This and That

Last week was a busy week, so this week we have been taking it easy. Trying not to be overscheduled and catch up with some friends. It's quite enjoyable really.

Keira had her second dance class today. As I was walking out of the room, I heard the teacher ask the group of kids if they had brothers and sisters and I heard Keira yell very loudly, "My mommy has one in her belly!" Out of the mouths of babes. She told me today that she really likes the tap part of dance better than the ballet. I say, it's the shoes!

I volunteered to "help" at VBS this year. I was supposed to be what they called a herder - shuttle the kids from one activity to another. Well, apparently they are super short on help and I get to be a teacher! Oh boy! I get either 2 or 4 year olds - she gave me a choice, but I couldn't decide, so I just told her to suprise me! Should make for interesting blogging material.

Weather here has been awesome this week so far. The oppressive heat is gone and it's in the mid-80s. Love it. We've actually been playing outside again and don't have to be near water.

Keira had some friends over to play yesterday. She has these little decorative erasers that she loves to play with - they are in different shapes, like rainbows, teddy bears, hearts, etc. I don't know where they came from, but they are a popular toy for her. There are two of each shape. Anyway, yesterday she was carrying around the two rainbows and decided to give one to her friend for him to keep telling him "It's for friendship". I just thought this was so sweet. She talked about it for the rest of the day and even told Daddy about what she did when he got home.

I had my first icky garden experience today. I noticed one of the green peppers had little holes in it, so I plucked it off and opened it up - and there was an icky worm inside. Ugh. I freaked of course and threw it over the fence. Going to have to study up on what it was and how to stop it.

Baby Girl Hacker #2 is quite the mover and shaker. She is a kicking machine. Except when Wade has tried to feel her. Apparently, she is stubborn! I feel her anytime I sit down all day - except when Wade is around to try to catch a quick kick.

I think that is all I know for now. More soon, hopefully this week. Sort of sadly, next week sets off another three to four week extravaganza which includes more swim lessons, a visit from my MIL, dance, gymnastics, VBS, a trip to chicago, a weekend where wade has to work, and probably a few things I am forgetting. I love to be busy, but I may have gone overboard!

Oh and how could I forget to mention (and this part is really for one person only) that I have come in 1st place for 3 weeks in a row in my fantasy golf league. I would say it's fairly impressive considering the amount of time I spend picking my players - last week I timed myself - 4 minutes 27 seconds! Yeah for me!

Slip and Slide Fun!

Garden Update

Just a quick update, cause no blog posting would be complete without a garden update ;)

I've got about 6 pepper, 1 probably ready in a week. More tomatoes than I can count (last count was near 20), they are all still green. I have no idea when they will be ready. Lettuce is done thank goodness, we are soo over lettuce. Carrots probably ready in about another 2 weeks. Lots of onions, but they are big yet, no idea when they will be ready. We've been eating lots of sugar snap peas - Keira loves them, yippee! I've got 3 tiny jalepenos. Lots of baby cucumbers (and I mean itty bitty), but they don't seem to be getting bigger, not sure what is going on there. ANd the most exciting news - the cataloupe that I have been so down on actually has a bloom - dont' know if anything will come of it, but we'll see. Oh and Wade stepped on it the other day too. Poor thing isn't getting much of a chance.

That's the update. There are yummy things in our future I hope!

Swim Lessons

So today was the last day of the first session of swim lessons - I decided to sign her up again even though I hate the schedule. It's two weeks long - 4 days a week. Ugh. And I picked the lovely time of 4:00, so it has been so hot, it's crazy. So hot in fact that today it was only 96 degrees and that actually felt good to me as the past few days it was well over 100! In utero Hacker has been voicing her displeasure of the heat by kicking the crap out of me during the lesson. Keira did really well - she is not fond of the normal swim stroke yet, but like the swimming underwater part. She does really awesome at floating on her own (see pics below). She has no fear of the water and love the diving in practice they get. Here are a few pictures!

Floating ...

Still Floating ...



Really?!? Still Floating ...

Oops, Sunk!

1st Day of Dance

Keira started dance class this week. I am kinda bummed because the Moms can't watch except through this tiny little window that we all have to share, so that kinda stinks, but Keira was pretty excited about it. It is a combination of ballet and tap. She LOVES the tap shoes. I mean LOVES the tap shoes. There is a little program at the end that the Moms and Dads get to come for, so I'll have more pictures then. For now, I keep trying to get her to show me what she learned, but all she does is twirl ;)

More Garden Pics

More garden pics ... for those of you looking for keira pics, I did sneak one in there ;)

Pulled these just to see where we were - still have a few more weeks, but they taste yummy right now!

This is the biggest one I've got - probably pick it this weekend. Lots of babies though!

Tomatoes!!! We'll have lots - I planted regular ones and romas.

First peas of the season -these are the sugar snap peas - and they are soo sweet that I have already eaten all these. More to come!

My little green pepper. I've got two others that are smaller than this one.

Half-way there!

OK, so a little more than halfway seeing as I'll deliver at 39 weeks - but YIPEE, I am 20 weeks pregnant today. Had a dr. appointment today - and it was so great to have the dr. find the heartbeat immediately - baby is too big to hide anymore ;) Keira thought it was neat too! We had a big conversation on the way home about how she was going to push the baby in the baby swing when she was big enough to come out of my belly. It is amazing how their minds work. So anyway, every thing sounded good - she thought the blood pressure issues I am having are pretty normal and all I can do is drink more fluids. Ugh. I am going to float away as it is.

Sparce

Sorry that posting is so sparce - probably will be for the next week or so - Keira has swim lessons 4 days a week for the next two weeks, dance one morning, gymnastics another morning, Ryan is still here, and I have been so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open at night - so we've been busy! Not to mention I have been slightly addicted playing on-line scrabble with some friends! I'll post soon - the garden is booming - lots of little tomatoes, cucumbers, pea pods, green pepper babies, and I pulled a carrot just to see what was happening and there are little baby carrots growing under there - it even tasted like a carrot! More soon. :)

She may not look like me ...

but she is definitely my daughter! We had someone come and clean the gutters and put gutter covers on last week. They left a huge mess in our backyard that I hadn't looked seen - we weren't home while they did most of the work. Keira was playing on the deck while I was making dinner and we had this exchange:

Keira: Mommy, you better come look at this
Me: What is it (as I walk out the door)
Keira: They left a biiiiggggg mess
Me: They sure did leave a big mess
Keira: This is going to mean big trouble for him isn't it mommy?
Me: Yes, it is going to mean big trouble.
Keira: We need to call Daddy, don't we mommy?
Me: Yes, we do need to call daddy.

She is hilarious. She has learned alot about what I expect from the service industry!

Dessert last night

Here is what I made for dessert last night. The intent was to use some raspberries, granted this didn't use a lot of raspberries, but it was yummy!

The weekend preview edition

So, what is on the agenda for the weekend ...

Well, Ryan is coming to visit - so that should be fun. He is actually staying all week. Somehow, living in chicago, Kansas is part of his sales territory. He'll actually be working this weekend when we leave him with Keira and go to the movies. I am dying to see The Hangover, so those are our saturday plans.

Wade is still working on the deck - He got it all cleaned and prepped last weekend - then it rained almost all week, so he has yet to be able to seal it. Not sure he is going to get to this weekend either - I think the forecast is still calling for rain.

I made a yummy chocolate raspberry dessert yesterday - I'll post pictures later today.

We are headed to Hy-vee this morning (local grocery store) as they have a class for the kids where they get to make their own snack. Keira gets excited anytime she hears the word snack, so it ought to be fun.

Other than that, I am not sure what the weekend holds. I heard an ad on the radio for a greek fest somewhere - I could sure go for a Gyro, I haven't had one in a long time -so we might do that.

Note for you Kansas City area peeps - Price Chopper has chicken breasts on sale for $1.49 per pound. This is the lowest price of the year. I suggest filling those freezers!

Anyone?

know how to fix the header so the words don't go out of the box????

Late, late, late breaking garden news

There is a tiny cucumber too!!!!

Late breaking garden news!

After further inspection, there are actually 4 baby tomatoes!

AHHH!!!!

We have a baby tomato on one of our plants!! YIPEE!!!!

T-ball

We attempted playing t-ball this weekend. Keira decided that she wanted to play all the positions - she would hit the ball and then chase after it and then run the bases. It was pretty funny. Teaching her things like this have been tough for me as she is a lefty at this point and I have a hard time trying to figure out the best way for her to hold the bat (or last week's battle was using scissors). You would think Wade would be better since he writes left handed, but he played sports right handed, so he has the same problem. Regardless of this though, for Wade's sake, I hope baby girl number 2 is a bit more of a tomboy as I don't think team sports are going to be Keira's thing ;)

More Garden stuff

So sadly, my strawberries are starting to dimish but the raspberries are in full bloom! That picture was just the first batch, there have been several others. We still have lettuce, oh my, do we still have lettuce. Oh, and we have radishes now too. I'll have to take a pic of those and post it. Everything else seems to be growing well and getting blooms! Yeah!

Peanut

Thought this was a funny picture of Wade and Peanut!

Ultrasound Pics!

Baby Girl Hacker with her hand on her forehead as if she has had enough pictures taken! Quite the drama queen already!

All stretched out and relaxed.

My favorite pics are always the ones of the little feet! So tiny!

I Lied

Yes, I know I promised ultrasound pics this weekend - looks like I lied! Sorry - I'll get to them hopefully tomorrow. As for now, I am super tired and still have a million things to do before I sleep, so I promise a better post tomorrow!

Happy News!

So we had the big ultrasound today! And I am happy to report that everything was completely healthy and normal. Kidneys were there and functioning. Spine looked great, heart had all four chambers and beating perfectly. The doctor's exact words were "All the internal systems have formed perfectly normally, everything looks great!" I don't think I have ever heard such a sweet sentence!

And since I know you are all on the edge of your seats ... it's a GIRL! Or at least the tech gave us 90% chance of a girl - she was a little stubborn keeping the knees together, but it looked like a girl! She also measured 5 days ahead! Yippee! So we will definetly have an october baby since she'll be a c-section.

Now it's on to the fun stuff -- names and clothes and all that good stuff that I couldn't bear to deal with before today. I so want to go out and buy something pink ;) You cannot imagine the relief we feel today - I know I have heard people say they feel lighter after they get good news - but never really thought much about it - but today - I feel lighter, a weight has been lifted ;)

Thank you for all your support, prayers, thoughts, happy e-mails and phone calls - they helped keep me sane.

I'll post some ultrasound pics this weekend!

Have a great weekend, I know we will!

Stuff

I opened the pantry door today and found Keira inside it with one hand in a box of cereal and one hand in a box of graham crackers. I said "What do you think you are doing?" She said "Just eating crunchy stuff". You have to laugh, right?!?!
most
The old saying is totally true about going to the grocery store hungry - DON'T DO IT! I came home with (among other things) 4 bags of chips!! Cheetos, Baked Barbeque Lays, Flat Earth Tangy Tomato, and Tortilla Chips. Hmm, can you guess I was craving salt while there!

Yesterday turned out to be interesting. Went to the park after naptime. Was a nice day, not really hot at all. Was there about 45 minutes or so and got the crazy dizzy pass out feeling. World was spinning, I got all hot, everyone sounded like they were a million miles away, started to black out. Thankfully, there was a bench near, so I was able to sit before collapsing and recover. 10 minutes later I felt pretty good. Weird, but good. Thank goodness someone was there with me to watch Keira and watch me! Once I felt better, we drove home. Had Wade pick up dinner, ate and then headed up to the store to take my blood pressure. It was 98/58. So, we called the doc - she seemed to think - that yes, this is low, but most likely just pregnancy low and to get off my feet and drink lots and lots and lots of fluid. Fun. Feeling ok today. Went and took my bp once this morning and once this afternoon -- 90/60 this morning and 96/60 this afternoon. But no dizzy spells today!

Tomorrow is the day. I'd like to say I am excited, but truthfully, I am terrified. You know by now I HATE ultrasounds and tomorrow is the mother of all ultrasounds. The truth is I can't even write this paragraph without tears in my eyes. At this point, I am basically holding my breath. I'll be sure to update tomorrow with hopefully good news.

That's all for now - I better go eat some chips - if I finish a bag, no one will ever know I brought home 4 bags!!!

Another garden post

So I am sure when you logged on here you were totally looking for an update on the status of the garden, right?!? Work with me here ...

Ok, so I know I am a little obsessed with it, but what can I say - I am so excited that I planted stuff and that it is actually growing!!! I have never really considered myself a green thumb, hence, we have no houseplants because I forget to water them, but the garden is doing excellent!

There are blooms on 3 of the 4 tomato plants and I found a bloom today on one of the green pepper plants. The peas are growing like crazy, but no blooms yet. My cucumbers, which I thought were going to die, have revived and now have 6 or 7 blooms! I have lettuce and spinach coming out my ears - I am going to turn into a salad I think. The strawberries are crazy (I didn't plant these, they were here previously) - I have made muffins and a homemade strawberry sauce for ice cream and waffles plus Keira eats them raw everyday and we still have more than we can eat! The carrots are thriving and the onions look good. I think we'll have radishes this weekend! Yippee! More pictures soon - come on, you know you can't get enough of it!

I told Wade that when we have to move again, should we not be lucky like this time with a perfect place for a garden, he is going to have to build me some raised beds - I'm hooked!

Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

Yesterday was our first trip to Deanna Rose of the year since I have been on "light duty" most of the spring. For those of you that are not familiar, Deanna Rose is giant farm - with everything from horses to pigs, to goats, to cows. They have pony rides, wagon rides, etc. You can feed the animals. Admission is free! So we only spent $0.75 while we were there - just for the food! Keira was so excited while we were there, I thought she was going to burst! She ran from animal to animal, wanting to feed them all. It was hilarious - she seriously ran through the whole place - Mommy could not keep up! It was one of those moments that makes you again realize why you stay home with your kids - I would not have missed the look on her face of the sheer joy she experienced for anything. I was sad later when retelling the day to Wade that he could not be there to see her reaction for himself!

She actually fed the animals this year - last year, she would get close, but not close enough to feed them - this year she was all about it!

This was her favorite goat, or at least that is what she told me. She wanted to know where it's Mommy was (she has a thing about knowing where everyone's mom is)

Her petting a cow. We had to come back by this cow on the way out as she needed to say goodbye to it!



Her latest cheesy smile while on the slides!





The ducks were my favorite part. There was a mommy and about 9 babies and they came right up to us - of course they wanted fed! Keira chased them around for a bit and then we got some food and they came right up and ate it right at Keira's feet. She desperately wanted to pet them, but that wasn't going to happen. The Mommy duck stayed in the water most of the time, carefully observing.

Waiting for Daddy to get home!

Wade didn't make it home for dinner last night b/c of work, so I have two anxious "kids" awaiting his arrival tonight!

So what do you think, gang?

Pregnant, or what?

Good Results

Got the results from yet another blood test that I had done last week and the results were very good:

Down's Syndrome: chance 1 in 10,000
Trisomoies: chance 1 in 10,000
Neural Tube Defects: chance 1 in 5,600

These are all very good and much better than just the risk for my age. To put it in perspective, the doctor says they don't start worrying about these unless your risk is less than 1 in 50.

We love good news here in the Hacker household :) Now we just have to get to Friday!