Denver trip

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from our trip to Denver in May. There are quite a few pictures, so get ready...

The last time we flew with Jenna, she was about 6 months old. At the time we thought that was difficult...haha. Try flying with a very active toddler who doesn't like to nap in public! We didn't purchase Jenna her own seat, so she had to sit on either Drew's or my lap. I packed quite a few different toys that I hoped would keep her occupied. The Magna Doodle was the best purchase for the trip...it kept her busy for probably about 20 mins, which was the record compared to the other toys. She honestly didn't do too bad on the trip out there...but the trip home was a different story. OH MY!!! After a weekend of not much sleep, plus very little sleep the night before and then no nap at all that day, Jenna "hit a wall" with about 30 mins left in the flight and had a complete meltdown. Not just crying...we're talking SCREAMING at the top of her lungs for about 20 mins. There was absolutely nothing we could do to calm her down. She didn't want to be held, but she didn't want to be set down either. She kept wriggling out of our arms - she didn't want toys or food...or anything. Drew was able to move to an open seat behind us and I just let her lay halfway in my arms and halfway on the two seats until she wore herself out and fell asleep. Talk about an experience! I think it's safe to say we won't be flying anytime soon. ;)

Us going for a swim in the hotel pool. Jenna wasn't a fan of it, so we didn't stay in too long.

But she did love playing with the bubbles in the hot tub.

Although Cathy and Chris had gotten a crib for Jenna to sleep in while we were there, she didn't do too well in her new surroundings. She'd sleep in the crib until about 3am and then wake up crying. Since we didn't want to wake up the whole house, we just let her sleep in bed with us the rest of the night. I was worried she'd want to continue that once we got home, but thankfully she adjusted back to her regular sleeping schedule in her own crib. Yay!

Mom and James...the recently engaged couple! Congratulations, guys!! So excited for you...

Brian and Natalie...the other engaged couple. Aren't they so cute together?!

Daddy and Jenna enjoying the view.

The family going on a walk.

Hanging out at the house, playing a fun game of Bop-It.

Sitting around the fire at Uncle Stan and Aunt Jean's house. It was so fun visiting with them and Grandma and Ed. Plus that was the first time they had met Jenna.

The family sitting around talking.

Aunt Cathy and Jenna playing on the trampoline.

Jenna sure had a blast on the trampoline!

Jenna all hot and sweaty while at the Denver Zoo.

They had a carousel at the zoo, so we decided to take Jenna on it. She did alright for most of the ride, but was ready to get off at one point so I ended up just holding her the rest of the time.

Grandma B. and Jenna taking a walk at the zoo.

This zoo was so neat! At the giraffe exhibit, you could actually feed the giraffes. It was so cool! Jenna loved it!

While we were in Denver, we also got to visit with some good friends from college, Kristie and Andy Young. They recently had a baby girl (Jane) so it was great meeting her for the first time.

The mommies and daughters. Don't you love how baby Jane is looking up at her mom?!

One of the mornings, Drew, Cathy, and I decided to go to a local park with Jenna. Jenna enjoyed playing and Cathy got some great shots of her!

The boys playing bocce ball out back.

How beautiful is this?!

Another day we all went on a hike. Jenna actually fell asleep on the car ride there, so I was originally planning on staying back with her so she could get a good nap in, but Mom offered to stay with her. It was sooo nice going on the hike and enjoy it without having a little toddler to keep up with. Thanks Mom!!!!

Cathy and Chris

Being Bortons, we just HAD to sit on the dam. Haha! :)

That was just a snippet of our time there. Cathy and Chris were such a great host and hostess. We really enjoyed our time and look forward to getting the whole family together again for Thanksgiving.

Maternity Pics

Well, Jenna got sick with a cold a little over a week ago and she still has a bit of a cough and runny nose so she and I are staying home from church so as not to get all the other kiddos sick too. :) So while I'm home, I thought I'd post some AWESOME maternity pics that my sister-in-law, Cathy, took while we were out in Denver visiting. She does such a GREAT job taking pics - I honestly think she needs to start her own photography business on the side.
















These were taken when I was 7 months pregnant. Drew just took my 8 month pregnancy pic last week. Only 4 more weeks to go...I can't believe it!! Here I am at 8 months.

Last night I had my first (continual) Braxton Hicks contractions. We were starting to get a little nervous because I kept having them. We went to bed not knowing if I'd wake up in the middle of the night with more painful contractions. Thankfully they were just Braxton Hicks and not the real thing. I'm excited to meet our baby and to FINALLY find out if we're having a boy or girl, but I'm not quite ready for him/her to arrive. We still have things to do in the baby's room before we'll be ready. And I was wanting to get caught up on Jenna's scrapbook before I had another one to scrapbook. Haha! We'll see if that'll happen. I am almost finished scrapping July of last year. Only 11 more months to go! ;) I'm guessing it won't all get done, but we'll see.

I know this is out of order, but I'm going to try to update next with pics from our visit out to Denver from a month ago. Look for that within the next week!

Sandbox and Pool

Another recent garage sale find was a sandbox. Jenna wasn't too sure of it at the beginning, but she's gotten more used to the feel of the sand between her toes. At first she wouldn't even get in the sandbox, but as you can see, she'll now get in it. She seems to really enjoy it - the only struggle now is teaching her to keep the sand IN the sandbox. She'll get the hang of it eventually, I'm sure.




Then today Jenna had some daddy-daughter bonding time while Mommy was at a baby shower. It was a beautiful day outside so Daddy took Jenna on a 20-minute bike ride, a wagon ride around the neighborhood, and also a dip in the pool.

Catch Up

Babymoon:

Drew and I decided to take a "babymoon" before baby #2 arrives. Friday night we went to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game and sat in the all-you-can-eat seats. Yay! There's nothing like eating ballpark hotdogs, popcorn, and peanuts until you feel like you could burst. ;) It was really fun going to a ball game, although the Reds didn't win. But the weather was PERFECT - warm with a nice breeze. We were expecting it to rain, but thankfully it didn't. However, back in Troy there was a huge storm that passed through and my parents lost electricity for a couple of hours.


We used Drew's hotel points from all his business travels and were able to stay at a Homewood Suites for free! It was really nice. There was a small kitchen with a lounge area and then a bedroom and bathroom off of that. We didn't think to take pictures until Saturday morning so there aren't any pictures of the messy bedroom!


Then Saturday we just took it easy and stopped at some local stores. We bought a few Sandra Boynton books (LOVE her books!) for Jenna at Half-Price Bookstore and Drew so kindly let me shop a little at Michaels.

We originally had wanted to go to La Comedia dinner theater as part of our babymoon, but the show we wanted to see (Phantom) was only playing until the weekend before our "trip". The next show was Church Basement Ladies and neither of us were that keen on seeing it, so we went to the dinner theater a few weeks before our babymoon. We've been once before and I've been a few other times and just love it. It's such a fun date - a little pricey, but nice when you have a buy-one-get-one-free coupon.


Shed:

Recently we also decided to have a shed built in our backyard. Now that we're expanding our family we are quickly running out of garage space with all of the big toddler outdoor toys. Drew was going to build it himself, but we realized that he just doesn't have the time to do it. And we were surprised to find a local Amish company that builds them for a great price - about what we were planning to spend if Drew built it himself. Here's a before and after picture...


Drew's done some organizing in the shed and garage and it's been wonderful! Our garage is already starting to look better and not as crowded!

Jenna:

What update would be complete without some Jenna pictures. These were taken back in mid-April. We bought this water activity table at a Mom's Mart (basically an area-wide garage sale). Jenna has loved it!

1st hair cut

We finally got Jenna's hair cut this weekend. She had quite a few wispy's in her face so it was definitely time! She did really well. We had her sit on Mommy's lap while Daddy snapped some pictures. We made it through the cut without any crying or fits - woo hoo!