Amy's Campout!

Amy invited her friend to sleepover last night, and they camped out in the backyard- we expected they would probably end up back inside sometime during the night, but they surprised us and slept out there all night! Here is a picture of them this morning, making their "campfire". They also went "hunting" and said they were out in the wilderness and had to find their own food!

Amy's driving!

Amy and Mark's new toy:

Big house project...

One of the big projects we wanted to get done this summer was to have the bulkhead replaced- it finally happened this past week! We were on a 6 week waiting list with the contractor, and am glad to finally have it done! Here it is condensed into pictures- the last picture shows the bulkhead today, the new grass is sprouting, and those are the blueberry bushes we are going to plant on either side of it.

Amy looking out from the basement

Zoo Trip

Amy, 2 of her friends, another mom and I all went to the zoo a couple weeks ago- Amy loved it- especially feeding the deer in the "Deer Forest" and getting to ride the camel and elephant!

It's a New England thing...

Ok, we are not huge hot dog people, but every once in awhile Amy asks for one, and I grew up eating them. I saw a cute breakfast idea in a magazine recently, which involved a hot dog bun, a banana, peanut butter and chocolate chips. Not too bad of a breakfast in a hurry, so I decided to give them a try.

Went to the store looking for hot dog buns- easy, right? Not when you're looking for this:

Thinking back, I have not seen these since we left the west coast! Here is what they call hot dog buns out here- to me they just look weird, Amy thinks so too, but to all her friends, these are just normal hot dog buns!

Checking in...

Yesterday was a busy day- Had an appointment with my midwife in the morning and Amy with her orthodontist after that.

Both went well- baby has had a growth spurt, and is now measuring at 34 weeks- a week ahead, and his heart sounds good, my blood pressure is great, and I only gained 2 pounds since my last appt- making it a total of 26!

Amy no longer has to wear her retainer, and the ortho said her adult teeth are coming in really nicely- and that she may not need a second round of braces! This is different than what the ortho in CA had told us.

After our appointments, I took Amy to a local place called Whimzy, it is kind of a combination art/craft workshop, toystore, and they also have a mining sluice setup where you buy a bag of dirt and mine for rocks- that's what Amy picked to do, and had a lot of fun, and brought home about half a bag of rocks to add to her collection.

Then we went to lunch- sliders, seasoned pepper fries and lemonade- YUM!

Popped over to Trader Joes for a few things, then called a cab home!

8 weeks and counting...

It seems like the time is slipping by so fast! Baby is doing great, I see the midwife every 2 weeks now, and he is growing perfectly! He seems to have settled head down, and because I lost so much weight, I can easily make out which end is his head, and which end is a tangle of feet/knees/legs! He likes to keep his feet pressed into my right side.

Amy starts back to school on Sept 3rd- she is excited to be starting 5th grade! She especially loves Latin class, and seems to soak it up like a sponge!

Mark and Amy have been doing some projects and activities together: working on her chemistry set, building a solar car model, playing frisbee in the backyard, and playing with their new Jeep RC car.

We had our basement bulkhead replaced this past week- the old one was rusted pretty heavily, and the door was leaking, so decided to just replace the whole thing with a new set of precast concrete stairs and new door. It looks great, and I am looking forward to not running down to check the buckets every time it rains! I will post some pictures soon.

Hula Hoop time!

Mark just sent me this picture from work- someone there forwarded it to him. It was taken at his company picnic last month when Amy competed in a hula hoop contest and managed to beat out every other person there, scoring herself a Dunkin Dohnuts giftcard. She loves to hoop at home and school, but I had no idea she was so good- she has thistrick when the hoop gets too low- a special way of wiggling her hips to make it come back up where she wants it, and can even switch it up to her neck and down around her legs without losing it!

Pictures

Baby Crib!

Amy taking care of her baby doll

Mark's Company Picnic
29 Weeks- only 2 and a half months to go! New England Aquarium
Amy compared to a nurse shark
Amy wearing a dress my Mom made- I wore it in second grade (25 years ago!)