Full term!

So today I am officially considered full term! This baby can come any day now! Seriously, little baby, let’s get things moving, huh? The doctor told me this past Monday that she is verrrry low (I could have told her that!) and that I’m barely dilated. Sounds like how things were with Summer exactly. So that gives me hope that this kid is putting lots of pressure on things and will break my water like Summer did.

My mom flies in on the 9th, which is 10 days before I’m due, which is how early Summer was. So while I hope I do go early, it would be easier to wait until she’s here! Also, the 9th is our anniversary, and I’d rather not have her on the same day. So…the 10th?? We’ll see! Anyone want to throw out some guesses? My official due date is Aug 19th.

This was taken on Monday.In the meantime I’ve been trying to get both girls’ rooms ready and squared away. I’ve been doing some sewing and crafting and cleaning and organizing and pretty much anything I can do to try and get this ball rolling. I’m super excited to meet this girl and see what she looks like. I’m not super excited about losing sleep and leaking boobs and all that jazz, but she’ll be worth it. Right? Right.

Let the countdown begin!!!

Living Room Redo

Our living room had suffered long enough. I hated the butter yellow/light brown walls and ceiling and overall lack of any sort of unity/decoration. It was just so blah. I wanted something fresher and cleaner. So over the 4th we finally decorated it! Here are the before shots:   

And here are the after shots:

 

My lovely models, Summer and Kylie, resting on the chest my dad made me when I graduated nursing school. Isn’t it gorgeous??

  It’s still not 100% finished, but I knew if I didn’t post now, it’d never happen. I still need to figure out how to hang the valance I made over the long window and I need to make a curtain for the small window. BTW, I made the curtains out of canvas drop cloths from Menard’s. Super cheap and easy! The “art” over the sofa was a framed picture given to us of a horse and some dogs that I covered with home dec fabric. With my new staple gun, which I am sooo in love with!

A few inexpensive accessories from Target and a newly spray-painted initial “C” finish off the walls. I love how open and clean it looks. And I love white ceilings. A few more tweaks and it should be finished. Hopefully before the baby comes! Summer’s new room is just about finished too, which I’ll post about soon. Now I just need to get crackin’  on the nursery!

Super amazing awesome great friends

Today I went to the park to meet up with my good friends Linda and Jessica. It’s a nice day with a nice breeze and pretty much a perfect park day. I show up, a little late, but bearing ice cold $1 McDonald’s drinks for us. I see a few of my other friends that I know with their kids on the playground. I thought it was random that we all decided to go to the same park on the same day, but didn’t really think anything of it. Then Linda and Jess walk up and announce it’s a SURPRISE BABY SHOWER for me!!! I was totally surprised!!! I LOVE SURPRISES!!!! Almost all of my friends were there, it was so awesome! We had a great lunch and just chatted under the pavilion and let our kids run around. They gave me a couple of very generous gift cards and some adorable flowers. Good thing I showered this morning! I don’t have any pictures to document, but it was so sweet and fun and thoughtful of my friends.

Seriously, I couldn’t ask for better friends here. They are all like a second family. I could count on any one of them for anything if I needed to. It definitely makes living away from family so much easier!

Thanks ladies! I love you!!!

18 months!

I know I’m a couple weeks late posting this but she just had her checkup and I wanted to include her latest stats.

It’s hard for me to believe that my little girl is just that…a little girl! She is getting to be so independent and knows exactly what she wants. And if she doesn’t get it, well, you better watch out! Still, she is very sweet and gives lots of hugs and kisses and loves to sign “please” when she does want something.

She can say about 20 words, the most common of which is “no”, of course. But she says it so sweetly and cocks her head to the side when she says it. She can also say eyes, fish, milk (sounds like gilk), all gone, wall, outside, bus, pool, and knows all her body parts. She loves to give high fives and knuckles, which she learned from her dad.

She is NOT a fan of animals, which just verifies that she is indeed our child. She hated my parents’ cat, and she doesn’t like our neighbors’ dogs. She loves to look at pictures of the “ows” and “oofs”, but the real thing? Forget it.

She still takes 2 naps most days, which I am eternally grateful for. She usually sleeps from 7-7 every night, but has been sleeping in until 8 lately, which of course, I love. I think she’s been going through a growth spurt because she’s been sleeping a ton lately.

She’s still a good eater, and will eat pretty much anything. She loves tomatoes, which neither I nor Derrick like. She loves watermelon and grapes and Cheerios and cheese and anything made of noodles.

She still looooves her dad and constantly asks for him throughout the day. And when he finally does get home it’s the best part of her day. And I’m sure his.

She has gotten so much more active and busy and definitely keeps me on my toes and makes me really think about whether or not I want to leave something so close to the edge of a table or counter. Because she will reach it! She also loves to help throw things away, and will put any little piece of garbage she finds on the floor into the garbage can. Once we even found Derrick’s cell phone in the garbage, but that’s been the only near miss so far! She will also put her shoes away where they belong. I’ve been waiting for this helping stage for a long time! 

Stats:

Weight: 23 lb 6 oz, 34% (highest yet!)

Length: 30.5”, 17% (again, highest yet!)

So she is starting to catch up a little bit. She may be small, but she’s got rolls for days and is definitely not starving!

We love her to bits and she is just so fun to have around!

4th of July

Better late than never, right? Derrick had a half day on Friday and all day off on Monday so we decided it was high time to get some projects done that have been on our list forever. We did get a lot of things done, which always feels good, and then went to the Menomonee Falls 4th of July parade Saturday evening. We sat right in front of a parked ice cream truck so of course we had to get some classic treats! Sunday we had a BBQ with some friends, which was fun. Perfect weather. Summer took a late nap and we decided to go to Germantown to watch the fireworks. I’m so glad we did! We had great spots, essentially front row and super close---we were even getting hit with ash and mortal shells throughout! Summer was a little apprehensive at first, but then loved them and sat on my lap motionless for the entire 30 minutes just watching. She crashed on the drive home (which took forever) and finally collapsed into her bed at 11pm. Totally worth it though. I love fireworks and we haven’t really been able to watch a decent show on the actual 4th for a few years now. BBQ’s, fireworks, friends, and family—why the 4th of July is one of my all-time most favorite holidays!

Can it!

A few weeks ago we went strawberry picking at a local u-pick farm. We’re usually at the beach when the picking season starts (that’s another story….) and by the time we get back and go pick the good ones are all gone. So, even though we would have rather been laying out on Newport Beach, we scored some beautiful and delicious berries. We picked a total of 17.5 pounds!!! That’s a whole lot of strawberries! Which resulted in a whole lot of jam. 36 half pint jars, to be exact! I cooked and canned them instead of going the freezer jam route, which I’m so glad I did. I like the flavor better, and I like how it doesn’t take up space in my freezer. Plus, I love looking at all those little jars on my food storage shelves!

I heard through some friends at church about a truck that comes up from Georgia selling peaches. Um, yes please! So Monday I went and bought a 25 lb box of peaches. They are sooooo delicious. I canned 12 pints right away and then made some cobbler and then made 2 batches of jam this evening. They’re pretty much all I’ve been eating the past 3 days.

Aren’t peeled peaches so pretty and shiny???

Canning is definitely not what I would consider fun, but it is very gratifying when it’s all done. Sure I’m freaking hot and sweaty and my back and feet are killing me, but it warms my little heart knowing we’ll have some delicious peaches in the dead of winter when all we we want to do is slit our wrists from being cold and lonely.      

Our trip to Hades, I mean, Texas

Holy. Cow. It was hotter than HELL down there. And being pregnant? Forget it. I was a giant walking sweat bomb. Thank goodness for Certain Dri!! Next time I decide to go to Texas in June, someone please slap some sense into me. Still, we had a good time. Summer especially. We Skype with my parents pretty frequently so Summer knew who they were, and as soon as she saw them she ran right up and never looked back at boring old mom and dad. She loved all the attention and treats and I think Grandma and Grandpa had a pretty good time, too.

As is the usual when we go to Texas, we ate a lot. Chick-fil-A, Kreuz’s Barbecue (best I’ve EVER had there), Magnolia Cafe in Austin (featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives……SO yummy!!) I would seriously weight 300 pounds if I lived there. And just a quick trip to Wal-Mart will show you that most people that live there do. ;) I mean, they have an IHOP in their Food Courts!! What???

Friday night we left Summer in the capable hands of her grandparents and Derrick and I left for San Antonio for the night. My first night away from my little girl! I totally cried and missed her the entire time. NOT!!! I did miss her a little, but man, oh man, was it sooo nice to get away! We had a sweet room overlooking the Alamo right on the Riverwalk. We shopped at the Market Square and got a candied sweet potato at Mi Tierra (delicious!). We had dinner at Casa Rio and ate outside along the river, with perfect weather, and then walked along the river for awhile.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in our room, which was amazing, and then we went to the San Antonio Temple. It’s a beautiful temple and I’m so glad we were able to go while we were there. We finally made it back home where I was expecting a big welcome home smile and hug from my sweet daughter but she just looked at me and then picked up a fridge magnet she dropped and ran to Grandma. Love you too, sweetie! Actually, I’m glad she gets along with them so well, because that’s who she’ll be hanging out with when baby numero dos comes. On or about 7 weeks! Yikes!

We hit up a watermelon festival, went to Zilker Park in Austin and rode the train, and mostly just hung out with family and hit the pool every night to cool off. To be honest, I felt like a slacker mom. I hardly changed any diapers and I got to sleep in. So that’s what it must be like living near family, eh?

       

Now we’re back home and poor Summer is probably bored without her constant entertainment. But the weather has been great, mid to upper 70’s, and it’s just where I like it. Now it’s all systems go to get everything ready before our lives turn upside-down. Again….