Vaughanie Vaughan turns 1

This weekend was Vaughan's First Birthday! Chip and Leslie threw him a party at Granny's house, where they are living and it was the perfect afternoon. We learned that Vaughan really likes beer and birthday cake!

Like father like son

Cooper helping pass out the treat bags

Vaughan is so excited that he finally can have cake!

mmmmmm....

The whale emerges :)

Bring on the Slurpees!

Great news for a change! This morning I had my 3 hour glucose test and this time I actually passed!! So bring on the fruit, ice cream, carbs and slurpees!! Needless to say I will start hitting the pool again tomorrow, all of this carb loading has left me a little squishy :)

Baby Update

So not exactly what we were thinking. I started off the day at the Ob's office for my glucose test and my tummy check. I failed my glucose test (and I guess you could say I failed my weigh in too) so now I have to go back next Tuesday and take the 3 hour test. Everyone talks about how bad the drink is you have to drink but it really does taste a lot like Sunkist, sans the bubbles...however, there was a girl there from my birthing class (more on that later) who was also taking her glucose test and she chose the fruit punch flavor...apparently that was a big mistake, so advice to all you reproducing women, opt for the orange, you'll thank me later :)

After lunch I headed into Norfolk to EVMS to see the specialist and have another ultrasound. Sadly a bigger baby does not make for better pictures. I could barely understand what I was seeing the entire time and I know that John and my mom were lost too. This ultrasound tech was super cute and seemed to like me, much improved from the crank we had the last two times. Anyway, the baby's kidneys are still dilated, no change there so we have to go back in 5 more weeks for yet another ultrasound. The doctor said if there is still no improvement we will meet the pediatric urologist so we know him before the baby is born. We are disappointed that the problem hasn't corrected itself but are hopeful that by the next appointment that it will have.

Interesting things we learned today:
1) the baby is now head down...weird to think about especially since all of those "kicks" I have been getting lately are probably really punches
2) the baby does NOT like to have it's picture taken or to be prodded by the ultrasound wand...she was kicking the wand the whole time and decided to hide when it was time for the 4D picture :(
3) She now weighs 2.8 lbs
4) apparently she has a lot of hair!!

Thanks so much to all of you for being so supportive the last few weeks. I know that the baby is in God's hands so please pray that her kidney's will be healed before the next ultrasound at the end of July.

**For those of you new to the blog I call the baby she and her but we do not know what the baby is, we've been bribed to have it be a surprise :) **

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our big doctor day so keep us in your prayers tonight! In the morning I have my glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes...I am really hoping that I don't because I love sweets and carbs and it would be really hard to get through the summer without either! In the afternoon, around 1:15 we go to the specialist for the follow up follow up ultrasound for the baby's kidneys. I don't think we get to see a doctor, just have the ultrasound and wait for someone to call us, fun, right? At least we get to see the baby again! She has been VERY active lately and when John puts his head on my stomach he can hear her little heartbeat!! also note that she usually starts kicking at him too, she does NOT like to be squished!
We will let you know how tomorrow goes!

Libbie, A True Waterdog...continued...

Earlier this week John and I took Libbie back to the beach for a walk. It was really windy and the waves were big and choppy. This is a great day for us to take Libbie to the beach because there weren't many young families out. Libbie is a friendly dog but she REALLY likes children. Some kids are scared of her because she is big and not everyone is a dog person. Because of this we usually keep her on a leash when we are on the beach. Since the beach was mostly boogie boarders and surfers we let her run free. She ran straight into the water and was leaping over the waves and even swimming a little bit! This is HUGE!! It seems like Libbie is truly turning into a water dog and we are very excited! There are, of course, downsides to this as well. Libbie is welcome over at her Grandparent Cutchins house whenever she wants...provided that she does NOT get in the swimming pool....My parents have a golden retriever, Daisy, who is very skittish and a little bit of a weenie. They are concerned that if Libbie gets in the pool Daisy will follow and will drown because she is an idiot, sad but true. So far we have been able to keep Libbie out of the pool, except for a few times when she has fallen in playing with Daisy...our biggest obstacle is if there are people swimming in the pool, particularly children, Libbie goes crazy....see pictures below:

I will save you dad!!

Of course our theory is that Libbie's previous family had a drowning accident so Libbie has decided it is her job if anyone is drowning to try to rescue them...she is a RESCUE dog after all! We found this to be true of the beach as well. As the boogie boarders were headed out in the surf the other night, she was pulling against her leash trying to go rescue them. I'm sorry I didn't have my camera on the beach this time, next time I won't forget it!

Jeff and Erin's Wedding

Because I know you are a visual bunch, here are some pictures from Jeff's wedding the weekend before last...I wish I had taken more pictures, as the sober one there you would think I would have been able to accomplish this task...I think I was busy trying not to get pushed over on the dance floor :) Note: there are no photos of me...I am starting to resemble a beached whale, silly baby making me eat all that food!!

Kedar and Maria before the ceremony outside

Kathryn, Maria and Sarah (Neil creeping in the photo)

Charlie working hard for his job in the wedding, ringing the bell :)

John and Sarah at the cocktail reception after the wedding

Claire sweetly pointing out the fact that Dougie dropped food down the front of his shirt

Cart and John (oh the girl who got away!)

Claire and John at dinner

Yay for Babies

This past weekend John's sisters came home to visit. John's oldest sister, Preston, has two adorable little kids: Tyler, 2 1/2 and Lauren, 4 months. It was so much fun catching up with them and spending time with our niece and nephew...They don't come home NEAR enough!

Here is baby Lauren...she has the cutest little mohawk in the back of her head, I think she should flaunt it!

Tyler LOVES to cheese for the camera...he is pretty freaking cute, isn't he?

uh oh! I guess this is me in a few months?

I love the way babies hide your "baby fat" :)

Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

I know you will all be SOOO proud to know that I have decided to take up swimming as my pregnancy exercise of choice. It is low impact so I don't have to worry about pulling my stomach again as long as I skip the flip turns. The PACC is open from 5 am to 8 am for adult swim...I know what you are thinking but no, I do NOT show up at 5 am, I prefer to wait for the last possible second and go at 7:00. I am very fortunate that my boss is an advocate of my exercising so he is alright with me being about 30 minutes late the mornings that I go. Sometimes I wish I could see myself as others see me. I think I must be a real sight showing up in my GIANORMOUS speedo and doing my best to pull this bowling ball through the water. It is not nearly as easy as I thought it would be so I have to swim 100 and then kick 100 because my arms get so tired. So far I am up to 1200 yards and my goal is to get to 1650 yards (a mile). My biggest obstacle so far is I am VERY competitive...I am not sure why this hasn't died down since high school, but I really don't like people going faster than me and I really like lapping people. This is not as easy as it used to be but I will work on it. At least I know I am getting a good workout because I am just too competitive to go slow. The other good news is I don't get swollen and I don't have the urge to take a potty break every 5 minutes like I did when I went walking. I sure hope this kick lasts because I am getting a little squishy and sometimes when I pass a mirror I forget I am pregnant and think "WHOA, what is happening there!!??"

Tonight

If you don't have plans for tonight, head to Casby's for dinner and drinks to benefit Operation Smile. They have a great menu and all proceeds will go to Operation Smile. There will also be a raffle with many great prizes.

Where: Casby's

3316 Atlantic Ave (next to Pi Pizza)

Virginia Beach, VA 23451

When: June 4, 5-8pm

Hope to see you there!!

Did You Know...

There are pink Calla Lilies? I, personally, thought they only came in white. John planted a bunch of bulbs last year and we weren't sure what would come up. These beautiful Calla Lilies just started blooming in our front yard, you know how much I love pink...we REALLY need a house of our own to showcase John's landscaping skills. Please pray that we will find one soon!!

Beach Night

Last night we decided to take Libbie for a walk on the beach. I desperately need exercise, as does Libbie, and the weather has been so nice it was hard to come up with a reason why not to go. We only live a block from the ocean but we barely ever go for walks on the beach, we are going to try to change that. The last few years when we have taken Libbie to the beach she hasn't been very interested in swimming, really just likes eating the water and smelling the seaweed looking stuff. This time was completely different. She was charging at the waves and really enjoying herself! We might just have a water dog on our hands afterall! I am sure you will notice from the pictures we keep her on her leash with the gentle leader the whole time. We went around 6:30 and the beach was still very crowded, more than usual I think because of all the sand soccer people, and she really doesn't have manners when it comes to meeting new people and dogs.

John and Libbie in the water...it really wasn't that cold :)

Libbie doing some swimming...this is deep for her

the hysterical picture john took of Libbie shaking off

me in all my pregnant glory...I HAVE mentioned that I think the baby had a growth spurt this month, right?

The Skinny Dip

No, I'm not talking about swimming naked! Last night John and I ventured out past hilltop to the new Trader Joes and to the Skinny Dip. Anne Marie had mentioned the Skinny Dip to me earlier and I intrigued. I had no idea what it would entail other than frozen yogurt and mix-ins...what I found was nothing short of amazing. You head into the store, get a cup and fill it with any kind of frozen yogurt you want and then they have TONS of toppings you can put on it, everything from fruit and chocolate to cereal. It is all do it yourself so you don't have to worry about them skimping on something you really want. When you go to check out they just weigh your cup...Genius!

Here is a small sampling of what you can put on your fro-yo. This time I went boring, I did a mixture of vanilla and york peppermint patty flavored yogurt and topped it with oreos and hot fudge...it was amazing but I will have to to push myself a little bit harder next time!!

Strawberry Picking

One of my favorite things about the beginning of summer here in Virginia Beach is the strawberry picking. Saturday Cliff, Cooper and I headed down to Pungo to pick some strawberries. Cooper was really more interested in "sorting" the strawberries than picking them but she was really cute. We ended up with quite the haul...11lbs of strawberries, YUM!!

Our haul

Cooper likes eating muffins, not strawberries :)