Wiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!

In our money spending weekend we have joined the masses and now own a Wii and Wii Fit. Mike saved his Best Buy money and did about 7 months of Best Buy surveys to be able to bring down the price of the Wii to $28 out of pocket. The Wii Fit is an encouragement for Mike and I to do some exercise and balance/posture improvements.

As Mike's family has been saying for years he scored perfect. Well, the Wii Fit does not have a pregnancy factor in their assessment so I am a bit off. My Mii (the character Wii has you make to play games) does not look too far off but my balance is way off. I think I need to start a writing campaign to have them add a pregnancy start off weight and how many months you are along and maybe some modified exercise programs. Hopefully it will be more beneficial after the baby.

We also bought a new mattress!!!! We are hoping that this will fix some of the sleeping problems and back/knee pain. Our bed has taken on an even more Princess and the Pea look and I almost need a step to get on the bed.

And new baby is......

Today was the much awaited 5 month sonogram to check out the baby's health and peek at what the little bugger looks like. Since last night the baby has been ornery, flipping and kicking so hard that Mike felt a kick or two. The technician had some trouble getting the shots she wanted due to the all the movement. But after all the heart, kidney and length checks came out fine the baby had wiggled enough to get a clear shot that we are having another boy. A long legged, currently 12oz. boy due around the last week of July.

I am now fully outnumbered in the house and we still stand firm that 2 kids are all that we want, so no trying again to see if we can have a girl. So all thoughts of tea parties and seeing Mike with barrettes in his hair has turned into superhero adventures all over the house complete with a superhero and sidekick, and if #2 is like his brother mommy playing the villain. Which is okay, as long as I get to pick the villain and it will always be Harley or Ivy.

Thank you Jon and Kate Plus 8

I will be the first to admit that I watch way too much of that show. Van wakes up from his nap and asks to watch "babies", I've figured out that its not so much the show but that Mike gets home from work most days during that afternoon rerun block on TLC. For those who don't watch, Jon and Kate have twins and sextuplets and their reality show is based on their lives in and around the Lancaster area of PA. I, like many others, watch the family go out on day trips and thought many times "wow, that seems like a cool place to visit one day".

Well that one day came. Our friends Jenn and Arty announced their wedding date and since we're 5 months along in baby #2 we decided that we would also get our once a year trip to DC to see my parents in while I can still travel comfortably. We spent Friday thru Monday in Orlando going to the wedding and visiting Mike's mom for her birthday. Tuesday we flew to DC and started our PA trip Wednesday morning.


First was the Hands on House Children's Museum in Lancaster. (For those who watch, the day trip Joel took.) Van played in the woods, punched germs, went grocery shopping, farmed, and worked in a machine shop. My parents were right next to him playing along. Me, well as you can see by the lack of pictures, I'm as big as a house and needed to sit down to keep up.


The next day was the Lancaster Train Museum and Hershey Chocolate World. The train museum was bigger and more fun than any of us thought. The place is huge, with 6 lines of actual retired trains. There is also a huge education center with so many model train types to play with that Van and my Dad could have spent the whole time just in there. They had a lego set up, geotracks, Brio and Thomas and a large model train with an excrusion sheet that Van was too young to do. Van loved to look inside the train and drove 2, then shoveled coal into the play furnace (photo above). After a quick nap we went to Hershey Chocolate World. My family went about 16 years ago and it has changed. Van liked the "ride thru the factory", where the cows sing, and becoming a factory worker by getting a badge and packaging a tub of kisses. His eyes grew wide and an excited "candy, candy, candy" came out as the kisses started pouring out of the machine. He is worker #393, offical product taster at Hershey. (I want to know when he gets his first paycheck. -Mike)



Friday was our last day in PA and we went to Easton to see the Crayola Factory and the Canal Museum. It was great that both museums were in the same building. Van got to try out each of the products Crayola has, which gave me a free try at deciding what he was ready for. They have a demonstration on how crayons and markers are made and stations with magic markers, modeling clay, and melted crayons (which only I got to play with). An important note: crayons melt at 160 degrees which can be fun to play with but not fun to find in the car. The Canal Museum, which initially I thought sounded boring, had 3 rooms of interactive play for kids. Van got to steer a boat down the canal using a lock system. and then used pullies and watched more trains to show how things use to be moved around PA before cars.



All had a great time. And now there is a big list of things to do some other year since many of the attractions in the area are closed during the winter.

YEA Jenn and Arty

The first stop on our vacation was to attend our friends Jenn and Arty's wedding. Mike has known Jenn since they were both 14 and she has become one of the family. (she's been a part of Mike's family longer than I have been) Arty joined in on the party about 5 years ago and is a match to Jenn in every quirky way.

Mike and I got to enjoy a night out with adults while Van got a night out with Grandma and Aunt Heather. We ate great food, celebrated their marriage and laughed at how funny they could dance. A great night and we wish Jenn and Arty a long and happy marriage.

Congrats to all moms to be!!

The list of family and friends that are expecting is growing by the day! If we keep up this rate we'll single handily bring the country out of recession by buying baby gifts. College friends Krissy and Suzanne, neighbor's Ramona and Nicky, mom clubber Christine and my cousin Stacey are all expecting by September. My crafting skills are getting well used making baby gift after baby gift. The picture is the latest baby clothing bouquet I made for one of Mike's coworkers.

Since the time I first sat down to write this blog entry my neighbor Ramona had her baby boy. I have not gone over there to get the statistics or even a glimpse of baby Hightower yet. And 2 other friends have semi-announced their pregnancy, but to not out them before they are ready so I will not congratulate them yet.

Valentines Day

Mike and Van made my Valentines present this morning. Unlike the Home Depot jewelry box they made last week the Lowe's Build and Grow project today let Van use his hammer and build a jewelry box. Mike said Van did almost all the hammering himself and did a very good job. Most weekend projects Van starts hammering and then gets distracted and keeps hammering but stops looking at where he is hammering. That has led to a few hit fingers.

Mike then let him pick out a present for me at Target. Van decided that I must have a fish soap dispenser. Mike said he pointed at it and said "mama fishy present". I being the bad mom did not get Mike a present with Van. :( I will hide once again behind the excuse of I'm pregnant and sick. (yes still sick most days)

Van got a superhero action figure to go with the growing collection. He calls them all Man, not Spiderman or Batman just Man. He also calls his fireman Man too, which leads to much confusion when he comes out of the playroom asking "where Man go?" there are about 7 options of Man in the house. He also will not let Mike play with the villains, only the heroes. Mommy gets to play the villain part. I told Mike that he needs to start looking for the female villains like Harley or Ivy so I had better characters than Mr. Freeze and Joker to play with.

Happy Valentines Day

Christmas 2008

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