26 Weeks

This week Emily weighs in at almost 2 lbs and is about 14 inches head to heel! The length of her spine matches the approximate width of an adult human hand when the fingers are stretched out! This week Emily's eyes continue to open and the nerves in her ears continue to develop, making hearing a more consistent daily event. She is soothed by voices talking, reading and singing to her. Emily's lungs are continuing to develop and produce surfactant. She is taking practice breaths and preparing for life outside of the womb. We're coming up on the end of the second trimester with only a week and a half to go!!

This week Eric and I bought our plane tickets to travel to and from California for Emily's birth. We will be driving to CA on November 3 and plan to make a couple of sight seeing trips along the way. We're hoping to see Meteor Crater in Arizona (http://www.meteorcrater.com/index.php) as well as make a stop in the Grand Canyon (http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm). We'll get to CA on the morning of Nov 6. We'll be leaving my car in CA in preparation for Emily's birth, and then we'll fly back home on Sunday, Nov. 8. Then we have tickets to come back on Dec. 9 when Lori will be 39 weeks pregnant. We checked with Frontier Airlines to see what their policy would be if we would need to change our reservations in the event Lori goes into labor before the 9th, and they said it would just be a $50 fee per passenger and the difference in ticket price. Not too bad. We'll be flying with Champ, and his ticket was just $100 (no fee if we have to change dates). Southwest no longer allows you to check pets, and Champ is too big to fit in the carrier that is allowed in the cabin of the plane. Frontier was very comparable in price, and we are allowed two free checked bags and get free Direct TV on the flight.

Eric and I ordered the airplane chandelier for Emily's nursery. It's due to arrive here on the 15th. I can't wait to see it and get it installed in the room!