ugh

Ugh...it's one of those days. I'm grouchy. Luci started gymnastics on a new day (Monday instead of Thursday) this morning and she didn't do very well...and she's done spectacularly since her very first class. Not sure if it was the new kids or what, but she was not a very good listener, seemed to be afraid of her teacher (who shes adores), and even hit a few kids. Fun times. Just what mama wants the day before preschool starts to feel confident in her choice. Ugh.

Speaking of preschool, just thinking about dropping her off tomorrow makes me weepy. Looking at pictures of my girlfriends' kiddos starting school makes me weepy. Good thing Clay will be home to go with us...I might have to sit in the car or something. Ugh.

My other complaints? My $15 hair cut is TOTALLY crooked when you look at it from the back. I swear I didn't see it in the mirror at the salon....but everyday since then I fret when I look at the back. I finally asked Clay today if he had noticed it...he said yes, right when I got home...but he thought it was supposed to be that way. I have a feeling he just didn't want to validate the then necessary follow up appointment with my usual stylist. Which is tomorrow at 3p, by the way. Think I'll have to cancel the highlights to pay for the cut tomorrow. Ugh.

Oh, and did I mention I have a rash on my left ring finger? So I'm walking around without my rings. I feel like I'm missing an appendage. I've been wearing just the band for a few weeks now as my fingers have been swollen...the band seems to fit just a bit better than my engagement ring. And now, no rings at all, just an ugly scaly red rash. When I was pregnant with Luci I wore my rings right up until the end. Not this time I guess. Ugh.

And lastly? Another week of the heat index between 100 - 110 degrees. Since June. Literally. This is the worst summer here yet. Ugh.

And blessings, yes, blessings abound. Maybe I should have posted about all of my blessings instead of wallowing in my ugh-ness. Or maybe I'll save that for later today or tomorrow. These photos do make me smile...here is Luce showing off her birthday hat from Aunt Deb the Great...

Happy Birthday Grandma Pierse

"good as gold"..."she's a gem"..."you're so lucky!"...I've heard all of these things in reference to my dear MIL (mother-in-law) from the other moms in my 'hood. Anyone who sees you with Luci recognizes what a special grandma you are and how giving your spirit is. I read this quote on the Lawrence blog and you immediately popped into my head:



WHEN I STAND BEFORE GOD AT THE END OF MY LIFE, I WOULD HOPE THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE A SINGLE BIT OF TALENT LEFT, AND COULD SAY, "I USED EVERYTHING YOU GAVE ME." ~ERMA BOMBECK



Thank you for sharing your talents with us, and for providing me with a real life lofty example of how to fulfill this tall order in such a gracious way. Happy Birthday & lots of love today and always.

another one

Not-to-be due date that is. #2. Babies 3 & 4. Two sweet baby girls based on the chromosomal testing we had done (which came back normal). Only for a few hours back in January did I actually contemplate what life could be like right now. Obviously when we found out there were two we also found out they were probably not well. But for the weeks before that, I thought we'd be welcoming another child into our earthly family about now.

Today has been easier than the last due date was five months ago...mostly because I'm filled with peace knowing that in less than five months from now (God willing, as always) we'll be holding our sweet boy. With every kick (and there are lots of them...he's an active one) he reminds me that he is the earthly child we were meant to have. Yet that human part of me still can't help but wish I could have all of our babies here with me to hold.

Luci met her teachers today and I was the only weepy mom in the room. It wasn't even her first day & I got weepy! She did great though, and was extra sweet to me after we returned home from school...it isn't often that I get unsolicited hugs & kisses...yet somehow today she must have known I needed them. We played with our good friends the Lawrences this afternoon and I'm grateful that the day flew by. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps & bounds and her associations & generalizations are always cracking me up. Tonight on the way home it was raining really hard...about half way home during a particularly hard rain she proclaimed "CRUNCHY!". And then when we got in the house and she was having a hard time taking her shoes off she shouted "HEAVY!" Thank you for being you, sweet girl.

21 weeks & a goofy girl

this is how she takes pictures...

and this is how she gets our attention...by crossing her eyes & staring at us until we acknowledge her!

upside down!

Well the 21st week is here...I'm almost forgetting which week I'm on now...weeks 17-20 flew by (maybe due to all of the parties?) and now things have slowed down again...although not for too long I suppose. Clay & I are planning a mini-vacation/should we live here exploration trip to Portland, OR on 9/14 while Grandma Pierse stays with Luci. We'll come back on Thursday and then turn right around on Friday to head up to Indiana with Grandma Pierse for the big Edinburgh Fall Festival. Fun times!

The boy is following in his big sister's footsteps and seems to be moving higher & higher up my torso. I'm feeling him kick really high...much higher than I know theoretically he should. After I'd been pushing for like 2 hours with Luci my OB told me that I'd made a lot of progress given that Luce started in my throat...good thing I didn't know that I had well more than an hour of pushing to go...

And do you like my new 'do? I went to the Aveda Institute this morning and paid FIFTEEN DOLLARS for this cut. And I love it!! So much so that I'm going back a week from Saturday to have the same student give me highlights for $35....highlights oh highlights...how I've missed you!!

good listener

sweet boy is such a good listener. i'm sitting at my favorite workstation (starbucks) and just thinking...hmmm...I haven't felt sweet boy in awhile. hey sweet boy, it'd be great if you could give me a kick hello...

and not 2 minutes later here he is. at least one of our kids is a good listener today ;)

photos from iowa...

a hug or a choke hold...you decide... luci, cousin Asher & Aunt Brooke

no idea why this one is so small...but Luci absolutely LOVES to swing with her dad!

Grandpy...such a good sport...

big girl bed adventures

Sleep time (as Luci calls it) has become quite unpredictable these days. Yesterday she slept from 1:30p to 4:45p...with nap time ending because I woke her up for fear she wouldn't sleep last night!

Yet today she's still not asleep now...and she's been up there 30 minutes. Books were read (or more accurately narrated in our own words), prayers were said, and I left the room. I went to change into my comfy clothes...wondering how it's possible to be this big with 1/2 of the pregnancy still to go when I see Luci creep to the end of her bed on the monitor. I see her starting to climb down - to which I yell "Mama sees you...stay in bed!" Before I know it I hear her trying to turn the door knob (thank you Safety First child proofing) yelling "HEH-YELP, HEH-YELP!" (her new way of saying help. she used to say it correctly...no idea where this goofy version came from). "ROCK-A-BABY TREETOP! ROCK-A-BABY TREETOP! HEH-YELP HEH-YEEEELLLLLLLP!"

I opened her door and she ran as fast as she could into her rocker. We rocked for all of 15 seconds before she proclaimed "BED!" So I put her back into bed...where she remains, despite some wall kicking and arm & feet flailing. Ugh. I miss the crib.

whew!

The second trip to NE Iowa in less than a month is complete...thank goodness. I love being there, just hate the getting there & getting home part. Thursday morning I started panicking...flights looked FULL to everywhere...and I mean Minneapolis, Des Moines, Chicago & Omaha...I was starting to get really worried. That said, I decided there was no reason to skip gymnastics at 10:30a as Clay wasn't getting home until 12:30p or so....when we got home I checked flights again...and suddenly there were 6 open seats on the 2p to Des Moines!! I frantically finished packing, rented a car from the Enterprise across the street from the airport, and as soon as Clay walked in the door at 12:40p we turned right around & headed back to the airport. We pulled in about 45 minutes before our flight and Clay dropped me off to check our luggage while he parked in the closest short term parking available (CAL employees call it princess parking). We made it to the airplane, successfully begged our fellow passengers into letting us have 3 seats together, and arrived at DSM on time at 4:15p. We then found out the car rental situation was a mess and our luggage hadn't made it. UGH. After some help from travel agent Grammy, we secured a hotel room and a rental car...we then patiently waited for our luggage praying it would show up on the flight that landed at 10:10p, which it did. Trip saved.

Ben & Chelsi's shower went off well with just a few glitches including no table service from the caterer and a once an Iowa summer heat index >100 degrees. We found plates & people found shade & a breeze and all was well. Hot and with too much food, but well. Ben & Chelsi received lots of great gifts and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Luci had a blast beating up cousin Asher. Literally. Hopefully she got some good shots in because I have a feeling next time he'll be better able to hold his own! He's SUCH a sweet boy and it made my day that he came right to me when we arrived on Friday. It was great to see him & I hope & pray that we'll all be able to live within a reasonable distance of each other some day.

Per usual I brought my camera and then didn't use it. Luckily Aunt Brooke & Uncle Sunidh used their fancy camera quite a bit, so as soon as I see those photos I'll post them...with their permission, of course.

In other noteworthy news...Clay felt our sweet baby boy kick for the first time on Saturday night! Baby boy also received his first gifts...an adorable airplane sleeper and super soft airplane blanket from Grammy Rosonke. Both are kind of a gray-ish blue and now I'm toying with the idea of using them as inspiration for the nursery....hmmm.

twos...by a very late mama

I'm getting quite tardy, aren't I? I'm going to blame it on the birthday party for which too many crafts were undertaken, and the fairly large couples baby shower I'm throwing (along with my silent partner sister Brooke) for my little brother Ben, his wife Chelsi and their sweet baby girl...in Iowa this weekend...planned from Texas. We head out on Thursday afternoon for Iowa and I'm just hoping the little space that exists on the airplane stays over the next couple of days. We are stuck flying into Minneapolis as car rentals in Des Moines are like $100/day. Minneapolis is fine, and I actually prefer that drive, but the flight is an hour longer...which can seem like forever when you are on said flight with a 2 year old. Ugh.

But, I digress. This post is about Luci....being two. Or, twos, as she says. Twos, dos, twos, dos. (We might watch Handy Manny some mornings).

Stats at two...

Weight: 26.8lbs...50%

Height: 34 1/8 inches...75%-90%

Head: 19 inches...75%

BMI: 16.17...50% (who knew they measured this at two?)

Notes at two...
-my favorite new thing is that she tells me how she's feeling...Luci happy! Luci sad. Luci mad. Luci sleepy.

-She loves her daddy. He spent 6 days with the Navy and got home Monday...and Luci woke up yesterday morning saying "Awake! Happy! Daddya Home! Happy!"
-Whenever there is a lull in conversation or activity she crosses her arms and says, "So. Now What?"
-When I ask her what she wants to do the response is either play! or show! or eat time! Never ever is it bath, nap, or bed.
-She has started to tell us no diapey change. We've explained all she has to do is sit on the potty and we can get rid of the diapers. To which she responds "no potty".
-She loves to add an "a" on the end of some words. Homa. Daddy-a. Wally-a.
-Our poor, poor cats. Luci has realized they are an interactive play thing and that she is the bigger force. She screams MYOH, MYOH, MYOH (Milo, Milo, Milo) as loud as she can whenever she seems him. In turn though, our cats seem to have realized that she should know better than to mess with them and that if she does it is now fair game to fight back...one of them is going to get her any day now. And Clay & I are totally fine with it. Milo will stick his paw out & make a swipe but so far not with claws...to which Luci gets pouty and says, "Myoh gotcha gotcha"...as in Milo got me! We'll see how she changes her tune when one of them does get her!
-When not watched on a video monitor she will absolutely get out of bed & run around her room. And empty all of her drawers. And stand on her nightstand...which causes it to tip over & land on her...an experiment she's up for repeating unless mama sees it on the monitor and runs right in.

-She loves to 'swim' in the bath tub...which means laying (or lying, I'm not even going to pretend to know) down on her back or on her belly.

-She no longer tolerates having books read to her. SHE must hold the book. SHE must turn the page...and her OWN speed. So I just ask questions about whatever page she happens to feel like looking at...and when I'm ready to be done I ask her to find something that I know is on the last page...cause I'm sneaky like that.

-She loves her Grandma & Grandpa Pierse and Grammy & Grandpy Rosonke. And knows the difference between them.

-She has a little crush on two very crush worthy men...Mr. Jamie (Clara's dad) and Mr. Drew (Aunt Baylee's very long term boyfriend). Her dad finds this less amusing than I do.

-She is excited to have a little brother or sister. And since we've found out said sibling is a brother she only calls him sister a few times a day.

-She is learning to be gentle around the belly...and when she kicks me I tell her she's hurting brother. And then she says "sorry brother", and hugs my giant belly. It is sweet...till she kicks again...and then I wonder how genuine the whole display is.

-She can be sweet as can be, and turn on a dime. She's not afraid to hit either of her parents in the face, and then look at us with this smiley poker face. To say it is infuriating would be an understatement.

-She absolutely understands when she isn't supposed to do something and does it anyway...sometimes she'll even put herself in time out.

-Time out doesn't seem to bother her in the least. I think we need to up the time she has to sit & get better at ignoring her pleas of sorrow & kisses.

-Right now she is SUPER excited to head to Grammy's House tomorrow!!

this boy

loves him some Starbucks....some iced decaf grande french vanilla skinny latte and chocolate chip cookie to be exact. He's kickin up a storm and it is very distracting...I'd so much rather just marvel about getting to be his mama than focus on work...alas...the first doesn't monetarily pay nearly as well so I best get back at it...

ha-ppy-burt-day-to-you

Luci is OBSESSED with birthdays...has been for months...so I may have felt a little bit of pressure to live up to her expectations for the big 2nd birthday. But I guess if I didn't, she's only 2 and hopefully won't have any long term scars!

On the actual day of her birthday we opened presents from family after nap time and then had planned to have lasagna & ice cream. Um, yeah. Nice plan. She was happy to see all of her gifts, but was soon wandering around the room, with a sad sort of face saying, "cake, cake, cake?"...and the ever observant Grandma Pierse realized she was looking for her cake. It broke my heart because I had no cake planned! Luckily after lasagna I talked the family into heading to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream cupcakes...which totally saved the day!

We held her party on Monday at 4p to take advantage of the 'recession buster pricing' offered at our local Pump It Up. She had all of her close friends there to help her celebrate, and we had the super big arena all to ourselves...it was great. Once we arrived she did spend some time looking for her cake...walking around all of the big jump thingies....but jumping is fun and she was soon distracted enough that she was able to jump for over an hour. At that point we were supposed to jump for about 15 more minutes but she started to meltdown asking for her pizza & cake...so the birthday girl got her wish & we headed into the party room. She got the first piece of pizza and contentedly chowed down for the next 15 minutes on two pieces. She got to sit in the big birthday chair and with the lights out we all sang to her...I thought she'd be all smiles, but she sat just sort of stunned...and then finally at the end of the song she started to smile. She enjoyed her homemade cupcakes (store bought cupcakes make her face turn all red & give her diaper rash) and as soon as she was done eating started asking for 'homa, homa' (home). After saying good-bye to all of our friends we headed home & she was asleep before even got there!




A special thank you to Miss Amanda who took all of these amazing photos for us!! And the strange looking lady in the glasses is me...I woke up with pink eye on Sunday. Nice.

I attempted a great deal of creative effort to make our Luci's day special. I made homemade sugar free chocolate cupcakes and sugar free carrot & pineapple cupcakes...and if I do say so myself, they were delicious! And...no red face or diaper rash :). I bought the cheapest hats (because birthday hats are part of the birthday obsession) I could find & then added purple curling ribbon out of the top...and I bought purple upholstery trim and hot glued it around the top & the bottom of her little hat so that it would be extra special. I bought random birthday plates, napkins, tablecloths & balloons...all just birthday/cake themed. For her little friends I made little cupcake goodie bags filled with cupcake bubbles, cupcake tattoos, cupcake kaleidoscopes & kazoos.

Thanks to everyone who came and braved the pink eye potential to make her birthday special. And an extra thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Pierse who made the trek down from Indiana and to Grandma Pierse who helped with many of the creative efforts!

healthy baby boy

Our sweet baby boy appears to be as healthy as we can confirm him to be at this point. I am SO grateful. His risk for chromosomal issues came back as low as possible (confirmed by both blood work & the ultrasound), he has all his parts, weighs 8oz (Luci weighed 7oz at this stage), and is measuring with a delivery date of Christmas Day! My official due date is December 27th based on when I think I ovulated, but if the old school rule was applied Christmas Day would be the actual due date.

My placenta is low at this point, but Dr. Johnson isn't worried at this stage of the game. We'll do another ultrasound at 26 weeks to hopefully find that it has moved up. If it doesn't move up we have an increased risk of early bleeding & pre-term birth combined with a necessary c-section. That being said, I'm just continuing my usual prayer for the courage & strength to accept His plan with grace.

It's a....

BOY!! This is looking up from the bottom...those are his little legs, and in the middle is his little boy part! I'm sure some day he'll be less than thrilled to find out that his mama displayed his stuff all over Internet :)

Sweet profile. His nose is up against the placenta...the tech said he might be a nuzzler/snuggler...

Waving to his big sister Luci :). He has a thumb...it is just hiding.
Sweet baby toes.

Our ultrasound was this morning and we found out we are having a boy! Both of us had kind of thought it was a girl for some unknown reason and were kind of shocked. The tech told us at the beginning that she was not allowed to tell us the measurements or if the baby was healthy...that we'd have to wait for the radiologist to read the report and then for Dr. Johnson to let us know the results. That being said, her demeanor gave us hope that all was well...she said he had all his parts & that he was measuring within days of the due date and told us congratulations...so I'm hopeful that all is well. I have an appointment with Dr. Johnson on Thursday at 4p so hopefully she'll have the report by then.

Luci seemed to have adjusted to the news by the time we arrived home (we went out for breakfast afterwards, just like after finding out she was a girl), despite insisting for the last few weeks that sweet babypea was a sister. She turned 2 over the weekend & her big party was yesterday...more to come on that of course!

Also stay tuned for the big name announcement! :)

17 weeks

I started posting photos of the belly at 17 weeks with Luci...my very first post ever! We didn't know she was a she, or a Luci...crazy how time flies. At that time we were about two weeks away from the big ultrasound...this time we're just a few days away! I think we've settled on the names...definitely the boy first name, and I'm still lobbying for my girls name..I think I've got Clay coming around since he doesn't seem to have a first choice of his own...that OR I've already vetoed his first choice and the poor man has just given up although I'd hate to think that is the case. Regardless, I have a feeling that shortly after sweet babypea shows his/her stuff I'll start calling him/her by the name we picked and hopefully it will fit; that is how it worked with Luci. I just knew she was Luci and I think Clay would say the same.

I've gained 3lbs so far...but look quite a bit different! I feel a lot bigger at this point than I did with Luci, and my maternity clothes would indicate that it isn't so much a feeling as a fact :). I'm totally okay with it though. My upper abs (too high for the uterus at this point) are rock hard and I keep telling Clay to feel my rock hard abs (and then laugh, of course ;). The nausea with this pea was less severe than with Luci, but lasted about 3x as long and still creeps up a couple of times a week. I'm also still exhausted, and by this time with Luci I had that second trimester energy burst...I haven't given up hope though. Food has been funny this time...I have way more aversions than cravings. Chicken sounds DISGUSTING. I think Chick-fil-a is going to have to file an 8-K to disclose the loss of revenue! Lots of ground beef, ground turkey, steak & fried fish sandwiches. Interestingly enough with Luci I couldn't stomach red meat and ate ONLY chicken although the fried fish craving is a carry over from the Luci pregnancy days :)

I feel babypea more & more...started about 13 weeks and gets stronger every week. I LOVE feeling him/her kick.

As for the hoped for results from the ultrasound I can honestly tell you all I want to hear this time is that we've got a healthy baby in there. With Luci I sort of took it for granted/really expected her to be fine. I just don't have that naive sense of security anymore. True, most babies are healthy. But lots are not. With Luci I felt like she was mine; now I feel like every life, baby or child or teen or adult or elderly, is God's to give & God's to take. And while I'm more okay with that than I've ever been, I still hope God gives us another earthly life to add to our family. And so I continue to pray over & over again for the courage & strength to deal with God's plan for us with grace...because I know if I can do that I'll be all right.

Iowa

We had a GREAT time at "Gwammy's house" last week, despite that it was for a funeral. Sure I was weepy & there were tears, but I wasn't sad. My grandpa lived a long, full, happy life and I believe he's in a better place now. We got to see tons of family that I haven't seen in a long time and who knows when I'll see them again (especially all at once) now that Grandma & Grandpa Halvorson are both in heaven.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good photos with said extended family! I STINK when it comes to getting photos of family. So boo for that.

But we did get lots of good time with Aunt Brookie, Aunt Baylee, Mr. Drew, Uncle Ben & Aunt Chelsi. And of course Gwamme & Gah-py. Luci was her sweet, warm, lovable, snuggable self & lots of deserving people got hugs & even kisses from her. It was SO nice to see.

The photos we did get were of Luci "riding the Poncho". Poncho has been Aunt Chelsi's horse for 14 years, and Uncle Ben saddled her up for Luci to ride. Luci waited more eagerly than patiently....

Originally we had planned for her to ride with Uncle Ben...which started well...but then....

that didn't go over so well. So she rode alone with Dad by her side...all smiles then!

Overall it was a GREAT trip, and Luci still asks about 20x a day "Gwammy's house?!?!" And now when she goes on her fake trips through the kitchen she's always headed to Gwammy's house. Fun times. Luckily we are headed back in a few weeks for Uncle Ben & Aunt Chelsi's baby shower, so when Luci says, "Gwammy's house?" I can say "in a couple of weeks!"

happy

I have lots of catch up posting to do, and lots of work to do. But I'm sitting at Starbucks working and sweet baby is kicking up the strongest storm yet. And it is making me about as happy as I could be right now. :)

Ride the Poncho

From 7.15

in case you wondered

why I hate to travel with Luci...

Step 1: 2 days of list making & packing & laundry; packing cups, forks, spoons, bibs, noise makers, monitors, blankets, books, baas, etc...
Step 2: 45 minutes to the Houston airport, with 1.5 hours to spare
Step 3: Clay drops Luci, me & giant luggage to be checked off at the terminal. He parks the car & carries the car seat & his luggage on the employee shuttle to terminal e (the only destination of the shuttle). He meets us in terminal b.
Step 4: Luci & I check luggage (harder than you'd think, pushing a stroller & dragging huge luggage and carrying two carry-ons)
Step 5: Luci & I make it through security with a stroller and two carry-ons
Step 6: 45 minutes of waiting including filling water bottles with water from a fountain (cuz as my husband says, "water is FREE") and a diaper change timed as close to boarding as possible
Step 7: pray that we get seats on the airplane, and that at least 2 of them are together (love going stand-by...although it does only cost $12.50 each way per person so I can't complain too much)
Step 8: Get settled on the airplane for 2 hours rotating activities (snacks, crayons, markers, coloring books, dvds, etc)
Step 9: Make it to 10,000 feet so you can turn on the DVD player
Step 10: Get off airplane & retrieve stroller & car seat from the jet bridge along with the 50 other people waiting to retrieve items
Step 11: change diaper
Step 12: Clay gets the rental car, I get giant luggage
Step 13: Get to car, install car seat...explain to the 2 year old why she has to sit still for another 3 hours
Step 14: Drive another 3 hours with stops for "eat time" and potty breaks for mama. Typically entails a series of DVD changes, Raffi, Choo Choo Soul and meltdowns in between...
Step 15: Arrive & attempt to get settled & have Luci get familiar with her bed so she'll actually sleep at "sleep time"
Step 16: Spend 3 lovely days with family
Step 17: Do steps 1-15 all over again in reverse

Whew!

We made it through another trip to Iowa! Seriously...the requirements of travel with a 2 year old are a bit ridiculous. We looked at each other yesterday as Luci melted on the airplane with 45 minutes left in the air and wondered out loud how in the world we are going to do this with two...

That being said we had a WONDERFUL trip...more to come on the next post...

busy, but excited peas

singing & dancing...

the way she pronounces microphone is so profane I can't even blog it...

Somehow the last few weeks have just been incredibly busy! A few weeks ago I spent one particularly energy filled day making appointments for the family...we are very behind on things like the dentist, eye doctors, etc. As a result July is pretty booked up each day that Clay is home. This week he saw the dermatologist for a mole check just to pacify his crazy wife...and they all looked great with the exception of one that was removed & biopsied...we'll find out in a few weeks if it was just funky looking or if it really was up to no good. We also had our family photo taken this week for our church directory and got pulled into buying $200 worth of photos...UGH. Always something. The good news is that the photographer got a great shot of just Clay & me...the best since our wedding photos, so that was nice. Luce was her typical fiery self and there were some good and some not so good of her. Regardless it is nice to have an official family photo from around her 2nd b-day.

Sweet babypea still looks great & waves or kicks hello each time I see him/her. I now poll Luci a few times a day to ask if she WANTS a brother or sister....only once has she said brother. But I also ask her which she WILL have and it is about a 50%/50% split. We have our big ultrasound scheduled to check on measurements/health on Tuesday, July 28th at 7:45a. Love my Rakeesha, hooking me up with the earliest appointment possible. Luci's birthday party is on the 27th at 4p, so I wanted to do the ultrasound as soon as I could after that. The ever-anxious mama that I have become was worried that if we found out something was not well with babypea that I wouldn't be able to give Luci the birthday she deserves...so 7:45a the next day it is. And yes, as long as babypea isn't modest we'll find out if Luci will indeed be getting a sister or brother. :) I'm not much for surprises...I actually read the end of a book first so that I can enjoy the book without worrying about the outcome.

Between work, crafts for a few upcoming parties and getting ready for our big trip to Iowa this week I'M BEAT. But I can honestly that I've never been this excited for a trip to Iowa! BOTH of my sisters AND my brother AND his new bride will be there, as well as lots of cousins & aunts & uncles I haven't seen in a long time. The only people missing will be my brother-in-law Sunidh & Luci's cousin Asher...which is a big bummer. But I'm focusing on all of the people we will get to see! Luci is SUPER excited to go to Grammy's house and asks about 10x a day if we can go get in the car & go to Grammy's. If I had more energy we'd head up this weekend, but alas I don't, so we wait for Clay to get home late Sunday & then head out Monday around noon returning late on Thursday. And yes, it is a trip for a funeral, but I can't think of a better way to honor my grandpa's memory than to have a ton of fun catching up with our family.

So on that note...I should probably get back to my mile long list of things to do so I'm ready to head out stress free on Monday!

gwammee here!

Unfortunately Luci was not in the mood for photos this weekend...we'll try again when we are in Iowa the week of the 13th.

sharing her cup...NOTE: child was actually much happier than she appears in photo

Luci's grammy was here for a long weekend (or as Luce calls her, gwaaameeeee) and they had a blast making up for lost time. After a brief look of "who the heck are you" when my Mom first arrived, they quickly bonded as Luci realized there was yet another person who wanted to play with her, hug her, kiss her, and love on her! For the first few days every hour or two Luci would look at my mom, smile, and randomly proclaim, "GWAMMY HERE!!" There was lots of sit.chair. (Luci's way of requesting you join her in the playroom), fake food prepared, pictures drawn and soccer ball kicks (really a volleyball). Gwammy even taught her how to lay back in the bathtub and 'swim'!

We did make it to the great 4th of July parade...and it was, well...hot. Nice, but hot.

Brooke Rosonke, M.D.

Who knew that this pretty little girl, known too long for her liking as "Brittnee's little sister" would grow up to be a doctor? Well, actually, I probably knew. As did anyone who spent much time with her as a kid. From a farm in Iowa, to four years at Yale studying bio-medical engineering, followed by another four years at the Duke University School of Medicine, and then ANOTHER three years of residency at the University of Arizona's Department of Emergency Medicine, today is Brooke's very last day as a student...as of tomorrow it is all official...she's an employable ER doctor. Congrats Brooke. I can't even fathom the amount of intellectual, emotional & physical stamina this journey has required. We are so proud of you.

And yet I wish you even more luck & success in the next phase of your journey, the one that I know is closest to your heart...spending time with sweet Asher & Sunidh and eventually having a house full of little buggers. Good luck in Michigan...we love you!

23 months...a few days late

Notes to come. Last night was the first night in the big girl bed and today is the first day without the baa. I need to be an attentive mama today. Pool or foam tree at the mall?!?!?! tbd...

UPDATE:
the answer to the tbd was both...in the AM we did the foam tree until the 5 year old boys took over, and this afternoon after naps we did the pool. her favorite part of the pool might be the safety check/snack time. i pack us a couple of pb&js, some fruit & some carrots usually. i swear the kid will eat anything if i give it to her at the pool...and you'd swear it was the best thing she's ever tasted!

night one in the big girl bed was not too bad. about 1 1/2 hours of putting her back in it, telling her not to get out, etc. a bit of crying, but overall about what i expected or even a bit better. nap one went off without a hitch...as it was morning one without the baa. by the time nap rolled around you betcha she was ready to get into that bed & stay there with that precious baa. so far tonight has largely been the same...i've gone in once to retrieve the 'dropped baa' that i'm proud to report she did not get out to reclaim herself, and then we rocked, sans baaa, which didn't last long. the baa is staying in the bed. as in not.ever.coming.out.again. so the big girl bed cause has been seriously aided by the love of the baa. she really did much, much better than I thought she would today without said baa...a bit of whining, but not nearly as bad as i had feared. a few tears, but they were more for show than true sadness. although i did keep her very busy, let her watch a bit more TV than usual, and tried really hard to be silly when she was sad. aahhh. she's talking again. still not asleep at 9p. i've moved from my usual perch on the sofa to the landing right outside her door. fun times.

other notes at 23 months....

-she is talking a ton. she uses plural now, as in two ducks. she can sort of count to 10....at least she knows all of the numbers and aside from skipping six she's almost got it. she repeats EVERYTHING.

-her latest thing is to sit in a chair, cross her arms, and say, "so." i couldn't figure out where this came from until i saw clay do it. cracked me up! he does do it all the time!

-her first commonly used sentence is "yes, i do." as in response to, "do you want a cup?" "yes, i do."

-last week playing in her kitchen with Dad he asked for a drink of water (pretend). she took the cup to the pretend water spout on the pretend fridge, then paused and looked back at him and said, "words? words?" until he said please!

-"thank your welcome" is her version of thank you &/or your welcome. she says it all the time, always in the same sing songy voice.

-she HATES sunscreen & bug spray. i think most of it burns her skin...but i bought some ridiculously priced stuff for kids with eczema so i really don't think it hurts now, but she still either thinks it does or will and makes a run for it every time I mention putting in on. she'd even rather not go swim or go outside than put it on.

-she knows that right now she is one, and that on her birthday she'll be "twos"

-she knows the prayers that we say at night & can finish the end of every sentence of the Now I Lay Me prayer and the Hail Mary. she loves to bless DAD each night.

-she attempts to make the sign of the cross before we say our meal blessing...and will remind us if we forget to say the prayer. she touches her head, her belly, and then the left shoulder with the left hand and the right shoulder with the right hand...at the same time.

I know there is more I want to record (I think of this as a baby book as well as a tool to share with others), but I think she's not getting out of bed at this point & I'm going to go have an hour of mindless tv time before bed now. Despite how well today went for her and how proud I am of her it was a long one for me...worth it of course, but long!

Happy Birthday Iowa Guh

Sadly the last photo I have of the two of them is from almost a year ago! Good thing we are headed there soon. Happy Birthday Mom. Wish we could be there with you to celebrate.

life...an ending & a beginning

Bernard A. “Benny” Halvorson, 77 of New Hampton, died Friday afternoon, June 19, at the 9th Street Chautauqua Guest Home, Charles City.Memorial services will be 11a.m. Wednesday, July 15, at Trinity Lutheran Church, New Hampton with Pastor Kevin Frey and Pastor Joel Dahlen officiating. Internment will be in the New Hampton Cemetery.Friends may call 4 - 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, at Hugeback & Chenoweth Funeral Home, New Hampton and an hour prior to the service Wednesday at the church. Bernard Albert “Benny” Halvorson was born August 19, 1931, in New Hampton, the son of Henry and Anna (Olson) Halvorson. He received his education in rural country school near Jerico and the New Hampton High School. On October 3, 1953, at the former St. Olaf Lutheran Church in New Hampton he married Janice C. Hartson. To this union six children were born. Benny had worked at the Iowa State Department of Transportation retiring after 41 years. In 1965, the couple purchased their farm northwest of New Hampton where they raised their family. His wife Janice died on June 17, 2001 at the age of 65. Benny especially loved working on the farm, socializing with friends and family, and in his later years fishing, camping, gambling and watching old westerns. He had been living at the Riverside Chatauqua Assisted Living in Charles City, where he enjoyed watching the river.Survivors include two sons, Bradley “Bucky” (Pam) Halvorson of New Hampton, Todd (Krista) Halvorson of Erie, Colo.; four daughters, Brenda (Mike) Kellogg of Nashua, Lori (Mike) Rosonke of New Hampton, Debra (Steve) Lahr of Fairfax Station, Va., Tamara (Dan) Halvorson of Madrid; 10 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Jeannie Huber and Anna Mae Qualley both of New Hampton.He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife and one brother, Hartley Halvorson.

Luckily Clay & I had planned a mini vacation for the week of 7/13...so instead of a trip to Portland we'll be heading up to Iowa for the week. I'm glad that we get to go as a family to be with my extended family. I grew up 5 minutes away from Grandma & Grandpa Halvorson, and across the street from Grandma & Grandpa Rosonke. I LOVED playing at my grandparents house with all of my cousins all the time (on both sides), and it breaks my heart that Luci & Asher have yet to meet. I'm excited to see lots of family I haven't seen in years...always the silver lining of a funeral.

On the other spectrum of life news, babypea waved hello again this week. (S)he was positioned so that we got a clear view of his/her little spine and all looked well. It was a wonderful thing to see. My OB is letting me come back each week until I feel the baby regularly...most likely around week 18. We'll also have the big ultrasound around that week to check for health with a possible bonus of finding out the sex. And yes, we'll absolutely find out if babypea is willing to show us!

Grandpa Benny

Luci's Grandpa Benny the Great (my mom's dad) passed away this morning. Grandpa has been sick for as long as I can remember but he fought hard, until this morning. He passed peacefully and for that I am grateful. Luci saw him last at Christmas but we didn't get any photos during that visit..although I do remember that I was surprised how she climbed right up in his lap to give him a hug. Clay & I saw him last in late January, right after we lost the twins. What I'll remember most about that visit was that he was the family member who was most open about our loss, telling us how sorry he was, asking us questions about how we were doing, and telling me how I would have made a good mama to twins (he & my grandma had twins, so he'd know ;) It was a conversation that touched my heart in a way I'm sure most people could never appreciate and I'll carry that memory with me forever.

While I'm sad, the tears fall most freely when I think of him being reunited with my grandma after 8 or so years...I'm so glad they are finally together.

luce, her guh, and 12 weeks

Luci & her guh... I'm pretty sure she drank at least a gallon of water from the pool....yummy!

my sweet baby.

I see this face a lot...usually when she's all up in my face, trying to tell me something that she thinks I'm not getting...

happy girl.

Luci's guh was here for the weekend and thank goodness! Aside from the usual first trimester woes, I came down with the nasty bug that everyone has been fighting and it was not fun...nor was I. Somehow Guh came in with her Guh-like way and managed to give me a much needed break from cooking, emptying & loading the dishwasher and laundry, all while providing 24*4.5 (the number of days she was here) help caring for an active needy toddler. Thank you Barb; I'm so grateful for you.

The big girl bed is still on hold. After getting a nice yet affordable twin mattress up onto the bed which we (and by we I mean Clay;) had assembled in her room we realized a-we were missing many, many support slats necessary to hold the mattress up and b-we were 5 inches short of mattress. ugh. So today one of the twin mattresses went back (a regular twin works fine for the trundle) and I found an extra long twin mattress that could be ordered....for twice the price, of course. Why does 5 more inches of length double the price?!?!? Clay's mission was to get some wood to make the other support slats...which he has plenty of time to do now given the mattress won't be in until Tuesday at the earliest, and probably more likely later in the week. XL Twin means XL mattress pad, sheets, the whole ball of wax.

It's been one of those weeks where everything seems to be so much harder than it should be.

BUT...I'm TRYING VERY HARD to keep perspective. At least, making a very conscious effort to keep perspective. It's okay that the bug spray doesn't want to come out while I holding my screaming toddler still in order to save her from another 50 bug bites. It's okay that our cats suck lately and pee on stuff. It's okay that a twin mattress doesn't fit our deal of the century used bed. It's okay that I have to take back all of the twin size bedding. It's okay that the laundry is never done and the house is never clean enough. It really is all okay.

As of Monday we reached the 12 week milestone...I'm off progesterone & can resume normal activities :) yaay. Babypea measured 12w4d and I was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time...nice & steady in the 160's. It was absolutely the best thing I've heard all week.

Our family is well and very blessed in so many ways. And that is what is important to focus on.

ugh...big girl bed time already?!?!!?

Luci has decided her favorite awake activity in the crib is trying to jump out. Literally, trying to jump out. As in, land on her head jump out. Guh & I found her yesterday morning just happy as a lark, practicing this new found activity. At first we watched, thinking it was cute. Then we quickly decided that cute as it may be, safe it certainly was not.

Picture flapping your arms like chicken wings. Imagine said chicken wings gripping the out side of the railing, with her armpits anchored against the top part. Imagine strong little abs & legs jumping as high as she can, with her head going farther & farther over the top of the railing. As in any one time that she got high enough her little waist would be over the railing & she would literally end up toppling out of her crib, head first, diving to the floor...and even if she tried to stop herself the momentum would keep her going.

UGH. Luckily Amanda had a video monitor we can use for awhile to keep an eye on her. When she did it last night I ran right in there & told her it was NOT safe and that beds were for sleeping. She promptly laid down, closed her eyes, and went to sleep. This morning I woke up & heard just a teeeny bit of noise from the monitor. Not even enough noise to be sure that she was awake. She was. Giggling ever so quietly at herself while practicing her fun new activity.

I don't think she's even trying to get out. I think it just must be fun. It looks kind of fun, if I was an almost 2 year old and had no idea I was about to break my neck. I've been prepared for her to start trying to climb out. I could even stomach the thought of a broken arm or something from a mis-step. But literally jumping out & landing on her head I'm not cool with.

Looks like Clay & I have a project to complete in the few days he's home this week.

1st gymnastics class = HORRIBLE

Luce had her first gymnastics class this morning...and she was HORRIBLY behaved! Of the 8 or so kids in her class, ranging from 15 months - 2 1/2 years, she was the ONLY one who wouldn't sit when it was time to sit, go where it was time to go, and do what it was time to do. And taking turns? Forget it! She not only didn't want to wait for her turn, but when it was her turn to go she just ended up crying, kicking & screaming. Seriously. The child cried, kicked & screamed on the floor for at least 35 minutes of the 45 minutes class. A proud mama I was not.

After 15 minutes of this behavior I broke down & gave her the baa. I was embarrassed by her behavior, and embarrassed that at almost 2 she still has a paci. But turns out it had nothing to do with the paci...it didn't really make a bit of difference so I hid it after awhile & she was so busy throwing her fits she didn't even notice.

Um, so yeah. But we aren't giving up. She asked to go 'homa' (home) after about 30 minutes but we stayed and the last 15 minutes were the best of the class. She finally did sit when it was time to sit at the end...otherwise no stamp. And she wanted that stamp...so when she realized that was the reward for sitting she went right into the middle of the group and plopped herself right down in front of the teacher. Smart, smart teacher ignored her until the very end (since she was the last one to sit) and then gave her the stamp. Go Miss Karla.

To be fair, she's sick. Has been for 3 weeks now. I probably shouldn't have taken her to the class, but I've been looking forward to it for weeks thinking she would just love it. I have an antibiotic prescription filled, ready to go. But the only time she's had an antibiotic it actually made her more sick (allergy to penicillin that took a week to show up) and our doc took her off all meds due to drug intolerance or something. And I don't want to make her feel worse.

Ugh. So we'll try again next week....cause she starts pre-school for 3 1/2 hours 2x a week this fall...and she's got to get a bit better at following directions before then or they'll probably kick her out!!

babypea waves hello

sweet baby waved hello to me this morning and all is still looking well. (s)he's too big to see with the vaginal ultrasound, and a bit small yet to see perfectly with just an abdominal ultrasound so the measurements were all over the board this morning. somehow the angle made it hard for our doctor to get the whole baby in the screen to measure...but she wasn't the least bit worried about it. she even asked if i had had coffee this morning because babypea was so active. no coffee though, just 1 slice of pb&j toast and a Carnation Instant Breakfast shake (the no sugar added kind...it has a lot of protein :).

thank you all for your continued thoughts & prayers :) I go back a week from today...they're so good to me there!

too cute for words

so I'll let the photos do the talkin...

10w2d

Babypea is still in there, healthy heart beat and all :) (S)he wiggled around to say hi to me again this week. This last week was the worst yet in terms of nausea. I was starting to feel better at this point with Luci, but with this pregnancy it still seems to be getting worse. I'm not complaining though...just documenting our journey!

Luci, who should we ask God to bless?

Luci: DAAAAADDDD!!
Mom: Dad? (he's #1 every night) Who else?
Luci: ASHERRRRRRRRRRR!!
Mom: And Asher? That's nice Luci, who else?
Luci: WAAAYYYEEEEEEEE!!!
Luci: JAAAMMMIIIEEEEE!!!!!
Mom: And Wally & Mr. Jaime? Oh that's sweet Luci. What about Mom?
Luci: mmmhmmmm.

Mr. Jamie has taken on a more prominent role as of late....I think he's the subject of Luci's very first crush! She smiles & looks almost bashful when we mention him, and has a big shy smile for him now each time we see him. Super cute.