No Shave November

Ryan decided to participate in "No Shave November" for the first time and I think he had a lot of fun growing out his beard. His facial hair is so light that I personally really liked it - I think he looked really good like that. Anyway, when it came to shaving it off - he decided to do it in stages... He posed for me too - which he enjoyed way too much.  I think you'll see that these looks are much less flattering that the full beard... I'm happy that he's almost got his normal look back!

November Phone Dump

Ethan - that sweet smile.. oh what I wouldn't do for that smile!

 This was taken right before I have completely outlawed the bed from the cats.  They are no longer allowed on the bed... they have puked on it way too many times.  But it was still a cute moment.

 

Ethan found these lei's from our honeymoon to Hawaii and he wouldn't take them off...

 Jackson's message for daddy.

 Pretending to be asleep when I walked in the room.

 Ethan tripped and busted his lip the day before we left for Milwaukee on our wooden bed frame.  It took forever to stop bleeding... Poor guy really did a number on it... can't believe he didn't lose a tooth from that deal.

 In Daddy's shoes again!

 Jackson's new thing is to color... constantly.  He got some new doodle books from Aunt Carla and he hasn't stopped since... he's quite creative, I think!

Christmas Train!

My mom got us tickets to the Christmas train this year - it was so fun!  The weather was amazing - like 65 degrees and overcast.  The boys had a blast climbing all over the fire trucks and riding the train, and meeting Santa!! ... Good times!

 

 

24 Weeks!

• Baby's Sex: BOY!!
• Baby is as big as: Eggplant (approx 9 inches, 1.7lbs)
• Cravings this week: Nothing really this week... 
• What's different this week than last week: Achy, grumpy, don't know if I'll survive 40 wks. My poor husband.  :)
• Weeks to go: 16 weeks
• Next Appt: Jan 7 (28 wks)
• Big Brothers: Jackson drew a picture yesterday of 2 boys and a Christmas tree... when I asked him who the boys were he said it was him and Jr.  :)  Made me happy!
• Notes:  Had 24 wk doc appointment on Thursday - my "glucose" test - won't know good or bad on that until Monday and even then, they said "no news is good news..." so here's hoping for no news! Doc said all looks well with measurement and heartbeat. Doc also said I need to be exercising every single day.  He's never told me that before - but he said he read something recently that talked about the importance of pregnant women exercising 150 minutes per week!  I am taking this as an excuse to force myself to workout... so we made a route around the neighborhood... Takes me a little over 20 minutes and GPS says it's 1.3 miles... and I'm usually pulling both boys in the wagon.  I'm going to commit to doing this anytime the weather is over 50 degrees outside (and my boys aren't sick) and if I don't do that, I'll do my prenatal workout DVD.  I am hopeful that maybe this will make it easier for me to bounce back into shape after baby arrives.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is the love-of-my-life's birthday.  His 33rd birthday... 

He is an incredible father and husband, and I'm glad he's ours!! :-)

Wild Animal Safari!

So on our way home from Milwaukee, we decided to make a little stop at this safari we always see big billboards for but never want to drive all the way out for... (it's over an hour and half from our house...).  The boys were restless after driving so long and we thought this may be a great way to stretch our legs and see some fun animals!  We opted out of the drive-through part because we wanted to get home but we did spend about 30-45 minutes checking out all the awesome animals - and this particular place had feeding stations set up at every animal's cage so you can feed them!  The tigers were the coolest to watch.  There were 4 MASSIVE tigers and for $5 you could feed them these big chunks of raw chicken.  Two families were already lined up to do it so we got to watch these huge beasts fight, literally, for the meat.  I was so grateful for that big ol' cage between us!  The boys were fascinated too.  But we all agreed the coolest was the giraffe - which could bend down and take food right out of your hand (and he did mine!).  That was the coolest!  We're all really glad we made this stop!

 Ryan got up close and personal with this emu! 

Thanksgiving in Milwaukee

This year, we drove to Milwaukee for Thanksgiving.  At this time, Ryan's mom AND dad both live there, so we got to see lots of family while there. It was a long drive (12 hours) but when we got there, we felt much better.  Unfortunately, I didn't take that many pictures like I normally do.  And as we have learned, if I don't take them, or insist on Ryan taking one of me, they don't get taken.  Fortunately, my sister-in-law took tons and has agreed to share them with me!  So I will get some more pictures soon.. 

For now, this is all I managed to get.... 

The highlight of my whole trip was meeting my brand new nephew Anthony.  He is absolutely perfect! I feel so excited to be an aunt!  I wish we lived closer to this precious little man because I just didn't want to set him down!  Ethan was crazy about him too - he's just the sweetest thing!  Jackson really enjoyed "teaching" him but I think as he gets bigger, he'll be more fun to J. 

I love this picture because I love the look Anthony is giving Jackson... 

like "dude... seriously?" ha!!

Ethan wanted to lay down with Anthony and be with him anywhere he was... It was quite surprising and so cute!

Jackson and Uncle Barry being silly!!

Did I mention how much I love this little guy!?

 

Some photos I got with my phone:

Jackson's toy from Grandma Carol and Ethan managing to get his arm out of the seatbelt.

On the morning we left to come home, we couldn't get Ethan to wake up.  It was 430am so he was probably in a great sleep state, but I couldn't believe how OUT he was.