Moving, Part 2

We sold our Minnetonka place! It has been a busy couple of weeks trying to get all the details finalized but we will be closing September 13th. We were concerned about a couple of things that could cause the deal to go through but so far things are moving along smoothly. The inspection found what we had expected that the roof over the addition needed replacing but thankfully that was the only thing they asked to have done. Dan spent yesterday afternoon and evening tearing off the old roof and laying new water barriers so that the Richters could come next week and put down the new shingles. Scott came and helped which was great to have someone with experience in roofing, plus to keep Dan going after a long tiring day!

We're now in the midst of packing as we left the house pretty much fully furnished for showings. Dan and his parents moved everything for the nursery into the baby's room last weekend and everytime we stop at the house we pick up a few things to hopefully make the move next weekend go as smoothly and quickly as possible. I'll post some pictures of the baby's room as soon as I take some - it turned out great! I love the Harvest Brown color on the walls (thanks Monica for painting the rooms upstairs!) and with the sloped ceilings it is such a cute little nursery.

The weather has been perfect for packing and Dan's roofing project and I hope it stays nice through next weekend too. June was cold and rainy, July was HOT but so far August has been pleasant which has been so wonderful being pregnant. Even though I've had a few bad back pain days, this week I'm feeling a lot better and actually have been getting some things checked off my to-do list. Amber came with Charlie and helped me organize the baby's room and get her clothes washed and put away... so nice! It would be great if I can last a few more weeks, not only for the baby's sake, but also to get through the move and hopefully feel a bit more organized and ready.

A couple more things on my to-do list:
PICK A BABY NAME!!! We are down to three first names, but need to agree on the middle
Buy a baby book, 2nd video monitor, noise maker (love the sleep sheep) and a few more things on my registery
Find rugs and toy storage for Bethany's room - I'm thinking shelves with baskets to keep things hidden but cute
Pack my hospital bag - Bethany was born at 35 weeks, 5 days which is next Monday.. what will this baby do?

Lots of other things to do related to organizing and unpacking, but that is what winter months are for, right? I still want to enjoy the summer as much as possible and give Bethany lots of 1:1 attention. She had a hard time seeing the crib get setup and her baby toys be put in the room. We kept making a big deal of her big girl bed, fun new room and toys but I'm sure she is remembering when she had the baby things not that long ago and it is yet another transition. She has been a trooper though and really good about everything all things considered.

I'll need another post to talk about all of her new words, but her vocabulary has just exploded the last few weeks! She came in from a walk with Grandma last week and said she saw a "Derr!" and that the boat "beeped" at her when she waved. She repeats everything we say (better be careful!) and we can understand so much more of what she says which is fun. At almost 22 months, she is growing up so fast and will tell you she's "one" with her pointer finger... good thing she caught on to that before we have to start teaching her "two" in October!

New Room

Last week was a whirlwind! I had a great birthday, the humidity stayed low on Sunday and Monday last week for our get together with my family and then for Dan and I to go out while his mom watched Bethany. It was fun to go out on the boat and enjoy a perfect summer evening.

They got to work on the baby room Tuesday and Wednesday and then Dan and his parents got some priming and painting started so Dan could lay the wood flooring. It only took him 8 hours starting Friday evening and finishing Saturday afternoon. He cleaned and put her new furniture in and then we showed Bethany her new room. She loved it! Dan thought it would be fun for her to sleep there, but she was so excited it took her awhile to fall asleep so it was a long night. Tonight was night #2 in her new room and she was fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. We're hoping that trend continues so she gets used to her new room before baby comes!

We had a few more visitors today with Dan's aunt and uncle from Colorado and then my best friend from high school's family with new baby Freddy! Bethany loves playing with Sophie and the two girls were giggling under Bethany's covers in her new room together... I think it is a sign of my future with little girls :)

so the video has title slides apparently, not sure how I did that!

Recent pictures

We went to the 8th floor of Macy's with some other moms from Cross of Glory and ate lunch afterwards on the 12th floor. Bethany enjoyed all of the elf's but didn't enjoy the long lines :) We had hoped to see the puppet show too, but it was sold out and the kids probably wouldn't have made it to the next show!

Gentle touches to cousin Charlie

look at my teeth!

"Cheese"

It's brisk baby

I love my rocking chair that Morfar had as a little boy

The Alamo

a room with a balcony, fun to roam around in

Ready to go exploring

10 months old and summer catch up post

It has been awhile since I've posted so I'm going to attempt to catch up. The last few weekends we have had friends out to the cabin which is always a lot of fun. We had Dan's friends from Mankato there one weekend - usually we go up to the Gjovik's north of Brainerd but this year it worked out better to come to our cabin. It was fun to go boating and for Bethany to meet Asa who is a few weeks younger than her.

Climbing the stairs together.
Here they are playing on the musical table together

Then we had my sister and her family and my parents over. We actually took Charlie on Friday while Amber and Brent went to a wedding and so Bethany and Charlie had some cousin time. Here are some cute pictures from bath time. I was very wet sitting there watching them because they splashed so much!

We went to the State Fair this past week and enjoyed cheese curds, endless cups of milk, Sweet Martha's cookies and Australian battered potatoes. Bethany grabbed one of the cookies while we were darting under cover from a pop up storm and had chocolate everywhere! We also visited the Miracle of Birth center where Bethany got to come face to face with some of the animals we read about in one of her books. She loved seeing the little pigs, sheep and calves.

Labor Day weekend we finally had our Bethel friends out to the cabin. We'd been planning it since before Memorial Day trying to find a weekend where everyone could come. It was a blast! Kevin and Jon both brought their cameras to take some pictures of Bethany and we got a few cute ones I think. When they send them to me I'll be sure to post a few.

I'll do another post of some other pictures over the past month as well, but in the meantime Bethany turned 10 months old! She is learning so many new things like raising her hands by her head when we say How big is Bethany? She claps a lot and sometimes waves too. She definitely knows the meaning of "no" but usually does the no thing and looks at us to see what we will do. I thought we were going to get by, but Bethany has learned to drop things over the edge of her high chair. She eats 3 solid food meals a day and loves to try everything we give her. We play hide and seek and peek-a-boo around corners a lot and she loves it! She loves to be chased too if we crawl after her but usually stops and turns around to try to have us pick her up after awhile. She is standing on her own for longer periods of time and goes between pieces of furniture by taking a step sometimes. I think she'll walk by her 11 month birthday....

She gets sooo excited when she sees people she recognizes, especially us when she hasn't seen us all day or for a few hours. When she is interested in something she'll get quiet and look at it with her big eyes and sometimes make high-pitched noises or squeaks with her mouth slightly open while switching between looking at us and the item of interest. She sleeps very well with 2 solid naps during the day and between 11-12 hours of sleep at night. Very few times does she wake up and need us - mostly she can put herself back to sleep. She loves her books - especially the animal book when we make the sounds. We read a Bible story every night before bed and I can tell she knows its bedtime when she sits on dad's lap in the rocking chair while I read the story. Dan prays and then I cuddle her for a minute or two while she lays her head on my shoulder. Then she lays down in her crib and usually doesn't cry before drifting off to sleep.

Bethany you are at such a fun age where you love mommy and daddy and others too! We love your sweet personality and how you comfort others when they are sad like the kids at daycare or friends at home. We hope you continue to display empathy for those around you. We can't believe that you are standing on your own and feel a little sad that you may be walking soon! That means you are becoming more of a little girl than the tiny baby that we took home from the hospital last fall. We love you so much!
Here are some fun 10 month pictures of Bethany by her monkey:

She looks like a little girl instead of a baby in this picture I think

Fun at the lake

Annika (1o months) and Bethany hanging out in the hammock

Jon and Bethany

Jenna, Jon and Squirt

Bethany and Daddy

Eric and Megan with their daughter Annika came out to the cabin this weekend and it was so fun for the girls to play together. They did really well and it was funny to watch them grab the same toy back and forth from each other - neither got upset but they just kept taking it away from each other over and over! Jon and Jenna came with their ducks and we heard another boater say "that ain't no wild duck" about Little Jerry following Jon and Dan as they kayaked around the lake. Squirt is just a few weeks old and was funny to watch running around with its little wings flapping and mouth wide open. Fun weekend!

New pics

Her new trick - breathing out of a little corner of her mouth (she looks kind of like popeye when she does it!)

Bethany hanging out with her friend Drew

Bethany loves little puppies

All bundled up in the tent

Camping last weekend was a bit cool and quite a bit rainy so although we had good intentions of staying overnight we ended up coming out for the day on Saturday with our friends from church. Bethany didn't quite know about sleeping in a tent for her naps but had a few short ones. Maybe next year!

Church Baby Shower!

Last week my wonderful small group at church hosted a baby shower for me! It was so much fun, and great to see so many of the women that mean so much to me. My mom and sister were able to come and Courtney was here from Tucson that week so it worked out well. Dan's mom got back from Japan 2 days later so it was too bad she couldn't make it or Dan's sister who was also here last weekend.

We played a couple cute game including a nursery rhyme game and memory game of various baby items in a basket that Erin and Linnea put together for me. The prizes were wonderful Caldrea items from Christina and they all had yummy food for the snacks. My favorite parts though were when Linnea gave me some words of wisdom for being a mom and when Erin had me sit in the middle of the room and people prayed for me and the baby. It was so neat to think about our little girl being here to meet these special people in a few weeks.

Thank you for the wonderful shower! I am so happy my daughter will be able to grow up with such a great church family!

Here I am at 33.5 weeks at the time of the shower!

Look at all the yummy food!

I don't think Amber was doing very well at the nursery rhyme game :) She still has a few more months to learn before her little boy comes!

Me and my hostesses: Erin, Linnea, Kara and Christina

Baby girl cupcake for my 33.5 week old baby bump

Labor Day Weekend!

What a BEAUTIFUL weekend it was! It was perfect outside and we had so much fun at the lake! Dan and I went out on Friday night after the Vikings pre-season game and went kayaking on Saturday a.m. The water was like glass and we paddled effortlessly through the next two lakes. Tom and Becky and Adelyn came over that afternoon and we had fun on the boat for a few hours. Adelyn screamed as the wind blew in her face - she loved it! Allison and Jeremy came for dinner and then that night everyone had a little co-ed baby shower for us. We played the "traits" game, a matching baby game, and then we bobbed for pacifiers and decorated onesies. It was so much fun! The guys really got into the competition when bobbing for pacifiers, and were very creative on the onsies too! My favorites were Tom's: Made in Vegas, and Allison's: Party. My crib. 3a.m. BYOB (bring your own bottle). I had fun making mine - I smeared brown paint all over the bottom of my onesie and wrote Little Pooper over the top of it :)

Allison had been having her pre-term contractions again so they left in the middle of the night to go home.. but she was feeling better after resting on Sunday. Her baby is due 3 weeks after me so hopefully she can hang on a few more weeks and at least get to 30. Sunday Kevin came out to try out the boat and fish with Dan and Tom while Becky and I chatted during Adelyn's naps. We went tubing and I got banned from trying to ski :( Oh well, at least I got to go faster than normal on the tube! Dan was driving so he just made sure I didn't fly off.

Yesterday Dan and I went kayaking again in the morning and then relaxed on the boat. I couldn't believe we had such great weather all weekend. I wanted to package it up and six months from now trade it in for one of the cold snowy days!

I'll post pictures soon.... Thank you Belisles and Houles for the great baby shower! It was so much fun - we love you guys!

Last 2 weeks update

Last weekend we helped Amber and Brent with their bathroom tiling projects. I think they are close on the downstairs one so now they'll be able to shower again soon. The upstairs shower and floor are next on the list. It will look great when its done!

While the guys kept tiling, I took a break to go to Jeremy and Allison's for their kids' 2nd and 3rd birthday party. It was a beautiful day for it!

This week we put together the dresser for the nursery and are waiting on the crib... I called because it should have been here by now so they are checking on the status. It was fun to put a few of the things up in the nursery!

My parents dropped off the rocker that my mom used with me when I was a baby. It still has the teeth marks on the top where I apparently liked to chew while my mom would burp me after feeding. I got teeth at 4 months so I was teething pretty early she said.

Updated baby bump pictures - here I'm 26 weeks

And, today at 27.5 weeks. She is 2 lbs now about the size of a large head of cauliflower. I feel like I'm showing a lot more now and people are commenting about me being pregnant instead of the wondering glances. Its nice to know I'm in the third trimester and less than 3 months to go. Still running most days - but this week with the hills by our house I walked 1/2 the time and ran 1/2. The flat treadmill pace at the gym is a little easier :)

We're heading out to the lake again this weekend and can't believe it will only be in the 60's tomorrow - we can't have fall weather already! I feel like we didn't have a real summer yet! It is pleasant for the State Fair though, and I'm excited to go with my team from work on Tuesday. Cheese curds, Sweet Martha's Cookies and the refill milk stand here I come!

Fun summer weekend

Dan's friends from Best Buy came out to the lake this weekend and although we had some stormy weather, Saturday afternoon was a beautiful day to be at the lake swimming! Today Dan finished up the railing and I put together an IKEA bookcase for the baby's room. We went swimming at Lifetime with my parents and then relaxed and watched a movie. What a great weekend!
Week 24! Only 107 days to go!