Hannah 2 Month Photo Shoot

A couple days late - but here are Hannah's 2 month pics.  I posted some of Henry below to compare.  They are pretty much the exact same size, but don't look exactly the same.  Hannah looks more like a girl and Henry a boy, which is the way it is supposed to be I guess.     

Pretty baby girl.

And here is Henry at his 2 month photo shoot:

Chicago - Megan and Maurizio's Wedding

This weekend Andy and I dropped the kiddos off with my parents on Friday morning and headed to Chicago.  It was our first experience riding the Megabus.  The Megabus is a charter bus that goes from Des Moines - Iowa City - Chicago, no other stops in between.  The first ticket it sold at $1 each way and prices go up from there.  So you want to get your tickets as far in advance as possible.  We got our tickets back in May and ended up getting them for $5 each way for a grand total of $20.50!  So we didn't have to worry about parking in downtown (valet overnight is around $50 per night), driving, or dealing with any directions/traffic.  We highly recommend it as it was a good experience!

Friday we got in right in time to check into our hotel and meet everyone at a bar for happy hour.  It was so great to see everyone.  Then we headed to Bucktown for dinner and drinks.  It was fun getting to see Amy and Mason's place, and catch up with Anne and Mike who just got engaged, and Emily and Matt who recently found out they are expecting twins!

Saturday morning Andy and I got up and walked around Michigan Ave, which I just love.  The skyline of Chicago it so amazing, and it is so neat walking around site seeing.  We were able to meet up with one of my very best friends from high school Emilie and her husband Mike.  Andy and I then ate lunch on Michigan Ave at the Grande Luxe, and then headed over to the river for the Architecture Boat Tour everyone recommended.  The tour is 90 minutes and talks about the history of all the amazing buildings that make up the Chicago skyline.  We both loved the tour and learned a lot.  And another bonus was how beautiful the day was!

The Willis Tower in the back (formerly Sears Tower).

Chicago skyline

After the tour we headed back to the hotel, got in a quick nap and got ready for the wedding. 

Megan and Maurizio's wedding was held in a beautiful Catholic Church near Little Italy. Here is the beautiful bride and groom.

We then headed to the reception which was held at Maggiano's.  Maggiano's is one of Andy and my favorite Italian restaurants that we visited quite a bit when we lived in Atlanta.  There isn't one in Iowa, so we were super excited to eat.  The dinner was served family style, which was great.  Here is the menu below:

The food was delicious!

Then the dance followed and we all partied the night away.  I stayed out until 3am, which is just insane!!  After a day of a terrible hang over I am now getting back to normal.  Thank you to my parents for watching the kiddos this weekend so Andy and I could have a few nights away. 

Andy and I all dressed up.

 All the girls together again!

The big group!

Megan and Maurizio started dating in college around the exact same time as Andy and me, so we go aways back.  Through the years as everyone else has met their soul mates we get together a few times a year.  All of the husbands have bonded together like we all went to college together and have known each other for a very long time.  We are already looking forward to Anne and Mike's wedding next June when we will all be together again!!

Hannah's 2 Month Check Up

We had Hannah's two month check today and here are her stats:

Height: 23" - 70th percentile
Weight: 11 pounds 4 oz  - 63rd percentile
Head: 15"  -  32nd percentile

Just perfect!

She got 3 shots and one oral vaccination.  She screamed and made noises I had not heard come out of her before.  Tears even came out of her eyes.  It was hard to see for mommy, but know it is only for the best.

I Have Hands!

Today I have really noticed Hannah paying attention to her hands.  She is bringing them to her mouth quite often with control, instead of hitting and scratching herself in the face with them.  What a fun milestone!!

I have also noticed when I place her on her floor gym mat she has started grabbing the chime that dangles above her head.  Today she actually grasped onto it a few times and swung it back and forth!  It wasn't by accident this time.  Hand eye coordination is definitely developing!

Isn't she so pretty?!  Thank you for my outfit Aunt Brianna! 

Henry is at the new sitter today.  I have checked in with the sitter once.  She said Henry had a few upset moments this morning, but ate really well and went down for his nap just fine. She said he is just overwhelmed by the new environment, and I agree. Hopefully tomorrow goes better for him. 

Hannah and I ran errands all morning, and have been cleaning this afternoon. My big task of the day is organizing all of the too small clothes for the kids, wow are there a lot.  It is hard to know what to keep and what to give away since baby #3 is a long way in the future and we don't know the gender.  So I'm pretty much keeping everything...especially with two sisters that will use the clothes shortly in the future too (hopefully:))  I'm just giving away the really used stuff or stuff I never put them in.  I did have to buy two new storage containers for all the clothes.  It is hard to believe I am already packing up too small clothes for Hannah.  It feels like I was just washing them and getting ready for her arrival!  Time goes by so fast.

7+ Hours

Last night I fed Hannah at 8pm and she was out by 9pm.  She didn't wake up to eat until 4:30am!  I know I talk about her sleeping habits a lot...but compared to her older brother this is just unreal to me!  She eats and then goes right back to sleep too, I didn't think it was possible after having a baby that never slept. 

Speaking of Henry, he is doing much better with his teeth.  He has been back to normal the past two days.  He did wake up at 12:15am last night though looking for his paci, so I got to sleep from 10p - 12a and then 12:15 - 4:30 and 4:45a - 5:30a (the 5:30am wake up was my husband...not one of my children..thanks for that Andy).  A pretty great night of sleep for me. 

Three nights ago we moved Hannah into her bedroom, which she shares with Henry.  It has gone really well so far.  We put Henry down for bed around 7:30pm, and then I feed Hannah at 8pm and put her in there by 9pm.  Tonight when I went to bring Hannah in Henry was still awake.  So I explained to him that I needed him to watch over his baby sister for me while she sleeps in his room with him.  When I asked if that was ok he said 'uh huh'.  It was pretty cute.  So far I think he likes having the company.  At the 4am feeding when she is waking up to eat it doesn't seem to bother Henry or wake him up.  I still have the co sleeper in our room that Kelly and Ryan let us borrow and can probably return it...but I am still nervous on how this sleeping transition will go.  I will give it a little more time before I get rid of the co sleeper.  We never had a co sleeper with Henry, and I highly recommend them.  Especially with breastfeeding.  All you have to do is reach over, pick up baby, feed baby, and put baby back.  You don't have to get out of bed!  So thank you Kelly for letting us use it!

                      Here is Hannah and Henry's room:

And their closet (I couldn't resist buying all the pink and blue)

Hannah's crib (given to us by one of the Dr.'s my mom works with - thank you JK!)

We had a busy day today.  We went to the Urbandale Public Library for a music class held by Iowa Youth Chorus.  It was for 12m - 24m olds.  It was pretty cute to watch the kiddos dance around.  They all have about a 20 minute attention span and the class was 30 minutes, so by the end they were all running around.  I ran into one of my sisters co workers who recommended a gymnastics class for Henry's age at the Urbandale Dance and Gymnastics Studio.  It is a class similar to what a Gymboree would have.  I have been looking for something like this to enroll Henry in so was thrilled she mentioned it.  I found the class online and enrolled Henry.  It is an 8 week class that starts in September on Tuesday nights for 45 minutes.  It is for 2 - 3 year olds and does have some structure.  Henry will almost be 2, so will be one of the younger kids, but I know he will do just great.  I am anxious to see how it goes!

Skinny Jeans

While we were in Chicago a few weekends ago our hotel was right next to Baby Gap on Michigan Ave.  So I couldn't resist stopping in.  I still had a gift card that our good friends Jake and Erin got for us that I had yet to use.  So I stumbled upon these Baby Gap Skinny Jeans.  They are 3-6 month size, so still a little big on Hannah - but aren't they just the cutest??  She is so trendy:) 

Last Night

Well...last night was horrible.  Henry got up several times again...screaming.  His teeth are still bothering him.  And then princess Hannah, who usually only wakes up once per night, decided she wanted attention too and got up the hours that Henry didn't.  So I think all in all I was up every hour last night.  Henry did sleep until 8:15 this morning though, which gave me about 30 minutes of back to sleep time after feeding and putting Hannah to sleep for her morning nap.  While Henry was awake this morning he did eat an entire bowl of oatmeal, and one little muffin.  So that is definitely progress.  He started to get whiny around 11am so I put him in his crib, and he is still sleeping.  I got some Orajel in him right before, so hopefully that helped relieve some of the pain.  So that is all I know for today since he has been sleeping more than being awake.  We will see how he does when he wakes up.  So Hannah and I have had a very chill day, trying to be very quiet not to wake up the big brother.

2 Year Molars

Teething has never bothered Henry.  He would gum toys a lot, but never got the diaper rash that people talked about, or was every cranky when they came in.  Well...that was until the terrible two year molars.  On Friday Henry woke up from his 2nd nap of the day feeling a little warm.  He had taken a nap from 10am-12pm and then again from 2:30pm-4:30pm...so I knew something wasn't right since he usually just takes one afternoon nap. 

Saturday morning he woke up with no fever and was acting ok.  I took Hannah to Erin's baby shower with me to get her out of the house in case he was contagious, since we didn't know what the deal was.  Andy said he acted just fine on Saturday and didn't have a fever anymore, but he did take a 4 hour afternoon nap, which is super long.  So we figured he still was a little under the weather, but didn't know what the problem was.

Well then last night....he woke up at 11pm, 1am, 3:30am, 6am, screaming each time.  Something wasn't right.  No fever still...just screaming.  The other symptoms he had was a constant string of saliva coming out of his mouth, and when he talked it seemed as if he was just giving a dose of Novocain.  We went to feed him his morning Trix and he took his first bite and started screaming with tears rolling down his face.  Andy and I both looked at each other and knew it was his teeth for sure.  We had guessed that on Saturday...but I stuck my finger back there to try and see and couldn't tell (and got a nice bite mark on my finger while trying). 

So we got on google and read some pretty horrifying posts of the dreaded two year molars.  They are the worst since they are the biggest.  Some kids get all 4 at once, some 2 at a time, some 1 at a time.  I'm hoping he is just getting them all now to get it over with, but we will have to wait and see.  So Andy went out and bought the teething tablets that everyone spoke so highly of.  The instructions are to place under your child's tongue.  Please tell me how you are supposed to get a teething toddler to cooperate with you and lift up his tongue??  I got most of it in his mouth somewhere...only placing a small amount under his tongue.  We will see if they work.  He just went down for his afternoon nap now and hope he sleeps for a long time as he has to be exhausted. 

He hasn't eaten much, took two bites of yogurt at lunch.  I've been good at keeping him hydrated which is most important.  But of course I still worry since he has hardly eaten anything over the past 3 days.  I know he is hungry, it just hurts him to eat. 

It is hard watching him go through this and I hope it goes by quickly.  He is so grumpy and whiny and cries at everything.  Poor little guy.  We will continue to apply the Orajel and give him the teething tablets and hope that helps get everyone through this.  The good news is - these are the last teeth to come in!!  

Danielle and Brian's Wedding

My sister and best friend married her soul mate this past weekend.  It was so much fun being there with her every step of the way. 

On Thursday Danielle and Brianna got to Shueyville (I had been there since Tuesday with Henry and Hannah).  The girls all went to get pedicures, even Hannah came.  Then Thursday night we went and celebrated at the Star Bar, a bar in Brian's hometown of Fairfax. 

Friday we got to Riverside with all the stuff and began set up.  Michele, Brianna and I tackled the chair ties while Danielle finalized all the ceremony plans.  Then we got ready for the rehearsal.  The rain cleared up just in time to go over everything.  We had a fabulous dinner, then hit up the casino.  The girls made it an early night and hung out in Danielle's Grand Master Suite (this room was beautiful!). 

Saturday Danielle texted me at 7am not being able to sleep.  We hung out until our hair appointments at 9:30.  After our hair was done we hung out in the suite all day drinking mimosas.  Below is a pic of the beautiful bride with the rehearsal bouquet I made for her with all her bows from bridal shower gifts.  We forgot to bring it to the rehearsal the night before...oops.

We were able to watch the set up for the ceremony from the suite which was really neat.

Here are the Schmidt outfits lined up on the bed.  Henry was the ring bearer and wore the cutest tux, Hannah and her 'wedding' dress, my bridesmaid dress and Andy's tux.

It came time to put on the bridesmaid dresses, Brianna went first.  Hers would not zip so we had to have her lay on the ground, soap up the zipper, and 4 people pull on it.  It finally got up.  Then it was my turn.  Andy tried to get the zipper to go up first, it wouldn't go.  We soaped it, and several more people tried, and then the worst happened - it broke!  The zipper broke 30 minutes before pictures were supposed to start.  We decided to just sew me into the dress, but not until after pictures since I had to breastfeed Hannah one more time, making things a little more hectic.  So we went down for pictures with my dress gaping in the back.  Everyone that walked by asked if I knew my dress wasn't zipped.  Yes, I did, thank you.  So right before I had to walk down the isle my mom sewed me in my dress.  It worked just fine and no one even noticed.  But it sure did cause a lot of unneeded stress. 

Yesterday I took the dress back to the store.  Come to find out there have been several other people that have had this same issue with this dress.  So they let me exchange it for store credit.  So I will get a new dress.

Through all that stress Danielle totally held it together and was the most beautiful bride ever.  The day was so perfect and we had so much fun! 

Thank goodness for Andy's parents.  They made the trip down for the weekend and watched Hannah and Henry for us.  They even kept them in their room with them at night which allowed Andy and I to stay out way later than we needed to...it took us 2 days to recover, but was totally worth it.  

Aunt Bri with her goddaughter Hannah.

Me, Erin, Danielle and Kelly.  We had so much fun!!

Mismatch

Henry has really started to take an interest in what he wants to wear each day.  Yesterday morning we were picking out his socks and he insisted on wearing the sock below.  It is pretty dang cute how he knows what shirt, shorts, and now socks that he wants to wear. 

Here is the picture up close.  Though we are still 4 months away from Christmas, he is already in the Christmas spirit.

Iowa State Fair 2010

We made our annual trip to the Iowa State Fair tonight.  We had such a great time.  Henry loved the footlong corndog and the 1/2 pound tenderloin sandwich.  Hannah did a great job.  I only had to stop and feed her once, and it was in the air conditioned 4-H building. 

We had to make a stop at the elk for Grandpa Dave.  Henry thought it was pretty cool.

Our last stop was at the Little Hands on the Farm.  It was SO cute.  It is for ages 2-10 and with Henry only being 1 month away from the big 2, we knew he would do great.  We parked our stroller in the stroller parking designated area and got on our way.  He let the workers put on his apron, and listened to directions very well at each stop. 

We didn't have any problems until it was time to ride the tractor.  He LOVES tractors, thanks to my dad who takes him on the riding lawn mower everytime Henry is home.  When Henry sees a picture of my dad he asks 'mow mow??'.  Luckily he will be there next weekend to get his fix of mow mow rides.  He couldn't quite reach the pedals, but figured out how to scoot along.  We had a little bit of a freak out getting him off the tractor, but quickly distracted him toward bessie the cow.

At the end you have to place all your goodies in the baskets.  Henry did a great job.  All by himself he knew which produce went where.  He is so smart.

Daddy and Henry on the walk back to the stroller.  What a great trip.  We are already looking forward to next year!!

Sitter Transition

On Tuesday I went with Henry to the sitter and played there with him for 1 hour.  It went well.  It was fun watching him play with the other kids.  The sitter recommended bringing him on Thursday and leaving him there for a couple hours.  So that is what we did today.  Henry stayed there from 9am - 11am and did really well.  While I was leaving I could see him through the window crying, so that was hard.  But when I went to pick him up he was busy playing with all the toys and kids.  They said he did just fine and is such a good boy.  He listens well and is very 'busy'.  That is my little boy!

While he was at the sitters Hannah and I got so much done.  We went to Baby's R Us to get presents for a friends baby shower, went to the grocery store, went home and cleaned up, and then back to get Henry.  I missed the little guy while we were away, but it sure is good for him to be around the other kids, and for mommy to have some away time as well.  There is no better feeling seeing your child after being away and having them run into your arms so happy to see you. 

He was so exhausted he fell asleep on the way home and is still sleeping.  He didn't even stay awake for lunch!

I talked with my sorority sister that brings her kid to the same sitter.  She had great things to say about them.  One thing she says they do that our other sitter never did was outings for the families.  Usually around the holidays.  They will have costume parties for Halloween, and Christmas get togethers.  When I left today the sitter mentioned the next outing they will have is on September 19th at the fair grounds.  So I am looking forward to that.

We are very lucky to have found a sitter so quickly.  Next week I will drop Henry off two full days, and do that until he starts full time on September 13th.  Hannah will start full time on September 20th when I go back to work for the first day.  Hard to believe I only have 4 weeks left...it is bitter sweet.

Wedding Week

Since we lost our sitter I decided to pack up the kids and bring them to Shuey for the week.  Yesterday I packed up Hannah and headed back home.  We stopped at my good friend Abby's place in Newton on the drive.  We hung out with her and her 4 month old son Drew.  I got some adorable pictures of the two and can't wait to post them. 

Then today we went to visit one of my best friends from high school.  She has a 3 year old boy and 1 year old daughter.  Henry and Hannah did great!  We stayed there today from 10am - 2pm.  Henry zonked out on the way home and slept until 5pm.  Hannah slept from 4-5, so momma got to sleep from 4:15 - 4:45.  It was awesome!  Henry has been busy riding the mow mow with grandpa and Hannah has been busy cuddling with grandma and great grandma.  Hannah pooped through her diaper tonight while she was on my moms lap.  Went through my mom's pants.  It was very nice of her!  So I am back at home relaxing. 

Tomorrow my sisters get here and we get pedicures for the wedding.  Then Friday we will head to Riverside to set up the ballroom, have the rehearsal and the dinner.  Then Saturday is the big day.  I'm so excited.  Henry is down for the night and Hannah is cuddling with Great Aunt Michele.  Uncle Gary and Aunt Michele got here tonight, so the company has started to arrive.  What a fun week this has been and will continue to be!

Sitter Update

I think we found a sitter!  I started checking craigslist as soon as I found out we needed to find a new sitter.  I found that there are several openings for toddlers, but hardly any for infants.  So finding someone that has an opening for both was going to be difficult.  I found two that had openings and interviewed with one of them on Monday afternoon.  While I was there one of the kids dad came to pick him up.  I recognized him as one of my college sorority sisters husbands.  It turns out that she brings her son there!  So I talked with her this morning and she highly recommends them (obviously since she brings her kid there).  So I think we are going to go with them.  I keep saying them because it is two moms that watch the kids together.  I got a great feeling for them during the interview.  There will be more kids there which will be great for Henry.  They will have 7 full time kids and 4 part time kids.  There are several little boys that go there, one that is the exact same age as Henry.  The old sitter had 3 girls and were all at least a year older than Henry.  So this will be a great change for him.  I am concerned about the transition since Henry has a hard time being dropped off for the hour at church daycare.  The new sitters recommended coming by with him for an hour and stay there to play with him and introduce him to all the kids.  Then the next day for a couple hours drop him off, and each day leave him a little more.  They are also ok with me waiting to start Hannah until I go back to work on September 20th.  I won't need to pay to hold her spot either.  So it ended up being a lot easier than I thought.  And it seems to be for the better.  The location is much better, right on the way to work, and I am excited that there will be more kids there.  It will help Henry transition for preschool.  So that is the update on the sitter situation.  I will probably start bringing Henry there in a week or two, so will let everyone know how it goes!!

Sitter Stress

Our sitter called last night to tell us that she is no longer going to be able to watch Henry, or take Hannah in September.  They just moved into a rental home and the landlord is only allowing her to watch 5 kids at a time.  Two of the kids she currently has are her grandkids (with one more on the way in December), so they obviously get priority.  And the other 3 she has been watching longer than Henry (one of which is her son's good friends daughter).  So today will be Henry's last day there.  Luckily I am on maternity leave, or I wouldn't of known how we would have handled this.  She said we could bring Henry through next week.  But with Danielle's wedding my grandma will be back this weekend.  So we will save the money and I will watch both kids next week and head back to Shueyville early.

So those of you that know me well, know how much I hate looking for a new sitter.  It is so stressful.  It is so important that we find someone so great, as this person spends so much time with our kids.  I have started searching online, and have asked around.  I will start the interviews as soon as I can and plan for a September start.  It will be hard to find 2 openings, especially with an infant.  Infant openings are hard to find.  They will definitely go to the same place, that is a requirement for me.  So I will keep everyone updated.

Milestones - Month 2

Update on Hannah's milestones.  About 2 weeks ago she started 'real' smiles.  Not the gas, sleepy, maybe smiles.  This girl looks you in the eyes and gives you the biggest smiles ever.  It started at the beginning of her 4th week.  It is hard to catch on camera - but I got the tail end of one in the picture below. 

At the beginning of this week (week 6) she has started cooing, changing the pitch in her voice from high to low and ahhing. It is precious. 

As for grunting.  This girl has grunted since day 1!  And it isn't quiet little short grunts.  These grunts are long and loud!!  She does them mainly when she is coming out of her deep sleep - which happens to be at 4:30 in the morning.  They are so loud that when she wakes up to eat at 3am, Andy goes down to sleep in the basement since we can't sleep through them.  We still have Hannah in the co sleeper next to our bed - so if she is grunting, we are awake.  I plan to move her to her own crib over the next week or so, which I will update everyone on.  I am anxious to have my own bed back, and my husband back.  But it has worked so well with breastfeeding having her right next to me.  I don't think the grunting is going away though...so it will be better for everyone if she goes to her own crib.   

Studies all say these sounds are the beginning of her language development.  I have a feeling I am going to have two chatterboxes on my hands!!

Baby Acne - as you can see by the picture, Hannah is still in her baby acne phase.  Henry went through it as well.  It is getting better each and every day.  The acne is due to my hormones that Hannah got while in the womb.  They are leaving her now, only to return again when she is a teenager, and she will go through the acne phase all over again!  Not all babies get the baby acne, but mine have.  It doesn't hurt them at all which is good. 

It Happened to Me

When my sister Brianna was a nanny for a summer a few years ago, she locked the 18 month old boy in the car accidentally.  The police came and got the boy out and everything was just fine, but I gave her such a hard time about it.  Well today it happened to me - to my own child - and she is 6 weeks old.

How it happened...

I picked Henry up from the sitter today in Andy's truck (if I would have been in my Edge it has the key pad on the outside - so this wouldn't have been a problem...) While I was loading Hannah in the car Henry was playing with the car keys.  He LOVES keys.  Well he pushed the lock button while he was holding them.  In the back of my mind I remember hearing the beep telling me the car had locked, but didn't think about it again after that as I was preoccupied getting Hannah in the car.  I then take the keys from Henry and start the car - thank goodness - I shut the doors and take Henry around to the other side to load him in.  I go to open his door...locked...I go around to the drivers side...locked.  So I run inside to Marcia's trying to keep my cool in front of Henry and use her phone to call Andy.  He doesn't answer his work phone, doesn't answer his cell phone...starting to freak out.  Called his work phone again..finally answers.  So he leaves work and is on his way.  Then I realize it will take him 20 minutes at least to get there.  So I decide to call 911.  An officer gets there within 10 minutes.  Luckily in an unmarked cop car.  Marcia and Ron just moved into their house this week - we don't need all the neighbors seeing a cop car at the new neighbors house!  He gets the door unlocked within a few seconds.  Hannah was crying the entire time - but calmed down as soon as I got her out.  Once she was in my arms my heart rate slowed down, it felt so good holding her.

So yes...it happened to me!!  I locked my child in the car!!  Thank goodness the car was on and the air was cranked.  If it wouldn't have been on I would have been a wreck with how hot it has been lately...  So lesson learned is to not let Henry play with the real car keys anymore, that is why we have his 'play' car keys.  And for me to check and make sure the doors are unlocked before shutting them!

Everyone is fine and doing well - mommy is calmed down and Hannah fell asleep on the way home.

Play Day with Mommy

I had both of the kids home with me all day on Monday. We had such a great time. As you can see by the very bottom picture, that is what our living room looks like after all of the toys are picked up. Well, on Monday, Henry and I decided to take out all of the toy bins and play with every toy he owns! It got pretty messy in the living room. But we sure had fun!

Henry loves saying 'CHEESE' for the camera. He is quite the cheeseball.

Henry's typical schedule is in bed by 8pm, and sleeps through the night until 7am. We eat lunch around 12pm, and then down for a long nap from 1pm - 3:30pm. Well on Monday he decided he wanted to go back down for a nap at 9:30am when I went in to put Hannah down. Hannah woke up around 10:15am, and Henry slept all the way until 12pm! I guess he wasn't ready to get up for the day. So it was nice that the kids alternated naps for the day, it made having the two of them around much more manageable since I got one on one time for most of the day.

When Andy got home he loved seeing all the toys spread out (that is daddy's job to clean up usually:)). We told daddy all about our day and how much fun we had. It was fun having the both of them around, but challenging too. It was nice to send Henry back to daycare on Tuesday, mainly because it is nice to be able to leave the house. I don't dare leave the house to run errands with both of them yet. I will need a few more weeks to try that one!

Henry's babysitter Marcia moved into a new house this week. He had his first day there yesterday and had a great day. The kids have their own play room now, which will be great for Marcia and the kids. I haven't seen it yet, since Andy drops Henry off. But I plan to pick him up tonight so I can get a look. Andy is impressed, and we are just very glad we didn't have to switch sitters since Marcia does such a good job, and Henry has gone to her since he was 7 months old. Hannah will be joining him at Marcia's when she is 12 weeks old! I am not looking forward to that time, but am glad Hannah will have Henry there to help out and I know she will be in great hands!

More Pictures From Omaha Trip

Hannah at the Aquarium exhibit. She was very interested.

Hannah and I checking out the sharks and sea turtles. She is such a good baby!! She didn't fuss the entire day out and about. She pretty much slept the entire time. We were out from 8:30am - 2pm, she did great!

The penguin exhibit. Bennett loves picking up his cousin Henry whenever he gets the chance.

Super Dad pushing around his two kiddos with our fabulous double stroller!

The boys watching the black bear.

All four cousins waking up hanging out on the pull out couch before breakfast this morning!

Hannah and I at the water park while Henry was on the lazy river with Grandma. She is wearing a swimming suit for the first time - it was too cute!

It was a great weekend away. I was a little nervous about taking a 5 week old, but once again we were pleasantly surprised at how well everything went. We had a lot of helpers too which was great.

Next weekend Andy and I head to Chicago for Heidi and Nathan's bachelorette/bachelor party. I will be leaving Hannah overnight for the first time and am a little nervous. I know everything will go fine - but it is always hard leaving your baby for the first time. I will keep everyone updated on how it goes!

Schmidt Family Trip Con't

Saturday morning we got to the zoo as the doors opened up. The Omaha Zoo is huge compared to the Des Moines Zoo. Henry loved it! The first stop was the monkeys. They were so loud and fun to watch. Henry couldn't keep his eyes off of them! Then we went to see bears, tigers, lemurs, stopped at the petting zoo, and ended with the rain forest.


The tiger was the prettiest animal.

The polar bear was one of the favorites. It was pretty amazing to watch. The kids loved it!!

Here are the three boys with grandma and grandpa. It was amazing we got a picture of them all looking and smiling at the camera!

Hannah did very well at the zoo too. There were several air conditioned exhibits, which was very nice on this very hot day. She had to eat twice while we were there, which wasn't bad at all. The first stop was by a play ground and shaded picnic tables. The adults were ready for a rest by then. So we sat and watched the boys play while I fed Hannah. Then the next stop was at the petting zoo in an air conditioned dairy exhibit.

Saturday night we spent at the water park. Henry wasn't too big of a fan. He loved the lazy river, but that was about it. I think it had to do with his shortened nap. The boys all slept great Saturday night. Sunday we ended the trip with one last dip in the pool.

What a great weekend we had. Thank you Dale and Deb!!

Schmidt Family Trip to Omaha

This weekend marks Hannah's first trip away from home. We loaded up the kiddos and the entire back end of the truck, and headed to Omaha for the weekend for the annual Schmidt Family Trip. We met Andy's parents, Jill, Adam, Bennett and Camron, and Heidi and Nathan for the weekend.

Friday we met at the Children's Museum. It was perfect for children ages 1 and up. It was so much fun to watch Henry run from room to room exploring all there was to see.

Henry loved anything he could climb on and drive. The fire truck and John Deere Truck were his favorite. He even put the fireman's hat on himself!!

Friday night we spent at the pool. Our rooms were poolside which was so nice. The pool was sloped entry instead of stairs, so was perfect for the boys. Henry loved the water. He mastered jumping off the side of the pool into whomever was there to catch him. He was exhausted and ready for bed that night. He continued to say 'wa wa' for the remainder of the night until he fell asleep.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the zoo. My next post will be about our day at the Henry Doorly Zoo.