Pool boy

We hung out at the pool yesterday with Kirsten and Jacob. She remembered her camera (which I always forget!) and got some great photos!

They don't allow arm swimmies in the pool, so we borrow a life vest whenever we're there. Pierce has gotten quite used to swimming with it.

He loves to jump to me, but must be holding my hands!

Taking a break for snacks and lunch. He loves to lay back on the chair, wrapped in his towel, soaking in the sun.

Aunt Kirsten spent quite a bit of time swimming with Pierce while I enjoyed cuddling with my nephew. :)

I think they are having a discussion here...maybe about the lifeguards. Pierce has a TON of questions about everything/one!!

Jacob did so great and we were there for over 3 hours!

This was my first time away from the house since last Wednesday. It felt so good to get out and have some fun with my little man. I am feeling much, much better. Not all the symptoms are completely gone, but I am well on my way! Thank you, Lord!!

Land of the Living

After 5 days of food poisoning misery, I feel like I am finally coming up out of the fog. Last Tuesday evening, I attended a party with several of my girlfriends. It was catered by a local Italian restaurant and the food was very tasty. Early Wednesday morning, I just knew something had been wrong with the food that I ate. That's when it all began and it is the sickest I have ever felt. I'll spare you the gory details, but I am just today starting to get my energy back, keep small amounts of food down/in and lead normal life again.

I am not being dramatic about this at all. I felt like I had it pretty bad because of how pregnant I am...it's hard to be so sick and pregnant. But then, word started coming in from my friends and almost every person there was affected. And some very badly, having to be hospitalized, on oxygen, on morphine and their symptoms far worse than mine. The tests have confirmed Salmonella and an investigation is being done by the Health Department. I spoke with one of the nurses there this morning. I'm not exactly sure what gets done about something like this; I just know I want to feel back to 100% very soon.

We had to cancel our Fourth of July plans, which involved us traveling to Binghamton, NY for the laying of my grandparents' headstones and a mini family reunion at my great uncle's lake house. I was extremely disappointed about this and our whole Fourth weekend was pretty much shot.

The baby seems to have handled everything well. I think I did a good job of staying hydrated, which is what everyone told me was the most important thing. I have been feeling continual movement and I have an OB appointment on Thursday where everything will get checked out. I'm pretty sure I lost some weight during all of this -- not eating for 4 days straight will do that -- but it's not exactly what I had in mind in regards to keeping my pregnancy weight gain on the lower side. Oh well.

And I cannot fail to mention the amazing support of my husband over the past several days. He had to take Thursday off of work and has been such a trooper caring for both me and Pierce, and doing household stuff as well. I know it's a change from what he's used to and he did it phenomenally! I am so blessed by him.

I plan to spend this week doing some major catch-up on all things life as we get ready for our vacation coming up. I hope to find some time (and energy) to share some pictures (and a really cute video!) here. Thank you to all of those praying for me and for your kind words of concern and encouragement!

Just hangin' out

We are thoroughly enjoying our summer!! These pictures were taken two weekends ago and you can see from the last couple of pictures the real reason Shaun bought this playset for Pierce. :)

I purchased a pool pass at the pool in Kirsten & Keith's neighborhood (only 5 minutes from our house) and we made it there twice last week. We also went swimming at a friend's house and played at a local sprinkler park. This week, it looks like more of the same for us along with a road trip to a family reunion of sorts over the Fourth. Needless to say, we are having a great summer so far!

I hope to get some pictures of my little fish to share with you all soon. I hope you're enjoying your summer as well!

VA Beach - Days 3 & 4

On Wednesday, we had another day of cool, cloudy weather. This was our beach day and we had every intention of sticking to the plan unless it started raining, which it didn't until we were about ready to leave the beach, thankfully.

Again, we took our time in the morning, hoping for warmer weather. We got to the beach close to lunchtime and let the kids play in the sand before we had our picnic lunch (probably not the wisest move as their little hands were quite sandy by eating time!). None of us wore swimsuits, but we did dip our toes in the (chilly) ocean water.

I don't think Pierce or Sierra noticed the cool, windy weather. They were very busy playing in the sand.

We parked the car close to a playground that is right on the beach. Very cool! On our way out, we let the kids play for a few minutes before the light rain started.

On Wednesday afternoon, Pierce and I went to visit some old friends who live in the beach area. We made it back to Karen, Brian and Sierra for dinner. After dinner, we took a short walk to a pond in their neighborhood to feed the ducks.

The ducks really come from everywhere when there's food around. They were even a bit aggressive!

Once all the bread was gone, Pierce enjoyed chasing the ducks back into the water.

Thursday was our zoo day! We visited this zoo last year and Pierce enjoyed it then. He really liked it this year. Every time he got back in his stroller after being out to take a closer look at a particular animal, he would say "we're going to see more of those, right, Mommy?". I'd say he was quite fascinated by all the animals.

Pierce and Sierra were offering the monkey their snacks.

And the highlight of the trip for Pierce, by far, was riding the train. He was so excited about this!!

We ate our picnic lunch outside the zoo near a great big playground. Pierce played after lunch and then, we took off for home. We are so grateful for Karen and Brian's hospitality for the time we were there. We had such a fabulous time and are looking forward to more fun times together during our big family beach trip coming up VERY soon!!

I know this post has A LOT of pictures, but if you want to look at all the pictures we took during our trip, you can go HERE. Enjoy!

VA Beach, Days 1 & 2

Pierce and I left our house early on Monday morning in order to get to the beach area in time to do something fun once we got there. It was raining at our house and we drove through rain most of the way there.

We had planned to go to the Botanical Gardens and do the spray park there, but the weather changed our plans. We headed over to a huge play area in the mall. It was a madhouse (I'm just not used to that many people anywhere in our small town!), but a fun rainy-morning activity nonetheless.

There's something about a kid's tongue hanging out when they are playing hard! :)

On Tuesday, we went to a little playdate with some of Karen's mommy friends early on and hoped that the sun would come out and warm things up a bit (it was surprisingly and unfortunately chilly for mid-June in Virginia!). We headed over to the Botanical Gardens before lunch and it was warm enough for the kids to play in the sprinklers. They had a blast! We ate a picnic lunch and were able to watch the airplanes take off as the airport is right next to the gardens. Pierce LOVED that!! We were also able to walk through a cool butterfly house on our way out.

Pierce working up his courage to run through this big sprinkler

He did it!

Watching the planes

The kiddos took great naps both days. On Tuesday evening, we had dinner at Chick Fil-A and Pierce had a lot of fun in the play place.

A little note about our sleeping arrangements. We decided that Pierce would sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor in the same room I was sleeping. Monday night was rough b/c he woke up when I entered the room and had trouble settling down. I invited him into the bed with me (he's never slept with us before) and that was a big mistake. I think that both of us were awake and restless from 1-3am. The kid moves A LOT in his sleep! I ended up going to sleep on the couch b/c I couldn't handle it after a while. Every other night after that was fine as I reviewed with him what the plan was and he was great about staying in the sleeping bag on the floor. He took his naps on the bed, however and did great. Overall, he has done so very well with this transition!

Many more pictures to come of the rest of our week!

We're home!

This is one of my favorite of the over 200 pictures that we (Karen & I) took this week. Pierce and Sierra were watching the airplanes take off while we were lunching at the Botanical Gardens. We had such a blast over the past 4 days! It was completely exhausting, but the good, fun kind!



I have a ton of pictures and stories to share and hope to work on some posts over the weekend and/or early next week. Stay tuned for lots of fun, cute pictures of these two (busy!) munchkins!

Cousins

Pierce was able to meet his newest cousin, Jacob, for the first time on Thursday evening. He did such a nice job with the baby and this is really good practice for him! :)

On Friday evening, my entire family gathered at Kirsten & Keith's for dinner and to spend time with the newest member of our family.

He is just so precious!

The 3 amigos. :) Little stairsteps from each other (~15 months between each of them).

Mimi & Papa with their grandbabies. How very blessed we all are!!

Uncle Mike & Uncle Shaun having fun with Pierce and Sierra

This picture is priceless. Pierce is definitely happy...not sure about Sierra and Shaun's face...well...

Pierce and I have a fun-filled week ahead and I'm quite excited! We're taking a little mini-vacation to visit my sister who lives close to the beach. We've got lots of things planned for the kiddos and I'm really looking forward to some pool time, beach time, zoo time and more. I may get a chance to blog some while there and share pictures of our adventures. If not, you'll hear from me towards the end of the week!