39 Weeks

I am now officially starting my 40th week of pregnancy. My due date is a week from today. And at my appointment at the birth center today, I finally heard what we've been expecting -- "Well, this feels like a big baby!". For the last two weeks they've told us the baby is long, but not particularly big. This midwife thought it was definitely larger than average. So we'll wait and see when the baby arrives just how big it is!

I realize now that when I call my parents I make everyone jump -- they are waiting for us to call to say that I am in labor. They tell me that they are not quite ready for me to go into labor yet, because they still have four black swallow-tail to-be butterflies that they are waiting for. In their house. Not in an aquarium any longer (since my mother thought the caterpillers would stay in the aquarium without a lid), but wherever in the house they settled to become butterflies. Like on the stove.

Meanwhile, my brother has arrived safely in Oregon on his bicycle (from North Dakota) to learn how to build houses out of earth. He called me yesterday to make sure I hadn't had the baby, because one of his friends left him a message that I had. This friend also said that I had had a pretzel instead of a human, which made my brother suspicious, but he still had to call and check. Apparently he is now planning to come here sometime next year and build a cob house to live in. My mother says that two year olds have been known to help build these houses -- so maybe we can put the baby to work in the spring and set a record. Better yet, we'll teach the pit bulls to mix cob.

I'm not sure exactly what's going on with the other side of the family, but no doubt something more normal. I know that they are very excited, especially Doug's sister. This child is going to have two very different grandparent/aunt/uncle experiences . . .

While the extended family goes about their various and unusual lives, we are mostly still following our regular routine. We have some home projects that we'd like to finish this weekend if the baby is still not here (like running Ethernet cables via the hole in the wall that Doug cut last weekend). But, mostly we are going to work (especially Doug, who is working very hard), trying to keep the house running, and hanging out with the dogs. We have our church small group meetings each week, and our other various activities (like the HOA board meeting I'm getting ready to go to). No doubt this routine is about to get completely disrupted.