21 3/4 months

Well, everyone's safely away. Mom and Dad are almost back to Wisconsin, just in time to catch the beginning of Labor Day weekend traffic. Their plan this morning was to stop tonight somewhere in Illinois, so that will make three nights on the road. It sounds like they stopped by a few great museums, including the museum for Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind. They left a couple of days after Matthew did, which I think was great for Thomas (and me) so he didn't go suddenly from a bustling 5-person household down to just him and Mommy! Matthew is out, too, flying back and forth between Mexico to Toledo, Ohio. For the first time ever, he rode to work on an international flight on a Mexican airline! Usually he's on a domestic carrier with a layover in the States

somewhere.

While everyone was here, we ate out here and there and visited my new favorite coffee shop with the toy area for kids (and the chocolate shop in the back), and Matthew and I got away a few times which was great! Mom and Dad did a lot of stuff for us, including planting a gardenia plant the day they left. Thomas "helped," too. He stood ready with the hose and even sprayed water for Mom and Dad to wash their hands.

Usually it's so hot and muggy we can't even go for a walk after 9:30am, but yesterday because of rain and other stuff, it didn't even get over 80 degrees the whole day! I took Thomas out for a walk intending to be back in half an hour to start dinner, but we ended up staying out much later because the weather was just so gorgeous. At the empty tennis court, Thomas found a puddle and took great pleasure rolling and bouncing a ball through it. He even said "rai" (or was it "ain?") and did the sign for "rain" when the trees dripped water on him! He's suddenly coming out with a lot of signs and half-words. "Co" with accompanying sign for "cold" when he complained about his milk, an up-and-down motion with his hands for his request for "The Wheels on the Bus" song, a hand doing involved acrobatics with accompanying airplane noises for "airplane," "Geen" for green, .... it's coming along!

Baby is still kicking along, apparently still head up in breech position. Still have three months to go, so I'm sure she'll sort herself out by then! I'm listening to my hypno-birthing/relaxation practice CDs every day, and I love them. To fall into such a deeply relaxed state, especially right before bedtime, is so wonderful after being so busy and feeling aches all day. I think I'm right on the brink of the third trimester, so the tummy is just starting to get uncomfortably big, and it's getting difficult to bend over to tie shoes and stuff. Even some of my "smaller" maternity stuff is getting ... small. Still feeling good, just getting a bit more tired these days.