Julie being Julie

Our gate into the kitchen is mesh, and she was having fun sticking her head into it and smooshing her face all up. So, I started taking pictures, so now she will do this and then say "camera". These pictures just make me smile.

 This one is my favorite out of all of the ones I took. She was having so much fun doing this. My little nut.

 And she learned how to do something that I wish she hadn't learned. She climbed into her high chair all by herself. I was washing my hands in the kitchen and turned to see her kneeling up on the chair and then climbing into her seat. Before I could even get to her she was sitting down, oh man, was she proud of herself. These are not your regular chairs either, they are the tall chairs. She would usually only stand on the bottom rung and hold onto the handles of her high chair. When Rob got home I told her what she discovered and she demonstrated for her Dad, the second time I got it on video and she can get up there in about 30 seconds.

I just hope she doesn't start climbing out of her crib before we put her in a big girl bed.

14 Weeks

2nd Trimester

 Well, here I am in the start of my 2nd Trimester and I definitely don't feel as sick anymore, where I have to eat all the time. Although I still eat quite a bit. I have been loving fresh tomatoes from my mother and father in law. Wow, fresh tomatoes are so awesome. I had two today, cut in slices with a little salt on them. We have also been having a lot of fresh corn lately too, love fresh garden produce. I have my second doctors appointment on Wednesday. Things seem to be going great though.

"Bit of Whimsy" Dolls

Made these for a friend and finally gave them to her kids, so I will share these with you now.

They are from bitofwhimsydolls.com, this one is the Jean PDF Pattern.

 And this one is the Baby PDF Pattern.

I bought more fabric than the pattern called for and not realizing how big they were going to be, I have a lot of extra fabric left over. So, I might just have to make a ton and give them away as gifts. They are really quite simple to make, the only thing that took me forever was stitching the body closed while attaching the legs as well. That was the most stressful part. They are definitely not perfect, but that is what makes them special and unique!

With the one I made for Julie I realized they needed more stuffing, so the practice one I made that Julie LOVES doesn't have as much stuffing as these ones. I really liked how these ones turned out. I hope they get as much love as Julie gives hers.

Just so happy looking!

Blankie, Pooh Bear, and Dolly

These three items are her favorites. 

Can you see the love!

 She has to have them when she goes down for bed, and her nap. The Pooh Bear Rob picked out before we even knew what we were having, I got the blankie off of babysteals, because she liked one of her sleepsacks that was soft and fuzzy and I didn't want that to get drug around. And then the Dolly I made, it was a first try doll for some I made for a friend(I will show those in a following post), and she absolutely loves it, which I am thrilled about.

She has got to have all three of them, if I ask her to go get Pooh Bear and Dolly, then she will also say "Blankie" and so forth. She will grab them one at a time and just squeeze them giving them the biggest hug ever, so fun to watch her love them so much!

19 Months!

-Sometimes I will call Robert from downstairs using his name, and Julie has started saying "Robert"

-Will cover her eyes and we will wait for her to uncover them and say "BOO", and she laughs so hard, so funny.

 -loves raisins and craisins

-"No", she has definitely picked up what this word actually means and uses "no" all the time.

-We were at my parents the other afternoon, and noticed it got really quiet and Julie wasn't around, so I went into the kitchen to check on her and found her in the cupboard with the flour, the flour container was still in the cupboard, but she had the lid off and was using the scoop and stirring things around. Starting to become sneaky and quiet, not a good combination. I am just glad that was all she was doing and that there was not flour everywhere.

-"oops" "Oh, No" Oh, oh" uses these words probably the most of any words right now, if I here "Oh, No", I know she wants me to get something she has broken off of something or dropped a toy where she can't reach it.

-Her appetite has gone whacko, definitely going through a phase with her food likes. She won't eat bananas, eggs, sometimes noodles, and many other things. Trying to figure out what to feed her besides grapes(her favorite), is quite a task.

-Really into pretend play right now, she has a grape magnet that she will grab a grape and eat it and then give one to me or whoever.

-She loves to hug blankie, pooh bear, and dolly, but will not hug us the same way. I will say, "Can you hug me like you hug Pooh Bear", she sometimes will give me a bigger hug, but not usually.

-Locking Doors, she has found the button to lock the doors and does this constantly, can't quite open doors yet, sometimes she will get a door open on accident. She turns the handle, but hasn't figured out that you have to pull the door at the same time. I think she will get this figured out soon, though.

-Some things she says a lot, "light on" "light off" "music on/off" "have it" "put it away"
-Can now use a spoon, and will eat cottage cheese when she wouldn't before. Tried giving her some Cream of Wheat in a little bowl with a spoon, but she wouldn't touch it. It was worth a try though.

-Will grab onto my leg, and hide, or just give my leg a big hug, love this most of the time.

 Love her smile in this one.

 Eating her dried cranberries, while watching Mom make Banana Bread.

 Occasionally she will find a headband and want me to put it on her. She will be kind of stiff for a while when I first put it on, and then will relax her neck a bit after awhile. She doesn't keep them on too long though. I wish she would, they look so cute.

 We sure do love this little gal!

13 Weeks!

I think the nausea is letting up a little. This is my final week in the 1st Trimester, and I think I have felt little baby movements, but not sure if it is just gas. But, I really think it is the baby moving because it is in the center. So fun. I am trying to get on a routine of walking every morning with my mom, and so far I have done it Friday and Today, although today I was a bum after getting back and we had a slow morning. 

 I realize these pictures don't look much different, but I just love seeing the progress!

Then after Julie's nap, I made a smoothie for both of us and then planned on going grocery shopping, but she was really whinny and wanting to be held. So, we ended up not going anywhere, and when Rob got home, he noticed her breathing heavy(which I did notice but didn't think anything of), and she had a temperature of 101, that is why she was so whinny. So, we gave her some tylenol and she started feeling a lot better and actually ate super well both for lunch and dinner(she has been super picky lately), but still wanted to be held for the most part. We gave her a bath and she was back to her normal self by bedtime, and I hope she will be still that way in the morning.

Not much has happened around here lately, Rob and I did go on a date to La Beau's the other day, which was nice. I was wanting some of their french fries so bad, they have the best french fries with Fry sauce. They are always super hot, where you kind of have to eat them really fast and careful, but I love it. Had enough for the next day, just broiled them on low in the oven and they were fabulous again. Since the beginning of this pregnancy I have gained about 7 pounds, which is good, takes me to get pregnant for my body to seem to gain weight, sheesh! I am glad for it and hope that some of it will stay afterwords, so I can stay at a healthy weight. I also can't seem to keep my posture straight, I am always leaning to one side or the other, or am hunched. Gotta work on that! Other than that, things are going well and my next doctors appointment is next week.

Fairyland Bluebell Boot

For Christmas we got her this Fairyland Bluebell Boot. She didn't play with it much at all, it has sat on the shelf in the front room for 6 months. Well, the age on the box recommends it is 18 months and up, and guess what, for us that was exactly on. For about a week now, she plays with it everyday. She absolutely loves it. She will have the fairies slide and swing and they will take a bath in the upstairs room(don't know how that one came to be, there is no bathtub up there, but she sure is into bath time right now). She just really loves it. While I am taking my shower and getting ready in the morning, she still likes to hang out in the hall right next to the bathroom door. I will bring this into the hall along with some other toys, and there will be times I just have to peak at her, to see her just talking and playing with those little people. She really is into pretend play right now. If she has one of the people with her while she eats, she will have to feed them some food. So cute to watch her play like this.

 Here she is helping one of the fairies slide.

 Having a bath.

 There is the little swing on the side, with one of the fairies in it.

It is also fun to watch her carry this around with her from room to room. The handle at the top is not to sturdy and will fall off sometimes while your carrying it, resulting in the whole thing to crash to the ground. Luckily it is build well everywhere else and has not damaged it by the falls. So glad we purchased this, she just is having so much fun.

Canning Green Beans!

I have 64 pint jars of canned green beans, for hopefully the next year to come. My parents so graciously came over and picked my green beans for me. We have grasshoppers in our garden and they just freak me out, so I asked my mom if she would come pick them for me, and she said yes. Also since I am pregnant, I knew bending down and picking beans for that long would drain me, since bending over for a few minutes to pick weeds would make me light headed. So, my mom and dad came over and picked my beans, the first time they came and picked and I didn't get too much, the next time I got a half a bucket full, and that was enough for one batch of 16 pints of beans. This batch I canned myself, it was the first time canning beans without the help of my mom. And lets just say, I was a little stressed out, had the water boiling before I was finished cutting and washing the beans and washing and cutting the beans took longer than I though it would. I will just say I was STRESSED and not happy. Luckily Rob was very patient with me and calmly started to help me out. In all, it ended up okay. We used the camp chef and it was hard keeping the temperature at a steady temp, but it was my first try.

And waiting for the temperature gauge to go down after turning off the heat took forever, do you see the time on the clock on the next picture, that is PM, I started the whole green bean process around 6:30.

 Call me weird, but I love the green bean smell after opening the lid of the canner, it just reminds me of when my Mom would can beans when we were younger.

 My Mom and Dad picked beans for me two more times, and both times I got two canners full of beans. This was the beans to fill 24 pint jars, and the time before that I got I think about 24 also. 

The washing and cutting of the beans took the longest amount of time, so the second time I did it at my parents house(so I could have the help of my mom) and I washed the beans and then she would cut them, and then the actual cooking of the beans and cooling took about an hour and a half. And the third time, I washed and cut the beans before going over to save time. I think I have the process down now, but who know, I might forget by next year.

So, after picking the beans three times, I got all my beans for our coming year. It feels good!

All though I don't like watching all the rest of the beans in my garden getting plump and going to waste, I will have to control those grasshoppers next year so that I can pick them myself. I do still have 4 tomato plants(they aren't too huge, but they have a good amount of green tomatoes on them so far), a buttercup squash(which is doing really well, I am going to have to research how to use and eat buttercup squash), and a yellow and green zucchini plant that I have gotten 3 zucchini's off of so far, and 6 onions. 

I love gardens, hate the bugs!

It's a Bump!

I have a bump and it keeps on growing! Haha, a lot faster this time too!
10 Week Photo

 We are expecting another baby, due date is February 28, 2012(its a LEAP year, so hopefully this little squirt will come right on or a few days early), and we are excited! Kind of, sort of, not planned, and kind of, sort of, planned. Took about 7 months with Julie, and this time, just once, didn't think I was ovulating, but apparently we were wrong. I think Heavenly Father was like, here is my chance! Wanted a spring baby, but getting another slightly winter baby. Which is fine, because then I can use all my pregnancy clothes from before.

This pregnancy has definitely been different, I started feeling sick around 6 weeks(with Julie it was at 7 weeks and lasted a week and a half), and never have thrown up but have to eat something every 2-3 hours or I feel like crap(which isn't awful, but not a feeling I like to have). And I am now 11 weeks and feel the same way, maybe a little less crap feeling though. Although, it really isn't bad. My mornings are super slow and if I sit down on the couch, I am bound to end up there for a while to take a little rest or snooze. Julie usually just sits there right with me reading a book, playing with her toys, or whatever. I love that she wants to be so close even though I am not doing anything with her. And in the evening I have been getting awful gas bubbles that get stuck right under my ribs, SOOOO not fun. I feel huge already, I feel and look like what I was at around 17 weeks or so. 11 weeks with Julie I didn't look pregnant at all. 

Had my first doctors appointment and everything looks great. Heartbeat was 177, I am measuring right on, and we even got to see the baby. With Julie I got an ultra sound because they couldn't hear the heartbeat, but I guess they do it for the first appointment at my doctors office now. Here is a good profile shot of the babe, the babe was moving around quite a bit and doing somersaults. We only get pictures, so this is a picture of a picture.

 It was so fun to hear the heartbeat while seeing the beats on the screen also. She also told me to drink a gallon of water(liquid/milk and juice is included in the total), that is like drinking a cup of water every hour of the day I am awake. There are 16 cups in a gallon, I don't think I have quite hit a gallon a day, but I sure drink when I think about it, and leave a full glass on the counter. Drinking, drinking, drinking, oh and peeing, peeing, peeing! I wake up once a night to go pee, and this started pretty early in my pregnancy. With Julie I think it started around 13 weeks, and I actually woke up from wetting the bed(so NOT cool), so from then on I set my alarm to wake me up during the night to go pee, so that would not happen again. But, this time I am happy to say I have not wet the bed, but I sure pee a LOT during that night time bathroom trip.
11 Week Photo

And now, here is my 12 week photo.

Here, in the start my 12th week, I think my nausea is starting to fade a little. And I got a hair cut today, just a trim, but it is nice to get rid of all those split ends.
We announced it to our parents over the 24th weekend by sticking a "I am going to be a Big Sister" shirt on her.

 Made it pretty easy, I am not good at making announcements. We got the shirt from zoeysattic.etsy.com, ours was the whimsy bird style shirt, they have lots of fun big sister and brother shirts on there, I will have to post a picture when I get her in it again, keep forgetting.

That time of year again!

The spiders are out(or should I say in), and they are huge and so we did our annual garage cleaning, by moving everything away from the walls and sweeping all the dirt. It is amazing how much dirt accumulates. Once that was finished, Rob sprayed the outer edges of the garage, by the doors, and all around the foundation to keep those nasty things out. Julie was helping with the buckets, moving them around and just carrying them everywhere she went.

 Cleaning out the garage also keeps it mostly organized as well!

Pioneer Celebration (Findlay side)

For Pioneer Day on the Findlay side, we go all out and have a major good time. We start out the day with a breakfast at 8:00a.m. at my Uncle and Aunt's house who live through the block from my parents. Everyone helps by bringing food. And then after breakfast we pack up all the chairs and take them over to my parents house, and we set up chairs for the parade that goes down the street in front of my parents house.

Julie looks about ready to fall asleep here, luckily there was good cloud cover during the parade, but then the sun came out and it was hot and humid feeling.

My cute new nephew who was only 2 1/2 weeks old!

We did a carnival with the little kids and some big kids too, I guess. There was a bean bag toss, water balloon darts, a fishing pond, a cupcake musical chairs, and more. I am not sure of all that went on. We also borrowed Rob's parents snow cone machine, which was a HUGE hit, there was always a crowd around Robert and my cousin Nicole. After everyone had enough of the games, we got the barbecue and all the salads ready to go. The barbecue was awesome, lots of good food, there is always too many choices to choose from, so you have to have a little of everything. After everyone had eaten and chatted for a while, it was time for the Relay. 

Kerri was the brains behind this, and I think it turned out awesome. It started by getting all the games ready and named a few days before. Here we are sanding the cows down for one of the relays.

 And I just love my mom's day lilies so I just had to snap some pictures of them.

 There were three team captains and then they had to choose who they wanted on there teams. We tried to make it so there was an even number of older kids to younger kids on each team. After all that was taken care of, Kerri explained each game to them. Each game had a name and I don't remember all the names, I will have to fill those in later.

And here is the first group, Anna, Jessa, and Ryan, brothers and sisters. They were to eat a saltine cracker and then blow a bubble with a piece of gum. The nice people from the parade supplied the gum for us.

Chew and Blow!

Chew, chew, chew, Jessa had a good idea to stick the gum in her mouth before she finished the saltine cracker, but ended up swallowing most of the gum with the cracker, so wasn't able to get enough gum to blow a bubble. So, it is probably a good idea with this game to swallow the cracker first and then start chewing the gum.

Hanky Panky!

Next was the Kleenex game, where you pull all the tissues out of the tissue box using one hand as fast as you can.

Udder Relief!

Milk the cow station, there was a mason jar on the ground, and you had to squeeze the rubber glove filled with water and get enough water to fill the jar up to the line marked on the jar. Next time, I think we need to make slightly bigger holes.

Messy Dresser!

This next one, they had to put on some pants, a shirt and button at least three buttons, some gloves, a hat, and some shoes. Then run to the table and carry an egg on a spoon back to your group. (we didn't tell them before hand that the eggs were hard boiled, haha).

Lic it Up!

Long piece of licorice, stick one end in your mouth and without using your hands, get it all in your mouth, chew and swallow and head back to your group.

Mayci did so well with all that licorice she had to chew.

Movin' on Up!

This next game, they had a stack of cups, one of the cups was colored around the rim, and they had to get that cup back to the top of the stack by removing one cup at a time and moving it to the bottom of the stack. Nicole had some good concentration on this one.

Feed the Birds!

This one was funny! Each team picked someone to be a momma bird and two baby birds. There was a pie plate on a chair with 6 gummy worms hanging out of the tin. The momma bird had to grab a worm with her mouth and feed it to her baby birds. The baby birds had to finish the worm before they could get another. The momma bird had to rotate between giving the baby birds their worms. So funny! There was also supposed to be whipped cream in the tin, but we opted not to do that.

This was one hungry baby bird, hehe!

Junk in the Trunk!

A kleenex container with 6 ping pong balls inside tied around your waist, you had to jump, twist, do whatever to get all those ping pong balls out. Luke was flipping over dancing around, awesome job!

Clarissa was awesome doing the junk in the trunk, got a nice action shot of her here.

Face the cookie!

The last game was to put an oreo on your forehead and get it in your mouth without using your hands.

The lovely Tash, and Matthew, trying to get there oreos to there mouth.

Way to go everyone! Even with some teams being a little behind at times, they seemed to all catch up pretty close in the end. Each team got a prize. I think first place got Ring Pops, second place got otter pops, and third place got air heads. Everyone's a winner and it was so much fun to watch. I was able to take video of the whole thing and snap pictures at the same time.
 And here is another picture of my sweet nephew(2 1/2 weeks old), just ate and there little family was headed back home. What a little sweetie, just love this picture. He just has the cutest face.

One with grandma!

Here are the proud parents, love these guys!

Mom and baby!

View from on the deck, after the relay, everyone divvying out there prizes.

Here is one of my sister and I before she left, my sister and my brother look like my dad, and the rest of us kids look like my mom, so I am told. I thought my mom had the camera pointed down really low, so I was kind of stooping down. Thanks Trina and Ren for coming up!

After the relay, we played the M&M game, where you put some m&m's in a bowl and everyone gets a straw, then you also have a set of dice, and if you get doubles or the equivalent of 7, then you can start sucking m&m's from the container and fill your cup. This game is so fun. We had two teams, one with the younger kids, and then an older group. In the older groups container there were also Peanut M&M's which I have been wanting so bad. This game can get pretty crazy, and fast. Sometimes you will have the bowl for awhile before someone else gets doubles or 7, and sometimes you can hardly get your straw in there before the bowl is grabbed away from you. Those Peanut M&M's are hard to get, you have to suck really hard and keep sucking like that or it will fall back in. I was able to grab a few. I ended up with 58 m&m's, Kerri beat me by a few. It was so much fun.
During the game, there was some action and Conner flew back and nocked the table with the water jug and cream soda jug over, spilling all the cream soda on the ground, everyone was like "Oh, no, the cream soda", and Conner stood up from off the ground and was like "Don't worry, I am okay", kind of funny but sad that we lost all that cream soda, even the slushy yummy stuff at the bottom. Oh, so good!
Then we all just chatted and had a good time, until it was time to clean up and go home. What a fun day!