The new boy after my heart...

In case you hadn't heard....

...it's a boy!!!!!!

We are all still fairly shocked as we certainly weren't expecting to see that little appendage appear on the ultrasound. I knew what to look for and was incredibly surprised by that obvious difference in previous ultrasound experiences! Nate and the girls were with me and we all wore looks of amazement...

...and pure, uninhibited joy!

And here's a picture of his sweet profile - his little hand is on his forehead - so precious!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited we all are to be welcoming a little boy into our family. I love me some pink, purple, frilly, lace, princess, stuff, but I'm sure looking forward to some blues, greens, browns, oranges, trucks, balls, etc.

I was picking up a few shirts for Alex today and couldn't resist a peek in the never before wandered "boy section". He got his first onesies...

...and, sadly, I'll admit, that shopping for girls is so much more fun - but, I'll adjust to coordinating plaids, stripes, cords, etc. in due time. :) I imagine that I'll be doing a lot of adjusting once I meet this little guy, but I welcome the challenges and joys that he will bring.

Pure bliss...thank you God!

Now we have 4.5 more months to come up with a name...any suggestions?

Duped!

Here is what Maddie looked like Thursday morning (well, actually, this picture was taken a couple days later, but you get the idea)...

fairly pathetic, right? It makes you want to cuddle her up all day long and let her do whatever makes her happy.

She has school on Thursdays, but after a night of coughing and a slight fever (not to mention the continual public service announcements of keeping your child home if they are even slightly sick to reduce the risk of the over hyped "swine flu") I decided to keep her home, just to be safe.

I was duped.

Here she is, not much later...back to her sassy self!

The day continued with her dancing and singing to high school musical, doing all sorts of art, and impressing me with her ability to make me laugh.

You would think with 7 years of experience under my belt now I would be able to determine when my children were truly sick or not, right? I guess I erred on the side of caution and fell for her charm. (Not to mention that I already begin to hyperventilate at the thought of her entering Kindergarten next year and being away from me forever!)

And, seriously, could you say no to these pig tails!?!?!

Here she is with Alex after Alex got home from school. I heard Maddie tell her that she didn't have to go to school today. Alex said, "What? Mom, did Maddie stay home?" After I concurred, I heard Maddie say to her sister, "Lucky me, huh?"

And for kicks, here is a picture of me at 16 weeks. The baby is starting to move quite a bit - I LOVE this part of pregnancy!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

It's Out - Finally!!!

Alex's front tooth has been hanging on by a thread for the last week. I have tried and tried to convince her to let me pull it, to no avail. Truly, it was getting disgusting to look it - just hanging there. The picture below doesn't capture how loose it really was.

Finally, I convinced her to just let me feel it. As I wrapped my fingers around it, she pulled her head back and voila - the tooth was in my hand! She didn't feel a thing and from then on was all smiles! Big, toothless, adorable smiles!

The other front tooth is loose as well - looks like this Christmas she may be singing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"!

Did Someone Say Chocolate?

Aside from the obvious benefit of pregnancy - that you get a beautiful child to add to your family and love for the rest of your life - there are many "hidden" benefits to being pregnant.

Such as this...

and this...

and this...

I'm a fairly healthy person when I'm not pregnant - I exercise regularly, watch what I eat and drink, and I maintain a healthy weight. However, some of those rules are played with a bit while pregnant and I LOVE it!

My thought: I'm going to have to lose weight after the baby is born anyway, so why not enjoy putting the weight on? I always gain a healthy amount - 35 - 40 lbs. and I always lose it - I realize getting older will make it a little harder, but being overweight makes me miserable so I can be extremely disciplined when I need to be and I will be!

So because I'm in a good mood I wanted to share the recipe for the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever! The recipe is from my "2nd mom" growing up, my best friend's mom, who always had these marvelous cookies at her house when I visited. I've made them now for over 20 years (gasp!) and always get rave reviews.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 4 dozen - give or take depending on how much dough you eat (or if your husband is around while baking and eats about 1 dozen cookie dough balls)!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup shortening

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

1. Mix all ingredients together (except chocolate chips) until blended. DO NOT OVER MIX -the dough will be dry and crumbly.

2. Add chocolate chips and stir until distributed evenly.

3. The dough will be crumbly, before you roll into smaller balls, mash it all together with your hands to better mix the ingredients.

4. Roll into small balls and place on greased cookie sheet - 12/sheet.

5. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Be sure to vary their position in the oven at about 5 minutes - those on top, put to bottom, and vice versa. DO NOT OVER BAKE - take them out when they are slightly browning on top and still a little "gooey" in the center. They will finish setting while cooling.

6. Let cool about 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Best enjoyed warm from the oven with a large glass of cold milk!

I've varied the recipe over the years depending on my mood. Most often I'll throw in all sorts of chips - butterscotch, vanilla, peanut butter, dark chocolate, milk chocolate - whatever I have in the house.

You can add nuts; however, I hate nuts in cookies so I never do.

Feel free to use whole wheat flour; however, it is best mixed with white as well. Here is the ratio I substitute for 2.5 cups of white flour - 1 cup white and 1 1/3 cup whole wheat. If you use all whole wheat the dough will be way too dry!

Use Splenda instead of sugar.

Use egg whites (1/2 cup) instead of 2 eggs.

However, let's be honest, when you want a chocolate chip cookie - it's best to go all out! :)

The dough can be made in advance and frozen up to 3 months or you can freeze the cookies for up to 3 months as well - but, really, who has the discipline for that?!?

Enjoy - I will be for the next few days!

And then there were three...

It all started with sore boobs.

Sorry for the bluntness, but, really, I would have never suspected a thing if it had not been for sore boobs. I voiced my teeny tiny suspicion to Nate, we quickly dismissed the possibility, and put it out of our minds. However, there was no way to deny the soreness...

The sore boobs led me to take a test the next morning - which led to this...

To say I was shocked, would have been an understatement. Surprised? Yes. Astounded? Yes. Unbelievable? Yes. Happy? Absolutely!

After reading the result - numerous times in both English and Spanish (as if my 6 years of Spanish that I haven't used in over 10 years could help make sense of the result) - Nate and I had the following text exchange. (Now, I fully realize that letting your husband know that you are pregnant via text message is lame on a large scale. However, I was positive that I was NOT pregnant since last Spring I was told we would need "help" with #3, and had to tell someone right away and since he can not be reached over the phone and I could not wait nor did I want Alex and Maddie to hear anything...text it was.)

Me: "Um...ready for #3?!?!!!!!"

Nate (about 30 minutes later): "Did you just tell me something?"

Me: "I'd rather tell you in person, but you are not here and I have to tell someone!"

Nate: "So, are you really pregnant?!?!?!"

Me: "According to one test - I'm going to get another one later today because I'm in a bit of shock!"

Nate: "I am shocked!!! And, very, very, happy!!!!!!!!!"

Me: "Me too!!!!!"

Nate: "My legs are weak..."

Me: "I know, my head is in a fog and I can't concentrate on anything. I am not sure I believe it all and I hate to get my hopes up if it is just a fluke, but I've only ever had two positive tests before and now they are sitting on the couch with no idea that their world will change even more!"

I later learned that Nate had been in the operating room when he received the first message assuming it was some random non important message - imagine his surprise when he was able to read it about 30 minutes later after the case was done! :)

Later in the day I took another test - still not ready to believe the first result. Same thing.

I've heard many stories about people taking more than one pregnancy test because they just could not believe the results. I always kind of laughed at them. Until now - because I took yet another one a few days later.

Again, same result.

I was still hesitant to believe the results as they just seemed too good to be true. If, somehow, they were all false positives I would have been crushed and felt like I was a victim of a cruel joke. As I had only seen Nate for 1 week in July, I had a fairly good idea as to when conception occurred - I calculated my due date and laughed out loud when I saw the date.

April 1st.

No joke.

A few weeks later an ultrasound confirmed that Baby Van Zeeland #3 is due on April Fool's Day.

The girls are thrilled and have already offered their assistance with their new baby brother/sister. We find out gender in November although we are all fairly sure that it is a girl - because, well, history indicates such. We'll see.

So, here is my first belly picture taken at 12 weeks.

I feel great! I'm one of those very lucky woman who have very easy pregnancies - no morning sickness, heartburn, reflux, etc. I was very tired and extremely hungry the first trimester, but now that I've entered the second all of that has leveled off a bit. I get some low back pain when I exercise or carry Maddie too much (or carry groceries or laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs - hint, hint, Nate...), but really, I can't complain. The timing is perfect as we will be back in Wisconsin, settled in our new house, new schools, new job, etc. However, best of all is that grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, etc. are all within 10 - 50 minutes away!

We are blessed and we thank God for it everyday!

So, any guesses - boy or girl?!?

Let's go #9!!!!

Well, I've become a true "soccer mom". I've had the mini van (or vans, in my case as is this technically my third mini van - can't believe I just admitted that!) for quite some time (8 years to be exact), but never had the soccer player.

Until now.

Although, I love sports and hope that my children play many during their high school and college years, I've resisted organized sports for my children for a number of reasons.

First, with work free weekends for Nate a highly prized commodity, I wasn't willing to tie us to an adolescent sports schedule.

Second, personally I believe getting your children involved in sports at age three is too young. Sorry to those I offend, but let's face it - your child isn't going to be any more or less of a superstar at age 15 because they've been playing since 3 or 4 or 5 years old.

And finally, it's not cheap - and extra cash is also a highly prized commodity around here.

Nevertheless, I bit the bullet this year and signed Alex up for soccer (mostly because it will make our last 3 months here in STL go that much faster). We've had practices for the last 3 weeks and yesterday was her first game. What an experience!

We live less than a mile from the soccer fields so we walked while Alex rode her bike.

Here she is on the sideline waiting her turn to play - you can almost feel the butterflies in her tummy! So sweet!

Taking her position on the field - which we all know at this age means everywhere on the field that the ball and swarm of children happens to be.

Running after the ball.

Snuggles with Daddy after the game.

We didn't end up winning the game, but the girls had fun and at least got "one under their belt". However, I did hear that because we actually scored a goal this game that we beat their record of last year - a goalless season! So, there's always that going for us... :)

And, I found out that I might be "that mom". You know the one who is encouraging the team on the sidelines - by yelling loudly. I guess I didn't know I had it in me, but it's amazing what that youngster brings out in me. :)

Fellow "soccer moms" (or dads) any tips on making it through the season?

New Again!!

Since having children I've never really had the time or money to have a "hobby" per say. There were lots of things that I liked to do - running, reading, scrapbooking, etc.; however, nothing that truly fulfilled me.

A few years ago I began refinishing furniture - first our dining room set, then a hutch, another table and chairs, a toy box, etc. I love the satisfaction that it brings - taking something old and making it look new again (well, I often distress the piece so it may not look "new", but it's new to me). More importantly, I love the history behind a piece - I love knowing it's story - it makes the piece more special and more meaningful than buying it new or assembling it at home.

I've often dreamed about having my own little work shop where I could refine my skills - maybe even begin to do it as a side job - we'll see...

Anyway, here are some of the projects I tackled this summer for our new home...

The first is a bench whose origins before me I can not begin to trace. My in-laws bought 2 small cabins on a lake in Northern Wisconsin 8 years ago. This bench was left behind. It sat out in the elements for a few years before they brought it back to their garage at home hoping that someone would do something to it someday. (Thanks for the foresight Marty and Barb!) Enter me - who needed a small bench for a perfect spot in Maddie's new bedroom...

Voila!!!

A bit of paint and a new seat cushion jazzed it right up - yeah, Maddie doesn't hurt either!

In her new room - a perfect fit!

This piece Nate and I bought after we first got married with money from a friend (did you know that Jill?). It was our first TV stand and later a night stand in our guest room in Nashville.

I needed a night stand for Maddie that matched her white whicker and there you have it!


This next one is quite special to me because it belonged to my Grandma Lindell (you've heard Lindell before as it is Alex's middle name). She used this 3/4 bed in her guest room for years - she had painted it pink.

I wanted it white.

Here it is all dolled up in Alex's new room - a perfect fit!

Lastly, is this piece that also belonged to my grandma. She used it as a kitchen hutch - extra work space in her small kitchen. I always adored the piece and when my parents moved her belongings out of her house they kept this for me - thanks!! I had planned on painting it, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it as is. I'm repurposing it as Alex's new desk. I didn't get a chance to make some of the minor changes I had planned, but it will be perfect nonetheless - and, very special. Here it is in Alex's new room just waiting for her to personalize it.

All of these changes cost me less than $75 for paint and materials. The most expensive was creating the new seat cushion - surprisingly foam isn't cheap! In return I get four "new" pieces of furniture with a story behind them...

Any thoughts?