200th Post!

I noticed a few months ago that I was getting close to 200 posts, but I had no idea that it would take me so long to get there! I just haven't had that much to post about lately - not many craft projects or new recipes happening at my house these days!
I am 16 weeks today, and pregnancy-wise, I've been feeling pretty good. I have been regaining energy, and my blood pressure has been great. This week, I've felt the baby move a few times. It is usually low on my left side, and most of the time, it has felt like a rolling pressure. One afternoon, I felt some flutters across the center of my belly. I've been battling a cough and congestion for the past month, and I think that if I could just completely get over these cold/allergy symptoms, I would feel great. Here is a picture of me from this morning (at 16 weeks).My next OB appointment is October 4, and our ultrasound is scheduled for October 12. We are hoping to find out the baby's gender that day, and we are also hoping to hear that baby is developing well.
My birthday was last Saturday, and I had a really nice day. Jim had a day off - which is pretty rare for a Saturday in September. He usually has outings to run every weekend, but there weren't any scheduled for that day! He took me out for dinner on Friday night, and then he and Drew made me a cheesecake on Saturday morning. It has a turtle cheesecake, and it was delicious!

I meant to take a picture of a slice of cheesecake, but I forgot to take one! I was too busy eating to stop and photograph, I guess!

Drew had a soccer practice that afternoon, and he had a great time! Here they were playing a dribbling game, which included dropping to the ground. I think that was his favorite part!

They had a little scrimmage, and Drew was upset this week that the other kids weren't sharing the ball with him. He didn't want to try to take the ball away from anyone. We tried to explain that taking the ball was pretty much the way to have a turn with it. I don't know that his feet touched the ball at all during the scrimmage. Hopefully, he will catch on before the end of the season.

At the end of each practice, the children walk through a tunnel of cheering parents, and I snapped this picture of Drew as he walked past.

Snacks at the end are the favorite part, and Drew ate his with his buddy, Joseph.

Jim's mom took us out for dinner for my birthday after soccer practice. Drew fell asleep in the van on the way to the restaurant. He has to miss his nap for soccer each week, and all the running wears him out!

Drew has his first field trip coming up soon. I will try to post pictures from that, and I will definitely post some ultrasound pictures and results after we get those!

Timbit Soccer

Drew started soccer this afternoon through our local AYSO chapter. He is in the Under 5 group, which is sponsored by Tim Horton's. His group is called the "Timbits," which is the name for the donut holes at Tim Horton's. Drew was so excited to get dressed up in his uniform and go to soccer today! He is number 81. Each week, the children are put into different groups where they will learn soccer skills by playing little games.

The Timbits headed out to do their first drill. They played a game called, "Coach Says," where they had to follow the coaches' instructions. AYSO is staffed entirely by volunteers, and Drew's volunteer coaches this week were a couple of young teenage boys. They were very kind and knowledgeable, but they weren't great at communicating with 4 year-olds. Many of the children were pretty confused.

The coaches said to sit on the soccer balls. Drew followed this direction ok, but he struggled with many of the skills. Jim and I are planning to practice some of the harder skills with Drew at home this week.

In the second game, the children had to listen and follow directions, but the directions all had a pirate theme.

There were frequent water breaks.

Toward the end, half of the group put on orange pinnies, and they had a little scrimmage. They mostly clumped around the ball, but there was one little boy that kept taking the ball to the goal and scoring. He probably scored three or four times!

Drew loved running around with the other children.

The final skill they practiced was shooting at the goal.

The coaches pretended to try to stop the balls from going into the net, and the children were thrilled to get the ball past their coaches.

Everyone's favorite part of the day was snack time. Each child got a juice and a snack.

On the bottom inside of Drew's jersey, it says, "I just played. I'm thirsty!" After each of Drew's soccer practices, he can go to Tim Horton's and show his little shirt hem to get a free drink. We stopped at Tim Horton's on our way home, and Drew got a chocolate milk and some Timbits.

The worker loved Drew's shirt!

Drew had a great first day of soccer, and we are looking forward to five more Saturdays of soccer this fall!

I shot a little video of the pirate skills game. I'm hoping that Drew will get a little better at his soccer (and listening) skills as the season goes along.