Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Years!  I know we had a lot of fun and enjoyed some much needed quality time with family and friends.  It was so nice to surround myself with loved ones over the past 10 days and completely escape from the daily hustle.

This was a laid back holiday season for us.  We had family over on Christmas Eve, went to the 11pm church service with the kids (Ethan fell asleep during it), and then spent Christmas day with more family.  It was very nice and relaxing.  Then we enjoyed the week off of work, school, and sports and hung out as a family.  We did a day shopping trip up to South Ridge where Mariah went to all of her favorite stores and Ethan and Mariah rode on the train inside the mall. 

On New Years Eve we had a couple friends and their toddlers over.  We watched the kids run around and take over the basement, we played a couple games on the xbox, ate lots of wonderful food, and watched the ball drop at midnight with the toddlers!  They all managed to stay awake! 

2010 was a pretty good year!

Mariah began confirmation classes at our church and is really reaching her goal with all the requirements. She has almost completed all of her community service hours towards confirmation requirements.  Some of the community service she's done is a car wash for her dance team, a Christmas performance at a local VETS home, she helped build a fort in early December for a little boy that passed away last week from cancer at the age 11, she's also done a walk to raise money for food for the hungry. 

Mariah also has been very involved in a local dance team called Junior Broncos.  This is a dance team for 6, 7, and 8 graders.  It helps prepare them for tryouts for the high school dance team, which is pretty competitive.  If she makes it on the dance team in high school she will not be able to join any other sports.  I believe tryouts for the high school dance team happen within the next couple of months for 8th grade girls!  Speaking of high school... we get to go to freshman orientation on Jan 17th.  I can't believe we are preparing Mariah for high school... where did the time go?!

Ethan has also been an active little man.  In May we potty trained him in about 2 days!  I was really worried about potty training him and thought this would be a huge challenge, but to my surprise he caught on instantly and has been doing wonderfully ever since!  Makes him seem so grown up! 

In March we moved Ethan from a church based daycare to an in-home daycare.  I was so nervous about making this move because Ethan loved the daycare and the teachers and had spent his first two years of life with these wonderful people and children.  We didn't move him from the daycare because there was anything wrong with the care, we moved him to give him a more one on one type of care and to allow us the financial flexibility to be able to have another baby!  Well this moved worked out very well all around.  Cory and I are expecting our 3rd child in July 2011 (as you've read in previous posts) and Ethan's in-home provider is willing and happy to continue watching Ethan and the new baby once I return to work when the baby is 12 weeks old.  Ethan is really enjoying his new daycare situation.  He really loves Ms. Melissa, her husband Mike, and their three kids Mason, Parker, and Sophie.  I hope this next baby loves it there just as much!

Cory decided to pursue his bachelors degree and started his first online class in October!  He did wonderfully and finish the class in December with a 98%!  He starts his next class in a couple days.  If all goes well he will have his degree in 4 years.  So proud of him! 

Cory also rewarded himself with a big treat this year... he bought a snowmobile!  Scotty joined a club in the area and asked Cory if he wanted to join too (this was before the snowmobile was purchased).  Cory thought this would be a great "man" thing for him to do and jumped right on board.  However... since the purchase of the snowmobile... we've had very little snow... Last Sunday Cory and Scotty took a drive over to Monroe County and spent the day snowmobiling.  Cory learned a lot about handling his new machine and he said he loves it.  The guys had a great time and can't wait for more snow.  I on the other hand... can't wait for summer. :-) 

Okay, it was easy to write a little something about the rest of my family from this past year... but now to write about myself.  Well, I am 14 weeks pregnant!  I am tired, but starting to get a little bit of energy back.  I am loving watching the kids grow and learn new things on a daily basis.  I am proud of my family and their accomplishments.  I am still in the same job that I've held for the past 2.5 years and in February I will be celebrating my 11th year anniversary with this company.  Earlier in 2010 I had registered to go to school for my masters degree.  I got 2 days in to school and decided it wasn't what I really wanted at this point in my life.  Instead I am continuing to work my "mom job" as I call it and spend the rest of my time with my family and friends.  I enjoy my job because it gives me set hours, great benefits, and flexibility as needed.  Also, we close down from Christmas to New Years so that is all holiday paid time off!  Definitely a great benefit! 

Cory and I have been working on projects around the house as always.  My creative mind is always going!  We added a magnetic chalk board to the side of a cabinet in the kitchen.  This has been a perfect place to display fun messages and artwork and accomplishments from the kids.  We finished the trim in our master bathroom after having our tile shower redone due to previous leaks, we also finished the trim on our island in the kitchen ~ which looks beautiful ~!!  We started putting trim up in the basement and hope to finish the rest of that in 2011.  Also hoping to finally finish our fireplace during this next year!  It is such a wonderful feeling to put the finished touches on our house.  It has been a project in the works for over 5 years now. 

I think that pretty much sums up 2010.  I am sure I am missing a lot of great details, but I can't write about everything in one post.  :-)  Cheers to an amazing 2011 for everyone! 

Here are a couple recent pictures.  Enjoy! 

Ethan playing xbox:

 Ethan watching his tractor closely:

 Daddy and Ethan snuggling at the 11pm Christmas Eve Service:

 Ethan and daddy watching trains:

 Ethan with his new Buzz Lightyear:

 Mommy and Ethan cuddling:

 Ethan in the caboose:

 More train watching:

 Mariah and Leah watching Alannah dance with xbox:

 Mariah and Ethan on the train:

 Kitchen Island BEFORE:  

Kitchen Island AFTER:

  Bathroom before trim:

Bathroom after trim: 

Me and my baby belly at 14 weeks pregnant!  :-)

12 Weeks

Today I am 12 weeks pregnant.  Just one more week until I start the supposed honeymoon stage of pregnancy.  Boy am I ready for that stage!!  For some reason this pregnancy has been really hard on me.  I haven't been throwing up or anything, but I've been fighting a cold almost the entire time, I've had hives and itchy skin, I've head migraines that come once every couple weeks and last for a good two days at a time, I've been tired, crabby, miserable, and exhausted.  Not exactly a fun person to be around lately... heck, I can't even stand being around myself!  With that said... I've decided to try to make a couple changes within myself.  I need to remember that I have to do things for myself and not just for everyone else.  I need to take time for myself and find things that make me happy.  So last night after putting the kids to bed I decided to sit on the couch and read for an hour.  I love reading, but never seem to do it.  I have been reading the same book (400 pages) for the past year and a half.  I would LOVE to finish it and move on to another book.  Maybe I can finish it tonight... only 50 pages to go.  It felt so nice to disappear into my book and enter a world of quietness and relaxation.  Why don't I take the time to do this more often?!  The second thing that I started doing is exercising.  I am not exercising to lose weight or get some awesome body, because during pregnancy that is pretty much impossible.  Instead I am exercising because I've heard that it releases your natural mood enhancing endorphins and makes you happier naturally... and yup, I definitely need that!  So this morning I woke up bright and early and ran on my elliptical for 20 minutes.  So far, so good!  Now if I could just make these two things a habit at least a couple times a week...

Merry Christmas

Pictures

Visit our flickr site to see all of our updated pictures from the past couple months! 

www.flickr.com/photos/ckbartlett

11 weeks

I am 11 weeks today and finally starting to feel better.  My hives/rash are better, my queeziness is less, and my energy is slowly returning!  Phew!

10 weeks and 2 days

Baby and I had another routine appointment this morning.  Daddy joined us at the appointment and was lucky enough to get to see the baby!  Baby was wiggling all around and had a perfect looking heart beat!  My blood pressure was 118/78 which is pretty good and I've only gained 1 pound.  Yah me!  :-)  We go back again in 4 weeks for our next check up! 

Here is me at 10 weeks and 2 days.

Here is baby at 10 weeks and 2 days.

 

A PACKED WEEKEND!

Mariah had 10 friends spend the night on Friday for her 14th birthday celebration.  The girls were really well behaved and Ethan loved all the extra attention! 

Cory picked up his new snowmobile on Friday night.  I'll have to admit... it is a pretty awesome machine...

Yes... Ethan is wearing my jacket and Mariah's tiara. LOL, he will be mad at me later in life for this picture...

Mariah and the dance team performed at the VETS home and in the Waterford Christmas parade on Saturday.  They did a fantastic job!!  Such a great group of girls!

On Sunday, the community came together and built a wonderful snow fort for a little boy that has been fighting leukemia since 2006.  Mariah and Cory were a big part in helping with this.  Very proud of my family....

The kids got a letter from Santa on Sunday!  Mariah and Ethan ran over to the couch, opened the letter and Mariah read it to Ethan.  (precious moments) :-)

  

Happy 14th Birthday Mariah!!

Happy Birthday Mariah!  14 years ago today an amazing little girl entered this world. 

Over the years she has brought so much joy to myself and everyone around her. 

It is an honer to have her as my daughter. 

xoxo LOVE YOU MARIAH xoxo

Love Always, Mom

Soon to be a family of FIVE :-)

Yes, that's right!  We are pregnant and expecting baby number 3!! :-)  We are very excited and I am starting this post today, but probably won't publish it for a couple more weeks.  We have started to tell our family and a couple friends, but are waiting to put the word out publically until we are a little further along. 

Today (November 5th, 2010) I am 7 weeks pregnant according to "the charts" but I really think I'm closer to the start of 6 weeks.  My first appointment with my doctors next week should give us a better idea.  I have been feeling okay besides a couple days of hormonal migraines; however, today my stomach is turning for the first time.  I really indulged in many treats yesterday... I will never be doing that again... I think I have a food hangover today.... or I guess they also call this morning sickness.  Yuck... luckily I haven't actually gotten sick yet... just feel icky. 

The first person we told was Mariah.  We put a little t-shirt on Ethan and had him walk down the hallway to her room.  She read his t-shirt and then looked at us and said... "big brother?!" She gave us a look of 'you did what...' Ummmm is she excited?!  Don't worry, she will come around... this just means that she might have to move from the big bedroom to the smaller bedroom so that Ethan and baby can share the bigger room.  She'll adjust.  (fingers crossed)

**Well, Mariah has known for almost two weeks now and she is definitely coming around more to the idea of having two little sibblings in the house.  :-) Yay! **

A week after telling Mariah, we decided it was time to tell our family.  We called our parents and siblings and shared our great news!  Telling my mom was probably the most exciting for me.  We were able to facetime using our iphones and show her Ethan's t-shirt!  It was hard for her to make out what Ethan's shirt said, but one of my step-brothers was able to read it and shouted it out from the background.  As soon as they realized what was going on they all started cheering as if they were in a sports bar and their favorite team just made a touchdown!  Is was an awesome way to spread the news!

What an exciting journey we have ahead of us!  Oh and by the way.. here is a picture of me at 6 weeks.  Nope... ya can't tell yet that I am pregnant.  I am hoping I can hide it for at least 6 more weeks. 

November 9th, 2010

I had my first appointment yesterday with the nurse educator.  She was very nice and gave me some awesome "reminder" pamphlets.  We talked about my due date and I told her that I was pretty sure I was closer to 6.3 weeks instead of 7.4 weeks.  She decided to order an ultrasound and was able to get me in that afternoon!  It was absolutely amazing getting to see our new little addition this early on.  The baby was tiny and a bit hard to find at first... but the tech found him/her and magnified the image... and we were able to see the tiny heart beating!  I think this is the moment that the entire pregnancy became very real to me.  Amazing how something so small can truly melt my heart instantly.   :-) 

According to the ultra sound I am just over 6 weeks.  Pretty much what I was guessing.  This gives us a new due date of July 5th, 2011.  I will meet with my doctor on Thursday though to comfirm the new date. 

Here is a little sneak peak at our soon to be new addition.  I told the tech that it looks like I swallowed my wedding ring... She said the baby is the small round dot and the ring next to it is the yolk. 

November 10, 2010

I met with my new doctor today.  I had only met her once before and I was very nervous about starting my third pregnancy with a new doctor.  Thankfully though, everything went really well.  She is so kind!  She also keeps an ultrasound machine in her room and likes to look at the baby through an ultrasound at most visits!  We are going to see a LOT of pictures of this baby!  :-) 

My doctor confirmed my new due date as July 5th, 2011.  Looks like we will be having a FIRECRACKER instead of a JUNE BUG!   That puts me at 6 weeks and 2 days today.  Kind of weird since I originally would have been 8 weeks tomorrow.  I feel like I am doing a chunk of this pregnancy over, but as long as baby is healthy and things are good... then I am a happy mama! 

November 16, 2010

Today I am back to being 7 weeks pregnant!  Things are still going well.  Morning sickness is kind of come and go...  luckily it still isn't too bad.  I was nervous this past Saturday because my sister and I took a bus down to Chicago for a day of shopping!  (through Johnson's)  I was afraid that the bus ride would give me motion sickness, but fortunately I did very well!  I even managed to walk and shop the entire day with no issues.  We had to stop for little snacks throughout the day, but I never complain about that. :-) 

November 17, 2010

I went to the dermatologist yesterday because I have this terrible rash that has been itching like crazy!  It started a couple days before I found out I was pregnant.  It started on my ankles... I would try so hard not to scratch them, but just couldn't help myself!  About 2-3 days after I found out I was pregnant, the rash started appearing on my stomach.  I knew then that it had to be baby related... I talked to my doctor about this and she didn't think it was pregnancy related, but really had no other answers for me.  So, for the past three weeks I have been in limbo and wondering why I am itching?!  I have been taking benadryl and putting a ton of lotion on the itchy areas.  I switched all soaps to sensitivie skin and fragrance free and still nothing made it go away.  Finally, yesterday when I saw the dermatologist... I learned that what I have are hives!  I am having a reaction to something and more then likely it's the fluctuating hormones in my body from the baby!  She started me on a daily allergy pill called XYZAL.  It is a class B drug which I guess is the best it gets when taking meds while pregnant... I am still not excited about taking it daily though.  I hate putting all these extra things in to the baby's body.  Please say some prayers for me and baby.... I am hoping these hives go away quickly and I can stop taking these extra meds.  Thanks!

December 1, 2010

Today I am 9 weeks and 2 days pregnant!  I've only gained about 2-3 pounds (more than I was hoping, but oh well). However, my clothes are getting tight and I am looking chunky... time to break out the boxes of maternity clothes. 

I've also decided that today is the day that I will finally post this message on our blog!  We have been telling people little by little and are finally ready for all to know!  YIPPY!!!!!



Thanksgiving Weekend!

Wow, have I really not updated the blog since my Halloween weekend post?!  Geesh... guess I have some catching up to do!  :-) Lots of things have been happening over the past month.  I will give you a giant update in the blog to follow, but first I want to finish this little post about Thanksgiving.  (okay, post got longer then expected...)

I took an entire week off work for the Thanksgiving Holiday and it was WONDERFUL!  I did tons of Christmas shopping, lots of sleeping in and nap taking with Ethan, a little bit of decorating, and spent some much needed time with family and friends! 

On Saturday night (Nov 20) we had our annual ladies night out.  We took a limo up to a piano bar in Milwaukee ~ 10 of us ladies ~ and had a really nice time.  The limo brought us back home around 2:30am... much past my bed time, but I managed to survive!  It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to our adventure again next year. 

On Monday, November 22, our town was hit with a tornado!  Luckily we had no damage to our home, but the RV place up the street had a couple campers tipped on their sides.  Downtown Union Grove got hit pretty bad though... a ton of down power lines, a couple gas leaks, a couple buildings with torn off roofs, some fences and trees were knocked down, but luckily no one was hurt!  Here is one picture that I took of our back yard during the storm.  Just looks like a typical rain storm. 

On Thursday, November 25, we had our family over to our house for Thanksgiving! Cory put the turkey in the oven bright and early and then went next door to play the annual football game with the guys. They all managed to stay safe this year! No broken ribs, broken fingers, or ankles... way to go guys!

After football, Cory came home and finished cooking the turkey.  He does really well with this so I don't even bothering attempting to help out... ;-)  well... this year I was in charge of basting the turkey while Cory played football, so I guess I did help a little.  My specialty is more in baking the pecan pies, cleaning and decorating the house, and getting the family ready for the occasion.  Here is a peak at our set up.  We managed to fit 17 people around one big Thanksgiving table.  It was really nice! 

And here is Cory getting ready to carve the turkey!

  

 

When the Thanksgiving festivities were over, we decided to put up the tree.  Cory and Scotty were out marking snowmobile trails so Mariah and I lifted the tree up from the basement section by section.  We  rearranged the family room, put together our tree, and fluffed out the branches one by one.  Hopefully we'll get to putting the decorations on it this week.  Ethan is in love with the Christmas tree and insists on having it lit up at all times. 

Speaking of Ethan... here is a picture of our little man with a face full of powdered donut (in daddy's truck - hee hee)!  Yup... mommy gave him the donuts... We took this picture while we were out driving around checking out all the damage from the tornado.

Well, that's all for now!  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!  Now on to kids birthdays and Christmas! 

Halloween Weekend

We had a wonderful Halloween Weekend!  On Saturday we went to the Moose for a kids Halloween party.  Ethan wore his John Deere costume proudly and Mariah "dolled" herself up as a rag doll.  By the way... she made her own costume - very creative child!  Oh yeah and I was a Foxy Lady. ;-) Ethan won first place in a costume contest!  Daddy and Ethan were very excited!  Great job Cory! 

On Saturday night we went to my dad and Kathy's for their annual Halloween party.  The kids went on a couple hayrides, carved pumpkins, and broke open a pinata!  On Sunday we went trick or treating in one of our favorite neighborhoods.  Our friends Miranda, Kevin, and Lucas came with us and Miranda took lots of pictures.  Thanks Miranda!  :-) 

I will add many more pictures to our flickr site soon.  :-)