Leah Sings

Leah loves music and lately has been singing the tunes of some of her favorite songs including: God is So Good, This is the Way the Lady Rides, and Skip to My Lou. This morning I got out the camera and tried to get her to sing all of them, but only got one on camera. See if you can figure out which song she is singing.

Pregnancy Update

I am now officially finished with the first trimester, and am actually 15 weeks along! It's hard to believe that we are already more than a third of the way through this pregnancy. And, I am definitely starting to feel some of the benefits of the second trimester like: not being so tired and food tasting better. I'm looking forward to gaining back some of the weight I've lost. (Don't worry, it's only about 7 pounds, which is less that with Leah). I'm still not showing, but I definitely feel the bump in my belly every time I lean against the kitchen counter or bend over. It won't be too long now, though. And, most exciting of all, today I had a doctor's appointment and we got to hear the heartbeat! The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. The best thing of all, was Leah's reaction. She started "da-da-ing" to the beat and when Stephen brought her close to the doplar, she touched it and started to giggle. She really liked hearing her baby sibling's heartbeat! The only thing that would have made it better, would have been a camera to capture it. Oh well, maybe next time!

Visiting with the Tolbert Family

After spending 4th of July with my brother, we went to Camden to visit with Aunt Patty, Uncle Luke, and cousins Anna Kate and Caroline. We had a great time on our visit and were so excited that the girls had a fun time together, too. Anna Kate was really good about bringing toys to Leah, letting Leah touch her, and talking to her. Anna Kate found out about a new phrase that makes Leah giggle, "Burpy, Burpy!" and kept coming up to Leah and saying it (although, in her two-year-old speech, it sounded more like "Boppy, Boppy!"), trying to make her laugh. And most of the time it worked! Leah and Caroline also got to know each other. They both really enjoyed touching each other. It was a lot of fun for us to see Leah interacting with others, and to have others interact with Leah.

Swinging on the front porch swing together.

Playing piano together.

Anna Kate also really wanted to show Leah one of her favorite places, Edventure, a kids museum. So we went there, and Leah enjoyed exploring the different areas.

Crawling through a tunnel with Daddy at the fire station.

Riding on the tractor at the farm.

Playing the djembe.

Leah was able to record her own piano concerto.

Sliding down a slide in the kids play area.

It was so much fun to visit with family! I promise there really is a baby Caroline, even though she wasn't in any pictures. Next time!

4th of July

We got to spend 4th of July with Uncle Joe, Aunt Lindsay, and cousins Riley and Reagan. We had a good time visiting, playing in the sprinkler, swimming, and of course, watching fireworks. Uncle Stephen even brought some sparklers for Riley.

It was so hot, we couldn't even waste time to change into bathing suits!

Leah loves water!

Sparklers!

 

We're ready for fireworks!!

House Hunting in Norfolk

We spent last weekend in Norfolk looking for a house to rent for our first year in Norfolk. We made appointments to see 9 houses that we found online, but didn't actually look at all nine of them. We were surprised to learn when driving around Norfolk, that it is a very different city than what we are used to. Instead of having a "good side" or a "bad side" of town, they have pockets of good and bad that can be in the same neighborhood on just the next block. We quickly narrowed down many of them, for various reasons, with one sticking out among the rest. It also happened to be the first house we saw. It was in a really nice, quiet neighborhood, close to ODU, and just three houses down the road, there was a street sign that we took as a "sign"...

That sign really helped us to make our decision. The house itself, also helped! It is a really neat house, that's been nicely updated, with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. One of the rooms is being set up as a guest room, so we will be ready and waiting for visitors!

Leah says, "Come visit my new house!"

Summer!

What's the best thing to do on a 100 degree day? Go swimming, of course! We went to Jacksonville to visit with Uncle Dustin and cousins Wesley and Cooper at their grandparents' home on our way to Norfolk. We went to their community pool where they have a great splash area for little ones with a really cool frog slide.

Leah liked to have the water splash her in the face. She would stay their until we forced her to go down the slide, so the other kids could have a turn on the slide.

At the top!

Getting started!

Down we go!

Sliding on the tummy helps to avoid water up the nose at the bottom!

I love being in the water!