Weekend Getaway in Wisconsin

We enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Wisconsin! It was so nice to get away from everything for a bit and relax without worrying about what needs to get done at home and other distractions. We stayed at George Williams College in Willams Bay where Kyle has been attending grad school in a lakefront cottage (no TV, no internet, and barely a shower)...it was great! Lauren, of course, kept us entertained the entire time. Kyle's mom and sister arrived late Friday night and spent the weekend with us too! We had a blast shopping, hanging out, and chatting about the lack of hot water. 

Lauren played for hours with model magic. Here she is pretending that she is sick (this is her posed sick face) with bandaids on her fingers. She told us that she was sick from eating a beetle and a mouse. 

Kyle graduated Saturday afternoon with his Master's in Recreation Administration. It was a nice and short (45 minutes) ceremony on the beautiful campus. It was a bit chilly outside but we found some nice seating huddled in the middle.

After the ceremony, in the warm reception hall.

We went Mini Golfing before heading out of Wisconsin. This was a first for Lauren. I don't know what we were expecting but Kyle and I just handed her the golf club and ball and told her to hit it down to the hole. She had NO IDEA what she was doing...it was quite comical. I nearly got a golf club to the head!

Daddy's first golf lesson to Lauren

28 weeks

We have hit 28 weeks...officially the 3rd trimester depending on who you ask (some say last week is). Things have been progressing smoothly I suppose. I started seeing a local chiropractor who specializes in expectant mothers. My tailbone has been bothering me lately and I am hoping to ensure that this baby flips into the right position eventually. We had an appt. last week and the midwives were right, I am a late weight gainer. I packed on 7 lbs. in the last 4 weeks putting me at 17 lbs. total this pregnancy. We had our glucose test and passed with flying colors. I am going to start taking an iron supplement, Floradix, to hopefully give me some more energy and decrease my dizziness per the midwife.

This glucose test was much different then the last. I had to eat no grains, fruit, or sugar for the entire day and then 1 hour before blood draw I drank a Naked Green Machine (anything with over 50 grams of sugar in it). Definitely tasted much better than the nasty Glucola drink.

Everyone at work is saying that I have grown a lot just this week, even Kyle made a comment tonight. No one is thinking I am going to make it to July 19th...might have a firecracker baby!

Don't mind Lauren trying to pinch my belly button with her doctor kit tweezers. 

Veggie Tales LIVE and 26.5 weeks

We got the pleasure of attending Veggie Tales LIVE the other night, Lauren's first big concert She was very curious about it all and asked tons of questions the way there...is it in a movie theater, is it a movie or a musical, is there a stage, will it be dark? We still aren't entirely sure what she thought of it but she seemed to enjoy herself. We are bad parents and didn't let her divulge in the mass amounts of souvenirs and that is one of the only things she keeps talking about.

We were in the absolute last row in the balcony! Haha! It actually worked out great though because Lauren could stand on our laps and we just climbed over our seats when we had to get out instead of climbing over everyone else.

(Veggie Tales: Junior, Jimmy, Mr. Lunt, and Bob)

This was her face when the concert started...??

I told Kyle to take a picture of us with the souvenirs in the background and this is what Lauren did. She said afterward, "I made a weird face, Mom!"

26.5 weeks, still going strong

We have another appt. coming up this week. I still need to make a pregnancy post and upload some of our ultrasound pictures...maybe this week!

2 year old Conversations about Heaven

Lauren: When I go to Heaven, I will die, and my Mommy and Daddy will not come and pick me up (as in picking her up from daycare).

Us: That's right, Lauren.

Lauren: Sounds kind of dangerous!

Us: What do you think you do in Heaven?

Lauren: Play with Jesus, play games, toys. He likes to go outside. He LOVES going outside.

Us: What does he do when he goes outside?

Lauren: play in the backyard, in the fence, He goes inside and has lunch.

Us: What does Heaven look like?

Lauren: Jesus

Us: What does Jesus look like?

Lauren: Heaven. When you die, you go to Heaven. Then I will be in Heaven with you and Mom. We stay there forever. They buried Jesus in the tomb.

"Pin"Spirations

Last day of Spring Break for me and we sure did pack a lot of action into it. I am really bummed about going back to work but in less than 2 months, I will be off for 5 months (maternity leave + summer break). My friend and I decided to try out some Pinterest crafts with the kids with our time off. Some were hits...others weren't quite appropriate for their age.

Taped crayons to race cars. Nobody was a fan of this one: adults, two year olds, and a 2nd grader. The crayons didn't really cooperate and overall was not very exciting. Didn't keep the attention-span of anyone either. We will not be doing this one again.

Lauren's Sewing Kit: pipe cleaners, ABC buttons, yarn, plastic needles, mini scissors, tape measure, spools of ribbon, and two things to sew on (plastic basket-weave and cupboard liner in a cross stitch hoop)

I left it in the middle of the living room while she napped and she was SO EXCITED to see it when she woke up!

Her own little "yo-yo" tape measure (what she calls it). Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I guess $1.47 only gets you so far at Wal-Mart.

Her very own sewing kit. She really does love this and stays entertained for awhile.

Putting pipe cleaners into a seasoning jar.

Gave her mini scissors from an adult sewing kit and she LOVES them.

Putting pipe cleaners into a colander. She enjoyed it but it must certainly did not keep her entertained for as long as I thought it would. She did enjoy throwing the pipe cleaners ALL over our living room floor though and covering me up with them. Mommy advice: do not let anyone cover you up in pipe cleaners, they scratch...hard!

Sandpaper T-Shirt: coloring their designs onto sandpaper to iron press onto t-shirts. Lauren was more interested in singing her beautiful made-up melodies about crayons and shirts.

As you can tell, Gabby is the only one that actually did her entire drawing and was super pumped about it being on her shirt! Definitely going to save this one for a few years down the road though, they were very easy and the image pressed perfectly on the shirts. We used a skinny dish rag between the shirt and iron.

Spa Day, Fun, and Visit to Iowa

We have been busy around here, I think I always say that! My mom came for the weekend while Kyle was gone and we had a mini Spa Day, we went to a birthday party, and then Lauren and I made the long trek back to Northwest Iowa for a bridal shower. This week we are "relaxing" while Kyle is gone again and me on Spring Break and getting ready for his parents to join us over Easter.

This was Lauren's "before" shot that we took before getting her hair cut and nails done. I asked her to make sad face and this is what she did. Afterward she told me, "I really made a MAD face Mom."

Lauren got her hair trimmed in the pink car again.

She did surprisingly well getting her nails done for the first time.

Check out this pretty puppies

Our best "after" shot we could get from her!

Daddy went to a high ropes training course and came back with some nice knot techniques. Lauren got all strapped up and Kyle swung her around. This girl is going to be a daredevil!

Lauren's friend, Gabby, had her b-day party at a bounce house! Lauren loves these places. Me...not so much (at least not while pregnant). It is difficult to maneuver through them and I got a nasty burn on my ankle from this particular slide!

On the bouncey balance beam

We didn't take any pictures at the Bridal Shower because one of Amanda's friends is a professional photographer and took care of it for us but we did get a nice picture of Lauren with her Great-Great-Grandma Cody. She will turn 100 in June!!

23 week appt. & backyard adventures

Our yard is much bigger this summer with all the overgrown shrubs gone and fence in place. We still have a lot of grass to grow and volunteer plants to remove but things are looking much better and less muddy! Kyle set up his hammock for a bit for us to enjoy. It is very enjoyable but difficult to get out of pregnant :)

Kyle set up a little fenced-in area for Poss. Long story short, Poss needs to be supervised when playing or else he needs to be in the hutch. Grr!!

She could swing and relax in here for hours

There's a little head in there!

Loves this thing!

Mommy and Lauren in the hammock together!

We had our 23 week appt. last night. Everything is still going good, we got some answers for natural childbirth classes in our area that combine a few different methods and names of doulas. Heart-rate was in the 150's and baby was moving...moving...moving the entire time she was trying to get the reading. I gained 1 pound since the last appt and up 10 total, midwife wasn't concerned and said that some women gain the majority of their weight at the end instead of throughout. After LOTS of research and contemplation, we scheduled an ultrasound for this upcoming Wednesday for the anatomy scan, I am now excited to see our little bundle of joy. We have to go to an outside imaging center and it looks like we will be getting a 4D one, never experienced that before!

Lauren's 1st Garden

We wanted to do something educational and fun for Lauren this year outside and decided on making a garden just for her. We will probably add either some peas, green beans, or a random assortment of herbs but haven't committed quite yet. I can't say enough about how awesome raised bed gardens are: they are much more manageable, easier to set up, easier to monitor soil levels, and nice-looking too! We constructed hers for just around $10 (scalloped edging, top soil, and mushroom compost). You do need to shave off the top layer of grass though before putting the soil down. Lauren enjoyed getting her "Circle Garden" ready, dumping the soil and mushroom compost in, and tilling it all by herself! Plus, it is right next to 2 of my raised beds so she can watch how I tend to them and mirror that...all about experiential learning! Since it will be a bit before the seedlings go in, she is having fun digging and dumping with her mini shovel and rake.

This is hard work Mom!

What a warm winter, my green onions kept growing!

She requested I take a picture of her with her hands in the sand table. My parents scored this for her still in the box at Goodwill!

22 Weeks!

We've reached 22 weeks! Things still feel so surreal but I have to remind myself that in a few short weeks, this baby could easily live outside of the womb (if not already)...yikes! We're hoping that it cooks for much longer though. My new supplements are working wonders. Who would have thought that fish oil, probiotics, and vitamin D3 could work their magic so much but my hair and nails are growing like wild and are so thick and my digestive tract is running much smoother.

Everyone at work keeps commenting on how large I look already in the belly region. I posted pics from Lauren's pregnancy so you can get a comparison, what do you think? I feel like I stick STRAIGHT out instead of wrapping around with Lauren.

Pregnancy with Lauren, 26 weeks

Pregnancy with Lauren, 24 weeks

22 weeks with Baby #2

21 Weeks and Hammock

We went back to Iowa for the weekend. Lauren enjoyed some time with Jemal in Grandpa's new hammock. Somehow I forgot to take my camera out during the Cousin Birthday Party, opps!

21 weeks, no more hiding of the belly anymore!

So much fun!

Can I take my nap in here, Grandpa?

Pure bliss and static electricity

Static and rocking equal much fun! They both screamed when we took them out.

Lauren Lately

Lauren called her Cousin Ethan to tell him "Happy Birthday" yesterday. While she was on the phone, she got the chance to talk to her Cousin Olivia too. Their birthdays are only about a week apart so we just recently bought both presents.

Lauren: "We got you Lincoln Logs, Olivia".

Me: "Shh...that is a present, a surprise, don't tell her what it is."

Lauren: "I was just asking her a question Mom, if she had some."

Me: "Don't tell her what we got her."

Lauren: "We didn't get you Lincoln Logs, Olivia!"

The good news is...Cousin Olivia wasn't even paying any attention to chatty Lauren on the other end so it will be a surprise still! :)

Then, tonight, as we are packing to go to the above-mentioned birthday parties, Lauren told me she wanted to change her pants to some that we packed for tomorrow.

Me: No, Lauren, you can't wear those pants right now, you are going to wear them tomorrow to the Lorax movie.

Lauren: Ok, Mom. I'm just borrowing them right now. Then I will put them back later.

Me: sigh

When do they get so smart?

20 weeks...opps!

We forgot about 20 weeks, we knew that it happened but never got around to taking the picture and here we are at just about 21 weeks so we've decided to skip it. Opps! Pregnancy is still going well. Baby is MOVING A LOT which really scares us knowing how much Lauren moved and how active she is now...I think this one moves more, yikes!! I think I am leaning more towards boy now and Kyle is adamant it is also a boy, then again...we were positive Lauren was a boy too! I think we have a good solid list of boy/girl names so now we just wait!

My parent's came out for my birthday weekend so we hopped over to the hotel pool. This one wasn't too eager about the water and just watched from the chairs.

I came home from work and said goodbye to my boots. Ouch! I can't walk/run around at work all day. I didn't think it would bother me this early on in pregnancy but it sure does! Thankfully, my birthday money went to a new nice pair of flat boots!

Check this out!

New cheese face. She loves headbands just as much as me!

Lauren wanted me to take a picture of her eating her favorite snack, apple slices dipped in a pb/greek yogurt cinnamon combo and her favorite shirt and headband