8 More Days...

December hanging out in her pajamas, taken just a few minutes ago...

Here she's showing us her newly painted pink toenails (she got to pick out a nail polish color for herself at the store a little while ago. She chose pink, naturally, and then promptly dropped the nail polish bottle on the floor of the store, where it exploded. I had to go find some poor maintenance kid to clean up the hot pink mess, and I was both embarrassed for myself and sorry for him at the same time!) But anyways, we got another bottle -- I got smart and didn't let her hold it this time -- and she's quite proud of her nails now!

Here I am, very pregnant...

December has been sick this week with diarrhea. No fun! Especially as the potty training with December is just finishing up...we had a few accidents, and cleaning that up was not cool AT ALL, as you might imagine. Both she and her friend Samuel had it, and then later this week I got it, too. But I think we're all better now, thankfully! Brad's stayed the healthiest so far, which is amazing considering all of the stress he's under! The semester is coming to a close, and it's always crazy, but this is definitely the hardest semester so far! He's still writing his papers (if you think of him, please pray for him!) and trying to get as much done as he can before the baby is born.

And that could be any day now! I am due one week from tomorrow. At my doctor's appointment, the baby's back was along my right side, which was great news! The doctor said that the baby's head hasn't engaged yet (the baby hasn't dropped into the birth canal), and that means he/she will probably be moving and twisting all around yet until it decides to engage itself. I have dialated to 1cm, though! Yay! Brad's Mom flies in tomorrow afternoon, and we're excited to have her come. I'm hoping we can do some fun things before Baby comes...after which I'm guessing we'll be quite house-bound!

Almost There

This picture was taken last Sunday at church -- it's of us pregnant girls. I'm lamenting that we didn't take a picture like this of us sooner, because there would have been a couple more of us in the picture who have since had their babies! But from left to right: Della (due November 30), me (due December 1), Rachel (due Christmas Day), and Sara (due at the beginning of February).

December napping (actually, me snapping this picture of her is what woke her up from the nap...oops)

Brad and December reading a bedtime story

Aren't they cute?!?

Brad's been really busy lately, writing all of his papers. Last night, he finished writing his second of four, most of which are due December 5. After all of those papers are due, he has a few days to catch up on writing Greek notes and the thousands of pages of theological reading before exams begin. He'll finish his last exam on December 17, and until then he's going to be (and already is!) a very busy man. We're really excited because Brad's Mom is going to be coming to visit us next Monday! She's coming to help out when the baby is born, and we can't wait to have her!

Only two weeks left...At my last doctor's appointment I wasn't dialated at all, and I was told that the baby is face-up instead of face-down. I was pretty upset after hearing that! I did some research, and the baby facing this way (the wrong way) makes the chances of EVERYTHING awful increase. Like your chances of extremely tough labor, tearing to your rectum, getting a large episiotomy, needing a vacuum to get the baby out, ending up getting a C-section, etc etc. Yikes! So we would appreciate prayer for the baby to face the right direction. I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see what the baby has decided to do this past week. I'll keep you posted...

Wild Animal Park

On Thursday, we went to the Wild Animal Park with Naomi, Noah, and baby Isaac. Here we have stopped by the monkeys, and December and Noah are enthralled.

Here's the monkeys! This black one in the foreground is playing with a small mirror attached to the fence -- he was pretty funny about staring at himself in it, and you can see a small white baby monkey in the background, swinging around the cage.

The Wild Animal Park has a children's play area that we spent most of our time in, as December and Noah had a great time. These two love to run around together and actually play together -- I like seeing December begin to grow out of her "parallel play" stage and actually begin to interact with her friends. And you can see December's new haircut! I cut it a few nights ago -- the length is somewhere between her chin and her shoulders.

The baby is getting ready to come! At my doctor's appointment this week, I was told that the baby is head-down, which I'm so thankful for! I was really hoping that the baby wouldn't be breech, and he/she isn't! If the baby would have been breech (feet down instead of head down), it would have been an almost guaranteed C-section. But the baby is in the right position. And I've been getting more and more Braxton-Hicks contractions, which are light contractions preparing for real labor. All this week, it feels like I can no longer close my legs because I have a bowling ball stuck between them, which is a strange feeling and one that really accentuates the graceful duck waddle I've acquired! So, everything is getting ready for this baby! They say that your due date is flexible by +/- 2 weeks. If it's -2 weeks, this baby is coming next week! Yikes! That is very soon...

Babies, Triangles, and One Very Pregnant Woman

Last week, Noah and baby Isaac came over to play. December loves baby Isaac and talks about him all the time! Hopefully that bodes well for her loving her new brother or sister.

December held him and did NOT want to give him up!

He's a sweet little boy...

Brad and December snacking on Halloween candy -- December would eat chocolate all day long, if we let her.

December still loves this picture frame -- it really is weird, the "toys" (that aren't really toys at all) that kids find and decide to play with for hours on end!

December picks the frame up and, thinking it's shaped like a triangle, sings this song, which you probably won't know unless you're an avid watcher of Seseme Street (as we are):

The song makes me laugh -- it's so crazy...and yet, so very catchy. I must admit that I find myself singing this song during the most random times of the day, like when I clean the bathroom or go get the mail. Very weird.

Dancing

Normally I'm hesitant to have pictures taken when I reach the behemoth stage of pregnancy, as I currently have. Brad tells me that I have grown so much that I now have my own gravitational force field. Ha! It's a pretty accurate statement, hehee...but my dear mother wanted to see a current picture, and since I love her so much, I had Brad take one of me. This picture was taken on Sunday. Not too much longer now -- 3 1/2 weeks!