Sippy Cups

Since Hannah was a year old we have been trying to get Hannah away from her bottles. Now weaning an infant off bottles was new to me. KalieAnn was nursed till she was 14 months old. So her juice she got straight from a sippy cup at a young age. Then weaning off me she went straight to whole milk in a cup too. Hannah stopped nursing at 6 months because my body just couldn't make enough. Now that I look back I think Hannah was and is a little piggy. I probably did make the same amount that I did for KalieAnn but wasn't enough for her. When I took her off nursing she drank 16 ounces of formula in one feeding!!!! Anyway the point is this is our first experience having to wean our cute little stinker off a bottle. I think we've had more pressure from WIC(Women, Infant, and Children) to wean her off than anyone else.
Here's a cute picture of our KalieAnn...our oldest stinker...I love their beautiful blue eyes!!!

Here's our other blue eyed stinker that we've been trying to wean off the bottles. Now for the past four months we were able to get her to drink juice out of the straw sippy cups but wouldn't budge on her milk. I called a friend that used to be a neighbor across the way from us in Okinawa, Japan that I knew had to wean her kid of bottles. She told me try to Sippy Cups at Walmart that have the soft tops like a bottle. The one you see in the picture above. Until last week she wouldn't budge on her milk! It had to be in a bottle! Well lets just say I didn't do a very good job of keeping track of where all her bottles went. So when I found them all dirty and in the dishwasher I realized I didn't have a clean bottle to put her to bed with...just sighed...realizing this might be a long night...grabbed that sippy cup..and told myself this will have to do for tonight...at least until the dishwasher was clean. I had to fight her a couple times about it but I finally told her "Look! All your bottles are icky!! This will have to do tonight!!! This is all Mommy's got!" I laid her down and handed it to her. To my surprise she took it and that was that. The next night came around and I asked Mitchell "She took it for her nap no problem...wanna try again?" He said sure. She took it no problem. So I don't want to jinx myself but I think my little girl is finally weaned off bottles!!! Now she is starting to fight going to bed...conquer one thing and a new one always comes up lol!! Gotta Love it!!!

Work In Progress!

Now here is the beginning of these Updates!!! Getting ready for Alayna to arrive!!! Its taking me sometime with her to finally get in the mood to pull everything out! With KalieAnn things were getting put away and in place the moment we got them in the mail. Things started getting put together like her bassinet and crib the moment we found out she was a girl. When I found out with Hannah that she was another girl I was ecstatic!!! I went and pulled all of the baby clothes out that afternoon!!! Granted we didn't get her crib until the month before she was born but oh well..clothes wise we were ready for her right away.With Alayna I was happy when we found she was a girl...a little disappointed for Mitchell if you want the whole truth..I really feel like he deserves a son. However at the moment God obviously feels otherwise. As a family Friend said it well...God obviously feels "he was meant to be around Women." Why its taken me till my friend came out last week to finally pull out Alayna's clothes...I dunno...maybe because its taken me that long to get excited about her and when that time came around we were so busy doing other things that getting her stuff pulled out kinda got pushed back on our priority list.
The other thing that made it hard to get the room read was the girls were staying in that room. Last weekend Mitchell took the twin bed that was sitting in that room by the window downstairs in the girls room. During the last week and a half Hannah has decided that she no longer wants to sleep in her toddler bed but the twin size. We'd tell her it was time to go nigh nigh's and she would run to her twin bed! Our original plan was to get a new crib because I didn't want to rush Hannah out of her toddler bed. So when we went to do our furniture shopping we got the dresser that was on sale because we were under the impression we were going to have to buy a new crib. Might as well just match the crib to the dresser. So now we're debating on whether or not we should buy a new crib. We are also going to buy a new glider because Mitchell leaned to far back on it...as if it was a rocking chair and snapped the back support off. So now if you lean if a little to much on the back you run the risk of falling backgrounds. But the crib thing is all up in the air at the moment!! Do you think we should get a new crib? Or do you think its okay her furniture won't match lol? Anyway...here are some pics of the room at the moment...

There's the Crib in question. You wouldn't believe all the toys that I had to pick up off this floor lol. These kids have too many toys!! The two toy boxes Mitchell made...remember those? Yeah they are OVER filled!

Here's the other half of the room. The twin bed was along the wall where that window was....ended up moving it along the wall next to the dresser...Hannah would tear apart the blinds...Another thing we need to fix before the baby's born. Along with putting up curtains.

Now as I show her clothes keep in mind these only go up to her 3/6 Month clothes. So here are her outfits that I have gotten hung up.

Her top drawer is filled with her spanky pants, socks, hats, and Bibs.

No here are her pants, shorts and skorts!
Last but not least her Pajamas!!!

Now here is the pile of her clothes that go up to 9 months! Half of this pile is in the washing machine waiting to go into the Dryer....that right there should give you an idea of how big this pile really is!Its going to take me at least two big loads to wash these! So when I say she doesn't need anymore clothes!!! At the moment I mean it!!! We'll see how fast she grows out of them and what season she is in for them. So this includes my update on the baby's room.! Well I best get to organizing more of these clothes. Now that the Tupperware container from these are empty it leaves a place for all the clothes that are current girls are growing out of!

2nd trip to Duluth

Our 2ND trip to Duluth was an enormous amount of fun! It was busy and exhausting but A LOT of fun! Sorry Its taking me so long to post this but its been busy here in our household! We did a lot this weekend and hope to be able to go back up sometime this summer. We dropped Dodger off at what we call his little vacation spot up there. Then we hung out with our friends the Scobee's and got some thing we'd need for the boat. If I remember right that night we went out on Fish Lake up there in Duluth with them. Mitchell caught a Walleye and was VERY Happy! The next day we walked the Aquarium, the Zoo, and then went out on Lake Superior with the Scobee's. Mitchell took us under the Aerial Bridge. Sunday we walked Patterson State Park in Superior WI, then Gooseberry Falls in MN and by that point I was so exhausted we were literally done for the day!



This is a picture of us at the Patterson State Park in Superior, WI. The Water Fall in the background is the Big Monitou. Its suppose to Be the biggest waterfall in Wisconsin.

Here's a picture of our cuties at Gooseberry Falls! Its the best shot we have been able to get of them together in a LONG time!

OB Appointment

This morning we had my OB Appointment...well obviously..if you read the title. Alayna's heart beat was normal...but for the life of me I can not remember what it was and he said my measurements were right on. Plus I've gained four pounds!!!! I weighed in at 145. This is a good thing...now I don't feel terrible when I work out at the YMCA.
I was really proud of myself last Tuesday. I got up in time to make it the Water Aerobics class they hold. I was tired but happy..I finally got here in time for this. Plus by the time it ended I had enough time to take a shower before KalieAnn's Preschool Activity Time was over. So I got in my black maternity swim suit and get in the water. As I started working out and following the instructors instructions I caught out of the corner of my eye a white strap on my shoulder!Believe it or not it Actually took me a minute to register it was there!!! I had forgotten to take of my white bra! Here I was submerged in water which now means my bra is officially soaked! Completely embarrassed I worked my way up to the swim instructor to inform her I needed to go back in the locker room for a minute. She looked at me kind of funny..with the why look...so I tried to quietly inform her I forgot to take my bra off. Didn't matter anyway the whole class figured it out. So I went back in the Locker room and used their machines that rings the water out of the bathing suites on my bra...hung it up in my Locker, made sure I was adjusted and headed back to the class. Luckily it was a class of mostly Seniors...so when I got back in the water..they just insured me that it was okay it happens to the best of us. But even though they were of course the most supportive group of people I still wanted to cry because I was so embarrassed. It took me till after I left to be able to laugh about it. Luckily during that time frame my bra was aired out and dry by the time I needed to put it back on.
Other than my little sporadic mine lapses that I get everything here is good. I've become the cleaning energizer prego women! I've been in the mood where everything can't be straightened up and cleaned..it had to spotless! Just ask Mitchell I'm not exaggerating. I was whipping down the table after dinner last night...he comes up to give me a hug...so I figured okay I'll stop for a second. The hug obviously last longer than a second...so about the minute mark I was kind of trying to reach for Hannah's chair to wipe it down hoping he wouldn't notice. Well he did. I got the question I can't hung my wife for a second...and I politely responded you did for at least 60 (seconds). Realizing I was being smarty pants no matter how polite I put it I apologized..."I'm sorry hunny but I need this Kitchen cleaned." "It is cleaned" "No I need to finish wiping it down(I use Lysol Wipes)...I'm almost done I promise then you can hug me for as long as you want!" Just shaking his head he walks out of the room informing me that he loves me. I even shampooed our carpets yesterday and let me tell you they soo needed them! The rooms have a beautiful shine to them now! In case you don't believe me...let me tell you this..Mitchell got me the Cricut Expressions machine because it was on sale a couple of days. If you really know me you would think I would have had it out of the box the moment I got home...nope I waited a couple days to get it out. Played with it for about a half hour till it frustrated me...put it away and haven't messed with it since. Why you ask? Well too much cleaning needed to be done of course!!! Plus there is always the girls. They were driving me nuts while I was trying to figure it out. So I tell myself I'll do it when they go down for bed but by then I'm too exhausted and just wind up going to sleep. I know that one of these days I will have it down and once I do it will be a lot of fun. Until then I have cleaning, packing(we're going back up to Duluth this weekend and yes we are staying at a different hotel wouldn't dream of staying there again), and then I need to get everything put away, cleaned and ready to be invaded by one of my Best Friends and her wonderful two kids on Tuesday. When I think about it...I think Poor Mitchell...two prego women and four kids under the age of 4..then then the next thought is "oh well My Friend is coming to see ME!!!!" Who would've known. lol. Anywhoo I'm off to yes clean and organize. We're going to try and leave for Duluth tonight after KalieAnn's swim class. I'll post pics when we get back!!...which reminds me I need to remember to charge the battery in my camera! God Bless!

Our Weekend in Review!

Last weekend we went up to Duluth for our friends wedding! It was a lot of fun but I am certainly exhausted! We went up Friday night and left Sunday afternoon. We were going to spend our Sunday seeing some more of Duluth before we left cause I was way too exhausted! We didn't sleep well at all in our room!!! I don't recommend the Radisson Hotel to anyone to stay in over the night! We had Mucho problems with our room! But we didn't let that get the fun we did have while we were up there! Late Saturday morning and early afternoon we went with some friends to the Children's and Railroad Museum. After that we ate lunch, Hannah napped and then we got ready for our friends wedding. We went to the wedding, came back to the hotel and went to the reception where we had a blast! In fact I think I had too much fun and did too much!I was picking up the kids and swinging them around. We all had a blast but doing that left me dizzy and bit shaky. Our friend the groom ended up having to pour me water because of my shakiness I spilt water over half that table! Once I sat down for a while I was fine but I stayed off the dance floor the rest of that evening.

Here's a pic of us at the Reception!
After we got back and ran our errands Sunday afternoon we went out on the lake close to our house. It was a nice relaxing end to our weekend! Here's a prego pic of me!!! Can you believe it!!I'm 24 weeks!!!

Mothers Day Weekend & KalieAnn's First Day of Preschool!

Mitchell and I decided last week to get a boat. It has something that Mitchell has been wanting to do for a while now. He just had to convince me first. So when we paid off all our debt except my Durango, got all the furniture we needed, and put money in saving we started looking. We looked at two boats. The first one we looked was huge!!! Just looking at it scared me! So that one was a dead no. Then he found this one. We went and looked at it. Mitchell was sold just about instantly. It took me sitting in the boat while watching the girls running around in it having a blast to convince me.So we got a friend that Mitchell and I trust his opinion on or about boats...he has one hehe... and ended up picking it up that night. Mitchell's had to fix a couple small things on it but once he got it really working its been a lot of fun to go out in.

So here is a picture of Mitchell in his new toy! We've already been having a lot of fun in it!

Here's the girls and I on Mothers Day! This was right before we left.

Our Goofy..yet fun picture!!!



23 Weeks Prego!!!!

My little cutie. When you ask her to smile...this is the smile she prefers to give!

KalieAnn and yes we brought our Dog. He is truly a spoiled and very loved Dog.

KalieAnn at her First Day of Preschool!!! She was nervous going in but I think that was because she could sense Mommy being nervous and sad. I'm happy that she is growing up to be such a good little stinker. Sometimes moments like this makes me realize how fast its all going by. When I left I had a really hard time not crying. I found it strange that me,that I would get emotional over something that is really exciting for her! I found myself sitting at the computer watching the clock tick away till we could leave to go get her. My friend told me to stop it and keep myself busy. So I cleaned lol. I got a good portion of laundry done this morning. I had the downstairs family room picked up till Hannah very nicely messed it up right before we left. Hannah and I ate lunch because they provide breakfast and lunch at this Preschool. Then I got Hannah loaded up in the car and we left to get her.

Here she is near her basket and the flower she made this morning! My Big Girl!! This afternoon we're going to look at the preschool she will more than likely be attending for the school year. We wanted her to get the idea of school before Alayna is born in September. We didn't want her to think that she was going to school because the baby was born.You know the crazy idea"Mommy has the new baby and now they're getting rid of me idea." So to try and avoid that we've start her now. She seems to love it. She wasn't ready to go home!

Shopping and Stitches

I have been running around like a crazed maniac since last Friday. So we went to Hom Furniture and got the furniture that we've been looking at getting for a while now. Then I ended up going shopping because KalieAnn is growing out of her 3T clothes like you wouldn't believe!!! So for Summer clothes she had one pair of shorts and a few short sleeve shirts. So I ran to all the different stores that were having good sales! Old Navy was having an excellent one and on top of that they started something new on the 1st! Military discounts!!!! On the 1st of every month they do a 10% off Military discount off of your entire purchase!! Even the clearance and sale items!!! It was awesome!!!!
Since we ended up upgrading to a King Size bedroom set we needed to get a comforter set. So I was running around to all the different stores that have comforter sets to find one I liked. Once I started to go to stores for just that purpose a friend of mine joined me. Well we let the kids (KalieAnn and her son) get down and let them run ahead for a little bit. They were running a little too far ahead so I yelled at KalieAnn to stop and wait for us. She turned to look at me...while she was still running...by the time she turned her head to look forward she smacked right into the shelf at the end of the aisles. I waited to see her response. She started screaming...as I was telling her this why we don't run in stores...she looks up at me and you can see blood under her hair. At First I didn't think much about it because it was soo tiny. But once the employees came with the First Aid Kit and we were able to get it cleaned I saw a little of how deep it was. My friend looked at it and assured me that she didn't need to go in. Once the pressure on it got the bleeding to stop we put neosporin(if that's how it spelled) on it with a band aid. Plus the employee's gave us an instant cold pack to put on it. So as we're walking around the store I took off the cold pack so I can look at the First Aid Kits to buy...because after that I decided I needed one. I noticed blood on the cold pack. So..at that point I decided to call Mitchell and get his opinion. He wanted me to take her to the office so he can look at it. To make this long story short. We decided to take her in. When we got there the doctor told us that it was too deep for them to just kind of glue it together. So she got 3 stitches on her forehead. Afterwards she was back to being her usual self. She told Daddy that her "head feels better cause they sewed me back together."