Happy Mother's Day

On Sunday for Mother's Day I joined JRo and Jen for the Susan G Komen breast cancer walk. Minneapolis has one of the largest groups in the country with some 50,000 walkers. It's a real moving experience to see all the people walking for one cause. I always get all choked up with I see ladies who have a sign that says "I walk in memory of my mom", I'm thankful to still have my mom! What an incredible tribute to those who have lost their life or continue to struggle with breast cancer.

After our walk we met up with the boys for brunch. That was short lived as the littlest boys, Brody and Landon wanted nothing to do with brunch. Brody was super crabby the whole time, didn't want to eat or sit in his chair. I was able to snap one picture of my boys before he really started to fuss! Once we got home he did take a long nap, i think it was just a busy weekend and he was worn out by Sunday!

I feel blessed to be a mom, Brody brings me so much joy...its weird to think what life was like before he blessed us with his arrival! Each day is a new adventure and he keeps us on our toys and keeps us laughing daily! We look forward to adding his brother to the mix for even more excitement!

Primrose Benefit

Each year Brody's daycare has a benefit called Spring Fling, which includes several "carnival" type games and rides as well as food and a silent auction. Each year they give the proceeds to a family in need in the community. This year it happened to be a family at Brody's daycare. To make a long story short the mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, it went into remission and came back at stage 4. They normally do the benefit in June (for better weather) but the "lady" (she's my age) wasn't doing well so they moved it up so that she could hear about the benefit in her honor, unfortunately she passed away a week prior to the event (sniffle sniffle).

The day was chilly and dreary with spots of rain all day...then right before the benefit was to start, the sun came out. So while she wasn't there physically she was there in spirit. They had an incredible turn out and tons of items for the silent auction which was so nice to see the support!

Brody had a great time, the highlight was definitely the carousel horse ride. Brody hung on for dear life but had a smile the whole time. Jason had trouble getting a decent picture as it was going pretty fast.

Best we could do...Brody's watching the fun else where!He was of course enjoying playing in the water puddles on the playground!

Play Date With the Osendorfs

Saturday we went to the Osendorf's for lunch and to see their new home! JRo made a yummy meal but of course the dessert was the best part, pound cake on the GRILL topped with chocolate and raspberry puree, sooo yummy! They have a beautiful new home, which is decorated to perfection, which is no surprise...the only problem with the place is the location...they are 40 mins from us!!!

Of course the little guys had so much fun playing together. It's fun to watch them interact, especially as they get older...I think they are going to be great buds!

15 Month Update

The most exciting thing to report at 15 months is that Brody is WALKING!!! He's still got the Frankenstein walk but he's on his feet. I think over the next couple of weeks he'll get more fluid in his movements but for not he's a little bit unsure of himself! Once he's up on his feet he's got a smile from ear to ear and typically very vocal while he's moving around! He's even gotten to the point where he doesn't want to hold your hand as he can do it on his own! Mr Independent!

We moved to a new pediatrician that's closer to home, I was a bit nervous at first but LOVED the Doc that we picked so I'm very happy and it's only 15 minutes from home! He's right on track developmentally and Dr Manney said he's very happy with what he sees!

Height: 31 1/2 (50-75%)

Weight: 22 lbs 7oz. (10-25%)

head: 18 1/2 (50%)

I know Uncle Geoff is cringing at this pic, as he says its bad karma to have Brody wear Cubs gear since they never win, but the pic is too cute not to post!
He's likes to put the ball in his mouth while walking, it's pretty funny!

Brody tackled by Dad with the football!

Giving Thanks

My friend Annie sent this to me on Mother's Day, really made me think and give thanks for what I have in my life. I thought you too, might enjoy a few reminders...when the tough get going the going get tough! Enjoy!

It’s easy to think the grass is always greener in your neighbor’s yard. And perhaps it is. At least the part you can see.
But remember…

When you’re weary of fixing another meal and doing dishes yet again, somebody wishes they had food to put on the table.

When you’ve folded and put away a(nother) mountain of laundry, somebody wishes their children had proper coats and hats to wear to school.

When you’re groaning over the highest heating bill yet this year, somebody wishes they weren’t so cold.

When you’re losing sleep and gagging over a child’s stomach bug episode, somebody is praying for a miracle over her child’s hospital bed.

When the exhaustion and nausea of the first trimester are about to do you in, somebody is weeping (yet again) over a negative pregnancy test.

When your headache intensifies over your teen’s college financial paperwork, somebody is visiting the site of her teen’s fatal wreck.

When you wake up to another cloudy, rainy day, somebody is praying for moisture to end a season of drought.

When you pick up your husband’s dirty socks and take out the trash because he forgot, somebody is wishing that for just a moment she didn’t have to do it all alone, all the time.

The next time your situation threatens to steal your joy, try to remember… somebody wants what you have.

Happy Gram

Baby BOY Ward #2

Yesterday I had my 19 week ultrasound and we found out Baby Ward #2 is a BOY! I must admit that all along I thought I was having another boy, the pregnancy has been no different than when I was pregnant with Brody so I just assumed it was a boy. Now I'm not going to lie, I did have a glimmer of hope for tutu's and lots of pink...a little gal to help balance out the home but I quickly came to the realization that by having another boy I will get to rein as queen of the Ward house and will have yet another guy to adore me so! Anyway, we are thrilled that Brody will have a brother so close in age, they will grow up together and be the best of friends and for that I am thankful and excited!

The ultrasound results turned out positive, of course from what they could tell it looks like B2 is growing nicely with all the important parts! Below are a couple of pictures, of course the last one that says "boy" is hard to make out but its looking from top down and he has his legs open to each side (shy little guy).

Play Time

Tonight we went over to Ryan, Lisa and Caden's for dinner. Amy and Troy were there with little Kale and the boys had so much fun playing together. Brody and Caden are two weeks apart in age and it's funny to watch them play and "fight" over the same toys, when of course there are 1,000 others to choose from! Kale is 7 1/2 months so he just watched the bigger boys and took it all in. Lisa organized the band in the play room and Brody thought her musical talent on the harmonica was pretty funny! It was a fun night at their house!

18 Weeks

Well JRo did tell me that with Baby #2 I'd have a lot less time to take belly shots than I did with Baby #1 and boy is she right. I feel bad that at 18 weeks I've finally got a pic of my growing belly to share! Pregnancy is incredibly different round 2 and much more enjoyable...what's enjoyable about it you ask? Well I'm not following every single pregnancy rule that's been set out (don't eat this but eat that, don't lay that way, don't smell this or touch that, you know how it goes) nor am I trying to read every single book that was published about pregnancy and how to raise the smartest baby on earth! In fact, we are going to find out the sex of baby #2 on Thursday and it seems just like yesterday i got pregnant...not bad at all for being almost 19 weeks! As for the sex of baby #2, we don't really care, of course a girl would be nice to balance out the house but how much fun would Brody have if a little brother came into the picture?! Either way, baby Ward 2 will be a blessing!

Misc

Not a lot to report here at the Ward household, we've been passing a nasty cold between the 3 of us so have been trying to lay low on the weekends so that we can get the family well again! So not a lot to report...

Brody is walking more and more,k FINALLY! Walking on his feet is not his #1 mode of transportation yet but he's getting there! He prefers the knee walk, which to us looks painful and he's got some bruised up knees to show for it! Won't be long and he'll walk non stop! He's doing a lot more "talking" and a lot of jabbering with his favorite word being "uh-ohhhh".