Assembly Required

After the shower on Saturday, Tony and I diligently worked to assemble everything we got! We had a blast, and so did the kitties. The pictures are high quality, since they are from my phone.

My cousin Jake had this specially made for Baby K. How awesome! Tony was pretty excited about it!

Luna enjoyed the boxes after we took things out of them. Note the diaper genie. I put it together all by myself!

Sol wanted to go out for a walk right away! 

I thought the 10lb hammer was a little overboard, but Tony said he NEEDED it to get the job done right....

Proof that I can use tools successfully! I put the vibrating bouncer seat together. 

Sol enjoyed all the tissue paper when I was emptying out bags to fold up and store. 

There's the finished bouncer seat. 

Tony put the pack 'n play together. 

Amanda sent us home with balloons from the shower as well. The cats had a lot of fun playing with them. Sorry about the flashes of light in the video, Tony was capturing it on the camera.

Jungle Baby Shower

Yesterday afternoon, my wonderful sister-in-law to be, Amanda and cousin Jake threw a beautiful and fun shower for Baby K and me. I'll give you a recap of the fun we had:

Everyone wrote down "wishes" they had for Baby K. They received a leaf with prompts on them. For example: I hope you learn:______ I hope you grow______ I hope you become_________. There were about 7 or 8 prompts to fill in. They then hung the wishes on some branches. I put them right in the baby book! So sweet to read what everyone wrote.

Next, people could guess when the baby was going to be born, girl/boy, weight, length, eye color and time. We'll see if anyone gets it right!

We played Jungle Baby Shower Bingo. Jill and Mindy tied!

Then everyone had to guess how big my belly was by taking the amount of yarn they thought would fit around me. It was quite interesting to see how close or far off people were. Grandma Jayne was SO close, but Laura beat her by guessing the exact size of my belly.

We had DELICIOUS snacks: Reuben dip, cheese/tomatoes, veggies, zebra cakes, pretzels with almond bark, oreos.....and to end the affair, a delicious zebra ice cream sandwich cake! SO good!

I opened so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts for Baby K. Among the gifts we got: sheets, mattress pad, clothes, stuffed toys, bath center, stroller, pack 'n play, bouncer seat, gift card....

Thanks Amanda and Jacque for a wonderful afternoon!

Thanks to Laur (and I know many others had cameras too), I have some pictures to share from the big day:

Here's Natalie measuring "the belly"

Opening presents

My mom found this adorable bib. I think we'll keep it in the baby bag so the baby can wear it when we're at a Grandma's house. 

The diaper cake Amanda made for us!

Yummy zebra cake!

 It wouldn't be a proper gathering without an elbow train!

Dancing Queen

Yesterday we were able to head over to Byron to watch our niece, Natalie, in her first ever dance showcase. It was just a preview of the cute dancing to come at her big recital in April. She did SUCH a great job! She had a big smile on her face the whole time!

We were VERY proud of her! Here are some shots of the dancing queen in action:

iPhone uPhone

Life around our house has been pretty uneventful this week. I did A LOT of reorganizing and cleaning throughout the entire house. I still have more to do, but it takes longer when I try not to overdo it...

Update on my "job". They are still waiting for my license to get to MDE (MN Dept of Ed). Once it's there, they will request an expedite. Once they expedite it, I will go to discuss contract...So, not much new on that end. Just a waiting game.

Here's what my iPhone captured for the week (sure looks like I'm becoming quite the cat lady):

Here's my loving husband. I spent all day cleaning and was very tired and sore when he got home from work. Even though he had a long hard day, he still did the dishes for me. What a great guy!

Tony and I stayed with Meg and Connor for a little bit on Sunday, and Meg ran upstairs with a little tooth in her hands. She pulled it out all on her own! 

I was looking through my baby pictures to give to Amanda for a shower she is having for me, and I came across this one. This is the picture that has given me the nickname Froggy for as long as I can remember. My Uncle Mark likes to croak at me randomly whenever he sees me. 

Our Luna is quite the beggar when we have 1 of 3 items out: popcorn, string cheese, cheddar flavored chips/snack mix. Here she is begging Tony for some popcorn. 

I have been sleeping in 1000 different positions every night in order to stay comfortable. I woke up with my knees up the other morning and a cat perched on top of them. 

It's hard to see, but Luna is giving herself a bath at the top of the scratch pole. Sol is jealous of her amazing abilities. 

Sol stayed with me all day while I was cleaning. She made sure I was doing a great job!

Here's Luna begging me for some more snacks...

Caught in the action: That's my body pillow Miss Luna! 

This weekend will produce lots of pictures and fun time to blog about! Stay tuned!

My Favorites

I posted on Facebook all of our maternity pictures, but I'll post just my favorites here for you all.  You already saw 3 that I also liked from our Sneak Peak on Facebook.

I love this one because Tony has a better smile than he normally does in posed pictures. He's good at the "fake" smile... I love that the ultrasound is so clear too!

I like the outdoor ones. It captures Tony's personality a little better.

Boy or girl? If we have a girl, Tony has a lot to learn. He was so confused by the tutu. 

Not to be vain, but I just like this photo of me. 

I'm not a fan of Tony's posed smile, but I love the bright colors! 

This sign was one thing I REALLY wanted when we got married. Mindy got it for us, and I just had to use it. Don't be surprised if it comes back in our family photos when we have newborn shots. 

I had a mouthful of Bubble Yum Watermelon gum for this shot! I tried and tried to make a bigger bubble, but it's hard to do on demand!

The year was 1956

In the year 1956, my grandmother thought the best present she could give my Grandpa Arnie for his birthday was his firstborn child. My mother was born the day after my Grandpa's 21st birthday.

I'm pretty glad she was! We helped her celebrate by going to Newt's for supper on Saturday. The whole Fredricksen clan and Aunt Elinor made it. Will and Amanda couldn't make it for cake afterwards, but the rest of us did.

Here she is with her beautiful birthday cake that I slaved over.

Elinor gave Mom a new/old gnome. This was one that Elinor won first prize in a contest I believe in the 80s. 

Mother/Daughter shot.

Sunday we went to Aunt Amy's for a Mexican Birthday Fiesta lunch. Mom does wear other shirts, but she changed back into her comfy sweatshirt after church. Here she is with her new wine chiller. 

We had sundae's with brownies for dessert. Delicious! 

Birthday brownies!

A lot will change for my mom in her 57th year of life. Becoming a grandma and marrying off her little baby boy!

Insta-gram

Here's my life this week according to my iPhone. Yes, there are lots of pictures with my cats, but that's because I'm home all day with them, and they're too darn cute not to capture with my phone!

My little Sol has become my snuggly kitty during the day. I have been getting some organizing done around the house, but I stop to rest on the couch often. Sol likes to jump up and nap on me while I'm resting.

Sol has discovered Baby K's crib. I've only seen her in it this one time, and Luna never goes in it, but I did buy a crib net so the cats can't get in when the baby is in it. 

Last Saturday I went to the Wedding Expo with Amanda and her other bridesmaids. I just LOVED this cake from the HyVee booth. I wouldn't get it for my wedding, but it would be fun for a kid's birthday cake. 

Every day when I get ready to go somewhere, the cats sit at the bottom of the stairs with looks filled with sadness. It makes it difficult to leave!

Here's Luna, still in bed at 10am. She has become the late sleeper! Both cats have started sleeping with us at night, but luckily, they sleep at the end of the bed! 

The other day I was doing laundry. Luna found a bib and a sock to play with...