Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from my little people!  

All three looking at the camera and 2 out of 3 smiling!  Whoop!  

The 4th and some things.

I hope everyone had a great 4th!  Isn't is wonderful when it falls on a Friday?  We drove about 2.5 hours to my brother in laws house on Thursday and stayed all weekend.  

They just put in a pool so we were outside all weekend.  It is really more of a backyard experience than just a pool.  They have a new outdoor kitchen and indoor/outdoor patio area.  Totally wonderful and it felt like we were at a resort all weekend!  

The kids swam and we ate wonderful food.  I don't know if I have mentioned this before but my BIL, Marshall, is an amazing cook.  He cooked all of our meals and each one of them was amazing.  He seriously should have been a gourmet chef.  We always get fed really well when he is around.  

I won't overwhelm you with pictures but only because I didn't take any.  I forgot my good camera and, really, having a 2 and a half year old around a pool there is no time to do anything but watch her.  Thank goodness for my mother in law who helped with that so I could enjoy a few poolside drinks.  :)

I did snap this one of Blakely and her cousin Syble's other cousin, Sophie Grace.  Confused?  Anyway, turns out they had on matching swimsuits.  Not planned but adorable anyway.  I am a sucker for Ol.d Na.vy holiday gear.  Gets me every time.  

Lonnie picked blackberries a couple of times last week.  Blakely really wanted to go so we let her but just for a little bit.  Too many snakes!  She thought it was fun and has been trying to get Daddy to go again.  

They are really great this year because we have had a lot of rain.  The first night I made some mini blackberry pies.  They turned out good but the cobbler I made the next night was even better.  We have been snacking on them of the for a while and I am kind of blackberried out.  I put the rest of what we have in the freezer.  He says he may go a few more times but we will see.  I am so mad that I didn't take a picture of the final cobbler because it was pretty! 

It was a year ago that all the shit went down with our 5th IVF.  (one, two, three, four, five)  I am over it now but I would be lying if I said I wasn't still a little bitter.  That really messed me up for a while.  I don't know if I would have even remembered the day except my retrieval was on the 4th of July and that is hard to forget.  Anyway, I am really happy with where we are in our infertility journey now.  What a difference a year makes!

Speaking of infertility, I have started my medications for our frozen embryo transfer.  We have a tentative date of transfer of July 28th!  Wow.  That is really soon.  Right now I am injecting 5 units of lu.pron each morning and taking a baby aspirin.  I put on an estrogen patch every other day and that will gradually increase to 4 patches every other day over the next few weeks.  I am thrilled and excited that we are getting so close to the last step in this process.  I am also getting quite nervous!  

Lastly, thank you of all of the concern and well wishes for my mom.  She is doing better and has a check up today.  She has sure enjoyed the extra Blakely snuggles!  

The 4th + a great weekend

I thought I should share some pics of the holiday with y'all.  We didn't really do anything all that special.  Lonnie and I actually got no sleep the night before so we took turns taking a nap during the day...glory.

That evening we went to a get together at a friends house.  It was great fun but super hot.  Blakely had a great time playing with someone else's toys.  Apparently I need to buy her some maracas....she loved those!  She was a hit with everyone.  She smiled the whole time and just kept us all entertained.  There was supposed to be a fireworks show but we had to cancel that part of the party.  It has been so dry and we are under a burn ban so they banned all use of fireworks.  Boo...

This was actually the day before.  She, of course, had multiple outfits for the occasion so she wore red, white, and blue for days.  

Teeth!

This were on the actual 4th.  I forgot to take any pics at the actual party.  Something about zillions of kids running around trying to play with my child made me forget all about pictures!  

She loves to chew on her shoe!

 YAY!

This is her "I am so over pictures" look...

On Friday, we went to my mother in law's house about an hour away.  She has a fantastic pool and we love to just go hang out there.  She has a room set up just for Blakely...so sweet :)  We played at the pool all Friday afternoon. 

Friday night Bob (MIL) had plans to go to the theater with some friends.  Lonnie, B and I just hung out.

She was a little unsure about the hardwood floors...

Not for long though...

She explored Nana Bob's whole house and pulled up on everything she could find.  We could not take our eyes off of her for one second!

Yes, I know.  Cutest diaper ever...

I wanna go back outside!

On Saturday morning we had really great intentions to go to the F.armers M.arket.  But we didn't.  Lonnie and I didn't feel all that great...maybe a little hungover?  We were also up most of the night because B sleeps terrible.  So we lounged most of the day and Bob watched B while we napped.  

We also did a little napping like this....She is SUCH a snuggle bug these days!

We were supposed to go to my friend's 30th birthday party but we didn't make it.  We still didn't feel all that great and just wanted to lounge around the house with Blakely.  Bob made us her wonderful chicken soup...yums!

That evening we went swimming.  Blakely LOVED that.  NO sunscreen, bathing suit or shades??  YAY!  

That wore her out pretty good so then we all went to bed.  Once again, she didn't sleep great and then decided to be UPFORTHEDAY at 6 am...joy.  Blake and I let everyone else sleep in and we played in Collier and Syble's room with all of their fun toys.  

We did a little shopping for luggage and then had lunch before we left town.  We ate at a place called S.tar of Ind.ia and I can't even tell you how yummy it was.  I heart Indian food...

We were all happy to be home and enjoy our Sunday night together.  Blakely even broke out the beer...  :)