Saturday, July 9, 2011

Fourth of July!

We had a beautiful July 4th at Lake Shawnee.  My cousin Susan moved to this private lake community on Memorial Day weekend and I have to say, it's such an idyllic setting for the Fourth of July.  Her house sits right on the lake and is surrounded by numerous sandy beaches.  The entire family had a great time kayaking, swimming, fishing before we returned to Susan's for a fabulous barbecue, complete with hot dogs, hamburgers, flank steak, fish tacos and about a million side dishes.  Yum! Of course, we were all too busy to whip out a camera, but Monte and I managed to get a few shots on our phones. 

Putting in ear plugs


 Squirting Layla
Trudy and Layla baking a birthday cake!
Mary Grace (and Monte, Devon and Todd in the background)


 Dad, Mom and Jill
 Rich and Susan
 Layla and her favorite person in the world - Ryan!
 Dad and his girls <3
 Me and Monte
 Uncle Bobby, Susan and Monte
 Beautiful view
 Cousins (and Aunt Debbie)

Monte and Ryan caught a fish! (Poor Tommy, it was his fishing rod)


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Birthday, Beach and Baby Boy!!

Monte's last day of school fell on my 29th birthday, which gave us two reasons to celebrate! It's been a long school year, so I love seeing the end of another year for him (and another year closer to getting out of the state)! 

Layla and I spent the morning gardening and fingerpainting in the backyard.  Here are some before and after pictures of Layla's "masterpiece":


After lunch, we went shopping in Montclair, and then picked Monte up from school.  My MIL watched Layla while Monte and I had a fabulous dinner at our favorite restaurant, Presto's in downtown Jersey City.  I stopped by my parent's house after dinner and then Monte and I had dessert at home.  I am a very lucky lady! I got some awesome gifts from my mom, dad, sister, and even Layla, and Monte surprised me with a new hammock for the backyard! It was a great birthday.

***
Later in the week, Layla and I went down to Avon with my family while Monte was at work.  Layla is absolutely fearless in the water.  Luckily, there were tons of tidal pools along the shore line, so I didn't have to physically restrain her from walking directly into the ocean.  She had lots of fun swimming, making sand castles, and making everyone wear buckets on their head.





After the beach, we went out for pizza.  What a perfect beach day!

***

On Friday, I had my 20 week ultrasound.  I really look forward to each ultrasound, not only because I get to see my baby, but it's some of the only bonding time that Monte and I have alone.  It was so exciting to see our baby, especially since my last ultrasound was done at 12 weeks.  The baby looked so cute and had both its legs and arms crossed, which reminded me so much of Layla! The doctor said the baby looks great.  Obviously, the health of the baby is the most important thing, so it was a relief to see it moving around.  Monte and I decided to find out the sex of the baby aaaannndd.... It's a BOY!! I cannot begin to explain my shock and surprise when I found out.  Even though I have been imagining the baby was a boy and referring to it as a "he", I did the same thing with Layla so deep down, I really thought I would be having another daughter.  Monte is so excited.  I think every man needs a son in his life, just like every mom needs a daughter. To be honest, as excited as I am to be having a boy, I feel completely unprepared!! I only have a sister and the closest thing I know to raising boys is being around my younger cousins.  This should be quite a ride!

It was fun surprising my parents - Monte and I went shopping after the ultrasound, and bought some little boy onesies and had them wrapped.  My mom and sister, who were babysitting Layla, opened the box and saw all the blue!  Then they called my dad.  He's finally getting another boy in the family!
 Even though Layla is probably too young to understand the difference, she says she's excited that she's gonna have a "brudda".


I'm going to have to save my fourth of July post for another day.  I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend!