Camping at Turkey Run State Park!!!

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I updated this thing! So sorry! We've stayed fairly busy this summer, lots of play groups and playing out back in Milo's pool.

This last weekend we went camping with our favorite camping buddies, the Tibbs, at Turkey Run State Park here in Indiana. It felt like we were doing something 80% of the time, which is great when you have 5 kids under the age of 10.

Here's how the weekend went, pictures will be after:

We drove down (about a 3.5 hour drive) on Thursday afternoon, set up, had dinner, and of course had a campfire before hitting the sheets. Milo's not big on roasted marshmallows, but LOVES eating them straight from the bag (which we've known for a long time now). We have also found out that if Milo is BEYOND tired, he sleepwalks. Jesse caught him standing next to his bed three times during the night and one time Milo looked at us and said, "Milo all done [sleeping]" and Jesse told him to lay back down, and he did!

Friday we had an action-packed day. We got up and hit the trails. This is the first park I've been to that I can remember where the majority of the park is trails, not roads that run through it. It's just as beautiful as I'd heard, so it did not disappoint. We (Jesse, Milo, and I) walked for a total of almost two hours, the Tibbs stayed out longer. Milo was still tired from not getting a good nights sleep, so he actually fell asleep in Jesse's arms for the last half hour of the hike. Poor Jesse did a great job of carrying him and going up and down stairs, over rocks, etc. Once we got back to the van, Milo stayed asleep and we drove to the nearest town to get lunch (we forgot to get the camper keys from Jeremy, where all of the food was...). He slept for about a total of an hour, which is better than no nap at all.

After the Tibbs came back and ate lunch we went to the pool in the park. It's a newer pool, extremely clean, and the water was SO warm! Everyone had a great time and got cooled off. Boy were the little ones upset when it was break time! The pool had a very shallow part that worked its way to a deep end. Milo and Kassidy could stand in the shallow end, and as long as Milo can touch, he's pretty fearless, which is good and bad for me and Jesse.

Friday night after dinner we hit the putt putt course that was pretty much across the street from the campground. I have not had a chance to write and tell you how much my child LOVES mini golf! Jesse took him one night while I was out and he did nothing but talk about it for the next 4 days, seriously. Needless to say, Milo was ecstatic about going. This was about the cheesiest course ever, but the kids loved it and Jesse and I tied for low scores. Milo woke up Saturday morning asking to go play mini golf again...

Saturday we got up and had chocolate chip pancakes and then got ready to go tubing down Sugar Creek. There is this awesome place (only because of the tubes, not the way it was run) called Sugar Valley Canoes that offers canoe trips along with tubing. For the 3 mile tubing trip, it's $5 a tube, and they say it should take you an hour to an hour and a half to do this trip. Um, yeah, it took us 3 hours!!! None of us had our camera because they weren't waterproof, but it was a great time! You start at one covered bridge, when you hit the suspension bridge you're half way through, and end at the next covered bridge, and the whole thing goes through Turkey Run. We did not get tubes for Milo, Kassidy, and Kamden. Milo rode with Jesse (he wouldn't exactly fit on my belly), and Kassidy and Kamden rode with their parents.

Even though Milo slept really well Friday night he managed to fall asleep while on Jesse's lap in the tube! He slept for about an hour, which once again is saying something because it's not like Jesse was just sitting there, he would need to readjust and paddle with his arms to keep moving. A ton of people made comments about the kids sleeping while tubing, I thought it was hilarious. All three of the young ones napped at some point in time on the creek.

We were so pooped after tubing that we came back, ate lunch (at almost 3:00), and just relaxed the rest of the day. Erin and I were going to do a candlelight tour of the Lusk home (built around 1840) that night, but were very upset to learn, AFTER we arrived, that they only let 35 people on the tour at a time, and we were "supposedly" numbers 36 and 37. I can count, and there were not 35 people in line...Also, they only do one tour a night.

Sunday we got up, ate breakfast and the packed up to come home. The Tibbs are still there, but we needed to get back so Jesse had time to relax before getting ready to go back to work on Monday.

Like I said, we had a great time and I would definitely go back! Yes, Jesse, Milo, and I slept in our tent, we were not in the camper. Some friends think I'm crazy for going to 7.5 months pregnant, but it was fine!

Here are the pictures to enjoy:

The Tibbs brought some cars and an airplane, so Milo was in heaven playing with their toys. What you can't see is that he's sitting in front of the steps leading into their camper. This is where the young ones decided was the best place to play-all weekend...We were constantly having to ask them to move so they wouldn't get stepped on.

Milo putt-putting. Doesn't he look like he's a pro already???

Milo passed out on the trails in Jesse's arms. This picture was taken as we were getting to the end of the trail (finally!).

Milo when he first fell asleep. Notice the slight smile on Jesse's face, this was gone in about 10 minutes!

Just a nice picture of one place we hiked through. You can see the Tibbs family and Jesse and Milo.

Jesse and Milo climbed up a rock and this is them on top. I should've taken one from further away so you could see how high up they were.

This is the rock next to where Jesse and Milo were standing. I loved watching the little ones (Kamden (almost 2) in yellow, Kassidy (almost 3) in green, and Milo (almost 3) in blue shorts) try and climb to places where Keegan (9) and Kennedy (7) were.

This is a stop on one of the trails called the "Ice Box". Where all of them are standing is a slight drip of cool water, and they loved it!

Climbing down into the "Ice Box". It was a bit scary climbing down into it, but it was worth it!!!

Kassidy and Milo standing together. They're only 6 days apart. I think that she's standing on slightly high ground than Milo, because he's a bit taller than her!

Right after we came down from the suspension bridge there was a DNR officer with a snake that the kids could pet. I was very impressed that they did touch it!

Erin on the suspension bridge. This is a very cool bridge, I was expecting something out of Indiana Jones and was slightly disappointed when I saw how secure it was...

Jesse and Milo on the suspension bridge.

Me and Milo when we first got on the trails, we had to take all these steps down to the suspension bridge, then got onto the true trails.

No matter how much we love being out and about, there's something nice about coming home to your own things.

I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday afternoon and should be scheduling the c-section that day!

Have a great week!

Alpaca Farm!!!

This morning Milo and I joined some friends from Mothers & More and went to Once Upon an Alpaca farm here in South Bend. Milo had a great time until he got too hot, hungry, and thirsty. We ended up leaving a little early because of his attitude, but once he cooled down and ate and drank, he was back to being a happy boy and wanting to go back to the farm (another day, maybe). Right before we left, the kids were waiting in line to be able to walk an alpaca around an obstacle course. Ethan's alpaca decided to take off across the yard, pulling Ethan behind him, making us all laught! I think Ethan is 7, so he was holding on by himself, but it was quite a sight.

Milo being cute and staying cool under a tree. The poor kid got so hot he was a big sweaty mess. One friend asked me if I had poured water over him to keep him cool, unfortunately I had not...

Remember, these are in backwards, so this is an alpaca FINALLY eating the pellets out of Milo's hands. Milo LOVED it!!! The funny thing is right before he laid down for his nap he was talking to Jesse on the phone, telling him about feeding the alpaca. Jesse asked him what he fed it and Milo said, "food". I started laughing because to Milo, that's what it was. To us adults, it's a smarty-pants answer.

A funny smile, but Milo was happy to show me the alpaca food in his hands. He seriously held it for about 5 minutes before an alpaca came up to eat from him.

While waiting in line to get the food, Milo showed me how to hold his hands. I'm honestly surprised he didn't tell me that he would hold it, "nice and carefully" like he says about a lot of things.

Waiting to go in the pen. Milo ran up to the fence and this one alpaca was very interested in Milo, they're actually at eye level!

We were able to try and get pictures of the kids with an alpaca. The owner had put this one's head down by Milo's, but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. I like the look on Milo's face, that's why this one is in here.

Enjoying petting the alpaca. It had just moved away as I took this picture. They're fast little boogers.

A successful picture of Milo petting her/him! This one LOVED being pet, it even stuck it's head out and was rubbing on Milo's head!

Playing in the pool the other day. He cracked me up because he kept this position for over a minute while getting a drink from the pool. I thought it was a split second thing and once I realized he was holding it, I was able to get out the camera and snap this.

This is the only time we were able to go strawberry picking this year. :( Oh well, he wasn't as amused as he was last year. He ate just a few while we were picking and then just kept telling us he wanted to go home. Maybe next year he'll be into it again.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon and everything seems fine, the heartbeat was good. My next appointment is July 15th, and I'll take the next 1-hour glucose test...

Have a great weekend and Father's Day!

A few pictures to catch up on the last little while

Sorry I haven't been keeping up on pictures lately, I don't have a good excuse. Although Milo has been quite the little photographer, he loves to take my camera and just go around snapping photos! He's getting a lot better, too, he's actually somewhat centering the object in the box before pushing the button.

Before I forget, Milo started swimming lessons this morning! It's a parent/tot class, and I think he did a great job! He's the oldest in the class, they range anywhere from eight months to Milo. It's only 30 minutes, but he liked it and said he wants to go back next week. We were both starving and tired by the time nap time rolled around. I didn't realize how much I would have to lift him up and out of the water...he's a HEAVY almost 40 pounds.

We went strawberry picking a week ago and made two batches of jam. This is one picture that Milo took of the final product.

Milo smashing the strawberries for the jam.

I also got some rhubarb from a friend of mine and Milo helped to make strawberry rhubarb pies. YUM-O! This is Milo helping me roll out my home made crust (which is melt-in-your-mouth delicious).

With potty training sometimes Milo likes to leave off his underwear and pants and just play. I think it's cute and was able to snap this picture. He did tell me, "Hey! Don't take a picture of me!"

I made a sombrero graduation cake for my neighbor's son and of course Milo had to have some frosting...I love the smile, though.

"I've been working on the railroad...."at the Elkhart Train Museum. He also got to sit in an actual train engine with an air horn. Milo is not good with really loud noises, so while we were outside and a kid pulled the chain, Milo would jump and cry, poor guy.

Changing the light on the signal at the museum. His favorite part of the museum was the model trains that take up an entire room. I really think he stood there for at least 15 minutes watching them go. I think we'll have to take Daddy there another time. We even went to lunch with all the other moms and kids afterwards and luckily the restaurant gave us our own room. We had eight moms and 13 kids, all under the age of five...

A few weeks ago when it was really warm, Jesse and Milo were nice enough to wash my car. It was funny because the very next day Milo was telling me how dirty my car was and how he needed to wash it again. Then that weekend we were on our way home from a party in Columbus, Ohio, in Grandpa Joe's van. Grandpa got out to get gas and clean the windshield and Milo started telling me how dirty the windshield was "next week" and how he had to clean it.

We really should have known we are having a girl because a few days before the ultrasound Jesse took a picture of my belly and she was dancing around for the whole session! Jesse finally felt her move the other evening, which is always neat for him. Milo will tell you he's having a little sister, but he doesn't understand. He will in a few months, though...

Everything else is going well. Have a great week!

Milo's Going to Have a Little....

Sister!!! We found out this afternoon that we have a little girl on the way! She's healthy (according to the technician), 15 oz and measuring 21 weeks along. I'm two days away from 21 weeks, so that's perfect. We saw all four valves of the heart, both sides of the brain, ALL the vertebrae, and the blood flow through the placentae. Unfortunately we couldn't tell if she will look anything like me. That would only be fair, right? Well, a baby that looks like Milo with curly hair would do, too!!

I know, I really need to put up new pictures, I've been lazy with it. Maybe I'll find time this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

I think we have a potty-trained Milo!

Well, I call Milo a "Super Pee-er" because he is doing so well with potty training! He hasn't had an accident for a few days and he told us when he needed to go while out shopping, even though he had on a diaper! I took him to the bathroom and he went, so we're very excited. He even told us when he needed to go at Jesse's parent's house!

I had my one-hour glucose test this morning (one of my doctors said that I should be tested at 17 weeks since I had gestational diabetes with Milo's pregnancy) and PASSED!!! I thought I would fail for sure, but was super excited when my number was fine. I celebrated with a frappe from McDonald's. I know, way to try and overload my body. I will get re-tested at 24-28 weeks like a "normal" pregnancy, and if I fail that test, I'll be fine, that's how long I was on the diet with Milo, I just didn't want to eat like that for over half of my pregnancy.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, I got new pots and pans! Our other ones were non-stick and the teflon has been bubbling and flaking off, so it was time. We went with "stick" pans (what do you call them when they're not non-stick?) and they are so shiny and beautiful! Milo also painted me a coffee mug. Jesse had him paint it while I had the opportunity to sleep in on Sunday, and when I came downstairs, Milo looked at me and said, "I just paint you a cup!" I wasn't supposed to get it until it was good and dry in the afternoon, he cracks me up.

I also signed Milo up for swimming lessons at the Y today. We'll start with the parent/tot class and see how he does. Poor Milo wanted to go swimming today, he could see the pool while I was getting us registered. We have about a month until the class starts. He also dunks himself in my parent's hot tub, so hopefully he'll do well.

Have a great week, ours is off to a great start!!!

Another Quick Update

Potty training is going well, not perfect, but well! It's been a week since we started and today he willingly pooped on the potty! He also only had one accident today, and he was walking into the bathroom when it happened. He is getting better about telling us when he needs to sit, and that just started yesterday, we've been having to ask him about every 30 minutes if he needed to go. Either way, we're very proud of him and let's hope it keeps happening!

Quick Update

We are in the process of potty training! Today is Day 2 and we have progress! Yesterday was a little difficult, but after nap time he would tell me that he needed to pee and to hurry to the bathroom. We would get there and he wouldn't do anything, but at least he was realizing what needed to happen. This morning, however, I pulled out his little potty chair and he's gone three times already! We've had one accident, but compared to the seven pairs of underwear we went through yesterday morning alone, I'm not complaining! Milo also gets a Dum Dum when he pees on the potty, so he gets pretty excited about it.

Enjoy the rest of the week!