Kansas city trip, Week 23, and also did you have Braxton hicks at 22 weeks?

A couple months back my best friends husband called and asked my husband and I if we would be interested in a weekend away. No kids, just adults for one night and two full days in celebration of my bf's birthday this year. With us getting ready to have baby number two and things will be pretty crazy for us this summer, we decided we deserve a parents weekend away.

4 friend couples got together this past weekend and drove to Kansas City; Mo. Yes if your thinking "was if freezing ass cold outside"? Yes it was. If your thinking we are crazy to drive to Kansas City for a getaway, you may be right? We live 4 hours from KC and I've personally never been there. My friend was very excited about the shopping at the outlet malls. We had a great dinner at a theater/dinner and a movie, that was really fun and relaxing after a long day out shopping :)
We spent the night in a fancy beautiful hotel, stayed up late chatting it up and showing off what we bought for ourselves and our kids. The husbands played a little poker. We didn't make it out to the power and light district because it was snowing and freaking freezing outside. But we still enjoyed our time there so much. We all ate a very nice huge breakfast the next morning and then headed home. It was short and sweet but lots of fun. We missed Cooper like crazy but had a great time and came home to a delicious homemade dinner my mom made for us and a pie to top that off. My parents stayed with Cooper and they took him to Chuckie Cheese for dinner Saturday night and got to spend lots of quality time with him. He had so much fun with them.

My wonderful parents even stocked our fridge and pantry full of meals and food for the next few weeks. That was so sweet of them. The fact that I came home to a clean house, laundry done, dinner made and food for the next few weeks made me want to cry from joy!
My parents are truly so wonderful, Can they just move in??? :)

This week I am 23 weeks pregnant. I have been feeling sort of achy and sore. I'm assuming its the lovely round ligament pain and just growing pains in general. Other than the soreness things are going great. I did feel some tightening the past two days. I was afraid it was Braxton hicks and wasn't sure if they normally start this early. I don't remember them starting this early with Cooper. I started downing water, I'm sure I'm dehydrated. Anyone else remember having Braxton hicks at 22 weeks?
The room is slowly coming together. We are going to paint this weekend. I ordered some things online and they came in this week :) I can't wait to have it mostly put together so I can show you all what we've done. But we still have lots to do before we do that.
I did buy our little miss some super cute outfits though while shopping this weekend. I got Cooper some really great clothes for next year as well, it was all so inexpensive and cute, I sort of went crazy in all the stores.
Here are some of the new baby clothes we got, My fav's.
Now our little sweetie has some clothes in her closet :)

And of course a few week 23 pictures of me. Growing!

Thanks girls

I never got the chance to post and tell you all thank you so much for the advice on the strollers. Its hard to decide which one to get with so many out there. I have in mind a few things I would really like to get out of my double stroller. I will be checking out each and every stroller you guys suggested and deciding which will best fit my family. I appreciate your help and suggestions so much, it gives me a great place to look without going blindly into it all.

Thanks! :)

I didn't really do a post this week and I really wanted to. I wanted to post a 22 week picture of my round belly and some of the pics I took of our Cooper also. It snowed here this week. Nothing horribly bad or outrageous, just a few inches of snow and some icy roads. Cooper hasn't really seen any snow since he was an infant so this was very new to him. I went to get him out of the car at his sitters house and he looked at me with wide very serious and concerned eyes and pointed down at the snow and said "UH OH MAMA, UH OH". I looked at him and laughed. How cute is he.. I said "Yes Cooper Uh oh is right, that is snow and its cold and slippery but its fun too :)"
He is just so funny.
He says some of the cutest things.

Well hopefully I will get to post a great big post about a fun weekend coming up on Sunday.

Have a great weekend ladies. Be safe.

16 months old yesterday!

Cooper my sweet baby boy. You are already 16 months old and each month passes faster than the last did. Your changing each and every day, learning new things and just being you. Lately your personality has been out in full force. Your sweet and loving, your loud and rambunctious, your silly and animated. You fake cry the most ridiculous fake cry ever, but its funny to watch. You give the very best kisses and hugs ever. You dance with your shoulders, you bop to the music, you fist pump like a pro :) You are talking and repeating so much we try to get you to say for us.
Last weekend we went to a friends 2 year old birthday party and at the party you were the only boy. Most of the kids there were between 1-3 years of age and they were all so sweet and innocent little girls. We went to a play gym where Cooper managed to run the wild muck that boys tend to do. He tore past these little girls older than he was roughly ready to dive and play in anything and everything. They had a blow up jupiter jump with a huge slide and the kids had to climb the little ladder and slide down. The little girls before us (4 of them) were scared and wouldn't go down. Finally they went one at a time, some rolling at the very end others just face planting, HAHA (I know how mean am I for laughing at that). They got up crying and running away from the slide like it was the most evil slide in the world. Then came Cooper's turn, Cooper who insisted on climbing the ladder all by himself although he ended up falling and getting frusterated by trying 4 or 5 times before reaching the top. He got to the top. Sat proudly and ready to go and off he went quickly down the slide turning himself in rolls twice at the bottom and ending with his face smashed into the bottom of the plastic in the Jupiter jump. I stood ready to go get him, sure that my sweet innocent baby boy would start to cry and need his mama. He looks up with his eyes at me, face still pressed firmly on the ground. He smiles a huge smile and jumps up screaming joyfully as he bounces falling and face planting multiple times to get back to the slide ladder as fast as he could. He loved it! He was giddy.

Needless to say we were the only ones who stayed in the Jupiter jump, the little girls all went off to do less rowdy dangerous things and Cooper stayed ready to fall over and over again.
It really made me think and wonder, How different will our little girl be? Will she be rowdy and hyper and crazy like her brother or will she be gentle and sensitive like these little girls seemed to be. Don't get me wrong, I grew up with two brothers and I am the most girly girl I know but I could play kick ball, football, soccer, army men and any other boy things that we all did with the best of them. I enjoyed being outside and playing the sports. But I was still a girl, I still cried when the ball smacked me and I fell. Not every time but looking back I wasn't as tough as I thought I was. I would wear my little skirts that had the shorts attached underneath :) A cute shirt to match and my soccer cleats and I would play ball like I was one of the guys.
Will my little girl be a tomboy by association because she has a rough and tough older brother or can or will she be a sensitive little flower :) ??? These are the things I'm thinking as I watch Cooper fall face first and just jump up wanting more.

Cooper you are by far the best thing that has ever happened to us and we could not be more happy that God blessed our lives with you!
You are eating well, if you hear a package opening you come running to see if mommy is eating another snickers or cookie that she's craving. You won't miss a chance at biting into those sweets.
You sleep like such a little angel, I have absolutely no complaints there. You try to put your own shoes on and if mom or dad aren't wearing there's you try to put there's on them also. You lay in bed on the weekends and you sing to yourself for at least 30 minutes to an hour waiting patiently for us to come get you in the mornings. Its so cute to listen to you belt it out all by yourself in there.
You love your riding cars we are keeping in the house right now because its too cold for outside. You will hop on the four wheeler with one hand free and your sippy in the other ready to walk it around the house. It sort of reminds me of a bull rider, Its so cute. You are wearing 12-18 month clothes and your shoe size is a 3 but your wearing some of your new size 4 shoes. Your still tall and skinny for your age. You let us brush your teeth twice a day like a champ. You even try to get the toothbrush for us when we ask if its time to brush. You absolutely love the book "Jesus loves me" that we read before bed. You won't pick any other book. You adore this one and the other day after I read it you quietly said in your little sweet baby voice "Jeshush". I was so proud. I said "Yes honey, Jesus, he loves you so much just like mommy and daddy do". Made my heart want to cry!

I could tell stories about you forever, there are so many each day that passes.
Just know that we love you so much and our lives revolve around our little Cooper love.
You are loved by us, you are loved by Jesus, God, and anyone who comes into contact with you. You are so special.
Happy 16 months sweet boy.

Stroller advice

Ladies, I come to you asking for advice. All of you mom's of two or three or more, or even mom's of one that have spent some time around a double stroller. I am trying to figure out which double strollers to go look at or just order?
Here are my requests from most important to least important....
1. Safety for my children, I don't want something that is going to be recalled and is made cheaply
2. Price, I can't go buying some 4-600$ stroller. That's just crazy talk. I don't go outside that much. I just need something we can take on walks (which to be honest Cooper will want to ride his new tricycle so we can just use our single stroller for those). But mall trips, zoo trips and things like this we will need the double. So I'm looking for nice and inexpensive (is there such a thing?)
3. Light and easy to use. I don't want some huge bulky and heavy stroller. I'm no body builder here.
4. Preferably fits in malls and places like malls easily and comfortably. I realize that a double stroller will not be as compact and that's fine but something that isn't to huge would be nice.
I don't mind side by side's as long as they are somewhat compact.

I'll stop here with my wish list. HELP!
I hate going blindly into a decision like this. We have a wonderful nice Expensive Chico stroller for Cooper and its safe and smooth, however the thing weighs like 800 lbs.
I just want that stroller that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside and I don't complain about it. But of course at a discounted price :)

A women can dream can't she?

I'm in my 20th week, past halfway!!!!

Well I skipped right passed my 20 week post last week. I took a picture that day fully intending on doing a halfway there post but never got to typing up the post.
Things are going good. I'm growing bigger and bigger every day. Things are going good pregnancy wise. I feel huge, yet people say I'm small. I ordered some maternity jeans from the gap this week and just got them last night and they fit perfectly like a glove :) That made me very happy.
Blake has been moving like crazy lately. She's so active at times yet she's so soft about it. If I try to play back and softly push in she will immediately retract and disappear for a couple hours. No joke! Its actually kind of funny. Its like she's scared of my pushing in at her or something. I thought the first time was just a random act, but then realized that anytime my husband tried to feel her kick or I put my hand on my stomach where she is kicking she would just stop and disappear. Its so funny. Cooper never did this. I'm wondering if in time she will start to kick either way and won't sink away from us?

The room plans are in full force. I'm planning on going to get the paint this week and paint this weekend. We go back to the doctor next week, I think Wednesday. Is it normal for me to be afraid that I'm going to go in and hear its a boy. I would be OK, I will love my baby no matter what and be excited no matter what. But now that he gave us the OK to really start on everything saying it is a girl I think I would be upset to find out I have to back track and re group everything I'm doing. Oh well, who cares. I'm going to not worry and be excited no matter what. Chances are she is still a she but just in case I will brace myself for the chance of change.

Pregnancy details at this time are...
Weight: Up about 17-18lbs. Wow!
Carrying: Higher than Cooper at this point but still low for a girl
Feeling: Good, just tired and not as "Bendy" (and no I don't mean flexible, literally bendy.as I once was. (the stomach just doesn't move in any bend like it used to).
Cravings: Cheeseburgers, Snickers bars, Anything and everything :)
There aren't any foods that I'm not really wanting or eating, but I do crave lots of different foods.
Movement: Light movement off and on throughout the day in spurts. She doesn't like it when she feels us checking out her movements.

Here is a pic Julian took tonight. I feel like in just a week I've grown some more. Maybe I'm crazy but I just feel larger than I did last week.


And of course, my precious little love COOPER!!!

Happy birthday mom

Mom, Its your birthday 01-11-11. What a beautiful day this world gets to celebrate the birth of you!
I just wanted to do a quick post telling you how much we all including me love you more than words could ever express. You amaze me daily with the beautiful person that you are inside and out.
Thank you for all you do for us. WE LOVE YOU!!!!

I hope you have a perfect day!