Thursday, December 15, 2011

keep on keepin on

James turned 14 months on Monday, the 12th. My Dad's birthday. It scares me because once he is 18 months (to the day) we'll have another baby here. That's in 4 months! Yikes..that will be here before we know it. It makes me so excited..I can't imagine having another little one to love on as much as I do James. It scares me because I hope this next baby is as easy as James was/is (usually!) :)
Speaking of which..last time I wrote about how he became such a finicky eater overnight. I was getting frustrated because he wasn't eating much or getting much protein. I continued to offer him everything we eat and changed up some of his snacks. Tried to not give as many snacks before meals. Offer one food at a time during meals. Bring back some old foods (chicken sticks, made by gerber..he loved them awhile ago and I had stopped buying them because I thought he was eating pretty good and would just eat with us. Well I brought these back and he loves them..yeah protein!) It's all been working pretty well and he's eating again!  It does help to use his favorite "cars" or "clifford" plate and fork and he'll feed himself for a couple bites and then let you feed him a couple bites. I'm just happy it's not a huge hassle anymore! That was a short phase, thankfully.

Other things he's been up to this month include-

*Loves animals and continues to learn different animal sounds. He's doing kitty, dog, fish (face), tiger/lion/bear roar, giraffe (tongue), elephant

*Starting to climb. Yesterday he climbed up onto a folding chair all by himself. He gets so proud and stretches his arms up in the air as if to say ("look mom, no hands!") and wants me to say, "soo big!" It's so funny and cute.

*Saying a couple words more purposefully: nana (he'll see a banana at the grocery store and say "nana?" like, "I would like to eat that now please!") mommy, da, and baby. It's so cute when he says baby. He will point to my tummy and say "beebe", and then lay his head on my belly like he's giving baby a hug. adorable. Aunt Ali gave him one of Lux's baby dolls yesterday so he can practice holding baby.

*Still using his signs consistently. He really loves to say please..he thinks that means he automatically gets whatever he's asking as long as he says please. He's also signing raisin. He made up his own sign for raisin, but it's always the same so we use it. He also changed his sign for 'more' but it's consistent too.

*Loves balls and trucks. He loves the baseball, football and basketball picture in his room and points to them over and over so I can name them. He loves to play with his football and throw it to you. He loves his truck too and will make the truck sound as he pushes it around the room

*Still taking 2 naps a day, usually for about an hour each. And sleeping from 8pm-7:30am

*Daddy has used the buzzer on his hair a couple times now and the past 2 times he hasn't minded it at all. Well now he's seen daddy cut his own hair and so now when we go downstairs James wants to get the buzzer out and wants me/daddy to "buzz" his hair. He puts it up to his hair and says "please". It's hilarious.

He's communicating so well. It's fun to know what's going on in his brain and watching him figure out what I'm saying too. Growing up fast!




Friday, December 2, 2011

bananas and raisins

"James is a great eater!"
That's what I used to say. Now all of a sudden he turned 13 months and he is picky! I am so against being picky. I was raised to try everything and eat everything on your plate. So when people said, "my toddler will only eat cake, so I give him Pedialyte so he gets in some nutrition" I always rolled my eyes and said, "really?" Haha. I guess my judgements are coming back to bite me.

James thinks he could live on bananas, raisins, a blueberry cereal bar from trader joes, cheese and sometimes crackers. These are the 4-5 things I can get him to eat pleasantly. Anything else he takes 3 bites of and does his sign language for "all done" if I try to give it to him after that he starts crying and turning his face into the back of his highchair. Needless to say eating has become one of my least favorite times.

He is still curious and will walk around asking for a bite of whatever you are eating, but one bite is about all he wants. You get out something sweet though and I swear he has the nose of a dog and can smell sugar! He will come up to you and sign "more" over and over until you give him some..and of course could eat the whole thing saying "mmm". It's actually funny to watch, but also frustrating! I guess it is my fault since I fed him dessert after dessert while pregnant! What can I say..he got his mom's sweet tooth.

I am wondering at what age can you "make" him eat those things he doesn't want to. He's at a weird transition stage between real food and baby food. He really doesn't want baby food, but gets tired of chewing up solids so then he quits. I don't want him to think he can just snack all day and then not eat with us at meals, but he's not at an age yet where he can understand me when I say, "You'll sit there until your plate is clean or you'll eat this for every meal until it's finished." Remember those days? Or was that just my family :)

He has learned to sign "raisin" so he's up to 7 signs now. His version of the sign is so cute. It's just so funny how he wants to be so independent already. He has used a regular cup since 9 months, but I introduced a sippy cup to him the other day when we were in Aurora because it was an easier way to transport milk. Now he LOVES his sippy cup and asks to drink out of it all the time.

He's growing up so fast! I am starting to recognize some of his words and he's making a couple animal sounds too. He says, "nana" for banana, and "da" for daddy.  He can make a kitty, lion, bear, and elephant sound, and for a giraffe I taught him to stick his tongue out (I saw a giraffe on a safari trip in NJ and his tongue was so long and hanging out so when we were reading a book and it came to giraffe that's what I did and he loved it!)

I can't say enough how much I love him and enjoy watching him grow up. I know there will be many more challenges than getting him to eat some protein so I try to remember that and be thankful for each bite he takes! :)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

13 months

James turned 13 months old a couple days ago already! He is growing up so fast. He amazes me everyday. His new facial expressions, motor skills, behavior and language developments. It's fun to see him change each week.

What he's been up to this past month:

*pointing with pointer finger rather than his hand

*signing consistantly: more, milk, all done, please, cracker. Still working on bathroom (using it as a means to tell me he has to go) and also working on 'thank-you'

*puts his hands in the air saying, "what?" or "I don't know"

*makes the funniest scowling face if he doesn't like something or doesn't understand it.

*apparently learned to crawl onto a chair and then onto a table..I got called over the speaker yesterday at the YMCA because he had fallen off the table he had crawled on in the childwatch area.

*taking a morning and afternoon nap, each an hour long.

*sleeping from 8pm-7 or 7:30. the time change messed him up for awhile. He was waking up at 6! But he's gotten back on schedule.

*Understanding 90% of what I say

*Loves to take a shower with daddy

*Eating a lot more table food and supplementing with baby food. He's such a good eater. It's so funny because if somone is eating he runs over to them and signs 'please'. He'll go around the table and make sure he gets some of each person's plate. I heard that what mommy eats baby will really like. Well, it's true. I ate lots of dessert :) James LOVES cake and ice cream.

*He loves to read too. He will bring book after book to you and say, "please". And you have to read it at least 3 times before he is done.

*wearing size 18-24 months clothes

*Definately testing mommy and daddy when they say no. And at the end of the night when he's tired he will go from one "no" thing to the next just to be onery. He does a pretty good job of listening usually, but he does like to test to see how serious/consistant we will be.

*I put some cool whip on his high chair tray yesterday to see if he would like the texture and want to play in it. NOPE. He kinda swirled it around with a spoon I gave him. And he touched it and then looked at his hands with his scowl face like, "what do I do now?" I guess someday his wife will appreciate he doesn't like to be dirty :)

I have a couple other pictures I want to post, but they are on the camera and I don't want to run upstairs yet..so here is one I took today of him on my phone. It's kinda blurry, but still so cute.

Monday, November 7, 2011

November already..

I feel human again. Which means I now have the urge to clean, eat, sleep, read blogs, do laundry..and even update my blog! I feel productive again! It's such a good feeling. For awhile at the beginning of my pregnancy's I swear I could sleep for 24 hours and still be tired.  I don't care that there is clutter everywhere, I wait til the last minute to do the laundry and I am in a horizontal position any moment I can. And this time I was nauseous up until 12 weeks. I would feel sick and need to eat and then I'd eat and get indigestion. So I just felt sick no matter what. So glad that's over!
I still took a nap yesterday, but I feel so much better. It's so much more fun being pregnant when you feel yourself! :) I even got to feel baby move a couple of times last week. That's one of the best parts. This is why I loved being pregnant so much. From now up until about week 36 when I'm huge and just ready to get baby out and meet him/her.

Speaking of...him/her? We are going to find out..we just have to wait longer than I should have to! My next dr. appt is Nov 22 and I'll be 20 weeks...we would get to find out. But Mike says, "just wait another month and put that bill on the next year's deductible" ugh. understandable, but not fun. So I am going to push my December appt to Jan 2 (or as early Jan as I can get in!). So we won't know til next year! I am still trying to figure out a fun way to announce it to everyone. I feel like another party is a little bit overkill, but it was so much fun. I seriously don't want to just have the ultrasound tech tell us and then go tell our families individually. So I gotta get to researching and find a fun way to do it that isn't as over the top. Who knows..maybe we'll just throw another party. I love to plan them! :)
                                                                                                                                                 please
James is getting so big! It's amazing how smart he is. He can now sign "milk,cracker,all done, please, more, and bathroom." He doesn't quite give me the bathroom sign when he has to go to the bathroom, but if I say "mommy has to go potty." or "Daddy's in the bathroom" He will do the sign. . He will randomly give me the bathroom sign and I"ll go put him on the toilet, but only once has he actually gone. But I am hoping we are on our way to potty training! :) It just melts my heart when he comes up to me and puts his arms in the air and then does "please" because he wants up. It's so amazing how much is going on in his brain already.

He also learned how to drink out of a straw. So funny. My grandma comes over to visit us about once a week and she will bring my favorite, a scooters Iced Mocha smoothie with her. James became interested in what I was drinking and was so determined to taste it he sucked it right up. And after that...there was no stopping him! I had to pinch the straw so that he didn't drink my whole smoothie! It was decaf..so don't worry I'm not getting him addicted to caffeine quite yet :)

I can't believe we are 2.5 weeks away from Thanksgiving. I'm so excited. I love the holidays. So much family time and such good food. I feel so blessed and I have have so many things to be thankful for.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

My ONE year old!

James turned ONE last Wednesday! I can't believe it's been a week already. The time has flown by. I see it's already been a month since I blogged last! I seriously was so busy finding ideas and putting things together for his party that I haven't had time to share it on here! Jenna, Mike's sister was in town from NY for the party as was Mike's aunt and 2 cousins from AZ. They were here all last week so we spent as much time as we could with them. We had a lot of fun seeing them.

His party! I had decided to do a dog theme because he absolutely loves dogs. He can spot one a mile away when we go for a walk. I tried to convince Mike to get him a dog for his birthday, but we decided we probably shouldn't get a puppy when we are going to have a newborn :) Too much to handle. Darn..hopefully soon though! So I went on pinterest and google and found different ideas that I wanted to do and ideas I knew I could actually handle. I will post pictures instead of trying to explain it all. The party was a success though. We had a really good turn out and everyone was so generous! We are blessed to have such great family and friends who love and support us. We are so thankful.

                                                             Invites Lyndi and I made
                                                            One of the food tables
                                    Cookies Ali and I (mostly ali) slaved over (that's a whole different story!)
                                                             Water bottle labels I made
                  His first present to open. And the shirt I made him (with some sewing help from grandma!)
                                                                Loved his lawnmower
                                                                           and train
                                                         getting ready for the cake!
                           (Picture of the cake to come!) Not too sure he likes having his hands in it!
                                                              But LOVED eating it!

I guess I should also report the things he is up to lately now that he's one! We went to the Dr. for his wellness check and it went good. He was 31'' and 23lbs 14oz. He's in the 90% for height and 50% for weight. And his head is 75% for circumference. They said he looked great. He did scream the entire time the dr. or nurse were in the room though. The second they left he knew he was safe..but he sure isn't a fan of seeing the Dr. They said that doesn't usually happen til 18 months, so he's ahead of the game there too. Not surprising. He's so smart.

*He's walking everywhere
*Signs milk consistently, has started to do all-done and cracker
*Taking 2 naps, each about an hour or hour 10 mins
*Sleeping from 8pm-8am!!
*Making so many different facial experessions and then doing them more since we are laughing!
*Pushing his toy cars around..loves it when I make the "vroom" sound for him
*LOVES being outside still. Has to have a stick in his hand...it freaks me out while he's walking around!
*talking so much..we can understand momma, dadda, yes, hi

He is at such a fun age. He has so much personality and he cracks us up. We love him so much and are so excited to watch him develop this coming year. Thanks for all of your support and love for us!!

Friday, September 16, 2011

SpongeBob


All parents know how exhausting children can be. You just want them to sit still for a few minutes so you can relax, right?!

Have you ever noticed how drawn in a child, as young as 3 months old, is to the TV? This is how they look! It zones them completely out and they are quiet and still! Perfect! So, parents find a cute kids show that says it's "educational" and the kid will sit there for 30 mins and not make a sound!

Although there are days when I want to take that break and set him in front of the TV, we don't let James watch TV. It's a decision we made before he was born based on some research I had read saying children, under the age of 3, who watch tv are more likely to be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD later in life. It made sense to me. These tv shows are flashing a new image every 10 seconds and the kids aren't even catching what's going on before a new scene is on the screen. When your brain is given all this stimulation it shuts itself off and doesn't form the neural pathways that would be created if baby was playing with a toy and discovering on his own.

I can't explain it all so I thought I'd put the links to the research I've found so you can read it for yourself and make your own decision. Now, I'm not saying I think all parents who let their kids watch tv are bad or lazy parents. I know that's true of some, but for others I think they just aren't informed. I just wanted you to think about it because I think some parents just think it's "funny" how entralled the baby is with the tv and don't think it's doing any harm. But I would encourage you to read these articles. It makes sense to me with the increased number of diagnoses and the amount of time toddlers are watching "educational tv" and even the size of the TVs these days seems like it might have something to do with it.  I figure even if it isn't the reason kids have ADD it isn't going to hurt him to not watch TV!

                                                          
                                                           Recent article on SpongeBob


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

11 months old

As Lyndi said on my facebook wall..."it seems your internet/research/blog time has considerably slowed down." It really has! And the reason is because I am napping instead! I have been using James' naps to take a nap myself. This baby has not only taken my energy, I also don't have to feel sick when I'm sleeping, so that means I am sleeping whenever possible. I am now only watching a 16 month old boy one day a week (instead of a 10 month old girl full time on top of the 16 month old.) The timing worked out perfectly for that transistion because I don't think I would have survived if I still had someone here full time! Thank the Lord he has everything planned out perfectly.

In the mean time James turned 11 months old on Monday! He is growing up so fast and it's been so much fun. I started putting some ideas together for his birthday party and it's making me super excited. I think it will be really fun.

I haven't taken his 11 month old pictures yet. I am hoping to get that done on Thursday, but here is what James has been up to this month:

*Walking! He will walk between furniture that is about 5 steps apart. His record is about 10 steps. He gets so proud when he reaches his destination. It's so cute.

*LOVES outside. And understands when you said the word or the word "walk." So we go to the park a lot. I'm not sure what my saving grace this winter will be.

*Using the sign for milk every once and awhile. He was using it pretty consistently a week ago and then he got byebye and milk mixed up so then he stopped using both of them! Now this week he has started waving a lot and signing milk sometimes.

*Understands 70% of what I say. It's amazing how much his comprehension has improved.

*He points to an object (not with one finger yet, just his hand) and says, "huh?" like he's asking me to name the object. So I name it and he says, "hm"

*Grabs a book he wants and "tosses" it to me and says, "huh?" I say, "Do you want me to read it?" And he gets excited for me to read it.
*Fed himself a cracker yesterday. He's struggled putting cheerios in his mouth. I don't know if they are too small or why he won't put them up to his mouth. So I tried a cracker to see if he would feed himself with something bigger and he did. You could tell he was proud he was being independent.

*Nursing 3x a day. Morning, 3:00 and bedtime. I figure I'll cut out the afternoon one when he's 11 1/2 months and then at a year we'll cut out the morning one and ease out bedtime. I love nursing him. It's the only time he's still in my arms. I will miss that time with him.

*Still sleeping from 7:30/8:00pm-6:40am. Then taking 3 naps/day that are 40mins-1hr that are 2 hours apart. If we get past that 2 hour mark he is crabby and then gets overly tired and doesn't take a good nap. He's like clockwork.

I'll try to get the pictures up after I get them taken. We are planning on going up to Aurora tomorrow to see my sister and baby Lux. Hope you have a great week and enjoy the cooler (cold!) weather we are going to be having!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Labor Day weekend

We had a great weekend. Daddy was home 4 whole days and we got to spend a lot of time with our families. I wrote about the things we were going to do before the weekend started so I'll just give a couple updates.
Saturday was our 10 year high school reunion so we went to a tailgate for the Husker football game and met up with some good friends. We had a pretty good time. Of course there were awkward moments seeing old friends (that you are still friends with on facebook..but apparently not in real life.) and saying hi but then not much else comes out of the conversation. But I got to see a lot of good friends that life got too busy to keep up with. We hungout at a bar downtown and talked and snacked and then came home and watched the first husker football game of the season with both Mike's mom and my parents and sister. The Huskers didn't look as promising as Mike was hoping, but it's only the first game! We are hoping they have a good season this year. Then that evening I was beat so we just stayed home and once James went to bed we laid on the couch! I seriously think I could go to bed at 3pm for the rest of the night during this pregnancy!

Sunday we went to church and visited my (dads side)grandparents. When we got home my mom and James and I went on a walk, and that got me going enough to give me enough energy to clean my house! Oh my gosh it felt so great. I have just been cleaning up where needed lately and haven't done a full deep clean in awhile. So Mike stayed downstairs with James and played while I was upstairs getting everything shiny. James is not a fan of the vacuum so it makes it difficult when I'm by myself to do it. He seriously still heard it and was crying from the noise downstairs, so daddy had to take him outside to swing. Hopefully he gets over that soon!

Monday we went to my parents for breakfast. Had some yummy waffles and a delicious egg casserole. So tasty. Then we we just hung out until we went to my (mom's side) grandmparents for dinner. Ali, Levi and Lux came to town so it was great to see them. Lux is so cute and we are always excited when we get to see her.  It was fun to see everyone and had some great food once again. We are so blessed to be so close to family.

This morning I took James to the YMCA for the first time. He hasn't been babysat by anyone besides family. So I thought we'd try it out. We walked in and he was excited. I set him down and said, "bye" and he looked at me like, "wait..this place looks fun but you have to leave?" I walked away and he didn't even cry. The lady said he did a great job and wanted to go outside the entire time. I was like, "yeah he could live out there I think."

Friday, September 2, 2011

busy, busy...

 I haven't been on the computer in days..what's going on!? I seriously need to loosen up my schedule if I can't fit in facebook. I guess it's only been one day..but still, a lot has happened.  Let me to try fill you in.

Thursday (which is only yesterday?!) we had our first Dr. appointment for baby #2! We went in and my Dr. put the doppler up to my belly and moved it around and said.."looks like you'll be getting pictures of baby today!" She couldn't hear a heartbeat so we had to do an ultrasound. I wasn't too concerned though because we had to do the same thing for James. So we went in and did the ultrasound and found out that baby is actually a week younger than I had thought. So I am only 8 weeks instead of 9 now..yeah another week to feel nauseous! ugh. But good news is baby looked good and heart was fluttering away. So I am due April 12, 2012. Which is funny because James was born Oct 12. So they might be born on the same day of the month which would be kinda fun.

Today my Mom and I left for Omaha at 11 this morning to watch my cousin, Whitney, play volleyball.  She is a sophomore at Northwest Missouri State and they were playing in a tournament at University of Nebraska-Omaha. We met up with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle and watched her first game at 12:30. She played really well and they won in 4 games. Then we all went to Farmhouse Cafe (the real reason I went to Omaha!) It is really good food, but the cinnamon rolls are to die for! So was the chocolate cake and wedding cake I tried today :) Yum. Then we watched her second game at 4:30 and they won in 4 games again. There was another team playing on the next court with some girls I coached a couple years ago so I got to watch them play. We had a great day together, but it felt great to get home. I was tired and missed my two boys!

Mike stayed home with James today and they went over to his parents house to hang out for the day. They had a great time together. I am so thankful James is such a good boy. He just goes with the flow and is happy doing it. I am so thankful Mike has a job that is so flexible and can stay home when needed. God sure knew what he was doing when he opened the door for him to be an insurance agent. Who would have thought. :)

Tomorrow is our 10 year high school reunion! We are going to a tailgate event for the first Nebraska football game. It should be a good time. They are actually doing a bar night tonight, the tailgate tomorrow and a family picnic on Sunday. I think we will just go tomorrow, but I am excited to see everyone. I probably won't talk to many of them..but it's fun to see who looks the same or different :) I know one of my friends from GA will be there that I haven't seen in awhile so I know we will have a good time catching up. I will post pics too! It's so hard to believe it's been 10 years already though. Those were some eventful years! Of course there are some fun memories, but I'm happy I'm on this side of the decade and think this next one will be even better!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

I'm an aunt!

Lux Lucille was born August 25, 2011 at 5:23pm. She weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is beautiful and has a head full of dark hair! Mom and Dad did a great job during labor and are making the transition home today. We will be there welcoming them home!

I am so excited to be an aunt. I now get to experience the joys that my sisters have had with James. Like teaching him how to stick out his tongue, giving him back when he's crying, playing only while it's fun, and sneaking ice cream bites!



Praise God for the miracle of newborns! She is beautifully and wonderfully made. We pray she will grow up to be a woman who loves the Lord with all her heart.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Can you ever be ready?

So I came across this article the other day and thought it was funny. Baby #2


I could answer yes to all of them!  Could you? It did get me thinking about the fact that you can't really ever be "ready." I mean those signs she wrote make it seem like hell on earth to be pregnant or to have another one. I know it's worse for some than it is for others, and I can't speak for those of you that were puking day in and day out. But there isn't one of us that enjoys the roller coaster of emotions where you could be crying and laughing within minutes of each other and you don't know why.  Does anyone ever enjoy feeling sick at the sight of food but know you need to eat because you feel sick?  Sleep deprivation is a known fact, but you can't ever prepare yourself for being so tired you are laying on the floor to just to "rest your eyes" while baby is falling asleep. 


I guess I don't look at the screaming and lack of sleep as a deterrent. Those come with the job. There are hard things with every job. But there isn't anything as rewarding as seeing your baby smile at you, or taking his first step, or clapping because you are going to read him a book or even getting him to poop on the toilet!For those of you without kids I seem crazy..but I hope someday you get to feel that pride. And I know it's all just beginning. I can't wait to see all James has to accomplish. I can't wait to see the man God created him to be. That's what keeps me going. And that's what makes me want to have more!


I guess I never really thought, "can we do this?" It was just a known fact that we were gonna have 4 babies and they will be close in age to each other. Now it is probably easier for me to say this because I do have  the best baby in the world. He is always happy, can play independently, and is a great eater and sleeper. Maybe this article should be written about being ready for baby #3 :) I figure by then though we'll be used to living in chaos and another one won't make much of a difference. We'll see.

How many babies do you want to have?

Monday, August 22, 2011

10 months

I can't believe James is so close to a year old. It seems like so long ago that he was a tiny baby, but it seems so quick for him to be running around independently! That's right..he took 3 steps the other day by himself! He is so brave and has so many forehead bruises to prove it. He cruises around the furniture and tries to go from piece to piece. Once he has the hang of it he will be unstoppable..so full of energy.

Other things he's doing these days:

* looks at the object you are pointing to

*Understanding more and more. I ask "where is your...ball, spoon and cheerio?" and he looks around for it and will usually find it. I tell him to put the ball "in" the cup and will do it too.

*LOVES dogs and can see them 3 blocks away on a walk. He just starts waving and "ti, ti, ti" trying to get the dogs attention. so cute.

*pooping on the toilet 1-2 times a day! He starts grunting while playing and I say, "lets go poop on the toilet" and we go in and put him on. He sits there and we sing while he fills the pot! It's so funny to watch..he does such a good job.

*Loves to eat table food. He loves toast, spaghetti, sweet potatoes, strawberries, cottage cheese, yogurt. But wants to try anything and everything I am eating or drinking..thinks he's pretty big :)

*Been sleeping from 8pm-6:30am for about 3 months now and still takes 3 one hour naps during the day. I wish we could get down to 2 naps but he just can't do it yet. When he's tired, he's tired.

*Listens to "no, James" really well. If he is approaching something he knows he isn't suppose to play with he will stop and look at me and say, "hmm?" to see if I'm going to stop him this time. There are times when I have to go redirect him, but a lot of times I say, "no, that's not a toy, we don't play with that." and he'll go play with something else. Such a good boy.

That's all I can think of for now. He is always making us laugh and we love him to pieces. It's so much fun watching him hit all of these milestones.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Nachos and French Fries

So I think I'm having a girl. I have had such a different pregnancy so far and it's only been 8 weeks! Last night we had some friends over to play cards and I got a craving for wedge fries with ranch! Unfortunately, I didn't convince Mike to go out in the rain to get to those for me so then the craving switched to Old Chicago nachos! Oh man I wanted those bad. Last time I was pregnant I never really got cravings..so Mike isn't used to running out and getting nachos at 11pm :) And if I did want something it was always something sweet. I ate more dessert during those 9 months than in my entire life!
Another unfortunate difference in this pregnancy is my face and how broken out it is. ugh, too many hormones! It's so crazy how different it is. I seriously had less zits while pregnant with James than beforehand. So we'll see.
I went to a shower for my cousin-in-law today and the groom's mother and I were talking and she said she always predicts the gender correctly..she said friends of her sons will come to her to find out what they are having becuase she's been right so often. She told me today it's a boy. funny.
So excited for my drs appt so we can see that heartbeat and make sure everything is going okay!! Please continue to pray for baby limabean. It's always so "up in the air" to me talking about being pregnant when I have a stick that is telling me I'm pregnant! I always feel a lot more excited and certain when I get to see that little bean! Counting down the days.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Noosa

So my favorite blog to read is over at iowagirleats. Kristin, the writer, got me hooked on this yogurt..Noosa. The problem is its $3.50 for 8oz. But it's so creamy and just the right amount of sweet..like cheesecake. yum. I've tried a couple flavors and I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Well guess what..it's on sale at HyVee! I tried it a couple months ago when it was on sale and so now whenever I'm at HyVee I wonder over to the yogurt section hoping to find a sale sign again! On sale it's $1.88 so that's a bit more reasonable especially for such a yummy treat. I grabbed the last blueberry yesterday and a peach, both are new flavors to me. I tried the blueberry this morning in my oatmeal and I love it. There are always quite a few strawberry rhubarb flavors left so that's the flavor I tried the first time. I know it sounds kinda weird..but try it. It's delicious. And the best part is it's good for you! It's made with cane sugar instead of fake stuff and it's pretty high in the protein department too! Good stuff all around.
                                         

Watch out though..you'll start creepin' in the yogurt aisle too!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Alone in the big city

That was us. Well we weren't really "alone" because we were there with Mike's work for a recognition dinner, but we were without James. For the first time overnight. Needless to say I was worried how he would do. Of course he did great though, and I even did okay too! By the time we got home I was ready to cover him in kisses and not let go, but I am glad we took the opportunity to spend time alone again.

So we went to Kansas City Friday afternoon. It takes forever to get there these days with the flooded river, but we made it in time to get on a chartered bus that took us to dinner.  We had some good appetizers and a good dinner. A band played and plenty of people did karokee (especially towards the end of the night after they had visited the open bar plenty of times.) So then the plan was for the bus to take everyone to the Power & Light District (KC's downtown scene). Well I had to pump and we weren't all too excited to hang out with the drunks. So went back to the hotel with the "old people" at 10. We decided we didn't want to just go to bed when we had the opportunity to hang out and sleep in.  So we walked to a nice restaurant and had a nice chat over chicken tacos..which were amazing. We slept in Saturday til 9 and ate at the complimentary breakfast buffet..then shopped around the plaza and ate at the Cheesecake factory. Yum.

So the food was definately in my top 3 for the trip..and it's awesome because since I'm pregnant again I don't have to feel bad about my belly growing :)  My #2 was the king bed.  I loved having so much  room to spread out! Sleeping with a 6'7'' man does not leave much space in a queen bed. (besides the fact that I am a furnace and radiate heat so we try to spread out as much as we can!) and my #1 was walking around downtown and the time at the restaurant with Mike. It was a good time to reconnect and have some good conversations.

Today it was back to real life. 3 kiddos here today. But I did get a nap in so that means it wasn't so bad :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I'm trying this again..

My family knows that I spend lots of my freetime on the internet. I love reading blogs, pinterest, facebook, email, and/or researching my next item to purchase. My family will even ask me to "research" for them. It's just how I like to relax. Sit and get lost in the interwebs. Well it's time I make it productive. I had a blog started while I lived in Texas, but didn't feel like I had a topic to specifically write about so I got bored with it. Now that I have James I want to use it to keep track of his milestones and our memories as a family. If anyone else wants to keep up with us or get lost in Scheffertland then I welcome you! I had been using a notebook to keep up with James but I always felt like I was "wasting" my internet time (yes I am a little addicted) so I stopped doing that too. So I hope I can keep up with this blog this time for those two reasons.

So lets start out with James. The love of our lives. The most beautiful baby on earth. Such a happy boy. So curious and funny. We serious sit and watch him. I don't know what we did before him..he's our entertainment. He's 10 months this week. There has been times that have gone by super fast and other days that drag on. But that's just part of staying at home with a human that can't make out words yet. Don't get me wrong. He's a chatty Kathy like his dad. He willl sing as he's crawling along or walking the furniture. He says hi to strangers in the grocery store. He loves to be around people. So we try to get out as much as we can. He loves walks, going to the pool, loves people watching at the zoo, grocery store, and reading books at the library. He loves music. He claps all the time. Just today he starting holding up 1 and 2 with his fingers. Hopefully that means he'll start using some of the signs I've been teaching him. 

In other news..we will be having another little one running around here soon! I found out I was pregnant last Tuesday/Wednesday! I took a test 2 weeks ago and it said negative. So I waited a couple days and took one again, and still negative. I was disappointed. My sister said she got a negative test until she took it at 5 weeks. So I waited til Tuesday, August 2 and took another one with little hope. I almost threw it away, but in desperation looked at it again hoping I could magically  make a line appear. Well then I saw a faint line! I didn't believe it. I decided to wait and check it again after the Y to see if my eyes were tricking me. So I got back and looked again and saw it was still there. I went in to bed and told Mike there might be a faint line on the test. He got out of bed right away and said, "well yeah you might be pregnant, but go get a real test today". I had been using some cheap tests from the internet that my sister had bought, so I went and bought a $7 test and took it wednesday. Sure enough it showed up positive again this time a little bolder. Yeah! So that puts my due date at April 6. I go in for my first appointment on September 1 so that will make me rest easier once I see that little heartbeat.