17 weeks

We had a doctor's appt. today. I love getting to hear the little heartbeat. When the doctor was trying to hear the heartbeat the baby kept kicking the probe as she laid it on my stomach. It was really cool. She let Axel help hold the probe on my stomach-he thought it was really neat being a helper. Because the baby was wiggling around so much she decided to get the mini ultrasound machine out to look at the heartbeat. We got to see the baby wiggling and his/her arm stretch out. LOVE IT!! I feel the baby moving some times, but seeing how much the baby was jamming around during the exam there are a lot of kicks and somersaults that I am not feeling yet. I think I have an active little dude in there! I remember Axel was a shaker and a mover also. The heartbeat was around 135-140 beats per minute. Per the old wives tale if the heartbeat is under 140 it leads to the blue team....we'll see if that's true. We get to have our big ultrasound in 2 weeks! I can't wait for January 11th!!! We are totally going to find out what we are having. I can't wait. As long as the baby shows us, if he/she wants to keep it a secret then we will but if he/she wants us to know then we will find out.
Grandma Ann just arrived today from Minnesota. It's so nice having family out here. Axel ran to here in the airport and with his arms wide open yelled "welcome to Alaska Grandma!" It was super cute. I hope she enjoys her week out here.

Christmas 2010

An Axel wrap for Christmas! Just practicing my swaddling technique!
Swing batter batter swing!
Helping dad get his trucks free.
Check out my new tent!
Our first Christmas away from home. It was a little quieter then we are used to but we still had a great time watching Axel enjoy the magic of Christmas!Axel set out Cookies and water for Santa and saltines and water for the Raindeer. He thought it was super cool that they were all gone in the morning. We had dinner plans with friends on Saturday and 1/2 an hour before every one came over we lost power! We didn't get power back for 5 hours! What a Christmas huh? The whole town of Eagle River was out of power on Christmas. Crazy. Luckily we just relocated the party to my friend Bethany's house. We had a ton of food and good company. We finished our day by coming home and all three of us snuggled in our bed watching cartoons until we fell asleep. It was a great day. We missed having our family around but we did well on our first holiday alone. I'll try and post a video of our presenting opening later this week.
We are excited to announce our first visitor is coming on Tuesday! My mother in-law, Ann, is coming for a whole week. It'll be so nice to have some family here. She'll get to help us celebrate Brian's (33 years) and Axel's (3 years) birthdays. Can't wait to have you here Ann!!!

16 weeks

Here's a picture of my tummy at 16 weeks pregnant! WOW huh? I'm so short-it does not give the baby much room to stretch out in-just outwards. :) Axel had to show how big his tummy was too! At 16 weeks the baby is about 3-5 ounces in weight and 4-5 inches in length. His/her's eyes are finally working, which means that they can make side to side movements and perceive light. (although the eyelids are still sealed) Crazy. The babies ears are also working so he/she can hear our voices. So cool! Hi baby this is you mommy!!!

Cookie Day

Axel and Mom making Christmas cookies. Normally this time of the year we would go to Grandma Hamblin's and bake cookies with my sisters and all of Axel's cousins. So this year we did it on our own. Not to bad for our first year alone!

Axel doing a little taste testing.

Helping with the bar's.
Time to eat!

2 thumbs up Mom!!
Look how full my belly is!!


On the baby front we are 15 weeks along! The baby is the size of a large apple. He/She should be able to wiggle it's toes and fingers. I wish I could feel the little dude. I can't wait for that. I've been continuing to sprout nicely! I'll have to post a baby bump picture soon. You won't believe my tummy already. Thankfully I get to work in scrubs every day. They sure are forgiving on a changing body.

Christmas is in the air!

We went to visit Santa this weekend! Axel wasn't ready to take a picture on his own yet. Maybe next year! Here's what Axel asked Santa for: 1. Dino's 2. A baby brother. I told Santa that we were working on that 2nd one and he could work on the 1st one. :)
Starting our Christmas tree. I know it's not much but it's the idea more than any thing. Axel loved helping dad get all the branch's together.


We are ready for Christmas!
We are 14 weeks pregnant now, which means we are in our second trimester! Yeah!! The baby is about 3 oz and the size of a lemon. We heard the heartbeat last week. It was SO cool and Axel was amazed that is really something growing in mom's tummy. January is when we get to have the big ultrasound and find the sex of the baby if we want. I think we will but we have time to think about it.

playing with his guys

Here is Axel playing in his room with his 'guys'. I'm still learning to get better at getting my video's on my blog. Some days technology just is not my friend. I know I've been updating this blog way more than I ever used to but with having all my family and friends so far away we have so much to share!
I think the earth cores split today....I got a cell phone. For those of you that know I haven't had a cell phone for 9 or 10 years. It was sorta my thing. After yesterday being stuck in the icy tundra while I was preggers we decided that a cell phone would be a really good idea. We got a GO phone so it was a easy way to enter into the world of cell phones. I'm sure it'll be great having one but I still don't want all the fancy bells and whistles that all the phones have. Maybe some day I'll learn to text...hee hee. I have to laugh at myself. Most of the time I love new technology and gadgets but I just have a thing with cell phones. I'll learn to deal with having one :)

Ice day for Mom

Dad and Axel in their matching TC hats.

Shout out to the Twin Cities!!
Keeping the brim straight mom, that's what all the kids do these days....
I was just playing around with the camera today since I was iced in. I attempted to drive to work this morning but the roads were like ice rinks. It was really scary and a little insane. I ended up turning around before I even got out of Eagle River. I got about 1.5 miles from the house and got stuck on the side of the road in the middle of a ton of other cars that were stopped dead in their tracks. I walked home (since I still don't have a cell phone-I know, I'm getting one today!) and Brian being the wonderful hubby that he is got the car home safe and sound. It was so icy out there today I could barely walk home. I did fall twice but not on my tummy-on my butt. I was super upset either way. Talked with my doctor and they reassured me that there is plenty of padding for the baby and every thing is OK. Now we are all in for the day enjoying cartoons and snacks! I got my feet up and Axel is snuggling me. Not a bad way to spend on Monday!

On a happier baby note I am 12 weeks along now. One more week and I'll be in the second trimester! The baby is about 3 inches long and the size of a plum. Crazy how he/she has grown even from last week! We have a doctor visit next week so we'll get to hear the heart beat then.

Where do babies come from?

I was talking with Axel today about the baby in my tummy. He just kept looking at my tummy weird and tired pushing it down. (since I have already sprouted quite a bit!) Here's our little conversation.
Me: Where do babies come from?

Axel: Walmart!

Me:Well then how did it get in my tummy?

Axel: Belly button Mom. (Dah I guess!)

Me: How will the baby come out?

Axel: We'll have to break your tummy!

Me: How do we do that Axel?

Axel: I'll do it with my crane Mom!

Whoo..I hope that's not how the baby will come out! It's funny to hear what he thinks about all this baby stuff. I can't wait to see what he likes when my tummy gets really big and round!

Movie night

We brought Axel to his first movie tonight. We saw the movie Megamind. It was cute and Axel did really well. Snacks and soda helped. He had only 3 potty breaks and sat the whole time. He got a little restless towards the end but not to bad for his first time! It was fun actually going to a movie again. It's been a long time since we've been to a movie.

On the baby front I am 11 weeks pregnant today. The baby is officially described as a fetus. The baby is 1.5 inches long (about the length of your thumb from knuckle to the tip). It sounds so small for how tight my pants are lately! I have been feeling great just tired all the time. I haven't had any nausea for all most two weeks now. I am enjoying that even with being so tired. I've already had a little heartburn but I do eat a lot of spicy food, so I'll blame it on that! All in all things are good!

Hiking to a waterfall

Went hiking to a waterfall today. I would have never thought hiking in the winter would be so much fun.



















































A snowman (made by Axel and dad) for each one of us. Dad, Mom, Axel and baby #2! We are due June 5th, which makes us 10 weeks along. I haven't said much about it yet but I couldn't hold it in any longer! We are going to be a family of 4! I can't wait.

more snow

Axel in the snow
The view from our deck
Playing in the front yard
Our house

More snow already? We woke up today to find about 3 inches for snow, but later in the day it was 40 degrees and melting. If you go to Anchorage-which is only about 15 minutes from us they have no snow yet. Here's a few pictures from this morning. Thankfully we have a friendly neighbor that let's us use he snow blower in exchange for doing her drive way. Deal! (we'll for Brian any way)

craving pumpkins and the enchanted forest

Axel and the witch during the hike
Axel's pumpkin



Axel and dad walking on the trails

Axel playing in the yurt
Axel and mom on the way to the yurt
Hi Mom, the party is here!
Axel went to a party at the Eagle River nature Center. He got to dress up in his costume, play games, have snacks and hike through the enchanted forest. He had a great time. He wore his Ratatouille costume. It was nice and warm for the hike. The party was in a Yurt. My pictures are sorta out of order but you get the idea. We also craved a pumpkin tonight. Axel thought it was fun but the pumpkins guts were yucky. On the potty training front-we had an accident free day! Even at the party, going to Wallmart and pumpkin craving! Way to go buddy!!! I'm sure I'll have more Halloween pictures tomorrow.

Potty training!

Axel showing off his undies!


Finally I think Axel is starting to really want to potty train. He has been using the potty on and off for a while but would rather just use a diaper. When I would ask him if he wanted to use the potty he would say "No, I pee in my diaper mom." Then when I would change him he'd say "I poop in this one!" So I've been pondering if he's smart enough to verbalize all this he is smart enough to use the potty. On Sunday we just put him in his underwear and haven't used diapers since-except for naps and bedtime. He's actually doing really awesome! He had a few accident's on Sunday but the last two days he's only had one or two. He's been telling us now when he has to go! Yeah! I hope he keeps it up. The next step is to see how he does once we are busy doing some thing away from the house. I'm almost ready to do the no more diaper dance!!!

Winter boots and spiders!

Dad and Axel sporting their new winter boots!
Axel's spider and web that he made in class this week.
I'm 2!
He sure loves his new Sorel's.

Playing with his cow puppet.
Axel and dad got their winter boots this weekend. I hope they don't have to use them any time soon, but just in case we have them now. I can't believe how much Axel's feet have grown since last winter. Axel had his Kneehi Naturalist class today again. This week we learned about spiders and webs! He thought it was fun counting all 8 legs that spiders have. He does really good counting to 5 then he'll get quiet and suddenly say 8! It was cute watching him count on his hands with the teacher. We went outside on the trails and found spider webs in the tress and hanging from different signs. Axel thought it was really fun.