Pictures from Katie's visit, plus a Skittle update

A quick recap - Katie flew into town to surprise me for my 30th birthday at the end of April, and I've gotten a copy of some of the pictures from her camera.  We spent a long time at the zoo while she was here, so many of the pictures are from there.  

Miriam (inexplicably) loves the walruses, even though she gets a bit scared when they get too close to her.

Katie, exhausted after carrying Miriam around the zoo all afternoon, and Miriam, full of enough energy to climb the stairs at the very end! 

I'm approximately 4.5 months pregnant with baby #2, affectionately known as Skittle.  The last couple weeks I've been feeling Skittle move a lot, which has been exciting.  Mario can't feel it yet but I can occasionally see my tummy jump if I watch closely.  We have our 20 week ultrasound in just a couple weeks, and we are anxious to see pictures of our sweet baby!  I'm still continuing to feel nauseous most afternoons, but it passes after a bit and I feel fine again.  My main craving continues to be oranges and blueberries/raspberries - my normal favorite sweets like cookies and cake aren't appealing to me this pregnancy, which is good.  

We've been having good weather lately and our front yard plants are starting to sprout and bloom.  Miriam loves to help us water the flowers and plants, and even has her own small watering can that she uses.  Mario taught her how to spray the hose and now she waters the flowers a lot on her own, although she isn't always good about getting even coverage over all the plants...there are definitely 1 or 2 bushes she prefers to water the most.  

Here are some pictures of us on Mother's Day, and of Miriam watering the flowers (side note - look at how grown up looking Miriam is looking these days - definitely a little girl, not a baby/infant anymore!):

We are taking it easy this weekend, keeping Miriam at home while we go through the process of getting rid of her pacifiers (cold turkey).  We went to the mall yesterday and she picked out/got to build a stuffed animal at Build - A - Bear in exchange for giving the cashier her bag full of "bubbies", as she called them.  She picked out a leopard and gave her bag of pacifiers to the cashier with no resistance.  We'd talked about it before hand and prepped her for it, so she seemed ready for it.  It was only when it got to be bedtime (her normal "bubbie" time) that she started asking for it.  She seemed to fall asleep ok without it last night, for nap today and tonight, but she had a hard time sleeping through the night last night.  We'll see how tonight goes - we are optimistic that each day is getting better!  She wasn't extremely crabby without her pacifier, as she doesn't normally have it during the day, but she was a bit cranky today because she was overtired.  

I've only got about 20 days of school left, and I believe the kids know it!  Between the warm weather we've been having lately and the few days left in the school year, they are starting to get more and more restless.  I have to admit, I'm looking forward to summer as well - Miriam and I take a lot of walks, play outside, go to the zoo, and get to spend some good time together.  In addition, we've all booked our tickets for our summer travel to Minnesota in July.  We are looking forward to some good lake time and family time, and for Miriam to hopefully learn how to swim a bit!  

And now, to leave you with some funny parting words of Miriam.  We asked her what we should name the baby, as we've been practicing having her say some (possible) baby names.  Her answer?  "Miriam!" with a big grin and a giggle.  That's our funny girl!