Another Week

Saturday the kids and I met Amy's Gang, Aunt Jo & Nanny Grandma for lunch in the 'burg. Joshua enjoyed his favorite: shrimp and so did little Stephanie. It is nice to see him gobble up some foods! Afterwards went to a birthday party for JR, the son of one of my friends from high school. He turned 5 and had a fantastic party at his grandparents with a moon bounce, pool and delicious ice cream cupcakes. Joshua had a blast and when swimming even jumped off the side of the pool unassisted! A first!

Sunday, Dylan arrived for the beginning of his week stay at our house. We went to Lowes to get some much needed house shopping done and then out to McD's for dinner.

Monday started our big adventure week. Dylan, Stephanie, Staci & Alex joined the kids and myself for my OB appt, this was a stepping stone to bigger fun. The Dr. said everything looks good. I am measuring 33 weeks (spot on) and although my blood pressure was high I think that was circumstantial. The dr. also said that if I were to go into labor with the contractions that I have been having, at 34 weeks he wouldn't do anything to stop it. That news shocked Jason a little, I don't think he quite realized how close we were to baby tres' arrival!

After the appointment we drove to Rocks State Park to float around in the creek and have a picnic. All the kids loved it. Joshua hung out with the big kids and even floated on his back in his life jacket. He had to come out when he was shivering too hard to speak! The best thing I heard was, 'Can we come back again this summer!!!' I love it! After home and naps, the teens came back over to make pizza from scratch. That was also a fun adventure. Alex said, 'This is like physics or something.' Yes, Alex, it is like chemistry :-) It was a challenge for them reading the recipe, doubling the ingredients and working together but afterwards we also heard, 'This is the best pizza I've ever had!'

Tuesday, Mira had her 15 mos checkup first thing in the morning. She is finally up to 20 lb, 4 oz. The dr. was pleased with her potty training and all her words but unimpressed with her weight gain. So she will be going back when we take the newborn in. We all went to the library after returning from the dr's to sign the older ones up for the summer reading program. Then again after naps and lunch we went swimming. We had to wait for the storms to pass. But, we packed snacks and picnic dinner and stayed at the pool from 4-7:30. The kids are loving swimming now. They are both happy splashing, paddling, and jumping in.

Wednesday, we had Sam, another kid on the block, join us and we went to Broom's Bloom Dairy for an early lunch. The teens cracked me up. All but Dylan ordered PB&J in spite of LOTS of yummy sandwich and food options. Most of us had ice cream afterward. Next we headed over to a put put golf place for a round of golf and video games after. I thought that Joshua would enjoy putting the ball around but he lost interest quickly. Mira, too. So, I kept score, chased the kids and kept an eye out for the teens while we went through. It was a hot day and I was pooped at the end. We had naps at home and Dylan went to play with his friends while I got dinner ready and got ready for work.

Thursday was Jason's day. He had the day off for the long holiday weekend and took everyone to go ice skating. I stayed back with Mira. Joshua was getting more and more difficult to handle each day that passed. We knew he was excited with all the activities and time with Dylan and the other kids. After naps I had lots of errands to run so unfortunately we didn't have play time in the afternoon but we did get together with the neighbors for dinner. Howard set up games on the projector on the side of the house and Jason stayed out with Dylan playing 'til late. Mira went home early with me and Joshua was next.

Friday, I had to work but was home in time to jump in the car with the gang and go to the movies. We saw 'UP'. Joshua sat well through the show. Mira did great for an hour and 20 min. The movie was an hour and a half and if we had skipped the previews we would have made it but as it was she and I spent about 30-40 min running around the lobby waiting for the show to end. Amy arrived for dinner and we had a meal with them before Dylan took off. It was so nice having him for the week.

Joshua loved waking up each morning and playing with Dylan. They built lots of lego creations over the span of the week. Mira, too, enjoyed having someone to play with. It will be nice to get back to routine but maybe we can steal him away again soon.

For the 4th of July we did a little house work in the morning and then went over to yet another neighbor's house for a party around 3:30 after the kids and JASON were done with their naps. I think Josh was pretty much in the pool from the time that we arrived until he left close to 8pm. He met a new friend, a little boy about 5 yr old, and played all afternoon with him in the water. Some of the time he had a life jacket on and the rest he just paddled around unassisted. It is such a big change for him from last year and every time he gets in the water his swimming improves. I love to watch him. Mira swam, too, she likes to 'jump' in off the side and play on the steps. While we were out eating dinner though she tripped and hit her head on a low wooden step. She really hit hard and had a goose egg for the evening. She scraped both feet and her hand up as well. It was quite a fall. We iced her head while she screamed at the top of her lungs for us to put her down. She and I left at 7:30 to rest/sleep. I wanted to watch her for other signs that her head injury was minor. She was ok and slept through the night without incident. She is eating cheerios next to me while I type.

Now we have 1 day to recover before it is back to work and our regular routine. We'll be blueberry picking this week and I have a dr. appointment at least.