Day 302: Grandmas visiting

Zaria and I had a visit from both Grandma Marla (pictured above), and Grandma Joy, my mother-in-law and mom today. The shot above was taken on the way upstairs to nap time. For both nap and bedtime she got to hear stories read by her grandmas today, which she enjoyed very much.

Day 301: Family gathering

The youngest and the oldest ladies of the family all sat together at one table. It was very cute. Zaria enjoyed seeing and playing with her cousins Becca and Tricia again. The 3 great grandmas are (L-R) my Dad's mom Alpha, my aunt's mom Judy, and my stepmom's mom Wilma. They're also pictured in the group shot below.
Family picture with all the siblings on my dad's side. Renee and Kurt came to town for a visit, and Jason and his wife Caralee came, as well as my stepbrother and stepsister, Scott and Katie. The last time all 5 of us were together was at my grandpa's funeral, so it was a special day. Mom and Dave came too, and Dave volunteered to be the photographer.

Day 300: Ooh, ah, wow

We're getting near the end of my year of pictures-- day 300! And since it's the 4th of July next week, there were fireworks to celebrate. My stepdad and I had a game long ago of saying, in order, ooh, ahh and wow for each firework that exploded. We sort of did that tonight, but I was mostly holding Zaria's ears until I gave that job away to her Grandma Joy so I could take a few pictures. Zaria did pretty well considering how late the night was past her bedtime. It was certainly nice having four of us to watch her/chase her as we waited for the fireworks to start.

Day 299: Fun swimming time

Zaria, Mom and I went to a community center pool and enjoyed lots of splashing. Zaria let us put a life jacket on her without a lot of fuss, but she wasn't ready to really try swimming. It was still fun pulling her around in the water with that nice weightlessness and she enjoyed walking and splashing in the shallow parts.

Day 298: Bandage

With more walking around outside comes the inevitable boo boos on the knees. Zaria handled this one quite bravely, but was rubbing her knee later. A little bit of blood, mostly a scrape, but she'd already scraped both knees earlier this week. I'm predicting perpetual scabby knees in her young years.

Day 297: Checking out books

I've made it a habit to check out 5 new board books each week so we have something new to read over the week. Zaria had fun at story time today and I had a chance to talk with a twin mom who has 15-month-old boys that come to story time. Zaria's also getting more prone to tantrums . . . usually the limp noodle and cry type, but it's hard with me trying not to pick her up much. We almost didn't make to to the library today.

Day 296: Stroller

After Bible study today, I drove close by to the Toys R Us and attempted to redeem a coupon for a free Thomas train. Sadly, they didn't accept my coupon, but I bought this fun stroller for Zaria to push around. Her doll Mimi is going to have so much fun. (=

Day 295: Evening walk

I was moving mighty slow today, but we made an effort to get out.

Day 294: Gift opening b'fast

We enjoyed joining Kristie and Josh and some other friends and family for breakfast and gift opening. Since they were away from their home in California, they requested gifts in the form of gift certificates and cash, so it was mostly cards to open. Jamin had heard that it was just going to be rolls for breakfast and took the initiative to bring a bunch of eggs to cook and share, so we had a very nice breakfast and a great time of visiting on a smaller scale.

Day 293: Kristie and Josh wedding and La Crosse

We enjoyed some toddler-free time in La Crosse before going to see our friends Kristie and Josh get married in the afternoon. Kristie is an old friend from The Rock, and we managed to meet Josh when we went for a visit to California last summer. We had a great time visiting with a bunch of old friends from The Rock, including some from the church plant in Los Angeles called Kairos.

Day 292: Jamin's esophagus and Red Wing

We went to the doctor's office today to check out Jamin's esophagus. He did have some scarring from the broccoli incident last Sunday, but he also has ridges in his esophagus, which may make swallowing in general a little more difficult for him. It may also be an indication of eosinophilic esophagitis. I'm lucky to have taken some medical transcription training to be able to translate what the doctor said.

Jamin was a little woozy after the endoscopy procedure, but we drove to La Crosse and stopped in Red Wing on our way at a fun hotel restaurant. It got very windy towards the end of our meal and threatened to blow our table over, but we left before a short storm went through. Our server, a Ukrainian named Igor took this picture of us below. Zaria was enjoying grandma's house for the weekend by this point.

Day 291: The beach and beach ball belly

I felt adventurous and it was a beautiful day, so I took Zaria to the beach. We didn't bring suits, though it ended up being warm enough that I wished I had. Zaria has lots of fun playing in the sand and wading in the water. I only did minimal chasing after her, really, but I was exhausted after about 90 minutes (including lunch time). Next time I'm not going as the only adult.

Later in the evening after small group, I tried on some dresses to find out what I could wear to Kristie & Josh's wedding this weekend. It was fairly hard to find a good fit that looked OK on me. Below is my beach ball belly in a dress I decided to pack but not wear to the ceremony. It'll be a little better if I get something over it, I figure. Am I really only half way there on this pregnancy? The twins are at 21 weeks today.

Day 290: Strolling

Zaria had more fun pushing the stroller than riding in it, I think. Inside is one of her twin dolls, who she's named Moses. His twin sister's name is Mitzi.

Day 289: Heavy

This bag of balls is actually quite heavy, but Zaria enjoyed saying the words "heavy" and "Bocce" as she carried this across the room. She and I did attempt to play with the balls a little outside. They're difficult for her to throw, but she was able to make them go a short way in the right direction.

Day 288: Grilling

A beautiful day for grilling, and Jamin was able to swallow things today, so we celebrated by having pork chops, one of his favorites.

Day 287: Happy Fathers' Day

So, not only did Jamin have to work on his birthday, we ended up taking him to the ER for Fathers' Day. He got a piece of broccoli lodged towards the bottom of his esophagus and for a while he couldn't even swallow his own spit without it getting stuck. After some attempts at medicinal treatments, he still had trouble, but could at least swallow liquids. We were a little late, then, for Gwendolyn's third birthday party, and he had to watch me eat pizza and cake while he was only able to get a glass of Yo-J down. Still, we had fun spending time with family, and we even got Zaria in a swing for about 2 minutes to take a picture of the three cousins, Elena Zaria and Gwendolyn. Gwen was trying out her new tricycle and Zaria would not let go of this little doll.

Day 286: Twins at Como

There was a big Multiple Connections picnic at Como Zoo this afternoon, and though Zaria wasn't too interested in the juggler they had, she had a great time pushing strollers and visiting with various twins. We also checked out the special butterfly exhibit, and I managed to catch a butterfly landing on my mom's head. Zaria had a great time wandering around the exhibit and flirting with little boys that were in line on the other side of the netting.

Happy birthday to Jamin, who was on the road all day today and was missed at the picnic.

Day 285: Birthday FNG and Potty time

Zaria wanted to sit on the potty today and started pulling magazines to read while she sat (apparently she's noticed that we do this). I thought it was especially amusing that she wanted to read a Marriage Today magazine.
Sort of last minute, we hosted Friday Night Group at our house and had some cake for Jamin's birthday, which is tomorrow. It was a nice small group, perfect for our limited space, and we even worked in a game of Bocce ball. It's hard to see in the above photo, but I arranged the candles into the number 32. The wax was melting pretty well by the time Jamin held the cake, so he had to blow the candles out quickly.

Day 284: Socks

She's been able to pull her socks off for some time now, but today she was quite determined to try putting them on by herself, as well. Our frustrated toddler stage may have officially begun. Zaria wants to do things herself, but is still learning how. I try to wait until she wants my help, and I'm learning patience when she doesn't accept help or she has a small tantrum.

Day 283: Ready to go?

I almost wasn't sure baby storytime at the the library was going to happen today, but it did.

Happy birthday to Jason and Gwendolyn today!

Day 282: Snack time

Another ladies' Bible study this morning. Lisa did a good job of trying to organize our time, so we had time for snacks with the kids a little before 11 am. Doing snacks might be a bit of a challenge as there are a few food allergies to avoid: corn, nuts, milk and red food dye. Jen watched the kids today and set the bar pretty high by having props to go along with the story of Jonah.

Day 281: Climbing around

This was the first time Zaria's actually done much climbing when we've visited a playground. I still have to stay nearby, but she showed a little more independence and was at least interested in more than just the wood chips. She's still not crazy about swings, but I try to get her in one for a short time whenever there's an opportunity.

Day 280: John Deere birthday

We celebrated Emil's 3rd birthday today in grand John Deere style. Everything was yellow and green, and he got lots of tractors and farm equipment, which he loves. Zaria found his hat for him and helped put it on his head. She apparently likes saying Emil's name because she repeated it many times on the way there and said "bye Emil" many times on the way home.

Day 279: Moms' Day out

Ah, what a great day. The dads watched the kids while a group of us moms from our Mothers' Fellowship small group went to Stillwater and enjoyed a day away. No toddlers to chase around or strollers to navigate through the tiny aisles at the antique shop. So nice. Above we had a bit of tea (we actually had iced tea since it was warm out) and below we took a cruise on one of the Andiamo boats. Below are Lea, Charisse, and Jen just after we went under the bridge. It was a dinner and jazz cruise-- great food and a lot of fun.

Day 278: Garbage day

I caught him in action today. Here's to you, garbage man. Thank you for all your hard work.

Day 277: Dentist

My lovely clean teeth, a few hours after visiting the dentist. I did, unfortunately have one "occlusion," so I'll have to be back for a filling. *sigh* I also have a terrible case of pregnancy-induced gingivitis. At least we know what the cure for that problem will be, and it shouldn't involve any Novocaine or drilling.

Day 276: Family ultrasound

Jamin, Mom and Zaria all came with for the big Level II ultrasound I had today. It was a long one-- definitely over an hour, but it looks like we have two healthy little boys on the way! Yup, it turns out X and Y both have both of their nick-namesake chromosomes. I still am not sure if we'll name each with a name that has an X or a Y in it, but we'll give it a shot. I've had trouble finding names with X that I like, but I'm open for suggestions. Anyhow, they're both about 9 inches long today and I'm feeling them move a whole lot more often. I also can tell which one is moving after all that time today determining where each sac is located and where their placentas are attached. X is in my lower left quadrant and Y is somewhat in the middle upper abdomen, and will be poking into my ribs more than his brother. I am a little scared about two little Jamins running around, but I'm trying to get used to the idea.

Day 275: Bible study kids

Here's Maria, James and Zaria sitting on the bench that was supposed to block things off during our women's Bible study. Didn't quite work. This was our first week of meeting, and it was a little chaotic with the kids, but we managed to figure out what book we wanted to study while the kids had fun playing.

Day 274: Asleep for the night

Last night I just had Zaria in a T-shirt and a diaper, but tonight it seemed a little chilly out. Still, she is hot-blooded like her papa and had a sweaty neck, so I made sure to open her window for a while to cool her room down. I think she was pretty worn out after playing Ring around the Rosie with Grandma Joy. She was really zonked.

Day 273: Fun at Grandma's house

Playing croquette. It was a little hard to keep her out of the way and chase her down when she ran towards the pond, but Zaria had fun joining us.
Then she helped Grandma Joy water her plants . . . or feet, rather.