3 Weeks...

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly; in just 3 short weeks (give or take a couple of days!) we will welcome our new son into the world!!
This pregnancy has gone amazingly smooth.  Through-out the past 36 weeks I've only experienced a small handful of difficult days, most of which were directly related to the weather being overly hot and humid.  My absolutely worst day took place when my brother-in-law Mario was here with his family from Australia.  The day started out well enough; we got up early and headed over to Patriots Place in Foxboro, MA.  Mario's girlfriend, Cindy, and I spent over 3 hours walking around the outlets.  It was a beautiful, sunny, mild day..perfect for walking.  The game plan was to meet up with a bunch of family members at the Zoo in Providence afterwards.  As we were getting ready to leave Patriots Place I started to feel just a little sore - my feet and back were beginning to hurt and I knew that it was time for me to sit down and relax.  I was thinking that I would just skip the Zoo and have Jim drop me off at home instead but in typical Vargas fashion we ended up running late.  Some of our family members were already waiting for us at the Zoo so we had no choice but to head straight over there.  After walking around the Zoo for about 2 hours I knew that I had pushed myself to the limit.  My whole body hurt and I literally felt like crying.  Jim agreed that it was time to head home.  Unfortunately for me, we still had to walk back through the Zoo to get to the van.  Ugh!  It was the slowest, most painful walk EVER!  As soon as I (blessedly) got into the van I kicked my shoes off which revealed very swollen feet.  My hands were also swollen and my belly felt like 100 lbs of solid lead weight.  Suffice to say, I was in bed very early that night and, fortunately, got up the next morning feeling MUCH BETTER! 
Other than that very memorable, exhausting day this pregnancy has been smooth sailing!  I had a check-up yesterday and the baby is doing very well.  He's head down and in position, preparing for his big arrival!  I've gained a total of 20 lbs , which is a perfect amount of pregnancy weight gain.
Last Sunday I had a small baby shower at my Mom's and received some wonderful gifts for the baby:  a diaper bag, car seat, diapers, wipes and clothes.  Everything has been washed, put together and organized.  Jim installed the car seat into the van and I packed both my bag as well as the baby's for when it's time to head to the hospital.  I've gone over the kids schedule with my sister Carole so that she'll be all set for when she watches the kids. 
There's little left to do now except to wait patiently for the big day....