a little of this & that

I hope everyone in the Midwest is enjoying the heat! I will add that baby and I are enjoying the constant running AC in my basement office:) My hopes of a mild summer during this pregnancy similar to that of 2009 did not come true, but we are managing. For those of you who know Luke, you will understand that this heat is killing him too...saying he loves to be outside is an understatement, so the fact that he can't enjoy the outdoors is very heartbreaking to him. Although when you look out our windows, it looks as if we are living in a "ghost town" there is nobody outdoors. So I am filling Luke's calendar with lots of indoor activities. Today Miss Judi is taking him to Tumble Tots at our gym, which he loves. Yesterday he had Ms. A's school, and tomorrow sounds like a good day for the Children's museum, then we are off to Seattle! We are prepping Luke daily on counting down the days until we are going to go up into the sky on a big airplane! We bought him some headphones this weekend so he can watch movies on the trip, he wasn't quite sure about them, so we will see how it goes. We are greatly looking forward to our trip to the Northwest to celebrate my brother's wedding, and we are ever so eager to welcome some much milder temperatures.
Some more exciting news for our family, last night Sean's brother and his wife welcomed a little baby girl to the family, Alexandra. Sounds like mom and baby are doing well!
Below are a couple of pictures I took of Luke from my phone on Sunday...we spent the morning outside doing some yard work, took a trip to Menard's, and then realized the heat was too much so we went into hibernation!

getting crafty with Play-doh
...and watched a movie

On the baby front...all is going well. I feel like this baby is growing leaps and bounds hourly, giving me lots of jabs to make sure I am reminded of Baby's presence. According to my doctor, baby is head down, so I am assuming if that still holds true, baby's butt is nestled real nice up under my rib cage and loves to kick out my right side frequently, and when I say frequently, I mean constantly!!! Last night Sean and I were talking and realized that in just one month August 19th...we will be on the home stretch (37 wks) and baby could arrive anytime from that point on...seems so unreal! Which led us to the discussion of baby names. Let's just say if this baby is in fact a girl, we may not have a name prior to leaving the hospital! I will take any and all suggestions! We have our boys name, just searching for a sweet little girls name. We like pretty classic, traditional names and have a few on the list, but nothing that we are overly joyed about or can agree on. So please feel free to share your ideas in the comments section...Please!

Camp Bop & Nana

Luke spent a few days up at Grandpa and Grandma's farm and to say he enjoyed it would be an understatement. This kid is heaven...up at 6 a.m and wanting to be out the door in no time. Sean had to be out of town for a few days so we took the opportunity for Luke to enjoy a couple of days at the farm. I got tons of work done while Luke played with Bop and Nana. He spent countless hours on the four wheeler, sitting in the uni loader, driving the tractor, watching the cows, pretty much anything he could do outside on the farm he was doing. Luke is now able to start the four wheeler on his own and when being given a ride, he wants to take over control of the throttle...not a good thing! But he had so much fun, so much fun in fact he fell asleep on his last four wheeler ride. We are so thankful that Luke has the opportunity to spend such quality time with his grandparents and enjoy some of the things I did growing up on the farm.

Enjoying the four wheeler and life on the farm
Uncle Mitch as Fridays off so he came home and Luke enjoyed spending some time with "Mit". Enjoying breakfast with Uncle Mit (Luke had two pancakes and two waffles!)

This is Luke enjoying a little "breakfast date" with mommy this morning before Sean came home. We walked into Starbucks and Luke was waving and saying Hi to everyone like we were regulars...funny thing, this was his first time actually "in" Starbucks. He is such a social butterfly!

We are really having quite a blast with Luke and all his latest developments, although his crazy personality keeps us just as busy. He is in the phase of mimicking a lot of our actions, which is quite hilarious. I am amazed by this child's memory, every morning when it is time for breakfast he demands Sean to make "PAN-cakes" and he hollers out the PAN followed by a quiet cake...quite comical. Luke will run to the drawer and grab the big pancake spatula and hand to Sean. When it is time to go bye-bye he will grab every one's flip flops and set them out. When it is time for bed, he tells us "bye bye". He likes to sit in the big boy chair, no more high chair. One of Luke's latest is "No Mama" when we ask him a question or he will say "No" then shake his head yes. He has gone away from calling Sean, daddy, he now refers to him as "Naun". When we let Gunner out in the morning he will stand by the sliding door and knock on the window for him to come back and holler "Gun"...and the list goes on and on and on...We are working on listening and following direction, but we have a ways to go with that. His teacher said she has really noticed quite an improvement at school with him following direction and listening well, however we have yet to see that improvement at home, he has a mind of his own. Tonight after Sean gave him his bath, we went to the basement for his nightly episode of the Backyardigans prior to books and bed, Luke had other plans. He set out pillows on the basement floor, ran continuous laps around the sectional and hurdled over the pillows, and when I say continuous I mean....nonstop for 10 minutes. He has so much energy I get tired just watching him, but then again I am 32 weeks pregnant and the thought of going for a job makes me exhausted. This little boy makes us laugh everyday with his new gestures, expressions, and vocabulary. We love our Sweet, Energetic, Outgoing, Little Luke more than words can say, please don't grow up too fast!

Gender Poll

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Baby Update

Sweet Baby #2 is doing well and got two thumbs up from Dr this morning. Everything is right on track, strong heartbeat, measuring just right, and competing in a gymnastics meet on a very regular basis. I was surprised to hear that Baby has positioned itself head down!!! Yay! Let's just hope no major flips take place resulting in a breach position like Big Brother did. Actually, Luke never was positioned head down, he was breach at 28 weeks and never budged. Position of the baby, head down and butt coming out my right side, man...this baby is snuggled up, just hanging out entirely in my right side, ouch!
I will go back in two weeks then I will begin my weekly checks. Although time is ticking and it will be here before we know it...we don't want to get too anxious to meet this little one as we need Baby to camp out for several more weeks!
We have decided on a boys name for sure, but are still up in the air when it comes to a girls name. I have a couple that I like that Sean is "thinking" about. I did have a dream this weekend that we decided last minute to do a gender reveal party and when it was time to cut the cake to see if it was pink or blue, I screamed "NO...I don't want to know!!!" but it was too late Sean already cut into it ...the cake was Blue! This was the first dream I have ever had regarding gender...who knows?!?!?!

Our time & a hot weekend

Last week on a whim Sean and I decided to take a couple of days off to spend just the "three of us" or I should say 3 1/2 because I am taking up space for 1 1/2 these days! I am so glad that we took the opportunity to enjoy some much needed time at home, no agenda, no schedule, no emails, no phone calls, just pure joy of spending time with each other. You will have to excuse my lack of pictures for such a fun weekend, but I didn't want to tug our camera all over and when I did have it out and failed miserably to even think of snapping a picture. Thursday morning, Luke and I ran some errands, had a little snack at Starbucks, and then headed home for an early lunch with Sean so we could venture about 50 miles north to Waterloo. We spent the afternoon at Lost Island Water park just outside of Waterloo and had a complete blast! Luke was a little shy at first, but not too long into our visit he was racing Sean down every water slide he could get one, diving for "bish", and climbing up the ropes. It brought pure joy to me to see how happy Luke was and how much fun he was having. Sean and I not only enjoyed watching him play and have fun, but we greatly enjoyed some fun in the sun and cool water ourselves! Of course, Sean had to go down the plunge a few times before we could take off! We will definitely be revisiting this water park in the future! After the park we visited our great friends, Nate, Kate, and Harper Guess in Cedar Falls for a little BBQ. They were kind enough to prepare a wonderful dinner for us, and the company was even more inviting. It had been awhile since we were all together so it was fun to watch Luke and Harper play, and catch up with some great friends! Friday morning Sean took off early to watch the John Deere Classic in Moline, Il, while Luke and I cleaned the house a little and got ready for a little play group. We had some friends over Friday mid morning, 8 little ones running around and 4 moms enjoying some conversation! Sean and Luke went for a bike ride Saturday morning while I began to organized baby stuff, sort through clothes, pack up Luke's old clothes, and sort all the gender neutral gowns and onesies to prepare for the wash. I couldn't get over that our Sweet Little Luke was once that tiny! I made some great progress and feel much better about what I still need to get. While the weekend continued to get steamy, Luke and I headed to the pool on Saturday afternoon. We made another attempt to bring Luke to church with us Saturday night, it wasn't horrible but it wasn't great! We told him if he was a good boy he could have pizza afterwards, so we did follow through and enjoyed a nice dinner at our local favorite, Red's Ale House. Sunday we had a surprise visit from my parents. Sean and my dad played golf on Sunday afternoon while we hit up the Air conditioned mall to run a couple of errands. It was son wonderful to spend this time at home over the long weekend we made knowing this week ahead is filled with lots of travel and next week we are off to Seattle for the wedding of the year for our family!!! (below are just a few pics I snapped from my phone)

Luke wants to be just like his daddy all the time...I love how he has his legs crossed while he is reading a book. Lately Luke has really taken to grabbing books and sitting very content going page by page!!!
This was taken yesterday while we headed to the mall...this temperature does not agree well with a 31 week pregnant gal and add 100% humidity to the mix...not a happy camper!

This is Luke running through the sprinklers, when he should be in bed!!! Sean has had to water our lawn all week because of the hot temps and no rain. Of course, Luke wants to help and it turns into a big ole' sprinkler park for a 22 month old!

Having some fun in the sprinklers!

Almost 31 weeks...9 to go!

Baby Bump at 30 1/2 weeks

We are surviving the heat, and when I say we, I mean Baby and me! It's been a hot one and it definitely hasn't been super pleasant. I have refrained from going on walks to spare myself from complete heat exhaustion! I am feeling well, baby is moving like a wild one...just like Big Brother! Baby is measuring about 16 inches and 3 lbs, and when compared to produce...about the size of a head of cauliflower. I have been experiencing lots of Braxton Hicks, so much that I had to put a call into my doctor's office today because it seemed a bit more intense cramping and ongoing during my trip home from Minneapolis. I thought maybe once I got off the plane it would subside but it didn't until I was able to get home and lay down. I am pretty sure this baby has positioned itself into a transverse position pushing out both of my sides. Last week, prior to the heat wave hitting us, I was out on a walk and I was having some Braxton hicks, my stomach was rock hard, so I put my hand on my right side and I swear baby was giving me a high five! I am 100% convinced I was holding onto baby's hand:) Aside from moving a bit slower and having a hard time bending over, I feel pretty good. Again, like my pregnancy with Luke, I really don't have any cravings, actually I can barely eat anything because this baby is taking up so much room I have no room left for my stomach to expand! Exhaustion and fatigue are setting in, but the joy of feeling this mover and shaker makes it all worth it. In roughly two months our family of three will be four and we can not wait to meet this sweet little one! Luke and I have been having some discussions about whether he wants the baby to stay at our house, he says "yes", when I ask him if he wants to see the baby, he lifts of my shirt and gives my stomach a kiss, then lowers my shirt and says "bye bye baby". The other night I asked him if he wanted the baby to stay with us he said "yes", but then when I asked if baby can play with his toys he said "no". We are working on it!

Fourth of July weekend

We enjoyed a very relaxing, fun filled weekend! The weather could not have been more beautiful for the holiday weekend, allowing us to spend endless hours outside after a couple sweltering hot days. Last Thursday and Friday reached high 90s and 100 degree temps here in Iowa City. Sean and I even enjoyed a night out Saturday night with some friends downtown Iowa City. It was so great to get out and enjoy a summer night downtown Iowa City. The summers are the greatest here and we were thrilled to be able to enjoy a night out, great dinner, a little jazz music, and wonderful company! I captured our weekend in pictures below...Sean and I are both taking a couple of days off this week to spend sometime with Luke, and just plan old enjoy some downtime with our family of three before it becomes four! We hope to take Luke to a water park Thursday and possibly the zoo one day. July marks a very exciting month for our family as we will be making a special trip to the Northwest in just a few short weeks to help celebrate the wedding of my older brother. My family has rented a mountain house and we plan to spend five days out there to enjoy all the festivities and truly enjoy the wedding celebration of Nate and Debbie!

Saturday morning after Sean made his special weekend breakfast, we packed up and headed out to the beautiful Lake McBride. We had attempted this once before and it went horribly, so we weren't real sure how Luke would do this time around. It went much better, but he still got pretty antsy on the boat wanting to go overboard to see the "bish".
Luke loved waving to all the boaters! Lake McBride is a beautiful lake just a few miles from our house that only allows small horse powered boats on it, so it makes for a very peaceful, calm, relaxing boat ride.

We made a little pit stop and let Luke swim at the beach. After we played for awhile Luke enjoyed his little sack lunch on the boat ride back to the dock. It was time for lunch, but it also worked great because it occupied most of his time from trying to catch "bish" off the side of the boat!

Luke, in his swim diaper, watching daddy mow the lawn. After a long afternoon nap, Luke enjoyed a little swim in his pool.

Time for a "nack"! Luke enjoying a mouthful of grapes.

Monday morning, we headed downtown Coralville with our friends, The Tracy's, to watch the 4th of July parade. It was a great morning, we just failed to find a shade tree so it got pretty warm! We shaded Luke as best as we could in his stroller while he watched the fire trucks, horses, and tractors stroll by.

Our son has started to want to dress himself! This was Luke Monday morning after breakfast, still in his pj's, but ready to go outside and play with daddy! He brought his sandals and hat to Sean after we finished up breakfast, all ready to play! You may notice, he has a little sticker on his pjs...while I hopped in the shower the boys were outside playing. A police man had driven through our neighborhood and stopped to say hi to Luke because Luke, being his outgoing, friendly little self was waving "Hi". He pulled up, turned on his lights, and gave Luke a "Junior Officer" sticker badge! I love his outgoing personality, resembled by his morning colorful collection!

This is Luke saying "cheese"

...and again
For some reason he waves his hands when I ask him to say Cheese for the camera.

Luke and Uncle Mitch horsing around after our 4th of July BBQ

We hosted a very informal BBQ at our house Monday afternoon, my brother Mitch also joined us. We decided late Friday to invite some neighbors and friends over for a little BBQ and give the kids a chance to run in the sprinkler, play in the pool, and eat messy popsicles. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed great company, lots of food, and some cold drinks! (well most everyone, with the exception of a couple pregnant ladies!) I am bummed, I didn't get any pictures of all the little kiddos running crazy. I even laid my camera out, but got so sidetracked I didn't even snap a picture.

After all our company left we put Luke in his pajamas and headed out for the fireworks downtown Coralville. Sean and I were able to view the Iowa City display from our deck Sunday evening, which was so enjoyable to relax on the beautiful evening and watch a fabulous fireworks display. Sean really wanted Luke to experience the fireworks so we thought, what the heck, let's give it a shot. It was already passed his bedtime and for the most part Luke is pretty flexible. So we headed out, made a pit stop for ice cream, and found a parking spot near the Coralville Park, rolled down the windows and we were ready for the show.

Our outgoing little Luke, waving out the window and saying "hi" to all the people going by

Sorry for the quality of this picture taken from my phone, but it is so sweet to see my two boys all snuggled up watching the fireworks. Luke was enamored by the bright, colorful show of fireworks, cheering and saying "boom, boom, boom"! He lasted about 10 minutes before he grabbed his snuggles, crawled into my arms, and fell sound asleep in the midst of the load fireworks display. He was one tired little boy from a very fun filled weekend! As busy as Luke keeps us running, he fills every minute of our days with indesribeable joy! It is so fun watching him grow, learn, and mostly find joy is the simple little things in life.