Euchere & Pizza

By the title of this post you may think we had alittle card party or something. Nope, No card party here. Just a couple of lizards.

My parents returned from their vacation to Florida with 2 lizards for Dane. No we didn't ask them too....it was a suprise for Dane (and his parents who had zero intentions of letting any reptile into the home). No big deal because they will probably die soon anyway or so I thought. What I didn't account for is that Brad would run hog wild with the lizard thing and borrow an aquarium from the neighbors and go out and buy a heat lamp. He's nuts.

When returning home from work the next day Brad had done some research. We have a boy lizard and a girl lizard and they breed in the spring. Oh uh. We might have a lizard farm. He also rattled off what kind they were, what they like to eat, what temp they thrive in, etc etc.

Regardless Dane was surprised and loves them. He named them Euchere and Pizza.

Now I have a little aqarium in the kitchen.

This is the male. The larger of the two. His name is Pizza.

Here is Euchere. She's pretty and petite and much more active than Pizza

Woodland Dreams

Finally the baby shower is over and I can post pics! I had no idea how much work was involved in planning for a baby shower but I had so much fun! I may have missed my calling as a party planner :)

Since baby Boysel's sex is going to be surprise I chose a Woodland type theme. I fell in love with these invitaions. So cute! This welcome table sat at the entrance to the room and featured a diaper cake and sign in book.

Here's the room fully decorated and waiting for guests.

Brenda was the mastermind behind the centerpieces. She found these super cute woodland creatures. We had squirrels, turtles, and bunnies.

Birdnest cupcakes & Acorn Cookies. Yum Yum

This was one of the games we played.

Each guest took a shot at guessing the following....sex, due date/time, height, and weight. After the baby is born we will review these to see who came the closest and they will be the WINNER.

The grandma's.

Here's Bre in all her 8 month glory! Whoa baby ;)

We here at the Grimes household are SO EXCITED for baby Boysel's arrival! I can't wait to run out and buy a cute little boy or little girl outfit and bee line it right to the hospital. I must get my hands on this little nugget. 6 weeks to go (I think).

It's Puzzle Time

Dane puts his firetruck floor puzzle together and Olive helps.

*Baby shower plans are pretty much all wrapped up. I'll post pictures after it's over as to not spoil the surprise for the honored Breanna (cause I know she's reading this) Only real thing left to do is to get the food bought and assembled. I'll work on that this Friday since I have that day off work.

*Olive slept through the night again. It's just so hit or miss. She's blessed me 2x this month but it could be a month before she does it again. Oh well. I'm surviving I guess.

Did you know?

Everyone comments on how much Brad and Dane look alike but did you know that they are also both the astrological sign of Sagittarius? I don't really follow that stuff but just kind of interesting because they are SO MUCH alike.

And even more interesting than that...... My little mini-me and I are also the same astrological sign of Gemini!

Kinda cool.

Num Num Num

Oooo, Look what I got! A baby bullet so I can make Olive super yummy baby food :)

So excited, Can't wait to try it out.

Thanks Momo and Papa Peterson for the belated baby shower gift!

Love it!!

Big Brother Love

Little Olive love, love, loves her big brother! Morning is Olive's happiest time, in that sense she must be like her father. I hate early mornings. Anyway, Every morning Dane says "Good morning Olive, Your so beautiful" over and over in the most sing songy voice ever and she just smiles and coos. She just follows him with her eyes everywhere he goes.

Dane can also be a "brother" out of the blue and do something completely mean like pull her hair, wipe a booger on her, etc. For that sort of thing, he of course gets scolded but I like to think that someday she'll pay him back for all that torture and I think for the first time 10 times or so I'll just look the other way. (smirk)

* Poor baby Olive had her well baby check today and 2 immunizations to which she did not enjoy and neither did I. She's currently 10lbs 8oz (50th percentile) and 23 inches (90th percentile) So just like Dane she's long and lean.

Up Close & Personal

Look what Brad found in the yard! A baby (we think) hummingbird. It couldn't fly. How sad! I've never seen a hummingbird this close up before. I was still terrified that it was going to "come to" and fly up to peck my eyes out! Those beaks totally freak me out!

So Blessed

Just a little shout out to our family.

I am so thankful for each one of you. We've had some trying times here lately adjusting to a new baby and knowing that I can count on you to help me out is so priceless. I can't thank you enough. I wouldn't know what to do without you.

Look at these little miracles! Thank you god for these babes.

* I remembered a tip that a patient of mine gave me today regarding the attitude that a 3 year old can develop and different techniques to disipline them. Something that worked for her was a technique that I call 'The Trash Bag' I tried it this evening (wenesday) and it's worked so far. When Dane is bad, says something bad or is disrespectful I get to choose a toy and toss it into a trash bag. If Dane is good, he gets a toy back. So far so good. He has a couple toys in the bag right now and if he's good I'll give one back before bedtime.

Wish me luck ;)

It's a Date!

Thanks to my dad for re-gifting his Scotts 20yr club tickets for dinner and movie. This may be the last date Brad and I get for awhile. We saw 'Something Boworred' at the Arena Grand Theatre and then walked down the street to Buca Di Beppo.

This may be our last photo as a family of 3.

Hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day!

I know I did! We had a family get together at my mom's and the weather was fantastic. Then we got to see my nephew play soccer in Marysville. He was great and they won! I'll have some pics of that to share later this week.

Preggo Update: 38 weeks. I never thought I'd still be pregnant and quite frankly I'm really tired of being pregnant at this point. I'm getting HUGE and it's uncomfortable. I can't sit or stand for any amount of time without my legs/feet swelling up to elephant-like size.

We're ready here at the house (I think). Everything is set up and ready to go.

Emotionally I'm not sure I'm ready. Those old guilty feelings are coming back. I am sad that these are the last few days alone with Dane. He's so excited but I'm worried that I won't be able to provide the same level of attention and care and that he'll feel slighted. I worry that I won't be able to love the new baby the same way I love my first........I'm sure that's normal......right??

Regardless, We're about to embark upon a new adventure around here!

Wish us luck!!

Wow

I have the best patients ever!

I was so surprised when I came back from maternity leave from Dane and patients had left me some surprise gifts! This time I had a patient drop off these burp clothes that he had his wife make for me and "baby girl."

They have the cutest little sayings.

Handmade Loveliness

My new purse purchase from Cori. Brad bought me my old purse from Cori's mom Vicki and I loved it to almost death, wore it everywhere for the last year and it was starting to show it's wear. Since becoming a mom, I must have a purse with a long strap to sling around my neck and therefore keep my hands free. Especially now with another baby on the way!! ....and there's plenty of room to throw in an emergency diaper and wipes :)

I love my hippie/hobo bag! (thanks Cori!)

Help Is On The Way!

With a baby on the way in 6 weeks and no solid name picked I decided to look for help. We've scoured the internet baby-name search engines, entered Barnes & Noble to browse through books, borrowed baby naming books from family with nothing really grabbing us.

We like older, simple, different. Like Dane, but where is the girl name version of Dane?!? I stumbled across this book 'Bring Back Beatrice' and ordered it from Amazon. I was going to just send it right to my kindle but this is a book that I need to feel between my fingers. Hopefully to dog-ear ALL the pages with totally cool names.

I feel confident that this will help us (wish us luck).

Sarah & Abraham

My thank-you cards from Sarah & Abraham came in the mail! Aren't they the cutest?! You get to personalize the silhouettes to match your family and choose the color. I chose Papaya, since I didn't want the traditional pink or purple for a girl. I'm wishing the color was a little more vibrant, I was picturing is more orangy and less peachy but it's still cute.

Sunday Giggles

A new app on Brad's iPod has resulted in all day hysterics. I can't even believe the amount of laughing coming from the other rooms today as Brad and Dane took crazy photo after crazy photo!

Then they turned the camera towards the kitty.

Poor Cat.

This one is my FAVORITE!

He's Cute, I Think I'll Keep Him

Taking full advantage of Dane asking me to take his picture (that's rare). Getting him to not make a super crazy face is nearly impossible but I managed to snap a few.

I'm so happy it's almost Spring and I can count on some good natural light coming in, I'm sick of the "flash" look. I should have purchased a flash diffuser when I looked at it last year. Oh, Well. He's cute anyway :)

Dane took this picture of his trash truck.

I was pretty impressed, it's in focus and everything.

*I had to start using the Neti-Pot again. Not sure if if I'm trying to get sick again which wouldn't surprise me after the germy plane ride, the L, the bus and the thousands of people I came in contact with in Chicago or maybe it's just sinus junk. Regardless, I can't breath well at night, and I'm snoring. Poor Brad slept on the couch last night :( Poor me has been sick about every 2 weeks for the last couple months! ENOUGH ALREADY!

Quick-N-Easy

A quick and easy running really low on groceries breakfast.

Mini Spinach Bacon Quiches

1 rolled pie crust

1/4 frozen spinach

1 egg

1 egg yolk

3 oz cream cheese-soften

1TBS diced onion

1/4 C crumbled bacon

salt/pepper to taste

1. Cut pie crust into 10 3 inch round pieces and place in greased muffin tins

2. Mix together following ingredients and pour into crust

3. 425 degree oven for 12 minutes.

Really was very quick and super tasty. Brad ate 6 of them!

Preggo Update: 28 weeks! Just entered the final trimester, another milestone. In my opinion, looking VERY pregnant now. I had my first experience with edema this weekend (Never had that with Dane) After an exhausting trip to Chicago, sitting through 6 hours of lecture and tons of walking I returned home at 1am to find that my legs, knees to toes were approximately the same size!! A definite case of elephantitis. (AHHHHH!!!! Cue my instant panic) I spent the next day resting with my feet up and thankfully they have returned to normal.

What A Life

The life of a cat with a 3 year old boy as her Master.

This totally makes me giggle alittle. Silly cat.

Really?!

Dane just being silly.

* So for the last week I've had a sore under my tongue. I never really bothered to look, figured it was just a little ulcer that hurt when it rubbed across my teeth. Well, I was wrong! Checked it out in the mirror at work this week and its a lump. So I decided to have the Doc check it out and guess what...........It's a pregnancy tumor!

I mean really?! It only happens in 1% of pregnant women so of course it would happen to me! It's kinda just a freak thing that happens. Say if I would have bitten my tongue or had it scrap across something or stabbed by a chip or something (none of which I remember occurring) Anyways, We'll just watch it preferring to remove it after the baby is born or it could just go away on it's own.

On a good note, I'm not sick anymore! My conclusion to the Neti-Pot test is that IT WORKS! I did it morning and night at the 1st sign of feeling alittle snotty and I'm better :) and guess who doesn't like the Neti-Pot and who is still sick............Brad!

Makin' Room

The first thing I did was carry the cradle upstairs to our bedroom from the basement. Got it all assembled and cleaned up. Then I went through Dane's infant tub that I had stored away and pulled out all gender neutral blankets and baby essentials. Brad's grandma and grandpa Grimes bought us this before we were even expecting Dane with the hopes of future great-grandbabies. It's special to me, reminds me of his grandpa who's since passed on.

Next, We went on a little girl shopping spree and bought some cute things. Still could use some sleep sacks (loved those with Dane), onesies, sleepers, burp clothes, etc. I also would like a baby sling. I have an infant carrier but I think it would be nice to have a sling that I could carry the baby around in and nurse her at the same time.

I cleaned out Dane's closet, weeding out too small stuff and making a new tote of stuff to take to the basement.

Then I cleaned out our closet, taking 2+ bags of stuff to the good will.

Next, We headed to the Carpet Gallery and bought a 12x12 carpet remnant so we could make a playroom in the basement. Our 1st floor was just overwhelmed with Dane's toys! No room to set up the pack-n-play or baby swing, etc.

I'm feeling slightly neurotic. I realize she's not due till May but I'm a planner. I like to have all my ducks in a row way earlier than necessary. I like to be ready, I'm way early for everything.

* I skipped my 24 week appointment. I'm slightly annoyed with all these appointments. I'm fine. Can't I just come in if I have a question or aren't feeling well?! I find it a gigantic waste of time (except hearing the heartbeat, which is always fun) Here's how every appointment goes

- weigh in

-blood pressure (always good)

-feeling ok? (yup)

-any questions? (nope)

-listen to heartbeat

- ok, see you in 4 weeks

I get really annoyed when it starts going to every 2weeks, I might try to talk them into pushing it back some. I'm having a completly normal, uncomplicated pregnancy so I don't see why not.

But don't worry, I'm scheduled for a 26 week appointment.

"There's My Little Buddy!"

Dane does an impersonation of his Grandpa Longshore saying "There's my little buddy"

An Indians ball hat and Mr. Potato Head mustache top it off!

*Went to the Dr. today. I tried to tough it out but just couldn't. I was up most the night praying god for mercy, hoping to just sleep for a few hours. I have been sick plenty of times, but never have I had my teeth hurt so bad! Over and over I envisioned myself taking a pair of pliers and ripping them out! Turns out I have an upper respiratory infection and a sinus infection. So Amoxicillin it is. Thank god that it's safe to take during pregnancy. I also left the pharmacy armed with a Neti Pot, Breath Right Strips, Cough Drops and a box of the ever so sacrid Sudafed (also safe for preggos)

That Neti Pot is awesome. Feels so good! Only suppose to do it 2x/ day. I can't wait till tonight so I can try it again!