Whats up?

Lots is up. And we have been BUSY. Actually I think busy would be an understatment lately. I have been working extra- turns out I work so little that if I didnt pick up some extra hours I wouldn't qualify for my FMLA leave by about 50 hours- you have to work 1250 hours in a year. And since I was SO close to being there, and considering is a large chunk of (pretty much free) change, I picked up an extra shift pretty much every week for the last month. I should be good to go now, and since one extra shift puts me at full time- the nice part was- my paychecks have been AWESOME. So really, it turned out to be a good thing because I did a LOT of Christmas shopping, because work has been stressful, and stress makes me go shopping. All of my boys are getting spoiled this year :) We had Thanksgiving tonight with my family and tomorrow with Zach's family. I LOVE the holidays!

I have also been trying to get things ready for baby to arrive- organizing Sawyer's room back into a nursery, going through all of his old clothes, ect, AND we have Sawyer's big boy room partially decorated. It really has been hard to find the time to get everything done because when I haven't been at work or out playdating with friends, I have been taking naps with Sawyer. I bought him room darkening curtains for his room to help him nap and oh boy do they ever work- on both of us. I lay down to read him one book and the next thing I know, its 2 hours later and I'm waking up in his bed with him snuggled up next to me. And he is so warm and sweet its hard to leave! Sawyer has been sleeping in his big boy bed now for a while and he does great. He goes to sleep on his own every night after we read. I thought he might wake up at night and get out of bed but he hasn't yet. I think he actually has been sleeping and napping better in his big boy bed which is wonderful because there was no way I was going to have 2 kids in cribs.

Sawyer is a regular chatterbox now days- stringing together 3, 4, 5 and sometimes tons of words together into sentences. And he talks about everything- he must get that from me. I dont think there is a word he can't say- or at least attempt to say. He does have a hard time with his own name though- those darn S's are hard! We have still been trying to play outside as much as possible before it gets too cold. I already am dreaming of spring...

And baby boy #2 is doing well, growing like a weed! I can't believe that I am in my 3rd trimester already. I will be 32 weeks on Tuesday and I feel like this whole pregnancy is flying by. I still feel like we just found out we were going to have another baby, and that we JUST found out that we get to have another little boy. It makes me a little sad because I know I will miss being pregnant- I feel like I am no where near ready to be done yet and I only have 8 weeks left! Maybe Im crazy, but I really love the feeling of being pregnant, and all the little baby wiggles! This baby definatly feels bigger than I remember Sawyer feeling at 32 weeks. And my belly is bigger. He seems like a very sweet baby though- which could be wishful thinking on my part. Sawyer was always a kicker, sometimes I felt like I had bruises on my uterus from him, and once I SWEAR he pinched me in there. This baby dosent kick nearly as hard and ussually he just wiggles and readjusts his position a lot. I have had a lot of braxton hicks contractions and I'm hoping that means they are getting things geared up baby's arrival- unfourtunaly they didnt do much when I was pregnant with Sawyer but heres to hoping that the second time my body wants to move things along a bit before hand. I would love to have less than 26 hours of labor this time.

A very busy weekend

To say we have had a busy weekend would be a bit of an understatment this week. Thursday night we had rehersal dinner for Bryan and Kelsi's wedding. We went through everything twice and the first time Sawyer went down the isle no big deal, but the second time he would NOT do it and screamed NOOOOOOOOOOO- needless to say I was a BIT nervous for Friday night after that little show.

Thursday one of my good friends from work had a baby- so I snuck over Friday morning before the wedding to see them. She had a baby BOY! and has a son about 7 months older than Sawyer. Sawyer thinks her older son B is quite cool, so Im pretty excited for our next set of sons to grow up playing together too! And I LOVE getting to hold new babies :)

Friday was the wedding and I made good and sure that Sawyer took a good nap that afternoon. In fact, I had to wake him up to get him dressed and to the church on time for pictures. He behaved very well at the church for pictures and I kept givinig him snacks so he wouldnt get hungry and cranky. Zach was the best man in the wedding so when the time came Zach was the one who walked down the isle right before Sawyer was supposed to go- so Zach showed Sawyer a dum dum sucker, stuffed it is his pocket and told Sawyer, come get the candy, and went down. Sawyer was THRILLED to be able to go get a sucker, so down he went, giggling the whole way and he go his dum dum. He did GREAT and mommy was so proud!! He was a bit squirrly during dinner at the reception, it was about his bedtime and he didnt want to sit still- plus he wanted his daddy! But oh boy, once they started playing music for the dance he was a happy camper! He danced the ENTIRE night! I didnt take him home until 11:30 because he was having such a good time.

I couldnt for the life of me get this to turn the right way...

Saturday we did post wedding brunch and then spent the afternoon with some friends from out of town who stayed with us after the wedding. They have a baby girl who was born in August and Sawyer was not pleased when Zach or I held her. He would say "no daddy, baby down! Baby DOWN!" A few weeks ago he could have not cared less when I held her... looks like we might have our hands full in a few months. Sawyer was so tired from staying up late the night before that he ended up sleeping for 4 HOURS on saturday.

Today we all slept in and then went on a "farm crawl." 7 or 8 farms in southern Iowa had activities/demonstrations ect today. We went to 4 of them. Sawyer loved the animals and activities and ran all over the place happily. We went to a pumpking patch and poor Sawyer was horrified by one of the decorations they had up- to the point where he almost cried when I went near it. Then an older boy went over and punched it a bunch of times and Sawyer was quite happy again, but still wouldnt go near it. We ended on an orchard where Sawyer got to go on a "tractor ride" and he picked and apple off one of the trees. We ate almost all of it before falling asleep in the car. Zach and I had fun too- Zach bought some local organic honey, and he loves honey. He got me some organic garlic, and I love garlic. There was also really great food, the orchard had amazing fresh apples and caramel. I was one happy pregnant lady :) We also got 1/2 a bushell of fresh apples to take home for juice/cider. It was such a fun day. We ended the night by spending some more time with Zach's parents, and Sawyer was so happy to see them again.

link for anyone without FB

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027838&id=79700095&l=b54216d3ad

Getting ready

Checking out his new log cabin for the first time

Oh, I like it!

Maybe even love it! Zach agreed to letting him have a log cabin playhouse because they arent "too girly"

We have a very busy and exciting weekend ahead of us! Sawyer is one of the ring bearers and Zach the best man in two of our best friends wedding tomorrow night! I was at work the day that Sawyer's tux came in so Zach tried it on him and took a video of him for me to see when I got home. As you can tell, he likes it :)

He danced so much when they put him in the tux that right after zach took it off and put his jammies on him- he ended up throwing up. I guess he shouldnt dance right after he eats. Thank goodness he didnt throw up on his tux!

I had him practice holding the pillow and walking yesterday, just around the house, and he was VERY proud, and excited and, well, CRAZY as usual. I can't decide if he is going to freak out, or if he will ham it up- I think it will just depend on his mood Friday night.

We have been so busy as usual but with nothing specific. Lots of playdates to the park while the weather is so nice. And we have been working on clearing everything out of our upstairs office so it can become Sawyer's big boy room. Its been a slow process for me- I ussually only work on it when Sawyer is napping- IF the rest of the house is already clean. I have his bedding ect. all ready to go, we just need to pick out a bed, repaint the room, get all the office stuff out.... I think it will be a while yet. Its going to have to get cold out to get me more motivated to work on anything inside the house.

Its a BROTHER!

Both hands by his face

Arrow is pointing to the boy parts, kinda flopped over towards his leg in typical male fashion- it was VERY obvious during our US that he was a boy :) He was not shy one bit.

Leg up- that is NOT his boy parts like a few people thought- yikes!

Cute little profile and a hand by his chest

hand on the face

19 week belly- I havent done a 20 week picture...

We had our 20 week anatomy scan this morning at the hospital. I had been literally counting down the days for the past 5 weeks. Ultrasound day is one of my favorite days of the whole pregnancy! Its just so amazing to see that tiny person that has been kicking you- AND Im never really calm about the whole thing until Im told that everything looks good. We got there and right away our US tech asked us if we wanted to know the gender and what we had at home. I said we had a little boy and she said "looks like you are going to have another!!" and I was so happy I started laughing- since about 12 weeks I have been just SURE this was another boy, and actually a lot of the time forgot that I hadnt been told yet that it was a boy I felt so sure. I even had dreams where I had an ultrasound and they told me it was a boy. I was 99% sure up until yesterday when I started second guessing myself because Zach really thought it was going to be a girl- he said he thought it was a girl because he felt like he wanted another boy because he didnt know what to do with a girl baby just yet. Well, I guess he never had any reason to worry :) It was VERY obviously a boy- even more so than Sawyer was. I had by US with Sawyer at about 18-19 weeks- I think we was somewhere between 8 and 12oz, and this boy measured in at 1lb today! And he really looked bigger and more developed that Sawyer did when we saw him- I measured 5 days ahead with my US due date being January 20 which would make me about 21 weeks compared to the 18 with Sawyer's US. I was really excited to hear this part because with Sawyer I was due January 18 but my US due date was Jan 24- which was the day I went into labor! So now Im thinking- perhaps I wont have to go a week overdue with this boy! That would be nice- but Im not going to count on it! Baby Boy was very active and flipped all around and had his hands up by his face a lot- he even had a foot up there for a while! And most importantly- everything looked great. When I picked up Sawyer from my parents house I told him- we saw the baby! And he gave me a suprised look. I asked him this morning if he wanted a brother or a sister and he told me he wanted pizza and a vitamin- so my mom gave him some pizza at her house while she watched him- he is so funny :) Im so excited for him to have a brother and a boy cousin so close in age for him to play with. Im also really excited that I get to use all of Sawyer's baby stuff again- it made me so sad to see him grow out of stuff I really liked and now everything will fit his brother!

Seating for 2!

Well, I bit the bullet and bought a double stroller already. You might be saying - at only 19 weeks!!?? but I found a deal on an awesome stroller that was hard to beat, so yes, we have our stroller about 21 weeks early. The only part that stinks is that now I can't wait to use it and Im going to have to! I got an easywalker duo which is a dutch brand of stroller know for its manuverability on all terrain. I really wanted something similar to our jogger now with air filled tires, suspension, ect since where we live the road tends to be pretty bumpy with a regular stroller. Its a bit narrower than just a standard double jogger, and about 15 pounds lighter because its made of lightweight aluminum. Which was a huge bonus for me because I cant lift much. Im a wimp. I also got a carrycot for the new baby, and a footmuff for Sawyer since I figured we would proably be able to start walking again in March. The carrycot is so adorable! I think its my favorite part of the whole stroller! I went with Aqua and it turned out to be so cute! It was either that, or brown and I did think about getting brown because stains dont show on Brown but Im so glad I picked the aqua-its adorable, and everything is machine washable anyway.

Obviously I havent really gotten to take it for a test drive but Sawyer so far seems pretty excited about the stroller, AND he can climb up into his seat alone which is awesome! He points at the stroller and says, BABY! BABY!

I also had an OB appoinment today. All is well with Baby #2- heart rate was 140 which I think is close to where Sawyer was but I really can not remeber. Im 19 weeks 1 day and I measured 21 weeks- yikes! Maybe that means this baby will come on time- but in all reality Im totally planning on going a week overdue again- I figure if I plan on it, it wont seem like such a long time. I think 2/2/11 (8 days over) is a great birthday :) And the most exciting part of all is- my ultrasound is a week from Friday! Im so excited- and thankfully its in the mornig so I dont have to hang out all day being excited! I know what I THINK it is, but I might end up being suprised :) Which is fine. Just hoping for another healthy little family member. Today Sawyer was looking at a picture of Zach holding him as a newborn and he said, DADDY! Baby! I asked him if he wanted a baby and he said "Brother!!!!" What if it is a sister- I asked him. NO!!! He said in his sassiest voice.... guess he stated his opinion on what he thinks it is! Honestly I think he wants the baby to be an older brother, who can ride a bike, that is what would make Sawyer happy.

August..

Sawyer helps make salsa

Meeting baby Addi

Running in some grass in front of my senior year apartment

18 week bump

We have been having a ton of fun this month! Aunt Anna and baby Henry came for a visit and we spent every day with them, shopping, playing, and swimming in the pool- Sawyer loved getting to hang out with Granny everyday!

Zach and I took Sawyer to the fair and he LOVED it. We mainly walked around in all the animal barns because he adores animals. I think he was in shock when he saw SO MANY chickens- he is used to just our 4 at home. "Chickies, CHICKIES" he kept yelling. I think the chickens, sheep and cows were his favorites because those are the sounds he knows how to make. So we saw "baa baas and moo moos" He really wante to pet all the animals so after he woke up from his mid day siesta we took him to a little petting zoo and that was (i think) his favorite part. We probably spent a solid half hour in there petting the goats. Sawyer (of course) was not scared at all and stuck his hands into the cage and tried to grab any goat he could get his hands on- he really wanted to pull their ears. One particularly friendly goat loved Sawyer and nibbled on his hat when sawyer stopped holding out toddler sized handfuls of food fast enough- was Sawyer scared- not one bit, in fact he shoved his head closer to the goat and laughed until he could barely stand up.

Not long after the fair Zach and I took off for the Ozarks and left Sawyer at home (sad and exciting at the same time). We met up with 9 other friends for a long weekend at the lake of boating and sunshine. We were lucky because the weather was great all 3 days we were there. On Friday night late there was a HUGE thunderstorm with some pretty awesome lightning we watched from the deck. Our photographer friend Paul got and AMAZING picture of it stricking the hill across the lake from the condo. We even lost power for a few hours! But by Saturday morning the sun was shining again and the day was beautiful! I actually got a tan which was wonderful!

Yesterday I helped (watched everyone else) move my brother in to Coe- which is where I went to college. It was fun getting back on Campus again and seeing all the students running around. Its so weird to think that was my home for 4 years, and now its been 3 years since I last was a student! I got Sawyer a cute little Kohawk sweatshirt to wear- he looks like such a big boy with a hoodie on! We also got to eat lunch at my favorite resturaunt from College- Irish Democrat!! AND I got to see my old roomie, and still friend, Leeann and her brand new one week old daughter Addilyn Jane! She was a big girl- over 9 lbs and compared to Sawyer she seemed SO SO tiny! Sawyer didnt care at all the I was holding her- he was excited to play with toys at Leeann's house. Holding new babies makes me so exicited for our new baby!

And speaking of our new baby I have been feeling GREAT for about a month now. No more morning sickness, no more constant fatigue- i'm not even napping anymore! And I have a bump now that actually looks like a baby and not just a big lunch. I have been feeling the baby move since about 15 weeks or so and noticed my first braxton hicks contractions at only 17 weeks- I didnt get them until 20-23ish weeks with Sawyer that I can remember and MAN I forgot how annoying they are! And my sister and Leeann both never had ANY which is totally unfair! They drive me nuts. I should have my ultrasound within the next two weeks and Im getting so excited! That is one of my all time favorite parts of being pregnant!

Last night when I got home we made and jarred homemade salsa since Zach's gma had given us tomatoes and we didnt want them to go to waste. Zach also did a jar of pickled jalepenos and a jar of pickled banana peppers. We tried some salsa today and I think it turned out pretty good. We have a TON of cucumbers so I think we are going to do a bunch of pickles tonight before anything gets spoiled. And the weather today has been gorgeous! I have the windows open despite my allergies driving me crazy AND our house is getting

a new roof so the roofers are up there banging around...

Comparing..

Happy Anniversary to Zach and I today- we have no big plans for the day :) Actually I think Im going to take Sawyer to the pool which finally opens back up today! And Ill get some steaks and shrimp to grill for dinner- I tried to convince Zach to take the day off from work so we could go to the zoo, but he dad is in the ozarks so someone needed to be there to be in charge. Its crazy to think of how much things have changed in the past 3 years! When we got married I was a BRAND NEW nurse and I just started working on my own after we got back from our honeymoon. We lived in our old house on E. Third. We did have Cooper though- AND today isnt just our Anniversary- its also Cooper's 5th doggie birthday! Aww! We had no kids- and now we are working on our 2nd! I don't even think Zach owned his bending buisness yet but I can't remember if he bought that right before or right after we got married... and now he has some whole new projects in the works! I have gone from working full time, 4 evenings a week, to working part time two days a week and thank goodness for that, I love days. I can't even imagine still working EVENINGS! Some weeks I hardly saw Zach! It seems like 3 years has gone by so fast, but it also seems like forever ago that we didnt have kids, and I was wedding planning and then doing all that crazy evening working. I must say, life was very good then, but I am LOVING life right now 3 years later. Im just the type of person who was supposed to be a mom I guess. And for another comparison, here is my 14 week belly last night after work, compared with my 16 week belly with Sawyer.




I told you I look bigger this time! I keep weighing myself to see if I have just packed on a bunch of weight but I havent gained any weight from when I found out I was pregnant. I actually can't believe how big it looks already. With Sawyer I really didnt even look pregnant until I was 23 weeks, I think this time will be a lot sooner. Thats what happens I guess when everything is already stretched out and you get pregnant 15 months after having a baby. Sadly I was a TON tanner before I had Sawyer, I had all kinds of free time to lay out in my bikini still then. Now I chill in the baby pool with Sawyer in my bikini, which now looks a bit questionable with my belly hanging out. Good thing our yard is private :)

Recap

These two were snapped just seconds apart- what a good helper :)

Playground in NC-he looks so grown up!

Jetskiing in the pool- it has a motor and a water gun!

Fireworks on the boat! He loved it!

Well, our trip home from NC was great- Sawyer was very well behaved. He was SO glad to be home with his toys, dog, and daddy :) He got a new bubble mower for being such a good boy and let me tell you- the kid LOVES the thing. "mow mow MOW!!!" and then, "bubbles! BUBBLES!!!" what could be better. My mom also brought over my old american girl baby doll (which happens to be asian lol) and my old doll high chair for Sawyer to play with. He was excited to see the "baby" and to point out its "eyes" he also still likes to see pictures of baby Henry- so Im hoping this means he is going to be a good big brother in 6 months! And really 6 months dosent seem like nearly long enough anymore to get all the things done I would love to have finished before adding another child to our family- but perhaps that also comes from my total lack of energy/motivation. Im literally counting down these last few days of my first trimester. I honestly can say I am not a first trimester fan- is anyone? Give me a huge belly and being able to not tie my shoes over nausea and fatigue any day. The good news is the end is in sight and honestly ive had things pretty easy both times. And the exciting news- my baby bump is starting to show! Ill only be 13 weeks tomorrow but my bump already looks like it did when I was 16 weeks with Sawyer. I guess you do pop sooner the 2nd time- even people at work have commented on it, and thats when im wearing scrubs.

And our wedding anniversary is coming up soon! 3 years :) Guess we have been busy in 3 years ;) We contemplated what to do/going somewhere but to be honest staying home just sounded so nice- I havent been home for a weekend (and working dosent count) since... um May maybe- I dont even remember! So we havent decided what we are going to do yet.

And I never had time to say anything about 4th of July, but it was great- we were down at the lake, which was a good thing because I heard the weather at home wasnt very nice. Sawyer LOVED the fireworks- we saw them both the 3rd and 4th. He points up and says "boom, boom, boom" and he STILL talks about them and laughs. And Uncle Ben got Sawyer an inflatable jet ski- with a motor, and he rode that around the pool. We had a lot of fun- only a few more weeks and we will be there with our friends!

North Carolina- come on and RAISE up!

We made it to NC safe and sound yesterday. I had been telling Sawyer that we were going to ride on an airplane to see a baby cousin and he actually seemed excited. Our flight left DM at 6 so we left home at around 4 for the drive- and Sawyer didnt fall back asleep in the car... Everything at the airport was fine, we had no trouble finding our gate and waiting, and Sawyer was excited to board the plane and "GO!" We had a window seat and an empty seat next to us on our flight to Chicago and Sawyer LOVED the man and was sitting on the isle and also had his little face GLUED to the window until the only thing visable was clouds. He was even pretty quite- but he didnt sleep. We made it to Chicago fine, changed terminals and then had to wait FOREVER for a crazy lady to get out of the handicapped stall so I could take the stroller in it with Sawyer- and she was NOT handicapped, she was changing her clothes or something.... so then we had some diaper changing time and walked the few gates down and they were calling final boarding call for our flight as we walked up- not kidding, literally we got on and within a few minutes we took off. Yikes! And Sawyer was exhausted by this point- he had been up for 5 hours. so he was CRABBY and fussy and not his charming self. he probably whined for 45 minutes and nothing made it better- not even fruit snacks and his favorite suckers. he finally fell asleep- and slept for 4 more hours once we got to Annas- and then slept all last night. he loves baby Henry and says BABY! BABY! at first he didnt want to touch him but today he touched Henrys feet. the best part is that he dosent care at all when i hold Henry- so i think he will make a pretty wonderful big brother :) and Henry loves his aunt kay- he falls asleep every time i hold him- it makes me so excited to have a newborn again. only 200 days to go :)

Dont touch a fertility statue in Mexico....

Dont touch a fertility statue in Mexico as a joke....

Unless you want to get pregnant 6 weeks later.

Big Brother in Training!
SUPRISE! We are having another baby! My due date is January 25, 2011- yes, for those of you that are paying attention that IS Sawyer's 2nd birthday- to the exact day. We are very excited to add to our family. I have been feeling pretty good- sick off and on but I think being so busy with Sawyer really keeps me from noticing it as much as I did when I was pregnant with him. I have been pretty tired but luckily for me Sawyer is a good nap buddy :) I have come to quite enjoy our times cuddling together and resting and I know Sawyer loves it too. I have been trying to compare the two pregnancies so far in my head. Here is what I have come up with so far.

Same: With Sawyer my hair grew like CRAZY once I got pregnant and I have noticed the same thing again- I swear it has grow a few inches in the past few months. I have also noticed the same yucky dry skin and breakouts that I had with Sawyer. I think I am feeling about the same morning sickness wise- feeling sick but not much throwing up- I cant decide if im feeling better or just ignoring it more, or if Im feeling worse but using my zofran more.... I was pretty tired when I was pregnant with Sawyer also- not much has changed there. Im craving mostly the same things I wanted with Sawyer but not as bad- I still want carbs- spaghetti, bread, ect. And the same things make me want to throw up- pork in general, tortillas, and any gross smell.

Different:I think I have more of an appetite this time- for the first few weeks before I felt very sick I was HUNGRY all the time and I def. didnt have that with Sawyer- with him I felt sick before i even knew I was pregnant! And with Sawyer I hardly ate until I was into my 2nd trimester because I felt better if I had an empty stomach, this time I feel better if I've had a bit to eat. And this time when I am tired it hits me like a ton of bricks out of no where and I feel like I HAVE to take a nap or I might just fall asleep right where I am. And my belly this time is already starting to pop out- with Sawyer my clothes all fit pretty well untill I was almost 20 weeks- this time everything already feels tight and my belly is def. sticking out more than it was a few months ago in Cancun- and i havent started to gain weight yet so I know its not just fat!

Zach thinks its a girl because girls are "unexpected". I havent decided yet what I think :) Either way is fine with me and when I was pregnant with Sawyer I wanted a little boy SO bad. I would love to have another boy because we already have all the boy stuff- and all the right sizes too :) But a little girl would be fun as well. Just a healthy baby is great with me. Im feeling a bit tempted not to find out because I feel like I dont care either way but I know when the time comes I will want to know- and I like being able to plan, shop, and decorate accordingly

Lots to Say

Well, I know this is always my excuse but we have been SO busy this summer! We have already been down to the lake 3 times- with a few more trips in the works- as well as get togethers with friends, family, and a few suprises thrown into the mix! Busy! I have one free weekend between now and Septemeber and Im sure that weekend will get booked up too! Yikes! Sawyer and I have been spending LOTS of our time and the public pool because the boy LOVES to swim- and he loves that he can touch the bottom and run, not to mention go down the big green slide and ride a tube around the lazy river. He hates to leave, and always falls asleep in the car before we are even out of the parking lot!

Sawyer has really had an explosion of words over the past few weeks to a month- I have lost track of all he can say now- but he can really communicate well finally! He also nods yes and no and uses them appropriatly which is great. For example, a few nights ago I was rocking him to sleep and I said "Ok Sawyer time to night night" and he shook his head and said "no no no!" "Well what do you think we should do instead?" I asked and he did his "I dont know" shoulder shrug hands up move. Hilarious! He ended up going to sleep after all :) And a few days ago he used 4 words together- He told me "mama, I want CANDY!" He is just like his momma! I think that he is glad that he can communicate what he wants now also because he has been very cheerful and well behaved the past few months compared to right after he turned one.

Memorial Day Weekend

We headed down to the lake of the Ozarks for Memorial day- we left Thursday night when Zach got off work hoping that Sawyer could sleep most of the way there. I kept him up that afternoon so he would be extra tired and he fell asleep before we even pulled out of our developement. He slept for about an hour and then was up and hungry so we made a pit stop and ate and after that he slept about the last 2 hours of the trip. We spent the whole day in the pool on Friday- Sawyer LOVES to swim so he was thrilled. We took him on the jet ski and he loved that as well, until he fell asleep! Guess he was relaxed :) The next day when Sawyer saw Zach go on the jetski without him he cried "daddy vroom vroom, daddy vroom vroom!" So daddy had to take him for another ride. And he loved that! Val got him a blow up jet ski and he scooted around on it all over the living room and would smile when I told him "you are just like daddy!" He made motor noises and looked proud. He is his fathers son!

Sawyer is quite the little water bug and a pretty darn good swimmer! We could barely get him out of the pool! We even let him swim in the lake- he was thrilled to be big like daddy. Every time I tried to get him out of the lake he would throw a fit. Finally I took him out and he didnt cry and I asked him "are you done" "yea," he said "im done" Its so fun to hear him use his words like that! He must have been worn out!

We spent most of our time the whole weekend in the pool, and taking boat rides. We also went to a neat winery where and old insane asylum had been. It was GORGEOUS though- it was up on a bluff overlooking a river that runs into the lake. The weather was perfect- warm but not too hot, sunny with a nice breeze. We def. got lucky!

Is it summer yet?

It has felt like it lately here- and we are enjoying every minute of it! We have been keeping very busy at the park with friends and playing in the yard- so busy that it is hard to believe that May is very close to over! I had a wonderful mothers day- Zach and Sawyer got me a massage and I am so excited about it! What a great present for a mom with a 27 pound toddler that loves to be held! We spent the day with both of our families and it was great!

We are still spending most of our time outside in the yard. Sawyer loves to play in his baby pool - the ducks seem to think it looks pretty great too but luckily they cant quite make it in! Our garden is looking pretty good so far as well. Zach planted 40 tomato plants that we started from seeds! We are already getting pretty good sized radishes out, and green onions as well. This past weekend we spent the day in the yard- I was weeding the strawberry patch and Zach picked a nice ripe strawberry for all of us to try- the first ripe strawberry of the year. Sawyer LOVED it. He then noticed that there were a few other almost ripe strawberries as well- which he immediatly picked and shoved in his mouth just as quickly as we could clean them. He would point to them and say "that that that!!! (dat) "numm numm! Numm numm, mommy numm numm!" How can you not give in the that? When all the ripe strawberries were picked and eaten- he picked a yucky white, unripe strawberry and tried to eat that too.... not quite as tasty. Zach had a big green onion picked, and Sawyer found it and at the whole thing- he even said "numm numm!" I think he just likes to eat things from the garden...

Tulip Time and Mothers Day

Seems like we have really been on the go this spring. This past weekend was Tulip Time and we stayed busy the whole weekend. Wednesday Sawyer had his 15 month check up. He was 26lb 80z and 31.5 inches but I think he is actually a bit taller than that- the top of the measuring thing was pushed back a bit and he is outgrowing all his pants! He got his last round of shots and now we are free until he goes to school! What an amazing feeling! He did great as usual. He is an awesome kid.
That night we walked in the Klompen Classic with a bunch of friends. It was a blast and some pretty good excercise considering we had to keep jogging to get ahead. Somehow we managed to line up DEAD LAST and for a while no one was behind us except for the paramedics...yikes. We had to kick it into high gear and jog to get out of the shameful spot. We finished in 53ish minutes. It was fun, but it didnt start until 7 so it was 8 by the time we got done and 9 something by the time we got home- needless to say Sawyer didnt end up in bed until 10 and then slept until 11 the next day! Turns out that was great though because then he was cheerful on Thursday for Tulip Time!
Thursday the weather was actually very nice and Sawyer and I scrubbed streets and then walked in the baby parade with Zachs mom and sister. Sawyer loved scrubbing streets- we gave him his own little brush and he pushed it all around before we started walking- once the actual street scrubbing started it was a different story. He didnt want to walk, he just wanted to play with his brush and the water. So Beth ended up carrying him- I tell her that is why her arms are so strong- because I always pass Sawyer off to her if he wants to be carried for a long time, up stairs, and other hard tasks. Anyway Beth carried him and told him to "wave to all the people in the grandstands" which he LOVED. He would wave and all the old people would wave back. Im sure hundreds of strangers now have pictures of him...odd. He enjoyed the baby parade as well. We also took Sawyer to the night parade and he really loved the bands. He would dance to the music and the next day we saw him pretending to march in a band and play a trombone. What a ham! He liked the bright lit up floats a lot too, and the horses, tractors... pretty much everything!
Friday was FREEZING cold but last minute my friend Lindsay and I decided to walk the parade anyway. Sawyer had 4 layers on top and bottom AND his bundler on his stroller. He stayed nice and toasty. We bundled up quite a bit too! Lindsay also gave Sawyer his first "real" haircut. I have actually cut this boys wild mop 4 times, but last time I HATED the way it looked and decided not to mess with it myself anymore. We left it long and "surfer boy" look, because I like it a lot that way and honestly the boy has a great head of hair- basically she just gave it a better shape, and evened things up. We were both SHOCKED how much hair she was actually able to trim off while still keeping the lenght about the same. It looks SO SO much better now. He looks a bit more grown up, but in a good way. His hair has less poof now which was what I wanted. That afternoon I managed to break my little toe... I wasnt even doing anything crazy, i hit it on our ottoman and bent it the wrong way. By the end of the night half my foot was purple and I could barely walk...but I didnt let that ruin my fun :) Friday night Sawyer got to ride with Nana Val and Mrs. Iowa in the night parade. Val was Mrs. Iowa in 1988 so she hosted this years Mrs. Iowa at TT. Sawyer loved Mrs. Iowa and Mrs. Iowa adored him! Sawyr had a great time waving from the convertible with nana when nana asked him today "what did you do in the parade?" He waved. We had friends over on friday night and it was great to catch up. Thats my favorite part of TT!
Saturday was still cold, so we bundled up again. I participated in the world record breaking dutch dance-broken toe and all! I had 5 layers on top and 3 on the bottom and I wasnt hot... We even got Zach into a costume on Saturday! We scrubbed streets with his family and then walked in the baby parade again- we even convinced Zach and his dad to come with us! I think they had fun :) We brought Sawyer to my grandparents so they and my aunt and cousins could see the little cutie all dressed up. Saturday night we watched the parade...yes, again. And, we got to see a high school friend we hadnt seen in 3 years! He didnt even know that we had gotten married and had a baby!
Sunday we enjoyed mothers day with both of our families- my parents we on the road headed to NC to the siblings so we ejoyed time with my Grandparents and Aunt, uncle and Cousin. Zach did a good job and got me a massage for mothers day and I can not WAIT to use it! Carrying around a 26 1/2 pound kid is KILLING my back.

for some reason blogger isnt letting me upload photos tonight, but I have all the pics up of FB anyway. Heres the link for those of you without facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023498&id=79700095&l=9ad35ecb58

I had a short meeting today at work, and my dad watched Sawyer while I was gone. After I was done, we put Sawyer in his Dutch Costume and walked to the park about a block from their house to try to get some pictures before all the Tulips die. Sawyer had fun at first stomping in his fun wooden shoes, but it was near nap time, so the novelty wore off when he found out he was not allowed to go swimming in the pond. He was a HUGE hit with the tourists that were in the park though. Old ladies were taking his picture and telling him he was their favorite thing they had seen all day. Everyone was amazed that he could walk so well in his wooden shoes- it IS rather funny! His wooden shoes were Zach's when Zach was a baby! While we were taking pictures some ride on lawn mowers showed up and Sawyer was pretty well done for after that, he just wanted to watch the lawn mowers cut the grass.