A little bit of everything

I've been wanting to blog but I just can't seem to come up with anything or I just can't find the time and energy to do this. I'm forcing myself right now but I want to put something up before this baby comes.

I'm 38 weeks pregnant this week, holy cow, I never thought I'd make it past 37 weeks because that's when I had Cooper. I do not want to be one of these pregnant ladies that goes a week or two past her due date because let me tell you what, I'm getting miserable with a week and a half left. Work is busy, well not right at the moment, however it's hard to be at work, my feet and hands are like balloons and my fingertips are tingly ALL THE TIME! I can handle the swollen ankles however my hands are literally driving me crazy all day and night. Sleep has become somewhat of the past because I can't remember the last time I got more than an hour and a half sleep, so I'm definitely ready for this baby to come!

My pregnancy up until this point, or a week ago, has been great! My diagnosis of Cholestasis has been reversed so I do not have this, which is wonderful, however the only good thing that may have come from that was I would have had this baby already, but if he's not done "cooking" yet, then so be it. Heck, I don't think I've even dropped yet, whatever that means...I finished my last Jazzercise class on Thursday, January 30th - 34 weeks pregnant and I'm super excited I made it that far. Since the day I stopped Jazzin though I could feel my energy levels go way down, so I encourage anyone pregnant to get out and do a little exercising..

Look at those Cankles! This was taken last week, I was so embarrassed I couldn't even post it on Instagram!

My blood pressure and all was good at my last appointment so the doctor's did not seem to mind. As I look at my feet right now, they are just as bad as they are in this picture...Tomorrow, I am heading to the Spa to enjoy a Prenatal massage, the same place I went the day before my water broke with Cooper. I'm hoping for the same thing...but most importantly to relax! I can't wait.

Speaking of Cooper, he is getting so big and just cracks me up every day! This morning, he got out of bed, came into our room where I was getting ready for work and just hugged me. First though he has to close all the doors in the house, the gate to the basement was open so he shut that too. I get him something for breakfast and I will set him up on the counter and today I winked at him and all of a sudden he blinks his eyes really hard like he's winking at me, then smiles. It was the cutest thing. And last night, he must have been really tired because about 7:00 he wanted to go in and read books. We read books for a few minutes as we're laying in bed, then he wanted to sing some songs so we sang a few of his favorites - "Bus" (Wheels on the bus), bumblebee song, Twinkle Twinkle and You Are My Sunshine, he falls asleep to me singing this to him all the time and last night as I was singing I started tearing up, he was sleeping by this time but I kept thinking I love this boy so much, how am I going to love another child as much. I know it's hormones and all, because I know I will love this little guy as much but it just amazes me how much we love our children and that we would do ANYTHING for them.

I know he's going to be a great big brother too, I just can't wait for them to meet! 

Here are few random pictures I took over the last couple of weeks.

Cooper wanted me to "push" him. I got around his room once, that was it.

I stayed home from work this past Monday as I'm battling another cold, and he wanted to climb on the table.

He pulled this out of his (now his brothers) dresser and wanted to wear it, so he pulled it on over his arms and I got one snap snapped.

Facetiming with Grandma (Bacca) he wanted to push her around in his shopping cart. I think she was getting kind of dizzy.

Oh and the animal crackers...he loves them, he likes to scoop them out into his bowl with a spoon. It keeps him nice and occupied for a good half hour or more. He'll scoop them into his bowl and then dump them back in and so forth.

Loving on Elmo!! He loves Elmo...we have the Sesame Street On Demand so we can watch it anytime we want. He's finally at the age where he'll sit there for about a half hour and actually watch. Sometimes I'll see him get up and start dancing. So cute!

Oh and our suitcase we have yet to pack for the hospital, I have everything ready and set out, but Cooper won't leave the thing along, he loves to push things. I think I might just have to get the one bigger size and pack that so we're ready when this baby is ready!

Again, I am so blessed to have him and our family. I don't know what I would do without them! Now to just name this baby and get his room ready, but we'll have to wait for him to come! Cooper's room is about done, I need to get a few things for the wall. Pictures to come soon, hopefully!

Weekend in Schaumburg

This past weekend, I know I'm a little late, but me, Tom, my mom and Cooper packed up the car and headed to Schaumburg, IL for a shopping trip to IKEA. I've been eying a new bookshelf/dresser for Cooper's room and I did not want to order it online not knowing what it really looked like so I thought hey we have nothing going on so let's go. Mom was excited to go as well!

We left Dubuque around 8:00am it was just starting to snow, nothing real bad but just enough to be annoying (we are so sick of the snow here in the midwest, so I could use other words, however I'll keep it clean) we got to Schaumburg about 10:45 and our first stop was IKEA!

Look who's in a rush to get into the store!

Cooper did pretty good once Daddy found him a car to drive. This boy does not like to be sitting, he wants to "pushhh"

After we found everything we needed we headed down to get the big items and Cooper is helping Grandma (aka Bacca now).

By this time, it's after 1:00 and we are ALL starving. We were hoping to get a snack at IKEA but there food court was a sit down meal, nothing to really take along and snack on, so we headed to the nearest and closest restaurant we could find - TGIFriday's.

Next stop was The Container Store and Home Goods

By this point, it was after 4 and we were shot! Mommy's feet hurt and Cooper wanted to run, so we go to the hotel, checked-in and relaxed.

Then it was time for swimming. I really wanted to go but mom thought it wouldn't be a good idea plus I don't think it would have been pretty, so I stayed dressed and mom and watched.

The water was cold, but they had a blast. I think if I would have gone in, I may have gone into labor...

 

That night we ordered pizza for dinner and hung out in our rooms. We were all pretty exhausted and called it an early night.

The next morning, we hit the restaurant in the hotel for breakfast, loaded up and hit the mall. We found these cars for Cooper and since he now loves to buckle anything, we told him "let's buckle your seat belt" and it worked, he didn't get out, he tried but couldn't so it was a good shopping day. We didn't stay too long just hit a few stores and were on our way back to Dubuque.

"Shoes" I was buying him a new pair of shoes and was going to try them on, but thought no, I'm not getting him out of the car, so we just went with it, a new pair of stride rites.

And here is what I was after at IKEA. The only thing I didn't get was a shelf to match, go figure they didn't have the "oak effect" color. So I'll have to look for something here in DBQ or online. But we love it in his room and can't wait to fill it up and get a few other things on the wall.

Surprise!

Today I came into work thinking it was food day and all of a sudden everyone is around the "food table" with a sign that says Congratulations!! It was a baby shower for me...I also received a card signed by everyone with a gift card to Hy-Vee! I'm so blessed to be a part of this new department.

And later this afternoon I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my wonderful husband for Valentine's Day. They are a day early because I'm taking off tomorrow afternoon and he didn't want them to miss me. Love you honey so much! 

Weekend recap

I haven't done a weekend recap in forever so I thought I'd share...

We had a great weekend. Friday night we hung low and just did a little shopping at Target, it's tough shopping with an almost 2 year old, lets just say "its VERY exhausting". We wanted to get eat dinner somewhere but decided to grab Hy-Vee Chinese food and go home!

We let Cooper pick out a "baby" I sure wish I could have found a boy baby doll but this one had to do. We want to try and get him prepared for when baby brother comes. His big thing now is when we are getting ready for bed we like to play the IPad and baby always seems to be moving around then so I'll take Cooper's hand and let him feel baby. I'll just hold his hand on top of my belly, it's so sweet. 

I think he's trying to eat babies arm!

Saturday, Tom and I had massages! Ahh, to type about it, it felt SO good. I was a bit nervous however, because last time I was pregnant and got a massage, the next day my water broke and Cooper came!! Although I was 36 1/2 weeks then, I am only 34 weeks now, but still, I was a bit nervous. Mom watched Cooper for us while we had our massages. We ate lunch at Crust then headed to Potosa Spa for some relaxation. The bed was not as comfortable as my last pre-natal massage, that was at a different place, but I did get to lay on my belly. They had to 2 big pillows to one was on my chest and the other under my pelvis. It worked but not a comfortable. I think next time, maybe in 2 weeks to see if we can get this little guy out, I'll go to Body and Soul where there table had a big soft belly area where your belly hang out, but we'll see!! After the massages we decided to get some groceries, fun huh??? Well it was actually because we didn't have an almost 2 year old who wants to walk/push the cart and put everything in the cart! Needless to say Hy-Vee was a zoo and we were glad to be out of there. We went to pick Cooper up who helped mom cook all day. I bet he was in heaven. Mom was getting ready for her annual Super Bowl Party. Cooper helped her make Clam Chowder and chicken liver's wrapped in bacon.

 Enjoying lunch (in peace and quiet)

Saturday night I decided that was the night to start putting Cooper in his big boy bed, I'm ready to get the nursery settled for baby brother, if only I can figure out a name, so Cooper and I laid in bed and about 5 minutes later he was sleeping, so was I. He just snuggled right in and slept awesome all night long.

He woke up around 7:30 and was ready for breakfast and Elmo. This picture below, in a different pair of jammies because he was all wet once I changed his diaper, laying on the floor watching Elmo, too cute.

That morning, we took Cooper to the National River Museum. Working at McGraw-Hill, I get free passes so we thought what else is there to do before the big game??? Cooper had a blast, until he started to get tired, but it's nice we didn't have to pay so we could leave when we wanted.

 Cooper and Tom walking in.

Reading some info on the Great Mississippi River.

He loved looking at the big "phish"

He loved sitting by each turtle and taking a picture!

 

And his favorite party - waterworks playtime! Here you get actually play in the water. Cooper did not refuse the "jacket" at all, it was like he knew exactly what to do, like he's been there before. He grabbed a stool after we showed him one and off he went. He grabbed his stool every time he wanted to move, it was so cute!

Hi mommy!

Snack time. We had to bribe him with food to get him out of the waterworks area. We snacked on Nacho's and a hot pretzel with cheese and of course a soda pop, momma needed this.

Then off to the turtle exhibit, this was at the other building so getting Cooper to put his hat and coat on was tough but we got him there.

Crawling in a turtle shell!

And of course, riding on a turtle too.

 Driving a barge with daddy.

After the river museum we headed home for bit, Cooper took a nap then we headed up to Tom's parents for awhile and then to mom's to watch the Super Bowl. Mom made her famous Clam Chowder and of course went overboard with other food, but all was so good.

Dancing during the half time show! These kids sure have some moves.

Mom's got the moves too!