Update 8.21.11

Once again I have been busted in the back bedroom at 7 am by the little bean. I swear he sleeps until 9 during the week, I really just don't know how he knows that I'm up on the weekends. At any rate, he is snuggled in watching cartoons for now, so I have a few minutes to give you a very overdue update. The past few weeks have been crazy! We have had something going on every weekend and a lot of weekdays. Which is saying a lot for self-described homebodies. We've had a friend stay for the weekend, going away parties, registration at Henry's school, Mama's birthday, a baby shower, family in town and a whole lot of other stuff going on that I can't think of at the moment. Here's the shake down:

Henry: It's been hot lately. So hot that even a busy 5 year old doesn't want to have anything to do with it. So Gigi has had to get creative with her daytime activities. Two weeks ago they headed to the Lego exhibit in Topeka. Henry loves everything Lego and had a great time. This pic was one of my favorites. Gigi said that they spent most of their time in a gift shop reading a 200 page book about the history of Legos. They stopped for ice cream on the way home and popped to campus for one last photo at the tree sculpture (they tore it down this weekend). Henry has also just recently completed his first session of swimming lessons. It's amazing how far he has come in just two weeks. He is floating and "pushing and pulling" (I'm not sure what that means but he is very proud of it), and sticks his head underwater every chance he gets (even in the bathtub). The teacher said that he caught on very quickly and that she felt he only needed to take level 1 one more time, which is quite an accomplishment. I think most kids do it at least 3 times. He really loves to swim and it is so fun to watch him find activities that he enjoys and is good at. He has gone to the pool with Gigi since swimming lessons ended and all he wants to do is practice. No slides, no walking across the lily pads, just practice. I hope he is that diligent when it comes to school. Here are some pics from swimming lessons. I love this one, even though he's blurry, because I remember standing on the side of the pool, listening to my teacher and doing that same "I'm freezing" dance. And here he is after just sticking his head under water. A major milestone. Kindergarten starts tomorrow so I thought it would be a good idea for us to have a special day that is all about Henry. We called it "Henry Day" and let him pick his activities (with some guidance from Mama, of course). He chose to go to a place in KC called Kaleidoscope. It's a place for kids to explore and be creative. I remember going there as a kid and having a great time and I think Henry did as well.
The entrance to Kaleidoscope: A submarine with tons of buttons that make funny sounds and play music: Outer-space. A room lit by black lights that had two of Henry's favorite activities. Painting space glasses with glow in the dark wax: And a camera that would let him take multiple pictures of himself and project them on the wall. At one point we had a crowd of about 6 people watching to see what crazy photo he would come up with next. My favorite was one of him making a shush face looking one direction and a screaming face looking back at himself. Then he made a puzzle. After he was done drawing his picture he got to send it through the puzzle machine. Very cool. Everything in Kaleidoscope is larger than life, sparkling and colorful. After we left Henry asked if he could redecorate his room to look like it. But I don't think our house is big enough. Our next stop was the fountains outside of Crown Center. He ran around and pretended to be a ninja battling the water for at least 90 minutes. He fell asleep in 2 minutes that night. We are planning to make Henry Day a monthly activity.

We are all set for Kindergarten to start tomorrow. We've filled out 35 different forms, purchased $100 worth of khaki pants and red and navy polos, we have a backpack full of school supplies and even went to the school on Friday to find Henry's cubbie and say hello to the teacher. Henry has two friends from preschool that will be in his class. Both of them are girls and both of them liked to play princess with Henry back in his preschool days. While he seems happy to have people he'll know in his class, he has asked me several times if there will be boys to play with also, because he really gets tired of playing princess games. ;) My hope is that he finds at least one good buddy early on and that he doesn't get bored with school like he did in preschool and that I don't start crying in his classroom when I drop him off. The Bean is a grade school age kid....I can't believe it.

Papa: Wade had a big show a couple of weeks ago in Omaha. It was a success and an adventure. Since then he has been writing songs, doing research on grad school, skateboarding, and taking Henry to see the cats at the Human Society (I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to come home one day to find a third feline in the house).

Mama + baby girl: We are doing fine. She'll have her wiggly moments and then be quiet for hours, especially when I am busy walking around or talking. She is 14 inches now and almost 2 lbs. My only complaint is that my hips are super sore and rolling over in bed can result in a charlie horse or just a major side cramp. We are about to enter our 3rd trimester which means she'll be putting on the lbs quickly and I'll probably start to feel even more tired and hungry (if that's even possible) and want to clean my entire house but not have the energy to do it so I'll convince my husband to do it. We have a lot still to do before the baby gets here. Painting the room, buying a mattress and crib, finding a way to fit another person's things in to a room full of toys for a 5 year old boy. I think Wade is going to build shelves on the North wall of the room so that we can get rid of the toy chest, dressers and art shelves. Henry wants to paint his bed frame red, which should look pretty neat and will be a job for when it cools off a little this fall. Any of you blog friends that like to paint let me know, we'll have a painting party.
My sisters and Mom threw a baby shower for my sister Susie and I last weekend. I was amazed by the generosity of my extended family and friends. Kelly put a lot of time and effort in to the decorations and Annie and Mom made some fantastic food, including 3 kinds of homemade cupcakes. I sampled all three.
I took my glucose test yesterday and am anxiously awaiting the results. If I fail the test and have gestational diabetes we will be delivering this baby about 3 weeks early, so the first week in November. If I pass it then we could have another Thanksgiving baby. Even though I am not a fan of the turkey dinner in the hospital, I can't think of a anything more appropriate then having a baby on Thanksgiving.

I’ll leave you with a couple of our favorite Henry quotes from the week:

Last night I told Henry that it felt like the baby was dancing in my belly. He said, “Yeah, I put up a disco ball when I was in there. She probably just figured out how to work the lights.”

Thursday morning I gave him a kiss before I left for work. He said, “Goodnight Mama. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” “Okay,” I whispered. Then he said, “Wait, it’s morning? I mean don’t let the work bugs bite.”

Have a great week (or month) blog friends.