Week 23: June 9-15-- It's beginning to look a lot like Summer!!

Whew! It's hot outside! Our temperature gauge says 98 degrees! Ugh.

Let's see... what did we do this week? Evan was in Florida all week. He had lots and lots of fun, and came back on Thursday. We picked him up on Friday for the weekend, and have we EVER had lots of fun and adventures this weekend.

The week was fairly quiet and normal. Greg only worked at Movie Gallery on Thursday. I think he's gradually cutting back to the point of cutting MG out entirely. Woo hoo! It's been so nice having him home at night. Although, i have to admit that I miss having an evening or two to devote to scrapbooking or whatever my heart desires that particular evening. But, that's okay. I'll trade off just to have him home more.

In exciting work news, I received my first bonus this week at work! And it was at the 2nd level! So I'm doing well. Being on-call has proven to be a bit of a pest, but it isn't terrible. Just an inconvenience. Greg is learning to be patient with it. I drove almost 200 miles on Thursday. Ugh! But, I listen to books on CD, and I do just fine with it. If anyone has any great books on CD, I'd love it if you'd share.

Greg had his typical week at the Sentinel. Nothing major, although Dave says he may not have to go in on the weekend to do the LighterSide page anymore.

Evan went back to school on Friday, and had a pretty rough day again- he just couldn't seem to get into the swing of things after a week being off. SO, we're chalking it up to that and letting it slide this weekend.

I think it's a good thing that we did. He's had a great weekend with us after a rough start. He didn't want to go with us, which I think almost broke Greg's heart. But, he was with his mom for 24 hours a day for a whole week, so I think it was to be expected. And, with the rough day at school, I think he though he was going to have a not-so-fun weekend with us. But like I said, we think that it had a lot to do with having a hard time getting back into the routine.

Friday night, we went to Golden Corral for dinner. We figured *maybe* this would encourage him to eat and not pull his "I'm not hungry" as soon as the food comes out. It worked. He ate 2 big platefuls of food. Whew!

After that, we came home and watered plants and got ready for bath. JUST as Evan was getting undressed for his bath, my mom called and asked us where we were and what we were doing. I didn't think anything of it and told her we were at home. She told us to turn on the news- there was a nasty storm coming and we needed to get out of the house and either to their place or G's folks. Just as we were hanging up, G's folks called for the same reason. We all got into jammies and went over to G's folk's house. Fortunately, everything went North and South of BG and we just ended up with a lot of wind and rain in a very, very short period of time. We were home by 10:30, and managed to have a very nice visit for Evan with Grandma & Papa V.

Saturday, we did our typical routine-- up late, did the bank thing, donuts and then hit garage sales. Nap in the afternoon for both Evan and I (I was exhausted!!) and then we made chicken ranch wraps for supper. After that, we decided to do a little searching/shopping. Then it was bedtime for Evan! G & I watched a movie and we headed to bed waaaay to late.

At 4:30am, Greg and I woke up. I got Evan around and coffee brewing while he got dressed. Then, we headed to Meijer. Greg, Evan and I are now the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii. They sell out VERY quickly, and happened to have 30 of them going on sale on Sunday at 6am. We decided that this would be a GREAT way to allow Evan to get involved in playing games on the TV with us, and we feel that this is better than the "typical" video games because it includes a lot of movement and coordination, not just a bunch of button pushing. I can't wait to have our folks over to try playing this. Even Myra and Mom should be able to do these games!! Evan did a spare in bowling on his very first two tries! Greg played while Evan and I were napping, and when I got up, he told me that he really got a good "workout" and actually said his arm was sore!
After we went to Meijer's, we went fishing. Yes, the boys like to punish me by getting up early and then keeping me up all morning. We got back from fishing around 8:45a and Evan laid in our bed and watched Disney channel while G started setting up the Wii. I "coached" from the couch. We got to play for about 20 minutes and then headed to breakfast with my folks. After that, we ran some errands and came back and played for a very short period of time before napping.

This afternoon, Evan played more games and then we went to the pet store to wander around. It's just too hot to play outside. The good thing about this system is that it'll keep Evan active inside, too! We've had to get after him for getting a little TOO enthusiastic, but I think that's expected when you're 4.5!

IN baby news this week, since I know that's why you all read this, baby Buddah, as G calls my belly, continues to grow. My little bean is kicking away like crazy now. I think he's trying to prepare me for the sleepless nights to come. But rather than easing me into it, he's decided to go full blown and kick all night long. last night, I don't think I slept for more than 15 minutes straight. I love the feeling, but good grief! Apparently, this is normal, as he's able to really hear and respond to outside noises-- to the point that loud noises might even startle him!

One more week, and we'll reach what's called "viability". This is a big deal, because, should something happen and I have to deliver early, he'll more than likely survive. SO, this is good!

We continue to do a little preparation shopping here and there- We have the crib, cradle (from mom), bassinet (from Myra) , high chair, changing table and some clothes- Em gave us a bunch, and then we've bought some and picked up some at garage sales, too, including the cutest Osh Kosh outfit! I LOVE Osh Kosh! However, I think this is going to be a baseball/OSU baby. Evan's trying to make sure he's an Indians baby, but I've got a few Twins outfits, as well. So don't worry, Iowa folks, my alliances still lie with the Twins! Greg had better start to enjoy watching sports. Ev's already a sports nut, and I think baby brother will follow in his big bro's footsteps!

In other news, please continue to keep Grandpa Bruns in your thoughts and prayers. He's still not doing well. We met with Hospice, and are thinking seriously about taking him home from the nursing home. I think that the nursing home has a lot to do with his not getting better-- it's to the point that I think he's given up. He misses his cat, his bed, his home. Hopefully, we can get him home, and maybe even see some improvement.

Have a great week! Be safe with all the foul weather thats been coming our way lately!

-love, jenn

Week 22: June 1-7th Dishwashers and Hospitals.

We're up to Week 22! Hard to believe we're on the downhill slope of this pregnancy- Only 18 weeks left to go! Our baby boy is really kicking up a storm now! I feel him almost constantly. Soon, I'm sure Greg will be able to feel him, too. I think Magic (our cat) already does feel him once in a while. yesterday, she was snuggled up next to me sleeping and baby kicked pretty hard. She stood up, glared at my stomach, and moved up closer to my chest. lol. Poor kitty is in for a rude awakening soon.

Okay, let's see... Week 22 baby update.... Baby now weighs about a pound and is around 12 inches in length! Hard to believe, isn't it?!? thenestbaby.com changes from week-to-week fruit to month to month starting this week. I'll have to see if I can find another fruit comparison chart since I know how much you all enjoy that, but for this month, baby is a papaya! According to the nest, baby is able to hear us from the outside. Baby-gaga.com states that his inner-ear has developed, so once he's walking, he'll have a sense of balance. Baby also has a lot of extra skin right now, as he slowly begins to fill out. Oh, and baby now has a fairly defined sleep cycle. I need to start paying attention to those kicks more and when they're occurring. I'll be able to tell when he's sleeping and when he's awake. It should be around 12-14 hours a day that he sleeps. Hopefully, his sleep cycle will remain the same as MINE, but I won't hold my breath.

THANK YOU to Rick VV, Greg's pop, with the handy-dandy light-holding abilities of my dad, Jerry. They installed the dishwasher today!!! yeah!!! Greg started helping, but suddenly got violently ill. More on that in a minute. Dad came over and helped Rick for a bit with the project so Greg could sleep and barf in peace. Whew! Rick's just now finishing up, taking everything out to his car right now. I think they managed to do it in about 5 hours or so. Yeah guys! So now, I won't have to do my most hated task-- dishes! Woo hoo! Nor will we have to worry about washing bottles all the time. AND THANK YOU to my folks for getting us the dishwasher! It runs FANTASTICALLY. WE're so happy!

Back to Greg... for whatever reason, Greg seems to have been hit by a freight train today in the form of a stomach bug. All of a sudden, he became cold and clammy and was dry heaving. He threw up his lunch. I don't think it was food poisoning, because he and Rick ate the exact same thing for lunch. And he and I ate the same thing for supper last night. SO, it must be a bug. Scared me a little when I came home from my folks today. He was sprawled out on the floor in the bathroom. He actually had me call his boss at Movie Gallery to tell him there was no way he would be in tonight. So I KNOW he's not feeling well. We'll see what happens, I suppose. If he doesn't start drinking more, he's going to the hospital to get checked out. I don't want him getting dehydrated!

Grandpa Bruns is back in the hospital again. He gave us a pretty good scare Friday night. They said that his kidneys appeared to be shutting down and he couldn't keep anything down. They're going to do an EGD (basically put a camera on a wire down his throat to his stomach) and see if there's a blockage of some sort. He ate a little yesterday. Not sure how he's doing today. I'll probably stay away since Greg's sick so I don't give him something else. I'd love to know why the nursing home let him get to the point where he was this bad before they finally sent him to the hospital. That REALLY bugs me. He should not have been dehydrated to the point that his kidneys were shutting down! Grrr.

Evan is in Florida now. He left on Friday morning and flew down to Tampa. He's now at his grandparents with his mom. He called Greg on Friday when they landed, and Greg asked him if he was in Florida, and he kept telling him no, not yet. Dani finally had to explain that he doesn't think he's in Florida until he gets to his grandparents. Not sure what they have planned for the week, but I'm sure they'll have a good time.

OH! We registered for the baby on Friday and yesterday. Friday, we went to Babies'r'us and yesterday, we went to Target. Can I just say that registering for a baby is way more difficult than registering for a wedding?? It was so much thinking and deciding. It wasn't QUITE the fun process that I had hoped it would be. It was really stressful! We had to really look at things and decide what was practical and what was not. The part that really has me stressed out is deciding on bottles! Good lord. Do you know how many bottles there ARE out there?!?! TOO many!!! And don't even get me started on the breast-feeding supplies. I gave up on that and told Greg we were just going to buy that stuff ourselves, since I don't even know if I'll be able to breastfeed due to my surgical scars. But, we picked out some things that we like, and I guess we'll go from there. If anyone has any suggestions for things that we need to get yet, fire away.

I think I mentioned that we bought a crib a few weeks ago. We bought the high chair yesterday. We are SO excited about it. We knew which HC we wanted, and when we looked at it, they had it on CLEARANCE!!! SO, rather than risking NOT getting it, we went ahead and bought it. It's a wooden highchair made by Eddie Bauer. Neither one of us like the plastic ones, and now all of them come with TOYS attached to the trays.. Now who's the genius who thought up that idea?! Baby's going to end up playing rather than eating. And no, most of the toys did not come off. Duh.

I'm feeling pretty good. The latest development for me is that I'm having some severe right hip pain that comes and goes. Usually, it gets bad when I'm walking. I'll be walking, and my hip will just give out. How strange is that? I'm going to call my OB tomorrow morning and see what they say about it. Hopefully, its just something typical that has to do with the pregnancy.

Alright. I think I've rambled enough for today. We continue to be excited about our little boy. I'm excited to say that I get to continue calling them all "my boys". And Evan is excited to have a brother. I think he would have been disappointed if it was a girl. Cole will now have a partner in crime, as well. Should be mildly entertaining.

LOVE Y'ALL!

jenn

May 29, 2007: The Big Ultrasound... It's a Boy!!!!

We had our big Ultrasound today. Everything is fantastic, and we're measuring right on our due date-- 10.9.08!

Oh, and it's a boy.

I have to send a HUGE apology out to my dad. I accidently told him on the phone today when I found out Mom was talking to Grandma Refsell. I asked if Mom told Grandma is it was a boy. He was SO mad. I SWEAR, it was a complete accident. But, as Greg said-- did he really expect Evan and Sami to keep it a secret? Really?

Anyway! We're excited. Oh, and don't ask what we're naming him. We're not telling anyone. So that'll be a surprise. =-)

Love, jenn

Week 21: May 26-June 1: Downhill! 19 weeks left!

Happy Memorial Day. I hope everyone has taken a moment to remember those who have gone before us, including those who have given their lives for the freedom of others. I also want to remind everyone to remember those who are still living and working every day in the military. Despite our disagreement with the premises of the current wars being waged in the Middle East, our family fully supports those troops who have been there, are there now, and who are heading there soon. To our family and friends who are there or are on their way and are reading this, we love you dearly, we thank you for your sacrifices to your families and yourselves and pray that you stay safe! I most especially want to single out Lindsey "Little One" Bruns- my wonderfully special, exciting and turn-to-for-anything-when-I-need-to-talk baby sister (U.S. Coast Guard), Erik Bruns, my fantastic, fun cousin (U.S. Army) & Aaron Kriekel, the love of my baby sister's life whom I am DYING to meet (U.S. Army).

Okay. On to baby stuff and things less serious.

In baby's development this week... We are a Banana... I know, I know.. We went from cantaloupe to Banana!?!? Well, I guess that they're measuring LENGTH, not overall size. As a banana, baby is now 10.5 inches long (we're measuring head-to-toe now instead of head-to-rump! Big step!) and weighs 12.7oz. Apparently, baby is now swallowing the amniotic fluids, and learns various tastes though the fluids. It says on thenestbaby.com, that they now have tastebuds that actually work and that babies will be most interested in tastes they learn while in the womb! So, the caramel corn that I'm eating right now is entering the amniotic fluids and baby is tasting them. Weird. My uterus is now above my belly button and I have been getting the WORST heartburn. Nothing seems to help. I just have to live with it.

This week is our big ultrasound!!!!! 4 days left! Yeah! We'll hopefully know the sex at that point. Anyone have any guesses? I had an interesting couple and their daughter all put their hands on my belly, and all said they were getting girl vibes. We'll have to see if their right. Greg and I both think its a girl, too, so we'll see! Evan is convinced that it is a boy, but I think that feeling a biased based on his desire to have a brother, and not a yucky girl. Sami feels the same way, apparently, because she told Emily that she hopes its a boy because she wants to be Grandma's only girl. I think that all the adult boys in my life are hoping for a girl so that she can have them wrapped around their little fingers. BUT, we'll take whichever and love them dearly. I'm kindof dreading the idea of it being a boy, because I know that Emily will pile boxes upon boxes of boys clothing that she has from Cole and all of her friend's boy clothing. I guess looking on the bright side, I'll never have to buy any clothes! lol! So, we'll see what happens.

Mom went shopping with me this week. I bought more new clothes-- I was wearing the same 6 outfits every week, and it was getting REALLY, REALLY old. We found a shop called "The clothes mentor" that sells name-brand, gently used clothes for women. They have a HUGE section of maternity clothes. Sweet! Bought a dress, jeans and a few other things there. Also went to Target and Elder-Beerman and bought a few things there. Thanks for going with me, Mom! It was fun, and very needed!

We've had a fun, long weekend with Evan. Friday was a little rough. Evan had a REALLY bad day at school-- He was on Red! That's as bad as it gets there. I guess he had a hard time listening all day, and then a girl accused him of hitting her with a block. Evan says he hit her with his sleeve.. So, who knows. SO, when he got home, he had to stand in the corner for 4.5 minutes. If he could do it without talking or having a meltdown, that part of the punishment would be done. If he couldn't, the 4.5 minutes would start over. Well, he did the 4.5 minutes without any sort of issue. I think he actually went longer because the alarm didn't go off. Whoops. While he was doing that, G & I had a little pow-wow about what the rest of the punishment would be-- we did this away from E, of course. Our decision was that he would change plans for Saturday-- they were supposed to go fishing. We also took away anything that has to do with sports--baseball (horrors!), basketball, football, etc. The icing on this nasty cake was that we took away baseball hats. That actually brought him almost to tears, but he understood why.

After that, it was already getting late and we hadn't had dinner! SO, I called and ordered a pizza and ran out to pick it up, along with a couple of storage boxes. Evan and Greg went through his geotrax trains and paired it down to about 1/3 of what he has. The rest went into storage boxes to go to the rental on Saturday. They also went through his stuffed animals (known as his friends) and decided to pick which ones would he would be willing to share with children who didn't have any friends. They took those to Goodwill on Saturday.

Saturday, G & I went our seperate ways in the morning. I hit some garage sales (no luck!) and G ran the rental & Goodwill errands. After that, we all had lunch together. After that, I honestly cannot remember what we did the rest of the day! Crazy. I know we did something... Oh, I planted flowers. I did much of this while Evan was sleeping. Greg did yard work. I bought WAAAAAAAY too many flowers this year. opps. I ended up getting 6 pots from Mom's house and then we BOUGHT 4 more. 3 of those don't count, though, because they were for Greg's mosquito plants. They all turned out so nice, although I wish I'd bought more trailing plants.

Sunday, we did a day of visiting/parties. First, we went to the usual Sunday morning breakfast. Sami and Evan FEED off of each other when they're together. Em would get after Sami and Evan would chime in "Yeah Sami" and vice versa. It was a little obnoxious. I had to get after Evan at one point because he carried it a little too far.

We went home from breakfast and Evan went straight down for his nap. He claimed he wasn't sleepy, so we told him that when his clock said 1pm he could get up. He passed out about 15 minutes later and didn't wake up until 3:30.

I had a nice long chat with Grandma Refsell on the phone once Evan was down for his nap. For whatever reason, her emails haven't been getting through to us. But, she seems to be doing really well. We talked a LOT about her eBay stuff, and then visited for a while. I always love talking and visiting with my grandparents. I'm so lucky to have such great women in my life!

I went and visited Grandpa & Grandma at the nursing home and had a nice visit with Grandma. Grandpa continues to be doing about the same, though I think he's becoming more and more depressed the longer he is in there. That worries me, because he's not working at his therapy like he should be. Grandma is wondering if it wouldn't be better if she just takes him home. We talked about that for a while, and what it would cost if we brought him home with services from my company. I explained that it wouldn't be cheaper than the nursing home if it were 24hr care. It'll be more expensive. I gave her a few options with it, though. I think that he would probably thrive better if he were in his own environment. We also talked to her about the importance of taking care of herself and not burning herself out. Thankfully, she's continuing her painting, even lugging a box in with her to the nursing home! She's also continuing to teach her painting classes! Go Grandma!!

After Evan got up from his nap, Greg got into a fight with our swing. Its leaking a watery-rusty substance that gets all over the swing cushions and even G's shirt. Grrrrr. SO, he decided he was going to seal the holes shut once the water was drained out that the water was coming out of. He went to get the caulk out and I think all of the caulk, including the new ones, had gone bad. Our neighbors came over to visit and see what we were doing and helped us out. (That the nice thing about here-- we have nice neighbors-- they drive us crazy sometimes, but all-in-all, they're good people.) So, we chatted while Greg fought the caulk. lol!

FINALLY, he finished up, changed and we were able to get going to our other parties. The first party was at Steve and Donna's (Greg's uncle & aunt) We were an hour late, but we managed to get there right as food was ready. The food was SO good. His cousin was visiting from Idaho and another uncle from D.C., so it was a nice time. There were kids there that are Evan's age, so it was good-- he had kids to play with.

After we wrapped that party up, we headed back to BG for ANOTHER party. Greg's brother, Lance, was having an FJ Cruise-in (FJ Cruisers) at his house. We got there right after they had eaten dinner. There was a little girl, Harmony, about Evan's age there, and they had fun playing together. About 8:30, Harmony decided she wanted to "go swimming" in the hot tub. SO, I ran home and grabbed Evan's suit and PJs. They swam for quite a while. G & I got to visit with Harmony's mom, Marissa. She, Harmony and her husband, Kip, are the ones who say its a girl. It was a lovely evening, and we had a ton of fun. We even managed to get home at a semi-reasonable hour-- 11.

Today, Monday, we all slept in. Then, Greg and Evan went Fishing-- We decided punishment was going to last only through the weekend, and Monday was not included in the punishment. We both think it'll be good for the two of them to go fishing together. Boys trip! Sometimes, you just need to spend time with dad without those pesky girls around. I should sneak over there and take a few pictures. Oh well. I'll get it next time.

Work continues to be fantastic. I love it more and more every day. There is nothing better than spending time visiting with senior citizens and learning about them and their lives, plus knowing that we, as an organization, are making their lives better. I'm proud to work for Home Instead Senior Care. I know that we give excellent care and that I can feel proud about what I, and my company have done at the end of the day. Its SUCH a great feeling.

Busy, short week! Today, of course, is a holiday. We have Evan all day. Wheee! I think I'll see if they want to go to the park after naptime. Work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday night, Evan stays the night with us! Greg took Thursday off work. I work in the morning, and then Thursday at noon is the big ultrasound! Yeah!!!! We go to Karate Thursday night and then on Friday, Evan flies to Florida for a week! He'll have a great time, I'm sure.

Have a fantastic week! Sorry this is so long! It was a crazy, busy weekend with lots to share! I'll post again on Thursday after the ultrasound with pictures to let everyone know what we're having!!!!

Love, jenn

WEEK 20!!!!! Half-way there!

It's Week 20! Can you believe it?!? We're halfway there!

According to TheNestbaby.com, baby is a Cantalope this week (holy crap!), measuring 6 1/2" long and weighing 10.6oz! Baby's digestive system is now working and forming that black, tarry meconium. Yum. Genitals are also now fully formed.

I'm certainly FEELING more and more pregnant every day. It's getting to be a pain in the neck to try to bend over at the waist. I tend to forget and UFF-Da! I'm already making Greg tie my shoes when we're out walking around. LOL! I tell him it's good practice as I get bigger.

I hadn't felt much baby movement yet, but guess what! As I was typing this, I felt a couple of thumps! Soon enough, Greg will be able to feel them, too!

It's been a pretty uneventful week. Greg's cut back at Movie Gallery, and its been REALLY nice having him at home. We went to garage sales yesterday. Didn't find a WHOLE lot, but I did find some really old quilt tops. We put those on eBay last night. They already have a ton of people watching them! Woo hoo! I'm hoping they go for good amount! OH, wait-- we did find one very important baby item! We bought a crib! $60, still in the box! It's a Graco converter bed. SWEET! We bought a couple of other eBay items, but outside of that, it was pretty uneventful!

On the eBay note-- Grandma! Make sure you're checking out our listings! We've been putting tons of your stuff up. We've got ONE box left over at Mom and Dad's, and then I think we're done! Greg's been working like mad to get all of the magazines and catalogs written up.

I've decided to try to make sure I'm walking (maybe biking) at least a little each day, so last night, Greg and I went for a walk on the trail-- I think we figured it was about 1/2-3/4 of a mile. Just enough for the first walk. It was chilly, and getting late, so that was far enough. We'll go further as it gets warmer!

Let's see....OH, I bought flowers for my pots this weekend! I went to Joseph's Greenhouse yesterday and Lennard's Greenhouse today. Mom went with me today. She spent WAY too much money-lol! She's a sucker for geraniums, and I have to admit, they were some really pretty ones and even a couple of unusual looking ones. I stepped outside the box this year and bought a couple geraniums and marigolds myself. I don't usually like those particular types, but these were rather pretty. =-) I was going to pot them today, but it keeps raining and even hailing!

LOL-- speaking of rain and hail... Poor dad drove his motorcycle to Lodi, Ohio to meet up with a bunch of other motorcyclers. Duh. Next time, check the weather before you leave! I'll bet that was a COLD ride!

Not much news on the Evan front. He had to call Greg the other day-- He was playing air guitar and singing and just HAD to tell him about it. School continues to be pretty good. He still has his moments, but nothing outside of the normal pre-school moments. When I picked him up on Wednesday, he was on yellow because he got tagged out in a game of Shark (like tag), and didn't want to follow the rules. He ended up throwing a temper tantrum when the teacher tried to enforce the rules. BUT, the rest of this day was good. SO, our next project is working on the actual rules of the game instead of the "Evan" rules of the game.

Anyhoo... .I think that's just about everything. 12 days left until the BIG ultrasound!!!!

Week 19; May 12-19th Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful women in our lives!!

In baby news, we have a Mango. Baby is around 6" long and weighs about 8.5oz. According to Amazingpregnancy.com, baby is now mimicing breathing and the sex organs are developing. For those of you who are curious, yes, we are finding out the sex of the baby! However, we will not be sharing the baby's name until baby is born.

Attached is a picture of me now! Definately pregnant!

Greg has decided on the nickname "Mulligan" for the pregnancy duration.

It's been a good week, plus a busy, busy workweek for me. I LOVE my job and everything that I do from a day-to-day basis. I'm happy, and I think I'm pretty darn good at it. I had an EXTRA long day on Friday. One of our long-time clients was discharged from the hospital in Lima, and I spent 2 hours at the hospital waiting for them to get their act together and then 3 hours with the client at home getting things in order, picking up scripts, etc. It was crazy. THEN, on my way home, I got a call that there was someone in BG that wanted to start service tomorrow. SO, rather than making someone come all the way up from Lima to get things done, I went ahead and took care of it. I ended up working until 10:00 that night. WHEW. But, it was worth it.

Wednesday night with Evan was good, until dinner. Then things got frustrating. We decided to go to dinner at Big Boy's. We gave him options for what he could have for dinner. . He insisted that he wanted fish. We explained that they were not fish sticks. He didn't care. He wanted fish. We even told the waitress chicken, and he corrected us! The food came, and Greg cut his fish up. We noticed that he was eating all of his fries, but none of his fish. We told him he had to eat 3 pieces of fish before he could have another fry. Next thing we knew, he was crying. Augh! So, we told him that we're not going out to eat anymore... We did qualify it, and told him that we weren't going out to eat for his next two weekend visits-- no ice cream, no breakfast with Grandparents, no donuts (HUGH deal to him). Greg talked to Dani (Evan's mom) about it, and she gave us a few suggestions. She also took his fish home with her. She said that not long after they got home, he said he was hungry- so she whipped out his fish. lol! He whined about it for about 20 minutes, but then he got the idea and he ate it. We need to learn to sit and be patient at dinner, too.

We went to the Cygnet garage sales on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't find much for eBaying, but we did find some stuff for the baby. Evan even insisted on buying the baby a pair of "shit-kicker" (as Greg affectionately calls them) boots! Too stinking cute. The coolest buy was a fetal heart monitor that we bought for a buck. I'm not sure that we've really heard much of anything yet, but Evan thinks he did, and was SO excited about it. I looked up the instruction manual on-line, and it says we'll be able to hear best after the 5th month. SO, we're almost there.

Evan and Greg bought me a very sweet gift for Mother's Day-- A Willow tree figure of a mom with a little boy standing at her side and a baby in her lap. I love it. My boys are so good to me.

We bought flowers for our mothers and grandmother's yesterday. Evan did a good job picking out the flower pots. He delivered flowers to Grandma V yesterday and spent some time with her in the afternoon. His mom picked him up at seven in the evening. It was a short weekend, but a very good one.

Today (Mother's Day), was a day of non-stop eating. First, we went to Steve and Donna's (G's Aunt and Uncle) and had chicken BBQ dinner with the whole Lance family (his mom's side). We asked his cousin, Brooke, to be a godmother. She's such a sweet person, very loving and will be a great influence on our child.
After lunch, we went home for a few hours, and I made yummy green beans to take to my mom's. We got there around 5, and ate MORE food there-- Pork-a-Leans. Yum! Both Greg and I feel like we're going to explode!

Only 2 1/2 more weeks until the ultrasound!! Yeah!

Again, Happy Mother's day!! There are so many women in my life that have meant so much to me and have had such an influence over me, but there are several in particular that I would like to single out....
My mom has always been so wonderful in general to me. She's so patient and kind. She's always around for us when we need a shoulder to cry on, reassurance and help us through the pain in our lives. She's also been with us to share our joy and loves us like no one else does. Thank you for that, Mom.. You've been the most wonderful influence on me and I know that I will be a fantastic mother because I've had you to model myself after.

The two other women I want to single out are my grandmothers. They are the strongest women I know, and are what drives me in my career. They have both been caregivers to my grandfathers... One with Alzheimer's and one with general debility. I'm always amazed when I watch them with my grandpa's. You can see how much they love their husbands. They treat them with such dignity and respect. I love both of you so much.

Almost halfway through the pregnancy!!!

-jenn

Week 18: May 5-11. Happy Birthday, Cole!

It was a so-so week. Not a whole lot to report.

I've definately "popped" and I look pregnant, instead of having a big tummy. I'll get Greg to take a picture of me tomorrow after I get off work so y'all can see and add to it to post.

This week, baby is a Sweet Potato! He or she is about 5.6" long and weighs 6.7 oz. We're almost halfway to that pound mark! Thenestbaby.com says that baby is "surprisingly mobile, yawning, hiccupping(!), rolling, twisting, punching, sucking and swallowing". Go baby! It also says that I *should* be able to feel movement soon. I think I felt something yesterday day, like a tap on the side of my belly, but I haven't felt anything since. The website says that it could be as late as 20 weeks before I definitively feel anything, and 22 weeks before I feel things regularly. SO, we'll see! I hope its sooner than later! I think that'll make things seem more real!

It was a pretty uneventful week for me. Greg's got a cold, and I think both of us have a little bit of the allergy thing going on. I managed to go the whole week without taking a nap after work or even on the weekends, which is SHOCKING.

We hit a couple of garage sales Friday night and Saturday morning, but didn't find much of anything, although I did buy a few neutral sleepers for the baby. Against my own personal feelings, I bought a couple of onsies... I don't know... It's just weird to me-- like buying used underware... Thoughts on this, anyone? People say "you can bleach them", but seriously, would you buy underwear at a garage sale for yourself and bleach them?? Be honest!

We realized that we aren't going to be able to get the crib/changing table combo that we originally wanted. it's WAAAAAY too long for the wall we planned on putting the crib on. SO, we're going to get a regular crib-hopefully a pretty convertable bed instead. We'll have to look around some more and see.

We went to Cole's 2nd birthday party yesterday. I can't believe how big he's getting. And I can't believe how much he looks like these pictures that I've seen of Dad and Richard. Poor kid. lol! But the party was fun, and Em's friend, Pam, made some of the best guacomole that I've EVER had. It was soooooooooo good. I'll have to call her and get her recipe. Watching Cole open his presents was fun and quite amusing. He managed to make it to Charlie and Dana's present, which was about the 3rd gift. At that point, everything came to a dead stop. They bought him a Thomas the Train flashlight that made noise. It was all over. There was nothing that Kevin could do to get him focused back on the presents. So, Kevin got to open the gifts. We bought him a T-ball set, a t-shirt that said "Major Trouble" and an ambulence that made noise. Unfortunately, the ambulence wasn't quite as loud as I thought it was. We really tried to find a drum set to give to Cole, but couldn't find one. I was pretty bummed out about that. We'll find one by Christmas, though. Em keeps saying to remember that it'll come back to haunt me, but WHAT could possibly be worse that the crazy loud REAL drumset that we already have?

We also picked up the loft that used to be Heidi and Lindsey's from the barn. I'm hoping that all the parts are there and that we can get it cleaned up and together. I think Evan will really like this new bed once we get it up for him.

Anyway! That's about all there is to say. Like I said, it was a pretty quiet week. Neither of us had a whole lot going on with work, and Evan has settled into the routine of his new school, and has even had a few "bad" days. Not really bad, just being the usual leader-of-the-pack. He was told to sit "criss-cross-applesauce" (Indian-style) and he told the teacher "No, i don't want to. I want to sit like this" and sat flat on his bum with his legs out. That didn't go over well. (Go figure!) So he got into trouble for that.

Anyway! Have a great week!

jenn