Life's a Beach, Galveston during week 30

We woke up one Saturday morning in a new place, after driving all night Friday.

We opened the window, and Aidan, you looked outside and said, "Beach!"

Your Mom helped you out a little. She said, "Ocean."

"Ocean," You said.

Then you thought...

"Fish," you said...

And finally, "Nemo?"

It was an amazing mental connection, and the perfect beginning to a great week filled with family fun, food (lots of food), fun in the sun, ice cream ice cream ice cream and crabs.

I think this our third annual Family Beach trip, which would totally make it YOUR third family beach trip too, Aidan!

And this time you had even more fun than the last two. You're old enough to wrestle with and chase your cousins (although, I recall you chasing your cousins last time too). Even though you got a little heat-strokey and vomity near the end of the trip (just a little), it was a great time. You got to watch movies with your cousins, play with them, hang out with your family and say hi to people you don't get to very often (Hi Taff! Hi Nanny! Hi Beau! Hi Ross! Hi Bekka! Hi Grace! Hi Holdy!).

You got to eat some new foods...You like cocktail shrimp! Who knew?

You got to literally be a kid in a candy store at the Strand's Historic "La King's Confectionary." You liked candy too...but we knew that already!

And you just had a blast every day of our vacation!

So did we! (okay...except for the little part where you got sick. you weren't enjoying that. and mommy didn't like being thrown up on twice. but we did enjoy the cuddles)

You got especially close to "Addson" and "Auma" (Addison and Autumn). It was really cute to watch the three of you bonding.

There are mazillions of pictures between mine, Mimi's and Pops' cameras. Here are a select million for you to enjoy.  

It was a week filled with screaming kids, running kids, sleeping kids, dolphins (we saw dolphins!), gumbo, sand and sun screen, grandparents and aunts and uncles.

It was idyllic!

Looking back on these photos makes me feel nostalgic already, and we've only been gone a week.

But you know me, I'm a sucker for the beach.

Julia, you made a big splash at your first trip to the beach too! Everyone was so excited to learn your beautiful name!

And they couldn't wait to feel your Mommy's tummy to get a chance at feeling you kick!

And, at 30 weeks, they definitely had a lot to feel!

While at the beach we hit the 2-month mark...that's right, Julia you will be here in less than 2 months! And we can't wait to meet you...and soon enough you'll wake up one morning in a strange place...first stop, earth. And later on, because we can't stay away, you'll arise to find yourself at the beach to have fun in the sun, sand and surf with your cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, Mommy and Daddy...and your big brother too!

Picture Perfect, Part II

Today we went in for our Week 13 sonograms (thanks to Iris and David for convincing us to go)...and they were AMAZING.

We have an early surprise! Well, it's not a surprise to you, as you already know. But, anyone who wants to know our baby's gender should check back tomorrow!

That's right, I'm such a torturer that I'm going to make them all wait til tomorrow to find out, if they don't know already!

But, I don't want the gender news to overshadow all the other awesome things that we saw today.

We saw you kicking your legs like crazy, and we saw a close up of your little foot. (all 5 toes accounted for!)


We saw your heart pumping blood; all four ventricles are working! And we saw your brain!

We saw you scratch your head, stretch down and play with your toes, and scratch your chin.



We heard your heartbeat again- still in a great range: 160 bpm!

It was really amazing. Your Mom and I didn't cry, but we were both just floored at how much you've grown since your last picture session and how human your movements were. Actually, most of your movements were very human, but your legs looked a little bit like when Kermit the Frog rides his bicycle. You know...kind of almost as if they were moving independently of the rest of your body's motions, but this might have been heightened because we couldn't see your arms!


But, Muppet or not, the experience was incredible. And then to make it even more incredible, we discovered your gender (with 90% certainty!)

It was so great to see you again and count your fingers and toes. It was the stuff of dreams to watch you kicking and squirming and moving around.

And, at the very end, you gently fell asleep on your Mom's bladder. Face down. The doctors tried to wake you up by jostling the belly, but you wouldn't wake up for anything! You sound like a Weinstein already!

They even made DVD of the whole sonogram for us, so we can watch you whenever we feel like it! Words aren't doing justice to how jaw-dropping today's sonogram was, so hopefully these pictures below will send the message. And hey, we may even rip the DVD and put it in here too!