Moose are so big! They are the elephant of Alaska!

I have voted in three presidential elections in my life, but haven't been able to go to a polling place for any of them. Minnesota does have a very easy absentee voting system, and I suppose it's nice not to have to wait, but I wish they would send a sticker. I would like a sticker.

The big story again today is a fantastic moose encounter around four yesterday afternoon. I can not believe how big they are. The calf below is easily larger than any buck I've seen, and when they walked away, you could hear them trotting down the hill, even though we were in a basement. They are not so much a creature light of foot. It was so magical though, Dan just looked up and saw a window full of moose. Due to where the windows are, I couldn't get  them both entirely in one picture, but it was still a good viewing opportunity.

The gigantic eight month baby bump is below. I know, I know, some people are this pregnant at six months, but that doesn't make my experience any less uncomfortable. Besides my aching ribs, I pulled a muscle in my upper stomach (assuming there are any still there) while rolling over in bed. It's just that a person's body is used to moving certain ways and when that liberty is taken away, the likelihood of injury increases by apparently about a billion. My balance and leg flexibility are still good (yay for dance) but, for example, when putting on pants, one needs to lift a leg, and that leg is certainly not used to bumping into belly. It is sad every time. Dan has no balance. Or flexibility. It makes me feel a bit better about just having the belly issue.

I told Dan he should have written "1 month left" but he likes to keep people guessing.

After a fairly invasive exam yesterday, my doctor informed me that there is no reason to believe that the baby is coming this week, which is good I suppose. At the beginning of my pregnancy, as most of you know, I was so very sick. Because of this, at my first appointment, my blood pressure was like 140/100 or some crazy high number like that. It has been trending downward ever since, which is good because high blood pressure is extremely dangerous during pregnancy. It is now very low. Yesterday it was 98/70. I take this as proof that this baby is very slowly, yet very surely, killing me in a very stealthy manner.