34 week checkup

I had my routine doctor's appointment yesterday. I was happy to hear that our little guy is now head down and in the right position for delivery ... whenever he decides that should be. His heart rate was 153 and he is 4.13 lbs. His measurements yesterday reflected a Sept 9th due date ... maybe he and Everett will share a birthday (Sept 11th) ... although since E was 3 weeks early the doc says there's a good chance this little fella will be as well. (I guess we need to get busy preparing for him to arrive!!) Since he's so big now, it's hard to get very good pictures of him. The first picture labeled as a profile shot is actually looking at him from a somewhat downward facing angle. I've looked at it quite a few times and each time it takes me a while to make out his nose and lips. You can see his hand curled up next to his face. The sono tech also confirmed that his legs and feet are the sharp, knobby objects that have been frequently kicking my right side for the past month or so. I think he's going to be one heck of a soccer player!

The rest of the appointment was fairly uneventful - thank goodness I've had a pretty boring pregnancy! I climbed on the scale and found that I'd gained almost 5 lbs since my last appointment 3 weeks ago (oops). I'm now about 5 lbs away from my final weight when Everett was born (although I feel like my belly is much bigger at this point in this pregnancy). I would expect that my weight gain will slow since I am pretty miserable after eating even the smallest amounts of food (this baby is now occupying the space once reserved for my stomach).

We are still very undecided on a name for our second son and are welcoming any suggestions!! We originally were leaning towards Kyle, then Eli became a possibility and this week we've been tossing around Kevin again. We've always loved the names Elliott and Emmett but have decided they just sound to much like Everett ... I'm sure I'll have a hard enough time keeping their names straight when I'm tired or frustrated ... no sense making it any harder. So please send your name suggestions or comments our way ... hopefully this guy will have a name chosen for him before he arrives!

Chopsticks

Last week David and I picked up some Vietnamese food for dinner and a pizza for Everett. We cut up E's pizza and put it on the table for him, but he was more interested in checking out our food as we unpacked our containers at the counter. In an effort to distract him (and keep him from pulling our styrofoam containers of food on top of him) David handed him a set of chopsticks. I unwrapped them for him and said (kiddingly) "Now go eat your pizza". Without missing a beat, he crawled back in his chair, and started very efficiently stabbing at his pizza and placing the bites in his mouth. Maybe it's time to take him out for sushi!

Father's day pictures

I've been meaning to get these posted and just keep forgetting! We had some photos taken Father's day weekend. We surprised David last year with a Father's day picture of Leslie and Everett, and since we didn't get around to doing it early enough to surprise him with a framed photo this year, we just took him along to the photo shoot. (Great idea, Leslie!) We had never had a professional "family" picture taken and we were pretty happy with how some of them turned out. We were especially happy that Everett was so cooperative and smiled for the camera.

Aunt Molly in town!

We were so thrilled to have Aunt Molly come visit us last week! We hadn't seen her since Christmas and that's WAY too long! We sure miss her now that she's living in LA, but we're glad to see her happy & healthy, enjoying good friendships, her job and I'm sure MUCH better weather than we've had around here!
I was a total slacker taking pictures while Molly was here, but here's one I got of our ladies' lunch with our wonderful Mom last Friday. We went to downtown McKinney, did a little shopping and had a WONDERFUL meal at Rick's Chophouse on the square. We also got a tour of the Grand Hotel and Ballroom which were both beautiful - great venues for a wedding or other special event. I plan to take David back for dinner sometime soon.

We miss you already, Mol! Whenever you're ready to move back, we'll be more than happy to help you unpack!! :)

Happy Anniversary!

David and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel on July 4th. We had a wonderful dinner at the steakhouse and then saw some great fireworks. We had been invited to a fireworks viewing party from the casino hotel rooftop which unfortunately was canceled due to the weather. We still had a pretty nice view from the top of the parking garage and it was nice to have some time alone and have a night of baby-monitor-free sleeping! Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting!!!
Three years doesn't seem like an awfully long time to be married, but they sure have been three busy years! Between selling two homes, buying one, home renovations, running our business, experiencing some family illnesses, taking trips, etc. and ... of course most importantly, growing our family, we've already experienced a lot together as a married couple! Everett is now 22 months old and his little brother is scheduled to arrive in a short 57 days (yikes!). It's true that time sure flies when you're having fun! And fun is an understatement .... Thanks, David for the BEST three years of my life so far! I love you!

For those of you who haven't seen me (and my growing belly) in a while ... here's a picture.

Celebrating July 4th at the lake

We drove from Branson straight to the lake on Saturday, June 30th for the annual Rankin Independence Day festivities. Everett was excited to see everyone and didn't waste any time getting Grandad to take him and Lefty on a walk.















We had heard about the abundance of rain which had fallen on Texas while we were gone, but we were not prepared to see so much of the Rankin's property under water!
Here's a picture of the spot where David and I were married.














And here's a picture of how it looked on our wedding day - July 4th, 2004

You'll notice there is actually a goldfish pond on the far side of the bridge that was completely under water after all the rain.

Getting out to the boat dock required wading through quite a bit of water!

David stocked up on fireworks while we were in Missouri so the family put on a pretty nice fireworks show that evening. Hard to believe that this time last year there was a ban on fireworks because it was so dry!

Here's a few more pictures from the weekend at the lake. I'll try to post the rest that I took on our shutterfly site soon. Hayley looked so cute in her holiday dress!

Branson Trip

We took a trip to Branson, Missouri at the end of June. Grandma & Grandad Rankin joined us and we had a wonderful time. We enjoyed the perfect combination of rest and play and we managed to leave without E being completely spoiled rotten after almost a full week with his Grandparents.

Our condo had a huge whirlpool bath in it which was much bigger than Everett's blow-up backyard pool at home.


We had a full kitchen and since we had "Chef David" with us, we ate almost every meal in the comfort of our own place ... and we ate quite well I must say!

Everett enjoyed feeding his Grandparents banana pudding.
And playing at the really nice beach on Table Rock Lake - we didn't expect to visit a beach while in Branson - what a nice surprise!

Grandma and Grandad had to leave on Thursday morning and we didn't drive back until Saturday. Everett was VERY sad when they left and knocked on their door a few times after they left hoping they were still there. Shortly after they left, he brought David his baseball cap, grabbed him by the finger and pulled him over to his stroller where he emphatically pointed indicating it was time for a walk. Grandad had taken E on many walks while he was there so E was sure to let his Dad know that he'd have to pick up the slack in his absence. Here's a picture of Everett with his Grandparents before they left. We had such a nice visit with them and were so glad they were able to spend some of our vacation with us!