Birthdays and Easter

Sorry, it has taken me a while to get her 2nd Birthday pictures up. Now with Matt's nice professional camera, I don't take that many pictures on my little camera. His are a better quality and turn out much nicer, but I have been waiting and waiting for him to help me with his photos so I can upload some on here (you have to use a special prgram to view and save his photos. I am not allowed to mess with unless he is there to help me :)). Well that still hasn't happened, so I guess we will be using some of mine from my camera. (There aren't as many and I didn't get any pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt or the individual family pictures... When he finally gets them on the computer, I will put those pictures up.)

Avree's 2nd birthday fell on Easter this year, so we decided to have her party back in Iowa. We spent the weekend in West Des Moines at a hotel, went swimming and met up with some family on Saturday. Brian (Uncle Boo) and Chaeli came Saturday afternoon to WDSM and hung out with us (and stayed with us that night). Then that night we all met up with my dad, Barb, Shelly, Jack and Jay. We came to our hotel, went swimming and ordered pizza. A fun, relaxing night.
The next morning (Avree and my dad's birthday) we all went to church in WDSM (Hope Church- great service) then headed back to our hotel where Avree's birthday celebration was taking place. It was a great turn out and we are so thankful for our wonderful family who joined us to celebrate. I still can't believe she is 2 already!!
After we had lunch, opened gifts and ate cake, we all headed outside for an Easter Egg hunt. Kaiya was super fast and got the majority of the eggs. Avree by this time had had enough and was exhausted (way past her nap time) so she was cranky as could be. Didn't want to "find" the eggs and wouldn't listen to anyone. And of course we decided to try and get family pictures taken then. Ya, Avree wouldn't have it! Most of the pictures of the grandkids/grandparents are of her screaming crying. Poor thing! We did get a couple of her not crying (as long as I was in the photo, holding her).
After that we started packing up the car, and had put Avree in her car seat.. no more than 2 minutes later she was OUT! Slept the whole way home and even slept all night. She was VERY tired to say the least.

Swimming Saturday night- Cousin Kaiya and Avree

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Johnson Family

Daddy and Avree

Easter Morning

Party Time!
We had just showed up in the party room and Avree saw all her presents just sitting there and thought... I am going to try some of these out! It's my birthday and I can do what I want! So off she went on the tricycle... Little stinker (Thanks Gma and Gpa Hansch! She loves the tricycle)

Cake!

We can't forget about another special person's birthday. I think it is so neat that my dad and Avree share the same birthday. A special bond they will always have!

Still riding it.....

Easter Bunny Jack

What a GREAT weekend with Family!!



Thought I would also throw in a pregnancy photo- 16 weeks already!

Comparing Pregnancies

Now that the surprise it FINALLY out, I can talk more about how this pregnancy is going and compare it to the first one. Our Due Date is at the end of September. (I just hope this baby isn't going to be like it's sister and come a week late, which would put the date in October!!) I guess I can't really do anything about that, though :-)
I added a poll on the right hand side of our blog (Guess the gender of Baby Melhus 2), so I thought I would help you in making a guess and tell you all the crazy symptoms I have had (and even compare them with my 1st pregnancy).

Morning Sickness-
*pregnancy 1- I had morning sickness kick in at 6 weeks and wasn't over till 16 weeks or even later! I probably got sick atleast once a day. Not fun!

*Pregancy 2- I have had some nausea here and there and have gotten sick a couple time (I get sick so easily. Pregnant or not!) I started feeling "icky" around 9 weeks when we were leaving for MX. I really think it had more to do with my nerves than morning sickness. I gag So easy. If I gag once, it usually turns into me getting sick. (I can't stop it) I was brushing my teeth the other day and started brushing my tongue and sure enough I started gagging and got sick. So not sure how much this pregnancy is really "Morning Sickness" and is just "nerves" or my "gagging"problem.

Fatigue-
* Pregnancy 1- From the day I found out I was pregnant and well into my 2nd trimester, all I wanted to do was sleep. I would get home around 6 during the week, (try and eat something) and be in bed by 7! I would then sleep till 7/7:30 the next morning!

*Pregnancy 2- I have been tired but nothing like the 1st time around. I go to bed pretty easy (around 8/9 PM) but I usually end up waking up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and then can't fall back to sleep. I hate it!

Heartburn-
*Pregnancy 1- Never knew what it felt like. I thought I had it but it was very, very mild!

*Pregnancy 2- OUCH! I think a lot of it is caused by my "bubbly stomach". I get these sharp side aches, which then turn into terrible heartburn. I know they say, Heartburn means your kids going to have hair when it's born... Well I could care less if I have another bald baby because I don't want heartburn anymore!

Lazy- (I am making up my own pregnancy symptom)
*Pregnancy 1- Besides sleeping the 1st trimester and some of my 2nd trimester away, I was always busy. I couldn't sit still. I cleaning this and that and picking up this and that... never had a break (Also while I was working 45+ hr work week.)

*Pregnancy 2- I can't believe I let my house get this messy, for days at a time!! That is not like me. I would rather sit around..be lazy (watch Avree play) than pick up our dishes from breakfast or lunch. And it stays that way till the next day, if not the day after!! It has even gotten bad in the laundry room! I will actually wash a couple loads of laundry and then by the time they get done drying, they just sit there and sit there and sit there. Again for days (which this is NOT like me)
I guess it's God's way of preparing me to relax, and not worry about cleaning, "cause you are not going to have anytime with 2 kids". LOL

Breaking out-
*Pregnancy 1- I couldn't ever keep my face clear. I swear I would get a new break out every week, if not every couple days. It didn't matter what I used for my face, it WAS going to break out.

*Pregnancy 2- I am so thankful I don't have this problem. I have gotten a break out every now and then, but for the most part my face has been clear since the beginning of this pregnancy.

I have had some ups and downs with this pregnancy, like I did with the 1st but I am so excited to experience this journey again! Right now all the bad out weighs the good, but at the end of all this the good definitely out weighs the bad (you just have to get to the end to feel that way.. haha)
We feel so blessed and we can't wait to bring another child into our home. Whether that be a boy or girl, we will be happy!! :-)



Week 15 (Pregnancy 2)

15 weeks (Pregnancy 1)

Avree's 2 year check-up

Avree had her 2 year check up today and everything looks good. No shots today (all up to date till kindergarten!!). She is still a little peanut but growing..slowly :) Her height is average (50%) and her weight is in the 5-10%. So you can imagine it is super hard to find pants that fit her. She needs atleast 18 month- 2T for length but she needs like a 3-6 month waist!! I am glad summer is almost here cause we don't have a problem with shorts being long enough. I started pulling out all her new and old summer stuff and most of the shorts from the past summers will fit!! (she has a 0-3 month that fit her perfectly!)
We figured she is going to be pretty skinny (& average height) cause Matt and I were pretty little for most of our childhood. But the Dr. wasn't concerned about it, so we aren't either. :-)
They did tell us that developmentally she is around a 3 year old! That's always nice to hear to she "ahead" of schedule. Her vocabulary has been really expanding and there is starting to be new "words" that we have know idea what she is saying.
This weekend I plan on getting her 2nd birthday party pictures up! So don't forget to check out the blog after this weekend.

What has the Melhus clan been up too...???

I am so sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog. I could probably write about something every week, but I figured people are mostly wanting to see pictures (which I never feel like taking the time to upload all of them)
Anyways, this is just going to be a post about this past month (sorry no pictures)
Matt and I took off for Mexico at the end of February and left Avree in the hands of grandparents! That was the first time I have left her that long and of course I missed her but it was so nice to have a week to myself :-) I knew she would have a blast back in Pella and I knew the grandparents would be kept on their toes :p

March- I can't believe how fast the month of March has gone! March is a busy month for us, as we seem to have birthdays almost every week. Matt celebrated his 26th birthday alone! Avree and I were gone over his birthday, spending some time in Greenville, SC. I know Matt wished we were home with him but he had a nice relaxing weekend catching up on "Matt" stuff. But don't feel too bad for Matt that his family wasn't home for his birthday.. I celebrated my 25th birthday last weekend and Matt was in VEGAS for a bachelor party! (See why I didn't feel too bad leaving him on his birthday, HA) I kept busy though. My dad, Barb, sister and Jack come Friday night to spend some time with me. Dad and Barb left Saturday night (after taking me out to supper for my birthday). Shelly and I had a nice relaxing Saturday night watching tv and movies. Then Sunday afternoon my mom came! They both left on Tuesday. So I have had quite the company this weekend/week. I am glad I get to rest (probably will be cleaning) these next couple days, before more company this weekend :-) Saturday we have Matt's parents coming to celebrate Easter with Avree. We are having an Easter egg hunt and egg coloring! I know Easter is still another weekend away, but with Avree's birthday falling on Easter (and the day we are having her party) they wanted some time with just Avree.
I still can't believe Avree will be 2 next weeekend!!! She already acts older than 2 though. She wants to do everything herself. "No help Momma"! It is nice to not have to do everything for her but I do miss my "baby".

Hope everyone is doing well! Take Care

Quick Update

Sorry I haven't been good at updating the blog. We haven't really had much to blog about. We have been staying inside where it's warm and cozy. We haven't had that much snow which has been nice and when we do it starts melting by the next day.
Avree was sick a couple weeks ago with Strep and about a month ago I think she had the 12hr flu! Poor thing. It's so funny cause the first year and half of her life she was never sick and now she seems to be picking up everything that's going around. Atleast her immune system is building up so when it's school time hopefully she won't get sick that much. (I'm signing her up for 2 part time days at preschool starting next school year.)
Matt and I leave for Mexico in a little over a week!! We are so excited to have a week of no responsibilities :)
I am really going to miss Avree but I know she will have a good time with the grandparents. It will be good for her to have a break from
me too ;)
Hope everyone is having a good week!! We don't really have anything planned for Valentines Day.. I told Matt all I wanted was cake from
a bakery :) yum!! I love bakery cake!!
Well hopefully I will have some fun stuff to write about soon :) haha

Oklahoma City

Last week Avree and I decided to make the trek to OKC with Matt. He was there for work so Avree and I thought we would join him for a "mini vacation". We went swimming (no surprise there) pretty much everyday and went to the Zoo. We were hoping to get to the aquarium and children's museum but they were over an hour away. I didn't really feel like making a 2.5 hr drive by myself. But the zoo was awesome and were the only people there. Ha. Cold weather doesn't stop us :-)








In the hotel room... waiting on dad to take her swimming.. (Listening to Matt's music)



Still waiting on dad...

"CHEESE!!"

Christmas Part 1 and New Years Eve

McCulla Christmas



Visiting Santa at the Bass Pro Shop



New Years Eve
We had a pretty low key New Years, which was nice! Some high school friend of ours live on the Kansas side, and they had a couple people over to ring in the new year. Avree actually stayed up with us till midnight (she had a nap around 6 pm) but went to sleep shortly after that. :-)

Loves the cell phone!

Loves Feet!!



I have a ton more Christmas pictures (Melhus Christmas and my moms's Christmas) but I am having troubles getting them to upload on here. They were taken with Matt's professional camera and I think the file size is too big. I will be sure to post them once I figure it out.