Due date update

E let us know today that she will be induced August 6th if she doesn't go into labor before that!

So we'll be busy this weekend finalizing some baby preparations, and probably fitting in another movie too, before we'd need to find a babysitter for such adventures.  :-)

We saw "The Dark Knight Rises" last night and enjoyed that. They lost power at the beginning of the movie, so it started late, but I'm guessing it was because of a lightening strike, so that was ok! We got about 1/2" and it was definitely needed.

Fun with grasshoppers...

A Wedding, A Vacation and Back to Reality

Last weekend my cousin Andrew got married near Milwaukee. We had fun visiting with extended family that we've not seen in a while, and probably won't get to see again for another year. Glad almost all of us were able to make it!

Congrats Andrew and Cassie!

We were able to sneak a family photo in after the wedding before we went to the reception, with Lake Michigan in the background.

We also enjoyed visiting Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve. We saw some awesome views of Lake Michigan, hiked on a few trails and enjoyed the cool waters of the lake.

The only thing that could have made it better was for it to be a little cooler and the humidity not so high!

The Baskin-Robbins ice cream afterwards helped cool us down though. :) It's probably a good thing we don't have one near us.

We also enjoyed going to a Brewers/Cardinals baseball game. I'd been to the old stadium (County Stadium), but not to the new one (Miller Park). It was a nice end to a great weekend when the Cardinals scored in the 9th inning to win the game! We had fun cheering and perhaps a few of us had hoarse voices the next day. ;)

We ended our long weekend by meeting with E&D. It was our second meeting and it was good to get to know each other a little more. None of us have been through adoption before so this is a new situation for all of us. For me, meeting with them alleviated some of my fears and concerns; hopefully it did the same for them about us. I know there are many things to work out now and in the future, as we're doing an open adoption, so good communication is key.

I'm definitely a person that likes to be in control of things, and adoption is something I can't control, so it really tests me! I know all of this is in God's hands, but it's so hard sometimes to trust that He knows best. Prayers are definitely welcome for all of us! E's still regularly having contractions, so, who knows when our little guy will show up! We do finally have a name picked out, but we're not sharing! ;)

It's back to the 'real' world this week. Laundry, bills, yard work and my bookkeeping office work. There are plenty of little home projects/organizing that I'd like to get finished and work on before we're a family of three, not to mention keeping up with the regular weekly chores. I've been a little stressed trying to make sure home and work lives are in order before E gives birth and we're away from home for a while.

It's also back to exercising and dieting for me. About a month ago, I'd started regularly exercising again and eating proper portions and had lost about 4 pounds. But, I got busy with baby preparations and vacations, so I let exercising slide, so it's back to the grindstone for me! I know I will like the results and I have to keep reminding myself that!

Chris is still training for the 1/2 or full marathon and is still mostly sticking to his running training schedule in addition to the 2-man sand volleyball games.

I suppose I should quit procrastinating with the blog and get to work!! Hope everyone is doing well.

Champions!

Congrats to Chris' team on winning the national championship!! Good job all. We watched it live on the webcast.  :-)

Changing Plans & Adoption

It's been a crazy day today! We've been waiting to share our news personally with some extended family members that we planned to see in the upcoming week, but they might find out sooner, don't be mad you haven't found out yet, we were waiting to tell in person!! :)

We were picked by E and D to parent their baby boy, due August 12th. We got to meet them June 18th and we were really nervous, but excited to meet them. Well, this morning at 6:30, Chris calls and said that D had let him know that E was in labor as of 1:30 a.m.!!! I really wasn't awake when Chris called me, so I was confused for a moment before it clicked which E & D he was talking about. I think that's the fastest I've gotten out of bed at 6:30 in the morning.

Chris has been in Ohio for the USA Volleyball Juniors Nationals competition since Tuesday and was supposed to come back late Saturday. So, he's making plans to be back in Iowa late tonight or early Friday morning. Good luck on your remaining matches girls! He was able to catch a ride back with some other competing team's parents from Iowa. Thanks a bunch!!

I was going to go with my parents for a long weekend to visit New York City, driving to Chicago today for my flight to NYC tomorrow (Friday) morning... well, that obviously isn't happening now!! I hope they have lots of fun in my place!

I spent the morning doing a lot of frantic, last minute changing plans and planning for being gone for baby boy's birth! I was definitely scrambling to get everything done and packing/re-packing for the soon-to-be 3 of us... oh yeah, and getting the child seat in the car... did I mention there were heat indexes in the upper 90s to 100s while I was installing the child seat? Hmmm... do they make air conditioned garages?? ;-)

The doctors were able to stop E's early labor -- she's about 33 1/2 weeks -- so, now we have to wait for the little one to decide when he wants to make his appearance! :)

Hope everyone is able to keep cool and hydrated.