Doctor's Appointment

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. All is well! I finally have gained a few pounds. After feeling so sick and not wanting to eat and then getting the flu...it took a little longer to put on a couple of pounds. My belly is definitely starting to take shape. I am not able to button my pants and have to trust the belt to keep them from falling down. I am not big enough yet for maternity pants, but that will come soon enough.

Tomorrow my parents and sister Melissa will be getting to town. We will be going to church in the afternoon, have a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and then going to bed early so we can get up early to catch our flight to FLORIDA!

Yes that is right, we are going to be spending our Christmas break in Florida this year. My aunts and uncles and most of my cousins will be joining my grandma in Ft. Myer's Beach for a vacation/reunion. We are anxious to find out how Macayla does on an airplane! We are flying with my parents so at least there will be extra help when she doesn't want to be on the plane any longer.

I hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas and safe travels to all!

Christmas at Jason's parents

Last Saturday we spent a wonderful day at Jason's parent's house. We started the event with an incredible brunch that kept us full the rest of the day! After brunch put the kids down for a nap and the adults got to play some games. Just have to note that the girls beat the boys at the TV version of Scene it! :) When the naps were all done we gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents. Macayla was way more into presents this year. She got so excited with every one. It was very cute. Overall we had a great day!

Visit from Santa

Macayla must have been a very good girl this year. Santa came to visit at her cousin Collin's house when Macayla and Collin's other two cousins were visiting. Macayla wasn't so sure at first what to think about Santa but she was by no means scared. She sat on his lap like it was no big deal and enjoyed singing Christmas carols with everyone!

Belly pics

The upper two pictures are from when I was 12 weeks and the bottom picture is about 8 or 9 weeks. I have been doing very well lately. After about 6 weeks of bad nausea all day long with only an hour relief here and there, last week Monday a magic switch turned. Since that day I have not had any nausea (knock on wood). Although I know that it could come back at times I have been very grateful to be over the worst of it! Besides really bad heartburn yesterday afternoon I'm doing great!

Macayla continues to grow! Her vocabulary is constantly increasing. It seems like each week she gains 4 or more new words. She continues to be our "little helper" with everything we try to do...it is crazy how independent not only does she want to be but is becoming. Her potty training is going very well (at the sitter's at least). As long as she is taken to the potty on a regular basis she keeps a dry diaper. Almost every nap she is waking up with a dry diaper and sometimes when she wakes up in the mornings.

Hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for the Christmas season!

Baby Starke # 2: First Trimester Re-cap

Yes, the rumors are true...Jason and I are expecting baby #2 in June! Macayla already is pointing to my belly and saying "baby". It is very cute.

As you can tell from the previous post, our Fall was very crazy. On top of Jason being gone more than he was home, being in the middle of volleyball season and the start of the school year I was hit hard with early pregnancy symptoms. What hit hard first was the extreme fatigue. No matter how much sleep I got I could not feel rested. I was constantly yawning in the classroom and feeling like I could so easily nod off to sleep. This started about 2 weeks before we found out I was pregnant and last for the 4-5 weeks after finding out. By the time I took the test, I was already 5 1/2 weeks. I had a strong suspicion I was, but didn't have time to go buy the test...more like the energy to stop somewhere after practice and picking up Macayla. Jason was the one who actually ended up buying the test. I took it and with in seconds it was show a positive sign.

Jason didn't freak out quite as bad as last time. (Last time he left that same morning for Chicago and avoided talking to me all day). This time he was pretty calm, but told me that it was probably wrong...a false positive. The test was a double so I took the other one the following morning and as you would suspect, it was again positive.

By the start of week 6 the nausea started. It started earlier than when it did with Macayla and ended up being much worse. With Macayla I would feel sick if I didn't eat "soon" enough, but as soon as I ate I'd be fine for the most part. This time around I felt sick before eating and again 45 minutes after eating and it cycled ALL DAY LONG! From week 6 to week 12 I experienced terrible nausea. With Macayla I had about 4-5 weeks of not feeling well with only 2 weeks of really bad....this time around the whole 6 weeks were bad. Not 1 day was better then the next. Today was actually the first time I had been at work in 6 weeks that I hadn't felt like puking all day long!

Jason and I told our parents around week 7. With as much traveling as he was doing we decided to have him tell his parents over the phone, but while I was visiting for dinner. He got on the phone with his dad and asked him what was for dinner. His dad told him and Jason asked if he thought he had enough food. His dad said yes...why? Jason then stated that I was eating for 2. At this point his dad did not react but gave the phone to Jason's mom...Jason did the same thing with her. That weekend I went with Macayla to visit my parents. Jason went through the same routine with them. It wasn't the most creative but it was cute and did the job!

Last week Jason and I had our first appointment with the OB. We were able to hear the sound of the baby's heartbeat for the first time. It came in at 160....whatever that means :).

As I approach the completion of week 12 on Friday I hope I am finally on an up swing. It has been a rough several weeks but as rough as it has been, a few weeks of yuck is worth a lifetime of relationship!

Crazy Fall Schedule

I apologize dearly to all of my blog readers (if there are any left!). This fall was crazy to say the least. Jason was gone for work way more than usual, the first month of school is typically very hectic and volleyball was going on during the same time!

Macayla has changed sooo much over even just the past few weeks. Her vocabulary increases on a daily basis. She is becoming such a little girl. This week I picked her up and her hair was in full pigtails! She looked so grown up. Things have started calming down a little bit lately...just in time for parent/teacher conferences :(. Jason has been around...no overnights in the past couple of weeks. Here are a few pictures from the past few months.

Okay...I will try to remember some of Macayla's "new things":
"Help please"
"Goodnight"
"Amen"
"baby"
"ball"
Jumps onto the couch
Tries to help with EVERYTHING
Loves to buckle the snaps on her booster seat
Will have full conversations on the phone...even if no one is on the other side of the conversation
Her dance moves have multiplied
Wants to do everything independently
Consistently goes potty on the potty at the sitters...home is a little more inconsistent
She points to her diaper when she needs to go

Visit to MN

After almost two years of my sister and brother-in-law owning their home, Macayla and I FINALLY went to visit. I know, I know, I'm a terrible sister :(....however they bought it when I was very pregnant, then we already had plans to see them, then I had a newborn and then it was winter... Anyways, Macayla and I got the Pilot all packed off and hit the road. We met my mom in Wausau and she joined the adventure. For the most part Macayla did awesome on the way their (5+ hours).

While visiting Tricia and Jeremy, and oh yeah Gus.... we accomplished a lot in a short time. In the two and a half days we made it to the outlet mall just down the road, 4 times :). We visited Tricia's classroom, went to the Mall of America and relaxed in their new reclining couches.

Macayla LOVED Gus! She followed him everywhere, fed him his food, tried to get him to play with his toys and hugged him every chance she got.

Although we were away from Jason, during our trip we Skyped Jason and he read Macayla her goodnight stories and said her prayers with her. It's amazing what the world of technology allows us to do today.

2nd Annual Starke Camping Trip

The last weekend in July we met up with the whole Starke Clan in Montello, WI. From Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon we had a wonderful time swimming, playing, visiting and relaxing. Although it is a camping trip, we stayed in a cottage with Jason's cousin and his family. Overall there was 1-5th wheel, 1-trailer camper, 1-pop-up camper, 2 tents, 1 cabin, 2 park models and a cottage with a total of 30 people and 4 dogs. Each night a family took its turn preparing a dinner for everyone and each morning breakfast was provided by someone. We had spoon tacos, burgers, brats & hotdogs, spaghetti, french toast, omelets and pancakes...and all the things that go with! Before the weekend was over we were already starting to plan the trip for next year. :)

Playdate with Collin!

Today Angie and I took the kids to Bay Beach. Macayla and Collin LOVED the rides. At first Macayla wasn't too sure, but it didn't take long for her big smile to appear! It is nice having cousins close in age...9 months apart to be exact! After Bay Beach we came back to our house for lunch and more playing. It was a great day!

16 1/2 months old

Macayla has been changing daily lately. Below are some of the latest things that she is doing:

• climbing on and off furniature
• signs please
• rides her bike
• pushes around her stroller
• wants to be fully independent and does NOT want to hold mom and dad's hand
• loves to go swimming...not new but she is doing so much more independently in the water
• New words include of course in her own way:

grandma (maaama)

grandpa

cracker

thank you

up

Derek (Der), the little boy at the sitter's

Collin (coo), her cousin

• she is starting imaginative play
• likes coloring
• LOVES bananas!
• continues to learn more and more dance moves
• is more conversational in her "babble"
• climbs down the stairs, with us very near by of course
• "reads" her books
• is very good at sharing and taking turns...well, when she is in the mood!
• very interested in babies
• can act like a monkey..."what does a monkey do?"...she puts her hands in her armpits and says "ooo"
• can "moo" like a cow
• Shakes her head yes when we ask her a question
• points to exactly what she wants and pushes our legs to get us to move towards what she wants

And like always, I'm sure there is plenty more of new things she is doing but that is what I can remember for now :).

A few more bedroom pics

Macayla's room is FINALLY complete!

Jason's parents made beautiful wood letter's of Macayla's name, painted them dark brown and put pink ribbon so they could be hung. In addition to the letters we finally hung the 12 photo picture frame. From the time Macayla was a newborn I took pictures of her every month through 11 months. By having a 12 photo frame we are able to see the subtle changes in her looks over her first year. The room is painted with cocoa brown on the bottom and sage green on top. We wanted to keep the wall colors somewhat neutral. Of course I was able to bring in tons of pink in the decor: curtains, rug, hamper. Jason's dad also made wall decors, pink and brown dragonflies and butterflies. The play set you see is Elmo's restaurant. My mom and I found it at a garage sale for $5! AND it still had good batteries in it!

15 1/2 months old!

I feel like we just had Macayla's first birthday and yet it is already

More Memorial Weekend Pics

Memorial Weekend in Minocqua

Over Memorial Weekend we went to Minocqua. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was in the lower 80's and gorgeous! Jason and I were able to get out on the boat a couple of times. On Saturday we went to the campground that Angie and Dave (Jason's sister) was staying at and spent the evening with them and Jason's parents. Macayla got her first lake experience that night and loved it! There were minnows swimming around everywhere. Macayla kept trying to reach down and grab them. On Monday we were able to go to Torpy Park. This is a place that I had several birthday parties growing up.

May pics