I’ve been accused by faraway friends and family members of not posting enough pregnancy photos. Fair enough. So, here you go: 33 weeks and counting. Apparently Albert Einstein was born at 37 weeks, so as far as I’m concerned four more weeks is plenty. Here’s hoping the little one gets the memo…

Apologies for the radio silence on our end, but not much new is going on. In fact, we feel like we’re spending much of our time these days just waiting. Waiting for:

• The baby to arrive.
• My mom to finally accept that no matter how often she asks or how vehemently she swears not to tell Andy, I’m really not going to tell her the baby’s name before he arrives.
• Our departure for Benin.
• Our departure to be close enough that it makes sense to start stocking up on things.
• Abbey to finally catch one of the ducks she lunges at every morning at the park along the Potomac.
• The NCAA tournament to end (Alex).
• The NHL playoffs to start (Andy).
• Baby Gap to unveil its summer collection (Alex).
• Alex to realize the baby’s got enough clothes already (Andy).

We’re really liking our new apartment and our new neighborhood, although it’s much harder to resist the temptation of long weekend walks here than it was back in Arlington, and, according to my doctor, even those are enough exercise to be off limits until I reach 35 weeks. (Shh — don’t tell her. We’ve cheated a little, as evidenced by the photo above.) I’m also enjoying my bridge assignment at Main State — making connections and learning things that will help a lot once I get to Benin.

Still, I feel a little guilty to be enjoying my cushy little life here in DC, while, if all had gone as originally planned, I would have been in Benin already, probably helping monitor the recent presidential elections. All of my A-100 classmates except those who got DC posts are gone now, off doing important things in Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and beyond. I feel bad that I’m not yet contributing in the way I signed up for. I will one day, but for now, I wait…