Summer

Whew! Can't believe summer is going so quickly...we've been busy!

We started with a trip to Branson, MO with my parents for a few days. It was hotter than hot, but we had a great time. Pictures to come-they aren't with me right now.

Next was celebrating July 4th on the 3rd. We really enjoyed the weather, quite the contrast from last year's freezing weather.

A few days later we had a special visitor to our little library...none other than Ronald McDonald! Isaac was super excited. He had a little show with music and jokes about how to treat books and encouraged the kids to read every day. I didn't even attempt a picture with Leah, I knew she would freak.

Most recently, we stayed in Burlington at a hotel with an indoor/outdoor waterpark just about 30 minutes from Nauvoo. We've stayed here twice before and both times Isaac was too scared to play in the water. He was a little apprehensive this year, but I really encouraged him to get in and play. Once he was in for a few minutes, he was hooked. He had a great time playing with cousins. There were over 30 of us so for lunch one day Jake's mom ordered 2 pizzas. Two pizzas for 30 people you wonder...check out the size of the box they came in. 28 inches of baked, greasy goodness. Not surprisingly, they were both gone within 15 minutes. Guess two pizzas for 30 people isn't enough after all. We enjoyed the pageant in Nauvoo, but didn't go down again to see the sites again. It was super hot (heat index of 114 degrees) so they were closing all the outside things anyways.

Up next is a day of slipin', slidin', and stitches. Pictures to come.

For a baby update....all is going well. My ultrasound will be on the 23rd of August. I'm really looking forward to finding out what we're having so I know which bins have to be dug out of storage. We'll start deciding on a name (in December probably!!). Seems like it takes us forever to pick a name. Thanks to my dear ol' dad, Jake has another acronym to use. It's not business related like Isaac and Leah (INC and LLC), but it's politically inspired, so it's good enough for him. RNC-Republican National Committee. Great. Not sure if we'll actually use it. There's not a whole lot of R names out there, let alone any that we'd like for our child. Only time will tell-and it will probably be a long time before we actually choose a name. I'm not sure how much weight I've gained, what the baby's heart rate is, or what I'm measuring. All of those numbers were recorded at my last appointment, but none of it was shared with me. I'm sure they would have told me, but I didn't ask. My last doctor just automatically shared all of that with me so it's been interesting to have a different experience at a new office. At this point I wouldn't say that I haven't been pleased with this office, but I will say that next baby I will probably reconsider going to my first doctor even though he's in a giant group now. Ugh...why do some aspects of health care have to be so crazy?

Two Babies

Several weeks ago I picked Isaac up from nursery and the nursery leader informed me that he had been telling her that I was having two babies. Interesting. Well, the truth is that we're just having one baby...due January 9. Yay! We're looking forward to another baby. I've switched doctors and wasn't spoiled with an ultrasound at my first visit. But we did hear the heartbeat and that was as exciting as always. Mid to late August we'll find out what we're having. I'm guessing boy. Isaac says boy. No guesses from Jake yet. Oh, and definitely no names even discussed yet. We're waiting to know what we're having-that cuts the list down in half. :) So far I've been feeling pretty good. I didn't feel sick at all with Isaac or Leah. This time I've felt a little blah at times, but nothing horrible. I'm for sure showing sooner than with the other two, but that's expected. Good thing my sister in-law is due in less than a week and then I'll get all the maternity clothes (we share most of what we have!). Well, I'm off to clean and start getting ready for an upcoming trip.

Yep...

We're still here and doing well. I finally uploaded pictures from my camera since the card is full. :) Here's a few until I have more time to post.

Isaac turned 3 and had a super hero birthday party. Here's his cape...there's a lightening bolt and an "I" on it.


Kristelle and I took the kids to Reiman gardens in Ames before she and Eric left for rotations. We then enjoyed a very yummy lunch at Hickory Park.


That same night my whole family spent some time at Incredible Pizza Company. The kids had a blast and we all enjoyed earning and cashing in our tickets.


For the first time ever, we finally made it to the Farmer's Market downtown. It was fun-nothing spectacular in our opinion. Isaac loved riding this little train thing (there were lots of little cars being pulled by a tractor). He was especially excited about it because it was the same one he rode last summer at the Balloon Festival in Indianola.


The Chapman family planted pumpkin seeds so we'd have pumpkins to carve in October. So far, they've all sprouted so it should be a great harvest!

SOLD

I've been waiting a weeks to finally post this....we sold our house! We received an offer just about a week and a half after we put our house on the market. Today we finally got word that the buyers' financing was a sure thing. We will close the end of next week-hooray! The first little family that came to see the house bought it. They are super excited as this is their first home and we are super excited because it no longer is ours! We moved in with Jake's parents about a week ago and have been moving stuff here and to storage a little at a time. There's still some things to be cleared out, but we should be moved out completely by Saturday. It's been a challenge to fit a whole house full of stuff into one storage unit and 3 bedrooms in Jake's parents' house. Thankfully, though, his parents have plenty of space for us and it's been a pretty smooth transition. Leah has started waking up once in the middle of the night, but hopefully she'll get used to her surroundings soon and we can all get a full night's sleep.

On another note...we went to Nauvoo last weekend with my family and had a grand ol' time. Jake's parents even came down for a night. We always love going to Nauvoo and it was especially nice to be there when the weather was nice but without the pageant crowd. I have pictures, but not on the computer yet. Check out my sister or sister in-law's blogs for pictures soon....they're both better bloggers than me! :)

Back to house talk, in case you're interested, I don't have a way to link our houseplans, but here's a floorplan that's pretty similar. Main differences are the layout of the mudroom and bathroom on the main floor, our laundry room will be upstairs, the office off the entry will be closed in and have french doors, and the upstairs has all the same things but is laid out differently. Oh, and our garage entrance will be from the front of the house and it's a 3 car and not 2. There's lots of other little details that are different, but I'll have to find a way to get our plans online.

For Sale

Yep, it's officially for sale. We're trying to sell it on our own first-hopefully it will be successful and we won't need to hire a realtor. We've been working nonstop for weeks getting the house ready...taking lots to storage, cleaning, painting, decorating, etc., etc., etc. If you know anyone needing a nice house in Adel, send them our way. Here's a link to our website for the house. (We're still in the process of updating it).
We bought the blueprints for our "new" house today. We're planning on living with parents (Jake's and possibly mine) after we sell our house and while we build our new one. We'll most likely be building in DeSoto, but maybe in Adel. Always an adventure with us it seems!

The Party

Alright, I found the pictures from Leah's birthday and her party. She spent most of the day with her Grandma Chapman since it was our Grandma day (one day a month when Jake's mom watches the kids so I can do whatever). I bought her a little Birthday Girl shirt and a mini cake-I think she liked the cake more than the shirt. We sang Happy Birthday, let her eat her cake, and then she opened a few gifts. A few days later was her party-here's a few pictures. She was sick the day of her party so she wasn't looking her best, but still rather cute if I say so.

Happy Birthday, Leah!

On February 11 Leah turned a year old. How time flies by! We had a (not so) little party for her with just family (about 40 people, I think!). She had a great time and received a lot of cute clothes and fund toys. We have pictures of the party somewhere and I'll get those posted soon. Otherwise, my sister and sister in-law have both posted a few on their blogs if you know how to find them. Here's a few pictures of our little peanut (the last one was taken by Isaac using his mad photography skills)


At a year old Leah....

-is sleeping through the night...Hooray! Usually she sleeps at least 10 hours, often up to 12 if she gets to bed by 9:00.
-eats everything, still nursing once or twice a day
-crawls at lightening speed
-is becoming interested in walking, but not super motivated yet
-has the biggest, toothiest grin
-giggles when she knows she's being naughty
-can crawl up the stairs, but not down
-loves her Mommy the most
-enjoys "playing" with big brother Isaac (meaning she attempts to take whatever he has)
-is pretty happy with about anyone, especially if Mommy isn't within sight
-had an ear infection that lasted forever and took 3 different antibiotics to conquer
-makes us laugh and smile every day and we LOVE her SO SO SO much!