Summer is Almost Over

We've been trying to take advantage of the last month of summer. Two weekends ago we headed out to my mom and dad's so Sophia could see Sadie Dog and the horses, and Papa Dan, of course. My mom was still out of town on vacation. We petted the horses for a little bit, then we went on a canoe ride (Papa Dan waited on the dock). It was a nice day.

Then last Wednesday, Sophia decided to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa. She was a good girl and had a lot of fun. Here she is all ready to go.

Last Friday, Dylan and Evan (my best friend Sandy's boys) came to spend the night with us. Dylan is 10 and a great helper! I wished he could have stayed all week. Sophia loves him. Evan is 5, and also a very good boy. They were both nice playing with Sophs. We went to the circus in the late afternoon. It was hot, but fun. The boys rode on a huge elephant, right up front. Sophia had a little pony ride and they also got to feed some goats and some other miniature animals. All three of them had a lot of fun. There are more pics of everything in my August photo album.

If you haven't already heard...

Kyle and I are expecting Baby #2!

A few weeks ago (Wednesday, July, 30th, to be exact) when I was preparing for our trip to Desert Canyon, I was kind of thirsty for a glass of wine. I had just stocked up on a couple bottles for the house and a couple bottles for our trip. But thinking ahead, I figured I better just take a pregnancy test first to rule it out before I started a weekend of drinking. I hadn't been on birth control for a couple months, at that point.

So... I took a First Response test, knowing I wasn't expecting my period until Saturday at the earliest, and low and behold that second line that means "baby" was there! Only faintly, though. So I waited a few hours until I had to go potty again, and did another test. Sure enough that second line still showed up really lightly. I really, really was in complete disbelief! But - I did not have that glass of wine I was craving. Once Kyle got home, Sophia took him over the little baggy of tests and he just looked at me like we were playing a silly game or something, and said, "What's this?" I said that we were expecting another baby! I think he was in shock, too! We weren't really even "trying." I think I took one more test that night at like 11:30 before I went to bed with the same result. So for a couple days we contemplated when and how we would share the news, knowing the Hussey family vacation was coming up. They would know for sure if I skipped out on wine for four days of vacation. We practiced with Sophia so that she could tell everyone she was a Big Sister! Saturday morning I did one more test before we shared the news the next day, and sure enough that second line was there, this time it was just as dark as the first line.

Once we got settled into the resorts Sunday and everyone was there all the aunties were asking Sophia little things, how old are you? - what color is this? etc. So I jumped in and said "What's your name?" "Sopie Hussey," she answered. "What are you?... A big..." "Sister!" "A big what?" "BIG SISTER!" The girls all went nuts - it was exciting. Grandma and Gramps were crying. It was fun.

I still didn't feel pregnant, though, at all. So it was still hard to believe, until... Puking. Same as with Sophia - 5 weeks along now (7 weeks LNMP for those of you who know that). Last Friday I felt a little nauseous in the morning, so I ate right away. Saturday, I did not eat right away, so I had my first bout of morning sickness. Then again, Saturday night, even worse. Sunday and today I was nauseous, but as long as I eat something right away I am not that bad. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get as bad this time as it did with Sophia. With her I was really sick from week 5 to about week 12. I pretty much laid curled up on the couch for half of my waking moments, knowing if I moved I would puke. The other half of my waking moments were puking and/or dry heaving (in between homework assignments and WSU classes). Awesome - I know. But I got a beautiful, happy little girl out of it. In fact, I thought in my mind all along that Sophia was a girl, because I knew that I had too many girly hormones in my body and that's why I was so sick. That is my theory on morning sickness and it has been proven correct once. We'll see how bad the puking is this time, and then I'll make a prediction based on that!

So here are the stats: I believe our date of conception was somewhere close to July 19th or 20th, which means I am 5 weeks along right now out of the total 38 weeks of pregnancy. (The doctors count a pregnancy as 40 weeks with the first couple weeks not actually being pregnant. This is call the Last Normal Menstrual Period - LNMP - way of calculating. I will refer to both (if anyone cares) when I update on the pregnancy.) Our due date, by my calculations will be around April 10th! I have my first doctors appointment on Aug. 26th. I don't think it will be a physical check, though. Just a meeting with our new doctor. I've chosen to go to Capital Medical Center this time so that I might be able to have a natural birth, instead of another c-section. St. Peter's does not do VBACs (vaginal birth after c-section).

Kyle and I are very excited - and I think Sophia will be too once she sees my belly grow. For her this means a big girl room downstairs next spring, and a bigger focus on potty training in the next couple months. Big news for Sophia last night - she did her first poopy in the potty chair! Two treats for that! She was excited!

So there is pretty much everything I have to talk about right now! Here's a cute pic of her in her Big Sister shirt that she wore when we told daddy the news. (She doesn't sit still for pics anymore - she's running towards me in this shot.)

Hussey Family Vacation

Last Sunday Kyle, Sophia, and I headed out to spend a few nights in eastern Washington with the fam. We stayed at one of our resorts, Desert Canyon, that we bought into last year. Desert Canyon is about one mile up the road from Daroga State Park on Lake Entiat (which is really the Columbia River). The park is beautiful and the weather was, of course, HOT! It was a fun time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Our little family at dinner Sophs and Gramps taking a little break
Sophia couldn't get enough time with Uncle Joe
Taking a break with daddy
Having fun on the putting greens

Here is a link to the rest of the photos on Kodak:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=rtmdsfo.70xgzfd4&x=0&y=-1uo0jr&localeid=en_US


Here is a link to my photos from July:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=rtmdsfo.cl6ly4eg&x=0&y=-3sfsut&localeid=en_US

First Time for Everything

First time going potty in a toilet!! My friend Echo gave us a little toilet for Sophia to try out, since she always had a bit of stage fright on the real potty, and Sophia LOVES it! She went potty on it twice in about one hour!

First time baking cobbler with mommy. She was so excited that daddy got home while we were baking so that she could show off her mixing skills.

First time on the kiddie rides all by herself! We decided to go to Lakefair last Friday evening because Kyle likes to go to the car show. We ran into Kora & Nick while we were wandering around, and then Don & Deniece met up with us later. Sophia kept asking to go on the rides, so we thought we'd let her try it out. She really looked terrified throughout each ride, but then would ask to go on another one!

This is what happens when...

... Daddy tries to use "mommy's" camera. OCD?? I don't know where she would get it. ... When the aunties drink wine.

Summer Fun

We've obviously been busy - I haven't posted in a while... I have been busy the last couple weeks gardening and planting, and also taking some ballet classes. It feels great to take class again, and I'm really excited about the new studio where I've been attending. It's on the west side of Oly, Studio West Dance Academy. So far I'm impressed by how the two co-owners are running it. Here's a link if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.studiowestdanceacademy.com/index.html

Since my last post we celebrated Don's (Grandpa's) Birthday. He had lots of presents this year!

My Aunt Marcia from Wisconsin came for a visit with two of her granddaughters (my cousins' children). Zoe is on the left and Alexis on the right, with Sophia out in our back "yard."
After that we had a day trip to Mayfield lake with Marisa and Joe. It was so beautiful. Kyle and Marisa were excited to finally water ski this year, and I am always the happy flagger. Sophia loved it, too. Her favorite part was our playtime on the shore. Our favorite part was her swimsuit up her buns all day. :o)

4th of July came quickly again this year. We like to go to the Tumwater Parade every year. We usually meet up with Kyle's family and his Unlce Monty's family. Sophia loves the cowgirls in the parades, so we figured she better dress accordingly. After the parade we went back to Monty & Beth's for a barbecue. They always have great food! Sophia and Kyle took a little swim before we headed home, which is pictured up top. It was a great day!

Wedding Season

I love weddings! My cousin, James, was married yesterday to his long time girlfriend, Brie. It was so gorgeous and a lot of fun. Very windy, though. Sophia loved running around the grass with her arms out in the wind like she was flying.

Chaotic moment trying to get an extended family picture in the windstorm:



The events took place at the Trophy Lake Golf Course/Country Club in Port Orchard. James and Brie looked so happy!


Brie was absolutely gorgeous (I believe it was Vera Wang)! Such a beautiful gown!
Sophia hammed it up and had a great time. So did Kyle and I.

Best wishes to my little cousin and his new bride. They are great people and I know they will both do their part for a long, happy marriage. Thanks for such a great time.

Ride 'Em, Cowgirl!

We had a fun time at the Swede Day Parade yesterday in Rochester. Sophia was ready to go on a pony ride!
Not so sure about the bumpy ride... Hang on, Daddy!
She needed to get off a little early before the ride was over and decided to watch instead.

Gardening

Last year I started to do some landscaping and now that's all I can hardly think about. We had a big blank canvas to start with, so I did a lot of research on plants and planned it all out. And now of course I have different ideas from when I started and I will probably never be "done," but here's what we've done so far.

Before and After of the front of the house. We still need to bring in dirt for lawn seed this fall (hopefully). Then next year we should have a better area for Sophia to play on.

Before and After of the center area of the circular driveway. Before was a well head, hose, propane tank, flagpole, and then the kind of randomly placed cherry tree. Lots of random things I thought would look better grouped somehow. I will get more cherry trees one day so the one we have won't look so out of place. And the shrubs should grow up quickly to screen the propane tank. Joe helped me shovel lots of dirt and dig a lot of holes. Thanks, Joe!

Yesterday we drove out to Porter to the Briggs Nursery giant plant sale. Every plant in a 1-gallon container was one dollar, 3-gallon containers three dollars, and so on. Unbelievable. I got six rhodies, two lucothoe shrubs, three fothergilla shrubs, and two different lilacs all for $33!!!! Now I need to decide where they will live. Lots of work to come - ooooh, I just remembered, Joe is on summer break... :o)

Father's Day Weekend

Our weekend felt like it started Thursday night. Joe had a football jamboree at the high school so we went and watched. It was a little chilly, but fun to see Joe back in action. Sophia loves watching "JoeBall"!

Saturday we went to Piper's first birthday party. Thanks Brad & Echo for a fun party. Sophia loves baby Pipes. Happy Birthday, little girl!

Father's Day turned out to be beautiful! Finally - it feels like June. Sophia and I went out early and bought some doughnuts and coffee so we could surprise Daddy when he woke up. After we ate we all headed out in the Chevelle so I could see my dad. He is still in the hospital recovering from surgery. Then we stopped by Centerville to pick up a shirt for Kyle's Grandpa Hussey, and we ended up each buying a new pair of boots! Now we are all ready for the summer rodeo circuit. :o)

After Sophia's nap at home we headed up to Kyle's parents' to celebrate with his family. We had oysters, steamer clams, steak, and lots of sides and desserts. What a treat. Sophia played with her new water table and splashed everyone while we all visited. It was a lot of fun.

Sophia took a little break after dinner to watch Strawberry Shortcake. Does she look like a little princess or what!

Anniversary Weekend

A couple weekends back Kyle and I celebrated our 4th anniversary with an overnighter to Alderbrook. Sophia stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and Auntie Kim was there, too. This was her third or fourth overnighter at Grandma's house and she did great.

Kyle and I got a semi-early start and headed towards Shelton around 11:00. We stopped at the casino to watch the Belmont horse race, played some blackjack, and I had a few drinks. Then we arrived at Alderbrook, got settled, and headed down for a wonderful dinner! We followed that up with a soak in the hot tub and then enjoyed the view from our room the rest of the night. It was really relaxing and really fun.

This was our room (Deniece & Don treated us!) with a great view from the 4th floor.
Here's a pic of Kyle at dinner, I took it because he asked to substitute out the sweet potato/corn hash for fries and they still presented the salmon on top of the fries and it just looked ridiculous. Deniece also treated us to dinner, and Kimberly treated us to a bottle of champagne! Thanks ladies!

What else do I have to do all day...

Welcome to my new blog! I love reading Kimberly's, Jinx's, and Leah's so I figured it was time to create my own. I don't know how often I will post, but I'm sure I'll squeeze it in during nap time. I'm just learning how to do this, so be patient... I will add lots of pictures and video clips of Sophia. I love to hear back from everyone - so please add comments or send e-mails. I also just realized I started almost every sentence with the word "I". Sorry - I've never claimed I was a writer...