Falling behind and catching up...

I had good intentions of catching up on our blog on Sunday night, but as you are all well aware it's now Thursday and I'm finally getting around to it... my excuse = exhaustion. I have never been quite so exhausted ever before in my life- every day I feel like I just ran a marathon the day before. Last night I had to pinch myself over and over on my drive home from work and blast my music really loud just to stay awake... when I got home I fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours just in time to go to bed. Everyone keeps telling me that my energy will return in the second trimester, but I'm too tired to believe anyone!

So catching up...

We had a very busy weekend last weekend... normally on Saturday mornings Steven has soccer from 8:30-10am but the fall festival at Steven's school was scheduled for Saturday so Soccer was moved to Sunday. Regardless though we had to drive into Cottage Grove at 8:30am for Steven's school picture retakes- for whatever reason the photographer didn't think to grab a comb and fix Steven's ridiculously messy hair before taking his original picture so we decided to have re-takes. So Steven and I went to the photography studio while Luke got his hair cut and then Steven and I ran over to Piggly Wiggly to get some bottles of soda to donate to the Fall Festival bottle toss game. After dropping the soda off at Steven's school we quickly headed home to do a couple things at home get ready for gymnastics.

In the short time we were home, Steven earned $1 by picking up all of the big sticks around the side of our house and Luke and I moved the old metal swing set to our front yard and put a for sale sign on it. (We didn't have anyone coming to help put the "new" one together until Sunday but we wanted to be ready.) Then Luke got to work mowing the grass while I took Steven to gymnastics.

Steven has been taking gymnastics for the last 3 years, and he sure loves his classes- I am always amazed by how strong he is and how well he is doing. I was able to get a few pictures of him in action on my phone:

So immediately following gymnastics we headed over to Steven's school for the Fall Festival- Steven was so excited for the event so that made it really fun for all of us. Luke finished mowing the lawn and met us at the school right when we arrived, and then to Steven's surprise he was greeted by one of his favorite mascots, Maynard Mallard:

We went in, bought our tickets ate some lunch and then the fun really started! There were a ton of games for the kids to play where they could win lots of prizes and treats. Steven always seems to make out really well at these types of things and he didn't let us down once again.

The ring toss game

Steven won his favorite soda... root beer

face painting

an up-close view

Steven and his friend Mason

The winner of the "cake walk" on his first try

Playing mini golf with Mason

Looking at prizes with Ben

Luke and I volunteered to run the mini golf game at the festival for a couple hours, we took turns walking around with Steven and manning the game- Luke did most of the work but that was because there was a lot of bending over involved in the job description and every time I bend over I feel like I'm going to lose my cookies.


One of the other great parts of the festival is the basket raffle. Each classroom puts a basket together with a different theme and the students and their families donate items to the basket. Then at the festival you can buy tickets and enter to win which ever ones you like the best. We entered to win a few of them, and we actually won one! We won a Lego theme basket, which couldn't have been more perfect because Steven loves Legos and his birthday is coming up in a few weeks- so needless to say, he has no idea we won and the basket is hiding in our bedroom closet. Luke would have probably been thrilled had we won the Green Bay packers basket, but we were very happy regardless!

After several fun hours spent visiting with friends, playing games, eating yummy food and winning prizes we headed home. Steven really wanted to do another job around the house to earn another $1 (he's saving up for Pokemon cards) but I could tell he was so tired when we were driving home- his eyes were glazed over and he was staring, so I told him he could do another job on another day if he wanted to take a nap instead... he was snoring a few minutes later and Luke had to carry him up to his bed. While he was sleeping Luke and I continued doing some yard work... and I honestly cannot remember what we did the rest of the night because this pregnancy is causing me memory loss along with exhaustion... if I think of it and it's anything worth blogging about I'll get back to you later.

Sunday, started out with soccer. I couldn't get out of bed so Luke and Steven left before me. When I finally managed to get myself out of bed and look halfway presentable I headed over to catch the last half of the game. Steven was doing a fantastic job and had already scored two goals by the time I got there! Luke headed home when I got there, his brother Paul and friend Colin were coming over to help put the "new" swing set together :)

After soccer, Steven and I took a trip to the fabric store to buy some fabric to make a replacement tent for the swing set and some cool flags for the built in flag poles. By the time we arrived back home Paul and Colin had left and soon after Michelle had arrived to help with the rest. Michelle is great at this kind of stuff and we paid her in tacos and fresh homemade salsa for her time and hard work.

Steven and I quickly ate lunch and then jumped back into the car to take a quick trip to Johnson Creek to pick up a craigslist item- The Original Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper. The lady I bought it from lives in Milwaukee and was meeting a friend for lunch in Johnson Creek so it worked out perfectly to meet there. I only paid $50 for it and I am thrilled. The same co-sleeper new costs a couple hundred dollars, and this one is in new condition! Yay for saving lots of money!! Even better... we finally sold our old swing set the other night for $50 to someone who lives down the street (I bought the old swing set two years ago for $50) AWESOME!

Before leaving Johnson Creek we stopped at Motherhood Maternity at the outlet mall (Steven was not happy about this at all- but I reminded him that I had been doing things for him all weekend and he needed to come into the store with me for 5 minutes... he got over it quick) I have been looking at some maternity winter jackets online and I just wanted to try them on and see if I liked them. There was one I liked a lot, but they all cost $90 which seems like a lot... I'm going to continue looking for something used unless I get desperate- and hopefully that won't be for several more weeks or months even....

When we got back home most of the swing set was put together and ready for kids. Steven's friend Adi from next door came over to play and they had a lot of fun trying everything out and ringing the bells that we added to it.

Steven is very appreciative of his "new" swing set, he thought it was a pretty great early birthday present! Luke, Steven and I are grateful for all of the help we received taking it down, moving it and putting it together- it will be well loved for a long time to come! Thank you Gail, Gib, Michelle, Paul and Colin! We would return the favor any time!

Homemade skull and cross bones flag

Soon it was time for swimming lessons, so Luke took Steven while Michelle sorted tools and I sewed the fabric we had bought earlier into a tent (you can see the finished product above) and when I was finished sewing Michelle helped me put the tent up. Unfortunately the tent only lasted a few days (when I looked out the kitchen window last night it had fallen off with all of the rain and wind in the last couple days), my Velcro attachment wasn't as secure as I had imagined it would be so Ill be fixing it again this next weekend.

When Steven came home from swimming we let him play on his new swing set with his friend Adi until dark... before doing his homework... a very special treat...


then Luke did homework with Steven while I put the co-sleeper together to try it out and then I gave Steven a bath and read books to him while Luke watched the Packers win the football game... I fell asleep... imagine that! HA

So that was our busy weekend in a nutshell.

Monday I spent several hours making "The World's Best Lasagna" while I was at work. I made a pan for the family I work for for dinner that night, and I made a huge pan to bring home. I figured we would have it for dinner and then freeze the rest for when I'm too fat to cook ;). Well the lasagna ended up all over the floor in our mudroom rather than in our freezer- I don't really want to go into anymore details but it was not a happy evening in the Ninneman household... (I guess we all have days like that).

I swear on my own life that I felt flutters for the first time on Tuesday night when I was laying on the couch... I told this to my new doctor at my appointment on Wednesday and he said it was probably gas but I don't believe him. Trust me, I know what gas feels like and this was NOT gas! But either way my appointment went well, new doctor seems really nice and I got a quick peek on the ultrasound of my two babies that somewhat resemble little wild and crazy teddy bears! They didn't take any measurements, just a quick look at the two heartbeats and checked to see if the blood clot they saw at my last ultrasound was still there- and he did not see it. I have a high resolution ultrasound scheduled at the hospital next Thursday so they will double check again then too. Can't wait to see my babies again! Thursday will most likely be my last scan until about 20 weeks (about 8 weeks later) when we will be able to find out the gender of these two little energy suckers.

I volunteered at Steven's school again today, and of course it was fun and Steven was so excited I was there! Some of the kids were a little more challenging today but still a lot of fun.

Tonight after work I went to a kids resale event and it was awesome! This is the second one I have gone to this fall and I am so impressed with what is available and how nice the clothing and other items are. I already have a really hard time buying anything new unless it's on clearance, but now I'm not sure that I will ever buy new children's clothes again with the exception of cloth diapers and personal undergarments. I bought a baby bathtub in good condition for only $4, 3 really nice pairs of maternity jeans that are way cuter than any of the other pairs I own for $17 (for all 3) and a bunch of really cute baby outfits between 0 and 9 months... I did get some girly outfits which is kind of risky, but I figure my odds are pretty good for having at least one girl!

Two weeks ago while I was watching Steven's gymnastics class I had a premonition that we are going to have two girls... I was watching all of the kids and I just thought "oh, our girls will really enjoy taking gymnastics" well, we will know in about 8 weeks and we shall see if I'm correct or not. If we end up with two boys I'll find someone to give all of the girly stuff to. I think it would be really fun to have one boy and one girl, but I really don't care as long as they are healthy!

Maggie the cat (my Mom's cat) has been living with us on our front porch for the last couple months due to my Mom being displaced by a house fire that happened earlier this summer... And last week I noticed she wasn't feeling so well. I took her to the vet on Monday and she was diagnosed with a double ear infection, a sore tooth that needs to be pulled and possible ringworm. Poor cat, she is having a rough time. Regardless though she is so stinking sweet. She is on a bunch of medication we have to give her two times a day but she will be better soon. When she is better she is going to go and stay with some friends of ours until my Mom's house is fixed and they can live there again. Our cats are so mean and they torment her through the porch windows constantly, and soon it will be too cold for her to live on the porch. Poor Maggie, send her some kitty prayers and love.

So that pretty much sums up the last week. This coming weekend shouldn't be so eventful unless something exciting happens while we are cleaning out our garage... The next weekend we are having Steven's 6th birthday bowling party with all of his friends, so that will be another busy weekend. I better rest up!

Goodnight everyone!