The biggest weekend EVER at the lake

Whoopsie, kind of forgot about this little blog this week.

This last weekend was the big Phelps Mill Festival. It's the second weekend of July every year and it's a bunch of people getting together to sell crafts, products, and delicious food. Phelp's Mill is a historical site on the Ottertail River and it just so happens that we only live a half mile away from there, so it seems to be a pretty big deal for us and our family that comes to visit (and when I say "we" I mean my parents since they are the true owners of the lake place:) ).

My hubby's mom came out to enjoy the festivities and when they were shopped out they walked around the property of my parents' lake place to try out her fancy camera. I thought that every picture was amazing, but picked a few favorites to give you an idea of what the lake place is like.

Old building in "the woods" behind the house

Lake place from the lake side... isn't it so gorgeous! So happy that my parents' found this place!

The historical "Mill". Sidenote: we also got married here. There is a park right next to it along the river and it is BEAUTIFUL.

It's not really a swimming lake, but it's gorgeous.

It was ridiculously hot this weekend, so we needed to cool down fast. Even though the water is a bit mucky and there are weeds on the shores, we skipped past them to the deeper water to soak in the cool lukewarm water. It helped so much and even though Jo's not a fan of floaty devices, she didn't complain right away at the chance to cool down.

My parents' dog, Hannah, got her swim on

Our pup, Buckley (oh....buckley) so desperately wanted to get his swim on but was afraid to come out where it was deeper. So he paced on the shore and walked in until it was up to the top of his legs. He was happy to just get wet and then lay in the grass too.

There is almost nothing better than dunking in the water when it is humid and too hot outside!

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Baby #2 Update

You all seem to have forgotten my last bump picture here... 20 weeks posted not so very long ago? Check it out and compare because I feel like I haven't hardly grown in the last 3 weeks!

I was wearing black then so I should have looked smaller, but maybe it's just the flattering stripes on this dress (love it - Old Navy Maternity came through).

23 weeks 1 day

I am feeling so great! This pregnancy is completely different than Josie's was. I am less swollen than I was when I wasn't pregnant after Josie and I have had no contractions at all. I am pretty sure that I was having some at this point before. My small power naps really make a world of difference and I'm working hard on drinking a lot of water.


Baby girl is moving a lot now. Of course there is a lot in the evenings when I sit down for longer period of times, but I notice it when I am driving around or even just standing still. I love that reassurance!


I tried to explain to Josie that there is a baby in my belly, put her hand there, said baby like 30 times. She laughed at me so I'm not sure she got it ;). I don't think she'll ever "get" it. Oh well, it's worth trying!


I do have a super strong craving for dark chocolate, or really anything super ridiculously chocolatey. Think brownie mix dark chocolate with chocolate chunks ice cream. If it's only a little chocolately I don't want it. I did not have this before so it's kind of strange. I also am grossed out at the thought of frozen veggies, especially broccoli. It sounds gross just like last time. Funny how some things are so definitely the same while other things aren't.



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Broken Hearted

It may be that I am paying more attention to the news lately, although I don't think that is the case. There have been an ridiculous amount of accidents caused by recklessness, many including drinking while driving.

Last week, a family of three was driving to visit family early in the morning (around 7:00 AM). They were hit head on by a drunk driver that was driving on the westbound highway instead of the eastbound highway. I can only imagine their immediate terror as the looked ahead of them expecting to see a car headed in the same direction as them but instead seeing someone coming straight towards them. More than likely speeding, the drunk driver probably didn't even see it coming as he obviously wasn't thinking clearly. What flashed through the family's minds, I can't even imagine.  All people involved were killed: the drunk driver, the three in the family, and the unborn baby that the woman was carrying. 

My hubby and I were talking about it last night. Can you imagine?  That family is a mirror of our own. A young couple with a toddler and another on the way all gone. It's heartbreaking.


I hate the action/sin of drunk driving. I don't hate the driver. He made a mistake, and although he doesn't have to live with it, he lost his life as well as taking the life of four others (you can bet that the life of that unborn baby counts!). My heart breaks for that man's family as well as I imagine the painful things they will hear about their son, brother, nephew, etc. 


I know people that have gotten DUI's. It's hard not judge, I won't lie, because the dangers are high and we hear so many stories about horrible accidents or situations occurring. I stress again that it is the action these people are taking that is so disappointing, that makes me sick to my stomach. I love these people dearly and their sin is no greater than mine. 


I urge you though, it's not worth it. It's just not worth it. I am sure that this man just wanted to get home, get in his own bed, sleep off his drunken "fog head" from drinking too much. He had no intention of killing anyone. He had no idea that he was so close to his end. Yet that doesn't change anything because what happened cannot be reversed. 


Dear Lord, please be with the family's of both the man and the small family. Please allow good to come from this, even though it seems impossible. Thank you for your greatness and reassurance that even though there is pain on earth, your greater picture, greater plan, is set and sealed. No matter the pain we feel here, you have given us a light, the greatest light of all in Your Son, at the end of the tunnel.

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Reading Corner

I don't want to forget this.

Every day, no matter what, the first thing Jo does when she gets up is head to the bookshelf (behind her in the pictures) to check out what is worth reading right away in the morning. Lately, after making her selection, she'll set it aside and eat breakfast when I insist, or immediately go to the this chair that she got from her grandma for her birthday to read in peace. It is the sweetest thing, and I need to remember it because I know it's a unique thing that just she does.

She's so happy, sitting in the sunlight, not dressed yet, enjoying the day. How can I not also just smile and enjoy it as well right along with her?

Sometimes I have the pleasure of her reading aloud to me. It may or may not be my favorite part of my day.

I hope she always loves to read.

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My Fair Lady (and Little Sir)

The region's fair is going on right now and I found out that we could get in for free from 11-1 any day this week. Count us in! I called up my friend Cassie to see if she wanted to bring her son W who is only 7 months younger than Jo. We like to think they will be best friends in no time.

We are always working around nap times, so I figured it wouldn't be easy to pinpoint the best time to go. Then she threw in a serious curve ball: her vehicle was completely dead. Being no stranger to jumping cars for friends and strangers, I volunteered to just bring Jo over while her babe finished out his nap to try to get it started before we left. I'm sure it was quite the image! One pregnant lady behind the wheel (she wouldn't let me push the car), and one petite lady pushing a big SUV out of her garage. But hey - we had to get the cars close enough together to connect the cables! 

All that for nothing - it didn't work. So we just decided to take my vehicle and she'd figure it out later. By the time we got going it was already 12:50, leaving us just ten minutes to get there and through the gate. I knew it'd be close so my adrenaline was pumping (oh the things I live for these days!). 

I happened to mention to C on the way that the double stroller I had recently purchased that was in the trunk? I'd never used it... so on top of us cutting it super close, we had to deal with that beforehand. We were in super mama mode though so once we got parked, we flew around trying to get bags, water bottles, babies, and shoes all in the right place. Most of it worked out, but we couldn't quite get the second seat in the right spot. 

New image to picture: Pregnant lady in flip flops pushing a double stroller with only one baby in it, running no less, with another petite lady wearing a sundress and slip on shoes, holding her son and a huge diaper bag running alongside on the gravel road. Oh the things we do to save money!

We didn't make it by 1:00, but the guy must have felt some pity or at least have seen the humor in it because when we asked if we made it, he said "I guess...". Thank you, sir, for your kind heart!

Once we got in, we were able to pull it together and turns out this double stroller is pretty awesome! It moves easy and has plenty of room for two babies and two diaper bags. 

It was a super hot day and there was minimal shade, but we spent a lot of time walking through the expo buildings, some of which were air conditioned. It was "kid day" so there were at least 20 daycare groups running around and there were different animals in different buildings that had the babes staring with big eyes. Both of them did awesome and by the time we left over an hour later, we deemed the day a huge success.

I love free activities and am always happy to get to go to them with these two. We always manage to have a fun time. And like I said earlier, Jo and baby W will be besties in no time. I can already see him warming up to her (because let's be honest, she's not exactly shy around anybody).

They both had to figure out what was going on when they were put right next to each other in the back of the vehicle. Surprisingly, they were pretty happy to be together!

Josie read him some stories to keep them busy til we got there

I love him peeking at me with those big brown eyes! Jo is completely wrapped up in her riveting book.

W seemed to enjoy the front seat view. Although in retrospect, Jo should have been in front. It's meant for the bigger kid I believe, and she kept kicking his seat. He didn't complain, but I can only imagine that it wasn't that enjoyable

"Mom! Check out that kangaroo. It looks miserably hot." She's so empathetic.

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Routines

We are slowly getting a routine around here. It's hard with summer activities (no complaints of course) to do things consistently, but it is a goal of mine to get routines in place because I know it helps me and I would bet it would be nice for Jo too.


One of our "routines" is me having the morning show on in the morning. Ok, not so much a major part of the routine, but I enjoy it. Don't worry, Jo is not watching it and it's not on all morning; mostly during her naps.


I have to admit that I just love Live with Kelly. More particularly I love it with her cohost this week, Seth Meyers. They are just too funny! I have to restrain from laughing out loud which could wake up the sleeping babe, and that is saying something. I am not a "laugh out loud" kind of person when it comes to movies/tv's/shows... I will totally admit something is funny but you wouldn't have guessed it by just watching me throughout viewing it.


Anyways. 


Also, I have been making this delicious iced coffee every morning and that really helps with me loving this routine. It is soooo good. I'm hooked and I don't care who knows it. I'l post more about it on it's very own post since I think it deserves it.


What? The morning routines are supposed to benefit the child I'm raising full time? Oh yeah... but I do like to enjoy the little things myself once in a while.


To keep you interested in this post, here is my sweet girl "airing it out" (remember this?). She loves to rock on her new rocking chair and it couldn't be better than this with her books and dolls all around. Girl's living the dream.

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Uh oh...

It's already been one of those days.


I hesitate to even share this because, well, it's disgusting.


But I will... for the sake of humor and being honest. Equally important.


Josie has a rash on her bottom that just won't go completely away. Sure we get close at times, but then she has a fever from teething that leads to more acidic #2 and she always ends up with it getting worse rather than better.


In an effort to fight this, I've been letting her air it out in the mornings and it has really made a huge difference. So this morning, she was airing it out, playing away. I looked over and was horrified with what I saw.


She had gone #2 and was now playing in it and it was on her face. That can only mean one thing. I gagged too many times to count. I ran faster than a pregnant mama should run. I probably scared her more than she's ever been scared before. I did everything I could to clean up her hands and mouth area as fast as possible.


So gross.


I put her in her crib while I gagged cleaned up, and came back to her standing in her crib with a wet sheet below her. Really? You couldn't just wait the five minutes while I cleaned up mess numero uno? So I cleaned that up and let her play in the nude. I figured, you've already done both, why stop you now?


Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck.


I still love her though.

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Weekend Review

The weather was perfect for being near the water and we got the opportunity to do just that both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, we went to Family/friends (Missy - <---isn't that explanation so much easier than hubby's cousin's wife and personal friend?)  Heath and Missy's family lake place so we hubby could help start building their deck. He got to work for a solid 10 hours and we got to play in the water/sand/sun. Fair? I think so.

Except... (hate that part) Josie had a fever the entire weekend and was just not happy. She was all over the place with what she did/did not want and I spent most of my time just trying to figure it out. I also didn't pull out my camera at all because she wasn't happy anyways, so instead I bring you old pictures representing our weekend. Good enough.

This was Josie about 1/3 the time. The other 2/3 she was freaking out because she wanted me to hold her or she wanted nothing to do with the sand and water.

On Sunday, we attempted going to a nearby beach that had a sandy shore and that was a HUGE fail. I figured out later that she probably had sand-burned feet and the hot sand just hurt instead when it was supposed to be fun. My feet hurt too so I can't blame her. 

Once we got back, she was perfectly happy (a drastic change from the whole trip) sitting in the shade on the smooth deck for her little feet reading her books. Always happy to read her books.

She also had quality naps which helped everysingletime. We had a record long nap of 3 hours. THREE HOURS! Never before and probably never again, but she sure needed it. 

Thankfully she feels better today and we are back on track. 

So to sum up:

Long weekend, but beautiful weather and teething baby.

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Birthday girl. One Years Old.

These pictures are all from her birthday party, but I'm also going to use them to just remember the little things about her. Let's begin (since there are A LOT).

Josie is about 21 lbs without her clothes on. We had gone to the doctor a couple of weeks earlier and she was 22.2, but she was also fully dressed so I'm not too concerned that she's lost weight. That puts her in 50% range for weight. Her height is 30 inches which is in the 75% range. Her head circumference was also in the 75% range. So our girl is tall and lean so far, just like her daddy. I wonder if she'll always be tall like I was until everyone catches up, or if she'll just be tall in general and most people won't catch up. 

I always wanted to be 5'8" (weird I know) so maybe my dreams will come true through this girl! Ha. I'm currently 5'6". 

We've gone all over the place with the foods she is eating. When she first started eating solid foods, she would eat anything we put in front of her, but things have changed! She doesn't eat hardly any veggies. Part of the problem is that they are all a lot harder to chew and she doesn't have the teeth to do it. Fruits are softer and sweet so she always prefers them. 

I am working on  not forcing her to eat things she doesn't like. I know she still won't eat it and we'll just get into "fights" about it, but I also want her to be getting the right nutrition. I sneak spinach into smoothies and other veggies into casseroles and meals like that, but she is always offered at least one veggie a meal... I have hope that it isn't long term! 

She loves most meats and will eat any bread and fruit. Generally she isn't picky; it's just the veggies that have her turning her nose up.

She's officially done with formula and is drinking whole milk like a champ. I had tried it a couple of weeks before her 1st birthday and she didn't like it at all so I backed off. Now she drinks it like it's candy and is a little sad when she gets water. We're still not doing juice or other types of beverages for nutritional reasons. I want her being hydrated without adding in the sugar and sweet tastes. I have seen so many kids that won't drink water or milk because it's "boring"... just trying to avoid that! I know she gets juice at Grandma's which I feel like is a special treat for her when she's there. I'm ok with that. 

She's been walking around for months now, but she's really mastered it lately and has sped up quite a bit. She's no longer stomping around and she speed walks eagerly when she's excited. I wouldn't say running quite yet, but the girl can move fast! She's keeping me on  my toes. 

I've noticed that she's lost all of her baby fat rolls and looks like a toddler now instead. I think it would be really hard for me to transition in my mind to toddler instead of baby, but it's not too bad since we're having another baby. 

Right after her first birthday, we did the inconceivable. We stopped using the pacifier. THIS IS BIG! I was more terrified than she was because I just imagined her being so angry about it, but honestly it wasn't that bad. One bad night of crying it out (works for us like a charm) and she was done. I'm only a bit worried about long car rides, but seriously she's just come so far with entertaining herself and finding new comforts (dolls, stuffed animals) that she should be fine.

Speaking of dolls, this girl has a new love for them! She got a couple for her birthday (thank you aunties) and carries them both around "rocking" them like Grandma taught her. It's great training for the baby coming! She also likes a stuffed pink puppy she's had since she was born and she usually sleeps with it at night. I'm fine with that. I figure having those comforts will help her transition to her toddler bed in a couple of months when the crib stays in her room for the new baby.  

Her hair has become big girl hair. I can braid it, stick most of it in a ponytail or pigtails, and it lays like a 3 or 4 year old's hair would lay. It's got the same texture as mine but the color is one of a kind. I love it, and it makes her blue eyes just pop.

Right around her first birthday she had her two upper front teeth break through (finally). We've been waiting and watching for these two for months and she is finally getting them! I can't wait to see how they change her smile and if it is easier for her to eat since they are in the front and not in the back where she chews with her gums.

Every day it seems like she is learning more and more. She has stopped wandering from random thing to thing and now sees what she wants and goes straight for it. It has helped me keep our house together a little bit and I don't have to worry about the problem areas that used to always be attacked by baby hands. 

She still loves books and reading and now brings them to me to read at least once every 5 minutes. I try to read them to her as much as I can, but I have also started to say things like "Mommy's eating honey, not right now" so she knows that I can't always  do exactly what she wants. I still do it a lot of the time, so I am not feeling like I am neglecting her at all. 

She has even started to say something that sounds like and probably means "read book!" I wish I could type out what it sounds like but it's just too random to really understand. I know what she means though!

Speaking of words, this is what she can say as of now:

Mama, Daddy, Boppa, wow, hi, Buckley, books, what's that (for everything, it's so funny)

She also repeats what we say all the time, but she hasn't said any of those words on her own so I'm not counting them.

She's wearing 12 month clothes and I've slipped in a couple of 18 month clothes to get use out of them before their season is up. They are generally too big though. 

I can already tell that some of them are just too short for her. She will be moving up in size only for length which means most of them will be too big everywhere else. 

Josie is not afraid of people. She rarely gets shy and loves waving at everyone. She makes everyone that meets her feel like they are best in the world, and I absolutely love it. The way to win her over is to give or read her a book. She couldn't be happier sitting on your lap reading a book. It's so cute.

It's so strange thinking of her being the big sister, yet I can totally see it when she interacts with other babies younger than her (I'm looking at you, cousin Deano). She is generally pretty gentle and curious, but I can already seeing her trying to share her toys and "help mom". She's just got such a sweet heart.

This girl is so fun to be with all day long. I never get sick of being around her and we just have a great time together! Helping her learn and watching her discover new things brings joy to my life that I've never experienced before! 

Can't wait to see what kind of beautiful woman she becomes. I know she's going to be something else.

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4th

We had so much fun celebrating the 4th with our friends last night!

There was bean bag (corn holing) games, ladder golf (Norwegian golf, ah hem), AMAZING FOOD, campfires, fireworks, and intense talks about old classic books turned to movies (well at least for the girls). 

Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for watching Jo so we could have some nonparental fun. 

Picture from the host's mom's facebook :)

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Who doesn't love a 4th of July decked out baby?

We're spending the day playing, swimming, and avoiding the heat when not in the water. Hopefully hubby will be done working a little earlier today because we have exciting plans for tonight! We'll be dropping off our baby toddler at Grandma's and Grandpa's for the night so we can go out to a friend's place in the country to celebrate the holiday. So excited to have some adult interaction and play some games (anyone thinking bean bags? We need to use our fancy new game afterall and Ladder Golf.)

Since this is probably our last chance to wear this outfit, she'll be wearing it all day even if hardly anyone sees it. 

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