Playgroup

I should have taken photos this morning, but as I told the girls, I have already packed my camera in the hospital bag. I know, silly, but, I was afraid we'd forget it. :) In any case, we had a good playgroup here this morning. I think there were 10 little boys here....our only girl was at Wolf Trap with her mom, Beth (thankfully Beth is having a girl so we'll at least TWO girls in our playgroup). So lots of testosterone. But always fun - good thing we have cars, trucks, balls, etc. We all hid the bats. Eventually we got outside, which the boys loved. Good energy use. In any case, at one point the boys were playing in the "Swiss cottage", the sandbox, and the swing set and it was nice to see them all doing pretty well. Should have photographed it. Oh, well. I was happy to host even though I'm this far along because as my playgroup's "leader" I have scheduled myself to host again not for 2-3 months. So this was our last "hurrah" as hosts. James did pretty well, although he is VERY possessive with his fire engine, a birthday gift from Kaelin, I believe. He LOVES IT. So was very possessive of it and for a while just sat in my lap holding it.

When everyone left James wanted to play outside more but I convinced him to have lunch and to watch some TV to settle down. Luckily he did and had a great lunch, including what I was trying to eat. Naptime was pretty easy. Our new 7 a.m. wake up is really helping with a consistent nap at 1 or 1:30, which lasts for two hours. I'll take anything so this is great. It's nice to all get up at the same time too, and so we are all enjoying this schedule. Greg's alarm will go off, then he will get James up (James wakes very easily and happily in the morning even if he's sound asleep). James usually takes 2-3 of his animals and insists on coming to "Mama's bed". However, he's realized this week that I'm now sleeping in the much cooler downstairs. So now, Greg says that James says "Mama downstairs" and the two of them come down to see me. Today they both crawled in with me and we had family snuggle time for 10 minutes. It was great and so sweet. James really enjoys cuddling and hugs and kisses so it's so wonderful.

Before playgroup I made some more banana chocolate chip muffins, which were again really easy and very tasty. Plus I vacuumed (Greg brought up the vacuum for me) and then took the garbage out. I still need to clean up the backyard but I think I'm going to wait until after nap and then James will be happy to be outside for a while. I am going to take advantage of nap as well to go rest. I just had lunch so I feel full and relaxed and happy. Always great to have playgroup here - esp. this far along. I really enjoy the ladies in my group too, so it's fun to catch up and see everyone. We are a very close group and it's nice to have consistent play for the boys....and Christina. She definitely has her pick of the group. :)

On a sad note, Greg called a while ago to say his grandmother had passed away. She's been in a nursing home for about a year and a half and has quickly deteriorated. We're not sure when the funeral will be but this is a tough time for us to think about Greg traveling to Ohio (6 hours by car). I'm thinking he won't attend but we'll see. If I have the baby before the funeral then he can go and my parents will stay with me for the 24 hours he'll be gone. But if not, it might be too close to call, considering I've heard second babies come a lot faster than first. And our first was 12 hours.