Run ragged!

What a crazy month it has been! After all the family gatherings a few weeks ago, we took the next two weekends on the road, too. We went to Minneapolis for a wedding of two friends and had a really great time reminiscing and seeing everybody that we miss so much from our time up north. Cute pictures are posted at picasa already. The trip was a little rough on Emily, who decided her carseat isn't comfy enough for a real nap.

This weekend, we went to the Des Moines Arts Festival on Friday night, and although it was a nice way to kick off the weekend, it was rough on Emily. She couldn't sit still to eat anything (fair food, walking around), so by the time we got home and tried to feed her real food in her chair, she was too tired to focus on eating. Needless to say, she was up early, calling for breakfast from her crib! We left Saturday noon for Barnum and went to Travis's 10-year class reunion. Emily stayed at her grandparents and had a really fun evening with them and her uncles. The next day, we went to mass with his family and then had lunch together before leaving town during her nap. Travis let me sleep in Sunday morning, getting up with Emily at 6:30. I woke up at 8 - wow!! What a treat!!

Emily is really talking these days. She will try just about anything you say and point to, and give it a pretty successful try. She has also discovered swimming, and LOVES it! We took her to the hotel pool up in Minneapolis and it took her about 2 minutes to go from not being sure at all to having the time of her life. She kicked, she splashed, she even put her face in the water! She didn't really like that, but she wasn't at all freaked out. She tried to blow bubbles, and she loved "jumping" off the edge of the pool into her dad's arms. She was in her swimsuit every day for a week, having a great time in the kiddie pool and sprinkler at Amanda's. As she was unwinding tonight for bed, I heard her calling out for "svimming..." And boy does she look great in a swimsuit. :) what a cute little bod!!

My ribs have already started aching. I was so hoping that the permanent stretch in my ribcage would leave me a few more weeks without this ache, but it set in at right the same point as the first time. I am trying to improve my posture throughout the day, because it's worse in the evenings after a day of slouching, I guess. I am also starting to notice that sleeping on my back doesn't feel the greatest, but I do it a lot and I remember it was hard to stay on my side the first time around. So, out of the 40 weeks of pregnancy, I've had about 10 that weren't overshadowed by nausea, exhaustion, or discomfort. And that counts the 2 weeks before I was actually pregnant! (during which time I did BRR ride. ha!)

We are starting to get ready for Ragbrai around here. I am not going to participate at all this year, which is a hard thing to swallow for me but I just can't see that it's worth the hardship for me to try to make things work. That, and the only biking I've been able to do this year is 5 miles to my brother's house and back. I really liked the benefits of biking while pregnant, but it wouldn't've mattered this summer - you can't bike if you're the mother of a toddler and wife of a biker / workaholic. Pretty discouraging, but I'm still having a great summer, so I guess my hobbies are just changing. I'm such a grown-up now... if I didn't like being a mom so much, I'd be pretty concerned about it!