Weekend #3

Now, this weekend totally made up for last week's poopy one.

We hung out with family and friends all weekend.

The family part was for a 40-50-60 birthday party to celebrate my aunts turning 40 and 50 and my mom turning 60. Really, the celebration should be for my Grandma who was pregnant over a span of 20 years.

Here's ma Vic circa 1969:

And the friend part was a fun lake sleepover with Matt and Alicia, Katie and Nat and a new little friend, Addison. The sweetest dark eyes and curly dark hair you've ever seen. Just a couple months apart, these two little peas in a pod were alike in many ways...and therefore never sat still for a photo. We laked, we pooled and we ran through the sprinkler.

Exactly where she likes to be, the center of everything.

Buddies.







24 weeks!

Yep, that's still 6 months I believe. How crazy is that?

I have NO idea where the past six months have gone. I had an appointment today and all is well with Baby Dos. The doc was kinda mad that I had my ultrasound a few weeks ago...so I totally threw the nurse under the bus. No way I was going to get in trouble for that!

Anyways, doc confirmed the ultrasound showed a happy healthy little fella in there...in the 80th percentile. What's with my humongous babies? And baby's heartbeat was in the low 140s, pretty similar to Emmie's at the time.

I was looking back at my Emmie IVF blog before I wrote this post. It's so fun to read through those memories and compare them to how I'm feeling now. I will say that I am much more easy going this time around. Last time I was racing around Minneapolis trying to find the perfect bedding for Emmie's nursery. Chances are I would be doing the same thing if this little house project wasn't consuming my every day life.

And can we talk about how fantastic it is to already have all the baby "stuff"? Not to be scouring the internet for the right crib, carseat pattern etc.? We will only have to add in a few random things...like another vibrating chair so we have one for upstairs and down, a new baby bath because we hated ours, oh and boy clothes, we should probably have some of those.

That's about all to report on the Baby Dos front. I'm still feeling pretty good, though the ol' back is starting to give out. But, I can't complain too much considering the extra 22 pounder I frequently have to tote around.

Weekend #2

It was a shitty weekend. Quite literally.

I'll spare you the details but it was more than once. The first due to the devil swim diaper that ended in a hose off in the yard and the second, a little naked time gone wrong. Terribly wrong, then stepped in, then scared of what was stepped in, then stepped on a book and then tried to wipe off, then wiped on her face. All of this within about 7 seconds while I screamed to Andy. It was awful.

The rest of the weekend was spent bucking the heat and running around town looking at appliances, hanging out with Grandma, wandering the air conditioned mall, and flipping between The Bachelorette and Big Brother...god do I miss my DVR.

Baby J

This week, Emmie got to try her hand at the whole having a baby in the house thing. We had James over for a bit Wednesday night to practice, I mean play, I totally mean play, we wouldn't invite James over just to see what Emmie would do. No, we wanted to give mama a break and play with a baby.

Emmie's take aways from the evening:

*I will call the baby "baby" no matter how many times they ask me to say James.

*I just want to touch the baby's eyes and ears and mouth, I don't know why dad is on such high alert every time I go after baby's face with my poking finger.

*I don't care how many times you tell me the baby doesn't want a Cheerio, I know he does.

*If baby is wearing socks, I need to be wearing socks.

*If baby's paci falls out, even if for a split second, I will shove it back in.

*I was just bringing baby my Little People House to play with, I don't know why mom had to move him to the couch.

*I will let the baby look at my blanky, but that's it and I will make sure he knows it's MINE.

*I will wake up and immediately ask where baby is.

copycat

I've already mentioned Emmie's love for her Grandpa...so it will come as no surprise that she needs to be a litte copycat...and have a koozie on her sippy, just like grandpa:

And a couple other photos from Sunday night dinner.

(Have I mentioned the 'thankyoubabyjesus' excitement that comes from Grandma Vic's early afternoon text inviting us over for Sunday dinner? This past Sunday's text elicited some kung fu moves from Andy.)

(And why are we so excited? Besides getting the girls together to play...let's talk about the menu: bacon wrapped pork tenderloins, mushroom and something cream pasta, and asparagus on the grill. I mean, you know, that's totally what Andy and I were going to make....)

I have no idea why they decided to lift up their shirts for this photo...

Weekend #1

We have approximately 12 weekends to spend in the apartment...but who's counting?

Our plan is to do something fun every weekend to make the time pass quickly and being a bajillion degrees out really impedes any in town outdoor fun we could have. And spending 48 hours in the apartment sounds like zero percent fun....so we were super excited to be heading down to Andy's family's lake cabin. Great Grandma Fran was in town so all the grandkids and great grandkids were around.

And that bajillion degrees....it's the perfect temperature lakeside!

I was a little nervous about Emmie and the water, considering she wouldn't touch the pool in Florida. And she's hit or miss with the little pools in the yard. But with William, Kate and baby Charlotte splashing away she'd have to love it right?

No. She stood by the pool and said "alldone".  Then she put her hand in the pool and said "alldone". Then her mean ol' mom tossed her in...and after she wiped the water and shock from her face, it was love.

And then it was off in the boat to a shallow sandy place on the lake. Again, I was a little nervous that she would hate it...but it was LOVE again!  She didn't even care that she had to wear a life jacket and it didn't even phase her when she fell face first into the water, over and over again.

And day two. Emmie was ready to go outside the minute she woke up.

William, Charlotte, Kate, Emmie and Great Grandma Fran.

Is it just me?

We're a Bachelorette kind of family. Yes, Emmie calls her Emineee and thinks that every pretty blonde on tv is Emineee.

But here's the thing, I'm not so much into the fellas on the show this year and let's be honest, it's a pretty boring season. If she does somehow end up with Chris Harrison, now that's a story line I can get in to. The guys are nice enough and all, but Jef especially annoys me. First off, Jef with one F? And then there's his twin. Every time Jef is on, I think of this guy, in the middle:

I don't know his name, but he was in a few early 2000 movies like Not Another Teen Movie and other craptastic ones.

Anyways, just wondering if you see it too.

internet, finally.

We have internet again and all is right with the world.

Oh wait, and we're living in an apartment, so you win some, you lose some. It's honestly not that bad, depending on who you ask. To Emmie, it's a toddler's paradise. Everything on one level, door handles she can open with ease and shiny silver fixtures in the tub so she can say hi and wave to herself through each and every bath.

Lots of goodbyes this week. We said goodbye to our house, goodbye to Tucker for three months, and we said goodbye to Emmie's innocence when daycare took her to the city fair. She came home showing baby cleave with a tattoo on her arm.

So yeah, the moving is done for the time being and we're making progress on the new house. Framing started this week and we're knee deep in the decision making process. I'll be very interested to see how it all comes together...I'm already making choices that are surprising me...hopefully it's not baby brain and I will like everything in the years to come.

This is NOT our house, but pretty much the same one being built in a different neighborhood that we've tweaked a little. The three little windows on the second floor are in the laundry room and the big front window next to that will be baby's room.  So there you go, a little peek into the future.

Red, white and baby blue.

I had an awesome 4th of July...despite it being on a stupid Wednesday and just throwing my days off completely. Is it Monday today? Is it Friday tomorrow? Who the hell knows. All I know is that Emmie started things off right and slept in until 8am. This is a new world record for her...but of course I was bright eyed before 7am and just laid there wondering when she was going to wake up. And I'm sure I've now jinxed myself by proclaiming this sleeping miracle to the internet world and she'll be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, or all weekend.

Because it was a balmy 90 degrees by 9am with 142% humidity, we did all sorts of inside air conditioned activities. Family fun day started at Barnes and Noble for story time, then the mall, Target and Noodles & Co for lunch. Is there a better kid friendly lunch than mac'n'cheese and organic milk with a straw? I think not. Then, home for naptime...for everyone. And then a pedi for mama. Ahhh....

Then it was time to meet the fam for 4th of July dinner at the club, where we announced that we were having a boy. I even kept this one a secret from mom! Right before dinner, I asked Grandma to read Emmie her new favorite book: Just Me and My Little Brother. Grandma read the title aloud and by the end her eyes got bright and she looked over and asked "do you know this for real?" It was kinda fun.

Have I mentioned that Olivia and especially Emmie love their Grandpa? Like, a lot. Like, drop mom's hand and run to hold Grandpa's hand kind of love. Like, I only want to be carried by Grandpa kind of love. And it's the sweetest thing ever. He takes her on walks, and wagon rides and is always sneaking her treats.

Little scavengers waiting for ice cream.

Look at these big girls compared to last year

One. One family photo before she started waiving her hands and saying "alldonealldone".

And this is why you don't wear necklaces with a 1.5 year old.

And finally, Baby Dos makes a photo appearance.

It's not so much that I lied, I just didn't tell the whole truth.

Rewind to last week’s 20 week appointment.

Truth: The doctor said I could not have my ultrasound until 24 weeks.
Truthier: My doc was out sick, so I saw my nurse practitioner.

Truth: I like my doctor.
Truthier: I LOVE my nurse practitioner.

I swear, and Andy will vouch for me, I didn’t even ask for my ultrasound to be moved up…the nurse flat out asked if next week worked for us (as in this past Monday) and bright eyed and in shock I just nodded.  And then I almost peed my pants with excitement and tried to hold back the full teeth ear to ear grin, fearing she would double check some notes or something and push the ultrasound back to where it was supposed to be.

So if in the last week you asked about my appointment, you will recall, I said I was seeing the doctor again on July 23^rd, which is true. And I said my doctor wouldn’t let me have the ultrasound until then, also true. I just neglected to inform you the nurse changed my ultrasound dates. Oopsies.

There you have it, at 21 weeks, we saw all of baby’s parts and pieces. Baby is healthy and happy and measuring right on. Baby wasn’t bouncing off the walls like Emmie was…fingers crossed this will be baby’s demeanor compared to Emmie’s tornadoesque behavior.

And the baby…the baby is a BOY!
I think of myself as a wordy kind of gal. I like to talk and I like to write. But I am completely without words to express how truly blessed I am feeling. I think back to five years ago when all of the baby talk started and shortly thereafter the infertility talk started and so many nights I cried myself to sleep, fearing I would never be a mommy...and now…to be here, with Emmie in all her Emmieness, with a son on the way, well, I am crying tears of joy. All I can say is thank you God for making these dreams come true.

Of course a healthy baby is what everyone prays for, but this…this is the thickest, most wonderful icing on the cake (the good sugary kind too, not that fluffy stuff). And yes, I cried through the rest of the ultrasound, most of the day and I’m tearing up now. I am so so happy that Andy will have a son. I am thankful he will have a boy to teach and to play with and be a role model for and his son will be so lucky to have him for a dad!  

Hello Baby Boy!

Apparently he likes to get a good close look at his knees.