Well, instead of being at the hospital recovering from surgery and meeting my little boy, I’m sitting here with a homemade iced mocha, watching Analise draw “miley face”s on her Aquadoodle. At yesterdays 39 week appointment, our doctor was sure that our little Toone-to-be had turned himself into the right position to come on his own time, so we wait:) I’m making some good progress towards labor, though, so it could be this weekend… or not. Babies come when they’re ready, and on the perfect day God’s chosen for their birthday. I have an appointment on Monday, my actual due date (June 5th) and I think if little one hasn’t arrived by Friday, we may be induced that day. We’ll see… but keep watching your email for an announcement! I promise we’ll let you know as soon as he arrives. There’s wireless internet at our hospital, so Brian’s planning on sending out an email just as soon as he can – with pictures of course.

What are we doing in these “waiting days”? Honestly, not much. They’ve been lovely. It’s so great to have Brian around, not dividing himself between school and home. We’re still “nesting”:) Cleaning, organizing, scrapbooking, more cleaning (it seems that’s something you have to do on a continual basis…hmm). We’ve been doing errands together, making life much easier for me, and more enjoyable to have Analise and Brian with me. I’ve been making french toast and pancakes on my new griddle (my Mother’s Day present), and it’s WONDERFUL. It’s very easy to clean, and as long as I have Brian around, it’s easy to get out/put away since it lives on top of the cupboards. Today we had chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes – a double batch so we can enjoy them for the rest of the week.

Brian’s had some good bike rides, in spite of the heat and humidity. He’s taking the cell phone with him in case I need to call him home to have a baby. Yesterday, though, he got a call from my sister that had him worried for a minute. He didn’t look at the caller ID, and he couldn’t tell who it was, except that the voice was chipper. He had to hang up and then called me back, relieved to find out that I was fine and he could keep riding. Today, he got a call from our friend, Lauren, that he couldn’t tell who it was. So if you want to have some fun, give a call to our cell phone and maybe you’ll catch Brian riding and send him frantically biking home to me, expecting a baby:).

I think we’re going out for a nice dinner, just the two of us tonight. I’m excited!

For your reading enjoyment today, I thought I’d share with you the list of things that I prefer to eat in these late-pregnant days:

• cold watermelon;
• fresh strawberries with a dusting of sugar – a favorite breakfast, snack or late night snack;
• homemade guacomole – simply mashed avocado with garlic salt and chopped tomato – with Doritos for dipping. This has been lunch for the past couple days.
• oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (particularly from the Betty Crocker bag mix) with a glass of cold milk. This can be justified as a good-for-me breakfast:) Brian needs to go to the store to get a couple mixes today.
• Georgia Peach sno-cones… we’re going out to get one this afternoon:)
• iced mocha or latte (which I’ve been making at home in the past few days – yum! I’m currently sipping on a venti iced choco-latte creation.)

Here’s a picture of what was going on as I was writing this blog. Brian and the stuffed cows were napping (per Analise’s orders), and as he told me to get a picture, Analise got her little camera, too. As I was taking the picture, she said, “Miles! Cheese, baby – cute!” You can’t see it, but she had a big smile behind her camera:)

Today’s a nice day here at the Toone house. My husband has been a hero taking all my orders and helping me get the house “ready”… whatever that means. While he was out riding this morning, though, I took some of my downtime during Analise’s nap to try to get her baby book caught up. (yes, it is good timing, isn’t it?? This is what’s called “nesting” of the pregnant woman.) It was fun to reminisce over her early days, all her firsts and how much she’s changed since she turned one just less than a year ago. It was especially sweet to remember things surrounding her arrival and the first few weeks. A few notables:

• Our first outing – Analise was born on Tuesday night, we came home from the hospital on Thursday evening, and I think on Friday afternoon we went out the mother/baby store in downtown Davis to see if their lactation specialist could verify that we were doing ok with breastfeeding. I vaguely remember it was exhausting and a bit overwhelming to get all of us out of the house, into the car, into the store and back home. The 2nd outing, if you could call it that, was memorable… we were surprised by a sharp banging on our apartment door on Monday (when Analise was 6 days old). It was the fire chief telling us there was an apartment fire in our building and we needed to evacuate! I ask you… what would YOU do in that situation?? We grabbed 2 diaper bags, stuffed all the onesies, burp cloths and diapers into them we could (if we knew anything after being parents for 6 days, it was that we would need a lot of clothes and diapers and stuff to clean up Analise’s spitting up), Brian grabbed his Snoopy dog that he’s had since he was little, a framed picture of the 3 of us we’d just been given, a bible, and we evacuated with Analise in the car seat into the near-100 degree afternoon. Thankfully, we were only outside for 10 minutes or so, but there had actually been a kitchen fire in the apartment on the other side of the building from us – I think we shared a wall with them. What a fun experience! (below, she looks so tiny in her infant seat so I thought I’ld post this ust for comparison, Analise resting in the infant seat this past week – note: she’s talking on the cell phone, and she’d asked for all the animals to sit with her.)


• First travel – Just a few days later, on Thursday, July 8th (I think??), we flew from Sacramento to Denver to Minneapolis for my sister, Anna, and Hal’s wedding. What did we bring (the baby book asked)? What DIDN’T we bring!?! Very little for Brian or I, but tons of bottles, syringes (since we were still finger-feeding Analise and she wasn’t breast-feeding well), a breastpump, lots of diapers, clothes, blankets and burp cloths. It was definitely an experience to travel with one so little!

I’ll close with the heart-warming moment of the day, and another “first” for the baby book. I asked her if she could say, “I love you”, and she said, “I wuv you, mommy” and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I’m just about to cry just typing it:) I love being a mom.

The other day, when Brian and I both got drinks from Starbucks, we got into a discussion about really getting your money’s worth for your drink. He normally gets a venti caramel macchiato, while I normally get a small drink, lately an iced latte of some flavor. We realized that when you get an iced drink, you REALLY only get half of a small sized drink. I finished my latte, and when the ice had melted, there was more than half a glass of water left. HMM. We determined the best thing to do is to start asking for a my regular latte with a cup of ice:) Haven’t done it yet, but we probably will! Today, though, I got drinks for both of us (NOT Starbucks, a different independent coffee shop that we much prefer… don’t get me started on the sore lack of coffee shops with “character” here… practically your only choices are Starbucks, Starbucks, and Panera (with less real coffee drink options)… I digress). This time, I ordered a small drink (a Nutty Buddy, a lovely mocha-like drink with hazelnut and chocolate sauce…mmm!), brought it home and poured it over ice. It’s divine – and plenty big! This is the WAY TO GO:)

Just wanted to check in to say that nothing exciting is happening in the Toone household. At my 38 week appointment yesterday, my doctor seems to think our little boy may have flipped yet again, back into breech (butt-first) position. We didn’t get it confirmed via ultrasound, since he’s got a week to flip-flop back. But my next appointment is Tuesday, and if he’s still breech then we may be having a baby on Wednesday or Thursday by c-section. *sigh* These last weeks of being pregnant are like cruel mind games… Oh well, he’ll get here one way or another, on the day God’s already chosen as his birthday. BUT! Today would be a good day, as he could share his birthday with Grandpa Dale. Happy Birthday, Daddy!! No one would guess how old you are! We love you!

I am a lucky woman in so many ways. But yesterday was really sweet as my friends from Clearwater Community Church threw a baby shower for our little Toone-to-Be. It was so fun, and I appreciate them so much!! We got a big gift bag of stock-up items, like wipes, tylenol, diaper creme, baby wash, etc. We got a few cute outfits and some crib sheets. I was really surprised, though, to open a gift from all the hostesses – a Baby Gymnastics Jumperoo! I registered for it at Babies ‘R Us just as a fun thought for something new that Analise never had, but I never expected to get it. What a treat! I think little Josiah will enjoy it… Analise is dying for us to open it, and I’m sure she’d love to try it out!

Here’s a picture of all the lovely ladies. Obviously, I’m in the center, looking LARGE. I think that’s a bad angle for me… Analise was holding a little camera she’d found at home. She’s so funny – she’ll say, “Miles! Ready? Cheese!” as she’s pretending to take your picture. It’s still hard to catch her smiling, though. She entertained herself with blocks at the party (below). She’s never really enjoyed these large Legos, but Sunday in the nursery, she spent quite a bit of time with them, and she was building tall towers with them during the party.

Lastly, here’s a little glimpse of me and my late-pregnancy craving – Sno-Biz sno cones. I don’t want anything but Georgia Peach flavor, a mix of strawberry and peach. Man – it hits the stop! I’m dying for one right now! You can’t beat it for $1!