Many of you have heard the exciting news that we are expecting baby number two! The baby is due October 13th, and now that I am officially into the second trimester, overall I am feeling quite a bit better. The first trimester was really rough, with me being sick everyday, almost all day long. Luckily the typical "morning sickness" for me was mostly afternoon to evening sickness, so I could generally get through my work day okay, and just about when it was time to for me to get in my car for the drive home, I would start feeling yucky. Then I would go home, lay on the couch in a crumpled mess, while Matt kept life going while being a wonderful husband and father. All of this coupled with a massively bad sinus infection that lasted about a month (who knew it was more difficult for pregnant woman to shake infections? I didn't!) means that I've been basically dead to the world for the past few months.
This leads me to the blog... generally speaking I try to blog during the evening hours, after dinner, and after Mckenna goes to bed. So, me being out of it during the past several months, especially during the evenings, equals me not feeling motivated to post or update the blog for many moons. Not a great excuse, but it is what it is. Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'd like to get back to keeping this thing up! And back to trying to capture the fun pictures and stories of our life. So please bear with me, we're going back a few months in order to get up to speed!
One of the first things we did in mid-January, after we had gone back to school after our Christmas break, was go to Covenant Pines for the annual Bloomington Covenant all-church retreat. This is what Nemo does whenever we pack up to go anywhere... "Please, don't leave me!" :)
We love camp! For this retreat we usually stay in the main retreat center with other church friends. There is always a nice sign welcoming us to our room when we get up there.
Right outside the door of our room. We pulled Mckenna around in this pink sled all weekend, and she had a lot of fun!
Kristi, a wrapped up Mckenna and I on a "hay ride." It was cold! At Covenant Pines in the winter, a hay ride means no hay, sitting on the cold wood trailer, but driving around camp and seeing everything covered in snow and everyone participating in their outdoor activities. Still fun... but fun Northern Minnesota style! :)
Kristi and cutie pie in her sled. She really seemed to like being pulled around in her pink chariot. :)
Playing in the gym with Daddy. Lacrosse anyone?
Some of the kids playing on the stage in the dining hall. Many of the kids loved to play with Mckenna. I think she liked it sometimes, but got overwhelmed other times - like in this picture.
Back home! Mckenna has a thing for hats. Any hat will do, even if it's not her own. This day she went in our front coat closet while I was working in the kitchen, strategically picked out one of Matt's Bears hats (she had to dig down in the hat bin to find this one), and decided that she was going to wear it around the house for much of the rest of the day. Cute!
Isn't that such a sweet face?
Mckenna still has a thing for books. She will pick out some books and sit down in her little chair in her bedroom and "read" - it is so cute! It's so fun to watch her study books and really enjoy them. I hope this carries on for her later in life!
I also love her little feet up on the ottoman. Make yourself at home! :)
This night she decided to take out all of our DVDs from the entertainment center, one by one, very methodically, and stack them in the just emptied garbage. It was pretty funny, so I had to snap some pictures.
"Here's one of your Yoga DVDs!"
As I said above, Mckenna loves hats. This particular hat has showed up on the blog before. My Aunt Barb knit the hat and some matching baby booties for Mckenna when she was born. I love that the hat still fits her (despite her large noggin!) because it is so stretchy. So Mckenna wanted to wear her hat while playing this day, and then when I went to take it off when it was time for lunch, she didn't like that idea. So I just thought it was better to let her wear it and keep the peace. Pick and choose your battles, right?
Like most toddlers her age, she likes to play peekaboo. What a sweetie...
Where's Mckenna?
Peekaboo!
Still wearing the hat after lunch, and more playing. My parents gave her this little trike for Christmas that she really likes. At first she wasn't sure what to do with it, but since getting it in December has learned how to scoot herself along with her legs.
That's it for January. Stay tuned for February pics... I'm determined to get this thing updated! :)





















































