Chuck E Cheese

Today we went to Chuck E Cheese to play and have lunch. We were planning on going tomorrow with my toledo parent group, but I need to get the glucose test done. So I decided it would be nice to take her today. I only have 11 more weeks of just Kara and mommy time, so I am soaking it all up!

Kara's favorite ride. Giddy up pony!

Look at that static hair!
Driving daddy's zoom zoom!

A Weekend of Parties!

We had a wonderful yet busy weekend! Kara was invited to 2 birthday parties this weekend. She had a blast!! On Saturday we went to the Rainforest Cafe for our friend Caleb's 2nd birthday party. It was her first time there. I thought for sure the storms and the life size monkeys and elephants were going to scare her. She love sticking her hand in the waterfalls and getting all wet. I can not say enough this place was so neat and worth the drive. Of course we had to get in some shopping too at the Great lakes Crossing Mall. On the way home Kara kept asking to go back to Caleb's party. :)

Is this how to do it?

Hi Daddy!

Such a Big girl!


Then on Sunday we went to my nephew Dylan's 5th birthday party. Boy I cannot believe he is already 5 years old! His party was at the Toledo Sport Center. Yes Kara got to go glow bowling for the first time. I am not sure which one of us was more excited about this! It was so cute to see her, miss independent self carrying an 8 pound ball on her own.

Cheese!

How come no more came down?

28 Weeks

This post is a week past due! Last Tuesday I had my 28 week check. Wow this pregnancy is going so fast! I took the 1 hour glucose test which I failed. I will be taking the 3 hour tomorrow. What a pain! Last Friday I had my gallbladder ultrasound done to see if anything is wrong since I am still having this horrible pain in my upper right quadrant.. still waiting for the results.
On a happy note the baby is still measuring where he or she should be on track! The heartbeat at the visit was in the 150's. For those of you who like to guess the sex of the baby this way. :) I will be starting the dr visits every 2 weeks now. According to the weekly newsletter I get the baby is approximately 14 1/2 inches long and weights 2 1/2 pounds. My goodness this child is very active! It is getting so close and we have so much to do before the arrival.
On a side note Kara is really starting to take an interest in the baby. She will now lift up my shirt and sing the baby a sweet little song. :)

Happy Birthday to me!

"Count your life by smiles,

not tears. Count your age

by friends not years."

I had a great weekend! Friday was my 31st birthday. We went to the Whitehouse Inn for dinner. The prime rib was yummy. Then saturday was more celebrations with family. Of course I got to have my favorite strawberries and cream cake from Eston's. Yummy as well!! I have to say the best thing about this weekend though was having Kara singing Happy Birthday to me. Yes, it is all about the small things for me. :) Kara got me a mother daughter figurine, and Tom got me a gift certificate so I can go get a relaxing facial. :) So looking forward to that! I have been looking at pictures of me, and I have really aged since having Kara bug. :( Another small thing that made my day, my sister gave me this card that had me in tears. Did someone say hormonal?!

She's the one you've known forever.

The one to go to for honest advice and genuine support.

The one who accepts your quirky little habits and understand you in a way few others can.

She's the one you can call at any hour- to laugh or cry or complain...

The one whose voice had been there all along, sharing secrets and dreams

and singing your song when you needed to hear it most.

She's the one who can read your mind, hear your heart, and love you just the way you are.

She's your lifelong friend... but so much more.

She's your sister.

Playin' in the Snow

Today we took Kara out to play in the 11" of snow. Or did I say eat the snow! I think it took longer to get her all bundled up than we were actually outside. She was too cute. Tom took her around the yard on her sled. She was not too fond of this. The next attempt was to get her to play in the snow, forget that she would rather eat it. "It's good!" How about walking in the snow? Nope, she would rock back and forth and do a little dance in place saying "help me daddy". lol

"Tinkle" Time

Over the past week we have working on getting Kara potty trained. It has been alot of fun for all of us, surprisingly! She has had only 2 accidents in the past 4 days. :) We have been setting a timer, letting her run around the house with a naked bottom, putting stickers on a chart, reading stories and did I say m&m's! Here is a picture I captured yesterday of Tom and her during tinkle time. How sweet.
I cannot end this post without adding a funny story of this adventure. :) Today, Tom and Kara were using the potty, (tom sits down to make things less noticable while Kara is in the room). Kara looks up at Tom "daddy you have tail"! How observant is she? We could not help but laugh at her comment. :)
I had to come back and post to say Kara has gone poopy on the potty 2x!! She even told me she had to go. :) Yeah Hoo

I Love You Because You're You

If you know Kara, you know she loves her books! She has many of her own. I Love You Because You're You by Lisa Baker is currently one of her favorites (and mine too) that she wants read over and over. When she is ready for more she will tell me she needs "new ones, go to library". Got to love the library!

I love you when you're happy
and grinning ear to ear.
I love you when you're sleepy

and want to snuggle near.

I love you when you're silly

and dancing 'round and 'round.

I love you when you're frightened

and hear a scary sound.

I love you when you're bashful

and hide behind my knee.

I love you when you're brave,

and from my arms you flee.

I love you when you're curious

and searching here and there.

I love you when you're proud,

your head held in the air.

I love you when you're sick

and need to rest in bed.

I love you when you're frisky

and standing on your head.

I love you when you're sad

and need a kiss and hug.

I love you when you're playful

and rolling on the rug.

I love you when you're angry

and cross your arms and pout.

I love you when you're wild

and yell and scream and shout.

I love you any way you feel,

no matter what you do.

I love you any way you are.

I love you because you're you!

Away From Home

This week Kara and I joined Tom in MI for his computer/work training again. Kara has been looking so forward to this! I am not sure if she was more excited about the room, the elevator, or the pool. I have to say it was a very interesting week. We stayed in our room one night before we got moved to another. Why? The hotel lost power so they moved us to a new hotel at 8p. That was fun packing everything up in the dark. We did get a nicer room out of the ordeal, we had a seperate living and bedroom. The only complaint I had was the housekeeping. Kara was on a weird sleeping schedule while we were there waking up many times in the night. So with that said I slept when she did. :) Well the housekeeping was on a very early routine! They walked into our room before 9a and discovered we were still sleeping. In the process of leaving they woke Kara up! Having fun in her ladybug
We did have a great time together though. It was nice to have some one on one with Kara and some family time away from home. While we were there I decided to give it a try at potty training. I did not think I was going to get anywhere! For the first couple of days she just sat on the potty doing nothing until I put a diaper on her. We went the naked bottom route. She did not seem to mind a bit. :) Then Thursday/Friday she figured it out. She is off to a great start!

While we were there we ate dinner at Bravo. This was such a neat, enjoyable experience for Kara. The waiter brought dough to the table and let Kara play with it. When she was done making something out of it, she got to watch it cook. How cool!!

Sing Better Mommy

Kara asks to be sung to all the time including nap and bed time. :) Her preferences right now are A Little Squirrel went Scampering (from kindermusik), BINGO, Old McDonald and yes the Christmas songs are still being sung.. Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman. lol I could not help but post about this! While singing to her the other day, Kara put her hand on my cheek turning my face towards hers. She so seriously said "mommy sing better." What!! Well come to figure out she thinks you are singing the song wrong if you whisper it or sound different making the animal noises. After I changed my voice she said "that's better mommy". I mentioned this to Tom and he said he must have a better voice than me because she does not say this to him. haha!