Fireworks on the Fourth!

We had a fun evening with Joe, Renee, and their kids today!  They came over for dinner (chicken legs/breasts and hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, green salad, corn salad, and fruit salad and a cream cheesy/cherries and berries dessert that Renee brought) and then we loaded into their mini-van to drive into Leesburg.  In all the years that Pern and I have lived here, we had yet to experience the big 4th of July bash that the Town of Leesburg puts on at Ida Lee Park every year.  

Wow.  Talk about a lot of people!!  We had to park WAAAAAYYY in the back of the park, but as we were getting out of the car we noticed a small number of people camped out on a nearby hill, away from the huge crowds and live music.  We asked if this was a good spot to see the fireworks and some folks told us yes, so we laid out the blankets and settled in to wait... away from the (literally) thousands of people, the Jimmy Buffett cover band, and the long lines waiting for funnel cakes and soft serve.  

It turned out to be the perfect spot!  The kids were able to run their little hearts out until it got dark, we had a perfect view, there weren't a whole lot of people breathing down our necks, and the fireworks were close enough to enjoy, but far away enough to not be super loud or have debris falling on us.  The only downside was the 45 minutes it took us to get home afterwards (we live about 5 minutes away).  Oh well... that's what you get for arriving late and being told to park WAAAAAYYY in the back of the park.  

Settling in to wait for dark.

The kids are always prepared for fireworks with ear-protection.

Pern wanted to take my 4th of July belly shot... Renee made me do the cheesy hands-making-a-heart-on-my-unborn-child pose.  So I made it extra-cheesy.

She thought that was funny.

Joe was too busy watching the kids run away to notice.

Fun with glow sticks!

Pern had fun, too.

And he loves me.

Wheeeee!

What follows are a bazillion pictures of fireworks.  I took more.  These were the best.  I read up on how to photograph fireworks before we left.  I turned the camera to "bulb" mode, where the shutter stays open as long as you press the shutter release down.  That way you can control the amount of exposure and can time the release of the shutter to the explosion of the fireworks.  It was pretty cool.  I thought these came out really well for my first attempt at fireworks!  Enjoy!

These two (above and below) are my favorites.

I also love the last one and the way you can see the trees in the shot.  It was a perfect evening for this little experiment:  the temperature was cool (low 70s), the air was clear, not muggy, and the wind moved the smoke away from us, so the pictures didn't get hazy as the show went on.  All in all, a good day!

I was SEW productive yesterday!!

Look what I made yesterday:

I pulled out my sewing machine to finish a project I'd been working on (more on that later) and decided to get to some other mini projects that I'd been meaning to do for a while.  You see, I had these two flannel sheets that I'd been saving to make some baby blankets out of.  I'd gotten rid of the rest of the sheet sets a couple of years ago, but kept the flat sheets 'cause they're just so darn cute.  So I started tearing them up and ended up with...

 

2 thick receiving blankets (double sided)

2 thin receiving blankets (single sided)

6 burp cloths

The two thicker blankets are nice and warm..

... and neatly hemmed.

The two lighter weight blankets have a torn/frayed edge.

And the diaper cloths were super fun to make!

Four of them are padded in the center and have a frayed edge...

... and the other two are thinner, with no center padding.  One has a hemmed edge and one is frayed.

But the main reason I pulled out the sewing machine was to finish this:

It's a baby blanket that I made out of one of the curtains that hung in Pern's bedroom when he was a baby!  Isn't it cute!?  Pern's sister found the curtains while going through some boxes at the house in Indiana and set them aside for us when we went to visit P's dad in April.  My mom helped me unpick the curtainy scrunchy thing at the top and went with me to Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick out the warm, fleecy, backing fabric.  A little stitching around the pictures and a quick hem job and voila!  

No, we're not doing a Winnie-the-Pooh nursery.  Not even close.  But Pooh was just too cute (and sentimental) to pass up!

Fun plans for the 4th:  we've got Joe, Renee, and the kids coming over for dinner and Wii.  And then we're going to head into Leesburg for the fireworks display at Ida Lee Park.  I'm taking the camera and I'm going to try to get some good pictures of the fireworks.  Wish me luck!

OK...

... Maybe I can see the difference now.  

22 weeks... big changes, yet - still the same??

So... looking at these pictures, I don't see a whole lot of change between the 18 / 19 week pictures and today (22w2d).  I feel different.  I feel bigger.  Much bigger.  Bigger is different and a tough pill to swallow.  Having spent several months last year losing 15-20 pounds, it's difficult to watch it creep back on.  I know, I know, it's all for a good cause, but that doesn't make it any more fun.  

The baby (he has a name, btw... if you're interested, just ask! - I told you I couldn't keep a secret) has been rolling, kicking, punching, and doing Riverdance on my bladder daily.  If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be kicked in the cervix, you can ask me about that, too.  I've read that it can happen to some women during pregnancy, but not all.  Lucky me - I fall into the "some" category on this one!  

According to my books, he's about 7-8 inches long (crown to rump - about 10-11 inches full length, I guess) and closing in on a pound in weight.  Grow, baby, grow!  I'm about 71 inches in length (full length - no idea how long I am crown to rump!) and closing in on an extra 13-15 pounds.  Sigh.  Go, me, go.  

You can't give Pern a camera and not expect him to go for something artsy.  :D

Video from Yesterday's Appointment

Pern figured out how to get the video from our appointment yesterday off my phone to our computer and now onto the blog!  Yay for heart beats!  You'll see me first and then the wall.  Pern turned the phone towards the doppler so that the microphone was closest to the sound.  Nothing much to see and only 10 seconds of heart beat to listen to, but enjoy!

21 week appointment

We had another appointment at the birthing center this afternoon.  The midwife we met with went over the report from our ultrasound and said that everything looked great, which is what the ultrasound tech told us - but it's nice to hear it again!  We got to hear the baby's heart beat again (after he decided to cooperate) and even remembered to record a few seconds of it on my camera phone.  

It's hard to believe we're already past the halfway point!  We finished our registry this afternoon, ordered some furniture pieces for our Montessori baby, and already have a stroller waiting to be put together in the garage!  Time flies.  I just hope it doesn't fly too fast... there's still so much to do!

My Little Man...

It's pretty amazing to think that in a few short months we've gone from this:

6 weeks

To this:

8 weeks

To this:

19 weeks

And it's even more incredible to me that the next picture we post of him (yes, in case you haven't heard, he's a "him"!!!) will be taken when he's outside my body!  Wow.  

We're keeping the name under wraps for now, but don't be surprised if I spill the beans soon... me and secrets?  We don't exactly mix.