House

House- is the theme for this posting..
First - our house caused Leinna to have an ouch on her nose. Okay, the house didn't cause it but Leinna will tell you that the bottom stair sure is mean!

To make a long story short- Leinna likes to climb up and down the first step - well she lost her balance and landed on her nose!

Now for the fun "House"

A teacher colleague/friend has a daughter almost 1 1/2 years older than Leinna and thought Leinna would enjoy this doll house that her daughter played with.

Leinna was so excited and played with the doll house and people for quite a long time. The perfect toy to help distract the fact that Papa is going to be out of town for the whole week!

An actual play house for two cute little girls! We took a visit to our friend Amelia's and she has a play house made from cardboard boxes. What a great idea!! Amelia was a gracious hostess and showed Leinna into her house. The girls loved it!!

Peak-A-Boo through the house window!

Great to be able to catch up with Amelia's mom and actually see our girls playing together without us mommies having to model how to play. Before we know it they'll be wanting to spend the night with each other :O)

Busy week = much needed rest

We certainly had a busy week with our trip to Anchorage Monday and Tuesday, followed up with basketball games this weekend. Leinna decided to create her own little nap spot.

Nah- just kidding!

Such a silly girl - she was playing hide and seek with me :O)

We did go to the basketball games both Friday and Saturday night. All the activity and loud noise, plus being a little later on bed time -sure made for a sleepy girl.

I love this picture of her asleep because it's EXACTLY how I sleep. Feet kicked out of the covers, one leg up closer to chest, hand by my face. I feel very fortunate that while we had a later bed time she still went to bed easily. She's always been a good sleeper and even slept in this morning until after 8am!! YAHOO!!!
I'm hoping 'Nugget' realizes that Leinna spoiled us with being such a great sleeper and he/she needs to follow in the same pattern :o)

30 weeks with nursery set-up

During our extra week of no school last week, we took Leinna to day care for a few days so we could get some projects done around the house. One of the projects was getting the baby room set up. With Leinna, she's been in her own room since birth and we'd like to do the same for 'Nugget'. However, with only 2 rooms upstairs, we thought it best to put 'Nugget' in our room instead of sharing with Leinna until the baby is sleeping through the night. So, we rearranged some furniture and now have a wall dedicated to baby furniture. Just need to order a mattress for the crib and I think we'll be ready.

Baby #2 is getting more and more real as the time ticks down - I have 6 weeks left before maternity leave - not that I'm counting :O)

10 Weeks to Go

After a week of no school due to our weather, I completely spaced out that we were headed to Anchorage for doctor appointments on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Thankfully my pregnancy brain remembered last Friday and I had a chance to get a sub and go in and make sub plans. Speaking of pregnancy brain, I almost left my purse on the flight home today- thankful in so many ways that Leif made the trip with me - he's the one who asked me if I had my purse. Whew- was able to go back and get it since we were not off the plane yet. Leinna also made the trip to Anchorage for her 18 month check-up... more on that in just a bit....

"Nugget" 30 weeks ...

Finally got a glimpse at this little one's face thanks to much effort by the ultrasound technician. Now why you may ask was I having yet another ultrasound - I'm not sure if I've blogged about this yet or not- but here goes... During our routine 20 week ultrasound, the technician noticed a hole in the baby's heart. My doctor gave me the choice to wait a month and do an ultra sound again or go ahead and schedule an appointment with pediatric cardiologist. I was by myself at this appointment and I had such an overwhelming peace about the decision- let's wait a month. So at 24 weeks, I went back for follow-up routine with the support of a very dear friend and the hole was gone!!! Thanks to many prayers and positive thoughts sent to this little one - the technician saw no signs of the hole that was previously there. My doctor did recommend that we confirm there were no issues at 30 weeks with another ultrasound. So- we were blessed with great news- that the baby's heart continues to look great! This was also the first ultra-sound Leif was able to attend. We had Leinna with us so I'm not sure how much he was really able to pay attention - but he was still able to be there. Baby looks good and actually measuring a week further along - I've been hoping for this baby to come on March 16th - why you ask? My mom arrives on the 15th and Leif has to return to Cordova on the 18th provided no labor has started. Not that there's anything wrong with a St. Patrick's Day baby- but the 16th seems like the best day to have a baby! This way Leif will be there - I'm so nervous that he will miss the birth by coming back to Cordova until our actual due date or when labor starts. Wait a minute- as if I have any control :O) We'll just enjoy these last few weeks until our "Nugget" makes his/her appearance.

Miss Leinna also had a doctor appointment- 18 months. What a big girl she is. She was even weighed on the big girl scale instead of the infant scale. With only one shot today, a not so good night of sleep, and 2 days of cat naps throughout the day- I have to say she did amazing!! She loved flying and stared out the window for most of the time. During our take-off from Cordova we had a few tummy ticklers that she just laughed at. Everything looks great for Leinna- she's definitely a tall one - 34 inches- that's almost 3 feet and she's not even 2 yet! She's grown 3 inches in the past 3 months. Leif being the math teacher pointed out that if she continues this growth pattern of an inch per month, she will be 40 inches at her 2 year check-up. There's a saying that you take a child's height at 2 years and double it to figure out his/her adult height. Well, if this holds true for Miss Leinna- she would be 6 feet 8 inches tall!!!

This extra week of no school- led to baking chocolate chips cookies. Leinna hasn't shown much interest when I was baking, but this time she did.

She had to have her own apron- good thing I had another apron that I was able to roll up and tie around her.

Then she had to have her own mixing bowl and tool.

And of course- any baker enjoys licking the spoon when the baking is done.

She sure had fun pretending to bake with Momma!

Well, it's been a busy past few days and back to work tomorrow. Little Leinna called it a day around 6:30 tonight which is 2 hours earlier than normal. I must say, my bed is calling my name too! Until next time - we send our hugs and love to all who read about our adventures!

Yummy Snow!

Leinna's efforts to help with snow removal!

Yummy!

Now yellow is her favorite color - going to have to teach her about NOT EATING yellow snow!

Thanks to the hard work and effort of my wonderful husband- we have the deck cleared, the snow moved away from the windows on the backside of house, access to our fuel tank for heating oil, garage can be opened again to get the 4-wheeler out, AND we have found the stairs to the deck again!

Being 7 months pregnant, I did what I could to help. Often my job was to take the small shovel and break up the snow pile so Leif could use the scoop shovel to move the snow. My mid-west work ethic wants to be out there helping him much more and for longer periods of time. However, this "snowpocolypse" as they are calling it, has taught me that it's okay to help my husband in other ways- such as having a hot meal ready when he comes in, keeping Leinna entertained so he can rest, and many other ways. Leif is keeping a positive attitude and made a comment about this is the best work out he's had in a long time and then weighed himself and realized he's lost over 15 pounds this Christmas break due to all the snow shoveling.

Even with ALL THE SNOW - Mother Nature is still amazingly beautiful!

Let the 3rd trimester begin!

As Christmas break comes to an end, we look forward to beginning the 3rd quarter of school as well as the 3rd trimester of this pregnancy. Our break was full of snow, snow and more snow! I love the picture below of Leif keeping his sense of humor with all the plowing and shoveling he had to do!

You know you have a lot of snow when even the snow starts to pile on itself in weird formations.

Today marks the start of the 3rd trimester - I'm 28 weeks today!

I must say, yet again, I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going by. Seems like I was just thinking about making it to Christmas and then I would only have a quarter left of school before maternity leave. Well, here we are on the eve of returning back to school after Christmas break and I'm freaking out a little with all the school tasks I need to complete in the next 9 weeks!

One thing that is comforting is watching how Leinna would take care of her babies. She is going to be such a great big sister. I'm sure we'll have our moments of her wanting Momma and I will be busy with 'Nugget'. However, if she is half as caring to her new brother/sister as she is to her baby dolls, then I'm going to have a wonderful little helper on my hands.

Here we have all the baby dolls lined up and Leinna is saying, "Nyum, Nyum, Nyum" as she pretends to feed each baby. She went right down the line making sure each baby had a chance to have some "Nyum, Nyum".

Don't forget to give your babies a drink!

So precious - I love watching her "love" her babies.