Here are some pictures from when my family was in town in July...

This picture is from when we picked up my family from the airport.

We spent a day in Madison and saw the State Capitol, Botanical gardens and went to the zoo.
This picture is taken from the top of the State Capitol.


We toured the Jelly Belly Factory.

On our way we stopped at the Cheese Castle where they were able to eat real Wisconsin Cheese curds, and had a kringle pastry...YUM!

We were also able to see the play, Aladdin at the Chicago Shakespearean Theater at Navy Pier and went to the Chicago temple.

The boys had a great time swimming in Fred's pool.

We spent an afternoon in Cedarburg, a quaint little town about 30 minutes from Milwaukee.

We had such a great time while they were here...I was so sad to see them go! It's so great to have family come out to visit!!

What a crazy month....

Thank goodness July is over and August seems to be a little less eventful. July started out great, my parents and four younger brother came out here to visit for a week and we had a great time. However, during their stay I started having quite a few contractions with cramping that would come and go. When they left it started happening more frequently so I scheduled to see my O.B. to make sure it wasn't anything to be worried about. (I was only 30 weeks along so I was a little apprehensive.) My doctor checked me and I had dilated to a centimeter. Between that and the consistent contractions, she put me on bed rest and wanted me to get a series of two steroid shots (for the baby's lungs) in case the baby decided to come early. She warned me that the steroid shots could elevate my blood sugar so I needed to keep a close eye on it. Soon after I got the shot and returned home the contractions were more frequent and they were becoming more uncomfortable. I called my doctor and she told me to go to the hospital.

Because I was contracting every 2-3 minutes when we got there and the pain was increasing, they started giving me IV fluids. At the time I was wishing that I could have an epidural as the pain was as bad or worse as when I delivered Ryan, but we obviously didn't want our baby to come quite yet. We checked my blood sugar frequently and it kept rising despite the amount of insulin I was giving myself. I told the nurses that I didn't think my insulin pump was giving me any insulin so they ended up starting me on IV insulin.

The doctor checked me again, and I had dilated to a 2+. They then gave me some nifedipine, an antihypertensive that also acts as a tocolytic (it stops/slows the contractions). By around 4:00 a.m. the contractions started to ease up and my blood sugar returned to normal. The next day I was transferred to the antepartum unit and was told I needed to stay another night because I still needed to get another dose of the steroid shot and they wanted to keep an eye on the contractions and my blood sugars. Fortunately I was able to go home the next day on strict bed rest. We were so worried about what we were going to do with Ryan for the next three weeks. Eric was on a tough rotation; he didn't get home till late in the evening most nights so I knew he couldn't help much. In addition, the time he was home he needed to work on residency applications.

The night I got home we had a really bad night. Ryan ended up rolling out of his toddler bed and ended up in our bed. And the next morning he wouldn't climb off our bed without my help (which he usually does) and seemed to be sore from his fall from the previous night. Now I can see why he was sore. (I'll explain later)

Anyway, my mom offered to come out to take care of us, but we figured it was just a long time to have her be away from my younger brothers. My good friend Jana just happened to have a flight booked to Utah and offered to take Ryan with her. (What a saint!) So after a lot of consideration we decided it would be best for Ryan to go with Jana to visit family for a while. He stayed for two-and-a-half weeks and had a great time with his grandparents and extended family. My mom flew back out here with Ryan and stayed for a few days till I got into more of the "safe zone" (34 weeks).

While in Utah our family noticed a bump and a bruise on Ryan's right clavicle. Once he got home the bruise was gone but the bump was still there so I took him in to see the doctor. The poor kid fractured his collar bone when he fell out of his bed. They took an x-ray and everything is healing the way it should and come to find out they wouldn't have really done anything for it anyway. They may have put his arm in a sling but he would have never kept it on. Fortunately because my friend Jana noticed he would whine when she picked him up under the arms she was careful not to do it and passed the word along to our families so they were careful not to do it as well which is just what the doctor would have had us do. I just can't believe how tough he is. He whined a little about it but not as much as I would expect for it being a broken bone.

Thank you to everyone who helped us out during this crazy time. We have such great family and friends who stepped in to help watch Ryan, ran errands for me, brought us over wonderful meals, and the Young Women in our ward even put together a little activity kit with crafts, toys, and treats to help entertain Ryan. (Little did they know that they brought it over the day we found out he had broken his bone. He was in heaven!)

Anyway, I'm now 35 weeks along and I'm sure I'll probably carry this baby to week 40! We are all doing well now. It's nice to get up more to take care of my family. Eric is just busy wrapping up application stuff for residency. We are so glad to have Ryan back and to have life be a little more normal around here.

Eric finished his third year of medical school Friday and didn't start up again until Wednesday. Unfortunately the two days out the the week that I work are Fridays and Mondays so we were unable to go for much of a get-a-way. However, there is a place in Wisconsin named Mayville and ever since Eric found out about this town he's wanted to visit. So I booked a hotel for Friday night and we took the one hour drive, which was beautiful. We stayed in the Iron Ridge Inn, just outside of Mayville because it was the only place in the area with a pool. There was absolutely nothing in this town besides the inn, a restaurant, and a hamburger joint. We had such a good time eating at the restaurant, swimming, and relaxing. The next morning we drove into Mayville. It was a cute, quaint town. Since there wasn't a whole lot to do there we drove out to Port Washington to do a little more sightseeing.

Ryan by the whirlpool tub

We ate breakfast at this cute little cafe.

At Port Washington

Ryan had his two years doctors appointment.

Here are his stats: Ht: 33 inches (10%),
Wt: 23 lb 1 oz (3%),
Head: 47 1/2 cm (20%).

We all cheered when we found out that he is actually on the chart for his weight. He hasn't been on the chart since he was 4 months old. I know that may not seem like it's that big of a deal but for those of you who know what we've gone through the last year with the stress of surgery and his weight know what a big deal this is for us! Our little guy is getting big...or at least bigger:)

Today is our fourth year wedding anniversary. It's so great being married to my best friend. I've absolutely loved life with Eric. I could go on and on about how great being married to Eric is but I don't think he'd be happy with me:). So instead here are a few momentous events that has happened in the time we've been married....

• We were married for time and all eternity in the Provo temple.
• We lived in a cute little apartment located in Provo for about six months before we moved to Payson. We were able to live in my grandparents old house. We made many good memories, living in a house was so nice!
• Eric graduated from BYU and we moved to Milwaukee for Eric to continue his education in medicine, here we have made many life long friends.
• We've been blessed with a beautiful little boy, Ryan, who is now 2.
• Eric has (almost) completed three years of medical school.
• We found out we are having another baby. We're excited to have a little girl join our family.

Although life has been far from perfect, the good has always outweighed the bad. Here's to many years to come...

What a pleasant surprise!
Last night while I was tidying up the kitchen the door bell rang. Eric answered the door and in came my mission president with our ward missionaries. Pres. Mills is now working with the international MTC's but came out here to do some conferences with the missionaries in our area. Since being out here I haven't been able to go to any mission reunions so I was very excited to see him! He hasn't changed a bit, he is still the sweet man I learned to love and trust so much. It brought back so many great memories from my mission and I feel so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve full-time and for the wonderful people I was able to meet.

Ryan absolutely adored him!

Yes, he really is that tall or maybe I'm just that short?!

Happy Birthday Ryan

Ryan celebrated his 2nd birthday yesterday. We decorated the living room the night before while Ryan was asleep. The next morning when Ryan woke up and walked out of his room, he just kept saying, "Wow...wow,wow,wow." It was so fun to see his excitement.

Here is Ryan on the morning of his birthday...all ready to go play with Katelyn. I thought this expression was pretty funny.
Daddy helping get his car out of the package.
Ryan's two favorite things are balls and cars so he was very pleased with his presents.

Eating cotton candy that Grandma and Grandpa May sent. He loved it.
He loved the toys that some family from Utah sent. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Crump and May and Aunt Natalie, Uncle Rory and the kids!
Ryan was in heaven with all the cars that he had received.

Ryan actually did a very good job blowing out the candles; he didn't spit at all!

Amazing...
I guess one good thing about being diabetic is that I get an ultrasound every 1-2 months during pregnancy.:) Every time I have an ultra sound I'm in awe with how much we can see. Thursday we went in to have a fetal echocardiogram done on our little girl's heart. The doctor told us her heart is only the size of a nickle, and yet we were able to see it in such great detail. There are no signs of a heart defect which is fantastic.

I know some people think these pictures with the surface rendering look a little odd/scarey, but I think they are fun. I was comparing Ryan's ultra sound pictures (when he was this far along) to these, and I think she looks a lot like Ryan did. They have the same lip, chin and nose....guess we'll just have to wait and see for sure.

Our baby girl at about 22 weeks.

Last Sunday Eric and I went outside to take some two-year-old birthday pictures of Ryan. I planned to do it when Eric was around because it's nearly impossible to get Ryan's attention and to take pictures on my own. However, even with the two of us at work, we both got a little exasperated because he'd rarely look at the camera or smile; he was just too busy running around. Once we finished, I was hoping to get at least one picture that would work. However, we were both pleasantly surprised with how they turned out.
So here is Ryan...soon to be the big TWO!

One of the biggest stresses of working part-time is trying to find a great babysitter--someone you can really trust with your kid and who you know your child enjoys as well. We've been lucky to always have great babysitters; however, because of various conflicts with schedules and such we have had to frequently find new sitters. Just recently I had to find yet another sitter for Ryan. Fortunately, though we found a GREAT one, Brooke. Every time we are at the door to drop Ryan off we hear Ryan's little friend, Katelyn, run to the door and Ryan gets a huge grin in anticipation to see her. Not only that, but every time I go to pick him up they are running around together giggling and playing so well with each other. Brooke is so good to take them the the park, zoo, children's museum, etc. etc. Here are some pictures I stole from her blog. Brooke, I hope you don't mind. These kids are too cute!

Little Bakers

Here is Ryan making sugar cookies at Katelyn's house.

Isn't that cute?!

Oh Pregnancy....
I know this may sound horrible, but I'm not a big fan of being pregnant. I just don't think I'm cut out for it. First of all, I became a type I diabetic when I got pregnant with Ryan. Then of course there's the nausea, acid reflux, getting larger by the second, etc., etc. However, as I'm sitting here catching up on everyone's blogs, our little girl is moving like crazy. I absolutely love feeling her move; it's enough for me to know she's doing okay and fortunately she isn't big enough yet to cause any pain by kicking me in the ribs:). Eric got to feel her move for the first time last night. It's times like that which make me forget about the unpleasant stuff and actually enjoy the pregnancy!

Time for a haircut.
I've been needing something new and fresh (especially since I've been feeling pretty blah lately). I've had some people ask me to post a picture of my new hairdo so they can see it. Here you go. It feels good to have a few inches off.

Today we had another ultrasound and found out that we are having a girl. She looks healthy and is doing well so far. We are so excited for our little upcoming addition to our family.

Here is Ryan playing with one of his Easter toys. He got a little farm set, and it entertained him for hours.

I love that he sticks out his tongue when he concentrates; like father like son I guess:).

Coloring Eggs

It's so fun having a child that is old enough to appreciate these kinds of family activities. Even though he wasn't a whole lot of help we had a lot of fun.

This looks like he is angry but this is just his most recent "cheese" smile.

Ryan in his new Easter outfit.

The other day I made some edible paint (i.e. pudding) for Ryan to finger paint with, and here were the results. He was in heaven.