Happy Birthday to me and only 100 days of pregnancy left!

Yay, (I think) I am the big 28 today and it has been a wonderful day filled with bagels, coffee, cookies, cupcakes (ya I know I should really eat an apple or two now!) cards and smiles.  The men in my life gave me the sweetest card that about brought me to tears at 4:30 this morning and a massage gift card...Hallelujah!  Derrick and I also purchased a Tahoe last night and that has made driving to work a whole lot sweeter and luxurious!  We bought a 2005 Chevy Tahoe that has heated leather seats, a DVD player, 7 passenger seating, automatic everything (D and I even set the foot pedals, seat adjustments and mirrors to our own specifications and just push 1 or 2 when we get in the truck to set them!)  and more.  It is the most comfortable and smooth ride and we are so lucky it's ours!  It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the beast of a truck I have been driving for 5 years and we have owned for 8 but as soon as we slid into our new truck it was all worth it!  What a great b-day present!  ; )  My mom also finished Rileys costume-For about $6 it might be the cutest homemade costume ever!  Thank you Nana!  We are headed to Pep Boys to pimp our ride a little more and then to my parents for appetizers and more!  I love the birthday dinners we get from my Mom-it's about the best food ever and she doesn't skimp so we are all saving our appetites for a night of gluttony!
Thanks for all the cards, FB posts and texts-you all made my day!

Some of my favorite buttons...seat warmers!  

25 Weeks!

PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

WEEKS: 25 weeks

BABY'S SIZE: 13 inches, 1.5 lbs, the baby is the size of a small bag of sugar!

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN:  12 lbs now... 

SLEEP: Sleeping good and hard with just one visit to the bathroom.  I am working at 5:00 a.m this week and last week so along with earlier bedtimes a one hour nap has been needed before I run to pick up Riley man.  

MOVEMENT: I am feeling kicks all the time and loving it.  She made it very difficult to keep sleeping in on Sunday morning so I finally just got up at 8:00 and of course she calmed down.

SYMPTOMS: TIRED! I am exhausted everyday but am still forcing myself to keep up with the house and such otherwise I feel like such a miserable, no good mommy/wife so I rally through and catch up on sleep when I can thanks to my WONDERFUL husband! 

WHAT I MISS: Nothing.

CRAVINGS: Halloween candy.

MATERNITY CLOTHES: I wore my first pair of maternity jeans on Saturday and am going to start shopping around for some new maternity clothes this weekend.  

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: I would say my B-day on Friday but I will be 28 this year and that makes me feel old so I will go with the all the fun Halloween weekend is going to bring!  

We dropped Riley off with Auntie Katie on Saturday so we could do some vehicle shopping after we finally realized a pick up truck with only 2.5 doors just isn't going to cut it with 2 car seats.  We snuck in a quick lunch at our favorite PF Changs and then headed to Bella Angel Imaging for a 4D ultrasound of our little lady.  It was the most comfortable, relaxing and fun U/S yet!  We have now seen her at 9, 13, 20 and 25 weeks and it still hasn't really dawned on us that we will be bringing home a new babe soon.  She is beautiful and looks just like Riley.

She has perfectly shaped lips and a little button nose.  In most of the pics she gave us the okay sign and the video we have is precious!  It was quite the experience!  We rounded out the day with the 'Light up the Night Parade' in downtown Anoka with Katie and Ben and Riley loved dressing up (he choose the rooster/chicken costume all by himself) and he giggled in the mirror at the sight of himself.  He is really into the costumes this year and had a blast at the parade.  His favorite float was the Doody/Buzz float and the loud police and fire station vehicles.  That costume kept him so cozy and warm that he had sweat marks on his head when we got home!

Sunday was the shower for my cousins Ryan and Molly who are having a little boy the end of January.  She is super cute with her tiny belly and they are so excited about the new addition!  The food was delish and the 2 hour nap afterwards was delightful!  Riley is such a lucky boy to get to see family all the time!  Papa watched him on Friday because Nana was at a conference, Katie and him had a blast on Saturday, and Papa, Great Uncle Gregg and Ryan played ping pong and kept him entertained during the shower on Sunday plus he got to run around with Owen a bit.  

Funny story from Saturday-we brought Riley's potty chair over to Katie's so she could put it on her toilet and keep him falling in but we didn't realize her oblong toilet wouldn't hold the potty seat so after a few minutes the poor little dude was in the toilet anyways.  Katie couldn't stop laughing and as we read the text we couldn't either.  They tried one more bathroom and he nearly fell in again so no potty dances at Katie's house!  Poor kid!  At least they gave it a good try!  

Here we go again with a new week that will undoubtedly fly by!  

24 Weeks!

PREGNANCY HIGHLIGHTS:

WEEKS: 24 weeks

BABY'S SIZE: 12 inches, just over 1 lb, the baby is the size of an ear or corn!

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN: So far 9 lbs but I am back to power walking everyday even in this heat!

SLEEP: Sleeping good and hard with just one visit to the bathroom!

MOVEMENT: I am feeling kicks all the time and loving it.  We can all see her tumbling around like a little acrobat and it still scares Riley.  She also loves to kick when he is on my lap. We sit on the floor and read together and between the constant kicks and my expanding belly it's not very comfortable anymore but I love getting on the floor to play with him so I will take the discomfort! 

SYMPTOMS: TIRED! I am exhausted everyday but am still forcing myself to keep up with the house and such otherwise I feel like such a miserable, no good mommy/wife so I rally through and catch up on sleep when I can thanks to my WONDERFUL husband! 

WHAT I MISS: I miss donating blood while at work.  I loved getting out and donating for an extra hour break every 56 days.  I loved the reading, the chex mix, the cookies and actually donating! They keep calling wondering why I haven't donated since I have AB+ blood (only 3.5%) of Americans have this type and I finally had to call back and tell them that I am pregnant.  I am pretty sure I can stand to give up some blood but rules are rules and I AM a rule follower!  ; )

CRAVINGS: Vanilla white chocolate mochas.
MATERNITY CLOTHES: No maternity clothes yet but I did have to switch from my small scrub pants and top to my mediums and it definetly makes me feel a little more pregnant at work.   

WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO: Saturday-Daddy and I (maybe even Riley?!) get to take another look at our little girl and then we are going to lunch and maybe a movie.  Sunday-My cousin's shower while they are in town for a quick visit! 



Our weekend started out great.  I had the Hutchie ladies over for Davannis and a movie "Letters to Juliet" (it was great) and we just enjoyed the conversations and each other.  After my Uncles funeral this time last year I vowed to start seeing everyone more often and finally we made it happen and are planning a get together for next month already.  I have great Aunties and they ooohed and ahhhed over the new baby girl clothes I bought.  I love her seeing her sweet clothes in the closet and I could look at them everyday!  Riley man was one sick little dude and he literally kept us up all night on Friday.  Daddy took off around 3:00 a.m. and Riley slept with me, coughing, crying and feverish all night long.  Saturday the little stinker woke up like nothing had happened though and he was feeling great so after some R & R we ventured out to enjoy some harvest fun with Baby Weah (Riley says her name nearly pefectly!) and her mommy.

Rach and I have spent many a hunting weekends together and having kids hasn't changed our habit!
Riley slept so good Saturday and I was a little lonely in bed even after the tumultuous night we spent together Friday.  I would have let him sleep with me in a second!  Derrick has been telling me how in the mornings he hears a little diaper crinkling as Riley walks into our room and I was looking forward to it but finally at 8:00 a.m. I had to walk into his room and I was greeted with "Hi Mommy, Wiley up?"  Of course you could get up little one-Mommy was just waiting for you to come get her silly! Our weekend is fast closing and we are so glad to have Daddy back.  Riley had been asking about DDeuce and Daddy all weekend and he is just like his Daddy.  He literally sat in the window waiting for his Daddy for 20 minutes-It must be nice to be so missed and loved!

Awaiting Daddy

This boy is just like his Daddy!  

kisses for the camera

Muuuuuuu

Ahhhhhh!  

We are getting the most out of this wonderful weather and spent the evening jumping in leaves, coloring with sidewalk chalk and of course a few pictures!  We just can't get enough of outside right now!