The Waiting Game

Well, I am 4 days away from my due date and am "playing" the waiting game, wondering when this little one will decide to make his/her grand entrance. Jenna came 3 days early, so I keep thinking that the baby will be here in the next day or two, but I have to keep reminding myself that that's not necessarily the case. :) I finally feel ready for the baby to arrive. I had my HUGE deep cleaning list I wanted to get done as well as getting Jenna and Baby B's scrapbooks all caught up. Thanks to my mom who watched Jenna so I could knock things off my list, I was able to get it all done and just have a few minor things left to do. Yay! So the next time I write on this blog, I'll probably have a baby to introduce to you.

Now on to the fun stuff. :) Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately (the pictures are in reverse order and I'm too lazy to move them all)...


This past Saturday we spent some of the afternoon outside. It was a beautiful day and Jenna enjoyed playing in her baby pool and sticking her head in the sprinkler.


We recently bought a portable canopy so that we could set it up in the backyard for shade. We have NO shade whatsoever, so it was very nice having some on Saturday. It's amazing how much cooler you feel when you're sitting in the shade.




Two weekends ago, my girlfriends from college and I had our own mini-reunion. I was sooo glad to see them all and get to catch up. Most of them came in from out of state - one came from Wisconsin, another from Georgia, and another from Colorado!! Then the other two drove from Cincinnati and Cleveland. Thanks girls for making the effort to come to the Dayton area, especially since I was 8 1/2 months pregnant!!

Another fun play day in the pool!

One day when it was too hot to be outside (or at least too hot for Mommy!), I got out a container with dried beans for Jenna to play with. I tried this once before in the wintertime when Jenna was only 1, but it didn't work out too well. She kept throwing the beans all over the place, so they quickly got put away for when she was older. Well...I thought maybe by 18 months she'd be ready for it. Although she did play better with them, it still became a big mess so we had to put them up again. Maybe this winter she'll be ready...??

And of course what's a summer without bubbles?? Jenna hasn't quite figured out how to blow bubbles herself (she'd much rather try eating/drinking them!!), but she sure does like to chase them!

Here's Jenna playing with a summer garage sale find. She loves her Little People barn and animals.

Thanks Aunt Cathy for the cute outfit!

Lastly, I'll leave you with a few videos.


One day I got out the finger paint, stripped her down to her diaper and let her "paint" a picture. It's a short video and near the end of her painting session. I had to cut if off quickly because she was a mess and was about to run away!

The next one is of Jenna having fun in the sprinkler.

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!