A Day in the Life: March 2015

I know I just did one of these back in February but our lives are so about to change and I wanted to document a weekend day too.

Date:  Sunday, March 22nd, 2015
Elsie is 3 Years, 3 Months Old, John is 36 years old and I am 32 year old
Weather:  Upper 50's and Sunny/Clear

This morning we were up and at 'em early-6:34 to be exact :).  Elsie has no problem waking up early and getting the day started.

After snuggling in our bed for a while and watching an episode of Paw Patrol (Elsie's new favorite show) we went to her room to make her bed.  A new habit we are trying to get into.  I think she enjoys putting her "pretty pillows"on her bed in the morning.  

John started breakfast, I showered and then started a load of laundry.  By 7:30 we were sitting down to breakfast.  On the menu this morning:  Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes.  They were not John's favorite-he didn't care for the bananas but Elsie seemed to like them.  We also had watermelon and some sausage to go with it.  

We had decided that this morning just needed to be a relaxing morning and just kind of go with it.  We didn't have any commitments until 11:00 AM so we didn't rush too much.  We hoped to make some returns in town at Target and Kohls before brunch but if it didn't happen, it didn't happen.  We turned on Dancing with the Stars.  Earlier in the week we had turned it on so Elsie could watch the dancing.  It was her first "non-kids" show and she immediately took to it.  She was mesmerized by the dancing and made John dance with her to the song after every performance-thank goodness for DVR so we could rewind and replay.  This particular morning she did the same thing.  She had John get her "tent light" which is a light that goes in a play tent that flashes all different colors and hang it up by the other lights to dance under.  She had to get a dress on and then after watching Chris Soules (the bachelor) and Whitney his partner dance she told John they had to dance in the dining room where the floor was "slippery" and she had to get her "cowgirl boots" on.  

After awhile I headed upstairs to get ready while they continued to play downstairs.  

These days I keep everything in my toiletry bag on the counter so in the event that I go into labor I can just grab my bag and go-all ready :)

I have been terrible at taking bump photos this pregnancy and am trying to get better.  Here I was 38 weeks with 10 days to go before my due date. 

I think we ended up leaving somewhere between 9:45-10:00 and headed straight to Kohls to make a return and to use some Kohls cash.  There wasn't too much we found there-I ended up with a placemat to put in the center of our table and little bike shorts for Elsie.  Then we headed to Hickory Park for lunch to celebrate Brandi's 40th birthday!! 

I told John I think it is funny because in February I did one of these posts and we went to dinner at Hickory Park-people must think we go here a lot but in reality we don't hardly at all.  Maybe a couple times a year.  

After lunch we made our way over to Target to make a return and to check out the Rock and Plays for the baby.  I have been waiting to purchase one of these to use when I take the babe to work with me at the shop and wanted to compare the two different models.  We had received a target gift card for Christmas from my sister and a friend had given me one the day before for the baby so we were able to purchase it with hardly any out of pocket-we ended up getting the deluxe model and I ordered it online-it should be arriving on the 31st! 

This is the model we got.  

After target we headed home for naptime-at least naptime for Elsie and Me-we slept for over two hours!!! After nap John and Elsie played outside with Tally while I worked.  I hadn't put in any work hours in over the whole weekend so I knew I would have to get some in that night.  

Because we slept so long during nap and because we got a late start with naptime we didn't have much time in the evening.  And it was bath night! This is exciting because for the first time in 2.5 months we were able to use the bath!!!!  John had finally finished repairing and re-grouting the tub surround!  As much as Elsie enjoyed taking showers I think she enjoys taking baths a lot too.

It was my turn that night to put Elsie to bed so I had to capture a few pics of our evening snuggles!!

I left her room a little after 8:00 PM, fold some laundry and got back to work. John cleaned up from the day and then hung out with me while I worked.  Around 10:00 PM I headed upstairs for bed and John headed out to check the cows one more time before heading to bed.  All in all this day was a pretty low key day.  No house projects that we wanted to work on and no big "chores" we wanted to get done-just a day to relax because we know this will all change soon enough.  

Easter Egg Dying and Hunt

On Sunday we had a little Easter Celebration with John's family.  With the impending arrival of our little babe any day now and my parents coming to stay over the Easter weekend we thought it would be a good time to get together and celebrate because who knows what next weekend will bring :)  

We started out first by dying Easter Eggs, then did a little egg hunt in our house, and the headed over to a neighboring down for lunch.  

Don't mind this girl's hair!  We just can't control it.  

Elsie's Easter Eggs

Time to start the egg hunt.  We split it up between the two littles and the two olders so we could make it more challenging for the older girls.  

Orson's Birthday Egg Hunt

This past weekend one of our friend's little boys turned three!  To help him celebrate they hosted a birthday Easter Egg Hunt out at their land.  It was a beautiful day (a little windy) but it seemed like a typical March day.  There were loads of kids there but they were prepared with SO many eggs!!!

We tried to limit this girl because she would go crazy collecting eggs.  If we got to an area where there was like 6-10 eggs we told her she could only pick up a few before she had to move on to hunt in a new area.  I don't think she was deprived anything for this :)  She had more than enough chocolate, stickers, and tattoos.  

Checking out her stash

The crew of kids

Thank you Kara and Orson for hosting the egg hunt and we wish Little O a very happy Birthday!!

Pregnancy Update: 39 Weeks

Whoa!! One week left, although I know that pregnancies go beyond your due date and have a good feeling this one will it is still crazy to think less than a week of my official 40 week pregnancy.  I have said this over and over with the pregnancy but it has gone SO fast!  I know I haven't done a lot of updates but to be honest, I don't have a lot to update.  Most of my appointments over the past few months have looked like this:

Check in
Pee in a cup
Sit back down in waiting room
Get called back to exam room
Weight check-nothing significant although there was a time when I wasn't really gaining weight.
Sit in Exam Room and get blood pressure taken-always normal
Greet doctor
Report that I have not issues and no questions
Listen for heartbeat-always in the 130's-140's
Measure belly-always right on for the week.
Say goodbye to doctor and schedule next appointment.

Honestly, it has been all the same with one exception-I think it was at my 36 week appointment I made a comment about how I hadn't felt baby move so much that particular morning and then they insisted I do a non-stress test and of course all was well thank goodness.  

This pregnancy has been so uneventful-I hope that continues on with delivery as well as health of the baby when it is born.

My biggest complaint has been heartburn but we have that under control.  Even some of the things like bad back pain and swollen ankles that I experienced with Elsie are non-existent.  I started to get bad back pain but a single trip to my massage therapist has cleared that up.  I just am feeling pregnant :)

Here are some things that stand out about the pregnancy:
1. I am tired-I take a nap most days I am home with Elsie.  I wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time falling back to sleep and am up for and hour or two at a time.  On the rare occasion I am able to sleep through the night.  However, I still feel like I am accomplishing a lot throughout the day.  I do miss my two hours in the afternoon to get stuff done though because I am napping.  I have also come up with a good solution for sleeping comfortably.  Poor John said he can't wait for the "barrier" to come down which is my big pillows that I used between us to support my arms when I sleep.

2.  This baby has been hanging out on my right side-it is definitely not centered in my belly and I feel all the kicks on my right side as well.  :)

3.  I crave sugar-which is so not like me-give me salty and savory but this pregnancy my cravings for sugar have been out of control.  For a while I was eating a bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup almost every night.

4.  I haven't hit that "uncomfortable" phase yet.  Maybe it will hit this week.

37 Weeks

Me at 38 weeks 4 days!  

I had my 39 week appointment this morning and all seems to be going well.  

• Blood pressure is normal
• Heart rate was in the 140's
• Down a pound which bring total weight gain to 23 lbs
• Belly is measuring at 39 cm-right on track
• No swelling in ankles/feet
• I declined to be checked again this week.  I was worried they were going to insist that they check to see if I had dilated at all-I remember with Elsie this happening a few times.  But no, they were just fine with not checking for dilation and actually said most of the time they do it because that is what the patient wants.  They want to see if they are progressing at all.  I figure I will know if I am progressing when I start having contractions or my water breaks ;).  

My next appointment is next Friday which I will be 40 weeks 2 days at that point.  I am scheduled for a non-stress test, ultrasound, and regular appointment.  We will see if I make it that far.  My parents are coming down Thursday night so I am hoping to make it until at least then but we shall see.  

Life in February-2015

February kicked of with one of our only snowstorms of the season!  We have had such little snow this winter that Elsie was so excited to see the snow so we all headed outside to try to build a snowman.   

Unfortunately the snow wasn't the best for snowman making.  

Tally definitely didn't mind the snow though.  She loved just laying around in it. 

In February we wrapped up our first sessions of swim lessons:  Preschool Level One.  Elsie LOVED her instructor and we thought the instructor did a wonderful job.  Elsie just loved being in the water and passed to move on to Preschool Level Two which we also started in February.   

February 7th brought VERY exciting news.  Adalyn Joelle was born at 5:10 in the morning.  So excited for the Olson family and their new precious addition!!!!

Also that same morning, Elsie had a birthday party for a little boy from daycare.  They went to ISU and were able to paint a piece of pottery.  Elsie chose to paint a mug and it turned out so cute!!

In February we spent a lot of time working on refinishing the hardwood floors and painting the nursery and hallway.  

On the left are the floors unfinished and on the right was after the first coat of poly.  

Elsie got her dance costume for her recital in April.  

Over the weekend of February 13th-15th we headed up to MN to celebrate my sister's birthday.  I also enlisted my mom's help to make a baby blanket.  I had been having a hard time finding one that I liked/matched the colors I wanted so I decided to make one myself.  The plan called this a 2 hour balnket-more like a full day! :)  But I am happy with the way it turned out.  

On Friday February 20th, John, Elsie and I attended the ISU Gymnastics meet.  It was themed Disney Daddy DAughter Date night and the kids were encouraged to dress up for the occasion so of course Elsie wore her Frozen Dress.  Chuck, Lisa and family also attended.  We also received a special photo of Elsie and John at the event.  Elsie enjoyed watching gymnastics-especially the beam.  I think it was nice she was able to relate some of these things to what she is doing in tumbling.  

A Collage of the final finished product:  Hallway, nursery, and stairs.  

One Sunday evening we had invited Marc and Amber and family over for dinner and Elsie was waiting so patiently for her friends to arrive.  She sat here for over 20 minutes.  It was really sweet.  

John and Elsie have such a special relationship and they have really developed some little rituals-like making breakfast in the morning.  If it is up to me we will just eat cereal and fruit in the mornings but most mornings John and Elsie will make breakfast together.  Elsie has her own little jobs that she gets to do and she always want to help.  

Also John is so patient with her and even lets her pretend to do his hair/paint his face at her little vanity :)

On February 28th we hosted our third annual Winter Game Night.  This year was the largest since we started doing it.  We had 20+ people come which was fun-the more the merrier-but also led to some challenges.  We had a great time and can't wait for next year (I am a game junkie!).  This year in attendance was Nick and Hillary, Marc and Amber, Jeff and Robbie, Kedra and Mathew, Kara and Orson, Shanna and Mike, Belicia and Matt, Chuck and Lisa, Nanette and Buzz, and Us of course.  There were one or two other couples that had planned on coming but had some sicknesses come up so they weren't able to make it. 

This years big winners:  

Orson won the PBR pullover jacket graciously donated by Marc ;)

Mathew won the $10 Casey's Gift Card 

Other winners were Lisa-won the $10 iTunes gift card and Matt won the grand prize $25 BWW gift card. February-Day in the Life

Oh also I did a Day in the Life post documenting a snapshot of what our life is like right now with one child on a day I am home with Elsie.  

Well that was our February.  There was A LOT of time spent on the upstairs house project but we still managed to find some time to have fun!!