Buh-Bye June

Kale is more willing to say goodbye to inanimate objects than he is to people. He will say it to tractors, trains, trucks, books, lawnmowers, and our house but ask him to say bye to Dad? Forget it! He will do it sometimes but definitely not as frequently as the horses near our house hear it. In the middle of June, Peter went to California for some business so Kale and I traveled up to Hingham for the week to visit my parents. Trucks, a backyard, hoses, lawnmowers, papa and grammie, bubbles, bikes, and trains filled our week. And by that I mean Kale's week. I got to sleep in and enjoy lots of help with my boy.

A little scared at first...

...but quickly got down to business.

His favorite spot to view every single train that went by. At least 25 a day.

Many treats were had by all.


He was equally afraid and thrilled with the bubbles. He didn't like them coming near him but kept asking us to blow them for him.

Kale is in love with babies. We are house sitting and he found a baby doll there that he is constantly kissing and hugging. He is also constantly kissing and hugging our friend Sara's new baby girl, Amelia. Many kisses, snuggles, and hugs. I think he is ready for this big brother thing.

He fell asleep on the way home from church after eating a chocolate chip cookie.

As I mentioned, we are house sitting so Peter got the "privilege" of mowing their lawn.

"You can't ride this thing? Well, let's go throw rocks then."

This creek runs through the property where we are staying, a good place to throw rocks and sticks.

My mom came to stay with us while I was taking it easy last week. I am so thankful she could! I could not have done it without her. I think she had a good time too and we already miss her.

Braving the slide at the pool

I think it helped that it was a pretty slow slide.


On another note, I had an ultrasound today to check my amniotic fluid and it has increased! Praise the Lord! Baby is happily swimming away. We are so blessed.

Ebenezer

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us." 1 Samuel 7:12

Indeed, thus far He has.

Last week, I had some leaking of fluid that the doctors at the hospital suspected was amniotic fluid. Not a good thing at 23 weeks pregnant. I spent the night in the hospital and we were all prepared to go to Great Falls the next day so I could spend the remainder of the pregnancy on bedrest at the hospital there. That morning, a different doctor did an assessment and found no amniotic fluid present! It was no mistake on the previous doctor's part, it was simply...a beautiful and amazing miricale. The doctor said I could stay in Bozeman, taking it easy for the next couple weeks. A complete 180 from what we were expecting! In my mind, the best case scenario was that we would be in Great Falls for the next 11 weeks because that meant baby moore #2 would still be inside. I was working on mourning my summer, but God gave it back to me! Such a miraculous thing!

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Now that I have been home taking it easy for a week, I cannot imagine being in Great Falls for that long. Even in that situation, God was showing how He would take care of us. My parents live near GF and would be able to take Kale for quite awhile. Kale and I had just visited their house so he was familiar with them and everything there. Also, another huge blessing was that Peter was going to be able to work remotely from GF and he has amazing insurance. I am so thankful none of these things had to take place and also I've been able to acknowledge the Lord's hand in it all.

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I have not had any leaking since last Monday and saw my doctor today. She did another test for reassurance. No sign of amniotic fluid! I can now go back to being pretty normal, just avoiding things where I could get confused about whether I am leaking or not. For example, not getting too sweaty and staying out of pools. I had an ultrasound last week where my fluid was still at an excellent level and I have another one on Thursday just to check. If things stay the way they are going for the next couple weeks, we can all go back to normal and stop monitoring as closely as we currently have/are.

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I cannot express my gratitude to Jesus and to everyone who prayed for us. He heard you!! We continue to lean on him for the safety of our little one and trust Him throughout this whole process. Of course, always easier said than done but He is patient with us as well. And even though we have had a couple extra ultrasounds, we are still going to be surprised in October!

Saturday Morning Coffee

Today's Bozeman Chronicle read: 2 hip mamas selling excess of hip stuff. No tchotchkes.

While the 2 hip mommas sold their "stuff," Kale and Dad decided to go for a bike ride.

Getting strapped in...ready for launch

T-minus 5....4....snack trap? check....3...sippy cup? check...2....shovel? check...1...good to launch!

One day not too long ago....do we really need to say anything about this?

halfway

Friday we had our 20 week ultrasound and baby is simply perfect. Everything measured correctly and my due date is still October 17th. Unlike last time, we decided not to find out what we are having. I wish we would have waited to find out with Kale so I hung on that thought as we went through the appointment. I was shocked to discover that I wasn't even tempted to find out! Very unlike me, who hates waiting for surprises. I'm glad we are waiting and really have no inkling as to what we are having. I started feeling the baby move around 18 weeks and we're working on getting Peter to be able to feel it.

harvey time

Aunt Emily and Uncle Johnny came to visit us Memorial Day weekend from Bellingham. We had a ton of fun and the weather cooperated perfectly. Kale experienced his first bike ride and instantly fell in love with his aunt and uncle. Emily took more pictures than I did and you can see them here. Reading stories before bed.
Trying watermelon by the slice

He really got into it.

We thought it was pretty funny and apparently he agreed.

sick of cali pictures yet?

Well, we did a lot! Saturday we went on a wine tour that was really fun, even though I am pregnant. I did get to have some tastes and really enjoyed the whole experience. Our tour guide made the day. He made us feel very comfortable about wine and not intimidated at all. The grapes are just babies this time of year.
"Um, those don't look like the grapes I usually see"

Another beautiful day

It was a huge winery. We brought back 2 bottles of wine that we are saving for October, post-baby.

Kale enjoyed his milk at Sonic on the way home. It was our first time visiting a Sonic and I have declared it my new favorite fast food restaurant.

Mother's Day we went to lunch at a Kosher Deli that was delicious. After Kale's nap we went down to the Berkely Marina.

There is a crazy junkyard/playground down there that you have to be 10 and over to play in by yourself. You can build things, paint things and just play everywhere. It was pretty cool.

What's a trip to the playground without the ice cream cart going by?

Peter and Ari

Kale helping fly the kite.

We finished the day with a picnic in a park and said our goodbyes at the Berkely Rose garden. We had a great time!

cali day 3

We went downtown San Francisco on Friday with Peter's stepmom Joyce. The weather was perfect again and we fit in as much touristy stuff as our little munchkin would allow before his nap. The trolley cars were not exactly what I was expecting. Does anyone else think they should be taller and red? Did I just watch too much Full House growing up?
A pirate ship in the harbor

We had some yummy cupcakes near a fountain. Kale didn't understand that you throw coins in the fountain, he wanted to go swimming in it.

As you can tell, he thought the trolley was pretty cool.

We made a guy run behind the trolley to take this picture.

The view back towards the wharf

Peter and I sat up front while Joyce and Kale sat near the back. Joyce said Kale thought the driver was pretty cool and tried to imitate him moving the levers.

You can't tell, but I am leaning out the side of the trolley.

We left our trusty GPS in the car. We could have used her a couple times

Such a trooper

Chinatown

I really wanted to find some of these houses in real life, like the ones in Full House of course. I had to settle for a post card in Chinatown. I think I really liked that show.

Kale really loved playing with Hunter the dog.

What would a visit to Chinatown be without an outfit from Nana Joyce?

He wasn't a big fan of the hat

Grandpa taught Kale how to play the guitar