Wordless Wednesday: Baby Shower #2

A HUGE thank you to Anna, Sandy and Nikki. You ladies outdid yourselves and I had a fabulous time. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sandy's fruit creation

Me with the "other" Joe

Nikki made this!! I'm still trying to talk

her into opening her own cake shop

Sandy, Nikki, Me, Anna

Love you ladies!!! Thank you so much for the fabulous day!

Today I should be...

Getting my hair done
Helping Kari get into her dress
Calming Kari down
Wearing a fabulous strapless brown dress
Getting ready for pictures
Calming Kari down
Trying not cry
Calming Kari down
Getting ready to walk down the aisle
Trying not to cry as Kari and her dad walk down the aisle
Giving a toast to Kari and Bryan at their reception

Instead...

I'm sitting here hating the fact that I live five hours away, am 2 weeks from my due date and had to miss out on my best friend's wedding day. If only I was still living in WI so I could be there for their special day.

Wordless Wednesday: The MN State Fair

The perfect camper for Luke and Amy*

Another perfect camper for Luke and Amy*

Chicken fried bacon

Chocolate dipped fried potatoes - skip it

Deep fried cheeseburger - Amazing!!

Honey ice cream with sunflower seeds - yummy!

Crop art

A beaver made out of trash from the Mississippi

Deep fried pig's ears - not such a fan

Deep fried pickles - my fav...I forgot to take a picture

until we were almost done

Deep fried cheese on a stick

Deep fried bologna on a stick - it was pretty good

*If you've seen Luke and Amy's house, you'll get it. If not, you'll have to ask Amy to explain...I don't want to get into trouble...

Long overdue

After quite a few busy weeks at work, weekends traveling and being exhausted I realized that it's been far too long between posts. This will be a long one (you've been warned) to update on the craziness that was July and almost August (I can't believe summer is almost over).

Baby shower #1/New house BBQ/Turning 30 - July 10-July 12
Baby shower #1 was thrown in ET by Auntie Amy and Nana Sal and they did a truly fantastic job. It was great to see everyone and we received lots of fabulous gifts. (THANK YOU...and the thank you cards are finally in the mail...sorry!).

After the shower we cleaned up and headed over to Auntie Amy's and Uncle Luke's new house (they closed in May but this was the first time Joe and I saw it) for a BBQ with Luke's parents, siblings (and their fams) and mom and dad. Their house is adorable and there was more food (thanks Dad and Joe for taking over cooking for both parties) and it was a ton of fun!

We headed back to MN on Sunday and Monday marked my 30th birthday. It was pretty uneventful and really wasn't that big a deal. The highlight was Anna stopping over Monday night with a fabulous DQ ice cream cake!!

ET Wedding - July 23-25
Joe and I headed down to ET again to celebrate Chad and Cathi's wedding. It was a hot and humid day with the ceremony being outside. Thankfully, it managed to cool off enough for the ceremony and there was a beautiful breeze. Cathi looked lovely and it was wonderful to watch them get married.

Chad's family from MN was down as well and it was amazing to see all of his aunts, uncles, cousins again with their own families and they were an absolute hoot on the dance floor!!

Anniversary - August 11
Wednesday marked our 3 year anniversary and if it had not been for Kari's email to me Tuesday night, I (and Joe) would have completely forgotten. I blame the baby for my memory loss but I'm not sure what Joe's excuse was. Anyway, after work on Wednesday, we went out and had a nice little dinner to celebrate the fact we didn't forget and then ended up getting the exact same anniversary card from Amy/Luke and Mom and Dad...what are the chances of that?

Nana Sal/Papa Scott visit - August 13-15
Last weekend mom and dad came up so Joe and dad could figure out our heating situation. For the past three years, we've had great heat in the living room/bathroom but all three bedrooms freeze...like we finally broke down last year and bought a bad-ass space heater (2 to be exact) that we would turn on to heat up our bedroom. Well, with the baby's pending arrival, Joe and Dad figured they should probably try to fix the issue.

While the boys did that mom and I took off for the Just Between Friends sale in Eden Prairie. I realized about two weeks ago that I'm going to have a baby born in the fall and he has no pants, just short sleeve onesies so I thought I better do something about that.

Mom and I found a lot of great clothes, although the woman channeled Grandma Lu and wouldn't let me pay for anything and if I found an outfit, I'd hold it up for her to see and she would grab it and say "I don't know" and then put it in her bag. I finally stopped handing her clothes so I could buy my child something. I also kept telling her, she was going to have to deal with Joe when he saw all the clothes that were purchased...

By the time we got home, the boys had fixed the heating issue and all is good. We also hooked up the baby monitor that Nana Sal and Papa Scott bought which has a video monitor and it is just cool! THANK YOU again!!

So, in between our busy weekends Joe and I were still doing tons of laundry for Baby Bo, organizing his room, trying to find childcare for him, etc. This weekend will consist of packing up a bag for the hospital (just in case) because this Saturday (the 21st) will mark 6 weeks until the due date. On that note, I've also entered the world of every other week dr appts and Baby Bo decided to slow down in the growth dept and I'm now measuring just a smidge big instead of "quite a bit."

Here are some belly pictures (I look like I've stuffed a basketball under my shirt!) and what Baby Bo's room looks like...

28 weeks

31ish or 32 weeks

Lambeau Field

When I posted last week, I promised more about our trip to Lambeau so here it finally is. You may wonder (for those of you who know Joe) why on earth he'd want to see Lambeau when he's a big Vikings fan. The truth is that Joe is an even BIGGER football fan. He would never, ever turn down a chance to see anything that is related to football.

We had a wedding to attend in Green Bay on June 26 and the 25 is Joe's birthday so I thought we could make a little trip of it and stay both Friday and Saturday in Green Bay. Plus, I'm not a fan of driving four hours the morning of anyone's wedding.

So we left the cities Friday morning, made it to Lambeau Field around 11:15ish, just in time for the 11:30 tour. There were probably about 20 or so people waiting for that tour to begin and they start it off by asking where everyone is from. At that point I made the decision to claim WI once again as my home while Joe proudly claimed MN and immediately started getting razzed by the group (and me too).

The first part of the tour spent time recounting the history of the Packers, Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi. I know the Packers are a fabulous team but until Ron (the tour guide) started bringing up all the history, does one realize just how fabulous the Packers really are.

The next stop was up to the 6th floor to sit in the suites. The one we sat in only went for $59,000 per season as opposed to the one across the field that went for $104,600 per season. Also, there is a ridiculously long waiting list for season tickets - like 84,000 people are on that list and I think the wait is something like 1,200 years. It was crazy when he was explaining it.

Finally, it was down to the lower level to the players tunnel and the entrance to the field. We got to walk onto the field through the tunnel the players come out of and to add a little "something" they turned on a recording of the crowd from a Packers game and the announcers announcing the "Green Bay Packers." Joe was super cute and turned to me as he held up his arm and said "Look! I have goosebumps!"

So, out on the field (or rather the green rubber track that surrounds the field) we were. It was super cool and the acoustics were amazing. Lambeau is built in a bowl shape so the actual field is below ground level (or something like that) so the echo is crazy. As I said earlier, there were probably 20 of us on the tour and Ron had us stand together on the field (or rather the green rubber track) and yell Go Pack Go. The echo from the 20 of us was unbelievable and I can only imagine what it must sound like on a game day. Ron also pointed out the visiting players tunnel and it's only about 1/4 (if that) of the width of the Packer's tunnel. Poor, poor Brett.

After the tour we went to the Packer Pro shop in the stadium which was huge and then ate at Curly's Pub and then headed downstairs to the Packer Hall of Fame. Joe thought that was going to be some "rinky dink" exhibit but we wandered around for probably close to an hour and I swear he took pictures of everything and he was really impressed with it.

Being at Lambeau made me super excited for football season and all of the cute little Packer stuff I can dress Baby Bo in!! My first lesson will be to teach him how to say "Go Pack Go" followed by "the Pack rules and the Vikings drool."

View from the $59,000/season suite

View on the field

The visiting teams entrance to the field

(I think the players have to come out single file)

The Packer's entrance to the field

26 weeks

I can't believe that I am already at 26 weeks - the time has flown by! I had my glucose test yesterday (which I was really nervous about passing for some reason) but I did. I got to drink the "orange" flavored drink which for the first two sips tasted like an orange freeze pop. I thought this isn't so bad, I can drink this. Well, a few more sips later and I was dreading that I still had half of the thing to drink. By the time I got to the end, I wanted to puke. UGH! So glad that I passed and don't have to go through the 3 hour test.

I had the appt with the midwife while waiting the hour and apparently I am measuring "big." I measured just a smidge big last appt but that midwife (the regular one that I had been seeing) said it wasn't that much bigger and no worries. This midwife said I was measuring about 5 cm bigger (I think cm is right...) and that it isn't a big deal BUT if I still measure big next time, they will probably want to do another ultrasound. I made my next appt with the midwife that I normally see because I can't help but wonder if being seen by different people could be the reason as they may measure differently...I don't know. When I had the ultrasound in May, I was measuring right on so who knows. Just keep your fingers crossed that I measure "normal" (and I use that term loosely) for the next appt and I don't have to have another ultrasound (that would be 5!).

Anyway, here are some pictures of me from the weekend. It was Joe's birthday last Friday and we had a wedding in Green Bay on Saturday so we went up a day early and toured Lambeau Field and the Packer Hall of Fame...more on that in another post.

Gooey Baby

We had our second "baby" class last night and my fabulous husband posed this question/statement to the group (about 9 other couples and the instructor) after we finished watching the movie that shows babies being born and placed on the mom right after birth.

His question/statement was something to the effect of: "How do the rest of you women feel about having the baby placed on you before it's wiped off. I don't want to touch my baby while it's covered in THAT."

This of course got a loud, roaring laugh from the rest of the guys in the class and the instructor. I think the women were actually shocked that a "partner" asked such a question and I rolled my eyes silently thinking "you have no idea, he could have asked so much worse!"

The instructor said that is a normal question she hears in classes and that we can state in our birth plan we (or just Joe) don't want to touch a "gooey baby" as she put it. My question to all you mother's, did you touch your "gooey baby" or did you tell the drs. to clean baby off before giving him/her to you? I'm on the fence. Yes, touching a gooey baby kinda creeps me out but I think at that moment, I really won't care (and who knows, maybe Joe won't either).

So mom's, did you have the "gooey baby" placed on you or did you request the baby be cleaned? If baby was "gooey" how did your partner react? Would love to hear your experiences!!