"I'm The Baby"

Kamden found this knob that goes to a drawer in the playroom, stuck it in his mouth and said he was the baby. Then he followed me around as I made my bed, raised his arms up in the air and kept saying "Hold, hold." Then he went to bed on the floor...hopefully this isn't a sign of sibling rivalry I'll have to deal with once the baby's born.

F A M I L Y

What a busy week! On Thursday my older brother Eric got here from Iowa with his wife and their 3 boys. It had been over 2 years since they'd visited and since our whole family had been together. My sister and her family also got here that night from Oregon and we spent Friday getting ready for our younger brother's wedding. The rehearsal dinner was Friday evening and Jeff and Erin were married on Saturday...

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On Sunday the family came over for a barbeque/birthday party. March is the birthday month for my sister Shelly, niece Isabelle, brother Eric, and niece Kelsey so we celebrated with a family favorite, Strawberry Shortcake...

Monday was spent sorting through the aftermath of the wedding and reception. (Thanks so much to everyone who helped plan, decorate, and prepare for this!) We ate a yummy dutch oven dinner before going to relax in the hot springs...

On Tuesday Grandma and Grandpa took us out for a fun day at the Discovery Center. I hadn't been there since grade school and the kids loved it, they were occupied for HOURS! They even lasted longer than Grandma, who fell asleep on the couch in the corner! Kamden really loved the little store where you can push around a shopping cart, get a list and money, then fill your cart and checkout. I think he would've stayed in there all day.
That night my parents brought Dylan, Tanner, and Dominick over for a fun night of making pizzas, watching movies, and eating brownies and ice cream...

On Wednesday we spent most of the day playing with cousins at Grandma's house, had lunch, then went to the park before my brother and his family left for Iowa. Life has been so busy latley that the boys haven't been getting naps (neither have I and I miss it!) and this has NEVER happened before:



The boys were watching a movie after the park yesterday and BOTH FELL ASLEEP ON OUR BED! We've got some recouperating to do after a fun weekend...

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Isabelle!

In The Last Week...

~Ethan conquered an ear infection
~I tackled a sinus infection
~The boys and I all got over our colds (hooray!)
~My sister and family visited from Oregon
~My brother and family visisted from Iowa
~My youngest brother got married
~Decorated for the wedding and reception (with the help of family and friends)
~Delt with the aftermath of a wedding; clean up, washing tablecloths, sorting through everything and returning it to those who were so good to let us borrow it :)
~Still trying to pawn off leftover wedding cake
~Hit the halfway mark for our pregnancy!
~Decided to keep our house on the market for 3 more months and hope the market picks up
~Hosted a barbeque for my parents, 5 siblings, 9 nieces and nephews-it'd been over 2 years since we had all been together
~Went swimming at the hot springs with family-realized we need to do this more often
~Spent a fun day with cousins at the Discovery Center
~Had grandma, grandpa, and cousins over for pizza and movie night
~On top of all that we still managed everyday life-laundry, dishes, housework, etc. etc. etc.

I decided I'm not doing anything for the next 3 days!

Armpit Hair

My mom and I were driving on Saturday with Ethan in the backseat when he told me to look. I glanced over my shoulder to see him with one arm stuck straight in the air and the sleeve of his shirt pulled up to reveal his armpit. Here's our conversation:

Ethan: "Look, Mom, I have hair in my armpit." (He really doesn't have hair in his armpit but ever since he discovered his dad has hair in his armpit, Ethan's been wondering when he's going to get his own. Don't ask me why.)
Me: "Oh, wow, Ethan. That's pretty cool."
My mom: "What color is the hair?"
Ethan (in a somewhat sarcastic voice): "I don't know. The color of hair." (As if this should have been obvious.)

Then there were a few minutes of silence followed by...
Ethan: "When am I going to get to start wearing that stuff dad puts in his armpits?"
Me: "I guess we'll have to wait and see when your armpits start stinking."
Ethan didn't miss a beat and he made a loud sniffing noise...
Ethan: "Well, they already stink."

Guess it's time for some deoderant?

Baby Stoker

Here he is, in all his 19 1/2 week old glory:
Profile:

Feet:

And here he is with his feet up over his head:

Haircuts...

The boys and I got haircuts today so we can look extra spiffy for the wedding next weekend. I can't believe what a difference Kamden's haircut made, (I caved and got his curls cut) he looks so much more grown-up now!

3 for 3

Our ultrasound was today and we're excited to be having another boy in July! The boys had fun seeing their new brother on the monitor and have been looking at the picture since we got home. He stayed in a position with his legs folded over on top of him like he was going to suck on his toes and the ultrasound technician got a shot of him grabbing onto them. It didn't look very comfortable but it took a lot of poking and prodding to get him to move so we could get some clear shots of his heart and the measurements needed. He looks great and the measurements are right on track for a July 21 due date. So far we've had due dates of the 20th, 21st, and 22nd so we'll see when he decides to get here. I'll scan the ultrasound pictures in to post later but his profile looks just like Ethan and Kamden.
I'm feeling pretty good, trying to get over another cold and constantly exhausted but I'd take that over the morning sickness any day.
Ethan's excited to start soccer next month and keeps asking how many more days until his game. He's also looking forward to being the ring bearer in my brother's wedding next Saturday and gets frustrated when he asks how many more days until that, it's never close enough.
Both the boys have colds also so we've had a few miserable days but we're trying to get better before family comes to visit next week.
We haven't made much progress with Kamden and his potty training but I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be done before the baby gets here. He likes his undies but doesn't want anything to do with his toilet...

Pot Roast or Poop Roast?

Last Sunday I put a pot roast in the crockpot and let it cook most of the day. When we got home from church I was so happy to see that it was the yummy-falls-apart-you-don't-even-need-a-knife kind of pot roast because I've had some bad luck and several pot roasts have turned out pretty dry and disappointing.
But my pride in the pot roast was quickly deflated when I set it on the table. Kamden took one look at it and said "Ew, gross, poop!"
I (trying not to laugh) attempted to explain that it wasn't poop, it was meat. During the meal Kamden wouldn't touch the pot roast, he would only point to it and say "Meat poop."

FINALLY!

Today was a perfect early-spring day and the sun was actually shining! We went to the island with some friends and walked for awhile then Ethan wasn't about to go home without a chance to play on the baseball field. The last few days he's been all about baseball and even pointed out that he doesn't have a baseball shirt and getting him one should be a top priority. We're so glad the weather is slowly but surely getting warmer and tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer...hopefully it stays that way but I wouldn't be surprised if it snows next week!

Monday Morning...

Kamden hid in a Rubbermaid Tote...

And there was a half-dressed cowboy wandering the house in search of his horse that someone shot yesterday but he took it to the doctor, so don't worry...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kamden's Nursery teacher brought him this giant, yummy Valentine cookie and he couldn't wait to get it open before he wanted to eat it!

Ethan has been so excited for Valentine's Day this year, he made cards and helped make cupcakes for friends and family and every morning for the last week he's come downstairs and the first thing he said was "Happy Valentine's, Mom." Then during the day he'd ask at least three times how many more days until Valentine's.

We celebrated with a yummy lunch at my parent's house where my brother Ryan made delicious pasta. (He spent 2 years in Italy, so just imagine how good it was!) I made these, this, and these to go with the meal.
We also had heart-shaped jell-o jigglers, a tradition for Valentine's Day while we were growing up. The boys got jell-o all over their clothes when they sat on the table eating a plate of it before lunch, so they enjoyed their meal in their undies.



We went to a birthday party that afternoon and my parents watched the boys that evening while Jeff and I went out. We had a great Valentine's Day and hope you did too!

Today...

Ethan made Valentines...


And Kamden ate.

The Debate: Kamden's Hair...

This has been going on for quite some time; Jeff says Kamden desperatley needs a haircut but I'm not ready to say goodbye to his baby curls. When Ethan was this age he had curly hair but then we cut it and the curls are gone. Here are pictures to prove my point:
Before the haircut:

After:

And the curls never came back.
I just don't think I could cut Kamden's hair...

But then, maybe it's time since I can put his hair in two ponytails...

And no, he didn't like them.

It's been awhile since I've blogged but I'm finally over my cold (that lasted 3 weeks!), the morning sickness is letting up, and I've actually got some energy even though I can't keep my eyes open by 8:30 every night.
We've gone to two BSU basketball games during the last few weeks, Jeff's parents came to visit Friday and Saturday, the boys both had their 2 year and 4 year checkups where the doctor said Ethan's too skinny and Kamden needs to go on a diet. I'm not sure how I feel about that since he weighs 32 pounds and is 2 years old, although he gained about 13 pounds in a year but it's not like he's obese. So as long as he doesn't gain a ton of weight this year, we're ok. He's just going to be a really good football player.

I had and appointment last week and everything is going well, the baby sounded good and we're due July 20th and our ultrasound is February 26th.
We had a SuperBowl party yesterday with family and friends and other than that it's just been normal, every day life around here. We're still waiting for the warm weather but the groundhog saw his shadow so it looks like we're going to be waiting awhile longer...