birthday soccer

so this year, my hubby and i shared both our birthdays and our anniversary with the iowa games.  it was a crazy weekend of soccer-playing, a house full of family and friends, and lots of sunshine!

hendrix had lots of fun watching his daddy play ball, and was really good at staying on the sidelines (i had worried that he would be so interested in the game that he would think he could run on the field.....but he really made no attempts at all!)  he would cheer when everyone else would cheer, and he was really good at giving "pounds" to the boys after the games.

the team consisted of all four of my brothers along with other guys that they had played soccer with in our hometown over the years.  it was fun to see them all playing together.

the only injury of the weekend (other than the typical scrapes, bruises and overworked muscles) was the dislocated toe that my oldest brother, jason, got during the second game.  it was pretty bad, and he was very lucky that there was a podiatrist working at the medical tent who could help him get it back in place without requiring an ER visit.  he had to keep it taped and out of his shoes for the rest of the weekend, so that bummed him out, but it could have been worse. 

the boys played a total of four games in two days, and that was an awful lot of effort for these older, slightly out of shape, guys ;)  thankfully the weather was relatively cool the first day, and only super hot and unbearable for that last game.

hendrix and i snuggled under the umbrella to keep cool and even at that, we were both drenched in sweat.  i need to remind myself that i would rather not be pregnant in the summertime ever again. ;)  lol

it was a fun weekend, and it was especially fun to see my boys bonding over some ball playing!  hendrix just adores his daddy and loved kicking the ball around with him after the games.

i have a feeling soccer spectating may be a big part of my future........

wordless wednesday {splish splash}

linking up with:

tara's view of the world, the naptime momtog, project alicia, 

my organized chaos, mama to 4 blessings & tots and me

26 weeks

i am now 26 weeks into my pregnancy.  i can't believe that we are so close to saying good-bye to the second trimester (my favorite trimester)!  blaire will be here in our arms before we know it!

i had a drs. appt on friday and got some of the best news so far this pregnancy.  my cervix measurements are holding strong, and i am far enough into the pregnancy that my doctor is ready to back off all the extra caution and proceed from here as if i am no longer high risk for preterm delivery!  

hip hip hooray!

she told me to call her the minute i feel any contractions (there will be no harmless braxton hicks for this mama!), but otherwise i don't go back for another 4 weeks, and we won't be doing an ultrasound at that point.  sure, i will miss getting my routine photos of baby girl, but i feel so much relief about keeping her in there long enough, that i don't think i will mind at all.  ;)

i also passed my glucose test with flying colors (which was great because then i proceeded to eat tons of sweets in the form of cake and ice cream all weekend long for my birthday!)

overall, things are good.

i'm tired.

and hot.

but happy.  really, really, happy!  ;)

gender revealed

so you might remember that we announced our pregnancy at the same time that my brother and sister-in-law announced their pregnancy (in fact we did the announcement together with a fun photo collage), and they are due just a few short weeks after us.

all along i have had this feeling that they were having a boy.

not sure why.

i just did.

even when we found out that we were having a girl, and i couldn't really imagine anything cuter than two little girl cousins so close in age, i remained firm in my belief that they were having a boy.

but 

i. was. wrong.

and i am so thrilled to announce that my very first experience being an aunt, is going to happen this fall when hendrix's baby cousin, 

annalise marie is born!

i had the pleasure of taking some fun maternity photos for the adorable couple to use as a part of their gender reveal party.  we didn't know at the time what the gender was, so we took some with both pink and blue, and they didn't let the surprise be spoiled at all, even though they knew for a couple weeks before their party.

the party was a casual backyard picnic, and i loved all the little details that involved both the pink and blue and kept us guessing all the way up to the grand finale reveal!  

we each voted on our prediction, and chose to wear a little pink bow or mustache pin.  

the tally was more weighted towards boy, so there was definitely a big surprise in store for most of us!

hendrix loved running around with all his aunts and uncles, being the center of attention, of course.  he is going to have some serious adjusting to do when he shares that spotlight with his baby sister and baby cousin this fall!  ;)

hannah even did a great job of remaining neutral about the whole affair, with a mustache pin to counteract the pink bow that my brother was wearing....

it was fun to have a little baby there, for all of us to ooh and aaah over! 

the food was super delicious (and cute!)!

and this was how they made their announcement.  after leaving us is suspense for a couple hours, they opened up a box that was full of the right color balloons.

it was super cute and fun!

doesn't he look like he is ready to be smitten with a sweet little daddy's girl of his own?!?!

i am so excited for them!

what a great party hannah!  and if you have an interest in following along with them on the rest of their journey, you can check out hannah's blog over at this chaos called life.

hooray for babies!