Still baking...

Just a quick post to let you all know that Tater Tot is still in the oven. There are signs that he may be making his debut "soon," but I am beginning to really feel that I will be pregnant forever. Maybe I will be the first woman ever to raise her child entirely in utero. The doctor said on Friday that she thought I would deliver this weekend. I told her I didn't believe her because that's what she said LAST week.

So here I am, skipping another day of church due to contractions that started yesterday morning, went most of the day, stopped for a bit, and then picked up last night as we were out. I had over an hour of 7-minute apart contractions that were...HUGE...to say the least. Nothing like I'd had before. I thought for sure it was finally going to be the real thing. Hah. Nope.

Went to bed at 1 am exhausted from the contractions. Woke up at 3:17, 4:47, 4:54...you get the picture. I finally gave up and just got up since I couldn't sleep through them any more. Drifted off to sleep on the couch about 6:30, woke up again and again, finally gave in and went back to bed at 9 am. Woke up about 5 times from contractions while trying to sleep. Finally gave up at 11:30 and, well, here I am.

It has been POURING rain all night and morning and it's finally stopped enough that maybe I can get out and go for a walk. Better take advantage of the break in the storm while I can.

We have 2 days until D-day. Anyone want to bet that I'll go over? ;o)

Two days of waiting...and some surprises

Yesterday marked 39 weeks. Here's the belly shot...

I had a rough day of contractions--much like what's in my last blog. Monday was the same. I was getting pretty upset at all the pain with no baby. My mom surprised me with a call and cheered me up, and then Nathan came home from the grocery store with these...
...just to cheer me up. The call from my mom and the flowers from my thoughtful husband did just the trick--I was much happier--even if my child is already refusing to listen to me.

Today was more waiting, but no contractions. What a relief! At least a relief if nothing is going to come of it. I was able to concentrate on work and not sit looking at the clock timing anything. SO NICE.

Today's surprise was not as beautiful nor did it smell as sweet as yesterday's surprise flowers. Today's surprise involved Nathan going down to the basement to retrieve some things and finding a sewer pipe leak, which had, of course, leaked all over the one small stack of things we have stored down there. It couldn't have leaked anywhere else in the basement as big as the house--just that one spot! Talk about gross. It must have been leaking since we moved in (we very seldom go down there). YUCK--double YUCK! So we spent an hour, well mostly Nathan spent an hour, cleaning it up. Thank goodness the yuck had only dripped on one stack in the pile, most of which were rubbermaid containers which could be washed with hot water and bleach. The ONE box was on top and had my Christmas nativity in it. Nathan was less than thrilled that I insisted that he fish everything out of the box. Each piece was in its own little box, which had styrofoam surrounding the pieces, so at least the nativity pieces were "pretty clean." Thank goodness it is made of some fake ceramic looking stuff that I could easily dip in bleach and clean off. PHEW! I would have cried if I had lost it to a sewer leak. My mom gave it to me for Christmas years ago. Nathan was a trooper fishing this precious treasure out of the yuck for me. He gets extra brownie points for that on top of surprise flowers.

I wonder what surprise tomorrow will bring....maybe a baby? (wishful thinking, I know)

Come out!

When I was little we had a children's book about a deer that wanted a baby brother. Finally his mom was pregnant, and he dreamed about all the things he would teach his baby brother. One line from the book stands out in my mind when he goes up to his momma's belly and says, "Come out!" I have been saying that to my belly for over a week now.

It was my goal to make it to 38 weeks, and nearly one week later Tater Tot is still baking. I guess after being told 3 weeks ago that he had to wait, he's being spiteful and stubborn. I am SO ready to have him here, not only to stop having all this prodomal labor and all the "fun" things of being nearly 39 weeks pregnant, but because Nathan and I are ready to welcome this little guy into our lives. Hopefully it won't be long now, because we only have 9 days left until his due date.
This is a horrible picture, but seeing as I don't really get more "ready" for the day than this any more since I'm working from home, this is as good as it gets. We took this picture 2 days ago, so I was 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant--just about to pop.

Friday night I fell asleep in the recliner about 10 pm. Nathan woke me up at about 12:30 am to go upstairs to bed. As soon as I got up out of the chair, a massive contraction hit me. I was like, "great--this is going to be a long night." Boy was I right. Didn't fall back asleep until 1:45 am. Then woke up again at 3:17 am to some pretty good contractions happening every 15 minutes or so. I laid there timing them until 4:43 when I gave up and came downstairs. No point in trying to sleep through these. I was bored, tired, and didn't want to watch tv, so what did I do? I wrote 24 thank you notes that needed to be done for baby showers I've had in the last month. Once that was done, I was hungry, so I cooked myself a big waffle breakfast at 5:50 in the morning. Lola kept giving me the stink eye for keeping her up, that is until I shared a waffle with her.

Then at about 6:30 I was still bored and my back and hips were hurting. Contractions were about 12 minutes apart by this point. I decided to do some stretching on all fours, and while on the floor, decided that my carpet was so disgusting from the dogs so as long as I was on all fours, I may as well spot clean the carpet, and proceeded to do so for about an hour. Of course by then I had worked up a sweat, and decided that with contractions now at 10 minutes apart I'd better get a shower because who knew what the day would bring--maybe a baby? After a nice shower, I was exhausted, so I laid down in bed again and tried to sleep, having to toss and turn to get comfortable and never really finding comfort, but eventually drifting in and out of sleep by about 9 am. Sometime after that Nathan got up and I heard him getting ready for the day, but went back to sleep. I was so tired.

At 11 am Nathan broke the cardinal rule in the Smith household--NEVER wake a sleeping pregnant woman. He woke me to tell me he was heading 1 hour south to the trainer's place to visit Brody. It was one time I was glad he had woke me and not just left a note. He had no idea what my morning had been like. As soon as I told him, he decided against going, and that he'd better hang out at home just in case. Well, of course, I couldn't ever fall back asleep, and so I decided that getting up and moving around just might keep this labor going.

So I got ready for the day and we headed out to run errands at Wal-Mart and Target, and got some lunch where Nathan insisted that I eat good protien to keep up my strength (the ever-concerned husband). All this while contractions kept going and getting stronger and were about 7 minutes apart by late-afternoon. Nate wanted to head home at that point, but I was NOT going to go home and sit, so we continued to run errands. Our last stop was Costco at about 6:30 pm. We were in the store when a HUGE contraction hit me. I had to stop walking/talking, and I thought to myself, "Oh boy--this is it! This is REALLY going to happen!" We eventually got out of Costco in between contractions and in the car we started timing them again--5 minutes apart. Oh goody! So we get home and I'm contracting too much to want to eat dinner. The contractions keep up, so I decide I need to rest. I'm exhausted after such a long day. So I sit down for awhile, and they continue, but the intensity drops off. "Great--just great." By 8 pm I can barely keep my eyes open. My lower back is killing me and I'm tired of 5 minute contractions, so I take a warm bath to find some comfort. Of course, I find comfort, but the contractions nearly stop. What the?! I get up and go to bed about 9:30 at which point the contractions were barely noticeable. I eventually fell asleep about 11 pm, realizing that no baby was coming. At least not today. Humph!

Today? Nata. Just a few braxton hicks. This could quite possibly be because I slept until 10 am, got up and ate breakfast, and then went back to bed until 2:30 pm (of course having bathroom breaks every 90 minutes). I was so tired after yesterday's shenanigans. This kid is such a tease. And those two little words keep running through my mind--"Come out!"

A Day for Me

Yesterday I woke up early to more false labor and a much-needed potty break--the 6th that night. I finally gave in and came downstairs with Lola, who had been whining at our door for 15 minutes anyway. Since we had less than enough milk for 2 bowls of cereal, I opted to leave it for Nathan and make myself waffles (he doesn't like waffles). So I made myself a nice waffle breakfast and sat down to eat it while I watched a previously recorded episode of Clean House. This has been my early Saturday morning ritual for...a very long time. Although, it used to be preceded by a morning workout and an episode of Clean Sweep instead of Clean House. I know, I'm a clean freak. But it always motivates me to get up and get cleaning my own house afterward.

So I was sitting there enjoying my dog, my breakfast and my favorite Saturday morning show, and realized...this could very well be the last Saturday for a very long time that I am able to indulge in this routine. That thought spurred my plans for the rest of the day...some quality "me" time to do whatever I wanted, whatever was non-baby related, that is. I vowed to do nothing that involved baby prep, and only do things that I wanted to do.

What did I do? Cleaned my kitchen. I mean REALLY cleaned it. Lest you think this has anything to do with pre-labor nesting syndrome, let me warn you that this is not out of my normal realm of clean. I just haven't been able to do it in a long time. Now that I am out of the danger zone of giving birth too early, I decided I could wear myself out and it wouldn't matter if I went into labor or not. So I spent a good 2 hours cleaning the kitchen. Granted, I didn't get a few high and low things done, but most of what I wanted to do, I did.

I need to add here that meanwhile Nathan woke up, played with my dog who was bored out of her mind and had been gated out of the kitchen, cleaned up the living room, and then went upstairs where I later discovered he cleaned the master bathroom nearly to my standard. All of this was on his own without any nagging/asking on my part. What a husband!!!

After the kitchen cleaning, I decided to re-pot a plant that I purchased when we moved into this house and had been sitting in it's sad little plastic pot in the window sill. Getting that off my mental list of things I wanted to do, and discovering the bathroom had already been cleaned, I tackled a bunch of laundry. I guess I broke the non-baby rule by doing one load of baby clothes laundry, but that was it.

Then I decided to take my time getting ready. By the time I got showered (it was about 12:30 by this point), I was exhausted. What better way to spend a "me" Saturday than by taking a nap? So I laid down and took a nice long 3-hour nap uninterrupted by potty breaks, acid reflux, or contractions. That was bliss.

When I woke up I decided it was time to get out of the house, so Nathan and I got ready and went out. Well, with one pit stop beforehand. Lest I forget that I was pregnant, Tater Tot decided to give me a nice reminder just before we walked out the door--a nice sudden onset of morning sickness. I am so pro at it now, that I didn't even get any of it on my clothes, kept my makeup nearly intact, and was ready to go out the door within 5 minutes afterward. I was NOT going to let a little puke ruin my night.

I dragged Nathan to Home Goods in search of some items needed for our guest room and just looking for some home decor--NO baby shopping. Our house is so bland. I wish I had the money and energy to make it look more like a home than a rented house with a few sad-looking decorations. But to no avail--I didn't find anything I liked enough to pay the price being asked for it, but at least I got to go shopping for a little while for something I wanted, not some needed baby item.

By that time it was dinner time, and I had decided earlier that we were going out on a date to a steakhouse called Stony River to celebrate our last hoorah as a couple with no screaming child in tow, or no babysitter at home. I thoroughly enjoyed my celebratory dinner with my amazing husband. We stopped at the store on the way home to grab some milk, and the much-craved BlueBell cookies and cream ice cream, and 10 peaches. Peaches and ice cream--my two pregnancy must-haves--at least for the last 2 months.

All in all, it was a pretty good day of doing what I wanted, and probably the last of its kind for a long time.

Most Popular Question #3: Is the nursery ready yet?

I get asked a lot of the same questions lately.

#1 - Q: How are you feeling? A: Pregnant, very pregnant.
#2 - Q: Do you have a name picked out yet? A: We have three, which we're not narrowing down until he's born. You'll just have to wait.
#3 - Q: Do you have the nursery ready yet? A: Almost.

This past weekend we finally got the crib set up and a few more things in place in the nursery. Nathan worked on the crib like any proud expectant father does.

We were so proud of ourselves when it was done.
I have also had fun decorating a little... (this blank wall is where the changing table will go)

As you can see, we're getting there. The glider/rocker needs to be moved from the master bedroom to the nursery, and the shelving needs to be installed in the closet so things can be put away. The changing table had to be re-ordered due to it being the wrong color and damaged upon arrival. But at least now Tater Tot has a place to sleep. And don't worry mommies, all the bumper pads, quilt, and stuffed animals will be removed from the crib until he's much older.

Testing...Testing...1,2,3...Are You Ready?

4:44 am Monday 8/24: Chrystal wakes up...thinks, "wow, that is one hefty contraction..."
4:54 am: "Another one? Ugh. I am not going to get any sleep."
5:06 am: "Seriously? This is miserable! Guess I'll go take a bath so these will stop and I can go to back to sleep. It's way too early for this."
Bath..."hmmmm...these are not stopping."
5:46 am: "Wow, still going strong. Maybe I'll try sitting up in bed and trying to sleep."
...Nope. Nice try mommy.
5:51 am: Nathan hears me tossing & turning. "Are you ok?" Chrystal: "Yep, just contracting. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you later."
.....7:24 am: Nathan wakes up. Chrystal is still sitting in bed, breathing deeply every 5-7 minutes.
9:02 am: Chrystal calls doctor's office. Nurse says to go to the hospital...and that was the beginning of a VERY long, frustrating day that ended in being sent home from the hospital. TOO EARLY TO HAVE BABY--35 weeks and 6 days.

I had a feeling the contractions I was having, although pretty consistent in time and intensity, were not going to produce a baby, but following nurse's advice, we went to the hospital...eventually.

After I called the doctor, I told Nathan I wanted a big breakfast because heck if I was going to
the hospital with cold cereal being the last thing I was going to possibly eat for 10-24 hours. No way! So Nate made me a nice big breakfast of pancakes and bacon. (He insisted on the bacon even though I just wanted pancakes. No matter the fat, he wanted me to have PROTIEN in my system for some energy, not just carbs. I thought that was hilarious, but ate the bacon anyway.)

After breakfast, I sent out emails to people at work to delegate my workload. Of course I had a huge deadline that day! Oh well. Mommy duties first, work later. By then it was almost 10 am.

But wait! I'm not going into labor without taking a shower! Who knows when the next time I'll get to shower will be--2 days? So yep, I took a shower. Makeup and hair were...well, not exactly a huge priority. Those were a rush job.

I had previously gathered some of what I needed for the hospital, but my bags were by no means ready. So we gathered the things we thought we would need, following the list from the childbirth class. I distinctly recall putting things into the bag for myself, for the baby coming home, and a change of clothes and things for Nathan in case he couldn't come home for a day or two. As he zipped up the bag I said, "That's everything for the three of us." We both looked at each other and realized with an excited panic that coming home there may be 3 instead of 2. That was a stark reality.

By then it was about 11 am. We loaded Lola into the car so we could drop her off at a pet place to board her for a few days. Thank goodness Nathan had taken Brody to the trainer's the Saturday before. He'll be there for a few months, so now all we have to worry about is one little dog.

By then it was about 11:30 am. The drive to the hospital was a half hour. As we got closer, I suggested making one more stop (contractions were the same) at Target to get a back massager to save Nathan's hands, and to get a DVD so I could watch something in between contractions for the first few hours. Yeah--bad idea. The stop, I mean, not the DVD.

So we get in the store, Nathan goes in search of a massager, and I head to the movie section, which is thankfully just inside the store. I'm standing there and WHOA!!! Holy moly--this one is BIG! I had to stop, breathe, and focus. I was trying to decide on a DVD when Nathan walked up and another one hit. WHOA--hold the phone! I turned to him and said, "We need to go." Walking back to the car was a real challenge. Contractions at this point were 4 minutes apart and VERY strong.

So we get in the car, and I start crying. I don't know why I'm crying, I'm just crying. Nathan asks, "Are you ok? Are you in pain? What can I do, Honey?" I look at him and scream, "I'm not in PAIN! I'm just crying, OK?!" He gets that look on his face like, "I'm really scared of you at this moment," and starts the car.

So now it's lunch rush hour and we're stuck in a big business area with lots of lunch traffic, and of course, road construction. I'm still crying, and Nathan, being the concerned husband he is, says, "Honey, I know you need to get to the hospital, but are you hungry? It's lunch time and you are going to get nothing but ice chips once we get to the hospital. Do you want something?" I'm still crying and say, "I guess so, but we need to HURRY." So he drives to the nearest fast food place--McDonalds. Yuck. I choke down a cheeseburger on the way to the hospital. This is turning out to be a nutritious day (sarcasm).

We're stuck in traffic for another 20 minutes. I recall saying rather loudly and meanly, "Can you step on it? Go faster!" Nathan was like, "Babe, there's traffic. I'm going as fast as I can." And I was like, "You could have made that light if you had stepped on it." Yeah, not my finest moments.

We get to the hospital and I'm contracting just as terribly while the labor/delivery admissions seem to take F.O.R.E.V.E.R. I mean, c'mon--I already did the preadmission stuff! What takes so long?!?

We finally get back to the room, and I get changed, get into bed, and sigh a huge sigh of relief that we're finally here. They hook me up to the monitors and such, and then...no contraction...no contraction...it's like 15 minutes before I have another one...and it's not as bad. Oh, great, just great.

The midwife comes in about a half hour later to check on me and see what's going on. She looks at the lines on the paper the monitor has been spitting out for the last half hour. Hmmmmm...she looks at it again. I can tell what's happening. She's thinking, "Why in the world are you here?"

So they check my other "labor stats." We'll spare the men the details. Things are not "progressing" even though I'm having pretty good, even contractions, or WAS. So we talk about our options: 1. Have the baby pre-term, or 2. Slow down/stop the contractions and keep him baking in the oven as long as possible. We all opt for #2.

After 2 hours of IV fluids, my contractions, which did eventually show back up, slow down from 4-8 minutes apart to 15-25 minutes apart, and the intensity drops like a stone. PHEW! or not. I had such mixed emotions. I mean, I know it was best for Tater Tot to keep baking, but I am SO over this false labor stuff. After nearly 3 weeks of it, my patience is wearing thin.

At just shy of 5 pm that night we walk (I waddle) back out of the hospital, sans baby in arms because he's still in utero. *sigh*

Now I'm on bed rest for however long I want to keep the baby baking. If I get up AT ALL, even just to make a pit stop, which happens frequently when you're trying to stay hydrated to keep the contractions at bay, I get contractions. Most of the day today if I got up at all, they were exactly 8 minutes apart. Fun, fun! (sarcasm)

The good thing in all of this is that we got a trial run. Next time when it's REALLY time, we'll know what to do or not to do. How long it takes to get out the door, etc. Now we have the bags packed, the paperwork done, etc., etc. We did stop at the store and buy a few more things. And the biggest blessing of all is that Nathan is now also feeling the emminent birth of our son and is on board for getting things done. Now that I can't do those million little things mom's want to do to nest, I'm relying on him. And he's proving to be the wonderful husband I know he is. Yesterday he vacuumed the whole house (Hallelujah! That was driving me CRAZY!), did the dishes, did laundry, ran several errands including the grocery store, and still managed to work. Today he even did the rest of the baby laundry and made a really great dinner. I am one lucky woman.

Thanks, Tater Tot, for giving your mommy and daddy a trial run, a learning experience, and the notice that, ready or not, here you come...

34 weeks - 2 days

I have had so many complaints about not blogging and keeping everyone up to date on our lives over the last few months. Since I'm low on time to blog...here is a run-through of this crazy summer...

June - moved into home (renting); took a trip to Utah to have a vacation, to see family and have an awesome baby shower with family and friends (thank you Camyll and Mom!!!); Nathan started his new job at Bank of American on June 29th. Fill in the rest of the time with unpacking, working, researching baby stuff (gear, doctors, daycare, etc., etc.), oh and sleep. Hitting the 3rd trimester of pregnancy brought on lots of sleepiness again.

July- had a nice quiet 4th of July with just us and our dogs (slept most of the day); shopping for baby stuff; week-long vacation to Cape Cod, MA to enjoy time off work, our last vacation before the baby, another awesome baby shower (thank you Eileen and the rest of Nathan's family!!!!), and lots of fun with Nathan's family whom we hadn't seen in 2 years; getting house ready for guests when baby arrives; more baby shopping; house/yard repairs (Nathan doing honey-do's); working, working, working to get ready for maternity leave; Nathan going out of town twice for work, leaving me home with 2 very active dogs; and finally...trying to rest and get sleep.

Aug- baby prep, baby prep, baby prep. Are we ready yet?; work; try to sleep; nesting, nesting, nesting.

Ok. There you have it. That catches you up to the most recent stuff.

Many of you have been asking for a new belly picture. Here you have it--34 weeks less 2 days.

Do you think I have dropped? The other day the contour of my belly completely changed, and I could breathe again. The baby was already low, but I think he's working his way down, which is normal about this time of pregnancy. By the time he's born I'll be waddling even worse than I am now, at least if he keeps it up at this pace!

So here's a funny story. I had NO idea how huge my belly looked until I saw this picture today. Holy cow! That is one pregnant woman! No wonder I get stares followed by whispers from strangers everywhere I go. Seriously. But that's not the funny story...getting side-tracked.

Yesterday we took a childbirth class. With no family in town, and deciding to save money by not hiring a doula as a birth coach, that leaves my dear husband as the one and only labor/delivery coach/support. As such, I insisted that we take a childbirth class. There were 4 other women in the class yesterday. When we broke for lunch, I asked Nathan, "Honey, would you say my belly is about the same size as those women? (note: their due dates ranged from Sept 1st to late October). Nathan: "No." Chrystal: "Huh. So is it smaller?" Nathan: pensive thinking....pause... "Um. No, not really. You're more out, they're more round." Chrystal: "Hmmmm....So what you're saying is I'm bigger than them?" Nathan: pensive thinking....pause...pause..."Well, not really bigger, just a different shape." Poor Nathan, trying to be kind to his pregnant wife. So today I see the picture we took and I declare, "Holy cow! My belly is HUGE!!! I mean, HUGE!!!!" Nathan: "Um, yeah. That's why I was confused by your question yesterday."

Seriously, I didn't realize just how much things have changed in the size department over the last 2 months, but it's pretty significant. Signs that should have been a dead giveaway to me...

1. Touching my toes for any reason has become a real challenge. The only way to get to them is to sit and pull them up to my side, knees bent, or to prop them up on something like the edge of the tub and grunt and pull with a towel or something to reach them, well, and then there's the belly-squishing attempt when I put on my socks, which is REALLY uncomfortable, leaves me out of breath, and makes the baby kick back in protest.

2. I can no longer see my own body past my belly when standing, and can't suck anything in any more.

3. My LARGE size maternity pants are getting tight around the base of my belly and I often have to unbutton them or be uncomfortable--even the stretchy ones--or I have to wear them REALLY low under my belly.

Ok. That's enough--you get the point.

This weekend we also went and did a tour of the women's center at the hospital where this little guy will be delivered. Nathan has been a really good sport all weekend doing all this mommy prep. His eyes were really opened, and so were mine. I wasn't nervous until this weekend. Now I'm still feeling ready to get this kid out, but not so excited about how it has to happen. Seeing the labor and delivery room brought it all home. It's a very nice, comfortable room. Couldn't ask for better. But the next time I'm in there I'm going to be having a baby. OMG!!!! I'm freaking out! I mean, FREAKING OUT! Wow, this is really going to be something.

So now on top of all the mommy to do's I have listed on my white board, I am starting to add to it all the things I learned this weekend. And I realized...ready or not...he's coming within the next 6 weeks. **FREAKING OUT!!!***

Tater Tot is as active as he's ever been. I enjoy sitting and watching him kick my belly. When he's moving, my entire belly looks like it's alive. Of course, the minute I tell Nathan to look, he stops. He doesn't like to be poked with a finger or heel of the hand (or baby monitor from the dr). He always kicks back. He quiets down when I sing or when I rock back and forth. His favorite place to "kick" me is in the bladder. This a very mean trick. He also responds to my rubbing/patting his bottom through my belly. He's been head down the entire pregnancy, so his bottom is always at the top of my belly. He's settled recently to the right side, head down, and kicks me mostly on the left, but elbows me occasionally on the right. He's a strong little beast, and so active that I swear sometimes he sends me into Braxton Hicks contractions from his movements. Every doctor or nurse that sees his movements tell me we're in for it as parents and not to plan on going out any time soon after he's born. He's going to be just as active outside the womb as he is now inside. Wonderful! (um, not?)

To keep my mind a little sane this weekend---we had a family visitor!!!!! Hooray!!!! At the last minute Friday, my little brother called to say he could take time off from his medical rotation/interview in Charlottle, NC, and drive down here to ATL for a 24-hour visit. I was estatic. He is only the 2nd family member who has ever visited us in the last 2 years on our own turf. Me being so pregnant and today being Sunday, we didn't do much, but it was fun to get to see him and chat. We miss hanging out with my sibs and their spouses so much! Having Bryt here was a huge reminder of that. *sigh*

This afternoon Bryt was a good sport and went with us to the Chattahoochee River to let the dogs run and get some of their energy out. I have wanted to take pictures of this place, and finally had a reason besides just us. This picture is me and Bryt standing in the water, camera looking upstream. The pictures don't do it justice. This is our favorite place to take the dogs. It's a beautiful part of the river with sandy shores, and a nice flat area in the water to wade in, which is a nice respite from the hot weather.
As you can see, Lola and Brody have a lot of fun splashing, chasing, and fetching in the water with eachother and their dog friends.

I'd go on, but this post is getting very long, and my eyelids are getting very droopy. Time to relinquish the weekend and go to bed for the work day tomorrow. If it's awhile before I blog again, know that we are thinking of all of you, missing you, and...you guessed it...getting ready for Tater Tot to join us in a very short amount of time.