Ashlyn's birthday party!

We had her party on her birthday, Friday July 9th at our house. It was very hot and humid with no breeze. Thankfully the kids had fun and so did Ashlyn! She got so many nice things. Hard to believe she's two already!!

Getting a push from Gabbie

Sharing the slide with Chloe

The kids enjoyed exploring the bean field

Ashlyn's pedicure from mommy :)

Yummy cupcake cake

Trying to blow out the candles with mostly spit...

don't worry, none got on the cake!

Chloe

Connor

Happy 2nd Birthday Ashlyn!

Happy birthday Peanut, we love you!

~ Mom and Dad

Baby Genius?

I just came across this article and it made me feel a little better about the months that I was suffering. The last two weeks have been symptom free (knock on wood!). Just thought that other moms that are going through it would appreciate the 'pros' of feeling like crap day in and day out.

"It seems counterintuitive, but researchers keep finding reasons to give morning sickness a high-five. The nausea and vomiting of pregnancy correlate with lower risks for miscarriage and, later in life, breast cancer. And in one recent study, the offspring of moms who had morning sickness scored higher on IQ tests. “Morning sickness indicates that proper hormones are being made by mom and baby, that the baby’s growing and developing,” says Laura Riley, M.D., a fetal/maternal medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “I see it as a good sign.” "

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great weekend!  We spent a few days on the lake, grilled out with friends, went on lots of boat rides, watched fireworks and went to the St Peter parade.

Saturday night Ashlyn got to see fireworks for the first time and loved it. She would say neat, cool and boom-boom. It was really fun to watch her enjoy it and the first thing she asked the next morning when dad got her out of bed was "fireworks?!?"... she wanted to see more!  We went to the St Peter parade and Ashlyn had fun collecting candy dancing to all the music.  

at the parade

swiming in the lake

Daddy playing with Ashlyn

Ten Fingers and Ten Toes

We had our BIG ultrasound for Baby L this morning and everything looked great!  It was so exciting to see the baby jump around and move its arms and legs. Just like I thought, baby was measuring a week bigger  (I'm 18w 2d and baby is 19w 1d) which is just fine. I guess I'm good at growing big babies ;) Heartbeat was 155bpm. Baby was being a little shy but we have an idea of what it is but we're going to keep it to ourselves for now.... sorry! :)))  We are just so happy that baby is doing well and is healthy!

Tiny feet, too cute!

3D pictures

A Fish Named Ashlyn

Ashlyn is in swimming lessons and she LOVES it!
You'd swear she is part fish... she just can't get enough of the water!

Jumping off the diving board with the help of her teachers.
She would do this over and over if they let her!

Breakfast with Sheepy

On a rainy morning I made Cream of Wheat and toast for breakfast.
Ashlyn loves it and wanted Sheepy to sit by her.

Want some?

Happy Father's Day!

Joe was busy finishing up spraying beans this morning and when Ashlyn got up from her nap we went out to the lake to enjoyed the beautiful day with grandma, grandpa and the Bode's.


Ashlyn got to go with daddy for her first semi ride on Saturday
morning and he even let her blow the air horn!

Our little singer

Ashlyn singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Baby L Update

It's crazy how much faster I'm showing with this little one. I think I looked this big at 18 weeks with Ashlyn! I'm hoping this baby stays under 9lbs (Ashlyn was 8lbs 14.4oz) so please keep your fingers crossed for me! ;)

I'm finally feeling good! Morning sickness is pretty much gone. I still get a little funny feeling if I don't eat regularly so that's been pretty easy to deal with. I've been craving salads with lots of tomatoes and cucumbers for lunch and reflux/heartburn issue is also under control with the help of Pepcid AC daily - what a life saver!

My next Dr's appointment is in two weeks and we'll be scheduling the "BIG" anatomy ultrasound. Everyone keeps asking if we're finding out the sex of Baby L, and to be honest, we're (I'm) not sure yet. Some days I want to know and some days I want a surprise and of course Joe wants to know so we'll just have to see what we decide in the next month. Maybe we'll find out and not tell anyone! So far I'm thinking it's a boy just because everything seems different about this pregnancy but who knows. The famous string test said "Girl, Boy, Boy". We just want a healthy baby!

15 weeks

Feeding the goats

She could have done this all day!

Sibley Park

We meet cousin Connor and Christy at Sibley Park over Memorial weekend. The kids had a blast looking at all the animals and playing in the park. We even had a picnic lunch in the grass. If you've never been to the park, I highly recommend it. It's newly remodled, clean and it's FREE!

She wanted to give kisses to all the animals.

Petting the goats.

Miniature horse, just their size!

A goat "kissing" her hand.

Playing in the park.

At the lake

On Sunday we spent the day at the lake with Grandma & Grandpa Loula. The morning was beautiful. Joe got the jet ski out and took Ashlyn for her first ride and then we went for a pontoon ride around the lake. Ashlyn even helped dad drive the pontoon. While Ashlyn was napping the weather got cold and it started to rain. When she woke up she still wanted to play outside so Grandma Ruth was nice enough to play in the rain with her :)

Little helper

We started off our Memorial weekend by making rhubarb crisp for a get together we were going to on Saturday night. Ashlyn really wanted to taste the flour so I gave her the 1/8 tsp spoon with a little in it. She kept asking for more (ick) and rubbing it on her face. She thought it was pretty funny!

Ohhhh....

Proud of her handy work.