Natalie got her picture taken with the Easter bunnies at the mall...every year they have real bunnies and she gets her picture taken.  I think this was her favorite year so far...she loved petting the bunnies!  Craig, Nat, and I left for a four day weekend in Illinois on April 13th.  That evening, a tornado came through Iowa City!  It came right through the downtown area where many people were out there probably eating dinner and going to the bars and such (Thursday night is a big bar night).  We didn't hear about it until the next morning...it just seemed so unreal when we heard what happened...they even had videos and pictures on some of the larger news channels.  There was a lot of damage done not only by the actual tornado, but also by the high winds.  Craig called his friend, Mark Flanders, back in Iowa and he checked on our house for us.  Even though we live in North Liberty, all I could picture was one of the big trees in our backyard smashing through our house.  But luckily everything was okay. I have a few pictures of the tornado and damage to Iowa City in our April photo album if anyone is interested. Just click this link: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jennifer_essington/album?.dir=97c6&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jennifer_essington/my_photos  So we spent Easter weekend in Bloomington. Craig's parents were originally going to come to our house, but we wanted to attend the funeral of Pastor Barth which was the same weekend.  The visitation and funeral were very nice...I especially liked hearing Pastor Wingate tell stories about Pastor Barth.  Easter was a nice time as well. Natalie received some new DVDs and even a tricycle from Grandma and Grandpa Essington.  And she ate many pieces of chocolate!  She is truly a chocolate lover now :)  The Easter Bunny made sure to bring Natalie's basket of goodies to Illinois...among other things, she was given a lamb stuffed animal and a book about Jesus.  April 17th was our first prenatal appointment with Dr. Clevenger.  Craig and Natalie both came with me.  The baby's due date has been moved from December 1st to December 10th...which is pretty much what I figured would happen anyway, since I generally ovulate later. We discussed what my plans were for the birth since I can now choose between a c-section or vaginal delivery - a say "choose" in the loosest sense of the word since I didn't have much choice when delivering Natalie :)  I told Clevenger that I'd like to try a vaginal birth unless I become pre-eclamptic again...in that case I just want the c-section as soon as possible.  Having to go through what I went through last time was enough for me...the drugs they give you for high blood pressure are just terrible and I don't want to have them in my system any longer than I would need to...so the only cure for that is a fast delivery.  So we'll see how it goes.  The doctor thought it was a good plan. We ended up at Mercy Hospital on April 28th for an unplanned ultrasound.  I had been having some pretty severe pain on the lower left side of my abdomen for a couple days...it kept getting worse so they had me come in.  My worst thought was that the baby was developing somewhere it shouldn't be...like in one of my tubes or something.  But a newly pregnant woman always thinks the worst...everything was fine. We were able to see the baby...it looked like a tiny little bean, but was already starting to form tiny buds of arms and legs!  Natalie liked seeing the baby on the screen, but of course was a bit confused.  She loves going with us to the regular appointments though...she likes to watch the nurse take my blood pressure.

 

May 3rd was the last meeting of the year for Hearts in Touch.  I wasn't able to attend and felt so incredibly guilty...especially being that I'm a group leader and had missed the two previous meetings as well.  But my morning sickness was so bad!  I was well enough in the evening to attend choir rehearsal.  I was really happy I could make it, because our choir held an "Appreciation Party" for our director, Scott Sterner. Eryn Durlam, our piano player, put together a scrap book for him and we all wrote messages inside.  There was also a cake and other gifts. Mother's Day was a little uneventful this year...mainly due to the fact that I was still so sick.  So we didn't go anywhere too exciting to eat, but I believe we did end up going to Wendy's or something like that. I received two special cards - one from Craig and one from Nattie - and also a cute balloon!  Craig's brother, Michael, came to Iowa to visit sometime around May 22nd.  His main reason for coming was to talk to some people at University of Iowa about getting into their law program for the fall. Though it sounds like they have a pretty long wait list, so Mike will most likely be going to school in Chicago.  Natalie was so excited to have Mike at her house!  By the time he left she was saying "Mike is my hero!"...though she says "hereo" for "hero"...it's hysterical!  Mike and Craig played lots of golf while he was here and we all went downtown to The Airliner for pizza and to Whitey's for ice-cream one night.  We had our second prenatal appointment on May 25th.  We were supposed to have it the week before, but for some reason I had the day of the appointment completely mixed up.  When I called the doctors office to reschedule the receptionist kind of chuckled and said my mix up was due to "pregnancy brain"...that is for sure!  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat...it always takes awhile to find the heartbeat for the first time and it makes you so nervous!  So I'm lying there praying that we hear it and that if by chance we don't hear it that we get an ultrasound right away to double check...because there was no way I was going to be able to leave and not know.  But thankfully we heard it!  It was a strong heartbeat in the 150's (due to my pregnancy brain I forgot to write down the exact number).  I have yet to gain any weight, but that is okay this early.  Though Dr. Clevenger did say she'd like to see a little weight next time.  Craig, Nattie and I went to Illinois over Memorial Day Weekend.  Natalie was able to play a bunch with her grandparents and Uncle Mike.  On Saturday, Craig and I took Nattie over to Carl's Ice-Cream for a cone with sprinkles before heading out to Indiana.  Craig, Mike, and I had been invited by Aunt Wanda and Uncle Denny to go to the Indy 500!  So we drove over there the night before the race.  We got to see Wanda and Denny's new house for the first time...it is so beautiful!  It was like staying in a bed and breakfast...a large open floor plan, big huge beds with lots of pillows and those footed bathtubs...had to try out the bathtub!  Denny and Wanda so graciously took us out to dinner and then we were up bright and early to go with Denny to the race!  It was a long and super hot day, but so cool to be there. 

 

We had been hoping to visit Mike in Texas during May, but that just never worked out. So Craig has quite a bit of vacation time to use before the end of this year.  We took a couple days the first week of June and went as a family to a hotel and waterpark in Dubuque, Iowa called Grand Harbor.  I think we all really enjoyed it...it was relaxing and fun.  The waterpark is all indoors with three different slides, a lazy river, an area of fountains and sprinklers for the smaller kids, and even a hot tub for the adults.  Natalie was a little timid at first, but soon was having a blast!  She loved going down the lazy river and also watching the big bucket dump water on everyone (as long as it wasn't on her).  Daddy even took her on a few slides.  She still talks about going to the waterpark even today!  The first night we went to a really nice restaurant in downtown Dubuque.  The second night we ate at the hotel restaurant and listened to the live music there. Our room was pretty much just a standard hotel room, but it did have an awesome view of the Mississippi River.  There were all kinds of boats going up and down the river all the time...and lots of trains going by as well.  So Nat was in heaven just watching the activity from our hotel window. We left Dubuque on Saturday and drove to Illinois.  Natalie stayed with her grandparents while Craig and I attended Mitch (my cousin) and Hilary's wedding reception at Tri-Lakes Banquet Facility in Bloomington. We stayed for a few hours and chatted with some of my family before driving to Gibson City.  We saw the movie The Break-Up at the drive-in.  On Sunday the three of us had lunch at Chili's with my dad, my brother, and my dad's girlfriend.  Took awhile for Natalie to warm up to Jason, but she eventually did. Then in the evening I had dessert with Sara over at Biaggi's.  I was so in the mood for dessert that I had two of them...bread pudding and tiramisu...both delicious!  When I ordered, Sara informed the waitress that one dessert was for me and the other was for the baby!  June 7th Nat and I hung out at the ped mall in Iowa City.  She got to play in the fountain and on the playground equipment.  There is a new natural foods store right there on the outskirts of the ped mall...so we stopped in there to get some drinks and sipped them on the patio.  It was a great mother/daughter day!  June 8th was a craft day for Nat...she played play-dough and fingerpainted for the first time. We decided that her first fingerpainting should be a Father's Day gift for Daddy!  Nattie and I went swimming at Coralville Pool on June 9th.  We met up with Jake & Gabriel & their mommies.  It was a perfect day for swimming!  Jake and Nat had a great time sliding down the kiddie slide there.  Natalie was a ball of energy and I had to keep my eye on her constantly...I felt a little envious of the other moms who were able to sit down and relax more...but am also happy that my little girl has so much fun!  That night our family walked up the street from our house to watch the North Liberty Fun Days parade.  Natalie loved catching candy to put in her bag...she loved eating it even more...she probably had like 10 pieces :)  She enjoyed the horses, the Roberts Dairy cow, and the person dressed up as a bee from Old Country Buffet.  After the parade we walked further down the street to the carnival...well, Craig and I walked while Natalie rode in her wagon.  Nat rode many rides all by herself and even jumped in the jumping tent for the first time. Her favorite activity was sliding down the big slide over and over again with Daddy!  It was a long night and we were all exhausted by the time we arrived home.  June 11th was Family Game Night hosted by the Williamsons.  We played The Newlywed Game even though we aren't newlyweds - it was still a riot!  Discussions mostly revolved around pregnancy...can you believe that four out of the five of us are pregnant for the second time?!?  And three of the four of us had prior fertility problems...I think that is just amazing!  Heather is due at the end of June, we are due beginning of December, Steffany is due on Christmas, and Ashley is due beginning of January.  Kim is the only one not pregnant...she has two girls and is not sure she wants another child anyway.  On top of the four of us Game Night gals being pregnant, the two girls I know from Lamaze class while carrying Natalie are pregnant again as well!  This will be Paula's third baby and she is due in October I think. Laura is due sometime in the fall with her second.  Also, Molly just recently had her fourth baby and Janna just had her third.  Don't drink the water around here!! haha!  Anyway, after Game Night we went home and watched the Fun Days fireworks from our master bedroom window.  Father's Day was a really nice day. Craig, Nat, and I went to church and then out to brunch at Iowa River Power Restaurant. Craig received Natalie's first fingerpainting in a frame to hang in his home office area.  He also got a new cover for his grill. After brunch we were able to walk across the new bridge there over the river.  June 20th Heather, Steffany, and I met at the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble to plan another batch of dates for Family Game Night.  We realize things are going to be a little different once we start having our babies, but we'd still like to try to get the families together once a month.  Looks like it is just going to be four of us families this time around..Ashley has decided to drop out of the group at least for now.  June 21st we had our third prenatal appointment.  This time my doctor was on vacation so we saw Dr. Adams.  Heard the heartbeat again, but it didn't take as long to show up this time :)  I still have not gained any weight...which is hard for me to grasp considering my pants don't fit and my stomach is getting larger by the second.  I guess the weight I have is just shifting around.  Adams was not too concerned about it...she said as long as I wasn't losing weight I was okay. I had choir that evening and Craig had golf league. Well, I brought Nat with me to the church and no one showed up to work in the nursery.  So I took my chances and had Nat attend choir with me.  We sat in the back of the room...she did a really good job behaving and even tried to sing with everyone!  Luckily there were nursery volunteers the following Wednesday! July 23rd  I decided that Nat and I were due for another mother/daughter fun day!  We drove over to Cedar Rapids to the Chuck E Cheese...played games and had some pizza and pop.  Then went across the street to Lindale Mall for window shopping and snacks.  After our full afternoon we visited Daddy at his work. Nattie had fun digging through Daddy's desk drawers for candy and drawing with markers on his dry erase board.  Then the three of us decided to go have dinner at Gus's.  After dinner Daddy went to his friend Mark's house for a little computer-game-playing party.  July 24th Heather had a garage sale at her house.  Steffany and I both came over to hang out and to try to sell a few of our things as well. After the sale, Steffany and I grabbed some lunch at the mall.  Craig turned 30 years old on July 27th!  I went over to his work and dropped off one of those big chocolate chip cookies...and then I painted messages all over the windows of his car!  Natalie watched me write the messages, all the while saying "That's beautiful Mommy!  Good job!".  When Craig got off work we met him at The Vine for dinner. One message on his car was "Honk- Craig is 30!"...he said he did get at least one honk from someone on his way to the restaurant!  I gave Craig some new cologne for his birthday - Armani Code - smells really good!

I bought Natalie a new plastic pool and we had a little pool party on July 29th.  Jake, Gabriel, Gabe and their mommies all came to play.  We had the pool, sprinkler, and sand table out and it was a lot of fun!  Even our neighbors that live behind us came over for awhile. Craig had met the husband,Tom, not too long ago and I finally got to meet his wife, Jen, and their two daughters Morgan (4 yrs) and Macy (2 yrs).  Now whenever Natalie sees the two girls outside she wants to go play with them.  She will even open the gate to our yard and run all the way over to their yard and open their gate! 

 

I'm sure other events went on during this time, but I am unable to recall them at the moment.  There was one other big thing that did happen during this timeframe...Craig's mom was diagnosed with and treated for thyroid cancer.  Some irregular cells were found and they were tested and thought to be cancerous.  So she had half of her thyroid removed and checked for cancer.  It was indeed cancer so they had to remove the rest of the thyroid and then she had to also go in the hospital for a few days and have radiation in the form of a pill. So far everything seems to be okay. So if you could pray for her continued health, that would be great.

 

 

 

I thought I'd write a little about each of us and how things are going!

 

Craig is keeping busy with his workplace golf league on Wednesday nights.  He is also still attending a Bible study group during his Wednesday lunch hour.  As far as work goes, he's not working as many hours as he was but there are still times here and there when he has to stay late or work from home...and it is usually to help someone else with their work.  Craig has spent a lot of time helping me around the house and with Natalie - helping to pick up the pieces when I'm not feeling great.  He also tries to spend time just having fun with his wife and daughter.  Craig will be super busy here soon as he paints the nursery, Natalie's room, and finishes the basement...it will be a relief when it is all done and over :) 

 

Natalie has been growing like a weed!  I don't even know where to begin. She talks up a storm using such big sentences...it amazes me!  She knows colors and shapes and her alphabet.  She counts to 13.  She loves to sing...her new thing is singing praise and worship songs from my choir rehearsal CDs. So she'll be in the backseat of the van belting out lyrics such as "Everyday it's you I live for, everyday I'll follow after you", "Today I choose to follow you, today I choose to give my yes to you", and "We bow down and worship you now, how great how awesome is He. And together we sing!"  It is so cool!  She loves being outside...swimming, slides, swinging, fireworks, fireflies.  She loves to read and paint and color.  She now uses scissors and likes to cut with them.  Her favorite shows right now are Dora the Explorer, Caillou, and Between the Lions. She loves talking about becoming a big sister.  She likes anything sweet like candy, pudding, jello, cake, chocolate milk.  She has definite opinions about what she likes and what she doesn't...she'll say things like "I can't want that!".  She loves taking off her clothes and can now even put on her own clothes (especially pants and shoes).  She says "I love you all the time", "I am so funny", and "I need to be sad".  She still has really long reddish-blonde hair. She still likes to be rocked at night...we'll have to wean that from her soon.  While rocking she likes to talk about her day and what she will do the next day. She also likes to sing songs such as "Return to Pooh Corner", "You are My Sunshine", and "Two Little Dolls". Pretty much her bedtime ritual goes like this: 10 minute warning before bed, 5 minute warning before bed, kiss and hug Daddy (they'll do bear hugs and eskimo kisses and such), put on pajamas, then rock with mom. Oh and she has like five staples that have to be in bed with her each night - her fish pogo (Nemo pillow), her Pooh blankie, Ellie (her stuffed elephant), Hedgehog (another stuffed animal), and her water cup...oh yeah, you also have to turn on the GlowWorm toy...phew!  She says her last name now...though many times it sounds more like "Axington".  She can roll her tongue like Daddy.  She is starting to understand what after, before, next, today and tomorrow mean. Most of the time she is a really good girl, but like all kids she has her days. Lately her problems are bothering the dogs too much and not listening to mom and dad.  There are so many other things she does...I wish I could remember them all!

 

Jenny (myself) has finally gotten over the majority of the morning sickness and such and is feeling pretty good again!  The first three months were bad...and I mean really bad.  There were some days I felt so sick that I could barely get off the couch. Then because I couldn't get off the couch and go do stuff I spiraled down into a pretty deep depression. I was surprised to have read recently that something like half of all women go through a depression during their pregnancy...you just never hear about it. Some of it was truly the pregnancy and my hormones, but some of it was just me and different issues I have that I need to work on.  Mainly issues I have where maybe I expect too much of myself in some areas but then not enough in other areas.  And lately a big thing I've been going through is just feeling lonely and depending on others for my own happiness...like I have been feeling as if the majority of friends and family aren't really "doing their part" in keeping up a meaningful relationship with me.  Now whether that is true or just a distortion of reality, I'm realizing that I can't change them...I can only change myself and be in control of my own happiness. I still have bad days here and there but I have a much better grip on it all now.  My house was a pigsty to say the least...but now it is pretty much in order and I'm trying to keep it that way.  Things are much more peaceful around here when the house is clean :)  So I'm finally starting to enjoy being pregnant and that is good!  I am really excited about having another baby!  I'm starting to have lots of cravings...lately it's been dill pickles, peanut butter, lemonade and limeade, Coke icees, cheesecake, Big Macs, etc.  I don't think I've really felt the baby move yet...maybe once or twice but it's hard to tell.  Other than just trying to get back in the groove of things I'm still involved in church choir, playgroups, and just doing fun things with my daughter!