"Please hear my heart beat, Dad."

The other night when James came home from work, Gwenevere ran into our bedroom and grabbed James' Stethoscope, running down the hall Gwenevere repeated "Please hear my heart beat Dad?  Please hear my heart beat."  It was so cute.  For the next several minutes James and Gwenevere listened to each other heart beats and played Doctor.  Gwenevere looks forward to when Papa come home.  She is so excited to see her Papa after being around grumpy old Mom all day.  We (Gwenevere and I) are both blessed to have such an awesome Papa in our home.

Baby Leopards

The Leopards at our zoo had two cubs last week.  So we had to go check them out.  Thanks Sara and Ben for coming with us.  It was so much fun.

And of course a trip to the zoo isn't complete without a Carousel ride.

Super James

Can I say I have best husband ever?!  He works all week while I plan for a crazy weekend.  Then when Saturday comes instead of a day off I ask James to do a hundred things and he simple does them.  I love James so much.  He is truly the best Husband for me, the best father for Gwenevere and my very best Friend.

So last Saturday James got up early before Gwenevere and I woke up so that he could go on a 37 mile bike ride with the Tacoma Bike club. 

When James got home I had found a futon on Craigslist that I needed him to pick up.  Than we went to the park to play with some friends and than off to another park to have our CTR 6 Class party.  It was a crazy day, but James made it awesome.

 

I love my James

Pregnancy Update- Good news

I'm 33 weeks now,  Only 7 more to go.  WOW!  it's going by fast.  Baby sister is head down and hopefully will stay that way.  I get lots of kicks on my right side mostly from her feet but every now and than I get some good hand punches in the lower right hand side of my stomach. At my last appointment, my midwife could feel baby's head, back and bum.  And when they listened to her heart beat it was LOUD and clear.  Her back was pressed right up against my stomach, the way she sits most of the time.  My midwife was very impressed.

While at my appointment I took another Gestational Diabetes test.  The last one I took was at 26 weeks and we figured it was good to check again just in case.  The test came back negative.  YIPPEE  no GD this pregnancy.

I was also tested again for my platelets.  Last test was at 101 and we thought they might drop some more.  I've been eating a lot of protein and drinking an herbal tea that is good for the blood.  So I was super excited when I found out that my platelet count has increased to 127.  YIPPEE

I'll probably test my platelet counts again when it gets closer to the birth but this is a GREAT improvement. 

So now I won't complain that I have passed 155 lbs.  Kinda.  When I weigh myself on our home I weigh in about 152-153 but whenever I go to my appointments and weigh in I'm 3-5 lbs heavier. 

 But enough about me let me tell you about Baby sister. I feel we have a strong willed baby on the way.  When I'm sitting in an uncomfortable position for her, she will kick and kick and kick until I move.  She has even woken me up in my sleep because she was uncomfortable, and that's saying something, because I'm a deep sleeper.

When I can't stop baby sister from kicking me, I have Gwenevere come over and talk to her.  She stops moving right away and just listens to Gwenevere. 

In a few more weeks we will move Gwenevere into Alisha's room and Alisha into Gwenevere's room so that we can set up baby sisters bed in Gwenevere's new room and get things ready for when Baby sister comes. 

As for names,  Gwenevere still calls baby sister Alice, James still enjoys the name Eleanora, and I like Emlyn.  So that probably means baby sister will be named something completely unknowns to us at this time.  But we are excited to have her come into our home and not just be in my stomach.

Sumertime fun

We're trying to keep ourselves busy this summer in hopes that baby sister's arrival will be here soon.  With James doing his internship and having the apartment complex with two openings, it hasn't been hard to stay busy.  But when we get the chance we like to stay busy doing super fun things together.

On Tuesday,  Gwenevere and I made a picnic dinner and walked to the Library where we met up with Papa as he was riding home from work.  We looked at books, ate dinner and played in the water fountains at the Library.

On Wednesday I went to the temple, had a prenatal appointment, and stopped by a friends house for a short visit.  Gwenevere spend the day at her friends house.  She had so much fun.  When we came home I started a movie for Gwenevere so I could start some dinner.  A few minutes later I found Gwenevere fast asleep in Baby sister's bath tub.

 
Two weeks ago my sister Grace, who is serving a mission in Florida, sent home a picture of her next to a peacock.   So today Gwenevere and I decided to go to the zoo and take a picture next to the friendly peacocks that live there.  I think we had some success.

  besides chasing the peacocks, we enjoyed some animal crackers and watching the Elephants, watching the scuba divers clean and shark tank, pushing all the "scoop on poop" exhibit questionnaire buttons, looking at an Argentinian lizard, and of course, riding the carousel.  

After the zoo we met up with Papa for a picnic lunch at his work.  It was fun to sit in the sun at eat tomatoes and sandwiches and giggle non stop as Papa and Gwenevere played with each other.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring, Hopefully it will bring some motivation to clean the house and get ready for a fun filled weekend.   But than again if it's sunny, we might just skip the cleaning part and start the fun filled weekend early.  

Father's Day Camping

For Father's day we went camping.  It was a blast.  And yes it had to rain but that didn't stop us from having a time of our lives.  

Here's a quick recap of our weekend in pictures.

Getting ready to go

 Gwenevere helping me pack the food

Filling up on gas and banana before we take off

 The pilot

trying to stay entertained while driving

We got to camp late Friday night, ate dinner and visited with friends till midnight.  When we woke up the next morning it was raining pretty hard.  

Here James is making breakfast Saturday morning in the rain.

Gwenevere loved playing with the flashlight and staying dry in the tent.

Lucky for us, Kevin brought an extra tarp that we set up and ate breakfast under. 

Cute campers eating some yummy breakfast

Uncle Chris did a great job entertaining the little ones

 

Once the rain stopped many families headed to the beach for some fun

The beach was COLD but that didn't stop us from having fun

I just love Gwenevere's smile in the picture

 

After lunch we went on a walk with some friends

And enjoyed all the views

Then it was time for the playground, again

Gwenevere learned a new trick. Up the slide.

then it was dinner.  Oh how I love camping. All the FOOD.

 After dinner and saying goodbye to almost everyone (most families went home Saturday night), it was time to go to the play ground again

 this time the right way

 And than back to the ocean view for another walk at sunset

and to get some Father's day pictures

the views where amazing, the sunset was beautiful and the company was heavenly

After our walk at sunset we went back to a friends camp ground for more dessert and some good company.

Sunday morning we found this little guy trying to eat our paper towels

 The picture below represents our ancestors.

The lantern is James' Grandpa's from the 40s

and the dutch oven is My Grandma's growing up. 

Gwenevere was a great sleeper, probably because we went non stop all day long

Getting ready to  pack up

 But before we could pack up we had to eat Breakfast with friends. Even in matching PJs how cool is that.

This was our last attempt to get a family picture

Note to self, when going camping, take family picture at the beginning of trip when not so dirty looking.

heehee

it's for posterity

 Happy Father's day!

Next Sunday we'll bring you breakfast in bed, and I'll plan the primary lesson, since you did all the work for our Father's day camping trip.