Christmas 2013

It was so fun to see Carson's little face light up this year. He loved Christmas. Right before we opened presents, Cory played out the Christmas story with Carson's nativity set. (Which Carson actually enjoyed) We had a great time spending time together and staying home playing toys!

Carson is 2!

Carson had a great birthday. We went shopping and sledding in the morning. In the afternoon we had his friends Olivia and Alice over. They jumped in the jump-o-lene thing. Then they had cupcakes and opened presents. His big present this year was a battery powered hot wheels track. He absolutely loves it! He plays with it every single day.

He is talking so much now! He forms these cute little sentences. He surprises me everyday with new words. And we think it's hilarious anytime he says something new.

He has started talking to his stuffed animals. He likes them to "help" him clean up his toys. 

His favorite food is PB&J's. 

He puts himself in time out on the stairs sometimes and I have to try hard not to laugh. 

Whenever he sees my bare pregnant belly he says, "Hi, baby!" 

He finally started walking up and down the stairs. He had this thing for a long time where he only wanted to be carried up and down the stairs. He would sit at the top of the stairs and scream and scream if I refused. I'm glad that's over. He walks like a big boy now. 

He copies everything we say! Today I was trying to fix his hot wheels track and I couldn't quite get a piece in right. So naturally I said, "Crap!" Next thing I know, he is repeatably saying, "Crap, crap, crap." 

He is a good boy and really fun!

October Festivities

Palmer Halloween Party

We went on a few hikes. We are going to miss October. We tried to soak it all in as much as we could!

27 weeks here.

We went to the pumpkin patch

We carved our pumpkin

And it snowed before Halloween! Ugh.

Palmer Mansion Tour

In September, Cory and I finally took a tour of the Palmer Mansion. It was--interesting. It was home to B.J and Mabel Palmer in 1912. B.J Palmer developed chiropractic and D.D Palmer, his father, founded chiropractic.

Then...

And now.

It was really interesting. Mind-boggling, even. They were very wealthy and traveled a lot and brought a lot of stuff back with them. For example, they bought a mummy in Egypt. That mummy is now at the Putnam Museum here in town. But it was in their house. They have elephant feet as stool/benches. Like real preserved elephant feet. Along with a bunch of elegantly carved tusks. There is a whole bunch of Bud-hi stuff.  They owned all this over the top, crazy stuff. 

There is a crazy story about that tree in there. He basically felt bad about cutting it down and didn't want to get rid of it, so he put it in his house. And the trunks have intricate carvings all over them.

He had an organ in this room as well. (Above pic) You can't see it in the picture though. The pipes were in the ceiling. 

His office.

This is only a fraction of the craziness that we saw. It was mind blowing. 

Niabi Zoo 2013

We took advantage of the free days at the zoo again. Carson absolutely loves the train.

We fed the goats and the fish.

This zoo is tiny! But it's really nice to be able to go and be done in an hour or so. That way we make it home for nap time!

My 24th Birthday

A few days before my birthday, Cory took me to Iowa City to go shopping! They have big mall and some outlets. We ended up getting more baby clothes of course. But I did get some maternity things. And I got to shop at Forever 21! I miss that store. Carson and Cory rode on the merry-go-round--but Carson mostly hated it. And Cory was sick by the end of it. (Which is why I didn't volunteer to go with Carson, shhh!)  For lunch I had Panera Bread, Cory had Panda Express, and Carson had Chick-fil-A. A win-win-win! It was a great day! 

On my actual birthday, Cory did a great job at making me feel special. He got me flowers and balloons and a cake. We had a nice relaxing evening. 

23 weeks here!

30 Weeks with #2

I feel like I'm 35 weeks.. blah.

I have a feeling I'm going to be huge by the end of this.

Carson: Left.  Baby #2: Right. Yup, I think I'm bigger.

I honestly feel great though.

-My braxton hicks are a lot stronger than they were with Carson. And it is sometimes hard to wrestle with Carson while I'm having one. I have to stop and breath sometimes.

-I have to take heartburn medicine again. One night I forgot to take it and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling awful. I actually threw up in my mouth a little and had to run to the bathroom. I won't forget to take that again!

-This baby doesn't move around as often as Carson did. He seems to be more mellow (fingers crossed!) It could have something to do with having an anterior placenta. But I'm ignoring that fact.

-I'm starting to lose some energy. I didn't notice that with Carson during the 3rd trimester. If we are busy in the mornings, I'm wiped out by noon.

-I haven't gotten any new stretch marks! Not that it matters since I got a billion with Carson.

-I got my ball out recently and have been doing my best to practice Hypnobabies! I am getting really excited for my birthing time! I can't wait to meet this sweet little boy. And as weird as this may sound, I can't wait to birth him!