I'm only human

Super quick update - feeling somewhat better.
Thanks to my Best Friend since middle school, who is also pregnant - 4 weeks ahead of me, she confirmed that I'm not crazy and she too hates pregnancy. She also confirmed that I'm not the only one who feels as though "the short time I sacrifice my body" lasts far past 9-10 months... thank you Mamie for lifting me up even just a little bit!
And....I got a plane ticket for $199 to get to North Dakota instead of driving 7 hours each way by myself. Score!!! That helped too.
Oh, and...Jason is done with siding. He has fascia to buy, paint and install - and then the rest of the paint and we're DONE - for this year at least!

24 weeks down...112 more days to go

This is hard. I physically hate being pregnant. I enjoy the sweatpants and the not having to suck in my stomach, but I hate how I feel. I haven't thrown up since week 9 or something like that, but still take the anti-nausea pills about daily. I am just downright crabby, miserable and not happy! Maybe I just had a bad few days, but I sure hope we are overwhelmingly happy with two kids, because as of yesterday - there will be no third. People keep telling me "it's only a short time......" yes, in the moment it is, but the effect this pregnancy is having on me might be very detrimental to my mental health - and my husband's tolerance. I say all of this with humor because I know that it WILL get better - however, having days of crying spells and no energy and feeling like you've been kicked in places you shouldn't be kicked...well, those are not memories that go away. I feel like I'm missing out on happy time and time spent with my baby I already have because I cannot get myself out of a rut while growing the baby to come! Aside from Allison-Rae getting the brunt of the smiles that take all the effort I have (don't get me wrong - I mean them, but they don't come easy) - Jason thinks I need more space than there is between me and Mars. I won't get into the poor-me rant I'd like to go on, I really should get into the poor Jason rant, but I'll spare you both. Let's just say Mommy and Daddy need some husband and wife time, and wife needs some attention that is probably not deserved.
  Enough about me - here's the fun stuff.... Allison-Rae is 20 months already!!!! She is saying a bunch of different words, many of which have multiple meanings. She understands SO much more than she can say which probably leads to a lot of frustration for her, but she is so good. AR is so funny and steals the show everywhere she goes. This past Saturday, her Auntie Mandy flew in for a 20 hour visit, courtesy of Grammy, to see her high school friends who are sprawled all over the country and just happened to all be in MN for a short period of time. Allie took about 10 minutes to warm up, but once she realized the audience she had, they were all putty in her hands. When we got to my Mom and Dad's house, she immediately knew where we were, she asked for Papa while we were still in the car. She climbed up the front step and walked into the kitchen and was calling out for Grammy and Grandpa (which sounds like "Pampa...Mammy...." then to the back of the house, then after she realized they weren't there, we went straight to the piano. Her favorite toy at Grammy's. When she heard Grammy walk throught he front door, she ran from the kitchen to go greet her - almost made me cry (for like the 57th time in a few days). My Mom actually called me today to say how the weekend was a like a dream it was so great, but the best part was when AR did that, she literally ran with so much excitement that Grammy was home! It was really sweet.
Baby #2 is coming along. It's a super mover! I say it - last time I think I said we were going to find out boy or girl this time around. No such luck! Baby was a dancing machine for the first part of the ultrasound when they gather all of the necessary information, but when it came time to do gender identification - it literally curled up in a ball, flipped over and gave us no clear sign of boy - or girl! We're pretty sure it's a girl, but it might be a boy. Ha!
This baby is so active though, I cannot remember if Allie was this active or not, but if my memory serves me correctly, she was not. Being elbowed, punched, kneed, or kicked - whatever is causing the show - is not infrequent and it is very visible from the outside. Often the baby is facing inward on its side and facing down a bit. That's fun for my organs and bladder.
Anyway - onward and upward. Allie and I are going to Bismarck to visit the Connors family for Labor Day weekend. We are sad that Dad can't come - for the trip and to help with the 7 hour drive! It will be a great getaway and AR is sure to wear herself out! I will no question be worn out, but I'd be worn out if I were sitting at home alone too!
Looking forward to this baby being out where I can enjoy it and to see AR as a big sister...although, to be honest, I'm still not ready for her to not be my little baby.

Blogging is not my calling...

I have no idea how the "professional" or "amateur" bloggers do daily or even weekly blogs without scheduling it into their day and locking themselves into a quiet room to do it! It's been since November, over 6 months since my last post. In a nut-shell: Allison-Rae turned 1 on Christmas Day and Mom kept the tears to a minimum...her 18 month Birthday (yesterday sadly enough) was a different story. Mom and Dad felt in January that they should wait until June or July to start for #2 because they just didn't want to load on another Holiday baby...jinx jinx jinx! Anniversary #3 brought pregnancy #2 and now we're due on December 17th!!! haha! That'll teach us to wish for certain things we DON'T want! We are going to find out what this one is on August 1st, I'll do my best to not go another 6 months to update on our new addition! Allie started taking steps and standing in November-December, but wasn't all that intersted in walking until mid-February. It didn't take her long to discover how much cooler walking is than crawling! Allie kept us busy through the spring although we only got to go sledding once and no skiing due to no snow matching up with her walking, but next year!!  Early April we found out we were expecting again so the following weeks were not so much fun - sick again. Although this time was worse for sickness, it didn't last as long. I got medication right away, did acupuncture 2-3 times a week for about a month and kept food in my stomach. I am now at 15 1/2 weeks and feeling better. Not 100% but much better than I was at 15 weeks with AR!
Here are random pictures from the year. Enjoy and I'll try try try to be better at the updates! Oh, I forgot to write about AR's teeth - she has a ton now! She got the 6 and then didn't get anymore until about March/April. She got her molars and 4+ more teeth came in shortly after. I think she has 14 now?

 12 month Birthday pictures taken by Brian Lloyd!

 1st Birthday morning tradition officially started with Birthday cake for breakfast!!

 In January we started swimming lessons and LOVE the water!

 We went on a sleigh ride with Grammy and had so much fun

 Getting so big - and really like the tub even if we're not taking a bath

 I throught this was teething but I'm pretty sure now that it was "slapped cheek disease"

 Happy Valentine's Day!

 Snuggles with Grandpa Dude

 14 months!! (Feb 2012)

 Our new addition - cousin Jensen Thomas Stokes! 2/17/12

 Sledding was SO FUN!

 Happy Easter!

 I'm going to be a big sister this coming December!

 Mommy's favorite picture from the cabin - June 9th, 2012

 16 months!

 back to the cabin trip...ready to head home

 Playing with cousin Jensen - man is he getting tall!

 Mama insisted that we celebrate our half birthday - with a huge cupcake!

 Pool Party at the Jones' House in Hudson, WI 6-24-12

Back to the cupcake - I had a nice bath after this!

Oh my gosh - It's November

Um, sorry - it's November and the last post I did was in JUNE!?!?!? What? Where has the time gone?!?!?

I'll be brief because I could write a book about everything that has been going on. Allison-Rae is AWESOME! She is the coolest little girl I've ever known - and she's super cute too. Let's see - June-July, sitting and rolling, August consisted of many things - 2 of which were Allie's first two bottom teeth...shortly followed by 4 more in 5 weeks! September was a lot of army crawling. Allie had her first plane ride and trip at the very end of September for her boyfriend, Noah's, 1st Birthday. She got to see her cousin Max too. Between the two boys, Allie came back to MN an official crawler - and very fond of kissing blonde boys:). October was a huge discovery month: pulling up on furniture and eventually inching along it as well, waving hi and bye, Dada, Mama, later in the month Bye bye (which actually sounds more like Buuuh Baaah), and a quite whisper of PuhPuhPuh when we ask her where the Puppy is. We are freighteningly close to Allison-Rae's 1st Birthday which makes us proud, excited, and sad all at the same time - there have been a few short conversations about the impending #2 (kid not birthday)....short in a good way, we're all in agreeance that we're going for it!
Here are some pictures to guide us through the past 5 months!

1st trip to the cabin for the 4th of July!

Allie's First Tractor ride!

Proud Daddy!

Happy 4th of July!

7 Months - 7/25/11

Grandpa Dude's new toy!

Such a lovely eater

(up) Relaxing with Grandma at the cabin (down) I love bathtime!

8 months! 8-25-11

My first two teeth coming in

(above) mmmmm...peas; (below)-Dancing with Dad at the State Fair

My first Vikings Game at Chad and Leslie's House!

First trip to the zoo with Julie, Donny & Faith

My first trip. CO for Noah's First Birthday!

Up to no good!

Noah's Prized Elmo Cake!

Aunt Emma, Uncle Luke & Cousin Max

Denver Zoo!

Grammy's Skippy

Model baby in the grass

Hanging with Mama

6 month pictures

I'm sure there are many that I'm missing here, but we could be here all day! Visit http://www.allisonraenoel.shutterfly.com/ for more!

Pics and Updates for June 2011

June was an exciting month for Daddy! He turned 32 and had his first Father's Day. Allison-Rae loves nothing more than to hang with her Daddy.

And smiling...with her Daddy

...Even when Daddy thinks it's funny for her to wear a doo-rag

...and pile all the toys on at once

And Allie turned 6 months old on June 25th!!!!

I had to post this one. I have been waiting for so long to have her wear this outfit...and her head is so giant that the hat only made it to this picture and was right back in the drawer!

Hanging with Niki!!!

This is Allison playing - she is so funny with the faces and noises she makes!

So, Allison-Rae is now eating cereal at least once a day and some sort of fruit or vegetable for one of the two meals. So far we LOVE sweet potatoes and bananas. Pears are good too and luckily she doesn't hate the cereal either so that is easy. She's still back and forth with the formula amounts, but man does she take it down! Some mornings she eats 2oz, others 6 and then at day care she usually takes down at least 12-18 just during the day!

She had her 6 month appointment on June 24th which jumpstarted the food adventure. She had been getting cereal about once a week before then and now once if not twice a day. AR did fantastic with her shots, she got all hot and red in the face screaming (like the kind where no noise comes out but they are screaming inside) at first, then was easily distracted and was way more interested in eating than crying. She wasn't as sleepy as she'd been in the past after shots, but we made it through the day with no major pains (punn intended). Allison-Rae was 16lbs 10oz and 26 inches long. She fits into the 75th  %ile for her height and weight and is 80% with her head! haha! She's healthy as can be though and progressing according to every chart out there!

Alli-Rae started sitting on her own last week and is so strong! In just a week she went from falling over more often than not to me getting her from daycare yesterday and the toddlers were shaking the stroller and she just sat up the whole time! She is buzzing her lips (spitting), making all sorts of cooing sounds, smiling and scrunching her nose, laughing a little bit, and still a great sleeper!

We are so lucky to have our little bug. She is a great baby and for some crazy reason makes me want another one...soon...but not too soon!