DINOSAURS!!!RAWR!!!!!

Today we went and saw the dinosaurs at the state fair grounds…we knew Riley would love it and wanted to make it a special trip for him (of coarse we held it over his head today to make him deserve to go) At first Riley was very weary and wouldn't let go of Ryan's hand, but once he saw other kids running around and climbing he was fine.  One side was dinosaur models and the other side was activities.

After touring the dino side, we went to the activity area.  The first inflatable play ground was HUGE, to say the least and Riley was just tall enough (42 inches) to get in.  However he could not get over one of the climbing walls inside to enjoy the whole thing (it was at least 2-3 feet taller than him and there was no where to put your feet to get over it, I think he was supposed to jump down, up and over)  Anyways!  we went over to the inflatable where you only had to be 36 inches tall, it worked much better.  After an hour of play…our little monster was tired, sweaty and hungry.  So we stood in line to get our face painted.  Riley was so excited to get a T-Rex on his cheek, but when it was our turn, Riley wouldn't go to the face-painting-lady.  Ryan said" go buddy, it's your turn"  He didn't move.  I said "Riley go now or don't go at all!"  He held his hands up to his chin and said "Just a second!"  We think he was a little unsure of the tattooed, overly pierced, free spirit who was about to paint his face.  After taking her in, he approached the chair and sat as still as can be!  

(BTW)  Riley has a black eye from Nana Pam's house and a rash around his mouth, we are assuming from ketchup staying on his skin too long?

We got a little souvenir also!

Tate was so tired and hungry!

So hungry he started licking Ryan's head, Ryan had drool dripping down to his neck!  HA!

Baby Room…DONE!

Remember this….

Well I FINALLY decided on a color…

And yes…her name is on the wall, so for all you losing sleep over the name pam schaller…here it is.

Blakely Collins Lafrenz

Obviously I don't have the bedding yet…still being shipped, but I will be sure to post when the bedding comes, which will be a soft pink.

24 Weeks

Doctors appointment went good.  Blood Pressure 124/80 and the ultra sound to double check the spine went good.   Baby girl cooperated and we were able to get some 4-D images.   Riley took the picture of my belly (hence why it's blurry and my head is cut off)  he did pretty good though.

The 4-D image distorts her a little, but you can see her eyes are closed, hands up by face and the feet and toes in the foreground.  It was so cool to see her movements in 4-D, of coarse I cried.

Negative Nancy: Starting to grunt when bending over and sitting up...

Positive Polly:  Got to see baby in 4-D and almost done with the baby room 

Waistline: regular jeans with a belly band and I have a pair of maternity jeans I wear also.  Maternity shirts are still too big.  Gained a total of 12 pounds since 10 weeks, my goal is to only gain 20-25 so I really need to crack down!

Cravings: I don't have the privilege of having cravings…I eat what I can.  I am really thirsty all the time and I really enjoy Iced Tea.

What I miss: doing all those things that are bad for you….drinking, tanning and eating bad foods

What I am looking foreword to: Announcing the name…we finally decided on a middle name

Ryan: He is currently going with the flow, trying to keep me happy (like letting me paint the baby's room a million times until I find the right color)

Riley and Tate- Riley knows the baby's name and wants to know how to spell it.  He thought the 4-D picture was cute!  Both boys are adjusting to the bunk beds really well!  Riley asked me today "momma? where's the baby…in your belly?" I responded, "yes bud, the baby is in mommy's belly"  Riley continued his inquiry " does it hurt your belly?" I said (without thinking)  "no, but it will when she comes out…"  Riley then said  "COMES OUT!?  Out your butts?"  I carefully thought about my next words "well, how do you think the baby will come out?"  Riley slowly thought "No, the baby don't come out your butts, i thinks, she comes out…ummm (lifts up his shirt)…out your belly button!"  I agreed. :) 

Peeper

Our neighbors are building a "castle" and Riley was peeping over the fence at them, making sure no dragons attacked.  

How do I decide!?

I think I have looked at thousands of paint samples and I still can't find "the color"  

Tate Sideshow, in case you missed it :)

The Barnyard Bash!

Today was Tate's 1 Year Birthday Party and it turned out great.  Great weather, great family and a great little baby!  It was sort of a semi-homemade party.  I had the cake made (thank you Wal Mart)  and I bought the balloons and table covers.  I made the birthday banner in photo shop, Ryan printed it at work and we cut and strung twine through it!  I made the table runners and the tissue pom poms (not as easy as pinterest makes it seem)  We had pulled pork (which was quite an adventure roasting a 15 pound shoulder), cole slaw and fruit salad.  For drinks we had lemonade and raspberry iced tea.

Ryan kept telling me last night, as I was about to pass out from all the work…"it's just a 1 year birthday party, cake and presents, what else do you need…I blame that tori and dean show you watch?"   I am well aware that Tate had no idea what was going on…but I love hosting and decorating, so you CAN thank Tori Spelling and Pinterest, of coarse!

Here are A LOT of pictures from the big day!

I think it was a long day for everyone…my feet were swollen and this is what Tate and Riley looked like after the party….

Thanks to everyone who came to make the day so special!

Tate: 1 Whole Year!

When I found out I was pregnant with Tate, I was nervous about how I would feel about this baby…is it possible to love another baby as much as I loved Riley?  I found out…it is VERY POSSIBLE.  God gave mommies and daddies the exceptional ability to give ALL their love to ALL their children.

We had the name Tate picked out a year before we were even pregnant, Ryan and I both new we would have another boy and he would be a Tate…but we would NOT call him Tater…Potater….Tater Salad or any other stupid, idiotic nick names and we would banish any one else who called him that!
Tate had the hiccups the whole pregnancy and would lay still for days and then ninja kick all of a sudden!

The actual birth was fairly easy {compared to 2 hours of pushing with Riley} I pushed for about 5 minutes, with ALOT OF INTENSE PAIN!  Ryan about missed the birth, he ran in the room after push 2.  And out came Tate at 9:59am, screaming and purple.  He was so tiny and I couldn't stop kissing him.  Absolutely the best feeling in the world to hold your baby after 38 weeks of pregnancy, 19 hours of labor and 5 minutes of pushing.   When he cried he sounded like a pterodactyl, in fact he still sounds like that when he demands food…hmmmm?  

Tate's smile even makes the grumpiest Wal-Mart greeter grin and makes old ladies want to pinch his dimples.  And now all he does is point and laugh at anything!

Now he is 1 year and it went by way too fast, Tate has kept us on our toes.  Between toilets and stairs, our house is a lock down on security against Taters.  Nothing is safe in our house.

Here's what Tate is up to at 1 year
- loves music and dances whenever music is on {loves his elvis station on dish}
-walks, but only when he remembers he can.
-laughs at Riley and the dog
-eats anything you put in front of him
-points at things he sees
-wears 12-24 months clothes {depending on the brand}
-has 8 teeth and is working on 4 more
-loves water
-loves books
-throws anything and like to play "ball"
-likes to roll trucks and cars around
-shares a room with Riley
-still thinks all animals say "mooooo"
-gets into the garbage can…throws away paper
-drinks from a sippy, no more bottles
-around 24 pounds
- 1 year party on Sunday

-more pictures on proof site

                                                                                                                                                               

Roommates!

We have started to make adjustments in the house for this new baby.  One of the biggest adjustments is moving the boys in together.  We found a great bunk bed for the boys at homemakers and got them new sports bedding {I still have to change the curtains}  Riley is really excited about the TOP bunk and asks to sleep in there every night, but Tate just got over being sick and then Riley got sick so we are waiting till everyone is in good health to make the big transfer.

Bear's Birthday

This is a catch up post…

4 years ago on Valentine's Day, Ryan and I had this crazy notion to get a puppy.  Hindsight 20/20 we would have gotten a gold fish…but you live with the choices you make.  So ever since, we have been the proud owners of a neurotic, lap licking, smelly, over-sized, just plain weird dog.  This year we decided to celebrate her birthday (this was more for the kids to have fun) I made a cake and we had a little dog party.
And of coarse it wouldn't be a Bear party if we didn't sing " I like to move it move it…"

What does ER stand for?

First let me start off by saying…my kids rarely get sick and when they do it's minor colds.  However, last night we had quite the dilemma in our house.."to go to the emergency room…or not to go to the emergency room?"

We were out and about yesterday and while we were eating supper at AppleBee's, we noticed that Tate was extremely warm and not acting normal.  We quickly finished up and headed home.
5:30pm-When we got home, Ryan took Tate's temperature….105!  We stayed calm and decided to let Tate cool down from his winter coat. We took it a second time a couple minutes later…106! I gave him a cool bath, a bottle and retook his temperature a third time…103.  We decided to try and ride it out through the night and take him to urgent care first thing in the morning.
6pm-I gave Tate tylenol
6:30-checked his temp. (101) and laid him down for bed
8pm- checked temp. (99)
10pm-I checked Tate's temp again…103 again.  I pick him up out of the crib and noticed he was sweating.  I took him downstairs for another dose of tylenol, I handed him over to Ryan and Tate began to vomit.  The dilemma at that point was solved "to go to the emergency room…"  Ryan washed Tate up and noticed his lips were blue-ish.  Then I took him upstairs to get him dressed and noticed his skin was pale with purple red blotches {my mommy panic set in}  and I say "OH MY GOD RYAN! HIS LIPS ARE BLUE!" {Ryan's daddy panic set in}  and he says "Miss, calm down…I'm sure he's fine"  We get Riley up  {who is wearing pjs that are 3 sizes too small and don't match-digger on the top and animals on the bottom} and set sail for the ER.  The whole ride Tate had shallow breathing and acting very lethargic.
We checked in at 10:30pm and waited…got sent to a room and waited…saw a nurse and waited…saw the doctor and waited…registered and waited…had blood taken (Tate didn't even cry!?) and waited.  Doc came back  at 2:15 am and told us Tate's white blood cell count was double what it should be and wanted to get an x-ray of his chest.  At 2:45am they took Tate for the chest x-ray (Tate did cry for that) At 3:20 Doc came in and said there were patches on Tate's lungs and wanted to get him on antibiotics for pneumonia.  He also said Tate's showing symptoms of the flu, which means he needs lots of rest and fluids.  At 3:30am, after 5 hours in the ER {waiting} we were discharged, headed home and slept.  I will keep everyone posted on how Tate is feeling.  He doesn't have a temp anymore, but still isn't acting himself- stuffy nose, shallow breathing, cranky.  We are going to give him the meds and pump him with fluids.

20 weeks…almost

Lots have changed in these last 5 weeks.  I'm past the "is she getting fat…?" stage and into the "oh yeah, she's pregnant."  and I'm sure I will soon be in the "are you sure you're not pregnant with twins!?"

I have been feeling pretty good, I am a slave to my diet and I do have the occasional treat.  Luckily one of my cravings as of late has been skittles or sour skittles.  About 2 weeks ago, I started to have the weirdest craving for Buffalo Wings…we had a jar of buffalo sauce in the fridge and I found myself sniffing it like it was a yankee candle.  For me, buffalo anything is a weird craving!

I started to feel flutters around 15/16 weeks and full kicks at 17/18.  Now at almost 20 weeks I can feel swirls, twirls and all that in between.  Ryan felt the baby kick for the first time on 2/26 {19wks} and he was so excited.

I still go to the gym as often as I can, it actually is really helping with my water retention for the sodium.  I really need to keep up my strength and endurance for photo appointments and Tate.

My doctors appointment and ultra sound went good yesterday.  Everything was physically normal with the baby.  The nurse asked if we wanted to know the sex and ryan and I simultaneously said "YES!"  She continued…"well, do you see these three little things…?"  right then I thought…ANOTHER BOY!  She continued again…"…those three little lines means it's a baby girl...crack, crack and crack!"  Ryan was stunned and I started to cry.  Needless to say (and believe it or not) WE are BOTH over-the-moon about having a girl!

We polished off the great news by getting buffalo wings and cold stone ice cream…it was an almost perfect night (beside the waiting in the lobby at the doctors office for 2 hours!)

Negative Nancy: underestimating my size and have hit my tummy on the counter and knocked Riley over with my butt.  Out of breath a lot and still swell WAY.TO.MUCH after eating sodium

Positive Polly:  I am feeling pretty good physically, I am going to take advantage of my mobility while I can.  and of Coarse we are having a BABY GIRL!!!!

Waistline: regular jeans with a belly band and I have a pair of maternity jeans I wear also.  Maternity shirts are still too big.  Gained a total of 9 pounds since 10 weeks, my goal is to only gain 20-25 so I really need to crack down!

Cravings: SKITTLES!  Buffalo Wings and bleu cheese 

What I miss: doing all those things that are bad for you….drinking, tanning and eating bad foods

What I am looking foreword to: decorating the baby room ( I will post pictures of some of my ideas)

Ryan:  Ryan was and is a little unsure of the unknown of a girl and said " I will now be stressed out from worry, for the rest of my life…"  

Here are some other Ryan quotes from the evening:

"I need to buy a shot gun"

"I gonna have to teach her to box"

"I hope she looks like you"

"I won't be able to yell at her…so you will have to do that"

Riley and Tate- I told Riley we were having a girl and he said "Oh! lets name her Reshandia"  Later that night I asked him what he thought about having a baby girl and he said "No, I don't want a baby girl, I want an AVA"  I explained that Ava was a girl, so this baby girl would be like Ava…and he responded "No! Ava's not a BABY!"  I guess I can't argue that logic.