Fashionably late?

Yesterday was my due date according to the doctor. Tomorrow is my due date according to my calculations. BTW, Ruby still hasn't arrived yet and I'm doubtful that tomorrow is the day. On the other hand, today I did have a "burst of energy" (a classic sign that labor is on its way)-- Brandon and I met for lunch, I ran errands, visited a friend at the hospital, and did a million loads of laundry. While I was walking Scout I think I had my first false labor contraction, so maybe (hopefully) I'm wrong and labor is coming sooner than I think.

Mystery Solved

We found out that Chloe (the red dachshund) belongs to a neighbor on the street behind ours. Apparently she is quite the escape artist. Note to pet owners who have escape artists: microchip your pet or at the very least invest in a collar.

Found Puppy

I know some of you bloggers live in my neighborhood. Does this puppy look familar to any of you?

I found her wandering around in front of my house earlier this morning. She doesn't have a collar or a microchip. If you think you know who she belongs to give me a call.
PS-- She's super friendly and pretty smart (in less than a few hours she learned to follow Scout through the dog door).

It's getting close...

Today I went to the doctor. For the past 39 weeks I've been saying that my due date is Wednesday January 28. Turns out that the doctor considers it to be Monday January 26. Better earlier than later, right?
Anyway here are the stats from my appointment:
* 1 centimeter dilated (progress-- sweet progress!)
* Cervix is softening
* Baby Ruby is still a little high, but she has dropped a little
* Total weight gain is 19 lbs. (apparently severe morning sickness does have some benefits)
If I don't go into labor by Monday January 26 the doctor will leave me alone for a week. If Ruby still hasn't made her way into the world by Monday February 2 he's going to induce labor.
So, anytime between now and February 2 she could be here! Any predictions?

Ringing in the New Year

Here's how we've been keeping ourselves busy lately:


Sadly, we packed up the Christmas decorations, hauled the tree out to the curb, and admired our lights one more time before taking them down last Saturday.


We finished painting Baby Ruby's nursery. The rest of the decorating is still a work in progress, but at least the hard part is done.


We took a trip downtown to see the Body World's exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It was really amazing to learn about the miracle of life in such a unique way-- we highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about going. After spending a few hours walking around the museum I was exhausted, though. We tried to capture the moment in this picture. Do you think we got it?


Finally, yesterday was my 27th birthday. At my doctor's appointment they took one last ultrasound to find out approximately how big the baby is.

Drum roll, please... 6 lbs 11 oz. So, she'll probably come into this world at a healthy 7 plus pounds.

Oh, and she is head down, but hasn't dropped. Combine that with the fact that I'm not dilated AT ALL and it probably means that she'll make her debut close to her due date and not any earlier.

After my appointment we ate a fantastic Italian dinner at a great local restaurant (Pallota's). We were too stuffed to eat cake there, so we took it to go and celebrated at home a few hours later.

Thanks for all the calls and birthday wishes. You guys are the best!