30 weeks & as dumb as ever!

I'm sure you've heard of "pregnancy brain", right? I don't think I suffered from it with Colten, but this baby girl has made me down right stupid. I put the block of cheese in the cabinet, my brush on the toilet paper roll,  and things I meant to keep in the trash. A few weeks ago, I locked Colten and I out of the house TWICE in one week. I walk into rooms of the house with no recollection of why I went in them. I put brownies in the over, set the timer, then turn the oven off. I'm struggling! I had a huge list of dumb things I've done recently in my head, although now that I'm typing them out I can't remember most of them!! Aaah!! I can at least remember to feed, bathe, change, and entertain Colten... thank goodness! I'm starting to wonder if this forgetfulness will increase with each pregnancy? Oh dear, I hope not. Aside from that, things are going very smoothly with baby #2! She is extremely active in there & I have way more back aches than I can remember having with C, but I have been blessed with an easy pregnancy. Less than 2 1/2 months to go sounds insane! A mother of two and a family of four so soon?! It's going to be great :)

 This month has been full of walks, trips to the park, rainy days stuck inside, and babysitting Colten's buddy, Colson. We have had a great time going to his house a couple times a week. Colten loves how spacious their home is, along with tons of never before seen toys to play with!

 First hair cut! He did such a good job & mostly just stared at a crazy looking lady who was getting foil highlights in her hair :)

 We got to go to Bekah Zimmerman's baptism this month & meet her new sister, Kaci! It was great to see family that we haven't seen in a while.

 Colten's new car is pretty awesome.. it makes great sounds.

Colten started walking at 10 1/2 months & completely gave up crawling by 11 months. He seems SO grown up running around the house. He is having fewer accidents each day.. his forehead is almost bruise free! :) Our little monkey will be one in just a few weeks!!

10 months & 25 years

 Look at my teeth!!

Our sweet pumpkin head is 10 months old. Whew. That's almost one! Babies get more and more fun each month..just once you think it can't get any better, it does. At ten months, Colten:
-stands on his own without pulling up on anything
-cruises around the couch while holding on
-has taken 2 little steps
-has 4 adorable teeth
-sleeps 10-12 hours at night, but is still the worst napper
-loves being outside more than anything
-has finally discovered how to open drawers & make big messes
-gives high fives & waves bye-bye
-loves to eat whatever mommy & daddy are eating
-can climb up a couple steps
-loves bath time & playing in the bathroom
-had his first overnight stay with grandma two days ago!
-plays with his piano, walker, and mostly things he shouldn't play with (cords, utensils, xbox, etc)
-says "mama" when he's sad and "dada" when he's happy
-gets a huge smile on his face when daddy comes home from work
-thinks Walmart & Food Lion are Heaven
-Is the sweetest thing I've ever known.

Today my amazing husband is 25 years old!!! 25 is so young... I told him he could live 3 more of the life that he has already lived. That's crazy! & the rest of his life gets to be spent with me! I am lucky. This man is such a good daddy. He helps out whenever possible, never complains, and loves me and Colten more than anything. We love to go on family walks, watch Lost, eat ice cream, and just hang out. For his birthday we had dinner at Melting Pot & stayed in a hotel friday night while my mom watched Colten. The food was amazing & so was the company. Happy birthday, sweet Andrew. I love you so, so much.

Dessert... dip all of this in dark chocolate marshmallow goo :)

Bath time with JJW <3

24.5 weeks! This was after our delicious dinner.. on our way to the pool and hot tub!

Baby girl?

I was SO surprised to find out we were having a girl!! I think I wanted a girl so badly that I convinced myself it was a boy & was very happy with that decision. All I can think about are dresses & shoes & hats & bows. Thank goodness for online yardsales... I've found some amazing bargains already.

Aren't they all to die for?! Now that the excitement of finding out the gender has come and gone, it's realllly started to hit me that an actual baby is coming. In 5 months we'll have another baby. A baby girl. She will be ours. It's a crazy, crazy, exciting thing. We think we are going to name her Oakland Marie Zimmerman :) I thought of the name before I was even pregnant with Colten, and we both loved it. It's just stuck.. A family if four in 2 years, now that's getting down to business.

We put an offer in on a house that we love last week!! We've been looking for a few weeks now, and we have seen some nasty houses. It's amazing how much some renters/homeowners destroy their homes! Eeek. This one is in Harrington right behind our church. It's 3br 2 bath with an extra room above the garage that we want to make into a toy room. It's in a nice, quiet neighborhood, and it's on a little over a half acre lot. I had a feeling this house will be ours before we even toured it. We are saying 100 prayers a day that we get it :)

The weather the last couple of days has been amazing!! We have been going for loooong walks & hanging out at the park. Swinging is so much fun!

Colten's reaction to his Valentine's bear right when he woke up <3

We had a great Valentine's day! Andrew miiiight have gotten 80% of this for free, but that's even better, right? ;) We toured a couple homes after Andrew worked, made dinner (that had to cook for 2 hours & I didn't put it in until 5), ordered pizza to replace the dinner that I wanted to eat at 5:30, and ate delicious ice cream & peanut butter pie. Life is great.

Boy or girl?

I can't even believe the time has come for us to find out the gender of baby #2! It seems like yesterday we found out Colten was a boy.. Oh wait, that practically was yesterday ;) Unlike when we went to find out what baby #1 was, I do not care either way this time. A boy would be SO fun since they'll only be a year apart. They would be buddies for life. But a girl... the dresses & bows are just adorable. Andrew is 100% sure it's a girl, so I'm saying boy just to annoy him.

(18 weeks on our dirty spare bathroom mirror:))

We find out Wednesday, the 13th. So, SO, SO excited! I think the pregnancy might sink in a little more once we know the gender... as of now, I eat a ton & that's what reminds me I'm pregnant each day. I'm not terribly moody or tired, and I don't feel sick at all. Can you say BLESSED?!

Colten, Colten, Colten.. I just don't know how I can possibly love another baby as much as I love him. He's so easy.. so happy.. so smiley & content. I could just gobble him up. Usually. Right now it's 2:15 & he's taken one 15 minute nap today. Not the greatest day, but he's happy, so whatever. He is sleeping through the night wonderfully. That makes for one happy Mama. We have had a lot of fun playing in the snow, but we wouldn't mind one bit if it warmed up. We miss going for long walks & to the park.

The snow was so fun to watch.

These are the townhouses we live in, btw.. we love them.

 He is in LOVE with the vacuum..

Just chillin on the floor in between my legs. Sweetheart.

Stay at home mom

Let's face it, being a stay at home mom is NOT easy. It's so wonderful to have so much time with Colten.. it really, really is, but with rainy, dreary weather and sicknesses being passed around like crazy, it's hard to not go insane! We still go for walks if it has rained & often get stuck running home in the rain, lol, but it's worth it to get us out of the house. Going to walmart is actually something I look forward to.. just to see other adults :P Colten is an angel at the grocery store, so it kind of is fun. When we're home, we play on the floor, read books, and he plays in in his walker or jumper while I cook & clean. Then we play on the floor some more.. he takes a 30 minute nap.. and the whole process is started over. We do still babysit & that breaks up the long days nicely, but we're not babysitting as much as we used to.

I remind myself everyday to enjoy being "bored", because in 6 months I won't have time to feel that way. I honestly can't imagine having 2 babies at home alone all day everyday, but I know I will make it work & I will love it (for the most part). We're thinking of moving closer to Andrew's work so he can be home a bit more. As of now, we see him 10 minutes 3 days a week, a few hours 2 days a week, about 5 hours on saturday, and all day sunday. It's crazy how excited we get to have him home! :) If we move to Greenwood, we'd get to see Andrew 4 hours more a week! That's a lot.. so I'm praying we can find a place there.

Colten really is the best baby ever! Everywhere we go people comment about how happy he is. He loves restaurants, stores, car rides, and walks. He really only gets grumpy when he's tired, and even then he can go 8 hours without a nap and still be pleasant. It's SO easy to make him laugh & you can tell how much he loves me and Andrew. He's starting to scoot backwards, roll across the room to get a toy, and will hold himself up in the crawling position. His second tooth is cutting through, but they haven't seemed to bother him much at all. He's a spoiled little boy, but I couldn't ask for a better baby. Praying daily we're this lucky with baby #2!!!

Colten's first big boy bath! He LOVED it!

I'm so lucky I get to see this sweet face all day everyday <3

This was me last week at 14 weeks.. can't believe how quickly I'm showing! Also, I can't believe we'll find out the gender in less than a month!!! Aaaahh! We're sure it's a girl, but a boy would be aaamazing too!

7 months & Baby #2

Can't believe our little boy is 7 months already!! He is such a little love bug. He weighs a little over 20 pounds and still has a big ole pumpkin head! He sits very well, but he still doesn't have ANY desire to roll consecutively/crawl. Mommy and daddy are just fine with that :) He stays in one place and we don't have to baby proof our home yet. He still takes the shortest naps ever, but this week we have been on a mission to get him to sleep through the night. Tonight is day 3 of no night time feedings. Andrew has been a saint & has slept in Colten's room for the last 2 nights to "shh" him back to sleep the 2 times he wakes up during the night. I can't stand to leave him alone screaming and screaming, so this has been a great solution. It has also meant that I have gotten TWO full nights of sleep.. the first ever in 7 months! Glorious!!

We had a great Christmas this year :) Everyone talks like Colten's first Christmas is a big deal, but we didn't really think it was. He got some cool books & toys from his grandparents and was as happy as can be. Adam and David & Liz were both in town for the holidays, so we had a homemade pizza, banana split, kinect competition Christmas Eve at my parents' house. It was loads of fun!! Having all of us together is such a rare, special treat.

(Colten's new sled. Awesome gift!!!)

Christmas day we made homemade sticky buns for breakfast, and then went to my grandparents for a delicious dinner & fun with the family. We had a hilarious white elephant exchange there, where we left with some pretty awesome gifts ;P Andrew has this week off from work, so it has been AMAZING. It's so strange to have help with Colten, to be able to take a nap, and to be able to go out without taking Colten with me. Colten is SO happy when Andrew is home... he can't take his eyes off of daddy <3

This pregnancy was a total shock to us. I was "baby hungry" for a couple months, but then I did realize I was insane and was content with waiting until the spring to get pregnant. Well, this baby had other plans :) One day I just had this feeling to take a pregnancy test... I laughed out loud when I saw the results & sent Andrew a picture of the pregnancy test because I was sooo sure it was wrong. Like really. Come to find out, there really aren't false positives & we really were expecting a little one. I was beyond excited, then overwhelmed, and now I'm back to excited! He/she is due July 10th/12th.. not sure which date they'll keep. This pregnancy has been the complete opposite from the last (thank goodness). I have not been sick once.. and was only nauseous for about a week. I have been eating everything in sight.. and have already gained 5 pounds! Ha! I only craved healthy foods with Colten, with this baby I want pizza, fried chicken, fast food, chinese.. and chips. I've been super healthy as you can tell ;) We can't believe that we are going to have a newborn and a 13 1/2 month old, but we know this baby was meant to be in our family. We are so lucky.

We worked realllllly hard on these over the last month. They really weren't "hard", but they were very time consuming. I'm proud of Andrew for finishing his own, and I'm so glad I won't have to make another one next year since it's already done. Baby #2's will not say "Baby 2" forever, haha.. I wrote it on wax paper, peeled it off, then stuck it on his/her stocking just for the picture. We're excited to have these hanging next year... and to have a family of four next Christmas!!