A long overdue update.

Hello friends and family! I know....it's been awhile since the last update, but we have been very busy with summer projects. We have to get these all out of the way before "Baby Boy" arrives in October.

Denise is now 26 weeks along and everything is progressing nicely. Her blood pressure so far has stayed down, which didn't happen with Libby and she was put on bedrest. The baby is going to be a big boy by the sounds of things though, as he is measuring around 32 weeks size wise. Technically, the due date is October 14, but yesterday Denise and her OB/GYN set up a scheduled C-Section for October 6. The way the baby is growing though, it may even be a little earlier than that. Libby was about 10 days early and 9lbs 6oz at birth. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go well the rest of the way.

Here are two of the ultrasound pictures. The first one is of the baby's profile and the second one is for Grandma Vicky..... who doesn't believe us that it is a boy!

Onto the summer projects! We started by replacing the boards on our back deck and putting up a railing on it. There were some boards that were starting to crack, so we decided to replace the whole floor with composite decking. Since we were putting a railing on, we didn't want to have to keep taking the railing off in the upcoming years and replacing boards as they cracked. The deck did not have a railing on it before, so it is a lot nicer for Libby to be out on it. She actually likes the railing and looking through it and waving at daddy as he mows the lawn. We also lost our privacy fence on the deck with this work, so we decided to plant three arborvitae trees and make a natural privacy fence.

Up next was a swingset for Libby. We found a cedar one online that has a glider, two swings, a slide, a "fort" tower and a little picnic bench. Its not a Rainbow, didnt have the price tag of a Rainbow, but still nice and adequate. It isn't completly finished yet as the directions are incomplete on attaching the slide. But, it is useable and Libby loves the swing part anyway. Basically, all that is left to do on it is the awnings and the slide. We placed it in a nice shady area in the yard, but we had to build it up with some Class 5 from the driveway since it is one of the lower spots in our yard. We plan on boxing that in and putting a couple of inches of mulch on top of the Class 5 so it is a little softer.

Finally, it was time to redo our driveway, not that our old one was in bad shape. We decided to pour a concrete driveway so that Libby would have somewhere to drive her "wheeled" toys. Our driveway was Class 5 and our cul-de-sac is gravel. It was a lot of work, probably too much for Denise's father, Curtis, and myself (BTW, a big THANK YOU goes out to Curtis for his help). It ended up being a 45 foot by 20 foot slab, five inches thick and reinforced with rebar. Libby absolutely loves it already and it has helped keep our garage a whole lot cleaner.

Our Driveway before "The Project"

Our driveway excavated, formed, rebar laid and ready for the pour.

Curtis and Troy awaiting the concrete. This is when we still had energy.....

Half the driveway is done!

The pour is complete!!!! The concrete kind of got away from us (set up fast), so the brooming didn't quite work.

Of course with all the excavation and pouring, the concrete was higher than the rest of our yard. So we had a load of black dirt delivered to bank up along the driveway and to fill in some of the low spots in our yard. Lets just say that it takes A LOT of wheelbarrows to move 12 yards of black dirt. I didn't think the pile was ever going to end, but after spending most of the day Saturday (we had to break at 5:00 due to tornado warnings) and most of the day Sunday, it got cleaned up and grass seed is planted. Here is what it looks like now! SWEET!!!!

Talking about swing sets, here is Libby enjoying her swing. We usually spend close to an hour a night out there after work, just pushing Libby so she can swing. She LOVES it! Its a fight every night to get her off the swing and back in the house. Alot of coaxing goes on!

Over the July 4th weekend, the Alexandria Airport had an old Bi-plane exhibit, flights and some vintage boats on display. We just had to sit Libby in one and she was driving up a storm! She also had her "ponies" in, which she likes to have in, but then plays with them and they end up falling out after a short period of time.

So, what is on the agenda for the rest of the summer? Well, this Saturday, Denise and I are hopping on a tour here in Alexandria and heading down to a Twins game against Chicago at Target Field. Then, we are planning on having a garage sale so that we can get rid of baby girl stuff and make room for baby boy stuff. After that, it will be time to get things ready for the arrival of "Baby Boy"!

Well, that is about all from here for now. But we will leave you with one more picture of Libby. Here she is in her bathrobe (she calls it a coat?) that Grandma Rosemary made for her. Libby says "Tank-you Gamma!!" I hope everyone has been having a great summer and we will keep you updated as things happen!

Until next time....take care!
Denise, Troy and Libby