News Flash: summer half over & baby on the way!

Where is this summer going? You know the drill... once we pass the 4th of July, it just flies. I'm still in shock that a sweet baby girl will be joining our family in less than 10 weeks. I know I've said this before, but we have SO much to do before she gets here. Her room is still our office, her closet doesn't have nearly enough clothes, I need a double stroller and just some general help in the sanity department taking care of her brother lately. :)
I had my 30 week OB appointment yesterday. I now go every 2 weeks and have been since week 26, then at 36 weeks I begin to go weekly. Considering I started some early stages of labor with Preston around 36-37 weeks and he was born at 37 weeks and 4 days, I am wondering if this baby will hold off until September. (That is my utmost hope because I'd love for Preston and the baby to have different birth months so that neither grows up feeling they have to share party plans, etc...)
My blood pressure was 110/64, I gained 5 (YES, FIVE!) pounds in the two weeks since my last appt. which puts me at 2 lbs heavier than I was with Preston at this exact same stage. I definitely wanted to gain less weight this time around... so, um... yeah, it's not looking good in that arena. I have Braxton Hicks contractions all the time and both my swollen cankles and heartburn have reached the extremely annoying and painful stage. Other than that, I feel good overall...my energy level is still ok and I don't have too many other aches and pains. Sleeping is getting more difficult, but I know it's not going to get easier in the coming weeks so I'll just pipe down about that. ;)


The weekend of the 4th was crazy busy. We had the Goettermans over for a yummy fajita dinner (thanks to Patrick's awesome marinade!) Spent the next day at the lake where Preston enjoyed a cookout and watched his first fireworks display, Kevin and I enjoyed a date night on the 4th, and we also made a trip to the Fort Wayne Zoo where Preston FINALLY got to see the giraffes up close at the new African Journey exhibit. We've been really lucky for Kevin to have some time off this summer and we've done lots of fun family stuff. Good times!

I believe he's saying here, "I pooped!"

Muscles!!


Mezmerized by the fireworks and all the boats lining up to watch them. I was curious how much he'd remember the next day, but when we asked him "What did we go see last night?" He'd reply, "BOOOM! Red! BOOOM! Blue!"





our attempt at a family photo at the lake:



Wooo-hooo, date night! Such a treat- thanks Nana Connie. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my husband? It's amazing what a dinner out together at a nice restaurant without trying to feed a unfocused toddler can do for your meal time mental health.

We've had a nice break from the heat and humidity and have been taking advantage of it by spending every waking moment playing outside...

Fun on the new hide and slide!!





Loving the zoo. Can't say enough about having the season pass- it's worth every penny! I know I've said this before, but if you haven't gotten the chance to check out the African Journey, be sure to put it on your summer to-do list!







This goat's eating my shirt!









As my recent hire as kitchen-protege, Preston helped me make these delicious and festive chocolate dipped pretzels! I think he enjoyed it, although he kept requesting "mo sprintals" for the sprinkles, and he didn't quite get the importance of using my red/white/blue theme. He preferred the confetti mix "sprintals," so I let him do a few of those. Little stinker, trying to undo my Martha Stewart mojo.
YUM!




We are pretty unsure of how Preston will handle having a baby sister. He hugs my belly all the time and says "Baby Sisto." He also says the name we've been calling her. (Which we aren't sure of yet, so I'm not mentioning it here on the blog! HA!) ;) We do, however, have a strong contender that was on the list before we had Preston, but we're a bit stuck on the spelling and the middle name. The funny thing is that we both think we need a back up boy name in case she is a he. So we are literally trying to finalize both a girl and boy name.

BIG NEWS in the nursery department: we're gearing up to make the switch to Preston's BBB, or Big Boy Bed if you don't speak in acronyms like me. If anyone has any advice on transitioning out of the crib, please feel free to pass it along, I'm all ears. Baby Sisto will be using Preston's crib, changing table, and dresser, so big changes are coming to his room. Stay tuned!