February in Pictures

February went crazy fast! When you're ready for spring to get here, that's awesome. When you have a ridiculously long to do list of things that need to get done before your second child arrives and you have jam-packed fun-filled days then that's not so great. It's my own fault I haven't accomplished more, and I won't lie and say that afternoon naps haven't been wonderful and I haven't been loving all the fun days with Gwendolyn. Despite not being where I'd like to be in the baby preparation department, I know I'll cherish our library time, play dates, leisurely mornings, and ECFE classes. 

It'll all get done. (I've been repeating that to myself a lot lately.)

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The picture on the left was taking the morning after we got home from Mexico. Right back to being a mom!

Most of the time, Daddy does bath time while Mommy sits for a heavenly 20 minutes in the recliner. I do feel like I miss out though since I often hear a lot of giggling up there. Gwendolyn does not like having her hair washed, but otherwise loves to play and be silly with Daddy.

Left: Eating her banana ice cream (made with just frozen bananas and some milk in our Vitamix.)

Right: "I'm ready to go to Kathy's house, Mama!"

Always a book worm.

Enjoying a free MacPhail Music Class at the Cottage Grove Library with our friends.

Amanda and Chris came to visit!! We hung out Friday night and then went to a bunch of furniture stores Saturday morning. Tom and I were debating about buying a storage bed as part of our plan to empty out the guest bedroom closet to make room for "Rory" and Amanda and Chris were looking for things for their new house (building!!)

I told Gwendolyn to go lay down and pretend to be asleep, which she does perfectly pretty much on command. This bed cracked us up. Every little girl's dream, but so impractical!

After falling in love with an Amish-made bed that would have lasted the rest of our lives but also cost us our lives (well made things are not cheap), we decided to purchase Space Bags instead. My life is forever changed. That's 15 winter sweatshirts and sweaters you're looking at below. All of my winter clothes for next year are currently vacuum sealed and stored neatly under our bed with room to spare instead of taking up shelves in the guest bedroom. I'm not overly excited to open the bags and discover just how wrinkled everything is come end of September, but sometimes you just gotta pay the price. And thankfully, I know how to iron. Plus, my mom taught me the damp towel in the dryer trick. Booya. 

Left: She had somehow ended up in our bed that night (no clue how that happened *wink) and while I was getting ready the next morning in the bathroom, the door opens and there she is standing like a little person with both blankies in hand. Makes me smile.

Right: Due to our poor timing and bad weather, we missed Nathan's dedication at church, but were able to enjoy celebrating with brunch and play afterwards.

A bed of diapers....so comfy. 

Lovin' on Daddy....

Remember the Mommy & Me class Gwendolyn and I used to go to when she was first born? Well we've stayed in touch with several of the moms and babies from class - and added a few news ones! - and so we had to try and replicate the birthday hat picture from the little party we had in honor of all of their 1st birthdays. What a hoot. Of course, my daughter was a stinker both times.

February 2012: 

February 2013:

Hot pursuit of Colby's poor cat!

Watching the dog in the basement (who was probably so relieved to be behind a gate from these crazy toddlers.)

Left: Gwendolyn with her Valentine's from Miss Kathy's! She carried her bag around so much, the handle broke.

Right: You can commonly find us like this. 

I love everything about this picture. The way all of those pillows and blankets and animals started her nap off at the other end of her crib. Her messy hair. And closed eyes. And peaceful look. And beautiful lips. And princess sleep sack. And how almost everything is a shade of pink. She can be sleeping and she tugs on her mama's heartstrings...

Matching nail polish? You bet!

Sledding with Papa, Trishy, John and Brooke in Eden Prairie  She'd go down as many times as people would take her!

Playing and singing...

Sunday afternoon sleepy time...

See...our favorite spot. This could mean several things...

I am in my 3rd trimester.

Our daughter is a snuggler.

Our daughter is a Mama's girl.

It's winter.

We're home bodies.

We love family time.

We're taking a break from work.

Or all of the above.

I'm going to go with #8.

Happy Monday, friends!!

32 Weeks with Baby #2

Things have certainly changed since my 30 weeks update! 

How Far Along: 32 weeks on 3/1/13

Size of baby: Weighing about 3.75 pounds and measuring about 16.7 inches. That is a lot of baby, but get this...according to babycenter.com, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks. Wowzers. Perhaps that's why my ligaments have definitely started pulling and stretching and giving me a hard time. Ouch.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'll find out for sure on Friday at my appointment, but the gym scale is saying still right around 10 lbs. I find it a bit hard to believe??

Maternity Clothes: Along with two tanks, I picked up this and this at Gap Maternity yesterday. Still have my eye on this in resolution blue, but they didn't have my size. I feel like I wear the same tops over and over, which is fine, but I am in the mood for spring colors!

Gender:  A boy. And guess what?! He has one of two names!! I'm so excited, although I really like them both so it'll be interesting to see what we decide. 

Movement: Very active, which I love. I am hoping and praying he's head down, although I do feel his hick-ups low in my abdomen so that's a good sign. There are times the movement is so dramatic and "wavy" that I wonder if he's literally doing somersaults still. 

Sleep:  I.am.tired. If I push through Gwendolyn's nap time and don't lie down myself (which takes a lot of self motivation of which some days I just don't have), then I'm pretty beat by 5 pm. Tom is amazing and so loving and caring and ready to help out take over as soon as he gets home. 

And I did officially break out the knee pillow that my mom got me when I was pregnant with Gwendolyn. Helps a ton. Definitely much harder to get comfortable at night and I have weird shooting pains while in the process of finding the perfect position. Once comfortable, I sleep well and wake up feeling good but it's crazy how this all changed in 2 weeks!

What I miss: I miss several things, but I'm also trying to cherish these last 7.5 weeks. Being pregnant is really just such a blessing and I love so much about it, so I'll take the pains and discomfort in exchange for the great reward at the end that lasts much, much longer than these more trying weeks.

Cravings: Nothing crazy.

Symptoms: Ligament stretching, overall body achiness, tired, occasional waddle, overly emotional, ya know...the normal stuff. (It's normal, right?? *smile)

Best moment this past week: It's a huge weight off my shoulders to feel like we've found our names. I can't wait to see him and see what he looks like and call him by it. At this point, it really could be either one of them so hopefully we'll have more clarity as the weeks go on, but if not we'll just decide once he's in our arms. 

And Tom took yesterday off so we could do something together as a family in the morning and then get some work done around the house (still lots to do) during Gwendolyn's nap time, and we really did just have a sweet time together as the three of us. We took her on rides (well, Tom did) at Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America and used her birthday coupon at Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. He's got a few more days he'll take off before "Rory" arrives so we have a few more fun activities up our sleeve for her and let me tell you, it's so nice to avoid the busy weekend crowds and be able to do things during the week instead. We're making major progress on the guest bedroom, which will be his room and decluttering and organizing feels so good!

January in Pictures

January was quite the month. We celebrated a late Christmas with my family, I stayed pretty busy with photography (still had 8 shoots during a "slow" month), did some spring cleaning (yay for cleaned and organized closets and cabinets!), and jetted off to Mexico for a romantic little vacation in honor of my 30th birthday and our 5th anniversary. Phew. It's amazing all that takes place in 31 days. Let's take a look....

Jacob had his 5th birthday party at the YMCA in Hastings. Per usual, Gwendolyn wanted to "help" Aunt Nikki with gift recording.

Trucks, trucks and boy stuff galore!

Baby doll needs some baby powder...

She loves giving baby brother kisses.

I used this picture as a "view from here" post and I just love it. She wakes up pretty slowly most mornings and loves extra snuggles. Don't you dare put her down before she's ready.

And this picture cracks.me.up. Tom sent this to me while I wasn't at home with a caption of "I want to doe" (go). She looks hilarious with her chubby cheeks.

He also sent me this...

With a caption of "we have a pantry problem."

Bless his heart, he was helping me knock things off of our to do list before his parents came to stay for a week so he cleaned out the cabinets where we keep chips and other snacks. 

Two bags of pita chips.

Three opened and used jars of honey.

Three bags of air-dried peas.

Two bags of raisins.

Three bags of kettle corn.

And the list goes on and on. I will admit that *sometimes* I buy things we don't need when I think we need them. Sometimes.

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"Auntie" Erin's boots are just a tad too big, but so cool!

She goes and gets all of her diaper changing supplies and lays down when she's ready to have her diaper changed. I turned around from the computer (it had gotten quiet) and see her like this...what a helper.

The funny thing is, everything you see in this picture was at the opposite side of the crib - all organized very nicely - when she went down. I think there was some pre-nap play....

Louie and Ashlyn! 

Would you believe Louie is only a week older?! 

Love them both!

Just another night of singing and dancing at the Barntsen house...

Daddy and Gwendolyn took a Sunday afternoon nap together, and finally at around 5 pm I had to go up and wake them up (otherwise who knew when we'd get her to go to bed). Neither of them was overly thrilled about it. Sunday naps just feel sooooooo nice, don't they?

I think they're ignoring me......

I'm pretty sure I could watch her sleep all day.

Still a little bit sleepy...

And then she fell back over. I don't blame her. Our bed is super comfy.

Best part about this picture? Her finger through the tag in her pillow, which she reaches up and plays with every.single.night. Oh and her sweet expression. And red cheeks. And sleepy eyes. And mismatched outfit.

Love it in b&w too...

If you're sitting, it's pretty likely she'll be right up in your business.

The girl loves to put on adult shoes...

She specifically requested that we call Daddy at work. And she talked to him. I mean, kind of. She told him she was eating nanas and said something about Elmo and that she loved him and missed him and bye.

Trisha and I were finally able to go visit our friend Leslie who had twins back in October. Brynn and Blake were just the sweetest, and I just can't wait to have a baby in the house again that I don't have to give back after a brief visit! Ha!

She's staying home with them and doing so awesome - I'm so impressed!

After seeing the babes, we headed to Grant's basketball game with Tom's fam. The girls ran around and per usual were connected at the hip. Literally.

Pics from our vacation coming soon! I have a spiffy slideshow completely made and finished, but Picasa is giving me trouble and I think I have to start over *mad face. Very frustrating. But at least I know what I'm doing this time, so hopefully it goes faster. So stay tuned....

It's February 21st. Which means my daughter turns two in one month and we'll have a son in two months. 

I just fainted.

I can't breath.

I knew all of these things were going to happen, but it's still crazy that they're happening. You know you're emotional when you cry at a hamster daddy taking his hamster daughter to see her new baby hamster brother at the hospital. Perhaps I need to stay away from sentimental children's books right now...

Have a blessed day!

30 Weeks with Baby #2

10 weeks to go!!

How Far Along: 30 weeks on 2/15/13

Size of baby: Weighing almost three pounds (the size of a Chinese cabbage) and measuring about 15.7 inches.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Thinking about the same - 10 or 11 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, for church otherwise living in comfy-I-am-a-stay-at-home-mom clothes! I love it when tanks are long enough to cover the bump and I can just throw on a cardigan.

Gender:  Baby brother (if only you could all hear Gwendolyn say those words. Her voice is so sweet.) Still no name.....sigh....

Movement: He rests occasionally, but when he's active, boy is he active!

Sleep: Gotta pump myself up to turn over and get out of bed in the morning now. I kind of throw myself out in a way. And it never fails, any sudden movement like that will automatically kick my uterus into a contraction. It's not overly glamorous, but all in all I'm still sleeping well and thankfully I can still make it all night without having to get up to go to the bathroom.

Afternoon naps have been happening on a regular basis as well. So wonderful!

What I miss: I do wish I could hold Gwendolyn on my lap without being a bit uncomfortable. I love our book reading/snuggle time so I push through and just kind of hold her off to the side. It's hard to say no when she wants "uppie" but she doesn't quite understand that she can't push and lay on my tummy like she used to. We have lots of talks about being gentle, but it's a lot for her to understand. 

Cravings: Nothing crazy.

Symptoms: I've been waiting for the ligament stretching, which has kicked in but still not super horrible like it was at times with Gwendolyn (where I couldn't even walk.) I also drop things constantly and am super forgetful. And tired. And lots of other symptoms that I'm sure some of you other moms can relate to.

Best moment this past week: Getting started and making progress on the guest bedroom closet. (It was literally spilling over with stuff.) Seems like a little thing, but thankfully it's not going to be as horrible as I thought and I'm letting go of things relatively easy!! 

I also made myself go to the gym and it felt so good to exercise and stretch again. 

I may have also gotten a massage and who can complain about a massage...life is good!

28 Weeks with Baby #2

Watch out 3rd trimester!! We have arrived!

How Far Along: 28 weeks on 2/1/13

Size of baby: Weighing two and a quarter pounds (the size of a Chinese cabbage) and measuring about 14.8 inches from the top of his head to the his heels.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 11 lbs at my appointment on 1/5. That's 5 lbs in 4 weeks. I blame it on the daily pina coladas in Mexico. (They were ahhh-mazing and so worth it.)

Maternity Clothes: Yes, for church otherwise living in comfy-I-am-a-stay-at-home-mom clothes! I love it when tanks are long enough to cover the bump and I can just throw on a cardigan.

Gender:  Boy. His nickname is "Rory", which is funny b/c we both actually like that name. Our search for his real name continues....one day I'll feel confident about one of the ones on the list and then I change my mind. It keeps me up at night. Not kidding.

Movement: Tom and I were both dying last night as he must have been doing gymnastics. Tom said he doesn't remember Gwendolyn moving like this, but I'm pretty sure she did. We can now poke him and he'll poke us back. He was playing games with daddy. It's amazing to literally feel his body parts. If only we had a magical looking glass to see what was where!

Sleep: Still fabulous. I am soaking up this sleeping through the night and waking up feeling rested business while I can. 

What I miss: These braxton hicks contractions are kind of kicking me in the bum lately. Midwife says I need to slow down and take it easy. Ha. (Just for my mom and my husband I am trying to cooperate.) Speaking of which, having one right now................................

Cravings: Still keeping it pretty plain and simple. I love coffee, cereal, toast, yogurt and fruit. Not exactly balanced.

Symptoms: The normal.

Best moment this past week: Passing my glucose test with flying colors and hearing his heartbeat - 140!