And The Winner Is...

First of all, thanks to all who entered the contest about guessing baby number 2's gender. I used the list randomizer on www.random.org to generate a random list and the winner is whoever ended up in the number 1 spot on the list. I entered the names in the same order the comments were left. Here is a photo of the list from random.org-



Congratulations Belinda!! Send me an email and let me know what gift card you want. So, what did Belinda and the others on the list guess? BOY! We are having a boy- Yay!!! He gave us quite a view too so there is no doubt. Although a girl would have been great too and I would not have been sad at all to hear that news, I was hoping for another boy. I just always pictured myself being the mom of boys. Here is my precious baby boy's latest photo.



My labeling on the photo didn't work as well as I had hoped but I think you can still figure out what everything is. The ultrasound tech spent quite a while going over everything and said he looked great and was really healthy. Rob went with me to this appointment so that meant a babysitter for Rex. It was the first time we ever left him with a babysitter at our house and he did fantastic. That's awesome news because now mommy and daddy can get in a few date nights before the "new kid" (as Rob called him the other day- HA!) arrives!

Well, We've Done It!

This was the big announcement made by the weatherman on tv this past Sunday night. "Done what?" I innocently thought. What we've done turns out to be setting the record for the most snow in December (27.7 inches) for the past 97 years. Oh, how exciting. He was actually talking about Des Moines but I'm pretty sure this feat has been accomplished by most of central Iowa. And there are still two more days left this month- wonder if we'll be adding some more by then? After consulting various weather forecasts, it looks like we will. In fact, last night they said on the news that we may even get the record for most snow in any month. Of course, this comes from the same people who told us just a month or so ago that this winter would be mild and we would not have a lot of snow, so who knows. The first winter we were here was brutal- very cold and snowy with no breaks from November until early April. Last winter was better overall but we had some record setting cold days last year. I remember one day in January that was -29 and the windchill was -45. Yikes. So now I think maybe this winter we will finally get a break but no way. I know I signed up for cold and snow, but does it have to break records every winter? Here we are during our first weekend in Iowa- I don't know why I'm surprised by anything that's happened since.

'Twas 3 Days After Christmas..

And Shelby finally got to her holiday post
Though she wasn't the last
She was later than most
Hopefully Santa was good to you
He was very good to our kid
Check out the photos below
To see how Rex did!

His big gift from Santa was a new playhouse. Rob wants to put a skull and crossbones and flag on it to make it look like a pirate hangout. We'll see.



Anything with Elmo is a big hit. He liked the slippers ok (too hard to get around with them on though) but he loved the Elmo Encore Live doll that talks. Rob and I think Rex believes that really is Elmo in our living room, talking to him!




The rocking horse didn't get put together until Sunday but here he is, having a grand time riding it.



Rex got so many presents- you can check out Flickr to see the rest of the photos with Rex opening his presents and playing with his toys.

On to the food! We had a roast with potatoes, carrots and celery, as well as some dinner rolls and jello. I didn't take pictures of anything but my Christmas tree shaped jello. I was just so excited that I got to use my Christmas tree mold for the first time and that I actually got the jello out of the mold without incident! Then I kind of forgot about everything else. Oops. Here's my jello.



The best thing about the roast though was probably making beerocks (something we miss from Fresno and also sometimes spelled bierocks) with the leftovers the next day. Yum!! This photo is of Rob's plate and beer- I just had the beerocks.



Here I am on Christmas Eve, making eggnog sugar cookies to give out as part of our Christmas treats. Truth be told, most of these stayed here in our house because they are Rob's favorite and he was not willing to part with many. Rob actually took this picture because we thought it was funny that I was barefoot and pregnant and cooking in the kitchen.



Hope you all had a wonderful time like we did!

Getting His Hands Dirty

Rex has been getting his hands dirty today. Actually, it has only been for the last 20 minutes but we've had two incidents now. Here is the funny one. He was playing in the refrigerator and I knew he had the cool whip but foolishly, I did not think he could get the lid off.



I'm not sure why he looks so distressed. I was laughing and he was laughing too right up until I took the picture. He didn't get in trouble at all- I thought it was so funny! Unlike the first incident, less than 20 minutes before, when he stuck his hand in his poopy diaper. NOT funny and he did get in trouble for that. There are no photos of that though because who wants to relive that moment? Hopefully this concludes our dirty hands portion of the day.

Baby Bump and a Contest

With my first pregnancy, it was quite a while before I started to really show much. And then it was a while longer before I put up a picture of what I looked like. Well, the bump started way earlier this time and I'm prepared to share earlier too. I don't love this stage of pregnancy where you tend to just look a little chubby rather than pregnant. Anyhow, here I am- 16 weeks and 5 days into my pregnancy.



I've been a little depressed with the lack of comments I get on the blog. I know lots of people check in thanks to my sitemeter, but I usually only get 0-2 comments per post. It kind of stinks to put this much work into something and get little or no response. I know I have been a bad blogger lately (really really bad while I had so much morning, afternoon and evening sickness) so part of it is my fault. I've been trying to be a better blogger and in order to try and stir up some comments and see who is reading, I decided to hold a contest and give away a $25 gift card of your choice (but please remember I have to be able to get the card in Iowa). The contest is to guess whether we are having a boy or girl. We find out on December 30th but I am making the cutoff for entering midnight on Christmas Day (12/25/09). Of those who guess correctly, I will randomly pick one winner for the gift card and announce it in a post on December 30th, after we go to the doctor. If the baby is not cooperative for the ultrasound, we will still do the contest but have to delay the picking and announcement of the winner until we find out. So please leave a comment with your guess and say hello! And to my husband Rob, if you read this, you are not eligible to enter the contest. Sorry honey but it just doesn't seem right.

A Place to Sit

Rex has been making some interesting choices lately about places to sit. Guess he is like Goldilocks, trying to find just the right spot. Or maybe he's like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory- HA! (If you didn't get that, then you aren't watching that show and you should be!!)

First, it was in the bookshelves. No, we haven't been robbed. We just can't keep anything on the lower shelves right now because Rex destroys everything.



Then it was in a box while watching tv.



Finally, yesterday he tried out one of the containers that we keep his toys in.



I don't think he was too thrilled with any of these options. Maybe Santa will bring him an Elmo chair like this or maybe his mom and dad will get one for him someday.

Storm of the Century

Most of you have probably heard it was snowing pretty good in Iowa lately. One of the local newscasts went so far as to call Tuesday and Wednesday's storm "The Storm of the Century." I think they were being a little dramatic but even the National Weather Service called it an "epic" storm. We stocked up on all the essentials last weekend and were ready for it but still, wow. Most of the snow fell early Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning and then it was really windy, enough to cause blizzard conditions, for most of Wednesday. It was a lot of snow for Iowa- between 14-17 inches here where we are. Usually we get about 2-3 inches with a storm and a big storm may bring 6-8 inches so this was quite a lot. Pretty much everything (roads, schools, businesses) was shut down yesterday and a lot of the schools still are closed today. Rob didn't have go to work yesterday but he was back today. I didn't take any pictures during the storm because you aren't going to get me going outside to take pictures during a blizzard. Also, much of the snow fell Tuesday night so I was asleep for a lot of the crazy stuff. Here are some pictures from when it settled down yesterday afternoon and what we are left with.

Here is the front of the house from across the street.



The walk to our front door is somewhere around here. It used to look like this.



Aha! There it is.



This is what we saw when Rob opened our garage door.



Our backyard- did someone steal my planter box? Oh, it's just buried in all that snow!



I don't think we will be dining outdoors for a while.



Finally, here is Rob with our neighbors' snowblower cleaning out our driveway. Our shovel works okay for the amount of snow we usually get but it was time to get the heavy machinery out. I ask Rob every year when the snowblowers go on sale after winter or during the summer when we see them at yardsales if he would like to get a snowblower and he always says no. Guess what he said after using this? He came in and told me, "I gotta get one of those! It was so much easier and even kind of fun." Looks like I'll be checking out the snowblower sales in a few months.

I Want to Wash My Hands, My Face and Hair With Snow

Today we have our first snow of the season (you can see the snow falling better if you click on the image and make it larger).




It seems winter is here. This is much later for our first snow than the last two years so I won't complain. I keep hearing people say that this winter is supposed to be mild so I'm hoping they are all right. Our first winter here was quite awful and cold and then last year wasn't so bad. If this winter is even warmer with less snow, that would be great. I don't mind the cold and snow so much but I would say it is something that I endure rather than something I look forward to. I do look forward to our springs, summers and falls here though.

I know I was going to start blogging more but there has been a small incident with my glasses. Rex nearly broke them once before but Rob was able to save them. They sat crooked on my face but they worked. I'm afraid this time he has damaged them beyond repair. Anyhow, it makes reading and typing pretty tough when I don't have them. I'm okay for a short while but then I feel like I am going crosseyed. In fact, it is time to wrap this up. Hopefully I make it to the eye doctor soon and get some new glasses!

*Title for this post is part of the lyrics from Snow from the movie White Christmas- need to watch the movie soon now that it is the Christmas season!

"It Looks Like Miley Cyrus Is Doing a Concert"

Our Thanksgiving was really nice. Rob and I had talked about eating around 1:00 or 2:00 but when it was time to get going Thursday morning, we were not moving very fast. We decided to have a big pancake breakfast and eat thanksgiving dinner at 5:00 or 6:00 instead. In order to make sure we both get our thanksgiving day favorites, we have to make a lot of food.



There was turkey (just a breast, not the whole thing), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, jello, cranberry sauce, crescent rolls and green bean casserole. Rob tried to make some gravy but we won't talk about that. Everything else turned out great though. Rex's favorite part was the meat.



What a difference from last year. Last Thanksgiving he had just started eating a little rice cereal a couple days before. It's much better to share all that food between three people instead of just two. I spent a lot of the day thinking about everything I am thankful for and it is just amazing to think about how many wonderful family and friends we have and how blessed we are.

Later that evening, around 11:00 p.m., Rob took off for the Toys R Us in Des Moines to get Rex's big Christmas present. It is something we wanted to get him but couldn't afford to at the regular price but with the smokin' doorbuster deal, it was doable. Toys R Us was supposed to open at midnight and when Rob got there about 15 minutes before, he called and said, "It looks like Miley Cyrus is doing a concert in the parking lot or something!" There was nowhere to park and the line to get in the store was crazy long, probably about 1,000 people he thought. The most surprising thing to me was that he said there were a LOT of kids there. Huh? Shouldn't they be asleep? And why would you take them with you to buy their presents? I still can't figure that out. Anyhow, we both agreed it wasn't worth all that so he turned around and came back home. We were trying to come up with other options for the gift but I found it online Friday morning for only $20 more and the shipping was super-cheap so we did that instead. I am so happy that we are still going to be able to get him the gift we really wanted.

Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with the doctor and the baby and I are both doing very well. It was pretty quick- I did get to hear the heartbeat though which is so cool. It was not smart of me to see the doctor the day after Thanksgiving because weighing in was just ugly. I gained 4 pounds this month but I suppose between the turkey dinner and all the In-N-Out burgers and Mexican food I ate in California, I should be very thankful that it was only 4 pounds!

Rex's First Haircut

We took Rex to get his first professional haircut last night. Finally. We had been trimming it around his ears and in the back some but it was past time to get it done right. I was having a hard time with it a little bit because babies don't need a haircut, big boys do. His hair was getting so shaggy though that it was time for mommy to deal with it and take her big boy to get his hair cut.



I took a few books and toys to help distract him and keep him busy while she was working on him. She had him sit on my lap to help him feel more comfortable which I thought was a really good idea. She was so patient and good with him and it went by pretty fast and he looked great when she was done.



I still am planning on writing a post about the rest of our trip to California but I have so much to say and have not had a big window of time where I can sit down and type it all up. Coming soon though- I promise!

My 200th Post!

Wow, 200 posts! I was hoping the baby announcement would coincide with this special blogoversary but I did not want to put off the big announcement any longer. But since I need a special topic for this special post, let's recap my wonderful sister's wedding this past Saturday!



Originally uploaded by NannersP
- Thanks Nanette for taking such a nice photo during the wedding!

I was so thrilled when Megan asked me to be her matron-of-honor and I have been looking forward to this for months. I was excited about our trip and seeing everyone but this just made it even better. Being pregnant and having to go dress shopping is a little tricky since it's like hitting a moving target. I had no idea what size I would be for the wedding but I just took my best guess and made sure I bought a dress that was forgiving if I was a little off. It worked out just fine. Whew. So last Friday, I went with my parents to the wedding location to help decorate and then rehearse.



Doesn't it look so nice in there? It was a harvest theme which I just adored since I love autumn so much. There were lots of pumpkins, autumn leaves, corn stalks, hay bales, candy corn, gourds and pomegranates all around, inside and out. The gift for everyone was little jars of homemade pomegranate jelly. Yum. I haven't broken into any of the 3 jars I grabbed, but I plan on doing that very soon. After we got the decorating finished, it was time to rehearse.

This is Jim, the groom and my new brother-in-law, helping us out with the order of events.



Dad practicing walking Megan down the aisle.



On Saturday, I spent most of the day with Megan. We went and got our hair done and then headed over to the wedding location to get dressed. It seems like I didn't do that much and yet the time was just flying by! Here's Megan getting dressed and ready to go.



Everything went really smoothly. Well, almost. The groom forgot to bring his shoes but my parents were able to pick them up and bring them to him so it turned out just fine. The ceremony was great. Jim told the story of how they met. I've heard my sister tell it a few times but hearing it from him was great too. The reception was a lot of fun and the food was great.



One of my favorite things about the whole day though was when Jim surprised Megan and sang her a song at the reception.



I think everyone had a good time. I know I did and the bride and groom did. That's what is most important, right? Not me, but that they enjoyed their wedding. Congratulations to my sister and her husband!

P.S.- Nanette has a lot of really good pictures of the ceremony on one of her posts.

Rex's Big Announcement

The timing of our trip to California worked out just right for Rex to make our big announcement to family and friends.



Rex is going to be a big brother! Everyone loved the shirt- and his news!- and it was so great to be able to share our news in person this time. Last time we told everyone over the phone on Christmas Eve which was good but this was better. The baby is due on May 26th which means I am exactly 13 weeks today. Here is a picture of the baby which was taken on October 29th.



We have another ultrasound already scheduled for December 30th to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. We'll let everyone know but keep the name a secret again like we did with Rex. The pregnancy has gone very well so far. I had a lot of nausea around my sixth week which was real bad for about 2 weeks then started easing up slowly and I'm fine now. I know I probably should have told more people in person before I blogged about it, but when I blogged about being pregnant with Rex it was not very exciting because pretty much everyone already knew. So this is more fun for me to surprise people this way this time. So stay tuned for lots more pregnancy posts and photos of swollen feet! And if you were wondering why my blog posting has been so bad the last two months, that is why. I felt so bad that I just couldn't make myself do much of anything but I promise to be better now!

Back Where I Come From

We had a great time on our trip to California. I have so much to share about it and am planning on breaking it up into a few different posts. Right now though, I have to share a couple things Rex did yesterday. First, let me tell you that the kid loves dishwashers. Every house we were at, he found the dishwasher and would proceed to push all the buttons and try to open it. I have to be careful at home to keep ours shut tight so he can't get it open. Apparently, I forgot that important little fact yesterday.



I knew he had gotten it open, I was standing right next to him while he did this, but I was shocked when I looked down to find him actually inside the thing! I laughed sooo hard and ran for the camera. I'm just glad he didn't dent it or break anything. Oh, and he said "Uh oh" while I took this picture. So funny!

Later in the evening, after dinner, Rex learned another new trick.




He was playing in the living room and when I looked over to check on him, I discovered that he had managed to take his shirt off. I laughed really hard at that too, so did Rob, which we later regretted when he kept trying to take it off for the rest of the night. Now we are taking bets to see how long it will be before we find him completely stripped down. I'm sure it won't be long!

California, Here We Come

It's just 3 days until we leave for our trip to California. We'll be there for a week and I have been trying to plan it all out so we can see as many people as possible and eat at all the places we really miss. It is amazing how fast a week goes though, especially when you lose 2 days to traveling and are in a wedding during that time. I'm happy to report that my sister (the bride) is feeling much better now after getting the H1N1 flu. I'm getting really excited for the wedding and the trip. I think I have everything we need for the trip but I haven't started packing yet.

After a very cold October, November has started off kind of warm. It's in the 60s for the next few days and so Rob is going to play some golf this weekend. Golf in November- seems a little crazy for Iowa. I'm sure by the time we get back from our trip, all good weather will be over and winter will start settling in. Snow is good through Christmas but then it is just a pain during January and February.

So, not too much going on around here- we've just been getting ready for our trip and getting the house ready for winter. Rob spent about 5 hours last Saturday in the yard, raking leaves and cleaning stuff up. Then on Sunday he put up some of the storm windows. I'm still trying to keep Rex out of circulation until he gets his second H1N1 shot so he and I don't get out much. He is the best kid in the whole world (at least in my opinion) and I just don't want him to get sick. So don't be surprised if I ask you to wash your hands or use antibacterial gel before you hold or touch him next week. If I let you touch him. Rob calls me "mama bear" for a reason!

Just Dance

It seems no one can resist a catchy Lady Gaga tune.



Actually, Rex will dance to anything- any time he hears some music, he stops what he is doing so he can shake it. You may notice some abandoned flash cards and George in the background of the video. That is because as soon as he heard me start up the music, he dropped what he was doing and came over to the gate at the end of the hall (the closest he could get to me and the music) and started dancing.

In other news, Rex got his first H1N1 flu shot on Monday. I wish he was able to get both before our trip to California but since they have to be 28 days apart, there is no way. We got it for him the first day our county had the clinics so there isn't anything else we could have done. Oh well. He is such a tough guy- no tears or anything when he got it. And in a related story, my poor sister has gotten sick with the stupid swine flu. Not great for anyone but really not great when you are getting married in 3 weeks and trying to get everything ready for the wedding. Here's hoping she gets well very, very soon!

Not much planned for us this weekend. We need to work on getting some yard stuff and house stuff done before winter gets here. So much more to do to get ready for winter when you live where it snows! Last weekend I had Bunco and Rob played golf so that was a fun weekend. Now we have to have a work weekend- yuck. I made cheesecake pops for my snack for Bunco and they were a big hit. I forgot to take a picture but they looked really cute and tasted pretty good too.

Boring. Cold and Boring.

That's us right now- cold and boring. I haven't blogged in a while because there is absolutely nothing to blog about. Don't believe me? Here is what we did Tuesday night.

Rob used the newspaper to make Rex a hat.



But he didn't really want to wear it.



Then Rob put it on.



So that's us. It's really cold here. Our highs have been in the 40s and lows in the 20s and 30s. It has even snowed some around us. We've had snow in our weather forecast but we have been lucky and managed to avoid it so far. Average high for now is 65 so this really stinks. And that is all I've got.

The Things He Does

We haven't been doing much lately. Seriously. I have been scrapbooking like crazy since my work space got all set up and Rob fixed a window on the side of the garage. Nothing exciting to write about there. We are planning a trip this weekend to Minneapolis and I have Bunco on Friday so things are looking a little more lively in the near future. I thought I'd take the opportunity to share what Rex is up to these days.

Where's Rex?



Peekaboo- There he is!



Obviously, peekaboo is still a big hit. (By the way, I did trim up his hair a little since these pictures were taken a few days ago.) He tells Elmo and Vanna "bye" when they say bye at the end of their shows which cracks me up! I have been trying to get a video of it but have not yet been successful. When Rex is finished eating, he says "done" and he uses hi and bye appropriately and waves when he says either. He can make monkey sounds when you say "Monkey" and he also makes the noises to his favorite stuffed animal, Curious George, without any prompting. He stacks all the rings up on the Fisher Price ring stacker thing and can even get them in the right order sometimes. I'm sure there are plenty more fun things he is doing but I can't think of them all right now and Mr. Sleepyhead finally decided to wake up this morning so I better go get him. We just have the best time with him and he is an outstanding little boy.

And on a completely random side note, I just saw Dennis Quaid on tv and man, did he look bad! I have always thought he was a pretty handsome guy but he's had some work done that didn't seem to go too well. Sometimes it is best to just try and age gracefully instead of fighting it. If you don't believe me, just ask Kenny Rogers.

Take A Picture, It'll Last Longer

I think I have owned most of the scrapbooking supplies shown below for at least four years. There are more too that are not even shown here. I took a lot of pictures on a trip to Europe in 2005 and I came home thinking I would make a beautiful scrapbook of my trip so I bought all the supplies. I knew I would get around to it someday so I have moved all the supplies from my old house to apartment to another apartment and to my house now. And now, I am finally getting around to doing something with them.



The biggest issue for me was getting all my photos printed. And by now, it wasn't just pictures from one trip. It's wedding pictures, Rex pictures, vacation pictures and everything else from the last 4 1/2 years of my life. I didn't want to deal with getting 500+ photos printed because that meant a LOT of uploading to Walgreens website. I had the good sense last week to check on the prices Apple has for printing services (no uploading- just order straight from iPhoto) and they were so cheap! Shipping was only $2.99 and the pictures were delivered two days after I ordered them. The next issue was photo albums. I had a couple but needed more. The local arts/crafts/hobby store had all their scrapbooking supplies on sale for 50% off so I picked up the rest of needed. Final problem- a place to work. Rob solved that one by making a huge work table in our office for me.



As you can see by the plan sets on the table, Rob was the first to use the new desk. But after all his hard work, I'd say he deserved it. I still have to move in and get all my stuff set up but I can't wait to finally get my photo albums put together!

Ticket for One

I had a nice weekend. It was Bunco with the girls on Friday night and then I went to the movies to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Sunday. Rob was going to go with me but I did not feel comfortable leaving Rex with a babysitter so Rob stayed with Rex while I went to watch the movie. Yes, I was a total nerd and went to see a Harry Potter movie by myself. Laugh all you want because I don't really care. Sometimes you just do what you have to do.

This week is not too exciting though. We have nothing going on which is fine. Lots of time for reading books. For me, it's Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich and for Rex, it's everything on the shelf.

Back to Normal

Rex is all better now. His fever was gone by Wednesday morning and he was about 90% that day. He still had a little less energy than usual but Thursday he was running at a full 100%. Here is some video from yesterday when he was back at it again. In the first one, he was playing with my cup and thought the sound the straw made was so funny. In the second one, he crawls like a baby instead of his usual belly-on-the-ground crawl. At the end, he tries to stand up but gets a little stuck.

Milestones

We've had some big milestones recently. First of all, a happy belated birthday to my husband who turned 40 yesterday! We had a party for him last Friday night and spent most of last week and even the previous weekend prepping for that. We have a room that we call the "Bike Shop" because it's where we keep our 4 bikes but really it is a 3-season room just off the garage. Besides the bikes, it has Rex's strollers and some crap. Last Sunday we decided to clean it all out and paint it and make it the party room it was destined to be.

Before:



After:




Unfortunately, I was so busy playing with Rex and keeping an eye on all the food to keep that table full and yummy-looking that I forgot to take even one picture. I also had set the oven on fire about 45 minutes before the party was supposed to start so my mind was pretty well fried by party time. Rob had to spray the oven down with the extinguisher but we got it all cleaned before everyone arrived. Nobody got any bacon-wrapped lil' smokies (the cause of the fire) or spinach dip (which was supposed to go in after the cholesterol-on-a-stick snacks) but there was still plenty of food. We had a good time and I think everyone else did too. His actual birthday last night was pretty mellow- we had pizza at home. Our families chipped in to get him a new driver and fairway wood for his birthday which he received last weekend so he didn't even have any presents to unwrap. Again, I forgot to take any photos but I did get this one this morning- this is all that was left of the birthday festivities.



Our next big milestone started Sunday morning when we woke to find that Rex was one sick little guy. He's been running a fever since then and had some tummy troubles Saturday and Sunday night. This is the main reason why Rob's birthday yesterday was so lame (sorry honey). We took him to the doctor yesterday and got him all checked out which included a very unpleasant blood sample. See bandaged arm below.



We were there for a while and he has a virus that just has to do its thing and get out of his system. He's a little crabby but I think he is doing pretty well considering what all he is dealing with. I miss this guy who gets into everything and can't wait for his return!