And I would drive 500 miles...

We almost pulled off a milestone this week. Almost. Fox had depositions to take in Pooler, Georgia on Friday (it's by Savannah), so he did a lot of driving. On the way to the game yesterday, he realized that we were very close to making it 500 miles on one tank of gas -- one tiny Prius tank of gas. I think we would have made it too, but at 494 miles, the gas light started flashing, and we were right at an exit. So in an abundance of caution, we gave up on the milestone and pulled over to get some gas. I know it hurt Fox's pride a little bit, but I appreciated that our safety came first. Plus, if we ran out of gas, we would be late to the game.

The game. Ugh. The Vols won, but it was not pretty. We went into double overtime versus the UAB Blazers (fyi... a "blazer" is apparently a cute green dragon, not a navy sport coat, sport utility vehicle, or whatever else you might be thinking). I'm afraid the rest of the season is going to be a long, hard road. But on the bright side, that long, hard road won't include me sitting on bleachers for numerous consecutive weeks, as it has thus far. I will miss my weekly Petro.

The best part of the game this week was halftime. October is Native American heritage month, so the Vols invited a singing/dancing group of Cherokee from Cherokee, North Carolina to entertain the crowd. They were decked out in elaborate costumes and did some fantastic dances. I did however, cry a single tear when they introduced "Miss Cherokee" and "Lil' Miss Cherokee," who appeared to be 10 and 5 year old girls, respectively. I was sad these proud people had given in to the ridiculous white man tradition of child beauty pageants.

Baby Fox has had a big week. We went to pilates Monday night, to see Bobby Bare Jr. perform at the Earl on Tuesday night, the doctor on Wednesday, and the ballgame on Saturday. We also started our 24th week of pregnancy on Saturday. She has been moving and kicking a lot. We got a great report from the midwife -- she has a very strong heartbeat and growth is measuring right on schedule. This week, we will be busy making taste buds and sweat glands.

The best thing about this week is that Baby Fox is now considered to be viable, meaning that if she was born right now, she would have a chance of surviving. It wouldn't be certain or easy, but it is still a reassuring milestone to me. I am starting to think about her eventually being an actual baby instead of just a feeling inside me more and more, and realizing how much we need and need to do to prepare for her.

My mom gave me the dress that they brought me home from the hospital in, still in the box in which dad brought it to the hospital. He wrote mom's name and room number on the box. Fox has promised to write my name and room number below where dad wrote mom's and bring it to the hospital. Hopefully Baby Fox will be about the size I was at birth.

Mom is incredible at taking care of things and keeping them like new. She is also an amazing smocker and sew-er (that can't be the right word, but seamstress doesn't seem right for what I'm trying to say either). I can't wait to go through the cedar chest where she has preserved all of the dresses she sewed and smocked for me as a baby and little girl.

Have a great week, everybody. Be sure to check in on us next week, when Baby Fox will weigh as much as an average rutabaga (that's a pound and a half, for those of you unfamiliar with the mystery vegetable that is the rutabaga)!

p.s. I've noticed that Blogger deletes my two spaces between sentences and replaces them with one space every time I upload a picture. I don't know how to fix this, and it drives me crazy. If anyone knows, please fill me in. I get tired of going back and putting all the extra spaces in.