Baby Moving

The car's fixed.

bamboo, bugs, and batteries

Pray for our car.

The baby's due in 5 days and yesterday our car wouldn't start. This is our new used car that we bought about a month ago so we could have a 4-door. We think and have been told that it probably just needs a new battery, which we're getting tomorrow. Let's just hope that is all it needs. At least we haven't sold our old BMW, yet. If I do go into labour, we'll have transportation. It'll just take us longer to get to the hospital since the BMW likes to stall at most stops.

I thought I'd post some pics of the baby's half-room.

She's going to share it with Chris cause it's his "closet." They don't build many houses with closets here in England and use wardrobes instead. We tried having my wardrobe and Chris's in our bedroom, but it felt like the walls were falling in on us, so he and the baby will share. We figure that a baby doesn't really need a whole room anyway. I had fun a few weeks ago finding images of bugs and bamboo to make into stencils, and we decorated the baby's crib bumper. It was quite a process, but very satisfying.

Here's a fun one...
Chris's egg turned into an egg-man this morning.

Summer Travels

Of course, our summer began with TASIS Graduation and the end of school. We then took a short trip to San Clemente to hang out with friends and family. After returning to England, Jeremy visited for about a week. We went to London and saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We also took a day trip down to the coast and stopped at a castle along the way. After Jeremy left, we had our own 4th of July celebration, renting "the Patriot" and making American flag cakes. It didn't compare to the 4th in D.C., but it was better than nothing. We drove up to Liverpool for about a day and explored the hometown of the Beatles. Our next stop was the Peak District, one of England's national parks. We stayed in Bakewell, where they supposedly bake well. We weren't big fans of their famous Bakewell tart, though. The Peaks are filled with walks through moors and towns. We did one near Heathersage, a short walk, of course, since I'm pretty heavy these days. I was very proud to have done a four mile walk being at the end of my 8th month.

29 more days!

Only four more weeks until my due date! I really can't wait. You can see how huge I am and I just keep getting more enormous. Carrying this much weight is not fun, especially when I have to pick something up off the floor or roll over in the middle of the night. It is far from effortless. As for the other not-so-fun symptoms of pregnancy, I've got numb, tingly fingers. It started occasionally and is now almost all the time. It feels very strange to type without feeling the keys. Other than the heaviness, numbness, indigestion, and sleepless nights, I can't complain. I know there are SO many other worse things I could be experiencing.

The baby's room is just about ready...have I mentioned that she's a girl for sure? We got another ultrasound in California and two technicians verified. Back to the room...we got our crib a few days ago, and it's all set up. We joined an NCT (National Childcare Trust) class all about the birthing process and are learning all sorts of facts and techniques to make the whole experience easier. We visited the new hospital and it already appears much nicer than the original, so I feel even more confident and comfortable.

The baby still moves a lot! Now the movements are much more visible from the outside and strong on the inside. I took a video, but Blogger won't let me add it right now. I'll get it up when I can.