Sleepover...

In preparation for a trip to the zoo tomorrow in Milwaukee, Rowan and I decided to head to Pewaukee and spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa Knutson. We hadn't seen them in awhile, and I thought it would be easier to not be in the car for 3+ hours in one day. So we left after naptime today and met Grandma and Aunt Amanda at Kohl's to spend some of their money, and then back to their house for dinner. Rowan got 2 new Dr. Seuss books, and twin baby dolls (Rowan picked them out and they ended up being on clearance and were a steal; I've taught her well).

After dinner and bath, Rowan got to have an ice cream cone, and she loved it, although pretty much ditched it after the ice cream was gone! Aunt Amanda was busy doing homework most of the night, so when Rowan interrupted she entertained her with her jewelry, and Rowan loved it. Rowan woke up several times during the night, I think she just didn't know where she was, so it wasn't the best sleep, but we had fun!

Oh, the weather outside is..

delightful...

I took Rowan to the park today after her nap to play in the beautiful sunshine! She had fun, though you wouldn't know it by the pictures. She was too busy watching the other kids to smile for me.

 These pictures are of her playing at home on her own swingset after the park and she smiled more then. I guess we don't need the park anymore! Even better you can put your animals and babies in the swings, and down the slide. And wear your rain boots too without getting weird looks since it is 70 and sunny!

Casey and Jake...

Casey and Jake are in WI for a couple of weeks from Gainsville for a couple of weddings. And they took the time to come up and visit us! We are so grateful! Rowan loved it! It is too funny how preoccupied Rowan becomes with people when they come to visit. She wants them to do everything for her, and pretty much nothing to do with Ed or I! She wanted Jake to change her diaper, and he wanted no part of that. But Casey stepped up to the plate, poop and all! Good practice!

 Rowan put on a little dance party for them too. Complete with some booty shaking and of course, Dad's special, The Sprinkler! Too funny! Casey and Jake were here for dinner and playtime, and of course, Salon time. Rowan's 1st Haircut to come in a separate post, courtesy of Aunt Casey!

For some reason, Rowan migrates towards the men. Whenever I ask her about Casey, she wants to know about Jake. And as you can see, she was Jakes buddy the entire time they were here. Don't worry Casey got her time too, beyond the diaper too!

Rowan's 1st Haircut...

We, or should I say 'I', decided to finally let Casey cut some of Rowan's scraggly hairs. If it were Ed's choice we would never cut her hair. But now it is much more uniform and hopefully it will grow in a bit more even. It is sort of a little bob, but her hair in the back is much more curly now that it is cut too! It will probably take me a few weeks to get a picture of the finished product because she doesn't pose for the camera anymore!

Thank you Casey!

Fifteen Weeks

It has been requested by my fellow pregnant friends that I post more belly pics. So here you go fellow blog obsessors! I guess I was feeling that my belly hasn't changed too much in the last couple weeks, but I wouldn't know if I didn't compare I guess. I feel like it got big fast and has somewhat stabilized. Which I guess is good. I still feel like I have the 'let yourself go' look going on vs. pregnant look!

I have been thinking about pulling out the maternity clothes bin? Didn't do it today, so perhaps later this week. Not that my bin is extensive in options, especially since it was a different season the first time around. Ed says I can wear his sweatpants and sweatshirts all winter and not have to buy anything. When was the last time you all saw Ed wear a sweatshirt by the way? Yea, limited options.

 No other baby news to share. Go to the doctor again in 2 weeks.

Oh, and for those of you that don't like the idea of not knowing the sex of our baby, I'm thinking about not disclosing my name ideas either! How do you like them apples?

Is it a sign?

This is a piece of mail we received this week...

In other baby news, I received a letter yesterday from my Obstetrician saying that my First Trimester Screen blood work came back negative, therefore our baby is at decreased risk for Trisomy 18 and Downs Syndrome!

More swinging...

Yesterday I was on call from 7a-7p, so Karen came up to watch Rowan for me in case I got called in. I didn't end up getting called in, but they did coax me into working 7-11pm because we were short. Oh well. It was great to have an extra set of hands all day long though. Rowan wanted Karen to do everything for her, so I was off the hook for most of the day. Not that I accomplished much, but it was a nice day.

Thank you Karen!

Rowan's bed...

Here is a picture of the bed we are getting for Rowan, but it will be a Queen. I haven't gotten around to finding new bedding yet. Hopefully this week sometime, so that way I can pick out paint colors and get her room going! The nightstands are the same as the one on the right too. So excited to finally have an idea of what her room will be.

This process will be...

...the death of me!

So last week I purchased a potty seat finally. Not with plans of starting potty training, but just to have one in the house so when she showed interest we could try. Well, big mistake on my part. It has become an obsession and game to her.

Thursday she was on the potty several times, and just as I was complaining about it, she finally did pee in the thing. Then this weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Bremberger were here to watch her while I worked (Ed was in Chicago for his brothers bachelor party), and they dealt with the potty seat too. She did pee a few times for them too. Then on Sunday when Ed was home with her, she did poop on it 2 times. So the most annoying part of the process is that she just takes her pants and diaper off herself whether you are ready or not. So she decided to say she had to poop and remove her clothes, well turns out she had already pooped in her diaper, so when I finally got into the bathroom the poop was on the floor out of the diaper and she was on her potty seat! Aaayyy. And she refused to lay down so you can get her diaper back on. Finally yesterday I locked the door to the bathroom so she would forget about the seat. Didn't work perfect though. So I did buy some pull ups at the store yesterday but haven't decided if it is worth using them yet. We will see.

Great Grandma K...

Rowan's Great Grandma has been back in WI (from FL) since the beginning of September, and today she made it up to visit us. My Aunt and Uncle (Lnan and Greg) were gracious enough to bring her here on their day off. They were then able to see our new stomping grounds as well. Rowan took to them all well. She read books with them, showed them how crazy she can be, and played on her swingset with them too. It was nice to catch up with all of them. They were impressed that she willingly gave them all hugs goodbye when they left! She usually takes a bit to warm up to people when the come, but then she doesn't want them to leave!

Rowan's weekend...

I worked all weekend, days; and Ed was in Chicago for Dusty's Bachelor Party, so Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill came and spent the weekend to watch Rowan. And boy did she keep them busy.

Saturday they took the 2 dogs (they brought their dog Cadillac along too), and Rowan for a walk, then after lunch and nap, they took her to Greenville to the Zoo. And she did great. She even got to hold some bunnies in the petting zoo. When I got home from work on Saturday night, Grandma and Grandpa were tired! Rowan doesn't stop going much! Maybe that will help me to not gain as much weight with the pregnancy! Not counting on it though!

Ed was home before 10 am on Sunday, so Grandma and Grandpa headed home, and Ed and Rowan relaxed and watched the Packer game. Ed is severely short on sleep, was up 24 hours by the time he went to bed Saturday morning, and was on his way home before 7am on Sunday, and was too busy watching the Packer game to nap when Rowan napped. So hopefully he can catch up next weekend! We will see.

I don't have much to report about Ed's weekend either. There was a trolly friday night that took many men around Chicago to bars, and wherever else. He went to bed at 3am and was up around 7am, off to the train to head to Arlington to the horse races for the day, then back to a limo for Saturday night and a casino in Indiana. That is about the extent of a story I got. I think there was a strip club in there somewhere, but not sure where. He had fun, that is all that mattered.

Progress...

Getting the swingset settled in is a work in progress. Yesterday Ed dug a bit of the yard up in order to make the swingset more level. Then today, Rowan and I took a trip to Home Depot to get some mulch and edging. Tonight we managed to get the edging completed. So now we just need to dig up all the grass on the inside and put down the mulch. Again, a work in progress!

13 Weeks and a New Tooth...

Hard to believe that 5 weeks has passed already since my first prenatal visit. Today marks 13 weeks and I had a doctors appointment complete with an ultrasound and blood work because I opted to do the 1st Trimester Screen this time around. With Rowan I declined any extra testing and for some reason this time I felt inclined to do it.

The ultrasound essentially went fine. The doctor said everything looks fine, now we just have to wait for the blood work results which usually takes a week. The only abnormal finding on ultrasound was a partial previa. Essentially the placenta is partially covering the cervix. At this point, we are just to abstain from intercourse or inserting any other foreign objects into the vagina until my 20 week ultrasound, and we will see if the previa resolves. Hopefully it does so that my chance of a vaginal birth isn't compromised. The rest of the visit went fine, minus the fact that I had to have blood drawn twice. They did the blood work necessary for the 1st trimester screen first and then after meeting with the MD she realized they didn't run my blood type last visit, so I needed to be drawn again for that. Hopefully I don't end up with bruises like my first blood draw in the office at 8 weeks, I think I had a bruise for 3 weeks.

Otherwise, I managed to gain only 3 pounds. I was seriously nervous about the scale because I feel like I am huge already for only 13 weeks. There is a bit of pressure with my MD saying that gaining 40 pounds this time around isn't exactly ideal either. My blood pressure was good 98/something. What else? I guess that is it. She didn't listen to the heartbeat with a doppler at all, which I thought she had said she would do this visit, but maybe given the ultrasound it wasn't necessary. I go back in 4 weeks for a regular doctor visit, and in 7 weeks for the 20 week ultrasound (where most people would find out the sex; but not us!)

Onto the Princess! Rowan was very well behaved for the doctor appointment today, but sort of had a rough afternoon. I noticed this morning that she was drooling big time. It was like she forgot how to swallow when she had her pacifier in her mouth. And yes, of course a darn molar popped through on the upper left. But she woke up 30 minutes into her nap screaming, and cuddling with Mom didn't do the trick. So we had some juice and crackers and medicine and then fell asleep together in our bed. Not ideal but I just wanted to make sure she got her nap! I even treated her to Culver's for lunch since she was so good for the MD appointment. Hey, after the good news of only gaining 3 pounds, why not have some fast food! Yikes!

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!