I'm not really in the mood to type forever, so I think I'll do a bullet post:

• We had our last meeting at the birth center on Monday. All the paperwork is filled out, so when I go into labor, I won't have to worry about that while I'm in pain. Marissa went to the house of the family that will watch her when I'm in labor - and had a great time! So I'm not as worried about that now (although their kids were sick, and get sick a lot, so hopefully that doesn't become an issue when it's time!).
• It's been kinda a long week for me. It seems like Dan has had a lot of stuff going on this week (some of it work stuff), so it makes the days stretch out longer. But at least Marissa is obsessed with books - reading on the couch is fine with me!
• Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment, and she checked me - NOTHIN'! She did say the baby is down pretty low, but other than that, no signs of "open for business"!
• Tuesday-Wednesday we got a HUGE snow/ice storm. Tuesday morning when I woke up, my ears seemed weirdly clogged. I mentioned it at my appointment, and she looked in them and said one was full of fluid and the other was full of wax. So I went to Walmart to get Sudafed for the fluid and drops for the wax. I came home and took both, then took a nap while Marissa napped. Gradually, throughout the afternoon, my right ear (the one supposedly full of wax) got worse and worse...til it felt like someone stabbed it with a screw driver and was twisting it around and around. I was in tears, it was so painful! I took some Extra Strength Tylenol, and it didn't even touch the pain! By 8pm, I had Dan look up the nearest Urgent Care (I had already tried to get a regular Dr. appointment - but since I would be a new patient, they couldn't get me in til Friday) and we were about to head out into the ice storm to see what they could do for me. I did call the midwife on call, to make sure there would even be any medication I could take (being pregnant and all), and she assured me they would be able to find something. But since the roads were so bad, I decided I could try to wait til the morning to go in. But I told Dan we'd be going for sure in the morning. I had a really hard time falling asleep, since it hurt excruciatingly to lay on either side (and I really can't sleep on my back), but once I did, I slept straight through the night. Dan woke me up as he was leaving for work, and I was shocked to find that I had absolutely NO pain anymore! Weirdest thing to ever happen to me, and I'm SO glad it's gone. Now I completely understand why babies scream bloody murder when they have ear infections!
• Today my friend Susan and her daughter Ingrid came over for the morning. I loved watching Marissa and Ingrid play together (they are only a month apart), and it was so nice to chat with another adult. I love being a SAHM, don't get me wrong! But I am really looking forward to better weather, and not being pregnant anymore, so we can do things like playdates, library story time, etc. more often. I don't necessarily like being stuck inside the house every day all day!

Well, I guess that's all. I completely missed taking a 37 week picture on Tuesday, since I was busy writhing in pain. But here's a pic from today, at 37 weeks, 3 days: