32 Weeks!!

We are getting close and I cannot wait for the next 7 weeks to be over so I can have that baby in my arms instead of my belly! This pregnancy has been much more difficult than when I was pregnant with Dane. I am sure the biggest reason is because I am chasing our extremely active 22 month old around. Dane seems to be sensing the change especially as my belly continues to grow. He's been a bit more clingy and "mommy, mommy, mommy" comes out of his mouth quite often. It's heartbreaking because all I want to do is hold and cuddle him especially before the next installment gets here, but it's very hard to do that unless I am sitting down. All in all, I know I am a lucky pregnant lady - so many of my friends have horrible pregnancies and are sick the entire time or just uncomfortable but this pregnancy has definitely taken a different toll on my ol' bod than Dane's pregnancy did. Looking forward to losing the belly so taking care of Dane is easier and I can get back down on the floor to play with him.

Womb room update: By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Christmas with the Hattens!

We had a wonderful, lazy Christmas and it was so great!! Just what the doctor ordered. On Christmas morning Dane opened his presents from Cameron & I...a big floor piano, a grill, potty time elmo, train set and a mickey mouse guitar just to name a few. Cameron and I didn't get each other gifts this year because when our fridge went out a few weeks ago we decided to replace all of our kitchen appliances instead of doing Christmas presents. Probably not such a great gift for Cameron but I am loving it! After Dane's nap, Tim & Teresa came over for the second round of gift giving and a very casual dinner!

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Merry CHRISTmas!!!

Merry CHRISTmas!!!
We are wishing you all a very exciting New Year! We know we'll have a wild 2011 with 2 boys in the Hatten house! Love to all!

"Christmas" in Indiana

CHEESE!!Cameron and I had agreed that when we had kids of our own we would stay in Illinois to celebrate Christmas as a family and make our own traditions. We kind of started that last year but due to bad planning on our part, we had to leave Christmas afternoon to drop Dane off in Indiana because we flew to Mexico the next morning. So this year will be our first real Christmas celebrating with our little family at home...no plans to go anywhere for the day. Because of this decision, we travelled back to Leesburg to do Christmas with my family last weekend.

Dane made out pretty well...got his first "motorized" vehicle - a little John Deere tractor from my mom. Jeff & Christy got him his first tee stand with bat & ball - he loves it and heads straight for that when he wakes in the morning. The Zehrings got him some clothes including a much needed "big brother" shirt...now he has something to wear to the hospital! Dad and Pam got him a big John Deere dump truck and some car movies. He was pretty bored with all his toys so Christmas came at the perfect time and he's getting more on Saturday...we are trying desperately not to raise a spoiled boy but I guess every kiddo is spoiled in some way, right?

The 3 amigos:Opening Presents:A standoff over dinner? No, Dane hadn't started bullying yet:Training with Uncle Jeff:Aside from trying to keep Dane from hitting, pushing or tackling Presley all weekend (please tell me it's a phase and he'll outgrow this bully thing), the boys were able to have their annual onesie party! This year was pretty slim with the crew...between surgeries, kid's birthdays and sickness - only 4 of them could make it!

Comparing Bellies!

I am not sure I've mentioned it on the blog, but many of you already know that my brother & his wife Christy are expecting a nugget just a couple weeks ahead of us. This past weekend we went back to Indiana to celebrate Christmas, but before I do a post about that - I thought I would share the belly post! We took pictures of the growing buddhas to see who is bigger. My mom thoughtfully said we are about the same size, however I think I've got her beat! :)

Christy due 2/5 & me due 2/20:

2nd Annual Christmas Party

On Saturday we attended the 2nd annual Christmas party at the Dargis home. It would have been a fabulous party if I had been able to push through my extremely nauseous state and actually enjoy it. Something hit me Saturday afternoon and I didn't shake it until it all came up around 3am! So, we went to the party but I left pretty early and went to bed. Before I left, we were able to snap a couple pictures!

Ugly Sweater Party

Last evening Cameron & I attended his team's Christmas party...it was an ugly sweater theme with a contest for ugliest. They did a white elephant gift exchange and Santa showed up with gag gifts for everyone..including a shirtless poster size print of Eddie Vedder for Cameron because of his "man crush" on the Pearl Jam lead singer!

Team WII (Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana):Team WII with spouses:Some couples matched:Others Didn't:But Everyone Had Fun!!Naughty or Nice??

First Snow Day 2010

On Saturday we got a nice little amount of snow and Dane got to have his first "snow day"...he LOVED it and wasn't happy at all when we brought him inside to warm up. He got to play with the neighbors, shovel snow and also participated in his first snowball fight (which consisted of Cameron continually throwing snowballs at Dane with no counter attack).

21 Months old

Well...the little man just won't stop growing up. As hard as it is to believe, he is 21 months old and full of energy and spunk. At 21 months old, I am finding that although it is a very fun stage to be in - it is also the most challenging thus far. Everyone tells me that it is a stage and I'm holding onto that hope...we know that sweet boy is in there, we see glimpses of it all the time but we also see the hitting and tackling he does to other kids. We know he doesn't fully understand his actions and he is testing his boundaries but I definitely look forward to the day when testing turns to listening! At 21 months old, Dane's favorite things are:
- milk...child is definitely a milkaholic!
- HUGE stuffed monkey, bigger than himself
- toy frog
- flushing the toilet & saying "potty"
- using phrases..."I get it!" (I'll get it) "Back here!" (Get back here, usually prefaced with Daddy or Mommy) "I did it!" "I stuck, mommy!" "Carry you" and many others that I'm blanking on right now.
- riding anything
- coloring (aka scribbling)
- watching monkeys on tv, video, the computer
- he knows most of his animals and their sounds, although some of his animal sounds are pretty funny
- hasn't climbed out of his crib yet, but I can feel the day getting closer & closer
- has hilarious "conversations" with his toys

Happy Thanksgiving!

Worth Sharing!

How surprised would you be?

Northwestern vs. Illinois

On Saturday we went to the Northwestern vs. Illinois football game at Wrigley Field! It was a first time event and also the first time football has been played at Wrigley since the Bears played there...long, long time ago! It was pretty cool to be there for such an event and although it was very cold outside, we managed to stay pretty warm in our seats! Thank you Brooke & Steve for taking us to the game!

Blackhawks Game

Last Sunday evening we were lucky enough to go to the Blackhawks game with our friends Luke & Nicole. They had awesome seats, about 10 rows up from the ice. The Blackhawks pulled out a win in overtime with 27 seconds left!! It was a pretty exciting game...most of the excitement was happening in our section, there were several security issues with drunk fans. Thank you Luke & Nicole for inviting us to the game!

26 Weeks!

Well, we're just cruising along with this pregnancy...already 26 weeks along! On Saturday we spent the morning in Chicago so that we could make our 4D ultrasound appointment that afternoon. We took Dane to the Shedd Aquarium to kill some time. He seemed to really like it...his favorites being the otters and the sea lion. We tried to walk away from the otter and he kept saying "more otter" so we got stuck there for a bit. The sea lion was just swimming around, blowing water our way from time to time and then he let out his very loud sea lion roar! That freaked Dane out just a bit and Cameron had to hold him the rest of the time by the sea lion cage, but he was still mesmerized by the beast.

That afternoon we headed to our elective 4D ultrasound. We never had 4D with Dane so this was a new experience for us. She confirmed we are definitely having a boy. He was curled up next to the placenta for most of the appointment so we couldn't get a full face shot, but with about 7 minutes left he turned all the way over and she was able to get some great shots.

Disney Pictures

Here are most of the pictures from Disney. I am still waiting on a few more to post, however here is a 4 minute montage of what we saw and did while we were in FL!! We definitely had to scrounge for warm clothes, but I promise we're not wearing the same thing over and over again - we did a load of laundry to make it through the vacation! Enjoy the pictures!

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Disney Vacation

Technical difficulties have prevented me from posting the pictures, however we are working on it and hope to have a montage up soon! We had a great time at Disney World and despite a few stressful moments with a 20 month old, a 2 year old and a 4 year old...the kiddos were troopers and seemed mesmerized by almost all of it! The hardest moments seemed to come in the hotel room when they were cooped up, but we didn't have any meltdowns that I can think of at the parks. The weather definitely could have been much warmer...it was in the 80s the week before we were there and it was back in the 80s when we left! We unfortunately had the chilly 60s while we were there, but we managed! The highlight for Andon was definitely breakfast with Handy Manny and Oso! Dane gave Daisy Duck a kiss on the bill and the funniest moment was our first character breakfast when Winnie the Pooh came to the table and Presley blurted out "I don't like Pooh!" and burst into tears (we have a classic Zehring family picture for that). Stay tuned for a picture montage of our time at Disney World...looking very forward to going back!

And we're leaving...

...on a jet plane!! Disney World here we come!! Four adults (2 are questionable), one pre-schooler and two toddlers in tow. Should have lots of pictures to share when we return!

Trick or Treat!!

Dane did a little trick or treating today with Cameron while I waited at home for a few trick or treaters to drop by...he was a cow although many thought he was a dalmatian. Seems that he had a fun time and obviously was much more into it than last year. We allowed him one "treat" (a sucker) when he got home and he savored every last bit of that little dum dum sucker! See below for pics of the little man along with a video of him with his sucker and a few other clips of Dane being his silly little self!

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Pants off party? Sure....

This picture was taken at his 12 month pro picture shoot and I was saving it for just us, however it partners with this story very well! Every night around 8pm I take Dane up to his room, let him pick out his stuffed animal friend for the night, rock him for about 10 minutes and lay him in his crib. Generally he talks for about 20-30 minutes and then falls asleep. Once he's been quiet for a little while, one of us goes up and covers him up. Well, we went through the usual routine last evening and when I got to his room to cover him up I got a little surprise. My adorable 20 month old son was laying on his tummy with his pj pants and diaper around his ankles! What the?!?! He has never done that before! I was hoping to have caught him before he actually relieved himself but not so much...he was sleeping soundly in his puddle. So, I rolled him over onto his back, laid him on the floor, cleaned him up, changed him and then stripped his bed. Thankfully it only took me about 5 minutes to rock him back to sleep. And now as I sit here posting this, he is currently up in his crib chattering away until he falls asleep but I am very afraid of what I will find when I walk in there to check on him! No more 2 piece pajamas for our little Dane-i-mal!!

Swimming

We just completed Dane's second swimming class and we have quite a little fish on our hands. He LOVES to swim and has absolutely no fear of water. I am glad there is no fear of water, however I wish there was a bit of hesitation with some of it. He'll just walk right off the edge, thankfully someone has always been there to catch him. This class was a bit of a graduation from the class he was in last fall. The last 2 classes were spent with the instructor for about 80% of the time and I just sat on the sidelines and watched.

First costume party

Last Saturday, Cameron and I went to the first of 2 adult costume parties we'll be attending in October. We went as Johnny Castle & "Baby in a corner" from Dirty Dancing. We have a different costume for this coming weekend...much more inappropriate but that is how this coming weekend's party is, the more inappropriate the better (although I am sure we'll be much more mild than the rest of the party)! :)

Twins for a day!

Today we had Kaylin for the entire day so it was like having twins at the ages of 19 and 20 months!! WOWSA!! What a day! I give mega props to all those who have twins...I was on my toes all day, getting this and that for them!! I had to get up early anyway and then chasing around 2 toddlers all day long was quite tiring! It was a lot of fun and they played together very nicely. By the end of the day, they were both even sharing things. And I gotta admit...it was fun to have a girl for a day.

A little floor picnic:Hugs:Watching "Little Bear":

Trick or Treat Path

This evening we went to the Gurnee Park District Trick or Treat path. It's a fun little event for kiddos up to age 6 where they basically walk along a path and get candy or little trinkets from different characters. It was fun for Dane and some of his favorite characters were there...Elmo was a bit hit, but they also had Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Wizard of Oz crew, a dalmatian and Cruella Deville just to name a few! Dane got all dressed up in his cow costume, although many mistook him for a dalmatian because he refused to keep his hood up with the cow face!

With Elmo (looks scared but he did give him a high five):And Winnie the Pooh:And Daddy (he's quite the character):With Our Wednesday evening playgroup: