Riker Fighting Sleep

This video is from about a month ago that I took of Riker trying not to fall asleep:) If you listen really carefully that's the shower running in the background. Another fun thing about Riker is he actually started playing fetch with us yesterday. We tried again last night and he wouldn't do it, but today now he retrieved the ball back to me a few times until throwing the ball up in the air became too tempting. Our dog is getting to be so big!

18 Weeks!!!

I don't think I look much different in two weeks time, but Dan said he can tell I'm bigger. If you notice we have just five more days until our next ultrasound where we hope to find out what gender baby is. We are most hopeful for a healthy baby so although we'd be disappointed if we didn't get to see what baby D is we'll be more than thrilled for a healthy baby. We might not be able to post right away onto our blog since we'll need to let our famlies know first, but we will post as soon as we can! I'm still feeling good and when I go out in public in regular clothes people that don't know I'm preganant yet tell me they assumed I was when I go ahead and let them know. That's fun for me. I don't look like I'm just getting a gut. Sleep has been interesting lately. I keep dreaming like crazy and they are all random and weird. They last forever too....all night. I can even get up to go to the bathroom, come back to bed, and continue on with the same dream. I have definitely never experienced this before being pregnant.

Dan is leaving for his mission trip this week and I'm headed to Nodak! I can't wait! I think Dan is excited too for his trip since he and his brother are going together!

What's Growing Part 3

Just a few more flowers that are blooming right now in our yard. There may even be a few more before this summer is over.

Wisconsin

Here are a few pictures from our annual summer trip to Wisconsin! We seem to always come on the same week so we're able to attend an outdoor father's day celebration at Grandpa Howard's nursing home. It's also always during the week of Dan's birthday so he always gets to celebrate with his family. Probably the highlight was seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D! Thank you for your hospitality and for putting up with my coughing....arghghgh!

The girls and Stu:)

Dean, Howard, and Kathy


Shay is quite the lover.....he loves giving kisses and hugs, but especially for the girls!

Seeing Toy Story 3 in 3D....Dan's birthday wish!

Dan and Hannah waiting to blow out the candles....Dan is now 36!

17 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along:17 Weeks!

Total Weight Gain: 8.5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: No, but my jeans and shorts no longer button. If I wear them I need the belly band, however I've been living in my yoga capri pants! I can already tell they won't stretch forever around my belly, but for now they work great. I wonder if anyone's noticed yet that I wear them almost everyday?

Best Moment this week: being able to tell Dan when I think I'm feeling the baby and giving Kathy the opportunity to hear the heartbeat. That was a really fun thing to do when we did this with my mom too around 12 weeks along:) They both had about the same reaction and it's so much fun!

Gender: In 2 weeks we will have the opportunity to find out. We hope baby cooperates and is not shy on this day!

Movement: I'm still feeling the occassional sensations that I think are baby, but still nothing that is substantially a kick or a jab that I can 100% identify.

Food Craving: cereal....I can't get enough of it right now! corn flakes and honeycomb....yum! I'm glad I can't eat wheat or else I'd be wanting froot loops and marshmallow treasures right now.

What I miss: I'm missing sleeping on my belly right now:)

Sleep: I would probably be sleeping ok, but this cold/cough is really winning a battle over my lungs right now. I finally had to resort to some "safe while pregnant" cough medicine. If I can just stay sleeping I'm ok, but if I at all wake up I have a coughing fit.....oh well...it can't last forever right?

What we are looking forward to: We are still looking forward to findng out what baby is:)

Symptoms: some stretchy and achy belly feelings in my abdominal area lately. Things are moving around and making room for baby!

Geocaching

We are out in Wisconsin for the week and I finally got Dan to try geocaching! We were all sitting around, playing in the backyard with the kids. I was explaining to my sister-in-law how geocaching works and she was really interested as she thought her daughters would love it. We had downloaded a free application onto Dan's phone a couple of weeks ago that makes his it gps compatitable so he said let's go! It was fun.....the closest cache to Dan's parent's house was about a 1/4 of a mile away so we got out the strollers for the little ones and found our first find ever in the cemetary within a knot of a tree. Of course the big girls loved it as they were searching for "treasure". Later in the evening we went out again and found another one nestled in another small park on the other side of town. I love the fact that I've heard Dan say, "that was a lot of fun", about five times. I hope he'll want to do this more;) If you've never tried it, it's so worth it to try it once!

16 Weeks/4 Months!

And then there was a real baby bump! We had our 16 week appointment this week, which was uneventful, so we think that is good! Baby's heartbeat was in the 150's just like its been at home too. I'm officially done with school and we are leaving for Wisconsin early next week. So, things are going well. I'm feeling great and enjoying being able to go out in public and actually start looking like I'm pregnant....a little:) Depending on the shirt I am starting to look pregnant from the front too!

What's Growing Part Two

These are flower blooming right now in our backyard. Yes, those are pink roses up at the top. I so wish I could cut some and bring them in the house, but our pal Meeko would rip them to shreds, throw up, and then Dan would have to clean it up since I can't go within 10 feet without dry heaving. So that's that, but we do enjoy them while we are outside:)

Is Our Baby a Girl or a Boy?

I've put up a poll on the side of our blog. I know we don't have very many readers, but hopefully we'll get a few guesses:) Dan and I are going to find out what baby is in July and we'll post here. From the very start I have felt like this baby is a girl. Dan felt the same at the very beginning, but from the time of our first u/s he immediately switched to boy. My mom has had two baby boy dreams and Pastor Audrey thinks boy as well. We shall see.....what do you think our baby will be? Girl or Boy?

What's Growing?

You know what I'm thankful for? The fact that the people who lived in our house before us were good at landscaping because we get to enjoy this! These are a few pictures from our front yard with more to come in the future! I want to try to capture all of our blooming stages this summer. As soon as something stops blooming something else pops up! Last year was a huge game of surprises as to what's coming up from the ground next?

15 Weeks!

I think I've found "my extra chore" to balance out my no more lawn mowing duties......baby's room! Yikes, it's a good thing I like to organize! I won't even make you look at the closet pictures!

Pregnancy Highlights
How Far Along:15 Weeks!
Total Weight Gain: 6 lbs
Maternity Clothes: Nope, not yet, although my pants are just starting to get tight
Best Moment this week: The fact that I've popped! With tight clothes I'm actually starting to look pregnant! We'll post a picture next week:) Also, playing name games with Dan!
Gender: Don't know yet, but will hopefully find out at our appointment in early July.
Movement: I've been feeling tiny vibrations and these weird flutters. They are very infrequent, but I'm almost positive they are baby! We'll see!
Food Craving: string cheese, grilled cheese sandwhiches, mac n cheese, and fruit...I guess you could say dairy is a favorite right now!
What I miss: hard-workouts
Sleep: I am still sleeping amazingly....like a rock, although the last few nights my shoulders and extremeties keep falling asleep. I may need to break down and buy one of those body pillows specially designed for pregnancy. Dan says that instead of falling asleep in 30 seconds I now fall asleep in 5. Apparently I'm quite aggressive with the covers and the other night when I moved I whopped him in the head.....no recollection....sorry honey!
What we are looking forward to: finding out the sex of our baby!
Symptoms: gaggy with certain smells or foods, tired from time to time, burpy here and there, otherwise I feel really good right now!

Memorial Day Weekend with the Carters

We had another fun weekend this year with my cousins, their kids, and my aunt and uncle. My cousin Joe and Andrea are moving from Illinois to the cities this JULY!! We are so excited to have them this close to us, but wonder if this yearly rendevous will come to a close since they now live closer to ND! Saturday we went and toured their new house in Blaine, and then hit a public beach to play in the water for a few hours. We stayed in downtown Minneapolis and went out on Saturday night. It's hard to go out and be the only one not drinking.....not that I miss drinking, you just get so tired and bored. Dan had gone home the night before so he came back again for the day. Some people went to the children's museum and the rest of the crew went to the sciece museum to see the "Dead Sea Scrolls". It was interesting although it would have been fun to see a few more "scrolls". We were able to get into the Melting Pot and for most of us it was our first experience. It was so good! It was also so dead all over Minneapolis. We called for reservations a couple of hours before and had a large private room to ourselves. I think everyone completely cleared out to go to the lakes. We came home Sunday night and had a beautiful and hot day to enjoy in the yard doing work and relaxing. It's weird how when I was younger pulling weeds was a chore and now it's something I look forward to. Although, I don't think Dan would agree with lawn mowing, especially now since my chiropractor said I shouldn't be sharing the lawn duty. I need to come up with a chore I can do to relieve Dan of and I'm afraid it's dog poop duty! Here are a few pics of the weekend.