Rowen's letter to the baby

Rowen has recently become very interested in writing letters to his relatives and friends. He will sit at his little table and talk aloud as he writes down his thoughts and questions to each loved one. Then he works very hard to fold each letter and place it into an envelope. On the front of each envelope he usually writes at least the first letter of the person's name that the letter is going to. We have been surprised lately at how many letters he knows how to write.

The letter below is to the baby. He "wrote" this at Grammy's house then as he "read" it to her she wrote his exact words down on a separate piece of paper. It is precious! Something I will keep forever to share with Rowen when he is a grown man, maybe even when he is about to have a baby of his own someday; and also to share with Rowen's sibling someday to show him or her how excited Rowen was for his or her arrival.

It is difficult to see in the photograph above but Rowen
has "written" (scribbled) his thoughts down.

More Summer Fun

We have been doing lots of fun summer things over the past few weeks.

Golfing with Grammy and Papa is a big deal for Rowen. He loves to go on golf cart rides with Papa in the evenings when it cools off.

We enjoy watching our neighborhood bunny hop through our yard and hide in our garden!
Rowen discovered the rabbit one weekend morning. He went out to the garden to plan a seed (something he will randomly do here and there) and came running back into the kitchen exclaiming, "I saw a bunny in the garden mommy! It ran really fast past me then went under the fence!". I thought he was making up a story because Ro has a big imagination so I said, "Is that a story or the truth?". Immediately Rowen said, "It is the truth mommy!". Eric overhead all of this so he told Rowen to show him where the bunny went under the fence. They walked outside and I hear Eric yell for me to come out right away. Sure enough there was the bunny sitting in our garden! I felt bad for not believing Rowen then.

Grammy, mommy, daddy and Rowen spent an evening at Splash Down. Rowen enjoyed the little kid slides but didn't care for going down one of the big slides with daddy. Maybe next year.

Grammy and Papa got this slip and slide for Ro. They have a gradual hill in their backyard that works great! Ro has finally got the hang of running and sliding on his belly really fast!

Grammy knows that Rowen LOVES to stay at hotels- mostly so that he can swim in the pool. She set up a night at a nearby hotel that has both indoor and outdoor pools. Rowen had a blast swimming with Grammy and his cousins. Then Ro got to stay the night with Grammy and Gigi in one of the hotel rooms with his Aunt and cousins in the room next door. We had pizza for dinner then celebrated Liz's 17th birthday with cheesecake. He loved every minute of it!

Mommy and Daddy swam with Rowen on the evening we dropped him off. We had a great time watching Rowen float and swim around in his life jacket.

Rowen and his beloved Grammy. Thank you Grammy for such a great experience. As you know, Rowen will NEVER forget it!

We have also had a great time playing with friends. On this particular day we had a great time playing in Cooper's back yard. The boys played in the pool and the sprinkler.

We spent a Saturday morning at Riverfront Park. Rowen loves to feed the goat. This kept him busy for a long time.

Rowen and Daddy rode the Carrousel 6 times this day! Way to go Daddy! I could hardly watch them ride on it 6 times without feeling sick to my stomach so I am impressed.

Aunt Erin and Uncle TJ came home for a family wedding in early August. We spent one morning together at Riverfront Park again where Uncle TJ and Rowen rode on the Carrousel another 3 times then TJ and Erin got to watch Rowen ride on all his favorite rides.

A new friend... Porter Kriegh Sackmann

We have a new little friend...Porter! One of my dearest, best friends had her second son on July 28th. Porter is darling and precious. As you can see from the photo below, Big Brother Bennett is a pro at helping mommy take care of Porter. Bennett is such a great role model to Rowen. One big brother teaching another soon to be big brother how to be a good helper and how to be gentle with a new baby.

Bennett, Porter, and mommy Josie (who by the way is doing amazingly well! I hope I can do half as well as she is doing with a newborn and an active 3 year old boy!)

All the boys- Cooper, Porter, Bennett, and Rowen.
It brings a smile to my face to see these 4 boys together. Our families are growing and it is so special to me to see my best girlfriends children growing up with Rowen.

As you can see, Rowen LOVES babies. He couldn't wait to hold Porter. Rowen was truly amazed with his new friend.

Welcome to our family Porter! We will love you forever.

35 Weeks!

All I can really say at this point is that I am feeling so grateful, so fortunate... we have made it to 35 weeks! Still pregnant and healthy- wow! I wasn't so sure a few weeks ago that we would make it to this point. However, right now I feel like we could go much longer. I am feeling really good. By this point with Rowen's pregnancy I was no longer pregnant but in the hospital either delivering a pre-term baby or just learning to be a mama.

I can't complain about much, even about the "end of the 3rd trimester" uncomfortableness. Yes, I know it will get worse- I potentially have 5 weeks to go but I feel 100 times better at this point than I did with Rowen's pregnancy that I just feel "good". IF I felt like complaining....My sciatica is pretty ouchy right now, my nose is stuffed all day and all night long, my face is getting so fat (becomes more and more apparent in every photo I see of myself), I toss and turn all night adjusting and readjusting about 4 pillows, and I get up at least 3 times each night to go to the bathroom. This is the normal stuff, the stuff all pregnant woman experience at some point to some degree. I like having the "normal" stuff and not the scary, worrisome stuff.

BUT I don't feel like complaining because... I am not swollen in my hands, ankles, or feet yet (I was massively swollen by 31 weeks with Ro), I am not too hot yet (only at times but nothing I can't handle right now), I just feel healthy, my blood pressure has been really good over the last few weeks (I check it at home), my carpel tunnel is still non existent (thanks to the cortisone shots), I feel like my body is doing the right things to help this baby grow and be ready to enter the world.

So, at this point we are hoping for another 2-5 weeks. Two weeks would get this baby to term and five weeks would get us to 40 full weeks! IF that happens you may get to read a post all about my pregnancy complaints but isn't every full term mama aloud to have a few at that point? :)

My doctor has told me that if my blood pressure shows any signs of rising into the scary zone he will want to induce me- even if I am not actually pre-eclamptic. He thinks this may happen between 36 and 38 weeks. However, he did say that if there was no indication of this that I would go the whole way- like it or not! So, only time will tell. My next appointment is next Tuesday- ultrasound then an appointment with my doctor. Until then keep thinking positive thoughts for this sweet baby and me.