A Week of Pals and Play Dates

Taylor, Haley, and Camryn

Prince Tyler

Luke and Haley

Maya, Haley, and Jesse

It has been quite a week! Haley has been able to see so many of her friends. We got to splash in the hot tub with Taylor and Camryn. The next day we saw the Haines gang while they were visiting from San Diego. We got to finally meet Ryder, such a big, healthy boy! Ellie gave Haley her very first pair of flip flops. Tuesday we went to hte Kobels' for dinner. Cate is such a big girl! She was eating with a fork and offering "Bebe" (Haley) bites off of her fork and exclaiming how good the food was..."yummy!" Wednesday we got to see Jack and Sam. Cannot believe they are 6 months old! Thursday the Le girls came down from Felton and we got to play at the park in the water feature. The sun peeked through just long enough for them to enjoy the sunshine at the park. Josie is walking around and Sammie is so grown up. Friday night Luke and Tyler came over for pizza and play. Haley loved having the boys over ( and we enjoyed catching up with Dan and Gina). Today we met up with the Wolksteins for lunch and came back here to play in our new mini jumpy house. Yes, Josh found it at Toys R Us yesterday and got it. It fits in our garage and provides perfect exercise and entertainment. We don't have a yard for kids to run around in, so we figure this will provide the energy burning activity. We love it...small, easy, fits in a duffle bag, can't go wrong.
It has been a very fun week filled with our pals. So great to be off and be able to catch up with everyone!

Getting Closer

We are 2 and 1/2 weeks away from baby. So crazy! Josh just got a bunch of stuff down from the attic (carseat, swing, etc.) so we can wash it and set it up. I still feel great. I realize that there have been more differences during this pregnancy than I originally thought. Both have been good pregnancies but they have been different in ways...
Sleeping= just now starting to get the least bit uncomfortable. I was rather uncomfortable with Haley and had pillows all around me. With this one I just started putting a pillow under my belly. Plus with this one I have had this pain like I pulled my left groin muscle since about month 5.
Eating= same...no real appetite but with Haley wanted more fruit and this one wanting more carbs (preferably sweet).
back= with Haley i was heating my back each night from about 34 weeks on...no back pain as of yet with this one.
Dreams= Obviously it didn't matter because we knew with Haley. I have had even dreams with this one. Even had one last night that the ultrasound tech told us it was a boy without realizing we were waiting for the surprise.

Fun to compare. The bottom line is that I really do love being pregnant. This is (most likely) the last time so I am soaking it in. People have asked about visiting in the hospital. We'd love to have visitors and we will not be shy to say if it is not a good time. Thank you for asking!

We'll keep you updated as the time gets closer.

Belly

Ok...don't look at my face. It was late and I don't look my best. :) Focus on the belly shot.

Front view.

HOLY MOLY view. I love it.

Some Pics and Some News

So...we had our appt today and set the baby's birthday (so weird). It will be June 11th at 1:30 (3 days before our due date). It was funny, our Dr. just opened up the computer, made a phone call, and it was done. We didn't choose time or date, it was just given to us as what was available. We were great with that. She also confirmed with us that both the baby and I are healthy and that a c-section is a good idea considering that I am still "high" and the baby is big. That made us feel good. I have been watching for signs of pre eclampsia and asked about my blood pressure. My doc said it's better than hers...yay! So, if the baby does not come on his/her own, we know that s/he will be here June 11th at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Mother's Day

I had the best Mother's Day ever! We had a BBQ with the Russells at my parents' house. The weather was wonderful to be outside. The highlight was my gift. Haley and Josh gifted me with a photo book. They (yes, Haley helped) picked out a bunch of pictures of Haley and me and then Josh asked Haley what she loves about her mommy and included the quotes in the book. I must have looked at it a dozen times so far. I love it!
For all you mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day to you! You deserve to be honored for all you do!
Pictures will come. We have not downloaded in a long time.

Update

Last weekend was fun filled with a celebration for the baby, a PapaHugs concert, having Camryn Saturday and over night, going to the city for Meredith Maier's bday, and having friends over for dinner Sunday evening. Pictures will be posted soon. Here is an update on everyone at the moment...

Haley: She is officially into the "why?" phase of life. After several rounds the other evening, I said "why do you think?" and she responded, "I want you to tell me Mommy." Backfired. She loves playing monster and making monster faces. She loves to pretend and tell you your part. She loves her princess shoes. Everything is "so." "That is so yum." "This is so beautiful." "This feels so good." She even held Josh's hand and said "Daddy, we are so married."
The other night she had gone to bed and started to call out "Mom, Mommy, Mama...Mommy Marie Russell!" We were dying.

Baby: Big, moving all over. Can feel him/her moving in several places at one time. Currently pressing into my ribs and I am loving it. Can always find a body part to poke at. We set the date at our next appt on the 19th ( a week and a 1/2 away from finding out when this peanut is going to enter the world).

Josh: Working, playing tennis, playing basketball, rough housing with Haley. found out that he can use his sick time for paternity leave. This is good...he has about 300 hours! Trying to figure out how the summer will look schedule wise. Talks to the baby and tells him/her to be nice to Mommy. I can tell he thinks it's a boy because he will poke and push. With Haley I always got a "leave her alone!" when I poked around.

Me (Jen): I feel great! I am at that point where I can FEEL that I am pregnant. Less lung capacity, can't reach certain things because belly gets in the way, needing to pee with every step I take. Tomorrow is the last day with the kids. Next week I am at a conference and officially on leave the following week. I had started to feel a bit fearful of the whole c-section process again, but that is all gone and my focus has shifted. I just want a healthy baby. There are things that happen around us that make us put things in perspective. Healthy, safe and sound please!!!

Weekend Away

We had a wonderful family weekend last weekend. The 3 and 1/2 of us headed up to Camp Connell. The McNulty family graciously gave us their cabin for the weekend. It was so much fun! We got in Friday night a little after 11 and hit the sack.


Saturday we went on a hike at Big Trees State Park, went into Murphys for lunch, ice cream and play time at the park with the river. Haley LOVED the hike and rolling up her pants to play in the river.


We stopped at the grocery store on the way back and picked up snacks for dinner. It was such a relaxing, fun time. We soaked in the weekend as we know that life will be changing soon. We know how important it is to cherish and appreciate these times. Thank you McNulty family!