Daddy's Little Helper

Recently, Aiden has become Scott's little shadow.  Everything Daddy does, Aiden has to do to - it has been super cute to watch (and snap pictures of!)  My little boy is growing up so fast!! I can't believe Aiden is going to be 3 in one month's time!!

Riding bikes with Daddy

Watching a Tigers MLB Game

Installing a new bathroom sink

Mowing the lawn

36 Weeks

How far along? 36 weeks. Only 28 more days until Baby #2's Due Date!!

Baby’s Size: Baby is similar in size to a crenshaw melon - roughly 6lbs and 18 1/2 inches long. No wonder why I feel like my tummy is rapidly running out of room for this little acrobat!

Total Weight Gain: As of my 34 week visit I had gained 28 pounds - right on track with what I gained while pregnant with Aiden.  I am assuming I am at least 4 lbs heavier this week, but since my OB is on vacation I do not have an appointment until next Tuesday and then I will have a better idea.  Since the baby is gaining somewhere around a ounce a day, I'm sure it will show up on the scale!

Bellybutton: Well, it has been "popped" for quite a while, but recently my belly has been so stretched that my bellybutton is completely flat!

Stretchmarks: None- yay!

Maternity Clothes: Oh, yeah!

Gender: Team Green!

Movement: Constantly - especially when I am trying to relax. 

Sleep: What sleep?  I think I get up about every 2 hours or so to use the potty - ugh!  Sleeping in itself has also become more uncomfortable the bigger I get in general, but its all worth it in the end!

Symptoms: Rockin' the baby bump and heartburn!  Ugh!  If the old wives tale is true in that heartburn = a baby with a head of hair, this little one is going to come out looking like Cousin It with the awful heartburn I have been having these last few weeks!

Food Cravings: As has been the norm for this pregnancy - no one stand-out craving, except maybe Mt. Dew....which I finally gave into last weekend and drank a can of! It was sooooo yummy, lol!

Best Moments this week: Spending the weekend at the Cottage with family for Coast Guard weekend and seeing how excited Aiden was when we showed him the Tag-A-Long bike we bought off Craigslist for him.  He had such a HUGE grin on his face when Scott took him for a short bike ride the other night.  When they got back, Aiden gave me a big hug and said "Momma, I so happy! That was FUN!"

What I miss: Sleep and being able to eat with out the threat of heartburn.

What I am Looking forward to: Spending this coming weekend at the Cottage again and my OB appointment on Tuesday (37wks!).

Summer Time Fun

These last few weeks have seemed to fly by! I can't believe how busy our summer has gotten and that we are now already into August!! Where did time go? 

The last weekend of July we spent camping with my cousin Jeff, his wife Lisa and their two boys Mason & Chase along with Rohn, Katie, Kadence & Liam Sherd at Interlochen State Park.  It was such a beautiful weekend (except for the rain we encountered on our drive up Friday night) and the kids had so much fun playing together! Can't wait to plan another trip together - maybe next summer?



As per tradition, the first weekend of August is spent at the Cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan for the Coast Guard Festival.  Since I was little, my moms side of the family always gets together on the Saturday of Coast Guard and spends time together at the Cottage...we swim, play on the beach, soak up the sun, spend time together, eat a huge dinner and then pile into our cars to make the trip down to Grand Haven for the most amazing, spectacular fireworks ever - the Coast Guard Festival Fireworks on Saturday night.  This year was no exception!  Aiden even spent a few extra days earlier in the week enjoying more time at the Cottage with Grammy & Papa .  He was a busy boy with them, spending one day on Uncle Les & Aunt Dee's boat on Spring Lake, playing at Pier Marquette Park and even taking his first trip out on Uncle Art's sail boat (which he thought was a blast!).

4th of July Camping Trip

Have I said before how much we love to camp?  Well, we LOVE to camp and the 4th of July is no exception!  We book 6 months in advance and choose a different State Park each year.  This year we ended up at North Higgens Lake State Park and had 5 sites in a row filled with family - 23 people in total and we had such a great time!  It was almost like a mini family reunion!  Even though the weather was super hot for being as far Up North as we were (think high 90's all week) it was still so worth the sweat to be able to spend quality time with our family - we had amazing food (mostly cooked over the fire all week thanks to my cousin Jeff's new cooking contraption - way better than a tri-pod cooker), we spent a lot of time swimming and boating on Higgens Lake, biking around the park and just hanging out.  Here are a few pics to recap our week.

32 Weeks

How far along? 32 weeks

Baby’s Size: Baby is about the size of a large jicama - so aboutu 3.75lbs and 16+ inches long.  I was measuring 32.5 weeks at todays appointment.

Total Weight Gain: 24lbs - Today at my 32 week OB appointment I weighed EXACTLY the same with #2 as I did at 32 weeks with Aiden - talk about crazy!

Bellybutton: It looks like a turkey timer that popped saying its done, lol. 

Stretchmarks: None- yay!

Maternity Clothes: Oh, yeah!

 

Gender: Team Green!

Movement: Yes! Especially at night when I am trying to fall asleep - baby thinks bed time is play time and turns into a little party animal!

Sleep: Still doing OK - sleeping mostly on my side now as back sleeping is starting to get a bit uncomfortable, still miss being able to sleep on my tummy.

Symptoms: Just rockin' the baby bump.

Food Cravings: As has been the norm for this pregnancy - no one stand-out craving.

Best Moments this week: Spending the 4th of July week camping at N. Higgens Lake SP with the family (23 of us all in total).

What I miss: Being able to reach and paint my own toes...it was quite an acrobatic feat for me to slap some paint on my toes last night and I am thinking from here on out I may just have to go have a pedi done instead.

What I am Looking forward to: Checking a few more items of our house "to do" list and going camping with friends at Interlochen at the end of July - should be so much fun!

28 Weeks

How far along? 28 weeks (12 weeks / 84 days to go)

Baby’s Size: Baby is about the size of a Chinese cabbage - roughly 2.25lbs and 14.8" long.

Total Weight Gain: About 19lbs so far (according to the scale at my doctors office today for my 28wk check-up).  Right on track with how much I gained while pregnant with Aiden.  Hopefully it comes off just as quickly this time as it did last time!

Bellybutton: Still looking silly....stretched out, but with the center popped.

Stretchmarks: None- yay!

Maternity Clothes: Oh, yeah!

Gender: Team Green!
Movement: All.The.Time!  Recently the baby has decided that kicking my ribs is a great past time and I am constantly pushing at tiny feet trying to get the baby to shift into a different spot.
Sleep: Yes, please!  We have been pretty busy recently, so by bed time I am more than ready for sleep.  Getting up once or twice a night for potty breaks and randomly waking up to shift positions trying to find a comfortable spot to lay.
Symptoms: Just rockin' the baby bump.
Food Cravings: As has been the norm for this pregnancy - no one stand-out craving.
Best Moments this week: Aiden trying to "feed" the baby chocolate milk through my belly button - he was so serious about it, too!  It was adorable!! 
What I miss: Not having heartburn and strawberry daiquiris (the adult kind, that is).  With this warm weather a daiquiri sure has sounded good!
What I am Looking forward to: Spending the weekend at my parents and seeing family on Saturday when we get together to celebrate my cousin Liz's graduation from high school.

It's Camping Time!

This spring my dad and Scott did quite a bit of work on our pop-up camper to get it ready for this camping season...but as of May however, we only had one camping trip booked for the whole summer - camping at North Higgens Lake State Park for the 4th of July!  Since the camper turned out so nice, I was really itching to take it out and get in a few more trips this summer.

Scott and I started tossing around ideas and ended up booking a quick weekend away at Silver Lake State Park for the very fist weekend in June and the Sherd's decided to join in on our fun!  Up until the night(ish) before we left the forecast looked great for the weekend, but a cold front blew in and people were telling us we were crazy to keep our reservations.  We stuck with it though and ended up having a great time!  Friday night was a bit windy & chilly, but that didn't stop us from sitting out next to a rip-roaring bon fire and eating s'mores until after midnight.  Saturday ended up being a great day and the sun made a nice appearance while we took a walk around both loops of the park - it actually got so warm we all stripped off our layers and sweatshirts!  Aiden had so much fun playing with Liam and we can't wait for our next trip with them to Interlochen State Park at the end of July!

Then, the very next weekend we ended up going camping with my mom & dad at Brighton State Park!  Scott had to be in Auburn Hills for work on Friday, so I took the day off so we could drive in together Thursday night.  We spent Thursday night at mom and dad's house and pulled the camper out to the park Friday afternoon.   The weather this last weekend was picture perfect, if not a big too hot - it was 92 on Saturday!  We took advantage of the warm weather and spent some time at the beach on Saturday afternoon and Aiden had a blast swimming in Bishop Lake!



Fire Trucks!

Aiden was in little boy heaven today! My brother, James, is a firefighter in Hartland and took us on a tour of the fire station and showed Aiden all of the fire trucks - the new engine, the ladder truck, another engine and the rescue truck.  Aiden was a bit intimidated at first by how BIG the fire trucks were but he soon warmed up to being in the garage and had SO much fun running from truck to truck checking them out and sitting in the cabs!  Thanks for making Aiden's day, Uncle James!! Aiden talked about visiting the fire station the whole car ride home this afternoon and is telling everyone what he got to see this morning!