Our June was filled with perfect weather, lots of beach and pool days, wrapping up preschool, and basically just surviving until the baby came. Those last few weeks of pregnancy were not exactly comfortable, (if I had a dime for every time someone told me I looked like I would pop any day now, I’d be rich!) and every day was filled with the uncertainty of if that would be our last day as a family of five or not! I was exhausted and Meredith was frustrated that I couldn’t do much– including sitting down on the floor to play with her or reading with anyone in my lap. I was also in full-on nesting mode, staying up all hours of the night to organize the pantry, dust the baseboards, clean the fridge, and frantically pleading with Jake to do the most random jobs (changing out lightbulbs, painting the bathroom– not joking!)  Saint that he is, he took it all in stride and tried not to point out the fact that I was crazy! Somehow, we made it through the month.

Celebrating our friend, Marisa’s, graduation from college at the beach in Newport since we wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony. At some point during our morning, Meredith crashed some kid’s birthday party and I found her over at their picnic table, eating treats and trying to steal balloons!

Weekly park day with our friends. We usually have some boys in the mix, but this day it was all girls and for whatever reason, the balance was off and the girls fought the whole time! Maple and Meredith both ended up with scraped knees and bruised faces (not from each other– each took a spill). It was a crazy playdate!

Field trip to the Discovery Cube Museum. Since there was no way I was fitting my pregnant self into those tiny bus seats, Jake valiantly chaperoned in my place.

I was just about to commend ourselves on how peaceful of a morning we were having, when Amelia threw up in the pool and the lifeguards had to shut it down for a few hours to shock the system with chlorine. She mostly threw up water, after swallowing a ton of it swimming, but it was still gross! Fortunately, there weren’t too many people there, but we still apologized as we took our walk of shame back home. For the rest of the summer, we stayed at our own pool!

We somehow made it the entire summer without Meredith pooping in the pool! The waterpark in our neighborhood is constantly getting shut down because of “code browns,” and if your kid is the one who pooped and was not wearing one of the diaper cover ups they hand out for free, you will be publicly shamed on the Ladera Moms Facebook Page! I usually put three layers of swim diaper/diaper cover ups on Meredith, but was still paranoid whenever we went out to the public pool. The only pool she ended up having an accident in was our own pool!

Meredith investigates a two bicycle crash.

You guys okay?

Morning at the park.

Meredith somehow grabbed my phone and was taking pictures of me at school pick-up. I guess this is how I look from the kids’ point of view!

We had several false labor alarms, one of which was right before heading on a family Costco run. After feeling some contractions, I told Jake we better zip it to Costco to stock up on food, and we raced around the store, literally telling people to move out of the way because I was in labor! I was doubled over in pain a few times in the  middle of the aisle, but we made it through and still had time for what we thought would be our last meal as a family of five. I took a picture to commemorate, but it didn’t end up being our last evening out. I was dilated to a 3 for WEEKS before going into labor for real!

Samantha and Amelia have an obsession with putting undies on their heads at bedtime.

The weekend of my due date (June 17), Grammy and Aunt Sarah came to town. Even though the baby hadn’t come yet, it was perfect timing since I was too exhausted to really do much of anything with the girls. They took the girls to the Oso trail for a nature walk and fairy hunting. A local artist had set up cute fairy houses all along the trail and the girls loved examining the teeny tiny fairy sculptures. 

Movie night with Aunt Sarah!

Our last few weeks of June were quite eventful– birth story up next!

Lots of love,