Advice...from a cookie

Sean and I just got back from the mall where I decided to dine on some tasty Chinese food... well, I wish it was tasty. Anyway, I opened my fortune cookie and my jaw dropped! Want to know why? Here's what it said:

Remember three months from

this date. Good things are in

store for you.

OK, for those of you not keeping track of how far along I am... Keelyn is due in a little less than 3 months. Also, remember this... our original due date was 07/07/09, then they moved us back to 07/17/09. If the cookie Gods are right, she could be born on 07/27/09.

YIKES!!!!!

Here's hoping the cookie Gods are wrong this time. I don't think I can wait that long to meet her! I wonder of her non-stop kicking right now is a clue.......... I guess time will tell.

An Unexpected Visitor.

This morning, the kids and I got an unexpected visitor at school... the secretary from Sean's and my chiropractor's office. She brought us a present :o). Such a nice way to start a dreary Monday morning.

Hard to read it? Let me type it out for you...

"Hidden within your name is a special story"

K is for keepsake, you treasure your memories

E is for exotic, no lack of sp irit here!

E is for expressive, not one to hold within.

L is for life, that you live so well.

Y is for yearn, your innermost desires.

N is for natural, the genuine side of you.

Keelyn is much more than just a name

A Very Busy Weekend

We had a very busy weekend here in Lynamland. For starters, my parents & godparents (yes, they will always be my godparents even though I'm an adult now) stayed with us for the big ol' Drake Relays, a yearly event for them.

Friday night was full of us grilling here at home, and homemade strawberry margaritas. Needless to say, I did not partake in drinking those tasty drinks... I had a yummy glass of white grape juice. Jealous, right? I know. Back to the weekend. Mom, Kandis, Dad, and I went shopping in Ankeny that night with Keith & Sean stayed behind to watch their beloved Yankees. Let's just say the shoppers had a better night than the baseball fans.

Saturday, I made everyone breakfast... Overnight Caramel French Toast. It was AWESOME! The recipe will be at the end of the post in case you're interested. Then, I went out with my friends Cheri, Holly & Becky for lunch at Cheddar's and planned my baby shower! It was so good to hang out with those 3 ladies.

Saturday night, the crew went out to eat at Rube's Steakhouse in Waukee.

Have you ever been there? It's GREAT!!! It's a grill-your-own steakhouse, with unlimited trips to the salad bar, potato bar, texas toast, and baked beans. The gals sat and talked while the guys grilled the food. That's the way it should be, right?!? HA! If you haven't gone there, I highly suggest you go. SUPER yummy!! Same as Friday night, the four of us went shopping...again...while the other two guys came back home to watch sports highlights, and of COURSE, to see who else was drafted into the NFL while we were eating.

This morning meant another yummy breakfast... bacon egg bake... followed by even MORE shopping!! After all the shopping, I came home, put things away, and took a much needed nap. This weekend wore me out! Now I am finishing the laundry and gearing up for another great weekend.

And now, the recipe for those of you who are interested.

Overnight Caramel French Toast

1/2 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

2 T. light Karo syrup

Mix above ingredients over medium heat until thick. Pour into bottom of greased 9x13 pan. Place 6 slices of white bread on top of brown sugar mixture, then place another 6 slices on top of the first row of slices.

Combine the following:

6 eggs

1 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

Combine above ingredients and pour evenly over top of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 40-45 minutes. When serving, flip over onto the plate so the caramel is on top. Tastes like a caramel roll and egg bake. MMmmmmm... yummy.

**I used normal white sandwich bread, but next time I am going to try using French bread instead... I'm also going to try putting some chopped pecans in the caramel sauce. I'll let you know how it turns out :o)**.

Week 28

Keelyn Avery... 28 weeks

Me wearing a skirt... oh the things that pregnancy changes!

Oy Vey...what a day

It started with me waking up to a sore throat :o(. I was hoping it would get better, which it did... then my luck changed.

The good, you ask? I had my monthly doctor's appointment today. This visit was the extra special one where I got to drink the yummy fructose drink for the gestational diabetes test. I slammed the drink down in 2 minutes and was pleasantly surprised... it didn't taste as bad as everyone said it would. I rushed over to my appointment only to sit for almost 20 minutes for them to call my name. When they tested my blood, I found out that woohoooo! I passed!! Yeppers, no gestational diabetes for me! In fact, they were concerned because my blood sugars were so low. So... they gave me a Pepsi to drink. Can you believe that!?!?! A PEPSI!!! Do you have any idea how long it has been since I have drank a fully loaded, non-diet pop? YEARS!!! When I walked back to the waiting room to wait to see the doctor, I got a few weird looks from the other soon-to-be-moms, but all was well.

As for the doc? He didn't tell me much, except for these 3 new important rules:

Rule 1. If bleeding, go to the hospital.

Rule 2. If water breakage, go to the hospital.

Rule 3. If contractions are 5 minutes apart, go to the hospital.

Yes, apparently I am far enough along where the words "go to the hospital" are becoming much more real. He also told me that my fall of last week was pretty much no big deal. He told me that he's only seen one baby harmed while in the Mommy's tummy... and that was from a gunshot wound. So he said falls and slips are pretty much no biggie. Nice.


The luck diminishing part??? Yes, that came right after I got home. Recall what I just wrote above? Good... because I have now apparently hit the clumsy stage of the pregnancy. While handing the dog leashes to Sean and trying to close the baby gate, my knee gave out on me, I missed a step, and whoosh! Down I went... 4-5 stairs. Nice. This time around, Sean got to see me fall and well, he was a bit panicked. So... my knee hurts even worse than before, my back is back to hurting, but it woke Keelyn up because she hasn't.stopped.KICKING since it happened... and that was 3 1/2 hours ago.

This is a sign that I will be putting on all of my clothes, jackets, and by all staircases I may walk on.

Oy vey... what a day.

A Great Weekend!

What a great weekend! We were all super happy to have our nephew Owen spend Saturday afternoon-Sunday morning with us. We hadn't seen him since December and boy did we miss him!! Don't worry Ann, we missed seeing you, too :o)

We did as much fun stuff in our time with him as we could. First, we played with toys that Grandma Sally brought from her house... including toys that Jason and I used to play with when we were little. Then Owen helped Grandpa Dale & Uncle Sean fix stuff out in our garage (a laser beam to tell me exactly when to stop the van & a keyless entry pad for our garage door were the projects of the day). Owen had fun with his screwdriver fixing the garage wall :). Then it was back to playing with toys and chasing after Bogart and Edgar.

The weather cooperated with us long enough to play with bubbles, then head to Grays Lake to feed the ducks and play on the slide and swings. Owen is a HUGE duck fan and is very lucky to have a lake with nearly tame ducks a block away from his house. The ducks at Grays Lake? Not as "tame", but he was excited nonetheless. Then it was off to Okoboji Grill for a great supper, followed by some much needed cuddle time with Grandma Sally. He even got to talk to his Daddy on Skype.

This morning included more cuddle time, breakfast, more toys, Mickey Mouse, the hot dog dance, more playing with the dogs, and TONS of laughing! We were sad to see him go, but are excited to know that he, his Mom and his Dad will be back on July 17... Keelyn's due date. Can't wait to see the lil' bugger with his lil' cousin.

In the midst of all of this fun, we were able to get the whole house clean, all of our laundry done, AND put together a nightstand for the nursery. Truly a great weekend.

How 'bout some pics to prove it!!

Hangin' with Uncle Sean and our neighbor Josh.

Taking time from bubbles to smell the flowers.

"BUBBLES!!!!!"

Cuddle time with Grandma Sally...

"Ducks. Come eat the bread!"

Open wide!! I'd hate to be Jason and Ann... this kid goes through more food than anyone I know!!!Playing choo choo train with Grandpa Dale.

Proof that I put together the new nightstand :)

Thoughtful Thursday

The best sunburn so far this year... note to self: remember to take watch off when putting on sunscreen.

A Great Day!

Today was the big day... Special Olympics! My kids did AWESOME!!! Two of them got first place ribbons so will be going to the state games in Ames next month... and one of them got 2 first place ribbons!! Both for the 50m dash and one for the softball throw. I am sooo impressed with how well they handled themselves today. Now, prepare yourselves for picture overload. Seriously, if I'm this excited about my students, what on earth am I going to be like when Keelyn joins us?!?!?

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Special Bulletin: There was a bit of a scare today. While walking to our spot to sit, a student from a high school here in town was having a meltdown and I happened to be in the "wrong place at the wrong time" category. He pushed me pretty hard and I went flying backwards, tripping over some concrete steps and landing on my back in a pile of mulch. My co-workers and several parents were right there to make sure I was ok. I was definitely in a state of shock, but all is well. After 2 phone calls to my doctor's office, Keelyn is kicking away like normal and I am not in pain. Check that... I am in pain... I have a strawberry (a.k.a. concrete BURN) on the back of my left knee. Anyone who has ever had one of these will know exactly what kind of pain I'm talking about. Unfortunately it's right where my knee bends, therefore I can't put anything on it. The thing I was most mad about? I had mulch all over my back and in my hair! I know... I'm an odd-ball. BUT... both Mommy and Keelyn are JUST FINE!!!!

Now... onto the pictures...

Excited and ready to go...

"Mrs. L, where is the bus????????????????????"
Ah-ha! Here it is!!!!!!! Gearing up for a first place throw....
Look at that face! She knows she won :o) Check out that form! I am one great head coach.... HA!
Look at her smile. Disneyland is NOT the happiest place on earth... Special Olympics games are :) Again... the form... I amaze myself :o) HA!!
Get ready for a great throw...
What a great lookin' team. Go Eagles!! Run, run, as fast as you can... SUPER hard to see... but the girl in yellow shirt in the middle?? Ahead of everyone else? Oh yeah baby...FIRST PLACE!!!! The look of determination. And the look of pure joy.
OK, that's all the pictures. Aren't they precious?!?!??! The best athletes in the WORLD! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

Tomorrow is a BIG day!

Tomorrow, I am taking my six students to their very first West Central Special Olympics games at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. They are participating in the softball throw and in the 50 meter dash. They are SOOO excited to go to the games, but not as excited as I am to watch them. The weather is going to be BEAUTIFUL, which makes it even better! Wish us luck!!!!!

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester!!!

I cannot believe that we are in the first week of the third trimester already!! The time has flown by! Granted, those first four or five months were a bit hard with the constant all.day.long sickness, but I wouldn't trade any of this time for ANYTHING! Well... I would trade it for her to be here already, but it's been awesome nonetheless.

I am feeling GREAT these days! I haven't gained a ton of weight... yet. I know it will come on here any day now though. What's even better is that I am now getting SLEEP! Wooohooo!!!! One day, Sean was telling some of his co-workers about my lack of sleep issue. One of the ladies told him about this wonderful pillow that we should try to find. So Saturday, Sean took me to Babies 'R Us where we bought the wonderful Snoogle pillow!!!

It may look funny, but it's already made a huge difference.

As for third trimester woes, I am experiencing a small bit of swelling in my hands, so I had to say bye-bye to my wedding ring on Saturday :o(. That was a very hard one for me to do. It hurt WAY too much to take off, and was WAY too hard to put back on. I had to Windex my finger and pull as hard as I could to get it back off. I wish I could have made it farther without taking it off, but what can I do.

That's all for now. I hope everyone had a great Easter :o)

Happy Birthday Sean!!!

Happy Birthday to my best friend in the world!!! I love you Sean!!!

Also, a big happy birthday to my cousin Jenna, whose birthday was on Friday. Sorry for the late post Jenna... we hope you had a great day!!

Sleep? Are you there?????

Poor Sean. He was a very tired person today... and so was I. Sleep has started to become something I don't see much of anymore, and now it's started to rub off on Sean. I'm getting to a point where I am no longer comfy (I know what you're thinking... I have 3.5 months of pregnancy left! Just wait!!), and lately all I do is roll, and roll, and roll.

I'm trying all the tricks in the book... wedge pillow, body pillow, extra normal pillows. These have not been successful. The trick tonight? I will be sleeping on the couch :o(. We'll see how this works for us. I guess we're gearing up for the many sleepless nights to come, huh?

Sweet dreams... I hope...