Happy Memorial Day!

Wow, the 3-day weekend went way too fast! I thought I would post a few pics from the last couple of weeks and catch you up on what has been happening here.
Shane has been busy with work and usually comes home exhausted...as for me, I am, well, exhausted 24/7! However, I continue to keep pluggin away at my sewing. Today, Shane and Emma went to Menards and True Value and were gone for 2 1/2 hours, so I got lots done! Shane even brought back lunch! I spent all day cutting binding and minky for blankets, and fabric for burp cloths. I have tons more blankets and burp cloths to make, and 2 more diaper bags, then I am set for my first craft show! Realistically, I don't think I am gonna get it all done, but I will give it my best shot. I have also been making sales and have been able to put a nice dent in paying back my 'investment'. I really want to thank those who have bought stuff and spread the word (you all know who you are!)...your support and encouragement is much appreciated!

I am so happy to report that are garden is finally in, thanks to Shane! He did most of the work, Emma and I helped put in the plants (and our neighbor was nice enough to come rototill the garden to give it its first work-up, since our small one can't quite do that). It was Taylor's Market last day being open for the season so we got all of our plants 40% off and were able to find all that we needed, except pickling cucumbers, but scored the last two 6-pks from Orschlen's. I don't think I ever planted our garden for under $8.00 before! We only planted 2 bigger tomatoes, 1 cherry tomato, zucchini, summer squash, pickling cucumbers and dill.

We also checked out a couple of minvans this weekend. Didn't find the 'one', but I have a better idea of what I do want! Funny story, I emailed the Dave Ramsey Radio show this week, and asked if he had any tips when shopping for a car (paying cash of course) and dealing with dealers and private party owners...well, I usually listen to his show in the afternoon while Emma naps and I sew, and on Friday's show, Dave answered my email on air! ha, it was pretty funny!

Ok, now on to some pictures:

For weeks now, Emma has boycotted the high chair and insists on sitting in a chair like mommy and daddy, so I picked her up a booster and she has really been enjoying sitting like a big girl at the table!

Emma loves to play the piano. She has a toy one, but we thought we would let her try out the big keyboard (it was a garage sale find from a few years ago, so she can't really hurt it). She thought it was the coolest thing!

She even sat Sophie up to it (thats another thing Emma started the last few weeks, wanting her Sophie doll to do everything with her and she even needs it when she lays down for bed, she even wants her tucked in under her blanket with her...I made her that doll when she was like 6 months old! I hope to make Sophie some friends after I am done with the craft show.)

Emma playing her alligator thing, she just loves music, she now plays with her fingers and doesn't just bang on things!

Emma sitting on our 'new' double stroller we scored off craigslist...she calls it her car.

Emma reading to Sophie

The smallest deer I have ever seen! This baby deer was no bigger than Bella! It was so cute and sweet. Shane found it in our backyard while he was dumping grass clippings. It must of been nursing cuz the mama deer got up and ran off, and Shane about stepped on the baby laying there. It got up and walked a little bit, we then left it alone so its mama could come back.

And I will finish up this post with a baby update:

13 weeks, 1 day pregnant

Can't report that I am feeling better yet, but hopefully I will be able to in a few more weeks! The puking is more frequent, but I feel better for a while if I do, so its a trade off. I felt the baby for the first time a week ago in bed. And most mornings when I first wake up and roll on to my back, I can feel and see a hard bump, which I am assuming the baby is stretching. I remember Emma always doing that in the mornings.

Well, thats it for now! Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! Love and prayers!

Baby Update

Friday, May 7th, we had our 10 week appointment. Everything looks good. I am down 4 lbs. We had an ultrasound. I posted our first ultrasound picture from our 6 week appointment so you can see how much this baby has grown...it really is amazing to see how fast they go from being a little bean to looking like a little human being! The doctor didn't do the heartbeat since we could see it beating on the ultrasound. So next appointment I will let you know what it is and how it compares to what Emma's was.

6 weeks

10 weeks
The baby was kicking and moving, and 'waved' at us!

11 week belly pic
I am starting to show a little, you can't tell as much with the clothes on. The cute shirt is courtesy of my best friend, Heather...we are sharing maternity wardrobes and it sure is fun to get some new stuff to wear. She has a lot of cool weather clothes, which I don't since I didn't need any while pregnant with Emma, but will for sure with this pregnancy.
Like I have said in previous posts, I haven't been feeling well, and I have been getting headaches, but thankfully, I don't feel as though I am as sick as I was with Emma, and haven't gotten the migraines that I did with her. I am trying to keep a positive attitude and just go with the flow! I am so blessed to have such a great hubby, I couldn't do this without him!

Lincoln Trip for Tanner's Graduation

May 8th weekend we headed to Lincoln for Shane's little brother, Tanner's graduation from UNL! Way to go Tanner!
I wasn't feeling the best, but by the grace of God, He blessed me with enough energy to go! I really wanted to for Shane's sake, work has been crazy and I knew he could use a break and some family time. We stayed with friends, Jon and Heather Hughes again (thanks guys!) Saturday we got up and around and headed over to Target to pick out some stuff to organize Emma's toys, then headed to Shane's grandma's place. That is where we celebrated Tanner's graduation with some lunch and cake. We then spent the afternoon moving Shane's grandma into a different apartment in her retirement place.
We then spent the evening with Shane's family at his parents hotel and attempted to go swimming but found poop in the pool (my father-in-law would probably say something if I didn't mention the poop in the pool!) A couple hours later, the poop was cleaned up and lots of chemicals added to the pool and so the kids could swim (I did no swimming).

Tanner the grad!

Shane's family: Front - Lindsey, Janice, Sharon. Back - Tom, Tanner and Shane

The whole Struckman clan: Front - Phyllis, Krista (well, she isnt family just yet, she is Tanner's girlfriend, and we have no doubt she will be an official Struckman sometime in the future), Lindsey, Sharon, Janice, Emma, Me. Back - Tom, Tanner, Parker, Jared, Madysen, Stacey and Shane.

Cousins playing!

Emma ready to go swimming!

Since it was late when we got in on Friday and Saturday, we didn't get to spend much time with Heather and Jon except a few hours on Saturday. We usually take a few pictures before we say goodbye, but we didn't get to say goodbye Sunday morning, because Heather woke me up after midnight with some severe pain (she was 35 weeks pregnant) and needed to go into labor and delivery. She had to stay until late Sunday afternoon. Everything was ok, they stopped her labor and then treated her pain. Thankfully, she is feeling much better for now.
So Sunday morning, we got up and around and went and had breakfast with Shane's parents, then headed for home. I didn't throw up at all during the trip, but as soon as we got home was a different story.
We did enjoy our weekend though with Shane's family and were happy to be able to celebrate with Tanner!

Catching up again...

Wow, I have been slacking on my blogging...but my mom has been going thru withdrawals, so I thought I better get some pics posted!
Last time I posted I left you with our big exciting news that we are expecting baby #2! Well, I am not gonna lie, these last few weeks have been really, really rough. I may not look that pregnant yet, but I am definitely feeling it. Its been a struggle to try and feed myself, let alone my family, but I have an amazing husband who has shown much love and support. My house is messier than I like, but I am learning to just let it go and just tackle it when I have spurts of energy, especially since I have SO much sewing that needs to be done in order to have my inventory done for my first craft show in June. I can't wait to share all the pictures of the stuff that I have completed, but that won't be for a few weeks yet!
So to start the update, on April 23rd, my cousin Tracy and her husband and daughter, along with my Aunt Teresa and her husband, Jarv all stopped by on their way thru moving Tracy and family to Ohio. It was great to see them, we hung out a little while and let the girls play and then ate supper downtown at an Italian restaurant.

Belly pic with Tracy (we are pregnant together again!) Our daughters are about a month apart, and these next babies will be about a week apart!
Tracy, Taya, Me and Emma

On April 24th, Shane and I celebrated being together for 11 years! Crazy, huh?!

I don't even know where to begin to update you on Emma! She is growing and learning so much! She has started counting now, she repeats most anything we say, she is getting better with her colors and is saying more sentences. She has been teething some molars I think for a few weeks now, and that has interrupted her good sleeping patterns and has made her more of a mommy's girl (but I don't mind the extra cuddles!) She loves to be outside and cries when she has to come in. She refuses to sit in her high chair, and wants to sit in a chair like mommy and daddy when she eats. She has been showing a more stubborn side lately, and is becoming more independent. She always makes us laugh, and we are just amazed at how beautiful and loving she is! She has such a sweet personality! Below are some pics of her showing off her different 'faces'!

Emma and Me!

Fascinated by the banana!

Emma feels so big when I let her sit on the counter!

Well, that is all for this post. Coming up is our trip to Lincoln for Tanner's graduation and the update on our latest baby appointment with ultrasound and latest belly pics!

Some News...

I finally found a little down time to catch everyone up on what's been going on with us!
April 8th, after Shane got off work, we headed to Gretna, NE to his sister, Lindsey's house. Shane then spent all day Friday installing a fireplace mantel that he had made for her (pictures below). This was his first time at doing something like that, and it turned out beautifully! Most importantly, I think Lindsey loved it! While Shane was working on the mantel, Emma and I slipped over to Omaha to see my cousin Tracy and her daughter Taya for a little while.
We then all headed to Lincoln to spend the weekend with our friends, Heather & Jon Hughes. That evening we went out to eat to Carlos O'Kellys...where we laughed at lot! Saturday we all went to the mall, shopped a little and ate, then Shane, Emma and I headed to see our friends Jon & Kristin Jakub and their newest addition...baby Elizabeth Grace (pics below)! We spent a few fun hours catching up...it was great to see them! From there we went to see Shane's grandma, Phyllis and Uncle Joe. We couldn't stay long, but they were happy to see us! After that we headed to Janice's (Shane sister). Emma was able to play with her cousins, Mady and Parker for a little while. We then made it back to Heather and Jon's for supper. After supper, Shane's brother, Tanner came over to see us for a little while. Sunday morning we got up, said our good byes and headed to meet my mom and dad at their hotel. My dad drove my mom to Lincoln to meet us to go home with us for a week. After spending some time with my dad, we headed out of Lincoln. We had to stop at Gretna again so Shane could sand and put the final coat of paint on Lindsey's mantel.
We had a great weekend, and were able to see a lot of family and friends in a little amount of time! We so enjoyed our stay with Heather & Jon, they will be moving back to Indiana at the end of the summer, and I will really miss having them in Lincoln!

Baby Elizabeth Grace

Shane, kt, Emma, Elizabeth, Kristin, Jon
(for those of you that don't know, Shane and Jon roomed together in college, and Jon was the best man at our wedding)

Me, Emma, Heather (& baby Hughes)

now you can see that cute baby bump of Heather's better

Nana, Emma & Papa

Nana, Emma & me

Shane, Emma & me

the fireplace mantel...this isn't the finished product, its just after the first coat of paint, but I had to get a picture of it before we painted it again, so that the blue tape wouldn't be in the picture

So we were blessed enough to have my mom here for a week....ahhh, I love those times! She was a huge help with Emma while I sewed. I didn't get as much sewing done as I would have liked, but we ended up tackling some other projects that I needed to get to. One was going thru all of Emma's baby clothes and her entire closet. Upon opening up the totes of Emma's little newborn to 6 month clothes, I found tons of yellow stains on all of them...turns out that spit-up that you thought you got out of the clothes, actually turns yellow when stored. So we treated and washed everything that had the stains on them, and then dried them in the sun (the sun is suppose to bleach out the stains). It worked great!

I couldn't resist getting a picture of the clothes hanging on the line...it was so darn cute!

Nana and Emma 'typing'

Nana, Emma and me

Nana, Emma, Papa and me

Papa and Emma

My dad drove out and got my mom this past weekend. As always we were sad to see them go, but are so thankful for the quality of time we get together! We will get to see them again in June! And my mom was nice enough to clean my house (even scrub my shower) so that all I had to worry about was sewing this coming week!

Its been hard to get back in the swing of things around here! Here are a few pics from the week so far:

Emma and I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon...

Is this not the sweetest, most beautiful face you ever saw? Gosh, I love this kid!

Last, but certainly not least....some of you may have noticed Emma's shirt in some previous photos that said 'big sister'...well, no its not a hand-me-down...its new and its true...

On Easter, this was Shane's Easter present from Emma and I...a onesie that says 'Little Engineer' wrapped up with a positive pregnancy test!
Pictures below paint a picture of Shane 'getting' the news:

We woke Shane up and here he is opening the present and reading the onesie...

Shane has read the onesie, thinking this is cute, but has not seen the test yet, nor is 'getting' the message (come on, like Emma can fit in that onesie), I tell him there is more...

Shane sees the test and the light bulb goes on! I love this picture, it is priceless! Shane was shocked and not expecting it (neither was I, we weren't trying to get pregnant)! (Shane said this is his 'does this mean what i think it means' face). He was happy and excited to hear we are having another baby!
This surprise blessing has definitely changed some plans, but we are excited and very thankful. It was so nice to achieve pregnancy without all the problems and heartache we went thru trying to conceive Emma.
We had our first OB appointment on April 12th. We had an ultrasound, and right now my due date is December 6th. Since the baby was too small to measure yet, they measured the yolk sac (we could see the heartbeat tho!!!). We will have another ultrasound at my next appointment and will get a little more accurate due date. We are also planning to NOT find out the gender of this baby, until he/she arrives!
So far I am feeling extremely exhausted, nauseous (but no puking, yet), and food no longer tastes the same.
So with baby #2 on the way, means time to move up to the much saved for minivan! (I know, I am crazy for wanting one). So we are officially in the market for a good used Honda Odyssey (in case anyone has one they want to sell).

Well, there you have it...you are up to speed with the Struckmans. God Bless!!!