End of June, ALREADY?!

Where is this summer going? I don't recall the school year ever going this fast - it doesn't seem fair!!! We are having an awesome time together, just the 3 of us. We are really milking it for all it's worth knowing that we will never "officially" be alone with Teague again come September! He seems to really like being home with us and we keep very busy. As we already knew, Teague loves the water. However, I am very amazed by his "swimming abilities". He goes under water, kicks his feet, hangs onto the edge and kicks. My goal is to have him doing the doggie paddle by summer's end, which I think is going to happen sooner than later. I am so glad that he enjoys being in the water and swimming the way Ryan and I do. So needless to say, that's most likely where you will find us this summer.

So I am well into my 3rd trimester already. It's crazy to me how fast this time around has gone, I think having Teague and chasing him I don't really "concentrate" on what week I am, etc. I get asked on occassion how many weeks I am and unless it's Friday and I get an email from BabyCenter reminding me, I tend to lose count! So far all is well and I am happy to say that the summer has treated me (thus far) much better than it did with Teague. I imagine that come August I could start swelling like I did with Teague, but nothing thus far. I weigh less at this point than I did with Teague and I am actually measuring smaller than where I should be (they say it's because girls are smaller??), so that's something that keeps me a bit happy too! Again, that 15 pounds of fluid in one week like I had with Teague just a week or two before he was born is bound to creep up on me - though I am hopeful this all means that I may avoid the delivery of another 10 pounder?! My OB did give me the option of being induced a few weeks early to avoid another tough delivery but my feeling is that babies come when they are ready and I am very opposed to being induced if I can help it (for my own personal reasons). I told my OB, "I delivered a 10 pounder before. I don't really want to do it again, but I will if I need to as my body seems able!" So we'll see. Ask me again come end of August!!

This week will be birthday celebration #1 for my big boy. Auntie Grums, Uncle Ken and Tanner from Seattle will be here so we will celebrate Teague's birthday along with Gaga's (Grandpa's) birthday. It will be fun to see them again!

This weekend my cousin Lori, her dad is my Uncle Bola who passed away in March) got married. Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

The "trio"...can you tell the last of the two year molars are coming in? Fingers in the mouth, so pretty hard to get a good picture of us all!

Wrestling with Chase and his cute new friend!

My little "dancing machine"....

Here he is on the horse drawn carriage from the bride and groom. They were nice enough to let the kids take a ride too...of course Teague wouldn't go without Papa!

Look at what I found...

As only a Nana would do... Look at what I found in Teague's overnight bag. If you can't read the note it says "Please don't make Teague wear these again - they hurt b/w his toes and are too small! Nana" and the kicker of it all, she has them quarantined in a ziplock plastic bag, like she believes that if they are sealed up in there he will never be able to wear them again (or that's her hope)!
For the record these shoes are brown leather sandals (flip flop kind). I only put them on him when he is wearing a dressier short type outfit and I admit, his feet are chubby. They fit, but the strap along the back barely velcros. He says after you put them on "owie" and points at the strap in between his toes (all of which I told her ahead of time). But look, Teague needs to understand that Beauty is Pain and frankly it takes us all time to get used to that strap in between our toes after 10 months of wearing socks and shoes in MN! He wore these same shoes (in a smaller size) all last summer, chubby feet and all, without complaints (so there are some good things about not being able to talk)! So again, he is fine, he's just lucky he has a Nana that spoils him into a baby!

Great weekend!

Ryan and I had our 48 hour getaway to Las Vegas over the weekend! It was a fantastic time, we really enjoyed our quick little "babymoon" (as some refer to their vacation taken before the baby is born)! We loved flying out of Fargo, the convenience and ease was amazing and cheap airfare can't be beat!

Teague stayed with my parents for the weekend. He did okay. He of course loves Nana and Papa, but after a week and a half of being home with us exclusively and no daycare and a week of potty training, I think he felt a little sad that we weren't with him. He enjoyed swimming with Nana in the swimming pool, going for wagon rides with Papa to the store for a "treat", going to the park and OF COURSE visiting the animals. They went to some friends of theirs who have a pet goat named Abby. Teague tells us that her name is actually Crabby - one of his favorite videos to watch of himself is when he keeps referring to himself as Crabby, that's only reason why I think he calls Abby, Crabby. So he still had a good time, but this morning he told us that he wanted to go home but wanted Papa to come with us.

Other than that, summer is already creeping by quickly! I have training for two days at school for a new computer software system they are putting in this summer (why I have to attend when I will be there little to no time next year is beyond me, but whatev) and I have training for my new job in Alexandria on Wednesday (I had it last Wed as well and next Wed is my last session before I can start my new job). It's all going well, but this Wed will be a long day between school and crisis training, so I will be "training" all day from 8a-10p. Yuck. Hopefully I feel so smart afterwards?!

Hope everyone's summer is off to a great start!

Oh What a Night...

I now know there is one convenience of living in town. When your electricity goes out, it doesn't stay out for what would be an entire full time shift at work (or more). Some of you may recall that when I was on maternity leave with Teague we had such a major storm that it took 2 days to get power back to our house. My friend Jocelyn loves to remind me that she was so nice to store all my frozen breast milk reserves in her perfectly functioning electricity refrigerator (we had a freezer full of many other goodies, but my "liquid gold" was much more priceless)!

...Well yesterday Ryan took Teague to Spicer to Alex's (our 7 year old nephew) birthday party. I was in Woodbury at the Krause's for a bridal shower (which is like driving to Wisconsin from here!). Anyway, we rely WAY too much on just being able to use our garage door openers to get in and out of our locked house. We both have house keys on our keychains - mine happens to be on my set that I use only during the winter, and Ryan's on his work key chain (which was in the house). So Ryan returned home at around 7 pm and realized the electricity was out. I was still an hour away visiting some friends, so I took off towards home after making a call to Xcel Energy to report the outtage. So there we are, stranded with no way into our home and a toddler whose bedtime is at 8 (and it is now 8). Jocelyn to the rescue AGAIN (sans breast milk supply....for now). So she let us take shelter in her house while we were told power would be restored at 10:59 pm (I guess it sounds better than 11 pm?). Anyway, so at 11:10, Ryan goes home to....no power. Calls Xcel, won't be on until sometime after midnight. Now keep in mind I still have Teague wide awake LOVING this business of being up way past his bedtime and he was an angel. I couldn't believe it. I was dreading the projected meltdowns that would be occuring, but they didn't...though the adults were ready to go to bed! Anyway, our neighbor got home about the same time Ryan discovered there would still be no power in our house for about another hour, so the neighbor (I should wonder about this) broke in our house by climbing a 20 foot ladder to our bonus room window (I never keep main floor windows unlocked for fear of easy access to break in! - convenient under the circumstances) and he had all these special tools to take off our screen and pull our window open! So 10 minutes after that we are all at home, getting Teague ready for bed by flashlight when the power comes on. Perfect timing....and time for bed. Luckily since Teague didn't go to bed until midnight he slept in until nearly 10 this morning and still went down for his normal 3 hour nap at noon! So all in all the power was ONLY out for 9 hours yesterday compared with 2 days. What a weekend....

Two days left this week and then we are on vacay (mostly)! WOO HOO!

The Little Boy that Loves Birthdays...or not?

Below you can see firsthand how upset my son gets when we sing Happy Birthday...or actually does a similar song and dance when we pray before meals as well. He is, however, used the praying before meals as we do that a bit more and more often than not now he smiles and just says "no!" and then claps when we are done...but singing Happy Birthday is still a scary and upsetting thing. Whoa! Here we are celebrating my precious princess, Skylar's, 8th birthday. I can't believe she's 8! Ryan was telling her that she was younger than Teague when he first met her. Wow.

Teague continues to amaze us, what else is new?! He talks so much (some things easier to understand than others!). His newest thing when I am pretending to sneak up on him and give him the "kissies" he responds with a very enthusiastic "AAAAHHHH OOOOOHHHH"!! Or he will say randomly, but yet appropriately, "Oh man!" or "HEY!". He loves the pool and really has no fear of lying down on the deck and dunking his whole head under water. We now have locks on the deck gates.

We just booked a quick 2 day vacay to Las Vegas for $250 total - or $125 each which includes our hotel and air! We are so excited, though 105 degrees and 7 months pregnant could be interesting. If I retain water with heat and humidity like I did with Teague (which I am sure is possible), it could be a long summer!! =)

We have just 2 days left with kids and then another 2 days of workshops before I am dun-zo. I am due the week kids start back to school, so I am very hopeful that I will not be returning to that place for over a year! WOO HOO! Our summer is already filling up fast, so I know that labor day (not the one you all are thinking) will be here before we know it! We are still working on a name and the "right" one has not come to us...yet.

Here is a picture of the birthday girl with her Godmother/Auntie and Uncle Ryan:

Hope you are having a great week!