Summer: Week 2

We started off the week with a dentist appointment for Jake. No cavities, yeah! One of the prizes that Jake picked out was this over sized plastic toothbrush. When we got home, he said "I can't wait to brush my teeth with my new toothbrush!" I had to break it to him that is just a play toothbrush, not a real one.

Tuesday evening, we went to a birthday party at Pump It Up. Not only does Jake love that place, but he was excited to see his friends from Westwood. We haven't seen them since school let out.

Jake & the birthday boy playing in the bubbles

This week also started swim lessons. 

Over the weekend, we were in the process of cleaning out the attic. Robbie had a box that had some old toys of his. One of them was a Voltron. Jake found it and feel in love with it. He seriously played with it all day long. Until we looked it up on ebay & saw how much they were selling for. If we don't sell it, Robbie promised Jake that he could have it. I of course am hoping it sells, so we can put that money towards the nursery. Jake of course is hoping it doesn't.

 And now for all of the progress we made...

Bonus Room/Guest Bedroom/Office

Nursery

 I need to take a picture of our attic, because that is the one room that is very clean & organized!

We also narrowed down the paint color. We've just got to find something in-between. I know the paint guy at Lowe's loves when someone comes in requesting something a little darker than this & a little litter than that.

The lighter looks too white and the darker looks too pink

So basically the room looks like this. We've got paint sample colors all over the walls.

Funniest thing Jake said this week:
We were getting ready to go to the pool & I was wearing my swimsuit. Jake asked me what swimsuit was baby sister going to wear.

Most embarrassing thing Jake said this week:
We had been at the pool and were packing up to head home. Jake overheard a little boy talking about going to the park after the pool (the park is right beside the pool on the other side of the fence in our neighborhood). So of course Jake asked me if we could go to the park. I told him no, because 1) it was about to rain a downpour, 2) we had to go home & fix supper & 3) the park has several prime locations for snakes to hang out at. So Jake starts throwing a fit. Jake doesn't throw fits a lot, but when he does, it's usually a big one. He was whining & fussing and I told him the answer was no and we were not going to discuss it anymore. He started to talk back & I stopped him & told him that was his warning, and unless he wanted to get into trouble when we got home, he best just stop talking. Then Jake starts crying loudly yelling "you said a bad word that hurt my feelings!". He just kept saying over & over "you said a bad word". The bad word I said was "stop talking". I could tell parents were trying not to look, but you know they were all wondering what bad word did that mom say.  I wanted to yell "I didn't really say a bad word!! I just told my kid to stop talking before he got into trouble!".

Summer: Week 1

We had a busy first week of summer, and I could have sworn that I took more pictures, but I guess not. We got back from the beach on Monday, Memorial Day. Jake's summer camp started on Tuesday. He is going to a summer day camp at a local private school nearby. They have a field trip each week and do lots of crafts and games. He seems to be enjoying it, even though after the first week, he told me he had fun, but he thinks he will just stay at home with me for the rest of summer & just watch movies. (I had to inform him, that wasn't going to fly. Not only could he not just watch movies all day, but he had to get used to being away from me 5 days a week for more than just 4 hours a day. He starts big boy school in the fall!) So he decided if he couldn't just stay home with me, summer camp is a nice alternative. 

Tuesday night, his baseball team had their end-of-the-season party. They ended up tying for 2nd place in their division (keeping it honest, there were only 4 teams total in their division :) I'll do a baseball season recap soon. My father-in-law took a lot of pictures with his camera that I want to download, but he is out of the state for 2 weeks with his camera!

Jake with Coach Charles

The team & their coaches
(missing 2 players & 1 coach)

On Wednesday, I had a doctor's appointment. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which I love. (I love to see the baby's picture in ultrasounds, but ultrasounds give me extra anxiety because I'm so scared they are going to give me bad news. But listening to the heartbeat? I could listen to that all day long.) I'm measuring right where I should be. My doctor has been seeing me every 3 weeks, but we are going to go to every 2 weeks, just to closely monitor everything. 

On Thursday, Robbie & I went to a Barron's baseball game with the Birmingham alumni chapter of his high school. (What, your high school doesn't have alumni chapters in different cities? My high school doesn't!) We really ended up spending more time with our Birmingham friends (who most of them went to Troy with me). So it was good to catch up with everyone. Of course, Robbie & I spent most of the time during the game, talking about how real baseball is so different from 5 & 6 year old little league!! 

June 1

June 1. Our due date is September 1, so that means we have 3 months, 92 days to be exact (well, give or take a few days, since I doubt the baby will come on her actual due date) to get ready for this baby. I figure it seems more manageable, if I break down my goals by month. Whenever I have ideas, I think about them all the time. I jot them down on lists or make notes. I bookmark things, tell my friends about them. Basically, I do everything except mention them to my husband. I do not know how many times Robbie has said "I didn't realize you were thinking about [doing, buying, naming, etc...] XYZ until I read it today on the blog.". Oops. I mean, it's not like Robbie travels all during the week & I never see him. I see him pretty much every day and we talk about everything else. For some reason, I just forget to talk about ideas with him. So, to make sure Rob knows my to-do list for June, instead of making sure I verbally communicate these things to him, I'll just recap them on the blog. 

1) Name the baby. I want this child named by the end of June. It is driving me (& my mom) crazy. We have made a little bit of progress. We've eliminated one syllable first names. Which makes me sad, because both Robbie & I love the name Sloane. But "Sloane Bush" just doesn't sound good. When we were naming Jake, it didn't bother me that Jake was such a short name & so was Bush. It sounds fine for a boy. But for a girl, Bush is just such a short last name, I feel like she needs a longer, softer name to even it out. For a female, longer names just sound better with the last name Bush. And don't think my craziness just ends there. I have a whole checklist of requirements that the name must meet. So for the time being, by eliminating 1 syllable first names, that makes Charlotte the front runner. But we haven't pulled the trigger yet. We have to make sure there is not some long lost beautiful family name, that we just haven't discovered, that sounds good with the last name Bush, sounds good with the middle name Elizabeth, sounds good with the whole name Elizabeth Bush, sounds good with the name Jake, is something that people have heard of but not too many people are named, won't be misspelled, won't be mispronounced, and doesn't make initials that spell out something bad. Easy enough, right?

2) Get the nursery 60% completed. To get to 60%, I feel like I need to do the following:

*Remove guest bedroom bed. (We've made a little progress here. The bed in the guest bedroom is actually an old bed of my in-laws in which they loaned to Robbie when he bought his 1st house. So we have to get it back to them. Robbie took the bed apart, but because it has tall posts on each corner, it will not fit in any of our SUVs. And of course the bed can't make it simple by allowing you to unscrew the posts & take them off. So other than walking the bed over to their house or chopping off the corner posts, I have no idea how we are getting that bed back to them. But at least it's taken apart, so it's now only taking up 1 wall instead of half the room.)

*Remove the extra electronics. Before Robbie can remove the extra electronics & accessories from the nursery, we have to make room for them in the attic. Which we will, once we move all of the baby stuff out of the attic. Which we will, once we have the extra electronics stuff out of the nursery. Which we will, once we have the baby stuff out of the attic. Which we will, as soon as we have the electronics out of the nursery. And round & round we go.

*Paint the room. I LOVE the color pink, but I do not want a pink nursery. I want a white & gold nursery. The only pink I want int he room, is a very, very pale pink on the walls. I want it so light, that it almost looks white. We found a color we thought would work, bought a sample of it and Robbie painted a few test spots in different places in the room. I love the color when the blinds are closed & the lights are off. But if the lights are on & blinds are open, it looks way too white. So I'm not sure where to go from here.   

*Paint the crib. I found a special paint that is just for baby cribs. We just have to order it & actually paint the crib. This is something we need to do sooner than later, so the paint has plenty of time to dry & settle before baby gets here.

*Find a dresser to use as a changing table. I went to my favorite antique shops in Birmingham over the weekend and found nothing. So now I'm putting all my hopes into Craig's List. 

*Actually buy a rocking chair. I want just a plain old wooden rocking chair, that I can paint & have a cushion made for. (We have an amazing super comfortable upholstered rocking chair & ottoman that we used in Jake's nursery, that is now in our master bedroom. So for the nursery, I want something more simple.) I've actually found them all over the place, I just need to break down & actually buy one. 

*Purchase the fabric for the canopy & curtains. 

Idea Board

3) Remember to take my iron pills & drink as much water as possible. When I was pregnant with Jake, I was very swollen. And that was during the winter months. I knew that it would probably be bad this pregnancy, being 7, 8 & 9 months pregnant, during the hottest months of the year. And it is bad. By 10:00 in the morning, I can feel my body becoming a sausage. It is the grossest feeling. I talked with my doctor about it and part of the problem is my iron is very low, so I have to take iron pills (which I forget to take more than half the time). Because of the low iron, my body is retaining water & salt to prepare for a disaster (or something like that). So I've got to get better at taking my iron pills every day. My doctor also suggested I drink as much lemon & lime water as possible to help. I'm trying to make sure I walk every day and that seems to help as well. But other than that, there was not a lot to do. I'm just going to look like a candidate for My 600-Pound Life tv show.    

Memorial Day Weekend / The Beach

For the second year in a row, we spent Memorial Day Weekend down in Seagrove Beach with our good friends from Chattanooga, the S family. (Last year's recap here.) Zach & Robbie went to high school together and became close friends when Zach & Robbie both moved back to Chattanooga after graduating from college. Zach's wife Kimberly & I became good friends once Robbie & I started dating. Kimberly & Zach had their daughter Addie 8 months after we had Jake, so Jake & Addie have grown up together since they were babies, and we already have their wedding all planned out. They also have a son Tyler who is 18 months old. We had a full & fun house!

We all got into town Thursday evening.

Jake & Addie on the bunk beds

This is what they felt like after being in the car.
Jake for 4 hours & Addie for 7 hours.

Day 1

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was hot, but not too hot. The water was clear & beautiful. There were waves, but they were not too big or rough. We headed to the beach pretty early. (And I have to give a shout out to the Zach & Robbie. Early every morning, to get a good spot, they would lug the canopy and beach chairs down to the beach. And every evening, they would lug all of our stuff back, so all us girls had to drag back were our hot, tired complaining kids. I cannot thank the guys enough for dragging all of our stuff to & from the beach everyday. Thank you thank you thank you!) We enjoyed a full day at the beach and then headed back to the house late afternoon, so we could get ready for dinner. We ate dinner in Seaside at Great Southern, which is always great. Afterwards, we had ice cream and then waited for the outdoor movie to start in the Seaside Amphitheater. Halfway through the movie (Monster's University), I noticed that pretty much everyone on our blanket was asleep or falling asleep, so we all headed back to the condo. Day 1 was a great success!

Jake LOVED the ocean

Ice cream after dinner

Daddy & Jake
Getting ready for the movie to start

Burning off energy by running around

Mommy & Jake

Jake practicing his big brother skills on Tyler

Sister & Brother - Addie & Tyler

The S Family

Our family

Day 2

We knew that we would be staying in for dinner on night 2, so we allowed ourselves to get a later start that day. We headed down to the beach late morning and stayed until sunset. Not only does the gulf coast have the most beautiful beaches in the US, but also such beautiful sunsets. It's one of my most favorite things. Day 2 also brought the boogie board. Jake has been talking about wanting a boogie board for weeks. While I was at Target, picking up stuff for our beach trip, I picked up what I thought was a boogie board. It was only $3, looked small enough for Jake and had spiderman on it, so I thought it was perfect! I surprised Jake with it the night before we left and he was so excited. Then on Day 1 we get out to the beach and Jake runs down to the waves to try out his new boogie board, and Robbie informs us that is a kickboard, not a boogie board. That is why it was so small (& cheap). Oops. So Saturday morning, Robbie got up early & went to buy Jake an actual boogie board. Jake was beyond thrilled and loved it. He said it was his favorite part of the beach. That night, we cooked out seafood. The guys managed the grill, the kids played outside & Kimberly & I watched from above on the balcony. 

Tyler & Jake playing ball

Jake with his new boogie board

First try on the boogie board

First wipe out

We were really proud of Jake
He didn't get upset or cry when he wiped out
He wanted to get back on & try again

Success!

We took a little break from the beach to swim at the pool

Playing before dinner

Day 3

On Day 3, we were back out on the beach bright & early. There were no waves that day, so Jake wasn't able to ride his boogie board (probably much to Robbie's relief, as Robbie was the one who got stuck having to help him every time.) But we all still had lots of fun. That evening, we took some family pictures and then headed into Rosemary Beach. We walked around for a little bit, and that is when the tragedy happened. Jake fell & scrapped his knees. Jake can get knocked down hard, pop up & say he's fine. But a little paper cut can completely send him over the edge and to his death bed. Jake's fall really wasn't that bad, he just can't walk in flip flops, but I keep trying to make him wear them. He was crying because he fell, but then he looked down & noticed the skin on his knees had been scrapped, so there was a little blood. Complete, full meltdown. You would have thought someone cut off his legs. For an hour, he limped along, crying & complaining. (And no, I'm not that mean of a parent, but it really wasn't that bad.) We decided to eat at Summer Kitchen (which I would not recommend, it was overpriced for just okay food), which had a 30 minute wait. During the entire wait, Jake would get calmed down, but then as soon as he saw his knees, he would get upset again. He kept saying things like "oh, my beautiful knees are ruined". Finally Rob took him to get a Popsicle, to try to get his mind off of it. It worked & Jake calmed down. But he still continued to talk about it endlessly to anyone who would listen. After dinner, on our walk back, we enjoyed fireworks from Alys Beach and then finished with ice cream. It was a perfect ending, to not only a perfect day, but a perfect little vacation (minus the tragedy of a pair of beautiful knees getting ruined). 

Picture for their future wedding video

Sweet friends

Picture taken by Addie

Our last beach vacation as a family of 3

I also want to give a huge thank you to my parents for letting us use the condo during one of the busiest weekends of the year! We made so many great memories and are so grateful for your generosity. 

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!