Katie's third birthday

Over the weekend, we made a quick trip to St. Joe to celebrate my niece's 3rd birthday. Lily had so much fun playing with the girls, and we can't wait to go back later this summer to visit again!

The birthday girl at her pool party

My sister got these great water-shooters as party favors. All the kids (and my mom) had fun playing with these.



Lily enjoying the water - the weather was a little cool that day, but it didn't stop the kids from having a great time!

Taking a break

Their community pool was great. They all enjoyed this zero-entry pool that was perfect for the 5 and under crowd.

Grandma with the girls

Happy birthday, Katiebug!!!

While we were gone, Carl painted the nursery (because he's awesome). It looks great, and our crib bedding arrived yesterday. So, I feel like we are really making some big strides in this department. It is so nice this time around because we already have all the bedroom furniture plus things like the carseat, high chair, exersaucer, etc.... We really just get to focus on the fun stuff like decorating. Of course, different clothes will need to be purchased. But, I went through Lily's 0-12 month clothes and picked out all the gender-neutral stuff. So, we have a small base of clothes to start with at least. It is so fun to see all those tiny little clothes hanging in the closet again. We also pulled out the cloth diapers and are getting those ready to go. It is still early, but it is so nice to have a jump-start on these things. We did a pretty good job keeping things organized in Baltimore, so it was fairly easy to locate everything we need for the next little one.

In other baby-related news, I have been feeling lots of flutters and punches/kicks. Our doctor said that the placenta is in the back, so I would probably be able to feel a lot of movement in this pregnancy. Also, my father has officially decided on the name (John Carl) and has been telling everyone the news. No matter what we end up naming the baby, I think that he will be called John Carl by my father and possibly several others. :) We are actually about 90% sure of the name now. Although we keep considering new names, we seem to consistently come back to the same name.

We weren't sure how Lily would handle the news of having a boy (since she would not even talk about anything other than a girl before the ultrasound), but she has handled it quite well. Carl and I, on the other hand, were shocked, and it has taken us a while to adjust to the news - mainly because this is uncharted territory for us. I know it will be great to have a little boy (and probably won't even be that different), but it is the just the uncertainty of it all. I have been feeling so much better lately and throwing up has been reduced from 2-3 times per day to about 1-2 times per week. So far, my blood pressure has been good, but I am very worried about what it will do later on in the pregnancy. I just have a feeling that we are going to deliver early due to this issue. That might not be an entirely bad thing because it would be great if the baby came before my sister's wedding. However, my overall wish is that we have as few complications as possible and that the baby has all the time he needs to grow and develop.