Tahoe Trip | Wedding at Squaw

**I finally got around to completing this post that I started back in June!**

We are so lucky and honored to have been invited to be a part of our friends' wedding at Squaw last weekend!! It is such a beautiful part of the country to visit and the wedding was amazing. And of course, we love the opportunity to visit Martina and Chris :)

During the rehearsal the night before, the boys were not excited to walk down the aisle. In fact, Ryder ran from the venue and hid. So Logan practiced with the flower girl, Sophie. I expected Ryder to be my reliable one, so I was nervous about them actually going down the aisle on Saturday! We put some good bribes in place (I let Ryder pick anything Lego related off Amazon and told him I'd press 'order' once he walked down the aisle! Thankfully, he picked a $6 mini figurine!) and that did the trick! 

The wedding day was absolutely perfect. Shawn took the boys on a hike and got them a good nap, while I hung out with the bridesmaids in Martina's condo for the day. The boys did ok for photos (I forgot jellybeans to bribe smiles :/) and did great during the ceremony and reception. Everything was planned perfectly. Outdoor games, bonfire with s'mores, activities for the kids at the head table....super impressed with all Martina's hard work. 

I think my favorite part of the reception was watching Ryder dance!! He danced for hours to all his favorite songs and insisted that he needed to keep his suit jacket and sunglasses on because they made him look cool! Lol! He was totally in his own zone. Made me laugh so hard, I cried every time I watched him!

Crashed immediately at our condo.

Other fun things we did while we were in Tahoe were:

Hanging out in our sweet condo with a hot tub nearby...

Naptime at the condo

View out our window :)

Hiking on the ski mountain...

 

Taking the tram up to High Camp to swim in the pool...

 

I love how much these boys love each other!

Going to the Olympic museum at High Camp...

Morning walks in the village...

Dinner at Sunnysides (a favorite for Shawn and I)...the kids threw rocks into the water, while we enjoyed our meal on the deck.

A few trips to the playground...

Canoeing on Donner Lake (super sketchy on the choppy part of the lake! I'd call it 'adventure canoeing'! Much calmer in the lagoon)...

 

 

A few other random photos from the trip:

 Boys did great on the flights! They colored, ate snacks, looked at flight maps and watched movies. (All went well, except for when the plane had to stop during the taxi phase on the runway because Ryder was about to pee his pants....)

 On our way home, the Delta pilots let the kids climb into the cockpit, sit down, and introduced them to some of the equipment! So cool!!

Such a great vacation!!

Hospital Stay | Day 8 (31 Weeks)

What a fun day today! The morning started with me fast asleep and the boys running into my room around 7:15am shouting "Mommy!!" :) Best way to wake up here :) We had a cozy visit watching cartoons cuddled on my bed, just like mornings at home on the couch.

Then, since its a weekly milestone day, the hospital brought me [a huge] cake to celebrate with my family! And they took a picture with a fun 31 week banner :) 

Shortly after that, the prenatal yoga teacher (who had been a labor and delivery nurse for 15 years) came in for a private session in my room! She dimmed the lights, turned on some relaxing music, had me face the corn fields out my window, and guided me through a number of poses I wouldn't have known I could do with vasa previa. So that was awesome :) I was also able to walk the halls again today, so got about a mile in.

And, the best part of the day was date night!! Matt & Debi picked the kids up from daycare so Shawn grabbed dinner (Chipotle - yum!) and came to the hospital for dinner, a movie, and cake!! So nice to have that 1-on-1 time like we'd get at home every night after the kids go to bed. 

Just the two of us :)

Celebratory cake! 

I also got another round of steroid shots today and a new IV, but with the big picture in mind, (even tho they don't feel great) these things don't really bother me. 

Nice that even though I can't be home or go outside, it was still a fun day :)

Hospital Stay | Day 7

I had fun visits today with my mom and Mikayla this morning and then Shawn and the boys this evening! With those and an ultrasound appointment, my day flew! 

This evening for the boys' visit, I had another Ninja project ready for them (after a brownie dessert!). They left here looking so adorable in their masks and rain jackets waving and saying 'Bye, Mom!!'

Before they left, Logan trimmed the next link off our countdown chain! One week under our belts!!

Hospital Stay | Day 6

Whew - today sure had some ups and downs! At one point this morning, I left my room quickly to inform the nurses of some symptoms, while simulatneously taking off my Fitbit and belly button ring in case a rush delivery was about to happen. They talked to the doc and had me do fetal monitoring for 6 hours to keep an eye on contractions, baby's movement and baby's heartrate. With that, plus my normal 2x/day monitoring, that meant almost 8 hours in bed. Everything ended up looking ok, so around dinner time, I was able to walk around my room again without the monitors (but no hallway walking today). 

It was tough to be in bed on the monitor all day, but it was the first time I spent the day in bed since I arrived, so it wasn't too bad. Between HGTV, Pinterest and making more hats, I didn't do anything super productive, but I kept busy.

The day turned around when Shawn and the boys came for a visit after school / work. The hospital puts on a Monday Movie Night for their antepartum patients (me). That means they let your guests order personal pizzas from downstairs (delivered to my room via roomservice) and they provide popcorn / movie snacks to go along with their on-demand movies. So the boys and Shawn ordered pizza, cuddled up on my bed and watched Dispicable Me 2 :) Almost felt like a fun night at home :)

Silliness, just like a night at home ;)

Some other random things about being in the hospital: I like having my floor mopped for me daily, sheets changed as often as I'd like, room service calls to see if I'm hungry if I haven't ordered a meal in a while, the nurses offter to get me anything (but I've been feeling fine, so pretty much do everything on my own. I could probably even do my own vitals, fetal monitoring, and flush my IV at this point!), and the food isn't bad. 

Breakfast:

I've been eating this or cereal with almond milk - huge thanks to Shawn for grocery shopping for me at Target :)

Lunch:

I make peanut butter banana bagel sandwiches & dip my veggies in the remaining PB - yum!

6 days down, 23 to go!!

Hospital Stay | Day 4

Today was day 4 in the hospital - of hopefully a 4 week stay. I say hopefully, not because I enjoy being here, but because that means we would have the planned 34 week delivery of baby rather than an emergency delivery.

It is hard to be away from the boys and Shawn; it is hard for Shawn to be a solo parent; it is hard to be limited to the labor and delivery unit during the last 4 weeks of summer.

But, we are lucky. We are lucky we have a healthy baby who is still growing in my belly; we are lucky to have such awesome friends and family that have already been such a huge help; we are lucky to have a great team here at the hospital taking care of me; I am lucky to have a husband who has not complained once since we found out about this stay a month or two ago.

I am also lucky for all the visits I've had over the past few days!! Between family and hospital staff, I've hardly had to entertain myself yet. When I am alone, I have been walking the hallways (at least 1.5 mi per day!), making baby hats (4 so far), and watching a little TV (cable is still new and exciting to me). 

I know the hardest part of all of this will be being away from my family, but also that the visits with the boys are a little tough. Ryder can sit still and draw / play, but Logan still has so much energy. To help, I've been prepping projects for their visits or Shawn has been bringing them at snack / mealtime so they can eat here. It also helps that I'm close enough that they can pop up for a quick visit while running errands. One morning, Shawn even brought the boys up for a quick visit before school / work! I woke up to little feet running into my room just like at home :)

Countdown chain to scheduled delivery day! (Sept 10th - 34 weeks)

Unfortunately, I have to shower with this on (and the IV port is in all the time), but it's really not that bad.

So, we'll see how it goes as more time passes, but so far we're all doing well.

Friday Fun

This past Friday, we were super lucky and got to spend the day at a friend's cabin! The boys had such a blast playing with the other kids and being in the water all day. For me, it was great to spend some time relaxing with the other moms and just soaking up a beautiful summer day on a beautiful lake.

Ryder spent hours jumping on the trampoline and was able to swim out, climb up and jump off by himself (and then repeat over and over)! Logan was a little afraid to swim out and back by himself, but he did climb up and jump with ease :)

The kids even went on a boat ride and jumped off to swim in the lake :)

So thankful to have Friday's off to take the kids on fun little adventures like this! And a huge thank you to Allison for hosting all of us!!

Maple Grove Days

This morning, Ryder ran in the .8mi Maple Grove Days fun run :) Around the pond all by himself :)

With the neighbor boys :)

Checking out the police cars, fire trucs, tow trucks, etc!