Goodbye fall!

Fall has long since left us here in Minnesota...it's freezing and we have snow, which is to be expected in December! We had a warm November, though, and that was nice. Caleb enjoyed playing outside as much as possible!


Now that it's almost Christmas, my pregnancy is quickly coming to an end. Physically, I feel ready for the baby to arrive. Anyone will tell you that the last few weeks of pregnancy are the hardest, and I possibly could have 5 weeks to go at this point! I'm tired, uncomfortable about 99% of the time, and exhausted trying to keep up with normal household stuff, preparing for Christmas, work, and a very energetic 3 year old! We are still working on getting things around the house ready for baby. We painted the baby's room (pictures to come!) and Marshall is currently working on finishing the rest of it (ripping up carpet, putting together new furniture, and moving around existing furniture). I've been trying to wash baby clothes here and there and still have a lot of organizing to do before the big day arrives. We should have some time after Christmas to get everything ready.


My last few doctor appointments have been uneventful. I'm now measuring right on schedule, instead of weeks ahead like I was earlier. This is good and bad...good because maybe baby girl won't be as big as Caleb was, bad because part of me was hoping for an induction, to get this over with sooner! I would be pretty nervous to be induced, so it's probably a good thing that it may not happen. I'd rather it just happen naturally. My sister Laura goes back to school January 18th, so I'm hoping to have the baby by then, so she's closer by when it happens. Caleb didn't cooperate with my plans so I guess I shouldn't count on this baby doing so either! I just wanted to have Caleb on time, and he waited 5 days past my due date. Worth the wait, of course!

Wedding fun

In early November, we had a road trip to Ames, Iowa for the wedding of my cousin Jimmy and Ginny. It was fun to get away for the weekend and stay at a hotel with family. Caleb had a great time and LOVED the reception. He danced the entire time and was so into 'doing his moves'. We are not sure where he gets this from!! He was even dancing in the middle of a huge circle of wedding guests. Maybe he won't be inheriting the shyness that both Marshall and I suffer from! The wedding was beautiful and we all had a really great time.

Happy Halloween!

Ok, I know it was just Thanksgiving. I'm about a month behind. Halloween was a big deal at our house this year. Caleb was really excited about it and couldn't wait for Trick or Treating! The day before Halloween, they had a party at daycare and he got to wear his Spiderman costume..we also carved pumpkins that night (or "pumpquins" as Caleb calls them). On Halloween night Spiderman and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's to start trick or treating...Caleb went up to the door, got candy from Grandma and turned around right away! I guess he was ready for more houses...we had to go to visit at that one, though! Grandpa took Spiderman to a few more neighbors and we also went to Ted and Randi's and Uncle Joey and Auntie Steph's. Liesl, the puppy, was even dressed up. Uncle Joey took Spiderman to more neighbors' by their house. After all this, Spiderman and I headed back to our neighborhood...we were going to stop at a few houses but Caleb said he wanted to go home and look at his candy. He didn't get too much but it was plenty! He had a fun night.

Baby girl update!

All of a sudden I'm in the 3rd trimester of this pregnancy already! I'm finding this milestone to be bittersweet. It's nice to be close to the end, as pregnancy is uncomfortable at times, to say the least. I'm excited to meet our little girl, I keep wondering what she is going to look like, how the labor will be..and most of all, how Caleb will react to having a little sister. But I'm also sad to know that pretty soon I will be done being pregnant, and probably for the last time (never say never, I guess, but Marshall wouldn't agree with that I'm sure!) ...it's really an amazing experience to feel this little being move around inside of you, to know you are actually growing a person!


I've had several doctor visits since my last post about the baby. At 28 weeks, every pregnant woman takes a glucose tolerance test, to determine if she has gestational diabetes. At my test, last week, I failed...meaning my body did not get rid of the glucose fast enough (this is determined after taking a blood test, one hour after drinking this horrible glucose solution). This test was just a screen...so I was required to take a more diagnostic test to really determine if I was diabetic. I had that test today and after drinking more horrible glucose stuff, 3 hours of waiting and 4 blood draws..I passed! So thankfully, I do not have gestational diabetes.


Also at my 28 week visit, the NP I saw mentioned I was measuring about 3 weeks ahead (measuring my belly). Usually this is not really a cause for alarm, but with Caleb being so big at birth, they decided it would be a good idea to monitor baby's growth pretty closely. I had another ultrasound (3rd one already!) yesterday to check dates and baby's size. A more accurate due date of January 23rd was recommended by the ultrasound tech (as opposed to January 28th) and the baby's size was estimated at about 2lbs 14 oz, a little bigger than normal for this stage of pregnancy (which is about 2 lbs). I won't get to actually talk to my doctor until next week about this, so I'm not sure where we'll go from here. The NP said if the baby is very big, they can talk about induction at 37 weeks or so. I'm not thrilled with the idea of induction, but I also don't want to go through a painful delivery and recovery again because of a nearly 10 pounder!! Either way I guess the baby will probably be here before January 28th.

Look who's 3!!!

Our little Caleb turned 3 on September 24...his birthday was a BIG deal this year. He had been looking forward to it for months. On his actual birthday he went to daycare like normal, but we brought cupcakes to share with all his daycare friends. That night we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner with Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Steph and Uncle Joey. This was probably the highlight of Caleb's whole birthday experience. He loves Chuck E Cheese so much and was just in a daze of excitement the whole time we were there. He played games and ran around, ate a little pizza, and for his big 'prize' got some more pirate gear. At home Marshall and I let him open presents from us...the big hit was his scooter. He's been riding it around the house pretty much ever since then!

The day after Caleb's birthday I got to stay home with him...we went to the doctor for his 3 year check up. Everything was great...he's 35 lbs, 37 3/4 inches tall. He also got the flu mist vaccine. Nothing bothered him at all at the doctor, but he was shy and didn't want to talk. He was bummed that they had to put away the waiting room toys (due to flu season). He kept asking me, while we waited, where the toys were. He even asked the receptionist!

Caleb's Grandma and Grandpa from North Dakota sent his gifts in the mail...Marshall assembled his 4-wheeler on the weekend and we surprised Caleb with it...he was so excited!! He went zooming down the driveway before we even could tell him how to work the thing...Marshall had to chase after him. One of the first things Caleb said about this was "can we go to the farm now?"

We had a birthday party for Caleb at our house...the first big gathering at our new place. I was so nervous for this and wanted everything to be just perfect...there was a lot we didn't get done (in the yard mostly) but overall it was a success. My mom and sister-in-law helped with the food, and my sister came over early to help with preparations, too. Caleb had picked out tractors for the theme...even though it was John Deere green!! We had such a nice night with family and friends..Caleb had a lot of fun, especially playing with my friend's daughter, Sammy. We were thankful for all the nice gifts, as well...one of the neatest things Caleb received was a handmade toy box from Uncle Joey. Joey spent a lot of time on this and it turned out so beautiful!

So now we start on this adventure that is being a 3 year old...some people have told me that 3 can be worse than 2. I'm not convinced of this yet, as Caleb is usually the sweetest kid...of course he has his moments though! This has got to be one of the best ages..when it comes to being a parent. It's so rewarding to see your baby grow up and develop into a little person. I love just having conversations with Caleb and seeing what he comes up with. He has the best imagination and such a sweet heart. He is always telling us we are the best in the whole world..he's so polite and sensitive. I couldn't ask for anything more!

Yay, Minnesota!

So we are pretty big sports fans at our house....and when I say 'we', I really mean...Marshall and Caleb. Marshall is a diehard Vikings fan and Caleb is starting to really look forward to Vikings Day (mostly Sundays!). He doesn't really understand the game, but he gets into dressing up and running around like a football player while Marshall tries to watch the game. Caleb got some Gophers gear for his birthday, from Auntie Dua, our own 'golden gopher' in her first year at the U of MN..and he likes to wear his Gopher stuff too, especially the hat!

In other, more 'girly' news....I had a second ultrasound this week for baby Girl. Normally, only one ultrasound would be necessary but since baby wasn't being fully cooperative last time, I got a chance to see her again this way! I'm 27 weeks along, so the baby is more developed now. It was pretty neat to see her moving around again, even moving her mouth. The ultrasound tech was even able to tell that she has hair already!! She said this is about the earliest they can detect hair on an ultrasound...it just appears to be 'peach fuzz' now. I am guessing she'll have hair like Caleb did when he was born. Everything looked great on the ultrasound, according to my doctor. The baby is so active, I feel her moving all throughout the day (and night) and can even see movement too. I'm trying to cherish all these moments, knowing it will probably be the last time I'm pregnant!

End of summer pictures!

Craziness at work has prevented me from being able to post as often as I'd like to hear! So now it's October and I'm just posting some pictures from the end of August. We had lots going on toward the end of summer. We went to the "Great Minnesota Get Together" (also known as the State Fair)...this was exciting for Caleb because we rode a bus there (instead of battling parking and traffic) and the rides. He went on the merry-go-round and some balloon ride, he would've gone on plenty more if we had allowed it. He had a great time. Marshall won him some pirate accessories at the arcade and Caleb had a great time being a pirate on the way home.

We also went to my cousin's son's 1st birthday party, where Caleb had fun playing with fellow almost 3 year old Kenna (pictured below with Angie and Auntie Laura). End of summer also means beginning of football season (yay---note my sarcasm here!) and Caleb is all ready with some Vikings gear. I picked the shirt up for him at Target one day and he was so happy to try it in. He kept thanking me for the shirt. He tries to watch the games with Marshall but he's really more interested in running around and trying to play football himself. Go Vikings!

More baby news + Como Zoo

I'm getting behind on updating this so I'm posting several different items in this post! First of all, we have more baby news to share!! This week I had my 20 week appointment...which is usually the most exciting of the baby appointments. It marks the halfway point of the pregnancy and you get to have an ultrasound!! As I posted before, we had decided to find out the gender this time around. I was so nervous and excited for this appointment. Marshall went with me and we settled down in the ultrasound room for the hour long look at our baby....right away the tech was not getting a good view of some of the important thing...one of which was gender! I started convincing myself that it just wasn't meant to me...baby didn't want us to know. The techs (two of them kept alternating) kept taking different measurements, pointing out different body parts to us, and then going back to take a lot at the gender...still no cooperation from baby. It was still neat to watch the little moving around, kicking me, moving hands, even putting a hand on top of the head! It was getting obvious that the techs were nervous they wouldn't be able to determine a gender. They had me get up and use the bathroom (what a relief!! You have to come to the appointment with a full bladder..and I was bursting), lay on my side..they were even poking my belly, trying to get the baby to flip over. Finally they started to get a better view and told us, with 99.9% certainty, we would be having a baby GIRL! I was instantly overwhelmed, excited, happy...my eyes welled with tears. I was so sure this would be boy#2 for us. I thought I was destined to by the mom of boys. And now I get to anticipate what having a little girl will be like...I just can't imagine it. I look forward to it so much. Marshall's reaction was not as joyous...he asked if there was still a chance it could be a boy. Caleb was also a little disappointed when we told him, he said he wanted a boy baby like him. Hopefully they will both be a little more enthusiatic about this once baby girl is here!! The rest of my doctor's appointment went fine...everything looks great with the baby and I even get to have another ultrasound next appointment. There were a few shots missed by the techs, due to baby not cooperating!


A couple weeks ago we finally made it to Como Zoo with Caleb. He had a great time and was sad when we left. His favorite part of the zoo this year was the seals. It was fun watching them swim around in the water. The night before our trip to the zoo, Caleb was stung by a bee! We were at home, with Angela visiting for dinner, when out in the backyard Caleb suddenly came running and screaming to me, holding his ear. We saw a bee fly away from him as he got closer. It was terrifying. I've never seen him so upset and in pain...that is the hardest part of being a mother. We took him inside and Marshall and I tried to console him, make sure the stinger was out and calm him down. His ear swelled up pretty good (that's what the last picture is of!) but he was fine after awhile. What an experience! Marshall was stung the next weekend after discovering a ton of bees in a hive or something underground in the backyard. Hopefully we've taken care of them, but we've been staying inside lately!

Happy Birthday Ma!

My mom celebrated her birthday in early August. This was a big deal for Caleb because we had told him his birthday was next (in order of our family birthdays)...this may not have been the best thing to tell him because he didn't forget that for one second! As we wrapped Grandma's presents he kept asking where his presents were and was so disappointed when I told him he didn't get any presents for awhile. We went to my parents' house for dinner the night before my mom's birthday and gave her presents....Caleb told her what every gift from us was, during dinner...I guess he can't keep secrets! The next day (her actual birthday) we went back over there for cake and ice cream and her sisters came over, too. We had a nice little party and Caleb enjoyed that...he'd celebrate birthdays every day if he could!
Now he's really looking forward to his birthday. We went to the 'party store' recently to get some birthday party supplies and he had fun picking out things there. His choice for birthday party theme this year was....tractors! Unfortunately the only kind of party supplies in tractor theme are John Deere...so the family will have to suffer through a green tractor day (they are RED tractor fans...I think one of my dad's t-shirts reads 'if it ain't red, leave it in the shed').

Family picnic

Every summer we have our annual Carlson Family picnic..the Carlson family is my mom's mom's side of the family. Only one of my Grandma's sisters is still living and we were celebrating her 90th birthday at this picnic. Since there was such a large turnout we did some family pictures. The first picture is the 2nd generation, so my mom and her sisters and cousins. The second picture is my generation, so my siblings and cousins and second cousins. The last picture is of Great Aunt Jenny with the 4th generation, Caleb and his second cousins and third cousins! It really is amazing to see so much family together. I remember going to these summer picnics (and our annual Christmas parties, too) almost every year when I was younger.

Baby update

Things are just moving right along with baby #2! I saw my doctor this morning and the check-up went well. Next appointment will be the halfway mark and our big ultrasound! I scheduled it for September 9th. I'm excited and nervous for this appointment. It's always fun to actually 'see' the baby...but this time around we've also decided to find out the gender, if possible. We didn't find out with Caleb and while it was hard waiting, it was also so exciting at that moment when they had to yell out "it's a boy!" And at that time, I was just so pleased to be done with labor and have the baby safely here, I didn't really have a solid reaction to the gender news. This time it will be low key, in the ultrasound room, and I hope either way, I will have a happy reaction! All we really want is a healthy baby, of course, and I've kinda been envisioning myself as the mom to boys....so I am preparing myself for boy #2. But I would love to have that little girl, too. Either way, it's kind of hard imagining our family with a 4th person. Finding out the gender will make it a little more real.

Baby on board!

That's right, baby on board! I'm pregnant with our second child, due in January. Marshall and I found out the news right after moving into our house. You can imagine the surprise and shock...this was not something we were planning for at this time. However, it will be a welcome addition to our family, one I have looked forward to for awhile now. I really never thought this would happen!


So far the pregnancy is going well, pretty comparable to my pregnancy with Caleb. I've been tired, nauseous, no appetite...pretty much the normal pregnancy symptoms. These symptoms are starting to subside now that I'm almost to the 2nd trimester already. It seems to be going by fast, but at the same time, it doesn't seem completely real yet! No flutters of movement, no showing really...that will all come soon, I know.


I did have my first real doctor's appointment this week. Marshall and I were able to hear the heartbeat...what a wonderful sound!! My doctor said everything looks fine!


We have shared the news with Caleb, the big brother to be...he probably does not understand it really but he's had some funny reactions. When I first asked him if he'd like a baby in the house he got very excited and asked me rapidly, "can it play on my swingset?, will it talk?" Since then he's mentioned the baby a couple times, mostly about the baby living in his toy room (he'll have to move his toys downstairs). He always is good with the babies at daycare so I think he'll be great with his new brother or sister.

Farm 2009

Every year it's a family tradition to go to Osakis the 2nd week of July for the Roddin' 'Round the Lake car show. Since my parents have the farm, that tradition has expanded into a weekend bonfire as well. This year we went up Saturday morning and spent some time at the car show. My brother's car and my dad's car are in the picture above. The show itself is pretty small, just taking up Main Street in downtown Osakis, but it always has a pretty good turn out. Caleb was interested in walking up and down the street checking out all the cars. He took this walk several times, with Grandpa, Uncle Joey or Auntie Steph. We also walked down to the lake, but he was not a fan of that and got pretty freaked out when Marshall joked about throwing him off the dock! After lunch at Tip Top Dairy bar we headed back to the farm before the rest of the family. Caleb was able to take a little nap. Soon the rest of the group started to arrive. After Caleb's nap he joined in the fun, playing squirt guns with Auntie Steph and getting mostly everyone wet. We had a lot of people out for dinner and a bonfire afterwards. Caleb stayed up late and had a great time hanging out with everyone.


The next day some of the campers took off for home but we stayed for awhile to hang out and enjoy the nice weather. Caleb was able to participate in all his favorite farm activities...riding 4-wheeler, tractor, pretending to ride on the dirt bike, and even driving his very own little tractor (made by Grandpa). After having Grandpa or Uncle Joey start the tractor for him over and over, he figured it out himself and was able to take off on his own (terrifying for me!!!). The tractor goes very slow so it was ok...perfectly safe (I guess!). He was so cute driving around, steering, stopping on his own...giving people rides even. The noise of all that stuff is too much for him, so he likes to wear his 'firework ears'...Grandpa's from the races.


Later in the day, we went with my Aunt Deb to see the animals that her son, Doug, and daughter-in-law, Kara, have at their farm. Caleb got to feed Precious the pig some lettuce, and we saw brand new baby goats, less than a week old. Doug and Kara's son, Landon, was also there, so Caleb got to see his second cousin for awhile too. All in all, it was a very fun and eventful weekend! Caleb was asking for days afterward if we could go back to the farm.