A day at home

Car Update

Well... I'm an independent woman again and it feels amazing. This morning when I drove my car out to the shop I was so excited to drive it again. I love Frank's car but it's just not the right fit for me so I'm very happy to get my own new car that I chose :). Speeding over the interstate with my car was the best feeling ever... first I wanted to leave Zoe at home but somehow my brain was working crazy again figuring out how I am gonna stand 1-2 hrs all by myself. I totally wanted to take a walk but then the questions came up: where am I gonna put my purse and my two water bottles? Too much weight to carry so I decided to take the peanut with me and packed everything up, dropped off the car at the shop and Zoe and I took our 3 mile walk. I just love our stroller and I seriously prefer to take a walk pushing a stroller with baby inside than taking a walk all by myself. Zoe actually liked it a lot since the area wasn't known to her instead of cruising three times around the neighborhood *lol* (Sita found that VERY boring back when she visited us *lol*). As long as I get my workout in... I don't care :). After our walk, we stopped at McDoof, mommy got an iced coffee and Zoe her banana and my car was fixed :). I'm one happy woman again.

I stayed at home all day yesterday and was bored to death! I actually started cleaning the house just to do something! Once Frank came home Zoe was just running around playing with him like a wild child... you could totally tell we haven't been out all day *lol*... she's just like us, she needs to get out and do something, see something... and if it's just running out to get groceries! Too funny.

Well... we have some more great news... as I type Frank is driving with my car to the dealership, getting my car evaluated and leaving a deposit for our new fancy car. The problem is that the one we'd like to have is not available right now, not even the model/type. And since this is a big purchase I'm not really willing to settle for anything different than we chose. And now that my car is fixed we have time anyways and can just wait it out until it's available again. Until then I'll enjoy driving my little speedy and look forward when the time comes to transfer all the baby equipment into our new car... here some pics of it... isn't it GOOD looking?

We'll get it in Tafetta White like you can see here:

My trips to Costco won't be any problem any more... this is the view without the last row which I probably won't use anyways unless we have visitors in town. The cool thing, the last row can sit very comfortably three people... I tested it out and I loved it... so visitors... come on over :)

Yeah, welcome to my new cockpit, ready to take off? This is actually the interior color we chose: Truffle Leather (at least it looks like it... I think it is... hard to tell with these pics)

And here in WHITE again

Uh WOW... this car just looks amazing and once you drive it you just fall in love immediately!!! The good thing about having this addition... now we'll keep the baby equipment in this one and Frank's car won't be used for family trips anymore unless we need his All-Wheel-Drive in the winter ;)... so no switching around of car seat anymore... this will be so cool. *DREAM*... hopefully you'll still find me at home when we have it and not only driving around the whole day *lol*

All about a car

Somehow Zoe still loves her 'baby' things... I can't get her out of her baby bathtub even though she's getting slowly too big for it...

She didn't like getting transferred into the bigger car seat... when I moved her she was unhappy and pointing to the old one but we need to make her comfortable for her new seat since Henry needs to use her baby seat soon! So we decided to give her a treat and let her sit forward facing now since she's 1.5 yrs old and ready for it anyways... she seems to like it but the bad thing is now she can see everything we eat, drink or have in the front and wants to have it too *rolling eyes*...
Can you see Henry sticking out there? When we were waiting for my car to get checked out, Henry really disformed my belly like I've never seen him doing before! He's a crazy active kid... today I asked my midwife if that's normal? Or if I have to worry... but she says it's totally normal... he mind as well take advantage of it now... soon it'll be too cramped in there and he won't be able to move as much.
Zoe and I were cleaning out my car the other day. We're ready to get a new one now. Frank is trying like crazy to get the model/type/color combination we wanna have but apparently (you'll be surprised) it's not as easy as you think!!! Well... eventually we might strike a deal or not... we'll see... we'll update you if we have some cool news. And of course I'll make a little photo shoot once we have the new car, posing pregnant with a toddler in front of a minivan is the best thing ever *lol* plus that minivan looks SOOO SEXY!!!... YEAH YEAH YEAH...

31 Weeks

Time is going by way too fast! I'm exhausted today... we had a power outage from midnight to lunch time with a crazy thunderstorm that kept me up all night and my brain working 150% how to do certain things without power what we have to think of etc.! Well... first thing on my mind when I got up... COFFEE... so I manually opened up the garage door (succeeded very happy) and drove to Tim Hortens to get some fresh hot COFFEE for Frank and I, a bagel for momma and hot oatmeal for my little Cutie since I couldn't prepare her morning meal myself. Just the best for my loved ones, right?

Back home I enjoyed eating my bagel while Frank came downstairs with some game plans for the day and then I had to get Zoe up for our midwife appt. to be in time. She didn't like that at all... her whole day was ruined but what can I say! She has to go with the flow here *lol*...

Our baby checkup was very good. I honestly don't really have to go *lol*... everything is always good but we use the time to chat a little since our midwife Jenny will move into our neighborhood, they finally won a bid war at a great house here so they'll close hopefully soon and can move before their baby will arrive in Nov. A Playmate for little Henry :)... my Blood Pressure was good, I measure right on the week and I only gained 2 lbs in 3 weeks (normally it's one pound per week by now)... so I did a jump for joy on that one :). Only 9 weeks to go... man!!! It's crazy... it seems like time is RUNNING here...

HandsOn Museum

Cooling Off

What's the best way to cool off during this 'heat wave'? Yes, playing in water :). Temps here for over a week are right now 90-95F (33-36C)... HOT HOT HOT... and there is no relief in sight! So glad we have AC!!!

On The Phone

Don't let Zoe find your phone... because the chances are very high that she's going to find it quick and won't let go of it soon. She even changed the answering machine recorder from her grandma!!! We still have no clue how she did that! She's too smart for her age!

I have no clue who she's copying 'talking'... but her phone calls are always very cheery and happy and she's always cracking up... is she copying me??? *lol*

Pics from Sunday and Today

Norma had some pics from Sunday that I want to share: Father and son (Ray):

Father and son (Frank):
Zoe's Aunt Patty gave me a relaxing time to eat crabs without taking care of Zoe, she was very busy exploring the garden with Aunt Patty:
Jammi, tomatoes:
Relaxing in the garden... man was it hot:
My In Laws: Norma and Henu:
My little Cutie and I:
Father and daughter :)
Zoe with Uncle Ray:
Today Norma, Zoe and I went to the mall and ended our shopping trip in the children play area... afterwards Zoe was so tired, she even went to bed a little bit earlier... fun fun fun:
She can go up and down the slide all by herself... my little big girl :(
Goofing around... Norma wanted to get the sticker on the picture and told me that after I sat down already with my by belly... I didn't get up of course but just moved to the side:
We had a great day and Frank will be back tomorrow afternoon which will be even more fun. We might go to the aquarium on THU but some plans just got changed around so we'll see what we'll do in the end. I'll keep you posted ;).

Baltimore

Here we are, reporting from the East Coast... the weather is: HOT HOT HOT... I'd write it in huge big letters if I could!!! It's 90 and up (ca. 35 Grad C und mehr) not real cool for a pregnant lady but I'm surviving *lol*... just my walks in the morning I probably have to skip now. Yesterday I was still able to go but this morning I didn't and my mother in law went instead and came back soaked... it's just too hot outside, you want to stay inside with AC or in a pool.

We had a good ride to Baltimore on SAT. Zoe did great, only slept for one hour and read a lot in her books and was just chillin out, sometimes she complained but when we did our stops one of us always walked around with her so she was on her feet walking a lot during our breaks and that tired her out a little.

Yesterday we had a relaxing morning and after we all napped (the whole house was napping at one time, that was funny)... we went to Patty and Ray's house and had crabs. Ray (Frank's brother) caught them all himself and they were sooooo delicious... I couldn't stop eating. Even Zoe is now crab-ptised *lol*... she loved them too. We had a great day, here the proof of some very delicious super fresh seafood:
ready to get steamed:
Today after Zoe's nap, Norma and I took Zoe to an indoor play area in a library. Since I couldn't find any play areas we were here last time I contacted somebody via meetup.com who is having a playgroup in this area... and she suggested this place... it was AWESOME... way cooler than everything we have in Michigan and it's even for free!!! But then again they have only this one option as far as I know and we have more different types of indoor play areas up in Michigan:

Frank left this morning for NYC (Bz Meeting) and will come back WED sometime during the day. THU we might fit in a family day by going to the aquarium in the Inner Harbor and FR we'll head back home.

Update on little Henry... he's doing well, is very active and it seems to me he wants to come out now and play as well!!! I'm feeling great besides the hot weather out here... I'm glad this pregnancy is going so well... I can't imagine being pregnant any different while having a toddler to take care of as well. Thank you little Henry and my also to my great body!

Pool

Oh man, I tell you... we have such a great life and such a happy little baby girl :). So yesterday Zoe and I went to the pool (for the first time). Last year we tried putting her in a pool in Baltimore but she didn't like it at all. Well, she still doesn't like it but loved it to play on the side of the pool with all the toys and the water (I think she's too spoiled with her nice warm baths at night).

I always thought it would be so much harder to go to the pool with a toddler but Zoe is such a great kid... it wasn't hard at all so I'll def. do it again. We met with our mom's group but they all came later and I didn't wanna leave Zoe in the sun for too long and left after 1.5 hrs and they just started getting settled in... but that was ok... so now I have a little sunburn *lol*... accidentally burned my belly a little... but oh well... for not wearing any sunscreen I did pretty awesome *lol*... (Zoe of course was covered in sunscreen top to feet).

Splash Park

Jungle Java and Splash Park

We had a great few days again... yesterday we were supposed to go to the splash park but since a thunderstorm came up we went to the jungle java, an indoor play area for kids. It was very crowded and Zoe needed a few minutes to get used to all the kids and noise but then it didn't take long and she discovered this slide and all by herself (first time) she went up and slide down. And she did it over and over again... she just had a blast:Today we're having again great temperatures (95F/ 33C) and we did a quick run to the splash park after her nap and got a little wet... as you can see another day full of fun.

28 weeks

Water Fun with Zoe

Mom's Day - ... 8 years have past already

Well... today is kind of a sad day but it's such a great day and we're having such a great life and are so thankful for being where we are in life... it's just sad we can't share it anymore with our mom... (I send a very big hug to my dear sisters *HUG*).

Especially raising kids yourself, you want to share things and experiences with the one who gave birth to yourself and just talk to her... there is never enough time in life, is there? So to all the girls out there who still have your mom: Don't take it for granted for having such a wonderful person in your life and enjoy the most special times you're spending with your mom: having conversations, shopping, coffee/cake sessions or just call her because it's so special to have the opportunity to just pick up the phone and be able to call her, trust me ;).

Since I dressed up yesterday for a very nice Birthday Brunch up north I took the opportunity to take some nice shots... I'm not all the time dressed in 'house-wife-stay-at-home-style', I can still be the hot mommy every now and then as you can see *lol*:
27.5 weeks along