One year ago today...let the bedrest begin!

We all have those times in our lives that we will never forget. Those moments that you can remember exactly what you were wearing, or who you were with, or exactly what time it was when this or that happened. I'm not one to remember details that is for sure. I always said with Tessa when she did all of her "firsts" that I would remember exactly, I didn't need to write it down. WRONG! I need to write everything down if I even want to come close to remembering the specifics.

But one year ago today I remember every little tiny detail from about 4:00pm on for many days to follow that. One year ago today was when I wondered if many something was a little funky with my pregnancy. Am I leaking amniotic fluid? No...I couldn't be. Well, indeed this is the night that we went to the triage to learn that yes, indeed my suspicions were correct. What a night it was. I have to be honest that I was very, very, very frightened. I remember it all like it was yesterday, not one year ago. It brings chills to my spine thinking about how I was feeling that night. Scared...really, really, really scared. Especially after the Neonatologist came to visit and give us the low-down of what to expect when we delivered that night (as most everyone thought I was going to be delivering). To think one year ago today how desperately I wanted to wake up from the nightmare and come back home to my family and enjoy the last ten weeks of my pregnancy just as I had naively done with my pregnancy with Tessa. I was supposed to be starting my school year that next day, not a month of bedrest! But someone had a different plan for me. I'd instead spend the next four weeks in the hospital before having Nolan six weeks early. Although our "plan" was altered a bit last year, I couldn't be happier now. Last year I never would have pictured that Nolan was going to be as healthy as he is now. Not to mention HUGE! We are lucky, so very, very lucky.

Here are the latest pics we had taken of the kids. (Tessa - 3 years old, Nolan - 10 months old) They are a bit blurry. My two pride and joys that made this summer so very memorable. Off to school tomorrow to begin another school year. See you next year summer break. It sure was a fun one:)

To the zoo we go...

The weather was BEAUTIFUL today! We are trying to enjoy every last bit of summer that we can. Today we woke up to such a beautiful day that we decided it was a great day to be out and about. So to the zoo we went! It was perfect out. We had a blast visiting all of the animals and Tessa wanted her picture taken next to each animal statue. Tessa is not a picture girl so I had to take advantage. Below are a few of the shots we got! Nolan is always such a trooper to whatever it is we have planned.

The kids were so great today. We did sooo much today. Derek had to be back at school today for his official first staff day and then had his first football game of the season tonight that he was a bit anxious about. (I spoke to him not long ago and they won...WHOO HOO!!) So today was devoted to Tessa, Nolan, and I together. We started the day with a trip to the Mattel toy store (thanks Aunt JeJe for the gifts and the awesome discount!!), then headed to the zoo, of course had to hit up the zoo park for our picnic lunch and play time, and then we took a tiny snooze on the way home. We arrived home late afternoon to unpack the car and grab a quick bite to eat. It was too nice out to stay home so off we went for a ferry ride with my dad to grab some ice cream. It was a beautiful day full of good moods, lots of laughs, and lots of snuggles with my babies.

Nolan's on the move!

Nolan is officially cruising around. I didn't get the best video to show it but enough that you can see there is no sitting still anymore! We've already learned with Tessa that life changes SOOOO much when they start scooting around. "Nolan wait, Nolan no not Tessa's toys, Nolan watch your head (as he crawls under the table or under the stools), Nolan what are you eating..." As much as it sure changes things around our household it is absolutely amazing how much he is going to learn. He can finally dig into things that we would have never handed him and can start to explore. He still giggles every time he crawls around. I'm sure he's thinking...I'm free! Go Nolan...have fun exploring this wonderful world!

(Darn..for some reason I can't get the video to load. Hopefully I can get it to work!)

13.1...We did it!

I officially did my first race this morning! Jess and I completed the Madison Mini-Marathon, 13.1 miles. We had one goal...FINISH! I have to be totally honest and say that it was much more difficult than I had envisioned. Don't get me wrong, I knew it was going to be hard! It sure was toasty outside and we sure did sweat A LOT. At one point when we were in the midst of so many others all having the same goal to finish, I looked around to see people soaking wet, sweat just dripping off of their shorts, hats, running to the ground and thought how neat it really was. For how often Americans get criticized for our health, there were a lot of calories being burned today just so people could say "I did it!". Some people were training for longer races, some were doing it to beat their time last year, and then there were people like me who just wanted to finish because it would feel like an accomplishment. Did we win the race? Nope. Did we finish? Yes we did. That was our goal and I'm proud to say that Jess and I did it!


Before the race began...

Mile 9...4.1 left to go!

Tanya's Wedding - St. Louis

I love weddings, oh yes I do!! This past weekend two friends and I headed to St. Louis to our friend Tanya's wedding. It was an absolute blast! Everything went just perfectly and we had two days of pure fun. I have been so lucky to have had such a great summer and I've truly enjoyed every part of it. I know I say it all of the time but man oh man, I wouldn't trade my family or friends for anything in the world. I don't know how I've gotten so lucky!

Heather, me, Brenda, and the bride-to-be...Tanya!


The beautiful couple! What a beautiful day it was.



Fun, fun and more fun! Wish I would have taken more pics throughout the two days...I am always so bad about that! Thanks Bren for sharing your pics:)

Tessa and those darn molluscum

Poor little peanut Tessa had quite the procedure done last Tuesday (the 10th). Tessa has these little bumps on several places of her body that we knew what the were...molluscum. We knew that they can take 2-3 years to go away, they are harmless, and they can spread when they are scratched open. It is very unlikely that adults will get them as we have already built up an immunity to them. BUT the problem with Tessa's is that most of hers are right on top of her eczema...so what in the world do we put on her eczema? So off the dermatologist we went.

Tessa did soooo well during the whole appt. They gave us about four different options for treating her molluscum. I wanted the one that would hurt the least because really they don't bother her at all, just the eczema underneath them. Indeed they chose the one that hurt the least. About one hour later after they had applied all of the medication she started to get very uncomfortable. Yes, the procedure wasn't going to be painful, but oh my goodness, the next four days were very painful. Still today she says that certain spots hurt. They put a blistering agent on her molluscum that can cause blisters. Usually the child will wake up the next morning with blisters that will subside very quickly. My little munchkin has such sensitive skin that it took about two hours for the blisters to start. And boy did they come quickly. It was sooo very sad to see her so miserable while at the same time we knew after a short time she was going to be just fine. Her appt was at the Children's Hospital and just walking around in there for five minutes I knew I was the lucky one that was going to be leaving with a healthy child with blisters that would go away shortly. Many parents in there would give anything to have their worries be blisters.

Not to mention that Tessa slept in her bed all night that night without getting out once!! WHOO HOO!! That was short lived and the only reason it happened is because the poor girl couldn't walk AT ALL! We did enjoy a very easy bedtime even for that one short night. Since then...the going-to-bed-game continues. Oh yes, it is still going strong:)

Fun in the sun

The pics below really sum up our last few weeks. It's been really hot outside (for here at least...) so we've been staying cool by playing in the water. Anywhere there is water Tessa and Nolan are happy! A new favorite is our crazy sprinkler that sprays water all over the place. Nolan always grabs the little sprayers and sprays himself and gets so mad because the water is freezing. He hasn't quite caught on that he's the one that is doing it. It's pretty funny.

Hard to believe that summer is starting to wrap up. We have a lot going on in the next few weeks so we definitely aren't saying it's over but the end is in sight. It's been a truly wonderful summer. After last year and how last summer ended, I wasn't sure what this summer was going to bring for our family. Now Tessa is three, Nolan almost one, and we are loving life with the four of us. Soon Tessa and Nolan will head off to daycare at my mom's or Stephie's, Derek and I will head back to school, Derek will begin football, and the time will keep on cruising by. We know how lucky we are. We've been trying to enjoy each day as it comes our way because we know how fast time goes.