A Little Hike

This week Ryan and Ava and I went for a little hike. Here are a few photos. Since I'm usually the one taking the photos, I have hardly a single photo of me during this pregnancy. Now at least I have a few, even if they aren't great.

I should have unbuckled that Camelbak strap around my hips... it looks weird.

Takes After Her Mom

Recently Ava discovered my Prismacolor pencils. She seems to like them much more than crayons, probably because there are so many of them. Today while I was doing my hair, she was quite focused on her coloring.

And after she saw the camera she just wanted more and more pictures. This one is her posing for me.

I can still remember coloring with my mom when I was a kid. I thought she was the world's most talented color-er. I specifically remember one time, in the study, sitting on the floor and coloring in the coloring book. She used a forest green crayon to darkly outline a sweater and then colored it in with a lighter touch, and then she put little dark green flecks all over the sweater to give it a wooly texture. That blew my mind. I thought, "I will never be able to color as incredibly well as she does."

Isn't it funny the things we remember?

Family Photos

Here are a few photos from a recent Cook Family photo shoot. Now you can see how I look this pregnancy, though these aren't super revealing.

He Tri'ed

Last Saturday Ryan competed in his first triathlon. And he did great! It was the Salem Spring Triathlon, a sprint distance, which is 800 meters swimming in open water (a pond), 13 miles biking, and a 5K run. He did worse than expected swimming (but it was his first open water swim, so that's kind of to be expected, actually), great in the biking, and better than expected in the running. Ava and I went to cheer him on. Except instead of cheering, she cried when she saw him transition from bike to run and then take off running away from her. (Why is my daddy running away from me!) Fortunately there were people with dogs there to distract her from her sorrows.

Who knows, maybe next year I'll give it a whirl. I just have to learn how to really swim.

34 and Counting

Weeks. Not years. Though I am coming up on that too... yikes.

So I was checked into the hospital with Ava at 33 and a half weeks. I'm now 34 and a half weeks with this one, and everything is looking good. My blood pressure is a nice healthy 108/60. (With Ava, at it's peak it reached 186/108. Normal is considered about 120/80). My doctor is pleased.

My belly is enormous, but measuring normal, so I guess enormous is normal. Looks like I'm going to get to experience that dreaded last month of pregnancy that everyone complains about. I'll let you know which is better—the last month of pregnancy or driving 25 minutes to the NICU one to three times a day for three weeks. I'm a little nervous to experience "real" labor this time around, seeing as this baby will probably be more than twice the size of Ava.

I'm hoping he'll come at 37 weeks, not 40. Or 42. Or 35. Can I be any more specific? "Dear Baby, please be a good boy and do as your mother asks."