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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Graduates

We attended another graduation this past Saturday. This time we celebrated the graduations of Wally's mom, sister, and brother all from Eastern Illinois University. Nancy and Abby received their Bachelor's in General Studies and Will received his Bachelor's in Math with the Cum Laude distinction!

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Waving to Grandma!
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After the ceremony, Wally, Luke, and I headed over to this pond with fountains (which Luke is really into these days!).

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Luke did really well once again! We only had a little meltdown when he was running outside and fell face first on the sidewalk - nothing like some scratches on his nose!

After the graduation, we headed to an Amish Buffet for dinner. It was a great time and we are so proud of all 3 of the graduates!!!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Friday Fun

Before we left home for the day on Friday morning, I thought I would take some belly pics. Luke wanted in on these too! He kept saying "I hold Mommy's belly too!"

1 day shy of 31 weeks!
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Then it was off to my doctor's appointment (which went great - baby, blood pressure, weight gain = all good! I go back in 3 weeks and then we start the more frequent appointments - the end is nearing!). Then it was off to work (which was the not so fun part of the day). Then we were back home for more fun!

On the way home from Punky's, I asked Luke if he wanted to play Go Fish! when we got home. He said (very enthusiastically), "Yes, that a good idea!" He cracks me up!

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Three Easters

3 locations, 3 Easter Egg Hunts, and many, many Easter baskets for Luke!

First up - Zukowski Easter!

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The Easter Bunny made an appearance!
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Great Grandma Hylla was excited!!!
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And Luke wasn't afraid one bit!
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Hoppin' like a bunny!
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Luke helped the bunny hide some eggs.
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And the hunt was on...
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Then we were off to Great Grandma and Grandpa Swanson's house!

Luke, Zack, Connor, and Logan before the hunt.
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Luke decided he had enough eggs and that it was time to eat the chocolate!!!
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And then the sugar rush!
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Last stop - Grammy & Papa's house!

On the hunt
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The eggs were up high here so Chloe wouldn't get them!
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Money!
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He knew just where to put that money!
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Making sure it's still there!
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Playing "soccer" with Papa and Grammy
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And then it was time to head home! It's 2 weeks later and we still have more candy than should be allowed in the house where a pregnant lady lives :)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Just Keep Swimming

Finding Nemo is one of Luke's favorite movies and one of our favorite lines in the movie is said by Dory - "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." This is kind of my motto these days!

I guess you could say I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed at work, overwhelmed at home - just overwhelmed. I keep telling myself to just breath, don't stress, take everything one step at a time, just keep swimming.

Work - so much going on. I don't know when it happened or how it happened, but it all seems to be happening at once. While I generally thrive on being as busy as I am, I am loving it and hating it right now. On one hand, it is great to be so busy to keep this pregnancy moving, but on the other hand, I know I have to get A LOT of stuff done at work before I go on maternity leave and that is causing some anxiety. I am trying to just prioritize, make lists, and get as much done in a day as I can while still leaving no later than 4:30 otherwise my mommy guilt kicks in times 1,000 and that just makes me stress even more. I have been and will probably continue to go in on Fridays (which is usually my day off or I work from home) until my maternity leave which gives me one less day to get stuff done around the house, hang out with Luke and just rest up for the weekend (which seems to be filled with something every week).

Home - my poor home. It needs a good cleaning. I made a plan to just focus on one room a night. So Monday night I gave our master bathroom a really good cleaning and then I couldn't move. I literally was aching everywhere! Apparently, I super cleaned one room too many and my 31 weeks pregnant body was telling me so. My back was bothering me again (like it was early on in my pregnancy), I was feeling a lot of pressure, which made me nervous, and I just was exhausted. So while our master bath is finally clean, I have yet to get to another room. Some people say to not worry about cleaning right now, but if you know me, you know that if my house isn't clean, I stress about it until it is. So while I have every intention every night of cleaning something, my body starts to ache just thinking about sweeping so I don't. I am hoping that nesting instinct kicks in really soon!

Baby - while we have the big stuff that we need for the baby, we need to find it in the basement and get it set-up. That stuff doesn't stress me out. I know we can knock that out in an afternoon on some free weekend day (which I think we have 3 of those between now and when the baby is due). It is the other stuff - the newborn necessities that I have somehow forgotten. I need to make a list and just get to the store on one of those free afternoons too.

Overall, I am just overwhelmed. I know everything will get done, it always does. So I just keep telling myself to "just keep swimming" and to breathe. This baby does not need stress and neither do I.

In 2 short months, I will re-read this post with my baby girl in my arms and my toddler at my feet and wonder what could have caused such stress knowing that for 3 months I get to spend all of my time with these little miracles. If only hindsight wasn't 20/20.

(Phew, I feel better! This post helped me avoid a major cry that I have felt coming on for the last few days.)

Oh and we did celebrate Easter this year so hopefully I can blog about it soon!

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Graduate

The Graduate being my younger, little, baby sister Carly!!! Not only did she graduate from Illinois Wesleyan University yesterday, she graduated with the distinction of Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. We are so proud of her! She will make a wonderful nurse!

Luckily the rain held off long enough to have the ceremony outside! Thank goodness because I am not sure Luke would have been as good had we been indoors. Luke was loving the music (as always!).

He was loving his pockets!
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Putting on a show for everyone!
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Being goofy with his pez!
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There's Carly - heading to get her diploma!
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And she's got it!
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Her nursing class!
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Telling Carly "congratulations for her decoration"! :)
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Proud parents!
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The two nurses in our family :) I love this picture!
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After the graduation, we headed out for a nice dinner and then made the trip home.

Congratulations Sister! I am so proud of you and love you lots!

(On a different note, but also one filled with pride - Wally will officially be a tenured teacher next Fall (so long as he stays out of trouble this summer ;) So proud of him too! He is a wonderful teacher who truly deserves tenure!)

From the Mouth of Luke

First said (aka yelled!) while in the bathtub but repeated multiple times since then:

"Ladies and (something that sounds like 'gentlemen"), the dolphin show!"

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When reaching for a Dora book in the backseat as we were leaving Punky's, I asked Luke if he could count in Spanish. To my surprise, he said "uno". So I asked him again if he could count in Spanish and all of the sudden he rattles off:


"Uno, dos, twes, taco, cinco, ace! I did it Mommy!"

I was cracking up and completely amazed - love that he said tacos for cuatro! I was able to get it on video last night. He skipped tres and his cuatro sounds a little less like taco! So proud of him! (Notice when I ask if he can count higher, he points up - ha!)



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Luke often asks on the way home from Punky's:

"What we eating?" And then he usually suggests pizza (sausage in particular), barbecue, or tacos (his favorites).

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"Ohhhhhh maaaannn!!!"

He usually says this when something goes wrong or for example when I told him he could have more bread after he ate more noodles.

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Luke loves Wally's school so last week when we had to go pick Wally up after his baseball practice, Luke asked if he could get out of the car. I told him that Daddy would be out in just a second. He got very whiny about it and then said,
"I have to go potty!" repeatedly. How does a 2-year old put that together. He knows if he says he has to go potty there is a likely chance that I will believe him and he will get to get out of the car and go in the school - such a stinker!!!