Little Bug

Thanks to her Mops, Phoebe is totally into ladybugs. As in, she loves to point them out wherever she sees them, and often gets quite excited when she does. For example: when reading Lucy Cousins's Noah's Ark (I'd highly recommend!), Phoebe carefully searches out and points at the teeny tiny ladybug pairs on every page. It brings her a great amount of delight, and it does us too.

After our pooltime adventure the other night, we were searching for a clean t-shirt to throw on for supper, before getting her all jammied up. Initially I pulled out her ladybug shirt, but changed my mind since sauce and meatballs were on the menu. Phoebe was a little sad, especially since she'd had a chance to play with the antennae on the shirt, but I promised her she could wear it later this week.

I want Phoebe to know that we keep our promises, so even though she had forgotten the shirt... it was her sweet outfit for yesterday. When Michael came home, we needed to water the ferns out front; Phoebe was, no surprises here, delighted by the dripping overflow. We grabbed the camera, and I'm so glad we did...




Our Little Bug is getting to be a bigger Bug... I couldn't get over how big she looked in these pictures. We do love her dearly!

PS. I feel like I need to make sure credit goes where credit is due... I take very few pictures that appear on this blog! Many of you were very complimentary of the pictures from the other day. Most of the beautiful pictures you see here are the talent of my sweet husband. We are so blessed to have so many of our memories preserved in such a lovely way! If you would like to have him take pictures for you of your family, he loves to do them for friends! Let us know!

Splash!

Friends, were you aware that it is hot outside? I mean, really, really hot. It amazes me how, in July, I think it's hot. And then comes August, and it becomes really and truly, unimaginably hot. When I was still teaching, the whole back to school thing felt criminal in this kind of heat. Shouldn't it have at least the hint of fall in the air when school starts? Of course, if we waited on that around these parts, we might not be starting school until November.

Anyway, since I am pregnant, the heat feels even worse. Like, I couldn't even stand to take Phoebe on a walk at 9am yesterday. I broke a sweat this morning picking tomatoes for five minutes. It's hot. It's humid. It's disgusting. And then it takes me something like six hours to cool down after I've been in the heat. Yuck.

Well, we decided the other night that the best way to beat the heat was with some good old fashioned water play. Michael had worked really hard to make our yard beautiful; it was time to get out there and play in it. Phoebe had a blast splashing and running around with the hose; she even got Daddy soaking wet! (I managed to stay mostly dry until picking up our soaking wet little Critter.) Enjoy some pictures (finally!) of our fun...

Loving some hose in her face... really!

"I can have some big fun with this hose..."

Splash!

"Daddy, I'm going to get you!"

By the way, my sweet friend Jenny has informed me that we are going to get some sweet relief from this awful weather soon. According to weather.com, she's right! Upper 80's never sounded so sweet!

It's On the To Do List

...updating the blog, that is.

But the truth is, I'm pooped. This weekend straight up wore me out, and I'm beginning the not-sleeping-well adventure of the third trimester.

We're in the middle of a bit of a nap war with Phoebs. She's almost seventeen months old, which means our morning nap could legitimately go at any time. The dilemma is that she's not very happy if she skips her morning nap, but she has a hard time going down in the afternoon if she takes one in the morning. At 3:22 today, she's not really all that sure if she wants to nap.

We're trying, for the time being, a shortened morning nap. (We have done this once before with a good measure of success; 1 1/2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon.) I'm hoping that shaving another fifteen minutes off her nap will create some afternoon peace...for all of us.

For now, I'm going to go stretch out on the couch with a Cheerwine and enjoy the quiet. I promise, pictures and real content to come.

30 Week Update

First, can I just say that I cannot believe that I am at 30 weeks pregnant? This means we are in the home stretch of this pregnancy. And can I just say that I have done nothing to prepare for Nora's arrival? No crib, no double stroller, no new clothes, nothing. At this time in my pregnancy with Phoebe, I think we had just about everything all set up. This, my friends, is what a second pregnancy looks like -- total slack.

Anyway, I had my thirty week checkup yesterday. Here are the details:

• measuring at 28.5 cm; meaning, I'm only measuring a teeny bit small for this stage in pregnancy. Phoebe also measured about a cm small at each checkup. We're praying for another six pounder!
• Nora's heart rate was in the 130 range. It has been this at the past few checkups. So much for high heart rates for girls!
• my hematocrit is borderline, meaning I'm not getting enough iron. Doctor D prescribed cheeseburgers and spinach. If the number isn't higher in two weeks, I have to take additional iron supplements.
• my blood pressure was pretty low - 89/61. Doctor D was unconcerned, and I'd much rather have low blood pressure than high blood pressure. He said it sounds like I need to drink more water, but he totally didn't believe me when I told him I drink upwards of 100-120 ounces of water a day.

Those are all the doctor-type details. I should also add that my hip pain has, for the most part, subsided. I don't like to sit or stand in the same position for too terribly long, but I think that's just part of being pregnant. I'm also having several contractions a day, most of them mild to moderate. None of them are consistent. And although I've had up to four in an hour, I can still continue my current level of activity and not worry about it.

Speaking of activity, Nora has gotten a little more active. She is predictably active at around 8:30 every evening, and I can tell she's settling into some sleep-wake cycles. She also seems to dislike Mexican food, which I've deemed quite unfortunate.

Regardless, Nora's going to be here before we know it. We're already excited to meet her; I just hope we can get on the ball and stop slacking off so she doesn't catch us off guard!

Filling

Mops is here, which means the nesting has gone exponential around here. I'm stealing a moment on the computer while she's away at Hobby Lobby, but I do promise a full update when she leaves. For now, though, I thought I'd post a sweet picture of my Little Sweet eating a sweet treat with an even sweeter filling...


...but mostly I'm just filling space on the blog.

Have a blessed day!

Time Flies

I have had perfectly good intentions of updating... but it seems that time is just getting away from me! I'm also finding myself with dwindling energy and brainpower; seems to be the curse of the third trimester!

And with the third trimester comes full-on nesting mode. When I was pregnant with Phoebe, I wasn't home enough to enjoy these nesting urges. But now, do I ever! We have a master project list that includes clutter busting, decor additions, room rearranging, and bathroom updating. Fortunately, Mops is coming to town tomorrow to give me a hand for a few days; I am most excited about what we might accomplish!

That's all I've got for now... but be looking forward to the following:

• a 30 week pregnancy update (!)
• Phoebe shows you how to eat a delicious treat
• deep thoughts with Sarah T
• pictures of our nesting projects
  

Three Years

Today is mine and Michael's third anniversary. On one hand, it's hard to believe that three years have already gone by. On the other, it's hard to believe that it's only been three years -- so much has happened! There is rarely a dull moment with my sweet husband!

The Lord has richly blessed our marriage, and we praise Him for the way He is growing us as a couple. We continue to look forward to the ways He will continue to grow us, and the adventures He has in store for us!