One last dip

The last morning, we went for an early morning dip in the pool and the "hot pool" (or jacuzzi). Miles really liked the hot pool, despite the heat outside. I sat on the stairs of the jacuzzi to try and relieve some hip and back pain. Once we were warm enough, Miles and Ben went for a dip in the pool. Because it was only 9:30 in the morning, it wasn't quite warm enough for me to enjoy the pool. We had left Miles' turtle floaty in the room, so we borrowed the rhinoceros floaty that lived at the pool.

Like I said, we had a really great time. We're hoping to do it again next year. Perhaps I'll take some vacation days at work and we can stay a night or two longer (saving them up right now for my maternity leave). Miles keeps asking when we can go back to the "big lake" (as opposed to the smaller lake of Grandma Sara and Grandpa Tom). I think fun was had by all!

Cousins!

The four of them.

Take 1:


Take 2:


Take 3:

Moira is a kisser, not a hugger like her brother. Miles likes giving kisses as much as he likes giving hugs. Moira is adorable. Whenever she hears the word "kiss", she starts smacking her lips!

In this picture, both Peter and Miles are giving Moira kisses. I think Ethne is still trying to figure out what all the commotion is about!

Best Buddies!

Miles and Peter are instant buddies. It is so much fun watching them together. They just want to play with each other all the time! Here are a few cute pictures of the two of them.







They're both huggers!

It's too bad they don't live closer! Miles would play with his cousin Peter every day if he could!

Dinner

Saturday night, we all got together and had a very noisy dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. It was good food and good fun (minus the fact that everyone else had a margarita!).

This is my sweet niece, Ethne, who is 19months. She is quiet and very much an observer. And look at her big blue eyes...

...and amazing curls!

Besides that Moira wanted nothing to do with sitting at the dinner table, the children were remarkably well behaved. Peter and Miles sat and waited with minimal disturbances. Peter had his beloved Buzz with him, whom he nicely shared with Miles. Other than a few episodes of bashing Buzz into the table, Miles and Peter shared well.

Here Peter is saying "to infinity and beyond!".

Miles has yet to watch Toy Story in it's entirety, but enjoys Buzz and Woody. It was a good dinner, that was followed by a fun photo shoot...up next!

The Beach

After the pool, we had some lunch back in our room. Then we had rest time. Miles watched some DVDs and Ben and I napped some. I'm pretty sure Miles didn't nap, but that's ok.

After a few hours, Ben was still napping, so Miles and I went for some solo adventures. It seemed to be naptime for the cousins, so it was just the two of us. We wandered down to the burger stand and got an ice cream cone, then wandered down to the beach. Miles enjoyed his "white" ice cream cone.

It was, literally, 100 degrees outside, so it melted quickly and made a bit of a mess. Nothing the lake couldn't clean up!

Then Miles enjoyed the water. I waded in it and mostly watched him and took some pictures.

He did some digging in the sand and smashed a few sand castles. Grandpa joined us after a little while.

And, lastly, here is my shadow at 26wk 5d pregnant. No full on swimsuit shots. Not from me, at least!

The Pool

The second day started out with swim in the pool. Miles had a great time with his floaty toy, jumping off the side, being thrown in the air by Daddy, and playing with his cousins.

These first few pictures are of my sweet niece, Moira. She will be a year old in just a few weeks! She is a doll, but doesn't care for the "cool" water of the pool. She is more of a jacuzzi gal! We visited the jacuzzi after the pool.

Here is Miles enjoying being "thrown" by Daddy in the pool.

Here, he is riding on Daddy's back to the side. I think they were headed for a ladder. You can see Auntie Annie and Grandma in the background. Anne is hanging on Miles' turtle floaty that was given to him by Grandma Sara.

I did swim for a while, and then enjoyed one of the lounge chairs and took pictures.

Oh, and Miles insists on wearing all his swim attire (minus the shoes in the pool) at all times. I'm afraid of sunscreen (had several allergic reactions...not pretty ones...when I was a kid), and I'm afraid of turning him into a lobster! So, he wears his swim shirt and swim trunks, water sandals in the lake only, his vest for security, and his hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. He almost always insists on wearing a hat when we go outside...to keep the rain off his head, sun out of his eyes, stay warmer in the winter, etc. He is a hat kid! Just don't think I torture him to dress him like this for the water. I think he'd throw a fit if I didn't let him wear any article of his swim clothes!

Mini Family Reunion

This past weekend, Ben, Miles, and I went to Lake Chelan for the weekend. My parents got hotel rooms for my siblings and us so we could all be together in one city for a few days. It was a blast (and pretty hot)!

It was a relaxing time, and I enjoyed seeing my siblings and parents. The only time we were all together was for dinner on Saturday night and for a brief photo shoot following. We all enjoyed time at the lake, by the pool, watching the cousins play. Miles and Peter are best buds already! Miles keeps asking to go "back to the big lake and play with cousin Peter". Most notably, he would like to jump on the bed with him again!

The car ride over was fairly uneventful. There was a lot of traffic for a while, which I wasn't fond of, but we made it safe and sound.

After arriving and checking into our room, we wandered to the lake for some sand castle building, swimming, and then headed to get some dinner at the burger hut. I didn't take pictures of the swimming that afternoon for some reason.

After dinner (and some mud puddle splashing by Miles), we spent some time in my parents' room (the smallest of the five rooms!) with Aunt Christine, Uncle Cameron, Cousins Peter and Moira, and Auntie Annie.

Peter and Miles then enjoyed a rousing time of jumping on the bed. Moira tried to join in as well. Peter, apparently, is a wrestler and kept pulling Miles down and wrestling with him. Miles didn't enjoy this part much. Miles is not a wrestler! They had fun nonetheless and Miles is still talking about jumping on the bed with cousin Peter!

Fun in the Sun!

Finally we're getting some warm weather! The sun has come out and appears it is here to stay. Two weekends ago, we spent some more time at my in-laws lake cabin. This time, it was nice, sunny, and warm. We even got to enjoy the lake a little. Miles had a blast swimming and digging.

Baby Kisses

Kisses for Baby Isla...



After this kiss for the baby, he said "Now I want to squish her!" and proceeded to squish my belly... Not quite sure what to make of that!

So far behind!!! Pregnancy: 25weeks (edited to add a side-by-side)

Here's a little catch-up in pictures (apparently I posted last at 21 weeks???):


22wk


23wk




24wk

25wk!

How Far Along: 25 weeks (and 2 day now!)



Weight Gain: +20lbs Thankfully the weight gain has slowed down compared to my last post! 1lb a week is ok with me. I'm right on track with where I was when I was pregnant with Miles. I'm hoping this time I don't gain a ton in the end (water weight) making the total 50lbs!



Maternity Clothes: This is such a boring question. Yep, I'm in maternity clothes. Have you seen my belly? And I'm carrying super low compared to last time (she is right on my bladder...yay me!) so regular pants and most regular shirts are a no go (shirts are too short). I did purchase a maternity swim suit though. My sister sent one with a bunch of other maternity clothes (thanks!!!), but we'll be spending a lot of time swimming at the lake, pool, etc, so I thought I'd go ahead and get a second option. I think I may even be able to wear it next year as well (it's a tankini).


Sleep: Nothing new here, either. I've been sleeping ok, but rolling over is getting hard. Still wake up several times to use the bathroom. I'm also finding it increasingly difficult to go 24hours without sleep. I usually do this once a week on my first night back to work, but I've found that I really need a nap the afternoon prior!

Symptoms: The heartburn is hanging around to say, I think. It is notably worse from about 3-7 in the morning while at work. I've been eating Tums like it's candy. It does work, though!

Cravings: I've been craving the tastes of summer, though I think that is the same for every summer. Grilled food, corn, watermelon, fruit, iced coffees, etc.

Gender: It's still a girl! (as far as I know) :)

Baby: According to www.babycenter.com, my baby is about a pound and a half now and about 13.5 inches from head to toe. Her hair now has color and texture. Her eyes are no longer fused shut. I've hit the point in pregnancy where I start seeing babies on the outside at work who are the same gestational age as my baby. It is just too weird!

Movement: Isla is getting very active. She is still most active at night. Last night we got to watch her dancing around and Ben felt a lot of strong kicks!

Things I'm Looking Forward to in the coming week: Oh, nothing much. We're headed up to the lake for another weekend at the cabin. It should be nice and sunny this time around!


Minor updates: I took my GTT (glucose tolerance test) this past Monday. I failed it with Miles and had to take the 3hr test, which was awful! Needless to say, I was a little nervous this time. Well, I got my results today, and though my iron is on the low end of normal, my blood sugar was perfect. With Miles, after 1hr, it was 155. This time, it was 88!!! Not even borderline! I am so happy :) Maybe it was because I was pretty carb dependent with Miles???

Also, the nesting has kicked in. Even though I'm still battling general fatigue. This past Monday, after my doc appt, I had a random burst of, not energy per se, but a need to have a clean house. Ben and Miles helped some and we picked up toys, did 6 loads of laundry (washed, dried, and put away!), vacuumed, swept, did dishes, cleared the counters, wiped every hard surface in our main level with Clorox wipes, cleaned the bathroom, dusted, and put away random things we had laying around (parts to a guinea pig cage, blinds on the floor, etc). Ahhhhh.....it feels so good!

Then on Tuesday, I steam cleaned the carpets upstairs. They look a lot better now! Then I got the infant car seat out of the basement (notice it in my 25week pic), wiped it clean, and put it back together (the cover was off for washing). Miles thinks it is a great toy.


After that, I went through all Miles clothes from 0-6months and counted how many I have of each type of clothing (onsies, rompers, pants, etc) and wrote it all out. I also pulled out any clothes I can use for Ilsa (white undershirt onsies, a few sleepers and hats, socks etc). Last I made a list of clothing items I need to get her wardrobe started and what I already have. Hopefully next month will involve a shopping spree!


I cleaned the kitchen again this morning and then reorganized our cabinets. I moved the dishes to a new cabinet, went through all the bottles, sippy cups, etc and put them in a new place, and dug out our 4oz bottles and slow flow nipples. Everything found a new home. Needless to say, Ben was pretty confused when he went to get a glass of water and a bowl of cereal this morning! I'm hoping this trend keeps up a little (maybe with half the vigor) and we can keep our house pristine...one can hope, right? Though that is always difficult with a 2 year old :)

4th of July

Like I said in the previous post, we headed up to the lake cabin for a cool, stormy 4th of July. Miles and I began the celebration by making a birthday cake for America. It began when I was trying to explain the flag and 4th of July to him a few days prior. I told him that the 4th of July was America's birthday. He insisted that a birthday required a cake.

So this is what we made:

After a few mishaps and pregnancy brain moments, it turned out pretty well. The cream cheese frosting was delish! I originally thought we could put the blueberries in any corner, then turn the cake to make them in the correct corner...not so! We ended up having to move all the blueberries. Also, if you look at the second to last row of frosting, you'll see a break in the white stripe. That is because Miles was helping put the strawberries on, slipped, and put his hand through the cake! Woops! It turned out ok and tasted just fine. I think we may make this a yearly tradition. Miles enjoyed cracking eggs, mixing, pouring, baking, etc.


Later that day, after much procrastination on our parts because no one really wanted to go down to the water in the 55 degree overcast weather, we finally took Miles down to the lake to "go fishing". He was being a silly goose while he waited!

Here, he is putting an antler on Grandma Sara.

And then himself.

We finally put our coats on and headed down to the dock. If you look closely in this picture, you'll see that Miles is losing his pants... Him and his skinny little bum!

We sat on the dock for a few minutes and fished with floppy. Miles insisted on taking his shoes off to dip his feet in the lake. He quickly decided that it was just too cold for that!

So we played on the shore.

Built some rocky sand castles, poured water from the bucket, and managed to stay relatively dry.

Later that evening, Ben and I built a fire in the fire pit. I roasted marshmallows and made some yummy s'mores. Before long, the blue sky turned gray and started to sprinkle. The sprinkle gradually got stronger and stronger and we finally bailed before the real storm started. Minutes after going inside, it began to pour! Not only that, but it hailed pea sized hail.

It quickly put our fire out.

See the hail in that planter? Crazy July weather!

Around 9pm that night, us "adult" children went down to the shore and had a fireworks show. I didn't take pictures this year. It was pretty great and we managed to finish before the rain started again. We also had quite the crowd of spectators this year!

The next morning, Ben and I slept in while Grandma Sara watched Miles and Grandpa Tom went fishing. After rousing, we ate a great pancake breakfast, packed up, and hit the road. Miles (who remained napless the day before and didn't sleep great due to the ongoing fireworks), was plum tuckered!

Despite the weather, it was a great 4th of July!