Summer fun

I should post titles like my last one more often - summer has finally arrived! I still have more pictures to upload but blogger is too slow tonight. We had a great weekend with family and friends. My aunt and cousin from Phoenix came and everyone came over to our house Saturday for a lake day, Sunday friends came by and Monday we went to the Apple Valley parade and later that evening went out on the boat with Dan's parents to watch fireworks. It was a fun filled weekend!

Dan and Bethany at the 4th of July Apple Valley parade - lucky girl gets a yummy sucker
Roger, Monica and Bethany ready to watch 4th of July fireworks from the boat

Bethany playing a frisbee game with Mormor and Morfar at Lake Harriet listening to a band
Aunt Lynette and Bethany - she's enjoying her watermelon

Summer, summer, where art thou?

I haven't posted since the middle of May, whoops! It has been a little crazy around here, mostly due to our move on June 11th, and after a break from blogging I realize that the thought of trying to catch-up on everything is a bit overwhelming so I think I'll just give you little snippets of what has been going on with us.

At the end of May we went on a family vacation to Riviera Maya, Mexico! It was HOT, HOT, HOT and when we arrived the first room had no a/c so I was feeling a little nervous and debating looking up the next flight home. Dan was trying so hard to try and make his emotional, pregnant wife happy while resolving the situation and we finally found a slightly cooler room that turned out great for the week :) Bethany did great and loved swimming in the pools and the ocean and we all enjoyed our last vacation as a family of 3.

Once we got home we quickly got ready for the move and on Saturday, June 11th moved the cabin things from storage and the things we needed from our current place into our new home! It turned out to be a great day and we had family and friends along with 2 movers to make things going smoothly. Even though I was only allowed to carry my purse, it was a tiring day trying to decide where to tell people to put things and make little decisions while walking around. We all slept so well that night.... in fact Bethany spent her first night in a twin bed! We had borrowed a bed rail from Joel and Erin and decided one big transition from a crib to a twin bed in a new house sounded easier than a few smaller transitions. She did great! She has since figured out that she can actually get out of her bed but when she's tired she goes right to sleep and on average sleeps from 8:30-6:30. Bethany has also decided that one nap is just fine for her so that is another big adjustment (more so for us I think!). My mom helped us find some big girl bedding so her temporary room while we get her room upstairs finished is all for her.

We're finally starting to feel a little settled, thanks to lots of help from Dan's mom the first week after we moved. She came over almost every day that week while we were at work and put things away, cleaned and did laundry which was so helpful! My mom helped sort through things one day too and things always go faster with help :)

My grandparents and the rest of our family came over to celebrate Father's Day. I think we're going to enjoy hosting get togethers here even more than the cabin because we can be here all week, not just the weekends!

Let's see... other news worthy items include Bethany's first hair cut this weekend! She did great during the hair cut but didn't enjoy the blow dryer all that much. She looks so grown up now with her baby hair trimmed, and yes, I did keep some for her baby book!

A few big purchases have also occured: Dan's dad found a riding lawn mower at a garage sale and so we bought it after we (ok, Dan) realized mowing our larger lawn with a push mower wasn't so fun. We also got a treadmill and the boat lift is being installed tomorrow. Boat lift is essential so we can start enjoying the boat - it hasn't been out yet this summer; and the treadmill will be key for my maternity leave this fall after the complications and caring for a toddler this pregnancy have left my workouts non-existent.

If I think of anything else I'll post again, otherwise I think we're pretty caught up! My aunt and cousin are coming from AZ next weekend over the 4th of July so we'll have lots of family time and other get togethers with friends to look forward to. I can't believe how cool and rainy this summer has been though this far, hence the title of my post. This week is supposed to be in the 90's and I say bring it on!

18 months?!?

I can't believe my baby is 18 months old! It is funny this whole time thing... on one hand it seems like just yesterday we were heading to the hospital and holding our sweet baby girl 10 hours later, and on the other hand I can't remember life without Bethany. So many friends have had babies in the last few weeks that I caught myself thinking back to those first few weeks; so little sleep, trying to figure out what each cry meant, but most of all lots of snuggling and staring at this wonderful new creation that was mine!

Bethany had her 18 month appointment this week and is doing great. She showed the Dr how she likes to jump and climb on everything. We asked if she was a monkey and she started saying "ooo-ooo-OO!" like a monkey says. She showed off where her nose, mouth, eyes, belly button and of course her new thing: elbows. We talked about the typical toddler behavior and that "no" and "mine" are favorite words as they try to learn boundaries. Being consistent is the best thing to do and giving choices so she doesn't feel like she doesn't get to make any decisions. We got her a strap that goes over her arms and around her waist so that she can run in public about 3 feet from us, but can't get away too far. It has been a life-saver since she loves to run away giggling but doesn't understand dangerous situation like busy roads yet.

Here are her 18 month stats:
Height 32 3/4 in - 80th %
Weight 24 lbs 1 oz - 25-50%
Head 46.2 cm - 40%

Although she is still a picky eater she's growing really well (most likely from all the milk she drinks!). We are really looking forward to our vacation coming up over Memorial Day weekend as a family to relax and practice our swimming. Bethany loves swimming lessons and practices in the bathtub and jumping off of her potty chair so she's ready on Saturday mornings for class. When I ask her if she wants to get her swimsuit on she yells "YEAH!" and runs to her room. Good thing she still loves water!

I tried braiding her hair but she kept pulling it out seconds after I finished.... this was after her rubbing it but I'm impressed it is almost long enough to stay in if she leaves it alone.

Practicing her back float in the tub. She thinks it is funny to have her ears under the water since it sounds funny when I talk to her like that. I don't want her to get too much water in her ears but everytime I try to get her to sit up she lays right back down!

Here are some other things she's up to at 18 months:

- when we see new babies she uses her finger by her mouth to say "shhh"

-knows what she wants - points for me to lay next to her in our bed in the morning or outside on the chair we sit on when waiting for daddy to come home from work

- some 2 or 3 word sentences: all done, what is it?, I don't know!

- almost jumping with feet off the ground

- knows where we are, sad when we get close to come and points back to the trail to keep going in the stroller

- says "Yay!" or "Whoa!" a lot when excited or sees a bus or truck

- says "no" everytime we ask if you had a good day (little liar)

- still love to lay on mommy's chest for comfort or rub my belly and give your sister kisses

- so interested in Charlie's belly button and nipples - but he is ticklish :)

- says 1, 2, 3 - go! or ready, set go!

- "buh bye" with bag over your arm walking towards door

- twirls around in circles

- help vacuum, use wipes to clean things, use broom to sweep garage

- blow your nose and then throw the kleenex away

- points to most body parts correctly

- practice colors and ask "what is it" when you don't know

- love to take our things and say "mine!"

- very upset when babies cry and you try to hug them, give them your pacifier or snack you have to help

Mother's Day #2

Sunday was my second Mother's Day! Dan watched Bethany after she woke up so I could stay in bed awhile longer and then they made me breakfast and gave me a card and a gift certificate for some house cleanings. I'm really excited to use that at our new place prior to the new baby coming! Dan's parents joined us at church, for lunch and to watch some NBA playoffs. Then we went to my sisters for dinner that the guys prepared and cleaned up for us all on their own! I had been feeling dizzy this past week and my Dr said I had low blood pressure and needed to try and rest a little more. Just in time for mother's day weekend so I could really relax and let Dan and the guys pamper us. Thankfully I'm starting to feel better so I hope the dizzy spells are over!

Charlie and Bethany had fun together as always. We actually saw them three days in a row because we had house showings on Friday and Saturday and needed to be out of the house. Bethany gets so excited when I ask if she wants to go see Charlie and say "YeaH!" She nods and starting running towards the door to get in the car.

Saturday night we got together at Jeremy and Allisons to celebrate 2 birthdays, 2 new houses, 1 engagement, 1 new baby, finding out the gender of our baby, and Cinco de Mayo for good measure so we had tacos. I think we need to get together more often! Bethany has a fear of dogs right now because of her face to face experience with Bella awhile ago, but we're trying to get her over it. Allisons dog Bear was an older lab and really laid back. Bethany was brave enough to pet him and even walk near him without flipping out which is a big step! Bella is a nice dog so this summer at the lake we'll keep trying to get her used to her... she is just so excited to see Bethany I think and sometimes the extra licks face to face is scary for an 18 mo old!

In other news we've had 4 friends have babies in the last couple weeks with one more left any day now. A few more this summer before we're due in September. It is a baby boom! I love having an excuse to bring over meals so I can snuggle with a newborn, I can't believe Bethany was that small such a short time ago! We have her 18 mo apt tomorrow so I'll update soon with her new stats.

Well, we are experiencing severe weather here in MN tonight. Hail, tornados, it was 88 degrees tonight with like 100% humidity so prime weather for a storm. Since all the tv stations are talking about the storm I decided to get caught up on blogging!

Happy Easter!

It was a beautiful Easter Sunday outside! Bethany was so excited it was sunny she woke up at 5:55 a.m. this morning.... boo. At least she went down for an early nap and we made it to the late service before going to my parents for the day. My Mormor and Morfar (Swedish for mother's mother and mother's father) were here from CA and my Aunt Lynette came too. The food was delicious and the kids had fun searching for the Easter eggs and baskets. They are so fast now that they are both walking, I didn't get one of both of them looking at the camera and smiling. I'll have to get better at taking faster pictures I guess!

Thanks mom and dad for the fun day and Mormor and Morfar for the strawberry pie - yum!

Bethany loved finding the eggs and putting them in her basket but sometimes took the eggs back out before putting any new ones in.

family pic - we need the one where we were facing the camera!
Bethany and Charlie hanging out in their Easter outfits

18.5 weeks

I have zero pictures of both kids looking at the camera and there is always an extra arm in every picture trying to keep them on the couch!

Morning snuggle time - now that she doesn't have a bottle, we have a sippy cup or pacifier time while waking up in the morning while watching cartoons. We started it as a way to get rid of the bottle but now if we don't turn on the tv she points at it or the remote and looks at us. Ugh, at least we don't watch tv much otherwise with her! I can't believe how big she is getting... it took this picture to see how long she looks there, I wonder how tall she'll be at her 18 month apt in a few weeks.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your family and friends too and remember that He is Risen, He is Risen INDEED!

Totally worth it

My post awhile ago about having lots of changes ahead was certainly true. The goal of selling the cabin and twinhome and moving to a lakehome full-time is turning into reality. Yesterday we went to the house for a 3rd time and finalized our offer with our real estate agent. Shortly after we heard back that they accepted our offer! It has been a whirlwind this past year wondering if we were making the right decision selling the cabin after putting so much time and effort into it. I hoped we could find a place we both loved and I think we found it. We'll do an inspection this week and then plan to close on June 10th and move in June 11th. Wow. God has been so faithfull through this process we are so thankful for his blessings. We will put our twinhome back on the market after Easter and wouldn't that be fun to sell it quickly so we could move everything to the new place all at once... nothing is impossible with Him!

Here are some pictures we took from the MLS listing. Our own pictures didn't turn out great, so I hope you all can come see it in person soon. Our door is always open, we love visitors!

backyard

Living room with the view I was looking for!

three seasons porch

front of the house

April snow showers? and other news

What a surprise to look out our window this morning! I am so done with snow for the year... that means the entire year, you better not snow again until next January. Not exactly a great day for another house showing.... but it will be fun to show Bethany the house we liked from last weekend that we put an offer on this week. Who knows if we'll be able to work out the details and come to a purchase agreement, but hopefully we'll find out this week. Otherwise, our real estate agent said one thing she knows about us for sure is that we don't get emotionally attached to the properties! We know what we like: close distance to get in to work, nice views, swimmable lake front and big enough for our growing family. Sometimes when we see places we know we have to give a little on things that would be nice to have, so we'll see where the journey brings us. Still struggling with headaches most days. It makes it really hard to get things done that I know I have to (and want to) do. Saving the best news for last: Bethany is going to get a SISTER this September! We had been hoping for another girl to have a built-in playmate and selfishly so that we could reuse clothes that would be in the right season :) I'm blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with my sister so I'm excited for Bethany to have the same experience! I found out that I need to go in for ultrasounds at Meadowbrook at Methodist Hospital every 2 weeks to monitor some things the Dr's are wondering caused Bethany's early delivery. It is great they are keeping a close eye on things because we'd love to keep this little girl cooking as long as possible (although going full term after going early the first time will definitely be a change for me!)