September 2011

 At the very beginning of the month Reese came over for a bit while his mom was at work. We went to the park and him and Izzy had a great time.

 The two cuties walking down to the lake at the park.

 Izzy, Gamma and I at the tailgate. Gamma babysat for us while we enjoyed the game.

 The fam on game day.

 Me, Ashley, Adam, and Sarah at the tailgate.

 Sarah and Luke Petersen at the game.

 Adam getting interviewed from the news station.

 Team captains.

 Touchdown!

 Lets get ready to play some football.

 Izzy practicing for dance class.

 Me at 7 1/2 months pregnant.

 Cleatus and Izzy just hanging out on a Friday.

 Playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Izzy and Daddy on Daddy's Harley.



Ahhh...Fall is approaching and the roar of fans in the Husker stadium is upon us. This is the time of year I love and hate. I love football and the fall weather, but I hate being what I cal,l "a single mom."
I made it to the first game this year with a bunch of my old friends. My great friend, Ashley Huggenberger, was back from Austrailia. We all got to meet her beau, Adam. He was a very nice guy and, although sometimes hard to understand, he is a great match for our Ashley. While we were at the game, one of the news stations came to our tailgate and interviewed Adam. He thought that was pretty neat. Hopefully one day we can get them both to come back for good.

Izzy started dance class this month. We are in a Mommy and Me class together. The class is something great for her to get out and do. Especially when it starts to snow and we are cooped up inside. We do lots of skipping, jumping, and marching. The first class we went to she ask about 30 minutes into the 45 minute class if we could leave through the door. I think she might be our  little tomboy and athlete. If that's that case, hopefully the new baby will be my frilly girl. Izzy is still talking a mile a minute. I can't believe how much she knows. I can have a normal conversation with her. We are finally in the stage of watch what you say. At dinner one night Mark did something and said, "Jesus." Next thing we know, Izzy is going, "Jesus, daddy." Oops!

The pregnancy is moving right along. After all the pin pokes to see if I was diabetic, the outcome was no. Yay for me....ICE CREAM! The baby is moving a lot and kicking me in places she shouldn't . We are still trying to find a name for her. I never knew it could be so hard to come up with a little girl's name. There are a few in the works, but nothing set in stone. I suppose we will know once we see her. I am slowly but surly getting the baby's room ready. Hers will be easy because we are using Izzy's old stuff and adding to it. I am trying to redo Izzy's room in a "Poodles in Paris theme". We have moved her into a "big girl bed" this month and it has been a very smooth transition. She just yells for us from the bed and doesn't get out. I'm sure we will have our day when she gets brave enough to get up and come to our room. But, until then she is doing great.

Hope all is well and we will talk next month.

Ariann 

August 2011

 This is just a photo shoot in the front yard. I got a new lens for my camera and I was playing around with it. I wish I could capture the photos that the photographers do with Izzy. I just am not as good. I think some photography classes are in my future.

 More photo shoot pics.

 Izzy and her Lamby. I was trying to see how the natural light would work through the window in Izzy's room and this is what we came up with.

 Izzy outside in her play house. She is becoming such a big girl. Love her to pieces, she just makes my heart smile.

 Finally done with pictures. Her face says it all, "Enough already, mom!"

Her afternoon nap. She still takes one nap a day. I hope that lasts for awhile. That is mommy's break time.


Things have been pretty uneventful in our daily lives. The pregnancy continues to go well and the baby is kicking like crazy. I did have to go through a few blood tests for gestational diabetes. I failed the glucola test at the OB and had to go do the 3 hour test. I thought I had it in the bag because that is exactly what happened when I was pregnant with Izzy. But, to my surprise my fasting glucose came back high and they wanted me to take diabetes educational classes. I thought something was weird because,  when I 75was at the clinic having my blood drawn, they stated my fasting was 75. The labs came back at 115. Soo, I had it double checked and it was normal, 73. I am eating ice cream again and loving it.

Izzy is busy as ever. We are still trying to potty train with no success. My goal was to not have two in diapers, but I don't think I'm going to meet this goal. Oh well, everyone says it will happen when she's ready.

She is talking  a mile a minute. Her vocabulary is unbelieveable. It just seems unreal she has learned all the things that she has in two short years. Just the other day she was eating an ice cream sandwich and she said, "Mommy this is delicious." Where does she learn this stuff?

As for Mark and I, we are just workig away. Mark is excited to get the football season going. We are also trying to finish our basement, but it's been slow going. Our goal was to have a guest room by the time the baby was born, but I don't think it will happen. We'll just keep pluggin' away.

Hope this finds everyone well, and I'll try not to take so long to update next month.

July 2011

Our friend Lily Darling holding her friend the frog.

Izzy enjoying yogurt during the 4th of July weekend.

We might be getting older, but we can still rock the bikini. Well...Mandi and Kris can.

Our friend Nate kissing the toad hoping he finds a prince for his daughters.

My hillbilly husband.

Izzy loving the lake.

The girls just chillin.'

Izzy's new set of wheels.

Interest was short lived...we found a bug!

Mark and Izzy at the pool. Izzy loved it.

Our friend Bradley Shafer, Jr. Isn't he just a doll?

Izzy learning to drive a remote control truck with PopPop. She only knew how to move forward. There was no such thing as reverse.

Mark and his classmates at his class reunion.

 Mom just doing a photoshoot with Izzy. She can be such a great image to capture.

Bathtime!

 New baby Brown at 12 weeks.

 A close up at 20 weeks.

This was a great Fourth of July. For not really having anything planned, we ended up doing something every night. On the 2nd the Hoys had us out to Lake Shores for a fun day at the lake. I wish we had a house on a lake. I would never go on vacation. I would dig my toes in the sand and watch my little girl and husband fish to their hearts content. On the 3rd we went to our old neighborhood block party. It was fun to see everyone we hadn't seen in a while. It was a great time. On the 4th we had a bbq with friends and watched fireworks. Izzy loved fireworks if they were far away but otherwise they were not a favorite. Mark even tried with smoke bombs and that was still a no go. At the bbq on the 4th she finally warmed up to the snaps. FINALLY!

Our friend Gary Hart had a birthday party at their house. They have a pool in the back yard and Izzy loved it. We couldn't keep her away from it. I'm glad we don't have a pool anymore, I would be constantly watching her. The following week our friends, the Shafers, came to town. They were actually coming to celebrate their marriage with a reception in Lincoln (They live in NC). We were unable to go to the reception because it was Mark's 20th (yes I said 20th), class reunion. So Brad, Brenda, and Bradley came to stay with us and go to dinner. Izzy loved every bit of Bradley being there. I think she's going to make a good big sister.

This month Izzy also moved up in rooms at daycare. She is now a birdie and they have bike day on Tuesdays. Izzy did not have a bike so off to the store we went. Helmet and all. She looked pretty darn cute on the bike but there is a lot for her to learn. Mommy's back can't take the bending over. I knew I should have gotten one with the extended handle. Oh, well, it will all come with time.

I can't believe summer is almost over. How time flew by. Oh, by the way, IT'S A GIRL! Izzy is going to have a new best friend. I can't wait to give this gift to her. I always wished I had a brother or a sister. The pregnancy is going well and my belly is growing slowly but surely. Talk soon.   Ariann

June 2011

Grandma D. came to stay with us for a few days while Mark was out of town. She helped Mommy so she could run errands and get things done. We had a good girls' weekend.

This is me and my friend Ella Mulligan splashing in my new princess pool. Mommy gave me the choice of many different pools and this is the one I wanted.

Cheese!

More Cheese!

This is a picture of Mommy 3 months pregnant with "Baby Berta" as Daddy and I so lovingly call her.

Daddy is teaching me early to keep my things nice and clean.

Mommy and Daddy celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary. They went out to dinner at Bone Fish.

This is a picture of me in my birthday outfit. I turned two this month. I had a Mickey Mouse themed birthday part with my friends and family. After the sun went down, we watched fireworks. I don' t mind fireworks as long as they are far away.

Smile!

My Mickey birthday cake.

My friend Ella and her mommy, Heather, came to my birthday party early to help mommy set up. It's great to have good friends like that.

Me blowing out my #2 birthday candle. I loved my cake. Gamma even let me put my finger in it early before anyone else got a piece.

Instead of slipping and sliding down the SlipNSlide. I used it as a drinking fountain instead.

At the beginning of June, Heather and Ella Mulligan came over and we enjoyed a day in Izzy's Princess pool. I wasn't sure how she would like it.....she loved it. They jumped in over and over, dunked their faces, and laughed the whole time.

The pregnancy has been going well. At about 14 weeks the nausea passed but headaches set in. I told one of my nurses at work that I had been getting a lot of headaches and I wasn't a headache person. The end of that week I went in for my check up and the first thing the nurse practitioner asked was if I was having headaches. She said that this was the time in your pregnancy that you would have headaches. I never had them with Izzy. She also asked if I had started to feel the baby. I didn't think I really had (thought it was gas :)) because I thought it was too early. She said that around 16 weeks with the second child you will start to feel movement. Shortly after that I was unmistakingly feeling the baby move. I love that feeling.

At the end of this month our little girl turned TWO! I can't believe how fast two years has gone. We had family and friends over for a barbeque and fireworks. The kids swam in the pools and ran through the sprinklers. It was a lot of fun.

The rest of our summer is pretty uneventful. It's been too stinking hot to really do too much outside unless you are around a pool. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and I'll write about July soon.

Ariann