I realized something on our way to Okoboji last weekend.
We have a tribe you know. This weekend… 11 kids were under 13 years old :) 
Thank you old tree roots for getting into the pipes and causing us to have no usable bathroom:) Wonderful….
See ya in May Okoboji.
little one.
And for the record, so is your Daddy.
Although it’s 80 something degrees out there today, I can feel that fall is right on our heels. Pumpkinland will open soon, and I can’t wait to throw away my dying flowers and replace them with pumpkins in my big pots outside my house.
We’re headed to the beachhouse this weekend, and as long as I can remember that has meant it’s the end of summer. When along with that it meant school was starting it wasn’t something I loved; but as I get older and summer becomes something I dislike more and more, Fall couldn’t be more welcomed.
I’ve been working on making the perfect apple pie… and I think I’ve found my favorite recipe. Now I want to bake one everyday. The smell of it in my house is better than eating it, almost.
This is why we live here. It sucks when it snows for the 14th day, and the road are icy, and you can’t go anywhere. Yes I know. But I couldn’t bear to miss the changing of the seasons. Heck I changed my calendar over to September a few days ago… on the 27th of August. Simply because September sounds like fall. I know I shouldn’t rush life along, but when tomorrow means I get to go see my love bug on that little screen again at the doctor’s office I will rush it. I’m spending these pregnant months just dreaming of the next, and once this babe is here I will be begging God to stop time so my little one can stay just that… little.
But for now my little one, in this season of life, we pray you keep on growing and stay right where you are.
And while I wait I’ll burn my harvest sunset candle and have another piece of pie :)
I tried my very best to post about things in our life other than this growing baby… but I failed and here it is.
I get asked a lot if I think I’m having a boy or a girl.
Most days I say boy. But both of my Grandmas continue to tell me they know it’s a girl, and come on, let’s be honest… they both have 5 kids. They know what they’re talking about… and I would go with their instincts above my own any day. We may, or may not, have a boy named picked out ( we have 1 we agree on at least! ), and maybe that’s leading to my believing it’s a little dude. (My girl name list is at least 8 long, and Wade doesn’t seem to be too thrilled with most of them) I may be dreaming it’s a boy (literally!), but for some reason that doesn’t keep me from typing things like flowered crochet hat, leg warmers, and newborn dress in the Etsy.com search slot almost daily.
mark my words… if it is a girl… THIS will be making its way to our door real soon!
and if it’s a he… my little snow bunny will be kept warm by THIS. Oh I’m in love….
Well, in about 4-5 weeks we’ll all hopefully know what the verdict is! ( I would love to know your guess:) comments please! )
No we’re not keeping the gender a surprise, but we are keeping the names a surprise. I’m awful… I mean really terrible… at keeping things to myself. So.. This should be interesting. At this point I’m still determined to give no clues even to names we like, so hopefully that’ll continue.
As far as the pregnancy… I think I’ve made it to that “honeymoon” period. I’m 15 weeks, and feeling a million times better than just a few weeks ago. I have energy again, and there are tons of foods I can eat compared to the first weeks. I might be almost (with the exception of Chinese food) a vegetarian for the whole pregnancy, but at this point… I’ll take anything over the way I was feeling!
Sorry for the picture-less post… I know it’s lame. And kinda boring. I’ve been lacking big time in the picture taking department. We’ve been to Des Moines and Minneapolis in the last 8 days, and I honestly have a few blurry pictures from the concert, and no pictures from this weekend to show for it. But… The bathroom remodel is almost done! So those pictures will be showing up soon.
And possibly a few of my growing mid section:)
This past 2 weeks has been a time of big changes at my parents house with their foster kids…
One huge change… we’re all missing Lacie love. 
Big news in Gabby’s life…. Kindergarten! In one week, she will start school. And her school bag is packed and ready, and if you stop over to visit she will show you each and every thing in her bag. She is a sponge, and is going to learn so much.
This past Saturday was Senia’s first birthday, and we couldn’t let it pass with out a party. 
…the Kroeze train will pull out of the station and will be traveling, well.. for a while. Some how every weekend for the next month or more just got really filled up in my little planner. The state fair is the first stop, which includes a concert by 2 of my favorite men… Keith Urban and Kris Allen ( American Idol winner from last season)
Anyway… We’ve had our share of home owner mishaps in the past week, and I’m ready to get out of here.
No that is not shiny carpet… it’s water of course on top of our carpet.
Wade’s man cave has seen better days…. and he is such a good husband. Through this all he’s told me over and over that I’m just not allowed in the basement. He would rather clean it up and fix it, than see my reaction to the mess I think… Thank you for that babe. 
We had our 12 week appointment earlier this week, and this was the best picture of little squirmer that we got. He/she is one active little peanut. Waved hello to mommy and daddy the whole entire time. (which meant every picture looked like a gray blurry blob… oh look how cute baby K is!) :) A little alienish looking if I can say so myself. (and I can cuz I'm the mama)
Update from today: Due date has moved back a few days; moved to (could have guessed this one)... February 14. I told you this was a love bug. February 9 wasn’t close enough I guess:) Which also means I get to live through most of week 12 one more time! I won’t complain, it’s been the best week so far.
In week 12 I was able to get through the day with out needing a nap and early bedtime. I was able to cook an actual meal, and eat it! :) I did not lose anymore weight this past week, and feel like I’m on the verge of starting the uphill gain in the weight department. Something normally I wouldn’t be publicly announcing, but in this case it’s needed. I lost 13 pounds, and tried 2 different medications for morning (day in my case) sickness, neither of which helped too much. But I’m happy to tell you; I’m drug free. :) I was not for taking any medication in the first place, and feel very relieved to be free of them.
We are so very thankful for the first trimester to be behind us, and looking so forward to what’s to come!
Funny story….
While we were at our appointment this week, our midwife was doing an ultrasound (portable scanner she has in her office) and she showed us our little baby with it’s moving arms and legs, and its little flickering heart… and then she turned the screen so I couldn’t see it. She went over and over my belly, just staring at the screen. She goes, “Okay I just have to show you this.”
I’m thinking… “oh my gosh, something is wrong.”
She says to us, half laughing, “when I move the wand in this direction we can clearly see one little body, and all it’s parts. But when I move it on another plain (the other direction) I’m not sure what I’m seeing. I see two different lines here”….
Oh you have to be kidding me. (In case you don’t know, Wade is an identical twin…so of course this was going through our heads from the beginning) She goes on for another 10ish minutes trying to figure out why from that direction she can see something else…. wondering if it’s another hiding baby.
Well, don’t get too excited. She decided our one single baby was lying in a funny position, and really does not think there are two babies. If there are… it is a magician of a baby who has managed to hide through the first 2 ultrasounds, and now got almost away with hiding through another. However, if we do find out at our next appointment (which she said there would be no more hiding by that point) they would be identical because there is clearly only one sac.
So we left the office with a good laugh, and a fuzzy picture of our one single growing baby who we love very much!
Saturday was her big day. 1st birthday.
The day we celebrated a year ago when her Daddy called in the middle of the night, and said she was here, and we could come to the hospital right now if we wanted... and I wanted. Wade said I could wait til morning, but I didn’t sleep much more that night. She was finally here…
That was the day we realized she had her mommy’s pretty blue eyes… and her daddy’s crazy hairline.
She got a little of her attitude from her aunt Kelsi. And her “ADD”…that’s from her mom and her dad. There is no sit in that little tush… she hates to be held, and is on the move constantly. She wants to be down, and on her own moving as she pleases.
And speaking of moving… her walks now. A little like a drunk baby, and it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Specially a little birthday baby in a tutu and a party hat.
And she has the coolest mom…
We ate dinner before the cake of course, and Jenny said to my brother “ don’t let her eat too much, she has to eat cake yet”. Only on her first birthday… :)
And none of them cried, or complained. This little princess (who was battling yet another ear infection) will be 1 in just a few weeks. We can’t wait to throw her a party too! 
