Family out East!

A week and a half ago Mike's cousin Bowman, and his beautiful wife Stephanie moved out East for the Summer while Bowman does an internship with Exxon.  It is so wonderful to have family here to spend time with.  A couple of days after they got here we met up at the Nationals Game....(obviously a big sell out according to the picture! But they did actually win the game!)  It was so fun to hang out.  They've been over a couple of times since...and Damon absolutely loves them!   

Last night they came over for dinner, Mike and Bowman started talking about childhood memories at Grandma's house, and honestly....I don't know if I have ever seen my husband laugh that hard.  He had tears in his eyes from the hilarious stories they were reminding each other of.     They are such a fun, kind, loving couple and we are excited to spend more of the Summer with them!   

Don't mind the miserably big and pregnant girl in the picture....everyone else looked so cute I had to post the picture! 

Cankles!

I officially have cankles....for a week or so, only my right foot has been swolen, but alas....the stereotypical blog picture of the fat ankles!  Mike and I laugh every night when I try to find my ankle bones!  They are in there somewhere!    This is also an embarrassing picture of how badly I need a pedicure.  Just ignore the chipped nail polish all over my toes....haha! 

I feel like quite the slacker when it comes to blogging about this pregnancy....I am not really sure why I haven't been really updating everyone about how things are going....I feel like so many of my friends are constantly keeping everyone up on any prego news...which I love.  For those who care, this pregnancy has obviously been a little rough for me, compared to my first....but I know there are many worse things I could be dealing with.  The gestational diabetes has taught me more than I ever thought it could.  There was a segment on the Today Show recently talking about health and good snacks....what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat....etc...and it felt good to listen to the experts, and be able to say to myself  - "that is how I eat!"   I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am actually really grateful for this trial.  I have learned that I have a lot more self control than I ever thought I did.  I guess that's what happens when your self control is keeping your growing baby healthy and saving you from complications during pregnancy / delivery.  

I really feel like this baby boy will be joining us a little bit earlier than my due date is expecting him...which means it could be any day now!   aaahhh!!!

5 years!

Happy Anniversary to my man of 5 years.   So our anniversary didn't go as smoothly as planned....but it was a day for me to think back on the last 5 years, to remember the dating days, the wedding, the move across the country, starting a family, and everything else that we've been through.  Here's to many more years w/ my honey! 

To Good Friends

Just a quick picture of us with some of our closest friends.  Our great friends Chris and Kelli had us, and some other good friends, Deb and Rob, over for Easter dinner.    Rob and Deb have an awesome little boy Bobby, who has become one of Damon's best friends....and Damon is getting some big brother training by playing with Chris and Kelli's 4 month old baby boy.  

We are so grateful for the awesome friends that we have out here in Maryland.   Yeah! 

I Promise My Husband is a Smart Guy...

So, to help explain my lack of picture taking....which leads to a lack of blogging...here is a perfect example of the issues we have with our camera.  The screen is totally out...so we never know if the pictures we are taking will even work.  The battery also doesn't last long (not more than one outing).  But one green light still lights up - even when the battery is dead, so we  think  its working, when it isn't.....

long story short....

This is Mike attempting to take a picture of Damon and I...not knowing that it was clicked onto "video"....We just thought these two very short videos were hilarious.  

Update!

For those of you who have been asking and asking for a picture of my pregnant self....here you go.  Totally not exciting, but here it is.   We still have a busted camera, and I am shocked every time I plug it in and the pictures I took actually appear on the computer...so we have been super unmotivated to take many pictures lately....but here's what we've got. 

 

A lot of you have also asked about how the gestational diabetes thing is going.  Honestly...the hardest part is just having to think about what to eat, when to eat it, where I'm going to be 2 hours from when I started a meal (that's when I check my blood).  I am learning really good eating habits that will help me throughout my life.  I find myself cooking more, planning better meals, and even Damon is eating things that I never thought he would!  That is probably one of the best parts of all of this!   I've learned that there are a lot of delicious sugar free options for treats.  I was such a "grazer" before, just snacking on whatever whenever I felt like it, and it's been nice to have that under control...and just not let myself do it!   

Checking my blood 4 times a day (pricking my finger) really isn't that bad.  Especially considering how terrified I have been of needles my whole life.  Luckily the needles I use are teeny-tiny, which helps.   

I also wanted to say how grateful I am for everyone who has show so much love and concern for me through all of this.  I was a pretty big mess for a while, and quite the stress case.   Being pregnant is hard enough this time around for me, and I took it really hard when I had these extra issues to deal with....but I am hoping a praying for a strong healthy baby, and I'm grateful for my friends and family who have listened to me vent, cry, get mad, and cope with it all! 

Our Boy on his NEW BIKE!

Here's our little guy riding his new bike.  We went to the bike shop, he climbed on, and almost immediately took off on his own in the store!  Even though he has been riding the pedal-less bike for a year and could completely balance on it, I was still nervous and a little skeptical about having him try a new bike without training wheels.   I just couldn't imagine him on such a big bike, doing it all on his own.   But...here he is!  See the video below! 

I am still using our broken camera...so I, once again didn't know if any pictures or videos were going to work.   That's why I sound like such a dork, always hoping that the video is working!