10 down, 29 to go.

Wow. So far, I think this whole pregnancy business if goin' by quick!! We found out June 29, 2008 that we were expecting baby #3. Wowza!! I can hardly believe I have 10 weeks under my belt already. Must be the fact that the other two kiddos are keeping me hoppin'!

A pregnancy is 40 weeks, I have 10 down, and will most likely have my c-section at or around week 39, so technically I only have 29 more weeks to go!

According to my babycenter.com weekly pregnancy update the baby is now the size of a kumquat. A little over an inch and a half long. And weighs less than a quarter of an ounce. Any bets on how big this baby will be?! Amelia was 8 lbs 7 oz and 20-1/2 inches. Pauly was 9 lbs. 1 oz and 20-1/2 inches long. Funny how they were both the same length. My guess is that this baby will weigh more than 9 lbs 1 oz. Post your guesses here (in the comments section) and we'll see who's closest when the baby is born. Maybe there will be a little prize involved.... you just never know!!

Amelia and Paul are growing like weeks. Amelia is starting preschool in September. She will go Friday mornings from 8:30-11. We're sending her to the Catholic School to the Little Lambs program. She will be attending Catholic School when she starts Kindergarten, so we thought it was perfect that they have preschool too, that way she'll be familiar with the school when she heads to kindergarten. She's already telling people that she's FIVE, when asked her age. Also is telling everyone "I'm going to school. Not Pauly, he goes to Kimmy's." Yep, she's mighty proud she has one up on her brother. However, she doesn't realize he's still quite a bit younger than her as well! Should be interesting dropping her off the first day. Kevin thinks I'm going to be a standing in a puddle of my own tears. He said "Maybe I better drop her off at preschool her first day, you're going to be a wreck." Yes, maybe I will be a wreck...but at least I have an excuse. I can blame it on those crazy pregnancy hormones!! I'm sure Paul will be lost that first day Kevin drops him off at daycare without Amelia, but once he realizes she'll be there for the afternoon, he should be a-okay. They don't like to go places without one another. Which I guess, is a good thing!!

Paul if VERY active and I'm sure he's giving me grey hair!! He scares me when we go to the park. He has to go down the biggest, tallest, most windy slide there is...ALL. BY. HIMSELF! Nope, he doesn't want help! That and he thinks he is invincible. And climbs up the slides the wrong way. What am I going to do with this child?! He is going to age me very quick!!

As a whole, we're doing well. Our house is still on the market, nothing yet. (even with St. Joseph planted snugly in our front flower bed) We're starting to get pretty bummed about it, but hopefully soon. We're praying hard that something will happen soon. Otherwise we just might be living in a cardboard box on the corner because we will no longer be able to afford our house once this baby comes!! Or maybe we can just park our camper somewhere in live in that?! How's that sound for cozy?! HA!! Anyway, please pray for us that something will happen with our house soon!

So there you have it my friends. Finally an update of sorts from us! :)

Have a great weekend!!

Belly Picture #1.

10 weeks. 08.06.08

I did Belly pictures every two weeks with Amelia and Paul and will continue to do it for this pregnancy as well. The earliest I've taken them is 10-12 weeks. At the end of my pregnancy, I make a little photobook with all the "belly pictures" and then put it in the kids' memory boxes. I highly recommend doing this for every pregnancy and it's a great keepsake! I swear this picture, looks like I did when I was 16 weeks with Amelia! I'll try and find that picture later (see below)!

I made this for size comparison of all three pregnancies!

exciting things

This picture pretty much speaks for it's self...

Needless to say, we're VERY excited! And so is Amelia. Not sure how much Paul understands yet, but Amelia gets that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy, but can't figure out why she can't just see it. There is a new baby at daycare and she just adores "baby Claire", so hopefully that carries over at home!

Saturday was the Kolacky Day's Car Show. Kevin participated in his first car show ever. The kids had a blast and as soon as they got up were asking daddy if he was ready to go to the car show! Two days later, Amelia is still talking about it! Here are a couple pictures of the kids from the day...

Camping Pictures

Here are some new pictures from out camping trip last weekend (7/11-7/13) to Sakatah Lake State Park. These are the only pictures I ended up taking the whole weekend...surprising, I know! Enjoy! I'll try and get a new blog up later this week!

what a nice weekend.

Our forth of July was very nice. I hope everyone else enjoyed theirs as well. Our day started out with stopping by to see Mary and drop something off. Then we had lunch at Ihop with Kevin Sr. and Mary. After that we ran a few errands and then headed to my dad and Mary Jo's in Stillwater. We had a nice afternoon there. The weather was perfect and we spent much of the afternoon out on the patio at The Lofts watching the boats on the St. Croix. This was Paul's favorite part of the day and he'd get ticked if we wouldn't let him see the boats. This kid LOVES boats! He's a bit obsessed, I must say! He rode on a huge paddle boat in May for my dad and Mary Jo's wedding and ever since then, this little guys loves boats! We had a wonderful meal at my dad and Mary Jo's. Beef kabobs, chicken kabobs, veggie kabobs and pork ribs. Along with a wonderful potato salad. Then we watched the fireworks from the patio of The Lofts and Amelia and Paul preferred them inside. Amelia said "I don't like them out there. I don't like them out there" As soon as they started Paul said "Inside! Inside! Inside!" So inside we went! Kev ended up sitting inside with the kids and I enjoyed them outside!

Carrying their lawn chairs to Papa and Mary Jo's!

Amelia sitting with Papa and Mary Jo before the fireworks started!

All the boats on the St. Croix...looked like a mini-city!




Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Como Park Zoo with Matt, Kelly and Logan. We got there right away when they opened at 10:00 am, and boy was it hot out there already! It wasn't too crowded, which was nice and the kids seemed to have a good time! We stayed there until about 12:30 and then headed out.

Waiting for the train!

Kelly, Logan, Amelia, Paul and Me riding the Como Town Train

happy birthday america!

Can you believe it's the forth of July already? Where is our summer going?! Seems like it's just flyin' right by and we have yet to do the many things we talked about doing for the summer. We've only had one chance to go camping so far this summer. We're hoping we can go out next weekend if we can find a place to go! Otherwise we'll have to wait until August to go camping again. Why does time go by so fast?

The kids seem to be enjoying summer. As long as they can play outside. They are golden! Here are some pictures from Monday, when they were playing in their sprinkler.






Have a very safe and Happy Forth of July!

Relay for Life 2008

Our Team---Carrie's Crew

From left to right:

Front Row: Justin, Steph, Paul, Me, My Mom Carrie, Amelia, Amber, Sam, Roxanne

Back Row: Carolee, Tim, Julie, Grandma Eloise, Kevin

At our campsite

Amelia and Paul---waiting for the Relay for Life to Start

Her Poodle Skirt that Grandma Carrie Made the day of the Relay!

Mr. Paul

The 2008 West Ottertail County Relay for Life was held Friday, June 27, 2008. Despite the rain in the afternoon and the high winds during the evening. It all turned out nice. The only thing they were unable to do was light the luminaries due to the rain and then the high winds (safety issues) and they did closing ceremonies at 2:00 am, instead of 6:00. So that was kind of a bummer. But you can't control the weather.

Our theme this year was "Carrie's Crew Cruisin' for a Cure!" Thanks again to all of you who donated money to the Relay for Life, donated signs and also for allowing me to borrow Poodle Skirts! We truly appeciate it!

Thanks for your support!

camping

our humble abodes

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Amelia has been so excited about going camping since we bought our camper. Every day last week when she woke up she’d ask us if she could go see her camper and if we could go camping. She knew it was coming soon! One morning before daycare she said to Kevin “I want to see my camper RIGHT NOW!” So finally on Sunday, we were able to grant her that wish!

What a nice week we’ve had, despite the weather! We’ve been camping since Sunday @ Flandrau State Park in New Ulm. Sunday was in the 80’s and sunny. Monday was cool, cloudy and rainy. Lots of rain overnight on Monday night. We had some thunderstorms over night and when we woke up this morning the canopy on our camper was filled with water.

Today was cool and cloudy all day with a few sprinkles. It’s been an enjoyable trip over all. The kids have been having a blast! They are really enjoying camping.

We asked Jake if he’d like to come camping with us. He gladly accepted and hopefully he’ll come with us again! Even with the noisy kids! Some how he manages to sleep through all of their shenanigans. Amazingly Amelia and Paul have slept until at least 7:00 am.

We’ve had good food, good fun and lots of laughs. It really helped to do meal planning, we’ve had burgers on the grill, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, tequila lime chicken breasts, foil potatoes, corn, French bread, pancakes, fried eggs, pita pizzas on the grill. It’s all been so tasty!

Yesterday we toured the Schell’s Brewery http://schellsbrewery.com/home.php and had some beer samples. It was kind of interesting, we didn’t see a lot of the brewery, but learned a little history of the brewery and then watched a video on brewing beer. We sampled six different beers, also 1919 Root Beer, which they make at Schell’s Brewery. The weather hasn’t been the best, but we’ve been making do!

Today we went and saw Herrmann the German. http://www.hermannmonument.com/ It’s a statue in New Ulm that you can climb all the way the top and the view is incredible. We also went and walked downtown New Ulm, nothing too exciting down there.



Wednesday June 4th.

We checked out of the campground early, we could have checked out at 4:00, but opted to check out early due to the cloudy weather. We left the campground around 11:30. It was nice to get home and get the camper cleaned out and get going on the laundry. Now back to work tomorrow!

It was a lot of fun to get the camper out, a bit disappointed we didn't get to use the pool at all, I'm sure the kids would love swimming too. I'm hoping we can get the camper out sometime soon! The kids had a blast!