BillyandAshlee.com

Weekend

I’ll do a recent recap with pic’s!

Friday night stop at ToysRUs to get a birthday gift for a party on Sunday:

Lauren and Ethan dancing together to the music at the farmer’s market on Saturday:

Saturday night, Ethan’s aunt Sarah babysat for us while Billy and I attended a wedding reception for some friends at Loose Park, it was really pretty:

and this was dinner:

on Sunday, we had a 4th birthday party for Lauren’s school friend, Brynna…Lauren loves parties!

Carl’s dad ended up being the one following the kids when they headed for the water or into the woods:

Brynna’s mom actually got them all to sit nicely to open gifts, too bad that last through about 2 gifts and then they decided they’d all rather play instead!

Lauren and her friend Ann Marie, been together since they were 1.5 years old and they’ll go to kindergarten together:

lined up for the pinata, from the front of the line, Ann Marie, Carl, Piper, Sydney, Lauren, and Gabe, all from Lauren’s class:

free for all:

Piper, Brynna, and Lauren…with Lauren’s favorite thing in the world, cupcakes!

The party was great, despite the 2 ticks we found on Lauren that day! I’m trying to imagine how I’ll have the energy for Lauren’s party only 2-3 weeks after the baby is born! Inviting the entire class is ambitious, we’re not quite sure how many are on the invite list just yet, but the theme is definitely Tinkerbell! That’s been picked out for months by Miss Lauren!

Other than that, the weekend was full of walks and playing outside, especially with the gorgeous weather on Sunday!

New House

In house news, they finished the interior painting today (for the most part) and will be working on exterior paint, exterior concrete work (driveway, sidewalk, patio), and the deck the rest of the week!

the great room:

kitchen:

dining room:

looking into the entryway from dining room:

mudroom bench:

Lauren in her newly painted yellow room! She was so cute, we could see baby brother’s room was blue when we came up the stairs, so she immediately went running into her room and started yelling “it’s yellow!! it’s yellow!! it’s yellow!!” She was ssssoooo excited to have her yellow room back! I need to figure out a way to do the pink stripe or pink something again, as it tames down the yellow a bit:) I can’t wait to put her room back together, she’s going to be over the moon excited!

and baby brother’s room…we’re doing a medium/gray blue with chocolate brown, the color is coming off a bit bright right now, but will be a bit different with the dark espresso furniture and things, but I do love it! It’s weird to have a “boys” room in our house after almost 4 years of everything girly! Lauren was also pretty pumped to see baby brother’s room (and went running to see mommy/daddy’s and was a bit disappointed to see it was just brown! lol):

and I’m not sure I’ve ever posted pics of the “under garage” room…the wood are just temporary support walls that will come out. Billy has big plans for this space!

Pregnancy

I’m 30 weeks pregnant today!! 3/4 of the way done! We are having our 3d/4d sonogram done tomorrow, so I’ll share the pics in the next few days! We can’t wait to see him again!

4th of July

Lauren is so excited for the 4th…she *loves* fireworks (both setting them off and the big ones) and has been talking about the parade since we moved into this house in April…we went last year and she remembers, the parade route is only a block from our house! And it makes it all even more exciting that Damon is coming for the 4th! I’m sure we’ll have tons of pics to share on Sunday!

I never blogged about our Father’s Day. First, I hope Billy, dad, Paul, poppie and grandpa Don…and all other fathers…had a wonderful day. I’m pretty sure Billy did:).

With the help of some very generous friends, I had i-hacked tshirts made for Lauren (www.i-hacked.com is Billy’s website) and I took her to get her pictures taken in them with Billy’s “hacktop” or something like that (little laptop used for hacking). So, not only were the framed pictures a gift to him, but taking her to Portrait Innovations on a Saturday myself, and him not having to go, was probably the best gift! lol

Lauren’s track record is that she can not keep a secret for the life of her. Well, this time, she did great!! She had to keep the tshirts a secret, the fact that we were taking pictures, that we took pictures, that we bought frames and framed them, and that we wrapped them!! Billy knew that his friend Trent was helping me with something, so I just told him we were going to Trent’s house that Saturday morning that we did pic’s…Lauren was adorable, throughout the morning, she was rehearsing her “story”…”daddy, we just went to Trent’s house and talked”. She kept repeating it every now and then. I know I shouldn’t be proud of the fact that I was teaching her to lie and that she did so well, but it was a milestone to me that she could understand the concept and not spill the beans, even when daddy asked what his gift was and she said “I can’t tell you”. Ahhh, she’s growing up!! And omg - pictures at over 3.5 years old are so.much.easier than they are at even the age of 3! She smiled and smiled and did everything just as asked, daddy actually missed out on a great picture session (even though being at that place sucks, so disorganized, always).

Sunday morning, Lauren and I got up and went downstairs and Billy woke-up soon after and came downstairs. We had the gifts hidden in one of Lauren’s closets, so we went up to get them, I went into our room really quick first and by the time I came out, she was already down the stairs with one, she was so excited! Billy got a framed collage, a 5×7 framed, and then a few new shirts. He loved them:). Then we took him out to breakfast, ran to look at the TV (again) he wanted to order for the new house (above the fireplace), home for naps, a walk, leftovers for dinner, and then to Cheesecake Factory for dessert. Lauren wanted to pay for her own cake, and she thought $3 should cover it and brought her own money (pretend money, out of her cash register)…it was pretty cute. But then when we got there, she said that maybe we ought to pay for hers instead:).

A few pics.

Helping daddy open his gift, I bet you can’t guess that she picked out the yellow gift wrap (her fav color)!

holding her money on the way to get dessert:

I’ll try to get the professional pics up online tonight to share!

And then Billy’s big Father’s Day, birthday, anniversary, new house and potentially Christmas gift, was his new tv…just delivered this morning! It’s a Samsung 46″ LCD-LED HDTV (I think I got that right!)…about 1.5 inches thick! Here’s a link! I’ll post a pic once it’s mounted at the new house!

We ran by the house yesterday for just a couple minutes and seriously, we need to stay out, the fumes are terrible!! They had finished the cabinetry staining and had painted all the trim (windows, baseboards, closets, etc) in the house! And I just ok’d the overage this morning to have them paint the kids rooms the colors we want so that they’re ready to go when we move in! I also ok’d the overages on our tile and carpet this week and those have been ordered. It’s all coming together fast!

We went out to the house last night and they’d been staining cabinetry all day. I’m pretty sure Lauren, the baby, and I should stay out of there for awhile, the smell was awful, even with fans running everywhere! But, it was cool to see! Lauren declared it all a mess! I have to say we agreed!

kitchen:

desk in pantry:

great room:

breakfast nook:

butler’s pantry:

stairs:

master bath:

We also picked out our granite slabs yesterday! We had been last week and didn’t like the slabs available, we only liked a few that were already sold. But they got in a new shipment yesterday so we went out and they were perfect! I believe they’re cutting the granite either this week or next, so I imagine we’ll have counters in a few weeks! Here’s a picture of one of our slabs of granite:

All the windows/trim is taped and ready to be painted (trim is all a version of white…who knew how many shades there are!). I know we should stay out, but I’m sure we won’t be able to resist the urge to drop in for just a few mins tonight to see what else was done today! I feel awful for the guys that are working inside the house all day when the head index is in the 100’s. I bet they’ll be happy once our a/c is functioning!

We went out to the house last night and they’d been staining cabinetry all day. I’m pretty sure Lauren, the baby, and I should stay out of there for awhile, the smell was awful, even with fans running everywhere! But, it was cool to see! Lauren declared it all a mess! I have to say we agreed!

Obviously this is just the first coat and w/o the sealant/laquer whatever they put on it.

kitchen:

desk in pantry:

great room:

breakfast nook:

butler’s pantry:

stairs:

master bath:

We also picked out our granite slabs yesterday! We had been last week and didn’t like the slabs available, we only liked a few that were already sold. But they got in a new shipment yesterday so we went out and they were perfect! I believe they’re cutting the granite either this week or next, so I imagine we’ll have counters in a few weeks! Here’s a picture of one of our slabs of granite:

All the windows/trim is taped and ready to be painted (trim is all a version of white…who knew how many shades there are!). I know we should stay out, but I’m sure we won’t be able to resist the urge to drop in for just a few mins tonight to see what else was done today! I feel awful for the guys that are working inside the house all day when the head index is in the 100’s. I bet they’ll be happy once our a/c is functioning!

Here’s the latest belly pic as of today, at 28weeks 4 days:

As compared to the last one 4 weeks ago at 24weeks 4 days, I’ve grown just a bit! lol

Finally, as compared to 28.5 weeks with Lauren:

We had a meeting with our construction manager, Joel, today to do some stain samples and discuss the deck build and he gave us the official close date of 8/13!!! He said if we close on that Thursday, we’ll take possession on Friday! So we’re moving on Saturday, 8/15 (knocking on wood no unforeseen events)!!! That is 8 weeks!! I’m so excited! And, we’ll still have 3 weekends to enjoy the subdivision’s pool, Lauren looks longingly at it each night when we drive by! That will feel awesome the last month of pregnancy after a long day of work (even if I will be huge!). Then we went and picked out our granite slabs, now we just have to wait to see if they’re available, that’s annoying.

And for fun, a few pics from the last few days.

our house with stucco on, whatever isn’t stucco, will be stone (sides and back are normal siding):

Lauren and Ethan being silly…you can see how hot it is in KC and in a house with no a/c by how red their faces are!

standing in the breakfast nook, door to what will be the deck:

the bench in the mudroom (there will be hooks, I’ll likely put baskets underneath to hold kid stuff like gloves, hats, etc so they can get to them easily):

our fireplace and built-ins in the great room (a flatscreen tv will be going in above the fireplace):

better view of great room:

shelving in my walk-in pantry (the pantry has to be one of my fav parts of the house!):

and with the desk:

looking into pantry from the kitchen:

trim around front door:

laundry room…big closet on the left, built-in ironing board, and then washer/dryer with shelf/clothes rod (opposite of w/d is a folding counter with another shelf and clothes rod and space under for laundry baskets, I decided to forgo a sink since there are already 5 upstairs!)…you get to the laundry room off of the hallway on the 2nd floor or through the master closet…laundry room is likely my 2nd fav place in the house!:

Paint and stain starts next week!!

I just called Joel, our construction manager, with my usual laundry list of questions (we try not to bug him too much so that we’re not some of *those* people, but hello, I’m Type A and a perfectionist, I have a ton of questions and luckily, he’s one of the nicest guys we’ve ever known!)…well, as I was talking to him, he said he had our close date for me!!! Now, he didn’t have it in front of him, so he is going to email me to confirm, but he knew for sure it was MID-AUGUST!!!!! YEA!!!!!!! He thinks it was 8/13!!!!!! OMG - I’m so excited. We might actually be in the house before the baby. Huge relief. Just to know when they think we’ll close is a huge stress relief, I am such a control freak and as much as I’ve tried to shrug it off and not let it bother me, not knowing when we’d close has been bothering me since January!!! Of course, I still won’t know *when* on the baby, but considering I’ll *only* be 36.5 weeks pregnant then, I imagine they’ll try to prevent me from having the baby that early if anything is going on..so we really, really should have a house before a baby!!!!! I could do cartwheels!

A lot of progress again yesterday!

Built-in’s in the great room:

molding in the dining room with really awkward lighting (Lauren quickly learned that playing with sawdust when it’s 95 degrees and humid with no a/c is not a good idea!):

the butlers pantry, standing in the dining room looking back into the kitchen, a wine fridge will go in the empty space on the bottom:

better view of the upper cabinets with wine bottle and glass racks:

kitchen - part of the crown molding is on, the fridge cabinet is in, the pantry has been built-out, and the island is in the right place:

here you can see the kitchen, the butlers pantry and into the dining room, then next to the butlers pantry is the fridge, then next to that is the opening for the walk-in pantry (no doors on yet), and Lauren trying to unwrap the plastic that is still around the island!

my desk in the pantry, I love it! bill slots, cabinets for my binders of warranties, drawers for pens and notepads, etc:

mirrors framed out in master bath:

I’m sure there will be more to share tonight, along with pic’s from Lauren’s school picnic we have tonight!

We went to the house tonight and Lauren went straight for the kitchen and was the first to see and started yelling “daddy, come in here, look at our kitchen!!!” we went in and we had kitchen cabinets!! Totally not expecting that!! LOTS and LOTS of progress today, I’ll update with pics!

the kitchen!

the desk and upper cabinets in the pantry:

cabinets awaiting install in the butler’s pantry:

built-in’s awaiting install (go on either side of fireplace):

last Friday we got actual stairs!

and then today we had the banisters and wood end caps:

in Lauren’s room, the window is trimmed out:

and her closet is in:

and the baby’s closet:

the kid’s bathroom cabinetry is in (standing in baby’s room looking through to Lauren’s room:

sink cabinet in guest bath:

the niche on the 2nd level:

the closet in the laundry room:

master bath cabinets:

And now, my favorite part!! The master closet!!

When first walking into the closet, there are a pair of stacked shelves:

Then beyond that, each side is identical, a length of tall hanging space with shoe racks underneath, then a small set of stacked shelves, then double hanging space and finally a small stacked shelf under the window.

standing in closet looking out of the closet:

and finally, doesn’t it make you wonder who gets to just supervise?

It’s amazing how much they can get done in one day!

Pregnancy - I got my 1 hour glucose results today and I passed! woohoo! So, that just means he’s a big baby! lol

House - We went out on Friday and all the doors are installed, all the trim upstairs is done, and they’d started on the trim on the main level!! So early this week, they’re finishing up trim (trim, closets, mantle, mudroom bench) and then they’re starting cabinetry install this week (kitchen and bath cabinets, built-in’s in great room, etc.)!! I can’t wait to see the cabinets! I have a feeling we’ll be out there everyday this week. I’ll try to get some recent pics up tonight!

Weekend - A pretty routine weekend around our house. Friday we ran out to the house, then grabbed some dinner and home. Saturday we went to the gym (per Lauren’s request as she stated “she had a lot of energy she needed to get out”), then swam in the gym pool (which felt GREAT on my belly after the workout, especially running!), then lunch, errands, and home for nap. While Billy worked on some t-shirt launcher project I ran baby-related errands. Definitely feeling the need to *nest*, which is pretty impossible since I don’t have a house to get ready! So instead, I went to Babies R Us and bought a new Diaper Champ, hamper, bottles, pacifiers, baby book, diapers, and wipes! I have a few other things to buy, but then we’re done! Once we get our close date on the house this week and realize it’s really close to my due date, we’ll probably run to the storage in the next few weeks and pull out the baby stuff we’ll need (pack n play, car seat, boppy, etc) and get things washed and ready just in case the baby comes before house! Then I went home to get everyone ready to meet some friends for dinner and then they came back to our house for awhile to hang out. Yesterday, Lauren and I ran to the mall…Disney has their costumes on sale and Lauren is obsessed with Tinkerbell and having a Tinkerbell 4th bday party…so I wanted to get her the costume to wear to her party and daddy says she always has to wear it for Halloween, which she wants to. I might have to sweet talk a grammy or someone (hint hint!) into making the baby a tiny little Peter Pan costume for Halloween…I looked online and can’t find one small enough. Of course they had the wings but were out of the costume, poor Lauren was so disappointed! So we went home and ordered it online. And I managed to find some cheap maternity tanks and a dress to wear to an upcoming wedding! The rest of the day was playing outside, nap, laundry, dinner, and we took Brody on a “long walk” per Lauren’s request. Very nice weekend. And lots of sleeping in (Lauren slept until 9am again both days!). Why do I have a feeling those days are numbered?

When we got back from Chicago on Sunday, Brody’s stomach was a bit off and he puked a few times (not uncommon for him after so much activity, heat, etc). Well, after gymnastics last night, Coach Kristen tells me that “Lauren told me all about how Brody puked on her hamburger”. I had to laugh and explain that she *almost* got it right…she accidentally dropped her “hamgurburger” on the floor and Brody ate it, and then later, Brody puked it up. Makes you wonder what stories she tells at school, no?

As a sidenote - yes, daddy went back to McDonalds and got her another.

Back from my dr. appt! I had a sono to make sure the placenta had moved up and it’s fine and I’m cleared for a normal birth! yea! The baby was head down for the first time ever, yea! He looks great!! The spot is still there on the heart, but no one is at all concerned, they rechecked (for the 3rd time) all other things and they’re all perfect. They even saw hair!! Lauren was born with a ton, so we’re not too surprised! He weighed in at 2lb 13oz, and is measuring big, on average 28w5d (and I’m 27w3d!), which puts him in the 74%, which would technically move my due date from 9/8 to 8/30, but it won’t be moved since we know what it should be. The sono tech and dr. keep hoping it means I’ll go a bit early since he’ll be big, or at least on time this time! (Lauren was induced 5 days late). The appt was fine, blood pressure 116/74, I’m up 20 pounds as of this morning at 27.5 weeks…she said not to expect the weight gain to slow down bc with summer and swelling I’ll be retaining a lot of water, great, but I’m still hoping to hit that 25-35 target! My belly is measuring 28 weeks, so pretty much right on (which is weird bc Lauren was small (30%) and I always measured like 3-4 weeks ahead with her!) I did my 1 hour glucose as well. Because I’m so “normal”, she isn’t making me start the every 2 week appts yet!! woohoo! So, my next appt is in 4 weeks (at 31 weeks) and then I’ll go every 2 until until 36 weeks when every week appts start. Pretty routine! Oh - and I got my preadmission packet to fill out and send back to the hospital and need to call to schedule my preadmit appt that is supposed to be done by 30 weeks. There are hospital tours 3x’s a week, including Saturday mornings at 10am, so I’m thinking about taking Lauren in the morning so she can see it and I’m also curious bc they have completely renovated since I had Lauren! It’s only 5 mins from our current house, so really convenient. And she’s one of those kids that the more times you expose her or prepare her for something the better, so I think that will be good. She also has a “big sister” class she is taking at the hospital in July, so that’ll help too. Last night, Lauren and I ran to Janie & Jack, Baby Gap, and Gymboree and bought a bunch of outfits for the baby, my first clothing purchases for him (and of course Lauren got some J&J for next summer too!) It’s all seeming more real!

Lauren and I ran out to the new house after gymnastics last night (and before shopping!lol) and ALL of the hardwood floors were installed!! How do they do that in one day?? It looked SO good, it made it feel more like a home!! I can’t wait for the stain to go on though, I just *love* the hardwoods we chose (it’s a mixed width rustic cherry…they look like cr@p when they are “raw” as in the pics, but they sand them down and mix the sawdust with a black epoxy and fill in all the holes and then all the stain and poly go on…they’re amazing)! Trim is starting today, we can’t wait to get out there and look today after work!! Here are some pics:

all the doors have been delivered and are waiting to be installed:

all the trim has also been delivered to be installed starting today!

standing in the entry way looking past the hall on the right (that goes to the mud room, bath, playroom and garage) and into the breakfast room and great room:

the dining room:

standing in the great room looking into the breakfast room and kitchen:

the kitchen (looking into pantry on top middle (desk on right, pantry on left), through the butler’s pantry on the left and on into the dining room:

a close-up pic in the dining room of the mixed width planks and of all the knots/holes that get filled in:

Lauren with a silly face showing off her playroom:

another silly face, but you can see how the dining room floors are laid on a diagonal:

a bit more innocent in this one:)

Hopefully there are pics of trim to show this weekend!

We had our trim meeting at the house this morning (and finished seconds before the torrential downpour started) and no update on close date. Our construction manager, Joel, is working on that this week and will let us know next week. Apparently the decline in the building industry has meant that their subs have all decreased their # of employees (as an example, their hvac sub has gone from 40 installers to 6…wow…this economy blows), so it means scheduling has been much tougher than it was a few years ago. So, he has to go back and check with all the subs and make sure it will all flow for the next few months. Joel is still holding onto the fact that he has never beat a baby when building a house and is sure the baby will come before the house. So, I imagine he’s thinking a late August house finish with a baby a few weeks early. Gee, thanks Joel! He said if he does beat the baby, he’s buying lottery tickets!

The appointment was fun…we decided on the trim throughout the house, layout of hardwoods, and designed the closets. I’m so excited for our master closet! Hardwoods go in on Thursday and they start on trim on Friday.

Quick Lauren story…after bath last night, Lauren gets into her closet and pulls out her yellow flip flops and tells us “Shobika told me I didn’t have flip flops. I told her yes I do, they’re yellow. Can I wear my flip flops to school tomorrow?” She wore the flip flops today. Crazy the comparing and peer pressure that starts at the age of 3. Of course Shobika’s flip flops are Tinkerbell which makes them impossibly cool…which is ironic since I asked Lauren if she wanted when we were at Disney store a few weeks back and she didn’t.

We found a great option for daycare for the baby yesterday. She is a referral from a mom at Lauren’s daycare…all 3 of her girls have gone there when they were babies. The lady’s name is Lauren…so on the way there to meet/interview her yesterday, I told Lauren that her name was Lauren and she said “just like my name?? Lauren Dawn Swearingen???” So, I said no, her name is Lauren _____. And she said, “is her phone number 913-xxx-xxxx” too?” haha She apparently thought everything would be identical since they had the same first name. It’s funny to watch their little brains work when something new hits them! Anyway, this lady has grown kids, her entire walk-out basement is finished beautifully specifically for daycare with a full kitchen, bathroom, living room, play room, etc. and the backyard has several big play structures for the older kids. She only watches 3-4 at a time and only until they are about 2.5 and start preschool. We really, really liked her and likely will choose her for daycare for the baby, but have a few others to call before making a final decision. Definitely nice to have that basically figured out! Now if we could just decide on a name!

Our drywall is finished (we ran out there yesterday after we got back in town and it looks great!). The hardwood floors are going in this week and they are starting on trim on Friday!! Billy and I have a meeting with Joel, our construction manager, tomorrow morning to discuss trim options/upgrades and closet layouts. It’s the last meeting before our “final walkthrough/homeowners orientation” where we go through and create the final punch list of items for the builder!! We should get our rough close date, all we know now is that is should be “August”. We’re really crossing our fingers for early August so we have plenty of time before the baby! But you know, it is what it is and I’ll have plenty of time on maternity leave to get things settled if we don’t have time before. However, Lauren is dying to get into the subdivision pool, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that reason too!

We’re back from Chicago! We had a great time!! We are so proud of Lauren, she hung in there despite some days w/o naps, crowded public transportation, lots of walking, and weird meal times (if we ate!). Here’s a recap, mainly through pics (all 250 pics are in the gallery):

Thursday

Waiting for the shuttle bus at the KC airport with her own “packpack” like mommy and daddy:

thank goodness for personal dvd players!

checking out the contents of her packpack while taking the train from O’hare to our hotel:

We stayed at the Homewood Suites Downtown…2 very short blocks off of Michigan Ave., directly west of Navy Pier and the location was perfect! The staff was really nice and it came with a free full breakfast each morning. We had a suite, so the bedroom was separate from the living room so we just got Lauren a rollaway and put it in the living room and she went to bed in there and we hung out in the bedroom after she went to bed, but quite honestly, we were so beat everday, we all just went to bed at the same time! And we had a full kitchen which was nice to have the fridge to keep some juice boxes and bottled water cold. I highly recommend the hotel!

what’s vacation w/o an ice cream cone?

heading to Navy Pier to check it out…it was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was a little chilly:

daddy and Lauren rode the 15 story ferris wheel…no pregnant women allowed, which is just fine since mommy is afraid of heights…but as we’ve always known, Lauren really has no fear at all, she *loved* it and was at the very top leaning out the car to waive at me, giving me a heart attack, but Billy assured me he had her!

see, I wasn’t kidding, Lauren leaning out to wave at me!

mommy doing more “tame” things that daddy actually doesn’t like:

After the amusement rides and ice cream, we spent about 3 hours at the Children’s Museum (free on Thursday nights, bonus!). It’s similar to ones we’ve been to before in KC and St. Louis and they’re always fun.

playing in the water:

we probably spent 1 hour playing in the grocery store and kitchen, which is also one of her fav things to do at home:

better pic of Lauren and mommy:

building a house with daddy:

playing with crawfish at dinner…and no, daddy wasn’t trying to feed her to the crawfish!

by this time, it’s 9:15pm, Lauren’s “silly hour”, and she’d been up since 6:45am (about an hour or two earlier than normal) with no nap:

on our way home from dinner about 10pm, she’d hit her limit, poor kid looked like she’d had a long night!

Friday

It was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day! yea! So, we headed to Lincoln Park Zoo (free!)…via the public bus. Lauren was excited to ride the bus, but wasn’t expecting it to be a 30 min ride! The highlight of the zoo for Lauren (besides snow cones and popsicle), was the polar bear, she loved watching her.

posing with mommy on the hippos (she begged to take this pic after seeing kids posing on them):

and the required train ride at the zoo:

again, Lauren requested the following 3 posed pics, where we each took turns taking pics and the baby was required in all of them:

eek, that baby sure is growing!

and what’s a trip to Chicago for a little girl without a stop at American Girl Place? I had thought about getting her the entire Bitty Baby set for when the baby comes (she already has bitty twins thanks to grammy/papa), but she really wanted the no hair baby…and I really wanted to get it for her…so, we got the entire bitty baby set (baby, sleeper, diaper, its own stuffed animal, backpack/carrier, blanket, 2 additional outfits, hat, bottle, etc). Let’s just say it was worth the money 10x’s over. She hasn’t stopped playing with it since Friday….we’re continually changing poopy diapers, putting on her sleeper for night/nap, getting dressed up in her dress to go out to dinner, etc. It’s cute bc this is the first time she’s really been into changing the baby’s clothes, usually she strips them naked! Unfortunately we lost one of her shoes at the aquarium yesterday, but daddy promised her he’d get online and buy her a new one. Do I tell him now or later that dolls shoes aren’t that much cheaper than real kids shoes? =)

It just happened that Uncle Luke was also in Chicago for an art fair (little plug here for his incredible jewelry…www.engstones.com…I got another pendant, yea!)…so after changing Lauren and the baby into their semi-matching dresses, she crashed on the walk over to the art fair:

While waiting for the art fair to end, we headed over to Millennium Park to check it out…and had to stop to see the “bean”…it’s actually really cool!

can you find us?

then we checked out the Crown Fountain…this was really cool…two opposing walls of glass bricks that show faces of Chicagoans and then every once in a while, their mouths open and shoot water out…and there’s really shallow water in between the two for the kids to splash in. I told Lauren not to get her dress too wet (daddy wouldn’t allow her to run around in just panties)…and she’s so sweet, she was being so careful, until daddy went out with her and told her not to worry if her dress got wet…and she was only wet around the bottom, until she was running from one end to the other and slipped and fell..I went to go check to make sure she was ok and she tells me “I got soaken wet”..hehe…good thing we had a sweater, so she wore panties and a sweater while we walked around before dinner until her dress dried. She had a *blast* in these fountains…it’s the simple things that make kids happy!

this one cracks me up:

Lauren and Billy’s friend, Olivia:

for a little girl, there’s always a reason to dance!

now in sweater and panties:)

Lauren’s school is having a summer vacation photo and postcard contest…one category is “most school spirit” and their mascot is a frog…so as we passed by Rainforest Cafe with a “live” frog character, we knew we needed a pic…but Lauren wanted daddy in there too.

Lauren and Uncle Luke at dinner:

and with daddy too:

Saturday

It was a very chilly day, so thank goodness we saved the indoor activity for that day! We were off to Shedd’s Aquarium. Billy and I went there about 7+ years ago and really loved it, but apparently 3 years olds aren’t as easily impressed. It was by far Lauren’s least favorite activity…I think it was mainly bc most of it was just standing and looking at fish after fish after fish…nothing really *that* different to a 3 year old and nothing very interactive. She did enjoy the dolphin show. She *hated* the 4d Sponge Bob Squarepants movie…the seats are interactive, so they buzz your butt, a stick pokes you in the back, they spray water on you (that part she thought was ok), then the 3d glasses part she was semi-ok with, and the bubbles that came out and pickle smell they piped in were fun for her. And seriously, it cost another $4/ticket to add that, and it was *maybe* 5 mins long. Total ripoff, for sure! The parts that were her favorite was an “animal” encounter she saw where they brought out an animal really close to them and they watched them feed it while talking about it. And in the penguin area, there was a toddler place where they could climb on rocks, go down slides, play with pretend baby penguins/eggs, dress-up as a penguin, etc. We had to drag her out of there. Other than that, she really loved the sharks and that got lots of “woah’s” and “wows”. Not sure it was worth our $80 to go, that’s for sure! At least that was the only activity that really cost much.

very intently watching the animal encounter:

getting a closer look:

4d movie time:

heading down the penguin slide:

sitting with the “teacher” at the penguin exhibit, she rarely left this girls side:

After the public bus ride back up north, we grabbed some sandwiches and headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and decided we were all due for a nap. We were all so tired and it was cold outside…so we napped and then decided to go to the theater to see “Up”. It was really cute, but some parts were a bit scary for Lauren, but being the bleeding heart she is, cried when Elly died (the old guys wife) and even more so for “dog” when the other dogs were mean to him. She’s a sweet girl:). None of us were hungry for dinner, so we went back to the room about 9pm. Billy headed out to meet up with the guys from the Chicago hackerspace (he’s the VP of the KC space and wanted to check out the Chicago one) and Lauren and I decided to go swimming. As I mentioned last weekend, this summer is a 180 degree turn from a few years ago…last summer she liked it, but didn’t love it, but she is my little water baby now!! I knew it would happen eventually! The pool was 3.5 feet at it’s shallowest, so of course she couldn’t touch, and normally she wouldn’t like that, not at all this time! For the first time ever, she jumped in from the side of the pool into my arms…and not once, but about 100 times, so much so my arms were starting to hurt from lifting her in and out! I even missed catching her once and she went under and she came up laughing! Who is this child? Of course she had to tell daddy all about it this morning…first thing was “I went under water when mommy didn’t catch me!”. You can’t get away with anything! And she also let me toss her way up into the air and catch her and we “swam” all over the pool, with me only holding onto her with 1 hand and she loved it. Seriously, it was weird. And daddy was sorry he missed it! We can’t wait to go swimming next weekend now!

On our way to the pool:

I finally drug Lauren out of the pool at 10pm, I showered, we got dressed for bed, I packed, I think we were both finally asleep by 11pm and then we left early this morning by cab. It was Lauren’s first experience of a “city” where we took tons of public transport (train, subway, buses, cabs), walked everywhere, tons of people on the streets, etc. She loved the constant commotion, she never complained about the long walks because there was so much going on. Having said that, she was sssooo excited to be back to KC and have her SUV and dvd player back! We’re really glad we went and had a vacation that was all about her before the baby is here. And surprisingly, I actually did pretty good 26.5 weeks pregnant with all the constant walking, we rarely sat for 3 days. I had a bunch of swelling from the heat on Friday, but it seems to be better now..and of course tons of braxton hicks contractions from all the activity, but nothing unusual. It’s likely this was our last vacation until next summer, and that is weird, since we tend to take 2-4 a year, but with a new house and a newborn, I doubt we’ll fit one in until next September, when we plan to take the kids to Disney and the beach! Or, we might do the beach somewhere earlier in the summer and then Disney in September. We’ll see! As always, we’re glad to be home today!

4 weeks ago at 20w4d:

Here is my latest belly pic from 1.5 weeks ago at 24w4d:

As compared to my 24w2d belly pic with Lauren:

I just finished uploading over 450 pics from May alone! Here are some of my fav’s:

Lauren’s new haircut:

Lauren just *loves* animals…at her fav place, Deanna Rose:

Horses from May:
#1

#2

#3

chillin’ with Brody and a treat from the ice cream man:

helping daddy get her trike ready for the “trike-a-thon” at school:

she seems so grown-up in this little outfit!

painting her picture at Jiggle Jam:

and the result…mainly yellow and pink of course!

writing her name on the hat she made…this project cracked us up bc she loves using scissors….so she’d spend all this time attaching ribbon and things, only to use the scissors to cut it all off! =)

riding the train with her BFF’s Brayden and Ethan:

her first driving lesson…around the empty court at our new house:

first time fishing:

not wanting to get too close to the fish she caught!

the opening parade at the spring gymnastics program:

getting ready to do her trampoline routine:

balance beam:

getting her medal from Miss Kristen:

pretty recent picture of the exterior of the house:

and the back:

being silly at the new house…we’re there every night, have to make it a little entertaining for a 3 year old!