32 weeks!

32 weeks.  The end is near.  In this eighth month of pregnancy, my goal of embracing my belly has not been that hard considering my belly isn't that big.  The real challenge: embracing my thighs. 

I'm only sort of joking.  I know this is all temporary but their girth not only rivals my belly, but they are also starting to really weigh me down ... literally.  I feel them every step of my runs and my joints in my legs are super achy.  No matter how big they get, I can say thanks to these beasts of thighs since they are still allowing me to truck along on my runs and get me through them.  And thankfully, the belly discomfort so many others feel during pregnancy has evaded me thus far.

Parker's 2nd Baby Shower

I'm so fortunate for such great friends!  Sunday, they threw me and Parker a baby shower at The Guenther House!  It was a fabulous venue and the girls went out of their way to make things super special!  Thanks, Tara, Shay, Marne and Jenni!

Me and the hostesses

The gorgeous cake was so yummy!

Presents!

The food and decor was amazing!

All the guests had their choice of tea and the food was superb!

Megan, me and Meredith

Parker got such great things!  Thanks to everyone who joined me in celebrating his impending arrival!

Meeting Cain and Rocco for the 1st time!

We are so fortunate to have such great friends who are willing to travel to town for us!  Meredith and Dax came up from Corpus for my shower and we finally got to meet twins, Cain and Rocco!

They were so good (made mre think what went wrong with Carleigh?) and of course, sooooo cute!!!

Rocco and Mama!  Even though it was just for the day, they made the trip and we got to spend some time with them before and after the shower!

Amanda also came down to the shower from Austin and came to the house afterwards.

Dust and Dax manned the fort (all 3 kids) while we were gone!  Dustin was so excited to hang out with baby boys!  I think it got him pumped up for Parker!

Mer's got two boys and I'm working on the 2nd baby ... Amanda better hop on the baby train soon!

Carleigh liked the boys but one thing she didn't like: the boys being held by her Mommy and Daddy!

Carleigh was J-E-A-L-O-U-S!  We realize we are going to have our work cut out for us when Parker arrives!!!  Nonetheless, it was a wonderful day catching up with wonderful friends!

Even The Princesses Have to Cool Off!

School has started and our pool is vacant!

Carleigh doesn't mind too much, though she loves swimming with other kids; she gets to swim with her princesses (without sharing them) and Mommy!  Not sure if it's the late stage of pregnancy or just a phase, but her Mommy-clinginess is majorly increasing!

Peeling nail polish, bug bites and blisters.  Feet showing the signs of summer.  Letting the piggies breathe is the only way to be!

Seriously, why would we be anywhere else?  Her smiles say it all!

Feeding Nemo

Today while all the kiddos went back to school, Carleigh and I visited a school, as well!  A school of fish, that is!

We brought bread for them (though I was unsure if fish would eat it) and Carleigh had a ball giving Nemo and his friends their "lunch."

The outing also allowed me to practice on full manual mode in an outdoor setting so I was pretty pleased with my results.  These photos are all unedited and while some are a bit overexposed, some turned out nicely (especially for 3 o'clock sun)!

The fish jumping for the bread!

She was hamming it up for me!  I should have increased my shutter speed or raised my aperature a bit, but I always set my aperature first because I want to control the blur.  I am bad about limb chopping when framing my photos, too so that's something to work on.  Any photographer friends that can advise me on how to keep my focus on her eyes (or the subject's) while still applying the thirds rule?

It was hard to explain to Carleigh to feed them slowly so our bread would last ... but she found plenty of rocks to climb for a better look once we ran out.

There was a turtle in the crack and Carleigh was fascinated!

She was so thankful to me for allowing her to care for the fish!  Awww!!!

August Race Report - Fleet Feet Sunrise 10K

Saturday morning at 7:30 am, Amber, Stephanie, Jenni, Megan and I ran the Sunrise 10K race in Alamo Heights.  It was hot, humid and hilly was an understatement!  But I remembered the course from last year and made sure to pace accordingly.

It was Amber and Jenni's first greater than 5K distance road race since Beach To Bay and they did great!  It was Megan's first race and great prep work for her upcoming full marathon in November!  I'm so proud of her for 1) completing her first race (a 10K at that!) 2) never stopping to walk and 3) finishing strong!!!  She and I stuck together the entire 6.2 miles and finished in 1:00:46 (9:46 pace)!   While that's not fast for me, (last year I did the race in 55:16 (8:54 pace)), it is better than my third trimester goal pace of 10:00/mile pace.  Great job girls!!!

Weekend Warrior

Not sure if y'all have ever seen HGTV's Weekend Warrior show, but Carleigh's weekend started off with a little building and renovating just like the show!

(I apologize about the graininess of my photos of late.  I've been working in manual mode and definitely need to work on my aperature settings/shutter speed/iso - the good news is my pics can only get better!)

She wanted to create "houses" for her princesses and this is what we came up with.

A tweak here and a tweak there ... (and lots of rebuilds)...

.... equals a whole lot of fun and a happy architect!  (She dressed for the occasion, too, in her princess dress-up attire).  Just because you work with your hands doesn't mean you can't look pretty!

She's for hire!

Doggy bath day last week turned into a fun-filled experience as Carleigh told me that she could do it all by herself!  She's entering the "I can do it" phase and boy does this make Mommy happy!

Not sure it makes Tyson or Maddie that happy though.

I instructed her on how to bathe them, lathering them up and rinsing them well and all in all, she did a pretty good job.  I just had to help get in the hard to reach places.  She had the rinsing part down pat!

I only photographed Tyson's bath because Maddie was first and didn't think to take pictures until she did showed me how well she could bathe them!

She dries them, too and will do cats, also!  We can loan her out to anyone needing a great pet bather!

30 Weeks!

Wednesday marked the 30 week pointn!  I'm 3/4 done!  Hoping the next 10 weeks go by quickly!  We are ready to meet you, Parker!!!

What I had forgotton about pregnancy (when your belly has popped):

1.  The heat that radiates from your body is out of this world!  I am an always cold person so this feeling is very foreign.

2.  When you sit, you sweat under your breasts and belly.  I mean do I put deoderant/antipersperant in these places?

3.  Sciatic pain really makes its presence known.  Surprisingly, exercise helps!

4.  It's not all bad ... the doting by family ("oh don't get up, I'll get it") is fabulous!!!

5.  The pity from Dustin is great!  Foot and back rubs in abundance!!!

Evening Swims

The past few weeks, the daytime heat has just been unbearable.  So Carleigh and me started going to the neighborhood pool in the evenings after dinner last week (when her ears were mostly healed).  Carleigh and her princesses have really made a splash at the kiddie pool with the other kiddos! She also decided last week that she doesn't need floaties in the kiddie pool and proceeded to jump in over and over.

We are working on sharing so when a little girl wanted to play with her princesses, she gave her one of them and then immediately told her to "share" the one princess she lent!  It was comical to watch!

While she's not completely comfortable going under the water without floaties (when she does, she flails a bit), Carleigh is comfortable blowing bubbles and leaning her head back so her hair gets wait (a little bathtub trick).  I am sure as her ears get better we will make progress in the submersion department.

She loves practicing her splits, even in the pool! 

In the big pool, she uses her floaties, and on the evening these photos were taken, she didn't want me close to her.  She wanted to go after her pool toys by herself.

Love this time of day and the summer memories we're making!