Getting ready at home
The boys having a blast in the water!
Austin was quite a trooper about falling in the water. Coughs, sputters, but not one tear! John fell in once too! I'd been hoping he'd do so in order for me to teach him how to stand up and right himself in the water. When he finally did topple, of course I was over 20 feet away and had to make a mad dash across the kiddie pool (what a sight I was at 8 months pregnant)! Anyway, he was rescued by a very wet mommy and was fine, but needless to say I stayed much closer to him after that! 
Little Riley, just hanging out in the shade. (3 months old)
Two pooped boys having a snack in the grass. 
Last Sunday was so hot! Isaac and I planned to take John down to the Taste of Tacoma Sunday afternoon and boy did it backfire on me! (I spent all day Monday recuperating from the heat and being so prego!) We caught the bus down to Point Defiance where it was located and when we got there around 2pm it was over 90 degrees outside! The event was a lot of fun and we'll definitely be going back, but hopefully next year it won't be so hot. There were over 150 food vendors there, a huge farmer's market type area set up, an area with booths for arts and crafts vendors, and 5 stages with live bands and all different types of music going on. What an event! We walked around and relaxed on some grassy areas at times, we all got a little sunburnt, even after 2 applications of SPF50 sunscreen, and had some awesome food! I am really starting to LOVE the weather here now though, especially after a very unwelcoming, inhospitable, and super LOOOONG winter.
So with John's 2nd birthday coming up, and the weather finally getting nice, we decided to give John his "big" gift early this year. We got him a Spiderman theme Big Wheels tricycle. He LOVES it! I tried so hard in Toys R Us to convince my kid that the Batman tricycle was much cooler, but he wasn't hearing it! After a lot of coaching I finally gave up, deciding that it was his birthday and that he could pick out his new bike, lol! I think the clencher was when he pushed one of the buttons on the Spiderman bike and it said "Let's go catch some bad guys!" That's his favorite thing to say these days! 
On the 4th of July, we also had another great outing! Isaac was working his Cutco booth down on the Ruston Waterfront at the Tacoma Freedom Fair, so we went down to visit daddy and experience the fair. Boy what a loud, long, fun, and exciting day! John and I took the bus again since parking is really expensive and far away from the actual event. There were over 50 food vendors, lots of commercial and artsy booths to visit, some fun kids play areas, and a really neat airshow with planes from McChord Air Force Base. John had a blast seeing all the new exciting stuff going on, and really liked the planes. It was interesting that he had a hard time following them through the air though, since the sound of the plane was often following it by a few seconds. He kept trying to follow the sound instead of the plane! Here's a cute picture of him sleeping through the second half of the air show, under daddy's booth tent. 
One last thing before my hand falls off from blogging so long...I had an ultrasound this morning and baby girl Stegman looks great again! She's perfect, just small (not a bad thing when you're planning a homebirth with no meds, lol)! She's growing just fine and there's nothing to worry about, so for those of you who've been worrying, STOP IT! We can't wait to meet her in just 5 more weeks! (plus or minus) We still can't decide on a name...I think we'll just put Baby Girl Stegman on her birth certificate and call her "hey you" for the rest of her life. Why is it so hard to name girls? I am meeting with my midwife weekly from now until the end, so I guess just pray we continue to grow this baby to term.
John and I have been going outside a lot more lately. The other day we went to the play area in our apartment complex, and today we sat on the grass behind our apartment and had some treats. It's getting much nicer here, I can't wait for this weekend! Sunny and 80 degrees, woohoo!
And this is my silly kid who steals my spot every time I get up from resting! We actually got him his own keyboard from a garage sale to play with as a toy and he loves it. He thinks he's pretty cool typing like mommy.
Hmm, what else? Well I've been looking into different midwives in the area and found one that I think will be a great fit! I have an appointment with her on Thursday to discuss care options and whether or not we can all agree on the safety of a home birth with this pregnancy. She'll be reviewing my chart up until this point and then we'll see! She is also a wonderful Christian lady and we seemed to have a lot in common during our phone conversation. Please pray that we continue to make wise choices for me and baby girl for the rest of the pregnancy.
Isaac was also just offered a free office downtown by the Tacoma Dome by the Cutco district manager. Of course he took it, so I finally have my dining room back, yay! It's been pretty packed in there for about 5-6 months now and this office was quite a blessing. So for the last several days now I've been in organizing and cleaning phase, getting the dining room back to how it was, and rearranging (in my head, Isaac did the moving!) furniture. I think I'm nesting already, what do you think?! I also moved a few things around in the kids' room today and finished some things up in there. It's nice to be done for the most part, but now what am I going to do with the remaining 7 weeks!? Guess I'll just have to find things to read and clean before she's here.
Tomorrow we are all very excited to go to Seattle and meet up with our good friends the Blands. They flew all the way from GA to visit their family (and us), and to go on an Alaskan cruise (lucky)! We're going to pick them up in the afternoon and spend some time in the city, and then eat at the Cheesecake Factory, yum! It will be so nice to see our friends again, it's been a long time.
Well I think that's all. We're trying to keep things simple and low key around here so I can get my rest and grow a nice big baby. Isaac's working a lot like usual, but things are going pretty well. John is getting the concept of having a baby sister more and more also! He always wants to hug and kiss my tummy now and he spontaneously tells her "I love you" without being prompted. I think he's going to be a sweet big brother...until she goes for his toys in a few months, lol!
