A Date With Daddy

Jon's love of the outdoors is no secret to anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes with him. 

 

We were discussing lifetime hunting licenses before Natalie was even BORN. 

 

So with the weather a beautiful 80 degrees and breezy on Saturday Jon took the opportunity to take Natalie out on a hike around the lease where he hunts in the Fall. 

 

We talked it up big time and Jon got everything from the diaper bag and snacks to the backpack and sunscreen together.  It was hard to tell which one of them was more excited.  I snapped the picture below as they were walking out the door:

 

Ready to go!

 Well not only did Natalie get her first taste of Maryland wildlife, she also got her first driving lesson:

 

Driving Daddy's "monster truck"!

From the looks of the picture, she took it very seriously! 

 

They hiked into the woods with Natalie in the backpack - this was to keep her out of the tall grasses where the ticks tend to be.  I think she was pretty excited about it!

 

Just look at those happy faces!

Once they got into the woods Jon showed her all around and based on the blur of words as soon as she walked back in the door that afternoon, she saw deer, mushrooms, tree stands and she is REALLY going hunting with her Daddy in the Fall.  She was so excited.  She has told EVERYONE she has seen that "I went hiking with my Daddy!".  It was the highlight of the weekend for her - and I think her Daddy enjoyed it too!

A good friend, and wise man told us when Natalie was born that Jon should "date his daughter".  Its good advice, for sure, and something I think they are both going to enjoy.

 

Full Term!

So if there is one thing that has been well established over the past 8 months or so, I'm one heck of a baby incubator!  I can hardly believe that we've made it all the way to 37 weeks with these babies with nearly NO issues.  Its an exhausting feat!  Here is a picture from today, not one of my best, but I know I'll be happy to have it in 10 years when I can barely remember this time. :)

 

Doc estimates they are both 6 pounds by now!

 

This week Natalie's daycare has been closed and while it has been tough juggling my last full week at work and Natalie being home all day it truly has been a blessing to get to spend this time with her before the babies come and things get really crazy.  We've spent a lot of time cooking together (we have at least 25 meals in the freezer right now!) and reading books and doing a LOT of giggling with our sweet girl.  It has been wonderful!

 

 

This is a picture of one of her "outfits" that she put together the other day.  She got it all together, walked up to me and told me "I'm going to Nana and Pops' house!".  She has talked of NOTHING BUT when everyone is coming to see her, and I have to admit, I'm pretty excited about all the family visiting too!

 

 

Funny, funny girl

I've also been very fortunate to receive a lot of hand me downs for the twins in terms of clothes and baby gear but I've picked up a few special little things here and there.  These are the hats I had made for them to wear home... I can't wait to see their sweet little faces in these adorable hats! 

 

Jon Jr. and Rylie will look so sweet in these hats!

So come on out of there now babies, we're all ready and eager to meet you!



This and that

Natalie says

Natalie has been cracking us up with her extensive vocabulary and her understanding of how to use it lately.  Here are some gems from recent conversations:

 

This morning: "I took that piece of chocolate out of Mommy's hand and I crammed it in my cram hole!" as she burst into hysterical laughter.  And after the initial shock of what she said wore off I couldn't stop laughing either. 

I love it when she wakes up early enough for us to just sit on the couch and talk for a few minutes before we start the getting ready for work/school hustle.

 

Two nights ago: We had salmon for dinner.  Jon grilled/smoked it and it was delicious.  Natalie was inspecting each piece carefully and she called to my attention and said "Mommy, I can't eat this piece, its raw".  What!?!  How does she even know that word?  Or what it means?  Of course it wasn't raw and after I explained that all salmon was pink, even when it is cooked, she ate it happily.

 

Jon is wonderful about asking me, every day, how my day was.  And it seems Natalie has caught on because she always asks Jon when he gets home "Daddy, how was your day?" and even before he can answer she is asking Roscoe about his day and so on. 

 

Twins

We are still waiting, some of us more patiently than others, for the twins to arrive.  So far they are both doing great and are happy to stay where they are for now.  I'm hanging in there, enjoying the cooler weather and doing what I can to get comfortable.  Here are a couple updated pictures from this week.  One is a front view and the other, the shocking side view :)

 

The front view - per Shannon's request

And the side view - 36 weeks!
*please pardon the mess on the mirror, Natalie brushes her teeth with vigor these days.
 

 

People have stopped politely asking how I'm feeling now and are just blurting out the most hilarious things.  For instance, when I dropped Natalie off at daycare yesterday Ms. Dawn, one of the teachers yells "You are huge!  Ms. Joann, come out here and look at her, she's huge!
Um, yeah, I know.  But thanks for reminding me with such enthusiasm.

 

Visitors!

My best friend from High School made the terrible I-95 trek up to visit with us last weekend.  Kristen and I are finally in the same time zone again and determined to visit more often.  She was kind enough to help out with the cooking and to spend some quality time with Natalie who was thrilled to the point of speachlessness when she saw Kristen.  We had a wonderful visit and made the coolest cheesecake ever with Natalie.  Here are the pictures:

 

The bakers, hard at work

Natalie picked the colors, helped mix them into the batter, and Kristen carefully poured them into the pan.  We were skeptical, but the final result - which we didn't get to see until the next morning - was incredible!

 

Natalie got the first piece, of course, and she thought it was delicious!  It was seven different colors and it baked up beautifully.  Here she is enjoying the spoils of her labor at 10:00 on Saturday morning...

 

 

Digging in!  And yes, I think we were ALL still in our PJs at 10:00 that morning.  It was just that kind of day :)

 

10 of the best years so far!

Happy 10th Anniversary to you, Jon. 

You are my person.  

I am thankful every day for you and this beautiful life we share.

34+ weeks and counting...

Thankfully it has been blissfully cool around here lately.  Days in the low/mid 80s with humidity below 80%.  We've been busy with Natalie enjoying the cooler days and cooking and canning to have some delicious meals for when the twins arrive.

On Friday I went to the doctor for a check up and they said everything still looked fine.  I'm getting VERY BIG, but that it seemed there was no reason to change anything about my activity or delivery date so they'd see me in 2 more weeks.  Here's an updated picture.



34 weeks, 1 day along

 

 This weekend we enjoyed the Howard County Fair (or as much of it as we could before the rain set in) and the Farmer's Market as well.  Here are some pictures of our adventures.

 

The Fair

  

Pygmy Goats!  She loved them!

Baby Ducks! 

Baby Chicks

MINI HORSE! 
I need one of these.  I'm mildly obsessed.

 We planned to go to the Fair on Saturday primarily because there was an antique tractor pull scheduled for 1:00.  Since these tractors are pretty awesome and not as noisy as the real tractor pulls we thought Natalie would enjoy it.  Unfortunately the rain settled in around 12:00 and didn't stop until well after 2:00.  So Natalie and Jon had to explore the tractors in the rain.  No tractor pull this time. :(

 

Daddy and Natalie off to check out the tractors.

Natalie running around in the rain with Jon. 
She loved getting all wet :)

On Sunday we made our weekly trip to the Farmer's Market and Natalie picked out her treat for the trip.  A big box of fresh blackberries.  She coudn't wait to try them so here she is enjoying them on the way home...

 

She had the juice EVERYWHERE! 

The hat is just another example of Natalie being her own unique little self.  I had a sun hat picked out for her to wear and she told me that she "needed" to wear her winter hat with the ears.  And then she walked up, handed me the strings that hang down on either side and asked me to "tangle them up" (tie them up).  She was a big hit walking around the market with a winter hat, shorts and t-shirt. :)