This was a relaxing week, considering I don't have my car.  This weekend, we went to the zoo with Marcela, Enrique and their yet-to-be-born son, Santiago.  It was Santiago's first visit to the zoo.  Other than the oppressive heat it was quite pleasant, and we had a small picnic outside the zoo next to the new lake.  We did get a whole batch of good pictures, both in color and black and white.  Marcela is a natural model and, much like Esther, really looks beautiful in B&W.

Marcela is a few weeks ahead of me and is expecting in late September.  Her baby has already dropped and she is looking quite wonderful.  Of course, she has kept in great shape, and her figure looks the same as it did 7 months ago, with the exception of Santiago's living quarters.  As we are both the first of our friends to have babies, it is very comforting to have someone going through it at the same time.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the two boys interact, and how quickly Enrique will have Santiago kicking a soccer ball.

My belly button is slowly disappearing and I don't have much left.  Although I still have a pucker, it's beginning to stick out.  Between that, the stretchy itches and Thomas's kicking, I'm always touching my belly.  Oddly enough, Marcela's belly button has flattened out.  She still has the little star-shaped crease, but it's all smooth.  My linea nigra, a subtle line of pigment, is slowly darkening and creeping up my belly.  So much about pregnancy is just unnecessarily strange; who thought up all this stuff and decided it should happen to pregnant women?