The cutest 40 seconds of your day

Ultrasound day!

We've had this date on the calendar for quite awhile and knew it would be an exciting day.  Ultrasounds are, I think, so amazing!  But just last week, we decided that along with checking out our baby's head size, organs, arms, legs, etc. we would also find out the gender this time!  Keeping it a surprise with Lainey was awesome and totally worth the wait but we thought we'd try it the other way this time and it was a really fun experience!

We wanted to make it fun and still exciting so I had a card inside an envelope that said, "Baby #2 is a .... boy or girl," and I asked the ultrasound tech to circle whichever one and then seal up the envelope.  A few times during the ultrasound, she asked us to look away from the screen which lead me to believe maybe it was a boy, but I also figured since she knew this was our 2nd baby, we probably just knew what we were looking at and looking for and wanted to help us keep it a surprise for a little while.  The baby was not super cooperative and she had a really hard time getting a good profile shot and while she wasn't concerned about anything, she also didn't get a good look at the umbilical cord and the belly so she wanted to schedule me to have another ultrasound at my next appointment (score!).  Everything else looked great and healthy!  

 After the ultrasound, I had a normal appointment and then we headed off to enjoy some bagels at Bruegger's (yummm!) and open our surprise envelope!  Here's Lainey checking out the pics of her little sibling...

Then we all wrote down our guesses...

Lainey guessed "dog" - it's her first word!

Jed guessed girl!

I guessed boy.  I really didn't have a feeling either way, my guess was totally random.

Jed and Lainey opened the envelope... (Note the excitement on Jed's face! :)

It's a BOY!

(I'm going to go ahead and say that Lainey was NOT in fact frowning about having a baby brother.  I think her face is the result of 2 things: 1 - she woke up at 5:47am and this was about 8:45, therefore she was tired and 2 - she wanted some of my bagel!)

We were so excited!  There were a ton of them but here are a few pics of the little mister...

We are so excited to be adding another blessing to our family and are excited to welcome a little boy in November.  I was so dead set last year that Lainey was a boy, but I was (obviously) wrong.  I am truly loving being a momma to a little girl and I am so excited to love our little guy too!

Firsts

 What a weekend!  It was jam packed with tons of FUN firsts...

First road trip in her big girl car seat!

First time meeting our new niece/cousin, Jordyn Elise!

First trip to the Des Moines Arts Festival...

First trip to the BIG pool!

First Iowa Cubs game!

Lainey was definitely totally tuckered out by her fabulous weekend and slept for 12 hours last night!  We are loving summer and all of the fun family activities Des Moines has to offer!

2 Years!

This week, Jed and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary!  It was fun to reflect and think back about June 18th, 2010 ... 

I had a great night's sleep alone in a big bed, spent the morning with tons of my favorite ladies at Smokey Row, there was a wild and crazy water tornado outside that prevented us from getting to the church on time to get ready, I wore fake eyelashes for the first and last time (which looked great but were a P-A-I-N to deal with and get off), I got to wear the most beautiful white dress, enjoyed sweet fellowship with great friends, and said "I do!" to my HANDSOME groom! (We won't highlight the blunders of the day ... Jed losing his keys at the reception, the sound system fiasco, plus a few more...!)  There are a few things I would change about that day but definitely not the man I married.

The most obvious blessing of our 2nd year of marriage was the birth of Lainey.  Having a baby and becoming a family of 3 rather than a couple has changed our lives and our marriage in lots and lots and LOTS of (really good) ways.  We got to celebrate by going out to dinner, just the 2 of us but our little missy miss was very excited to see us when we returned home.  

This is the only picture we got from our anniversary but I think it's pretty sweet.

Father's Day

We have had a really great Father's Day and a whole weekend with some of our favorite visitors - Grandma and Grandpa Wilson!  I didn't take all that many pictures so we shall resort to cell phone pictures once again...

 Friday night, my parents arrived and we went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill... YUM!  After that we headed to the mall to get Jed his Father's Day gift, a new phone.  He has now joined the ranks of most of the rest of civilization and once again has a smartphone (as opposed to a dumbphone).  He was very excited (and has taken several dozen pictures of Lainey already)!

Saturday morning, our little alarm clock named Lainey woke us up bright and early and we headed downtown to the Farmer's Market before the crowds and the heat got too intense.  We devoured some breakfast burritos and scones from La Mie and walked around a bit...

 

and then headed home for Lainey's nap and then lots of play time with Grandma and Grandpa.  She really charmed the pants off those two all weekend long.  She was so much fun - lots of "talking," goofy smiles and crawling ALL over the place.  Saturday afternoon, my parents took Lainey to visit her Great Grandma and other family in Knoxville...

while Jed and I went to a wedding!  We had a fun night out, just the two of us!

Today was Father's Day!  It was great to be able to celebrate with both my own dad... (How sweet is this...?)

 

 and Lainey's dad!  Two great, great men who I love very much and am so thankful for!  We all went to church, had a big, delicious celebratory lunch and then my parents headed home.  We topped off Father's Day doing one of Jed's favorite things - taking his other "little one" SIMON, to the dog park.  It was Lainey's first trip and we all had a good time!  It's funny how much dogs age from one year to the next.  Last year, when we would take him to the dog park, he would literally not stop running for the entirety of our visit.  He would chase the big dogs like a mad man.  Today, he was a bit more reserved and even laid down at one point!  He actually kept pretty close to Lainey and I, I think to protect her from the other dogs (who were all very friendly).

 

I love "special" days like today and I love celebrating people, but I don't ever want it to be just a once a year thing.  Jed is a truly wonderful dad every day - he loves getting smiles out of his little girl, helping her learn and explore new things and giving her lots of love and affection.  He has the right attitude about entrusting our family to the Lord and is not anxious or worried about what our life might look like with this new little baby come November, but is just excited for the opportunity to be blessed with another child.  I am thankful to have been able to watch him learn how to be a dad and have been so encouraged by how he has owned this role over the past 10 months.  He is a natural!

Lainey wanted me to add that she thinks her dad is the best dad EVER!

10 months!

 Our sweet girl turned 10 months old yesterday!  I think I say this about every month to someone, but this stage is really the most fun yet.  She is a crawling machine and is in to EVERYTHING, pulling herself up and finding all of the most fun things that aren't toys and eating all of the great things that aren't foods!  She of course, does eat real foods and a lot of them.  She is such a good eater!  She is down to nursing 2 or 3 times a day and taking a sippy cup of breastmilk and/or formula 2 or 3 times a day with a little snack.  She is down to 2 naps and is sleeping great at night 10-12 hours.  My little early bird wakes up usually between 6 and 7, no matter what time she goes to sleep.

 Like I said... she is all over the place!  This photo shoot was so tough!  My little book worm just couldn't stay away from her favorite reads!

This one is my favorite.  She has such a fun and silly personality!

We love you so much Miss Lainey!  You are the best little 10 month old we know!

(Mostly) Loving Summer

We are well in to June and it is definitely summer in Iowa!  We have been busy doing so many fun summer time things.  Having a little mover and a shaker makes all of these things more interesting, that's for sure but we are loving every second of it.  Well almost every second of it... 

 This is the first time Lainey sat in the grass and didn't flip out!  Yeah!  She'll sometimes venture a little off of our blanket, but not too far.  I don't blame her - the grass makes me itchy too!

 Since we've been so busy and my hands are more full than normal, I haven't taken too many good pictures - just lots on my cell phone so some of these will have to do!

 Auntie Em and Uncle Bud sent Lainey a sweet summer package stocked with pool toys, a beach towel, sunscreen and swim diapers!  She looks excited buuut...

 Lainey is not loving the water these days.  She is even borderline hating bath time right now.  She is happiest at the splash park or wading pool to sit on her blanket and eat a snack.  We are going to keep trying ... this momma will NOT spend the whole summer inside and if it's hot out, I'd much prefer to be by or in the water!

 Watermelon is definitely at the top of Lainey's favorite foods list!  Jed is playing volleyball on Thursday nights out at Jordan Park camp and it is so fun to go out there, see our friends, enjoy the outdoors and of course, the free watermelon!  Who ever's idea that was... way to go.

 Friday's splash park trip was the most successful to date.  I think since it was a bit warmer AND one of her BFF's Penelope came (who is fearless in the water), Lainey was a bit more willing to be in the water. 

Today's trip was not as successful.  Jed was working hard in the yard and we left a little later than I had planned and were cutting it a little too close to nap time.  Daddy also overestimated how much Lainey "likes" the water and sat right down in it with her a little too soon.  Oops.  Lainey needed some snuggles from her Momma and ended up briefly falling asleep while we were sitting in the water among tons of crazy bigger kids running around!  Silly girl.  I think in all we were there about 30 minutes, which was a little disappointing (at least for me - I could stay there all day!). 

Things we still want to do this summer:
Walk to Snookies
Go to the big pool
I-Cubs game
More picnics!
More garage sale-ing!
Take Dad to the zoo
Classic Frozen Custard (a South side delicacy!)
Raccoon River Beach
...and more!

Here's to summer!

Dear Lainey

Dear Lainey,
I am glad that today is almost over.  I don't mean to complain... maybe I can use the remembrance of this day as a reminder in the future to be thankful in my heart and grateful.  Today was one of our worst days in a long, long time.  You just aren't acting yourself today. 
As much as I love you, I also love when we are all sleeping - it is good for all of us, but you decided you would rather be awake from 1am to 3am last night.  That was rough for Mommy.  I tried several times to get you back to sleep and it took 2 whole hours - that is so not like you.  Then, Daddy's alarm went off reeeally early so he could make it to the airport for his business trip.  I am thankful that you didn't hear him getting ready and you slept soundly until 7 am (even though 7 was still a little too early for me today!).
We had really been making progress with you taking bottles/sippy cups better but today you were not even close to interested in anything, yet you seem hungry and want to eat constantly.  That is exhausting for Momma.  I need you to figure this one out, and soon.
You really struggled with naps today too.  Now that you are crawling and can go from all 4's to sitting, you have a hard time falling asleep in your crib.  It breaks my heart, you just sit there and cry.  I'm not really sure what to do about that one.  When you did sleep today, it was only for 30 minutes at a time.  You wake up so so so sad and I know it's just because you're one tired girl. 
We tried to go to the splash park with some friends this morning and you were in quite a mood.  You wouldn't sit in your stroller, you wouldn't sit in my lap, you wouldn't barely touch the water, you just wanted to snuggle.  I'm sure some day I will definitely miss that, but today I wanted you to have fun and enjoy the water! 
Even at dinner time, you didn't want to eat much.  Usually you love feeding yourself but I had to alternate feeding you bites of yogurt and green beans to get you to eat your veggies.
I'm ready to have a fresh start again tomorrow.  Pretty, pretty please let me sleep a little more tonight?  We both need it!
Love love love you,
Mommy