Ideas...

Rowan and I spent the last week trying to find and decide on what to do with her room and bed situation. Originally we were going to buy a new crib for the baby and keep Rowan with her bed and convert it. Then I had thoughts of wanting white furniture for Rowan, so I was looking for that. Then I sort of got talked out of it at one of the stores I was in because they said sometimes white can be a bit 'juvenile' so she might not like it as she gets older. Plus, cost is a factor as well. So in addition to the bed issue, I have been trying to decide how I want to decorate her room and am hoping to do some fun painting to lessen the need for decor on the walls. So these are pictures of rooms I like and might use in either Rowan's room or the baby's room.

After shopping last week, I was even more confused on what I wanted to do and buy. And then today I was offered a queen bed set I have had my eyes on from a particular family member which isn't white, but sort of an ivory distressed look. Which throws another wrench in my situation, because I had bought a bedding set for a full on clearance, so now I need to return that and find something reasonable in queen. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to get the queen set, it is perfect, but I am back to square one on paint colors now. We are hoping to get our painting done this fall while we can still ventilate with the windows open!

My mini baby update, we are re-using the bedding I had for Rowan when she was born, so we will be decorating around that color scheme (brown/green/teal) eventually in the baby's room aka the guest room. And this weekend we have now decided to finish a guest room in the basement before the baby is born I think, but we change our minds daily, so we will see. Full baby update to come tomorrow, I have a doctors appointment and first trimester screening, which includes an ultrasound, so may have more pics. And perhaps a pic of the ever expanding waist line. On a side note...one of our other neighbors whom we don't see outside often was out visiting today, and she asked if I was expecting, and essentially mumbled something about me being so thin (in the past) mumble mumble, so she thought maybe we were expecting. Awesome!

Cousin Love...

Blayne, Molly, Kieran and Grady took the boat across Lake MI to come and visit this weekend. We were very poor entertainers. I am almost embarrassed to disclose the excitement our weekend entailed! Our original plan was to go to Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, but it was rainy most of Saturday. So our back up plan was Wild Air (an inflatable place in Appleton), but no one was really gung-ho on that idea when the time came to go either.

Sooo....we did a lot of playing in the house. We pulled out some toys from the basement that Rowan hasn't seen in awhile. Then we went to lunch at Chipotle (Blayne and Molly introduced us to Chipotle when they lived in MN, and now they don't have one by them in MI, so Blayne requested that for lunch). After Chipotle when the men turned down Wild Air, we headed to Neenah's finest, Super Wal-Mart (they needed diapers for Grady, and somehow we left with an 80 piece bag of chocolate too), and then headed home for more playtime. At least we were able to get the kids outside eventually, but not for long before the mosquitos attacked! Us adults managed to throw in a game of Monopoly too (Smith boy favorite)

After Molly and I got bored with Monopoly and took the kids outside, the men played by themselves until Ed ran out of money! So boring! And then we had planned to make homemade pizza but that fell through when we were out of yeast, so ordering pizza it was. Fairly late since we were all stuffed from Chipotle and Chocolate all afternoon!

Rowan and Kieran didn't stop playing the entire time they were here. And they played great together. Only one black eye (Kieran ran into something in the basement, or somehow hit his cheek on something in the basement, the men had their backs turned) And little Grady man is just getting all over the place, making his brother mad by wrecking trains and kitchen stuff. There was no napping had by the big kids, so to bed on time it was for them. And Ed had to work this morning at 5am, so we all ended up in bed fairly early.

This morning we all met Nana and Papa in Lomira for breakfast to visit and celebrate Blayne's bday! Breakfast was great, the kids were well behaved, and we got cake too! Blayne's bday is on Tuesday and Nana's is on Thursday! After breakfast, Rowan and I headed home to wait for Ed to get home from work. Blayne, Molly and kids headed to Milwaukee to get on the boat and head home! Hard to believe this weekend that we have been waiting for is over! Oh...And Blayne and Molly celebrated their 6th Anniversary on Saturday with us! Had to post Blayne's cheesy smile when I told him to show me his cake. Good thing he doesn't look at the blog much!

It's Friday...

It was a sun shiney Friday with plenty of entertainment. Grandma Pam was here for the day to watch Rowan if I would get called into work. And luckily for me, that didn't happen, so us ladies just hung out. Grandma Pam was technically working while she was here, but there were plenty of 'playing' outside breaks, and entertaining Rowan breaks. It was nice to have the sunglasses out again today!

Grandma Pam brought us some yummy cherry tomatoes from her garden, and Rowan thoroughly enjoyed them, as did her shirt! She didn't understand the concept of closing her mouth after she took a bite! And she decided to play peek a boo while I was trying to get pictures of the event. Turned out pretty cute!

Friday evening, Rowan, Ed and I decided to head to Seafood Fest in Menasha. It was put on by the Rotary Club and was essentially anything deep fried you could ask for. I have been wanting fish lately, so I got my fish and chips, Ed had a Ribeye steak sandwhich, and we got some Popcorn shrimp too. This took place at Jefferson Park in Menasha, which is right on Lake Winnebago, so it was a bit windy and chilly. So we didn't stay too long. Long enough to eat and play a bit and then off we went to wait for Blayne, Molly, Kieran and Grady to arrive!

We Survived...

...okay, maybe I should say, I Survived! Working the last four nights in a row that is. I just put in 2 weeks of work in the last 4 days, and it was all night shifts! Yuk! I got my standard 6-7 hours of broken sleep despite an empty house on Saturday. But...I almost finished a book on my Kindle finally! Hopefully tonight I can sit and finish it, or it will never get finished.

On that note, Rowan was at daycare today for the first time in over a week. They missed her! And she is now officially moved to the 2-3 year old classroom. And she is doing great and loves it. It was interesting to see the difference in interaction between the 2-3 year olds, versus the 1-2 year olds. I think it was much overdue, hopefully Rowan will stand up for herself more now and come home with less 'owie' slips! One thing I have noticed, she doesn't come home as clean as she used too. Shout has become my dear friend.

When we got home this afternoon, we braved the 45 mile an hour winds and played on the swingset for a brief while. She definitely loves it. I am glad, but before we know it, it will be covered in snow. We are hoping to get a new slide soon, and maybe another coat of stain before winter too. We will see, I have other things I would like painted inside first perhaps.

Another change, the house behind us has sold, and the people moved in this weekend. We haven't met them yet, but I have seen them out and about. I was too busy working and sleeping to be social this weekend. Hoping for a very productive week this week, and Blayne, Molly and the boys are coming for a visit this weekend. Super excited. They are going to spend their anniversary with us!

Yeah...Swingset!

Today Rowan and Ed took a day trip to Delafield yesterday. The trip was intended to pick up our swingset and transport it home. But Ed was lucky enough to get to play a round of golf Saturday morning while Rowan hung out with Nana. After golf they picked up Uncle Brad's trailer and then the swingset and brought it home. Ed had to use Nana's SUV because we don't have a trailer hitch.

Then today Rowan and Ed met Nana and Papa in Lomira to swap vehicles and have breakfast. Nana and Papa were nice enough to return the trailer for us so that Ed didn't have to make 2 full trips in 2 days. We really appreciate Brad letting us use his trailer, and Nana and Papa their vehicle and time!

Here are a couple pictures Nana sent me of their day together.

Allergy season...

After a rough week and a half of Gizmo constantly itching and licking, I took him to the vet on Monday to get things checked out. Of course, his allergies were in full flare. His skin was super red, his ears were very red, and he was clearly very uncomfortable.

So the veterinarian gave him an allergy shot of some sort that is supposed to last 3 weeks. I had tried giving him Benadryl but it didn't seem to do anything, turns out I was under dosing him, which could be why it didn't do anything. But we are going to hold off on the Bendaryl for a week to see if the allergy shot does the trick first. If it doesn't do anything, or only lasts a week, he will be started on something oral instead.

I feel bad because I was sort of ignoring it hoping it would go away, and getting annoyed every night when his scratching and licking would wake me up. But the vet said we got him in in time, and that allergy season seems to be hitting earlier this year. So cross our fingers that this works!

8 Weeks vs 11 Weeks

8 Weeks

11 Weeks

Here are my complaints at 11 Weeks:
I am tired all the time. I sleep entirely too much. I feel guilty because my husband works 11 hour days, and even some weekend days, and gets up at 4am for work, and I nap every day and sleep more than him at night. My justification is that my body is doing just as much if not more work than his! Right?

I have random feelings of nausea, not usually to the point of puking, but enough to stop and deep breath a bit. Hoping both of these feelings really go away after the first trimester. I know these are minimal complaints compared to those of my friends at home on bedrest with high risk pregnancies, but it goes along with the documentation of pregnancy #2!

Continue to have no motivation. I really want to paint Rowan's room and get it done before working on a nursery, but I can't get my butt out of the house to go look for a bed, or wall decor to even start. And I am starting to feel like a bad mom. My poor daughter has had no socialization outside of daycare, and that has been only 1 day a week (minus our weekend in Belvidere) My sister in law makes me feel uber lazy with all the classes Kieran is in, and the Mom's Clubs, and she does all this with 2 kids. My goal is to get Rowan at least in swimming lessons this fall/winter! Wish me luck!

Okay, enough complaining for now!