STILL NO BABY!

Can you believe it???? I'm now one week past the due date, and not even a fake contraction or any sign of the birth starting soon... I'm surprised because with Anika i was one day early, and the first birth is always known to be the one that most likely goes past the due date.

This past week has been an emotional rollercoaster with good days and bad days. Next appointment with the mid-wife is on Tuesday, and I will have two tests if still no baby by then. The first is a non-stress test to check that the baby is doing fine - that when the baby kicks the heart rate stays normal. The second test is a biophysical profile, which is an ultrasound to check the placenta, the baby etc. to make sure everything is still healthy and supporting the baby well. If no baby and all tests are good, the midwifes will still not let me go past 42.5 weeks, which brings me to approx. August 9. That's the latest date we'll have the baby...

Grandma Inger and Grandpa Earl both arrived on July 28 - we had all thought the baby would be born by then. At least i have lots of helpers for Anika :)

No news... no baby yet!

I was hoping contractions would kick in this weekend, but no, the baby wants it differently (must be confortable in there...) so it was a boring weekend at the house. Spent most of the time inside because it was so hot outside. My official due date is tomorrow, let's hope something happens overnight. I don't want to go into 'overtime' :(

First home-grown cucumber!

Yeah! Yesterday Steven picked the first ripe home-grown cucumber from his garden this season - and it was the best cucumber i have ever had! Can't wait for the other 99 cucumbers we're going to eat this summer (the cucumber plants are growing like weeds out there in the heat...)

Ana came by

Our previous au pair, Ana, visited us for dinner yesterday. She now lives in Takoma Park.

Anika was very excited to see Ana again although she was a little shy in the beginning.

Thanks for coming by, Ana!

Can I get any bigger?

With only one week left of the pregnancy I can't get much bigger, thank god. Although I've been fortunate and don't have any pains or aches, everything involving moving, walking or bending is a hassle at this point. Cross fingers that I won't go past my official due date, which is July 24 in this steaming hot weather. The last sonogram indicated a due date of July 21 based on the size/length of the baby - only time will tell when we get to meet this new little person. We're so excited! ...and is it a boy or a girl?

More summer flowers

Mid-summer is here and the lillies continue to bloom, so do the hostas and echinacea bush. Everything else is kind of drab right now... in the month of July I think it is on average 30degrees Celcius during the day + it feels even hotter because of the humidity, and 21degrees Celcius at night. Not too many flowers like the heat for such an extended period of time.

Football fever

World Cup was great, and we saw a few games at Mike & Mirtha's place (they have a nice HD TV).


Anika and Isabella got all dressed up before the Brazil - France game by Adriana, Mike's family friend from Brazil. She was not very happy at the end of the game....

Mirtha and big baby boy Nicolas, almost 5 months.

We're admiring Mike & Mirtha's gorgeous new kitchen. From left: Adriana, Mirtha, Mike and Steven.

Mamma Kine sat on the sofa and ate a lot of food, using her huge belly as a tray ;)

Beautiful lillies!

It turns out that the lillies we have in our garden loved all the rain - look at the beautiful flowers that came up a few days after the rain storm was gone...