A Little Slice of Car Heaven

Of all the things we did on vacation, I'd be willing to bet this was probably MJ's fave!  Before we left Iowa, we found that there was a classic car museum in Sarasota and knew that we just had to take MJ.  This boy loves his cars I tell ya, and it sure was cute watching him check out all the cars and just soaking it all in.





Hellllooo Sarasota Classic Car Museum, MJ has arrived!

 The museum was set up in a circular shape, and MJ walked round and round just taking it all and pointing to his favorites! 

 A favorite red car with Daddy

 Taking a quick rest with Mommy

Even loved exploring the history books about cars!

Saying "cheese" with a favorite blue car he found!

A favorite was viewing all the pictures and small cars in a glass case.

It will be interesting to see how long his love of cars lasts.  He sure is mesmerized!  We're thinking of updating his nursery into a bit of a big boy room with what else but a cars theme!!





Wa-Wa!

The day before we left for vacation MJ wrapped up his swimming lessons here in Dubuque.  Little does he know he was originally a FL baby and was in our pool beginning at 8 weeks old, but since we'd left FL he really hasn't had much of any water exposure.  He's loved taking baths since birth and loves to play in the "wa-wa" as he calls it oustdie...baby pool, sprinkler, hose, you name it, but we weren't too sure about big swimming pools. 

Swim lessons were everyday for two weeks.  Mom or dad had to be in the water with them.  We learned that MJ definitely takes a bit to warm up to things.  He wasn't the kid jumping right in or trying everything they asked him to do.  He cried through most of the first day, but then began to warm up each day.  He was always happy to go to swim lessons and a bit bummed to leave, but he definitely wanted mom or dad right there the whole time and often hung on for dear life.  When we were in the shallow end, he was fine and confident to explore on his own.  I think he just didn't like the feeling of not being able to touch or do it on his own.  Overall though we were really pleased with the lessons and the progress he made.  We were hoping this would help ease him back into the water as we traveled for the next few weeks and it definitely did! 

The hard part was finding a flotation device small enough for my skinny little guy.  Finally found an infant sized life jacket that worked well! 

Ready to swim at GiGi and Pop's neighborhood pool in St. Louis.  Getting in some extra practice before we head to Florida!  He loved going back and forth from the kiddy pool to the big pool, and started getting comfortable jumping to us from the side if someone held his hands as he jumped in.

We rented a house, with our dear friends The Grovers (who have two little girls-5 and 1) on Siesta Key for the week. The house we stayed at was perfect for our two families and had a beautiful pool and hot tub!  It was great for cooling off each day and keeping us all entertained.  MJ started gaining more and more confidence.  He wanted to jump in OVER and OVER and OVER...and no more hand holding.  He thought it was the best thing ever!

Jumping into Daddy...no hands!



Pool time with Abby



Jumping to Uncle Jeff! 

We had a bit of a scare towards the end of our trip, and honestly I am thankful I wasn't outside to witness it!  I'd went in to start preparing lunch and Mat and MJ were outside drying off.  Mat was sitting in a chair and MJ was at his feet on the ground playing with some water toys.  He plopped right into the water after one of them.  Luckily Mat saw it happen and dove in after him.  Somehow he didn't seem to choke on water, but it definitely frigthened him a bit, but I think it scared Mat even more.  It just goes to show how quickly it can happen.  Scared us to death, but just so thankful it wasn't any worse!  



And a couple videos....

Mema and MJ feeding the geese at Grant's Farm

Grant's Farm

During our first trip through St. Louis we visited Grant's Farm for MJ's first time.  We were able to meet his Mema, Bobi, and our niece Lily and her mommy Peggy there for some family fun!  It was quite a hot day (temps near 100), but we were pleasantly surprised-between all the shade trees and the misters to cool off in, we managed to stay pretty comfortable and the kiddos did great.

I was so impressed with Grant's Farm!  I hadn't been there in quite a long time and wasn't sure how well a two year old would do but it was PERFECT for his age!  It's small enough that you can easily do it in two hours, or probably even less, and still feel like you saw all the important things.  It's so close up and hands on that the kids get some great up close experiences.  Everything is close and compact, so MJ was easily able to walk around the park on his own.  He couldn't have loved it more!  I'm so glad we went because it really was a special day.  He loved seeing all the animals and of course getting lots of love and attention from his Mema. 

As soon as he saw Mema, he ran and got scooped up for a big hug!!

Our niece Lily did great in the heat, too!  Aren't those blue eyes so pretty? 

MJ was just enamored with the goats and excited to feed them their bottle of milk. 

I couldn't quite capture it, but he had the sweetest smile on his face here.  I think he was in heaven!  We never even went in the goat pen; he was perfectly happy feeding them through the fence (where they couldn't jump on him).

My fave picture of the day!  He looks like such a big boy here, and so serious as he says hello to the tortoise, or "tur-tll" as he says so well!  He stayed like this for a bit just starting at him.

Waiting for the bird show to begin with Daddy.  This was a bit over his head though and he ended up being more interested in playing with Lily or walking around in the aisles. 

Riding the tram back with Mema.  What a great day!

Drumroll Please....

Today was the big reveal....


We



are




having





a




girl!!!



Okay, that probably wasn't much of a surprise because now a days with texting and facebook, probably everyone knows, but of course I have to document it here!!! 

Most of all, I was relieved to find out that our baby appears to be healthy as of now.  Of course no guarantees, but for now everything looked a-okay.  It was quite a long ultrasound.  They measured and looked at everything....head, kidneys, legs, stomach, mouth, nose, etc. etc!  About halfway through the ultrasound she revealed it looked like a girl!  No guarantees, and she reminded us it's not 100%, but she checked back a couple times and it still appeared to be girl! 

I'd just had this fearful feeling throughout the whole pregnancy and was a bit nervous for today's ultrasound.  Just praying for a healthy baby and that the news would be good.  Only at one point did I get a tad nervous.  Baby girl did not want to cooperate and show us her face, and the radiologist kept trying and trying to get a view of her nose and mouth.  They can already determine if a cleft palate has formed, and I thought maybe that's what she was checking for so I asked.  She said she just might not be able to get a good view today, and of course that left me a little bummed and worried, but her persistence paid off and she finally got a good view and baby girl indeed has a little nose with two nostrils and a mouth with two lips! 

Our friends and family seemed pretty mixed as to their opinions on their prediction of pink or blue.  I was pretty clueless and Mat was thinking boy.  I've felt so different this pregnancy and with being sick, not having near the cravings, and feeling like I'm carrying a bit different, I kind of wondered girl, but there are so many women who say they felt very different for two pregnancies and had the same gender, so I really didn't put much value in it.  Of course everyone expects that I wanted a girl, and don't get me wrong, deep down I really was hoping it would be a little girl, but I also knew having two little boys growing up as playmates could be pretty special too!  I feel like I "know" boys now and have all the clothes, etc. that it seemed a bit more comfortable than a girl.  But I was really hoping I'd have the chance to experience having a daughter as well, and knowing this very well could be our last pregnancy, I'm so excited to know I'll have that opportunity now.  I know it's cliche, but above all, and especially after all we've been through to conceive, MJ's health scare, our losses, etc. my biggest prayer is just for a healthy baby and safe delivery!!  I must admit though, within a couple hours of finding out the gender I was already shopping!!!  There are way more cute girl clothes than boy clothes out there I tell ya!  I'm going to have to be put on a budget.  Ha! 

If you're like me, sometimes ultrasound pics are so hard to decipher, but I have to share some from today, of our sweet and tiny baby girl!!!

Profile shot

This is her head with her two little arms blocking our view.  To the left is just the placenta.  So she was already snuggled up against that and then kept putting her arms in front of her face.  Stubborn little thing!

Kinda hard to tell what this one is at first, but it's one my faves!  She's yawning!  Again, on the left is just the placenta and then she finally put her hands down for a second and opened her mouth big and wide to yawn.  She did it twice.  Apparently we were disturbing her sleep!



Another good profile shot!  Can you see the spine too? 



This one is really hard to show.  I'm not talented enough to draw a little line to the spot, but this is when we finally saw her nose and mouth.  The angle is looking down on her.  Her head is wedged in there looking towards us and you can see the spine going down.  You can finally see her mouth and nose! 

A magnified close up.  Right in the middle are her two nostrils and two lips with her mouth a bit open. 

And she's done!  One last shot of her blocking her face with her arms.  No paparazzi, please! 

As always, thanks SO much to everyone for their prayers and well wishes for this day.  We are so grateful!

It wouldn't be complete without sharing this special day with our MJ.  He was such a good patient little guy throughout the long appointment.  He kept pointing at the screen saying "baby" and he would hold my hand and pat me.  It was so sweet!  When she played the heartbeat (157 bpm by the way), and we said "What's that?" he responded with a very excited "Choo-choo!!!"  It was so funny and had us all laughing!  Hey, it does kind of sound like a train!  He might be a tad disappointed when a baby girl pops out and not a choo-choo train.  ;)  Daddy already told him, he's condemned to a lifetime of dance recitals.  We shall see!  ;)  I grew up with a big brother, almost the exact same age difference as my two kiddos will be, and I loved it!  We were far enough in age that we had our own interests and friends, but close enough that we had things in common and are very close as adults.  I can only hope for the same for my little family! 

Showering Mindy!

Although this is not really MJ or baby related in any way, I still had to post just a bit about it because it really is still FAMILY related because Mindy is one of those friends who is practically family!  Mindy is my oldest friend.  Not oldest in age, but oldest in time span.  :)  She has recently found the man of her dreams, fallen in love, and is getting married this coming October.  Shortly after her engagement, my mom and I began to discuss throwing a wedding shower for her.  It was one of the reasons we went to St. Louis as soon as Mat wrapped up summer courses.  I'd been looking forward to this day for quite some time, and I know my mom had too.

 One thing that makes our friendship so special and unique is that not only are we best friends, but our moms are best friends as well.  My mom and Jackie (Mindy's mom) met when they both attended church together.  Jackie played the organ, my mom played the piano, and they had babies very close in age.  Mindy and I are just one month apart and our older siblings are pretty close in age, too.  They love to tell the story that they would get together and practice and bring Mindy and I and put us in our little swings as babies. 

Luckily their friendship spread to us, and we spent countless hours together playing at each other's house as children.  I can remember so many days spent at Mindy's playing Barbies, spending the night, or playing in her backyard and her at my house playing house or school.  Mindy and I have always stayed in touch but have definitely been closer at different phases in our life than others.  We found our own niche in high school, attended different colleges, lived in different states, and even countries for quite some time, but always managed to stay in touch regarding the important things in each other's lives.  Right around the time MJ was born, Mindy moved back to the United States.  It certainly wasn't in her plan and it was quite devastating at the time for her, but things truly did work out just as they were meant to be.  She has met her match in life, and is happier than I have seen her in quite some time!  Selfishly, I'm also happy that it means her and I have really reconnected and are able to spend more time together.  Hosting her shower really was a dream come true for my mom and I! 

Best wishes Mindy!  xoxo

Where to Begin?

Wow, there is so much to catch up on!  We spent the last 3 1/2 weeks traveling to St. Louis, Florida, and then back to St. Louis.  Lots of pictures and updates to come throughout the next couple weeks as I upload some pics and document some of our favorite moments.  For the time being a quick update:

• Feeling incredibly blessed with our lifestyle and how things have fallen into place overall.  How many people have this amount of time off together to be able to take advantage of traveling and visiting family and friends?  We definitely realize how lucky we are and have enjoyed it to the fullest!
• We were able to see so many of our family members while in St. Louis, spend some time with Jeff while in Florida, and visit with many wonderful friends while in both St. Louis and Florida as well...some friends that hadn't been seen in years! 
• MJ started out really having trouble sleeping while traveling.  It's always a challenge and something we were rather nervous about.  The first few days in STL were so rough, that we actually briefly discussed cancelling our FL trip.  Luckily though, he caught on and became a good sleeper at night.  We finally realized that he just wasn't going to nap on vacation and resorted to driving him around in the car for an hour each afternoon (so ironic because he usually won't sleep in the car) so that he could get a a nap.  It's amazing what a difference this made and how successful it made the rest of the trip! 
• A few nights after we left home in Dubuque, we received a horrible rain storm...15 inches of rain overnight.  CRAZY!  That's unheard of amounts, more similar to hurricane or tropical storm weather.  We were not too excited about returning home to see our damage...sinkhole on side yard, water leakage in attic/master bedroom, and some drowned plants.  It could have been worse though, but kind of a bummer and unexpected expense. 
• We reached the 20 week mark of pregnancy!!  Hard to believe we are more than halfway through already.  I began feeling the baby move right as week 17 began.  They were very faint flutters but I recognized the sensation right away. Finally a kick strong enough for Mat to feel right at week 20.  Still dealing with heartburn and nausea, but it's more bearable for sure!  Sooo excited to go for our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday morning.  Pink or blue??? 

Just a couple favorite pics until next time...