Two Things

It is no secret that Karter and I love to go to the zoo, this summer we have taken advantage of our annual membership and have gone every couple of weeks. The fun thing about the zoo is that you never know what the animals are going to be doing that day. This week we went with our good friend Martha, and saw something we hadn't ever seen before....the tigers close up! Every other time we have been there the tigers have been lounging off somewhere in the shade and we couldn't get a very good look at them. This was a rare treat to see them so close up. It was kind of creepy too, because the male tiger just kept pacing back and forth. Karterman loved watching them though!

Earlier this week when I posted about the garden, apparently I left something out! My gardener was not pleased that I left out our most plentiful crop, the raspberries. Last month we enjoyed eating fresh raspberries and our freezer is stocked with over 10 quart for us to enjoy all winter. With some of our frozen berries we have already made scones and sauce for ice cream, next we are hoping to make a pie!

Streaker

In an effort to help the rash on Karterman's bum heal, his doctor reccommended letting him air dry after bathtime to make sure he is really dry. He loves the freedom of running around without any clothes on.

One day this week, while he was enjoying his freedom, we noticed how big his tummy is! He is stretched out in this picture, but the first one you can see his little pop belly! It is super cute, and we think it is normal!

Dinnertime Cutie

Tonight, we had mashed potatoes and gravy for supper (including green beans, fresh tomatoes, and pork chops). YUMMY!! As you can see from the photos above, Karter especially liked the mashed potatoes and gravy - especially since he got his own bowl and spoon to eat with!! He ate all by himself tonight, a task which he continues to improve on each day...

Isn't he cute with half of his supper on his face?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Kristoffer spent many hours this past spring planning and working on the garden. This is his third year of having a garden, and since the past two seasons didn't produce much, he was determined to make this year a success.

He worked hard and planted jalapenos, zucchini, lettuce, basil, dill, cilantro and LOTS of tomatoes. This year, everything except for the lettuce have produced plenty for us and then some!

Zucchini was the first thing that Kristoffer was able to harvest, and I think that he was pretty excited to have some produce!

A few weeks ago, he was able to harvest some jalapenos and he tried out this recipe...boy were these little beauties delicious!!

We now have tomatoes coming out of our ears and with Kristoffer being the adventurous chef that he is, he concocted this delicious tomato soup for dinner on Saturday to use some of them. He combined all kinds of fresh produce...tomatoes, basil, zucchini and green onions...and it all came together amazingly! This was the best tomato soup I have ever eaten. I even pitched in a little and made some homemade croutons to top it off!

Congratulations on a plentiful garden, Kristoffer!

The Great Minnesota Get Together!

On Sunday we were super excited to head to St. Paul for the "Great Minnesota Get Together!"

We braved the crowds to see all the we could.

There were somethings poor little Karter just couldn't see! This was the animal birthing center and it was so crowded, none of us could see anything. There was a calf being born while we were there, so everyone at the fair wanted to see it.

Kristoffer and I were most excited to go to the livestock barns and let Karter walk around and pet the animals.

He absolutely loved it! He would run from stall to stall pointing at all the different animals, always looking up to make sure we saw it too!

Daddy loved showing him the sheep.

I am a proud 10 year 4-Her, and MN is lacking in the 4-H participation!! During my 10 years I ALWAYS did clothing and this is the clothing section at the MN fair. There are only four racks of clothes and over half of them are what they call "Clothes You Buy" (aka Flash with Cash). I was totally disappointed!

Aren't these two just the cutest things!

This is Deano, and he is Minnesota's largest boar weighting in at 1310 lbs. I think someone needs a little exercise!

Keeping with the large theme...this is Minnesota's largest pumpkin and it weights 1186 lbs. Good luck carving it!

Princess Kay of the Milky Way is a pageant that is put on by the Midwest Dairy Association. It is a tradition to have Princess Kay (that is not the actual princess' name) and her court's heads carved into butter.

Being from Indiana, we are very partial to the Indiana State Fair...and this is no Indiana State Fair. People don't really go to this fair to see 4-H exhibits...they go to EAT! So, eat we did! He had our fair share of fried foods, but Kristoffer enjoyed his macaroni and cheese on a stick first!

Sweet Martha's cookies are a big deal at the state fair, so we also had to eat some fresh chocolate chip cookies!

The popular thing to get at Sweet Martha's is the bucket of cookies, but we didn't think we "needed" that many cookies. We settled for a funnel of cookies, which they probably stuffed 20 cookies into!!

We finished off our day at the fair with the daily parade. We just happened to be there the day that the U of M cheerleaders and marching band were there.

Who knew band geeks could do toe-touches!? I was a little out of it when the band went by and was playing "some" song, it turned out to be Minnesota's school song. Oops, guys I don't know the fight song!

Goldy was even in the parade!

Karter LOVED watching everything in the parade, he clapped and waved at EVERYTHING!

And Princess Kay of the Milky Way waving at her people.

Our very own Hastings HS also happened to be in the parade yesterday!

This guy looks kind of creepy if you ask me, but he was a huge hit with the Viking fans in the crowd.

SPAMIE! After our trip to Austin in May, Spam holds a special place in our hearts.

We left the fair tired and very full! It was a great day for the three of us to spend today enjoying a Minnesotan tradition.

18 Weeks

Today marks the 18 week mark for me and baby K #2! This pregnancy is going very fast and is completely different than when I was pregnant with Karter. It is true what they say, all children are different...even this early on! Karter and I just got home from my 3rd OB appointment. This was the first time this pregnancy that I have been able to see my Dr (she just got back from maternity leave) and I forgot how much I loved her! She is SO fantastic, as soon as she walked in she gave me a huge hug and told me congratulations. She is so easy going, it is like talking to one of my girlfriends during the appointment. I'm glad she is back and doesn't have any vacation/pregnancies planned between now and January 29th!

My appointment itself was pretty boring...during pregnancy boring is a good thing! I was kind of surprised I only gained 1 lb in the last 5 weeks, which means I am still down 2 for the entire pregnancy, not too bad for almost being halfway done. Karterman doesn't like it when mommy has to have Dr's do things to her, so he was sure to sit on the table next to me as we listened to baby's heartbeat. Oh what a wonderful sound that is! I must admit, after being sick this week (and being the worry-wart that I am) I was nervous about how the babe was doing, but its heartbeat was a nice strong 145bpm. My next appointment is 2 weeks from today, and that is THE BIG 20 week ultrasound! How exciting, in 2 weeks we will know if baby K #2 is a boy or a girl! Kristoffer will be leaving work early that day to meet me at the hospital for the appointment and then all three of us will go out to celebrate.

Happy Friday!

What a week...

This has not been a very good, or healthy, week for our family. Karterman has spent most of the week walking around in just a diaper, because why should I waste time putting clothes on him when he has had diarrhea and/or vomiting for the last 4 days! He has been on the B.R.A.T. (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) diet since Monday and will continue on that for at least the next day. I thought today would be the last day for it, because he hadn't had it coming out either end (sorry...gross thought) for 24 hours, but his lunch didn't settle well with his stomach. After talking to his doctor they want us to continue with it for at least another day, and if he is still sick tomorrow she wants to see him. He is much better than he was at the beginning of the week, but I just want our little man healthy again.

Karter hasn't been the only sick one this week! On Monday, Kristoffer had to take his first ever sick day from work to take care of Karter so I could spend the day on the couch, because I couldn't keep anything down. I thought I was getting better on Tuesday, but took a turn for the worse on Wednesday. If I wasn't pregnant, I would have toughed it out and kept going, but I always worry how things are going to affect the baby. I ended up calling my OB yesterday, and she wanted me to go straight to the ER to get IV fluids since I hadn't kept anything down in 3 days. We were a little frustrated with my ER doctors because they kept acting like I was just having morning sickness, but believe me this was NOT morning sickness! The fluids and anti-nausea medicine they gave me have helped tremendously, because I have felt normal today!! Hopefully Karterman will be normal again tomorrow.

Wow, aren't you glad you read this disgusting post!

Doing Laundry

This week I brought up a basket of folded laundry at the exact same time Karterman woke up from a nap. After changing his diaper I put him down to go play while I went to wash my hands. I was gone no more than 20 seconds and came out to find that he had pulled everything out of the basket!

Sometimes he isn't a very good helper, but it is hard to stay mad at such a cutie!

Hamming It Up

Karterman loves the camera. Whenever he sees it, he just has to have it! Yesterday, after his afternoon nap, he found the camera that I had forgotten to put up on the shelf before he got up. He loves for you to take his picture and then show him what it looks like on the screen. He was having so much fun being a little ham for the camera, that he let me keep taking pictures for about 20 minutes! Here is a small serious from our photo shoot...

Silly boy, what is going on with this look!?

I love how his little hands are resting on my knees.

"I'm #1!"

I couldn't resist taking a couple of me and my boy together! Hmmm...I wonder where he gets those chubby checks...

Right of Passage

This week I have been having a major craving for cheese ball. I had bought the stuff to make in on Monday, but didn't get around to it until today. Karter patiently sat at the counter watching while I was making it, but as soon as I was finished he was all about the beaters!

I think this is the first of many times he will be begging for the beaters!