Warning....if you don't want to know the gender of the baby read no further!!!! We had our elective ultrasound today and were able to confirm the gender. I'm happy to announce that we're having a........................... BOY!!!! Click on the pictures to enlarge.

In this picture his butt is down toward the bottom of the picture and his legs are sticking straight up. In between his legs you'll see the scrotum and a bit of the penis sticking out.


2D gender confirmation


He was just as stubborn as last time about not giving us the best pictures. The majority of the time he had his hand in front of his face. His hands are definitely his favorite past time right now. Here's one of the few face shots she managed to get without the hand in the way.


Probably the cutest part of all came right at the end of the ultrasound. He was sucking on his fingers and we could watch his mouth open and close and see him sucking. So fun to watch!!!!


It was such a cool experience. I'd never had a 3D ultrasound before so it was surreal to see our little one in so much detail. The kids thought it was pretty cool too and Kyle is thrilled to have a brother. Jenevieve is accepting the news but with less enthusiasm as Kyle.

We're enjoying our time in Madison and will head home tomorrow after going to the zoo. Today we went to the botanical garden and the brat fest. Both were a good time. Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend everyone!!!!

touch the sky

Just got Julia's layout done. :)
The wordart says "I know what it feels like to touch the sky". These pics were taken during the rehearsal dinner for Dad & Joan's wedding. I used Bren Boone's At One With Nature kit and Magnus Kit. Thanks for taking a look!

Just wanted to share this layout that I made last night using the ultrasound pictures. The kit is called Baby On Board by Bren Boone. I went back and bought a few more of her kits today. I'm working on a layout of Julia using her stuff right now. I'll post it when it's finished.

Kyle's Birthday Party

We got back from camping yesterday for Kyle's birthday. Thanks to everyone who came to the party!!!! When I tucked Kyle into bed that night he was super sweet and said thank you for his party and for all the presents. He REALLY enjoys the combination of camping and his birthday party. For those of you who weren't able to make it here's a little run down of the weekend. :)

We arrived at the campground Friday around 3:00. The campground itself was totally full which surprised me a bit with it being Mother's Day weekend and with rain predicted. We had enough time to set up camp and have supper and then it wasn't long after that we started hearing thunder and knew we better get things cleaned up right away. Soon we had thunder, lightening, rain and wind. Just wouldn't be camping without a good thunderstorm. lol We can't EVER seem to escape the rain when we camp. It did stop raining just long enough for us to sneak in a few s'mores for the kids before bed. But man oh man did the wind blow through the night!

Thankfully it cleared off for the party on Saturday. It was still cold and windy but at least there wasn't any rain. The guys got creative and hung tarps between the trees to make a wind break. Helped a TON. We had an AWESOME turn out for the party. A lot of Jason's family was there which was really nice since we don't see them very often. All of the kids' grandparents were there except for Warren and all of their great-grandparents were there except for Grandma Lingle and Grandpa Pfohl. Not too shabby, huh? Thanks to Angie, Robin & Gus for bringing the kids up and hanging out for the day!

Kyle is now old enough to light his own candles.


But he still gets shy when we all sing Happy Birthday to him. :)


Blowing out the candles on the cool Hot Wheels cake Katie made him.


An overview of several of our guests. See the tarps? Nothing like a redneck birthday party! lol

Kyle & his buddy J.T.

Kyle was given the gun that Grandpa Notz left him. It was a very emotional moment for all of us. Kyle knows he'll have to wait to grow into the gun but he very quickly realized who it was from and got a very sad and serious look on his face. I think he was also in a bit of shock that the gun really is his now.

Opening the remote controlled truck from aunt Katie & uncle Tim. I have several "opening presents" pictures that I'll scrapbook and then post on here.

Before we left yesterday we stopped at the opening of the cave and took some pictures of the cousins. Here's one of the group.

And another minus Jayden.


A rare pic of the kiddos together.

After we got home yesterday we unpacked everything, had lunch and then we all crashed. We were SO tired! Kyle never napped but he watched a movie and laid on the couch. The rest of us zonked though. We didn't do much for Mother's Day but that was ok with me. I was too tired to do anything. And what could be better than a nap? So today I had a dr. appointment in Davenport so I went shopping and bought a few bedding flowers as my Mother's Day present. Got a few of them planted today and will do the rest tomorrow.

My dr. appointment went well. Everything looks good. I'm measuring right on track and the baby's heartbeat sounds good. So far I've gained a total of 4 pounds. Hopefully I can keep the weight gain down this time around. We also discussed the results of my glucose test because I was curious to know if I was border line or how the numbers were. I learned that the cut off is 130-135 depending on the practitioner and my number was 123. She said that as long as I stay active and eat smart I should be able to avoid getting gestational diabetes. Let's hope! I'll have a follow up test next month sometime. Get to drink the orange stuff AGAIN. What fun. I'm just hoping the numbers will still be in the safe zone. They are pretty sure I had it with Jenevieve but it probably started later in the pregnancy AFTER I had already had the blood sugar test done. I'll probably have to test again after the baby is born too but at least they are staying on top of it.

Well, I think that's the basic rundown of the weekend. I'll post the scrapbook pages once I get them done. Have a great night everyone!!!

The ever growing belly! LOL

Thought I'd post a new picture of the ever growing belly. This was taken today at 21 weeks and 4 days. I'm going to be scared to get on the scale at my next dr. appointment!

The kids were bugging me with their "I'm bored" comments yesterday so we went for a walk and then went to the park so they could play. They ran and ran and ran. I got tired just watching them! Look how red and sweaty they are! lol They had fun though. :)

Nothing much else to report. Trying to get ready for Kyle's party this weekend at the Maquoketa Caves. Praying for no rain this year! Rain seems to follow us wherever we go. Especially if we're camping!

Have a great night and I'll post again when I have something to say. lol

Ok, I'll be the first to admit that I have no patience and I hate surprises. I'm a planner and I like to have the details and info before making decisions. That's just the way I am. So needless to say it didn't suit me well when the baby didn't cooperate for the ultrasound. I've given in and scheduled an elective ultrasound on May 23rd. The cheapest and closest place I could find to get it done at is in Madison, WI so we'll be taking a little roadtrip. This place isn't a medical office and does these ultrasounds solely for the purpose of bonding with the baby and determining gender. Don't worry, these are certified ultrasound techs. It's just nice that it's not such a dr. office style setting. They encourage large groups of family to come and don't say no to having kids in the room like my doctor's office does. I think it will be neat for the kids to get to see the baby and to (hopefully) find out what we're having at the same time that Jason and I do. While we're in Madison we might as well find a few fun things for the kids to do. I found a zoo and an arboretum (sp?) that are free so that'll be fun. We originally thought we'd bring the camper and find a campground up there but OMG...all the campgrounds I found run $45 a night and several charge a per person fee on top of that! So instead we'll be spending one night at a cheap hotel somewhere and let the kids swim and hang out. Plus we'll save a bit on gas since we won't be pulling the camper. Hopefully we can make a nice, casual trip out of this since I have a feeling I'll be too hot and uncomfortable to go on a big summer vacation with the kids this year.

Jason and the kiddos are out mushroom hunting right now. Jason's been having pretty good luck finding them. Most of them are pretty small yet though. We got the rain, now we need some hot days to help them grow. Yesterday Jason and his brother went mushroom hunting for like 7 1/2 hours. I told them they had a nice long day to themselves yesterday so today they can take the kids with them. It's Jason and our two kids, Adam and his three kids and our neighbor Gus and his two kids. So 7 kids and 3 adults. Have fun boys! LOL Glad I'm home enjoying the quiet. :)

Next weekend we'll be camping for Kyle's birthday. May sure did sneak up on me! I can't believe his b-day is only a week away. This month is going to be crazy busy. Kyle's b-day next weekend, cub scout campout the following weekend and our trip to Madison the weekend after that. Plus the Memorial Day parade that Kyle will be in for Cub Scouts. I think the last weekend of this month will be Tim & Katie's weekend to have our kids so it'll be good to have one relaxing weekend this month. There's a big scrapbooking crop that I'd love to go to that weekend but I don't think I want to be gone on a weekend when we don't have kids and we could just hang out in peace and quiet.

I've been feeling the baby kick a lot lately. Jason was finally able to feel it too. I'm looking forward to it getting strong enough for the kids to feel. Although I'm not looking forward to it getting strong enough that the kicks hurt. lol

I haven't gotten nearly as much scrapping done lately as I usually do so I only have 2 layouts to share. Up first are some pics of Jenevieve from her class field trip to the pumpkin patch last fall.

And up next are some funny pics of Kyle workin' the camera. lol He's such a ham!