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| here she comes! |
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| There she goes! |
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| Always time for snack break. :-) Love her Buddha belly! |
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
27 weeks!
At 27 weeks I am feeling large and in charge. I don't think I look that big in the above picture (slimming black??) but rest assured, I am. It is hard to adjust to my changing body, but I have to keep reminding myself that I am growing a healthy, thriving baby. If only all the weight would stay in the belly... :-) However, I am still wearing two-piece bathing suits at the pool! I had to go up a size in bottoms (and naturally bought some cute, matching tops - I did go to Mexico, after all!) but should be able to recycle the tops into next year - I will NOT be pregnant next summer! I will probably get a maternity swim top at some point but am reluctant to do so yet. :-S
Quinn and I are hoping for a pool date this afternoon in our bikinis!!
I am feeling pretty good overall. I always drink a lot of water - at least two liters a day at work alone - but am finding that I have to drink even more than usual, otherwise I get really sick and achy. I feel like all I do all day long is drink water and go to the bathroom. :-) I guess that goes with the territory! I am tired and definitely enjoy taking a short rest while Quinn naps in the afternoon.
Have a great week!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Cabo 2011
For the past week, Randy and I have been in sunny Los Cabos, Mexico! His parents were generous and treated Randy and me and the rest of Randy's siblings and their respective families to a beautiful vacation at their time share. Randy and I went to Los Cabos on our honeymoon but stayed at a different resort. This particular resort, Royal Solaris, was all-inclusive. I have never stayed at an all-inclusive resort before; we loved all of the amenities and will definitely seek one out for future travels! We opted to leave Quinn with my parents so that she could stay on her routine with sleeping, naps, meals, etc. We missed her like crazy, but she had a blast at my mom and dad's. We are so blessed to have great parents (both sets!) who are such great providers.
We stayed in Omaha the night before our plane left because we wanted to be to the airport by 4:00 a.m. The flights (Omaha to Phoenix, Phoenix to Cabo) went off without a hitch, which is always nice. I was a little bit nervous about flying while 6 months pregnant, but my doctor told me to get up and walk a lot on the plane, which really helped. We got to our resort around 2:00 p.m., checked in, got our luggage taken to our rooms, and had lunch. Surprisingly, we weren't as tired as we had expected so we were able to swim most of that day and go to one of the fabulous buffets that evening with Randy's entire family.
The rest of the week was very similar to that! Most of the smaller family units split up and did their own thing, Randy and me included. We spent lots of time tanning and reading by the pool, enjoying the swim-up bars, and of course, eating, eating, eating. The food was incredible, especially breakfast. The resort has a few five-star restaurants as well, so we enjoyed some really fancy gourmet meals a few nights. I am very careful about what I eat when I am pregnant, so it was a little tricky to navigate what was and what wasn't cooked, what every meat dish contained, what contained and didn't contain seafood, alcohol, raw eggs, etc...you get the picture. I definitely had more than a few cheese sandwiches during fancy meals. :-)
Other highlights of our trip included some of our day adventures. We went shopping, went to an all-Spanish mass, took a lunch and drinks boat cruise where a few family members snorkeled as well, Randy went SCUBA diving, and lots of other fun little things. I am not a huge thrill-seeker anyway, so I was happy to sit on the sidelines with my big belly and watch everyone else do things that I wasn't allowed to do.
On our last day, we left Mexico around 2:00 and made it to Omaha by midnight. That put us in Manning by 2:30 a.m. after claiming our bags. We woke up bright and early, anxious to run to my parents' to see our baby doll. She was just as gorgeous and smart as we remembered and my parents were sad to see her go. :-) We missed her so much! It was a great trip to Mexico, though, and a very relaxing vacation overall. I'm still working on getting pictures organized, but here are a few highlights from our 2011 vacation!
We stayed in Omaha the night before our plane left because we wanted to be to the airport by 4:00 a.m. The flights (Omaha to Phoenix, Phoenix to Cabo) went off without a hitch, which is always nice. I was a little bit nervous about flying while 6 months pregnant, but my doctor told me to get up and walk a lot on the plane, which really helped. We got to our resort around 2:00 p.m., checked in, got our luggage taken to our rooms, and had lunch. Surprisingly, we weren't as tired as we had expected so we were able to swim most of that day and go to one of the fabulous buffets that evening with Randy's entire family.
The rest of the week was very similar to that! Most of the smaller family units split up and did their own thing, Randy and me included. We spent lots of time tanning and reading by the pool, enjoying the swim-up bars, and of course, eating, eating, eating. The food was incredible, especially breakfast. The resort has a few five-star restaurants as well, so we enjoyed some really fancy gourmet meals a few nights. I am very careful about what I eat when I am pregnant, so it was a little tricky to navigate what was and what wasn't cooked, what every meat dish contained, what contained and didn't contain seafood, alcohol, raw eggs, etc...you get the picture. I definitely had more than a few cheese sandwiches during fancy meals. :-)
Other highlights of our trip included some of our day adventures. We went shopping, went to an all-Spanish mass, took a lunch and drinks boat cruise where a few family members snorkeled as well, Randy went SCUBA diving, and lots of other fun little things. I am not a huge thrill-seeker anyway, so I was happy to sit on the sidelines with my big belly and watch everyone else do things that I wasn't allowed to do.
On our last day, we left Mexico around 2:00 and made it to Omaha by midnight. That put us in Manning by 2:30 a.m. after claiming our bags. We woke up bright and early, anxious to run to my parents' to see our baby doll. She was just as gorgeous and smart as we remembered and my parents were sad to see her go. :-) We missed her so much! It was a great trip to Mexico, though, and a very relaxing vacation overall. I'm still working on getting pictures organized, but here are a few highlights from our 2011 vacation!
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| Sleepyheads on our first day |
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| two peas in a pod! |
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| The big group - a little windy |
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| A famous arch/rock formation. We saw this on our honeymoon, too. The water level was much lower this time so there was a sandbar underneath it that people could actually walk on. Some of our party snorkeled near here. |
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| Randy's sisters and me out to eat |
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| The big group after Sunday mass |
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| some of the family SCUBA diving |
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| View from our room: the pool area |
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| Another view of the pool area |
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| Why is it so hard to keep a hotel room clean? Our mess, day 2. |
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| in a cab on our way to the Cabo airport! Going home! |
Back home!
We are back home from Mexico! I am furiously trying to unpack everyone, chip away at mounds of laundry, and run errands for the week before Randy returns to work tomorrow. I will post a few pictures very soon!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
15 months!
We had Quinn's 15-month well-baby appointment and vaccinations this morning. Our pediatrician opens at 7:00, which is awesome because both Randy and I get to be present for her appointments. Everything went great! She currently weighs almost 26 lbs (85th percentile), is 31 inches long (75th percentile), and her head circumference puts her in the 100th percentile. That is certainly no surprise; this girl has a giant head! :-) She hated the shots, but who doesn't? Quinn is actually at Chrissy's (our babysitter) right now so I can get caught up on errands and packing for MEXICO! We leave from Omaha at 6 a.m. Friday morning, so we will drop Quinn off at my parents' on Thursday evening after work.
I am posting an attempt at a picture of Quinn from the other day...clearly it didn't go well. :-) Gotta love toddlers!!
I am posting an attempt at a picture of Quinn from the other day...clearly it didn't go well. :-) Gotta love toddlers!!
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| someone has a temper! |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Weekend
I mentioned before that we drove to Ames this weekend. That was Saturday, and the trip was because my sister's daughters, Ava and Ella, were set to dance in their spring recital! We left right after lunchtime to watch the recital, then played at Beth's house for a while before a quick dinner at Applebee's and the drive back home. The evening was beautiful, and there was still plenty of time to play outside. :-)
Sunday morning we left bright and early to go to Randy's sister's house in Manning to celebrate Abby's first birthday. Last year we raced from Ames (dance recital) to go visit Miss Abby right after she was born! This year, we enjoyed the food, opening presents, and of course, playing outside on the BIG slide that the Williamses have, as well as their outdoor play house. Quinn and Abby played really nicely together, which is always fun to see. We would love to get a big swingset/play house for next summer, when we will have two kiddos ready for action! (Maybe the new baby will still just be snuggling Mama).
After blog posts, I sometimes get questions about Quinn's (and my!) clothes. The tiered white eyelet dress Quinn is sporting here is from Goodwill, $1.69. :-) Her mama loves a deal!
Sunday morning we left bright and early to go to Randy's sister's house in Manning to celebrate Abby's first birthday. Last year we raced from Ames (dance recital) to go visit Miss Abby right after she was born! This year, we enjoyed the food, opening presents, and of course, playing outside on the BIG slide that the Williamses have, as well as their outdoor play house. Quinn and Abby played really nicely together, which is always fun to see. We would love to get a big swingset/play house for next summer, when we will have two kiddos ready for action! (Maybe the new baby will still just be snuggling Mama).
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| Getting in some pre-party Noah's Ark time at G/G Kasparbauers' |
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| AKW opening gifts |
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| Helping Abby with her new tea set |
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| Ahh, fresh air! |
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| Randy snuggling kittens; Quinn is still face-deep in the play house behind him. |
Sunday, June 12, 2011
new camera!
Friends, I am so excited about my new camera!! I ordered it on Friday as a late anniversary/family present for us, and it arrived Saturday morning (!!) just in time for a car trip to Ames, so I had plenty of time to tinker. I am still learning all of its features; it is much fancier/more involved than my old GE Wal-Mart model! I have been wanting a new camera for some time but never sat down to do any research. I certainly do not fancy myself to be any kind of decent photographer, but it is nice to have a camera that will take photos of my kids that are not blurry or distorted.
I got Quinn a used Cozy Coupe the other day at a garage sale. It is in pretty rough shape, but she enjoys it wheeling it around the driveway. If anyone else happened to get her a nice new model in the meantime...no one would complain. Love you, Mom! :-)
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| smarty-pants Tanner helping me with the camera and hanging out with Quinn. Love her flip-flops! |
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| Nice night for a spin around the driveway |
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| Such a big girl :-) |
Thursday, June 9, 2011
fridge challenge...
Ok, so I am going to challenge myself (and my family) to eat ONLY from our refrigerator, freezer, and cupboards from now -> next Thursday! (Have I mentioned that Randy and I are leaving for Mexico on Thursday?!?) We have so much food to use, and I absolutely hate throwing good food away. Today I am going to make a lasagna to use up one of the several pints of cottage cheese we have. Wish me luck - I am not a very good cook when it comes to things like this, probably because I hate following recipes. Luckily, I have a husband and daughter who will eat pretty much anything!
Do you guys have any go-to recipes to use up stuff in your fridge/cupboards before you leave on a big vacation? We have several events this weekend that we'll eat at, but other than that, I think I can make lots of meals from what we have stashed.
Do you guys have any go-to recipes to use up stuff in your fridge/cupboards before you leave on a big vacation? We have several events this weekend that we'll eat at, but other than that, I think I can make lots of meals from what we have stashed.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Happy Anniversary!
Today is our anniversary! We got married on 06/07/08, on a steaming hot, humid day. My mom stayed with us Sunday-Tuesday so Randy and I were able to go out and celebrate Monday night! We went to Biaggi's, one of our very favorite places in DSM. Yum! Monday was also my last day of work for this school year, so I was extra excited!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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