It’s almost time! Kristine and I woke up early this morning, drove over the
mountain, picked up some Starbucks, and headed to Brookwood Medical Center.
We’re there now, and Kristine has an IV in and has her labor buddies (me and
the cow) here to help! Check back today for updates as we have wireless
internet here in the room.

Here are some pictures from outside our hospital room. Brookwood is built right
onto the side of Shades Mountain,
so here is a view of Samford. Also, here is a
picture of a mamosa tree.

Lastly, we were able to enjoy a nice romantic sunset last night. Enjoy the
pictures!

As we were out splashing in the wading pool yesterday, our neighbors from across the street came over. It’s a single mom and her 5(?) year old daughter, and she was riding a little pink bike, which always sits in their front walkway. She said they’d just gotten her a newer, bigger bike, and wondered if we wanted this one for Analise. Woohoo! I’d been planning on getting her a tricycle for her birthday later this month, but this bike is PERFECT!

Brian was excited to give Analise her first ride yesterday afternoon. She could reach the pedals, and she just needs to learn how to pedal herself. We’ll be looking for a helmet soon. SHe didn’t want Brian helping her, but since she didn’t move without him, he had to stand behind her pushing. She’s quite the little independent lady. It was fun! He may upload a video later today…

If the little Toone-to-Be doesn’t arrive later today, tomorrow will be THE DAY. Keep your eyes on the blog or your email for an announcement. My mom arrives later today, and we’ll head to the hospital at 6:30am to be induced. The doctor was fairly certain it would go quickly, so maybe we’ll have a baby by early afternoon. Can’t wait to introduce him to the world!

9:49pm, the kitchen is clean (enough), the sink is empty, the dishwasher is running, the toys are picked up. My back is aching, I’m having the usual quite uncomfortable contractions, and hoping, wishing, praying that maybe tonight is the night our little one decides to arrive. I’ve done a lot of cleaning/getting ready, and I’m tired of it. Honestly, tonight I’m miserable and ready to meet my little baby.

On the other hand, if I think about it, it’s overwhelming and a little scary to think about going from our nice, neat, organized family of 3 and adjusting to being a family of 4 with the around-the-clock needs of a newborn. *sigh* I know everyone does it, though. And we’ve got plenty of help around us, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

We spent a quiet day here, resting and playing in the little pool this afternoon. Brian’s parents joined us for dinner tonight while Brian went on his weekly race ride. Nothing new to relate from my 40week appointment yesterday (which was my actuall due date). I haven’t progressed any further, and if our little Toone-to-be doesn’t arrive on his own this week, we have an induction scheduled for Friday. My mom flies in on Thursday, so if we’re going to “plan” when he arrives, it would be nice for Mom to be here. On the other hand, he’s MORE THAN WELCOME to come tonight or anytime before then.

(CLICK THE MAP TO VIEW A HIGH RESOLUTION, DETAILED VERSION OF THE MAP)

Still no baby here! I was able to get in a 48 mile ride this morning before
church to bring my total for this week to just under 301 miles! That’s a new
weekly record for me — not counting my college days when I used to have 400
and even one 500 mile week. The map above shows my ride from this morning. I
met my dad (who has also gotten back into cycling!!!) out on the road that
circles the Galleria (bottom circle). We road one lap together before he
headed home, and I headed out on a 48 mile ride to bring my total above 300
for the week. The main thing I wanted to point out is the spot where I
set a new speed record (again, not counting my college days). Note the spot
towards the center of the map and the corresponding spot marked on the
elevation profile. Here’s the stats for the week on my bike computer:

Weekly Mileage			Maximum Speed (MPH)
Total Hours			Average Speed (MPH)

Well, if a flurry of activity is supposed to precede going into labor, last night should have been my night. I had a burst of energy in the morning (Brian was gone and couldn’t keep me from overdoing myself… whoops!), and I swept all the floors and front porch, rearranged more baby clothes, cleaned the kitchen and cleaned the hall closet. Then I braved a trip to Target by myself (not my favorite place to be on a Saturday when I’ve already worn myself out). I was so tired last night. But here we are, still waiting:)

Today, though, I’ve laid low. I’ve been having some uncomfortable contractions every evening for weeks, so that’s nothing new. But the kitchen is clean, the house is picked up, and nearly everything on my “TO DO BEFORE BABY” list has been accomplished, with much thanks to my wonderful husband. Brian did realize something funny, though. I HATE to clean my George Foreman grill. I used it nearly 3 weeks ago, and it’s been sitting on the counter waiting to be washed ever since. Tonight, he asked me if I was ever going to wash it. Hmm… I wonder if maybe the baby isn’t coming until I wash it? Ah, the crazy thoughts of a late-pregnant woman. Anyway, I washed it (took all of 2 minutes, I don’t know why in the world I didn’t do it sooner). Now I’m sitting here in a clean, picked up house, hoping that maybe our little Toone-to-be will arrive tonight. On the other hand, I can be reminded and reassured that God’s already chosen his perfect birthdate since the beginning of time, and nothing we can do will rush or delay it. We just can’t wait to meet him!

Tomorrow’s a busy day, though. The monthly women’s mission meeting at Brian’s parents church is at 10am and 7pm. And while I’d rather not go and face all the “when is your baby coming” questions, I invited the guest speaker, forgetting that it was my due date. And we sort of expected we’d have a baby here by now (why we expect that is kind of funny… even with only 1 child, given that she was 12 days late, we shouldn’t really expect anything better than him coming ON TIME, surely not EARLY). So Brian’s got a breakfast meeting at 7:30am, we’re both going to the morning missions meeting at 10, having lunch with our guest speaker at 11:30, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment at 1, and then the meeting is again at 7pm. If little one decides tomorrow is his day to arrive, I’m not sure we can fit it in!:) We’ll check in tomorrow to let you know how the day goes, though. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

After a week off, today was my swim class. It was heavenly. It probably was my last class, since we’ve got stuff going on Monday, and I’m hoping our little Toone-to-Be arrives on his own next week. It sure is nice to be in the water, though, and it helped my swollen ankles and aching back.

Last night was some SPELLBINDING television, as we enjoyed the last hour of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Fun stuff! I’m not kidding! We loved the documentary movie “SpellBound”, and of course, Brian and I are both geeks who love a challenge. I got a couple of words right before they came on the screen, “heiligenschein”, “hukilau”, and “austausch”. The winning word, “ursprache”, was not one I could sound out:) A couple fun little tidbits of knowledge about me… I didn’t miss a spelling word until the middle of third grade – “motor” (it happened to be the last spelling test I took in Louisiana, just before we moved to Wisconsin). And I represented Shell Lake Jr. High at the area spelling bee twice. In school qualifying rounds both years, I had to spell “gesundheit”. Do you feel like you know me better now?

Today I cut the grass while Kristine and Analise played in our little, blue kiddie pool.
When we were all done, I was inspired to take pictures around our yard to share with y’all!
This first one above is from a nice lily garden in our backyard. You can also see leaves
from our small Japanese maple tree in the background.

Here is one from the front. Our Crepe Myrtles are just starting to bloom. The dogwood tree
we planted for Analise is growing well. The house also is still standing after we’ve been living
here for exactly one year and five months. Here is a photo collage from around the yard.

Our beautiful river birch is getting tall. It’s the one in the center of this pic.	Here is an update on the tree that planted itself in our backyard last year.
Banana trees are pretty hardy even through our winters. This one came up all on its own right next to the stalk we cut down last year.	This also came up on its own — wheat!
These two banana trees sprouted next to the one we cut down last year in our front garden.	Analise waits patiently for me to be done taking pictures!

Finally, one last picture and an informal survey. Do you see the large dead branch hanging over
our shed and playset? I’m thinking of climbin up the tree to cut it down. It certainly looks
like an easy tree to climb, and judging by how dead the branch is it should be easy to cut or
push loose. Thoughts? Recommendations?