Family time

We spent the weekend with Mom and Dad Nieter, Brent, Kim and Blake after our trip to DC. Zoe had spent the whole week with them and found a new best friend in Blake. (When Millie wasn't around of course) We had a really good time relaxing, swimming some (it feels good to be somewhat weightless!) and just being with family.

Blake thought that Zoe was a great pillow. He leaned back on her, wrapped his arms around her head, even hit her on the head with a lid and she just sat there and looked at him. I'm really happy that she is so gentle with little ones!

Blake had a good time finding my belly button and making it go back in!

It took Zoe all week to work up the nerve to get that close to the pool.

She finally got in (with a little help) on Sunday. She did end up jumping in on her own a few times!

Garden!

Our garden has really taken off in the last couple of weeks. Since we were on vacation last week, our neighbors watered for us, and I was anxious all week to see the progress of our buds that we left! Here is what we came back to...

There are about 5 tomatoes that are about this size, none ready to eat yet though :(

Here is our squash that isn't quite ready yet. There are a lot of buds that we are waiting on.

Our zucchini was great tonight for dinner!

The cucumber is almost ready too. I can't wait to have it in a salad (along with that tomato!)

Nursery!

Mom and Dad McCollum came up this weekend and helped get the nursery underway! Dad and Dustin painted. Mom had been working on the window treatments so we were able to get those hung. When they are let down, no light will be getting in!

The last time they came up, Dad M. and Dustin stripped down my old furniture and painted it to match the crib. The desk will be used as a changing table. It was actually one that a roommate from college left in our basement.

They also found some letters that I painted.

23 Weeks!

Another great week! It's amazing how much can get done when school's out and another graduate class has finished. I would say that I've been able to sleep in, but Rachel has decided that 5:30 is a great time to kick the bladder then practice some flips!

Some really good news is that Old Navy had a big sale yesterday so I was able to buy some tank tops for $2 each! Good thing, I was running out of casual shirts.

22 Weeks

Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later... we had a busy week last week and I did not get a chance to post a picture. These past 2 weeks have been good ones. We went to the doctor this past Friday and she said that everything looks great! My blood pressure was down from my last appointment (it wasn't high then and she was not worried, but I just knew it was higher than usual... of course I had rushed out of school and had a pretty stressful few days before that last appointment). The doctor also said that I was gaining a good amount of weight. The heartbeat was nice and strong too!

I've been adjusting pretty well. Of course I did almost fall over a few times while squatting down and leaning forward. I'm just not quite used to the extra weight in front! I'm feeling really good and we are getting a lot of things accomplished here around the house now that school is out!

179 down, 1 to go!

Wow, I can't believe this school year is over for the most part! It has been a challenging and eventful one for sure! We had preschool graduation today and everything went well. I was excited that the kids all behaved, but a little disappointed that they did not have the energy that they usually do during the songs. Dustin has had 1/2 days yesterday, today and tomorrow for exams. Their graduation is Tuesday, then he is all done until August!

20 Weeks!

Here we are at 20 weeks... the "official" half way point. So much to do! We are kind of at a stand still until school gets out.

Some major progress that we have made is her name:

Rachel Elizabeth McCollum!
Rachel- Lamb; gentle
Elizabeth- God is my consecration; God's promise
Although we did not necessarily choose these names because of their meanings, the meanings did seem to fit what we want for our little girl. We actually missed the Sunday when our class talked about name meanings, but some friends have shared about the importance of names. The class was encouraged to have positive meanings for the names of children because every time you say your child's name, you are speaking the meaning over him or her.