Bible Study

Yes, the title of the blog is correct. I went to a Bible study. I accepted the invitation from a new friend, whom I met through the small world of blogging-pretty cool!, and decided to try out a weekly Bible Study for women. I know, I have never been to a Bible Study before, and I haven't been to Church outside of special occasions since, hold on to your seats........ GASP! college!! The Church is super close to our house and seems really nice. Everyone was super nice and it was enjoyable, what little I got to participate in. I missed most of it because Whitney was so upset in the nursery they had to come get me. She was crying and upset when I left, but I figured she would get over it and start playing. I sat in the nursery with her for a while and was going to sneak out again, but she got upset every time I stood up. Not to mention she is SUPER SENSITIVE to other kids. She doesn't know how to feel when other kids play with toys she's playing with, or cut in front of her to get to a toy. She pouts her lip out and holds her hands up over her face and just starts crying. I'll just keep socializing my sheltered little girl and hope she loosens up. She gets the sensitivity to emotions from me, but I also had an older brother and sister to toughen me up, so this could be interesting. We're going to try again next week. If it works out, great, then if not, I guess it doesn't. I won't force her to cry for a hour and a half, for her sake and for the care takers! At the very least it seems like a great Church for us to start going to, so thanks Melissa for inviting me today! Oh, and there is another mom there today who I run into at the library and just out and about, so I'm making friends now! I didn't expect to make friends for the short time we will be here so this is an unexpected nicety.

Play Pals

I found out about Play Pals at City Hall from another mom. It's kind of neat. It's in the gym at City Hall every weekday from 9-11am and they provide lots of toys for the kids to play. It's for kids 5 and under who must be accompanied by an adult. Whitney wanted me to follow her around and help her play. Maybe as we keep going she will get used to playing on her own and I can sit on the side lines with all the other moms. I'm definately a bit of a helicopter mom. I didn't like it AT ALL when other kids would come and start playing with a toy Whitney had and just take off with it. How dare they take a toy from my child who was contently playing?!?! It will be good for me too to sit back and just let her learn on her own. But I don't exactly want her to become a bully either and start taking toys away from other kids. Some people say kids are kids, but they need to learn that's not nice!! I think we'll just go once a week, maybe twice if we're super bored. With the library, Play Pals, the parks, and running errands, we may finally start to fill our days.

I added a poll to the blog so VOTE!! Boy or Girl? Find out friday afternoon!!!

Let's go Mom! She gets SO impatient to get out the door.
She loved anything she could push around.

this is one of those play tents. She got inside, held it up, and started walking around in it like a ghost under the sheets!

Week in Review

Last weekend Whitney and I went down to Jessica's for some garage sales and just hanging out while Wade was duck hunting. We momentarily got all the kids to sit for a movie.
Yesterday morning Whitney and I went to Des Moines to garage sale. I'm a bit addicted to it now that there is a little one to shop for. And it's awesome being in bigger cities because you have all the rich young couples that buy all the good stuff first! It would be really helpful if I knew the sex of the next baby for when I'm out. That big day is scheduled for next friday, can't wait!! I think it's another girl, so we'll see.

HALLOWEEN COSTUME SPOILER ALERT..........





I didn't plan on dressing Whitney up for Halloween because she's too little to trick or treat, and she just doesn't get the concept yet, but I found this little tinker bell costume at a garage sale and had to buy it. She loves it and wouldn't let me take it off her. She wore it around the house for a few hours yesterday.

19 Week Belly

15 weeks
19 weeks

We tried out toddler story time again this morning. She lasted about 12 of the 15 minutes today. I even pulled out the milk to keep her sitting longer. There was an 18 month old that bailed just minutes before Whitney did. They were more interested in playing with each other than following along with a story and songs. I guess she's just a little too young. Oh well, we'll keep going just because it gets us out of the house and she likes the library.

Toddler Story Time

Yesterday Whitney and I checked out the Ames Public Library. It has a great kids area with lots of books, toys, chairs, and even computers for toddlers to "read" books. Every day they have story time, geared for children ages 1-4ish. We went today and made it 10 of 20 minutes. Not too bad. Besides teeny tiny babies there with their older sibling, Whitney was the youngest toddler there. The storyteller was great, singing songs and using a bear puppet to help read, but Whitney wasn't sure what was going on. When a song would finish she would say "all done" and point to the door. After a few songs and in the middle of a book after she said all done a little too loudly and shrieked, I decided we were indeed all done. We'll give it a try once a week to see if it gets any better. If not, we'll do it when she is older. We checked out a few books for her, which I thought was weird at first, checking out books for a 16 month old, but she really likes books and new ones to look at. Her favorite right now being Dora and Backpack go to the Library that I found for 50 cents at a garage sale. Did I mention toddler story time is super busy? There were lots of kids and of course an adult with them. Maybe I'll be able to make a few friends??? Along with lots of kids are lots of germs. I was WAY grossed out today to see a little girl with super red eyes, pinkeye maybe?, red bumps on her arms and then she sneezed on some of the books. Hello!! I know it's hard to to stay home all the time but don't take your kid out for recreational activities when they are blatantly sick. I washed our hands as soon as we left and sanitized the books we checked out.

Exciting news for us is that our house in Missouri rented!! It was for sale or rent, which ever happend first. I went against the advice of a friend (Stefanie if you're reading this) and went with a certain company we'll call PPM. Right off the bat they started out with poor advertising service and laziness but I stuck with them because our neighbors used them and liked them and they have a number of houses on our street that have only sat empty for like a max of two days. Not our house. It has been empty for six weeks. I think they didn't like me because I wanted too much from them, which I didn't, so I think they had it out for me and purposly didn't market our house. Okay, not really, but I can tell myself that to make me feel better. I finally got the gumption to fire PPM and go with a new company, and ta daaa!!! our house rented!! I trying not to play the should have game ( should have used a different company right away, should have rented to that guy who wanted to go directly through us, etc. ) and be happy that our house is "paid for" for the next year. The couple moves in tomorrow!! Let's just hope they love our house as much as we did and take good care of it.

My pregnancy is going well. I'll do a belly shot next week after I FINALLY get to my first OB appt here in Ames. I'll be 19 weeks so I'm hoping they do an ultra sound. Yes, we will be finding out the sex. I'm really growing now and am officially in maternity pants. I can finally say within the last few days that I am really feeling this baby move now. Which is a little earlier than Whitney, but not much. I am cutting back on my sugar intake, not for pregnancy diabetes or anything, just for my well being. When I got my second trimester appetite back I just went crazy, literally crazy, on chocolate and sugary candy. Like insane amounts that I would snack on all day, and then I wasn't all that hungry for a good meal. I told myself it was okay, that I was making up for lost calories in the first trimester and I'm pregnant and entitled to eat that way, which is stupid because I hate it when people use pregnancy as an excuse to get fat. Pregnancy doesn't make you fat, food does!! I'm not going on a diet people, don't freak out. I still eat carbs, dairy, meat, chips, and candy, just cutting back on the amount of candy. I'm not going to go all Jillian Michaels and throw out everything bad in my cupboard. What a waste!! I have lots of unopened bags of candy yet!! And Halloween isn't even here yet! After a few days I aleady feel better. I feel less bloated and don't have that nasty sluggish feeling you get after you eat all that crap. A meal is not complete for me until I have desert, but now it is one snack size candy bar instead of three or four. I figured if I told you all this I'll have a better chance of sticking to it. It's hard. I think I have a lack of sugar headache right now, or it could be a release of tension headache since our house rented, either way, they are both good reasons for a headache. If you need a little motivation for healthier eating check out The Bull Session on my blog list. Jenn is doing an amazing job on healthier eating and exercise. Maybe my motivation for exercise will come after the second baby. I figure taking care of a toddler all day is like low intesity aerobics! For now I'll focus on healthier food habits for the family.

A Day at the Beach

Sunday we went to Hickory Grove Park to let Whitney play in the water and at the playground. It was so warm yesterday but the water was a little chilly! Whitney played at the waters edge and couldn't stop saying "Yay!!" She had a blast! All pictures of Whitney, but who doesn't love a baby at the beach?!

running away after getting rinsed off

A Few Pics

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. I am still finding myself doing little move in projects even though we have been here over a month now. We have been busy every weekend since we moved back to Iowa with both sides of the family, which is awesome, but we are looking forward to some down time at home this weekend. Wade has been super busy with school already and can tell it will be a tough semester. This grad program sure isn't like the laid back times at UNI! Whitney is getting super talkative learning a new word every day. She is even starting to string words together, her favorite being "where'd it go" and "choo choo, where are you?" as she holds her palms out to show something is gone. This morning I asked if she wanted to have breakfast with Mommy and she responded, 'pop tart'. So that's what we had. She is starting to call me mommy instead of mama, which is kind of sad because it makes her seem like more of a toddler, my baby is growing so fast! She has gone from having six teeth to getting six more at a time. Better than one at a time like her first six! Helping me fix the vacuum. It needed a new belt, but the question is, how long was I using it without a belt?? Seeing how much more it picks up, it grosses me out to think how dirty our carpet could have been in MO.

At a little park in Postville this last weekend. Whitney and I went up for four nights and Wade stayed behind to do homework and finally get to our land. Whitney and I got very spoiled in Postville, having Grandma and Grandpa around to play with and for me to not have to cook dinner and clean up! I may be going back more often!

at my cousin's bridal shower. We were supposed to be making a toilet paper wedding dress with Whitney as our model, but she was not cooperating.