Long Family Update

This blog entry is all about the Long family. Ashlie sent me pictures and Tracie sent me an explanation of the pictures!! (Ashlie- I know you're reading this, so see how simple it is to write a blog post?? You are such a great writer that this would be a good way to hone your skills for an audience AND to keep everyone updated on the family and the new babies!!! Hint, hint. . .)

"The pictures of Rusty in the water was actually very funny.

That was the weekend we went to the Chesapeake Bay Beach. It was so cold and windy that day that none of us got in the water but Rusty had a blast. He was soo funny attacking the waves. He was bouncing all over. He never has gone far enough into the water to actually swim so we kept throwing sticks out as far as we could to see if he would swim. He got fed up with the little stick we were throwing and decided to bring us that big stick. The pictures of the kids in the tree are from that same beach.

Most of the afternoon I was leaning against that big tree. I was really getting tired of standing and my only option was to sit in the sand or climb up on that big tree. With the help of the kids I crawled up on the tree. My look on my face explains what I went through just to sit down.
The picture of dragons in the water is at Inner harbor in Baltimore.

That was my last weekend before bed rest. We walked around inner harbor that day and after a couple of hours I needed to rest quite frequently. We were sitting down on this bench when this lady and little girl approached us and asked if our kids would go on the dragon paddle boats with her and her little girl. She couldn’t paddle the boat and watch her little girl at the same time. Austin and Ashlie decided to help her. The little girl had a great time. Austin and Ashlie thought it was boring just paddling around that little area for 30 minutes. The funniest part about that is just 5 minutes prior they were whining wanted to go on the paddle boats. The picture of Jeff and me where I am wearing a blue shirt is from that day.

Wow have I grown in just the past month. Ashlie and Jeff took a picture of me yesterday in the same shirt so I’ll have to get them to e-mail it to you.
The picture of Ashlie and a boy is her boyfriend, Chris.
The picture of Ashlie, Corrie and Austin with a red headed kid is their cousin Josh.

We went to West Virginia one weekend to see Jeff’s family. There is a picture of Jeff in one chair and his brother in another. Yes they really do look that much alike.
Through the pictures you can see we are having a great time here. Up until I went on bed rest we went someplace every single weekend. We have been to the beach, The Washington Zoo, West Virginia, Inner harbor Baltimore, one weekend we found a big park with a lake. With the exception of Jeff’s family all these places are within an hour. We can be downtown Baltimore in 30 minutes and downtown DC in 30-45 minutes. There are quite a few lakes around here that we are looking forward to exploring. I guess the beach to be at is Ocean City. I think that is about 2 hours away though. Others places like Hershey Park, Gettysburg, Williamsburg are a couple of hours away too but as soon as these babies are born we will be venturing out again to see all the wonderful history this area has to offer. And I still want to go to the National Archives, but that will have to be a day by myself with someone watching the babies. I highly doubt any of my family members have the desire to look through historical documents all day."

Someone from the Long family will have to tell me what the following pictures are all about:

Here is the note Tracie sent with the latest on the babies:

"Well the babies and I made it through 3 weeks of complete bed rest. I went to the doctor today and she said I can now get up but I should only have limited activity. She said she would like me to go two more weeks. I looked at her and wanted to strangle her right there. I felt like telling her then she can carry them for the next two weeks. They can come anytime now as far as I am concerned. :-) 3 weeks ago when I had an ultrasound the babies were about 4 lbs. The doctor today said she thinks they are around 5 to 5 1/2 lbs. But that is just a guess by measurements and feeling the babies. The ultrasound is more accurate. I need to have them soon or all the clothes I bought them won't fit. I was expecting them to be below or right at 5 lbs. Oh well I guess fat happy naked babies is better than low weight clothed babies. So we still aren't sure what position Dalton is in. At first the doctor thought he was head down, but upon further examination definitely felt and played with feet. So now we have to go in for another ultrasound on Monday to know exactly what is going on. If he is still breech then we will be scheduling a c-section. I actually think he is bent over. I think both his head and feet are down. But I don't know. I feel like I have a 20lb octopus with 50 arms and legs inside me. No matter what doesn't look like the babies will be born on 7-07-07 like everyone wanted. :-( Well that's the update for the 2 young babies. My other 4 babies (Jeff, Ashlie, Corrie and Austin) are all doing fine. Just getting anxious and can't wait for these babies to be here. I love you all and thanks for all the e-mails and phone calls. I'll send another update after the ultrasound next week." Tracie, Caitlynn and Dalton