Perfect Day Off

After all of our travels we got home on Sunday and decided to use our final 2010 vacation day Monday! The morning was spent in or PJ's relaxing. We did a Target trip (who doesn't love Target?). After Little Man's nap we went skiing at Lake Maria with my parents. Adam went a couple times last winter on my back, but this time he road on dad's back. It was so much fun and I'm so happy that I can ski even though I'm preggos.

After the skiing we went out to a Thai restaurant and then some shopping at the Albertville Outlets. We got a couple shirts for #2 and Correlle dishes. I really love the dishes that we got for our wedding. The blue Colorwave dishes were the only ones we liked when registering. They are too huge and heavy for little hands and the pregnant me. I have broken three or four in the last few months. Every time I drop one it makes me so sad. But the new dishes are light and perfect for our family. Thanks for the family friendly dishes mom and dad! Below is my little guy bundled up hanging out on our big snow bank.

Merry Christmas

Well we're back from our whirlwind Christmas travels and happy to be home! Below is Adam singing Jingle Bells:

Crafty Christmas

My mom is from a huge family. She's smack dab in the middle of 11 kids. Their Christmas party is always a week or two before Christmas in order for everyone to make it. My aunt Bernie has a huge heated garage and welcomes the whole family for the occasion. I missed the party two years ago because of work and a snow storm and I hated it. We were going to announce our pregnancy with Adam to the whole family, so my mom had to do it instead.

I didn't want to miss it this year either. So we packed up right when I got home from urgent care with Adam on Saturday morning and drove the hour and 45 minutes to Hugo. Little Man did great. It took him a while to warm up to Henry (he calls him 'Enry). I got to talk to all my aunts and uncles and cousins.

My favorite part of the day was my aunts brought out some boxes full of unfinished quilts and afghans and other crafts my grandma was working on for us to look over and take what we wanted. Grandma was a very crafty lady, but her eyes just don't allow her to do that kind of stuff anymore. It was fun to sort through it all with my aunts and cousins. I got two cross stitched squares of an owl:

and strawberries:

They will be framed and up on the nursery wall. I was originally thinking a pillow, but a baby doesn't need a pillow and I really, really like them and want to keep them safe. And I took a doily that is going to be starched and hung on my Christmas tree:

No one likes Ammonia

Poor Little Man had pneumonia this week. When I picked him up on Monday he was sitting at a table all by himself and kind of spacing out. He felt warm to me and he did have a low grade fever (like 99). Otherwise he was pretty darn normal that night. We were up three or four times early Tuesday morning with him, but his fever was still below 1oo. We had our ultrasound at 8 AM so we took Adam with to make sure he was feeling ok before taking him to school. He seemed totally healthy and fine. So we took him to daycare. I had a two hour meeting and by the time I got back to my desk I had a message that I needed to come pick Adam up. His fever was 102 or something. I called Dave and then left. He was a sleep on his cot when I got there at 11 AM.

On the car ride home I asked Adam if he was hungry and he said yes. I fed him a pb&j and then put him back down for a nap. He had a fever, but he ate and seemed OK. Dave relieved me at 2 PM so I could make it back for a meeting and by then Adam was up from his nap. Dave called me around 4 and said he was going to take Adam to urgent care. He was lethargic and ibuprofen wasn't knocking his fever down.

I met them at the doctor's office and figured we'd get the typical "it's a virus and he'll get over it." Instead the doctor said she thought he was too sick for it to be just a virus. So he had to get his blood drawn, throat swabbed and a chest x-ray. We had a long wait for the results and all Adam did was sleep on me. He little heart was racing, his fever was high and his breathing was fast. The doctor told us there was a dark spot in his lungs, so they were going to treat it like pneumonia (the radiologist was gone). She asked if he had a cough and we said not really, but for the last few weeks he's coughed once or twice when he gets up in the morning but then he's fine. She said we had to make a follow up appointment and if he got any worse bring him right back to the clinic or the ER. She even mentioned that he may have to be hospitalized. I was freaked. My baby was so pathetically ill.

We kept alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol and prayed that the antibiotics would work. Wednesday I went to work in the morning and Dave went in the afternoon. Dave said Adam seemed better, but by the time I got home he seemed the same as Tuesday night. All he did was sleep on me, I put him down twice. Dave took Adam to the follow up appointment Wednesday night. The radiologist diagnosed him with pneumonia. Basically the doctor said keep doing what we were doing.

Thursday I stayed home all day. Thankfully his fever broke Wednesday night and he started eating more. He still napped a lot, but he didn't have a fever all day. We all went out to dinner to get out of the house that night and Adam was in great spirits. So Friday he went back to school. Dave told Adam Friday night that he needed to take it easy because he had pneumonia and Adam repeated "Ammonia". So stinking cute!

Adam developed a rash on his face and torso about 30 minutes after I gave him his antibiotics Friday night. Saturday I had to take him back to the clinic for a third time. Thankfully we were in and out fast and his rash was not an allergic reaction, just Adam fighting a virus. Adam was feeling much better and he let me know he was not happy I was bringing him back to the doctor by screaming almost the whole entire time. Poor Little Guy fell asleep on the way home.

Today he asked to nap at 10 and then again at 1 and slept for almost 2 hours each nap! He's still working on getting healthy, hopefully by Christmas he'll be 100%. We have 2.5 days of work and then we'll be going to Cheeseland!

Cabin Fever

We are snowed in.

Well actually that's the snow drift out our back door out of the garage. Dave has been doing a great job snow blowing the driveway to keep it clear.

People are calling this nasty blizzard snow-mageddon and snow-nami. Despite the warning we did venture out once today to finish up our Christmas shopping and get groceries (we stayed in Hutch). But now Adam is curling up with his favorite books to avoid getting cabin fever.

Today I'm halfway done with this pregnancy. The big ultrasound is on Tuesday. We're going to have the ultrasound tech write the sex of the baby in a card that we will open on Christmas. We didn't find out until Adam's birth that he was a boy and I'm so happy that we waited, but this time around I want to know.

My Duh Moment

Today I had my third OB appointment. It started out with the receptionist warning us that our doctor was running late. She was dialing our doctor's nurse before I could respond and asked exactly how late. The nurse said about 30 minutes. And what were they suggesting I do about it- find a really good and long magazine to read. 30 minutes is normal, not late, so of course we waited a full hour to see our doctor. Not a big deal it was nice to rest and get out of work early.


The only concern I brought to this appointment: my complete and utter exhaustion. She asked if it was due to taking care of Adam. I told her I didn't think it was because I wasn't this tired in the first trimester. I said I was most exhausted the days I get up to swim at 5 AM. Her question to me was what time do you go to bed- my answer 10:30 or 11:00. Duh, I'm pregnant, exhausted and only getting 6 hours of sleep three nights a week. She wrote "not getting enough sleep" in my chart. So now if I don't get to bed by 10 PM no swimming for this little mama.

Other fun facts- I've gained 20 pounds in a little under 20 weeks (next time I'm not looking at the scale) and I'm measuring about 21-22 cm and should be only 19-20! Baby's heart rate was 147-150. Also I started feeling the peanut really move around the Monday after Thanksgiving- so about 18 weeks this time.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

This little boy loves his bath. He had to have one again tonight. Normally he has his bath every other night, but tonight he was begging to get in the tub.

Dad taught Adam about filling the fish with water and then squeezing it. Now we sometimes get a shower while Adam is taking his bath!

Winter Walks

Going for a family walk is a lot more work in the winter. First everyone has to get bundled up to go out into the Frozen Tundra. Then we bring in the backpack carrier in and try to strap the snow-suit boy in. I used to put Adam on my back, but with my expanding belly and slippery ground Dave has taken over for me. It's okay because now I get to take pictures of my two favorite guys when we're out!

We don't go much further than around the pond down the street, but on a cold night that's enough. I think Adam prefers the backpack carrier to the stroller.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Today is probably my favorite Holiday and we already had one Thanksgiving dinner with the grandmas and grandpas last weekend! It's a Thanksgiving day pregnant woman's bonus that maternity pants have stretch bands. No loosening of the belt for this momma.


This morning I woke up at 6 am without an alarm. At least my exhaustion and going to bed early is allowing me to wake up recharged. So I got up and made pumpkin pancakes and bacon for my family (thanks for the recipe Martha Stewart) . Little Man was a huge fan- eating two and these are filling pancakes. Now we're enjoying coffee, Black Friday ads and the Macy's Day Parade. Adam's especially enjoying the parade.



I should go make some Turkey Day fixins to bring to my aunts house. Here's my little boy talking on the phone.

Chocolate Please

Daddy surprised us this morning with donuts. I figure Adam can have a donut every once and a while as a treat. So I asked him which one he wanted and he picked the one with chocolate on top. He had a donut along with his favorite fruit banana. And this is how Little Man eats is his chocolate covered donuts.

He only eats the chocolate off the top and leaves the rest of the cake donut. Grandma's going to be so proud of you Adam!

Say Cheese

And Bus, Puppy, Chicken, Balloon, Right There, Momma, Dada, Fish, Banana, Bath, Turtle, No, Yes, Boot, Shoes, Hat, Adam, Nose, Ears, Eyes, Teeth, Up, Football, Baseball, Ball, Thank you, Please, Hot and Mine*.
I know I'm missing other words. The list of words and things that he understands is even longer. He amazes me more and more each day.
*Mom and dad were ok with Little Man not knowing that word. Now everything is mine, mine, mine...

Daylight Saving Time Meet My New Friend

I got a new lens on Friday and I haven't switched back to the old kit lens yet. It doesn't have a zoom, but it has an extremely large aperture so pictures in low light turn out without a flash. I also ordered a new external flash that will hopefully be here this week. Daylight Saving Time Change- I should be able to take great pictures even though you make my house dark!
Daddy took this picture- I think he's taking awesome pictures without turning the camera to full auto mode:

Big Brother

Adam has some big news! He's going to be a big brother around April 30th 2011. That will make Adam and his sister/brother about 22 months apart. He did a great job when his cousin baby James was here to visit, so I'm sure he'll make a great big brother! He was very gentle with James and interested interested in helping. He was willing to share mom's lap with the baby, although a couple times he cried when I held James. The best was when we were out to eat Adam would entertain/play with James after he finished eating. It's so cute to watch a toddler play with a baby!

I'm already 16 weeks and I just feel like this pregnancy is flying by. I was queasy almost immediately (2 weeks before the positive pregnancy test). I can't eat too many sweets without getting sick. With Adam all I wanted was sweets, this time I can and do say no thanks a lot. I was waiting for the exhaustion to hit like it did with Adam, but other than having a hard time dragging myself out of bed in the morning (normally I'm a complete morning person) and a couple rough afternoon meetings I was doing fine. I could stay up late, sometimes even later than Dave. Ever since the time change it's been a different story. I can't stay up past 8:30 and I'm falling asleep on the couch every night. Hopefully this exhaustion will let up soon.

I started showing way sooner this time. At 11 weeks my aunt asked me "Sarah are you expecting again or are you getting fat?" I wasn't really ready to tell the whole family, but I was sick of lying. The following week we had our doctors appointment and when our doctor couldn't find the heart rate on the doppler she brought in the little portable ultrasound machine to check. There is just one baby in there and everything looked great. At our second appointment this week it took her a while, but we got to hear baby's heart beat- low 150s. Right now I'm betting on boy, we'll hopefully find out before Christmas!

James Photo Shoot

Ann, Titus and James came to visit last weekend. Ann gave me the responsibility of taking little Jame's three month photos. It was fun to attempt to take some pictures for him. He's such a smiley baby and it's so much easier to take pictures of a baby than a toddler. I think I got some good ones for her and hopefully she agrees.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We carved a pumpkin, well Adam colored on it and mom and dad carved it. He loves to sit and color with crayons.

Adam was a little shy monkey. We took him out trick or treating to a few neighborhood houses and at first Adam didn't know what to do. But after a few houses and seeing a lot of other kids trick or treating he started to enjoy it. He held onto his little bucket so tight. I don't know if he realizes that what he was getting was candy. I think he thought they were toys. We couldn't get him to make his monkey noises or say thank you (trick or treat is way too hard).

15 month Stats

Adam is now 16 months, but I forgot to post his 15 month stats from his check up last mont. He weights 21 lb 14 oz (12th percentile), he's 30.5 inches tall (21st percentile) and his head is still in the 99th percentile at 19.75 inches.

Purple Cheesehead?

Oh no... It's the Packer-Viking game tonight. We know Adam loves football, but will he cheer for the Purple team or the Cheeseheads? Only time will tell. For now he just cheers for football!

Goodbye Infant Room

Goodbye high chair. Goodbye nap room and crib. Goodbye sippy. Goodbye Rachel and the 4 babies to one adult ratio. Adam's moving up to the Toddler room next week. This means a bigger room with more toys. Eating at a table with a chair and a cup. Napping on a cot at a set time and a ratio more like 10 to 1. But Adam's ready and he's spent most of October in the toddler room. I cried last Monday when I realized it was his official last Monday in the infant room. He's such a big boy now, not a baby.

The Farm

I think Adam was born to be outside. Then again maybe all little boys are hard wired this way. Last weekend my family (minus my little brother Henry) were at my aunt's farm outside of Madison. She has a huge farm house and a ton of sheep and goats. When we got in the car to make our long trip there Dave asked me if I packed toys. I said yes, but I didn't think we would need them. I was right on Saturday Adam woke up and was ready to go outside.

We watched the sheep and goats. But Adam called them puppies. There were kitties to meow to and doggies to chase (we left Brockway in Minnesota though). And a much bigger yard to explore. Adam was very, very happy to spend the weekend outside.

My cousin came with her kids on Saturday afternoon. I tried to get Adam down for a nap, but no luck. Vanessa's daughter Analise is about a month younger than Adam and also was in need of a nap. So all of us women decided to go for a walk in the woods. Analise took a nap on Vanessa's back in our Ergo Baby carrier and Adam slept in his stroller. Vanessa's oldest daughter Bella had a great time on the walk and Shar captured some awesome pictures (like the one to the right).

My dad cooked great food. Jem herded sheep for us. And it was just a great time to catch up with family. Thankfully no one got H1N1 afterwards, because that was no fun last year!

Bedtime Reading

Big Boy is starting to read to me at bedtime. It's not like I understand what he says, but he enjoys pretending to say the words. The book in his lap is one of his favorites- Barn Yard Surprise. The first time I read it to him he was just six months old and only let me read two pages before he started to cry. Now I purposely pick this book when he's fussy, because he loves it no matter what mood he's in.

Nap Time

Friday night we went out with a large group of my coworkers and their kids. The Mexican restaurant we went to was a little slower than usual, but thankfully we were at a very long table against the back window. We were able to cage all the little ones in and let them run around and play. I was also lucky that I brought Adam's diaper bag stocked with tons of church toys- enough to share with 8 little tikes. It was tons of fun and when we got home Adam went straight to bed.

Saturday was a busy day, too. We drove into the cities for Adam's great-grandma's 82nd birthday party. So by Sunday we were ready to spend the day at home and veg. After church we ate lunch and then Adam was being his normal nap ready whiny self. So Dave asked him, "Adam do you want to take a nap?" And Adam said "yep" and walked into his bed room. I could get used to this!

Happy Anniversary

Four years ago I married my best friend. Thanks for being such an amazing husband and father!