34 ... or is it 35?

I think it's definitely 35+ by now. Are we really down to the last +/-5 weeks?! Holy moly!

Since last post, we had just one weekend before heading off to the beach for the annual Braud family vacay and then the trip back to NOLA with promises to stay put and not travel anymore until after JuneBug's here. That being said, this post'll be beach-heavy. Plus medical school graduation because that's fancy and important (and has the Brauds together again for another week).

Peter drove the kids and me over to Bolivar peninsula on Monday the 9th to call a lovely beach house home for the week. It was quite stormy that afternoon, and our first evening's walk down to the beach was, well, kind of hilarious. Paul raced to the waves, screeching with laughter, and Ada stayed as far back against the dunes, away from the water as possible, screeching with terror. "Paul! Water! Out! Mama, sit!" while pointing for us to get away from those fatal waves. Can you really even call what comes splashing on a 4yo's ankles waves? Sigh. Ada spent the next half hour (before the rest of us decided it wasn't worth it and called it quits) sitting in the wagon, watching Paul like an eagle. Spoiler: she eventually got over it - thank God!

Her mini-bed; now, this she liked!

So, here's the rundown for what each day looked like, and then I'll just fill in with any unique little tidbits; mostly, though, our 7ish days on the beach each summer are pretty similar to each other. We'd wake at kids' waking hour because there's no vacation from that, have breakfast and play on the deck/in the house until about 9-9:30. At that time everyone was sunscreened and suited up, ready for the morning session, where we'd set up camp under the canopy with chairs, novels, and sandcastle toys until lunch around noon. After lunch, I read to and put the kids to bed for a good 2+ hours, after which we went down for the evening session, with frosty drinks, less sunscreen, and closer to the tide gone out until sunset. Dinner was usually around 7:30 or so, and kids were asleep for, oh, 9ish.

Now for the anecdotes. Tuesday was a half-half day for Ada as far as hating - accepting the beach, (she doesn't like loud things, so was it the water's noise? One will never know.) but Paul was just game as could be the whole time. He had an excellent partner in Uncle Pete to take him deepish into the water to jump waves, and the funniest one-liner from that kind of play came when Peter asked him if he was cold; he answered, shivering, "No, my body just does this," with complete sincerity. Ha! Wednesday had Ada actually request hands to take her into the water - yay! "Nana, water. Now." "Mama, Ada hand." We definitely obliged. Walks along the shore were great for her by now, and she started liking shell-searching, too. Paul, of course, was in Heaven - Sand! Water! Sand and water! Outside all day! And as dirty as he wanted. (He slept like a log the whole week, of course.) Tante Ginny also arrived Wednesday, so it was the nuclear 5 Brauds + P&A. Thursday saw Ada join Paul's ranks, and any fear or hesitation left no shadow. She was happy to get in and out of the water, get dirty in the sand with Paul, go back in the water, deeper in the water, everything. They both liked having their towels wrapped burrito-style around them after coming out; very cute. Unfortunately, too, we started seeing the first trickles of Jeeps joy-riding up and down the beach ... there was to be a full-fledged Jeep Fest on Saturday. Groan. But first, Papa came in! He arrived after midnight on Thursday in preparation for a full day with us all on Friday, hooray! He spent the majority of his beach time with Paul in the water or digging big holes in the sand; the stuff dads do. We also had kites that day. And Ryan even got to join in after work for a crab and shrimp boil. Whole gang together. Saturday, the last full day, was both the loveliest and the most annoying; it was the best in terms of weather and water conditions and the most irritating because of the thousands of Jeeps parading up and down the beach. We parked our set-up as close to the water's edge as possible first thing in the morning so we wouldn't have to worry about the kids crossing the "street" like in previous days for the variety of soft vs wet sand. But the water more than made up for it, in my opinion. I enjoyed swimming most this day - the water was calmer and had great sand bars, so we could go out kind of far (so as to not hear said Jeeps), and still touch. Paul and Ada sat in a blow-up boat that we pushed back and forth between us and over the waves, and it was so, so nice having a little Knoll-time out there; the kids miss Papa when we're separated. Also, JuneBug loved swimming. It felt amazing! I hadn't had that experience with the other two because, hello, January in Minnesota. It was bizarre feeling the water glide over all of the same (and no extra) nerves on the skin on my belly; I kind of forgot about the belly until getting out of the water; boom, there it is. Finally, Sunday morning, we had a couple of hours on the sand before leaving around 1pm, NOLA-bound.

It was a lovely time, as always, and it was sad to get back to the reg, as always. Except, with kids, it's also sort of nice to get things back. Dylan was a champ in prepping for our return while he was on his own, and the house looked great. We only had to take care of a little laundry and unpacking. And quick! because Mom and Dad were set to arrive Tuesday evening to begin Peter's festivities surrounding finishing LSU med school.

But not before I had a bit of a scare on Monday morning (the 16th now) at the playground with our little school group. I'd walked the kids there with no problems, but around 11am, I had some pretty strong strained-ligament pain that I couldn't just wiggle away. I even laid down on a picnic bench to try to get JuneBug to shift around, but then I started getting light-headed and even having funny vision things, maybe blacking out, maybe tunnel vision? Then I got nervous, I think, and had a few hot waves comes over me. Long story short, a lovely neighborhood mom offered to drive me home while another friend offered to push the kids back home. And it turns out the ligament pain was one thing and the other things were all just low blood sugar. Derp. So, I did right in trying to get baby off of the side that hurt, but the other things were not related to baby at all ... except that I have to eat more. (I didn't know that was possible...) Mind's at ease; JuneBug's ticking along wonderfully - keep on growing!

Now let's shift on over to LSU graduation + family's visit. Wednesday and Thursday were the big days: Wednesday was the "pre-commencement", where the candidates for MD were hooded with their fancy robes; Thursday was the actual graduation ceremony with mortarboards and degrees. Both were mid-morning through lunch ceremonies, and both were about 2 hours. Peter wanted the bigger crowd for the pre-commencement ceremony, as it was tailored only to the medical students, whereas the full-on graduation was for all the health science kids; a difference of about 800 students. So, Peter had his parents, a sister+family, 2 aunts, and his godmother for Wednesday's ceremony, and later that night we added some uncles, another aunt, and the other sister for a big celebratory dinner. It was all-around really lovely! (I'd had my 35 wk check-up first thing that morning, too, and had any remaining worries calmed; plus, baby's head down! Yay, no version on a breach baby [ahem, Ada...]) Thursday's ceremony, while a bit less intimate, was very special because it was the first time someone else said "Dr. Peter Braud". We've all been saying it and teasing about it since he started 4 years ago, but to really hear someone else, also dressed in fancy academic regalia, address my little brother like that was a pretty neat moment. I may have gotten misty-eyed. Proud of you, Pete! Now, Mom & Dad's first two nights (the two nights before grad ceremonies) had a sleepless, coughing Paul. It was awful. He felt terrible and couldn't sleep for whatever tickle that got to him when he laid flat that didn't exist when he was upright and playing during the day. This hacking cough took its toll on the poor boy on Thursday, after 2 nights with much less than normal sleep, and he was carsick on the way to graduation and then slept the entire thing through on my lap. I was just glad he was resting, poor kid! He's been propped up to high Heaven since and has been sleeping beautifully since those 2 awful nights. So, moving along to Friday, then. Mom and Ginny came with me to take the kids to their Flubber Friday art class, and I think Mom was impressed. Ginny'd been before, but Mom had only heard about it. It is pretty great. And that night we just had a normal Knoll fish Friday dinner. It's always nice to sit around the kitchen table talking and drinking after the kids are down. I like those nights. Now we're up to Saturday. We started in City Park at Morning Call for beignets, Nana & Pappy took the kids duck-feeding and playgrounding then back home for lunch and naps while Ginny, Dylan, and I went to our last Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra event; it was a delicious crawfish boil in the blazing sun with a string quartet on the river. On the way home, we stopped for a famous Hansen's snoball. Beignets, crawfish, and snoballs all in one day; now that's a New Orleans Saturday. As soon as we got home, Mom, Dad, and Ginny set off for Houston - with many a hug and kiss because we won't see each other again until after this baby comes along! - and Dylan set to work re-linening the house, making sure I sit tight and take it easy.

Because I'm there now. I need to slow down. It's time, and he's making me. There are no other trips, nothing else to do between now and Babytime besides taking care of the first 2 and prepping for #3.