The Swarrell Life

Another weekend of this and that, so get ready for another picture fest. One of these days I will figure out how to post so that only the first part of the blog post shows up, that way you don't have to wait for all the pictures to load if you don't want to. But it's Trinity, so who wouldn't want to? Wings Over Baker happened this weekend, so we took Autumn's folks' Plymouth out for the car show and I played with the Baker City Elks Drum and Bugle Corps. It was a good time with some fun flying and good friends! Here is Trinity playing (on) my drum. The aerobatics were something else, even Trinity sat still for a minute to watch the planes fly around. Thanks to all the pilots who came and put on a great show! The Plymouth, fun car to drive! Saturday morning Autumn ended up having to work, so Trinity and I went out to the air show again and had huckleberry pancakes. I think that we are going to have to get her a separate meal, since she ate over half of mine. That...

So, before we get into the picture-fest that is this post, a little update on the littlest Harrell. Autumn went in to see the doctor yesterday, just for a normal little check up. Time's getting short, so we see the doc more often now. Most of the appointment went as expected, the doctor asks a few questions, reports on any labs or tests that have been done, measures fundal height, and, since Autumn is about 36 weeks along, feels around the abdomen to try and see if the baby is head down, which is where they should be about this time. He wasn't sure, so he pulled out the world's oldest ultrasound machine and started looking around. No prints this time, the machine is too old to do stuff like that. We were a little nervous when he thought he saw the head near Autumn's diaphragm, but it turns out the head was really down where it ought to be. Yay! So that's that, our little boy is about 6 lbs right now and supposedly growing an ounce a day. Can't wait to meet him! ...

Well, it's Jubilee time again here in Baker City. That means Drum and Bugle Corps for me most of the weekend. Nevertheless, we try to keep things balanced, which means a busy weekend, to say the least. By the way, I wonder who won the duck races this year. I don't think it was me. In the mean time... Trinity has a thing for shoes. Even shoes that aren't hers. Here she is with mom's shoes. Did I say she likes shoes? Jubilee parade, me and my little girl. She sings while she drums. That's more than I can do... Dad? I dunno where that guy could be. In addition to shoes, Trinity likes balloons. The MayDay guy was nice enough to give her one. Here she is giving the balloon a big kiss! One thing about Jubilee is that it is ALWAYS nice and sunny. That means swimming pool! Here she is in her new suit, sans diaper...fun for all...sort of!

It's way too late to be doing this on a Thursday. But here goes anyway... Trinity usually helps us get her undressed, but she figured out that she can do most of it herself. It's really so much fun watching her discover new things to do. At least most of the time. Watching her eat dirt isn't really all that fun. Better late than never...belly shot of Autumn and our little H2. Our little guy has been neglected by yours truly in the blog sense. Hard to ignore that belly though, she looks GREAT! Trinity loves her slide. she can go up and down both sides. The amazing thing is that she can do it either head or feet first, whichever she prefers. It is kind of like being ambidextrous. Sort of. One thing Autumn does not like is her belly button being touched. I think that Trinity is the only person on earth who could get away with this. I know I couldn't because I don't sleep so well on the couch. This is our modern toddler: have to stop play for a minute to text her friend...

Don't mind the prepositions, it's just for effect. This was a pretty big week because we stopped giving Trinity a bottle before bed. She has been using cups for some time now, but we have still been giving her a bottle before bed. Until now... We commemorated this event with...a picture. This is only one more stop on this journey to document as much as possible...and publish it on the web. Sorry kid. Sorry again kid. We were going to use this picture as a "dad dressed me today" shot and contrast it with Trinity in her church clothes in a picture labelled "mommy dresses me better than daddy". Mommy often dressed Trinity better than daddy, it's not hard to do. The fact is that we don't need to contrast this photo with anything. This is a BAD outfit. Even I know that. There are actual reasons for why she is dressed this way. But none of them will make you forget that we dressed her this way. And laughed about it. Sorry kid. Uh, she likes corn. She likes...

So it was off to Boise for more appointments for Trinity. We were very fortunate to be able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House there, which is GREAT when you have a young child. There is no specific check out time, so we were able to take Trinity back for a nap in between appointments. The first appointment was with the neuro-psychologist, who did an evaluation of Trinity's development. Hopefully she will be able to help us help Trinity. The second appointment was with the ophthalmologist for a follow-up. Let's take a look: Here is Trinity waiting for her first appointment. She makes it easy for us because she is so darn happy all the time. She sure is fun to take places! After the second appointment, after her eyes were dilated, we came back to the Ronald McDonald House to clean up and head home. Trinity is sporting new protective sunglasses, which she was nice enough to keep on for this picture! This is just a stinkin' cute picture. Who knew she would take to Ronald so ...

So that last post was a little bit down; I was feeling sorry for myself. I think that if I am not careful I can dwell too much on the negative. It's time to get a little attitude adjustment and get this train moving! This last weekend (after the emergency room visit on Friday) turned out pretty darn good. Trinity and I spent the day together all day Saturday while Autumn went to Boise to stock up on a few things. We likely won't have a chance to shop in Boise again before our new addition shows up. I can't believe he could be here in a month! Then on Sunday we had a full day as we all took part in a local 4th of July fun run, took Trinity to her first parade, dug up raspberries, played with kittens, had a bbq and planted rasperries! Whew, did I leave anything out? Here we go! Before we get too far I have to show this funny picture. And no, we don't wonder why she wakes up crying sometimes. When we went to Portland a couple of weeks ago, we spent all of our savings at Ik...