Camping with Grandma and Grandpa!

A few weekends ago, Noah went camping with Grandma and Grandpa Oistad! On Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpa rolled up to our house in the big "Bus" to pick up Noah and take him to Soldotna for a "grandparent weekend" with their friends and their friends' grandkids.  It was Noah's first weekend trip away from home.  We missed him lots, but he did really great the whole time and had a lot of fun! 

Excited to go for a ride in Grandpa and Grandma's "bus"!

Picking out the perfect rock to throw in the water!

Climbing trees with Grandpa is fun!

This worm trike was pretty fun too

Sand, sun, toys, grandma and an otter pop.  Our little boy is in heaven!

getting down and dirty

cool guy

lining up all the cars and trucks in the sand

Shout out on grandpa's CB radio... hello out there!



Out on the boat! These gloves look funny.



At first Noah didn't want to put on his life jacket.  He wanted to "go home" and ran "back to the bus".  But after getting out on the boat, he had a great time!



thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a great camping weekend!

When Grandma and Grandpa brought Noah home on Sunday night, he ran up to the front door and rang the doorbell.  I opened it, Noah's face lit up like the sun and he yelled "Grandma, you found her! You found MOMMY!"  Then he lept into my arms and gave me the world's best hug!  My cup runneth over.

More fun in July

 Here are a few random pics of cuteness from July....

I LOVE puzzles!  I can put together all four of these wood puzzles all by myself!!

 

Dressing Daddy up like Mr. Potato Head is fun!  nice purse dad!



Here... try these yellow lips on.

Pretty daddy



Bodi and his silly mommy!



sweet Bram has the best smiles

play doh!

mmmm... Grandma Jan makes the best cupcakes!

Riding the trike with dad at the park

spinning round and round

I love to climb this little rock wall

Couch jumping is one of our favorite things to do!

 

 

playing at Mommy's company picnic

Daddy's turn!



Haggen Daaz is yummy!

 

Mommy helping me out on my new scooter

 

I'm hanging all by myself!!  YAY!

Sledding is not just for winter!  Fun!

34 weeks

Bear Paw Festival

Each July, our hometown of Eagle River, transforms into a mini-fair for our annual Bear Paw Festival weekend! Everyone in town comes down to Town Square for a carnival, several rows of yummy fair food, games, town parade, local contests and festivities galore!  This year, we were really excited to bring Noah because he was finally old enough to really enjoy some it. 

Watching the Bear Paw Parade!

The people in the parade tossed out candy to the kids! This sucker is sour!

Riding the truck ride with my Pao Pao!  I loved it so much I went on it twice!!

My first carnival game! I scooped out a ducky and won a blue monkey prize!



Mommy and I also went fishing...

 

I told her, "Let's get a RED one!"

This time I picked out a blue squirrel for my prize! YAY!

I had so much fun at Bear Paw with Pao Pao, Gong Gong and Mommy!



Bedtime Stories

Noah has always loved snuggling with mom and dad to read books at bedtime.  It is hands down my favorite part of every day to spend this special time with him.  Lately, he likes to pick a book and "read" it to us.  In the below video, Noah reads us one of his most favorite books, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" by Eric Carle.  In his excitement, Noah accidently skips one of the animals in the book.... click the link below to watch what he does!

Click here to view video!

 

Noah also loves to sing songs at bedtime. Here is one of him singing his "ABC's" to his new squirrel friend that he won at the Bear Paw Festival.  He is hiding behind his squirrel (our shy boy) for most of the song, but you can still hear the words.

Noah's sings his ABC's!

4th of July Camping!

This year for the 4th of July weekend, we packed up the camper and headed up north to Annie's cabin at Sheep Creek with a bunch of good friends.  We all had a great time letting the kids run around, making smores, eating camping goodies and telling stories around the campfire. The weather was sunny and beautiful on Friday, but it turned to rain/clouds for the rest of the weekend which brought out the mosquitos in full force! boo.. those little bloodsuckers snuck into our camper somehow and our sweet little Noah got eaten up during his nap. our poor boy!

We headed back home on Sunday and took Noah to our local 4th of July festival at Lion's Park in the evening. All of us Eagle River veterans used to go to this festival when we were young so it was really fun to bring Noah there too.  Noah had a BLAST running around the park with daddy, Gong Gong and Pao Pao!!  Another great 4th of July!!  Happy Birthday America!

Mommy (31 weeks) and Noah

Noah checking out Bodi's cool trike! He promptly rode the bike through ALL the puddles and this was the last time we used his shoes that weekend, they were SOAKED!

Breakfast time! Noah checking out Uncle Phil's breakfast!

Noah read the "Pig" book to Bodi!  So cute.

Snack time! Noah's face cracks me up here.

Trying on daddy's new golf hat in the camper!

Annie, this pic is for you.  :)

 

31 weeks down, 9 to go!

We will be officially 31 weeks along in the pregnancy tomorrow and are happy to be in the third trimester. Because I had severe pre-eclampsia with Noah's pregnancy, our doctor is now monitoring baby and me weekly until our lil miss makes her big debut.  We had our first weekly appointment this morning and everything looks great.  Baby is measuring exactly where she should be, heartbeat is strong, she is kicking her mama lots (I think we have an active one on our hands), and my health looks good.  Yay!

Our baby girl at 28 weeks

 
We are all crossing our fingers for no bedrest (bedrest and a 3-year old don't really work) and that our baby girl is happy to stay put for at least one more month. Our doc told us to be prepared for some bedrest and an early arrival again, but we are hoping she comes a little closer to her due date than her big brother did.  Our families and friends have been super supportive throughout the pregnancy and we can't wait to introduce our lil one to them all this fall.  With each week that passes, we are excited because then we know she is a little bit stronger and more developed (if for some reason she had to be delivered early), but also because we are one week closer to getting to meet her!!

Noah has been really cute lately as he gets ready to be a big brother. If you ask him, "Where is sissy?" Noah proudly points to mama's belly and says, "Right here"!! Each night as part of his bedtime routine, he loves to go sit in sissy's room, rock with mama, count all the birdies in her nursery (we decorated her room with a birdie/owl theme), and sing songs together.  His favorite song this month is "Ring around the Rosie".  Noah has also been practicing his big brother skills with his stuffed toys.  He has been tucking them into his bed at night, saying "sweet dreams", turning off the light and closing the door.  So cute. 

Noah used to get really jealous when I would hold other babies, but he has gotten much better the past few months.  Last weekend, I was sitting on the couch holding baby Bram (my good friend's 3 month old) and Noah came over, sat down next to me and said, "that baby... like sissy?" 

When we were trying to find a name, we asked Noah what we should name her and he said "Donald Duck"!  Didn't exactly make our favorites list, but it was pretty funny.