Lots of fun things have been happening this last week.

 First, here is a picture (a week behind) of my 31 week belly. I have reached the "I'm tired of being pregnant phase". Every morning their is always a pep talk between me and the Lord that I can do this as I chase around a sweet, all boy rambunctious 16 1/2 month old. Just a few more weeks.....We can do this :)

 My brother Adam, last guy on the right, graduated over the weekend. What a fun celebration. My mom came down along with some old childhood friends (because their son also graduated, guy in the middle) for the celebration. Mike and I had a blast being able to open our home to friends/family from Iowa!

 I love being a mom! I love that this was my 2nd Mother's Day! I love my son and I love my daughter!! When B woke up Sunday morning there were 2 envelopes in his crib with him (oh mercy, did Mike take a chance on that one!) I looked at B and said, "What are those?" He grabbed them both handed me one and opened the other. His gift to me, a sweet card and pedicure!!! :)

 Mike and I were sitting on the couch together and I guess Brody felt a bit left out. He crawled right on up and slithered his little self right between us :)

 B is talking all the time, his language of course! He does say please, momma (sometimes), daddy, doggies, cookies (priorities I tell ya), and signs drink and more.

Auntie Meghan moved in over the weekend also for the summer! We've been getting spoiled already having an extra hand around :) She bring so much comfort having her in the house, especially closer and closer to baby girls due date and ESPECIALLY when Mike goes to youth camp with me at 38 weeks pregnant! I'm really thinking he will be getting a call from us that week saying speed as you've never sped before to get home! Great to know though that Meghan is home so I wont be needing to show up to the hospital with the Brodster at my side.

Sweet Girl

We had another ultrasound today and sweet girl continues to look right on track! Growing beautifully! Brod came with us and enjoyed eating his animal crackers while getting his first sights of his little sis. He would smile and giggle as he looked up at the screen as if he truly knew what he was looking at.

She for sure has taken on the name "wiggle worm" in my belly lately as she doesn't pound away (like B did) but just wiggles and morphs my belly into the strangest figures :) The other night she was moving and I was able to grab a foot and a leg. Kinda creepy but kinda cool! I have also begun contracting. Nothing big or worrisome, but something I definitely didn't feel with B. This body of mine is just remembering what to do (it shouldn't have forgotten though, it was only last year that it birthed it's first kid!) :)

Way to go daddy!

Brody and I are so honored to announce to all that Mike has officially completed his masters degree! Out of the the few years of hard work and locking himself away to get homework completed, he has accomplished this goal!! Way to go babe, we are so proud of you :)

Mike painted Baby Aubrie's room last weekend. It looks great! A very light shade of green that my aunt picked out for us that we will highlight with pink and brown throughout her room. It's beginning to look girlie!

 Brod is a natural born "helper" especially when it's with his best friend, daddy!

Little to say painting was done during nap times :)

 

We love Nutella around here. We love eating it by the spoonful or simply on a banana. B loves it ALL over his face :)

On a quick side note. We've always said Brod is a climber. He climbs EVERYTHING! Everything from the doggies to the window sills to the kitchen cabinets (which really there is nothing to climb but he finds something). Recently he was in his pack n play having some alone time. He really wasn't enjoying that alone time but his 20 minutes wasn't up yet. Mike and I were in our living room talking when lo and behold we have a 16 month old walk straight into our room joining our conversation with the most devious look on his face! Our little monkey climbed out! Praise Jesus he didn't hurt himself, but oh my word! He is 100% his daddy's child! How I do take great delight in knowing that the Lord surrounds us with His angles, thank you Father!

Our Babymoon!

Months went into the planning and it finally came, our Babymoon! A Babymoon is a vacation you take with your husband/wife before your new baby is born. We learned about this while planning our trip for Hawaii while I was growing B in me. So for Brod we went to Hawaii with Aubrie we went to Arkansas (the 2 just don’t sound comparable at all!!)  I kept going back and forth on going away as it meant leaving B. I’ve left him before but it was only overnight this trip was going to be for 3 nights! But we did it and am I ever so glad that Mike and I made the effort, saved the money and did it! After 16 months of living on a schedule every day it was great to just be on Mike and me time and to be so incredible selfish with that time.

 After kissing our sweet boy good bye we headed 4 hours away to a hidden gem of a place called Mt. Magazine State Park. The conclusion we came to is that Arkansas is beautiful (at least the part we were at). We stayed at a perfect lodge at the highest point in the state. This place was an hour from anything which made it great for planning....we didn't at all! The lodge had its own restaurant, we brought snacks and so we

were set to not have to leave the lodge at all :)

 Our days were spent trying to sleep in (the boy has ruined us from truly sleeping in with resetting out internal clock), short hikes, eating, reading our Bibles together, playing games and watching TV (because we don't have cable it's always a treat going somewhere that does).

 The views were gorgeous, everywhere we looked!

 My great husband had so much patience with me and my slow, slow, slow new hiking pace these days, I was always the leader.

 We stopped often for "sightseeing" breaks aka me catching my breath breaks.

 We made sandwiches and had a picnics for lunch. Butterflies were everywhere. We had never seen so many in one place before, it was great!

We had an absolute blast just us two for 3 days! We've taken several vacations together, however, this vacation was the first one that truly felt like it had purpose. Mike and I talked lots about this last year, set new goals for our family and for ourselves in the coming year, prayed lots together, laughed together and just continued to fall more and more in love with each other! We have made a commitment now to do this every year with each other because of how much purpose we found it to have. We missed B so, so, SO much and it really was tons of fun to come home to him and watch him run into our arms :)

Easter

 These pics are way out of order, but oh well. We all headed home to Iowa for the Easter weekend. What fun we had getting see family. When we got to Iowa B had never been on an Easter Egg Hunt before, when we left he had been on 3! The pic above is at our second egg hunt. A long time family friend of mine invited us over to her parents home to search out 850 eggs! It was great!

 This pic was taken just minutes after leaving the Easter festivities at my aunts house. Brod was over on his nap time by about 1 1/2 hours, but he held on so strong with all the commotion (and food) that was going on!

 Brod's Easter attire!

 Ha! I had to include this one. This is his first egg hunt. He really did enjoy looking at the Easter Bunny, but in the safety of my arms. Don't worry, we snatched him up very quickly!

 B quickly got over the trauma of the bunny when on the egg hunt he saw lots of different farm animals. He loved the goats as they would suck on his finger :)

 Back at my friends home searching for eggs. Truly Brod was very content with just a couple eggs. He cared more about the grass, sticks, rocks and.......

.... the basketball court! As soon as his little eyes noticed this full size court with hoops and balls he was done with the piddly eggs!

 there were hoops to be shot and dunks to take place. His daddy didn't mind one bit :) Little to say we now have a basketball hoop on our patio ;)

Our first "disaster" with the boy happened today. We were all driving home together from the doctor this am. B was winning (probably because he saw me go into our favorite bakery and grab some cookies and he recognized the bag!!!) anyway, I handed him a highlighter. They have strong caps on them...right? A couple minutes go by and I realize the highlighter did the trick at keeping him happy. I didn't dare turn around and make eye contact with him though to risk him becoming whinny again. When we got close to home I turned my head back and noticed the little painter in action! Cap long gone with both legs, socks and shoes covered in neon yellow! He really did stay in the lines well as no part of the car seat was colored :) So it was bath time for the 3rd day in a row now! It wasn't long into the bath that I hear Mike yell out "EEEWWWW!!!" Our sweet boy had pooped what Mike measured out to be 4 inches in the tub that he was fishing out, hehehehehehe! I love this stage in B's life. He truly does keep Mike and I on our feet and laughing all the time.

Quick little update on baby girl. We saw our specialist Friday and she looks great! She's weighing in at 2lbs 11 oz which places her in the 18th%. Nothing looks out of the ordinary yet! Thank you Jesus! She's moving and kicking away but definitely not as stubborn as what Brod was like in my belly. My legs have been having lots of discomfort from my varicose veins, so as of yesterday my support socks have been on all day. This should make for an interesting summer :)

Sesame Street

I won tickets to Sesame Street Live and the day finally came yesterday to attend the show! We act as if Brod was excited, Mike and I were excited for him. In all reality he has never seen Sesame Street, but oh boy did he have fun getting to know them.

 Getting more excited with every step closer to the show!

 B loved the show! He loved the lights, the music, the other kids surrounding us, everything. For maybe the whole first half his face was glued to the stage with one hand constantly in the pop corn.

 At intermission we got to meet the characters and run around.

 Who wouldn't be drawn to the cookie monster with all those yummy looking cookies!

 What a fun day we had! Now I need to figure out when Sesame Street is on TV so B can see his new friends again :)

The baby bump at 25 weeks. Baby girl stays very busy doing flips and circles in by belly. I know the belly still has lots of growing to do, but as confused I was when pregnant with B, I just have no clue where this girl is going to grow! And yes, you may be thinking why in the world am I in a sleeveless top and shorts the first of April? Well it's 90 degrees here in the 'ville today! The AC was dreadfully turned on last night as it feels like the middle of summer here. The only problem is that the pools aren't open yet!

 The day after we all returned from our adventures out west was deemed the unpacking/settling back in day. Brod found lots of entertainment through us not giving him too much attention. Above he is stuffing his face from a cookie that he stole. Somehow this kid got into a plastic cookie container (without us knowing) and was walking around eating his treasure!

 That same day after we got back from the dog park we found B saddling his doggy. So Trig is huffing and puffing from his exhaustion at the park which is making a great ride for the Brodster. We just love how much he makes us laugh though out the day :)

 We never thought we would see the day for the front facing car seat, but hello front facing Brody!!! It's taken a bit of getting used to but I think he is a fan. He struggles with falling asleep in it though. It's just  a lesson that he will learn eventually, right?? Please say yes because we have a few big car trips planned in the next couple months!

 

 Mike and Meghan had fun running in a 10k last weekend. They did great also! Meghan 2nd in her age division and Mike 6th in his :) Brody and I were so proud getting to watch them. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones but tears kept coming down my face as I waited for Mike to run by us (or maybe allergies), I'm just a proud wife and Brody is a proud son!

 

As cute as Brody is, we are seeing more and more of his personality shine though. As everyday goes by I continue to see more of my personality shine though him, stubborn and not delighting in correction. He is very much into throwing himself on the ground lately when being "corrected" while wailing loudly or with diaper changes you would think we were slowly biting his toes off one by one! What our neighbors must be thinking! This beautiful showing of his "independence" and vocal skills have left Mike and I with headaches by the end of the day. We continue pleading with the Lord for wisdom in raising and guiding our (what I think is becoming our) strong willed sweet little boy. But it all becomes worth it again within a split second when he snuggles up on our laps, runs over and plants a huge, wet, slobbery kiss on my cheek, flashes us a huge 5 tooth smile or gives us a huge belly giggle! Side note: Mike and B got me roses the other day. I went to smell them and B began giggling with my sniffing them out. So now even a few days after sniffing flowers is just too funny for the boy :)

Our week away

This last week Mike took a group of college students on a trip to The Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. Initially B and I were going to tag along with the camper but after finding out The Grand Canyon didn't have electrical hookups for heat, we bowed out. Staying home for a week by ourselves was out of the question. So the next best option was to be dropped off at our great friend's home in New Mexico! Though we missed daddy lots, what a GREAT week we had :)

Brod tackled the 10 hour drive great! We left at his bedtime and drove through the night with him sleeping all but 9 hours! We've learned this is how we will handle long car trips from now on :)

 This is one of my favorite pics of B with his buddies. He loved having playmates in the bath tub with him and not only his buddies but his first bubble bath! :)

 My aunt and uncle also live in New Mexico real close to our friends so we got to spend a couple days with them also. They have two "doggies" that loved Brody and of course Brody loved them also.

 Aunt Donna took us to the Zoo. B's first zoo trip! What a blast seeing all the animals, B was so amazed.

 This week had LOTS of firsts for the B man including lunch at Chick fil a! Yum, yum! B got his first apple juice with his meal (sugared down and everything!) and loved every drink! This picture makes me laugh. Do we look crazy? 4 kids, 1 on the way and two momma's.....eyeyeye :)

The week had to come to an end as the crew swung though and picked us back up. We were both super excited to see daddy a week is a long time to be away! Thankfully we were in great hands and had a super time! Spending a whole week with my sweet friend really gave me an insight into their real lives. Sense becoming a mom I have loved watching how other families "do life" together. What fun! The great part about saying goodbye this time is that we will be back in a few weeks for our 6th annual Memorial Day Trip!