. I exchanged still-damp clothes for dry ones, then pondered swimsuit possibilities. I didn't buy a maternity swimsuit. Well... I supposed I could wear a sports bra and a t-shirt, and maybe a pair of non-maternity shorts, if I didn't try to pull them up over my belly.

As it turns out, I have a pair of knit non-maternity shorts that fit just fine, even pulled up over the belly. (Okay, "just fine" probably isn't the best term to use. They looked kind of strained. But there was still a little room in the elastic, and they didn't give me a wedgie or reveal my underwear.) So we packed up our stuff and toodled over to the Brandts'.

It kept raining, though. We sat around and attempted to make semi-adult conversation over Emma's toys and movies. After a while, it was suggested that if we weren't going to be able to go swimming, we could at least go out for ice cream. Jeremy decided that since he had to be up at 4:30 in the morning, he couldn't really stay long enough for dinner and ice cream, so (alas) he and Elizabeth went home.

Matt suggested that instead of going out to eat, we stay in and grill hamburgers. The motion carried, and Matt and Braz went off to the grocery store while Kris and I relaxed and chatted while Emma drifted off into a nap. Dinner was quite wonderful - grilled cheeseburgers and hotdogs with fruit salad on the side - and Emma slept right through it. She woke up shortly after we'd finished, though, so after attempting fruitlessly to get her to eat a cheeseburger, we all trooped out for ice cream.

Matt and I came home after that, and we lounged around the house for another few hours, reading and talking on IRC and surfing websites. Matt's dad called, ostensibly to make sure his package had arrived, but really (we suspect) to make sure we hadn't had the baby and forgotten to call him.

Aside from being mildly irritable about the (possibly) broken air conditioning, it was a nice, relaxing evening.

So I'll be spending today trying to relax - reading and watching movies and napping - while somewhat nervously keeping an eye on the thermometer and trying to guess whether the AC is actually broken or not.

What the hell. It beats being at work.

--Liz