July Post

It's not quite August, but I anticipate either having a baby before then or just not being able to blog in the next few days. It's pretty hard for me to focus at this point. 

Even though I've been large and uncomfortable all month, we've still managed to stay busy and have fun! 

It's become a tradition to attend the Santa Margarita Fourth of July Parade with the Hunters and their crew. The Hunter kids were actually IN the parade this year! But we got to see them afterward. And we ran into our friend Neil and his family. Fun catching up a bit.

Sometimes you can't help reinforcing "bad" behavior. Clever girl made the bread mask all by herself!

Phil and Gion had us over for Fourth of July dinner. Such a great meal and good company.

I think you can see how big I am better in the first picture, but the kids are cute in the second. Everett with his hand on his heart!

It was a nice evening. My dad was able to come over after a long day at the gallery in Morro Bay.

My parents' hot tub is gone!! An end of an era!

Brian was excited to destroy it and take it to the dump. And now they have this lovely little seating area on the octagonal cement pad. So much more useful than a broken spa!

We had our last day of music class! Lydia was already asking to go back two days later, but this pregnant lady is a little relieved to have a break from the up and down and dancing around.

Speaking of Lydia's activities, she's been doing great in speech! Her vocabulary is exploding! She's still quite hard to understand and tends not to put the endings on her words, but we know what she's saying, and I think she's becoming clearer in general.

She says things like, "is this mine?" "thank you Dada," "thank you Mama." I mentioned last month how she says, "I'm ready Mama" and "I'm ready Dada." Amazing how far she's come.

She says "me too" A LOT! I guess that's part of being a little sib. She doesn't get to go everywhere Everett does, and she always wants to be included. Phil and Gion joke about starting to call her Me Too. I might go along with it.

Last month, she was saying "no way" a lot. Now she's partial to "stop it." But it sounds more like "dobie." And she says it over and over like, "dobie dobie dobie."

Have I mentioned that she says "okay" like Buckwheat? "O-tay!" I have a feeling I'll miss a lot of her cute baby talk when she gets older.

Since Bob is in this next picture, I'm reminded how he commented Lydia's "yeah," which is her "go to" affirmation, is really pleasant. It's not a bratty or harsh "yeah." It's a sweet "yeah." She's also starting to say "yes" more often, but it sounds more like "yesh." 

My dad took some pictures at a recent dinner. Bob and Everett building circuits, Brian canning apricot jam, me crocheting a baby blanket, and Mom reading to Lydia. It's been so nice visiting with Bob during Tuesday dinners lately.

Brian has been taking the kids hiking on pine mountain lately, Lydia in the backpack and Everett walking. Apparently he does really well!

Goofy/sweet kids

Everett finally got his Rokenbok! He's been watching videos on YouTube and wanting a set for years! He was so persistent, we finally let him spend his birthday/Christmas money. It's pretty cool!

We had fun at Everett's teacher Dawn's baby shower. He was happy playing with Paloma almost the whole time. Dawn's due August 21st! 

We had fun celebrating Emery's second birthday! Lydia's a fearless driver, which surprises no one.

Her need for speed inspired Brian to get a new battery for the car our neighbor gave us. And he's talking about making a track for them in the side yard.

We've been trying to squeeze a few fun things in before there's a newborn. We had a great time at the SLO Children's Museum. That evening, Brian took Everett disc golfing. I didn't have the energy to make a cranky toddler stick to our dinner routine, so she ate pesto pasta while sitting on the table. Oh well!

The next weekend, Brian had the idea to get us out of the house and visit Avila Valley Barn. The kids loved feeding the animals and taking a hay ride. We couldn't fit in a trip to the beach, but we drove past Avila and saw all the people, cars everywhere.

Cute kids and a 38 week belly!

We had a CRAZY storm! Thunder and lightening all night and into the next day. Lots of rain. It was incredible! I've never experienced anything like it. I heard there were 300 lightening strikes. Brian and the kids played some rainy day board games.

A couple of pictures of Everett helping prepare for the new baby. He helped me make lemon cookies for the L&D nurses (Lydia napped through the baking, but she got to taste test) and came along to my 39 week OB appointment and got to hear the heartbeat. He also charmed all the office staff and nurses.

 39 weeks. Oh boy, oh boy. Getting big and uncomfortable.

I was happy that we made it to Henry and Melissa's engagement party. Great friends we love celebrating (congratulations Henry and Melissa!!!), but it was getting a liiiiiiiittle close to my due date. I'd even marked July 25th in my calendar (before we knew the date for the party) as the day I'd like to have a baby, but it didn't happen, which is just fine. You can sort of see the adorable decorations behind the kids in the first picture. The picture with Sam, they're examining a ladybug. 

Almost spontaneously (or so it seemed to me) both families got together at our house to enjoy BBQ. The BBQ at the Lake Park this week was to benefit ECHO, the homeless shelter in town that my mom is very involved with. They were kind enough to gather where I was so I didn't have to move much.

Ok, everybody! The next blog will have baby pictures, no matter how long she takes to make her appearance.