38 wks 2 days not much change in the cervix dept. We are on the books for induction this Saturday morning the 30th unless they get slammed with patients and have no beds.

Last night my friend Liz threw me a baby shower. It was such a cute idea I have to document it for posterity. She told me she wanted to throw me a shower and I said, "NO!!! I need absolutely nothing for this baby and don't have any more room in my house for any more baby stuff, no matter how adorable." I thanked her for the offer and thought that was that.

Then she came over to show me the invitations.

This morning I was on my way out the door to take the kids to the library to replenish thier reading stash and decided to take one last look through their room for finished books. Dunn said, "Hey Mom, something smells funny up here." He was right. It smelled smokey. My first check was the window fan to see if the motor was overheating. Then I thought, "the lamp". The boys reading lamp had been pushed down against Zach's bed (on of course) and when I'd sent them to make thier beds this morning Zach just threw all his pillows on top of the lamp. The closest pillow was burnt almost clear through, the back of the lamp had scorched the bedspread, and fitted sheet. We were probably fifteen minutes away from setting the whole room ablaze and since we were on our way out the door for the morning I'm sure the whole house would have followed. What can I say? "Count your blessings name them one by one..." I am not sure how many angels a day it takes heaven to keep the Westhoff's from being hit by cars crossing the street, getting abducted at stores during my inattention, or burning down the house but I am grateful for every single one of them being so attentive while on duty.

One of the coolest things about WA is the way blackberries and raspberries just grow like crazy around here. I mean, they are everywhere. It's kind of like kudzu in the south. Yesterday my neighbor Liz and I and our kids went to a walking trail in Orting with our bucket and picked like crazy. We ended up with a big ice cream pail full. Now that the kids have a clear idea of what blackberry bushes look like every time they see some on the side of the road they exclaim, "Mom, pull over...there are some huge blackberries there. Can we pick them?"

I'm thinking of a blackberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream or maybe a pound cake and whipped topping. Speaking of pound cake, I made Grandma Martin's sourcream pound cake last week and it tasted just like family reunions in AL.

37 wks 2 days, 3-4 cm dilated, 50% effaced. Tune in next week for update. Estimated date of induction Sat. Aug. 30.

Rach, my mom told me. She said Harker actually ran into her!! She could NOT believe how big he was and was thrilled at the chance to see you guys.

Today has been productive in the prepare for baby department. I dug out all my layette stuff, sorted and washed it, rearranged Emma's room to make room for the baby clothes, changed the crib to newborn state, moved furniture in my room to make room for the cradle, assembled cradle (still astonishingly handsome every time I see it again--thanks Dad)and set it up with sheets etc.

Today I learned that Brown & Haley, the company that makes my all time favorite candy-Almond Roca was started right here in Tacoma, WA!!! How can I have lived here an entire year and not known that? Get this, they even have a candy factory outlet and wharehouse store. They might even give tours... My life may never be the same again.