Saturday at the Museum and Cookout at Goldmans

Last Saturday, the boys went golfing so the girls decided to take the kiddos to the zoo.  

Well we planned to go to the zoo but it was raining buckets. We chose the museum instead.  But look at our super cute kiddos packed in the car.  Tommy, Wyatt and Harper were excellent car riders on the way down.

The Children's Museum was a wonderful alternative.  Tommy is still talking about the transformer he saw at the entrance.  Bumblebee! The boys loved it, can't you tell?

Or maybe not? Love those faces.  Hilarious.

The Dino Exhibit was first.  Such cuties.

There was so much to do in and around the dino exhibit.  Play with dino toys? First on the list!

Then we stopped for a quick lunch on the floor.  Tommy broke out in itchy hives on his neck and belly after lunch.  For the life of me, I could not figure it out.  I finally figured it out when I got home and looked at the bag of bread from his sandwich.  There was milk in the bread.  Whoops.  But hey, he worked through it with no barf! That's exciting!

Wyatt munching on a cheesestick. :)

Here the boys are checking out the most amazing train set ever.  Look at that train fly by!

Wyatt and Harper took a race car for a spin.

Then it was Tommy's turn.  You can see Wyatt in the background playing mechanic.

I snapped this picture before the Mad Scientist showed up.  Although Tommy makes a pretty good substitute.

The trio checked out the aquarium fish.

 They also played with the boats in the water flow exhibit.  I am not afraid to admit what I did here. Heehee! I didn't know anyone so I didn't really care.  But Tommy was getting pretty itchy at this point from the hives (bread) so I splashed his neck and belly with the chlorinated water from the exhibit.  People probably thought I was bathing him.  I'm not sure if it helped but hopefully it at least cooled him down a little.  His rash eventually went away so it had to work a little, right??

Poor Tommy.  #WeirdMom 

He certainly didn't mind though.  

Of course his favorite part of the boat exhibit was the flipping HAND DRYER.  HA!

This was another exhibit! What? They put a bunch of mulch into an area and kids could move it around with shovels and wheel barrows and stuff.  Hey kids, I have a museum exhibit in my yard.  Think you could move 13 yards of mulch for me?

This is also the point where I lost Tommy.  He left the digging area and took off.  I had to walk all the way around the exhibit to get to the exit and he was no where to be found.  I scanned the room for a good 5 minutes trying to find him.  Needless to say, I was a bit panicked.  But all the sudden I look up and he was mouthing the railing on this jungle gym thing above my head waving down at me.  I was thinking, "Oh Thank You Lord!" But instead I said, "GET YOUR TONGUE OFF THE RAILING! GROSS!"  :-)

After that, Katie and I agreed it was TIME TO GO. Taking kids to a museum is EXHAUSTING.  It was so nice to go with Wyatt though because Tommy was much braver and trying all kinds of new scary things that he wouldn't normally do.

After the museum, we went over to the Goldmans for a cookout.  There were 7 kids and one newborn. We kept saying, "When did this happen??? How did we accumulate so many kids??" 

Speaking of the newborn, here he is.  This is sweet baby Dean.  He's so little at 2.5 weeks.  I totally forget this age! Exciting that Dean and Applesauce (and Baby Goldman 2 and Baby Holt 2) will be approximately the same age. We definitely have children in shifts in this group. :)

The kids spent a lot of time in the bounce house in the basement.  This is Wyatt, Tommy and Emily in action!

We also spent a lot of time outside. Something about this picture seems familiar? Hmm... someone stepped in dog poop... We had to get out the hose... Hmmm... what does that remind me of?

OH YEAH! The Labor Day Baby Party post.  That was almost 2 years ago!!! Wow! Look at how little Pants-less Max is! Love it!  If you get a chance to look through the post, the kids were so little then.  We didn't even live in Lafayette yet!

Crazy how things change, time flies, and people multiply I guess. :)

The other funny part was that it was a lot of the same people from our Vegas Trip over a year ago.  Definitely not the same kind of partying though.

Wait, maybe it's more similar than I realize?? Naked buns?? HAHA!! Tommy is finally old enough to hang with the big boys (3.5 year olds).

Gotta get those filthy boys clean.  I mean, for heaven's sake, there was dog poop involved in the day and who knows what else with these Theta Chi progeny.

Had to post my #PinterestFail 4th of July Rice Krispie Treats.  Not that they were really a fail but they definitely don't look as pretty as the picture.  But hey, they didn't have any dairy in them so Tommy could eat them.  Vegan Buttery Spread (that was the butter replacement's name) for the WIN!

Later that night, the boys set off fireworks. They were excellent fireworks.  Very illegal looking and sounding. :-)  They scared the living daylights out of Tommy though.

So we came inside to watch the rest from the window.

Thanks, Goldmans, for another awesome cookout! We had a great time.  Tommy keeps talking about the "Transformer at the Zoo"(ha!) and how much fun he had at Max's house.  He can't wait to visit again!

30 Weeks: Baby Applesauce in Real Time!

Andrew was not happy that he had to be out of town for my 30 week appointment with MFMS because their high-tech ultrasounds are always amazing.  He asked if I could FaceTime it or take a video.  They wouldn't let me do any of that.  So instead they gave me a disc with pics and a video on it.  Here's the video.  She's not moving around a whole lot but she's probably focusing on posing for pictures!

Incredible, right?

They also gave me a whole bunch of pictures too.  My ultrasound tech is also a photographer on the side so she said she tends to over do it when it comes to all pictures.

 This is a weird shot but it's the face with the mouth open like a fish.  The two dark spots in the middle are her eyes.  She's got her cheeks smushed by her hand it looks like.  Too funny.  I also got to see her lips shiver while in this position.  Crazy.

Did you know you can see hair on an ultrasound??? Well I guess you can! Look at that hair! Crazy! Explains the heartburn, I guess.  :)  

Can't escape without a quality profile picture of course.

She tried a different type of 4-D shot that looks really weird.  But she could rotate it around and we could see her from all angles.  It was really interesting.  

Still my favorite shot is the regular old 3-D shot.  This is just incredible to me.  Look at that face! That's Applesauce!! Look at her! You've practically met her already! Amazing!

I received some wonderful news at this appointment.  They said I could be taken out of the high risk category!! I'm a normal risk pregnancy!! This is such exciting news.  MFMS does not want to see me anymore.  I was never happier to say goodbye! They were wonderful doctors and I'll miss them but HOORAY!! They said that things have progressed as exactly as they should and my regular OBGYN can take over from here.  It's such a relief to hear this news.  We are so happy.

They said she was about 3.5 pounds.  Seems huge to me but it's only slightly above average.  The Baby Facts that I look at every week say on average she should be 17 inches and 3 pounds so that's pretty on target.

The tech did give me a horrible scare at the appointment.  She was looking at Applesauce's shoulders and back and said, "I do see a membrane. I will have to ask Dr. S about that."  I about lost it.  I was thinking to myself, "NO! Not again! This baby is supposed to be okay! I can't handle this.  This can't possibly be true.  Please no!"
So I asked, "Where is it?" meaning what body part, back, spine, brain???  She said "It's right here in this dark spot... on the placental wall."  I said, "SO IT'S NOT ON THE BABY???"  She said, "Oh my gosh, I am sooo sorry.  No, it's not on the baby.  I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that."  She was referring to the membrane that was leftover from Twin B.  Since things have progressed normally, there seems to be nothing left after the demise but a minor membrane.  It looked like a deflated balloon, honestly.  It's been two months since we last saw anything so a lot has changed.

It turned out to be a really great appointment with lots of pictures and videos to take home.  It's not quite the same as being there but luckily for Andrew, technology is amazing and he can easily pretend like he was there!

Now if only I could convince the IT people for the hospital not to use AVI files for their videos.  Blech! #techsnobjoke

The 4th of July 2013

July 4th fell on a Thursday this year.  Boo.  Since I'm saving up for my maternity leave, I still had to work Friday.  Double Boo.  But we still tried to go have some fun on Independence Day.  

 We made some last minute plans to go to this party in Monticello where my parents, lil bro, and Steph were.  Tommy was quite the hit in his one sock.  Yep, one sock because while potty training, Mama accidentally dipped his foot in the dirty toilet.  Whoops.

 We hung out on the deck until it got dark.  Look at that silly face.  Cutie.

 The deck was decorated so cute with the lights and solar rockets.  Loved it!

 Then we went down to the dock to wait for the fireworks.  He sat with Adam and Steph and waited patiently.

 Then he waited with Grandpa.

 Then we found out that the fireworks weren't supposed to start for another 20 minutes!! We went up to the house again to chill and wait for the fireworks.  We even looked for a late-night Mickey episode to pass the time.

 Finally the fireworks started.  So many people along lakeshore had the expensive, seemingly illegal fireworks and were shooting them off all night that Tommy hardly noticed a difference when the real show started.  He kept asking to go back to the house for snacks.  Indiana Beach's show was not impressive.  Oh well.

 Since we had to stay up so late for the fireworks show and then drive back from Monticello, Tommy was exhausted.  He fell asleep on the way home.

He even slept through a final nighttime diaper change.  Poor kid was TIRED!

So barring the toilet water sock and sad fireworks show, it was still a successful 4th of July.  Happy Independence Day!

29 Weeks: This is Familiar Territory

So here I am.  All beached-whaley.  Twenty-nine weeks and counting.  Actually the number I'm looking at is 11. Eleven weeks left! That is a chump change amount of weeks when I think back on how fast the first 29 weeks have went.  AAH! No time! So much to do!
What's Happening with Baby T2:
Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (about the size of a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. To meet her increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because her bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

Here's me with Tommy at 30 weeks (sadface explained in the link).  Big ol' round difference there. :-)

But the similarities are uncanny.  There are slight differences of course but something will happen and I'll be totally taken back to 2010.  One of the first moments that took me back was waking up with a horrendous foot cramp.  Oh the foot cramps.  Totally forgot about those.  I had to put all the weight of my body on my foot to get it to bend back to a normal position.... at 3 in the morning, of course.  Oh such good memories. Ha!
Another symptom that has come up lately is heartburn or reflux or whatever this is.  It's just an acidic feeling rising up in the esophagus.  I had that last time too.  Will the baby be born with hair?? Very possible!
The last repeat symptom is the freakiest.  Nightmares!  Oh what fun.  I had a dream that in the hospital they knocked me out, took my baby, and then performed all kinds of freak surgeries on me.  I woke up covered in stitches from my neck to my hips and I had no idea where my baby was.  Not cool, Brain. Not cool.  Let's not have those dreams anymore.

The major difference is the baby acrobatics.  Tommy moved a lot but it didn't feel like this.  It feels like constant pointy elbows, knees and fingers.  It's crazy to watch my belly move all over the place.  She's super active which is fantastic but very distracting.

In other news, my co-workers just threw me a baby shower.  It was so much fun.  A small dinner party with 6 people and they gave me enough baby clothes, blankets, bibs, and socks to fill a laundry basket.

From 5 people?? Seriously? How awesome!  They got me the cutest clothes, I tell ya.  I can't wait to put them on Baby T2.

OH and a second side note:  Tommy has chosen another name for the baby that has a better ring to it than Santa Claus.  We asked him one night what he would like to name the baby.  He thought about it and said "Applesauce."
So Baby Applesauce, it is.  So trendy!

It's Already Time for Another Haircut?

Tommy's hair and nails seem to grow incredibly fast.  Every time I turn around, we need to do something about one of those two things.

 We went to visit Steph at the Hairman, of course, to keep things trim and neat. Tommy sat in the chair All By Himself this time.  He's getting so big!!!

 Then we spent the next half an hour playing at the shop.

Tommy loved the "helmet chairs" and hopping on and off them.  

 After the hair cut, we lunched at Chickfila.  Yum yum! There were like 15 church buses full of kids when we went.  Tommy was a big hit with the teens.  They loved him!

Wanna see Steph's magic?? Look at the 'Before' mop! WOW! What an improvement from Shaggy to Sharp!