Taking Advantage...

Remember that huge mountain of snow that we had on our front yard last week? Chris made Olivia a slide out of the mini-mountain. Well, the weather warmed up enough at the end of last week that the entire mountain melted, seeped through the ground, and flooded our basement! So, on Saturday after we had our basement drain lines cleaned out, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather. The temperature was somewhere between 35 and 40 degrees, which felt amazing compared to the single digits and wind that we had the week before.

We gathered up Olivia, the stroller, and the grandparents and headed to the Toledo Zoo. Olivia has only been to the Bronx Zoo before, so we were excited for her to see one that was a little different. She loves animals (in person, in books, and as toys/stuffed animals), so it was the perfect outing for her to enjoy her surroundings.

The highlight of the zoo.....seeing Nemo in the tank!

As for the rest of us in the Kannel household, we're hanging in there. I hit the 36-week mark yesterday and have been feeling great. The baby is active as ever and my doctor said today that he seems to be right on track - not too big and not too small. Chris is busy with work and extra work, as always...but he's enjoying keeping his feet wet both in architecture and insurance.

Oh, and just as the weather was turning nice again, in came the storm! :) We had some rain/sleet/snow come in on Sunday...all day. So the ground was covered in a layer of ice, followed by about 5 inches of snow. So far this week, 2 of our Bible studies as well as Olivia's gymnastics class were canceled. It finally stopped snowing sometime this morning, but the weather reports say more freezing rain is headed our way. We already have nice snow mound in our front yard again...so I imagine this week we'll build another slide or house out of it - which ever our toddler requests!

And potty training keeps getting easier as it goes along...so if you have a toddler and you think he/she's ready...I say go for it! It's frustrating at first, but you'll be glad you did!

Stay warm!

Productivity

On January 24, I posted the following things as being on my rolling to-do list, and have (so far) successfully accomplished several items.

Blog more often - doing
Catch up in Olivia's scrapbook - done
Start the new baby's baby book - done
Start the new baby's scrapbook
Catch up in Chris' professional scrapbook - done
Laminate several newspaper articles for Chris - done
Hang up picture frames in Olivia's room -done
Hang up family pictures in the living room
Make meals to freeze in the deep-freeze - done
Wash hand-me-down baby clothes and put them away - done
Switch Olivia's dresser to the baby's room - done
Get new dresser into Olivia's room - done
Catch up in Olivia's journal - done
Start a journal for Chris - done
Continue with my Bible Studies - doing

On top of all of those things, I've also been able to paint the bathroom floor, take Olivia to the library more, catch up in Olivia's travel scrapbook, make a Velcro calendar for Olivia to learn numbers, days of the week and months (thanks for the idea, Carrington!), and pack my bag for the hospital! I feel extremely productive lately! Maybe this post is mostly for me and not for you....for me to see in writing what all I have accomplished, because most of you probably don't care! But, none-the-less, the Kannel household is looking more ready for a baby! There aren't so many things looming on the to-do list, and I'm not feeling stressed out at all! (...Yet)

More Nesting...

I've been doing lots more nesting lately. I'm about 5 weeks out from my due date...and time is winding down! I've been feeling the urge to nest lately, but it's probably not the typical-pregnant-lady nesting. I'm making lists of things for my husband to do that I can't do myself (hanging curtain rods, taking heavy boxes to the basement, digging out totes of toys, etc.). I'm also tackling things on my to-do list like crazy...but it includes painting floors, painting walls, catching up on scrapbooks, putting away piles of papers, getting all the tax information ready to go...and the list goes on. Not much of it has to do with the baby right now...but it all has to do with getting the house (and my state of mind) ready to go! It feels great to see the to-do list getting smaller! I'm not sure why I get such satisfaction out of seeing things get crossed off!

Olivia and I spent time completing one of the projects on the list the the other day. We have some words to hang up in her room, but they were all different colors. We sat down together and painted them all bright green. The color contrasts the pink walls in her room well and we are trying to help her get her room all settled before baby arrives.

We've been potty training for the past few weeks and it's going very well. We had a few rough days in the beginning, but Olivia is really getting the hang of it. She is initiating trips to the potty now without me setting the timer. She has been announcing her trip to the bathroom, but yesterday she starting just going by herself and requesting that we stay out of the bathroom while she goes. We haven't tackled nap time or bedtime yet, she still wears pull-ups then. But, she's been waking up dryer each day, so we'll probably tackle that soon. We still have some diapers in the closet, but Olivia knows that "diapers are for babies," so we're trying not to use those anymore. She is set on being a big girl and likes using the potty.

The only bad thing about potty training is that I can't stop dreaming about it! If I'm not dreaming about potty training in some way, I'm dreaming about childbirth! My nights aren't so comfortable anymore...not because I'm physically uncomfortable, but because these crazy dreams wake me up several times a night!

We took Olivia to a sibling class at the hospital on Monday evening. She got to diaper a baby doll and carry it around the birthing center with us when we went on a tour. She saw the bed that mommy will sleep in, as well as the bed daddy will sleep in. She got to play with the toys and games in the waiting area, and she even got to color a t-shirt for her little brother to wear after he is born. She was really excited to go to the hospital and even thought it was time for her to go to the hospital to meet her baby brother! Not yet, Olivia...not yet!

Speaking about the baby and giving birth...I'm ready! Not because I'm sick of being pregnant and am extremely uncomfortable, but because I really want to meet this little guy! He is super active and I'm so curious to see who he is! I think I'm not as anxious about giving birth this time because I know a little more what to expect. I have a 'bring it on' attitude right now and I'm hoping that I can keep that up until he's born!

Olivia has been memorizing a verse of scripture and knows it very well. Chris and I want to instill the word of God in her at a young age, so on top of praying at meals and at bedtime, we take her to church and are having her memorize scripture. The first one we started with is Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." We have her recite it at times when she starts to get upset and begins to whine, "I can't....." We feel the application is important for her, even though she's only two years old. So, we want her to know that she doesn't need to say "can't" and that she really can do things with the help of Christ's strength.

The next scripture we are going to focus on is Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." It's a long one, and I've considered just having her memorize the first part of the verse, but I don't want to confuse her later when she learns that there is more to the scripture. Application is important with this one as well. When Olivia begins to disobey, we want to have her say this scripture and learn to understand what God is truly saying. I'll keep you posted as to how that goes....

Chris has been busy lately. He's working in the office during the day and is doing some architecture as well. Then, he's doing more architecture in his free time in the evenings and on the weekends. He started a blog to let people know about his work and to show some of his visuals. If you'd like to check it out, here's the address: http://www.chriskannelarchitect.blogspot.com/

I need to go get some more things accomplished now. I'm trying to take it easy because I seem to have low iron right now and have been exhausted lately. So, I'll get some things accomplished, but will still take it easy (so as to not overwhelm myself, and so as to appease my husband!). :)

Nesting in the Kannel House

I keep vacillating back and forth between having this great urge to nest, and having this great urge to do absolutely nothing! During nesting periods, I'm extremely productive! The baby's room is painted and the furniture is in place (thanks to my parents for help with that!). I sorted through clothes, washed, dried and folded them all to put them in drawers. (Thanks to my sister-in-law and friend for borrowed boy clothes!) I had Chris pull out the baby gear storage bins so now I know everything is in the basement instead of out at the storage unit. I even put together the baby swing this week. (Olivia likes to put her baby in it and push him. I haven't shown her yet that is plugs in and swings by itself!)

But, this morning I feel completely exhausted. It was a busy week with shoveling snow, traveling for a continuing education class, making meals for the freezer, having guests for dinner, and playing catch up around the house. But, it's Saturday, it's snowing, and we don't have any plans for the weekend. I should feel relaxed and thankful that we aren't driving to New York today (as originally planned). But, I still feel overwhelmed by looking at my to-do list. One of Chris' cousins said to me on facebook this morning that I should rest while I can. I truly appreciate that and will try to put that into action...it just depends how much the guilt overrides the relaxation!

I'm about 6 weeks from my due date, with no telling when this little guy will actually arrive. But, all-in-all, we're ready for him. Olivia understands as much as she can about having a baby brother and keeps talking about how her baby doll came out of her belly. So, I'm excited to see her reaction to this little fella living here with us! We finally decided upon a name and are confident that this is the name God wants us to give our son. The car seat is in the car so Olivia can get used to riding in a new spot, as well as seeing a second car seat in the car with her. We didn't want to just throw it in there at the last minute and expect her to deal with the sudden changes.

What's next? Waiting, I guess! We're doing things as a family to spend a little extra time with Olivia. Last weekend we finally hung pictures up in Olivia's room and we let her help. Today, Chris told his dad he would help shovel/snow blow walks at some of his rental houses. So, we're heading over there with them to 'help' and then we'll go sledding after we're done. I'm trying to get some things done that have been on the to-do list for a while. I know once I have a baby that they won't get done! So, I've printed some pictures for Olivia's scrapbook, for the baby's baby book, and for Olivia's baby book. Now, I need the energy to cut them out and to sit down to put the pages together.

I'll keep you posted on what I actually end up doing: resting vs. accomplishing. I'm not even sure which way to head right now!

It isn't much to see, but you can check out my nesting so far if you want.....

The rocking chair, hamper, and a random baby gate donated to us by a family at church.The crib my parents bought for Olivia - only we didn't have room for it in our bedroom in NY. So, this baby gets to try it out!

The matching changing table/dresser that is packed with borrowed baby clothes.

Me at 33 weeks pregnant.

Before Breakfast

The storm rolled in yesterday afternoon…and it’s still coming! It started as pretty forceful snow, then it snowed sideways, it turned to sleet right at bedtime, all while accompanied by some extremely strong winds. This morning when we woke up, it was beautiful outside!

It is hard to tell exactly how much snow we got in the night due to all the snow drifts. It was piled high in places and almost bare in others. But, when we went out to shovel this morning, I’d guess we had at least 10 inches on the ground. It was snowing pretty steadily then, but without the wind. It was a nice, peaceful snow.

By the time we headed inside for breakfast, the sidewalks we had just shoveled were already covered in at least a half an inch of snow, if not more. It’s been snowing off and on most of the day so far, more on than off. But it’s been light snow followed by heavy snow, and back to light again – very unpredictable! The news/radio people say it’s supposed to snow until 7pm this evening.

I don’t mind the snow at all, as long as it isn’t windy and I’m not headed anywhere far away. I’m actually looking forward to this evening….after dinner we’ll probably get our snow gear back on and take Olivia sledding! She truly loves being out in the snow…which is why we took her out this morning.

Don’t think we are bad parents and forced our two year old to go out and shovel with us! Daddy was going out to use the snow blower and she absolutely wanted to go too. So, she used her little shovel (and a little bit bigger shovel from grandpa), I used our snow shovel, and Chris used the snow blower. We cleaned off our porch, steps, front sidewalk, the neighbor’s porch, steps and front sidewalk, the area where we park our car, Chris’ parents’ sidewalks, and then helped Grandpa dig out the back door from the snow drift. Olivia disappeared after a few snow angels and some shoveling to go eat French toast with grandma…but the rest of us were hard at work!

Shoveling snow at 7 ½ months pregnant is hard work! I’m exhausted and actually just woke up from a nap! My back really hurts now and I’m wishing the chiropractor didn’t close his office today – I could have really used that appointment this afternoon! Since most of the town is closed down, it’s a pretty lazy day around our house. We see the constant snow when we look out the window, and hear the constant sound of diggers, backhoes, and trucks outside pushing and collecting snow. I’ll probably plan on something nice and warm for dinner tonight…perhaps some type of soup – that sounds super yummy after a day outside in the snow!

Stay warm – and I’ll keep you posted about the stormy hours that lie ahead.

Walking on the freshly plowed sidewalk. The snow is up to her thighs...almost to her waist! Stuck in the front yard!

Sitting with Daddy in the snow drift outside our garage.Olivia by herself in the snow drift outside of our garage.

Trying to use Mommy's show shovel...but having some difficulties!Grandpa found this shovel in his workshop. It used to be Daddy's when he was a little boy! It was a much better size than Mommy's and a little more useful than Olivia's!

Do plumbers work outside? This little one does! She refused to change her pull-up before we went outside, so it was pretty soggy and droopy. Thus, when she bent over to pick up her snow shovel....this popped out!

Valentine's Day

Many Memories Heart Valentine's Day Card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day in our family, but Shutterly had a coupon code for one free card. So, I took the time to create a card for Christopher...don't tell!