the baby book

I ordered baby boy's baby book today, and I am pretty excited about it!
I had a really hard time finding one for Adelyn that I liked...I don't really like the one I eventually picked out, but oh well :)
My creative sister-in-law, Steph, found one for Nora on etsy and I LOVED it! It had EVERYTHING I wanted in a baby book, so I kept the idea logged in my brain for later :)
The book was a little pricey, but I decided it's supposed to last and would be worth it.
 Nick picked the design (can you tell?) I wanted the orange one with big white polka dots, but told him to decide....although I knew which one he would go for ;)

Adelyn update: she is finally getting to be herself today. She was fever-free yesterday, but definitely not feeling well. She has a rash on her trunk and I'm thinking viral rash or fifths disease. Either way, there's nothing to do but let it runs its course, so I didn't take her to the Dr. She woke up from her nap this afternoon pretty happy and chatty, so I'm hoping we are over the sickness for now! ;)

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when your daughter doesn't feel good...

I know it's an OLD picture, but this is what the last 4 days with Adelyn have been like...

Enough said.

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happy birthday and goodbye

This is my younger brother, Josh (and his son, Noah). He turned 26 last Sunday, but couldn't leave the Naval base in IL for a party until today. Happy Birthday Josh!
The sad thing is, is that he leaves tomorrow night for his new post....in.....Pearl Harbor, Hawaii! Rough life, I know :)  He gets to San Diego first at the Naval school there for some classes and training...then off to Hawaii.
We are getting together one more time tomorrow evening before he leaves. My brother, Jacob, couldn't make it back from the camp he is working at...but our other brother, Caleb, will be there, so it's kinda of like one last hurrah for a while.
I'm really excited for him, I know he is going to have a blast, but I'm really going to miss him. I think his orders there are for a few years.  Keep him in your prayers. He's going to have a tough time being away from family and his son. We love you, Josh.

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GUESS WHAT...

{design by stephanie flies}

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We LOVE...

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pregnancy...and some seriously crazy dreams...

{photo by Steph Flies when I was pregnant with Adelyn}

People have been asking how I'm feeling this time around (especially since I did not like being pregnant the first time around), so here's a little update for you :)
We are now 19 weeks along! (time flies when you keep forgetting you are pregnant....and chasing and 18 month old around!)
I've been taking alot better care of myself this time around. With Adelyn I let all caution go to the wind and gained a total of a whopping 60 pounds!  I still had 15 pounds of that I was fighting with when I got pregnant this time, so I don't want to gain a ridiculous amount of weight again.  My body was so sore and I hurt (especially in my legs) alot by the time Adelyn was born and I don't want to deal with that again!
I haven't gained any weight yet this time, but I'm definitely thicker. I'm at that stage of "is she getting chubby or is she pregnant?" Oh well...it will soon pass :)
This time around, I'm still REALLY tired. Alot of it is from chasing Adelyn. I do take a nap in the morning when I lay her down and that's enough to sustain me until bedtime :)
I've just recently reached that "I"m starving ALL the time" phase and am trying to make my calories count. Although, I do have a bag of doritos in the pantry that I can't get enough of ;)
Okay, let's talk CRAZY DREAMS. In my OB rotation in nursing school, I met alot of women who talked about having the craziest dreams during their pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Adelyn, I didn't have that.....this time around, though? HOLY MOLY.
I have the most vivid dreams and they are super crazy. I wake up having to reorient myself alot.
I won't go through all of them, but here are a few of the most vivid:

I got kidnapped by Bosnian men and they shot me in the head point blank. It didn't kill me.  I dressed up as a blonde resident in the hospital, but the hospital was like a mall. I kept running and hiding from them. When I woke up, I had a splitting headache on the side of my head where they had "shot" me. It totally freaked me out for a sec.

A loved one of mine died. The funeral wasn't for 2 weeks. Nick was really upset about it and started going through his old high school t-shirts to keep himself occupied. I took a test for school (???) and the professor gave me and "F". I had my brother-in-law and some friends from Central College look at it and they couldn't figure out why I failed. I took it to the professor to talk to her about it, but when she looked at it, the page was blank.

I was on a cattle drive (I started reading the Lonesome Dove series and I think this is where this came from). We were driving to get the cows through a fence, but these lions kept attacking them and eating them up. We were down to the last two cows and I jumped through the fence and locked the lions in a box (cardboard to be exact). The cows got through. The lions got out, but when they got over the fence to us, we hit them on the heads and knocked them out.

 Okay, those are 3 of the most vivid. I have a bunch more, but don't feel like typing them all out....plus it's just weird reading them! :) Anyone else have this dream issue?? It's not waking me up in the middle of the night or anything, so I'm not too concerned about it.   It's just crazy how I can vividly remember them and when I wake up I have to remember what's real and what's not! :)
In other news, we have our ultrasound July 30...and yes, we are finding out boy or girl....I can't wait!
Happy Monday!

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I really love...

...the following 2 products!
After my lobster red sunburn has finally turned to a lovely tan (no peeling!) I forgot how much I love being tan! Last year I barely got any color b/c with Adelyn being so young it was hard to be outside for long periods of time and in the afternoon when it was hottest.  Every summer I vow to slather on the sunscreen and stay out of the sun b/c I have seen too many patients come through who have had or currently had some sort of skin cancer and it is scary stuff. This year, the sunburn knocked sense into me and I began using Jergens Natural Glow body lotion.

I used this a while back and really liked it, but it had that tell tale sunless tanning lotion odor. Someone had mentioned to me that they "revamped" it and the smell isn't terrible and the color actually lasts longer.
I went out on Monday (Wal Mart has the best price between Walgreens and Target) and got the revitalizing (they have firming too) face lotion and body lotion. I use for medium to dark skin tones b/c I already had a tan from the lake and my olive skin can get pretty dark.
I used it twice on Tuesday and twice on Wednesday and now I'm just doing once a day when I get out of the shower. The color comes on gradually, so I doubled up for 2 days to get where I want to be. I LOVE it. It's not streaky or splotchy. You just have to let it soak into your skin for about 5-10 minutes before you get dressed. I usually put my own body lotion on after about 15 minutes b/c I like the smell of my stuff :)

Okay, the other product I love love love in all seasons, is Loreal DoubleExtend Mascara.

I've been using this for a little over a year and I LOVE it. It makes my eyelashes super duper long and so pretty. It does NOT flake off....EVER. Even when I had it on at the lake and was sweating, it didn't come off or leave that black smudge under my eyes.  It's not waterproof, though, so had I been in the water for a while, it would have come off. The great thing about it is that you just need water to remove it. You just get your face wet and start slowing pulling down on your eye lashes and the mascara comes off in tubes. NO flakes or black smudges to rub off.
I'm not a beauty guru by any means and really this mascara is the only make up I wear most of the time anyway...but I love these 2 products and think that everybody should know about them AND try them :)

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lake fun

I haven't been in the blog world for a while....I don't get on the computer very much anymore and at night I'd rather read my book after Adelyn is in bed than blog :)

Anyway....not a whole lot has been going on. We went to Storm Lake to spend time with my Mom's family on Friday and Saturday. Both of my aunts have houses on the lake so we were lake bugs this weekend :)
I got fried on Saturday...I was so intent on getting some color I forgot to put sunscreen on soon enough. Woops. Adelyn loved the sand...not so much the lake. The water was cold...so she wouldn't walk out much further than to her knees.
As always, it was so much fun to spend time with my family. I love seeing my cousins and all their little ones (there are new little ones every time we get together it seems!). :)  Adelyn loved having kids her age to romp with. We brought our nephew, Noah, with us and he had a blast too. That kid has so much energy!

They both had their first merri-go-round experience at the park Saturday morning. They both LOVED it. Noah wanted Nick to spin him super super fast...and Nick taught him tojump off while it was going fast :)
Adelyn liked to stand in the center and spin in a circle with the merri-go-round. I had to sit on the edge and keep a hand on her so she wouldn't ram her head into one of the metal bars. It was fun, though. I haven't been on a merri-go-round in about 15 years!

I had every intention of taking some fun pictures, but it was too much work to lug my camera out and keep an eye on it :) My mom got some with the digital camera, so here are a few....

Noah with Uncle Caleb

Adelyn with Dad at the neighbor's beach

Noah with Cade

just relaxin

Cousin Riley with Cade and Noah

Noah with Eric on the jetski

I wish I had thought to get a picture of everyone there. All 3 of my mom's siblings were there and then all of my cousins except for Summer (she had to work...lame) were there and then all the kids! It was such a blast.

Coming soon: pregnancy update (talk about CRAZY DREAMS) for those who are interested. :)

Happy Wednesday!

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