3 Years Later

On this day 3 years ago Nick & I became husband and wife.  The weather on our wedding day was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and brisk and absolutely no snow. The next day we took off for our 2 and a half week honeymoon to Australia where we had an absolute blast! And a few weeks later we were overwhelmed with happiness to find out that we were going to be parents.  We obviously wasted no time on starting our family. 

Getting our picture taken with the Koala Bears at Taronga Zoo in Sydney

Jack helping us celebrate our 1st Anniversary, he's all dressed up and ready to watch us eat our cake

Nick & I in Sydney

Nick & I in front of the Sydney Opera House

With a wonderful husband, a healthy son and a healthy baby girl on the way I feel very lucky and blessed.  Granted we have had our ups and downs, but what couple hasn't? 

And this evening we will be celebrating our anniversary at the wedding reception of the soon to be Mr. & Mrs. Billy & Marianne Pyszka.  I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year's Eve. 

Christmas Festivities

Christmas is a pretty busy time around here.  Especially since we try our hardest to spend an abundance of time with both sides of our families on both Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, and then we still have to squeeze in a Birthday/Christmas Day celebration for Nick. And I really didn't get to take many pictures because Jack is definitely active and I decided to just sit back and enjoy the holiday rather than attempting to capture all of the moments that were taking place around me.  I'm sure I will be regretting this.

The night before Christmas Eve we went over to my parents house to exchange presents with just our immediate family.  After we loaded up the Yukon with the brand new train table, bulldozer to ride on, coloring house, doll house and some Thomas The Train rail sets I was already starting to get nervous that we would have to build an addition onto our house just to fit all of these new toys that Jack was getting.  

Our Christmas Eve started off with going to my in-laws at 3:00 to exchange presents and see Nick's side of the family.  Jack's was very well taken care of by his Grandma & Papa Bazydlo.  He received four Chuggington train sets and of course some trains to go along, pajamas, clothes, diapers, cars and a deposit into his savings account.  After we left the Bazydlo's we headed over to my aunt Sherry's house to spend some time with the Senica side of the family.  Now since Jack didn't have a nap that day, of course he fell asleep in the car on the way there.  He was starting to hit the wall while we were there, and I think he was a little overwhelmed with the amount of noise and people that were in the house.  I can only imagine how intimidating it was to be waken out of a heavy sleep and to enter into the craziness that was taking place around him.  And of course he was once again more than taken care of by everyone on that side of the family.  He received race tracks, another Chuggington train set, clothes and gift cards.  Our Yukon was busting at the seems when we arrived at our house that night.  

On Christmas morning my parents came over to watch Jack open up his presents.  I must say that he doesn't dig right into his presents, I still have to pretty much help him open them.  And after the first present is unwrapped, he focuses in on it and starts playing with it and could really care less about the remaining presents that still need to be opened.  Santa brought Jack some clothes, Alphie The Robot, Matchbox cars, A race track for his new cars and a Semi truck to haul all of his new matchbox cars.  Santa was very smart and didn't go overboard with buying Jack toys this year, he must have figured that everyone else would definitely be spoiling him. 

Jack wasn't in the mood to sit for a picture with his cousins

One of his favorite new toys, a doll house....I can't really say Nick is that excited about it

Jack likes wearing around my old glasses, we took the lenses out

The Birthday Boy enjoying a Birthday Drink

On Christmas Day we headed back over to my Aunt Sherry's for round 2.  Nick and Jack stayed home for a bit because we definitely felt that a nap was an absolute necessity for Jack.  They met me over there once Jack woke up.  Then we headed back over to the Bazydlo's house for a special treat of fried bread dough with Nick's side of the family.  It is definitely a special treat because my mother in law only makes it for us 1-2 times a year and it is definitely filling. It's pretty much just what it sounds like it is, she fries the bread dough and then has a wide array of toppings, chesses, jellies, garlic, asiago cheese, meats, etc... that you can top it off with.  My favorite this time was the powdered sugar because I figured all of the garlic would not be a good mix considering my indigestion has been kicking in lately.  After all of the yummy food, we were headed home to sit and relax and let all of our food digest. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa brought you everything that was on your list. 

29 Week Appointment

We had another great check up on Tues. Dec. 20th.  I had my monthly sonogram and everything is going very well.  My cervix was measure even longer than it had the previous month, I was very excited about that.  Hopefully I will be able to make it through this pregnancy without any bedrest.  I could not believe how much fuller the baby looked than it did last month.  The tech was able to get some really good pictures of the face and she REALLY resembles Jack's features, especially her profile.  I am shocked everytime I get to see that little face, especially since Jack never wanted to show us his face, instead he wanted to show us his man parts.  So I am very excited to actually have some sonogram pictures of my kids face this time around.  I can also tell the difference between carrying a baby that is head down in comparison to carrying a baby that is breech like Jack was.  It seems as though I can see my belly moving and bulging more this time around because the baby is kicking upward instead of down towards my belly button. And even though the baby is head down, I am still going with a repeat c-section by choice.  And we have tentatively set the date for Friday Feb. 24th, or possibly Friday Feb. 17th if my cervix starts shortening before that.  The baby's heart beat was 160 and they were able to see some hair on the top of her head. The pictures are a bit blurry because my scanner was being stubborn so I had to take a picture with my camera. 

As far as how I am feeling, I feel pretty good and am enjoying not being on bedrest this time around.  I don't really have the stamina like I did a month or so ago, but I am managing.  I am sleeping like a rock and I am absolutely loving it.  I think I wake up once a night to go to the bathroom, but I am really starting to think that I sleep through this because most mornings I can't even remember if I got up during the night or not.  The indigestion has started kicking in, but it's nothing a few Tums can't handle.  My cravings have changed a little.  I'm no longer craving eggs, instead I have started craving oatmeal and english muffins with peanut butter.  No clue where that craving came from.  I am also shocked at the small amount of baby girl clothes I have purchased so far.  I kept telling myself that I was not going to go crazy and by a ton of outfits until after I got through Christmas.  So I am going to kick it into baby shopping gear once the holidays are over. 

Progress on the Bedrooms

Jack has transitioned beautifully into his full size bed.  And he is loving his new bigger bedroom.  His bedding is from Olive Kids and it has trains, planes and trucks on it, which are currently some of his favorite things right now. 

We still need to put up the window treatment and some pictures

Very comfy and enjoying the extra space in his new bed

I am still looking for some pictures or stickers for the walls and I still need to order the window treatments,  then I will feel like it is complete. I was worried if he would stay in his bed when it was time for naps and bedtime, or if he would try to sneak out and escape.  But so far so good.  Once we lay him down and cover him up, he might whine and cry a little, but after a couple of minutes he turns on his fish aquarium on his head board and he lays in his bed until he falls asleep.  And in the morning I will hear him chattering to himself on the monitor, but he will not get out of his bed until I turn on the hallway light by his bedroom and peak my head in to say good morning to him.  I hope all of this continues, but I also will not be shocked if it doesn't. 

The baby's room is painted (pink of course) and the crib, changing table and rocking chair are all in place.  I found her bedding at Pottery Barn, but I am also still looking for some pictures/stickers for her walls.  I have been spending some time on etsy looking for all of these extra little goodies for both of the kids' rooms. The princess is lucky enough to have her very own bathroom off of her bedroom.  We thought it would be easier for Nick and Jack to share a bathroom in the years to come than for the girl and Nick to share a bathroom.  So she has the bathroom, but Jack's closet and bedroom are a little bit bigger than hers.

Of course he had to make sure that the light switch in his sisters' room was fully functioning

Since Jack was the recipient of a ton of Christmas presents and toys we are putting the baby's room on hold for now and we are shifting our energy to getting the new toy room together.  I can't wait to see how excited Jack is when he sees his kitchen set (that he received as a birthday present) and his new train table and all of his new train sets set up for him in his own little area.  I am also pretty excited to gain a little more room back in our living room.  But I know that this extra room will soon be taken over by a swing and a bouncy seat.  

Nick was a trooper in the whole process of getting all of these rooms arranged, painted and put back together.  I think he has learned not to disagree with a pregnant woman.

Christmas Vacation

So far, Christmas Vacation has been very enjoyable, but VERY busy.  The first couple of days were spent getting ready for Christmas.  Multiple trips to the grocery store, Target, Kohls and many other retail shops followed by wrapping, wrapping and even more wrapping.  And while I have been busy getting ready for Christmas, Nick has been busy painting Jack's new bedroom and the baby's bedroom.  There has also been a lot of shuffling around of furniture and toys.  The nursery is going to be turned into a toy room and Jack is moving into one of the empty bedrooms and the baby will be moving into the other empty bedroom.  So it seemed like we were moving stuff from one empty room to another empty room, and I say "we", but I really mean Nick. And in between shifting the bedrooms around, Nick and I decided that we needed to clean out our closet and get rid of some stuff.  Between all of the new Christmas presents, the clutter and commotion from moving the bedrooms around and the random piles of clothes that are stacked in our dining room, it literally looks like my house is all set up and ready for an episode of "Hoarders".  I am ready for these projects to be completed so we can organize this house once again. 

A Weekend Getaway with The Hubby

Every year during the Christmas season, Nick and I like to head up to Chicago to do a little shopping and dining.  I'm always shocked that Nick likes to go into the city to shop during the busiest shopping time of the year, especially since he hates shopping and especially hates shopping with me.  But he really had to be a trooper this year because since I am supposed to be watching how much weight I carry around, Nick had to actually shop with me a majority of the time just to carry my bags.  And he really was a trooper, he didn't even complain.  I was impressed.  So after all of that shopping, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse.  It was delicious!!!! But unlike past years, we were back in our hotel room by 7:00 and fast asleep as soon as our movie that we purchased was over at 9:00.  I'm blaming it on all of that fresh/cold air that we battled all day, or at least that I what I am telling myself.  

On Sunday we headed to Oak Brook to do a little more shopping.  We had to pick up a few presents for some our nieces and nephews at Toys R Us, and then it was off to Buy Buy Baby to check out some double strollers.  I thought we were going to go with the Phil & Ted, but the sales lady really talked up the City Select double stroller, so I still have a little researching to do.  Jack is still a huge fan of riding in the stroller and he loves going for walks around town and to the park when the weather is nice, so I definitely feel that the double stroller is a must.  And since they are both a little pricey, I was pretty excited when my mother in law said that she was going to buy it for me for Christmas.....Thank You Marieda.

Fa La La La La.....It's Time to Deck the Halls

We decided that we would put up the Christmas decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving.  This is one of the luxuries of having a fake Christmas tree, you don't have to worry about it drying out.  I usually like to sip on a few adult beverages while I am decorating the house for Christmas, but this year I would have to be getting into the holiday spirit without the help of any Christmas cheer. 

Nick and I did not anticipate that we would have any problems with Jack and the tree......and a short 36 hours after the tree was up and fully decorated, we figured out that we were WRONG!!! As Jack was gently trying to get one of the ornaments off of the tree he yanked the entire tree over.  Somehow he came out of it without a scratch on him and all of the ornaments also survived the big crash.  Shortly after we had the tree back up in the upright position, Nick was wiring the tree to the wall.  But I can say that Jack hasn't touched the tree ever since the incident, so I'm hoping that it might have scared him and hopefully he learned his lesson???? So I am guessing that we will be wiring the tree to our wall for many years to come.  

Such an innocent face, he is plotting his plan to knock over the tree

Hanging out in the chair while Mommy and Daddy pick up the Christmas tree

Halloween

Yes once again I have fallen behind on my blogging.  Between working, keeping Jack occupied, keeping up on the housework and taking an online class there just isn't much time to blog.  Especially when my new bedtime is 8:00 p.m., I'm blaming that on being pregnant.  Now back to Halloween.....

This year Jack was a monkey.  And the poor little monkey was getting over a double earn infection on Halloween, so we really didn't want to venture out too much.  So we made some stops at my parents' house and then to my in-laws.  

And of course our monkey had to get his picture taken with my cousin Claire the banana, they were the perfect pair. 

Our Little Monkey

The Banana and The Monkey

My Cousin Frankie and Jack

Enjoying some BBQ Sandwiches at Grandma Marieda's after Trick or Treating

Catching Up

So once again, I have been slacking on keeping up with my blogging.  So this is what has been going in since my last post. The weekend after Jack was diagnosed with the ear infection, I came down with the flu.  I knew I wasn't feeling too hot on that particular Saturday morning, and of course it was the same Saturday morning that we were getting some family pictures taken.  So I had to suffer through and smile for the camera.  But later on in the day, I could no longer deny the fact that I most definitely had the flu....YUCK!!! I will spare you the details.  So I spent the remainder of my Saturday and most of the day Sunday either in bed or on the couch.  It is rather hard to stay hydrated when you have the flu under normal circumstances, but when you have to stay hydrated because you are pregnant....now that is definitely a challenge.  

So as you can expect, I was rather unproductive that particular weekend and I felt like I was playing catch up for the remainder of the week.  That is until the flu bug made it's way into poor Jack on Thursday morning.  I was getting ready for work in my bathroom when he was laying on my freshly made bed watching cartoons, when it happened.  Every mom knows the apparent signs that you look for when you suspect that your child might be getting close to "getting sick". That cat gagging on a hair ball gesture that they do before they throw up.  Well, it happened to catch my eye as I was doing my hair, so I snagged him off of my bedspread and showed showed his head to the toilet bowl.  So my 3 day weekend (because of Veteran's Day on Friday) suddenly turned into a 4 day weekend.  Thank goodness he did not have a fever and we only had that one little throwing up episode in the morning.  So it really wasn't that bad of a flu bug, but I am hoping that it is the last time the flu will be showing its' face in our house this year.  So that is what we have been up to the past couple of weeks.  I have some other things to share and some pictures from Halloween to post, so hopefully as long as everyone in this house stays healthy, I will blog about those in the next couple of days. 

It's That Time of Year Again

Sad to say that it is that time of year again and Jack has been visited by the sickness fairy. I noticed Friday morning that he had a somewhat croupy cough, but it seemed to get better by the time I dropped him off at Linda's.  When I picked him up at noon (we were done with conferences at 12:00) she said his nose was really runny, but he was in good spirits, so between allergies and possibly teething, I really didn't think that it would end up being anything too bad.  He took a good nap and played with his toys at home and acted like his normal self.  So I thought we would take a quick run to Target for some goodies (toilet paper, laundry detergent, all of that exciting stuff). 

I knew something wasn't quite right when he kept laying his head down in the cart and hugging his puppy.  This is the kid that loves going to Target and HyVee because he loves randomly striking up conversations with random strangers.  So it was a quick shopping trip, which is good because I actually only purchased the necessities for once.  By the time we got home, his eyes were glassy and watery and he was rather clingy.  I was rather surprised when I took his temp and it was 102.0! Poor little guy. So I gave him some motrin and we spent the rest of the night cuddling and drinking water in my bed.  

Saturday morning he was in good spirits, but still had a low grade fever.  So I rescheduled our family pictures that were scheduled for 9:00am and we didn't make it to the Ladd Halloween parade. Even though he had a fever I didn't give him anything because my Dr. says to let it run until it reaches 100.0.  By nap time it was 101.0, so we gave him a little Motrin and a little Benadryl to help dry up his nose and eyes.  He took a marathon nap from 1:00-5:00 and when he woke up his temp was low grade, so I thought maybe he was on the mends.  Then last night it went back up and this morning it was 101.0.  So we took a little family trip to the Wal-Mart Fast Care clinic.  To my surprise Jack has a double ear infection.  I was completely shocked because he never once even tugged on his ears and I was even touching the outside of his ears to see if he would squirm and pull away an he never did.  I can never tell when he is really sick and maybe needs to see the Dr. because he is not one of those kids that screams and cries because he is in pain, he just acts a little sluggish and is a little more clingy than usual.  So I will be that paranoid mom that always has him at the Dr. or the clinic because every time I think he isn't that bad, it turns out to be pretty bad.  

So we started the antibiotics and I am hoping that he is on his way to a speedy recovery. 

IT's A GIRL!!!!

At our 20 week sonogram on Tuesday it was confirmed that Baby #2 is a GIRL. And best of all, everything looked great, we have a healthy little girl on the way. The heartbeat was 158 and she was measuring around 20 weeks, 4 days, so she is right on track.  Since Nick is out of town with work, my mom and Grandma were able to go to the appointment and share in the excitement.  I think this little girl is already taking after me because her arms were constantly moving around, and as I have had many people tell me, I talk with my hands a bit much. Her hands and arms were waving around her face, it almost looked as though she was trying to suck on her hands. It was also pretty cool because when they zoomed in you could see that she was opening and closing her mouth and it also looked like she is going to have some nice lips. It also looked like she is going to have Jack's little round nose.  

The bottom of her two feet

Showing us that she is a girl

I definitely think that it is safe to say that Nick is absolutely TERRIFIED of having a girl. With time he will get used to the idea.  As soon as I left the doctor's office my grandma and I took a ride to Kohl's to spend our Kohl's cash on some adorable pink outfits.  This little girl definitely has a good jump start on her wardrobe.  We shared the news with the rest of our family by baking some confetti cupcakes and topping them off with some pink frosting.  I also took two dozen mini pink cupcakes to work to share the news with my co-workers. It didn't seem that any of my family or co-workers were surprised at the gender because most of them were predicting a girl.  Especially since my symptom were so different than they were with Jack. 

So now it is onto picking out new bedding for Jack and our new little princess.  She will be moving into the room that Jack is currently in and Jack will be moving into one of the bigger bedrooms down the hallway.  I already found some girl bedding at Pottery Barn that I really like, and for some reason Nick is against painting her room pink.  He said we can paint it yellow, purple, or any other color, but not pink.  He thinks it will be too much pink in the house.  Little does he know that I have already made my mind up and it is going to be PINK! Sorry Daddy :-(  So now it is onto choosing a name.  So far some of the names that I have suggested Nick has actually liked, so I don't think it will be too hard. 

I've Been Slacking on My Blogging

I have REALLY been slacking on my blogging the past couple of weeks.  Nick has been out of town working for the past two weeks, so I am literally in survival mode with trying to keep Jack entertained and happy while also trying not to over do it myself. So this morning I thought it would be the perfect time to kick back with a cup of coffee while Jack was playing with his choo choos and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to once again enter the world of blogging. Happy Saturday! 

A Fun Filled Weekend

Two weekends ago,  we had a jam packed agenda.  Nick did not have to work on Friday, and I had teacher institute meetings until 12:00, so we thought we would take a little road trip with Jack.  But I was actually able to sneak out around 10:45 so we left a little earlier than we originally anticipated (ssssshhhhh,don't tell). We spent Friday afternoon at Monkey Joe's in Peoria.  It's a big place that is filled with jumpy houses, slides, etc... for kids to play on.  And best of all, they have a separate area for kids under 3, so you don't have to worry about your little one getting trampled by a bigger kid.  Jack absolutely loved it.  He enjoyed the jumping so much that when he would get out of the jumpy house he would try to jump on the regular hard floor.  

After we had our fill of running and jumping, we went to Olive Garden for a little bite to eat.  Jack was an absolute angel the entire time (thanks to the ipad), and I was a little nervous because he was way past his nap time. 

Since the weather forecast was calling for an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, we thought we better head out to Boggio's bright and early to try and beat the crowds.  It was a rather cheap little outing because Jack was mostly interested in the playground equipment.  He just kept running circles around it and then running up and down the steps to go down the slide.  

He also enjoyed the jumping pillow and the bouncy house.  It seems as though the weekend was filled with a lot of jumping for Jack, that might be why he has been jumping on an off our furniture a bit more lately.  We also picked up some yummy apple cider donuts and some fudge while we were there. 

My attempt at getting my picture taken with Jack, obviously he wasn't too interested in it

After Boggio's we headed to our nephew's flag football game.  So after all of that fresh air from our fun filled morning, Jack and I were both more than ready for a nap when we got home.