Best Surprise Ever!

About a month ago, our old exchange student, Andrea, from Ecuador emailed me about visiting for the weekend. She is currently attending medical school in Ecuador and had the opportunity to go to Florida for 5 weeks for part of an internship at a dermatology office there. She wanted to fly to Iowa for one of the weekends for a visit, and to keep it as a surprise for mom and Rachel! It ended up being the perfect weekend, as I was off work and because Rachel had a baby shower planned in Hampton on Saturday we were all planning on spending the weekend at mom and dad's anyway. She arrived in Cedar Rapids on Friday morning, and I went to pick her up. I had made up a story about how I had a friend flying in that afternoon and asked mom to take the afternoon off to help take care of Ava on the drive down. When she came to my house at around 11:30 on Friday, Ava told her there was a surprise for her in the kitchen and when she walked in and saw Andrea she nearly peed her pants. My dad had also taken the day off and was there as well. After we ate lunch, we went to surprise Rachel at school there. She was stunned as well. We spent the weekend laughing, catching up, and having lots of fun.

After the shower we also spent a few hours going through stuff at my grandma's house. I ended up with some very special pieces including several tea cups and saucers, a tea pot, a crystal cake stand, and when we went through her jewelry I ended up with her mother's ring. I remember being a little girl always admiring her 8 stoned mother's ring and remember always asking her which stone was for who. I'm so glad I ended up with it!



Rachel 35 weeks, Wendy 20 weeks

Baby Malcolm # 2

I am 20 weeks today. Last week I went to my doctor appointment, baby is growing and heartbeat was 154. I am feeling more movement everyday. I felt movement much sooner this pregnancy, I guess because I knew what to feel for. I have been feeling really good as well, the nausea has subsided and I'm definitely not as tired as I was in the first trimester. I have, however, been feeling lots more pelvic pressure during this pregnancy. I've also feel like I have more headaches with this pregnancy than I remember with Ava. I'm not sure Ava gets the whole thing, but if you ask her she knows there is a baby in mommy's tummy. She thinks its a girl. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is just flying by!

Big news

Somehow I've missed posting some vital information. I've got to get my blogging back on track. In my defense, first trimester totally kicked my butt. Between working, chasing after a 2 year old, and growing a baby I was too exhausted to do much else.

Rest in Peace, Grandma

We got some very sad news last week. Unexpectedly my Grandma Meinders passed away peacefully in her sleep early Sunday morning, January 8.

I am so glad that Rachel, Ava and I went to visit her just a week before. I have some great memories growing up and as an adult with my Grandma. I always felt so blessed that my parents chose to stay living in Dumont so that I could form such wonderful relationships with my grandparents.

I have so many wonderful memories, its hard to list them all right now. I have been going through some pictures the past few days of her and it breaks my heart and makes me happy at the same time to see Ava recognize her as "Grammy" in the photos.

Our little family Christmas

Starting traditions is something that is very important to me. Because my grandparents lived so close and we didn't have to do much traveling over Christmas I was always able to wake up in my own home Christmas morning. This was my favorite time and I always looked forward to that day. I want that excitement for Ava and hope we can continue to let her wake up in her own house Christmas morning.

We invited my parents, Tyson and Rachel, and Josh over for cinnamon rolls and to watch Ava open her presents from us and Santa. We were all sitting around waiting for Sleeping Beauty to rise. Pretty funny how seven adults are on the schedule of the 2 year old. She runs the show!

Ava was very excited about every present and equally excited for Darren and me to open our present that she made for us at school. I heard "I made it!" all day long!

Unfortunately, later that evening I started feeling a little queasy and by 9 pm I had the full blown stomach flu. I was just thankful it hit me after our celebrating was done.

Pecha Christmas

My side's family Christmas this year was a little different. With us wanting to start our own traditions and I'm sure Rachel and Tyson will want to in the next year or so as well, we are left trying to decide when the best time to celebrate is. Plus throw in the weird work schedules of several of us and we ended up with no real set time on our celebration, but rather a "lets all get together and wait for Tyson to get off work party." It worked.

We woke up Christmas Eve morning and Darren wasn't feeling well, I couldn't decide if he had the stomach flu or if it was food poisoning. I didn't want to take my chances, so I quarantined him to another room while Ava and I got ready and then Ava and I headed over to the Burton's as fast as possible.

My mom was already over there and had started preparing our meal. It was just us girls until around 2 or so, when Josh and my dad arrived (aka Santa) with all the gifts. Seriously, the gifts. We decided to let Ava open a few right away because clearly her pile would take anyone several hours to open, and lets face it, we didn't want to be still opening her gifts at midnight. She was much more into the presents this time around, and I was so excited for that! She had so much enthusiasm, like "WOW" or "That's mine!" My favorite part of the whole day though, was probably when my parents opened the gift Ava had made for them and in her proud little voice says, "I made it!" So cute.

Tyson arrived and we continued to open more gifts. Took a break at 5 for church, came back home, more gifts, ate dinner, and more gifts. Good grief... did I mention the gifts?

Unfortunately, with Darren being sick we didn't get a single family Christmas picture this year. Bummer. And I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked either.

Malcolm Christmas

We spent the Sunday before Christmas with the Malcolm's to celebrate Christmas this year. I have to say I am thankful for a mother-in-law that is flexible on the date as opposed to always wanting it right on Christmas Day. It allows us to have a more relaxed holiday celebration and more time with each family, rather than being rushed from one place to the next. It is also important to us to start our own traditions with Ava and I really want her to continue to wake up in her own home Christmas morning. I remember that being so magical as a kid and I want that same experience for her.

We arrived and Ava was excited, as usual, to play with the toys at Grammy's house. She was able to play for a little while before dinner was ready to be served. After dinner, we opened presents. I will admit, I was slightly disappointed in Ava's reaction. She was more interested in playing with the toys at Grammy's than the opening of any gifts so I had to open hers for her. However, once she opened the princess castle, she was hooked on that. She kept saying "a castle!" in such an excited tone.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and visiting (and eating too many snacks). It was a great day. Ava was disappointed to leave. I always look forward to this time of year and am always sad to see it pass by so quickly as well.