Trip to Sanpoint and a Grandma story

After our visit with Aunt Hallie we decided to head down to the Sandpoint City Beach to play for a while before driving back home. The kids have not been swimming in a lake since last year but they are loving the pool so much I figured the beach would be awesome for them. Thankfully I was right! They really did love it!

Here is Mason playing on the shore.

Jasmyn & Kaleb wasted no time jumping right in!

It was funny that they kept asking me about sharks and eels. They also wanted to know why there were no sea shells. It was a funny conversation.

They also packed sand shovels and buckets to build sand castles. They had fun finding pretty rocks and peices of drift wood to add to their sand castles. Kaleb found a leaf to use as a flag. It was very fun and really reminded me of Dave and I playing in the sand at the same beach.

Jasmyn

Kaleb
And here is one of all three of my munchkins on the beach! I love that you can see the beach, the water, and the mountains in the back ground. Sandpoint always has and always will feel like "home" to me.

One of my fondest memories as a child was a hot day in July when my Grandma walked my brother, my cousin and I down to the beach and took us swimming. My grandparents lived only 4-5 blocks from the beach. But Grandma was not very mobile. Her arthritis was very debilitating. She could not walk for very long distances, and was quite honestly house bound for most of my childhood. So the fact that she walked 4-5 blocks to take us swimming was a HUGE thing for us. I remember she sat on a bench in the shade and watched us swim. She chatted with other beach goers and had a wonderful time. After an hour or so she took us over to the concessions stand and bought us a popscicle. It was the best day of my summer that year. And now one of my most fond memories of my Grandma.

So after going to see Aunt Hallie and being reminded of some memories I had forgotten about Grandma, it was a real treat to take my kids to the same side of the beach, sit on a chair, chat with other beach goers and make my kid's day. We had ice cream at Serv-a-burger on our way out of town. It was a full circle moment. Thanks Grandma. I miss you so much and am so happy that today I got to visit you in my own memories.

Great Aunt Hallie

Today my Great Aunt Hallie arrived from Alaska. She is in Sandpoint for her 60th high school reunion. Hard to believe that she graduated 60 years ago. She is just a spit fire and full of life. Aunt Hallie is my Grandma Jean's sister. Grandma has been gone since November of 1996. It was so good to see Aunt Hallie. I was, however, unprepared for the range of emotions I would feel in seeing her. First of all Aunt Hallie and my Grandma look so much alike. Not surprising considering they are sisters. But since Grandma has been gone, I only have a few pictures of her and while my memories of her face are vivid, seeing Aunt Hallie made them so very real. I so wanted Grandma to see her sister today. I wanted to see them chatting and laughing while they reminicsed about the past. Those girls have some funny stories.

Aunt Hallie is planning a trip with her life time best friend Noonie. Noonie and her graduated from high school together and after they celebrate their 60th high school reunion are also planning to spend some time in Montana and Wyoming retracing some of their steps they took in their youth. Noonie also joined us for part of the afternoon as we vistited with Aunt Hallie.

Aunt Hallie and Noonie

Listening to Aunt Hallie and Noonie talk was such a treat. They teased each other like school girls. They talked about visiting one of Noonie's ex-boyfriends while they are traveling and such. I think Noonie blushed when we asked her about the gentleman. It was cute. But the cutest antecdote was when Hallie and Noonie compared the length of each other's eye lashes! I guess growing up neither of them had much for eye lashes. But as they have gotten older both of them have been diagnosed with Glucoma. Apparently it was caught early for both of them and no damage was done to their vision. But the medication they use to treat their glucoma causes their eye lashes to grow to great lengths! Both of them are just tickled by that "side effect" of the medicine. They spent a moment batting their eye lashes at each other. It was very sweet.

Aunt Hallie reminds me so much of Grandma. They have the same twinkle in their eye, they even have wrinkles in the same places around their eyes. The same placed apple at her cheek. Aunt Hallie even tilts her head to one side when she smiles. Here are a few pictures of her just snapped as she talked.



This one I made her pause and pose for me. She is simply beautiful.

I also love Aunt Hallie's jewlery. She wore turquois earrings, necklace and rings on her hand. The rings were sinply amazing and of course she told a story about one of them and where she got the ring. She told this story about a family member and the way she told it reminded me so much of Grandma's story telling. She just holds nothing back. Even things that most people would leave out of a story, she shares. Things that would probably embarass the person it was being told about. She does not do it maliciously. Just very matter of factly. Very much like my Grandma (and me). But anyone that knows my family well would understand that these stories are part of our legacy and history. It was a story I had heard my Grandma tell before. They both had a twinkle in their eye when they got to the punch line. I just LOVED IT.
It was also strange that this morning I had this weird desire to wear my turquois necklace but decided againist wearing it because it didn't match my tank top very well. I know now that I should have worn it. Aren't her hands beautiful?!?!

Here is a picture of my Aunt Terrie, Great Aunt Hallie, My Mom, & my Uncle Dick.

It was truly a blessing to see her face and to hear her voice. I am so happy that I had this opportunity to spend time with her. It really did make me feel closer to my family and sparked some memories of my Grandma that I have not thought of in years. It was a fabulous day.

Pregnancy Update 10

Today was a busy day. I had a Physical Therapy appointment as well as a midwife appointment. I started PT last week. I have been having some pelvis pain. Mostly in my pubic bone and my sacrum. The PT has been working fairly well. The adjustments seem to help to loosen the muscles and help relieve pain. My favorite part is the muscle tissue massage they do. It is basically a 20 minute massage on my lower back. Awwwww Heavenly! I will be going once a week for probably the next month or so. The PT lady also gave me some exercises to do to help stretch the muscles and strengthen my hip.

Also today was my MW appointment. I am 30weeks 2 days pregnant. I have lost 5 pounds since my appointment 2 weeks ago. But the baby is growing as he should be, so I am Ok with *me* losing weight! LOL! My urine was negative for glucose and protein. My Blood pressure was awesome at 112/54. Our little man was very active today and his heartrate was all over the place! His heartrate started in the 170s and finally settled down into the 140's. Linda my MW also measured my fundus height at 33 cm. That is up 2 cm since my appt 2 weeks ago, which is right where it should be. Baby is also head down! Woot!

I also had some blood work done last appointment. My thyroid panel cam back a bit high so my Endocrinologist increased my thyroid meds up to 150mcg/day. My Rh antibodies screen was negative. My iron level was 11.1. Now my Endocrinologist says this is too low and that I am anemic. My MW says that at my 5 weeks check it was 11.5, and at 18 weeks it was 11.9. So 11.1 seems to be OK. It really hasn't changed very much since I first got pregnant. She said to just focus on eating foods high in iron. Red meat obviously being the best way to get iron. I have no problem eating steak! LOL! I may also start taking an iron supplement as well.

Linda also finally has an answer as to what is gonna happen to the MW service during the month of September. Linda is getting married and will be taking the whole month off. Her partner Beth will be doing all the on call births and some of the clinc days. They found another midwife named Margaret that will be covering the on call births 2 days of the wedding (Sept 6&7) and then covering clinic days for most of the month. I may or may not even see Margaret, so the change in call schedule is not really gonna effect me. I know Beth fairly well and am comfortable having her attend my birth if I go into labor in Septemeber. But knowing me.... I will go late and not birth until October. I would really like to birth October 10th or 11th! Those are Tim's days off and about 6 days after my due date. Seems about right! LOL! So for any of you who believe in visualizing what you want to have happen.... focus on 10/10/09 for me to birth!

We also took some updated belly pictures. We got creative with some B & W ones. These are my 30 week pictures. Youcan see the comparision pictures on the right side bar. --------->>>

Kids hands and mine

Tim & I hugging our baby

All of us loving on our baby!

30 week close up

30 week picture

Hope you enjoyed reading this pregnancy update!

Pregnancy Update 9

It is that time again to update you guys after my last Midwife appointment! My Appointment was on Tuesday July 14th. I saw my Midwife Linda. And my Mom was able to come with me as well to the appointment. She was very excited to hear the baby's heart beat. It was fun to take her with me.

Anyway...on to the details: I was 28 weeks 2 day pregnant at the time of my appointment. I have gained 2 pounds since my last appointment 4 weeks ago. But I am still about 15 below my pre-pregnancy weight. My glucose and protein tests came back negative. My blood pressure is AWESOME at 112/60! Woot! The baby also sounded AWESOME at 130 beats per minute! Mom was amazed at how loud and strong his heart beat is.

Now come the part I am most miserable about! LOL! MW Linda measured my fundus. Basically this is a measurement from the top of my pubic bone to the top of my uterus. at my appointment 4 weeks ago I was measuring right on schedule at 24 cm. But at this appointment I was measuring BIGGER than normal! LOL! I have... well baby and I have grown 7 cm in 4 weeks! Holy Moly! that is ALOT! No wonder I feel like a whale! So my fundus measurement is 31cm. Typically a pregnant belly grows roughlt 1 cm per week of pregnancy. Growing 7 cm is about 3 cm too much!!!!

Now of course the MW is pleased that the baby is growing and that I am not gaining too much weight. She was totally unconcerned that I am measuring ahead. I am only upset about it because I feel like a whale! LOL! Anyway, she also said that she felt that I would even out in the next few weeks. We shall see I guess!

Linda also drew some blood to test for RH antibodies, iron levels and my thyroid panel. I will get the results sometime next week. She also gave me an injection of rhogam because I am RH -.

I have also reached the milestone of the 3rd Trimester. So now my appointments are every 2 weeks instead of every 4 weeks. My next appointment is on July 28th. I will also be doing my glucose tolerance test at that appointment. Yuck!

Here is my most recent Belly pictures as well. We took these pictures last night! 29 weeks baby!



You can also see my comparison picture on the right hand side of the blog. -------->

Bray Birthday Bash!

Here is the link to the photos of our Bray Birthday Bash!!!!!

We had an absolute blast!!!!!

Bray Birthday Bash


Happy Birthday to Tim who turned 33 on July 2nd

Happy Birthday to Jasmyn who turned 5 on July 15th

Happy Birthday to Mason who turned 3 on July 19th (today)

Happy Birthday to Jen who turns 30 something on July 22nd!

Belly Pic Comparision

I have taken a few pictures of my belly wearing the same shirt. I thought it might be fun to see how much I have grown in the 4-6 weeks since I last wore the shirt.

22 weeks pregnant

Same shirt... 26 weeks pregnant!

20 weeks pregnant

Same shirt.... 26 weeks pregnant

Crazy huh????? Amazing how big a baby can get in just a few weeks! Hope you enjoyed my latest belly pics!