Macy's flower Show

I took Cooper to back up daycare today since our daycare was closed. This always includes filling his "coffee" cup with a beverage of his choice and lunch at McDonalds. It's fun spending the morning and having him with since I normally don't get to see him until I pick him up. I thought what a better way to end the day then to go Macy's annual flower show? It was so beautiful and fragrant in there it made me even more excited about this Spring and Summer and to finally say goodbye to this long long winter. Cooper seemed to have a good time and enjoyed smelling the flowers, he wanted me to bend down and smell them as well - which got to be pretty hard with my growing belly but I managed to smell a couple flowers.

Superior Shores

We spent this weekend with our friends Jason, Ingrid and their son Hunter at Superior Shores in Two Harbors. It was a great long weekend and we got to enjoy some much needed relaxation and Cooper time as well. When we got to the resort on Thursday night Cooper was so excited when he saw the Jacuzzi tub in our room he ran around screaming about wanting to go swimming. We finally agreed that he could take a "swim" and he was so happy! Saturday we headed to Gooseberry Falls which is a short drive from the hotel. It was such a beautiful day it was great to get outside and enjoy the weather. After Gooseberry we took Cooper down to Lake Superior so he could feel the water. Prior to feeling the water he kept telling us that he was going to go swimming in there. One touch of the water and he changed his mind really quickly. He loved throwing rocks in to the lake and liked watching Rob skip rocks as well. We also spent a lot of time in the pool, actually Rob and Cooper did anyway. Cooper had a blast jumping into the pool and swimming with Hunter. I think his favorite part was hanging with the "big" guys in the hot tub. He thought it was so cool! The hot tub there is really nice! They have a doorway to the outside so you can enjoy the hot tub inside or outside with Lake Superior as scenery.

24 week appointment

I am not going to blog about every OB appointment, but my appointment last was a little different. By different I don't mean having to drink the dreaded lime sugar water to be tested for gestational diabetes (yuk) but that we would be scheduling the date of my c-section. The more I thought about this, it is kind of weird to be scheduling our child's actual birthday. Though I know at the end of this pregnancy I will appreciate knowing an actual date that I will be done with work, need to have everything taken care of at home and counting down the hours until we get to meet "Pricklepants" (explanation to follow). I had it in my head that I would schedule it at my appointment with my doctor and was a little disappointed when he nonchalantly handed me his scheduler's phone number. When I talked with his scheduler I was given my choice of pretty much any day from the 20th to the 27th (my actual due date). This wasn't a decision I wanted to make by myself or rush into so told her I would call back after checking with Rob. After talking through all the options/potential issues we decided on the 20th. We received the paperwork the next day and my c-section will be at 8:30am on the 20th.

Now on to the Pricklepants story. After after my 20 week appointment and ultrasound we told Cooper about the baby and asked him if he wanted a sister or a brother. He thought for little bit then said sister which didn’t surprise me since most of the kids he knows have sisters. Since then his decision can change with the day but he seems to be somewhat excited about the baby. We also told him that he could talk to the baby if he wanted so the baby would get used to his voice. We told him to talk into my belly button and the baby would be able to hear him. Since then every night when he goes to sleep he has to say good night to the baby, which is so cute even if it might be a stall tactic. He has willingly packed up some of his toys for the baby and at times wants to sleep in the baby's room, which I wouldn't mind so much but it's not ready yet. Since we didn't find out the sex of the baby it's been hard knowing what to say when referencing the baby. I don't feel right saying it or trying to switch off between the sexes. A friend of mine picked a random name for the baby and that is what they use when ever talking about the baby. So last night when he came to say good night to the baby I asked him what we should call the baby until we have an actual name and he said Pricklepants. I asked Rob if that is okay with him and it was so for now our baby is named Prickelpants. :)

Baby #2

Rob and I are excited to announce we are expecting our second baby on June 27th! Today I had my 20 week appointment and everything went great. The ultrasound was so amazing to see the baby punching me, kicking me and just generally not stopping moving. Because the baby was moving so much we weren't able to get any clear pictures, hopefully we will have another ultrasound so we can post some pictures.

When I was pregnant with Cooper I decided if we were going to find out the sex of the baby and told Rob that with the next one he would be the one to decide. We were so happy with the decision made with Cooper, Rob decided not to find out. It turned out to be a good decision since the baby wouldn't cooperate anyway, it had it's legs closed the whole time. :) I thought we were going to schedule the c-section today but the doctor told me we would schedule it at my next appointment. More updates to come.

Cinderella Ball

Christy called me and asked if Cooper and I would like to go with her and Kaylin to the Cinderella ball. I asked Cooper if he wanted to go and he was so excited to dance with Kaylin. The website said to wear royal ball attire and enjoy a night where fairy tales come to life. I wasn't sure what Cooper should wear since he has had a growth spurt again and has outgrown the majority of his dress clothes. Connner was also able to come so the three kids had a blast. I wasn't sure if it was going to be a little too girly for Cooper but it was fun. How cute are these three?

They also had a craft station where the kids could decorate a crown, here is Cooper's crown:



Then came face painting, Cooper decided to have a prince crown from the princess and Kaylin decided to have a butterfly.



Then it was dance time.



When I asked Cooper if he wanted to go next year he said "of course I do!"

India

I had the opportunity to go to India for two weeks at the beginning of this month. The trip was through my MBA program at Carlson and also happened to be the last class for getting my MBA degree completed. We started out with a week in Delhi which is the capital of India, it took a few days to recover from the long flight (I think it was 18 hours total travel time) and while we were there we visited companies that do business over there; Ameriprise, Wal-Mart, several Indian government agencies, a startup company, United Health Group and many others. Delhi is a city of about 17 million, there are literally people everywhere, one night when we left a visit at peak rush hour it took us 2 ½ hours to go a little over 7 miles. Delhi’s traffic in general is not too bad due to a lot of roundabouts that the British built.


Over the weekend we took a trip to Agra which is where the Taj Mahal is. If you are ever in India and have the opportunity to go see it, I would highly recommend it. It is really unbelievable to see in person. Although it was a 6 hour bus ride over 200km to get there (one way) it was still one of the highlights on the trip. A member of our class that is from Agra arranged the whole trip and it was awesome, we also got to see the Agra fort which is just down the river from the Taj.


Back in Delhi on Sunday we went to go see Aksradam (sp?) Temple which was really amazing as well and I would recommend going to see that too. It is more modern than the Taj, but the carvings and everything are just insane.

We then flew to Bangalore for the last week of our trip and spent the week again visiting companies and sightseeing. Some of the companies we visited included: Target (of course the best of the trip!), Sony, Lenovo, Infosys and a bunch of Indian companies. In Bangalore I also got to meet up with a friend of mine from a project at work. He had come to the US back in the summer for the project I was working on and he is from Bangalore. We were able to get together a few nights and go out to eat and do some shopping, it was great! Bangalore traffic is horrible, they do not have the same system as Delhi and sometimes you would sit at lights for what seemed like 20 minutes, although it probably wasn’t really that long. It is a city of 8 million and they do not have a metro, although that is under construction, so when any of you visit it should be better.


The trip back was even longer (total travel of 24+ hours) as I missed a connecting flight in Newark on the way home and had to spend an extra night in Chicago before getting home on the 16th. But overall it was an amazing trip.

Most frequently asked questions about my trip and the answers:

· How was the food, especially the Indian food? It was good and I was very lucky to not develop any stomach issues while I was over there. We went out to four large group Indian dinners that were all really amazing. They do chicken a lot of different ways, have good breads, rice and desserts.

· What was it like? For those that have been to Mexico, very similar buildings and shopping, just bigger and a LOT more people.

· Would you ever go back? Yeah I think I would eventually, would be neat to bring the family and show them what I saw and all the stuff that I missed.

· Are everyone’s jobs eventually going to move to India? Yes (just kidding, I have no idea,) they do a lot of things well, but some things transfer easier than others

· Are there really cows everywhere? Yes, they are everywhere. Even saw one in a convenience store, literally in the store, he must have been shopping.

· Do they have McDonalds/American food there? Yes. There was a McD’s close to our first hotel that we frequented. Although they have no beef, the Big Mac is a King Burger (or something similar) that is either veggie burger or some type of chicken. We also went to KFC and Subway a few times.

· What is the money? It is called the Rupee, and the exchange rate is something like $1=50 rupees, you felt like you had a lot of money because of the large bills.

Texas 2011

While Rob is in India, Cooper and I flew to Houston to visit the Mosher families. It was a much needed break and we had a great time! We took all 7 kids to the Houston Zoo on Friday and the weather was amazing, you can't beat 70 degree weather considering when we left it was around 10 degrees. The zoo was really great, if you are even in Houston, I recommend checking it out. The kids all really enjoyed the elephants, especially the two babies. They were so cute!



Cooper had so much fun playing with all the kids, playing a Wii for the first time and being able to play outside without wearing a jacket. Well at least for the beginning of our trip. Towards the end of our trip the weather did change and it did get colder.



Every time I am in Houston we go to Kemah to eat at Joe's Crab Shack, walk along the boardwalk and check out the aquarium. Since the last time I was there they expanded the aquarium and added a sting ray exhibit where you can feed them. I have to admit I was a little leery to feed them but it was pretty amazing. You take a piece of raw shrimp and hold it in the water and they come right up and take it out of your hand. One thing we learned really quickly is they get excited when the come to grab the shrimp and splash you.

It was a great trip and as always hard to come home. I am so lucky to have such amazing family down there. When ever I go down there it's like no time has passed and we pickup right where we left off.

Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas a little differently than in prior years. We had Christmas eve brunch at the Peterson's house then went to my parent's house for our traditional Oyster Stew and reading of the Christmas story. I had been quite a few years since we have celebrated with both our families on the same day and it was fun to see everyone in one day. Since Rob will be leaving for India we decided to stay home on Christmas day and celebrate with our little family of three. It was a great day but somehow didn't feel like Christmas without celebrating with one of our families. Not to say we didn't try -we had Santa Claus waffles, opened stockings from Santa and even some additional presents to each other. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Cooper loved to hang out under the tree and gaze up at the lights and ornaments.

Family picture in front of the Peterson's tree

Cooper looking so handsome at my parent's house while opening presents.

The boys with their new Nerf guns from Santa, they went "hunting" shortly after opening these.

Macy's 8th floor and visit to Santa

We had planned on going to the Holidazzle parade today but decided we would take Cooper to see the Macy's 8th floor display and visit with Santa instead as the weather wasn't cooperating. We were a little shocked at how long the lines were, we thought by getting there early it would help avoid some of the lines. Cooper was pretty amazing while waiting in the lines, I think I was more annoyed than he was.

The display this year is a day in the life of an elf. He really enjoyed the display and even stopped long enough for me to take a picture.


Then it was time to visit Santa. I had prepped him that he needed to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted him to bring him. He did great! He wouldn't sit on Santa's lap but he sat next to him and told him what he wanted for Christmas and gave him a high five and said he would be good at least until Christmas, we will have to see..

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents. We started the morning out by watching the parade and Cooper helping me make the stuffing and creamed corn. We were sad that Christy's family wasn't able to join us, they were too sick to come; both Christy and Adrian were miserable.


After dinner we had a visit from our friends James, Natalie, Jordan and Jacob and then we sat down to play a game of Hand and Foot. This is probably my favorite card game and mom and dad killed us!