Half Way

I am 20 weeks along and half way through this pregnancy! We find out next week what we are having. In the beginning Alli used to say it was a brother but for the past while now she says it is a girl. I guess we'll see.... I keep saying either would be great because we want a sister for Alli but also we want a boy at some point.

We are excited!
I have to include a funny story:

Yesterday at church we were sitting behind a cute little family with a two month old baby girl. Allison loved looking at the baby. When the baby got sad I told Allison that she could help make her feel better. I said "you can say it's okay baby, don't be sad". Then I said you can make a funny face which she adorably did. It sure made the mom smile. Then Allison pinched her fingers together and said "awww I have a tiny baby, I eat her"and put her fingers to her lips. Then she said "mom you eat it" and proceeded to put her fingers to my lips and then down to my tummy, and she said "now you have baby in your tummy"! Dave and I looked at each other with big grins and chuckled to ourselves. So cute! We talk about that mommy has a baby in her tummy all the time. I just love so much that we got a little peek into her thoughts.

I must haven eaten a baby and now it's in my tummy :)

xoxoxo

...Our Valentine...

We love you soooooo much with our whole hearts, to the moon and back, forever and ever!
This was our gift to Alli. They are bean bags that I made and she loves them! That is a nice feeling. Saved money, made with love, and she actually plays with them, yessss!
Overall our Valentines Day was very low key but lots of fun. When Alli woke up she discovered that a Valentine had put hearts all over our house! It was a blast to see her finding them all! We watched Dora and the Wonder Pet's valentine shows. After some errands we had lunch with my mom. Came home for a quick nap and then we were off again. When we got home Dave was busy making a spaghetti dinner for us. We had spaghetti because it is red for Valentines Day, of course! Aunt Kim stopped by to give Allison a cute gift and the rest of the evening was spent eating yummy treats and relaxing. We decided to go out this Friday instead of the actual big, official day because dealing with tons of people and waiting didn't seem very romantic to us. So instead we spent the day with our valentine girl and it was perfect!

one needle in the haystack of my life.

Defying Gravity- Glee Cast

Tonight I Wanna Cry- Keith Urban

Jar of Hearts- Christina Perri

Need You Now- Lady Antebellum

Broken Road- Rascal Flatts

I Run to You- Lady Antebellum

Luckiest- Ben Folds Five

Feels Like Home- Chantel Kreviazuk

Not Fire, Not Ice- Ben Harper

This was the itunes play list that accompanied my bubble bath tonight. I have been feeling anxious and stressed and not myself lately. I'm sure a lot has to do with tons of crazy extra hormones. Even though the reason I have these hormones is welcome and loved, I don't like these feelings. It is like a roller coaster. Up and down all the time and feeling opposite pulls of my heart. I really do honestly love my life. My little family is my life and they are a wonderful source of joy. I have a fun job that if I have to work this is a great one to have. I get to see my little girl all the time, do fun things, and get paid for it. Really, it's not bad. I have a handful of good friends and I am thankful for you. But this is also a thorn in my heart. I have thought and often still feel like I need to try harder to be a better friend. I see others around me and they are wonderful examples to me of friendship. I was inspired by this quote that my cousin put on her blog.

"BE the person you want to remember, don't just remember the

person you want to be"

-Leigh Snow

Her blog went on to say: "There are so many people I meet in this life that I think to myself, "wow this person is so amazing, I want to be just like them." But then often times, the natural man kicks in, and I forget. So then I heard this quote yesterday from one of my friends and it hit me; Don't sit there wishing you could be more like someone you greatly admire, BE that person now. Take on their admirable qualities that you love so much NOW."

I really took this to heart. I need to work on myself and be that person that I want to remember and that I want others to see in me. Although try as I might, I have realize that sometimes people are just not going to like me and not want to be my friend. And as much as I hate that feeling, I need to be okay with that. All I can do is try and be nice. I can only control myself. These feelings were the reason for my bubble bath tonight. This may be personal and a bit rambling but I feel better now so thanks for not judging, thank you for being my friend.

a night

spent playing peek-a-boo in the toy box. in our eyes life does not get much better than this. simple and full of love.

?????????

We went to the doctor this morning and had our ultrasound. We thought we were going to find out if this little baby would be a girl or boy. Instead we saw the head, spine, legs, feet, arms, hands, tummy, pretty much everything but the gender. They determined that I am about two weeks behind where they thought I was. So baby was still too small to tell much info and had it's ankles crossed so there really was no way of telling what it is. Oh well. We are scheduled for a new ultrasound in one month. Lucky us, we get to see our munchkin again! That is always fun and comforting.

So until then tell us what you think it will be:

girl

boy

other :)

Oh and my new due date is July 6!

Party Time!

Our New Year Eve was very fun this year. We had some family up to our house for a little party. We had a great year last year and are looking forward to this year. Wonder what it will bring our way.........

Cuddles in the Big Bed

This is what we do everyday in our getting ready for naps or bed routine. We play in the big bed. It is so much fun. Sometimes playtime is long and sometimes it is quick but it is always happy! Playing in the big bed consists of cuddles, covers, hiding under covers and pillows, funny faces, tickles, wiggles, and "pat pats". Pat pats are when Daddy hides under the covers and Alli gives him a pat pat to wake him up. She finds that hilarious. We all love playing in the big bed with our cute, fun, kind, happy girl!

Christmas Festivities!

Santa Claus came to see Allison! She kept her eye on him but didn't seem to be afraid. He was so nice.

We love Santa!All ready to go to church in her pretty red dress.
We love you!
Christmas Morning!!!
*we totally failed and forgot out camera! only had our phone camera.

Having homemade bread at the Phillips. Yummy.

Allison with her new penguin pillow pet at the Spongberg's.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We sure did!

Sesame Street Live!

Aunt Danielle, Allison and I went to the show. It was full of singing and dancing with our favorite characters. Alli was most excited about Elmo, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Oscar and Big Bird because they are in the ones that are in one of her favorite books. We were not really sure if Allison was enjoying the show but then when it ended she burst into tears and wanted them to keep going. It was so sad but made it all worth it. Glad she loved it and had fun.

Five years into Eternity...

Is there anything more lovely in the world than sharing your life with someone who means everything to you? We are so in love and cherish our time together just like the day we said "Yes" to forever maybe we cherish our time even more now. Many, many things have changed in our lives these past five years but we would choose each other again and again, forever and ever.We celebrated out anniversary by going up to The Zermatt Resort in Midway. It was beautiful. Yesterday afternoon we treated ourselves to massages and then drove up to the hotel. We ate dinner there and explored the shops and area. We bought some European chocolate, oh so good! The grounds were great. They had a carousel, a lake, stream, and pools. There was steam coming off all the water and it looked very romantic. The next morning we got up and had bagels from the Swiss bakery and shopped at the outlets. It was a quick yet perfect get away to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.
Love you forever! Happy Anniversary!

*What has changed these past five years?

4 places lived

1 new car

2 college degrees

1 new job

3 sister-in-laws added to the families

1 darling two year old

1 baby to come

5 countries visited

We are excited to see what the next 5 years brings....