Goodbye 2014-You Treated Us Well

Wow!  2014 was a wonderful year for us! So many exciting things happened over the past year and all in all it was a wonderful year!  Here are a few of the highlights!

The new year started with the hustle and bustle of us selling our home and moving into a different home a few blocks down the road.  We have been in the new home for 10 months now and have definitely started to put our stamp on things.  We have taken down a good chunk of the wallpaper, remodeled the main floor bath, painted the kitchen cabinets, walls, and installed a new countertop and sink until we can save the funds for a full remodel, and are preparing to get started on nursery.

In June, John and I traveled to Poland with my family to help my brother and Magda celebrate their wedding.  It was a trip I will never forget!  We had a wonderful time sightseeing around Krakow Poland and had a blast experiencing a traditional Polish Wedding!  The best part of it all though is that my brother married a wonderful person and I now get to call her my sister :)

In July we also got wonderful news that our little family would be growing just like we had hoped.  I am now 27 weeks pregnant and we will welcome our little bundle of joy in April 2015.  Elsie is really excited for a baby sister and is really starting to talk about the baby all the time.  Only like 3 more months!!

The summer we were very busy between our trip to Poland, visiting family and friends, and trying to get out with the camper to do some camping.  We made it to Margquette, IA over Memorial Day, Rathbun Lake, and Lake Red Rock over Labor Day.

Fall John was busier than ever but he did a wonderful job of setting aside Sundays as family days and we tried to make the most of them all.  I did a lot of planning for our Disney trip over the fall as well.
November into December proved to be very busy.  Elsie turned three in December and had her first birthday party with friends on a weeknight and then a birthday party with family over the weekend.  She chose to have a "Frozen" themed party-shocker.

Shortly after her birthday party we packed our bags and off to Disney we went.  We had such an amazing time and definitely worth all the time and effort we spent planning and preparing for it.  WE got home just in time to start Christmas celebrations in MN and in Iowa and now here we are, wrapping up the year.

 

We have SO many fun things to look forward to in 2015.  Of course the most exciting is the arrival of our little baby in April.  We will also be welcoming a new niece or nephew in June as Tony and Magda are expecting.  I also have three friends who are expecting this year:  Marc and Amber-2/2, Josh and Liz-5/9, and Jason and AShley 5/12.

We have two weddings on the book for this summer-Katie and Brad and Chris and Laura-both in June.

We have a trip to Puerto Rico planned for John and I for work coming up shortly.

There are talks that Tony and Magda might be planning a visit to the states this year.

I have two concerts planned for the upcoming year-Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean in July and Taylor Swift in September.

We have more plans in the works to make updates/changes to our house.

There is so much for us to be thankful for this year and in the upcoming year.  We are truly blessed with a happy, healthy family, a roof over our head, and food in our belly.  We pray that you all have a Happy New Year and too have much to look forward to in the year ahead.

Cheers to 2015!!

Feeling Pregnant-25 Weeks

Well I can't believe it!  I am 25 weeks (almost 26 week) along already and in the last couple of weeks of my second trimester.  This pregnancy is flying by and so far has been pretty uneventful.  I have't really done any updates on the blog so I thought I would do a quick rundown of how things have been going.

Overall, I have felt wonderful.  I never really had that "exhausted feeling", nausea has been practically non-existant, and I have felt good enough to get a run in here and there.  Really my one and only complaint has been heartburn.  It has been around since the very beginning and tums would do the trick. About 1-2 months ago that stopped working so I started taking Zantac once a day, then that stopped helping so we upped it to twice a day, well about a week ago that stopped helping too.  I have a call into the doctor and we will see what she says.  When I was pregnant with Elsie I had to go a prescription and that made the world of difference.  I would like to avoid starting that so soon but it is getting a bit unbearable.

Oh-also if you haven't heard we are having another little girl!!  We are so excited and I can't wait to start going through some of Elsie's things from when she was little and get it all ready for this new babe!  After the holidays we are going to get started on the baby's room.

My doctor's appointments have been going pretty good.  We had two ultrasounds-one at 18.5 weeks and one at 22.5 weeks.  The ultrasound at 22.5 weeks was to try to get a better view of the vessels leading to the heart.  In our first one, our little babe just wasn't cooperating very well and wouldn't get into a good position so we had to try again.  The second time it still wasn't cooperating but finally, she got a good shot of it and said everything looks normal.

My blood pressure has been good so far and baby's heartbeat has been anywhere from 138 into the low 150's.  As of my last appointment 3 weeks ago I was up 7 lbs total for the pregnancy.

Like I mentioned before, for the most part I didn't even feel pregnant and if I didn't have a growing belly I wouldn't even think so but starting last week things definitely have changed.  I feel like my belly is getting so big, I am getting more tired and out of breath at times, and I can tell that bending over just isn't as easy as it used to be.  I am feeling pregnant-which I guess should be expected this far along right?  Oh another symptom that I have been experiencing is congestion in my nose in the morning.  It clears up within minutes of waking up but I definitely wake up stuffy.

Like with Elsie, I felt this baby move later in the pregnancy.  It was probably close to 20 weeks before I thought-that is definitely the baby and it was close to 24 weeks where I felt movement pretty consistently.  The other day I actually thought

Me at 25 Weeks.  I feel like my belly just got HUGE!  

Elsie is really excited about getting a baby sister and she talks about the baby all the time.  At Disney she found this cute little baby Minnie Mouse plush that was swaddled in blanket and just insisted we get it for our baby.  I hope this love continues ;).

Walt Disney World 2014-Day 1

Finally, after months and months of planning and anticipation the day to depart to Walt Disney World had finally arrived.  Elsie was so excited and I was just as equally excited (maybe a little more ;). I don't even know where to begin with going back thinking about our trip.  I had started a planning post weeks before we left so I will probably post that for most things I did prior to the trip.

No more links in our countdown chain-Time to Go!!

Airport Arrival

Waiting to board

Checking out the plane

Our flight didn't depart Des Moines until 10:48 AM which was perfect.  It allowed us to have a "normal" morning before making our way to the airport.  I am not sure if Elsie knew what to expect but she handled everything like a pro.  Dale and Bev dropped us off and we had just over an hour to wait before our plane departed.  John took Elsie through security and I chose to get patted down so I didn't have to go through the body scanner and expose my little baby inside me to the radiation, although they say the levels of radiation are safe, why take the risk when there is a completely safe alternative.  Des Moines is such a small airport there was no wait at all.

A few things for my memory:

1.  We packed to checked bags, one rolling carryon, and we each had a personal bag to stow under the seats.  I also made us all carry our jackets on the flight so it didn't take up room/weight in the luggage.

2.  Allegiant charges for everything and their checked bags limit is 40 lbs.  Our suitcases weighed 35 lbs each.  When packing I tried out rolling our clothes and we had SO much room.  I could have fit everything into one suitcase if there was not weight limit.  In our carry-on rolling suitcase I had a set of clothes for each of us (Elsie had two changes, plus one in her backpack-you can never be prepared with a toddler) and all of our extra shoes.  Also for Elsie's clothes I put each days outfit in a ziploc bag and labeled it and I do not regret this extra bit of effort one bit.  It made getting ready in the mornings a breeze!  I could just grab the bag for her and she would get herself ready.

3.  We brought along our carseat for Elsie to ride in on the plane.  It worked out perfect!  John attached it to our carry-on to transport it through the airport.  He boarded the plane before Elsie and I did and we waited until near the end.  He said the flight attendant was crabby about it however it is the law that they have to let us use it if it is aircraft approved.  Also, it is not recommended that you check your carseat even if it is gate checked due to the risk of damage from them not carefully handling it.  Elsie rode so good in it, it was just like riding in the car to MN except the flight was shorter than our drive.

4.  Our pediatrician recommended that we have Elsie drink something from a straw during takeoff and landing to help with her ears.  He said it is the swallowing motion that helps clear the ears.

5.  We packed lots of activities to keep her busy on the flight and while waiting but she mainly just watched movies on the flight.


We flew into Sandford International Airport just outside of Orlando.  Our flight was on time and Elsie did pretty good-she had one little melt down while we were waiting to get off.  She wanted to get off right away vs waiting our turn to get off.  We collected our luggage and made the long trek to the car rental area.  We had reserved a small car (Corolla size) but ended up getting a van which was kind of nice.  Then we took off to The Villages where I have to Aunts and Uncles that live.  It was about an hour and half drive.  We arrived around 5:00 PM and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Cathy, Stub, Vicki and Jim and realxed during the evening.  My Aunt Cathy had prepared a yummy dinner and some yummy dessert.  Everything was delicious.  We chatted the evening away and finally hit they hay sometime between 10 and 11PM.  The next morning we ate breakfast.  Elsie was loved having animals pancakes and by the end of the morning was calling Aunt Cathy "Grandma Cathy" and saying " I just love Grandma Cathy!" :)  A huge thank you to them for letting us stay with them and for their hospitality.