Quick trip to the river

Today I picked up my sister Mary and her boyfriend Yoshi from my moms and we headed to the river. My sisters and I all have fond memories of the Washougal River - from the time our memories begin, to now. As a family, would walk a few blocks from home to get there when we were little kids. As we got older, every summer we ventured off with friends and with each other to explore the river. Now, after 28+ years, I thought there wasn't a spot on the Washougal River I didn't know about. But today we found one. We didn't stay long, we didn't swim, and it certainly wasn't the typical 'hanging at the river with my sister and some cold beer' summer day I'm used to. But it was still nice. We chatted, got our feet wet, tried to catch crawdads and reminisced on our previous river adventures. At 9 months pregnant, this was my first and unfortunately probably my last visit to the river of the summer. But you better believe I'll be there with baby next summer!

Mary, Me and Baby still in the belly
I may look like I'm off balance and about ready to fall, but I'm not. Mary, as always, is picture perfect with her blonde and blue dreaded mohawk.Mary and Yoshi

Still Pregnant

At 39+ weeks, I'm torn between the saddness of knowing that my days left of being pregnant are minimal and the feelings of excitement I get when I think that any day now I'll feel the first signs of labor. I am going to miss so much about pregnancy - the feelings of our baby moving about inside my womb, those sharp painful jabs that wake me at 3 in the morning, the amazement that comes from watching the baby in my belly move entirely from one side of belly to the other, baby body parts pushing desperately at my sides, the uncomfortable and humiliating reminder when I laugh or sneeze that I haven't done nearly enough kegals, feeling the baby hiccups, playing with the baby through my belly with poking and rubbing, all the wonderful visualizations and wonders of what the baby is doing and feeling inside me, and I'll even miss those days when I cannot find a thing to wear that fits comfortably while still looking half way decenent enough to appear in public. One thing I'm looking forward to (other than of course finally meeting our baby) is sleeping on my stomach again.
Since Fridays full moon only brought on a few mild rushes that passed with little excitement and nothing since, it looks like our baby isn't yet ready to meet the world. It could be days or even a couple more weeks until our little bundle of love arrives. Since the rest of the posts on here will likely be dedicated to pictures of our baby growing outside the womb, here are some pictures to remember the pregnancy I have absolutely loved and will miss so much (yes, I got a little obsessive about taking pictures of the belly throughout the pregnancy)...

12 Weeks


16 weeks 20 Weeks

24 Weeks
26 Weeks
30 Weeks
31 Weeks 33 Weeks

35 Weeks
36 Weeks38 Weeks
39 Weeks