April

April has been a pretty good month for the Zimmermans. We've had a few really nice sunny days and had a picnic at the park one of those days. Ken had two weeks off work before starting his new job and he got alot of work done remodeling our bathroom. Bryson decorated easter eggs and had fun finding and opening the plastic ones with treats inside. We went to Cory and Melissa's for a little easter egg hunt, (the weather outside wasn't nice enough).

Bryson and I flew down to Sacramento to visit with my sister and parents. It was a little rough traveling pregnant with a little one, but it was a pretty easy flight. It went quite well overall. Bryson watched his first parade and had a great time. He also saw the doxen races which was quite funny. He had a good time visiting with his family and cried when his Aunt Jessie had to leave. Grandma and grandpa read him books and sang itsy bitsy spider. I put a new video on drop shots of him trying to sing itsy bitsy spider; he can do better, but that's all I was able to get.

He's talking a little more and tries to say bye bye to specific people/things, like bye bye mamma or bye bye gramma and grampa. Ken has just started his new job and it's going well so far. Unfortunately Bryson is sick again, he hasn't been sleeping well at night or for his naps and he has been very clingy, so I really haven't been able to get much done. And I really want to get my garden going!!!! Oh well, maybe next week.

Mexico

Well, we had a great time in Mexico! We met Mara, John, Scott and Terri in Isla Mujeres. (An island across from Cancun). It was beautiful there, the sand is white (it's made of broken up shells from the reefs) and doesn't get hot in the sun. The white sand makes the ocean a bright tourquoise blue color, it's beautiful. It was a nice place for Bryson to play in the ocean because the reefs around the island cut down the surf so there are hardly any waves. Bryson loved the beach and ocean, we couldn't get him to stop eating the sand (I can't imagine it tasted very good, go figure!). He was obsessed with the golf cart we traveled around in, he pointed at all the other cars and said "car" and he would wave at other people in the golf carts. One morning he woke up and got my hat, his hat and then headed to the door and pointed and said "car"! He met a little mexican girl about his age on the beach one day and they played together, she shared one of her cookies with him. Bryson of course practically shoved the whole thing in his mouth and then reached for her cookie! The weather was great and the food there was wonderful. At our hotel they gave us freshley sqeezed orange juice every morning. The trip home didn't go so smoothly, we were stuck on the airplane in Mexico for two hours before we took off, to have the airplane checked and Bryson had a bit of a melt down. The delay caused us to miss our connecting flight so we didn't get home until 1 AM (we left our hotel at 7:30 AM). So it was a long day especially for a little one. I think Bryson did a great job traveling overall, it certainly isn't easy with a 1 and a half year old. So, it's good to be home, but unfortunately I've caught another cold (I think I've only been healthy 2 weeks over the last three months!). I'll put a few videos of our trip on drop shots this week, so check it out!

Haircut

Ken cut Bryson's hair last week, it turned out much better than I expected considering how Bryson couldn't sit still for the haircut. the bangs got a little short, but I think he looks pretty cute. Bryson is talking more, he can say "bubble" and "car" and he can make a moo and barking sound. He loves to pat my big belly and point at my belly button and then look at his belly, it's cute. Ken has started remodeling our master bathroom and we are living downstairs in the guest bedroom until it is completed. The weather has been pretty nice here and Bryson and I have been spending more time outside. He loves to collect rocks, his fills both hands and holds the rocks until we go back in the house and he screams when I pry them out of his little fists. We're getting excited to go to Mexico in a couple weeks! We haven't been on a vacation in so long! I put a few more videos on Bryson's dropshots site.

It's a boy!

I had my US today and there's no doubt, it's a boy! I'm very excited, we won't have to buy much of anything and the boys can share a room, so I can keep my craft/misc/junk room! We will have to come up with a name however and I was thinking it would be fun to go shopping for girl stuff, but it'll be much less work this way. The baby yawned during the US, it was so cute. Ken and Bryson were there too, but Bryson is pretty oblivious to it all. I'm sure he won't have a clue until we bring the baby home.

It has been a crazy few weeks around here. Bryson and I are still getting over our colds and Ken just caught it. Bryson got the rotavirus at daycare and had vomitting and diarrhea for 5 days,it was awful! What a mess, we were doing about 4 loads of laundry a day, there was vomit everywhere! Unfortunately both Ken and I got it and all three of us were sick. I had a pretty hard time, being pregnant I usually need to eat every few hours, so the empty stomach was horrible.

The other pictures are of Bryson's first trip to Mt. Hood. We went sledding with the Blickenstaffs, it was fun!

We got a few new things for Christmas, so we did some re-arranging of the furniture. We got a lap top, so we were able to get rid of our huge desk in the office and put in our old entertainment center. We put the old computer in the music area and hung up the guitars so Bryson can't get at them. We changed the set up in the living room and got a new TV, the room seems so much bigger now!


Bryson likes to talk on the phone, we gave him one of our old cordless phones to play with. He definitely says "ball" now and seems to know "mama". I've noticed him trying to copy words after I say them as well. He is more difficult to watch now than ever before! He wants to do everything you are doing and is not very good with "no" yet. I bought him a cheap little guitar at goodwill to play with and he really likes it. He enjoys music and is getting more advanced dance moves. He used to just sway side to side, but he jumps around now too, I'll try to get it on camera. I've been feeling pretty good lately, I've even been able to stay up past 9:00! My US is scheduled for Feb. 10th, I'm very excited to find out the sex. I'm thinking it's a girl, but it'll be great either way.

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks, I'm not sure where to start...I guess I'll start with the good news, I'm pregnant! Ken and I are expecting our second child the end of June (June 25th). I seem to be having more difficulty with nausia this time and I'm getting big, fast! I'm already wearing some maternity clothes. I wanted to surprise my family with the news at our x-mas party, but I thought they'd all notice my big belly (and even more noticable, I wasn't drinking). I guess my sister-in-law Jenny noticed right away, but everyone else was pretty surprised with the news. (I already told my parents though, and my mom actually kept the secret!).

Bryson came down with an ear infection the week we were leaving for WI and had high fevers we couldn't control (up to 105-we went to urgent care in the middle of the night). He did very well on the flight to Green Bay and the pressure changes didn't seem to bother him, he slept most of the time. Over the next few days he seemed to get worse and just wasn't himself. When he developed a rash and started vomitting we figured he must be allergic to the antibiotics. Once we stopped them he started acting like his usual self again. But the next day his fever was back so we had to go back to the doctor to get new ABX. We drove to Madison for a quick visit with Ken's family. We had a nice get together with the Vandeleest family for christmas as well and my mom had the house fully decorated for the occasion. Bryson seemed to enjoy all the decorations, especially the dancing santa. What he didn't like was his snow suit (he looked so cute in it though!). He could hardly move in it, he cried when we put it on. He seemed to like the snow but needed to be carried around cuz he could hardly walk.

On Sunday we checked our flights and it looked like everything was on time, but when we got to the Green Bay airport our flight was canceled and they had us on a later flight. We got to Chicago, but that was it! Flights into Portland were canceled because of weather and the next flight out wasn't for three days! (Late christmas eve). So, we rented a car and drove back to Madison and spent a few more days with Mara and John (without our luggage, that got sent back to Portland.) Bryson got to go for his first sled ride, I had to sit behind him so he wouldn't fall back. He thought that was pretty fun. Luckily our flight to Portland went out and we were even able to get on an earlier flight. However, due to other unforseen problems we still didn't get home till about 11:00 PM. When we went to get our luggage we realized we didn't have the claim ticket and there was no way for them to track it down (it could be 4-5 days). Luckily we called Mara and John and they found it in the paper recycling at their place. When we finally got to our car there was about 2 feet of snow behind it and it was covered with 1/2 inch of ice. We had to use our chains to get out cuz of all the ice.

It sure is great to be home! Bryson seemed to be happy as well, he started playing with his toys right away. I couldn't believe how much snow we got (about 15 inches) we almost didn't make it down our street (they don't plow much here). It even snowed on Christmas Day (apparently it's a record, there's never been snow here for x-mas). I tried to get Bryson to make a snowman with me, but he didn't last very long outside. The snow is just about all melted now and I'm glad, I'm ready for things to get back to normal.

Sorry, it's been a while since my last entry. Bryson had another b-day party on the 22nd for Jackson Blickenstaff. He really enjoyed the carrot cake with chocolate frosting! We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Scott, Terri and Shawna. Ken made an excellent turkey! Bryson is 13 months old now, he can run (kind of) and loves to climb. He seems to be getting into something every time I turn around. He likes to pull all the toilet paper off the roll, dig in the plants and spill water. He's been saying "mama mama" the last couple days; I don't think he is saying it in relation to me, but who knows? I put up our Christmas tree yesterday and Bryson seems to really like it, I think we'll be in trouble when we decorate it though.