Finally! A moment.

Jeremy's gone off to get me birthday cupcakes, which means the TV is off, and Jeremiah's asleep=a few minutes of peace and quiet where I can get some news down on the blog.

We've had a nice week since my last update. Thursday, we had our 30 week checkup with the midwives, and all is well. I got to meet the new midwife, who, thankfully, is NOT the midwife I had last time (and really didn't like...) She's actually a lot like the midwife who delivered Jeremiah, bedside manner-wise. Then again, I didn't give her anything to really scold me about--my weight gain has been good (still in the negative, though only by a couple of lbs now--I've gained 13 of the 15 I lost... not bad,) baby's heartbeat is good (140's, same as last time,) felt head down (though she's still a mover and a shaker--hopefully she stays that way!!) and my BP is good (though a little higher than usual, still well within the normal limits.) We're "measuring" a couple of weeks ahead, but that's not surprising. We measured ahead everytime with Jeremiah, and he came out 10lbs 11oz, so in my book, we're right on target. I don't "feel" large yet--I guess I only remember being full term with Jeremiah and being HUGE. We'll see what happens in the next 6 weeks.

Friday was a tiring day, though a productive one. We've been trying to get our raised bed filled so we can actually plant our veggies before the summer is over (they're all in pots on the deck right now.) Went to Lowe's and had 'em load us up with 40 bags of topsoil/composted manure mix. We were definitely low-riding! I was worried about the van, so I unloaded 24 bags into the garden, and the rest into the garage (1600lbs total!) Probably not the best idea, but I know my body would have told me, "Hey, you're doing too much!" if I had overdone it, and I felt fine afterwards. Tired, yes. Hot and thirsty, yes. But I wasn't sore or anything, so I guess I came out okay (better than Jeremy--he thinks he hurt his back unloading the remaining 16 bags that night... Guess I'm SuperWoman!) Another 30 bags or so, and we should be ready to plant (gonna ask the neighbor to help us with that--he's got a truck!)

Saturday was crazy. The original plan was to go "yard sale-ing" in the morning. I'm trying to find a covered sandbox and one of those Little Tykes Cozy Cars for Jeremiah (he loves the neighbor's) and maybe some 2T shirts for him (he's built like his Daddy--long torso, so all of his 18-24 month shirts are too short for the most part.) Well, that didn't happen. I couldn't get Jeremy out of bed before 9, and we still had to go to the store for the...

ANNUAL PIPESTEM COOKOUT! Okay, this is where it got crazy. Our neighbor, Rob, organized it (we had a blast last year--kinda our "welcome to the neighborhood" deal) and for some reason decided it should start at 1 p.m. Well, Jeremy had planned on setting up the inflatable 10 foot screen, and his projector so we could show a movie on the lawn... But ya can't use a projector outside until it's dark (or at least getting dark.) So the party went... 10 hours! And it was hot. We set it up under the neighbor's tree, but it was still pretty hot. It got to the point where the kids were spraying each other with the hoses (and Jeremy and Rob, too.) Jeremiah got up from his nap around 4, and within 30 minutes was completely soaked. I should have had my camera going, but I didn't. It was cute, and a nice break from the heat, but man... it was crazy.

Lots of fun, though! We watched Transformers outside, and other than a brief shower here and there, we had a great time overall. But man... it was long. Next time, we're starting at 5!

Sunday, the plan was, go to church, bring Jeremiah home for a nap, then go to the Mclean Bible Loudoun Campus Cookout back at the church. Well, after a 10 hour cookout the day before, we were pretty cookout-outed! So we went to church (again, fighting to get Jeremy out of bed before, this time, 8, but amazingly, he jumped out once I nudged him for the 2nd time--wanted to get me Starbucks before church. Aww...!) drove around trying to find some place in Leesburg that supposedly has a great brunch (friends told us about it... we never found it,) so we just came home and put Jeremiah down for his nap, and I took one too.

After Jeremiah woke up, we had some lunch, and then just kinda chilled in the family room. I was reading Jeremiah a book when we heard the front door open. We weren't expecting anyone (or so I thought), so I hoped that Jeremy was, since he was kinda relaxed about it (I always immediately assume the worst when it comes to things like that.) Who walks in but my family! Surprise! They had come over to surprise me with burgers to grill and a carvel cake. I gotta hand it to Jeremy--he may not have thought ahead to get the name of this brunch place, but he did think ahead to have my family come over after naptime! It was a nice surprise, and we had a good time. Jeremiah was genuinely stunned, too. He didn't know what to think of Grandma and Grandpa appearing out of nowhere--usually we're going to their house. But it was a good time.

And that's about it. Jeremy took me out to dinner last night--we got sushi! Yum. I know, I break all the rules. It was goooooo-ooood, though! But yeah, now we're back to the same old same old. Tomorrow's Jeremy's last day of work before vacation (yay!) We're going to relax a couple of days for the 4th, finish the garden over the weekend, and then next week, gonna paint some rooms! And hopefully, that'll all get done early in the week so that we can spend some time by the pool (at my parents'... I don't do public pools.)

Wow. He's still not back with my cupcakes. Well, let's see... Oh, we've got a babysitter for Jeremiah now. We finally talked to a neighbor who babysits (she's 16) and Jeremiah seems to like her, so hopefully that will work out. Yay! We can go on a date without driving out to Warrenton to pick up my brother! Woot. So that's nice. And she doesn't charge $10/hour (another plus... man, I definitely undercharged when I was in High school!)

Annnnnnnnnnnnd... Jeremy's back. Time to eat some cupcakes, and then go to bed. Have a great week/holiday!