Jumping Thru July!

We have had such a good month!!  And the month isn't over!  With baby #2 coming this month will sure get more exciting.  I haven't shared a whole lot as to what we have been up to, so I will do that today!!  Looking back at these pictures we really haven't "done" a whole lot or "gone" anywhere... that shows you how much fun that you can have at your own house!!

A rare occurrence at our house!  Makenzie does NOT like the lawn mower or any tractor up close.  But this night she decided that she wanted to help Daddy mow the lawn and went and got her own mower and even found ear muffs so the sound didn't bother her!

Love this silly girl!  And LOVE this viney flower behind her!!

I'm still amazed that my daughter is blonde with blue eyes!

Almost an every day thing here...Keeping this girl clothed on a hot summer day is nearly impossible!!  She's quick... and I'm not :-) 

Checking out our bluebird box!

4 Eggs!!

Remember Sand Art!?!?  Ha!  I made my own!  I was making a LARGE batch of taco seasoning and thought this looked cool!

A typical Wednesday for us is heading off to the local Farmers Market and then to the library for new books.  As soon as we get home Makenzie takes the books to a comfy spot and quietly looks thru them while I make us lunch.

 

Our Farmer's Market goodies!!

Perfect summer day just hanging out in the yard!

Cupcakes I made for 4th of July!  Not sure that I dig the recipe...
it tasted great but doesn't rise.

 

Baby Birds have hatched!!

Matt has spent SOOOO much time working on getting an irrigation well
installed.... a process that started super but stopped at that!

We had 18 turkeys walk thru our yard the other day!!  They happened to
come back today too!  I sure didn't think we'd see all this wild life in the city!!

Enjoying our fruit popsicles after running thru the sprinklers.

Turkey's wandering around some more!

Nothing beats hanging your clothes on the line to dry!
(Good shot Makenzie!)

Our Garden has been doing well (especially since we have had a deer in there every night)!  One morning I picked 13 1/2 lbs of beans... AND froze them all... we got just over 20 meals out of it!  Can't beat that!

Typical Sat morning...

I needed to make some chocolate chip cookies the other day and was floored when I saw how many bags of chips I had and that I was nearly out of flour and sugar!!  Can you see the importance of chocolate in my life!?!? 

Makenzie and Nina heading to the Zee Bus (a mobile library)!
It stops right in front of our house each week... Makenzie just LOVES it.

Matt got a promotion at work a few weeks ago and just started that job last week (Go Honey!!) and WOW is he busy!  Go figure work was SO slow for him and now when we are about to have a baby he is super busy! 

We are all ready for baby...  everything is washed and put away... just waiting for the day! 

Alrighty, well that's the skinny on us!

Yummy Fruit Popsicles!

I had been looking for a recipe to make popsicles since I'm not thrilled with any of the ones at the stores and here is what Makenzie and I came up with!  We had a fun time whipping these bad boys out!!

Fruit Popsicles

Ingredients:

Blueberries
Strawberries (diced)
Peaches (diced w/o peel)

Watermelon (Pureed)

We spread out a bunch of little Dixie cups, filling them 3/4's to the top.

Then I got my food processor out and with an icecream scoop we scooped out the watermelon and pureed it to make the juice!  You pour the juice over the fruit then plop in a popsicle stick (the fruit holds the popsicle stick in place).

We put them in the freezer and in just a few hours they were read to eat!!  When you are ready to eat them you hold the popsicle under warm water for just a few mins then are able to pull the popsicle right out of the cup.  (I recommend for little ones keeping the cup for them to put the popsicle back into incase they need to go chase a butterfly or anything else that distracts them!)

It makes a wonderful sticky mess on a 2 1/2 year old... but that's a perfect snack on a hot summer day when the sprinkler is ready and waiting to be played in!

Tomorrow!?!?

No baby yet!  I am shocked!  With as many contractions i was having I thought for sure that we would have a baby in our arms.  But I am glad we haven't yet!  Matt has been working every nite this past week leaving little family or together time and little downtime for me.  We thought this weekend we would get it but things keep coming up and I spent the day trying to entertain Makenzie... when all she wanted was Daddy!  Not how I want things to be going when we bring a new baby home and flip Makenzies world upside down.        
So hopefully Matt can get caught up tomorrow and we can get some quality time before we are a family of four!  Not to mention tomorrow is our 6 year anniversary!!!!!  How time flies.  As much as I wanted to have this baby already i am realizing His timing is always perfect!  

PATIENCE!

Baby Update!

I will be 38 weeks tomorrow... I had Makenzie 10 days early, which would be this coming Sunday. 

I had my dr's appt yesterday and not much is going on.  I am dilated to 1 cm and the baby hasn't "dropped".  I'm not sleeping... this baby is IN MY RIBS.  I'm not comfortable sitting, standing, laying, leaning, walking.  :-)  (Get the point??)

Makenzie was 8 lbs when she was born and I'm assuming that this baby is to that mark already.  We will wait and see how big this stinker is when he or she decides to make an appearance.

I didn't progress with Makenzie until I was well into labor and hooked up to pitocin... then we finally started dilating.

Here's the kicker... I've been having contractions since 19 weeks!  WAY too early.  Well now that I am ready for them... they aren't coming.  Go figure eh?  

So that's the quick baby belly update!  

Fun on the Forth!

We spent the 4th of July weekend up at Matt's parents cottage.  What fun it was!  It's always fun up there tho!  The days were spent watching Makenzie play with other kids down at the beach.... unfortunately I forgot... yes FORGOT my camera!!  That never happens to me!  But here's what I do have....

Relaxing on the deck!

My two favorite fish!

 Here's a flashback for y'all!!  This is from the 4th of LAST year! You know what... let's take ya back thru a few years!

2011

2012

And here is Makenzie and Joshua... 2013!!  My my my!!!

Enjoying life on the pontoon!  I kind of get scared every time I see this picture... I don't see my full body very much and WOW does it look different than what I remember.  That belly!  Yikes!  (And that was two weeks ago.)

3 Kiddos waiting for breakfast!!

It's probably a good thing I didn't have my camera because someone would have taken a shot of me in my swim suit.  LOL.  I was TOO cheap to go by a maternity suit that I would wear 3 maybe 4 times.  SO I just put on my tankini... hehe.  Let me tell you... I had some MAJOR belly hanging out!!  Like 7 inches of belly :0)  I did try to sneak in the water when people weren't looking, but it takes me forever to get in.  I didn't care... it was too hot and I'm too pregnant to care.  What a site I was.  (Sorry for anyone I scared!  And you are welcome for those of you that died laughing when you saw me!)

Saturday night at the cottage they have a hillbilly parade that comes by along as a boat parade... then the fireworks!  Makenzie was SO excited for the parade but was very shocked when she actually saw it.  It's a good time, but I'm not exaggerating when it is a HILLBILLY parade.  You have to have a sense of humor... Makenzie was just scared.  She DID like the boat parade tho.  

Next time we go up to the cottage there will be 4 of us :-) 

37 Weeks!!

My last belly post was 10 weeks ago :-)  And that was 4 weeks late!  Sorry sorry sorry.  I get to this when I can!

(If you click on these pictures it will make them larger)

 

37 Weeks!

Weight Gain:  41 lbs... I do NOT think I am going to hit the 50 lbs I gained with Makenzie!  Woot woot!  I'm sure I haven't gained as much because of chasing her around all the time and we're just more active in the summer than we are in December :0)  I can definitely feel a difference not having that extra 9 lbs.  I just got to the point where I am very uncomfy... there are baby parts sticking out of me at all times.  That baby can't wiggle a toe without me feeling it.  At this time when I was pregnant with Makenzie I could barely get in and out of chairs without help from Matt... I'm much more moveable (for lack of a better word!) than I was with her.  AND I had already been very uncomfy for weeks... I'm just to that point now at 37 weeks!

Cravings:  Just food!  I suppose morning and evenings are when I really want to eat.  For breakfast I want the yummiest sugariest (yes new word) cereal.  Then after Makenzie has gone to bed I want ice cream and brownies.  I don't get that every day... but I do try to most days.  It just makes my life easier!  I do feel like I'm not eating as much anymore.  It has been pretty hot and when I'm hot I really don't have much of an appetite.

  
Energy:  Wow!  By the 3rd trimester with Makenzie I felt like a walking Zombie!  I was SO tired ALL the time, slept horrible at night too!  My nights JUST started getting bad... and my energy is definitely declining.  But I had energy for a LOT longer than I did with Makenzie.  I think part of it is that there is so much I want to do with Makenzie yet while it's just the two of us that I don't let me being tired get in the way of things.  By bed time I feel like I can't keep my eyes open any longer... go to bed... and am wide awake and super uncomfy.  (Anyone that has been pregnant is now nodding there head saying 'Yup!  Know the feeling!'.)

Sleeping:  Just hit on that.  Rolling over is just a ridiculous event.  I feel like I have a fridge that I am moving from one side to the other... I work to get it off of the one side and into the center (where I'm laying on my back).  At that point it just crushes me and pain goes down my legs and thru my back.  Then I lean over to GENTLY drop it down to the other side.  Then the baby starts kicking wildly because I am squishing him or her and have to start the process over to get back to the other side.  As much as this is a pain, I am happy it's happening because I'm getting so little sleep now that I "should" get more sleep after the baby is O.U.T! 

Braxton-Hicks:  Alright... at 34 weeks we had a little scare.  I had contractions 2-3 mins apart for hours.  I knew it was false labor.... I could breath thru them... they hurt... but not like the real thing.  That lasted from 11 pm to 5 am.  As that was going on I was in a slight panic.  A. It was early yet and this could turn into real labor.  B. We don't have names picked out.  C. The baby's room isn't ready!!  Soon after that... very soon!  We got everything ready.

NOW if we were to go into labor we'll be good!  I did a 3 week grocery shopping trip yesterday WITH Makenzie!  2 Stores.  What a trip... thought that would put me into labor... or at least have some contractions to get things advancing a little.... no luck.  I maybe had 2 contractions.  Go figure. 

So that's the scoop with the baby belly.  The second half of this pregnancy has been a TON better than Makenzie's and I have really been able to enjoy it and like it!  With Makenzie I was working at the dealership still sitting down for most of the day and even now when I sit I sure don't sit for long b/c it hurts.  So maybe that's why my pregnancy with her was so uncomfy.  Most days I'm standing doing something!

I am SUPER excited to have this baby and find out what we have growing in there!  Definitely glad that we didn't find out the sex.  The excitement really keeps you pumped even when you don't feel good.

(All the Maternity Pics are the ones that my friend did!!  Pretty sweet eh!?!?)

What "WORK" looks like....

A few weekends ago, Matt had to head into work for awhile to make sure that everything was running smoothly.  We decided that would be a good time to show Makenzie what Daddy's "work" looks like.  He spends so much time there but she has never been there and has no clue where Daddy really is when he is at work. 

So we got up early, heated up our breakfast burritos, grabbed the froggy potty and hopped in the car to start our "work" day!

Daddy's little helper.... SOOO excited to be at work!

Done with work!  Time to use the froggy potty!  Slightly distracted by the giant airplanes flying overhead!

 After Matt finished up at work we headed to Cabela's to check out the new store!  Makenzie had so much fun seeing all the different animals and the fish in their aquarium.  Then we headed home to enjoy a lunch outside and an afternoon of R&R!

Me enjoying the shade watching Makenzie wash her car!

Quick Post!

I have SOOO much to do right now.  Just put Makenzie to bed... Matt is out fishing with his dad... perfect time for me to put my feet up and do nothing!  BUT also a PRIME time to get to work!  We had a busy day of farmers market, library, making muffins and 4th of July cupcakes.  And boy do I have a mess to clean up.

So here's a quick June picture post....

Matthew had a birthday beg on June!  What a FUN FUN year it was to celebrate him!  I would give Makenzie options and she would pick what she wanted to do for daddy! 

Makenzie even got a "happy happy" gift to go with Daddy's fishing themed presents!  Her own light up Tinkerbell fishing pole!!  (That has turned out to be lucky!  I've seen Matt use that one more than his own ;-)  )

We started Matt's bday by going to a Big Siblings class at the hospital... Makenzie learned all sorts of things about babies and we even got to see a 1 hour old newborn!  (Her eyes were HUGE... how I would have loved to know what was running thru her mind!)

After the class Makenzie chose to take Daddy out to lunch!  So we headed off to his work to pick up the Bday Boy and take him out for some burgers.

The Birthday Cake!  Makenzie is an awesome decorator!

Can anyone spy the two finger prints in the middle of all the sprinkles??

Someone stole a strawberry out of the garden!  Busted!

Silly Willy!

Making rice crispy treats

Family playdate at the park!

Lunch time... and a SILLY Makenzie face!

Makenzie is super into her cake (as you can see by her face) and Auntie Mandi is having a great time!

Can you see the resemblance?  Yes Matt is using her pole... 8 fish were caught!

Father's Day dinner with my fam!

First braid!

Sliding with Aunt Katie

Checking out the toad we caught!  She was happy to sit like this for at least 5 mins and watch it!

Our new friend!  We have found his home and enjoy watching him wander around in the mornings!  He will sit like this the whole half our it takes Makenzie to eat her breakfast!!  Cute!

Crazy Aunt Kelli and Miss Makenzie!

Okay... so that sums up most of June.  Last time I said I would post another pregnancy update and it WILL come.... some day :-)  Off to get some work done!  

Happy 4th Everyone!!  And Happy 23rd Birthday to my sister Katie!!  Twenty-three... weird that she can be that old already.  Ek!