DMC, Gymnastics, and Olympics

This week was pretty full as usual. Our couch poll closed, and we thank everyone who voted. Our new poll will be for the gender of the baby. This idea was taken from Ellyn's blog. One of the things that I had been working on throughout this week was taking action shots of Ryan while mountain biking at Maybury. It is a good thing I still have another week to practice with our camera, because this weeks shots are not super good- leaning towards bad.

We had a low key Sunday, spent watching the Olympics after church. Keira is quite funny in church, being really loud at some points, and shushing us at other times. She is very excited about being able to take the sacrament bread and water, and shouted "I did it" today after she put her water cup into the tray. I guess she is usually pretty loud, but we happened to be near the front today, so we felt a little more conspicuous.

Saturday was a nice easy day. We went to Maybury where Ryan rode and I jogged/walked. I got a later start on my run/walk today than Ryan did on his ride, so while I was able to see him on the trail, I did not make it in time to get any photos. After Maybury, we went to the Novi Sports Park to let Keira swing. The mazda had been left at Kris and Linda's overnight, and the jogging stroller was inside it, so we had to pick it up before going to Maybury. We only have 1 State Park pass on the truck, so we dropped off the Mazda at the city park which is free, and Keira was very upset that she didn't get to play before going to Maybury, so we let her play afterwards when we went back to pick up the car. The swings and the bouncy bridge are always a hit with Keira. We didn't stay long because it was hot, and as you can see from the photo below, there was an event going on so it was more crowded than during the week.

We also ran several errands as a family. We watched Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal as well.

We had initially thought that Friday was going to be an insanely busy day, but it actually turned out to be a pretty laid back day. Ryan started the morning really early by taking his parents to the airport for a Utah trip to celebrate his grandfather's 80th birthday. So, between staying up really late watching Olympics and getting up super early, we ended up skipping a couple events that were planned and having dinner in downtown Northville with just us. I watched the Olympic coverage of the gymnastics all around during the day, as I just cannot stay up late enough to watch it during the week and still be able to do anything productive during the day. Keira is lounging on the couch/coffee table, with swimming in the background.

Thursday was a really fun day. Keira and I started the morning off at Kindermusik, and we were joined by Katie, Luke, and Valerie AND Genevieve and Callie. The class was fun, but we spent a good amount of the morning letting the girls play together while Luke just took it all in. We would have spent more time, but we all had errands to run before naptime, and so the fun did have to end. It was nearly impossible to get a picture of everyone while looking, so here are a few pictures of everyone. Genevieve and Luke. Genevieve will have a new baby sister in Oct, probably not too much after our new baby is born.
Keira on a stuffed bear. Genevieve had rearranged them all while we were there.
Keira, Genevieve, and Katie. This was the only shot where they were at least all facing me, even though Katie is the only one remotely looking, and she isn't smiling.

Also, I went to a really fun enrichment activity in the evening. It was a garden party with a fabulous dinner/dessert, and a really uplifting speech about the divine nature of womanhood. It was great to be able to socialize with the other women from church and also be uplifted. This is the part of pregnancy that I dislike the most, because I am pretty uncomfortable at most times and tired at almost all times, can't take any pain medication that actually works, or sleep at night. The speech really helped me (temporarily) forget about all the pains and focus on what I am doing- bringing a spirit child to the earth, and only women can do this.

Wednesday was also a really fun day. Keira had her first Gymnastics class! I did not get any pictures of it, because it was a mom/tot class, and I was helping Keira through the various obstacle courses that were set up. I have included a couple pictures from Farmington Gymnastics Center's website that show samples of what the courses looked like, but they were set up a little different for our actual class. Keira enjoyed swinging on the bar, as well as being spotted on a pull over to front support. She also liked the rings and trampolines. Gymnastics trampolines are WAY better than anything you can buy at a store, because they are not round so that you can actual travel along them. The round ones you buy are specifically designed to keep a person in the middle, which is safer for backyard use, but not as useful for gymnastics training. Valerie and Katie had invited us to join the class, and today's class was free, and we will be paying to join the class for the final week next week in the session before the fall break. I am not sure if we will actually sign Keira up for classes in the fall or wait to join until after the baby is born, or just wait even longer. Keira did enjoy it so much, which was great for me to see.

After the class, we went over to Valerie's for some outdoor playtime on Katie's two new hand me down play structures that she had just been given. The girls had a great time. As usual, it was not so easy to get a good picture of the two of them.
In the evening, we went to Maybury again and I made an attempt at shooting Ryan on the trail. This picture is not as good (it is pretty bad, actually) as the one from Monday, below. It just isn't super bright due to the trees. Hopefully I can learn about the settings on the camera to take a few more at the actual race. It is a time trial, with just 1 lap, so I will only have the one opportunity to take action shots. I had previously thought it would be several laps, so I could just pick out a different section to photograph on each lap, but that is not the case this year. At least it will be a shorter race and Ryan can safely enter the Sport category instead of Beginner, because it will be a speed based race instead of an endurance test.
Tuesday was a tough morning for Keira and I. We had to go to Children's Hospital of Michigan for some bloodwork. Last year, she had two consecutive blood samples appear "damaged/fragile" when they were tested by Henry Ford Hospital, which caused for us to need to have her see a hematologist last summer. Her bloodwork at Children's last year was mostly normal, with only 1 thing being slightly abnormal, and it was a test that they only ran because of the previous abnormalities, and would not have been run normally based on the initial findings at that appt. As a result, we needed to come back to have her retested, and today was the day. We had to get up early and drive to the hospital in Detroit, and they take the blood sample, and then we wait for the initial results before going home. I must say that this experience went as well as it possibly could. While Keira did not like having her blood drawn (who does?), she was allowed to pick a prize from a chest afterwards. She selected a beanie baby with a soccer ball on it, which seemed very appropriate for her to select given Ryan's soccer experience. There was also a really nice volunteer from the hospital that played with her and helped her to do crafts. Her favorite thing that she got from the hospital was a paper basket that she covered in stickers while we waited for the results. The results that we received in the office were normal, as expected, and we are still waiting to hear back from the additional tests, but are confident that they will be either the same or better as last year. It was a long day, though, because Keira didn't nap well after the appt because she fell asleep in the car on the way home, and was sore and whiny for the rest of the day. Here she is with her paper basket. She wore a really cute dress from Grandma to the appt, but it had gotten messy, and since she wasn't feeling the best, I wanted to let her wear another dress, but this was what was still clean that was casual enough for play still (we went through 2 dresses yesterday too). It was too cold to wear when it fit better . On Monday, we went to Kindermusik and saw Dominic and Lisa, and they were accompanied by Emily and Brooklyn. Ryan and I had met Emily at Lisa's birthday party, but not Brooklyn. It is always more fun to have friends come to these classes. Keira gave Dominic a big hug on our way out. We didn't have a ton of time to socialize afterwards, because I had to return our old car battery to Sears to get our core refunded. I wasn't really excited about having the old battery sitting in the bed of our truck in the heat, but I guess they sit in hot hoods next to the engine, and see temperatures much higher than the bed under normal use, but I was still anxious to get rid of it. Keira did play at the mall play area for short time after returning the battery. We had a few other returns at the mall as well, so we did need to enter the mall instead of just going into the garage. Here is an action shot of her jumping off the lollipop. Once Ryan got home, we went to Maybury and my picture taking began. There is a spot along the paved path where I run/walk that goes very close to the bike trail, so I figured I had a good opportunity to take some shots of Ryan. The bad thing is that there isn't a lot of light, so the camera is pretty slow to take a picture, plus there is a delay between shots anyway, and Ryan is really fast in that spot. As a result, I was only able to get 1 shot taken before he was out of sight. I need to set up the camera to take 4 consecutive shots and hopefully I can get some better shots next week prior to the race.That was pretty much our week. We are looking forward to the Maybury XC next week, as well as Ryan's department picnic and some play dates for Keira.