Blueberry Picking

Blueberry Eyes

Today, Lorelei and I visited Kelder's Farm and picked blueberries, tomatoes, and a cucumber. We had to cut our visit short because of a thunderstorm but I think Lorelei enjoyed it a lot more than she thought she would.  She was a bit reluctant to go but once we started picking she didn't want to leave and now she wants to go back another day to pick raspberries.  The farm is just around the corner from our campground so hopefully we can make it over again before we leave in a few days.

Our farm loot.  We picked up a few peaches and golden plums from the
market, as well as 3 ears of corn to throw on the grill!

We are hiding inside our house on wheels right now, waiting for this thunderstorm to pass. Perhaps I can get a few blog posts knocked out... David noticed last night that I have 8 unfinished posts. It will be a minor miracle if I am actually able to publish this one today since I never seem to start and finish one on the same day.

It's kind of blah out... I'm glad we were able to
make it out to the farm before the storm hit!

Finding our Routine

Wow!  It's been a while since I've updated.  We've kind of gotten into a routine and blogging has not been on the schedule...  I guess I should work on that!

First, the big news:  Lorelei made dinner the other night, pretty much all by herself.  No whining or complaining, she just did it.  We've come up with a system that if you cook dinner or help cook dinner you don't have to wash the dishes.  David has been out of town the last few days so she chose to make dinner so she wouldn't have to wash dishes (which she hates doing).  It wasn't anything fancy, pepperoni pizza on a pre-made crust, but still... she did it willingly!  I'll take that!  When we started this almost a year ago, asking her to do that would have certainly ended up with her throwing a huge fit and crying and screaming for an hour about what a mean mom I am.  Thank goodness she has gotten past that and was able to make the pizza with a smile and a good attitude!  She also helped make the Greek salad last night!

And now, our other big news:

I think we finally got the right mix of our genes to create a new monster.  Trying to make a perfect baby in our late 30s has definitely been more difficult than it was in our late 20s.   Hopefully we won't hit too many speed bumps on our journey with this little one.  We are calling her Fannie Mae for now, but I'm pushing for the name Ansley.  Too bad I can't get David on board with that name.

Lorelei is so excited about becoming a big sister!  She was devasted after the first miscarriage I had back in 2015 so we waited until I was pretty much showing to tell her this time.  I think the miscarriage was harder on her than it was on me.  She even had to miss a day of school because she was so distressed.  Fingers crossed that everything turns out fine with this little bugger.  

I found out a few weeks ago that I have placenta previa, which means the placenta is attached at the bottom of my uterus, completely covering my cervix.  The MFM specialist who told us about this said there was a 50/50 chance it would move but the OB who sent me to the specialist said in his opinion there is only a 40% chance of it moving since it was diagnosed at 22 weeks and completely covering it instead of partially covering it.  I get to have another ultrasound at 28 weeks to check to see if the placenta has moved away from the cervix.  If it hasn't, that means I'll need to have a C-section at 36 or 37 weeks.  This is a definite speed bump since I was really hoping to TOLAC this time around since I had a C-section with Lorelei when she refused to come out (stubborn from the start).

We are enroute to Canada for our 2nd Fulltime Families Rally and the original plan was to slowly make our way south from Canada, arriving in Georgia around 35 weeks or so.  I've had regular OB appointments as we've been traveling, and I've picked out a practice and hospital in Georgia that I want to deliver with.  If I have to have a C-section, I am probably going to come up with a new plan and we might end up skipping Canada and heading back to Georgia a bit sooner.  I've been feeling fine but there is a very high chance I will end up bleeding at some point in the future if this doesn't go away.  That means I am supposed to know where the closest ERs & NICUs are at all times in our travels just in case little "Fannie Mae" decides to make an early appearance.  I also could be required to go on bedrest at anytime, so that could make traveling a bit difficult.  Fingers crossed everything falls into place! No stress, right?  =)

Here's our Plan A Route that we hope to cover in the next 12 weeks or so.  It would also include a flight from Boston to Nashville to see the eclipse on August 21:

If we find out at 28 weeks that I still have placenta previa, we will have to switch to Route Plan B.  We still hope to swing through Nashville for the eclipse as long as everything is still "normal" but we want to be in Georgia so we are closer to our families closer to the 30 weeks mark:

So that's what's going on since I last posted.  Everything is going well in our travels and we are having Lotts of great times on the road!

Waiting for the Braves vs Nationals game to start during a rain delay at Nationals Stadium

Still waiting...

3 hour rain delay was totally worth it since I "caught" a foul ball hit into the stands behind us!  We also got to move from our nose bleed cheap seats to the lower level since a majority of the people left due to the delay.

Waiting 9 hours for the fireworks to start is much more tolerable when you have a tree
to climb and friends to play with on the National Mall in Washington DC

We sat near the Washington Monument.
There were a few small rainstorms that kept us cool during the day but nothing worth running away from.

It took a while before the lawn filled up because of the storms but the crowd
finally arrived just in time for the show to start.

Lorelei enjoyed the show but thought it was a little short (just over 20 minutes long).  She concluded it must have been because of budget cuts so Trump could "build his stupid wall."  Smart girl!  ;-)

Happy Birthday America!

Finding Happier Days

Lorelei loves the disc swing hanging
from the pecan tree on the Lott Farm

I keep sitting down at the computer to work on the blog and find myself getting distracted with one thing or another.  It is important stuff, like paying bills and trying to make travel arrangements for the next leg of our journey but I also have all sorts of fun adventures that I want to share.  And I also feel like there is so much on my mind that I just want to write about but that isn't really the purpose of this blog.  But, this is my blog and I can do what I want, right?  I mean, if you are reading this, it is because you want to know what is going on in my (our) life right now.  I already wrote my "confess all" posts so I might as well follow up and keep going so you know my (our) life is getting better.

Lorelei & Izzi; Lake Hartwell

I have been feeling pretty relaxed lately so that is a nice change.  We are staying at David's parents' farm for a few weeks (in our RV) and plan on getting back on the road in the beginning of April.  Our first stop is going to be SE Georgia so we can check out Cumberland Island, Okefenokee Swamp, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and other various places in that area.  We are planning on slowly working our way north from there, eventually passing through Washington, DC and New York City.  There is another FTF Rally coming up later this year that we are hoping to make it to in Mattawa, Canada. The rally is in September, which seems so far off but if we stick to our ideal travel plan of staying in each spot for 3 weeks that only gives us 8 stops to make from SE Georgia up to Canada over the next 5 months.  Please let me know if you know of any can't miss spots in the comments below.

Lorelei seems to be noticeably happier lately which is a huge relief.  I think going to the Full Time Families Rally helped immensely, and I am sure my demeanor has changed as well.  She seems to be smiling more and doesn't argue quite as much as she used to and seems to be getting over her anger of missing her friends and school. I'm not expecting her to forget about any of her life in Colorado, but I was getting quite worried since she seemed so angry about how we disrupted her life to go on this adventure.  She still talks about how she misses her friends but now she does so with a sense of longing instead of fury.  We went on a 3 mile walk Sunday along the Hartwell Dam Trail and I think she almost enjoyed it.  She complained about a pain in her heel for a while but she pushed through and eventually forgot about it.
She seems to finally be settling into her school routine. I'm not as worried about her progress anymore since I feel fairly certain we will be on the road for at least 1 more school year.  I felt like she had fallen quite a bit behind in math but she is quickly catching up now that she doesn't hate doing her lessons as much as she did in the beginning.  We found an on-line program that we both like and she actually does her lessons without arguing and grumbling (most of the time).  Perhaps I'll write more about that another time if anyone is interested.
So that's life for now.  We are looking forward to getting back to traveling but it is nice spending time with David's parents and relaxing on the farm.  Don't forget to share your Eastern US travel suggestions in the comments below!

Another happy day on the farm