Bits and Pieces

The nursery is finally coming together. Jeremy has been hard at work clearing out his former office, reluctantly painting pink, putting up the crown molding and painting all the furniture for me. Meanwhile, I have been hard at work...um...online shopping for accessories?!?! Since it's not done, I don't want to post pictures of the room yet, but here are a few sneak peeks of what we've been up to (yes, I have been contributing and getting a little crafty!)...

We still have some things left to do - mostly decorate the walls, add bedding and put up all the cute little accessories. It's been exciting to see it come together and I can't wait to meet her (in September, thank you, I CAN wait) and show her this little space. I have the best intentions of her actually sleeping in it ;-)

A little trip to the lake

Aiden and I escaped the 108 degree heat last week while daddy was at work and took a little mini-vacation up to Lake Tahoe to stay with my parents and grandma at the cabin. We had a good time - we got to be lazy and eat a lot and go to the beach. It was great to get out of the valley heat and be able to spend some time outdoors for a change. We came back into town right when it cooled back down - perfect!

We spent a windy day at the beach with Nana and Aunt Sara and the boys who came up for the day - we even caught up with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Chris and the twins who were also up there for a few days.

A little duck family joined us at the beach, they were pretty brave and came right up to our blankets. Aiden was so excited about the ducks he gave me unsolicited kisses!

 

Aiden enjoyed the view of the "tall trees" and just loved our little ducky friends at the lake...

 Me and Sara got to hang out a little bit (in between chasing, corralling and playing with kiddos), and I got a picture of both my babies at the beach - 30 weeks - woo hoo!

Aiden played in the sand and got in the water with me - he loved splashing in the waves, Sara and Chase built a sandcastle.

Aunt Lisa and the twins hung out in the water with us, Aiden was so happy to get his wish to "see Ryan and Chase" at the same time (he has been asking for weeks to see those two together)!

 

 My parents even watched all 4 boys so that Sara and I could go out to dinner with Grandma Marlys, who treated us to a fabulous dinner on the lake. I love taking pictures of my food - seared scallops with crab risotto, green beans and meyer lemon sauce at Riva Grill. Yum.

 Sara gets a fancy adult beverage complete with umbrella and I get...lemonade. Oh well, it's worth it - but i do miss my champagne ;) It was great to get out with Grandma for a couple hours and you just can't beat eating outside on the lake watching the boats come and go.

 

Of course there was lots of hanging out on the deck at the cabin, chatting, falling asleep on Nana (Aiden, not me...haha) and lots of good food! I only have biscuits and gravy for breakfast at the cabin - it's my favorite - why don't I make it at home?!?!?!

We had a  great couple days and daddy got some quiet time to finish up some nursery related projects, which I hope to post about soon  :)

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a fun July 4th! Here is a little recap of ours...

Parade...

BBQ...

Fireworks...

Pretty traditional 4th of July for the Nicolls family :-)

The start of his summer

I love summer. It's only just begun, but around here we have started off our summer off the right way...

 by eating ice cream cones and taking trips to the farmers market,

 playing with cousins and falling asleep in swings on warm afternoons,

playing in the pool on Nana & Papa's back deck and giving Great Mama's bunny statue kisses and pets,

 by enjoying sweet, ripe fruit and falling asleep cuddled up to daddy on the couch after a hard day of playing outside,

playing t-ball and running in sprinklers in the backyard and just chillin' out in the grass,

 and indulging in Momma's pregnancy sweet tooth by eating cupcakes with pirates on them.

Gonna be a good summer!

27 weeks

saw this Q&A on another blog and thought it looked like a good idea...

 

How far along: 27 weeks

Baby's size: almost 2 pounds, the size of a large head of cauliflower and about 14 1/2 inches long - according to the baby sites.

 

Sleep: waking up about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, but still being able to get comfy with my big ole body pillow. The dog and a certain little boy's feet make it harder to sleep though the night.

Food cravings: veggie sandwiches with cream cheese, coffee yogurt, watermelon, lemon bars, and cookies of any kind.

Food aversions: pizza and taco bell. Any guesses as to why?

Maternity Clothes: lots of tank tops and maxi skirts and dresses. Ordered a cute dress for my baby shower this week online :)

 

How I'm feeling: tired, but good. Not so happy that I appear to have caught my 6th cold of this pregnancy. My immune system is just shot!

Doctor’s Appointment: next week. This week I am scheduled to take the dreaded 2 hour glucose tolerance test...boo.

Movement: much more the last couple weeks, still feel her mostly lower on my sides, but I get an occasional kick higher near my stomach. My placenta is front and center so it makes it harder to feel her.

Best moment of the week: Aiden wanting to look at the ultrasound picture on the fridge and saying "baby sister", then pointing out all her body parts - baby belly, head, nose, mouth. Too cute. 

What I’m looking forward to: how big my belly will be at 32, 34 and 36 weeks ;)

 

Thoughts of the week: It's a really weird feeling knowing that I am now at the same point in my pregnancy that I had Aiden at - he was born at 27 weeks and 1 day. I still remember all the rate of survival for each week of pregnancy. It's weird to know exactly what a 27 week old baby looks like. For fun I broke out one of my only 2 "bump" pictures I have from my pregnancy with Aiden to compare - what a difference! The picture on the left was taken in the hospital pregnant with Aiden at 26 weeks and 4 days (see the teeny, tiny bump!), and picture on the right was taken at 26 weeks and 4 days with our baby girl!

And lastly, this is an outtake of my 27 week belly photo - Sophie jumped up on the couch and sat down right as the camera clicked. Guess she needed a stunning photo of herself to email to all her online doggy boyfriends.

Rewind --> Spring day at the zoo

I have a couple posts that I need to do to catch up, so I am lovingly calling them my "rewind" posts. The first one is from a Saturday in April that we had nothing to do, so we decided to take Aiden to the Folsom zoo. Which is one of his favorite places, he asks constantly to "go see animals at the zoo". He loves the train and the park there, too. Of course, the best time to go is when the weather is nice, but not hot - otherwise all the animals will be sleeping ;)

Aiden charging ahead and waiting for us to catch up, the "box" (Aiden can't pronounce f's yet!)

Always one of his favorites - the chickens!

Sleeping tigers which Aiden roared at to try to wake up

Trying to get his hand in dad's mouth?

 The peacocks put on a show as usual

Lazy wolf

The mountain lions were pretty active at least!

Sleepy bear

Aiden watching the bear, and posing as one (he was "roaring" in this picture)

 He was so excited for his turn to look like a bear - I don't think he wanted to get out!

Momma gets kisses for taking Aiden to the zoo :)

The train ride - I stayed back and Aiden was not too happy about that - when the train passed by he put his arms out to grab me

 Not a great picture of Aiden - but nice to have a pic of all 3 of us on our day out!