Random Pictures from the last week...

Matt's belated Suzy Q cake. I thought it turned out pretty good.
Ally and I got my jetspa footbath out and had fun with that.
Can you tell what she's doing? I wasn't trying to get a picture of this, but I did.
Playing outside.
Ally's slide

Playing at the park.

Making a big mess with her food.

If you go to this link (I also have it on the side there too), you can see how cool this site is. Well at least I think it is cool. On Sunday, the lady that spoke, talked about this site, so I went to it and set myself up for reading the Book of Mormon before Christmas (I am trying to be realistic in my goal). As of right now, I am 9 days ahead of my reading schedule. My next goal is to read the Old Testament. On this site you can pick from the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, New Testament, and Old Testament. I am going to put a challenge out to all of you that are reading this blog and are not already reading the scriptures faithfully everyday, to go to this site and start reading the scriptures. You know you want to and you know it will bring you many blessings and answers to your questions.

Okay, so I am not sure why, but I have had a burst of extra energy lately. So I have taken Ally to the park, extra grocery shopping runs, walks, and to the childrens museum. We haven't done any of this for quite a few weeks because I have had no energy and just get tired walking to the car. I have a sneaky suspicion I might know where I got some of my extra energy. At my doctors appointment on Tuesday, my main doctor, said they are wanting to induce me 2 weeks before my due date (actually 13 days). I have my concerns with inducing and having my baby early and all, but I also have my concerns with recovering from having another big baby. He said that since Ally was so big and late, that the likely hood of this baby being just as big or bigger than Ally and late is very high. After I kind of complained to him about my achiness and other things, he said that they were a result of a large baby. Also, the bigger the baby, the more damage it will do to my body and the more stress it puts on the baby. Can you tell what we are going to do? Well, we have decided to talk to the doctor at my next appointment and run over all of our options and concerns. I think though that we will end up inducing though. That way Matt won't have to miss class and I won't have to try to get ahold of him while he is in class or at work. I'll keep you updated on what ends up happening. My next appointment is in a week and a half.
Oh back to my, where I got my extra energy...I think knowing that I will be done with this pregnancy sooner than I was thinking, brought on more energy. It's been nice and I know Ally's really enjoyed it.
Today we took my brother to the museum with us and Matt met us there after he got off work. It was nice to see him between work and school.
Ally's vocabulary has been growing so fast. She can say- this, that, yes, oh, oh-no, wo, mom, dad, and bubble. She is so much fun. I am SO glad she enjoys playing by herself. She likes to carry her dolls around the house and wrap them up in shirts, towels, wipes, or whatever else she finds to wrap around them. She likes to wear hats, shoes that are a size or 2 too big, and either mine or Matt's t-shirts. I haven't quite figured out the t-shirt thing, because they are WAY to big on her and she trips when we put them on her, but she loves to wear them around the house.
Tomorrow Matt has a doctor appointment to follow up on how he is recovering from mono. He is hoping the doctor says he can go back to doing whatever he wants to do. I'm sure he'll release him to do his normal activities.

I have been really looking forward to the 7th Harry Potter book coming out. I have yet to get it and it is really unfortunate, or so I had been thinking until Sacrament meeting yesterday. The speakers were talking about the Book of Mormon and setting goals, finding a drive to read the scriptures, and so on. Well the first speaker said how she had been talking to her husband about their talk and then about how she was excited to get the Harry Potter book. He then went on to ask her why she couldn't have the same excitement or enthusiasm about reading the scriptures. So she decided that she was going to read the Book of Mormon before she read Harry Potter. Anyways...This got me thinking about my own drive and desires to read the scriptures. I have decided I will not read or buy the book until I have finished reading the Book of Mormon. Hopefully, I will make it without cracking and reading the book before I finish reading the Book of Mormon.

According to Wikipedia- Duplo is a version of Lego bricks from the well known Danish toy company, LEGO Group. Duplo bricks are eight times the size in volume, twice the length, height and width of traditional Lego bricks, and are easier to handle for younger children. Despite their size, they are still compatible with traditional Lego bricks. Since 1977, Duplo has made sets with figures, cars, and houses.
The Duplo product line changes from year to year — even the name Duplo had been dropped twice. Many Duplo sets have reappeared multiple times over the years. The most common sets are the farm, zoo, police station, fire station, airplane, and train sets.
Duplo link. I hope this helps those of you that aren't familiar with duplos/legos. My brothers adn sisters and I grew up playing with duplos, legos, little fisher price people (my mom has a HUGE HUGE collection of them now), and once in a while barbies. My sisters got really into barbies just as I was growing out of them.

Ally...

The rocking chair has become Ally's favorite seat in the house. Her dolls have become her best friends.
Ally is teething...AGAIN! So I let her watch a "Kid Songs" video. She loved every minute of it.
This afternoon...she was still teething...so she got to watch one of my mom's old DUPLO videos. She loved that one as well. Too bad they are videos and you have to rewind them. Anyways, it kept her from crying and whining.

Listening to mommy's mp3 player.

Ally loves to listen to whatever is on my mp3 player. She will carry it around the house and dance. It is very cute.

Indiana Beach

On Saturday after Matt got off work we went to Indiana Beach. We met his family there. It was lots of fun. Maybe next year Ally and I will be able to ride more rides.

Grandpa, Kim, and Gramma watching Ally and Matt.



Waiting in line for the antique cars.

This is what Ally and I looked like when I was vacuuming on Friday.

Ally hates the vacuum. Whenever I turn it on, she starts crying hysterically and wraps herself around my leg. I've found that it's not very easy to vacuum with a child on your leg. So, I decided to pull the backpack out and strap her in. Once I started up the vacuum, she was totally fine.

Last night Matt and I had the opportunity to go to the temple. It was one of our Christmas presents from my mom. She said she'd babysit for us so we could go to the temple and she got us a subway giftcard so we could get dinner as well. We had a great time at the temple, we just wish we didn't have to drive 2 hours to get there. During our session, I was convinced my water had broke. The baby kicked me harder than ever and then I heard a loud popping sound (I knew the sound had come from me). Not to worry though, I'm not sure what the popping sound was, but it wasn't my water. Darn!

Pregnant pictures!

It is sad that I am as big as 3 of the women that have had babies within the last month. They all had babies less than 7lbs 4 oz. Sooo how big do we think this baby will be? My guess is that she is going to be as big as Ally, but hopefully a little smaller. I had a doctor appt on Tuesday and he is really pushing for inducing if it looks like another big baby. I'd rather wait it out. I say that right now, but we'll see what I'm saying in a few more weeks. I have 7 weeks left until my due date. I am 100% sure I have my dates correct. Let's see what happens.

Oh don't be freaked out by the green thing in the middle of my stomach. It is called a hemangioma. I've had it since 4th grade, except in 4th grade it was the size of the tip of a pencil. It has grown over the years and with 2 pregnancies has really increased in size.

Yesterday, Ally and I went to the pool. Since she has been teething, I needed to get out of the house. She didn't last long in the pool, so we ended up sitting on the chairs. She kept checking out the teenage boy that was sitting next to her.

Ally finally got her molar in last night. I was thinking "woohoo" finally we can go back to our nice, happy, baby. NOPE! I was reminded by my mom that teeth normally come in pairs and that explains why she is still not a happy baby. All I can say is, I am SO glad she is sleeping through the night. Maybe, just maybe Ally will be back to her good ol' self by the weekend.

Matt's 26th Birthday!!

Matt turned 26 on July 4. We celebrated his birthday with his family up in Warsaw. His sister turned 19 on the 4th as well. Matt really wanted a Suzy Q cake for his birthday, but my mom saw this cake and thought he'd like it more. It is the peanut butter mountain pie/cake from Ritters. It was sooo good.

I am going to make him the suzy q cake this week, even though his birthday was last Wednesday.

My sister Tara turns 23 on July 13, so we celebrated her birthday on Sunday when we did Matt's. That's her boyfriend, Ben, sitting next to her. Tara had a yummy cheesecake with fresh fruit.

Today we took Ally to the apple orchard.

Dad, what are you doing?
Nice apple Matt!
Picking an apple.

A better view of the apples with dad.
Want a bite of my apple? It is nice and crunchy.
Ally has been teething or so we think, for the last 24 hours. It has been the worst of her teething so far. This morning her temp got up to 103 and then we got it down with some Ibuprofen. She has been cranky, whiny, moany, since yesterday. Luckily she slept through the night and didn't throw up on the way home from Matt's parents house (like last time). Today though, she didn't want to eat anything, but she drank whatever I gave her. Tonight she fell asleep while I was rocking her. I haven't had her fall asleep in my arms in quite a few months. It was really nice, but I know it was just because she wasn't feeling good. Hopefully church goes better for us tomorrow.

Playing at the park

Yesterday we went to the park with Matt's family. Ally had a fun time swinging and with Grandpa pushing her. Matt and Kim had fun on the swings too!
Grandpa, Gramma, and Ally.

Look at how Ally's hair is blowing in the wind. I thought it looked funny.

Aunt Kim catching Ally on the slide. Weeeee!!!

Lake Michigan

On Thursday we went with Matt's parents and sister to the Warren Dunes. It was so nice to relax on the beach and have nothing to do except for swim, play in the sand, and lay out in the warm sun.

Ally and Matt playing in the sand. Ally loved the sand. She played in it for a few hours. She wasn't so sure about the cold water. Next year we'll have to go back in August when the water is warmer and I am a little more comfortable.

I thought this was a cute picture. It looks like she doesn't have any teeth even though there are 9 going on 10 teeth in her mouth.

Matt dug a hole and put Ally in it. She didn't seem to mind too much.

After the beach we headed up to St. Joseph. The sole reason being for a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE piece of cake. Did I say the cake was HUGE? Okay so I have never taken a picture of this cake, but take my word for it, it is big. It is a 6 layer chocolate cake. This cake is a pregnant woman's dream. It is so big you HAVE to share it with someone and you WILL have to take 1/2 of it home. So if you are ever anywhere near St. Jo, you should stop by the South Bend Chocolate Company. I need to call the stores around Indy and see if any of them have this cake. If so, my body is indeed in trouble.