2 Weeks to Go

Or 4 weeks to go, if the baby wants to hang on in there.

Or no weeks to go, if the baby wants to come out and say "hi" with an affectionate scream before the due date comes.

Who knows.

All we know is that 38 weeks of pregnancy are down. And we are happy about that.

Update from the doctor yesterday:

According to measurements from the ultrasound, they guess that the baby is currently a bit over 7 pounds. The head doesn't measure all that big, so Bethany's rejoicing. She would jump up and down if she could.

The doctor seemed rather astonished that the baby appeared to be doing "lots of breathing." We still aren't sure what in the world this means. (What is the baby doing? Breathing up amniotic fluid and getting one of those awful nose burns that happen after inhaling water in the swimming pool?) But apparently it has something to do with the movement of the baby's diaphragm. Since the doctor seemed kind of shocked when she commented about the baby's "breathing," we got a bit worried and asked her if this was a good or a bad thing. She said it's really good. So we're happy even though we're clueless as to what it means.


Richie finished finals and turned in his section of a research paper, so we escaped and went on a Babymoon! We stayed in a hotel in Pacifica overlooking the ocean. Richie got to surf, we got to eat lots of good food and go on beautiful walks on the beach, and we didn't have to wash any dishes. Our idea of a good time. This was the view from our room.


After our Babymoon, we came back and did a bit more baby preparation. Bethany's parents bought the baby his/her carseat, so we finally got it out of the box. Bethany found the carseat rather comfortable.


Richie found the box itself rather comfortable, too.


We took the Volvo for a drive out in the country and happened upon some beautiful spots. We sang Brad Paisley's "Mud on the Tires," since the lyrics were all-too-appropriate, and since the car doesn't have a radio, it calls for all passengers singing at the top of their lungs.


Although we were planning to go to Canada to be with Richie's family this Christmas, babies have a way of changing people's plans. So we stayed in Davis and spent Christmas morning with Bethany's grandma, Bethany's parents, and Sarah. Sarah was the Christmas highlight, and she provided hilarious one-liners throughout the day. Here she and Bethany open their stockings together and analyze the loot.


Merry Christmas, Baby! Sorry you don't get to open your own presents. Grandma picked this out for the little one, along with some Stanford baby attire that will look dashing on our little Determinator.


Chrissie also had fun shopping for the baby. We'll have a surfer from 6 months of age, we're sure, donned in Quicksilver apparel and all.