Getting there!

"Getting there" on two fronts:

First, the baby.  I will be 32 weeks on Thursday, which means approximately 8 weeks to go!  We're very excited, and everything has been progressing so well to this point.  This baby seems to be a heck of a lot more active than Preston was, but maybe that's just because I'm more in tune to it.  Who knows!  I have been measuring right on track through all of my appointments, and I've been able to stay really active.  I've slowed down just a little at the gym, and am now sticking mostly to swimming, walking, weights and stretching.  Oh, and I've been trying to get to yoga at least once a week to keep loose.  We will be ready for this little kiddo whenever he/she decides to make his/her entrance!

Second, the house.  We are really on a role this week, and have gotten all the priming done - so now the walls are ready for paint.  Bryan and Tamara finished up the drywall a couple weeks ago, so we've been really buckling down to get things ready by the time the baby comes.  If we keep going at the rate we are, we'll be up there in a couple of weeks.  Skip really has been working very hard to get things done - and I've been trying my best!  Pictures to come...

We had an interesting week last week.  Wesley, the son of our great friends Munch and Alicia was having heart surgery again (his last was about 3 years ago).  There were some repairs that needed to be done on his valve, and they were hoping things would stay best-case scenario.  Well, after surgery on Tuesday and a great progress in recovery, Wesley was able to go home on Sunday.  We are all so glad that everything turned out okay, and we keep praying for him every day!

Because they were in and out of the hospital, our house served as a base for their showers and some overnight stays, as well as a "hotel" for their 12-week-old puppy Wayne.  Wayne has a little bit of Vizsla in him (plus he's really still a baby), so it was an adventure having him around!  He did well, though, and we got into a groove by the middle of the week remembering how to housetrain a puppy - it's been a while!  Wayne got along okay (at the end of the week) with Scotch, but we were careful with him and Preston together.  Wayne took down Preston pretty hard one evening, but Preston got him back by trying to ride him... It was sort of funny. 

Also last week, Elizabeth had tubes put in her ears and her adenoids taken out.  We found out that the regression she has been having since November was likely attributed to the immense fluid buildup in her ears - thus essentially causing her to be deaf.  The pediatric otolaryngologist said that the tubes would be able to allow the fluid to drain, since her eustachian tubes were not doing their job (likely due to lower muscle tone from Elizabeth's Down syndrome).  Her surgery went well, and she's had her good days since then.  She's also had some frustrating days, but we all know she is basically re-learning a bunch of behaviors that she had lost over the past 3 months... so it's going to take time.  There most likely will be some more and different doctor appointments in the next few months, but we're praying that she gets back to her old self and is able to speak and interact like she used to.  We love her so much!