Final Countdown...

Today we had Izzy's pre-school orientation; her last day at Goddard is next Monday and then she starts pre-school on Tuesday. No rest for the weary. Mike dressed her up to meet her new teachers...and she was just so stinkin' cute that I had to snap a few photos.

I was searching through photos of my monthly belly pics when I was pregnant with Izzy and found that I had not taken a picture of my belly at 40 weeks. Wanted to be sure to document how large my body gets right before birth. So here you have it...39 weeks and 3 days pregnant:

Some have said I'm smuggling a watermelon or a basketball. Nope. Just a little girl!!!

Doctor appt. today went well; I'm 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was only 2 cm dilated when I was admitted to the hospital with Izzy...so I think I could go anytime now!!!

1 week to go...

This was my last 3 day weekend of the summer at work and we spent it doing a wide variety of fun activities. Friday Izzy and I met a girlfriend and her twins at the library for reading hour. Came home and helped daddy in the garden (the tomatoes made for some YUMMY salsa!). Friday night we brought dinner to Katie & Rick and visited with their 6 week old, Christopher. Izzy was over the moon to see a little baby and was face-to-face with him the entire time. She was enamored and kept pointing to his eyes, ears, mouth, nose. Adorable.

Saturday we woke to chilly temps (in the low 60s) and rain, so that meant no pool. Izzy and I ventured downtown to the Children's Museum (thanks, Mom for the annual pass, we love it!) to meet Jaime and Luke. The new entrance is open at the museum and Radio Disney was there to welcome us. In fact, the radio gals were dancing to some High School Musical tunes and Izzy was right there with them dancing. She loved it and it was hard to tear her away from the dancing.


Climbing the wall (she made it to the top and then slid down)

Izzy loved the carousel

Iz, Jaime and Luke

We finally put up the rest of the decals...I love how the Isabelle turned out and then Mike decided to put the little birdie near the door instead of with the rest of the decals. Turned out pretty cute!

And today also brought cooler temps...so we stuck close to home. Went on wagon rides, played in the driveway with chalk and even played basketball with daddy.

It's hard to believe I'm due in 7 days. Had a scare on Thursday at work...lost part of my vision for a while and immediately went into the doctor's office. My blood pressure was normal and the baby was doing well, so they let me go (they feared it might be preeclampsia). And yesterday I started getting pretty regular contractions (10 min. apart). They lasted all afternoon and then stopped late in the evening. False labor. All weekend Mike and I have been nesting, trying to keep distracted. Mike did some painting, caulking and garage cleaning while I cleaned all the windows and sills and have my bags packed, ready to go. I'm glad to be going back to work tomorrow to keep my mind off of my impending labor.

In other news, our Izzy girl pooped on the potty tonight. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!? She was pretty shocked, herself! I know this won't happen overnight, but I'm just so impressed by how quickly she is growing up and all that she is accomplishing on a daily basis. Also, this is her last week at Goddard School and her preschool starts next week. Lots of transition happening in her world. She's so darn resilient that I don't think we'll have much of an issue. Again, I think I have more anxiety over changes in her life than she does!

Here's to hoping the next post is a birth announcement!!!

T- Two weeks...

Was another hot weekend here in Indy. As you can see in my previous post, Mike and I spent Friday downtown watching the Colts game. Izzy spent the night with the Fellers again...she just loves it there with Luuuuuke and GiGi (Jaime). Izzy and I both woke early on Saturday, around 7am and below is what we did for the first hour we were awake...

Katie on her pillow and Izzy on hers
We spent the day at the pool (our favorite summer spot) and then Luke came over to our house for the night so his parents could have a date night. I love that Luke jumps right into Izzy's tea parties and jewelry dress-ups. When Iz is at Luke's house, she plays with his tool workshop and golf clubs!
After a yummy dinner we gave the bambinos popsicles and this is Izzy's excited face

And this is Luke's excited face!

We put some finishing touches on Izzy's big girl room this weekend. Above is another window we *kept* from our Broadripple house. There is also one in the baby's nursery, but that one is hung horizontally. I wanted to do something a little different, so we hung it vertically with some fun black and white pics of Iz and various family members. I love how it turned out and that you can see it walking down the hall into her bedroom.

Above is a wall decal that we haven't quite finished applying. There is a violet colored "Isabelle" in cursive that overlays on this "I" - but due to some technical difficulties, that will go up later.

And this work of art is handmade by my very talented girlfriend, Lori. I found this idea at Pottery Barn for over $100 and showed Lori, who claimed we could do it ourselves for far less money. She was right: we bought all the supplies for UNDER $20!!! It's made of buttons and scrapbook paper. I cut all the paper using different sized hole punches and Lori SEWED each button and piece of paper on by hand. So. Talented. I love the final outcome and think it's even better than the Pottery Barn version!!! Thank you Lori!!

Just to give you an idea of the size...it's 24"x24"

And finally, today was *so hot* that we spent the morning at the pool (which we, once again, closed down due to swim-diaper issues), came home to all 3 of us napping, and spent the afternoon indoors to keep cool. We'd usually have our afternoon popsicle snack outdoors; however, today we had this treat indoors. Finished up the evening with a long web-chat with my mom (whom "shared" a popsicle with Iz). What a wonderful weekend we enjoyed. Only two more weeks until that all changes!

Date night

Last night Mike and I went downtown for the pre-season game of the Colts vs. the Vikings. My company gives away tickets almost daily to different events (baseball, basketball, football, concerts, etc.) and I won these amazing tickets yesterday. I figured I'd enter my name, as Mike and I probably won't get another opportunity for a date night for several months. Fortunately, our friends (the Fellers) were more than happy to take Izzy for the night at such last minute notice.

Last season was the Colts' first season playing at the new stadium, but this was my inaugural visit and it didn't disappoint!
Retractable roof and open side windows

We had amazing seats: 6th row on the 50 yard line

Cheerleaders
World Champions
I received many stares and comments on how big I was. I told Mike if I went into labor at the game we'd have to call her Lucy (for Lucas Oil Stadium)
And on our walk back to the car I just had to snap this photo. There is a delicious restaurant called Harry & Izzy's and I couldn't resist. Too cute.

Three weeks and counting...

This weekend marks the final 3 week countdown until baby Mac #2 gets here (whom still remains unnamed). I've been having ants in my pants to get out of town and visit girlfriends in Chicago; however, doctors orders that I can't travel much further than 2-3 hours by car. So I had to settle for yet another weekend at home in Indy. And this weekend did not disappoint. We actually had one of the most enjoyable weekends of the summer, yet it was quite uneventful.

On a side note, we have been spending a lot of time using our new webcam this week. I bought one for my mom's birthday and we have tried to talk to her on it nearly every night this past week. Izzy will play dress-up or show her toys and we have even had a "dinner date" with my mom and Izzy in her high chair. We've become huge fans of the webcam and are so excited to have it, we'll even bring it with us to the hospital so my mom can meet baby #2 once we're in recovery. Mike's dad and step-mom have also started webcam-ing with us. Izzy absolutely loves it and I'd highly suggest this to anyone who has family out of town. I can't believe we haven't tried this before now!

Also, Izzy has officially peed on the potty TWICE this week. A few days ago it was just a little dribble. I cried. Didn't know if it was a fluke or not. But we both sit on our potties and read daddy's "books" (read: magazines). Tonight we sat, and sat, and sat until Izzy stood up and pointed. TA-DA! Lots of potty inside and lots of squealing ensued. She was so proud of herself and so were we! Guess it's time for some big girl undies. So exciting.

We three hit up the pool all three days this weekend, as the weather was the hottest we've had summer-to-date! Jaime and Luke joined us on Saturday:

Luke and Izzy are nearly inseperable when they are together. We thought we'd try these new life jackets the pool offers and Izzy ended up barrel-rolling in hers in the big girl pool. Um, maybe next year we'll try it again.
Other than the slide, Izzy's favorite thing to do is go in the lazy river with daddy. There are waterfalls they go under and Izzy asks for more after each time.

Classic. This is Izzy saying "cheese."

My all-time favorite pic of these two best buds. Hands down, this is the best pic ever. I truly hope these two remain as close as they are once Izzy leaves Goddard. Breaks my heart to take her out of there...

Saturday night we had a delicious dinner at the Feller house. Brandon & Elle joined us with their little Cooper and these guys stayed up VERY late just playing with each other.

Izzy loves to cuddle with Aunt Jaime

And this is what happens when Izzy gets her hands on crayons. She hides and eats them. This was hilarious, as after we cleaned her face, Jaime and I kept on trying to get the crayon out of her teeth...to no avail. So stinkin' funny.

And today, Sunday, was the hottest day of the year here in Indy. The pool was packed and we had a blast. Izzy continued to do lots of floating in the kiddie pool and many rounds in the lazy river. I loved sitting with my feet in the pool watching Izzy and Mike float in the water and bond. They are so cute together and Izzy just hangs on Mike's every word. Can't believe we get to do this all over again with another little girl!!!

Red fish, blue fish...

This picture makes me LAUGH

Snack time

Her new fave activity: FLOATING

This weekend brought on sunny weather (it's about time), so we were able to hit up the pool both days. Saturday, Mike spent the entire day at Crooked Stick golf course watching the Senior Open while Izzy and I had a playdate with our new nanny (!!) and then the pool. Sunday we met a friend for family photos (see next post) and then the pool again. We seem to have a budding little fish on our hands...Izzy has taken to FLOATING on her tummy in the pool. She loves it and even laughs at herself, it's really too cute to watch.

Family of 3...for only 4 more weeks

This morning we met our good friend, Molly, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art to take some family pics. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky; however, 100% sunshine does not make a happy photographer. We are very pleased with the pics, even though we're squinting in many. I just really wanted to capture our family of 3 before we become a family of 4...in 4 short weeks! Thank you, Molly, for forever capturing our family (and for your patience when Iz was melting). If you'd like to see all 90 photos...click on our link on the right "McCulloch Family Pictures." And be sure to visit Molly's website: http://www.mollyconnor.com/ or her blog is on the right, as well. Enjoy!