Gracie and JR

This was Gracie's second time holding JR, but the first time visiting us without Brianna~which makes it much more calm in the room! Just before hitting record I asked Grace what she thinks of her little brother.

Jerry Richard

Our little boy has arrived! Meet Jerry Richard, aka JR. He is named after the three most influential men in his life (excluding Daddy, who Bee is named after). His first name comes from my father-in-law, and his middle name comes from both my father and my husband's best friend. Here are pictures of our first three days together, in no particular order.

On the quilt Nana made for him.

He loves sleeping on the Boppy pillow. So far he is a very good eater and sleeper.

Bee seems so big now, compared to little JR!

Ready to go home!

Kissies from his sissies.
They are completely in love with him.

I think this is my fav pic so far.

Or maybe this one...

Daddy and his little man.

Daddy recorded my first moments with my son. I didn't even know he knew how to use the video function~so I had no idea I was being recorded!

Week 39

I'll start with our crazy week 38 actually. Two weeks ago we moved, and our wonderful landlord has given us plenty of time to clean the old place out. So last weekend I spent a significant part of my Saturday working on getting it ready for her to inspect. Apparently, I did a bit too much and I realized that evening that I couldn't remember the baby moving at all throughout the day. I figured that I was just so busy and used to feeling him move that I didn't notice. However, with two stillborns within a couple of months of each other at work, I had to be certain that everything was ok with this little guy! I texted my sister in law, who is a nurse and she told me to drink juice or chocolate milk and lay on my left side. If I still didn't feel him, call the doc. I did, but didn't get to lay very long with the girls demanding this and that, so I tried again. Still nothing. I called the hospital, and they said to come in right away. After being on the monitors for about an hour in different positions they were satisified that they had gotten a constant reading with plenty of movement and I was sent home. Whew!

Yesterday I had my 39 week OB appointment, so the doc talked with me about the weekend. Sunday the baby more than made up for the lack of movement on Saturday. I don't think he slowed down all day! Figures. She checked me and found that I am dilated to a "Two, almost three." That didn't encourage me, as two weeks ago I was at a two. So I would be very surprised if he comes before his due date. I'm honestly expecting him to be late at this point. Everything else at the appointment was good, and I have only gained 16 pounds this pregnancy! That surprises me, as he's been demanding junk food constantly.

Our Verticle Garden

When I found this blog post, I was inspired to try and make something grow this summer with the girls. After considering our options, I decided that an herb garden would be silly, as I don't cook much and when I do, I don't use herbs. They would just go to waste. One of my students' parents gave me eight Impatiens as an end of the year thank you gift, and they are perfect. They grow in the shade, and our new patio is mostly shady. I went to the store and got a few more flowers to fill up our shoe organizer and Gracie and I set to work with Bee watching.

I ran into trouble as I tried to put the organizer on our outside storage door. It turns out that the door is thicker than an average door so the hooks were too small. I ditched the hooks and nailed the organizer to the deck above us. It works, but now it is really high. As in, so high I will need a step stool to water the top row. This made planting a much bigger challenge than I would have liked, but she did plant a whole row of flowers with my help.

Standing on a table, putting soil in the bottom row of pockets.

Once I got Gracie working, I got Bee started. She helped me dig holes in our small section of dirt to put some extra flowers in. We planted three plants, and that's about all that can fit with all of the other plants that are left over from previous tenants.

Of course, they had to water the flowers once they were settled into their new homes!

We ran out of soil, so we had to stop about halfway done. I got more soil today, but we didn't get a chance to go outside, it's been so cold. Maybe we'll have time this weekend to finish up.

Summer Finally Arrived!

Last weekend was finally nice and hot, so we got to go outside and swim for a while. The girls loved to put their faces in the water and splash each other. I love watching them play together.

Marble Painting

Gracie has been asking to do marble painting for a while now. With everything packed up, I had no idea where the marbles were hiding. However, with the conclusion of school yesterday, I was able to bring my bag of marbles home from work for them to play with. Surprisingly (or not), Gracie did one painting and was done but Bee did several and was very into it!

Trikes

We got trikes!

Gracie has a little trouble reaching the pedals, but we're getting pedaling down.

Caterpillars

We have found a lot of caterpillars outside lately. It makes me hopeful that we will see many butterflies later this summer! One day Gracie found two caterpillars on our patio. She was so excited! She gave them leaves to eat and watched them for quite a while before letting them crawl off.