Well, here we are at the end of June and I’m pretty glad! That’s one more month out of the way! I’ve got just three months left until baby Ella comes and, frankly, those three months can not go by fast enough. So far, at almost 26 weeks pregnant, I’m not having much of the worst pregnancy symptom I can think of… heartburn. And I’m thankful for that, but I assume it won’t be long until it haunts me day and night (mostly night). And so far, I haven’t had any painful, middle-of-the-night episodes of carpal tunnel syndrome, which I had a horrible time with during my last pregnancy. If I was forced to choose between experiencing heartburn or carpal tunnel, I guess I’d go with heartburn. While it infringes on my sleep and is uncomfortable, I can somewhat control it by the position I sleep in and what I eat. The carpal tunnel was extremely painful and there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening.

On a non-pregnancy note, Jacob has started his regular karate classes and he likes it very much. The girls are now interested in watching a few of his classes and they seem to be open to taking the classes themselves. The instructor told me that they are welcome to attend a few classes to see if they like it. I have a hard time picturing either of them actually doing the karate moves, so that should be fun to watch!

Today seemed endless! I woke up and had to try and straighten the house because my sister-in-law as well as another friend were coming over in the afternoon. I fed my kiddos breakfast and loaded, washed, and unloaded the dishwasher, picked up stuff that was all over the living room, did a little laundry and then watched some t.v. with the kids… all before lunch. Then Erin arrived with little Alex and her nephew, Jackson. We hung out for a while and then Erin went to pick up lunch (and Jackson screamed the whole time she was gone). When she got back we ate and then waited for my other friend to arrive. A little after 3 o’clock, Katie got here with her 1 year old and we talked for a while.
Once David got home, the girls went to their grandma’s house so that she could bring them to VBS and David & I brought Jacob to karate class. After that, we grabbed some dinner and got back in time to pick the girls up from VBS at 8 o’clock. Now that I’m finally home and sitting down, I realize it just seems like the longest day in the history of the world and I am exhausted!! The bed is calling my name and my eyelids feel like lead weights.

Jacob started his first day of Karate Camp today. I think he’s in for a treat and that he’ll like it. I’m interested to hear his thoughts on it this afternoon. Anna was so excited that he would be gone all day because she “could sneak into his room and he couldn’t tell her to get out.” LOL How funny!

My cousin is supposed to be coming down for a visit this coming weekend, so I have all week to get the house straight and ready for company… and it will probably take me all or most of the week.

Father’s Day was nice. We did nothing most of the day, except for lunch. We met mom, dad, Noah & Erin for lunch at Chili’s. Doing nothing was really nice after a long week of non-stop going. Plus, David’s always up for a day full of nothing. LOL

Man, what a week! We went non-stop and were away from home everyday from morning until night. We just stayed up at my in-law’s house all day Monday and Tuesday letting the kids play together. They swam and played on the blow up water slide while we watched (and sweat, lol). I did a lot of cooking for everyone. I made Eggplant Parmesean, a Wet Cake, 2 batches of Better Than Sex Cake and a Jello Cake.
Then on Wednesday, we all loaded up and went out to the river, right where it meets Lake Ponchartrain. They brought the jet ski and the boat and all the fishing poles. I sat on the dock the whole time. The kids took turns riding in the boat and fishing. The jet ski is usually the hot ticket, but it gave us problems and ended up taking on water, so they pulled it out of the water back onto the trailer. The kids were bummed about that. David got a bad sunburn, but I was smart and stayed in the shade.
Thursday was a long day. We ended up driving to the Baton Rouge Bass Pro Shops and spending much of the day there. Not the most fun thing to do with 7 adults and 8 kids. After that we came home, ate (which we did a lot of this week) and played a game of Poker.
Everyone left early Friday morning and things were able to get back to normal. I’ve been doing as little as possible since then, just trying to relax and recup from the constant going, going, going of this last week. It’s nice to just spend some lazy time at home with just David & the kids.

This week, my brother-in-law, his wife and his 2 daughters will be coming down from Oklahoma to visit so you’ll see considerably less of me online during that time. When he comes down, my hubby’s sister and her three kids also come up from southern Louisiana and I find myself completely submerged in a hub-bub of family activities, which is cool with me. My kids think it’s heaven on earth, getting to play with all their cousins at once, and my mother-in-law just basks in being around all her grandchildren at the same time. It’s nice. We always do something, boating, the zoo or aquarium, etc. but I’m not sure how I’ll do with any of that this year. I do a little house cleaning and I feel like I’ve run a marathon. LOL And it’s already so friggin’ hot down here. I’ll just have to be very careful not to overdo it or get overheated. I see a lot of cold, bottled water in my future.

Not only do we stay really busy, but we eat like it’s going out of style. And of course, none of it’s what you’d call “healthy.” Lots of dessert, lots of snacks and lots of rich, carb-filled dinners and I have a doctor’s appointment on Thursday. Aaaah! My dr. is a real stickler for weight gain during pregnancy so I’ll have to really watch myself this week. The scale is not my friend come Thursday morning at 11:15.

I’ve posted all about my pregnancy lately, but I figured something different might be nice.

I ran across this:
http://cuteotters.com/index.php?/archives/469-Otter-Mom-Shows-Off-Her-Baby.html

How adorable is that? Way too cute for my own good! Besides kitties, otters are probably some of the cutest animals on the planet. And a mommy otter with her little baby otter is just doubly cute! The whole website, www.cuteotters.com , is full of adorable images & videos of otters and I’m in love! I learned of this website from another website full of cute animal stuff, www.cuteoverload.com . So, if you’re ever bored, or just want to look at a bunch of cuteness, check it out! You won’t be sorry!!