The "old" normal

One of the best parts about having time at home with Dax is the opportunity to experience his curiosity and joy on a daily basis. As Baby Girl's due date gets closer and closer I find myself often imagining how all of those little moments will change. While I am excited to meet her, I am also a little sad about how much my time with Dax will change. Until then, I am consciously enjoying him. Take a peek at a few of the special moments lately:

He was so excited when he spotted a bunny in our yard

And then wanted to eat his snack by the window so he could watch it!

When it was raining so we couldn't play with water outside he suggested doing a car wash!

Then I asked him to pose with his cars when he was done. When I told him he was smiling goofy, he did this instead and said, "Precious."

While unloading the dishwasher I heard Dax across the room say, "Look Mommy! It's a U!"

State Fair

After a lot of debate about whether of not the state fair would be fun at over 8 months pregnant, we decided to give it a try. We intentionally overlapped our trip with a day that the Okee Dokee Brothers were playing and it turned out to be the perfect day.

Mini donuts make a tasty breakfast

Dax was not so sure about the giant slide at first...

but warmed up to it after getting to the bottom!

He also enjoyed trying some rides,

checking out the riding lawnmowers,

and playing a game.

Okee Dokee Brothers!

Dancing with Daddy

It was a fun day!

36 Weeks

Well, I'm basically full term with Baby Girl now and we are excitedly awaiting her arrival. I'm not sure I can grow much more, but her growth is on track and she's been healthy at every appointment thus far. We could not be happier.

Nesting has fully kicked in and I am insanely motivated to check things off my to-do list (and to add to Jake's - sorry honey!). My hospital bag is packed and we recently spent a decent amount of time preparing the nursery. While there are a few finishing touches (I'll post some pictures when it's complete), we are happy with the state it is in.

Dax even got in on the action and helped create some art for her walls. Inspired by Pinterest, I set up two projects for him. For the first one, he finger painted over some letter stickers to create a canvas with a quote we liked for her wall. After the paint dried, I peeled off the stickers so the letters are white.

The second one stuck with the color theme. I painted two small canvases purple and gave Dax an assortment of buttons. He picked a button, I added a glue dot, and then he placed it. Both projects were fun and he is so proud to see them hanging in her room!

Now, on to setting up the bassinet, installing the car seats, packing Dax's bag for our time away, shopping for and preparing some meals for the freezer to make coming home easier... These next few weeks are going to fly by!

Fun with Dax

Though I wasn't looking forward to a full summer while pregnant, it has been a blast. The weather has not been as hot as I anticipated and I am trying to consciously enjoy every second with Dax before Baby Girl comes and my attention needs to be divided. Check out some of our excitement lately...

Jake took a day off work and we spent some time at the Children's Museum:

We play A LOT:

Music class with friends:

Cara, Dax, Bellamy, and Averi

A MN Twins game with Grandpa Phil, Grandma Caren, Auntie Shannon, and her friend Robert:

A mommy and son date at Caribou:

And another Okee Dokee Brothers concert:

After

In just over 3 weeks our kitchen was transformed completely. We LOVE the new one and are thrilled to be able to use it again. Take a peek at the change (in case it isn't obvious - left is before, right is after):

Butterfly Release

When I was a kid, our family would catch Monarch caterpillars, raise and feed them until they made their chrysalis', and then release them after taking lots of pictures with them. Those are some great memories so when we learned that the MN Landscape Arboretum provides the opportunity to release butterflies throughout the summer, we had to sign up.

We weren't sure what Dax would think, but it ended up being awesome!

Not so sure at first...

But he warmed up to them pretty quickly.

Then, after all of our butterflies were released, we explored the beautiful gardens. It really is incredible there!

Feeling the soft lambs ear leaves

Checking out the tadpoles transitioning to frogs

Strong man

Looking at the veggie garden and planning what to plant next summer at Grandma and Grandpa's

Leave it to Dax to find a superhero toy left behind by another visitor

And I had to take the same photo that we got the last few summers to compare:

2012

2013

2014