18 Weeks

18 weeks! Very exciting. I am feeling a bit better, super tired but doing great. I love these silly food references, they make it a little more real to me to picture the little one growing inside me.

Dinnertime

I have really made an effort lately to just give Ristow what we are eating for dinner and no more special meals of chicken nuggets, quesadillas or mac and cheese. Tonight I feel like we actually achieved some success.....
Before dinner I had asked him which veggie he wanted to eat tonight, carrots, zucchini or tomatoes? He reported back that he wanted mac and cheese and tomatoes.
Well, I did give him tomatoes along with some talapia, baked potato and carrots and of course to make it all more appealing, crescent rolls.
After a little fuss when he first sat down, he saw the rolls and was fine. After tasting a bit of everything he comments...
"Well, it's not mac and cheese but its not bad!"
I'll take it! He ate great, with little problems, as long as he could be bribed with more rolls ;)
We will definitely be doing meals a bit differently with the next child, live and learn.

A Week of Adventure

This past week Ristow, my mom and I went on a road trip. We headed up to PA to see my brother and his super cute family. We were able to break the trip up and stay with Christopher's parents on the way there, which was wonderful.

Once there Ristow was overwhelmed at how cool it is to be at Uncle Jimmy's and Aunt Zan's....

He loved eating up at the Dining Hall each meal and watching all the campers.

He loved getting to ride a horse for the first time and wanted to go over to barn each day and thank the horse for the ride.

He loved going to Idlewild amusement park with Grammy and riding tons of rides.

He loved getting a sherrif's badge and wanting to learn all about guns and gun safety rules from Uncle Jimmy.

He loved picking fresh lettuce from the garden and eating it on the spot, forget eating it for dinner when you can eat it right then and there.

He loved being with his cousin Dylan, chatting away in the back seat together on the way up to the dining hall. (I love that she is talking so much, so sweet)

He loved spending time with family that we don't get to see often.

He did not love having to leave.

It was quite the visit and Ristow keeps talking about when we get to go back.

On the way home we stopped again at the McClintocks and ended up staying 2 days since I was too nauseous to travel after the 1st night. Ristow had a great time hanging at the pool and playing with his Grandma and Grandpa.

He woke up this morning asking "mom, what are we doing today?" Resting, I hope!

Father's Day

This past Father's Day was wonderful. Christopher had a race that morning that Ristow and I went out and cheered for. Ristow loved watching his Daddy race and even got race numbers put on his arm and leg just like Dad. The race crew was even wonderful enough that during a break in the finishers, they let Ristow and Christopher run through the finishing shoot and across the finshline together. Ristow thought he was a champion. Not only that, but Christopher got third place in his age group and took Ristow up with him to get his trophy. I swear Ris felt like he was the winner.

(Great job Christopher! We are so proud of you)

Not only did Ristow feel like he was a major player in Daddy's race, he also felt like he deserved presents for Father's Day. The day before and the morning of Ristow says....

"I take good care of my stuffed animals, don't I? I read to them and put them in time out when they don't listen so I am a father to them, right?" " So, I should get something from them for Father's Day!" Good logic Ristow and tricky nonetheless. If only animals went shopping....

Well, he went on and on and on and Christopher and I didn't know what to say to that so we kept ingnoring the conversation. I eventually caved and since I had a new book hiding in my closest anyway, told him that his stuffed monkey had helped my to pick that book out for him for Father's Day. He was so thrilled and kept thanking the monkey.

You got me this time Ristow but I will not be falling for this trick next year ;)

Space and Rocket Museum

Ristow has been such a champ with me not feeling well most days, so we decided to take a family trip and head to Huntsville to the Space Museum. It was AWESOME! Not only did Ristow think it was the coolest thing ever, Christopher and I thought it was pretty great too. I felt great and Ristow didn't whine once until we hit the parking lot to leave.

When you get there, you can pick up an experiment back pack to take through the museum with you. It had trivia, a toy rocketship and astronauts and cool experiments to do as you go. Ristow loved toting that thing around. I think the alkaseltzer rocket experiment was his favorite but it could have just been wearing the safety goggles that he liked best.

We even did the IMAX movie theatre and saw a film that the astronauts had taken from the shuttle. Very cool. At the end of the day we hit the gift shop where Ristow picked out a patch with a shuttle and Space Camp on it. Ofcourse he even had to wear it pinned on his shirt to church today. He is so proud of his "astronaut training". He will proabably be talking about it for days and days to come.

14 Weeks

I made it to 14 weeks, the 2nd trimester and am thrilled! Unfortunately the nausea has not subsided at all but increased. I definitely have my good days and am so thankful for them. I am praying that this will pass soon, but if this is a side effect of my body developing a healthy and fabulous baby then I will take it! In the meantime, I'll take another bowl of cereal please.

Nicky the Oragami Crane

Yesterday Ristow got a new book in the mail. In the back of the book was a detailed picture of how to make an oragami crane. Ristow was beside himself with excitement and took the book and some paper with us to meet Christopher for dinner.

After we finished eating, the challenge was on. Christopher was a champ and knocked out the crane like nobody's business. Ristow loved it!

On our way out of the restaurant Ristow said that Nicky the Crane was going to be a Jet plane when he grew up. Not only had he named his paper crane but he had already developed hopes and aspirations for it! I love the mind of a 4yr old.

Though I wasn't prepared for the attitude and independence that faced me yesterday morning.

We went to our friends pool where Ristow was meeting two other buddies there to swim and play.

While he was waiting for one of them to finish getting ready, I said " Ristow, don't go in the house while you are wet" to which he replied " com'on mom, don't call me Ristow, call me Ris. I want to be called Ris!"

I think my mouth actually dropped open and I thought is this kid serious?

I guess he had to develop his own preferences for what he wants to be called sooner or later but it just took me be surprise. To him, it was a big deal what I called him in front of his buddies.

Today he reminded me of his preference with some serious tones and I had to use everything in me not to start laughing right then and there. This parenting thing cracks me up.