You were right!

I figured my trivia would be pretty obvious and by now the news is officially out on Facebook (which makes all news "official" doesn't it?).  So you all guessed it right and...

WE'RE EXPECTING BABY #2!!!!!

Wooo-hooooooo!!!

Like our little Jakey, #2 is a pretty unexpected surprise as well, but I just can't get over how excited I am this time around!  Don't get me wrong, I was excited about Jake, too (at least after the initial few days of shock) but I think a little bit of anxiety and nervousness can cloud that a little bit the first time around.  This time, I'm just ecstatic!  I mean, now i know that I can handle a newborn and at least know somewhat to expect.  I know all babies are different, but with one under my belt my confidence level in my ability to parent has definitely improved.  I mean, so far so good with Jake, right?

So what's the scoop?  Well... due to that pesky blood clot situation last year let's just say that our methods of birth control are pretty limited.  As in, I have to do a pretty darn good job at keeping a watch on the calendar for potential baby making weeks.  And while I am very good at this step, I'm often times not so great at communicating that to my husband.  So let's just say that baby #2 is due to a lack of communication between the two of us!  In fact, I was certain of it the day it happened... I just knew.  Fertility runs in this family (and apparently on the Mauney side, too, since we're expecting  a niece on that side in July... yay!) and as easy as it was the first time around and based on the date, I had a hunch.  So I did what any patient (right!) gal would do and tested 5 days early.  Yep, the earliest you can possible test.  Again, I'm good at watching the calendar.  And what did I get?  A very faint pink line.  Emphasis on very.  So what did I do?  Waited a whopping 24 hours and tried again!  And what did I get?  You guessed it... the same thing as the first time!  And even though I know that a faint line is still a positive, I still needed more proof before I came out with it to Josh.  So I spent the loads of money on the digital test and BAM!  There it was in black and white: Pregnant.  Yup, I was right all along!

So then came the fun of telling the hubby.  Josh once told me that he wanted to find out in a "cool way" but all of my ideas included too much waiting (for particular occasions mostly) and I had already kept it to myself for three whole days!  Plus, my best friend was coming into town and I wanted to make sure I had told Josh before I spilled the beans to her!  So after I took the digital test my "super cool" way was to simply lay it on the sink downstairs and call Josh into the bathroom.  "Honey," I said, "I think there is something wrong with the bathroom sink."  "What's it doing?" he asked.  "Uhhhhh, it won't turn on," I replied.  I hadn't thought this through very well.  A confused look fell upon his face.  Granted, this is the bathroom that he slaved over to renovate (and I hadn't thought that part through either) so what I didn't realize was that all sorts of 'oh no, we did something wrong' thoughts were racing through his mind.  He got up, walked through the house and I followed him.  As we went through the kitchen he asked, "does the kitchen sink work?"  "Uhhh... I don't know.  I haven't checked."  He stopped and watched as I walked to the sink and turned it on, all the while I'm trying not to roll my eyes.  Just get to the bathroom already, was what I was thinking!  Of course, the kitchen sink worked fine.  So Josh walked into the bathroom (finally!), turned on the sink, looked at me with a concerned (for my mental health I'm sure) expression on his face, and walked out.  Seriously.  He didn't even see the test sitting right in front of his face!  "Ummm, I think you need to look again."  Insert concerned (for my mental health) expression again.  After a little more prompting he finally went back in there, but this time upon reaching for the faucet he just froze.  YES!  Then, as if in slow motion, he turned to face me, his eyes wide and mouth agape.  I quickly nodded and smiled at him as it all sank in.  Although it probably wasn't the "coolest way" to tell him, I thoroughly enjoyed literally seeing the wheels turn in his head as it all made sense.  "Seriously?" he finally said.  "Yep!  Congratulations, Daddy!" I replied excitedly.  I'm still a little surprised that he did not pass out!

It took a couple of days for it to really sink in for him and until we saw the ultrasound pics I think it just didn't really seem real.  Well, for me it did because I learned quickly that if I wasn't either eating or full ALL THE TIME that I would be nauseous.  Hence the six pounds I have already gained at ten weeks.  Nice!  But last week we got to see our baby lima bean and hear his or her very healthy heartbeat, so all is good in babyland.  But I'll just let you see for yourself:

Just look at those cute little stubs for arms and legs!  Jake got to come to the appointment, too, and see his little sibling, but he was much more interested in the lollipop that he got to eat!  And the stats?  Let's see, we are...

• How far along?  10 weeks today, due on October 2nd
• Feeling so far?  Pretty normal.  I had the not-eating-or-full nausea early on and wanted to nap all the time there for awhile, but even that has pretty much passed
• Craving?  Oh gosh, everything!  A lot of fruit and veggies, but I'm just loving all food!
• Gender preference?  We would love a girl considering that there are no girl grandbabies on my side of the family, but we'd love a boy, too, since they'd be 18 months apart and little buddies growing up.  My inkling is girl, and I was right the last time, but who knows.

With the baby news, I will admit that I took some time away from blogging in order to take naps instead, but hopefully I can catch up.  I have a ton of stuff to get on here about Jake's latest antics and I'm sure this week we'll add to it since Jake and I are visiting sunny Florida.  We've been here for less than 24 hours and have been outside non-stop!  So hopefully with all of the extra babysitters around here I can get caught up!  But of course, he now has to share the spotlight, so I might as well get him used to it early!

Wednesday Morning Trivia...

Have I mentioned today how much I love my blog readers?  No?  Oh, that was yesterday... but to reiterate, I am giving my readers a little Wednesday morning quiz found only here.  It might hit Facebook in a day or two, but you guys get it here first... that's how much I love you!

So let's see if you can figure out what is going on here in Mauneyland...

• I recently started taking one preventative blood thinner shot per day
• My appetite for my beloved Mexican food has vanished
• I'm loving fruit, ice cream, and Arby's Beef'n'Cheddar combo meals
• I am very much looking forward to the fall

Any guesses????

Blog Woes...

Calling all fellow bloggers!  I was wondering if any of you are having any troubles posting video to your blogs lately?  It seems that every time I try to load one I just get the little spinning wheel at the bottom of the page telling me that Blogger is busy loading my video.  That doesn't ever go away and my video doesn't ever load... it's very strange and a bit frustrating.  Soooo... do any of you have that problem?  If so, is there a setting somewhere that I need to change?  All of them are pretty short clips from my Flip camera, so I can't imagine that they're too big to load.  I successfully loaded the last ones by uploading them to YouTube first, but I'm trying to get around the extra step, so any advice would be appreciated.  The videos I want to post are backing up and making blogging a challenge... I already have to squeeze in my blogging as it is, so these frustrations are not helping!

Ok, that's it... a little blog-venting I guess!  Please help if you've experienced this!  And a always, thanks for reading!  I promise some really good stuff soon!

Vay-cay!

I have reluctantly decided to return to life with society after being in denial for a week.  We returned from a fabulous trip to Denver last Monday (has it really already been almost a week since we've been home?) and it's taken me about that long to shake off the post-vacation blues.  Denver was awesome- sixty degrees and sunny everyday and we were outside more than we were inside!  We returned to my beloved Midwest and found out that winter is definitely still here.  Yep.  The big snow we had a couple of weeks ago is pretty much all gone (amazingly enough!) but we get a dusting about every other day and the temperature refuses to get out of the thirties.  I have loved winter and accepted it lovingly with open arms, but I think the gloomy skies are getting to me!  I sure hope that groundhog was right.

But I digress... back to vacation.

We stayed with the lovely Boyer family and Jacob enjoyed spending time with their grandkids that are the same age.  The three of them were so cute together and I think Jake developed a little crush!  We too Jake on his first zoo trip (sidenote: the Denver Zoo is awesome by the way) and although he didn't really notice many of the animals, he loved riding in the stroller and his first go around on the carousel.  Looks like he's going to be an amusement park thrill-seeker like his mommy and daddy based on the huge grin he had on his face the whole time.   Josh's dad came out and met us for a night, joined us at the zoo, and treated us to a great night in the mountains.  Josh skied Breckenridge one morning while I pampered myself at the spa.  I actually knew he'd have more fun without me because he'd feel like he needed to stay with me and is a much better skier than I am.  Plus, as a mom, I will pay someone anyday to have an hour of peace and quiet while someone rubs soothing lotions all over me... it was pure bliss!  Plus, my ski clothes are really not up to par, so that sounded way better than literally freezing my tush off.  We did lots of shopping (another sidenote: downtown Denver is amazing!  Streets are blocked off for pedestrians and it's shop after shop, indoor/outdoor malls, and every restaurant you could ever want!), ate great meals that we don't get here like Cheesecake Factory and Brio, got Jake his first "big boy" haircut, and spent a really fun afternoon bowling at Lucky Strike.  Josh and I get away every now and then, but we usually come home feeling like we weren't really "away."  Often this has to do with all of the running around, especially if we're visiting family with our uber-popular son, but this trip was truly refreshing.  We were truly away, unplugged, and disconnected.  There are not many sights on this planet as breathtaking as the Rockies and the sunshine did us some good.  Now if we could only figure out a way to get out there more often life would be good!  Sigh.

So without further ado, here are some trip highlights:

He offered to help us out with the 13-hour drive.  Tempting.

Jake loved the snow in that still lingered in a shady spot of the yard.  Playing in snow while still warm?  It was the best of both worlds!

Miss Julie and her precious grandkids showing us around the zoo.

Pawpaw met us at the zoo!  It was such a good surprise for little Jake!

Wheeeeeee! 

Getting a haircut at Kool Kuts for Kids.  Such a fun place and Jake loved sitting in the little car!

Our cheering section at Lucky Strike.  Getting three kids to look at the camera at the same time?  Impossible!

Proof that he is my son... he can sleep anywhere!  Even at a bowling alley! 

So where are these pictures of our time in the mountains?  Ummm... let's just say that I was SO on vacation that I didn't even pick up my camera.  Although I would've liked to come home with a snapshot or two from that beautiful mountain town, it was kind of nice just being in the moment rather than worrying about capturing it.  We'll just have to go back!

My Funny Valentine...

He can make me laugh in any situation... even when I desperately try not to laugh at his antics.  A funny accent, a silly phrase, or his signature dance with his tongue out can always turn my day around.  He takes out the garbage and the recycling because he knows I hate it.  He gets excited about some pretty weird stuff, but I think it's cute.  If he sits still for too long, he will go crazy.  He could eat tacos and frozen pizza with ranch dressing every night and be perfectly okay with that.  Although right now he's on a bit of a salad with popcorn chicken kick.  Even though he gets up at the crack of dawn to fit more into his day, he never makes me feel bad about having my lazy mornings.  He challenges me to learn everyday, take part in more activities, and take ownership of things that I am passionate about.  He is a fantastic father to our son and someone that our son thinks is the coolest person on earth.  Hearing the two of them say, "Jakie"... "Dada" in voices that mock one another makes my heart soar, even from the other side of the house.

I still don't know how I got so lucky, but with this man beside me I am constantly reminded of how good our God is.  Only God could put the two of us together at just the right time to make it work so well.  So even though we don't really do Valentine's Day, I am sending my digital valentine to him today, because he deserves it.

Happy Valentine's Day to my perfect match... thank you for loving me the way you do!

Whiteout

This is a little overdue, but I misplaced my video camera for about a week (my brain is on permanent hiatus right now) and was finally able to sit down today and upload some of the video from our blizzard last week.  I had to laugh a bit at my footage as there were about 12 short clips that I deleted of the snow falling outside the window.  Sure, it was falling at a pretty impressive pace and you could certainly see how windy it was, but it was one after another after another!  Can you tell that I've never really lived any place with this much snow??  So don't worry, I won't bore you with those, but here are a few from our winter wonderland:

The first is a short clip of the dogs running in from outside.  This one shows how deep the snow is!

Next up is just a view of the front of our house and neighborhood.  We live on a main road, so we were lucky to wake up to fairly-well plowed roads.  We have friends, however, who live out in the country and were snowed in for days!  I will say that living in the Midwest is nice when it snows as they are very used to it and very prepared to take care of it! 

And lastly, little Jakie in the snow.  He loved being outside and didn't mind the cold too much.  His snowsuit limits his movement, however, so often times he just ends up sitting in one spot with a blank stare on his face.  Please ignore the commentary in the background... I tried to put it to music but I'm not that talented!

While we did love the many inches (er... feet) we received, Josh and I have decided that we are officially ready for spring!  The groundhog told us that it would be an early spring and I sure hope he's right!  Today the temperature got up into the upper 30's and no joke, it feels like a heat wave.  I even went outside in short sleeves and felt like I was dressed warm enough... what is happening to me?  I think they are turning me into one of them!  But seriously, especially with a toddler (yes, a toddler... this kid has definitely mastered walking... video to come and I promise to not make you wait as long this time!) who has cabin fever, we are ready for some warmth and sunshine!  Heck, what am I talking about?  I am a mommy with cabin fever, too!  I guarantee as soon as the thermometer hits forty degrees (which is rumored to happen Tuesday... and we'll be out of town of course!) the stroller will be out in full force.  So groundhog, bring it on!

It Definitely was a Blizzard!

Did you know that it can thunder and lightning during a snow storm?  Did you know that snow can fall so quickly from the sky that it actually looks like rain?  Did you know that if the wind blows hard enough an entire screened-in porch can have a couple of inches of accumulation?  Boy have we learned a lot in the past couple of days!

Tuesday afternoon the snow started coming down, fairly normal at first, but then the winds picked up and we could hardly see the houses across the street at times.  And it just didn't stop!  We stayed up fairly late and it was still howling outside when we turned in around midnight.  At that point it was almost up to the dogs' chests when I let them out and we were still in for a few more hours according to the radar.  This is what we woke up to:

Can you find the Route 40 Sign?

Snow snow everywhere!  We got 16-20 inches in most places, but with the wind, it made for some major drifts in our driveway and side yard... check it out!

I assure you that the above picture has not been doctored!  Walking through that just to get the picture was quite an adventure!

Late in the afternoon after all that super-fun snow-blowing and shoveling was behind us, we bundled up our favorite little man and ventured outside to check it out.  The weather was spectacular!  And yes, I say that even though it was a mere 8 degrees.  But the sun was shining, the snow was sparkling, and the air felt clean and crisp.  We weren't sure how Jake would react, but he loved every minute of it!

I have plenty of video to post that I took throughout the storm and the morning after, but this gives you a good idea of the fun we're having in Small Town, Illinois these days.  There's so much snow that the department of transportation is trying to find solutions as to where to put it all... especially the tons of it in parking lots!  Looks like we'll be seeing this white stuff for awhile!

And yes, those are still Christmas decorations on our porch railings.  In fact, our Christmas tree has only gotten as far as being out of our living room and onto our (now snow covered) screened-in porch.  It's freezing here- don't judge us!  

More snow fun to come... stay tuned!