Berry picking time

Every summer since House Ape #1 was born we've gone berry picking out on the coast. It's one of many little family traditions we love to keep -- plus it's so fun watching how the kids have grown up with these funny little traditions we started years ago. In the past we've gone in time for strawberries & olallieberries, but this year we missed the season only to find boysenberries a plenty! H.A. #1 is a great berry hunter & pro picker now, though we think she eats more berries than make their way into the basket. H.A. #2 has some berry picking skills yet to learn ... but he was quick to discover that the bright red ones are not fun to eat! So he had more fun running up & down the rows, throwing rocks & checking out the spider webs.

Check out the belly, People!

Yesterday two of my sweetest & thoughtful friends threw a girlfriend's baby shower for me. The theme was the cutest, a Mommy & Me Tea Party. So not only were my gal pals there but all of #1's girly friends too. We had such a great time. The most memorable part of the afternoon, aside from all the tasty little delectibles, fun games & generous gifts, was the activity they planned for everyone ... each person created a scrapbook page for H.A. #3's baby album. How awesome! The pages everyone made are fantastic, far better than I would ever do. So needless to say #3's album is the best one yet & he/she isn't even born yet.

So after the shower I was looking at the pictures -- OMG I am HUGE! And I still have 9 weeks to go so I'm only going to get bigger?!? Ugh, I hope that this is fat because if this means I'm going to deliver a 9 pound baby you'd better start wishing this woman lots of luck.

And it is official, I am definately nesting. I looked back at my other prego journals & I did start this around 30 weeks the two times before. Not only do I have my hospital bag already packed but I spent over $500 this past week on groceries!! Our extra freezer is stock piled as well as every square inch of the kitchen cabinets. The sad reality is that all this food will more than likely be eaten within the next 9 weeks so what's the point? Why do prego women do crazy things like this anyway? Why the need to disinfect every nook & cranny of our living space before a baby is born, in places where a newborn would never be in the first place, like under the stove & fridge?? It's really insane when you think about it, and the sense that it all has to be done now.

Silverback's thirty ... ahem ... seventh birthday

Here's my chance to give a jab back since he always pokes fun at me for being "older" than him. The Apes & I shopped all day to make his day special -- we decorated the house, made him an especially yummy dinner & baked him a chocolaty birthday cake. See how grumpy #2 is? He was so mad I wouldn't let him eat the sprinkles off the cake! It was so hot here that the frosting was melting. After H.A. #2 went to bed, I stayed home so #1 could take her daddy to the movies. Even after all the food & treats we had at home the two of them, amazingly enough, still had room for popcorn & slurpees.

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the week at MorMor & Papa's house even though it was hot & mostly too smoky to spend much time outside. Friday did clear up so we could go to an old fashion family 4th of July parade in downtown Auburn -- a first for both HA #1 and me! Nostalgia filled the street. She thought the best part was seeing the horses pull the old fashion vehicles and the all candy thrown out to the kids. I thought the coolest was a fly over by a P-51 plane.

I can't be nesting already, can I?!

I've been looking around our cozy home wondering where in the world am I going to put baby items? I'm not stressing over it, rather taking action to make the best of what little space we have. "So, if I move the reclining massage chair out of the living room I'll have room for the play yard ... dear Silverback rearranged our bedroom furniture to make space for the cradle" and since I've redecorated our bedroom too ... now my thoughts have moved onto storage. I completely emptied my closet to make room for baby clothes & items I've started accumulating for a newborn. It's become a total reorganization process & I really like the results. Although this means that our garage that was tidy from "spring cleaning" is now cluttered again with miscellaneous boxes and piles that I don't know what to do with yet. And because our bedroom is nicely organized now I want to tackle the House Apes' room to sort through all the STUFF bogging their room down. My apes hate it when I get into this rearranging/reorganizing mode -- I think they prefer clutter.

Since I kept most of HA #2's baby boy clothes, my dear cowsin (cousin for those who don't understand our lingo) dropped off boxes of baby girl clothes she no longer needs for her Sprout #4. It was so fun sitting down in the middle of the livingroom sorting through all the hand-me-downs because many were from my HA #1! Now that she's 5 it was hysterical to watch her attempt to try on 6 month old hats & slippers. Ahh, can't wait to find out which boxes of baby clothes I'll be diving into :)