Fishing and Camping

We have been one with nature lately. A few weeks ago Eric took Lexi and Luke down the the neighborhood pond to see if they could catch anything. After digging up some worms from the compost pile, they grabbed their nets and poles and headed down. Eric got Lexi's rod set up but before he could get the worm on Luke's rod, Lexi was reeling in a fish! Of course Luke got impatient and started saying "My turn, my turn." Eric had a great time spending a little time with his niece and nephew :-)

Then this past weekend, we combined a camping trip with a sad farewell to a dear friend's dad. Our good friends the Christophel's received news 6 weeks ago that his father had pancreatic cancer. Although they believed it was terminal, the doctors gave John 6-8 months to live. Unfortunately, his time was much shorter than that. John passed away last week. The beautiful funeral was held on Saturday morning in Elkton, VA. We didn't know John very well, but it touched us very deeply when he passed. Jesse always has been a wonderful friend, and through the years of getting to know Jesse we also got to know a little about John both through stories Jesse told us about growing up and through the character that John and MJ instilled in Jesse.

After attending the funeral, we headed up to Luray to camp with my parents. They camp site was a little bit of a hike, but well worth it. No one was around us and the dogs were able to run free. The boy fished and as you can see below they both caught a good one! Mom and I chatted and walked and swam with the dogs. We saw lots of birds, an adult otter and a little baby otter. The baby was so cute only 6 or 7 inches long. Also, Jada showed us her new trick...diving for tennis balls.

After camping we headed to the Christophel farm for a visit. This was our first time at the farm and it was beautiful! We spent some time chatting and looking at pictures the family took before John passed. It was difficult circumstances to visit under, but it was good to spend some time with the family.

Grow Baby Grow!

Munchkin is continuing to make great progress! We had another ultrasound on Monday, and everything is looking good. Munchkin is now 1 lb 5 oz, according to the doctors...although I've heard they are sometimes not very accurate. We were able to see the skin that formed around the spine this time, so there's no question about that. Also, the kidney that looked to large last time was normal this time! The doctor told us not to worry because there were a lot of reasons they could appear that way, and he was right.


It was neat to watch Munchkin moving around on the screen and I was actually able to feel the movements this time! I've been feeling movements for a few weeks now and it's WONDERFUL! I love knowing our little one is getting stronger and developing with the little reminders, although sometimes bigger than other times, of bumps and kicks. It took awhile for Munchkin to cooperate, but Eric was able to feel Munchkin moving too!

We will continue to visit the high risk clinic until 31 weeks or so...that means 3 more visits. Next week they test to make sure I'm not releasing any chemicals that will start labor to early. Although it's time consuming, I've really enjoyed being able to see our little one grow with all the ultrasounds!


We are also working on making some room in the house for our new little one. Step one is to tear out and then refinish the basement. Eric is thankful that our friend Dan is helping with this one :-) After the basement is finished, we will move the office downstairs and begin on the nursery. We are thankful to have some hand me down furniture from Cheryl, Eric's sister, and I've already got the bedding set. Once all the fun house projects are done we will be sure to put some pictures up.


Below are the latest pictures. One of Munchkins itty bitty foot and the others are profiles. Enjoy!