Water fun!

This week has been busy and time kind of got away from me. Before I knew it, it was Wednesday and we hadn't done any letter projects or activities. We did manage to do a couple, though. We painted with water colors. Spencer especially loved dipping the paint brush in the water multiple times. He even painted his face inadvertently. Once the painting dried, I cut it into a W to hang on his bedroom door with the rest of the alphabet.

Our next activity was to play with water balloons. I'm glad Spencer enjoyed them, because they are a huge pain to fill and tie! We first started by sorting the balloons by colors, but that only lasted a few minutes. Once Spencer discovered what happens when the balloons pop, he was delighted!!

We bought a new van to accommodate our growing family. It's a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. It's perfect for our needs. Although I always swore I wouldn't be THAT mom, I actually really like the van a lot.

The baby now weighs about 3.75 pounds and is 16.7 inches. Now is the time that he'll start fattening up! We had a bit of a scare on Monday as I gave into my paranoid thoughts. The baby doesn't seem to be moving as much, and to be safe, I called the nurses to let them know. They asked me to come in right away. As soon as I was hooked up to the monitor, the baby started his gymnastics routine. It was a huge relief to learn my baby is indeed very healthy and still very active. 

My Daddy's a Veteran!

This week we had fun with the letter V. We first took a field trip to Vets Memorial Park in Winona to locate the brick I bought for Dave a few years back. It is a brick honoring his time in the Operation Iraqi Freedom War. Dave beamed proudly when we found it. It's located in a section of the park that will house the OIF monument some day.

Dave and Spenc pointing to
Daddy's brick.

We decorated our V by creating a vine. Spenc was thrilled to put stickers of leaves, flowers and bees onto the paper. I connected the leaves with a green colored pencil to make it a vine, and then I wrote this Bible verse along the side: "I am the vine; you are the branches." -John 15:1-5.

Our final project was to create a volcano. I found an easy recipe online and tried my best to duplicate it. I made the volcano out of a paper plate, plastic cup, tinfoil and some tape. The lava was water, baking soda, vinegar and red food coloring. (I didn't have any regular vinegar, so I used some red wine vinegar instead. Not sure if that affected the lava eruption or not.) Below are the pictures and video.

Before

After

Spencer very much enjoyed this activity and kept asking to erupt the volcano again and again. Next time I'd use a smaller cup and actual vinegar and maybe the eruption would be bigger and cooler.

As summer winds down, we hustle to enjoy every last minute of it. We are very busy until after Labor Day. On the agenda this weekend is a river excursion on Marmer's pontoon today. Then Saturday we are heading to the cities overnight with another family for a little getaway that includes the zoo, shopping, swimming at the hotel, eating and the Underwater Aquarium at the Mall of America.

The baby is now 16 inches long and 3 lbs. Every day the reality of this thing growing in me becomes clearer and clearer. Pretty soon we will be a family of 4. My soon to be pretty calm household will be turned upside down!! Good-bye sleep!! Good-bye Angie-time, or what I like to call my "lunch break" while Spenc naps. I'm starting to understand why people pop out babies one right after another.....so you can never remember what it's like to sleep through the night and have some (no matter how limited) free time. And I'm nervous to see how Spencer accepts a new member of the family. He's so calm and sweet and (mostly) well-behaved right now. It's only natural that he go through a stage of acting out when he rebels against this new person consuming his mommy's time. Will he become less of a mama's boy?!! Do I want him to be? So I constantly ask myself:  Am I ready for this?!!!

Of course on the flip side of my anxiety is the excitement to finally meet this creature growing inside of me. I can't wait to hold him and smell him and kiss him and cuddle him. I'm dying to know what he looks like. Will he be like his older brother or a completely unique person? I'm prepared for the MONTHS of colic we experienced with Spencer, but I wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised by a calm, content baby either. Time will tell....and soon.

31 weeks

Being a smartbutt.

U are a hard letter!

The end of the alphabet is proving to be very challenging. What do you do for the letter U? We taped Us I had clipped from magazines onto a big construction paper U. I used double stick tape, so they were like stickers to Spencer. He loved it.

On Friday I had the pleasure of watching my friend's two kids, Briella and Bryson. I enjoyed having a baby to snuggle with; Spencer enjoyed having a playmate. Dave...well, he was a bit overwhelmed with a house full of kids, but he was very helpful. Spencer and Briella made umbrellas, which was very fitting for the rainy day. They first painted on a sheet of white paper. Once it was dry, I cut the papers into shapes of umbrellas and taped onto a piece of construction paper.

Since we couldn't go outside to play, we made the best of our situation indoors. The kids wrestled Dave (and, apparently, girls can be rougher than boys!), sort of watched an Elmo movie, fought over toys, colored, had storytime with Dave, and went on a "hayride."

This week was also a week filled with birthdays. Spencer turned two on Monday and I turned the big 3-0 on Wednesday. My friends and family are throwing me a big party tonight to celebrate the end of a decade, but I enjoyed a quiet evening out to dinner with just my husband Wednesday night. My friend asked me on my birthday if I was happy with where my life is at age 30, and without even hesitating, I answered yes. How could I not be happy? I have a great, supportive, tolerating husband; an amazing, adorable, charming son; another little guy on the way; and the best friends and family a girl could hope for. Yes, I am indeed happy at my life at age 30. It definitely helps the sting of being "old."

Spencer had his two year well check this week as well. He is getting bigger (although still small)! He weighs 24 lbs 11 oz. and is 33 inches long. He moved up in the scales from his last appointment at 18 months from 10% on both height and weight to 25% height and 30% weight.

Speaking of weight and height, the little guy in my tummy is also growing. He now weighs in at approximately 3 pounds and is 15.7 inches long. At 30 weeks, I have 10 more to go! I have really begun to feel pregnant lately. I have heartburn, the worst leg cramps at night that don't seem to relent during the day, I'm tired, I have limited mobility in some directions (namely bending over) and I can't quit eating chocolate!!! Oh, and my husband would probably say I'm very moody, but perhaps that really isn't a pregnancy glitch, but more a natural part of my personality ;)

Happy Birthday, Spencer!!

Today was Spencer's 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe my baby is already 2! We threw him a big party on Saturday with great friends and family. There were 13 kids, ranging from baby to 11 years old, but mostly toddlers. Plus, about 25 or so adults. We had a full house!

Since his party was Saturday, I decided I still wanted to celebrate on his actual birthday. I lit two candles at every meal and sang him the birthday song. He still hasn't mastered blowing out the candles, but he does enjoy trying.

Breakfast.

Lunch.

Supper (his favorite: chocolate chip pancakes).

Dessert at Grandma's.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SPENCER!!

T is for all of Spencer's favorite things!

If you chew on an eyedropper dipped
in blue paint, you'll get Smurf lips.

All of Spencer's favorite things start with the letter T: trains, trucks, tractors. And he's turning two!

To decorate a big letter T, Spencer first stuck pieces of tape down and then painted. He used both paint brushes and an eye dropper from an old vitamin bottle. He's getting the last of his eye teeth, so he's back to the baby stage of putting everything in his mouth. He wanted to chew on the eye dropper instead of paint with it. Once the paint dried, I peeled off the tape.

Over the course of the week we made a handful of trains. Spencer's birthday party is this weekend and the theme is trains, so we used these trains as party decorations. Here are two of the trains:

I printed off a template for this one and Spencer taped the pieces on after we colored it.

This one was made by first tracing his hand (with fingers together) and arm to make up the body of the train. I did the cutting and Spenc sort of helped with the gluing.

I also made a train out of old boxes, some yarn and a Popsicle stick. Spencer loved this! He spent most of the afternoon finding things to put into the train cars and then he pulled the train around the house.

Our final project was to make a tractor out of a letter T. Spencer didn't have the patience to create the tractor. He just wanted to play with it.

News on the pregnancy front.....we got the baby's room put together. Some old stuff and some new stuff. Spencer now has a big boy room, except for his crib, since a majority of his stuff was moved to the baby's room. We aren't quite ready for the transition to toddler bed just yet. The baby weighs in at about 2 1/2 pounds and is 15 inches long. 

New crib and new bedding.

Old changing table and old chair.

29 weeks.