The Ballard Bunch

It seems that summertime negates a lot of family get togethers and this year is no exception!

We just got home from Beau's Aunt Lynnette and Uncle Gordy's house for a Ballard Family BBQ and had a great time! Cousins Dustin (and wife Margaret and daughter Maleha) and Casey (and wife Candice and son Caleb) were all in from out of state for the week so it was a great opportunity to get everyone together. Maleha will be 2 in October and Caleb is a week older than Tate so they all had a great time playing! Aunt Lynnette had her wading pool and slide out for the kiddies and they spent a good amount of time staying cool in the pool.

Here is a picture of our brave little babe that loved the slide into the pool (I'm thinking a wading pool would be a good addition to our yard for the rest of the summer)! I didn't get a good picture, but we all got a good laugh at how full of water Tatum's diaper was after swimming for so long. We didn't plan on swimming so I hadn't packed a suit or swim diaper for her. We were able to borrow a suit from Maleha, but the diaper was a lost cause. She looked so funny waddling around with a "J Lo Booty".

Besides swimming, the kids played on the baby bikes and playground. Tate especially enjoyed the "Barney Rubble" car. She couldn't get enough of Aunt Brie driving her around the yard.

Everyone else there had newborns (3 in June and another born in January) and another three of us are pregnant expecting within the next few weeks. Needless to say, next time we all get together there will be lots of babies running around! We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone and can't wait to all get together again soon (probably Christmas, realistically).

Tomorrow is Pioneer Day so Beau has a long weekend (yay!) to spend with the girls! :) We'll be going to his parent's house for the annual 24th BBQ and swim party (see, we have a lot of those lately!) so tomorrow should be fun. And we're all looking forward to Grandma Tammy's firework display to close the evening (let's keep our fingers crossed that no one gets injured in the process - haha). I'll be sure and post pictures when I get the chance.

I can not sleep anymore. I don't know if it's the anticipation of the new baby or the extreme levels of discomfort I'm experiencing while trying to sleep these days (probably a combination of both, really), but here I am! Beau left for work at 5:30 this morning and I never really got back to sleep after that.

Smart mom that I am, I went in to check on Tatum when I woke up and found her in the following position:

She must have either fallen asleep that way after us leaving her in there alone to go to sleep last night or moved in the middle of the night without a sound. Either way, I thought I'd be nice and move her to her bed - then I'd have some time to shower and get ready before she woke up. As I'm typing this she's next to me trying to climb into her high chair and waiting for Elmo to start on the early morning Sesame Street. Moving her wasn't my best idea, but she looked so uncomfortable!

I'm not sure what we're doing today, but I need to get out of the house for a bit if at all possible. I do need to buy some fireworks for the 24th of July - maybe I can talk Shanna into a drive to Evanston to buy the good ones! (haha) Just thinking of that drive with all three kids makes me tired. I think everyone will just have to be happy with the fireworks we can find locally - I saw a good pack at Harmon's yesterday that we could split the cost of. The outlet stores would be fun - maybe we'll do that today. It's good walking at the least.

Hope you all have a great day!

Here is the picture as promised. Night three and going strong...yay! She's just like her dad - makes a huge mess of the bed in her sleep. :)

Due to several requests, here are the two names we've narrowed it down to: Hayden Ruth or Laney Helen.

I go back and forth with them both and have slight issue that Hayden sounds similar to Tatum when said out loud. That, and the fact that the boy name we like will also sound similar, might make me go the other way so that it doesn't seem deliberate once we have a boy. But who knows, I love Hayden and might just get over it!

FYI - The middle name (for either choice) is after my Grandma Olson (Helen Ruth).

Well, I had my first of the fun weekly appointments this morning (all you moms out there know what I'm talking about - exams suck!) and we're getting closer to baby time!

The baby is in position, but I'm not dilated at all yet. On Thursday I'll be exactly one month from my due date. Dr. Roth did assure me that if I don't have the baby by August 11th on my own, that'll be the day I am induced. So, three weeks from this Friday is the latest she'll be here! Now at least my mom can make her flight arrangements and plan to be here right before the baby arrives instead of having to leave so soon after she arrives like she did with Tatum. Who knew I'd go a week over and have a huge baby - now at least we can plan more! I just make sure to remind my doctor at EVERY appointment just how large and in charge Miss Tate was. :)

I'm so excited to be this close to the end - we can't wait to meet the newest Baby Ballard. Tatum knows something is coming, I think. She's really cute about babies (any she can get her hands on - she loves to kiss them) and is extra needy these last couple of weeks. Nothing we can't handle, but she wants one of us around to observe all her tricks and sometimes just to snuggle.

She's going to be a great big sister and I know she'll love having her Grandma Leigh stay with us for a couple of weeks. Hopefully she'll be able to play outside with my mom a lot - it's so hot that I can't really take her out much these days and I feel so bad! This heat is killing me (104 today) so we don't do much besides play inside where it's cool or go to Grandma Tammy's pool (every few days or so).

Just a note from a proud mamma at 8 in the morning...

Tatum spent her first night last night in her "big girl bed" and slept through! She took a little longer falling asleep, but once she was out, she was out for the count. She's still asleep now and looks so dang cute laying on her pillow all curled up with her bear. Beau took the camera to work today, but I'll be sure and get a picture tomorrow morning (hoping we're onto a trend after tonight)!

I've got a dr's appointment today - we're one month out now! I'm going to see if we can nail down a delivery date today so that my mom can plan her trip out and so I can plan the rest of my month. It should be early August (I'm thinking around the 10th, but that's just my guess). I'll keep you all posted.

Well, I'm finally able to upload pictures, so get ready for a bunch!


This first one is of Tatum playing in her new favorite toy...her laundry basket! She'll keep occupied for quite a while climbing in and out of this collapsible hamper. I usually know she's getting in it from the giggles of rolling around in her bedroom.


Here she is at the lake a few weeks ago for the Ball family reunion. She loved being in the water with dad and couldn't get enough of the water noodles - although she didn't get much use of them in the water (she preferred the beach).


Tatum's other favorite household "toy" - her toy basket in the living room. Luckily she's big enough to get herself in and out of it now. When she was smaller I'd find her stuck in it head first with no idea of what to do next.


All three kids at Shantell's kindergarten graduation eating cookies in the classroom. Tatum loved running around with the kids in "big kid territory".


Here are Tanya, Mateo, Tatum and I while they were out for a short visit. Tatum and Teo had fun "kissing" at our request and had some funny conversations that only they could understand.


Jordan and Tatum at dinner that night. All the girls love Jordan - last time it was Shantell with the crush!


Amanda getting practice with the nursing blankets I've been making and selling. We made her pose with Tatum's baby doll because it looked so funny. Come December, this could be her reality!


The only picture I was able to get on the 4th before my camera died (battery). I'm surprised that Tatum is happy in this picture - she HATES when the kids pick her up now. We're in the "I'm not a baby" stage, I think.

I have some more to post, but I'll save them for later. I'm tired of sitting at the computer waiting on our oh-so-slow connection to upload each picture!

love to all!
Evonne

This was started on the 3rd, thus the way-past date. I'm having problems uploading pictures again, so this is going to be text heavy with pictures to follow as soon as I get this working again. So sorry!!!

The first item on our "agenda" this weekend was the Ball Family Reunion (Beau's mother's mother's side of the family) up in Heber. We got a late start because Beau wasn't able to get off as early as he'd have liked to and ended up getting up to the reunion at around 7:45 or so. We had yummy dinner, caught up with lots of family, played some fun games and had a great time. We had planned to sleep in our bags under the stars out on the front lawn, but a storm changed our plans. Shanna, Travis and their kids and Beau, Tatum and I all decided to drive up to their Uncle Gary and Aunt Melissa's cabin to spend the night in beds. After an hour drive (I thought it was only supposed to be about 30 minutes) we arrived and found that not only were we on empty in our car (no gas stations in site) but that Travis and Beau couldn't find the key to the cabin! Luckily, they were able to find a few gallons of gas in the cabin shed (they had to do a little maneuvering to get in) and as we were preparing to drive back to camp and brave the rain, Beau stumbled upon the key buried in the dirt somewhat near the area it was supposed to be hanging. It was a late, frustrating night, but we did get to sleep in comfy beds!

Once the kids were all up and ready, we headed back down to the reunion for breakfast and then boating at Jordanelle. The water was surprisingly tolerable - once you were in for a few minutes that is. Tatum loved playing out in the water with her dad and spent any other time running around the beach trying to be a big kid. She discovered the water noodles and occupied a good part of the afternoon playing with those on shore. Despite gobs and gobs of sunscreen all day long, we all got a little sunburnt. Beau's back and shoulders got the worst of it for him - he's in the sun all day at work, but the areas under his clothing don't see the rays too often so his "farmer tan" got a good working on. Tatum got a little burnt on her lower back (no idea why) and now has a cute little bikini line from her suit in the front. I don't feel too burnt myself, but I did get a lot of sun and now need to start working on getting RID of the tan line - the maternity suit I found is a halter and leaves an awfully visible tan line on my chest and shoulders.

Saturday night we were able to meet up with Tanya, Mat, Teo, Amanda and Jordan for dinner. It was so fun to see everyone - I can't believe it's been as long as it has! Teo is the cutest thing ever with his big brown eyes and amazing demeanor! He and Tatum had a good time "talking" to each other and giving lots of kisses. Mat and Tanya are going to forward me the pictures - as soon as I get those I'll post them for you all to see. Amanda and Jordan are doing great, too and I can't wait to find out what they are having! Tatum did take a fall while we all ate dessert at our house after dinner - she was running out of the kitchen with a strawberry in hand and tripped and hit her face on the tile somehow. With all the blood you'd have thought she lost a tooth or something, but after it was all over I think she had just bit her tongue. The fall combined with a very long day made for a hard to console baby girl. Once she calmed down she was just fine and slept well that night. Now she's got her big girl bed (straight from Ikea in Canada - thanks Nan!) and will make the transition to that pretty soon!

We spent the day Sunday sleeping (through church - oops) and having dinner at Glen and Tammy's house. Nothing beats a Sunday roast dinner...I love it!

The 4th was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer's house for a BBQ and a dazzling fireworks display by Chet. :) Tatum lasted all of five minutes and crashed for the fireworks - she'd had a very long day playing with the big kids. We all had a great time!

Now I'm in major nesting mode - cleaning everything, setting up the girls' room, making final purchases, packing my bag - you name it. I think I'm driving Beau nuts, but we've only got (potentially) 4 weeks left until it's baby #2 time! Hey, at least the house is getting cleaned very regularly, right?

Hope all is well with each of you!

loves,
Evonne