Blah blah blah....and blah. Long one.

We had a fun weekend. We went to the cities and Kaitlyn was very good, even in the car. She got to play with her cousin Taylor a lot and they are so cute to watch together. My favorite thing is when one of them laughs at the other, then the other will laugh back. Too cute! Poor Kaitlyn gets pretty excited exploring new places though and throughout the weekend she ended up with several bumps and bruises. A couple of pretty good ones too.

On Saturday we went to Cabela's and showed Kaitlyn the fish in the aquarium there, and all the huge animal displays. And of course I could not go to Cabela's without getting Maple fudge from the fudge shop. If you've never been there...try to go sometime when you are in the area. They have a crap load of awesome kinds of fudge. You can try free samples of whatever you want, and they are always running specials (like this weekend was buy 4 pieces get 2 free). I LOVE their maple fudge but am also beginning to think I like the raspberry cheesecake fudge almost as much. So those are the two kinds I got, and then Andy got a peanut butter one and an Almond Joy one. I am not much for peanut butter/chocolate combos, or Almond personally.

Later in the day we took Taylor and Kaitlyn to the park. Kaitlyn was a little cranky unfortunately, because it turned out she was hungry. Falling face first onto the cement on a basketball court didn't help either...she got a good egg on her forehead out of that one! Which was weird because it didn't look like she hit her head, but the huge bump, and now black and blue mark, says otherwise.

Then after Kaitlyn went to bed, Andy and I headed to babies R Us. It is a good thing there isn't one near me in Duluth because Andy or I would have to take up a second job just to pay for my shopping if there was! And now that we have 2 to shop for instead of 1...well we spent a good amount of money let's just say that. I got some fun things like toys and clothes (for both girls) but also some essentials like crib sheets for the new baby, a new changing pad cover, soaps and lotion and what not for Kaitlyn, new nipples for our bottles and more. (Even if I breastfeed successfully which hopefully I will, I will want them for if I pump. Plus the likelihood of continuing breastfeeding past 3 months isn't too high anyways with my current work, so I will need them eventually either way). We stocked up on diapers (the prices there are great and plus they have huge cases of the brand we buy...case sizes that we can't find in Duluth). We got Kaitlyn's size (3) and a case of size 1's for "baby G". I think I should call her baby G until we have a name. G as in Ganoe of course...not that we are using a first name that starts with G. Anyways...I love Babies R Us and had a lot of fun....had to thank Andy for letting us spend the money without having a heart attack. We were also there towards closing time and I think ended up being about the last customers in there. They closed at 9:30 and we left around 9:20-9:25.

Saturday night was a little rough. We were sleeping in a different room than the night before, and this room was pitch black so I think when Kaitlyn woke up to such darkness, she got scared. She ended up sleeping with us in bed...not a habit we want to form since she has been such a dream (seriously, we have been incredible lucky) as far as sleeping in her own crib goes...but we had to do it. Poor girl sounded terrified once she really got going. At home the window probably shows some very, very dim light, as well as the power light on the monitor. So she isn't used to the pitch dark. She may have a nightmare too, who knows.

On Sunday we went to the Underwater Adventures aquarium in the Mall of America. It is fun to visit every now and then, and it was great watching Kaitlyn. Most of the time she was just looking all around. She was probably like "Wow, what the heck is this?!" She would follow big fish or sharks as they swam above our heads. Towards the end Andy said she was starting to point too. He was getting worried that she might freak out when we left, but she didn't. Oh and we we took a few pics, hopefully we can get those uploaded soon.

After the the mall, we started heading home. Partways home we stopped to eat and feed Kaitlyn, then went to the outlet mall so that I could go to the Carter's store....and I bought my girls even more clothes. Some really cute stuff for baby G and a lot of cute summer stuff for Kaitlyn. Again had to thank Andy for letting me, and for not having a heart attack at the $$$. Thanks hun! Now that Kaitlyn is a full time walker I've been meaning to get her good shoes to wear outside (not the flexible shoes she wears now) and I found a really cute pair there. Unfortunately they didn't have the size we wanted, so we settled for another pair. Turns out that pair is just as cute...we got them home and realized they have little flashing lights on them. Didn't realize that in the store, but they are pretty darn cute. We also stopped in a kitchen store and got a few new things, and checked out a toy store but didn't find too much there. Oh and SO exciting...I got my first pregnancy comment from a stranger. The check out lady at the kitchen store was talking to Kaitlyn and commenting how cute she is, then looked at me and said "And it looks like there is another in the oven!". This is very exciting because it means I am showing enough that people are comfortable mentioning it withtout fear that I might actually just be fat. Anyways...finally, it was straight home (except a stop at the gas station). Kaitlyn got really mad in the car for the last 20 minutes or so, but overall was amazing...considering she was in the car for the drive to the mall, then the mall to the outlet mall and then again all the way home...and in between driving was mostly in her stroller.

When we were just a couple of minutes away, Andy and I started telling her we were almost home. When we said that, she stopped crying and started clapping. It was really cute! Of course our cats were glad to see us...they always are after we've been gone. Kaitlyn was glad too, and was mostly smiles for the rest of the evening. We talked to our parents who told us that it was snowing in Crane Lake and Cook. Pretty crazy since when we left, it was 70 degrees in the cities. The sun was out in full force and it was almost HOT. Duluth was cloudly and a little chilly...but not snowing.

I have noticed lately that my feet are starting to swell up at the end of the day or after being on them a lot. Fun times! I also have been feeling Braxton-Hicks contractions already ("fake" or "practice" contractions...painless but still weird). I never really felt them with Kaitlyn so this is new.

Now tonight I am trying to be awake since I have to sleep tomorrow. I got up at 2 am and had the most amazing meal ever....a bowl of cereal. I realized I have been craving a bowl of cereal (rice krispies to be specific) since last week. We ran out of milk though...luckily my dear husband is amazing and ran to the store to get me some milk tonight after we got home. Even after being in the car for hours, he ran back out to get me milk. And let me tell you it was great. Thank you Andy! That is one thing that is the same as last pregnancy...I crave skim milk. Oh well, its not such a bad thing to be craving!

Okay, I am getting scared for the summer. I am going to be huge and pregnant and overheating. People have been reminding me of this a lot lately and I am getting freaked out. It will all be worth it though!

I am hoping that next weekend is nice because it is the fishing opener and we would like to go to Crane Lake. Andy's parents are in a new cabin this year which I haven't seen yet. And I want to catch fish, and maybe say hi to people I don't see often, and visit Vermilion falls. Love it there...when we worked at Voyagaire we used to spend a ton of time there. Many evenings we could be found walking there and just hanging out. Andy and I developed our initial friendship there...spent lots of time talking and getting to know eachother. And of course any time we go up to Crane for a weekend, we still go there. Now we can take Kaitlyn too (last summer we took her but she was too little to really notice her surroundings) and so that will be fun.

If you are still reading....bravo. This was a long one. I am just bored and need something to keep me awake. I don't know what I will do now though...maybe check out some of the blogs I like to read. (One really funny one from a labor and delivery nurse, one funny one from a Pharmacist, one where the girl has been trying to get pregnant for a couple of years and just finally did, and one written by a dad whose wife died the day after delivering their daughter. She died of a Pulmonary Embolism...blood clot. Was getting out of bed to go see her baby for the first time (she was born early so I think she was in the NICU), said she felt light headed, passed out, and died. Anyhow all of those blogs are addicting!!!

So...yeah...have a great day!