36 weeks revisited after sleep and photos aided the memory!

Thanks for the good sleep wishes. Last night was a bit better and Caroline did get a good nap in midday today. She's fighting another nap right now. We made the right call in staying home. Kev and I are still quite tired. We're all working out of quite a sleep defecit right now- 8 hours plus of driving and 8 or so hours of hiking in two days... could really be a bit much. And it is hot, hot, hot. Caroline screamed so much two nights ago and during the day yesterday that she is hoarse today. She really sounds quite cute this way... very husky. Though I feel badly that she was in such distress to produce this voice! Ah well... we know she is loved and cared for and that is what matters.

Anyhow... I uploaded the pictures from this week and remember some other KEY things...

Last Sunday congregation number one had its annual picnic and pool party. So... Caroline got into a pool for the first time. Lucky girl got to get into a saltwater pool for her first experience. She was needing a nap and a bit cranky and mommy had a hard time figuring out how to get her suit on her so it took entirely too long to get her ready to get into the pool which never helps the baby's mood... so... she wasn't overly thrilled with the experience. Plus there were lots of people all around and in the pool so it was a bit overwhelming. She didn't meltdown, but didn't LOVE it. She warmed up to it a bit when daddy got in the pool and pranced about with her, but we don't have any pics of that. No face shots of her in the pool... but these are kind of sweet. The first one is just before getting into the pool.





The owners of that gorgeous saltwater pool are first time grandparents of a little boy only 10 days older than Caroline. Grandma watches her gorgeous grandson most days. She urged Kev to bring Caroline over any time and is eager to teach Caroline to swim when she's ready.

Oh, and here she is after church on Sunday, before the party...



And here are Pa and Abuelita entertaining Caroline with B.I.N.G.O.!




And just looking gorgeous all together...




Pa and Abuelita brought two VERY special gifts with them (in addition to the unspeakably wonderful gift of their presence!). They brought a tiny chair that was Abuelita's maternal grandfather's chair when he was a boy and pictures of Kev as a little one sitting in that chair. They also brought a rocking horse that was handcrafted for Pa when he was a wee one. It was painted originally with lead paint, but Abuelita repainted it entirely and matched its original design exactly. I don't have a picture of the rocking horse to show you, but I do have a picture of the chair and of Caroline in the chair. She actually can sit in it on her own when she has a mind to, but when we wanted a photo she wasn't so much interested so Kev is holding her in place. She very much enjoyed sitting down and then standing up from sitting, sitting then standing, over and over again earlier this week. Pa and Abuelita blessed us even more with these gifts by writing up the family stories that go with them. What treasures! Surely more pics with the chair and with the rocking horse will appear here in the future! We really should scan in the pic of Kev in the chair and put that up too... I don't really know how the scanner works so I never seem to get around to that!