Correction - letting go is the hardest part

So, this post isn't about Baby Fox. It is about one of the other Foxes Three - the Foxes' three wonderful animals. Those of you who know me know how much I love animals. I think they are a lot like little children -- true innocents who don't know spite and vengeance and hate and all the worst things in people. I've been a vegetarian for eighteen years because I think those animal lives have inherent value and aren't here for my consumption (since I am privileged enough to live in a society where that is not essential to my survival and one life must be chosen over another). Those of you who really know me also know how much I love a petite tabby cat named Kerouac, after my favorite writer.

I adopted Kerouac during a very tough time in my life. I really needed to pour all my love and care into something and feel responsible for it to keep me grounded and focused on life. If I had something relying on me, I could hold everything together. So when my good friend Page emailed me on September 17, 1999 and said that four kittens had just been born in her backyard, I knew I needed one. When I met the kittens six weeks later, I knew I wanted the runt of the litter who was a male tabby. I have a soft spot for tabbies from my childhood cat Nermal, and I prefer boy animals because I think they are more loving. I named him Kerouac. My other dear friends the Gobbles were adopting the two girls from the litter, and since I didn't want to leave one kitten alone, I took Kerouac's brother also and named him Owen after the book I was reading at the time -- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (it's a great book -- you should really check it out if you haven't).

So I took Owen and Kerouac to my college apartment in Knoxville, and I loved the heck out of them. It wasn't hard to do because they were such great boys. They romped and played together constantly. If I was standing, they would climb up my jeans with their tiny claws to my hands for me to pet them or climb into my lap if I was sitting. After college, they moved with me to Nashville for law school. It was a better apartment with a Juliet balcony, and they spent lots of time looking at birds. They also spent lots of time sitting on pages of books wondering why I was highlighting cases instead of giving them my undivided attention. When we moved to Atlanta, the cats hit the jackpot. We lived in a small condo for two years, but then moved into a much larger house with fun things like stairs! The cats loved to jump off them and quickly took over the entire house, though they spent most of their time in our bedroom on our bed.

I love both cats, but Kerouac was always especially dear to me. He was shy around new people and clung to me a lot more than Owen. He was also incredibly smart. When I petted him and stopped, he would reach out and touch my hand as I drew it away to get me to continue. This evolved into him walking up to me when I laid in bed every night and taking his paw and tapping my hand twice (why twice, I don't know) to get me to pet him. Of course, it worked every time. How could I resist? He could get me to pet him for a good 30 minutes by continuing to tap my hand every time I stopped. What happened if I hid my hands under the covers? He would take his paw and tap my mouth twice. I have no idea where he learned this, but it is a great example of what a sweet, gentle soul he was. If there are angels among us, I spent 11 years with one. He was also the softest creatures I have ever known. His fur was softer than a rabbit. He always slept beside me and would often hold my hand with his paw. Once I got pregnant, he always slept with some part of him draped over my stomach, usually an arm, sometimes his whole body. I was really excited about the baby getting to meet him and taking pictures of the two of them together. He would have been an amazing big brother.

Kerouac started acting a little different on Friday. He wasn't as personable as usual -- he really just slept. I didn't think a lot about it because he didn't seem upset. On Saturday, when I got out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready, he didn't eat like he usually does (both our cats like for you to watch them eat for some reason). He spent a lot of the day laying under the coffee table, which was unusual, and he hadn't slept in bed with us. We got a can of tuna from the grocery store because it's his favorite, and he wouldn't touch it. He also wasn't purring. On Sunday, he wouldn't eat again and spent a lot of time under the coffee table. I picked him up and brought him to the bed to watch tv with me. He was pretty listless until he climbed on my stomach and wrapped a paw around my belly while watching the Golden Globes (as seen to the left, in the last photo we took of him). I thought this was a good sign, but had decided to take him to the vet on Monday. Then, as soon as the Globes were over, he got off the bed, walked into our shower, laid down and started panting. At this point, we took him to the emergency vet.

The vet said his red blood cell count was dangerously low and he was dehydrated. She ran lots of tests and started him on fluids and antibiotics. His red blood cell count didn't go down the next morning, which was a hopeful sign. We visited him at the vet, and he started purring when we petted him, and he wrapped his arms around Fox's arm and rested his head there. We stayed with him for about an hour. It was a great visit, and we felt like he was on the mend. I am so thankful for that time we had where he seemed like his old self. We did get test results back that evening (last night) that told us that his anemia was nonregenerative, which meant that his body was not making more red blood cells. This was causing him to be listless and not interested in food. Last night, we authorized a blood transfusion to get his red blood cell count up. It worked! We woke up this morning to news that his numbers were good, and we could take him home at noon. It wasn't a cure, but it should give him more time and make him comfortable.

Unfortunately, we got a call about 10:30 saying that he was having a lot of trouble breathing and had to be put in an oxygen tent. At 1:30, the vet called and told us if we wanted to spend time with him before he passed, we needed to get there as soon as possible. The vet had taken some x-rays, and it appeared he had cancer in his lungs, and they were filling with fluid. We went to him, and it was bad. He couldn't breathe and was crying. The vet said he had a few hours left, and he was clearly struggling. We spent about 20 minutes trying to comfort him, saw the pain he was in, and asked for the vet to put him down.

I have never had an animal put down before. It was so fast. One minute he was panting and hurt, the next he was calm, then we felt his heart and breathing stop. He was still so warm and soft -- it was really hard for me to realize that he was gone. It was almost like we had cured him. He felt so alive still and wasn't suffering. I held him and felt his weight -- that same weight that I felt curled up against me so often and had long been such a source of comfort for me. His eyes were open and peaceful and looked at me just the same as they had when I would tell him my secrets and how much I loved him. When we put him in the cardboard casket, he was in the same curled up position he often slept in, and he looked so beautiful. All of this made it so much harder to accept that he's gone. I'm still not sure I have.

Fox buried him in the backyard in the shade of our tall cypress trees. I want to try to find something positive out of something so devastating. That one thing is how wonderful Fox has been through the whole thing. He is so sad but also so supportive of my grief. I love him more than ever. Which is good because an hour and a half after Kerouac passed away, I went in for a doctor appointment. The midwife is concerned about the level of amniotic fluid around the baby and is admitting me to the hospital in the morning to see if we can get labor going. It's hard to imagine going from such grief to delivering a baby with little time in between. I need to get my act together because I don't want Baby Fox born with inherited sadness. I know having Fox with me through this will make it all okay.

So I leave you with a quote from my sweet kitty's namesake:

"I wish I was free// Of that slaving meat wheel // And safe in heaven, dead."

I know you are safe now, sweet boy, and I hope to see you again some day.

Kerouac Moore Fox (September 17, 1999 - January 18, 2011)

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

I'm pretty sure this bun is done. We got some new glasses for Fox today so he can impress the baby.

Tom Petty totally had it right. Waiting is rough. Today is Baby Fox's due date, and there is no sign of her. My midwife says there is no way to predict when she'll show up, so here we are, just waiting. It's actually pretty hard to believe that this day has actually arrived (whether Baby Fox does or not). It seems like just yesterday, Fox and I were looking at this and laughing with disbelief. That was May 8.

At that point, I did some research on the internet and saw that I had 252 days of pregnancy left. That seemed like an eternity. For those who don't know a whole lot about pregnancy (like me, 252 days ago), pregnancy is considered 40 weeks. However, you aren't even pregnant for two of those weeks because the 40 weeks is measured from the last period, which is usually about two weeks before conception occurs. So at the point of conception, you are really two weeks pregnant. Then you can't find out you are pregnant until about two weeks into it (even with the early test). So you are about a month of the 40 weeks in before you even know it. There, that's my biology lesson for the day.

My first mother's day, May 9, 2010. We were working in the garden - check out my collards.

We went to our first doctor's appointment on May 27 and saw the heartbeat. It was amazing -- just a tiny, rhythmic gray flicker. Then our midwife gave us the statistics of how uncertain pregnancy is at the six-week point, which was honestly shocking to me. I had never really heard anyone speak of miscarriages being so common. We prayed a lot for that little bean with the rhythmic gray flicker.

We went to surprise my parents that weekend in Colorado, where they were visiting my brother for Dad's 81st birthday and Memorial Day. I think everyone was surprised. We went to South Dakota and saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood, the Mammoth Site, and Devil's Tower (which is in Wyoming).

The Crazy Horse Monument and the Mammoth Site

When we headed back east after the trip, we had 229 days to go. That was also when the "morning" sickness started. I put morning in quotations because it actually lasts all day, at least for me. The only cure was to eat one Saltine cracker every 8 minutes. On June 9, we had our 8-week appointment. Baby Fox, known to us as "nubbin" at this point, was waving her little flippers all around in a manner very similar to a victory dance that Fox does, and I completely fell in love with her at this point (however, I thought she was a he). And we have 220 days to go, a/k/a forever!

On June 18, we went to West Tennessee to tell Fox's parents the big news and were 211 days away from the "big day." On July 9, we had our 12 week ultrasound, and she looked less like a bean and a lot like a baby. She was very active, though I couldn't yet feel any of it. We were under the daunting 200 day mark, at 190 days left. On July 15, the morning sickness turned off like a light switch, which was super -- 184 days left during which I would not constantly feel one millisecond away from hurling. The most exciting event so far occurred on August 10 and 12-- on the 10th, I felt the first tiny kick, and on August 12, as we were laying on the couch after work, Fox felt her kick. We still delight in feeling her kick and punch around, though these days her space is so small that she mostly just squirms around. The other most exciting event was the full anatomy ultrasound on August 25, when we found out that my motherly instincts are way off, and Baby Fox is not a boy, but a girl. And still 143 days to go. UGH!

I could continue on in this fashion to fully illustrate how grueling the waiting actually is, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say that 252 days is a long time. However, a lot of really amazing things happen during that time to keep it interesting. I will miss having Baby Fox as my secret friend, kicking me during conference calls. But now, I am ready to meet her. There's still time to cast your vote in the due date pool.

Baby Fox is now the size of a small pumpkin. I'm really glad we weren't trying to get to the hospital in Icemaggedon 2011. We thawed out enough to see our midwife on Thursday. Everything looks good. It's all about waiting now.

Snow day

I didn't believe the hype. "A big snowstorm is coming," they said. "Sure," I thought. As you can see, I was mistaken. We have allegedly gotten 9 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. It doesn't look like quite that much to me, but the street next to our house is a sheet of ice. Fox walked the mile to work this morning, while I chose to work from home. Neither of us were interested in involving ourselves with the clueless drivers of Atlanta and risking the life of our dear Prius. After all, we just installed the car seat yesterday -- how sad would it be to already be in a wreck? It has been nice to not put on office clothes today, so working from home is just fine with me.

As promised, I took lots of pictures of the nursery. Though it is finished for the time being, the nursery is a work in progress. The lactation consultant who taught the breastfeeding class at Piedmont Hospital recommended sleeping in the same room as the baby for the first couple of months. For most people, this means having the baby sleep in the parent's room. We decided that since the nursery was previously a guest bedroom, we could just leave the bed in there for a couple of months and sleep there. We hope this will make Baby Fox more comfortable and used to her room. Also, while I'm off work and Fox is working, I can sleep in the nursery, and he can get a good night's sleep in our room some nights. Once Baby Fox is sleeping more regularly through the night, we will take the bed out and rearrange the room some. I have my eye on a really cute wall decal on Etsy to decorate with once we take that next step.



Here is the aforementioned bed with the crib (complete with Sleep Sheep, which I've heard is a must -- for those of you unfamiliar with the Sleep Sheep, it is a white noise machine that simulates the mother's heartbeat, rain, or whale songs)



Here is the crib and changing table. The cloth diaper arsenal has been washed and will be ready to go once we get through the newborn Huggies that were gifted to us. There is also a healthy dose of swaddlers and blankets on the bottom shelf. The mobile was mine when I was a baby (and maybe Bill's too -- I should check with mom). Speaking of mom, you can see the crib skirt she made. Here is a better photo of the fabric, though I failed to get the cute pompom trim:





Mom also made a cover for the stool that goes with the vanity. Those of you born in the 70's or early 80's may recognize the Fisher Price chime ball on the table. Also visible is the Twilight Turtle, which is a nightlight that makes stars on the ceiling. Where was this when I was little?



Baby Fox is already amassing a library and some cute stuffed animals.



Here's a perspective shot. I'm standing at the bathroom door. To my immediate right off camera is the door to the hall, with the vanity next to it and the closet next to that. See, it's like you are practically there. You can also see some snow out the windows.

Even though Baby Fox is now the size of a small watermelon, I'm feeling pretty good. I got a haircut before going out on New Year's Eve, because who knows when I'll have time to get another one.

I always hate taking the stockings down.

We're hoping the snow melts pretty soon and/or Baby Fox waits a bit before making her entrance into the world. Though we're about two miles from the hospital, it just seems easier to not add snow to the craziness that is having your first baby. She's due in FIVE DAYS, though I haven't really noticed anything lately that indicates she's on her way (though last Thursday, I would have told you she was going to be here within a few days). I have set up a pool for anyone who wants to participate in some good, old-fashioned gambling (really, if you can't gamble over a baby, why have one? This is a free pool to guess arrival date, size, etc. And no, you don't have to register -- just click on "enter a guess" after you click on the blog link). I think you can access it on the side of the blog.

I'll keep posting and hopefully you'll keep reading. Eventually, there will be a baby.

Fat with promise

Happy New Year, everyone! I really love New Years. There is something about the clean slate of a whole new year that just feels good. It's a new decade too, so that's an extra level of excitement. Everything feels fat with promise. This year is especially fat with promise, not just because I'm, ahem... several... pounds heavier, but because it is the year that dear Baby Fox will be born. When I think about a life that has yet to be lived, I am overwhelmed with possibility and hope and excitement. I am literally fat with the promise of a new, unlived life. Wow.

I have to admit, I was hoping she'd squeak in to 2010, but now that it is clear she won't, I don't mind waiting a little longer. I think it will be more fun for her to be born as far from Christmas as she can get. Fox's birthday is Christmas Day, and it really takes something away from your birthday when you have to share it with Jesus.

Speaking of Christmas, this year was very different from all previous Christmases. Every year of my life, I've spent Christmas in my hometown of Columbia, Tennessee. Once we got married, we still split each Christmas between Columbia and Fox's hometown, Bruceton. I know this is the first Christmas Bill has spent outside of Tennessee -- he even drove home from Denver one year when there was a blizzard and all the flights were cancelled. This may even be the first Christmas in my mom's and dad's lives that they have spent Christmas outside of Tennessee.

My mom does Christmas like a domestic goddess -- everything is spotless, beautifully decorated, and delicious. However, because Christmas was so close to my due date, I was not allowed to make the four hour drive to Columbia. So mom, dad, and Bill came to us for Christmas Eve and morning and Fox's family came to us for Christmas day and night. Things were not really spotless, beautifully decorated, or as delicious, but we tried and we had a very good time.

Mom and Bill did most of the cooking, which was a nice break for me.

I did have some festive table decorations.

The Moores.

Kerouac wants to know what's in that belly!

All my favorite guys. We tried to use the timer to get a group shot, instead I got the giggles.

Banjo was excited to help open presents

So was Owen

Who am I kidding? We were excited to open presents too.

Fox with his grandmother, sister, and mother

After the Christmas festivities were over, we headed back to work as usual. The week between Christmas and New Years is always much more low-key in the law firm world. Lots of folks take time off, so you can get work done without a lot of interruptions and stress. We did have New Year's Eve off work, so we went to the movies. We had seen True Grit over Christmas, and it was fantastic, so next on our list was The Fighter. We really enjoyed it too. We went out to dinner with our good friends the Bartletts to one of my favorite restaurants, The Vortex. We realized recently that The Vortex is not child friendly, so we are trying to get our fill of it pre-baby. They do have take-out though, so I can see that in my future. After dinner we all went to ring in the New Year with the spectacular Grant Cove Crew of the Feases, Hacketts, and Cairo. A good time was had by all.

Baby Fox got measured, and she's in the 60th percentile for size and measuring right on her due date. The estimate is that she'll be around 7 to 7 1/2 pounds at birth, which is allegedly in TEN DAYS!! At this point, she's fully-cooked and just hanging out to gain some more weight which will help regulate her body temperature in the outside world. It's pretty strange thinking she could come at any minute, though I've heard that first babies are often late. Fox is betting on the 19th as her arrival to coincide with the full moon. I think that would be nice. The 20th would also be nice because it is the 6th anniversary of Fox proposing to me on that East Nashville stage.

I'm going to post nursery pictures this weekend. Get ready! Also, I love to drop lyrics in everyday conversation. Extra points if you know the song and/or artist from which the title of this post is derived.

Waiting for Christmas

I can't believe it's three days until Christmas! I know it's really four, but we Moores have always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. I think we just get too excited to wait any longer. This probably explains my lack of patience with all things pregnancy. I was dying to find out the sex of the baby, dying to see what she looked like, and now I'm just dying to meet her, though I'm taking the advice of my friends who are parents and enjoying these times when I can sleep all through the night, go out to dinner, etc. I know that Fox and I won't have all this alone time ever again, so we're trying to enjoy it through all the anticipation and excitement.

My fantastic friends at work threw a surprise shower for me. One of my bosses told me that we had a meeting with a big client the next day. I updated our docket for the client, wore something nice, and headed to the conference room with my boss. Next thing I know, a room full of coworkers and streamers was greeting me. They totally got me -- I had no idea. We had the cutest cake and petits fours, and everyone was so generous with their gifts. And they invited Fox! It's always such a treat to get to see him during the workday.

We like to joke that I should have hyphenated my last name and opened a law firm called Fox & Moore-Fox

My crafty friend Dawn crocheted this lovely afghan for Baby Fox, and my thoughtful friend Natasha had a onesie made for Baby Fox to support her dad's rockin' band.

The nursery is almost finished. Fox put the last coat of paint on the dresser last night, and hopefully tonight we'll move it in and put the finishing touches on the nursery. I hope to share some photos with you next week. Fox put the birth mix together into a playlist, and I've started packing the hospital bag. We are getting so close -- 25 days until the due date!

We're superbusy getting ready for Christmas here. Since I can't travel, everyone is coming to me, which is a little overwhelming. I did cave in and get our first cleaning person ever to come clean the house. She spent several hours here today, and it was really nice to come home to a clean house. Of course, I spent several hours last night getting everything ready for her to come, and several hours today worrying that the cats were not happy with a stranger in the house. She was really nice though and did a great job. She may be coming back once Baby Fox makes her grand entrance.

Speaking of Baby Fox's grand entrance, lately it feels like she is about to burst into the world Alien-style. She is moving around a lot and feels really strong. We go to the doctor tomorrow (we go every week now) and they are going to try to estimate her weight. Check in with us next week to get the details. Baby Fox will be as long as a stalk of Swiss chard. Yum!

I almost forgot... I promised photos of the silver dress from 1997.

The prodigal blogger returns!

Well, well, well.... look who's the delinquent blogger, again! Perhaps if I pick up where I left off, you could forgive me my tardiness? Now, where were we? Right, I had just turned 31 (and apparently am now too old and forgetful to keep up with my blog). The following Wednesday, Fox's band, Bellwether Station (http://www.bellwetherstationatl.com/), played the "Best of" night at Smith's Olde Bar, having been invited to do so based on previous successful performances at said bar. It was a great show with a great crowd, and their last for a while, as they continue to record their album in our basement. Here are some action shots:

The next weekend, we went to an amazing party at our friends', the Feases, house. There was delicious food, lots of beverages, and great friends... and, it turned out to not just be a regular party. It was a shower for Baby Fox!! The hostesses even had it specially vegetarian catered and decorated with baby photos of Fox and me. It overwhelms me sometimes when I think about the incredible people we've been blessed with in our lives.

We ate well, watched UT beat Vanderbilt (which is always bittersweet for us, being alumni of both schools), opened presents, and decorated onesies. Jenny knitted us the tiniest baby mittens. Baby Fox got lots of very thoughtful and exciting presents. And yes, that is a photo of my husband as a naked Indian on the banner below. Why? Why not.

And did I mention we ate well? Yes? Okay, good. I do not want that left out of the story.

After all the excitement of the party/shower, we had a short, but rigorous, work week and headed to Tennessee for Thanksgiving Tuesday night after work. We were excited about the trip, because it was the last one I was allowed to take until the arrival of Baby Fox. I am now allowed to go no farther than about 100 miles away from Atlanta, which doesn't really take you anywhere worth going. So we packed up Banjo and hit the road to the state of our births. Owen and Kerouac stayed behind to keep an eye on the homefront.

I realize that our blog is mistitled, and we should be The Foxes Six. However, since Kerouac, Owen, and Banjo do not have internet access, hopefully they will never be the wiser that they are left out of the title, though they make frequent guest appearances. I got on this tangent because I was thinking how interesting it is that we were all born in Tennessee, including Owen and Kerouac. Banjo is our only native Georgian, but he will soon be accompanied by Baby Fox in this distinguished group.

We visited with my parents and brother all day Wednesday, then on Thursday, my grandmother, aunt, and uncle came down for mom's smorgasbord of Thanksgiving deliciousness. It was so nice to see everyone. And of course, we ate really well.

My grandmother had not gotten to see me pregnant yet, so it was fun to visit with her. My brother hadn't seen me since I was a mere eight weeks pregnant. I'm not sure why I'm giving him my "bemused" face. Mom and dad were really good about documenting everything with pictures. I'm hoping if I chock this post full of photos, I can distract you, dear reader, from the infrequency of my blogging. It's my very own "shock and awe" technique.

Mom's good friend Susan knit Baby Fox this beautiful sweater with little bear buttons. And yes, that is a photo of my husband naked on red velour in the background.

After our huge Thanksgiving lunch feast, we packed up the Prius and headed to West Tennessee to visit with Fox's family. We got our traditional Sun-Drop for the road, and I was pleased to learn that mom had secured caffeine-free Sun-Drop for me. If you are unfamiliar with Sun-Drop, you really need to visit a gas station in Middle Tennessee and treat yourself to our glorious regional beverage.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Fox's family, then settled into a food coma. We usually go to the movies after Thanksgiving dinner, but it was cold and rainy, and we had gotten a late start on dinner. So instead, we started watching Boardwalk Empire from the first episode. It is quite a show and makes me wish we had HBO. Fox's mom and sister always hit the stores for Black Friday, so they turned in for the night while we stayed up to see what would happen next with Nucky. We watched lots of episodes, but we'll have to wait until the DVD comes out to finish. On Saturday, we headed back to ATL.

On the Baby Fox front, we are so close that it's scary. Luckily, our breastfeeding class was last Saturday, and our childbirth class was yesterday. I felt like as long as she stayed put until I could attend those classes and learn some things, we'd be okay. I did learn a lot, and so did Fox. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that I had learned lots of things already through my research of all things baby (I am a nerdy lawyer, you know I'm going to do tons of research on my own). Especially after yesterday's childbirth class, I really feel like I can do this. Which is good, for obvious reasons.

Baby Fox weighs a little over five pounds, as much as a honeydew melon. Now that it's cold in Atlanta (it is snowing as I type), my wardrobe has had to evolve a bit. In an ironic twist, the only coat I have that fits over Baby Fox is the furry leopard coat I got for my 16th birthday, lovingly referred to in high school by some as the "pimp coat." Strangely, a lot of my old things from high school fit over the baby because it was the 90's, and I was all about "grunge." Friday we went to the Midtown Atlanta Rotary Christmas Party (Fox is in Rotary now. Yes, that's how we roll.), which was black tie. Fox looked dashing in his tux, but I was concerned about what I could possibly wear. Luckily, I have a stretchy dress in my arsenal from junior presentation circa 1997 (Presentation, you ask? In Columbia, we had two high school sororities. Yes, we did. I was a Sub-Deb. The other sorority was Kappa Phi Delta a/k/a Crappa Phi. There were three events every year -- Barn Bash, Christmas Dinner Dance, and Presentation. I promise to dig up some pictures and prove this (and hopefully embarrass some old friends)). Anyway, I got Fox to take a picture of me with our tree. If I had been thinking, which I feel like I'm doing less of these days, I would have taken the camera to the party to get some photos of the two of us.

I made this photo larger so you can try to find fun ornaments. Do you see the Mystery Machine, Grimace, the Vanderbilt Commodore, and a homemade Big Bird? Also, Kerouac is surveying the scene from the top of the stairs, threatening to pounce on the tree at any moment. Feel free to click on photo for more ornament fun. I really love Christmas ornaments.

I'm going to ask you to join me next week, and try to be here for you to join. If you do, Baby Fox should weigh six pounds, be the size of a crenshaw melon (fake fruit alert!!), and only have a month left on the inside!

Megapost! Also, this is marathon...

And I'm late again with the weekly post. In fact, I've skipped an entire week. Really I'm just trying to be spontaneous and not too predictable. Yes, that's it -- we're going with spontaneity. So hang on to your hats, because you are about to experience two weeks in one post. That's right... you might want to go get a snack before you read further.

You would think after all the Halloween festivities, that last week would have been a quiet one. Not so. My last pregnancy pilates class was scheduled for Monday night, but I got an email saying our instructor had food poisoning. I didn't want to wait a whole week for the make-up class, so I took advantage of Oh Baby! Fitness' wonderful make-up policy and tried out one of their other class offerings -- water aerobics. I had mom's maternity swimsuit from 1979, which amazingly, actually fit me (It is somewhat hilarious though. I considered posting a picture of it for about two seconds, then came to my senses). Class was a lot of fun. You really do feel weightless in the water, which is the opposite of how I usually feel these days.

We had an appointment with our midwife on Wednesday morning, and she says everything is going as it should. The big excitement came Wednesday night. We caved in and had a 3d ultrasound. I think they make babies look pretty scary, but we hadn't seen her in 9 weeks at that point, wouldn't see her again until birth, and Fox really wanted to check in on her. I forget that since he doesn't feel her every move like I do, it probably seems less real and less like everything is okay to him. Our appointment was at 8 pm. I knew we were in trouble around 6:30 when she had been moving around nonstop since 4 that afternoon -- by 8, she was going to be sound asleep! Sure enough, when the technician finally got the settings to the proper level and she no longer looked demonic or fishy (seriously, the distortion of the fluid is terrifying), we saw Baby Fox curled up in a little ball with not just her hands on her face, but also her feet (!), sound asleep. After some poking with the transducer and some stomach jostling, she woke up and gave us some yawns and blinks, but she never really uncurled. Regardless, we got a couple of really cute face shots. It's hard to tell who she looks like, but she is a cutie. I'm not going to put the photos on the blog (it just seems too personal and/or medical to post out into the ether -- like posting x-rays on the internet), but if you want to see them, send me an email.

Friday and Saturday I had seminars at work. We did manage to make it to the Chomp and Stomp on Saturday afternoon. What is the Chomp and Stomp, you ask? The better question is what isn't the Chomp and Stomp. It is a chili cook-off, bluegrass festival, art show, you name it. I even saw some magicians this year. It is probably our favorite Atlanta festival, and they have a surprisingly large array of vegetarian chili to taste. After the Chomp and Stomp, we went to the birthday party for our favorite one-year-old, Adrienne Bartlett. She was surprisingly gentle and lady-like with her cake, much to my disappointment. Adrienne's mom, Rebecca, did an amazing job with her party. Everything was beautiful and delicious.

After Adrienne the party animal got tuckered out, we headed to Grant Central Pizza for our favorite Atlanta pizza, then to the Earl to have the Felice Brothers sous our blues away (it's a lyric from one of their songs, and refers to John Phillip Sousa -- I'm not just making up works for the heck of it, Bush-style). It was a wonderful show, and I secured a seat in the back on the only couch in the Earl. Baby Fox seemed to enjoy the accordion, and they played one of the songs from the birth mix, Run Chicken Run.

Whew... one week down. One photoless week. I will now give you a photo dear reader, so you will see where this post is going.

Fox was set to run his ninth marathon on Saturday -- the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon. He was finishing up his training the week before, and we were working hard at our jobs. On Wednesday, we did have a reprieve to take Baby Fox to see her last show for many years. We saw Lucero and Social Distortion at the Tabernacle. It was a great time -- we got comfy seats in the front of the top balcony. Lucero played my favorite of their songs, Nights Like These, which is, you guessed it, on the birth mix.

Friday night, after a particularly trying day at work in which all technology rebelled against me to make practicing law nearly impossible, we headed to Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia. We picked up Fox's race packet at the elementary school and carb loaded at the local Fazoli's. We then checked into the EconoLodge on General Bushrod Johnson Avenue (you can't make this up) to catch some zzzs before 6:30 a.m. came and along with it the shuttle to take us to the battlefield.

I was particularly excited about this marathon because it had been voted the most spectator-friendly marathon in America, largely because there were shuttles (small school buses) to take spectators to different spots along the marathon for cheering. After 8 other marathons involving me holding a map and using simple multiplication to figure out where I needed to be at what time (and how to get there with multiple roads closed) in order to cheer for Fox, this sounded great. Unfortunately, the shuttles showed up sporadically (use it in a sentence! Bonus points if this movie reference makes sense to you) and were often too full to board, thus leaving me the spectators waiting long periods of time for the next shuttle as the runners kept going. I was only able to see Fox three times during the marathon. My personal best is five times.

The marathon was fun for me because I got to spend time with my friend Leah and her four (!) daughters, ages 7, 5, 3, and 17 months. Her husband Chad was running too. Needless to say, I got some good daughter practice in.

The picture above is Fox at the 15 mile marker. I have to note that our camera is weird. I like to take photos in the portrait orientation (as opposed to landscape). When one takes a photo in this orientation with our camera then downloads it to the computer and rotates it, it makes the photo wider than it should be. I'm not sure why this happens, but it is very unfair to the subject in the photo. Maybe there is a setting I can find to keep the proportions true, or maybe it is time for a new camera. Who knows. Anyway, Fox finished his marathon in 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 11 seconds. I was very proud of him. He was happy but sore.

On Sunday, I turned 31. For some reason, it sounds extra-old to me. But, as dad says, it's better than the alternative. Fox brought me Einstein pumpkin bagels in bed and the prettiest grocery store roses I've ever seen. I asked for a Dyson vacuum, which Fox begrudgingly got me. He felt like it was a crappy present, but I love it. It is crazy-powerful, and living with two people, two cats, and a dog, it makes my life a lot easier. We also went to the mall and picked out some make-up at Sephora. I don't wear make-up, but I feel like I need to start so the baby won't think I'm totally unglamorous. I think I have time to learn before she figures it out. Wearing make-up is my least-kept New Year's resolution. I actually pride myself on my landspeed record from bed to desk chair. I did feel like the Sephora salespeople were judging me, but some of them looked ridiculous (I'm talking to you, Ms. Frosted Lipstick) so it didn't really bother me. Then we went and saw Due Date, which was hilarious, and had a nice dinner at One.Midtown.Kitchen. All in all, a really nice way to turn 31.

Baby Fox turned 31 weeks on Saturday. She weighs as much as four navel oranges. She moves around a lot and is supposed to be putting on some fat to ready her for the outside world. I can't believe she'll be here in less than nine weeks.

I promise to be a better blogger and not skip weeks. You might even see pictures of me in make-up! So really, join us next week when we'll recap the Bellwether Station show and when Baby Fox is the size of a large jicama (here I am with the made up vegetables again!)