Where did July go?

Playing with her tea set

At Blank Park Zoo

The Zoo

Tony, Lucas, Aryanna, Gracie, Amber, Ryleigh

Gracie, Ryleigh

The new crib and artwork

Gracie is so far ok with sharing her room :)

I can't believe we are into the first week of August already. We have been keeping busy and it's hard to remember everything we've been doing. I'll start with the most recent events.

The plumbing is done for our upstairs bathroom...FINALLY! The shower is in and Nick has started the drywalling process. He hopes to be painting by next week, as well as putting the floor in and the the rest of the fixtures. In the past week we have also been helping out at Gracie's daycare. They experienced a big sewage problem and are not able to use the facility for the next two weeks. Luckily a lot of people were able to help get everything out last weekend so they can start rebuilding a lot of stuff that was damaged. So Gracie is going to daycare at a local church that is providing space for all the kids who regularly attend at Lilypad.

Gracie has been doing great this week and her biggest news that that she has peed in the toilet 4 times since Monday! That is pretty exciting for us. She spent the past weekend at Nick's mom's while we worked on stuff at home and got some other things accomplished. So, whatever she did was great! For the past couple days, she has gone potty at night before she goes to bed and then in the morning she has gotten up and gone. Hopefully this will continue. I can't do much during the day while she's at daycare, but we'll continue to work on the potty during the day on weekends.

I also got some artwork painted on the Baby Boy half of the room and Nick put the new crib up. I will paint his name on the wall, too, as soon as we figure that out. We debated on making Gracie's crib into a toddler bed and decided to wait on that. Over the weekend, we also cleaned all of our carpets. Unfortunately that didn't last long, having a dog and plumbers coming in and out for three days.

The weekend prior to that, we went up to Spirit Lake to help Jeremy and Cassie move. That was a pretty big day and I was tired. Gracie did well, though considering all of the commotion.

Nick played softball in a men's tournament on July 16-18 up in Stanhope. Gracie went with on Friday and Sunday, but stayed with a babysitter on Saturday night while we went out with our friends after the game. It was nice because all of the other players have kids and their wives went, as well. There was also a park right there, to make things easier. The Huxley team won the tournament and it was pretty fun.

I think the weekend of July 10 I spent most of the time on the couch with a sinus infection. It had started as a cold and lasted a total of almost three weeks. I was miserable for a while there. I guess pregnancy really does make colds worse and last longer.

I have been enjoying my days off with Gracie, but she is now back in daycare full time. She has so much energy, it's hard for me to keep up with her right now both physically and mentally. I have taken her to the zoo with the Merrill clan and DuRochers. We also try to get her to a pool or some sort of water at least once a week. She LOVES the water and it is also easier for me to keep up with her when she is in the water. We have taken her to the Ames Water Park, Ames Country Club, Pella Aquatic Center, and also down to my Grandma's where she has a small pool. She has gotten very good at swimming around in her life jacket and can climb out on a ladder by herself. She loves going down the slides and can do that by herself, as well. She has been able to hold her breath under water for up to about 5 seconds and then I pull her out because I get nervous. But she comes up smiling.

This is my last week of summer school and the fall semester starts at Ballard two weeks from today. I will probably get a week of school in before my maternity leave starts. My due date is still Aug 31, but we have opted to go in early for a labor induction on August 25. So, unless Baby Britton comes early, that is the day. I will be taking 6 weeks off this fall, returning to school on October 11. That's the plan, anyway. Of course, things can always change. I've still been trying to exercise as much as possible. It's getting a lot more difficult and running is definitely out of the question right now. I'm just looking forward to getting the next three weeks done!

This weekend Nick and I are going to a wedding for one of our friends from college over in the Carroll area. Then Nick starts playing co-rec softball here in Huxley on Sunday. The next few weeks will go by quickly, I'm sure. Although right now, Aug 25 still seems like a long ways away!