June highlights: end of school, Washington DC, summer camps, preparing for baby!

 1) Completing kindergarten and third grade. the girls wrapped up their school year on a high note. they loved their teachers and their classes, and have really enjoyed getting more involved in school sports (basketball and volleyball for Greta, soccer and spirit squad for Cecilia). Cecilia's favourite "class" was speech therapy. I was impressed with how much progress she made in articulating her /r/ sounds over the course of the year, and in fact, the speech therapist called me the last week of school to say that Cece's pronunciation is now within the normal range for her age and she won't require speech support in the fall unless something else crops up. selfishly, I miss the absolute cuteness of her little voice, but I know she was self-conscious about it and I'm so proud of her hard work to say her /r/s in the "new" way (the therapist encouraged us to frame correct pronunciation as "new" vs "old", rather than "right"/"wrong" or "good"/"bad"). 

first and last days of kindergarten

Greta's favourite class was music, with science being a close second. she is so excited to move up to fourth grade in the fall, when she can participate in the school orchestra, the schola choir program, and the school musical, in addition to the regular music classes. this third grade year brought our first real experience with friend drama. she and I both learned some valuable lessons in how to grow healthy relationships while preserving her own sense of self, and by the end of the year, it seems that everything has balanced back out to a happy equilibrium (for now at least). 

first and last days of third grade (with an extra helping of sass)

2) Washington, DC. we had a wonderful four-day trip to DC before baby Victoria arrived! you can read the detailed travelogue here. it was my first time seeing the major sights, and Nick hadn't seen them since he was in elementary school himself. we visited the Smithsonian Museums of American History and Natural History, the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land, the U.S. Capitol, the White House Visitor Center, the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, the Lincoln Memorial, and the National Mall, in addition to taking a sightseeing cruise and getting dinner with Rebecca and Josh. when we lived in Rome, we took long weekend trips every month or so, and it's just such a perfect length of time for sightseeing with kids and making family memories. 

our tour guide took this incredible panoramic shot in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol!

sadly, our trip came to an end with the devastating news that Nick's grandmother had entered inpatient hospice care, after being diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of kidney cancer just several weeks prior. we were able to make the three hour drive to the hospital to visit with her and give her our love and prayers before she passed away later that night. it still feels surreal that she is gone -- she was such a vibrant presence in all of our lives and we miss her dearly.

3) Summer camps galore. the week after we returned from Washington DC, Greta headed to a full week of sleepaway camp -- her longest time ever away from us. especially in light of Gram's passing and all the emotions of the weekend with her viewing and funeral, I really worried that Greta would struggle, especially at bedtime. we were allowed to send one email per day that the staff would print out and distribute to our campers at lunchtime, but the campers were not allowed to contact us except in case of an emergency. I kept waiting for a middle of the night call that she needed to be picked up, but it never came. at the end of the week, she was absolutely bursting with joy and stories of all their fun escapades (including a trust-building exercise where she climbed to the top of the rock wall blindfolded and her cabinmates gave her pointers of where to put her hands and feet -- all while safely harnessed up of course). 

the silly girls of Cabin 8 (Greta is in the pink shirt)

meanwhile, Cecilia attended a day camp at a local elementary school. they had special activities planned throughout the week, including a visit from the Kona Ice truck, a cooking class led by the aptly named Miss Blueberry (they made zucchini waffles), crafts, and outdoor games. Cece was most excited for the trip to the pool scheduled for Thursday, but unfortunately it was canceled due to rain and cold weather. 

ready for her first day of camp!

the week following, both girls went to the same Vacation Bible School program they've attended for the last several years. half the fun is seeing so many of their friends who also participate! the VBS song CD is now on heavy rotation in the van. 

they have been friends since they were babies!

all of the campers painted rocks to create this colorful display

4) Preparing for baby. as you can see, June was a bit of a whirlwind. I was still working three days a week up until the end of the month, so with all of the other activities, I got a little behind on baby prep! of course, one benefit to having Elizabeth and Victoria just nineteen months apart is that not all of the baby stuff was fully put away yet. the week before my scheduled induction, I finally got the cosleeper, bouncer and boppy set up with covers and blankets freshly washed. Elizabeth took it upon herself to test the bouncer and the infant car seat. ;) 

this month, I was blessed with baby showers thrown by each of my office locations! they were all so generous in making sure that baby four is welcomed with just as much care and attention as the previous three have been. 

Blair works remotely most of the time, but her company had a picnic at their office building right next to mine on the same day as the baby shower!

at 36 weeks, I had a final ultrasound to check baby's growth because of the gestational diabetes. if she had measured over a certain weight, we would have considered scheduling a c-section. her estimated fetal weight was in the 56th percentile, which was perfect! I had probably the world's briefest consultation with the high risk/maternal fetal medicine doctors after the ultrasound; the fellow came in first, followed by the attending, and they both said everything looked great and they had no further recommendations. that was a huge relief! 

hello, baby! (this is a profile shot -- she's dramatically flinging her hand over her forehead)

finally, Nick and I had one last night out on Friday, June 30, celebrating our friends' wedding, four days before baby arrived. it was a wonderful chance to spend time together before plunging into the chaos of the fourth trimester and transitioning to life as a family of six!

my handsome wedding date!! (and 38 week bump!)