Can you keep a secret?

I can't- I'm pregnant!

Well I tried to keep it a secret but I got outed at a baby shower this past weekend. To look on the bright side now I can go to our community pool without people wondering if I am acquiring a beer belly. The baby is due December 30th- Merry Christmas to us :) According to the wedding ring test, which we all know is foolproof, it is a boy.

Dare Devil

When Neil and I were dating he once asked me, "What is your favorite animal?" I quickly responded, "A dead one." I was kidding... mostly... but to tell the truth I have no desire to have a pet, especially one that would live in my house. I think this is due to the fact that we never had pets growing up. Consequently I am a little nervous around creatures, specifically ones that look like they could take a chunk out of my leg or peck my eyes out. Well to my great amazement Baby Grace has no fear at all when it comes to animals. She loved the goats and sheep at the petting zoo and cried when I carried her away from them. And then today we came over to my in laws for a day of fun. We went swimming at the next door neighbor's house and they have a bunch of cats. Well, now I know that Grace loves goats, sheep and kitty cats. One nice black cat in particular took Grace's fancy. Grace and I had to follow around the cat and when it disappeared into the bushes Grace was inconsolable. We had to walk up and down the drive way calling "kitty, kitty, kitty." We did this for a few minutes until Grace gave up hope of being reunited with her new friend. Her cousin Jack, on the other hand, was thoroughly terrified of the cats and didn't even want to walk past them. I am learning that since my baby has no fear I have to watch her like a hawk. She will go up to anyone or anything and yell a friendly "Hi" and if she is ignored she will just keep repeating hi until the person responds or walks away. At the pool most of her energy is spent trying to get away from me so she can fling herself into the deep end. Today she realized the greatest fun in the world is to jump off the edge of the pool into the water. Luckily I was there to catch her every time. I am thinking that once she gets better at running I am going to have to invest in those stuffed animal backpacks that are really leashes, especially in airports. It is not like I want my child to be a scared pansy but a little bit of reserve would be nice.

Summer Fun

Today Grace had some friends over to play. They had a fun time splashing.
And swimming/walking.
But Baby Grace kept trying to escape from the pool. Here she is caught in the act.

The Weekend of Craziness

It seems like whenever I have something planned one weekend a dozen other things pop up. This past Saturday is an excellent example. Neil, Grace and I had committed to going to Neil's dad's company picnic. It was held at Oil Ranch. They have miniature golf, a petting zoo, a train, a giant swing thing, and thankfully a swimming pool (it was 93 degrees!). First we golfed. Grace stole my golf ball and would not relinquish it so I just followed along. Then we went to go check out the petting zoo. I thought Grace would want me to hold her the entire time but I was sooo wrong. She wasn't a bit afraid of the animals and was delighted when they trotted right up to her.

Well, as you can tell from this next picture we were a sweaty mess by this time and headed off to the pool. I thought we could just sit in the shallow end and relax but Grace had other ideas. The first 20 minutes in the pool she just laughed and laughed and kicked her legs like a crazy women. Then Grace decided that she didn't need to hold my hands and kept trying to make a break for freedom. A wiggly wet determined baby is a formidable opponent. But we all came out all right. So we left the picnic and headed home because, guess what, we had a house full of guests coming over for dinner.... in one hour. Neil made brisket in the crock pot that was delicious and had a star trek quiz ready for each guest to take. We had a yummy dinner and then headed off to see the new star trek movie. As soon as the movie started I knew I was in trouble. I had a serious head ache. About an hour into the movie I got hit with some intense nausea. Oh yes, it turns out I was completely dehydrated. I would have just headed home with Neil but we had ridden there with some friends so I suffered through the movie and basically ran from their car when we reached our house and collapsed into bed. I'm afraid my Nordic heritage makes me completely unfit to live in this deathly hot climate. Luckily I felt well enough to be showered with gifts and praise the next morning being Mother's day.

Picture Tag

My friend Jessica tagged anyone who read her blog to post the 6th picture in their 6th photo file. When I saw what that picture was I had to post it. These were the homemade eclairs made for my baby shower by my baking goddess friend Emily.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

We harvested some of our peaches today. The peaches were starting to fall off the tree, so it seemed like a good idea. They look so pretty they just had to make an appearance on the blog.


And I didn't get all the house work done today because I made these.
My friend, Emily (and fellow purse maker), had the brilliant idea to put cute sunglasses inside the bags and give them as gifts. I am totally stealing her idea and throwing in some sun screen and a lip gloss to make a perfect- get ready for the summer care package. I found the pattern for free at this website, madebyrae.blogspot.com. You can print it right off and it is the correct size and everything. I hate enlarging patterns so this was perfect.