The end is in sight!

We're less than a week away from the due date, and baby will be here one way or the other by Friday! I saw the doctor this morning and am 3cm dilated and 50% effaced - if that means nothing to you, basically I'm starting to progress and could go any time. Because I am progressing, he is willing to schedule an induction, so we have one scheduled for Thursday morning. It seems like everything is going a little crazy with the timing of this baby's arrival. We've known for months that Mark's restaurant was moving locations. I mentioned that in my last blog that the opening is scheduled for September 28, the day after my due date. I'd known that was coming, so had myself prepared, but things got a little crazier when Carter got sick this past weekend. We are blessed in that our kids very rarely get sick, so for him to get croup right before I'm due seems nuts. In and of itself, him being sick wouldn't be a big deal (and I am so very thankful it isn't a throwing-up kind of sick), but I would feel awful about having to ask other people to watch a sickie who is waking up every 1-2 hours at night. In addition, I wouldn't be too excited to bring a new baby home with a sick toddler. I'm not sleeping great anyway with having to get up and go to the bathroom every few hours, but taking care of a sick little boy wore me out Saturday night. I took a 4-hour nap Sunday morning and dozed again while they napped in the afternoon. Of course, I had a horrible time trying to sleep last night, which is kind of sad since Mark tended to Carter and his multiple wakings. We're hoping tonight he sleeps better. And, as strange as it sounds, I'm hoping to actually make it to Thursday before having this baby. My parents will be coming out on Wednesday and knowing the kids are taken care of is one less thing I'll have to worry about! Amazing how having little people to care for makes me less anxious to get this pregnancy over with.

I do believe we'll have internet at the hospital, so we're hoping to be able to give real-time updates on this baby's arrival.

And, because no entry is complete without some pictures, here are a couple.

Carter's attempt at drinking the milk from his cereal bowl (note the cheerios left in the bowl and the milk that is very much NOT going into his mouth).

Lately, Ava doesn't nap most days, but she does stay in her room quietly (at least I think so... I'm usually napping myself). I went in to tell her she could get up and almost tripped over this on the floor:

Then, when I looked at her in bed, I noticed she was unusually still:
I debated on whether to take a picture since I didn't want to wake her up, but I just couldn't resist. Even if it had woken her up (so glad it didn't!), it would have been worth it.