Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Yesterday was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.  It is one of those days you really wish did not have to exist.  Nobody should have to go through the loss of a child, no matter the age of the child.  There was this one blog that I received the link to that I felt was a good one for people to read if they know someone who has had a miscarriage.  I would highly suggest taking a look at this link.  It gives tips on how you should approach a woman who has suffered a miscarriage.  
http://gbbcwellnessblog.com/?p=271


I have been doing really well the past few months at not getting too sad about the fact that after so many months, we are still not pregnant.  I have even been okay when learning of friends who have announced their pregnancies.  Now seeing friends in person who are pregnant...that is a whole other story.  Not quite ready for that.  I think it is the visual reminder of what I don't have that makes it too difficult.  I lost it this week when I watched the most recent episode of Parenthood.  If you do not watch that show, you should start!  It is one of my favorites.  Just when you think your family life is chaotic, the lives of the characters on this show can bring you back to reality.  Anyways, one of the characters has a daughter that is in first or second grade.  She and her husband have been trying to get pregnant for a second time.  They have had a lot of difficulties.  To make matters worse, her brother and sister-in-law get pregnant.  They weren't planning to, as they have two older children.  In the episode I watched, the pregnant sister-in-law gave birth to her little girl and the sister who has been having infertility problems was so excited while visiting in the hospital room.  She was the first one to hold the new baby.  I was crying like a baby during that scene.  I think it is because I have been thinking a lot lately about the possibility of my sister-in-laws getting pregnant in the near future, before I do.  Not saying that will happen, but what if it does?  Will I be able to handle it?  Will I be able to see them?  Will I be able to be excited for them?  


A lot of "what ifs" going on in my head today.

The Best Father/Daughter Dance EVER!

Brittany and her Dad did the best Father/Daughter dance ever.  My dad and sister have their work cut out for them for next October!

A Fox Family Wedding

Last weekend, Joe and I went with my family (minus the kids) out east for a wedding in Annapolis. We had an amazing time, despite the fact thatthe weatherin MD was colder than the weather here. Who would havethought that would happen the first weekend in October.

It was our cousin's wedding. Well, Brittany is not technically my cousin, but we call each other cousins. Our dad's were best friends growing upand our families have remained close eversince. Brittany comes to MN to visit family about once a year. We always make sure to have a Knutson/Fox family get together. Ourfamily has gone to MD to visit Brittany and her family. Most recently, Brittany and her now husband (!) are living in Las Vegas. Jamie and I have been out there a couple times and just were out there for Brittany's bachelorette party at the end of July. When we found out the date of the wedding, we were all excited for a mini-vacation.

I was more than ready to get on a plane after a crazy couple of weeks of school. It was a lot of work getting things ready for a sub for 1 1/2 days. The one thing I was looking forward to was catching up on some sleep. I definitely did!

While we were in Annapolis we were able to spend time at the Fox house for a bonfire the night we got into town. We went to a bridesmaid's brunch in the marina and shopped in downtown Annapolis. We ate dinner at a crab house. No crab for me, but most of my family was very excited for that meal. We haddrinks at this great bar/restaurant. The downtown of Annapolis has all these historic brick buildings with amazing architecture. The wedding was at a historical botanical garden in a town close to Annapolis. Most of all, we were ableto spend time as a family, and spend time with Brittany, her family, and their extended family.

Here are a few highlights of the trip!

Katie, Me, Mom, and Jamie

Me and the Bride-to-Be

Me, Brittany, and Jamie

All of us

The Knutsons and Britt and Taylor

Out after the Groom's Dinner at The Sly Fox (great name...coincidence?)

Joe and I at the wedding

Brittany and her dad during the BEST Father/Daughter dance

We Have a Preschooler

So, I completely failed at keeping our blog updated over the summer. I gave it my best!

The start of the school year has come and gone. It has been an adjustment for all of us. Jake is back at daycare full time and is enjoying being able to see his friends and playing with them. He also started preschool last week. He loves it and we could not be happier. He goes for 2 1/2 hours Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Cheryl (daycare) drops him off and picks him up Tuesday and Wednesday. Joe's hours on Thursdays have changed, so he has been able to drop Jake off and Cheryl picks him up.

Here is what he has told me about preschool:

• They have celebrated two kids' birthdays and ate cookies.
• He does not like Indira (one of the birthday kids and goes to daycare with Jake). He has said this repeatedly. He calls her "Ondira". "I don't like her!" We have had to talk about the fact that you still need to be nice to her even if you don't want to play with her.
• He has learned a few songs-"The Circle Song" and "The Clean Up Song".
• His picture is on the paper at school, not on the wall. Really, it is up on the bulletin board.
• Tyreese is his buddy (another birthday boy and friend from daycare).
• Sometimes they go into the "Muscle Room". According to Jake, it has chairs, couches, basketball nets, but no balls, and a slide. I am thinking it is a gym, but the couches and chairs are really throwing me.
• He likes snack time.
• He does not know his teachers' names, but he has two of them. Three, if you count the director, who is in the room next door. She is a daycare buddy's grandmother. She is always telling us how cute Jake is.
• This past week they learned about apples and the color red. They learned a poem that I used to teach to my kindergartners. It was way cuter to see him say it!

I am getting used to being back at work. I have a pretty good group of students. One particular class gives me a headache most days, but at least I only see them for 55 minutes and at the end of the day. We have some really chatty and needy kids, but we have a bigger group of nice, sweet, and hard working students, too. Second full week down and I am exhausted!

Here are some pictures of Jake at preschool. He is in a phase of not wanting his picture taken, so some of them are the back of his head!

Jake with Joe and me the morning of his first day. Big smiles!

Hugging his daycare friend, Nick

So excited to go in!

Taking his jacket off at his hook

And we are done with pictures!

Second Annual Trip to Duluth with The Johnsons

After our weekend at Big Fish, Jake and I left for Duluth Monday morning. We were heading up to The Edge Water park to meet Haley, Cade, and Calli for our annual summer trip to Duluth. We were staying one night. We decided to try a different hotel than last year, one that was more "kid friendly". What could be more friendly than a water park, right?

I love driving up to Duluth. I get excited every time! It brings back so many memories. I wonder how many times I had made that trip. It was a little different this time because part of the drive was "under construction". There wasn't any work being done because the government was shutdown at the time, but it was only two lanes for about 15 miles. The drive down the hill into Duluth has always made me nervous, no matter how many times I may have driven it. I am not sure why. I think I am afraid that I will slide down it. I know, it doesn't make sense, but it is ingrained in my brain and I cannot help it.

It was hot all over MN the day we were in Duluth. It was hotter in the Cities, but it was still hot for being in Duluth. At one point we went to a park down in Canal Park for the kids to play at and we could only last about 10 minutes because it was so warm. I am sure it was even warmer on the hill.

We spent most of the day on Monday at the hotel. Once we were checked in, it was off to the Water park! I was really hoping Jake would like the toddler area. He did, after a while. It had a large bucket that dumped water every-so-often. Jake and Calli thought it was really loud and made a big stink about plugging their ears. I'm not sure what the big deal was, it wasn't that loud, but you cannot convince two three year-olds that! We spent most of the time in the bigger pool that had basketball hoops and a vortex pool. Jake was being a stinker and would not wear his life jacket, so I had to hold him most of the time. There were a few cut-outs in the pool that had benches, which Jake loved to play on. We learned our lesson from last time about staying in for dinner. We went to our favorite restaurant last year, which was not "kid friendly" and was the dinner from he%$. Pizza it was for us! We were all asleep by about 9:30, which felt amazing! The next day we had breakfast at the hotel. The kids all had eyes bigger than their stomachs and wasted a lot. It was free though, so what can you do? We swam for a little bit and were able to get Jake and Calli to play more in the toddler pool. Pretty soon it was time to get showered and check out of our room. We drove up to campus because I needed to get a new Bulldog Hockey t-shirt to wear on Mondays at school. The kids were crazy in the Bulldog Shop. I am sure we had a few dirty looks as the boys were going nuts with the football. Thank goodness it is the summer and there are not that many people shopping there. We walked around a little bit before we realized it was starting to rain and we needed to get to our cars. After we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, there was a severe weather announcement on the radio. A severe thunderstorm with hail and wind was heading directly toward Duluth. I was going to hit it, no matter what. Haley could possibly get a head of it before it moved in to Wisconsin. I started driving and got about 10 miles out of Duluth before the rain was so bad that I had to pull into a gas station. We sat there for a bout 30 minutes. I stuck a movie in for Jake to keep him entertained. I was following the radar on my phone and left when there was a slight break. I drove about 1 mile and had to pull off again. Once I started again, it was pretty much smooth sailing. Of course when it went down to two lanes there was a 5 minute downpour! As if driving through a construction zone isn't hard enough, even if there isn't any real work being done... I was really excited when I saw the sign for Forest Lake and knew we were going to be home soon!

Jake desperately wants a DS now!

A DQ Disaster of sorts!

My Stair-Swimmer

Cade in the "swirly pool"

Brave Calli swimming on her own

Calli snuck her "zappy" out of her bag while Haley was in the shower

Good Ol' 21st!

Entering UMD!

Yeah for Raspberry Tart!

Hockey Boys

Overall, another successful trip to Duluth! Next time, I think we will leave the kids at home and make it a girls' trip!

Weekend at Big Fish

Last weekend, we packed up the car and headed west on 94 to Cold Springs. My sister-in-law's family has a cabin on Big Fish Lake. Jake and I have been there a number of times in the last few years, but it always seems to fall on a weekend that Joe worked. I think Matt and Katie were starting to take offense at the fact that Joe never comes up. The last time he was there was for the groom's dinner for their wedding almost three years ago. It also was a bonus that it was Matt's week to have Hailey, so Jake was really excited to see his big cousin.

The weather was very weird that weekend. On Saturday, it was humid, yet overcast. It made it easier to spend time outside. Had it not been overcast, the heat would have been really unbearable. MN has had some high temps this past week. The next day, it was the same thing, except even more humid. You could have taken a shower when you walked out of the cabin. There was so much condensation on the windows. It did get sunny earlier in the day than on Saturday. We were all hoping for a sunny weekend, but we were able to do all the things we had wanted to do.

Jake and Hailey logged in some serious movie watching time. Jake loved the fact that Kit (Katie's mom) had different movies than we have at home. We have quite the collection since Jake's broken leg last year. Some days, I wonder if there is a Disney movie we don't own!

We were able to head over to the sandbar (or sandbox, as Jake called it) to float and play in the water. There was even a bachelor party over there that had brought their own keg into the lake. That was something I had never seen before. Jake wasn't all that cooperative with being in the water or floating, so we did not stay that long. That behavior seems to be the case lately. Is it the boy in him, or the 3 year old. A terrible combination of the two?

Hailey and Matt both were able to water ski after dinner on Saturday night. It amazes me how good Hailey has become over the last few years. She has these great training skis that have really helped her. Katie holds onto one end of the rope and Hailey holds onto the other. Katie is the one who pulls her out of the water. On Sunday, Matt tried giving her the regular ski rope just to see how she would do. She gave it two really good tries, but wasn't able to pull herself up. She is a determined girl and I know she will master that in no time. It is always fun to watch my brother ski. You would think he grew up on a lake! Hailey also tubed. I was thinking about doing it myself, but the possibility of being in pain (back), wasn't quite worth it.

Hailey and Jake went on special "missions" during the weekend. They were off finding things and going places on a variety to toys: Barbie Jeep, scooter, bike, and Big Wheel. Jake loved the Power Wheels toy. I think we will get him one for his next birthday. He would be so excited!

Jordan and Jake were funny to watch. They would be fine playing with each other one minute and then Jake would be telling on him the next. It is hard to explain to Jake that Jordan (a 1 year old) doesn't quite know how to share, and yes, sometimes he does bite. There were lots of laughs, smiles, and a few tears.

It was a great to get away for the weekend and spend time with the St. Cloud Knutsons! Hopefully, it won't take another three years to get Joe back there!

The Dentist

Jake had his first visit to the dentist last week. They had him in for a "happy visit". He was able to ride in the chair and see the tools the dentist and hygienist uses. His favorite thing to do was to use the "squirt gun" and fill up his cup of water and then use the vacuum tool to suck it back up. I think he had to do this no less than five times. He let the hygienist clean his teeth for about 2.2 seconds before he had enough. She counted his teeth-10 on top and 10 on bottom. Jake met the dentist and let him take a peek in his mouth. The dentist said his teeth look good. Jake was excited to get a new toothbrush, some floss, a mask, and rubber gloves. All in all, a good visit to the dentist. Back in 6 months.

Jake also had his first run in with the cops. Okay, just the mall cop. We went shopping after the dentist to Eden Prairie Center. They have this fun indoor play area that Jake loves. At one point, he decided that he wanted to go up the escalator. He bolted from me and ran onto it. He almost fell off, but I thankfully caught up with him before that could happen. I was having a little "heart-to-heart" with him as we were taking the escalator back down to the floor we started on. When we got to the bottom, the mall cop came up to Jake and told him that he needed to listen to his mommy and never get onto the escalator without holding his parent's hand and that he could get really hurt. Jake wouldn't look at him in the eye, but I think he understood to never do that again.

He now tells me when I do something he doesn't like, that he is going to call the fire truck guys to come and get me, just like the police talked to him... We'll see how that goes...