Due Date

Our bag is packed.

The clothes are washed.

The freezer is full.

The (tiny!) diapers are stocked.

Ready when you are, Baby Dos.

Going to the Zoo

G's very brave grandparents took him and his two cousins to the zoo on Friday morning, followed by lunch. G, of course, spent the rest of the day talking breathlessly about monkeys, lions, giraffes, peacocks, wallabies and eating french fries. Nothing can make this 2-year-old happier.

Riding the train with Grandma.

Feeding fish with Grandpa.

Tour de Smith

Congrats to Kent for finishing the Tour de Smith, a month-long quest to ride each day of the Tour de France. While Tour de Smith did not finish on the Champs-Élysées or include a mountain stage (or any doping that we know of), it was an impressive feat, requiring time, dedication and endurance. He finished the tour Sunday morning with a 50-mile bike ride with his sister Kelsey.

Le Champ

It should be noted that he completed his 50-mile ride the day after winning a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, beating teams of 18-year-olds. The old guy still has it!

A Practice Run to the Hospital

I wasn't feeling well on Wednesday afternoon--I had a high fever, chills and aches--so Kent convinced me to go to the hospital when he got home from work. The fever was causing Baby Dos' heart rate to spike, too, so my doctor decided to put me on an IV, give me Tylenol and keep me overnight for monitoring. If the baby's heart rate didn't go down, my doctor said, a c-section might be necessary that night. This news made us a little bit anxious; a little bit excited. Were we finally going to meet Dos?

By the next morning, my temp had gone down and the baby was doing better. So we got to go home. No baby in our arms this time, but that's okay.

It was a good practice run to the hospital, in any case. We realized that we'd forgotten to pack lots of stuff in our hospital bag: a change of clothes for Kent, contact solution, a camera (!) and laptop. This being our second child, you'd think we'd be pros at this, but the quick run to the hospital caught us off-guard. Next time we'll be better prepared. And next time--we hope--we'll have someone to bring home with us.

(There are no pictures to go with this post because, while I may be immodest enough to put pictures of my pregnant self on the Internet, no one needs to see me in a hospital gown.)

38 Weeks

The words of the week are hot and huge. It's been in the upper 90s all week, with the heat index hovering between 105 and 110 degrees. Meanwhile, I'm feeling large and uncomfortable. I thought for sure Dos was on his/her way last week...I had chills, fever, contractions...then nothing. But it did send me into hyper-nesting mode. It's fair to say I couldn't be more ready.

George wanted to make an appearance in this one.

Iowa Boy

Guess who ate two ears of sweet corn?

More Conversations With G

G: "I want a baby."
Me: "Great, I can arrange that. Do you want a brother or a sister?"
G: "Watch Sesame Street?"
Me: "Sure, but what should we name the baby?"
G: "Elmo."