Traveling with a Toddler....

We have done a lot of 2 hour Michigan car trips and not much more in the last 16 months. Some have been great, some good, some not so good and some horrible. But hey, it's just two hours, anyone can survive that.
So when the thought of a 4-5 hour trip JUST ME AND THE GIRL and 4-5 hour trip back in a 5 day period was approaching I was thankful that I had read these blogs and jumped on these ideas.
I hope these ideas help you as well and please feel free to leave me more ideas in the comments, I can use all the help I can get since we do not have a DVD player and soon we will have two - eeks!

So when I started packing for the trip, I kept in mind what I learned here - ideas for an 18 month old for a 14 hour car trip (EEKS!)
She listed out four categories of things she packed, including toys, snacks, activities, music and I learned a lot as far as how long with each item and alternating and what to pack.
I did a lot of this with alternating between books, interactive toys and snacks.
Definitely read this post - VERY helpful
http://smamak.blogspot.com/2012/05/surviving-mamaland-land-travel.html
Oooh and she just added 2 new posts after another longggg trip, hooray!
http://smamak.blogspot.com/2012/07/gators-jellyfish-and-cockroaches-oh-my.html


I also came across this blog post - although it is for airplane travel, the ideas were helpful as well:
http://laurengreensblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-travel-buddy.html

And last but not least, I pinned this on pinterest last night - 101 toddler activities for car trips, I will definitely read for next time we travel!
http://ayearwithmomanddad.com/2011/08/101-toddler-activities-road-trip/

Here are a few things that were huge for our trip and again - leave suggestions or tips if you have any!

took the legs off and let her play with this:

 favorite finger foods seem to last her a long time with eating and working on them

 these snack cups are genius - she kind of has to figure them out and work at getting each snack - also helpful in the car - takes time! :)

And mostly - prayer seemed to be the best thing! I couldn't believe there were no tears or screams shed the whole ride down to Taylor. Very thankful for all the people who were praying for the trip :)

32 week appt

Ok so I still am hoping I'm actually 33 weeks (34 now), but I won't get into that right now....

Measured: 32 cm
Weight: Up 17 lbs
Baby's heartbeat: 150
Feeling: Large and sore. still love going on walks with Lucy but it takes it's toll on me! My back and tummy get sore and this baby is still a strong mover, but thankfully I've been waking up feeling better each a.m.

Summer Camp 2012

We had such a great time at Taylor University this year for the 2012 GCD summer camp!
Our speaker spoke on John and all had some great times of learning, time in the word and prayer and time of fellowship and fun.
Here are some photos of our time there in June:

Daddy the dodgeball and paintball king!

Lucy and I spent a lot of time in Taylor Lake with friends Carley and Ruby :)

Anyone Read This Book?

http://www.crossway.org/books/date-your-wife-tpb/#/-1/

Ok - loving the title and idea... :)

And hey, I probably need one written called, "Date your Husbands..."

But anyway, has anyone read this or your husbands have read this? Do you recommend it?

TROOPS wedding

All the troops made it to Erica's wedding on 6-23-12 at the lake house, the usual spot of our yearly reunions. It was such a lovely evening wedding - everything was perfect, she looked amazing, it was SO fun to see all my girls, but it was definitely too short :(

Here are some photos from the event taken by Rachel, Kendal and Elizabeth:

Our newest trooplet, sweet Bonnie Lu

 

 

And because I loved this idea so much (stolen from Rachel C.).....here's a little history of this group our senior year and beyond:

Lots of memories and great times together and excited for many more to come. Love you all!

Parenting....

I have not read "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp, but Sarah did a post about this book here: http://thefabricofcotton.blogspot.com/2012/06/shepherd.html

And she included this amazing quote from the book:

"You must regard parenting as one of your most important tasks while you have children at home. This is your calling. You must raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You cannot do so without investing yourself in a life of sensitive communication in which you help them understand life and God's world. There is nothing more important. You have only a brief season of life to invest yourself in this task. You have only one opportunity to do it. You cannot go back and do it over.
You live in a culture in which there are opportunities for you to do things unheard of in history. You are presented daily with scores of options for investing your life's energies and creativity...you must therefore prioritize. Parenting is your primary calling. Parenting will mean that you can't do all the things that you could do otherwise. It will mean that you can't develop every interest that comes along. The costs are high...but the benefits far exceed the cost."

Have any of you read this book/recommend it or have other must reads for parents??

31 week update

How far along: 31 weeks - how is this possible?!? Was 29 weeks at my appointment (I think)

Total weight gain: 11 pounds, baby's heartbeat was 160

Best moments this month: Love how much the baby moves except that it actually hurts lately, strong little baby in there & can tell he or she is getting much bigger!

Food cravings: fruit, ice cream, sweet pickles

Gender: Don't know!

Belly button in or out: poking out a little, eeks!

Labor signs: think the braxton hicks have started minorly

What I miss: I feel HUGE lately and feel extra tired and sore in this heat and with doing lots of walking at summer camp plus chasing Lucy around. hopefully I will feel more like myself again in the fall!

What I am looking forward to: Getting really excited to meet this little one and to know if it's a he or she!

Milestones: Can't believe there's about 2 months to go - it's gone so fast! Thankful to be this close and that the baby has been healthy.

Photo updates:

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

 30 weeks

31 weeks

Getting there!!!!