Lockridge Land Updates

Lots of things have been going on in Lockridge Land lately...

We had a little excitement last Thursday when I went into early labor. Throughout this pregnancy I've been having contractions. I noticed them earlier than I did with Levi, but who knows if they really came any sooner or if I was just more aware. They were never painful, just uncomfortable, so I haven't paid them much attention. Last Thursday I became more and more aware of them and decided to start timing them. It's so hard to lay down and pay attention when chasing Levi around the house so I wasn't completely sure how fast they were coming but I definitely felt off. I called in to my doctor and tried to convince them to let me sneak in the office for a quick check up instead of having to go to the hospital for them to send me home. Doctor said "no way, go to the hospital now" so I followed directions and went to L&D. I was laughing and joking with the nurse about how quickly they were going to send me home and that I was sure it was nothing and I was just that crazy pregnant lady that doesn't know what's going on. She hooked me up to the monitor and we realized that I was having contractions every 2 minutes. Well that definitely is something to be concerned with! Because I was still only in my 35th week, my doctor decided that we should try to stop my labor instead of delivery Baby L #2 that afternoon. (THANK GOODNESS!) So I spent about 5 hours taking pills, getting a shot and waiting waiting waiting for the contractions to stop. They slowed way down and I never progressed any further so they were confident in sending me back home, on modified bedrest and with more pills to take daily, to try to keep this baby in a little longer. I spent the whole time in a bit of a panic because I was NOT ready for this baby to make his appearance yet. I hadn't packed my hospital bag, I hadn't packed baby's bag, I hadn't washed all the newborn clothes, I hadn't gotten the swing out, I hadn't even pre-registered at the hospital yet! (Whoops!) Dave was very calm through it all and reminded me that we had plenty of friends and family and all those things could easily be done for us. He was completely right but this laboring pregnant lady was still crazily making to do lists! I was able to lay low through the weekend with the help of Dave's mom and my parents tag teaming my to do lists and wrangling Levi. We checked off every single item on my lists and I'm feeling so much better about the possibility of having a September baby. As of last night, I took my last labor-stopping pill and I'm now free to have this baby at any time. The crazy part is that I could still potentially make it all the way to my scheduled c-section date or I could have him tonight! I guess one thing I should have learned by now is that I have little control over these things. The great news is that baby is happy, healthy and kicking away and our house is officially ready for him to be welcomed into it.

Here is Baby's room.
Still need some things for the walls but at least it is ready for him!

Look who is excited about all the baby stuff!

My sweet boys watching the Fresno State game on Sunday.
Just because :)

We're still getting stuff done for the rest of our house too!
We got these great pots out in Escalon and I made the wreaths for the front doors. (I attempted to put cute burlap bows on them but they were pretty pitiful so I'm hoping my Mom can share her bow-making expertise.) 

We'll make sure to keep you posted when Baby L #2 decides to make his appearance!

Missing Socal

I got to chat with a couple of my favorite socal girls this week and it made me a little homesick. We are loving Modesto, loving our new house, loving being so close to family and we have definitely been BUSY, but Dave was in LA this week for business and we were here. He was working hard, I know, but he still got to see some people and eat at some fun restaurants and enjoy a peek of the South Bay while I was battling heat and sleepless nights and this slow pregnant body. (Obviously that would be the same whether I was in LA or here!) 

So instead of being sad, I thought I would send a special shout out to my good friends. You see, Becky and Sheri threw us a going away party on our last day in the South Bay. They had a pile of Southern California postcards for everyone to fill out. Since then we have received a slow trickle of mail from our favorite socal residents with pictures from some of our favorite places. Just when I thought we were all out of postcards, another one would come! It was a great reminder of the love and friendships we still have even though we may live a bit farther away. I have LOVED getting these in the mail, l have LOVED sharing them with Levi and Dave and I have LOVED hanging them up on our fridge to look at every day. Well it's official: we just got our last postcard. Instead of being sad I'm choosing to be excited about where we are now and thankful (so extremely thankful) for our great friends in the South Bay. We love you guys and miss you and hope to see you soon! 

Getting Out

Keeping up with our September goal to get out of the house we had two opportunities for fun this weekend. In true Dave fashion, he found a softball team to play on once a week. On Friday night we all went to watch him play in the first game of this new season and his team won! Levi enjoyed getting to run around and found his own ball to throw and then LOVED getting to see Dave through the fence in between innings. 

Catching up with our favorite player.

Then on Saturday we drove up to San Francisco with the Lockridges to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. We got there just in time to eat chowder in bread bowls at the Boudin factory and then headed over to the bridge. I had never walked across before and it was so neat that we could park for free, walk for free and enjoy some great views. Levi wasn't super excited about being stuck in his stroller and his very pregnant Mommy was pretty tired (and contracting) by the end but we all managed to walk to Sausalito on the the other side. (Dave and Charlie being the loving husbands and sons that they are ran back across the bridge, got the cars and picked us up on the Sausalito side. LOVE THEM!) Then we were able to wander around the Sausalito downtown a little and enjoy my first Starbucks pumpkin spice latte of the fall. Win-win! 

Another fun Northern California weekend. I'm definitely starting to slow down and not feel so great so this may have been one the last of our big out of town trips but we definitely have lots left to do on our "Baby To Do" list so we won't be bored! Only about 5 more weeks till baby #2 makes his appearance...can't wait!

Labor Day Fun

This labor day weekend we were able to get out and do some fun things and spend time with our families. We were able to sneak in a much needed date night at a new (to us) restaurant in town on Friday night and then on Saturday we woke up bright and early to watch the hot air balloons at the "Color the Skies" event in town. What a cool experience!

Waving at the traveling balloons. 

Enjoying the sunrise and the cool morning air.

Family picture!

We also hit up a Modesto Nuts game on Sunday, enjoyed the warm weather and swam at my parents' house and got to have a Lockridge family dinner in Atwater. We're trying to get out and do some fun, local things before this baby decides to make an appearance. We are also trying to tackle things on our "Baby To Do" list so we just took the Stork Tour at our new hospital. We're certainly getting closer and closer to becoming a family of four!

Busy August

August is officially behind us and it has been a very busy month! We celebrated Levi's 1st birthday, took a couple of overnight trips, Dave traveled (A BUNCH) for work, I helped out at my reunion, we attended the wedding of a great family friend, I helped host a baby shower, the whole extended family suffered a MAJOR bout with the stomach flu (thanks Levi) and now it's September 1st... where did the month go? 

Bryan, Megan, Dave, Sarah finding some shade by the bocce court at the beautiful Hellman-Oxenrider wedding.
It was out at a lavender farm in Turlock and was a beautiful wedding and a great venue!

Dave barely got into town in time to make it the wedding and then turned around and flew out to Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series for 8 days. It was probably the longest that he's been away from us and it felt like FOREVER but we managed to get through it by filling up our week with fun stuff. First up was a quick trip to Fresno to visit some friends.

Levi, Kambria and Maxton keeping each other company on a trip to Target.

Then we hung out with my family and I did some prep work for the baby shower of my great friend Angela who was flying into LA from CO to celebrate the upcoming birth of her first son. We had a great theme all picked out (airplanes because her hubby is in the air force) and I was all ready to pack up and head down for a very quick overnight trip to decorate, celebrate and drive back. Then on Thursday morning Levi woke up from a very good night sleep and had gotten sick at some point during the night. He'd never really thrown up before so I was surprised but he seemed in good spirits and feeling fine. We laid low all day making sure that he was ok and feeling good enough to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa overnight for my little trip. Seemed fine all day Thursday and woke up happy Friday so I dropped him off and hit the road for the South Bay. (I stopped at Starbucks on my way out of town and got to listen to whatever music I wanted to the whole way... I almost didn't know what to do with myself without Disney sing-a-longs and kids worship music blasting for 5 hours! It was heavenly. :) ) I got into town in enough time to hang out and chat with Becky a little before heading over to do some serious baby shower decorating and prep work. We had the whole house set up, favors made and ready to go in a couple of hours so I headed back to Becky's for a good night sleep before the Saturday morning festivities. And then plans changed. I woke up with the worst bout of stomach flu I've ever had. I was sick all night long, all morning long, missed the baby shower, missed seeing Angela for even a second that she was in CA. I was feeling so bad that my mom convinced me to call my OB to ask at what point we needed to be worried about dehydration and the baby. His answer was an emphatic "NOW" so I drove myself to the hospital for a quick round of fluids. The ER immediately sent me to labor and delivery to check on the baby but everything was fine so we just did an iv and a couple bags of fluids and then I was on my way. It was no fun and definitely a rough day but everything turned out fine and I felt better right away. I even drove myself home that night so I could sleep in my own bed and rest at home. By the time I arrived back in Modesto my entire family had been stricken with the flu too. Little loving Levi had singlehandedly taken out my entire family with his germs.  We just love him. So my quick little baby shower weekend trip turned out very differently then I had envisioned. I'm so thankful for Becky for letting me stay and taking care of me but I feel terrible for coming all that way and sharing my germs. What a great friend for putting up with me! And thanks to everyone for all the concerned phone calls and emails and texts, I felt very loved and prayed over throughout the whole ordeal. We're finally all back to normal and healthy and Dave is back in town and thankful that he missed the whole sickness.

So instead of ending on a gross/depressing note, August actually ended up with a reason to celebrate! My dad and brother have been working hard at opening up a new running specialty store in Modesto and the process always takes longer then you think it will. So after a few speed bumps and delays, they finally got the keys to the store yesterday. Demolition starts today and they hope to be open for business in the middle of October. Sarah came back into town yesterday for her last week before school starts, Dave was back in town, everyone was healthy and happy again and we had keys to the store so we celebrated with some grilled kebobs and cobbler and took a family trip down to see the store.

Levi enjoying the storefront window before the carpet and pillars and everything else gets ripped out and remodeled.

So Modesto people, be looking for On The Run to be opening in the McHenry Village in October. We're all so excited that it's finally happening and can't wait for the grand opening. I'll keep you posted!!!

TDHS 10 Year High School Reunion

Two weekends ago Dave and I were able to get some babysitters and attend my 10 year high school reunion. It was the perfect way to reconnect with some people after just moving back into town and it gave Dave an opportunity to see a glimpse into my high school years. Lucky him! It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was wearing my cheer uniform and decorating for dances and going to football games, but it must have been awhile ago since I've haven't even lived here for 10 years, I've been married for 5 and have one cute kiddo and one on the way. Needless to say I wasn't stoked to see everyone for the first time in a long time while I am 7 months preggo but I did my best to dress up and put on my dancing shoes and have fun!

The Cardigan girls decorating the hall-- just like old times!

Me, Dave, Mike and Crista enjoying a night out sans kids.

Goofing around at the "photo booth"

Stephanie, me, Crista, Lindsey

Don't let Dave tell you that it was a total bummer of a night-- he had fun too!

Class of 2001 reunioners!

Thanks President Stephanie for all your hard work. It was a total success and we had FUN!! What's next? 20 years? :)

Chronicles of a Babywise Mom: "Boys Will Be Boys"

I was ordering some things off of diapers.com this morning for the new baby (he's seriously going to make his appearance in about 9 short weeks!) while also doing some blog reading... I came across this great article about parenting boys and immediately knew it was one that I would mentally catalog and figured I would share it with anyone else out there who might be parenting boys. Her premise is that the "boys will be boys" mentality does not have to be true but instead we can adopt an attitude of "boys will be who we teach them to be" and they will rise to our expectations. This shouldn't be such a paradigm shift but I think in today's society that it truly is thinking outside the box. And it easily applies to raising girls too. LOVE IT!!!

Chronicles of a Babywise Mom: "Boys Will Be Boys":