14 Weeks

How far along? 14 weeks
Maternity clothes? Not yet, though I still haven't told the world (i.e. Facebook) that I am pregnant yet and I imagine that I won't be able to hide my bump much longer.  
Best moment this week: We had a doctor appointment yesterday and the results from the first trimester screen were negative.  Woo hoo!!  We have our next ultrasound on July 23.  We aren't used to going this long between ultrasounds, but I'll take a "normal" pregnancy, for sure!
Miss anything? Nope.  
Movement:  I am going to say that yes, I do feel a flutter here and there.  My OB said I'm not crazy; if I think I am feeling the baby, I probably am.  :)
Sleep: I've been waking up almost nightly to go the bathroom, but the hard part is falling asleep after this.  It is usually around 3:00AM and it takes about an hour to fall back to sleep.  UGH!
Food cravings:  Not really.  My appetite hasn't been huge.  
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really.
Labor signs: No way.
Exercise: This past week was not good in terms of exercising, but next week will be better!  (If my sleep was a little better…hah!  I should not be complaining at all!  Ben is sleeping like a champ and I am beyond grateful for that!  I better knock on some wood…)
Looking forward to:  Life.  Can I say, "checking off another week" every week?  These weeks are blowing right on by.  

Weekend Recap: House Projects & BABY!

We did not have a very exciting weekend, well aside from my cousin's baby being born (!!!), so this will be a short post, for a change.  Andy and I had a date night on Friday and went to the residents' graduation.  Andy and I got to have a "grown up" dinner out and Benji was happy because he got to spend the night with Grandpa.  The graduation dinner is always a nice event, but I was totally caught off guard this year when the nurse practitioners got a shout out!  There are 3 adult NPs and 1 peds NP (me!) and they (the chief residents) called us each up on stage and talked about all the reasons we are so wonderful.  I typically don't like being the center of attention, but it was so unexpected and sweet, especially when they called me the "shining light" of the hospital.  Hah!  We only have one picture from the night and it isn't the greatest, but we had to commemorate the night out, that doesn't happen too often.  

On Saturday morning, we had big plans to go to the Air and Water Show complete with bikes and a picnic, but thanks to a lot of fog, it was cancelled.  We hung out with my dad for awhile before we decided to run some errands.  It's operation fix up the second floor at our house, so we've been on the hunt for a new desk for Andy's office, light fixtures, paint, carpet, etc.  We found a desk at Pottery Barn that we both really liked, so we wanted to see if the store had it.  They didn't have it, but they gave us an estimate of how much it would cost to order and ship it to our house--- over $1500.   Ugh.  We wanted to think about it for a bit, so we continued on our errands.  We stopped at home for a bit and gathered a bunch of stuff from the start of our upstairs purging cleaning.  We dropped everything off at Good Will, and I decided to run in quickly just at the chance they had a desk.  I was less than impressed with the selection, but the last piece of furniture I saw was a nice desk---for $20!!  I didn't love it as much as the PB desk and it is in need of a make over, but for $20, we are going to try and re-finish it.  (The PB desk is probably too big anyway…)   The next stop was Home Depot for some light fixtures and ceiling fans.  Success!  Ben was a great helper, like always!  Love that sweetie pie, always wanting to lend a helping hand.

We spent most of our Sunday working on the house some more, but we did take time to visit my cousin's new baby girl!  Ben was overdue for a nap, so my mom stayed home with him while Andy and I went to the hospital.  She was the sweetest little thing!  We can barely remember Ben being that small, even though she was 3 pounds heavier than Ben was when he was born!  I'm so excited for my cousin and his wife.  They are going to be amazing parents!

That's about it for our weekend events.  We got a lot done upstairs, but we have a long way to go!  I can't wait to see the finished product!

13 Weeks

How far along? 13 weeks
Maternity clothes? No maternity clothes needed just yet, though my clothes seem to be getting more and more snug by the day.  
Best moment this week: We had the first trimester screen today so we got to see our little babe on the ultrasound!  And the BEST part of this was the fact that the ultrasound looked perfect!  No omphalocele!  I know the chances of another one were the same as they were the first time (1 in 10,000, I believe), but it was pretty amazing to hear that an omphalocele is NOT an obstacle we will be facing this time around.  I am still nervous for the anatomy scan in a month or two, but I am so thankful things have been going well thus far.  
Miss anything? Nope.  
Movement:  I still feel like I feel a flutter once and awhile, but I think it is still too soon.   I'm not sure if my 7.22cm babe can create that much force just yet.  ;)
Sleep: Going to bed around 9:00 or so and getting up around 5:00-6:00.  I really can't complain at all.  We've had some crazy storms the past few nights, and these have woken me up more than the need to go to the bathroom has.  
Food cravings:  Not really.  
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really, though I still don't like strong smells.  
Labor signs: No way.
Exercise: I am still trying to work out, but the rain has cramped my morning runs that last few mornings.  I vow to stay active though.  
Looking forward to:  Checking another week off!  I don't want to jinx anything but I am just so happy that Baby seems healthy thus far.  I would love him/her regardless, but it would be amazing to have a nice "normal" pregnancy.  I'm also looking forward to a fun weekend with my boys!

Weekend Recap: Daddy! Run! Fast!

We've had a busy week thus far which has made the week fly by!  We're more than half way to the weekend!

Our weekend fun started bright and early on Saturday morning when we went to cheer on Andy at his half marathon!  We wanted to make sure we saw Andy at least a few times throughout the race, so we decided to bring our bikes so we could move a little faster.  My dad put the carrier on the back of his bike and we pedaled around trying to hunt him down.  Ben (with the help of my mom) made a "GO DADDY GO!" sign and he was quite proud of it.  We actually initially forgot it and Ben was almost crying so we had to go back and get it.  I did my best to keep track of Andy with an app on my phone, but it was harder to keep up with him than I thought it would be!  We had soooo much fun when we did see him though!  Benji got big smooches and hugs and he thought he was the coolest kid around.   Andy felt pretty special himself and even said he got more energy every time he saw us.  Unfortunately, Ben fell asleep before the end of the race.  After all, we did have to get up before the crack of dawn, and we actually had to wake Ben up.  You know it's early when that happens.  

I am really not sure how it happened, but somehow we (on bikes) did not beat Andy (on foot) to the finish line so we didn't get to see him cross at the end.  Boo!   I was totally bumming about this, but I was still so proud of Andy because he crushed his goals.  His first goal was to finish in under 2 hours and his second goal was to finish in 1 hour 50 minutes or less.  He finished in 1 hour 46 minutes!!!  Even more amazing is that he shaved off 24 minutes from his time last year!!  (In his defense, he was running with my "I had a baby 9 months ago and he still doesn't sleep through the night and I'm still pumping all the time so I don't have much time and energy to train" self who requested him to stay nearby.)  ;)

Bottom line, we are SO proud of you Andy/Daddy!  You trained so hard and it paid off!  **Note the sweet helmet head Ben is rocking.**

Everyone The boys needed a nap after that busy morning, so I did a little shopping while the boys slept.  They had to rest up for Hannah and Emily's 11th and 9th birthday party!  He loves these girls SO MUCH.  He has been asking to drive Emmy's car nearly daily since he was introduced to it a few weeks ago.  I am actually shocked that we were there a good hour before he spotted it and his eyes light up with excitement.  I knew there were going to be a bunch of kids there and that he would probably be the youngest, so I was a little worried that the big kids wouldn't want to play with him.  I was so wrong.  There had to have been at least 15 kids there and each and every one of them was amazingly wonderful with Ben.  They were patient, included him, and gave him all sorts of extra attention, which he ate right up.   ;) 

So while Ben was doing things like this….

Andy and I were doing things like this!  I seriously could have fallen asleep on the hammock.    

Tears were shed by Ben when it was time to go home, but they quickly stopped after the kids lined up to give him a high-5 on the way out.  (Did I mention how sweet these kids were?!)  We all slept like rocks after that busy day!

I had to run in to work to see a patient on Sunday morning, so the boys kicked off their father's day by going to breakfast with Andy's parents.   It sounds like Ben made friends with everyone at the restaurant and that fun was had by all.  No surprise when Ben is involved!  The next dad (aka grandpa) we celebrated was mine.  We enjoyed a nice brunch before someone spotted that the fire trucks were out at the fire station down the street.  We wandered on over and to our surprise were given a nice little tour.  Ben is obsessed with driving parked cars, so you can imagine his excitement when he got to "drive" a fire truck!!  ("Engine!  Drive!  Ben!  Red!  Hat!  Fun!")  He even got to slide down a real fireman's pole.  It was quite the celebration for the child on Father's Day!

And last, but most definitely not least, we celebrated Andy!  I try not to brag about him too much, but he is truly an amazing daddy.  Andy had minimal experience with kids prior to becoming a dad, but you wouldn't know it because he is an absolute professional dad.  He has always done more than his fair share of the parenting duties and I often joke (but mean it) that if one of us had to do it all on our own, Andy would definitely keep it together better than I would.  Some of Ben's favorite Daddy-Benji activities include: making pancakes together, throwing the ball HIGH, building houses with those big legos, looking for Ben when he hides, and playing with his hoop.  And then graciously obliges when Ben requests to do these things over and over and over again.  Oh, and he typically managed to do all of these things while cleaning and cooking yet always giving Ben his attention.  (Is that even humanly possible!?)  Maybe he's just stalling, but Ben often doesn't want to go to bed unless both Andy and I have snuggled/rocked him for a bit.   Ben looks up to his daddy so much and copies his every move.  Andy is such a great example of a healthy, fit, fun, active, loving, and happy dad.  I think Ben gets most of his sweetness from Andy.  ;) 

I wish I could say we had a big fancy, well-deserved celebration, but we actually had a quiet relaxing afternoon at home.  A little yard work, a LOT of playing, and then we stopped by my mom's for dinner.  It was a much needed relaxing, calm day, but I hope he knows how much he is loved and appreciated!

And because I couldn't resist, here are a few more of baby big boy fish doing what he loves to do.  I cannot get enough of that little face!

Weekend Recap: Festival, Fish, & Friends

Happy Wednesday!  It's almost time for another weekend--my favorite part of the week!

I've said it before, but we are so, so, so happy that our bffs now live nearby!  We hung out with them on Friday night and Ben was excited to see his buddy, Maddie.  He loves seeing her, but he was also pretty excited about the new toy selection.  Silly kids, calling each other in the same room. :)

It was a sad departure, but luckily Ben got to see Maddie again at the farmers market the next morning. If not our #1 fave, one of our favorite famers markets opened on Saturday.  I am pretty sure Ben was more interested in the play area and his new beach ball than the food, but he still liked "market!"  One of the local apple orchards was selling apple cider and apple doughnuts.  They were coated in sugar, but we had to call it a "candy doughnut" to get Ben to take a bite.  Really, buddy??

Daddy the overachiever thought it would be a good idea to run the 8 miles home from the market, and Ben and I opted for the air conditioned mall and more candy doughnuts.  Please note Ben's new smile.  Hopefully this will be a quickly fleeting phase.  :/

After a nice long nap, it was time to check out our church's annual festival.  We weren't sure if Ben would actually want to play the games, but we got suckered into a few of them.  The first one was throwing a ball at balloons, trying to pop one.  It was like the guy knew Ben loves throwing a ball, so as we were walking by, he handed Ben a ball for some "practice throws."  Of course he whipped it right at the wall of balloons and popped one in record time.  And of course the guy then said, "3 throws for $5.00.  Winner every time."  By this time, Ben was already saying, "more, please" in his sweet little voice, so open goes the wallet.  Suckers, but it was the first game we passed and we were lured right in.  We've since learned from our mistakes.  Ben would have racked up a $100 bill in no time at all.

Since he was a winner, Ben got to choose from about 10 different (cheap, ugly) stuffed animals.  He was so excited to pick out a tiger.  We still hear, "Tiger! Ben! Throw! Ball! Balloon! Tiger! Fun!" at least daily.  His happiness makes it feel a little less like we threw $5.00 straight into the garbage.  I still think he would have been equally happy watching the other kids play. ;)

We were able to resist several more games before we stumbled upon the popular "win a fish" game.  Baby Big boy Fish was all over this one.  Throwing ping pong balls AND seeing fish in one game?!  Ben was perfectly content watching the other kids throw balls, but since this game was much more reasonable than the first game, we got him some balls.  He absolutely loved launching the ping pong balls in every direction, including the in the back of the guy running the booth, but unfortunately none of them landed in the mini fish bowls.  No sooner had Ben thrown his last ball (I think it actually hit the little girl next to him) did the guy come up and give Ben his very own fish!  He said Ben was the "special kid of the day" and gave him the oddest looking "goldfish" I've ever seen.  (It is like brown and silver with mangled fins.)  He doesn't look too excited in the picture, but he was pretty proud of his new pet, which he named, Bee.  (He didn't clarify the spelling...B?  Bea?)  It is still alive!

And what's a trip to the fair without some fair food, or in Ben's case, FRIES.  All in all, it was a successful visit.  He has changed so much since our last festival experience and I can't wait to see what he will be like next year!  On Sunday morning, Andy and I switched levels of ambition (somewhat) and I ran to Panera and the boys met me there.  Love this kid.  He had to read the paper too, just like momma and daddy.  :)

There was a request for Ben to visit Uncle Joe on Sunday afternoon, so Ben headed to Joe's place with Nana while Andy and I had a mini day date.  We have been wanting to do some house projects, so we went to Home Depot and Target--- so romantic!  More to come on our plans.  :)  We had a productive afternoon and Ben was in heaven hanging out with Uncle Joe, probably because he has a guitar and a kickball...and because he loves his uncle!

Our final event of the weekend was a goodbye party for 2 physician coworkers that are leaving.   I had heard about my coworker's house, but it was so much more amazing than I had pictured!  The house itself is situated on the top of a hill and 40 acres of beautiful land.  We hadn't even made it up the driveway and Andy was already professing his love for the house and deciding that he wanted to live there.  It was a good 50 minute drive, but it was so worth it.  Ben had his first bounce house experience which was a hit.  Thankfully, he wanted to either sit or hold his safety-conscious momma's hand the whole time.  No concussions or spinal cord injuries. ;)

The weather was perfect and the views were breathtaking.  Even Ben was basking in the beauty!  Oh, and I can't forget to mention the sheep!  The boy loves his animals!

As much as I miss Benji while I am at work, I am so blessed to have some pretty fabulous co-workers!

My pillow is calling so it's time for bed!  Goodnight!

Weekend Recap: Zoo & House Stuff

It's Tuesday so I'm making progress in my turnaround time with my weekend update posts!  I still wish I had time to post more often, but I am excited to say that I've posted a weekly update every single weekend for almost a year!  I was just looking back and realized that my first weekend recap post is similar to what we are doing these days, but Ben is so much bigger!  We did the zoo again this past weekend and we'll be going to the church festival this weekend.  And I though Ben had fun at these events last year... :)

Speaking of fun, one of our new favorite activities is going to the ice cream store.  There is a cute one near our house that has my favorite rainbow sherbet.  While I would prefer that Ben liked one of the higher calorie choices, I can't blame him for having such great taste.  He loves this stuff!  Friday night fun at it's best!

We had our last music class of the year on Saturday morning and then had a quick visit with Ben's girlfriend Maddie.  I think he definitely has a little crush on her.  I can only hope that she starts to see things the same way.  ;)  She was NOT impressed when he wanted to play with the ball she had.  Luckily they were friends again before we left.  

The next stop was the ZOO!  Ben is getting wise to the zoo and now wants to go on the train as soon as we get there.  "Choo choo!  On!" We love watching him on the train, so we really couldn't deny his request.  Look at him, "wave! kids!"

After the train, the second favorite destination is the goat feeding area.  "Feed! Goats! Hand! Fun!"  He doesn't have many sentences yet, but he definitely communicates with single words.  I love it.  I almost always know what he is trying to say.   Side note: look at how far I've come in my comfort with goats!  Still a germaphobe though!

And since it was plenty hot at the zoo, a firecracker pop was definitely in order.   These are really high up there on my list of favorite cool treats.  Ben and I apparently have the same list.  We were both happy campers until he dropped the red, white, and blue goodness in the area where you could pet a chinchilla and a turtle.  Yes, tears were shed.  

We didn't see a ton of animals this time around, but we were able to hit most of Ben's favorites.  Gotta love a trip to the zoo!

As always, we were all up bright and early on Sunday morning.  Andy wanted to get in his last long run before his half marathon, so he ran 9 miles while Ben and I did about 1 mile.   We stopped at the park and decided to wait there for daddy.  :)  

After the run, we had all worked up an appetite, so we decided to get brunch at one of our favorite restaurants.  I hadn't brushed my hair, showered, or even looked in the mirror, but it was too awesome outside to pass up eating outside.  Of course we only saw like 10 people we knew, including the gorgeous mother of two of the kids from Ben's story time at the library.  This was the third time that Ben has known people that we didn't know while being out.  (Cooler than his parents.)  The mom was gushing about how sweet Ben is though, so I momentarily forgot that I was a sweaty mess.  

Andy and I were so content sitting outside enjoying the morning.  We were having such a perfect day that we totally forgot about our last parenting class!  We were both bummed because we loved it, but we have the book so I guess we will have to do some work on our own.  Sunday was another gorgeous day, so we decided that we should get some yard work done around the house.   We made a quick run to Target to get some summer fun essentials (ie turtle pool and pool toys) before we hit the garden of garlic mustard weeds.  :(  

Playing in the pool was obviously more fun than weeding, (plus he needed a chaperone or two) so we unfortunately didn't get very far before Auntie Anna came over to pick up some of our basement furniture for her new pad.  Although Andy was initially hesitant to part ways with the furniture, he ended up being SO HAPPY that we did.  I had the BRILLIANT idea to move nearly all of Ben's toys, which had been overtaking our living room, into the basement.  We had bought some storage stuff at IKEA months ago, so it was time to put everything to good use.  Ben, Andy, and I are all in love with Ben's new playroom!  It is SO NICE to not have one million toys in the living room, plus Ben has much more room to run around.  This picture doesn't even show half of the room, so Ben has a big space to run around like a crazy boy.  We are still on cloud nine about this change. 

It has made it a little harder to hide some of our...less favorite toys, but at the end of the day, everything goes back into its respective bucket for the night. :)

Goodnight!