Easter weekend 2011

Lots of pictures below, but it is the best way to capture our eventful Easter weekend!

Saturday morning we ventured to Atkins, IA to Bloomsberry Farms to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny. Here is Luke visiting with the Easter Bunny!
Riding the horse

Luke with Ryan & Kyle (our neighbors who we went with) checking out the bunnies

Luke and Ryan trying to pet the bunny

...and again

Luke's favorite thing of the whole day...the large in ground bouncer

(I apologize in advance for all the pictures,

but this was pure joy watching him bounce. He loved it!)

Having so much fun!

Even when the big kids would knock him down, he still had fun!

Looks like a bounce house might be our next purchase!

After Luke got up from his nap, 3 1/2 hours I might add. I guess that is what running wild at the farm and bouncing like crazy will do to a little boy! We colored Easter eggs!

Coloring eggs, such a good helper

Our finished project of colored Easter Eggs

Luke geared up for an Easter egg hunt with our neighbors Saturday evening.

Our neighbors were kind enough to invite Luke over to join them in their Easter egg hunt.

Daddy & Luke at the neighbors Easter egg hunt

Luke and Kyle going after eggs
Kyle is one of the neighbor friends that Luke enjoys playing with weekly!

Look at what the Easter Bunny brought!

Our Family on Easter morning after church

Luke was thrilled with the "tuckers" aka suckers, in his Easter basket

Luke on Easter Sunday

playing in the kitchen with his new digger

checking out what the Easter bunny brought

Nap transition

We are currently working on transitioning Luke from two naps to one. Yes, my 20 month old busy body still requires two naps a day! Luke is napping in the morning for just one hour. We wake him after an hour, otherwise an afternoon nap does not exist. He usually will take another nap from 1:30-3. We have had a few days here and there where he has only taken one nap because of things we have going on, or if he decides to sleep in past 6 a.m, but for the most part he is still taking two naps.

Well, this week I decided I really wanted him to get involved in more activities outside of the home. The only caveat to that is, most activities for toddlers occur in the morning around 9 or 10. So over the past couple of weeks we have tried the transition. I will have to say the first several days, he would only sleep for an hour and a half, wake up super duper happy, then by 4pm he was a train wreck. It was like his body was trained to only sleep for one hour and 30 minutes. We made some tweaks this week, started some morning activities, and so far the past four days have been successful with a 3 hour afternoon nap! There still may be days when he longs for an a.m nap, but I hope we are on to something and that napping from noon to 3pm is a new "schedule" for him. This week a few activities that Luke participated in were story time at Barnes & Noble books on Monday, Tuesday he did Tumble Tots at our gym, Wednesday he went to the Children's museum, and today he went to Wee Read at the Public Library. Luke is going to start going to "school" or a structure playgroup one day a week beginning June, then will go two days a week starting in September. We visited his "school" on Tuesday morning. Ms. A usually does not take kids before two years of age, but when we visited she couldn't get over how social he was with her and all the kids right off the bat. So, she agreed to start him in June. I had some concerns starting him in September because I didn't want too much change taking place all at once with Baby #2 arriving and shipping him off to school. So we all agreed it would be great for him to get his "feet wet" and start Ms. A's school this summer just one day a week. I am excited for Luke, I think he will greatly enjoy the kids and I feel the structure will be so good for him.

Halfway...

20 week bump tracker

I continue to feel great and am feeling our Sweet Baby move more and more. I have been eagerly waiting for this feeling longer than you know. I was blessed with a very healthy pregnancy with Luke, and feel the same so far with this one. One of the greatest joys and loves of being pregnant for me is feeling all the movements. Sean commented on how "amazing that must feel?" I can't even describe how much I love to feel the movements. Even after Luke was first born, my hormones got the best of me a couple of days, and that is what I missed most. So I am enjoying every little movement to the fullest!

We are working on names, which is quite interesting conversation. We think we have decided on a boy name, and again...we are without a girl name! At 37 weeks when I had Luke, we were still without a girl name. Taking any and all suggestions!!!!

Thank you for checking in on us. I look forward to these next several weeks ahead as I know my "bump" will no longer look like a bump, and more like a ball!

a typical evening...

At the Merrick household, a typical evening looks a little like this...

I spend it with my two favorite people! (Adorable to say the least)

Luke running around without a shirt because it is usually a mess from dinner...due to the fact that he refuses to wear a bib and takes them off nonstop (we are learning to pick our battles)

a little "horsing around"

and of course...a dance party!!!

These boys love their music!

Our happy little boy:) So sweet

Sweet Baby #2

Yesterday we had our 20 week ultrasound and the doctor gave our little one two thumbs up! Everything looks great and healthy, measuring right on track, we are so thankful. We do in fact, have another busy body on our hands, this little one made it hard for them to get some good pictures because baby was on the move. We did some 3D/4D images as well and our little one had a big grin the entire time. I am sparing you from those images, because Sean and I both think they are kind of "scary" looking. With baby weighing just 10 oz, there isn't much 'fat' on baby just yet. Baby's heartbeat was 144 during our ultrasound and 142 during my appointment shortly to follow. Coincidentally, Luke's heartbeat during our 20 week ultrasound was 145 bpm. Right now Baby is laying transverse with its head on my right side, feet kicking my left side, and facing up at me. Luke was in a similar position until week 26, when he went breach. We are hoping to try and forgo another c-section, but we are open to whatever we need to do for a healthy delivery for baby and myself.

two little feet, 10 little toes

Of course, being in the spine business...I have to show off our Sweet Baby's spine!

My favorite, Sweet Baby's profile with a cute little button nose

Happy Easter to all family and friends. We are taking Luke to Blumsberry Farms, just 30 minutes away, to have Breakfast with the Easter Bunny tomorrow morning. We are going with some neighbor friends of ours, who have two little boys. The farm is offering a petting zoo, hayrides, Easter egg hunt, and of course pictures with the Easter Bunny. Sounds like a GREAT time, and even more so being the weather looks like it could be favorable. We have had a very dreary week, raining most everyday, very little sunshine, so we will take whatever we can get.
Sunday we will 'attempt' to enjoy Easter mass at our church before heading to Sean's aunt and uncles in Davenport. The reason I say 'attempt' is because our crazy toddler does not like to sit still for long periods of time, if church was 30 minutes we would be in good shape, an hour is just too long for Luke to sit still.

Enjoy the weekend celebrating the Easter holiday!

Movin' & groovin'

Sweet Baby #2 is taking after Big Brother already...movin' and groovin' like no other! The movements are still pretty sporadic throughout the day, no major movement patterns yet, but another very active baby on board!
We have our 20 week ultrasound tomorrow morning and I am so anxious to see our Sweet Baby and have been saying lots of prayers for a healthy report. Please keep us in your prayers that our Sweet Baby gets two thumbs up!
It amazes me that we are nearing the halfway mark to the pregnancy. Some days it feels like I have been pregnant forever, others it feels like we just found out. My waistline reminds me that we are nearing the 20 week mark and the maternity clothes may need to come out! I just washed up my maternity clothes and got them hanging in the closet, so they can rescue me from my fashion crisis. It definitely is taking me longer to get ready in the morning because instead of just grabbing an outfit and out the door, I am trying on several outfits to see what actually fits and looks appropriate!
Other than the frequent jabs and punches, along with the expanding waistline, life in the Merrick household remains full of energy from our Monkey Boy Luke! He is learning the baby's room and when we ask him where the baby is, he lifts up my shirt and gives the baby a kiss. He is going to be a wonderful Big Brother!
I am feeling good, occasional heart burn, and still experiencing a lot of ligament pain, but I can't complain. I am so thankful for a healthy pregnancy this far and pray for a continued healthy pregnancy, baby, and delivery.
For those of you wondering if we are finding out the gender of our Sweet Baby during the ultrasound, we are NOT. Although we are both very curious, and it would alleviate some "name discussions", we will anxiously await the arrival of our sweet baby to learn if Luke will have a baby brother or baby sister!

Balance

Luke showing off his stellar balance!

Shortly after I snapped this picture from my phone he started bouncing on it and jumped off like it was a diving board into a swimming pool!

Like I shared in previous posts, anything in our house is fair game for climbing!