22 Months

We got a fun night out for Nate and Alyssa’s wedding! We enjoyed being able to sleep in and enjoy brunch the next morning! I am about 23 weeks pregnant in this picture.

Grandma and Grandpa moved out of their long time home. We made a trip to Webster City to help them move. Grant was a big help and loved it! It was sad to see them move out of the house Greg grew up in, but their new house will definitely be a better fit!

He learned “happy and you know it” song! So cute!!

Greg was very sick over Father’s Day weekend. At one point, he had a fever of almost 105! He did not make it out of bed more than a few minutes all weekend. It also happened to be the same weekend as our siding was getting redone. It was extremely hot this weekend as well. So it was a rough weekend for all. Grant and I went to the park in the morning to get out of the house and beat the heat.

Grant got some golf clubs so he could be just like Daddy and be a future golfer! It might be a few years until Grant is on the course with Dad, but we have to start them young!

Grant remembers going to the zoo and riding the “choo-choo” with Nana!

We took a family trip to the zoo! We loved seeing all the animals but our favorite was, of course, the train!

We took on a HUGE project this summer. We wanted our kitchen redone before the baby arrived. Just like any house project, it took a lot longer and was a lot more work than anticipated.

We lived like this for WAY too long. It took me an embarrassing about of time to decide on flooring. Once I decided, Mother Nature did not act in our favor and there was a massive rain storm a few weeks before we ordered flooring. Since so many basements were flooded and being replaced, it caused our delivery and installation to be set back until Labor Day weekend. Living like this, for this long, is extremely hard and stressful with an 18 month old boy!

After too many ear infections we finally got ear tubes. Here is a picture of our not too happy little boy. He did not like the name band. The surgery went very well and our little guy was a trooper!

Enjoying some time at the park over the 4th of July before the crazy summer heat!

Greg and others have been calling me “Amy” a few too many times. Grant caught on!

We love hearing is new words and listening to him talk! We just think it is so cute!

Grant had fun playing in our blow up pool and LOVED swimming in our neighbors pool.

We got to see Hamilton and it was amazing, just like everyone said!

We took a long weekend to Lake Michigan. The weather did not cooperate and it was quite a cold, rainy weekend. We still got a little time to enjoy the beach. Grant loved the sand and the water!

Shortly after we got home from Lake Michigan, Grant got the Roseola virus. His only symptom was a high fever of 103-104 which scared Greg and I. After the fever had lasted a few days and a very fussy boy, we decided to go to urgent care. They then told us to go to the ER. We did not feel this was needed and just pushed fluids and gave tylenol/ibuprofen. Thankfully, a day later his fever was gone but he had a full body rash. The rash didn’t bother him, but then, we knew it was roseola. This kid has the worst luck! No one else in daycare got it so I have no idea where he picked it up? Hopefully we will have a healthy kid some day!

We had a day date with Grant before baby arrives. He had a blast at the splash park and, of course, we had to stop and get some ice cream on the way home!

Hanging out with Chloe; a little over a month until her cousin is due to arrive!

We had a great time at the Iowa State Fair this year! It wasn’t too hot for this massively pregnant Mom and Grant loved the kids farm! Of course, we had to try out some new food and some old favorites!

We FINALLY got our flooring in right before baby was going to arrive. It was nice to finally have flooring, but there were some issues. The floor was not level going into the dining room, so Nebraska Furniture Mart needed to come back and fix that. They also did not finish the step down to the family room. So it was not completely done, but at least we had a floor to walk on!!! AND we liked the floor-thank god!

We were really bad at taking baby bump pictures this time around. I felt way bigger and definitely started to show sooner. I couldn’t even hide my pregnancy from my coworkers for the full first trimester. Baby definitely sat low during my whole pregnancy which made the pressure even more uncomfortable. I had to stop running earlier than last time because of the pressure. I was still able to walk a few days a week during the pregnancy.

This pregnancy was not as smooth as the first. I was not as comfortable as last time and had quite a bit more swelling. I got carpal tunnel and had to wear arm guards every night to bed. It was annoying because it woke me up in the night, more often then I already was from normal pregnancy symptoms. Luckily, it did not bother me as often during the day, but my fingertips were numb most of the time. I was told it would go away after birth once the swelling is gone.

We also thought it would be fun to have an extra ultrasound for our parents to see baby. Baby was not very cooperative and we weren’t able to see his full face. It was still fun to see him again. I was 29 weeks during the ultrasound. A few days after the ultrasound my OB called and said there were some problems noted during the ultrasound. The nurse told me “an enlarged heart, too long of an umbilical cord” and one more that I can not remember. I was to go and see a high risk OB for another ultrasound to check out these claims. This scared the CRAP out of me. After going through the 20 week ultrasound and being told all is good, I was not mentally prepared to hear this. After the ultrasound, we were told the baby is fine, but does have a small hole in his heart. At that point, there was nothing we could do but wait until he arrived and get an echo of his heart. There was also a higher risk for Downs Syndrome because of this hole. We ended up doing a genetic test, which was pointless, to see if we were high risk for Downs. The test showed low risk, but still a risk. So we just had to wait until baby arrived to get any definite answers.

We had maternity pictures as part of our newborn package which initially I did not want, but I think they turned out great! I am 32 weeks in these pictures.

It was a quick last fews months before baby arrived. It was fun, but very stressful, with our house renovations, baby concerns, and keeping up with daily life. I wanted to enjoy the last few months with just the 3 of us. It was definitely a bittersweet summer before our next adventure: becoming a family of FOUR!