Bits of Summer

In spite of being sick most of the summer, we actually had a wonderful summer. This is the first year that both girls have enjoyed the beach, so we took full advantage and went to the beach a lot. Our favorite time of day to go is late afternoon, after nap time is over. We would pack a picnic dinner, some beach chairs, and head out to the beach.

Holly and Josie enjoying their sandwiches.

We went to the beach with cousins several times, and Andrew decided to give Holly a (rather tame) ride in a kayak. She was in love with the idea until she actually got in it.

When they made it back to shore, Andrew told me that Holly kept desperately trying to jump out of the kayak. What's not to love about a kayak ride where all you're required to do is sit and enjoy it?

We also made, and enjoyed, our fair share of treats. Josie is a junk food monster and will gladly sacrifice eating her dinner in hopes of dessert.

Lowe's continues to be our home-away-from-home and the girls accompany us often. They like going lots more if a fun car shopping cart is involved. It seems like the list of projects to be done on our house will never end!

Swimming Lessons

This summer we decided to go for it and register Holly for swimming lessons. She had a blast and learned a lot (she is not an Olympic-level swimmer yet, but has gained much confidence in the water). She took a two-week session which consisted of four lessons per week.

Incidentally, this particular session happened to fall right when I found out I was pregnant and all the fun began. So needless to say, taking her to a 9:00 a.m. swimming lesson was about all I could handle every day.

Holly had just turned three and was the youngest child in her class, by far. I was so proud of her and thought she did so well! The only person who wasn't pleased with the arrangement was Josie, who was mad that she couldn't get in the pool and swim, too. We actually had a few close encounters with the water slide and, luckily, there were other moms more with it than I who saved her life. Although she certainly didn't see it that way, of course.

We are looking forward to swimming lessons again next summer!

The REAL Reason I Haven't Blogged in 6 Months...

Actually, make that the last 3 months. I really have no excuse from April through June. But from July to the present, I have been absent from blogging, Facebook, and all forms of socialization because of this.

A new baby bump! Hooray! This picture is seriously outdated because I'm about halfway through this beast of a pregnancy and much, much bigger. But I seriously spent all summer laying on my couch in various states of consciousness while the poor girls watched PBS Kids and did things like this.

That is Holly taking a bath in the bathroom sink. Which, actually, I would not have even known about had Josie not flushed the toilet approximately 35 times in a row and alerted me to the situation.

And this. Pushing each other around in the baby doll stroller, which is about to collapse after having been subjected to more than it can handle.

The good news is, I am not so horribly sick anymore. Just tired beyond belief and suffering from terrible migraines and other various ailments. Which leads me to my other piece of exciting (and related) news: this baby is a boy!

We are still in shock, I think. We are so heavily into girl mode (even my precious husband Andrew) that we are still adjusting to the idea of having a baby brother. I'm actually just relieved that we had two girls first and I know we will absolutely adore him when he arrives.

So, I will do my best to combat fatigue and everything else and catch up on my blog. Let's just all forgive me and move forward from here, okay?