A couple of "firsts"

Julianne had a couple of "firsts" this week - the first trip to the dentist and her first movie in a theater!


Last Wednesday I had a dental appointment so I brought Julianne with so she could see what it was all about.  She stayed pretty close to Grandma the entire time but was carefully watching.  We tried really hard to get her to sit on my lap while my hygienist was cleaning my teeth and even take "a ride" in the chair that moved up and down.  But, she wasn't so sure.  So we just went on with my appointment and my hygienist was awesome - she explained everything she was doing to me and was very kid-friendly.  Then after we were all done, we tried one last time to get her to sit in my lap - and she did it!!  She even let the hygienist check out her teeth and count all of them.  So, when it's time for her "real" appointment - Julianne will be an old pro (or at least I hope)!  To make the day even better - we both received an all clear report - no cavities!


This weekend Julianne also went to the movie theater for the first time.  Saturday, Nick and I took her to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D.  She did extremely well, although I'm not too surprised - she's a movie/TV LOVER!!!!  We had our popcorn and pop and only had to make 2 trips out to the bathroom during the movie!  The 3D glasses were a little much for her; she took them off halfway through the movie so I'm not sure what she really saw...  But she sat still and watched the entire 1hr 45min movie!  Then we completed our "family date night" at Pizza Hut!  What a fun night!

Jules in her 3D glasses 

Mommy and Jules at the movies 

And I suppose we could call playing outside in the snow this weekend a "first" since we haven't been able to do that much this year.  We were outside both Saturday and Sunday!

 Jules pulling her "slide".

And of course our time outside wouldn't be complete without climbing the snow pile!!

Three become Four!

A couple weeks ago, we had our parents over for a special dinner and some cake.... 

 The proud Mama's and Papa's

And just in case you haven't already figured it out... here's a close-up of the cake!  

Yes, you read it correctly - we're having a baby!!!  

I am 10 weeks along and Baby Frank #2 is scheduled to arrive 8/15/2012.

Here's big sister Julianne trying to swipe some of the frosting from the cake before it's cut...  She's excited to be a big sister, although when our daycare lady asked her about getting a new baby - she said she didn't need a baby because she already had dollies at home...  

Update

Well, most of you are probably thinking I fell off the face of the earth.  Nope, still here - we just haven't done anything "blog-worthy" lately.  With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas it's nice to just slow down a little. But here's what we've been up to lately:


Nick:  Some people may think Nick doesn't have much to do much in the winter, but he remains really busy and away from home much more than we want!  He still has his cattle to feed twice a day which still takes time in the winter.  He's going ice fishing (again!) tomorrow with his dad and brothers-in-law to Lake of the Woods.  I hope they have fun and catch tons of fish!  It should be a good "bonding" experience for all of them!


Stef:  I've been very busy with work as well.  Since the week of Thanksgiving, we've had a full Hospital Joint Commission survey, a full Lab Joint Commission survey, a full MN Dept of Health/CMS Validation survey, a one-day survey at our satellite clinic by the MN Dept of Health and a return one-day Validation Survey from the Joint Commission!  And with the Holidays being in that time frame we've all be a little stressed to say the least!  But at least we should be done with any surveys now for awhile!  Now we are working on our action plans to fix the findings from our survey which has also proven to be difficult.  I'm glad our hospital has been very busy lately, however it also makes the Nurse Leaders busy with taking care of patients so they aren't able to come to meetings.  It's very frustrating when we only have 45 days to fix things!  But things are going smoothly now and we're submitting our first set of action plans to the Joint Commission on Monday.


My winter volleyball league also started up again.  I play every Thursday night in Hutch on a women's team.  We have a ton of fun!  We played in an all-day tournament last Saturday in Crystal.  We played really well, however only got 3rd in our pool so didn't go on in the tournament.  That was okay with me though - 10 games of volleyball was plenty for me!  Plus that meant we got to start our "road trip" back a little earlier.  Below is a picture of my team at Champs in Eden Prairie

Julianne:  First things first... I think I can officially say she's Potty Trained!!  Hip, hip, hooray!  She does extremely well during the day, however still wears diapers during the night.  I think that may take a little longer... I've been so proud of her - she did so well right from the beginning -  even through the Holidays and all the traveling.  Although there was the one time on the way home from my Mom and Dad's she fell asleep in her carseat and then peed alllllll over!!!!  But that's the only time she's had an accident in the car.  This whole potty training thing went a lot better than I expected it to! 

Julianne painting during one of our weekends at home.

What a difference a year makes - we haven't even had any snow days yet!  Last year by this time I think we had a couple already.  But that is just fine with me!!!  When I have to drive 25 miles one way everyday to work I can live without the snow!!!  2012 has been off to a great start for us and hopefully we have more "blog-worthy" events soon!