Mama at 30 weeks- Henry.

For all of you who care to see what carrying REALLY low looks like, here's mama at 30 weeks. (This picture is almost 2 weeks old, so we'll give you the run down on how 30-32 weeks feels).

Mama is still feeling great. This continues to be her best-feeling pregnancy- probably because of the afternoon naps she's able to take. Her biggest complaint about being pregnant with June and I was that she always had gall bladder pain. We'd spend our days kicking it and it would always swell up and cause her pain. She has a little this time, but is carrying low enough that our baby can't stretch out far enough to kick it regularly.

Mama jokes that the baby must be a boy because it seems entirely composed of sharp edges. (I can't think of any other boy who is all knees and elbows and always manges to head butt mama when she picks him up.) This is her most active baby yet. I mostly slept. June kicked a lot. This baby kicks 24 hours a day and spends a fair amount of time pushing. Mama says that this baby actually can take her breath away with a good kick, and anyone that felt her belly can attest that our baby will spend minutes at a time pushing out, like it's trying to bust a whole in her belly. So mama spends her time trying to push the baby back because she's afraid she's going to start bruising soon.

The weekly baby email says that the baby is about to go through a big growth spurt. This must be true because mama has turned into an eating machine. She doesn't put back much at every sitting, but you can guarantee that if it's been two hours, she's hungry again. No weird craving yet.

The weirdest side effect is that mama seems to have developed pregnancy-induced ezcema. Half of her face is flaking off and she has 5 weird patches on her skin. She says it's because she's not used to that dry northern air. The 100 percent humidity ought to help that out.

The hardest part has been being pregnant in the summer. It's no secret that mama doesn't tolerate heat. She was happy to go north for 3 weeks and proud of herself that 90 degree heat (with low humidity) doesn't bother her much anymore. We'll see how she does for the next 8 weeks now that we're back home.

Back home again in Indiana- June.

After a while at grams' house, we decided to pack up and see what Carmel, Indiana had to offer. Just a short 3.5 hour drive is all it took to get to Aunt Jenni's house. Henry is always excited about how long it will take to get to a new state, so he learned a new lesson about how interstate mile markers work. The last 45 miles from Dayton to the Indiana line featured Henry yelling "Exit 13 coming up! Exit 13 is for Highway 127! That sign means you can only go 65! This is Highway 70! Go right here for exit 13 and Highway 127!"

Mama also took the opportunity to steal Grams' GPS. As a former Northwest Ohioan (and Wisconsinite), she always thought GPS units were a waste of time. If you missed a road, go one mile and turn on the next one. But down south, the roads bend around the hills and if you start out headed north , you can guarantee that you'll eventually turn east then south. Plus, mama thinks there's a conspiracy in which South Carolina changed the names of all the roads after Google Maps came through just to confuse the outsiders. So it was nice to have the GPS when we traveled between everyone's houses. We used it so much that when we slow down to turn, I like to yell "Turn right here!"
Aunt Jenni kept our days full. One morning, we went with her to a cool park with a little town of small buildings.
We played in it for about 10 minutes before we found the sand pit.
Despite the fact we had no sand toys, we spent the next 90 minutes digging and burying things in the sand.

When we got home, Aunt Jenni wouldn't let anyone inside the house. We had a picnic outside, then mama spent about 20 minutes emptying sand out of my diaper and used about a half a bottle of baby powder to get all the sand out of my hair.
The next day, we visited a splash park. It was so much fun running through the "little rivers."
Look at how much these kids are stretching out! It breaks mama's heart that our chunky baby Evie is now a gangly 6 year old who mostly wants to spend the day reading her Rainbow Fairy books.
Even Annalise is losing her chunky thighs and round belly.
Good thing I'm still soft and squishy and totally kissable.
Somebody feed that kid some ice cream to get a little padding on those ribs!
After running around for a while, Henry took up post on this rock to make sure all the little stones and pieces of mulch made it over the little waterfall.
I ran from end to end waiting for fountains to shoot up.
I wish we had one of these in Clemson!
After us girls got tired of splashing, we headed to the playground. I climbed all the way to the top and mama had to send Evie up after me to make sure I came down. The slides were really long and came out all the way at the bottom of the hill, so mama couldn't keep track of where I was.
Aunt Jenni packed a great lunch to eat outside. We took great naps that day.
On Friday, we had a cookout and made s'mores over the fire. Aunt Jenni was feeling really crazy and bought chocolate-vanilla swirl marshmallows. They were good, but turned green when you roasted them. I didn't last very long at the fire because I kept breaking the rules and stepping on the tile close to the fire.

Goodbye to Ohio- Henry.

Last week, papa had to head back to South Carolina to work (and try to salvage what was left of mama's garden under a blanket of weeds). We decided to stay in Ohio where the humidity wasn't as "thick as gravy," to use a southern parlance.

As usual, we all ganged up on Aunt Girl.

June started her own tickle war.
Sadie came up and we had a good time running around. This is a blurry shot, but Sadie looks so happy in it.

It wouldn't be a Cooper party without costumes. Aunt Kate stood behind mama to crack us up and we got maybe the best shots that has every been taken of the Turner kids.

We can't decide which is better.

Henry and Sadie showed their own unique brand of love, which involves hugging until you choke. June learned her lesson and hot far away when the hugging started. Sadie learned quickly the best way to upset June was with constant hugging. But I think she meant well.

After supper, Grams promised a campfire. I asked about 85,000 times if it was time, then waited in my chair by the fire ring when mama threatened to send me to bed.

Aunt Girl rounded up the girls and we were ready for some fire!

As usual, June was mad when boundaries were enforced to keep the kids from getting burned. Nobody puts Junie in a lawn chair.

The sight of marshmallows helped calm her down.

The s'mores were delicious (or "da-wish-us" as June says).

I'm surprised mine was melted at all because I declared it finished 10 seconds after I put it on the stick.

Somebody gave Sadie an extra gooey marshmallow and she ate the whole thing with her fingers.

Get away from the s'more thief, June!

On Thursday, we were going to go to the park, but rain kept us indoors. Luckily, the Marion Mall has a great indoor playground. It kept us entertained for a while. June liked hugging the foam flowers and running in circles. I practiced my climbing skills and made it all the way around this big tree. We had lunch at our favorite Marion Mexican restaurant- El Campesino- and loaded up the car to head to Indiana and Aunt Jenni's house.

All about Junie- Mama.

I feel like I should take some time out and talk about June for a post. There's some debate about whether it is possible to get any cuter thank she is right now.

June is either incredibly, ecstatically happy or inconsolably sad. When she's happy, she's running in place and giggling (like when she sees another person for the first time in over two minutes). When she's sad, she's collapsed on the floor shedding big sad tears (like tonight when mama told her she couldn't have any more ham until she ate her peas).

Everyone is June's best friend. As Grams Cracker says, June wouldn't just go somewhere with a stranger, she'd leave holding their hand. Everyone is greeted with June running in place (like she's working up speed), a big hug, and a a loud welcome. She calls all women "Mommy," all men "Papa," all little girls "Sadie," and all boys "Bubba." It makes it pretty easy for her this way. Except she does get a little confused by Mister Anthony's enormous hair and has called him "Mommy" a few times.

Though it seems odd, I'd rather leave the house with both June and Henry instead of just June. You can guarantee that June will refuse to sit in a shopping cart and will always run away as soon as she gets a chance. Henry is always very helpful and willing to run after her and hold her hand. June also has to wear her pink squeaky shoes at all times so when she does run away, we can figure out which direction she went. (Henry is quick to tell the story of how she got away from me in the Walmart, only to be found 50 feet away trying to climb a shopping cart to see a baby in a car seat. Hence, the squeaky shoes became mandatory.)

The first night we got to Marion, we lost track of June. Turns out she had wandered into the bathroom, closed the door, and opened all of the drawers in front of the door. We couldn't get the door open, but could crack it open enough to see in the mirror that she wasn't drowning in the toilet or playing with razor blades. We sat there for 15 minutes trying to get her to close the drawers. We were only successful when Brandon came in and told June it was supper time. At the mention of food, she immediately closed all the drawers and opened the door. Stinker.

Since we came to Ohio, June has developed a love of horsies. It's all she thinks about. Annalise was very kind to let her play with some of her horsies when we were in Carmel. Grandma Seibert still has all of my old My Little Ponies from when I was a kid. Plus, Natalie composed a song called "Horsie Girl" to sing to June to keep her happy. What else could a girl need?

Despite the fact that she refused to talk for so long, June's language has really blossomed. It's like the joke Great Grandpa Parsons tells about the kid who never talks, but suddenly says "The meat is dry and the potatoes are lumpy." She didn't say anything because up until now things have been going well for her. She still babbles quite a lot, but can string many words together when she wants something (and can really let you know when you've done something wrong). She can name almost every animal (I didn't even knew she knew her animals), name body parts, and can count to 26. (Do we have another child with "The Knack?") And because she's lucky enough to hang out with older kids has picked up quite a few catch phrases: "Hey guys!" "That's mine!" "Oh no!" "Give it back!" She also has developed a very cute habit of apologizing for everything. If she trips and falls: "Sorry." If she drops a toy: "Sorry." She'll apologize for almost anything- except if she's in time-out and actually does need to apologize. Then she goes completely mute for hours on end.

More family fun- June.

We've got so much to show you, get ready for some mega posts.

What do you get when you put three Turner kids together? Craziness. One night we spent a half hour running around, yelling, and throwing ourselves on the floor. Papa made the mistake of entering the fray and got tackled.

I tried out a dramatic fall. You'll notice how Sadie followed Henry and did everything he did. He loves him and wants to be just like him. Mostly, she just thinks I'm annoying and wants to make sure I'm not touching anything that belongs to her.

Grams bought some sweet corn for supper. While mama was out shucking it in the driveway, I decided I NEEDED some NOW!

Since mama will never deny a kid who wants to try a vegetable, she handed over an ear. Even though it was raw, it was very sweet and tender. Once I got used to the right way of eating it (like a typewriter, not a banana, mama says), I fished the ear off.

Sadie wanted to get in on the fun and got her own ear too.

We didn't eat much else that night, but at least we ate our vegetables.

Here's a video from the firecracker night. We look like a pretty classy bunch out in the driveway launching explosives at each other's cars. Henry's vintage Pleasant Wrestling shirt doesn't help our case.

Nor does Uncle Adam's Weezer dressed up as Elvis T-shirt. Mama was just glad everyone made it through the night with all their fingers intact.

Uncle Adam and Aunt Katie surprised mama and papa with tickets to an Avett Brothers concert on Saturday night. It was a clear cool night and perfect for an outdoor concert.

And the music was great too. Mama likes to give papa a hard time because every Avett Brothers song can be summer up like this:

"I used to get in a lot of trouble, but my parents always believed in me and thank you, baby, for living me for who I am and not who I used to be."

That's pretty sensitive stuff. But mama and papa and Unkie and Aunt Katie are old now and neo-folk-punk music on banjos, guitars and cellos are about as hard core as we can expect from a bunch of pregnant ladies and responsible guys. At least they all had awesome beards.

Thanks for the great night out, Unkie and Aunt Kate!

Where were the kids while the grown ups were out living it up and eating ice cream from UDF after midnight? Luckily, Grams babysat Sadie and I. We spent our evening practicing our piano duets.

The Turners' house came with this awesome baby grand piano and I tickled the ivories and performed a few of my favorite tunes.

This one ought to earn me a Grammy.

On Sunday morning, Papa and Sadie cemented their friendship when papa loaded Sadie up with at least 4 doughnuts before Aunt Katie hid them.

This might be the first time in her life that Sadie hasn't give mama and papa disdainful looks of embarrassment that they are related to her.

Mama took off early to head up to Minerva for a baby shower for her college roommate, Miss Leah. Miss Leah is having a little girl only three weeks before mama.

Belly bump!

Where was Henry during all this fun? He was up in Cleveland picking up Aunt Girl at the airport with Mister Anthony. She was flying in after spending two weeks in Ireland. And even though she was probably beyond exhausted, she and Mister Anthony took Henry to spend the night in her apartment at school and have a special weekend of just Henry. They drove back down to Columbus to meet up with everyone else and even managed to score some ice cream from the ice cream truck!

Mern- Henry.

Back in Ohio, we took a few days to recover from our awesome Tour of C-Town.

Sadie spent most of the week with us, and Aunt Katie and Uncle Adam were nice enough to drive up from Columbus almost every night to hang out. This meant a lot to mama, because after driving so much, there's nothing she hates more than getting back in the car.

On Thursday, June and Sadie butted heads. They are both headstrong two year old girls. Sadie was not used to having other kids on her Grandma's turf and June wasn't used to someone who isn't as habitually accommodating as her older brother. Mama took the opportunity to calm things down a little with a book party. I asked her to bring my tent, so she set it up and loaded it up with books.

Sadie and I searched the house for super silly books (we finally found a funny jelly bean book and two pig books). Sadie and i got along great the whole time. I don't mind taking orders from a girl (and Sadie's almost bigger than me anyway) and I think Sadie loves me because I'm older than her. June played in the basement by herself for a half hour and eventually joined us.

Mama took advantage of Aunt Katie being gone and fed Sadie a popsicle for a snack after her nap. A little bribery to up her position to favorite aunt never hurt (like she has any chance against Aunt Jill). Her plan backfired when I woke up and also demanded a popsicle. Also, she looked it up and popsicles only have about 30 calories in them anyway. Next time, Sadie, mama promised to give you ice cream. That's where the sugar is at.

Unkie came up one night with fireworks. Okay, they're just these weird little things you throw on the ground and they explode. Papa and Uncle Adam said that all kids play with these, but mama still took the opportunity to worry about someone losing a finger. (Aunt Jenni backs her up on this one. Apparently, they were the only kids in America who didn't play with explosives growing up.)

June thought the popping balls were so funny.

I did too. Can't you tell?

Papa and Grams posed for a picture, with all their fingers intact. Phew.

All the cars were moved so the boys could shoot some hoops. When June saw a basketball, she came running. She is so much more interested in sports than I am.

With Mister Anthony around, slam dunks are pretty easy.

During the game, Sadie made sure the bords had plenty of nesting materials.

Later, Unkie brought out the big guns- sparklers. Too bad for them, sparklers are really hard to light with matches on a windy day. They eventually got a couple lit. Mama let me hold one, but I got nervouse and gave it back after two seconds. I definitely take after the Seibert side of the family.