Summer

Today felt like summer. Even though the temps have been summer-like for a while, being at the outdoor pool, snacking on potato chips, and staying later than we should made it feel like it's truly finally here. It was our first day at the outdoor pool - it just opened this weekend. We spent three hours kicking, jumping, splashing, and really swimming. What a difference a year makes - Anna was all over the pool by herself. I'm certain this is where we'll be for much of the summer.

Highs and Lows

The weekend began for Anna and me, in a way, on Friday morning. For some reason (maybe my hormones and racing mind) I slept all of two hours the night before, so Blake woke with Anna at 6am, played, and made breakfast to let me sleep a bit longer before he left for work. Anna's dance class was cancelled for the holiday, and we took advantage, taking our time getting dressed before leaving for downtown. Anna and I had a very special ladies' lunch with Betsy that day, and we topped it off with a  spontaneous sorbet date with Blake in the afternoon. Friday night we spent packing for the weekend away.

Blake's cousin got married on Saturday in Saginaw. We decided we'd stay up north at Mo and Papa D's cottage for the remainder of the weekend. We never made it there last summer, and the weather, it seemed, would be perfect for being on the water. Anna enjoyed a couple of hours dipping her toes in the water and planning her day of swimming, jet skiing, and boating that night. Then, we woke Sunday morning to thunderstorms. And, the plumbing backed up so badly at the cottage that we couldn't use either of the toilets. Back to Midland we drove to swim at the indoor pool. Then back to the cottage when it looked like the weather was clearing (and to see if we could use the potties)...but, another storm rolled in, and the plumbing still wasn't optimal. Finally, the weather broke, and Anna got a short, but very sweet first jet ski ride with Blake.

 Think she's excited for her ride?

Hard to see, but there's a big smile and a wave and a little girl who did not want to get off of the jet ski. 

Back again to Midland after the jet ski ride, despite the nice weather, because the plumbing was beyond repair for the day. Anna wasn't too disappointed when she learned how many babies and baby clothes Mo D has to play with at her house (either Mo hasn't pulled them all out in the past or Anna just wasn't as into them as she is now). She spent much of Monday morning dressing and undressing babies before we left for home.

We pulled into the driveway this afternoon, opened Anna's car door, and with the slightest prompt, she melted into one of the biggest hyper-ventilating-crying-screaming-jags we've witnessed. As she melted down in the car, I walked in the house to find Gill gone belly up, half eaten by our relatively new algae-eating shrimp. She handled the news remarkably well (when we eventually told her) and finished the evening as usual, chasing Blake up and down the hallway, her giggling and laughter ending the day on a much more beautiful high note.

One Down...

One big hurdle, that is. I had my 28-week appointment with my midwife today. If a baby is going to develop heart block, it usually develops by 28 weeks. Although we declined to have the weekly ultrasounds that start at 16 weeks to detect this defect early, if we'd done them, this would have been our final week. The doppler heart rate monitor used at regular OB check-ups can also pick up irregular heart rhythms (just not quite as early as ultrasound). SOOOOOO, while there is a very small chance that the doppler didn't detect heart block today, it is very likely that our little guy's heart is just fine. We are breathing very big sighs of relief here and feeling extremely grateful.

In two weeks we have our first, and hopefully only, growth ultrasound to check the umbilical cord issue and how it is or is not impacting the babies growth. They'll check the heart again at this time. If all goes well, we'll be feeling gratitude beyond measure.

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Work and Play

Last weekend involved much work and play at our house. Papa Mox and Blake worked hard on the playset after playing hard on Thursday at (and after) golf. The rest of us - Anna, Mo Mox, and me -  worked a bit (in the yard, cooking, cleaning up), and we played a lot, too. The weather was beautiful, especially in the shade, so Anna was back in her bathing suit and in the pool. With the deck finally finished, Blake and my dad were able to bring out our patio furniture, just in time. Since Saturday, we've been dining al fresco every day.

We are so thankful for my dad's help in building Anna's birthday present...thank you Papa and Mo for your time and energy this weekend. The playset went up remarkably quick, and it seemed that Blake and my dad made a pretty good team! Blake continues to put a few finishing touches on it. Two swings are installed, the slide is mounted, and he built the climbing wall. He just needs to finish the walls on the decks and build the canopy support, and we're waiting on the rope climber and disc swing. Anna is loving it. I'll be sure to post a photo of the finished product soon! In the meantime, a few photos from the building process...

Day 1 - playfully arguing over who's going to cut the first board! 

Mo, Anna, and I spent a lot of time in this semi-shady spot Friday and Saturday.

Anna's very own water slide, complete with noise-reducing headphones. She wanted to wear these, because my dad was powerwashing the deck close by.

Do you think she likes the color blue? Have you seen her in any other clothes, besides a bathing suit in the last week? Nope.

 The workshop.

The beginnings of the frame. 

 I think this one shows just how tired (read: hungover) Blake was while working in the heat on Friday.

 Just precious.

Trying out the deck.

We were all so tired by the end of the day. Anna's head hit the pillow close to 6:30, and she was out not much later. 

Saturday morning we had three or four striking hot air balloons fly right over our back yard. 

She couldn't be more excited!

Hot, Hot, Hot

We broke down and turned on the air conditioner tonight. When we arrived home from the Tigers baseball game, which is what this post is really about, our house was 85 degrees. After a full day in the sun and heat, I couldn't take it anymore.

Emily and I thoughtfully planned, quite some time ago, to go to a baseball game with the guys and kids in late spring so as to avoid the scorching hot temperatures while sitting in the stands. So much for plans - I can't imagine being there on a warmer day than today. It was beautiful, but it was just too dang hot.

While I'm still thrilled that we went to the game, one of my favorite parts of the trip was the car ride to and from the stadium. Emily and I sat in the way back of their Acadia, talking and catching up (it'd been way too long) while the guys sat in front. Harper and Anna sat in the middle seats, enjoying videos most of the way. While there, we of course rode the ferris wheel and carousel again. We snacked on lemon ice, chips, and cotton candy. Much like last time, we watched very little of the game. With sweaty bodies and flushed faces, we all agreed to leave a bit early, hearing the news of the Tigers' win on the radio as we cooled ourselves in the air conditioned car.

Emily and I, as always, had our cameras in tow. Emily snapped a few of the girls together - always my favorite, which I can't wait to see. Here are the few I took (not many compared to last year).

These next two speak to just how hot and sweaty we were...

On a different note, I have oodles of photos to go through from our weekend with Papa and Blake building the playset. I'll get those posted soon...

Projects

The theme of the week (or month or two) is home-related projects. Fortunately, the weather has been lovely and continues to be so, which has us all welcoming the time outside whether we are working or playing.

After Blake's difficult demolition work on the deck, the builders came to craft our new deck. We absolutely love it. It's made the outdoors so much more inviting already, especially because we can walk around without getting splinters in our toes. We still need to paint the cedar posts and railings white to match the trim of our house, and we (meaning Blake) have to  bring loads of dirt to fill in and level the ground in multiple places and then plant grass or put down mulch (over time)!

Before (although Blake had already torn down the railing that went across the entire side of the deck). 

After (awaiting coat of paint).

Our friendly country neighbors who own various large machinery have helped to clear and level ground for the area where Blake and my dad will be building a playset this weekend. The lumber was delivered yesterday morning...just have to get a slide and a few other additions. The timing is fortuitous, as the dirt pulled from this spot can be used for filling in around our deck where we need it. 

My mom came down this week, and we spent Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning out the garage. Tuesday was a glorious, summer-like day. While we purged and swept and organized, Anna jumped from her wading pool to her bike and back again, switching back and forth between her bathing suit to her new favorite dress in four shades of blue that I found on the gap clearance rack (I'm sure there'll be a picture of her in this one soon). She fished in her pool, we picnicked outside, and relished the beautiful day.

Posing

If only I had BEFORE pictures...actually, I'm not sure I'd want to post those. How do two people and one little one accumulate so much garage STUFF? Part of our issue stems from having zero basement storage I guess.

In the last few weeks, I've chipped away at creating a more organized, comfortable craft and play space in our basement. My mom and I put the finishing touch on yesterday, hanging the surprisingly inexpensive drapery panels I found at JCPenny's. Together with an Ikea bookshelf and rug as well as a few plastic Target bins, it feels like a new space.

We finally broke down and hired someone to come rid our yard of poison ivy. Blake is highly allergic to the stuff...surprisingly, he hasn't gotten the itch yet at this house. With over 100 vines on two trees, it wasn't something he or I could tackle. Thankfully, our yard is poison-ivy free now.

These bare trees were absolutely covered in vines yesterday.

Anna is keeping me on my sewing toes. This time, she decided a "medium-sized" stuffed turtle would be a good craft project for us to work on. She picked out the colors of felt she wanted to use for each of the body parts, and this is what we came up with:

This week I washed all the 0-3 month baby clothes I have. Yesterday I received the prints I bought from Etsy for the nursery as well as the drapes, bedding, and mobile. I'm so excited to be able to finally put the room together. I'll reserve a picture of the nursery until it's complete. Hopefully it won't be too much longer!

Soon, I hope, my posts will be about days at the pool and lounging with my feet up drinking lemonade. I have a feeling that, as the third trimester closes in, this project energy is going to run quickly out.

Thomas

NO, this is not the name we've chosen for our little boy. Rather, it refers to the train that every toddler and preschooler knows and loves. Saturday afternoon we visited Greenfield Village, where Anna had the opportunity to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. She (and we) had so much fun.

 If only I had my zoom lens to capture that face (I was plopped on a seat resting).

 

Anna took a few photos...I'm actually in two pics from Saturday. Unprecedented! 

She took this one too. I don't know why I love it, but I do.

Mother's Day, 2012

Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing mom's that I know. I can't imagine doing this job without you to lean on, laugh with, complain with, and learn with. Thanks to each of you - family and friends.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Mother's Day. When Anna asked me my favorite part, I truly couldn't narrow it down to one. How could I when...

• Daddy woke up with Anna, and I actually managed to fall back asleep. I slept in until just after 8:00am!
• Anna woke me up with her sweet voice singing "Happy Mother's Day!"
• She brought me a beautiful homemade card and a gift certificate (from Blake) for the camera shop, which I opened while lounging in bed.
• I arrived downstairs to find pancakes and strawberries for breakfast, which I devoured in the company of my happy family...Anna's good spirits all day were particularly uplifting.
• Blake and Anna surprised me (again) with a smallish square garden they were going to build while I went out for a pedicure. They planted two tomato plants and two pepper plants, and they left a little room for me to plant something. It's small enough that we can keep it close to the house, too, so we can water it with our R.O. water. PERFECT!

There's a sneak peak of the new deck behind our little garden (they're coming to do a few final things Monday, then I'll post some photos). This isn't where the garden stayed, but it's where Anna enjoyed playing horsey inside of it.

• Anna helped me plant a few flowers in our front beds - bright purple wave petunias. 

• I relished some time to myself for a pedicure and a little shopping.
• Anna greeted me with the biggest smile ever when I returned home, so excited to show me the garden that she and Daddy built together. Her excitement was the best gift.

• Blake made a lovely grilled chicken and my favorite potato salad for dinner. He outdid himself with all aspects of this Mother's Day. Thank you, hon, for making it such a special day for me.

Surprise

Anna wanted to surprise me this morning by "shimmying" her tights up all by herself (the pink ones, in particular, are ridiculously hard to pull all the way up, even for me). She was so proud:

She wears this getup every Friday. She knows her tights go on under the leotard. Maybe she knew this would get a bigger smile out of me, though. It certainly did.

To Buy or Not To Buy

After much deliberation and discussion, Blake and I decided to buy Anna a pair of "convertible" roller blades this week. The deliberation wasn't about whether or not to get them at all (although maybe that should have crossed our minds given that she could be blessed with my mediocre athletic ability and Blake's tendency towards head injury); rather, we were struggling with when the purchase should be made, and a bit with what to purchase as well.

For the most part, we don't buy Anna toys at random. If we go to the store and she sees something she thinks she wants, we discuss saving money in her piggy bank or adding it to her wish list. She has a birthday coming up, and there are often special occasions that warrant gift-giving. But, in our minds, there are times when this doesn't apply, like when we bought her a real bike with training wheels or in the case of the rollerblades this week. In this instance, we were eager to encourage the exploration of another activity that will help her build confidence, especially in the area of gross motor development, and, we were so thrilled to see her so passionate - we wanted to support it.

We realize there's a lack of consistency here that could be confusing. To add to the confusion, Blake and I both buy things, mostly for the house, at random (waffle maker, new vases for the mantle, picture frames for our art wall...). Anna is, after all, getting to the age where we want to educate her about money and how it works, and she wants to understand it, too. I repinned this on Pinterest recently, and along with some other reading, it gave me a lot to ponder, particularly in relation to what is age-appropriate and relevant for our family. For example, do we do an allowance, and if so, when? Is the allowance a product of doing chores or are contributions to house work not rewarded with money? At this stage, she knows that we need money to buy things, that Daddy makes money by going to work, that we often have to wait to buy things we want, that we can spend, save, or donate money, and that there's a difference between things we want and need. Despite this understanding, I imagine it's still pretty confusing in a not-quite-four-year-old's eyes. Needless to say, it's something we need to figure out and work on.

In the end, we settled on a pair of roller blades from Target that allows for two wheels to be in back (like roller skates) and one wheel to be in front (like roller blades) until her confidence grows and balance improves. They are adjustable in size and aren't high quality, but they are perfect for now, minus the fact that they don't stay fastened very well. Regardless, she's in love with them. She also happens to be very in love with Ella, who had to ride around with her all afternoon:

(Please excuse the blurry iPhone pic)

The Good Stuff

Belgian waffles. At home. Late on Saturday morning. Prepared with the new waffle-maker Blake decided we needed after a recent business trip in which he devoured waffles and fried chicken.

Anna overcoming her recent fear of riding her bike down the hill in our driveway, falling off her bike twice, and getting up to do it all over again.

A spontaneous phone call and Skype session with our dear friend and former babysitter, Katie.

Time spent outside, running into the neighbors in our front yard two days in a row, and casually watching the kids play together.

Homemade lemonade.

A big girls' slumber party, soft pink tulips brought by Betsy for the occasion, and intimate conversations shared with a very good friend.

 Brunch and quality conversation with yet another girlfriend. Two days in a row of girl talk.

Watching Great Grandma Richards in her mid-eighties swinging a golf club (and making contact with a golf ball) in our back yard...repeatedly.

A deck that is demolished and ready for new construction tomorrow morning, after many, many back-breaking hours put in by Blake.

Roller Girl

Anna has a new obsession after Wednesday's adventure to the roller rink. All she talked about for the rest of the day was getting some roller blades or roller skates (and pads, of course...I was surprised that none of the kids at the preschool session wore a helmet or pads of any kind, nor were they provided at the arena). I was able to walk on the rink and hold her hand while she got used to gliding on the slippery floors - can you imagine trying to roller skate 6 months pregnant? She started getting particularly brave at the end, letting go and trying it all on her own. This girl always impresses me with her passion for trying new things.

A special lunch date for Anna and me (spaghetti included, of course).