Emmett is starting to be a lot more active now.� He's getting much better at holding up his head (no more spaghetti neck!), he's awake more frequently throughout the day, his gaze seems more focused and, generally, he's a much squirmier worm.� And oh yeah - he's also quite the little talker!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mA8s4nwzyE&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1]

I've decided to celebrate this new development by resolving to record and post more videos of the little guy.� Who knows - maybe he'll be the next YouTube baby star!� "Charlie bit me," anyone?

Age Timer: 6 weeks, 6 days

In honor of the holiday season, I of course had to make the annual "Elf Yourself" video for myself and James.� The viral video, which enables you to make an elf of yourself to a catchy holiday tune, was originally released by Office Max and has been around for a couple of years now.� This year, it looks like Jib Jab has weaseled its way into the mix, adding a couple of new dance genre options (in addition to the classic dance, you can also choose from disco, the Charleston or country).� I'm sure many of you have at least seen the original, but for those of you who haven't, you're in for quite a treat.� Here's James and I doing the Charleston.� We worked pretty darn hard on the choreography, so be nice.� (Apparently Wordpress is weird about embedding videos from places other than YouTube, so you'll have to check out our performance at the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/PamJamesElf)

[caption id="attachment_497" align="aligncenter" width="433" caption="http://tinyurl.com/PamJamesElf"][/caption]

This video was obviously produced during my pre-pregnancy time (either that or in the future once I lost all the baby weight).� Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah, everybody!

Oven Timer: 37 weeks, 3 days

Here's something fun for you to chew on in honor of the upcoming election.� After I posted my call for help in naming Baby Lump last week, one of my twitter pals, @petertdavis made me promise I wouldn't do something like this ...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1lM5JLN1hI&hl=en&fs=1]

Can you believe that guy?� What a nimrod!� Let me tell you, if James ever pulled a stunt like that, he'd get a lot more than two weeks in the doghouse.� Let's see, which name would you give your child - Sarah McCain-Palin or Ava Grace?

By the way, I think I've come up with a pretty good boy name for Baby Lump - how about Joe Obama-Biden?

In other news, yesterday I hit a pretty big milestone, at least from my point of view.� It was the first time a person gave up his seat on the T for me on account of my preggo belly.� Hooray, baby bump!� It's definitely becoming more substantial.� Have you seen this week's pic compared to last week's?� There's definitely a noticeable difference.

So I'm coming up on week 30 - can you believe it?� It's getting so close!� Baby Lump should now be using all five of his/her senses, his/her toenails are fully formed, and Lump's noggin is pretty much in proportion to the rest of his/her body.� Baby Lump measures between 15 and 16 inches (think a loaf of bread) and weighs between 3 and 4 pounds (think a Macbook Air).

My Little Lump also seems to be a lot more active lately, as if to say "LET ME OUT!"� Apparently, that's because of all the energizing fat he/she has been developing.� In fact, if Lump were born sometime this week, he/she would have a 9 out of 10 chance of survival.� Still, I think we'll keep him/her in there to bake a little while longer ...

Oven Timer: 29 weeks, 2 days

"German Engineering" is not just a great song by Maritime.� It's also the reason James and I are having a baby.� Forget Brooke Shields and her "have a baby for love" mantra, James' and my actual motivation for getting pregnant was Volkswagen's Routan minivan ...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDZSxFLcMVg&hl=en&fs=1]

Okay, okay, all kidding aside, time to update you on Baby Lump's developmental touch points for this week.� At this point, he/she should be about 15 inches long, weigh almost 3 pounds and be starting to form some eyelashes and eyebrows.� One Web site I refer to describes the baby's length as similar to an amusement park cinnamon-sugar-coated churro.� Mmm ...

I had my glucose screening on Monday, which checks for gestational diabetes.� Everything I've read about it prepared me to drink a nasty "glucose cocktail" before my blood was taken, but it honestly wasn't bad at all.� It basically tasted like a very sweet but flat cup of Pepsi.� Anyway, I heard from the doctor today that I passed, although my iron is low (no news here, it always has been), which means I'll be taking an iron supplement from now on.� No biggie.

Well, it seems like we're in the home stretch now folks.� The frequency of my doctor visitations has now been increased to once every two weeks until week 36, at which point I'll check in once a week until delivery.

Does anyone else think time has gone by at a ridiculously fast pace?

Oven Timer: 28 weeks, 2 days