I'm so behind!!

My blog posting has been less than stellar lately, that's for sure.  I'm now 15 weeks pregnant (and feeling like I'm 30 weeks by the end of each day)!  At my 12 week appointment, the heartbeat was at 155 bpm.  When Henry was 12 weeks along, his was 170.  Hmmm.  Once again, we won't be finding out the sex of the baby, so we'll see?  I have absolutely no desire to have my picture taken right now, so here's a glimpse at my growing belly.  I think I'm FINALLY starting to feel better now, not great, but better.  I'm able to keep my eyes open and not fall asleep during the day, but as soon as Henry goes to bed (7-7:30pm), I'm done for the day, and so is my back :)

Before and After

Oh, this wall looks so sad now that I look at it in a picture.  I never wanted to put anything on this wall, as I knew we would have some built-ins installed at some point.  

Well, that some point has come and I'm very happy with it!  Every night, Henry puts all of his toys into their bins and they get put in the cabinets, it's great.  Now, how to decorate?  Our next project is to have the entire interior of the house painted, which will be happening next week - I'm very pumped!  After that, my next two projects will be Henry's new big-boy room (blue carpet and all) and the new baby's room.  

Mud room - before

 Mud room - after

Henry even gets on my case when I don't put my shoes under my cubby when we come in the house :)

What have we been up to?  

Well, nothing too crazy, which is fine!  Our regular outings each week have been StoryTime at the library on Tuesdays and PlayGroup at our Church on Wednesdays (of course, Henry loves going to Oma's on Thursdays and Fridays and can't say enough about his favorite toy - Main Street).  Other than that, we've been filling our days with shoveling, playdates with Harrison and Owen, bike riding (he rode his trike 3 blocks today), projects, and baking (my sweet tooth went away when I was first pregnant, just like it did with Henry, but it's slowly coming back, thank goodness) - this has been a good activity for those cold afternoons we've had lately.  

Last weekend, we took a trip so Phil could check out a new lawn mower he's had his eye on, and Henry managed to test out every single one of them in the store.  Henry said if Daddy was getting a new one, that he needed a new one too, maybe a blue one or a red one as he already has a green one.  In that same conversation, Henry also said that along with a new lawn mower, he also needed a new cell phone and another bin to put his toys in.  Ok then.   

As it was snowing again outside, our Earth Day project inside was coffee filter/flower painting.

Isn't my bouquet just beautiful?!  I love it!

That's about it around here :)

before the snow flies (again...)

As we sit here and wait for out Winter Storm Warning to hit us tonight, and wonder where oh where is our Spring, here's a look back on our week.....

Henry's new Razor is officially an "outside toy" now, no more basement scooter-ing.   

Lots of jam sessions around our house :)  It's funny - when Phil's home, Henry requests Eddie Vedder.  When I'm home, his only request is Luke Bryan (thank goodness). 

Today was definitely a muffin-making kinda day.  Banana - rhubarb - chocolate chip, good stuff.  Henry was a really good helper from start to finish, even cracking the eggs (and then picking out the broken shells too)! 

He's been working on his up-dog and down-dog (as shown here) yoga poses with me!  The boy enjoys some online prenatal yoga with me :)

A quick trip to the zoo last week with Henry's buddy, Harrison.  Good times! 

I suppose we'll be shoveling tomorrow.....boo hoo.  

Easter

We went back to J-town to spend a short-n-sweet Easter weekend with Grandma & Papa Olin.  On Saturday, we took Henry to the annual Easter egg hunt put on by the lovely Parks-N-Rec department (whom we hold close to our hearts as both Phil and I's former employer).  It was moved from the park to the pool parking lot, which ended up being a great thing - no snow, no mud, no mess.  I remember attending this Easter egg hunt every year as a kid, hoping/praying that I would grab one of the eggs that had the magic winning ticket in it - A NEW BIKE.  Nope, never won one, and in fact, I don't know a single person who ever did win the bike (they give away 2 boys' bikes and 2 girls' bikes every year).  Well, Henry was no different - no bike, just way too much candy (which was hard as a rock because it was only 30 degrees outside, brrr)!

Our weekend festivities were complete with egg dying, ham eating, friend visiting, and church going :) 

             

Easter Bunny

We headed to the Mall of America to meet the Easter Bunny this morning.  I had absolutely no expectation that Henry was actually going to go near this guy at all, but when we were in line, he was sooooo excited and was saying things like "Let's hurry, I want to give the Easter Bunny a biiiiiig hug" and "I'm going make her laugh like this, hahahahahaha!"  Even up until the person right in front of us was up there, he was still pretty pumped.  Then it came our turn.....

 .....I had to drag him off the floor because he just dropped straight down and started bawling!  There was no way he was going to look at the lady who was taking our picture, either.  So,  here I am with the Easter Bunny :)

As soon as we were 2 steps away, Henry was as happy as a clam again and ready to partake in some more of the festivities....."Let's go find candy, Mommy!"

Here he's hunting for the perfect egg, as part of the scavenger hunt. 

On our drive home, out of the blue he said, "I cry, Mommy, and you have to take the picture for me."  Then he must have had a really good dream about that Easter Bunny during his nap, because afterwards I asked him again if he had fun at the mall and this was his response - "Yes, I do.  I make the Easter Bunny laugh like this, hahahahaha.  I sing her a really nice song too!"  Not sure where I was for this laughing and singing :)  Too funny! 

heading home now

Here's the big news I was waiting to spill when we got to California - see Henry's shirt?!  Yep, he's going to be a Big Brother - due October 14th.  Let's hope this "feeling like absolute garbage" passes soon, ugh :(

Riley, Henry, and her cousin, Austin, having lawn mower races.  It kinda looks like Henry and Austin are sizing each other up, doesn't it?  Haha!

It was time to go home now, and back to below-zero-wind-chills for the first day of Spring (yuck).  Thanks for a great vacation! 

still in Cali

The highs were in the 90s (yes, 97* the day we left) everyday we were there, so sprinklers were definitely in order in the afternoons.  

We took a day trip to Yuma, AZ to visit the Sahati Camel Farm, complete with lots of goats, a big turtle, some ducks, and tons of other creatures (I couldn't even tell you what half of them were).  The kids got to feed the animals these huge dates.  Don't think Henry or Riley were getting close enough to let them eat out of their hands, they much preferred to throw the dates over the fence and see who gets it!

Don't we all look so happy?  

One morning, we went to Storytime at the El Centro Library, complete with a good St. Paddy's Day project!  

more to come.....

to Cali we went

Last week, Grandma & Grandpa Olin took Henry & I to California to celebrate Riley's 3rd birthday!  

I seriously couldn't have asked for a better traveler, he was sooooo good for a 3+ hour flight.  Thank God for iPads and headphones, huh?!      

Heading over the Grand Canyon here :)

We needed some lunch as soon as we got to San Diego.....In-N-Out.....burger (hold the salad aka lettuce and tomato) and fries please!  He was so in love with this place (just like his daddy is) that he couldn't waste a single bit of food, even wanting to drink the ketchup after the fries were all gone!  

After a 1.5 hour drive to their house in Imperial, we started the vaca off right with Riley's "Minnie Mouse" birthday party.  She got to go to DisneyLand the week before and loved it!

more to come soon.....