Sunshine and an Egg Hunt

Happy Easter!!  Ok ok it was a few days ago but this busy mama hasn't had time to sit down and write about it until now.  This was Brooks on Easter Sunday last year ....

Ah, he's just so cute!!!

After enduring a whole week of cloud cover and rain, the sun finally came out on Easter morning.  How fitting huh?  We were thankful for the warm weather.  We started the day with a big breakfast (as we do every Sunday).  Brooks was happy to pick out an "Easer egg" to eat.

Gotta love that face, right?  He was actually crying about 2 seconds before this picture was taken.  He was exercising his toddler sized voice and demanding pancakes, then oatmeal, muffins, eggs ... basically anything that wasn't on his plate.  (sigh)  Not sure if I should blame teething for the excessive crabiness lately or just the fact that he's almost (terrible) two.

Anyway, enough of that.  On to happier things.  We went to church in the morning and enjoyed a great service of celebrating all Jesus did for us!  Then we came home and had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  Amy, Ben and Ollie came too!

This was my best attempt to take a picture of Brooks with his friend Ollie.  I guess I should have known better than to try to get two toddlers to stand still for a picture when there are clearly more fun things to do!

We came inside and the boys partook in the loot!

mmm, Teddy Grahams :)

Neither of them had any problem devouring a bowlful of teddy grahams :)  It was a special treat for us anyway.  Brooks loved opening all the eggs and finding the "bear".  In fact, just yesterday (Monday) I found him opening all the empty eggs still in his basket and saying "bear?  no bear."  He was kinda bummed. 

After the feast of bears, we all sat down for lunch ... lasangna, garlic bread and the best fruit salad I've had in a long time.  (thanks, Amy!)  Since we don't have any extended family near by (and neither do Ben or Amy) we enjoyed celebrating Easter together with friends.

A smattering of pictures

In no particular order, here are some snapshots of our life .....

Gettin' ready to play in the springtime mud.

I believe I was putting away all my too-small, non-pregnancy clothes in this picture. 

A very memorable moment, for sure :)

High five-ing Curious George.

Reading books with Papa Les when he and Grandma Lue came to town.

Brooks holding a giant boquet of balloons ....

... while sitting on the toilet! :)  Balloons truly do make everything more fun!  These were Daddy's birthday balloons, but if we're all honest, they were never really his to begin with.

Brooks loves Charlie.

Getting a few pictures of Daddy's bike before he sells it.

My boys :)

20 weeks & an Anniversary!

Well folks, we're half way through this pregnancy!!  HALF WAY!  Where has this time gone??  I mean, D-day still seems like forever away, but to think we're halfway through already seems kinda crazy.  And with summer coming, I'm sure the second half will go just as fast.  Yesterday we had temps in the low 70's and I thought "summer is finally here!"  But alas, today was back down in the thirties with rain and plenty of wind to accompany it.  Oh, the joys of living in South Dakota.

Ok, enough whining.  On to baby news.  Shortly after my last post, I finally felt the baby move.  In fact, it was on Friday, March 25th to be exact.  Yeah, I wrote it down :)  The kiddo is still pretty small and so are his/her movements, but I LOVE feeling them just the same!  Now this pregnancy is starting to become more real to me.

We have decided to keep this kiddo's gender a suprise!  How exciting, right?  But like I said before, we're not even going in for an ultrasound, so we can't know anyway.  I get mixed reactions when people hear that we're not finding out, but even more so when we tell them we're not getting an ultrasound. 

"Why no ultrasound?" 

"Are they not safe?" 

"How can you plan without knowing the gender?"

"Don't you want to see your baby?" 

"Is something wrong with you??" 

Ok, I haven't been asked that last question, but the reason is simple.  This is a low risk pregnancy, and there's nothing to check out.  So we're not doing an ultrasound.  Makes sense, right?  Good.  Glad we're all agreed on that. 

Now the only trouble is that we'll have to think of TWO names.  And I have all sorts of lovely girl names swirling around in my head (seriously, we could be having quadruplet girls - and we're not by the way - and I'd have them all named) but absolutely no boy names.  Which according to Murphy's Law means .... we're having a boy.  Ok, I don't know that but I'm just guessing it to be true.  But keeping with my gut instinct we've decided to nickname the baby "Guy".  Yep, just Guy.  Little Guy is fine.  Baby Guy works too.  But this is our Guy.  And well, if it happens to be a girl ... she'll never know the difference :)

Oh ... I almost forgot to write about the Anniversary!!  It truly was a big day in our house.  April 12th marks the 1 year anniversary of when I began my new job as a full time mom!!  Hooray!!!!  Again, this year has gone so fast, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.  Brooks is growing up way too fast already and I'm so glad I was around this last year to see all of it!  And I'm excited for this year to come. Brooks will turn 2, we'll add another kiddo to the family (making us a family of four - eek!), I will continue teaching my Bradley classes.  I love life and my family and I only have God to thank for it all :)

17 weeks

Well, I'm a few days late but here's the first bump picture for baby #2.  (This kiddo still needs a nickname, so I'm currently taking suggestions)  I had planned to start taking pictures earlier in this pregnancy, since the kiddo "popped" out around 12 weeks or so.  But my bump hasn't changed size since then, convincing me it was more of my "maternal stores" than actual baby.  No one needs to see a bumch of belly fat, so I waited until now to post.  (no need to thank me :)

This pregnancy has been right on track compared to being pregnant with Brooks.  I went through the usual "I'm starving and exhausted" phase for about 6 weeks and now I feel great.  No really, I feel awesome!!  The only difference is that I had to pull out my bella band and maternity clothes sooner with this one.  But to be honest, I'm so busy chasing around a toddler all day that I sometimes forget I'm pregnant. 

We've heard the baby's heartbeat twice now, but I'm still waiting for that first movement.  That's the best part.  Well, until the baby gets so big that he's kicking me in the ribs constantly.  But even that's ok.

Our biggest decision coming up is whether or not to find out if we're having a boy or girl.  We found out with Brooks since I'm a super over-planner.  But this time around I'm leaning toward waiting until the baby's born.  I've always been slightly jealous of those who can wait.  The suprise seems like so much fun!!  And since we don't even have an ultrasound scheduled (and won't unless it's absolutely necessary), we won't be able to find out anyway.  Just feels more natural to me.

A Week with Grandma

So not only is March when the weather usually warms up and the snow sometimes melts, but it's also when my beautiful mama comes to visit!  This is the second year of her coming out in March and spending a whole week with us :)  My dad and brother come too, but they prefer to sit in a muddy cornfield all day waiting to shoot feathery, winged creatures. (aka, snow geese)

We had so much fun and Brooks had quite a week of "firsts".  He said "grandma" clearly for the first time, he learned how to climb on the reading chair by himself for the first time, drank from a straw for the first time, and he went potty in the big boy potty for the first time!!

Yep, I was one proud mama!!  He said "potty", sat down and actually peed.  That seemed too easy.  And of course, like an over-zealous first time mom, I rushed right out and bought him big boy underpants.  (Thomas the Train in case you were curious)  But they never adorned his little butt because as the week went on he became less and less interested in the potty chair. (sigh)  Oh well.  We'll try again later.  But my favorite part of potty training???

LOTS of naked butt time :)

We also did some shopping and Brooks came home with this prized possession!

Oh yes, my friends.  We now own The Very Hungry Catapillar and the matching stuffed animal to go with it. Brooks LOVES it!!!

Really, really loves that catepillar!

Tuesday was storytime at the toy store as usual.

Wednesday we visited the zoo.  We were a little over-optimistic about the warm weather, but we bundled up and enjoyed the few animals that were outside.  Mostly, we played inside :)

Thursday brought a trip to the playland at the mall ...

"well hello, handsome!"

... followed by a quick visit to Falls Park,

where Brooks showed off his cool new sunglasses,

which to everyone's suprise, he acutally liked to wear!!  That boy really HATES the sun in his eyes.

Friday morning we met Daddy at the midwifery clinic and listened to baby's heartbeat.  I love that sound, but to my suprise, Brooks started crying when he heard it.  He looked at this noisy box and realized the noise was coming from me!  I had to reassure him that it didn't hurt Mommy and we were just listening to the baby inside.  What a sweet boy.  After that we went swimming at the YMCA.  It's been months since we've been swimming and Brooks still loves it!

That afternoon, Grandpa stopped by for a visit.

Did I mention that he LOVES wearing his sunglasses?

Because he really does :)

Grandma went home on Sunday and we all miss her.  But we're so happy we had this week to spend with her!!

weekend randomness

Our weekend started on Friday with a trip to the midwife clinic to check on baby Anderson.  Brooks and Daddy came along for this visit.  And I'd have to say the highlight for Brooks had nothing to do with the baby, but instead with the helicopter that took off from the landing pad, right across the street from the clinic.  His whole little body was shaking with excitement as he kept saying "ch ch ch ch ch" - ya know, like a helicopter :)

We were able to listen to baby's heartbeat for the first time!  I still love that sound.  It totally made this pregnancy much more real to me and Chris.  Even Brooks was fascinated with the sound coming from the doppler.  We kept telling him "baby", but I still don't think he understands.  The kiddo's heart rate was around 180 bpm.  We were told we have a "happy little baby". 

Saturday was pretty normal.

"You lookin' at me??"

Well, maybe not totally normal.  I guess most mornings Brooks doesn't wander around the house in Daddy's sweatshirt, but it was fun.  Then after a breakfast of eggs and sausage, a haircut through which Brooks screamed, and a shower (with more screaming), Dad conjured up a little bit of this.

crib + 20 balloons = one very happy toddler :)

Saturday evening Chris and I went out for dinner in an attempt to beat the Valentines crowd.  But apparently half of Sioux Falls had the same idea and they, too, were hungry for Texas Roadhouse steak.  You just opened the door and it was ... well ... the term "sardines" comes to mind.  It took you 10 minutes just to claw your way to the counter to let them know they called your number.  This is fun, right??  Once we were seated, we actually enjoyed a very nice dinner where I (of course) ate too much.  But now I have baby as an excuse when I say my pants don't fit very well :)

Sunday morning we worked our first shift in the nursery as volunteers.  Of course that would be the Sunday with 10 or so new visiting babies, but with the help of our ever faithful Nursery Coordinator, we not only survived, but enjoyed the time with the kiddos.

Sunday afternoon I took a much needed nap, and then Dad had more tricks up his sleeve!  (I'm starting to see why dads are always the fun ones)

Yep, that would be a 7 foot tall snowman!  It was such a nice day that he and Brooks headed outside to create this monster.  Brooks tried to help but after falling face first into the mud, he was content just watching.

We're finding more and more that we just love being home as a family!  I mean, it's fun to go out and do stuff, but most evenings (and weekends) we just hang around the house ... playing.  This is the kind of stuff that life is made of.  And I love it!!!

Sledding

Well, on Saturday the frigid colds temps finally broke (at least for a day or two) and enabled us to enjoy the outdoors.  It was close to 30 degrees that day, but felt like 60 compared to the -30 temps we'd been having.  Anyway, we pulled on our snowpants, laced up our books and took to the slopes.  The sledding slopes that is.  It was Brooks' first time sledding and he LOVED it.  He's always been my outdoor-sy little guy and this was no different.

And despite his oversized snowpants, the clunky books and the squishy snow, Brooks was actually able to walk around.  In fact, that's what he preferred to do!! 

Every time we tried carrying him to the top of the hill, he'd yell "down down" and wiggle out of our arms until we had no choice but to comply.

But because he wasn't quite able to walk up the hill himself, we had to push him up in the sled.  Yeah.  That's a lot of work.  Makes me tired just thinking about it.

And even though he tipped over on most of his trips down, he never cried or complained.  Just asked for "more".

After our cheeks were sufficiently rosy, we decided to pack it up and head home.  Chris planned to shovel the sidewalk while Brooks and I went inside to start dinner. But he begged to stay outside and help daddy.  So he stayed out another 45 minutes or so, totally happy with just being outside.  This weekend is supposed to warm up again so I'm looking forward to some more outside time with my boys!