33 week checkup with Henry

Today I went to the midwife and she's probably closing on their house (in our neighborhood) next FR... hope it all works out since she's already 24 weeks pregnant as well! It's so cool that she's going to be our neighbor soon :). Somehow everybody is having girls! My Midwife is having a girl, three of the girls I know from the meetup.com group that we hang out with every now and then are having girls (two are due in Sept and one is due in Nov). Henry is going to be the rooster in the basket!!! It seems to me that I've written this already before!!! Oh my... I just read my other posts... I double my entries already!!! Pregnancy-brain I guess!!!

Ok, back to activities from today! Henry is doing great or better I'm doing great *lol*... all my numbers are perfect and we're coming closer to the home stretch! I have to go back in two weeks and from then on it'll be a weekly visit until delivery!!! He's already located with his head down and is so active! He's keeping me up quite good... don't like that at all since I need my sleep in order to keep up with my schedule and not fall off my feet :(... but I guess that's what I have to live with for the next couple of months... my body better has to get used to it now!

After Zoe's nap we went again to a splash park (another one this time) fun fun fun. And on the way home we stopped at a new 'bakery' I got mail from which reminded me of panera bread just for pies! Wasn't thrilled at all but nice to have I guess! The pie tastes pretty good... had already a piece *lol*... I'm still looking for a cute little bakery with rolls, bread, cakes, cookies and pies like in Germany... search is still on :(

Lena Marie

YES, we have another girl in the family :). My friend Steph in Chicago just gave birth to their cute daughter: Lena Marie. She was born August, 9th 2011 at 11PM with 6lbs and 6oz and 19.5 inches long.

Congratulations to the proud parents: Stephanie and Marty. It was a long and adventures delivery... we (Sandra, Sani and I) went nuts following her updates on Facebook and dying to hear any kind of news... uiuiui... I was so exhausted I had to sleep in the next day (well... until 630AM!!! Others wouldn't consider that 'sleeping in' *lol*)... it was sooo exciting...

33 Weeks

33 Weeks and ready for my workout :)... Yesterday night my friend Steph in Chicago delivered her baby girl: Lena Marie. It was such an exciting adventure to follow her progress, I was totally exhausted this morning and couldn't get up any earlier! I'm glad it all went well, considering she was in the Hospital already MON afternoon and delivered TUE 11PM??? Long long time... we're all so happy that our family grew again and another baby girl joined us. Henry is gonna be the little rooster in the basket *lol*... poor little guy!

At the Playground

As soon as Zoe saw the playground and splash park from the car... she was super excited and couldn't wait to get out of the car and into the fun :)She loves the swing!!!

Go Blue - aeh... Pink ;)

Zoe in a 'Michigan' outfit ;) I got at the garage sale. It's so adorable... she's looking a little dreamy but I wanted to quickly take a picture:

Heritage Park - another Splash adventure

Today after our walk I quickly went to a garage sale of a member of our meetup group and made a great deal on some clothes for Zoe and Henry. That's the way to go :)... why spending all that money on new clothes that the kids just wear for a couple of months?

So now I FINALLY sorted out Henry's 'first' set of clothes (0-3 months), I'll wash them all today and put them into the closet so we'll be ready for him whenever he comes. His cradle I'll get done this WE as well... just in case. I think Zoe's 'stuff' we had all done 2 weeks prior to due date *lol*... and with Henry we still have 7.5 weeks to go... but it feels good to be prepared and don't have to worry about it anymore. It's anyways different with a second one since everything is 'in place' already. The only thing I try not to do is decorating the rooms! I'd love to start decorating Zoe's new room and Zoe's room she's in right now that'll be Henry's by the end of the year. Zoe loves her new bed already a lot... she sometimes just wants to go upstairs into her 'new' room and sit on the bed and read books! I have no worries that she'll be perfectly fine transferring in the new room by the end of the year.

Other than that Zoe and I both took a nap and then went to the splash park as you can see... she had LOTS of fun. It's so cool, I love these parks... you just go there for about 30 min let her run around, get wet and she had enough outside activity for the rest of the day :).
This 'bikini' I just bought today :)... Zoe didn't like it at all when I put it on... but I love the screaming colors... that way I can EASILY identify Zoe from all the other kids. Every time I go places with her people tell me how adorable my little one is :). Well... I know :). Today I actually didn't just say: 'Thank you' but said: 'I know, why do you think I enjoy watching her so much'? *lol*... overly proud mom *lol*... just couldn't help it today and went a little overboard with my comment back... but oh well... normally I just smile and say: 'Thank you' and keep the rest to myself of course...

Good Times

Well... of course I forgot again to take pics. Yesterday we were at Silke and Janos and the kiddos were playing so nicely together... I hope Zoe is as nice to her little brother as she is with Janos. She really likes him a lot :). It's always a joy to watch the two play... we just can't get enough of it :). The weather is just fantastic out here. It's in the 30ies (C) but in the shade you can totally stand it and just don't move around too much *lol*... Zoe loves being outside and since Silke has a fence it's so much easier to relax watching the kids while here we would have to watch them like a hawk. I wish sometimes we would have a fence.

Car wise we don't have an update yet but there is no hurry either... apparently a few of our wanted model came in or come into the USA in the next couple of days so we'll see if our dealer can trade one :).

Yesterday we had such a busy day... we also had our 1.5 yrs checkup at the doc with Zoe. Everything is very well... the only thing is that he wasn't as happy when I told him that she clearly 'speaks' only a few words! So now we have to encourage her to 'speak'... all the words that come to my head are so darn difficult! Like I wanted to tell her: remote = Fernbedienung... I said to Frank that it's not cool that I have all the difficult words and he has the easy language *lol*. We both picked a few words that we're going to try to teach her but we made sure they're not the same... not to confuse her too much. I'm gonna go for the easy one in the face: Nase, Mund, Augen, Ohren... 'mehr' she can say already... every time she wants something she says: MEHR! *lol*... We know for sure she understands both languages: English and German, but I guess that wasn't enough :(... Zoe is doing great though... she started throwing tantrums now... it's fun to watch but funny enough I'm as calm as can be with her and won't let her affect my mood or anything so she's not getting very far and very quickly she's back to normal... such an easy kid! Hope Henry will be as easy :).

Then this week I also got my 'immigration' exam done. For the 'permanent residency' / or I guess Greencard we made sure we know what kind of forms we have to fill out, which forms are needed etc. The exam we have crossed of the list now, I'm healthy enough to be able to apply! We'll see how that all goes... this month we're getting everything together and by the end of the month (after our 2yr anniversary) we're going to send in ALL the needed docs. Being married already for 2 yrs saves us two more forms and also a re-applying after 2-3 yrs. Mind as well save all that money!

So, my little monkey is starting to get up... time to get her breakfast ready and sip another coffee in silence *lol*... then we're off to take our walk (I'm so healthy... I think I haven't been healthier in my life!!! You should see my Blood Pressure this pregnancy! It's unbelievably good and I feel great!)... We'll stop by at a garage sale in the AM and in the PM I'll go to a baby sprinkle (2nd baby celebration - same as baby shower) of a friend of mine while Frank is spending some quality time with Zoe. I need to take advantage of the 'me-time' now since I bet it takes us a while to get all back and organized after our little peanut arrives and then I'm gonna be stuck with breastfeeding anyways again... but I'll pump of course as well so I can get out at least every now and then alone.