beanski

heather, gabe and ava

My friend Heather emailed me a few weeks ago and asked if I would ATTEMPT to take some pictures of her and her babes. They came over this morning and we played around with them. It was scary because I knew they would lose interest fast (about seven minutes in) and I wanted to at least get a few shots that were decent. I really blew it on the "family pictures" (sorry Heather, please let me try again sometime soon) but managed to get some pretty nice shots otherwise. Aren't they ridiculously cute kids?

baby izzy

At my cousin's baby shower last weekend, my Aunt Pat was calling her grandbaby that is due at the end of May "Baby Izzy." I was sort of perplexed because I didn't think Brian and Danielle knew the sex of the baby and certainly hadn't heard that they were planning on naming her Isabelle. So I asked. My aunt looked at me straight-faced and said, "Baby Izzy...Is he a girl or Is he a boy? Get it?" I'm still laughing about it...I swear it was almost like have having my Grandma Grace who has been gone for almost 14 years now sitting there talking to me. That is TOTALLY something she would say. I need to make a point to see Pat more often. I just LOVE her.

before and after

The roof is completely done! Doesn't it look nice? YEAH!

somebody please shoot me

The roof on the house is done and got tested pretty thoroughly with the twelve inches of rain we got last night. The roof on the garage is dried in and going to get finished tonight. What a job that is. Michael, yes my computer programmer husband Michael that takes 15 minute breaks every hour when PAINTING, hauled 18 yards of shingles all the way from the back of our house out to the dumpster on the street using a tiny wheelbarrow. The terrain is all UP HILL and the rain didn't help. We're talking hauling something like 1,500 pounds about 50 yards in two days? I'm not sure on the math but it was A LOT. Not to mention the thousands of nails he hand-picked out of the grass. All he got for help was his pregnant wife. I was out there helping him for much of yesterday and feel like CRAP today. You know I how excited I was about my hip not hurting on Friday? Well it HURTS today. I almost had to wake him up to take me to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Poor me. I'm such a wuss. I HATE feeling like a wuss. He did about a thousand times more work than me and has hardly complained a bit. LOVE him. I didn't know he was such a tough guy.

The job went pretty good and the house looks about a billion times better. Jim and James worked their BUTTS off. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen two guys work so hard in my life. They worked from 7AM to 9PM on Saturday without hardly a break (even when the rain hit). Thanks Jim-Don. We appreciate it.

I'll post some before and after pictures if I can ever find the energy.

I'm glad Ski and I are computer programmers for a living and that we bought 30-year shingles because roofing SUCKS.

i love spring

I think I've finally hit the "golden age" of pregnancy. Everyone kept telling me that the second trimester was the best but it was hard to agree when I was hobbling around, miserable from the back and hip pain. I don't know if it was the massage, the sun finally showing its face for an extended period of time, a decrease in stress or the fact that I've been walking, doing yoga and using my elliptical a lot more regularily for the last two weeks but I feel like an entirely different person. If the baby wasn't always on the move and my belly wasn't getting bigger every day, I wouldn't even feel pregnant. I spent the last six months wondering how people really say "I love being pregnant" with a straight face but I think I'm starting to understand it. The whole process is truly amazing.

Other stuff contributing towards my positive attitude:

My perennials are coming up and everything smells like spring.

Our house is FINALLY getting a new roof this weekend after three years of talking about how we're the ghetto house on the block. Do your anti-rain dance for us!

I'm going to the cities for a baby shower tomorrow and I get to see my Aunt Pat and some of my cousins that I haven't seen since my wedding.

2/3 of our baby furniture is in and I'm going to pick it up this weekend. Unfortunately the crib isn't here yet (the thing we need the most) but I'm not going to let it ruin my good mood. In addition, I think I found a floor model rug for the nursery for $42. It will no doubt need cleaning but if it works, I'll have saved myself over $300. That would rule.

Ski and I have started to at least discuss names for our unborn child. For the last six months every time we talk about names, the conversation gets steered (by him) in to how terrible the names Gary and Rhett and Beth and Veronica are. The man could talk for days about bad names but just shrugs when I try to talk about real names. I still think it is going to be a last minute, pick-one-off-the-list-and-go-with-it sort of thing in the delivery room but at least we've had a grown-up conversation about it now. They say husbands will let their wives do whatever they want after seeing them go through labor so it might just work out OK for me in the end.

I don't have to watch anymore crappy hockey because both the Penguins and the Wild got eliminated last night. 10 games of torture was enough for me. At least I still have my Twins.

This is the happiest post I've ever written. I love Spring.

25.5 weeks

Friday I spent a good deal of my afternoon playing around with my camera. Here are some belly pictures for 25.5 weeks. I'm posting the rest in the sidebar. I went overboard but I learned a lot.

The weekend was pretty chill around here. We had a small nesting spell in the basement. I LOVE nesting. I got a massage and have been able to walk like a normal person for two entire days. It is AWESOME. Massages will be a much more common occurence for me for the next 3.5 months. We've been watching a LOT of Twins baseball and play-off hockey thanks to the purchase of NHL Center Ice. Why does it always seem like Ski's teams always do better than mine? Two years ago I had to watch the Steelers win the Superbowl. Where were the Vikings? Ummm, let's not talk about the Vikings. At least both the Wild and the Pens both made the play-offs this year but the Pens are at least tied 1-1 in their series while the Wild are down 0-2. The Wild better win tonight. OR ELSE. I guess I do have one trump card. Twins baseball, baby. When was the last time the Pirates did anything? Ummm, probably never. Ski is going to the Wild game tonight so I'm going to have a solo hockey marathon with ice cream and popcorn. When you want beer, eat junk food. That's my philosophy.

This qualifies as possibly the biggest waste of a post ever. I don't have anything else to say. Wait, I do have one thing. Ski finally made his guess for the baby and he guessed the same day as me. Go July 23rd. The gender? GIRL...shocked the crap out of me because he refers to the baby as 'he' pretty much every day...

charlie is 2!

My Charlie officially turned two this afternoon. I can hardly believe it. The weekend was spent celebrating how happy we are to have him around. He may be the most animated little kid in the world and he totally thrives on people and their reactions to his silliness. View all of the pictures from his birthday in the gallery.

Annie, Griffin and I headed to Baudette from the Falls early on Saturday morning to help Jen get ready for Charlie's party and for Easter brunch on Sunday. Taber and Michael stayed up until 2AM 'getting smart' (translation - 'drinking beer and talking philosophical') the night before and were still in bed so we left them to fend for themselves.

11AM - We get there and Charlie is super excited to see us (after being shy for about 10 seconds). He shows us his big boy train bed and is so proud that he gets to sleep in it. Jen was worried about taking away the crib but it didn't phase him a bit. He loves it. He showed it to every single person that stopped at his house.

12-2PM - Charlie naps (thank God) and the Peterson sisters cook and get ready for the party. Griffin crawls around like a maniac and smiles pretty much constantly. He also 'shrieks' and 'growls' a lot. He has the most bizarre noises I've ever heard come out of a baby. He's such a happy little guy (even when he's teething).

The party (chaos) begins...
4PM - Pizza
Charlie folds the pizza over and eats it like he's 10 years old. Every time anyone looks at him, he smiles. He loves being the center of attention.

4:15PM - Cake
Grandma Renee, Auntie Annie and Uncle Taber made him the cutest little train cake in the world. His entire face lights up when he sees it. He makes Daddy relight the candles about 100 times so he can blow them out over and over (and over) again. He was so fast at blowing them out that I could hardly even get a picture.
 

4:30PM - Presents
This was about when he started hamming it up BIG TIME. The first package he opens contains new sheets from Grandma for his new big boy bed. You wouldn't think a two-year-old would be too excited about sheets. WRONG. He stood up on his chair and held them up over his head and smiled like they were the greatest prize he'd ever won. Hilarious. He did this with pretty much everything he opened. A new hat had to be tried on immediately. New shoes needed to be tested for their dancing abilities. I will never forget it as long as I live. Even his parents were in shock.
 

5:30PM - Swimming and playing
Dad takes Charlie swimming (he LOVES it and doesn't want to ever get out). The rest of the kids play and have a great time.

Griffin goes swimming for the first time. He LOVES bath time so it's no wonder that he was so happy; splashing around like crazy and not caring a bit about getting water in his eyes. Such a cutie.

Jen made a VERY nice brunch on Sunday and we all got ready to head home. I should mention that Charlie was wearing or carrying most (if not all) of his new stuff around the house the entire time we were there, including wearing his new life jacket. Jen called to tell me last night that he hadn't taken the shoes I bought him off all day and was insisting on wearing the hat to bed. Talk about a fun kid to buy presents for.

Happy Birthday, my little stink...I love you.

cousins everywhere (finally at least one girl)

I don't think I've mentioned this since I started blogging but both my sister and my sister-in-law are expecting babies within a month of ours. I'm due 7/25, my sister Jen is due 8/10 (my mom keeps reminding me that this is only 16 days) and Michael's sister Jill is due 8/20. Jen and Jill had their first kids 8 days apart...now are due to have their second 10 days apart. Crazy.

Anyways, my sister didn't find out the sex at her 20 week appointment but her baby's heartrate was EXACTLY the same as ours. 142. Bizarre. What I'm really excited about today is that Jill had her 20 week ultrasound this morning and IT'S A GIRL!!!! After 3 straight nephews, I can hardly wait to buy PINK! Baby Girl Brown's heartrate? 142. No lie. Three babies with identical heartrates at 20 weeks. Do you think they are the same sex? Who knows! But heartrate guessing is all we have right now.

We are headed north this weekend for Charlie's 2nd birthday...I can't believe my "little stink" is two already. It breaks my heart. I'm SO excited to see everyone...Griffin started crawling since I saw him last and I haven't been home since Christmas. We're having a big ol' pool party with pizza and cake. The boys are going to love it. Just think, by next year at this time, there will be at least two more kids running (crawling?) around. I would LOVE to know how we're going to keep up!

that's much better

We had our follow-up ultrasound this morning and are happy to say that the baby was much more behaved this time around. S/he was rolling around like crazy (thanks to the pint of apple juice I drugged it with before the appointment). The measurements all turned out just right and the placenta is in the right spot. I feel so relieved that everything is on track but kind of sad because this was probably our last inside peek before the baby is born. 16 more weeks feels like a long time to wait.

The heartrate was 145 today so it is holding fairly steady. The baby is getting pretty strong...it makes me almost jump out of my chair sometimes when it kicks. It has taken to kicking me in the bladder mostly. That can stop any day, thank-you very much.

We decided the alien's nose has gotten A LOT bigger in the last four weeks! View the rest of the ultrasound pictures here.

elliott turns 2!

I can hardly believe that it was already two years ago that little ESB was born. Now he runs around saying the funniest stuff and mimicks EVERYTHING anyone says. Jill, I hope you don't mind me posting some of his stories. The kid is seriously funny.

Jill writes, "I am starting to wonder about Elliott - lately when he is mad or frustrated - esp if I am doing something he doesn't want like putting him in his booster - he will start saying a word over and over again. Sometimes it's 'hummingbird' but today it was 'chicken dog.' Strange. Almost like Dustin Hoffman in 'Rainman.'"

Jill writes, "My Elliott anecdote for today is that he called the ceiling fans 'helicopters' yesterday since it was 81 degrees here and we had to turn them on..."

The most gentle kid on the planet does the strangest thing:
Jill writes, "Elliott Brown did something crazy yesterday. He has a small book (which was actually mine) called Cat Alphabet - it features different cat paintings from the Met in NY. He loves it and knows the whole thing, wants it read a billion times, etc. So I usually let him take a book into the crib when he goes down for his nap and yesterday he took that one. I check on him a little later and he is sitting amidst a bunch of torn up paper - the book. He ripped every single page out and then ripped the pages up. He is now going around mimicking me, asking 'Why did you rip the book?' and saying the different phrases for the pictures. I was and am speechless."

And the most prolific:
"Why throw camels?" This one is a long story but I'm certain it will be the end of time before anyone in the family can hear the word 'camel' without smiling and thinking of Elliott.

He got SUPER excited when we all started signing "Happy Birthday" to him...he was giggling and acting shy. He gave me a whole new perspective on the whole birthday song thing...I had always thought it was stupid that we sing to people on their birthdays.

I didn't get very great of pictures because of gloomy weather, very little light and no tripod but here are a few. The rest are posted in the gallery.

Happy Birthday, little dude.