Seriously!?

Why is it when people see a pregnant woman they have the uncontrollable urge to say out loud whatever stupid comment they are thinking???? I know that my belly is large and I do stick out A LOT. It does look like I stuck a ball up my shirt. Look at me from behind and you don't know I'm pregnant, I turn around and BAM where did that belly come from. BUT...I will never understand why random strangers who would never even consider uttering a word to you otherwise feel like they need to make comments to a pregnant girl that is already fully aware of the stares and comments that are being made around her. When a creepy man walking past me says while laughing "You're going to pop!" I want to punch him in the groin. Or when I'm walking out of the doctors office and I hear a patient say to another "WOW she's huge" Seriously you can't wait til the door is shut and I can't hear you....

Did I mention pregnancy makes me irritable.......

Ryans visit

My brother Ryan works for Braun Racing which is a Nascar team and on the 10th there was a race in Joliet IL which is about 30 min from us. He had told me that there wasn't any reason from his job stand point to come out but he had worked it with boss and was able to come out anyway. I wasn't going to complain. He flew in on Wednesday and we had all day Thursday to play. He had never been to downtown Chicago so I figured it was a perfect time for him to see it. I had looked online and debated doing the boat tour but I don't feel that you see that much of the city. Its great for seeing most of the buildings but you don't get the feel of the city. I found one of the companies that does the double decker bus tours. I thought it was funny at first I always chuckle a bit at the tourists sitting on top snapping pictures and I thought of the movie The Breakup with Vince Vaughn where he is a tour guide for a double decker bus company..too funny.

We decided to try it out. It has 18 stops throughout the city and we could get on and off as we pleased. It seemed like a great way for him to really see the city. It was perfect!!! I would recommend it to anybody, and you definitely have to sit on top. The girls loved it, I loved it and I believe Ryan loved it. We saw and learned so much of Chicago. The only downfall was my camera battery died just after we started so I couldn't be one of the tourists I chuckle at. At one point we were at the front of the bus by the guide. He asked Genna what her favorite part of Chicago was she told him riding the school bus. She also loved the fact that he had handed her the mic to hold on to while he walked to the back of the bus. Kami was ticked that he hadn't talked to her. She said to him "Don't you know I'm here too?" Oh, I love my Kami. Kami also started her random humming and the tour guide thought it was really funny and had her hum into the mic. Everyone clapped for her, it was cute. It was a lot of fun.

At the "Bean" in Millenium Park

Friday was the day of the race. Ryan had arranged pit passes for Andrew, Cameron, and Scott. Cameron was as giddy as a kid on Christmas, Andrew was excited and Scott needed some convincing. Apparently Scott didn't realize it was a legit Nascar race and didn't think it was going to be as much fun as they had. His father in law is a huge fan and they had Scott call him to get his opinion, apparently his father in law was incredibly jealous and that convinced Scott it was going to be a fun thing. So funny! They got to wear the headsets that the crews wear and could hear the conversations between the driver and the crew the whole race. They got to meet the drivers, stand out with the teams before the race and were in the center of all the excitement the whole day. They all had a great time and want to go again. Thanks Ryan for doing that for the guys!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

I know this is belated but I still wanted to write about it. Every summer since Andrew has started this job I just know that we won't spend it together, and if he says "I'll try to be home early enough to do something," I don't hold my breath. I know most of you who read my blog understand what I'm talking about. Anyways, this year I wasn't even sure that the girls and I were going to be able to do anything either the weather was horrible. I was a bit bummed because I had found a couple parades in the area but it was raining and I didn't think it was worth trying. We were just hanging out in the apartment when I heard police and fire truck sirens. It was really close and I wondered what in the world was going on. I walked outside and was shocked to see that a parade was going right through our apartment complex, we were able to watch right outside our door. It worked out perfect, I couldn't have been happier. We hung out for most of the day not doing too much. I was really excited when Andrew called and said he was on his way home. We were able to go out to eat and watch the fireworks together!!!!! Even Kami was brave and sat through the whole display. She hates fireworks. Cameron had bribed her, he told her if she was brave and sat through the whole thing he would give her a dollar...it worked. If only I could do that every time I needed her to do something. All in all it turned out to be a great 4th.

Sweet Taya!

Ashley and Taya. The girls were able to enjoy some pops before the fireworks. Thanks Ashley!

Kami took this pic for us.

Baby Update

I just wanted to give everyone an update on the baby. The last few times I've gone to the Dr. he's been really sweet to tell me how big I am and that he thinks the baby is going to very big as well. Something I love to hear. NOT! Every pregnant woman loves hearing how huge she looks. Although as much as I try to deny it, I really do think with this one even more than with the girls, I am big. My belly seems to stick out quite a bit more. Anyways, my Dr. has brought up a few times about inducing me because my delivery with Genna went so fast that he doesn't want me to miss getting an epidural..thank heavens for that. Today at my appointment I brought it up and asked if by chance we could set a date and to my pleasant surprise he said yes! He checked his schedule and we are set for August 4. Its so nice to have a date to look forward to. I'm glad to know that I will not go past that date and maybe just maybe our little one will decide to come on his own before that.

Happy 8th!!!

Monday June 29th was our 8th anniversary! Its been a great 15 years.. oops I mean 8 it just feels a lot longer (just kidding!). I didn't think we would do much because of the hours Andrew works and it was a Monday. Andrew never takes a day off in the summer...its rare if he does. Andrew called me and said don't make plans for Sunday and you'll need to pack all of us an overnight bag. YEAH! I was so excited and I absolutely love surprises. We got up Sunday morning and left it was about an hour away and we ended up in Gurnee, IL at the hotel Key Lime Cove. Its a resort hotel with an indoor waterpark. We checked in and went straight to the water. It had a pool just for little ones with small slides, a huge hot tub, a wave pool, lazy river, waterslides and a playground with all sorts of water buckets and waterslides that the girls could go down. Once they realized they could go and go on their own that was the end of it. They had a great time going from one slide to another. Andrew mentioned to me that this probably wasn't the way I wanted to spend my anniversary with the kids and all but to me it was perfect! I loved it. We had a great time. I would recommend this place to anyone. We played in the arcade..Andrew and I really liked the Deal or No Deal game. Which by the way I won more tickets than Andrew. We also took the girls to storytime and they got to color and play games. We ended the day with ice cream at the ice cream parlor. So tasty! After we put the girls to bed Andrew introduced me to a new game on facebook which is now my new addiction. Bejeweled Blitz. I cannot stop playing and I'm not that good. Its horrible. He and I played it together for a couple hours and had a lot of fun. Might sound lame but that was probably one of my favorite times of our weekend. Monday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and hit the waterpark until Andrew had to leave for work. It was an awesome anniversary and I'm so thankful that Andrew planned something like that for all of us. After 8 years I love him more than I ever thought I could, I love my kids, and the life he has provided and is providing for our family. I am very lucky to have him in my life, he's a great and thoughtful husband and a fantastic dad. Happy Anniversary Andrew!

Best Buddies

My brother Ryan and his wife Whitney had an amazing opportunity to travel to New Zealand and Australia for two weeks. My brother has always wanted to visit Australia so when he called and asked where or what our plans would be when they were planning on going I told him we would watch the girls however long they needed us to. The only problem was we were going to be in Chicago and they were planning on taking the girls to Utah. Andrew and I talked and decided to save them the hassle of finding multiple babysitters and we would take them the whole two weeks if they wanted to fly them to Chicago. It worked out and we got play for two weeks. It was a great opportunity for us and our girls, for those of you who don't know my brother and his family live in North Carolina so we rarely get to see them. They visit Utah for four weeks every summer but we are always somewhere else. My girls were so excited to play with their cousins. They were in heaven. I was a bit nervous being eight months pregnant and adding three more kids to the mix but they were so good. Very polite and helpful. We were able to do some fun things..weather permitting. We went to the Brookfield Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, the park several times, the library (had to find something on all the rainy days), the pool, Ty Warner splash pad and Navy Pier. I thought it was so funny whenever we went out people would just assume that all five were mine. I would definitely take them as mine but seriously!? When we went to Navy Pier Andrew was in the front of the pack and I brought up the rear there was a couple sitting on a bench as we passed and she began to count..one..two..three...and so on when she got to me I could hear her say "Five and one on the way!!!" Too funny. The girls all had a best buddy which changed daily sometimes multiple times a day. Genna could never remember their names which always made me laugh she'd say "that girl over there." My girls who almost always go to bed without a problem could never settle down because they were so excited their cousins were here. I was a bit shocked at how much food we went through and the extra work only 3 more brings on but it was such a great experience for all of us. I started missing them the second they got on the plane. I hope they don't think I'm too ornery (its the pregnancy!) I loved getting to know them better and having them all to myself. I hope they had as much fun as my girls and I did.

Lincoln Park

This is Genna pretending to be Ariel coming out of the water singing "Part of that World" so funny!






About a month ago we decided to take a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We had so much fun! Its a free zoo and I was surprised at how big and how many animals there were. We also found a little farm animal petting zoo it had cows, goats, chickens and mini ponies. Andrew and I thought that it was a bit funny that people would be so excited to see these types of animals, we then figured that most of the people that go to Lincoln Park are city folk and never really have the opportunity to see these types of animals on a regular basis. We then ate $4 hot dogs before going to the zoo. Gotta love city prices! The girls loved the zoo. Kami brought her binoculars and Genna brought a little camera and they had to look thru the binoculars and take a picture of every animal we passed. I thought it was really cute. We were watching the Silverback gorilla and the other monkeys in the cage when out of the blue the silverback started chasing the other monkeys. He was upset about something! He caught one of them and I thought for a moment the smaller one was going to get pounded. It was really interesting to watch. We had a really fun time. I love taking trips downtown. I always appreciate Andrew giving up a quiet sunday to go downtown to fight traffic and people just so the girls...well mainly me can sight see. Thanks babe!