Fall is in the air...

Is it even possible that summer is coming to an end already? It truly just got here! But the reality of October has started to set in as the darkness comes immediately when Joel gets home from work. I am sad to see the long days of summer go but I look forward to the holidays and all the excitement that will come this winter.

Bennett's favorite part of fall so far has been his "NEW QUAD" He says this phrase with such emphasis so many times a day it is almost exhausting for anyone around him. His dad found this gem on Craig's list and it is his prize possession. He takes such good care of it, parks it perfectly and checks all the buttons to make sure it is off when he is done. It is hilarious... definitely gets that from his dad!

It amazed all of us how fast he caught on, he was turning in first, second and reverse in a matter of minutes and has ran the battery dead every day since he got it... best $75 ever!

To soften the blow of fall coming too fast Bennett and I made some Pumpkin cookies (nothing like a ton of orange frosting to lift your spirits :)



19 weeks and counting...

Today I went up to see Dr Wall and have our 19 week check on our Baby Girl. It was quick and easy to have a good look at baby and make sure my cervix are still doing well after the surgery 5 weeks ago. Right before I left one of the Ultrasound techs asked if I had a few extra minutes. Apparently they got a brand new machine and they were looking for someone that would be willing to sit around for 30 minutes or so and let them look around with the fancy new gadgets. I obviously jumped on the opportunity to gaze at our little one a little longer. I entered a room full of about 8 perinatologists and sonographers all huddled around the machine from literally all over the world. I heard a couple different accents and talked to one for a while that had flown in from Holland. So away they went for about a half hour telling me how perfect our little girl was in there. We looked at parts of her brain, heart, spine and all the fingers and toes. She seems to look a lot like Bennett so far but I think they all kinda look the same at this point. It was the first ultrasound that I could feel her moving and then watch it happen in real time on the screen with a little 3D clay-mation looking baby...

Every time I see her in there I feel like this is all more real. We are almost halfway to meeting our daughter. I was officially already on bedrest with Bennett at this point and I couldn't be happier to have a healthy pregnancy and baby so far. I love her so much already!

So the ultrasound was moving the whole time and these are obviously stills that are not doing it justice... but still pretty fun. Here's her face... kinda blurry and squished in there but amazing when it was moving...

Her spine all curled up in there.

Feet crossed and up in the air... side view of her cute bottom.

Introducing Jack Henry Petersen

Today I spent the whole day with Jack Henry Petersen. Jeanie and Kip welcomed Jack Monday night at 10pm at 8 lbs 11oz. He looks a lot like his big sister but that is perfect because she is pretty cute too.

Katie and I packed up the boys and headed down to Portland this morning and it was a wonderful day with the kids, my sisters and my mom (oh and uncle Kippy too :) It was a relatively quiet day full of giggling toddlers and snuggling new baby. I am for sure planning a day just like that after our little girl gets here in February. A day with mom and the sisters just to celebrate our little families!

Welcome Jack! We love you!

The toddlers (cousins round one, Bennett 33 mo, Reece 25 mo, Evie 23 mo) had a blast all day. Reece was napping for a bit and Bennett and Evie went crazy enjoying the beautiful day out. They played in the sand box and then ran around nakey in the pool... I love that they have built in best buds as cousins! So FUN! 

Back to Pre-Pre School!

Bennett's toddler group at our elementry school started up again today. He has always been the youngest in the group, but not today. He was proudly the big man on campus, showing all the other kids the toys and yelling loudly at each transition... "Clean up TIME!" or "Circle Time YEAY!". He happily participated in all the songs and showed off a mean "head shoulders, knees and toes". He definitely gets his dancing grooves from his father. 

All the Teachers were so excited to see how much more he is talking and how grown up he is. We missed all the kids from last year that have since turned three and graduated but we are excited for this last couple months of Toddler group until his 3rd birthday!

So Proud of our big boy today!

Here is Bennett's "mom I don't want to take another picture" face...

Putting some stickers on his name placemat...

Snack time... (his favorite!)

Picking out Pink...

Since we found out our little new one on the way is a girl I have had myself in restraints from going out and buying everything pink I see. I always pictured myself with little boys so the thought of a little baby in pink ruffles just baffles me.

But with our annual family sewing weekend coming up next month I knew I had to get a head start on finding the perfect fabrics for our little girl's nursery. I plan on sewing some curtains, bed skirt and anything else I can think of.

I was really looking for some hot pink to go with the yellow walls we have already painted. These are the preliminary choices... what do you think?

Here is a quick shot of me checking out all the fabrics... thanks Teri for coming with me and helping out!

We also had our 18 week check up at Dr Wall's in Bellevue this afternoon. The results from the surgery are still looking great and our baby girl looked happy and healthy in there. They did an extensive anatomy scan and growth measurement and she was between 40 and 60% on all measurements. Here are a couple pictures of our little girl (her name is still TBA:)

More boy fun...

It makes me laugh on a daily basis how a little boy that spends nearly all the time with his mom who has very little interest in trucks, trains and tractors can be absolutely obsessed by all of these things. I am pretty certain Bennett actually knows more about different types of tractors that I do. He will tell me about the scoop ones, the rolling ones, the green ones and the yellow ones.

So you can imagine his excitement when Grandpa Jones brought him a tractor on Friday morning. I am pretty sure he has said the word tractor in conversation at least 10 billion times since then. He woke up at 6 am Saturday morning and yelled into the monitor (which he knows mom and dad somehow magically hear him through) "daddy, its Bennett's turn on the tractor!" Even in all the rain of this weekend my two boys were on that tractor for hours clearing or pushing dirt or whatever they do around our property.

Before nap Joel said that he could start to feel Bennett leaning really hard on him and he was trying desperately to keep his eyes open but finally gave in to a nap on his daddy's lap while riding the tractor... so cute!

We played a little trucks before calling it a night tonight... he stacked the jenga blocks up like he was loading them on the trailer of this truck and drove them around unloading them places... so happy!

Homegrown

Being a little limited in our activities has led to many days wearing our pajamas all day hanging around the house... We have snuggled a lot on the couch watching Curious George, Thomas and Madagascar (which I have immensely enjoyed) but today my little guy and I got outside to enjoy this great weather and raid the blackberry and blueberry bushes in our yard.

Bennett was very proud of his picked goodies and kept telling Hurlie, "No Thank you Hurlie!" when she tried to steal from his bowl.
(P.S. I may have given Bennett his first Mama Hair cut... might have been a mistake... definately leaving it to Auntie Katie from now on! Hopefully it grows fast and we can even it out soon)

PINK frosting...

We are sooo happy to annouce that the next baby Olsen is a baby girl. We feel so excited and blessed that we are having a baby at all but I must admit I am a little extra excited that our next will be a girl. When I was pregnant with Bennett I was hoping for a boy and with this one I may have been secretly hoping for a girl...

At 10 weeks we asked the ultrasound tech to just guess and she quickly guessed "its a girl" I was so shocked she even agreed to guess let alone be so convinced. Since then it has been confirmed on every ultrasound that our little one is forsure female. So after our 15 week ultrasound I made these adorable black and white cupcakes that I had planned for months in my mind and they turned out so cute. I was sooo excited to finally be filling them with pink frosting and just to celebrate our new little person on the way.

So slowly we went around to family over the last couple weeks and gave them our little question mark cupcake and they were all delighted over the pink frosting filling.
Although we have shared the news with all of the family, we have yet to pass out the cupcakes and take pictures of all the aunts and uncles... dont worry we have saved you some. :)

 Grandma and Grandpa Jones!

Grandma and Grandpa Olsen digging in...

 Grandma Sandy! So excited!

Auntie Katie!

 Unlce Shane

 Cousin Kelsey... She may have been secretly hoping she would stay the only Olsen Granddaughter... But I think she is pretty excited to have a little girl to show the ropes.

Its A...

We have a confirmation on the sex of our new little one on the way... any guesses?

These are the cupcakes we brought to family members over the last week to suprize them with either blue or pink frosting inside!
They turned out super cute and fabulously delicious... I think I have had like 15...

Beyond Bedrest

I have been feeling better and better and have just been attempting to settle into a routine of "taking it easy" and chasing a 2 year old... not as easy as it sounds.

We have enjoyed the beautiful weather that has finally arrived. We spend most days on the drive way in lawn chairs because they recline (and look so nice lined up on our parking pad) and Bennett can ride his bike in circles around me :) It was a fabulously boring Labor Day weekend and I am just hoping this great weather will stick around a while.

Post Op Update

Sometimes I just amaze myself with how much this mama can worry. The last few days I have felt a little under the weather in the cramp department and I waited until the middle of the night last night on the eve of my scheduled check up with Dr Wall to go into full blown panic. I am talking about waking my husband up at 4 am, along with our toddler that was for some reason in our bed, and convincing him that I was in labor. Looking back I can see now this was a bit more drama than actual discomfort but there was no convincing me otherwise.

So my husband, being the saint that he is, talks me off the ledge and says he will drive me up north. I was actually fairly calm by the time the ultrasound tech clicked on the machine to see everything looking wonderful. My Dr. was very happy with the results from the surgery and just said the cramping could be a result from the surgery and I may need to take it easy for a couple more weeks. I laughed and said "oh lord they should prescribe Xanax for prego moms like me" and he said "I only prescribe it with a shot of whiskey" and I said "what really?!" and he said "Nope sorry" agh... too bad :)

We had a quick laugh at how crazy all this drama can make us and how worrying is just part of the gig at this point. He had a long look at our little one and I could not have felt better as I left with pictures of our new little one in hand!

We looked at fingers, feet and all the fun stuff that makes it almost real that we are having another baby in 6 short months! I know that this little person sprouting up in there is going to be worth every worry in the world... just like its big brother is!

(sorry these pictures are cell phone pics of print outs... terrible I know but still really cute!)