Ice Ice Baby

This morning we woke up to a world of ice! It was supposed to start around 10, but at 10:45 when we went to bed the ice storm hadn't started yet. I woke up a couple times during the night because it was so loud. I was praying it was warm enough out that it was only rain, but no such luck. This morning we were under a level 2 emergency. All of the schools were closed and some businesses too. Jason made it to work safe and sound. He said the roads were really treacherous though.

We have a lot of tree branches down in our yard. The ice looks pretty, but it is so sad how many tree branches are down. I was outside a little bit ago and all you could hear were sirens and ice crashing down through the trees. I didn't venture off of our deck, but it looks like our crabapple and apple trees both got knocked over. There is a tree in the way but I think it looks like our pear tree made it. I can only wonder what the meadow looks like...I valued my life enough not to venture out there with all of the trees everywhere!

Its supposed to warm up enough today to hopefully melt the ice. When we woke up we couldn't see out of any of our front windows as they were coated in ice. Now the ice is melting and we can see somewhat out of some of them.

Anyway, here are some pics of our scenery today!

Potties, Pregnancy and Playtime

Potty training is still going really well! Isabelle has only been in panties (except naptime and bedtime we put a diaper on her) since, oh gosh.. whatever day that was last week..ehhh..maybe Thurs or Fri(??)and has only had 1 accident! The accident was a little anticipated as it was the first time we were with all of her friends. She stopped going though and told me she had to go potty and went the rest in the toilet. I was so proud of her! Then today she was playing with Adan and went in the potty twice without any accidents! She has really done awesome!

As for pooping in the potty..well, she isn't really a fan... she is, but she doesn't like to just sit there and wait to be all done...she's got things to do! Haha! I figured pooping in the potty would be harder to get, but she'll figure it out!

Baby #2 is doing good as well. I felt him/her move a couple of weeks ago and now I feel it all the time. We are really excited for our ultrasound appointment. We have been working hard on our names lists! I am 99.9% sure we have it narrowed down to one name for our boy name. As for girl names we still have a little list, but keep talking about the top 3. I am excited to find out the sex so then we only have to focus on one side! We are waiting until we know the sex and are for sure that is the name we are going with before we tell anyone our names. Hearing people's opinions of the names we were deciding on was one of the most annoying parts of our pregnancy with Isabelle so we are trying to avoid that at all costs. LOL! I have learned that once you are set in stone with a name and say, "the name of our child WILL BE blah blah blah" that people tend to keep their opinions to themselves...it's all about saying it with authority, at least I think. So we'll do a comparison study and see how my theory pans out.

In other news, here is a little video of Isabelle playing dolls with Daddy from this past weekend.. I think it is actually more like Daddy playing with dolls and Isabelle watching, but it is entertaining nonetheless. :o)

Hi, my name is Jennifer...

and I am a shopaholic. LOL! Seriously though I am in some major pain here! I promised myself I would not buy Isabelle anymore winter clothes.. I mean I would be in clothing heaven if I had as many clothes as this girl has and this year I have been really good compared to previous years.... but we still have stuff we haven't gotten to yet that still have tags on. Anyway, my point is that I am so in love with the new Janie and Jack line. I saw pics of it awhile ago and have avoided the website....until recently. Thank goodness the items I really really loved are sold out in Isabelle's size and our closest store is Indy...whew! But there are still plenty of other items sitting in my cart...waiting for me to use my coupon and free shipping.. just waiting....lucky for me I know I am just going to let them sit there until the sale is over or I forget about them (haha, yeah that's a funny one! ;o) ).. at least a girl can hope that is how it is going to play out. LOL!

Oh and don't even get me started on Gap. Ugh. They are coming out with their spring transition stuff now.. too bad it is freezing here till May sometimes! It is my goal to hold off getting anything for spring until late Feb. Last year I did pretty good..I think I made it to the end of January. LOL!

This is too much thinking for first thing on a Weds morning...this is why I usually don't get up until Isabelle wakes up because I just end up torturing myself. HAHA! Hopefully she will wake up soon and I will forget all about my newfound penguin love.....

Isabelle and her make-up table

I have been searching for my cord to connect my camcorder to the computer for what feels like forever. I had remembered that Isabelle had it and I took it from her...and then after that I drew a blank. I am usually one of those people that remembers where everything is...and then I get pregnant and completely lose any bit of intelligence I ever had. LOL! So I finally found it tonight and of course it was in the strangest of all places, but I found it and that is all that matters! Now I am working on uploading the video to the computer. Here is a little video from when Pap and Mel-Mel came to visit and Isabelle was playing with her new make-up table.

Is Isabelle on Santa's Naughty or Nice list??

Which list is Isabelle on??

She loves this video and has wanted to watch it like a million times since I showed it to her!

Potty Training Update

So I just have to share Isabelle's exciting news with everyone!! Yesterday morning when she woke up she said she wanted to wear panties. So we ditched the diaper for a pair of Ariel panties. I had already decided that I wanted to set her up to have an accident so that she would see how uncomfortable it is....that sounds really mean but Isabelle really learns by doing something and she hates to be uncomfortable or dirty so I knew she would really respond well to it. So she got up and I set the timer for 30 mins because she usually doesn't have to go until she has been up for 30 or 40 mins. So when the timer went off I had her come play in the kitchen where the floor is hard and in a few minutes she is freaking out that she peed on the floor and her beautiful Ariel panties are wet...meanwhile I am sitting in a corner totally "Mr. Burns"ing it with my "excellent". We talked about not going potty on the floor and yadda yadda yadda.

I went to go get ready for our playdate when Isabelle comes running into the bathroom screaming that she peed in the potty! She said, "come look Mommy!" She takes me to the bathroom and sure enough she went to the potty all by herself! It was so exciting! I was so proud of her and she was so excited and proud of herself too!!! She got to pick a surprise out..which of course she picked a pack of princess stickers!

Today we were at It's Playtime all morning so she wore a diaper..she wanted to wear panties but I wanted her to be able to play and not have to worry about having to go to the potty every 15 mins or being embarassed by having an accident. Yeah I am pretty laid back about the whole thing. Haha!

She is growing up so fast!!

I guess we are potty training!

Today is Isabelle's first day in "big girl princess panties"! She has done awesome so far! We had gymnastics this morning so she wore a diaper there. Then when we got home we put on a pair of sleeping beauty panties. She was SOOOO excited! She won't put pants on and keeps pulling her shirt up and looking at her panties. Then for naps she wore a diaper and when she got up she asked to wear panties again. So far no accidents!

A little bit of everything

Isabelle and I went to my 14 week appointment last week. I am used to going to the Dr's and experiencing a lot of waiting both in the waiting room and then in the room. Well this week we were at the Dr's office for a total of 15 minutes!!! This has never in 8 years happened before! I really wasn't quite sure how to react..and neither did Isabelle. We are at the Dr's so long that she knows exactly what toys she is going to play with in the waiting room and then also in the exam room. She was very distraught that we didn't even make it to the waiting room toys before we were ushered to our room and then we weren't in our room long enough for her to play with those toys either. So, I was very happy with the visit and Isabelle was not very happy. LOL!

Her unhappiness started the day before though. She always gets very excited to go to the Dr's to see how the baby is growing. I told her the day before that we would be going to the Dr's the next day and she got very upset. She said, "those ladies not touch your belly, Mommy"..she is my little protector. :o) I tried to talk to her about what they were doing and why they had to do it.. well one of the things I said must not have sounded the same to her because she thought I said they were going to punch my belly and Isabelle is very aware that you do not punch people and you definitely do not punch Mommy's belly. She was VERY upset about this.. of course nothing that I said made her feel any better or convinced her otherwise.

The next morning we get ourselves all ready for the Dr's appointment and she keeps telling me over and over "you not let those ladies touch you, Mommy". Oh and she told me I wasn't allowed to lay on the bed in the room either. LOL! She is very bossy. I told her that she could come up with me when the Doctor came in so that she could see everything that was going on and make sure everything was ok. Thank goodness that seemed to appease her and she was happy with our little arrangement.

We both hop up on the bed and the midwife measures and then lets us hear the baby's heartbeat. After like 15 seconds into hearing the heartbeat Isabelle must have decided that I was in good hands and that it was safe for her to go play now. LOL!

Her level of concern was so dear though! It really is quite funny to me though that she considers herself my protector. When it is cold out I will pick her up and we will run inside.. she always tells me "I hold you Mommy and keep you warm and safe" HAHA! Also, if I even think of mentioning that it is cold out she starts into her lecture that I need a hood and that she is going to get me a hood so I am warm! Such a little worrywart she can be!

But as far as the pregnancy everything is going great so far. My blood pressure is good and I am feeling great. We are into the 2nd trimester now so I am getting my energy back and starting to feel like my old self again. So far I have been really good about my diet..don't worry though if there is something not good that sounds heavenly I definitely eat it.. I am pregnant afterall and not looking to be miserable! ;o) hee hee! I am really proud of keeping up with my exercise routine. I think it has really helped in how I am feeling this pregnancy. I know statistically women have a harder time losing the weight after the 2nd pregnancy then they did with the first. I am hoping that keeping active and exercising is going to help the weight come off afterwards.

I felt the baby move last week! He/She felt like they were doing somersaults! I was really excited to start to feel the movements! With Isabelle, being pregnant was pretty much all I thought about for 9 months.. this time I am so distracted with Isabelle that most times I forget I am pregnant. I get more reminders though now that I am starting to feel the baby so I am really excited about that. Not thinking about it 24/7 though sure is making the pregnancy fly by so far! Oh, and one last thing.. we find out the sex on January 8th!! Super excited for that!!!! I can't believe it is almost already that time!!

And a quick update on Jason.. he is really busy at work this month. I am so glad about that! He hasn't really seen much of a change at work with how the economy is and we are so thankful for that. We weren't quite sure how December would go since it is historically such a huge month for him, but he is really busy!! It is such a stressor when your income is based on people buying things. I am so thankful though for how hard he works to provide for us and give me the opportunity to stay home and raise our kids! Ok, *GAG* sorry to get all mushy mushy..those darn hormones are acting up again!

Our Thanksgiving

Gammy, Pappy, Aunt Jess and Josh all came out to visit for Thanksgiving. It was really a great visit! Thursday Mom and Jeff cooked Thanksgiving dinner (very yummy, of course!!) and we just hung out at home all day. Isabelle really had a blast with all of the playing she got to do. The funniest was seeing her con Josh into playing dolls and playing with her make-up table. He is such a good sport! HAHA! Isabelle really enjoyed watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and got excited when a character she knew was on tv. I think though that she might have been a little more excited about the dog show on afterwards! She sure loves dogs!!!



Friday we went out with the rest of the crazies shopping. I really didn't think it was that busy. Jason had to work so he didn't get to go along. Isabelle did awesome! We probably got to the mall around 10:30 (no we aren't the crazy people that are up and at 'em at like 3AM) and got back home at 6:00.. it was quite a day! Since we aren't ones to monkey with tradition we had to eat lunch at the same place we eat every year.. Red Robin! I love Red Robin though so I am ok with this!! We were all exhausted after a day of shopping and Jason was tired from his day at work so we ordered dinner in and just hung out at home. Isabelle was very excited to get to experience Aunt Jess's first viewing of "The Little Mermaid" with her!

Saturday we ran around for a bit and got some more Christmas shopping done and then went to Steak and Shake...another tradition..haha! Every time they visit we HAVE to get shakes.. they are so good! Isabelle's favorite is strawberry... and boy can she suck that baby down! LOL! Then we headed back home. Jason got a new game for Wii so he and Josh were excited to try it out while Isabelle helped Aunt Jess sharpen her make-up skills!


They left really early Sunday morning and Isabelle was very sad that they had already left when she got up. We told her that we would be seeing them very soon for Christmas and that made her feel better. Now everyday I get to hear, "I am going to see Gammy very soon" LOL!


Now, is this or is this not the creepiest picture ever? HAHA!! What a weirdo!