Vacation Part 2: Bocce Ballin'

On our trip we had no set agenda. Nothing planned. Nowhere we HAD to go. We got to stay out of the beach as late as we wanted. And we took full advantage of that. (Except the first night when my hunger and low blood sugar made us eat dinner at 5:30!) One evening we broke out Bocce Ball. I love this game! I'm not the greatest--but sometimes I hit a lucky streak. I was feeling confident so I declared a boys vs. girls matchup. Not my smartest move. The guys mutilated us. But we had so much fun. I have a really good picture of Heather rolling in the sand practically peeing her pants in laughter, but since I got in trouble over the excited face in the last post, I'll refrain from making it public. Growl.

Look at that form! He must be a professional Bocce Baller.

He also thinks I need help with my game. I don't.

A rare victory set.

We are not sore losers.

I hope I get to play lots more games of Bocce at backyard cookouts this summer. I will win a game. I will.

Vacation Part 1: The Beach

Last week I left my baby girl for a much needed relaxing vacation to Florida. My plan was to rest, relax, sleep, read, and eat. I did all of the above. I knew I would miss my Ingrid Catey Bear but I had no idea how much. It was HARD. Very, very hard to be away from her for that long. But I knew she was having fun with her Nana, Grandpa, and Uncle Darren, so I tried to let it go. Tried. haha. Derek and I headed out with Heather and Ross around 11 PM (after Derek's 10 year High School reunion). The guys drove the whole way and Derek made an awesome playlist just for the trip. He got requests from each of us about a week before we left and purchased lots of songs on iTunes so we could jam to our faves. It was so much fun. We arrived in Destin to beautiful weather--clear skies, 90 degree heat, and a warm ocean breeze! Heather was the most excited upon arriving.



As soon as we checked into our condo, we didn't waste any time. We were ready to hit the beach! How could we not? This was the tempting view from our balcony.

But sun safety first--Derek and I piled on half a bottle of sunscreen before catching some rays. Seriously--by the third morning, Derek and Ross had to run to the store to buy more sunscreen. The four of us had drained three brand new bottles of sunblock. That's what happens when your skin is as white as ours.  (And I felt super "dark" since I had been self-tanning at home for two weeks prior.  LOL)


This is the resting, relaxing, and sleeping part I mentioned. I also got to read two wonderful books courtesy of Heather. Heaven is for Real and The Room. I strongly recommend both. I loved them so much.

I got a few 16 week belly shots in my suits by the shore.

This was the first trip the four of us had ever taken together and it did not disappoint! We had more fun than I even dreamed. So many laughs--I think that's how I didn't gain any weight on the trip--haha. Too many calories burned from laughing my head off. I can't wait for many, many more trips with my sis and brother-in-law!

Did I mention that we missed our girls?

Father's Day

"It takes a special man to father a daughter." --Anonymous
"Certain is that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." --Joseph Addison



I love watching Ingrid with her dada. She adores him. Looks up to him. Searches the house for him if he's not there. She loves to read with him, play dolls with him, wrestle with him, swim with him, and cuddle with him. I've been with Derek for almost 12 years and seeing him as an outstanding father with our baby girl is my favorite thing. I'm so happy she will have a hero to look up to for many years to come.


My dad is my hero. He always has been. He's the strongest, smartest, bravest, coolest dad there is. I look up to him with everything I have. He played cabbage patch dolls and barbies. Gave me rides on his back. Made out tests to help me study. Practiced basketball with me for hours. Moved me into my dorm. Took a vacation to the Mall of America. Walked me down the aisle. Loves my baby Ingrid to death. He's my dad.
I didn't get to see Daniel Sunday. But I can't go without saying what a wonderful father-in-law I have. He is selfless, loving, giving, hard-working, funny, and Mr. Fix-It. He has given up countless hours to help turn our house into a home. He will drop what he's doing in an instant to spend time with Ingrid. He is a wonderful grandpa and my husband's hero. Here's to dads!!!

Bambino Update

We had our first ultrasound today and first and foremost, everything looks healthy with our baby! Thank you for all the prayers. We were both very nervous going in and we are so thankful for a wonderful report. Secondly--IT'S A GIRL! We are thrilled to have another precious girl in our family. I think I was more emotional finding out this time just thinking about all the fun the two of them will have together. We saw every little part of her (our u.s. tech was phenomenal--I loved her so much). We got tons and tons of pictures and some good 3-D images of her face. She was even signing "I love you" in one pic! She was measuring at 7 oz which is a little larger than 17 weeks. She kept pushing out with her hands as if she was trying to move the wand away and was sucking her thumb and chewing on her fingers. We have a healthy, fiesty, active little girl. It was a great Monday morning. During my regular check-up, everything was on track too. Blood pressure was still great. Still haven't gained any weight. I'm just waiting for that visit where I gain 9 pounds at once like last time!! I compared pics from my last pregnancy and I am definitely showing at lot more at 17 weeks than I was with Ingy.


Ingrid, me, and pics of her new baby sis! Doesn't she look happy? She is such a joy and I'm over the moon excited to give her a sister. A best friend and playmate for life. She doesn't even know it yet, but I can't wait until she does.

Uh-Oh

We might have a dare-devil on our hands. Or at least a climber. After weeks of trying to figure out how to climb up the outside of the crib, Ingrid Cate has figured it out.

Blue Suit

You all know I have an obsession with swim suits. And it just carries over to buying them for my daughter. Little girl suits are so precious. I see them everywhere and just want to buy, buy, buy. BUT I don't. I have had very good restraint in this department. I have only bought the girl one suit. The cute one she wore on her first swim at the family reunion. All the other suits have been gifts or hand-me-downs. This blue suit is Ingrid's first two-piece. It's covered in polka dots and cute as can be. It was a gift from Gammy. We scored it at a garage sale a friend was having. She was selling nothing but little girl clothing. We hit the jack-pot, finding things for all three girls! This swimsuit was one of my favorite things we got.

We got some splash balls at Target the other day and Ingrid has had so much fun with them. She can throw the ball really well. She tries to catch it when Derek throws it back but it usually just splashes her. She loves splashes. I actually got one of her few catches in a snap!




Ingrid normally stays in her pool for quite a while, but this time she decided it would be really fun to crawl in and out of the pool a hundred times. She thought it was a blast. She would crawl over the edge, turn around, and crawl right back in.

After several hundred times, she got a little too confident and started going in and out very quickly. Ingrid did her first face dive into the water and got a big mouthful.

She coughed it out like a champ and went right back to in and out. I decided out was a better choice and dried my blue-suited-beauty off. Ingrid loves being in her swimsuits because it's no diaper time. She gets a little chance to air out. She wasn't quite ready for jammies, so she and her daddy decided a couple of books would be a nice way to end the evening.

Summer=Swimsuits

I've always been mildly obsessed with swimsuits. I love them. I won't lie. I have way, way, way too many bikinis. I've never worn the same suit twice on a trip to the beach. I just love them. But my love affair with those cute, tiny suits has come to an end. It started in the Summer of 2009. Derek and I always plan our summer vacation to the beach. That particular summer we ventured to a new, unfamiliar place that definitely wasn't the beach. CHICAGO! We had such a fun time sightseeing in the city. But I didn't get to wear any of my cute suits. There isn't a pool in our town that I can really go to, we don't have one at our house, and we have no boat for the lake. So, unless I go to the beach, my suit-wearing days are numbered. Along comes the Summer of 2010. I was HUGELY pregnant and didn't want to invest in an expensive one-piece suit. We weren't going to the beach because I was due early July and it's a twelve hour drive to get there, so no new suits were bought. A time did arise for us to swim, however. So I squeezed myself into an old suit. It was a mighty scary sight, but we were just going to the creek--it didn't really matter right?? The last time I donned a suit I looked like this:

But now, here we are in the Summer of 2011. And I am going to the beach. And I do need a suit. I cannot squeeze myself into an old suit anymore. Plus, I'm at that weird 16 week stage where I don't really look big and pregnant, but I don't look like my old self. Just in-between. Here comes Mom to the rescue. She bought be an early birthday present. A NEW SWIMSUIT. A deliciously retro-inspired, red and white, polka dot, skirted, ruched, one-piece! I love it so, so much and I can't wait to wear it. I might be wearing it right now as you read this post. I had to get another one-piece suit because I couldn't just have one for the WHOLE summer! So I got a simple black, deep-V, criss cross, ruched number from Target. It's cuter on than in the pic (I think) but it pales in comparison to the birthday present! Thanks again mom. I am once again excited to wear a swimsuit--even if it's not a beloved bikini!

Bambino Update

Exactly one week from today, D and I will be heading to the doc for our first sneak peek at our bambino. We would appreciate prayers for a healthy report on our little gal or guy. And of course a little immodesty would be nice too! I'm dying to know who our precious bam is! (Nursery planning, name searching, and clothes buying might be in the back of my mind too...) I've been feeling really good. I already mentioned that my appetite is back. My headaches are waning. My energy is being restored. I have, however, developed a lazy eye. Since I've never, ever had a lazy eye I think it's pregnancy related. And I've researched it, and it seems others have had it too. I need to make an appointment to see what I can do about this little left eye. Or I could go by Left Eye in honor of TLC...

I'm anxious to clock the heart rate this time since I forgot to even ask in the midst of the excitement at my 12 week appointment. And this babe is a mover. I thought I felt movement as early as 12 weeks and thought surely I was crazy. But I guess I wasn't. I have been feeling increasing movement ever since. Around week 14, bambino decided to really kick it up a notch and there has been movement nonstop. Especially when I sneeze! I'll be counting down the days this week. June 20th, here we come!

Summer Play Days

I've officially been out of school for a week. And I love playing "stay-at-home-mom." Ingrid and I have had so much fun already. In just one week! We get to wake up and stay in our jammies for a while if we want.

We might read a book about a certain Little Critter (my personal faves).

We play with blocks. I stack blocks for Ing and she knocks them down and laughs so hard. We do it again and again! She's even started stacking her own towers.

We make funny faces wile we try to make silly sounds. Derek gets to come home at lunch and play. He's even there to help a girl get a water break when the playing gets tiring.

We get every single toy out and make big messes. And give bears and dollies big kisses.

And sometimes we get dressed up and meet Derek for a lunch date out! These are some fun summer play days.

A Few of Ing's Favorite Things

As school was winding down, Mom and Dad informed me that Ingrid was starting to repeat all the colors on her stackable rings! She would do it for them over and over but when I got off work and headed in to see her she was done playing with those rings! So Derek and I started saying all the colors on her musical flower toy to see if she would repeat them for us. And it worked! Her two favorite colors seem to be purple and yellow. She loves to say those two the best. Her little tiny voice is hilarious as she says them too. Seeing how her two favorite colors are indeed purple and yellow, I had to get her something special to celebrate her color choices.

Obviously her favorite team is the Lakers! It might not be mine, or Derek's, but a girl is entitled to her own opinion, right? When I saw this "Lakers girl for life" shirt, I had to purchase it. Maybe she is just subconsciously channeling her mom...????

We've established Ingrid Cate's favorite colors. Here are few more of her favorite things.
Magnets. She loves playing with her animal magnets at the refrigerator. She usually picks the cat, dog, zebra, panda, giraffe, and duck. She gives each one to me and says "Thank You!"

Cards. We keep all the cards Ingrid gets for holidays and other occasions in a cubby in her white bookshelf. She absolutely loves to get each card out and "read" it. She opens them over and over and over. Sometimes they get ripped or ruined. But I've decided I'm okay with that. It's better that she enjoys them now I think. And she definitely enjoys them.

Fake pout. Ingrid has her fake pout cry down to an art. She puts her top lip over her bottom and then puffs the bottom lip in and out with such a pitiful little cry. But it's all fake. Just to get what she wants. My dad thinks it's hilarious. Me, not so much! This particular fake pout cry is for "MOOOORE PUFF-PUFFS!"

Silkies. Ingy poo loves her blankets. She has a little one and a big one. I call them silkies. She has decided to call them "Night-nights." I guess because I always tell her they are only for night-night. She loves to try to sneak them out of her bed and cuddle with them. I'll say "No-no Ingrid Cate. Those are just for night-night." Sometimes she succeeds in getting them out of her crib. She's just a little proud of herself when she wins.


Ingrid has so many favorite things. She loves playing, loves her toys, loves her books, loves her swing, but I think she loves her mama best of all!