Museum Trips: Frogs!

It gets freaking hot and humid in the summer.  Hot summer nights indeed! So as much as we loved wandering around Central Park, we needed indoor activities. Thus began the "let's go to the museum" mornings.  We purchased a membership at the American Museum of Natural History.  First special exhibit - frogs!

The frogs were super cool. They were so colorful and often so tiny. Jaime's eyes were filled with wonder as he took it in.

After the frog exhibit we headed up to the dinosaur floor and found a quiet spot for Jaime to walk around. He was getting so confident and comfortable walking with activities like this that allowed him to practice.

Just another Saturday in the neighborhood.

A Morning at the Beach

At the beginning of the summer I created a list of all the beaches we would go to over the summer. I think I had one on our calendar for every other weekend.  Ha! We did get to a beach but only one trip. That trip was so worth it.  It was a complete blast.

The night before I packed up some snacks and got our stuff ready. I wanted to get out the door asap so we could beat traffic and get a good spot. The morning of our beach trip Jaime was happy to have a smoothie and didn't even know what excitement was in store.

I think it was like a 30-35 minute drive and were at the beach. We went to Robert Moses State Beach and it was gorgeous.  We had a beautiful day and were there early with the older people that were reading the paper - not a boom box in sight.

Jaime was in love.

We did what one does at the beach with an almost-toddler. We played in the sand and the surf and we attempted napping under the umbrella (didn't happen).

It was a beautiful day in every way.

MoMA

Dan and I both called in sick one Monday after a particulary difficult weekend in July where Jaime had a ridiculously bad fever and wouldn't eat anything except for smoothies. We decided that we needed to get out and get his mind off it. It was also quite hot (of course) so we decided on a trip to MoMA.

We wanted to see the super cool looking rain exhibit but the nine hundred hour wait in line sounded ridiculously horrible so we skipped that and headed into the main museum.

One might think that a Monday would be quiet... no. It was quite busy with tourist but no biggie, we are used to that now. It was fun to check out. The building is quite neat all on its own.  We checked out a photography exhibit and an interior design exhibit.

After a little perusing we decided to have lunch.  What a gorgeous view there is from the restaurant terrace!

Not a bad way to spend a few hours on a sick day.

The first trimester

Pregnancy is something that moves so slow yet so fast at the same time.  This pregnancy is no exception to that- before I knew it we were at the 13 weeks mark. It was so exciting to be embarking on this journey a second time. 

Those first weeks where only you and your partner know are pretty special. My first trimester was predominately spent daydreaming about this new baby growing inside of me (same as the first time around) and how our family will be as four, how Jaime and this baby will be great friends.

I spent a lot of time researching hospitals and doctors and wishing I could go back to my doctor in Chicago. The practices here are quite different and I found selecting one a lot more stressful than it should have been but I have high expections.

During the first trimester I ran two races. I started my busy season at work. And I worked through not having child care for James. It was anything but slow. But I did find time for naps.

My symptoms for pregnancy in the first trimester were very similar to my first pregnancy.  I was totally and completely exhausted. So I started napping during Jaime's naps again.  I had an aversion to coffee but it moved on quickly.  The differences this time were that I actually lost weight in the early weeks even though I was hungry and eating more (with Jaime I started gaining day 1 and had a lower appetite in the begining). And while I didn't actually have full on morning sickness I did wake up feeling a tiny bit queasy.

I also had a random craving and interest in grapefruit juice.  I used to drink grapefruit juice in college but hadn't since... it became a daily thing.  I wasn't so interested in sweets early on but was more inclined to go for salty snacks like potato chips and popcorn. The interest in sweets returned soon enough.

So all in all, the first trimester was pretty easy going. I was excited to be started on this journey and was very curious about what our family would like in 2014.

But then right as we reached 13 weeks, I had a pretty big scare.  The three of us were at MoMA for a morning adventure and after lunch as we were headed home I thought I was starting to lose the baby.  I spent the afternoon at the doctors' office waiting to be seen.  After several stressful hours I saw the little one dancing around and heard the very strong heartbeat.  Everything looked great, which I could tell surprised the doctor given the signs of complications.  I was scheduled for a full scan at the hospital a few days later. Talk about a stressful couple of days.

At the ultrasound they confirmed that everything was okay and that baby was healthy.  The little one was again dancing around and seemed quite content.  I was so relieved and happy. I scheduled the 17 week ultrasound and left with a weight lifted but still a little shaken. We were headed to the second trimester.

Celebrating James' first birthday

We were able to celebrate Jaime's first birthday with family since his birthday was during our midwest tour. 

We had cake and presents with Grandma and Grandpa U in Winthrop Harbor. Since blueberries were a major favorite food at the time I made a blueberry cake.

On his actual birthday we had ice cream at Dairy Queen (so many memories from my childhood at this Dairy Queen) after a fun afternoon at the pool. He wasn't so sure about the ice cream cone but loved Dad's strawberry malt.

And then we had a little party the night before we left the farm.  I made my favorite chocolate cake with strawberries between the layers.  And Poppa smoked pork (shoulder I think). I cut up a rainbow assortment of fruit. And hung a few decorations. Grammy picked up some balloons.

Jaime, you are so loved.