The Online Version of Nesting - Summer 2010

We are counting down the days to the birth of our new baby boy. And we are excited! Soph is really excited to have a REAL baby to play with. Pablo is excited to have some testosterone around this place (Seriously, poor guy. Wife, daughter, female dog, one male dog we are pretty sure has very high estrogen levels, my female cousin and her female dog.) It's time for him to have a boy around. And I'm excited to see my feet again.

But I have some goals this time around. Things I reallllly want to get done before I go in to the hospital. Lots of work stuff, of course. Seeing as though I took about a total of 24 hours off when Soph was born, this time I am determined to double that - 48 hours . . . at least! And I've made progress on that end with all weddings designed through the end of April! Yippee! Lots more to do for work, but I'm light years ahead this time around compared to last.

My other goal was to be ready on the homefront for this baby. And I have found that this is potentially a goal that I have to let go, at least a little bit. I have found that prepping a house for a newborn when there is a two-year old running around just isn't as simple as prepping the house for the first-born. Peanut-buttery hands are eager to hold and touch everything for the new baby. So I'm secretly hoping that while we are off at hospital-land having the baby, a possy of fairies will descend on my house with, well, no pixel dust please, but maybe the opposite? Pixel dust remover? Pixel Pledge? Does that exist? Nevertheless, considering that Sophia was brought home to a house-still-in-progress (in a biiiig way), I don't feel so bad about bringing this little one home to a house, well, still-in-progress in a little less of a biiiiig way.

And my final goal was to BLOG. To catch up on the promised summer post and then more recently, the Christmas post. I don't want Soph to look back and think that her terrible twos were soooo terrible that I couldn't bear to post any photos or share any anecdotes. And then WHAM! A new baby arrives and all the sweet cuddly photos of a newborn activate my blogging world again.

I'm not one to prepare and freeze five lasagnas. And while I have organized the house, done laundry and re-organized the house, my ankles call for a time out. So this is my online version of nesting - Blog-Catching-Up.

So I am literally backtracking to post photos of Summer 2010 - our amazing lazy hazy summer days that began with a round-the-corner trip to a hotel north of PV and then moved even further north - to the Crawford home in Minocqua for a few weeks.

First, my favorite family photo of the summer!


So without further adieu . . . a wonderland of photos (not necessarily in order) documenting Summer 2010 - from the zoo to the waterfalls, visits with uncles and cousins and more, evening rides around the lake, baking with grandma and lots and LOTS of swinging!






After a long and very-warm day at the zoo, Soph's favorite part was cooling off in the spray shower! She had TONS of fun!


Back home in Minocqua, the swingset went up under careful supervision of Sophia! And lots of outdoor playtime!









Hangin' on the porch with grampy, playing with cousin Dawson, salon time with grampy and baking with grandma!





Of course not all our time was spent in the backyard and at the zoo! Lots of time hanging in Minocqua (at allll the tourist traps) and at the lake!

















Although a pro at tubing, Pablo didn't make it up skiing. Maybe next year!



And of course a trip to some really rough waters!







And then a quick trip to the little zoo!






A quick summary of photos, I realize, but at least I accomplished half of my online-nesting! Perhaps in the next twenty-four hours, I'll skip from Summer 2010 to a photo montage of Christmas 2010. And my online-nesting will be complete.