February in Virginia AND Preschool Plans!!!

Not really relevant, but LOVE this picture of Jackson and Josh enjoying Cousin Amy's newest book Chopsticks!

I have not been very good at taking pictures, BUT we've been having a really fun last week or so!  The overall theme is how much we love winter in Virginia :)

Last Wednesday: We had a playdate with some new friends!  I met Sarah through my neighbor, Aimee, and she and I have been trying to get our boys to play for quite some time, but schedules kept getting in the way.  Her son's name is Jackson, which we all got a kick out of!  The boys had such a good time playing with cars and having lunch together :)

Last Thursday: This was the start of our streak of GORGEOUS weather!  I think it was in the 70s?  I opened the windows and got the house all clean!  Jackson and I got outside and took down our Valentine's and winter decorations and put up a St. Patrick's Day flag and window decals!  Spring, we are ready for you!  We met Rachel and her mom for lunch at Panera, and of course, Baby Levi was Jackson's date :)  He was so excited to see them, and he immediately started calling Rachel's mom Grandma!  LOL  He sure loves a grandparent :)  After a late nap, we spent the afternoon playing outside in the beautiful weather!

Last Friday:  Friday wasn't quite so nice, but we spent the morning running errands and crossing a few things off of my to-do list.

Saturday: We had the pleasure of helping Sarah surprise David for his 30th birthday!!!  The weather was definitely against us since Josh had planned to take Dave golfing to kill the morning/afternoon.  The driving range was out once the forecast showed cold temps AND crazy wind :/  Josh took his job very seriously and delivered the desired result for Sarah.  He and Dave stuck around the house playing with the kids while Sarah and I got out for a little "shopping at the outlet mall" (i.e. running last minute errands to Party City, Costco, Target, and Sarah's dad's house to pick up hidden beverages and snacks).  We came home to feed the kiddos and lay them down for naps while the guys left for lunch and bowling.  Josh cracked me up later when he told me he was taking his time and sitting down between each ball, and Dave sprang up right away to take his turns quickly!  Sarah got a text from Dave saying they were almost finished and on the way home about 4:00.  Josh texted me at the same time and told me to tell Sarah to ignore that text from Dave and they were going to play one more game and be right on time.  LOL  While the guys were gone, Sarah and I decorated, cleaned up toys, made some snacks, and tried not to be too nervous!  Everyone arrived right on time and we all waited in the backyard once the guys were on their way.  I wasn't sure how to interpret the look on Dave's face when he saw everyone, but Sarah said he was definitely surprised and might still be recovering!  The party was SO fun (as all Bascom parties are), and it was fun to celebrate David!

Sunday: Sunday morning started off a little rough due to my lovely hormones and accident after accident for me.  I was getting dinner ready to go in the Crock-Pot when I took a good slice out of my thumb with a large knife :(  I got that under control and off Jackson and I went to the grocery store.  Upon returning home I was taking apart some sodas and banged/cut my finger on the counter.  The third was less severe as it was only yogurt spilled on my sleeves, but it still got a big groan out of me!  We had our neighbors, the Walburgers, over for dinner, and Jackson loved having Ashely and Alyssa over!

Monday: Josh had the day off, and he made sure he and Jackson took FULL advantage of it AND the BEAUTIFUL weather!  I had a doctor's appointment that took up most of the morning, but Josh used the time to take Jackson to the driving range for the first time!!!  Jackson was so excited to tell me when I got home that he hit golf balls all by himself :)  I wish I had pictures, but I know this will not be the last time this little outing happens ;)  After Jackson's nap, we all went outside for a walk and to play outside!  ALL of the neighbors were out, and Jackson had SUCH a good time!  The current popular activity is climbing up and sliding down the skateboard ramp one of our neighbors has set up out front.  Josh started playing basketball, and Jackson was excited to "play hoops" with Daddy!  We played for about 2 1/2 hours and then came in for dinner and a little "Monsters, Inc."

Tuesday: We headed to Manassas with my neighbor, Hallie, and her girls, Izzy and Mary.  Our destination was an amazing used bookstore!  I definitely want to go back when I have unlimited time and attention span :)  We did leave with a few good finds!  We rounded out the outing with lunch at Chik-fil-a--always yummy and fun!  The afternoon was spent playing outside again since it was still so nice out!

Wednesday: Today we headed to storytime at the library, which is usually a pretty big hit.  This was the second time two employees from PNC Bank came to read stories.  They did a great job again--today's theme was Dr. Seuss, and they read some funny stories!  There was a coloring activity at the end and a fun goody bag giveaway!  Jackson and I spent time doing puzzles and looking for new books to check-out.  He also got more stickers to add to his page for the Snuggle with a Book program.  It is a simple and short program the library is running this winter: for each day that you read 20 minutes with your child, they earn a sticker to put on their special page.  So easy and cheap, yet so exciting for a three-year old :)

The most exciting part of today, however, was the stop we made before storytime: PRESCHOOL REGISTRATION!!!  Jackson is officially registered for preschool for the fall!!!  I am ECSTATIC!!!  He will be attending Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Playschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9:30-12:30.  I started the preschool search a couple months ago and found a few in the area I liked.  This was the first one I visited, and I loved it immediately!  The biggest perk is it is only about 10 minutes from the house--SCORE!  Unfortunately, registration wasn't slated to begin until tomorrow!  That was later than the other preschools in the area, and I was nervous about them having a spot in the program we wanted.  I went in this morning to pick-up the forms (just so I could be prepared to hand them right over tomorrow morning), and the director let me write my check and turn everything in today :)  I am still breathing a HUGE sigh of relief, and am SOOO excited for Jackson's new adventure!    

 These pictures are from a week or so ago when the neighborhood kids (ranging in ages 2 1/2-12) had a parade taking their baby dolls for a walk!

 This then turned into "naptime" for all on the Wolfe's front porch :)

This was SO cute!  Jackson asked to go get Momo and laid him down for a nap with the girls' dolls.  I suggested he take Momo for a walk that night after dinner in his little stroller.  He LOVD it!  Then the other day we took a family walk with Pax, and Jackson asked to take Momo in the stroller again--he usually rides his bike, but he was so happy pushing Momo along :) 

The Belly Report: Almost 25 Weeks!

Of course the past couple of Sundays I have started the day with every intention of taking my weekly Belly Report picture on the actual day of the week when we move from one week to the next...and then I get distracted...  I took this week's picture yesterday, but am not getting it posted until today...  We are 24 1/2 weeks pregnant, and the weather was in the 70s yesterday!  Jackson and I celebrated by taking our update picture outside on the porch and hanging up some St. Patrick's Day decorations :)

This week, Sammy is about as long an ear of corn.  Sammy is supposedly just over a pound in weight and about a foot long!  According to Baby Center, Sammy's taste buds are continuing to develop and his lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree."  He's going to work on plumping up in the coming weeks, and his skin will become less translucent.

As I was looking back at the posts from my pregnancy with Jackson, I read a post about the first time I felt pregnant to the public!  LOL  This time hasn't felt as desperate with wanting the rest of the world to know I was pregnant, mostly because I started showing so much earlier, but I have noticed more people chatting to Jackson about the baby brother or sister he is getting soon (like when we are standing in line). That's pretty fun :)

Sammy is still moving around a ton, but it's hard to catch a good time for Josh to feel!  His kicks are really strong inside of my, but they don't translate on to the outside as well yet for him to feel him really reliably...

As I was cleaning the house yesterday, I realized how uncomfortable it is to pick up and then lay back down the bathroom rugs!  LOL  That is pretty brutal.  I also cannot comfortably sit in a chair with my legs crossed :(  And, I continue to count down the days until I can wear flip flops since tying my shoes gives me a bout of heartburn each time I bend over.  All of these are totally trivial, and I could not be happier to adjust my lifestyle and slow down for Sammy :)

Flashbacks:  Yay Daddy! 
Popcorn Sam!
On to the Next Phase!

Sticker Chart Success!

We have been SOOO lucky in the sleep department!!!  Jackson has more than his fair share of early wake-up stints, BUT since he was three months old, he has gone to bed consistently without too much intervention on our part.  I had gotten really used to that, however, and forgot how lucky we were when Jackson started taking forever to fall asleep at naptime and bedtime!  This included getting out of bed numerous times.  He got a cold right around the end of January, and it threw him for a loop!  Sheesh!  It was just a cold, but he was SO off!  He started waking up crazy early, in the middle of the night, and then taking forever to go to sleep at sleep times.  Once I knew he was healthy again, I decided to fix this new habit.  I know it is totally normal for toddlers to go through the loooong list of stall techniques, but we had totally skipped that, even with the transition to the Big Boy Bed, and I saw no reason to back-track.  I did a little research online, and came across an idea for Sleep Rules.  

I made a poster to hang by Jackson's bedroom, and listed the rules.

Jackson's Sleep Rules

#1: Stay in bed!

#2: Close your eyes!

#3: Stay very quiet!

#4: Go to sleep!

I attached a sticker chart so he could collect a sticker after each successful sleep.  I made a REALLY big deal about this when I showed it to him, and he was PUMPED about the "Toy Story" stickers, so he was ready to go!  It made a HUGE difference right away!  He didn't get out of bed once the first three sleep attempts.  Then it sort of transitioned to I would go in once, remind him that he wouldn't get a sticker if he didn't go right to sleep, and that was the end of it!  To me, a large part of parenting is understanding MY goal.  It wasn't super important to me to have Jackson actually stay in bed right away.  I just wanted to get away from the 45 minute routine after laying him down.  Going in once while I'm already upstairs doing something I'd do anyways is fine with me.  So, I consider the whole experiment a success :)

After Jackson got 10 stickers (five days worth of naps and bedtimes--Monday-Friday), I took him to Target to choose a new car!  He picked out a really cool pink Hot Wheels :)  I chose 10 because I figured that was enough days to really establish a new routine, it wasn't too many days where he would feel like he was never getting his reward, and had it end at a time where I knew our schedule would allow us to go right away to reward him!  

Jackson memorized the sleep rules almost right away, and still likes to repeat them before I lay him down :)

The Belly Report: Busy Boy!

Over the last two weeks, I have felt Sammy moving ALL the time! I LOVE feeling all of his movements, but it's hard to remember that at this point it's not really punches and kicks, but full-body flips!  He's still pretty small, and it's hard to not jump ahead to thinking I feel his big head, bum, or knees!

We are now in our 24th week of pregnancy, and I'm really feeling pretty good.  I am definitely bigger than I was at this point with Jackson, but that's ok!  Tying my shoes is getting trickier, as is zipping my winter coat...  Jackson still fits on my lap, and I absolutely LOVE when he snuggles up to me while we read stories and puts his hand on my belly :)  This past weekend Brodie Bascom was over with the rest of his fam, and Jackson was SO sweet with him!  I cannot wait to watch Jackson be a big brother to his very own baby brother!  I am quite nervous the cuteness will keep me in hormonal tears most of the time... :/

Last week, when Sammy was 22 weeks along, he was about the size of a spaghetti squash!  Sammy's features are continuing to develop and be more distinct.  At 23 weeks along, Sammy was the size of a mango.  Blood vessels are developing in his lungs to help him prepare for breathing.  Sammy also can hear a lot more sounds--I hope he enjoys his big brother's conversations during the day as much as I do ;)

Last week, pre-Super Bowl, we got the nursery all decorated!  There will certainly be pictures coming soon, but I LOVE walking by it each day and imagining the little boy that will come home to it in a few months :) :) :)

Flashbacks: Never Eaten This One...

Holy Mango!

Top Ten Tuesday: Things I Love About Valentine's Day!

I was never a big fan of Valentine's Day in high school since it seemed to be hijacked by couple-y types.  I vowed even then to not become "That Girl" once I did have a boyfriend/husband!  I have kept my promise, and Josh finds the holiday even less appealing than me--good match :)  We did start a little tradition years ago of going to Chipotle for dinner (I think they used to do a good Valentine's coupon?), and last year it shifted over to Qdoba.  Cards and burritos--what more could a girl ask for?

Having kids makes holidays SO much more fun!  Valentine's Day is the holiday that needs the most oomph from my children since it's my least favorite holiday.  Being me, I pretty much love all holidays :)  I have been looking forward to Valentine's MUCH more this year, mostly thanks to my cute decorations, I think...  So, here is a list of 10 reasons I am enjoying Valentine's Day more this year!

 1.  Getting Jackson excited for the holiday!  He was so excited to make Valentines!

2. Year #2 of a date night of sorts with the Yanceys at their church.  The youth group puts on a "romantic" dinner AND provides childcare!  Susie, Joe, Josh, and I got to enjoy a yummy Italian dinner complete with dessert while Rachel and Jackson played in the nursery.  The proceeds from the dinner go to summer mission trips for the youth.  Win, win, win!  (Of course, I didn't get any pictures of this fun event :()

 3. These three faces :)  The Bascoms came to spend most of the day on Sunday, and Jackson, Maddie, and Brodie played SO well together!  Jackson and Maddie had quite the dinner conversation going on, and Jackson LOVED practicing being a Big Brother to Brodie :)

 4. Front of the house decorations: I think our Smith Welcome sign is one of my favorite decorations!  It came with quite a few seasonal "charms" to change out on the bottom, and there is one for every holiday!  I also love all of my garden flags--they just make me smile when I pull up to the house :)

 5. Before I ordered our Smith Welcome sign, I accumulated a collection of seasonal door decorations.  They all have been packed up and moved a few times, but I found a new spot for them under the arch in the front room right by the stairs.  I think this LOVE one looked perfect!

 6. These letter blocks are my new decoration this year--I LOVE the $1 bin at Target (well, $2.50 bin in this case).  The back of this arrangement has Xs and hearts :)

 7 & 8. I bought this adorable heart tree at Kohl's last year right after Valentine's Day.  I think it was $4?  SOOO cute!  It actually sits in the middle of the island, but I moved it over by my new Subway Art frame for a photo shoot.  I recently discovered Subway Art at my friend, Kim's, house this winter.  She had an adorable Christmas print framed on her kitchen counter.  I honestly thought it was a pieces of wrapping paper or scrapbook paper!  She introduced me to the world of Subway Art, specifically the site: eighteen25, which has a bunch of FREE printables!  I plan to switch out the art to match the season, of course ;)

9. Chai Latte Cut-Out Cookies with Royal Icing (pardon the leftover Super Bowl plate!).  I have been wanting to experiment with cut-out cookies, but am not a huge fan of sugar cookies.  I came across this recipe and thought they would be just right for Valentine's Day!  Jackson helped me mix them up, and then I rolled them out, cut out the hearts, and decorated later :)  I think they are pretty delicious!

10. My littlest Valentine (for right now)!  We had a really fun day that ended with our special dinner at Qdoba and exchanging cards with the neighbors and Daddy :)

Happy Birthday, Paxton!!!

On a cold, snowy Saturday six years ago (well, six years ago as of February 4th), we picked out Pax from a (then) local animal shelter, and expanded our family :)  He is THE best dog!  The proof is he wins over all of our non-dog-people friends ;)  Luckily Pax forgave us for his first traumatizing night when we thought it would be fun to go to Pet Smart since you can take the dogs inside!  Pax thought it was the opposite of fun :(  Anyways, we love our furry family member!  He definitely doesn't get as much attention as he once did, so we wanted to make this birthday special!  We invited our neighborhood friends over yesterday afternoon to celebrate Paxton's birthday!  The kids in the neighborhood LOVE Pax--he is quite the popular guy :)  

 I made some dog treats for Pax and cookies for the kids using this recipe:   All I did for the kid ones was dip them in chocolate.

 Even though this was just supposed to be a casual snack-time party, Paxie was a lucky guy and got a new squeaky toy and a box of treats!

 All of the girls (and Jackson) made birthday cards for Pax!  They were so cute!  And, yes, my dog even has a memory box, so these will all go in there :)

 Jackson and Levi--the only guys at the party besides the birthday pup!  Jackson LOVES Baby Levi--a sign of good things to come, right???

 After we sung "Happy Birthday" to Pax, snack time commenced :)

Happy 7th birthday, Waxie Bear!!!  You are THE best dog and we love you so much :)

Pregnancy Rewind

Since we got such a good report this past week at the perinatologist, I thought it was a good time to share something that happened last Spring.  Josh and I experienced a miscarriage in April.  We were SO ready to become pregnant and welcome another member to our family, and we found out exactly how ready we were when that didn't happen.  That made us even more thankful when we found out we were pregnant this time, and we are not taking any of this for granted--feeling under-100% at the beginning was not something I complained about because I knew how badly we wanted this.  We chose to not share these details as they happened because we wanted to maintain privacy for our plans to expand our family.  BUT, I planned to share my story all along since miscarriage still seems to be one of those taboo topics.  Not many people talk openly about it, but it turns out that more people have experience with them than you would originally expect...


Wednesday, April 6th: I am one week late.  I hadn't told Josh I was thinking about taking a pregnancy test, and even though I know he would have wanted to be there, I wanted to do it first thing in the morning when the horomones show up the strongest.  It's positive!!!  I hurriedly set up a "casual" lunch with Josh for us to meet him at work.  Jackson and I set off for Kohl's to buy a Big Brother shirt. We get to Crystal City and I change Jackson into his new shirt.  Josh comes out to meet us and he immediately grabs Jackson and hugs him.  But he didn't see the shirt!  I tell him we need a do-over, take Momo from Jackson, and let Josh get a look at the shirt.  The look on his face was priceless!  He looked at me and said, "Seriously?"  Yup :)  So, then Jackson had to put his jacket back on since we clearly weren't telling anyone yet, and we were staying for lunch in the office!  During naptime I called my OB and scheduled our pregnancy confirmation appointment!  I got a great time with my favorite doctor--I should have known it was too good to be true...


Saturday, April 9th: Second positive pregnancy test :)


Sunday, April 10th: We attend Maddie Bascom's 2nd birthday party.  It was really fun, especially because we had this fun little secret... That night I started having a touch of bleeding, but Josh and I both remembered some of that with Jackson, and it really didn't amount to much.  Phew!


Monday, April 11th: My appointment was scheduled for 12:45.  That morning I had started to have more bleeding and some cramping.  I was so nervous, and the time for our appointment could not arrive fast enough!!!  When we got to the doctor we found out my appointment had been scheduled wrong :(  They didn't really have anyone to see us, but once they found out I was bleeding, they sent me to the separate ultrasound office they use to see what was going on.  Let's just say it was an afternoon full of waiting, impatience, cramps, and a bit of unprofessional office demeanor. I'm sorry that the person who answered my phone call schedule the appointment wrong, but it's really not MY fault, perhaps you could handle this later?  Anyways, the ultrasound technician let us know that she didn't see any sign of pregnancy.  They got our doctor on the phone and they said to come back to the office.  Of course I was really upset and teary, plus I didn't like that everyone kept questioning the fact that I took two positive pregnancy tests.  On this day, I cried because I felt stupid.  I know how to take a pregnancy test and we were just following the doctor's orders.  The ultrasound office kept asking if I had had blood drawn, and made sure we knew they were surprsied when we said, "No."  I know these doctors and technicians deal with this all the time, but for us patients, it's a whole different ballgame.  We went back to the doctor's office and saw a doctor.  At the time he was my hero because he made it all seem like no big deal once I told him I'm not very regular without birth control.  He said we should do some blood work and see what it said.  We left there feeling like we might very well be pregnant after all!  I also was extremely annoyed at the ultrasound tech that really shouldn't have been telling me anything before we saw my doctor! 


Tuesday, April 12th: I get a phone call in the morning telling me my blood work showed a good horomone level for a positive pregnancy!!!  Looking back, I KNOW I shouldn't have gotten too excited since we needed another number to compare THAT number to, but I figured these people were the professionals and if they were telling us we were still pregnant, then I was going to believe them!  We scheduled another ultrasound for the next Monday.


Wednesday, April 13th-Sunday, April 17th: We wait.  I convince myself that the bleeding is slowing down (it did actually) and the cramps are all much more similar to the cramps I had early on in my pregnancy with Jackson than to menstrual cramps...


Monday, April 18th: I have convinced myself we are going to go to the ultrasound and we are just much earlier than we thought.  The tech will clearly see a heartbeat!  We ended up with four technicians in our room, I believe by the time our ultrasound appointment was all said and done.  I was so mad at that point because they all kept talking and I knew they should just say nothing, send the report to our doctor, and let us go talk to our doctor!  I was furious about that fact!  Finally they all left our room and let us be.  I tried to keep from getting too upset at that point because the last time the doctor said something completely different from the ultrasound techs!  So, we went back to the doctor's office and met with one of our favorite doctors (the one who delivered Jackson), and she was so nice.  She explained that we probably had had a chemical pregnancy and she suspected that my blood work would show my horomone levels had dropped considerably.  That was SO disappointing to hear, but she didn't make us feel stupid for believing the test we had taken or anything.  She was about as great as someone could be in that situation.  I had more blood work drawn before we left that morning.


Susie and Joe had kept Jackson this morning while we went to the doctor.  Jackson and I spent the rest of the morning at their house, and that was really helpful.  Joe kept Jackson and Rachel occupied while Susie and I got to really talk.  Nothing like comparing notes about miscarriages with a good friend :(  I did feel much better after leaving Susie's and pretty much threw myself into preparations for moving and plans for the new house!  Oh yes, this all happened as we were trying to rent out the townhouse and get everything aranged to move into the new house!  Great timing, right?


Tuesday, April 19th: I get the results of my blood work back and the levels have indeed dropped a lot.  I was pretty excited at that point because the faster they got back to 0, the faster we could start trying again!


Wednesday, May 4th: Final blood work done that showed my levels were back to normal.


Unfortunately, this was one way we found out how ready we were to have another baby!  Mother's Day was hard.  We went to the National Zoo (this has become a tradition), and it seemed like everywhere I looked there were new babies and pregnant bellies.  That was supposed to be us.  Facebook and I have had a love/hate relationship going on based on various friends' posts about pregnancy discomfort and newborn struggles.  I would do ANYTHING to be experiencing the discomforts that come with pregnancy or to get spit up all over by my newborn.  I am SOOO ready to do all of that again, which leaves me little room to sympathize with others' complaints!  Plus, (and I realize this is 100% our choice), very few people actually knew what we went through at the time.  Josh and I like to keep certain parts of our lives private, and this includes not announcing when we are "trying."  Clearly, if we shared our news of our miscarriage, people would know we were trying to have another baby.  So, yes, we chose to miss out on the sympathy in order to maintain our privacy.  Comments about our plan to increase the size of our family always have irked me to some extent, and after this I just was worried I would feel more pressure.  That's definitely not something you need more of!  But, that being said, I do think it's important to share stories of miscarriage.  I figured better late than never.

Menu Plan Monday: Super Bowl Recipes!

Monday: Homemade Eggs Benedict for a late lunch and then soup for me and leftovers for Josh, I think--I wasn't feeling so hot...

Tuesday: Chili and cornbread
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Quesadillas and rice
Friday: Leftover chili
Saturday: picked up pizza
Sunday: SUPER BOWL!

Bloomin' Pizza Bread
Fat Dip--This was AMAZING!!!  Super easy too: Combine in Crock Pot--2 packs of sausage browned, 2 packs of cream cheese (8oz each), 2 packs of chive and onion cream cheese (8oz each), and 2 cans of Rotel with chilis.  Let it melt together and get all gooey.  Dip chips, veggies, or anything else you can think of!  SOOO good!!!
Lots of cut up veggies
Wings in the Crock Pot
Meatballs with a variety of dipping sauces
Black Forest Brownie Pecan Pie

For more yummy recipes, check out Menu Plan Monday at Org Junkie!

Dinosaurs!!!

Last Sunday we headed into DC to the National Museum of Natural History to see some dinosaurs!!!  Jackson was pretty excited when we told him.  He immediately asked if they were going to play or talk.  I told him they would just be standing still.  He repeated that a few times, which was hilarious!

Family shot :)

That's a big elephant!  I love the look on Jackson's face!

Thanks to the Jane Yolen How Do Dinosaurs... book series, Jackson was rattling off the names of several dinosaurs!

Checking out the fish with Mimi!

Jackson modeling his new sunglasses from Mimi--they have Lightning McQueen on the sides!!!

Nuzz, nuzz!

We finished this fun day off with a visit to the library to play with puzzles and check out new books before heading over to Red Robin for dinner!!!  I have been CRAVING Red Robin, and it definitely hit the spot.  Unfortunately, Jackson's little cold got worse at dinner and his nose was just running all over and his eyes were watering constantly :(  A warm bath and snuggles cheered him up before bedtime.  He is still under the weather a few days later, and I just wish his little body would let him sleep!!!  He is in a pretty good mood, but his eyes look sick and tired, and he just needs to rest, but it's like his body is working against him :(  Poor little guy!

A New Playground!

Mimi came for a visit this past weekend!!!  She got in before lunch on Thursday, and we did fun things like going to the bookstore, doing some shopping, and getting a fun lunch on Friday.  On Saturday, the weather was pretty nice, so we checked out a neighborhood playground we had heard good things about.  We all LOVED it!!!  The whole thing is totally surrounded by trees which seems good for the summer...

Climbing

This little window had what looked like cash register buttons molded right on to it.  Jackson LOVED pretending to make us food and take money through the window :)

Getting pretty good at the wiggly poles...

Jackson's airplane face!

I am pretty sure this was Jackson's first tunnel slide!  He LOVED it!

There was a pretty tall platform with two slides coming down from it, and I knew Jackson could do them, but he just needed to get more confident.  Josh helped him climb up once, and then off he went!

Getting ready to climb the ladder up to the top platform!  I couldn't believe how awesome Jackson did just hopping down the tall slides and then climbing up over and over!!!

Dinosaur face!

We all got a kick out of this lion water fountain--how cute!

The Belly Report: 21 Weeks

Last week when we turned 20 weeks along, Sammy was about the size of a banana (10.5 ounces and 6.5 inches long)!  This week, at 21 weeks, Sammy is about the size of a carrot (3/4 of a pound and 10.5 inches long)!  Since Josh was in charge of the first diaper change for Jackson, and will likely be in charge of it again for Sammy since I likely won't be able to feel my legs yet to get out of bed, he is THRILLED to read that Sammy is beginning to produce meconium...what will fill that first diaper!  Yikes!  I am SO close to Josh being able to feel the kicks on the outside of my stomach, but I am sure enjoying them all at this point :)

We went to the perinatologist on Monday and got another full ultrasound with special focus on the heart for a fetal echocardiogram.  We got a GREAT report, and it was SO fun to see Sammy again...a little older!  He was wiggling all around and waving.  The technician took almost 100 pictures of our little guy :)  It's amazing how clearly we can see the different parts of his brain, the four chambers of his heart, his ten fingers and toes, and his eyes, nose, and mouth.  And, this wasn't even a 3-D ultrasound!  We might need to go have another ultrasound so they can get a better look at his spine since he wasn't in the right position for that the first time around.  Our OB is checking to see if there are good enough images from Monday's ultrasound...

We got a good report in general from the perinatologist, Dr. Ghidini!  Unless anything else comes up, we won't be seeing him again, which is a blessing, really.  But, we really like him as a doctor, so it's too bad we won't see him any more.  You know?

Flashback: It's a Race!
Go Banana!
20 Weeks Preggo!
What's Up Doc?