Summer Time!

Leo and Daddy share a quite moment in the backyard

With all the chaos of the home buying process, we have tried to take a few moments and enjoy the pleasures of summer. We are very deep into the process of getting our first house, but we still have yet to get a final yes from the financers. We are suppose to move this weekend, so I am not sure how/if this will all play out.

In the meantime, we took a break from packing and purging to go to the beach. Leo was ecstatic, perhaps more giddy than we have ever seen him. This was his 2nd trip to the beach and he loved everything about it: the sand, the waves, looking for shells etc. Even though it was a cool 65 degrees and not sunbathing weather, he was in heaven. Joe and I were too because seeing his delight compares to nothing else.

Baby girl will be here in exactly 1 month. This is unbelievable to me. I cannot believe I will be the mom of two...crazy! We are excited to meet our little girl. I am so curious to see what her little face looks like. Will she look like Leo or resemble me more? I am also so curious to learn what her personality is like. I predict she will be much more mellow. We will all know soon enough.

33/34 Weeks Pregnant

We are getting towards the tail end of the pregnancy. Things have been crazy in the Morris household. Not only are we eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 4th member of our family, but we are 10 days away from moving day. We are hoping and praying that everything works out with the loan process and are waiting and preparing for a big fat "yes" from the bank. In the meantime, we are busy packing and also prepping for a big garage sale this Saturday.

I still appear smaller than most pregnant woman who are as far along as me. I am measuring right on track, but this is the point in my pregnancy with Leo that he stopped growing. When he was born, he measured the size of a baby that is 34 weeks gestational age, which is what our little girl is now. I have no reason to believe that things will go the same way with baby girl, but I am still anxious.

Her temperament still remains quite different than how Leo was during pregnancy. She seems more mellow and although I do feel her move a lot, it is more stretching than kicking. She also has gotten the hiccups a few times recently and often presses body parts against my abdomen.

Another difference with this pregnancy is how ill prepared we are compared to last time. Because of the move, we are still without a nursery. Also, I am in no hurry for her to come along. I am more than happy to meet her, but I think because I know how difficult the first few months are, I am happy to have her come no earlier than September 20th. Also, the sleep deprivation scares me.

Leo has been great, although he has been exhibiting some neediness that might be related to the move and his baby sister's arrival. It has become much more difficult to get him to sleep at night. He often calls for me numerous times before he will fall asleep and he almost always falls asleep at the foot of his door.

He has also picked up on some of our speech patterns. For example, he will say, "I'm totally hot," or "I'm super cold." He has picked up these words from me, so I guess I need to be super careful about what I say around him.

I am really trying to cherish these last weeks with Leo as an only child. He is so wonderful and I know after his sister arrives, he will never be an only child again. I am cuddling him as much as he will let me.

Buzz Cut!

So Leo's needed a haircut for a while and we talked to him about having Daddy buzz cut it. Yesterday, when Joe and Leo were leaving my work, Leo recognized that we were close to Kid's Castle, where he usually gets his haircut. He told Joe, "Daddy, I need a buzz cut from the store!" Joe agreed and Leo got his first buzz cut. He looks so grown up and boyish and when you have a face as handsome as Leo's, you can get away with any hair cut.

As for the house, we are still in the process of trying to make the deal. The selling agent, who is a relative of the sellers, has agreed to use part of his commission money to make the necessary repairs that we discovered in the inspection, but has requested that we put up $2,000 in earnest money. This means that for any reason, if the deal falls through, we are out this money, along with the cost for the appraisal and the inspection, but if everything goes as planned, the money will be used toward our down payment. We are hoping and praying that everything works out. The house is also getting appraised tomorrow, so things are moving along. The closing date is August 26, so that is the day we have to make it to and then we can breath a sigh of relief (hopefully).

The house has been a nice distraction. It has kept me from obsessing about the baby's arrival and all my nesting instincts have been invested in house hunting and now packing. What an exciting adventure!

31 Weeks

I am really starting to get big and uncomfortable. I think I am much bigger this time around. I have moments where I need to sit and relax because the pain is startling. However, I am more than content to have our baby stay put until her September 20th birthday. That's right! She has an official birth date, unless she decides to come early. Please don't little girl...we aren't ready!!!

Joe and I are almost homeowners. We made an offer on a house and it was countered by an offer we accepted. We had an inspection on Monday and made a revised offer based on the findings. The results weren't horrible, but we are hoping the sellers will make the repairs without a fuss. In the meantime, we are just waiting. We are super excited though and drive by the house almost everyday. We have already promised to build Leo a sandbox and he is holding us to it.

The whole family was sick last week (Joe got sick this week though). Leo threw up several times in one night and is still talking about it, "I'm all done throwing up now." Poor little dude. I think he had croup and we spent almost a whole week at home, which drove us both crazy. I was sick as well, which was especially difficult being pregnant and caring for a sick toddler. Luckily, we are all better now.

Recently, every time we went to the grocery store, Leo would ask for "monster cookies." We had no idea what he was talking about. Finally Leo took Joe down the bulk food aisle, where Leo pointed to yogurt pretzels. Apparently, he thinks the yogurt pretzels look like little monster faces. We both got a big chuckle out of that and were impressed by his great imagination.

Well, between Leo and Joe, the secret of the baby's name has been given away to my mom and Joe's mom. Joe keeps slipping and Leo doesn't know what a secret is. Oh well!!!

29 Weeks

Holy moly! I am really feeling pregnant now! I have started to feel more uncomfortable and even had some lower back pain, which I never remember having when I was pregnant with Leo. This little girl loves to do yoga moves in my belly and it can really hurt. She seems to have down some complete rotations this week and I audibly yelled, "ouch," on more than one occasion. This is also something I don't recall with Leo.

Joe, Leo and I are actively pursuing buying a house. It looks like we have been pre-approved for a loan and now we are getting close to making an offer. We found a house we really like in a well established neighborhood with a good elementary school within walking distance. It is owned by an older lady who never made any renovations, but the house is clean and well maintained, so we figure that if we get the house, we can make changes slowly over time. It is exciting, but it has been really stressful, so I hope that we make the right choice. Wish us luck!!!

The 4th of July

Veronica looking festive

Aubrey enjoys her popsicle

Shelly and Angie

Mike and Veronica

We had a fun and mellow 4th if July celebration. Our friends, the Marshes, came over with their 2 adorable daughters Aubrey, 4 and Veronica, 1. We had burgers, corn on the cob, salad, popsicles and brownies and the kiddos played in the backyard. It has been great fun watching each others families grow. I can't believe we use to hang out before their were any kids at all, and now, 3 and a half kids later, we are still getting together. It was a great day!

At night, we let Leo stay up well past his bed time to see fireworks for the first time. He was in awe of the "big fireworks," and loved every minute of it. Luckily, our neighbors, the Neps, had a whole mess of fireworks that we were able to enjoy. Fun times!!!

In the meantime, Joe and I have been house hunting. We are so fortunate that this is a great time to buy. We have targeted a neighborhood and now it's just a matter of waiting patiently for the right house to come along. With any luck, we will be in a house by the end of the year.

27 Weeks Pregnant

I am now 27 weeks pregnant and am still feeling good. Fatigue is my biggest problem and I am hoping it will subside once baby girl is born. I feel her move everyday and it is such a relief. She has poked me rather uncomfortably a few times, to the point where I actually yelled out in pain. Leo asks to kiss his sister everyday and he always says, "mommy, she's kicking." He calls her by name and even sings a little theme song we made up about her.

Speaking of singing, Leo has been our little song bird. He loves to belt out the "good guy" and the "bad guy" theme music to Star Wars. When I say belt out, I am not exaggerating. He is LOUD!!! He is also way off tune, but that's part of the charm. Also, Leo's knowledge of Star Wars has surpassed mine (not that that is saying a whole lot).

Leo also made up his first joke. There are these giant walking robots in Star Wars called At-Ats. Leo's joke is the following: "Where are the At-Ats at?" He tells this joke to anyone who will listen.

Leo now talks exclusively in sentences. His command of the language has grown leaps and bounds over the last few months. He still confuses a few phrases such as " Mommy hold you," when he wants me to pick him up. It is so endearing. Another very cute Leo habit is holding my face. He loves to cradle my face with both his hands, especially when it is nap time or he just needs some extra love. It melts my heart.

We just had Joe's brother come to town from Colorado for OSU's orientation. He stayed with us a couple nights and Joe accompanied him to the orientation for 2 days. Leo had a blast hanging with his cool younger uncle and was really sad to see him leave. Luckily, Aaron will start attending OSU is the fall and we will be able to hang with him more often.