27 weeks and counting....

Well I am now about 27 weeks along and definitely feeling and looking very pregnant! I am tired ALL the time and it doesn't help that this summer has been SO hot. I still get occasional morning and evening sickness, yea... and have been having some cramps/pains from what I am sure is my uterus stretching. This little one is VERY active, he moves and kicks constantly. Ella was a lot quieter than this little boy. As for Ella she is very excited for her brother to come. She has helped us with the baby's room by making some paintings and often will kiss and hug my belly. This week we brought the swing out of storage and when she saw it she said "when my baby brother comes out of your belly can I rock him in this?". I hope she ends up being the great helper I am imagining her to be.

Florida Vacation

The first week in August Ella and I went to visit my family in Florida for a week. Ella did great on the plane. This was her fifth time flying and she is really starting to understand everything. She pulls her own carry on bag and even knows to take her shoes off at security. She understands the seatbelt stays on till we are "high in the sky" and that when we land the plane has wheels and can "drive us to the building". On the trip down she even got compliments from the people around us on how well behaved she was. That really got the trip off to a good start. Being pregnant I was a bit worried about the heat, but since my parents have a pool it was fine (no swollen ankles the whole trip!). Everyday the weather was pretty much the same around 95-98 degrees, with about 80 humidity, with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. The weather forecast doesn't vary much this time of year. So needless to say I am so glad we had a pool. I'm not sure how you would survive living there without one! We spent A LOT of our time in the pool and Ella is turning into a very confident swimmer. She is very close to swimming on her own! She loved the water and spent hours each day in the pool. While we were there we also visited a state wildlife park called Homosassa Springs, where we saw all kinds of neat animals, a hippo, lots of alligators, manatees, flamingos, etc. It was neat for Ella to see in person all these animals we don't get to see around Michigan. We even got to watch them feed the hippo. I had never seen a hippo in person myself and was surprised how huge it was! The day we were at the park it was VERY hot, well every day was hot, but this day we were actually walking around. A lot of the park was shaded so that helped but to get there you have to take a boat ride in which is slow and places you in direct sun. I thought I might die at one point, luckily the boat ride was only 20 minutes! We also went to play mini golf at a place called Congo River, which has live fish and alligators. I also saw my sister and her husband and we all had a cookout on our last night there. Beth is definitely starting to look pregnant and we found out she is having a boy too. It was a fun week! Hopefully we can go back after our little one is born and Beth has her baby, I can't wait for them to meet!

July in review...

This summer is going by WAY to fast, I can't believe it's already the middle of August! Despite how fast it's gone we have had a lot of fun. Shortly after the fourth of July my sister Beth came to visit from Florida for a week. It was fun to see her and her growing belly, since we are due only about 6 weeks apart. We went to the zoo, chuck e cheese, gymboree....we had a lot of fun. The week after Beth left Ella and I went to my hometown to spend the day with my dad who was also visiting from Florida. Ella even went on her first ever boat ride. We also managed a few trips to South Haven in July and I found out this year that Ella LOVES the water! We spent most of our time at the beach in the water. All in all July was a fun month, but it went by way too fast!