Zoo Day

I have never had so much fun going to the Zoo! Nana, Papa, David, and I took Gemma for a day trip to the St. Louis Zoo. She absolutely loved it. Initially she was a little perplexed, but quickly decided it was a fun place. The weather was beautiful, and although it was a little crowded, overall we couldn't have asked for a better day.

I had never actually been in the kid's zoo because you have to pay to get in, but Nana and Papa insisted...and I'm glad they did, it was definitely the highlight of the trip. One thing we know about Gemma, is that she's pretty fearless. There was no hesitation to get as close to the animals as she could. I think her favorite part was getting to pet the goats. It was priceless! There was one little goat that was especially tuckered out, so he just laid on the bench while several kids surrounded him. Gemma got to sit down while the goat put his head on her lap. Oh my goodness, did she ever feel cool!

The penguin house was pretty cool as well. It smelled terrible and it was freezing inside, but she seemed to like every second. A couple of the penguins were swimming around (it's amazing how fast they are) and then jumping out onto the rocks. She found that to be pretty entertaining. She especially liked it when one of them decided to flap its wing and get a bunch of us wet. I did NOT like that part. Not only was the water freezing, but it smelled like fish. Gemma didn't mind.
For lunch, we were able to get a perfect table that looked right over the lake with all the ducks, swans, flamingos, etc... She LOVED feeding bread to the ducks. She probably would have thrown a tantrum when we said it was time to go, had we not been going to ride the train next.

She was beyond cute on the train. She would say "woah it's dark" every time we went into a tunnel, and the rest of the time she passed around hugs. It was pretty sweet.
She didn't last much longer than the train ride. We got to the back of the zoo where some of the cooler (in my opinion) animals are, but I could tell she was getting pretty restless. So I picked her up, gave her her blanket and she immediately put her head on my shoulder and passed out. I'm not kidding when I say it was instantaneous. She must have been especially tired because she slept right though us putting her back in the stroller, making a stop at the gift shot, walking back to the car, me changing her diaper and taking her sweater off, and loading her into the car seat. She didn't wake up until we were about 20 miles away from Columbia.

It was such a fun day for all of us! I can't wait to do it again.

Not sure what to think yet.

Getting a closer look at the fish.

Making sure we're still close.

She liked the chickens that were just out and about

Showing Papa

Getting this picture was harder than you would think. Her face in this one cracks me up every time.

Looking at the hippos with daddy.

Ummmm not so sure about this.

The best part...the goats!

She is just precious!

Feeding the ducks with Nana.

The train ride.

Starting to get tired from all the walking.

And she's out.

18 Months

I have a crazy couple of days ahead of me so it was imperative that I wrote today, or who knows when I would be able to get to it.
Gemma and I spent this past weekend just us girls while Dad was away at a wedding. We had a pretty good time. I took her on a run with me one morning, and let me tell you...it's unbelievably hard to push a stroller on the trail when you're 22 weeks pregnant. At least it was a good workout. We even got to see two horses on the trail, which prompted Gemma to yell out "neigh!!" over and over again for the last mile (that's what a horse says by the way).
We unfortunately had pretty bad weather, but Gemma being the outdoorsy girl that she is wouldn't let that stop her, so I put her in her ridiculously cute rain coat and let her go outside. She immediately found the deepest puddle she could and stomped around in it for 20 minutes until I got cold and decided we better go in. She willingly went in without fussing only because I told her she was going to take a bath. She could live in water I think.
She had her 18 month check up today. I cannot believe she's a year and a half already. She weighs 25lbs and is 32 inches tall. Her pediatrician told me she was right on track to be 5'3" and weigh 175....He then started laughing when he saw my face expression. He reassured me it's perfectly normal for kids her age to be in a higher weight percentage than height. She's perfectly healthy and much to my relief was scheduled for NO SHOTS!!!

Baby update and Mother's Day

I meant to give a baby update last week but the week was over before I knew it. Everything looks great. Baby seems to be growing well and the heart rate was at 134 (slower than last time). My "big" ultrasound is scheduled for the 25th of this month, so hopefully I'll have some pictures of him/her to put up then. I've been reading a few stories about women who don't want to find out the gender of their baby ahead of time, but when they go in for the mid pregnancy ultrasound, they either accidentally see something, or the nurse/doctor accidentally says it out loud. For some reason I feel like that's going to happen to us. I'll just have to remind my doctor several times that we don't want to know. I'm excited to see the baby though.

We had a great Mother's Day yesterday. My parents came over and we had some yummy food, and watched Gemma play in the pool for two hours. It was her first time in the pool this year and she had a blast. I hung her swimsuit to dry on her bedroom door and it was the first thing she grabbed this morning...and then of course was very disappointed when I said she couldn't go swimming right then. I have a feeling that will be our main pass time this summer.

Pictures taken over the last few weeks

The Red Hat

This hat is a favorite with babies. Probably because they can see it from a very early age, due to the fact that is red...which has over time turned pink. It was in the basement this morning when Gemma came down and she has been wearing it ever since. I took a few pictures initially (which I'll post at a later time) but I had to take a video of her running around with it on. She must have gotten lots of sleep last night, she has been running around like this for a good 20 min.

Little girls everywhere!

I apologize (yet again) for the length of time between posts. It has been crazy busy around here. I recently started taking care of Zoey's little sister Ali who is only 8 weeks old, along with having Makinley come an extra day too. Needless to say, my mornings are a little chaotic. It has been fun but I have quickly realized that this is more than I can take on, so I have given my "two week notice", which is actually a two month notice since I said I would keep the girls through June. After that I will still have Makinley a few time a week, but only for a couple of hours, so most of the day will be just me and Gemma. I'm looking forward to that. Gemma has had a friend here every morning during the week since she was a month old. And with this being the last summer before there are two little Boyds running around, I want to make sure we get some good quality mom/daughter time. I've got big plans for us!

Baby #2 is doing well too. He or she is very active! I started feeling little kicks really early on, but in the last two weeks it has become more than just kicks. I'm pretty sure this baby is taking advantage of the room and swimming a few dozen laps a day. I absolutely love it. As all of you know, pregnancy is not my favorite thing in the world, but there is truly something special about feeling the baby move. That, I wouldn't trade for anything! We just turned 19 weeks yesterday, so the much anticipated "half-way" mark is just around the corner. I have a doctors appointment next Tuesday, so I'll give a heart rate update then.

Here is the only video I have taken all week. Gemma loves doing this. She's not very good at falling on time though, it's always too late or too early.

Gemma really likes...

bubbles and wearing hats

purses

posing

chips and salsa (takes after her mom)

Bubbles