Summer Fun

Nick has had a couple of grand ideas the past couple of weekends.....bowling and the EL Aquatic Center.  We took Gabi bowling for the first time and she was a bit skeptical at first but really enjoyed it!  Then we headed out the next weekend to the outdoor aquatic center in EL.  It had a huge pool that was about chest deep on Gabs (which she loves), a sprinkler pad, and a little water slide she could go down.  Both Nick and I didn't think she'd do so great on the water slide but she got in line and slide right down like a champ.....loved it!  It was only like 2-3 feet off the ground, but still.  Loved it.  They had some bigger water slides that Nick and I took turns going down too :)  They were pretty tame and luckily the teen aged life guards didn't have the guts to tell the pregnant chick she couldn't go down the slides so I enjoyed myself :)

Potty training has been going great and I think the "training" is over......dare I say?  There really wasn't much training to it.  Can it be that easy?  Gabrielle usually tells us when she has to go potty and sometimes she just goes by herself.  I forget she is even potty trained a lot of the time.  It's not that much difference really, since she has been #2 trained for so long.  But it's going well!  She's stayed home with Nick and done potty fine as well as gone to the babysitter and done fine too.

We are headed on another road trip (yikes) next week.  Headed to the UP for my Grandpa's 90th birthday party/family reunion.  We rented a two bedroom cabin on a lake so it should work out well.  No air conditioning, but the heat shouldn't be horrible so we will survive.  A 10 hour road trip with a six month pregnant woman and newly potty trained 2 year old should be interesting :/  But I guess it has to be better than a 24 hour road trip as a sick 10 week pregnant woman ?  It should be fine.

And today Nick and have date day while Gabrielle is going to the zoo with Jason, Corinne, and Isaiah!

A few *funny* things lately...
Gabi hears a creak in the floor.... "Cuse yous!  You fart a lil bit, mommy?"


"You mell (smell) like cereal!  Mell your mouth - it's mells like cereal!"

"So, how work go today daddy?" and "How your pictures going mommy?"  Gabs asks us everyday how things are going....it's so funny she sounds so grown up :)

Gabi was walking really slowly on the dock to jump off the end..... "Mommy, I walk like a turd"
Did daddy tell you that? 
"Yeah"

"I wash my butt crack!!"  Nick taught her how to wash herself in the tub and that she has to wash her face before her butt crack.  Very helpful.

24 Weeks

24 weeks....6 months.....moving right along!  I'm feeling really good.  Our little boy is growing and I'm starting to notice my belly getting in the way a bit but all is well. 

How far along?: 24 weeks 5 days
Total weight gain: 13 lbs. With 16 weeks left I'm on track to gain 29. It would be great to stay under 30, but staying under 35 is my main goal.
How big is baby?: About 1.7lbs and 9 inches long
Maternity clothes?: Yes, all bottoms (except skirts) and most tops.
Stretch marks?: Nope
Sleep?: Good. I started sleeping with my body pillow again because the belly is getting heavier.
Best moment this week?: At 24 weeks they start to consider the baby "possibly viable" if something were to happen. Not that we want to think about that, but it's good to know we hit that milestone.
Movement?: A week or two ago I started noticing that I could see his kicks on my belly. He is still always kicks so low.....it feels like he kicks straight down all the time.
Food cravings?: Strawberry mini wheats cereal and greek yogurt
Labor signs?: Nope. I'm still thinking I might have a braxton hicks every once and while, but nothing too noticeable.
Belly button in or out?: In
What I miss: Not too much. My lap is starting to get smaller so holding/dealing with Gabrielle is getting a little harder.
What I'm looking forward to: Starting to get the nursery together!

I had another doctor's check up and my BP is still low (but fine), baby boy's heartbeat was 142 bpm, belly measured right at 24 cm, and I haven't gotten too fat :)  That's about it!  The doctor went over all of our ultrasound results and everything looks really good.  He was about 45th% for weight, about 30th% for femur length, 65th% for one head measurement and about 45th% for another.  The doc joked that we would have a short and stocky guy...haha.  But that is fine if it's the case.  We are hoping for another happy, healthy kid.  With all the things that can happen that is all you can hope for. 


So far Gabrielle has named her brother "ba ba ba bouncy".  She wants to give him her reject yellow B.  She told me we needed to go to Target to buy him a carseat.  She knows where brother's room it, that he is going to sleep in the crib, and that he has a dresser that matches hers (she thinks that's pretty cool).  I have to keep reminding her that she can't climb and push on my belly all the time and she says in a sad voice "Is brother sad?  Is he crying??".  Haha, already teasing him.  And she is really getting into telling everyone that she is going to have a brother.  Let's hope that enthusiasm lasts.  


A couple of weeks ago, however, she asked me "what's brother's mommy called?" (the way she asks me what kid's parent's names are).  Hmmmm......so she definitely hadn't gotten the concept.  I explained it to her and now she will randomly tell me "you're my mommy and you're brother's mommy!" so I think we're good.  For now.  Until he comes home and her life is really turned upside down.  Not that I'm trying to be negative, but I am really anticipating the first 1-2 months to be pure horrible.  Going though labor and having a newborn is pretty much the hardest thing ever....and add an active/needy/spirited then three year old to deal with 24/7 on top of that.  I'm thinking it's going to be pretty bad, but I think after those first few weeks it will be wonderful.  It may not be as bad as I'm thinking, but I honestly have no hopes of this going well at first.  Just my opinion.


I think it will be fun having "one of each". We get to experience the best and worst of both worlds. When you have your first baby your have no idea what you're doing, period. Now, we know/are used to parenting a girl (and a total girl she definitely is). She is gentle, generally well-behaved/easy to discipline, and has over-the-top drama. We're used to that combination. Not sure what we will do with a possibly rambunctious, destructive boy but we will figure it out! I'm hoping being raised the same way Gabrielle was and having an older sister will give him a good nurturing side, as well as his "manly side" of course.


I'm still getting used to the thought of having a boy and it's exciting!  Like I said before...boy clothes were pretty disappointing, but I've found some really cute stuff!  I hope he is on track size wise, because I've been hitting the summer sales for him.  It's really fun to find the "diamond in the rough" as I call it.  Adorable boy stuff among all the frogs and basketballs, haha.  Here are a few things I got recently....






















And here's his closet currently ranging from newborn-12 months.....

And here are the few "essentials" that we actually "needed" other than clothes.....

And I found these on sale at GAP. Yes, they were $10 onesies on sale but we had to have them.

And a carseat blanket I made for him....

Ok, enough rambling about my anxiety and baby boy clothes hoarding!

Potty Trained

Our little nugget is done with diapers, and is dare I say potty trained (as much as a 2.5 year old 5 days in can be).  Sunday we decided to put some underwear on her and she peed in them twice.  I guess she would never learn if we just put her back in diapers so we kept underwear on her.....I guess we were potty training. 

She ended up making it to the potty once that night which was great.  The next day she went to baby sitter in the morning in diapers but had underwear the rest of the day with no accidents.  The day after was not good....peed in her underwear all morning, and the last time looking me in the face, spreading her legs, and peeing on the floor.  Grrr.....I was ready to throw my kid and the underwear out the window.  Not really, but that was frustrating.  I can't really get "mad" because I didn't want to freak her out and scar her for life or anything.  I think she could tell I was pretty miffed and made it the rest of the day in the potty I think.  Zero accidents the next day, just one yesterday, and so far perfect today.  She can even stay dry at nights half the time so far (she's in the pull-up at night). 

So there you have it.  It is still a work in progress and she makes me nervous about 100% of the time, especially in public because it would be awfully embarrassing to pee on the floor somewhere :/  But even before she was fully potty trained she would always want to go to the bathroom in public anyway, so I shouldn't worry so much.  She's doing great and our random decision to potty train is working out.

Alpena and the 4th

We've had a very busy week!  Last saturday we went to Battle Creek for Nick's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary dinner.  The whole family was there and Gabs had a good time.  We got to see new cousin Isaiah again as well as all the other cousins.  Gabrielle particularly likes Uncle Rich's three teenage/early twenties daughters. 

The next morning my mom, Gabrielle, and I headed up to Alpena.  When we got to Lansing I realized that we forgot yellow B (because G screamed when I tried to put in the car early so we wouldn't forget it) so I made the executive decision to turn around and get it.  The rest of the trip went really well.  Potty training is ongoing so the urgent "mommy I have to go potty!!!!" screams in when we're on the express way were a bit unnerving. 



All the kids attacking baby Isaiah

We checked into the hotel, made a quick trip to Wal Mart, went to my Aunt Joyce's, went to the lake to swim (She loved it.  It was super shallow and pretty warm), then went to dinner.  We headed back to the hotel just after 8:00 thinking that she would get a good nights sleep.  Well, she stayed up until 10:00 bouncing, singing, talking, and dancing in bed next to me.  She's never gone to bed in a room or bed with other people so this was a first. 



The next day we went to an island to do some "hiking" and then to my Aunt's for some lunch.  Gabs was pretty tired at that point so we tried to have some quiet time in the hotel.....that went about as well as sleeping the night before but she got a little down time at least.  We went back to the lake for more swimming and playing at the park and then to my uncle's birthday party.

Gabrielle's BFF, Carley :) Helping Uncle Dick unwrap his presents

The ride back went ok.  Gabrielle got hungry early so she decided that we would make an early stop for a potty and lunch break.  A whole grilled chicken sandwich, 1/2 a smoothie, and a few fries later (Gabrielle) we were good to get back on the road.  She took a nap after that and we made it home just in time to unpack, repack, and drive to the lake house. 

We had a really good 4th of July at the lake, even though we were only there a couple of days.  Gabrielle loved the lake so much and swam pretty much every minute from the night we got there to the afternoon we left.  On the 4th she took a 3 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon and remained extremely pleasant the whole day and was able to stay up for her first fireworks ever!  She LOVED the fireworks ("sparkles").  We were talking to her about them earlier in the day and she asked if there would be purple ones and I said yes, probably some.  Then she asked if they would be graceful and I said...yes.....sort of.  And she said OK.  Haha, that was it.  She really enjoyed them though and talked and cheered through the whole show.   Her and her friend Kaylyn who is three months older got along really well too.  They actually had a real relationship and came up with their own conversations and played really well.  So grown up! This was my only picture of the 4th. It was so hot and every time I tried to take my camera out of the house it would fog horribly, so this is it!