Baby girl- 36 weeks

My belly is sure expanding, which means baby girl is really growing.  Just like her brother she is measuring "big", so last Friday we had a sonogram done just to be on the safe side.  According to the sono, she is about a week ahead in growth and is weighing in at about 6 lbs!  We may not make it to her September 24th due date.

Here are her most recent pictures.

I also wanted to post some family pictures we just got back.  We took these around 31 weeks (please disregard the "yellowish" color- I took a picture of the printed pictures).

Anders is 18 months or 1 1/2 years!

Today is the 21st of August, making Anders 18 months old or a year and half.  Wow!  Wanted to share with you some of Anders many faces that make us laugh every day.

At 18 months Anders is.....running, climbing on all and anything he can manage- found him on top of our kitchen table the other day, loves dogs, playing with his cousins, eating with a fork or toothpick, jumping off steps or some kind of height, talking, pounding toys, throwing balls (or anything else he can that doesn't get a "no...no" from mommy), loves his pacifier, reading books, pretending to talk on the phone- he does a great imitation of daddy, and being around people.  He is sleeping from about 7:30 p.m. until 6:00 a.m., which is when he wakes up for his morning drink and then goes back to bed for about an hour.  During the day he is down to one nap, right after lunch, and sleeps for about 2 hours.  His favorite toys are the remotes, the piano, his broom, balls, and panda or bunny.  He is a wonderful little boy and we are so thankful!!!!

His 18th month "well visit" with Dr. G shows that he is a growing, tall and lean little boy.

• Weight: 23.10 lb (20-30%)
• Height: 33.5 in (90%)
• Head: 19.5 in (95%)

At his appointment we were cleared to stop the pedisure- Hooray!

Summer

With school starting for many on Monday, I wanted to make sure I catch up with my blog and post some highlights from the summer.

Summer started out with Vocation Bible School (VBS) with daddy.  Jeff led everyone in song, dance and jump/jive/hop. The day we visited was a western theme (sorry for the phone taken picture quality).

Ridding in the new bike trailor with daddy.

Spending some time boating with the family.

Loving eating ice cream on a hot summer day. Who wouldn't?

First haircut thanks to grandma.  I still haven't been able to bring myself to cut the curls in the back.

Before

 During

After with Grandma

Playing......playing and more playing......

And cleaning up after a long day of play with friend Vesper.

Visit to Iowa

With the summer school semester over Jeff, Anders and I were able to go home to Iowa to visit some family and friends.  I am always amazed by how green Iowa is.  My cousin who grew up here, but has also moved away, describes it as "soft" or "lush".  Iowa, there is now place like it.  I especially love Iowa summers, but more importantly I love my family and friends that live there. 

The first weekend we visited Preston, April and Parker came in from Ohio for a visit as well.  The cousins had a great time together!

The two weeks that followed Anders had many adventures in grandma's garden, swinging, play on the farm, playing with 2nd cousins, and visiting family. He loved seeing the horses, throwing rocks into the creek, and walking the gravel roads (according to him all the rocks were balls).

 There were some extra special dinners with Grandma Judge and and Great Grandma Hempy.

 It was so nice to spend 2 weeks with Grandma and Grandpa Judge. Thanks for having us.


During our stay I saw some very special friends from from college (GO ISU), and Anders made some new friends with their children. 

It was so great to see everyone.  We miss you!

Welcome Baby Abby

Our sweet little niece, Abigail (Abby) Sue Larson was born on August 6th.  She is beautiful!  Congratulations to happy parents Bryan and Eraina and big sister Lucy.

Big Boy Bed

Tonight was the 2nd night for Anders to move out of the crib and sleep in his "big boy" bed.  The first night was a bit rough.  It entailed about an hour of Anders getting in and out of bed to protest, however he eventually gave up and we found him asleep in the middle of the floor.  Tonight was a bit of an improvement, he made it out of the bed to protest just once and then he was quiet.   After about a 1/2 hour I went into his room and found him like this- fast asleep.  Sweet boy.