The Last Couple of Weeks

"Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June." -Al Bernstein

Summer is officially upon us (at least in terms of temperature!)  Here is a look at some of the fun stuff we've been up to these past couple of weeks!

Memorial Day Weekend brought lots of fun, including several visits to local parks!

I always laugh, because for a while Jojo wasn't a "climber" like some other little boys I knew.  That definitely changed recently...he climbs anything and everything by himself. :-)  Here he is at Carriage Hills Park, having fun.

Also had some fun downtown at Fisher Park

It was our Sunday to greet at church and, despite the rain, Jojo loved joining us as always...

And, on Memorial Day itself, after a nice walk down to our neighborhood lake my little guy took a great holiday nap on our couch :-)

Last Thursday, I had my second of 9 weeks worth of weekly non-stress-tests at my OB office.  These are being done weekly to keep check on Lizzie...I'm consider "high risk" because of Joseph's cord accident when he was born, so this is one way to make sure the same issue isn't happening to her.  Normally they only take 20-30 minutes, BUT I was hooked up almost an hour and a half this past time.  First Lizzie was asleep when the test was started, so she wasn't reactive ENOUGH to get a good baseline on her heart rate.  Then, once she woke up, she was SO active that she kept squirming out from underneath the heart rate monitor, also making it hard to get a good baseline.  FINALLY she settled into a happy medium and they were able to determine things were okay.  Whew.  These "non-stress" tests are NOT "non-stress" for mama, lol!  Jojo normally stays with my parents, but they had an appointment that particular day so he came with me.  He played very happily in the stroller almost the whole time...such a sweet boy.

This past weekend, David took Friday off and we went to Boone for the day.  We wanted one final day trip as a family of 3 before Lizzie joins us.  We ate an amazing (and ENORMOUS) meal at the Daniel Boone Inn, then spent the afternoon at Grandfather Mountain.  Wonderful memories made!

So.  Much.  Food.

Evidence that Jojo enjoyed the chocolate cake for dessert.

Our view from the Mile-High Swinging Bridge

Jojo crossed the swinging bridge on David's back in the toddler Tula...mama felt a bit safer about things that way!

Loved seeing the animals!

Time is moving right along!  As of today, 6 weeks 3 days (or less!) left until Lizzie's arrival!  I'm slowly getting into nesting mode...most of her clothes have been washed, ironed, and hung up in her closet, and the finishing touches are coming about on her nursery.  Given our infertility, pregnancy losses, and flashbacks to Joseph's scary birth, I tend to struggle a bit with anxiety during pregnancy, so I'll be very happy when she's on the outside and in my arms so I can see for myself that she's okay.  We also have our last childbirth class this Thursday, which involves a pot luck and "labor rehearsal."  We re-took the same series of childbirth classes at Women's Hospital that we took with Jojo, since last time I ended up with a c-section and this time we're trying for a VBAC.  We are the only couple in this class that already has a child, and it's been fun to watch the excitement of all the first time parents.  I've really enjoyed it!

That's all for now!  Stay tuned for more updates as summer draws on and due date approaches!