Is This My Kid?

Saturday night Jason and I took Lily to a couples shower in North Bend.  It was for a college friend of Jason's who is getting married this Labor Day weekend in Wisconsin.  Lily had only had one nap during the day so I was a little worried about how she may handle the evening.  No worries needed!  I couldn't believe it!  Lily played with some other kids...all older than her and she only came teary eyed looking for Momma once.  She played with the dogs, she danced, she laughed, she smiled, she ate and NO meltdowns, no fits, no nothing!  She had a great time which allowed for Jason and I to have a good time too!  Thanks Silly Lily!

22 Months Old

Dear Lily,

Today you are 22 months old...yes...almost 2 years old!  I cannot believe my baby girl will be two years old in just 2 short months.  I love you more and more everyday.  You put a smile on my face and in my heart.  You are my pride and joy and you make my life worth living.  You are my reason for being.  I can't even begin to imagine or even remember how our life once was before you came a long.  You are ornery as ever, but what can I expect...you are MY child!  You are as curious as ever and into EVERYTHING.  You 100% know what "NO" means, but you do it anyways and then you look at mommy and daddy with those big brown eyes so how could we possibly ever get mad at you?!  Those big brown eyes get us everytime.  You are beautiful with your hair that gets redder and redder everyday and you soft little curls that hang down your back.  You probably need a haircut soon, but mommy doesn't want to do it...she doesn't want to lose those curls.  You change so much everyday and so I continue to take a million pictures of you everyday because I don't want to miss anything.  You are growing up right in front of daddy and I.  You are looking at me right now with a strange look on your face as if asking me, "Mommy, why are you crying?"  I tell you "because I love you more than anything in this entire world." 

About a month ago you gave your daddy and I the biggest scare of our lives.  I will not write about it in your blog, but I promise to tell you about it one day.  I do not take any single day for granted with you and I do not want to have any regrets in the way your daddy and I have raised you.  You are the best and most important thing that has ever happened to us...please never forget that Lily Rose. 

You continue to be your daddy's little girl and it shows that you love him so very much.  You wake up every morning and the first thing you usually say is, "Where's dada?"  You continue to ask for him throughout the day until he comes home from work.  I love nighttime because you are usually pretty cuddly and you love to rock in your new rocking chair.  You love to read books and you I think mommy and daddy have The Princess and the Frog and Finding Nemo memorized.  You have really enjoyed the summertime.  You love to color with your chalk on the driveway and go to the parks and on walks.  Once you are outside it is awful hard to get you back inside.  Each night we find our big bright shining star off to the west of our house and you tell it goodnight...we call her Evangeline just like in The Princess and the Frog. 

Some of your new words and sayings are: No I not!, No you didn't!, I don't know. Hiiiiiiieeeeee.  Your vocabulary continues to grow everyday and you chatter more and more, but we are still working hard to always figure out what you are trying to tell us. Daddy has even taught you some sign language that you have been using.  You can sign please, more and thank you. You love to swim and you still love to play with your cousins and your grandmas and grandpas.  You have a new love for babies.  Mommy has some friends with new babies and you love to hug them, hold them, and kiss them...you even sat on baby Rylee when you and mommy babysat her!  You know that there is a baby in mommy's tummy and you give the baby kisses everyday and you hug it and pat it, but mommy and daddy aren't sure you really understand that there will be a real baby that we can't give back coming to live with us in October.  We are working hard to try and teach you about our new baby.  

You still remain a picky eater, and it often frustrates mommy and daddy, but I think you do the best you can.  Breakfast is always your best meal of the day and dinner is always your worst.  You are growing so we aren't too worried.  Your biggest news is that you have started sleeping in your new room and in your big girl bed!  You have done so well and really impressed mommy and daddy!  I could write an entire book to you Lily.  I just want you to know how very blessed your daddy and I feel to have you as our daughter.  We are so proud of you and we love you to the moon and back little girl.

Love,
Mommy

Lily and her Big Girl Bed

I wasn't going to put Lily in her new room until at least August...at the earliest.  I wanted to give her about a month to adjust to it.  This happened a little earlier than planned, but it is going AWESOME!  On Tuesday night Lily kept waking up crying and whining.  Jason rocked her and we brought her into our bed but she kept whining and would not fully go back to sleep.  Finally, I decided to lay in her new bed with her to see how it went.  I laid with her until she fell asleep and we did not hear a peep out of her for the rest of the night.  The next day I laid her down for her nap in her new bed too, and I was amazed!  She laid right down, said night, night to me and slept for nearly 3 hours.  She even called for me when she woke up and did not get out on her own.  She has slept in her new room ever since and has done fabulous!  Last night around 5:30am she did wander into our room and into our bed but I am pretty sure the thunderstorms scared her and woke her up.  I had been shutting her door at night, but it gets to warm in her room so now I put the baby gate at the top of the stairs and close the other door upstairs (ours stays open) and we have a night light in her room and in the hallway...so far so good!  I will post pictures of her new room soon...I have just a few more tiny details to do in there.

Bump Watch

My sister (31 weeks) and me (25 weeks and 2 days)

Good news is that I passed (nearly skimmed by) my 3 hour glucose test so I do NOT have gestational diabetes...YAY!  Since I barely passed the test and failed one of the hours horribly I do have to watch what I eat and cut at as much sugars and carbs (yeah right) as I can, but I don't have to check my blood sugars.  Bad news is that I do have a bladder infection and have to take an oral antibiotic for 5 days...I can handle 5 days.  I had horrible almost doubling over lower abdominal cramps on Thursday and some bloody urine so I gave a little urine sample and sure enough it was a bladder infection.  Otherwise...all continues to go well and I feel pretty darn good!

4th of July and Uncle Randy's Wedding

The wedding party

Dancing at the reception

Last weekend of course we celebrated July 4th.  I was thrilled because this was my first one off in 5 years!  Most importantly on July 3rd we celebrated the marriage of Lily's Uncle Randy and her new Aunt Jeanne.  Randy is Jason's oldest brother.  Lily and Jason headed up to Newcastle on Thursday night and I met them up there on Friday after work.  Friday night was the rehearsal dinner and the big wedding celebration was on Saturday the 3rd.  I know Jason had a good time and I know Lily did as well, but I'm not going to lie...being 6 months pregnant in the middle of summer and having to chase a toddler around for 2 days by myself made more work than fun at times for me.  Don't get me wrong...I had a good time too but it was a lot of work and made for one tired mommy!  We are thankful that we were able to be there for them on their special day! 

In the lake with cousins

Lily with Aunt Trina and Uncle John

Lighting fireworks with Dad

On Sunday July 4th we slept in and took a nap at Grandma Romaine's house, and then we packed up and headed up to McCook Lake, SD to Jason's step-sisters lake house.  Lily swam in the lake with her daddy and her cousins and she loved it!  We enjoyed good food, fun with family and a little bit of fireworks before we made the trip back to Omaha.  Lily was a tired little girl and slept the whole way home.  We got home around 9:30pm and I woke her up when we pulled into the driveway so she could see some of the "big" fireworks in the neighborhood...she loved them and didn't want to come back inside!

Baby Kneifl Update

I had my 24 week appointment yesterday (a few days early because my Dr. is going out of town).  This is the appointment when they check for gestational diabetes...the initial screen anyways.  I failed the first round with Lily and I failed it even worse with this one.  In order to "pass" the glucose screen your blood sugar must be under 140 one hour after drinking the lovely 50gram Dextrose solution.  With Lily mine was 151 and with baby #2 it was 159.  This does not necessarily mean I have gestational diabetes, but it does mean that I have to go back next week for a 3 hour glucose screen.  If I pass the 3 hour test I do not have it, if I fail it I will update again then.  I passed it with Lily so hopefully I pass with this one too!  They usually like to have you come in as soon as possible for the 3 hour test, but with my schedule this next week the soonest I can get in is July 8th.  Dr. Norton wants to me start watching what I eat now...lovely.  I gained 3 pounds this month for a total weight gain of 11 pounds.  At least I'm doing better in that category than I did with Lily ( I gained way too much with her).  My belly is measuring at 23 weeks and I was 23 weeks 4 days at my appointment, so I'm right on track.  Last week I measured ahead but the baby was sideways or breech last month.  I consistently measured 2 weeks ahead with Lily.  Baby's heartbeat was 140...lower than Lily's was until the very end.  I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but Dr. Norton did call our baby a "she" yesterday.  She said, "Last month she was sideways and breech and I can't really tell how she is right now."  She said she didn't know what Lily was until she was born, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what this one is either.  The ultrasound tech said she didn't even know and couldn't have told us if we had wanted to know because baby wouldn't cooperate and open its legs...so I'm pretty certain that baby will truly be a surprise to all.  My last bit to update on is my hemoglobin.  I was never anemic with Lily until after my C-Section and my hemoglobin dropped from 13 something down to 8 and I had to take iron for several months after she was born.  At the start of this pregnancy my hemoglobin was 13 and is now down to 10.9.  Not horrible, but low enough to have to take iron twice a day for the remainder of the pregnancy plus my prenatal vitamin.  Which also means adding a stool softener back in since we all know that iron is very constipating!  The nurse asked me if I have been tired and I had to laugh.  Am I tired?!  Let's see...I'm pregnant, I work nights, stay up during the day chasing a toddler...YES I'm TIRED!  The lower hemoglobin just adds to my tiredness I guess...and maybe some to my crabbiness :)

Justin and Mackenzie's Wedding

View from our room on the 16th floor

Swimming with Daddy

Swimming with Boppa

Lily with Ga Ga and Boppa at the reception

Jessica, Kevin and us

Lily and Kaylee dancing

Lily with Mommy and Mackenzie

WSC Softball Alum..Katie, Jess, me, Mac, Michelle and Tina

Dancing with Mommy

A windy family pic

Lily dancing with the mother of the bride...Cheryl

One tired baby girl

A long time friend of mine was married on Saturday in Lincoln.  Mackenzie and I used to play softball together on Sizzle and then we both ended up playing at Wayne State.  Mackenzie was a college roommate of mine for two years as well and I will admit that I was a much different person back then than I am today...she can attest to that!  She and her now husband started dating back when Jason and I did...over 8 years ago!  It's about time they tied the knot!  Jason and I decided that it would be fun and something different for all of us to just get a hotel room in Lincoln and enjoy ourselves for the night.  We drove down early and took Lily swimming....she had a blast and did NOT want to get out!  My parents also got a room so she got to swim with Pa Mike too.  It was nice to be able to swim, hang out and just walk down to the reception.  Lily would not take a nap after swimming and she was sooooo tired and a little crabby at the reception, but all in all she did okay.  She waited so long to get out on the dance floor to shake her little booty!  I wish I would have gotten her on video...the batteries went dead.  Her little feet move 100 miles per hour!  She was dancing with anyone and everyone.  She was right out in the center of the dance floor and going up to complete strangers saying, "Hiiiiii".  It was so cute.  She danced her little heart out.  We went back up to the room around 11:00pm and needless to say she crashed when she hit her pack and play.

CONGRATULATIONS JUSTIN AND MACKENZIE!

A Weekend on the Farm

Lily and Jason at Grandpa Leonard's grave (Jason's dad)

Lily and her cousins Aziza and Sara

Aunt Trina and Lily

Lily and cousin Miles

We spent last weekend (keep in mind I'm behind in my blogs so the dates don't match up) back on the farm in Newcastle.  We made the trip up on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  We decided to travel up on I-29 because of the flooding and part of Hi-way 275 being closed, but this worked out great because we were able to stop in Sioux City and meet Jason's mom and sister and kids for lunch.  They were out and about running errands to help get things ready for the couple's shower and big wedding (Jason's brother Randy is getting married July 3rd).  Lily always has a great time playing with her cousins and her grandma and Aunt!  It is always a special treat for her because she sees my sister, brother, parents and niece and nephew almost on a daily basis. 

We headed to Newcastle shortly after eating and Lily got to run around for a while on the farm.  She loves to moo at the cows and meow at the kitty cats.  I love that she has this opportunity growing up.  The farm is such a different atmosphere and so wonderful for a child to experience.  I must say that because of what has recently happened that I am terrified of her wandering off and not being able to find her, and that I get a "little" stressed out trying to constantly keep her in my view.  I don't think that will ever change. 

Friday night we headed to the Copper Stop for dinner to celebrate Grandma Romaine's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  We had a yummy dinner and then came back home to just sit outside and relax.  Summer nights on the farm are so beautiful.  On Saturday we drove to Allen, Nebraska to help celebrate Randy and Jeanne's upcoming wedding at their couples shower.  We enjoyed lots of yummy food and lots of family and friends.  Daddy helped them continue their celebration with a joint bachelor and bachelorette party that night.  Lily and I stayed back home on the farm and hung out.  It was a quick and busy weekend, but still lots of fun.

Baby Bump

22 Weeks

I feel like this baby has really grown in the last week!  My maternity clothes from when I was pregnant with Lily hardly fit me now and I have a LONG ways to go...I suppose it doesn't help that I started this one out 20 pounds heavier than I was with Lily!

Zoo Pals

Lily, Talan, Ellie, Ethan and Cy

Lily and Ellie

Ethan, Lily and Ellie

Cy, Lily, Talan, Ethan and Ellie

The past two weeks have seemed really busy, and I have so many things to update on!  Anyway, two weeks ago Lily and I met up with two of my co-workers and their kids at the zoo.  Lily and I were just hanging out at home and I had just said to her, "Lil, what should you and Mommy do today?"  I went downstairs to check my email and I had an email from Lindsay saying that her and the boys were going to the zoo and to call if we wanted to meet up...so we called and we met up!  We met up with Lindsay and her two boys, Talan (3) and Cy (21 months) and with Andrea and her two kiddos, Ethan (3) and Ellie (20 months).  Lily hasn't seen these friends since she was a few weeks old, so it was fun seeing them together again.  The three younger ones were born all within one month of eachother...Lily and Cy are only 4 days apart.  It was a beautiful day for the zoo and Lily and Mommy were both tuckered out at the end of the day!  Thanks guys for asking us to join you!