Life.Is.Good.: The Days of Summer

This is what the days of summer are all about: visiting the Atlanta Zoo with girlfriends, starting something fun / new like Soccer lessons, getting messy with paint at home, "nesting" and getting ready for the new baby, and celebrating July 4th! We have packed a lot into the past two weeks!

Kinsley has started doing / saying some things, too, that I want to be sure I make note of: she is very independent, but lately with all the talk of a new baby coming, she's starting to show some signs of going, how do I say it, backwards? Reverting? Her new thing is to say "Mama, hold you!" with her arms outstretched. With the 20-something lbs. I have put on of baby-cushion, plus her at 30+ lbs, I would say that I am carrying a lot of "extra weight" these days. Potty training has somewhat derailed, with very little successful potty breaks in the last week or so. And I have walked into Carter's new nursery lately and she is sitting in the baby bouncer, or she wants to crawl back into the crib - her old crib, or she wants to play with her baby toys when she rediscoveres them, or she says that "I'm a baby." And then she quickly changes her mind and says that "no, I'm a big girl." She's become scared of things, like shadows and thunderstorms. Everynight, we have to lay with her in her big-girl bed until she falls asleep, and after saying prayers (where she starts with "Thank you Jesus for today," then says every family member by name - and even remembers to say "all my friends" - and ends with a robust "A-men!"), we make shadow puppets on the ceiling with her princess flashlight. And she asks for them my name: "Shadow puppets pweeeese!" She can tell you that "a storm's comin'!" when she hears thunder, and she is totally turning into her mama - she does not like bugs and likes to stomp on them with her shoes. She's becoming more tolerable of sand and actually likes building sand castles and gettng her hands a little dirty and the sand between her toes, and has been spending lots of time swimming in the pool and lake...she's jumping off the side of the pool and is becoming a little fish. She loves, loves, loves ice cream cones, squeezable apple sauce pouches, popcicles and her weekly trip to Chick-Fil-A (which she calls "Chick-A-Fa-Lay"). And a new favorite has quickly become part of the daily routine of our family: Curious George. She loves "George" and when one episode is over, she will politely ask "more George pweeese!"

And Kinsley can still tell you all about her baby brother, Carter. And I have to be careful cause she will unexpectedly lift mommy's shirt to show you where he is currently residing. I cannot wait for these two to meet in less than 13 weeks. That's right, this past Sunday, we were 27 weeks and had a high-risk appt Tuesday. I can gladly report that all is well! Carter is tracking at an estimated 2 lbs 6 oz and all of his body parts and organs are measuring exactly where they should be. In fact, the doctor said that he is tracking in the 53rd percentile right now - funny, I had no idea they tracked "percentiles" in the womb! And the best thing so far about being high-risk? (because, let's face it, it's not fun to be referred to as "high risk" your whole pregnancy)...the U/S tech flipped to the 3D doppler today and I got to see Carter's sweet, sweet face! Check this out! You can see his eyes, nose, lips, cheeks, and a little fist balled up right beside his face. A-mazing. Brought instant tears to my eyes.

At that same high-risk appt, I am happy to report that mama is also doing well. :) Everything looks good thus far with my placenta and cervix, so we hopefully keep this up for the remainder of our pregnancy! These days I am feeling pretty good, too...just beginning feeling big and, well, pregnant. This crazy heat is not making it any easier to be preggo in the summer, that's for sure! We will be gliding right into the 3rd trimester this coming weekend!

And speaking of babies, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Kinsley's newest cousin later this week as Danny and Angela are due with their baby - will it be a girl or a boy??? As long is it's healthy - but we seriously can't wait to find out the gender and finally meet the little bundle of joy!!!

In the meantime, here is a look some of our most recent "days of summer":

~THE ZOO: TAKE II~