Trip to D.C.

We did our first family vacation this year. We took a trip to Washington D.C. to visit my family. They live in Burke, VA, which is about 30 min. from the city. This was Nora's second time on a plan, she doesn't remember the first time. She loved it! She couldn't wait to get back on the plane. We left on Saturday and stayed until Wednesday. We had a great time and did some good site seeing. It was awesome to spend time with my family as well. We miss them so much!!!  It was also great that they got to spend time with Nora. When they come here it is all of us hanging out together and this time it was just us and them. Here are some pics with some stories!

Uncle John and Aunt Sally

On the boat tour

It was so hot on the boat tour!

So the above pictures were taken on the second day that we were there. We went swimming in the morning and then relaxed and went on a boat tour. It was a very interesting tour to say the least and our tour guide was the reason it was interesting. He wasn't the greatest, but we got to see some sites. It was so flipping hot! There was no breeze on the boat the first 20 minutes, once the boat turned around the breeze returned. After the boat tour we went and had dinner at Capitol City Brewing Company. Poor Joe, the waitress spilled our soda's on him!!! We drove around a little after dinner and called it a night!

Jenny and Nora

 On Monday we went swimming again and chilled out. Then we went and met Peter's cousin Jenny at Maggiano's for dinner, which was excellent. Jenny met Nora for the first time, can you see a family resemblance there?! We then walked around the very expensive mall that the restaurant was attached to. This is when the whole 'push present' jokes began. Annie asked me earlier in that day if I had ever heard of a push present. This is when your husband gives you a nice gift for being pregnant and having the baby. I had told her yes, but I did not get a push present with Nora. So we went into the coach store and I found a really cute diaper bag and the push present joking began.

Aunt Sally and Nora playing with Ben

 My aunt has an iPad and has an app called talking Ben. Nora thought it was a hoot and wanted to play with Ben a lot. He eats and answers the phone and mimics you. It was pretty darn funny to watch her play with it and it was a great bribe as well!

Annie, Peter, Joe

 
On Tuesday we went to the Smithsonian Museums of Natural History and American History. They are really neat places to visit. After that we had lunch at a famous place called 'Ben's Chili Bowl'. It was really good and has been featured on Oprah, Food Network, and Man vs. Food. It was cool.

 After lunch we went to see the White House and had some pictures taken in the back of it. We saw the first lady's garden and that was about it.

 Emma is their dog and followed Nora around the entire time we were there. She kept trying to herd Nora. It was pretty funny. Nora is sad that Staley doesn't follow her like Emma did. I bet Emma was sad when Nora left.

The last place that we went on our last day was the Air and Space Museum. It was really cool and they had lots of neat planes and stuff at it. We had a great time with the Mernah Clan and can't wait to make another trip back to D.C.

Nora's Trip to Chicago

Nora went to Chicago from the 10th of July through the 16th of July. Peter and I took her up to stay with Grandma and Grandpa and we came back home. She stayed with them for the whole week and was spoiled silly! A lot of people cannot believe that we let her do this and on the flip side people say to them I can't believe you are doing this. I think it is awesome! This is her third summer spending a week with them and I think that it is a special thing that she gets to do. It all started because I had class in the summer and so they kept her while I was in class, well this summer was the first time that I didn't have class. I was kid free, well besides the one that I am carrying ;) While she was gone I got the babies room ready. Nora kept busy in Chicago. She went to the pool with Grandma, Aunt Candace and Naomi, to the Aquarium, the library, to visit great-grandma, the park, a movie and build a bear! Here are some pics!

New Bedrooms

So back in February I think I posted that Peter redid the guest bedroom for Nora and moved everything into a new room for her. He did a Disney princess theme. He did this in anticipation of having another baby and that we knew when that happened we would be turning Nora's crib into a full size bed. So a few weeks ago Peter and a few friends helped move the room around to get ready for the big girl bed and last weekend we got a new full size mattress for Nora! She loves her big girl bed. Baby girl is using Nora's mattress and we didn't want to have Nora have any issues with it so we decided to do it now instead of waiting closer to when the baby comes.

She has done really great in her big bed. She has only fallen in the crack one time. I just need to take a friends advice and get a pool noodle to stick under the fitted sheet to serve as a bit of a blocker and she will be just fine. Nora and Jalen slept in the bed together last week when he spent the night and she was all excited. We moved the guest bedroom downstairs. So now Grandma and Grandpa will be downstairs when they come to visit!

So since Nora has been gone I have had the chance to get baby girls bedroom together. The new furniture came over the weekend and once I got back from Chicago I couldn't wait to get it all organized and together. One of the side effects of being pregnant this time around is my major OCD or nesting. I know you are thinking how much worse could it be, but let me tell you, I cannot keep things organized enough or my house clean enough. I know it is irrational and sick, but I cannot help it!!! 

Anyway...we are using the same bedding as we did with Nora, but we switched the room around so it is a little different. It seems kind of plain right now, but her name will go on the wall above the changing table when she comes and it will give it a little more. I had fun getting everything out again and washing it all. All of the blankets, sheets, burp cloths, and lap pads are all washed and ready to go. Here is her room...

Here is the new bedroom downstairs! Nora has been telling Grandma and Grandpa about their new bedroom and she is excited to show them where it is! They will be bringing Nora back on Saturday and we won't be home so Nora will be in charge of showing them around and I don't think she will have any problem with it ;)

Ultrasound

So I had another ultrasound yesterday! Baby girl is doing just fine. They wanted to do a second one because at 18 weeks she was breech and the placenta was close to the cervix. So at 25 weeks she is head down and the placenta is growing with the uterus like it should! She was pretty active during this ultrasound as well. She sure does like to move and kick. She gave us an okay profile shot and that is what I have posted below. She is measuring right on track and weighs just over 1 lb right now! The tech did show us that she has some hair on her head too, but that pic you really need to see in person.

After having the ultrasound it really makes me wonder what she is going to look like! Is she going to look like Nora? Is she going have Peter's features or will she look more like me? Will we have a second red-head? I still have 15 weeks to go! We will find out soon enough. Oh and we haven't decided on a name yet. We have narrowed it down, but we are not sharing. You will have to wait and see what we end up deciding when she gets here!

Happy Birthday to Mom and America!

We had a great weekend! Friday evening we celebrated my birthday with my mom and sisters and had a game night. Typically for a birthday we get to choose whatever type of dinner we want and go from there. This year I requested appetizers and a game night, so that is what we did! Everyone came over we ate and played games and had a great time!


Saturday morning we went out to breakfast with my dad and then took it easy until we headed to the Gateway Grizzlies game. This is baseball that is a step above college. We had a lot of fun, despite the 100 degree temperatures! Poor Nora is just like her dad and is just a sweaty little girl.  I would definately want to do this again. The food and drinks were cheap as well as the tickets! They played a good game and the announcers were hilarious. After the game they had fireworks, which Nora did not like to much. She started to cry until daddy asked her to tell him the colors and she did it. She did start to cry again during the finale, but it didn't last too long.

making faces at daddy while mommy was getting sno cones!

My birthday cupcake!

Nora loved the mascot!

At the Game!

So every 4th of July the Bromeier Gang has a big celebration and it has been happening for a very long time. This year my cousin Mindy hosted and we joined in for the festivities! It was a pretty warm day and they have a pool so of course we had to get in. A few weeks ago Nora would not get in the pool unassisted and now she won't get out. Peter and I had to take turns getting back in because we were both participating in the washers tournament. It was pretty funny because I played two whole washers game soaking wet in a maternity swimsuit. I am sure I was a sight to see! Anyway, Nora swam for almost 3 hours! I don't know how she didn't just pass out after she was done. Neither Peter nor I won the washers tournament, but Zach made it to the finals again and was beat for the 3rd year in a row by our cousin Kurt.

Great Gran and Nora

Pappy and Nora (pappy bought Nora her dress for her birthday)

Since we were in Jefferson County it was legal to shoot off fireworks. Nora was not happy about this. My cousin Jamie saved the day because she had some headphones for Nora to put on. She could still hear a little, but she was not jumping out of her chair like she had on the first few! As you can see in the picture she made me wrap my arms around her like a seat belt. I tried to move my arms and she put them right back the way they were!

The head phones worked so well that the poor baby fell asleep! I guess that is what all that swimming and playing will do to you! She was out cold!

We had a great weekend! Check back soon for Nora's visit to Chicago. She leaves this coming weekend and won't be back at home until the 16th! I am sure I will have some updating to do!

Special House

So last night we went to the Magic House or as Nora kept referring to it as the Special House. She sure is special! There was a Park Lane event and it was only $5 for us to get in and we were able to go into a couple of the rooms. Nora had a great time! She sure does have a wonderful imagination. She made me pretend that I was the kid and we were going to all of these different places. It was cute and fun and love being able to play with her. 

They also had a clown there painting the kids faces and another one making balloon animals. She would not go near the face paint for the longest time. She did however get a kitty cat balloon made right away. She really wanted two and they wouldn't give her another one. So we sent a friend Laura in to get one and I totally forgot she was afraid of clowns!! It was so nice of her to do that! When she finally got the courage to have her face painted she wanted to be a kitty cat. It doesn't even look like her. She also had some flowers painted on her arm!  Fun times! I love the summer!