Sick Baby but Mommy Heaven

Kendall is an amazing sleeper... in her bed.  The kid has not fallen asleep on me since she was 1.5 and that was only because we spent a 12 hour day at Disneyland and I forced her into my carrier and bounced her until she finally passed out.  Correction - she has not falling asleep on me outside of being sick.  There was that stomach flu when she was just about 2.  My point is, even though having a sick kid is heart breaking, it sometimes becomes my mommy heaven.  Getting to cuddle with my little girl all day and have her actually sleep in my arms just melts me to my core.  Kendall came down with something at the end of last week and wanted nothing else but to be in my arms watching Disney movies.  Thursday night when she was laying against my tummy the baby started to kick.  I asked her if she felt it and she said yes (but I never really know).  Then Friday we were in the same position and I thought she had fallen asleep when all of a sudden she giggled and said "mommy the baby is kicking me again!".  EEEEEE!!  How awesome is that!?  Even though shes feeling better now she's been asking to cuddle so she can get kicked by the baby again :)  Just wait a few years when these little kicks turn into full blown fights with her sibling!

Peaceful sicky

These are my "is she asleep?" pictures

All better and ready for daycare yesterday!

Van Zant Holiday Gathering

Right before Christmas the Van Zant's had a nice mellow gathering filled with way too much food, yummy drinks (the non-alcoholic version for me) and of course good friends.  It was so cute to see Nicholas and Kendall playing together so nicely.  She's usually all over him and he just wants to do his own thing :)  The highlight of the night was Nicholas saying he wanted to take a bath and seconds later naked Kendall came walking down the hall.  Apparently she didn't want to miss out!  The entire bath was hilarious and poor Bob and Heather probably had some massive water splashes to clean up after.  Once bath time was done the two took to the living room for some adult tackling time (I REALLY wish I got their joint take down of Bob on video!).  It was hard to pull the two apart at the end of the night since they were having so much fun.  Once Bob sends me some of the pictures he took with his awesome camera, I'll be sure to post them.

Joint piano play

Kendall was very excited about all the "new" bath toys

Twins much??

Where's Kendall?

22 Weeks Along

How Far Along:  22 Weeks 

Size of Baby:  A Spaghetti Squash or Papaya - Weighs about 12.7-20.8oz and measures about 10.5-11.8 Inches head to heel.

Stretch Marks?  No sir 

Sleep?  Even though I am back to my usual energy level, I would still like to sleep every free second I have.  I know the waking up to go to the bathroom 1200 times faze is coming back soon.

Best Moment this week:  Kendall getting to feel the baby kick.  Her little face lit up so much I knew she couldn’t be faking feeling it.  So awesome!!!

Miss Anything?  I can’t really think of anything the past couple weeks.  Except (see food craving)

Movement:  Constantly.  I’m trying to pay attention at night when I feel the major movements so I can see if it’s out of womb awake patterns are the same.  Kendall’s were pretty right on!

Symptoms:  My hands are on my belly at all times without even being aware of it.  That’s a symptom of pregnancy right?

Food Cravings:  My spicy tuna roll craving is back with a vengeance.

Anything making you queasy or sick?  Not at the moment.  My dog nose has seemed to have subsided a bit thankfully.

Gender Prediction:  Nope.  I find myself equally saying he or she (when I slip and don’t just say baby).

Labor Signs:  Nada

Belly Button in or out?  In for now

Wedding rings on or off?  On

Nursery:  Hooray for pretty much completed nursery!  This weekend we were able to knock out almost my entire nursery to-do list and I am so happy!  As I mentioned before, I’m waiting on some details until baby comes, but other than Mike building our changing table the room is pretty much ready to go.  Kendall was a little confused by her crib being put back together in there but she calls it the baby’s room and says “that’s where the baby will sleep” so I think we are good on that.

Looking forward to:  Disneyland!!  Yes, that has not changed since last posting J  

New baby Item:  Maybe I should call this “recycled baby item” since I don’t plan on buying much before baby comes.  This week’s new item is the crib J

21 Weeks

22 Weeks

Some Catching up

Just a bunch of random pictures from the last few weeks :)

One of Kendall's last night in her crib (tear).  She has become very OCD about where her toys are in her bed before she falls asleep each night and has to have her dolly(s) tucked in with her little blanket.

Catching Daddy blow drying K's hair while I finished getting ready myself one morning :)

Kendall's first official solo dog walk

Park fun!  Winter in CA is so rough...

Another Daddy blow drying - this time he had some fun while doing it.  80's queen!

Accidental twins at daycare!

Pirates and Princesses show with Stacy, Oliva and Emily

Cousins :)

And cousin Hugs!

A few weekends ago we headed up to Roseville for Logan and Jack's birthday party at this super crazy awesome pizza place.  Think Chucky Cheese on steroids.  Kendall was tall enough to do a few of the rides by herself and this was the first one.  Arms up and everything!  Hopefully a good sign of things to come when we go to Disneyland in a few weeks.

I am SO happy she loved it.  I was imagining it starting and her screaming her head off to get down.

Mini Roller Coaster with Tia.  Tia is the best and went twice in a row with Kendall then Evan since the kids weren't tall enough to go on their own and Karen and I aren't allowed on.  Even though it was little, this roller coaster was FAST and tossed them around pretty good!

Hands up!

I'm lucky I got any pictures at all with how fast it was going by.  I love the joy on both their faces (and Jennie behind Vicky!)

Even through the blurriness you can see how much K was having!

New shades (frames really) she bought with her game tickets

Fun with static! 

And fun with Hanna Bear

Introducing Kaia Rose Klein!  What a beauty!  Congrats to Adam and Kendall!

Proud Daddy :)

Every store needs mini shopping cards!  Giving kids a job while shopping makes life SO much easier!

All Minnie Moused out!  Under that robe she has her new Minnie pjs on and her Minnie slippers

Besties cruising around the back yard in K's jeep :)

Bringing in 2014 Givens Style!

I guess I really am pregnant.  I can not remember a time, even the year I was pregnant with Kendall, that I did not want to do anything on NYE.  I did pitch the idea of going to see Tainted Love in the city to Mike, but that got shot down quicker than I could complete my sentence.  It didn't totally break my heart since the thought of just staying in and doing nothing was just as appealing to me.  Luckily the Givens' had the same idea so we decided to crash their house and "do nothing" together!  

Jen and Joe have a tradition of going around to all their favorite restaurants and picking up their favorite dishes, then having a huge feast of yummy food.  Sounds pretty awesome right?  Perfect for our NYE "nothing" night!  Even though there were only 4 adults and 1 kid that eats solid food our nights feast consisted of California rolls, Pad Thai, fried rice, pot stickers, salt and pepper fried prawns, pizza, crab salad with bread, KFC mashed potatoes and potato wedges and buffalo chicken egg rolls.  Yea... that doesn't even include the chips and dips they had out plus the donuts, candy and pie sticks we had for dessert!  The night pretty much went like this:  Pig out, lay on the couch or floor until just enough food was digested so we could pull ourselves out of the seated position to get more food.  We threw some video games in the mix to help with our digestion as well.  Kendall stayed up and partied until the ball dropped and even Hailey got pulled out of bed to join us for the final count down.  I felt like a true adult running out the door 2 minutes after midnight to head home to bed.  I still remember my parents doing that when I was little :)  So all in all, a pretty awesome "do nothing" NYE!

That's a lot of food!  (and thats not even everything!)

My best attempt to get a picture of Kendall in a NYE hat

Let's try this hat thing again since it's almost midnight

Kendall, look up!!

Bribe with candy and you get a decent shot!

Fun with Post-its waiting for the count down

Happy New Year!!!

Our Gracious Hosts

On New Years Day we met some of the crew for brunch at Chevy's.  I felt so gross after all the food the night before, and all the chips and salsa at brunch, that I forced the family on walk.  Kendall is obsessed with walking Hanna these days and I just think it's the cutest thing ever!