October/November News

What's new with Will:

• We got to experience the first home game for the Jayhawks as a family!  We had a great time - and Will did really well (luckily a nice lady was sitting behind us and helped to keep him entertained when he started to get tired)
• We had a good Halloween - it was on a Thursday - so we went up to see Mimi, Grandpa, Emma, Brady, Brett and Angie and all had dinner before the kids put on their costumes.  We were planning on a penguin outfit - but Will was not wanting to put that on at all, so we bought a last minute costume at Target - and Will was a Dr. :)  A pretty cute doctor as well--- we went to a few of our next door neighbors, who all had special treats for Will - although he was more interested in putting candy back in their buckets than in taking it out to put in his :)  Oh - maybe next year!

• Austin, TX - second weekend in November Patrick and I went to Austin for a long weekend trip for one of his college friends' wedding - Matt Brawner.  We had a great time!! Of course, it was really hard to leave Will, but he was in great hands with Mimi and Grandpa.  He did realize what was going on though, and had a tearful good-bye that ripped my heart, but I knew he would be ok soon after we left.
• Thursday night - we enjoyed meeting up with our friends out in downtown Austin.  Went to a fun, 'older' area that had these cool bars that were in old houses.  They all had fun, unique character and it was like an old neighborhood with different bars.  Then, of course we went to 6th Street to experience it.  It reminded me a lot of a Bourbon Street - with bars up and down, the roads blocked off, music coming out of every bar, rooftop bars, and lots of unique characters :)  This preggo stayed out until 2am - pretty proud of myself
• Friday - best part of an adult only trip - NO WAKE UP CALL!!  We slept in, until we woke up, and then went out for a fun brunch.  Had wonderful food - a carrot cake french toast (um, hello!!), and an awesome omlette, etc.  We walked around the area - had really fun shops in South Congress.  Then, we basically just drove around and saw as much as we could of Austin: drove through the campus (Univ. of Texas - Longhorns), drove past the capital, drove around a fun park and saw a pool that was made of fresh spring water, people swimming in early November (weather was really nice - like spring weather, about 70 degrees or so), we grabbed a few tacos at one of the many taco stands, and drove out to get ready for Matt's wedding.  The wedding was in a unique area also - it looked like a scene from an old western movie.  Some guy had bought land and would transfer these older looking houses to fit the scene he was going for, and brought these hosues in from all over the US.  It was a nice ceremony, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with our friends.
• Saturday - we got up and drove about 2 hours to College Station to meet up with Brian and Michaela for the A&M game. It was SO nice to get to meet Lily (she was almost 4 months) and to see Dylan and where they live.  The game was SO fun!! What an awesome experience with the many traditions of A&M football (the chants, cheers, whooping, ring ceremonies, and just die-hard fans.  I'm pretty used to being in die-hard football fan country, but these Texans take their football seriously!)  We got pizza after the game, and had a really nice day/night.
• Sunday - our trip home. Luckily, uneventful trip and we were very happy to see Bubs!  I was relieved that he reached out for me right away when I saw him and we got right back into it

Took another quick trip to the lake - had a lot of fun watching the kids together - Daniel and Will have so much fun together and are chasing each other around, giggling non-stop, and just have a ball together.  It's so fun to see!!  Mom, Amy, and I got some shopping done (can't say I remember the last time I had done some kid-free shopping!)

• Last, but not least, we found out early November, that this little baby in my belly is a GIRL!!!!  Whoo hoo!!!  Bring on the pink, the headbands, dresses, and ruffles :)  We are thrilled- one of each, how fun!! We are pretty sure we know the name, but again, are going to keep it to ourselves until this little lady arrives. 

We count our blessings and thank God every day for how good He has been to us.  Happy Turkey Day to you all - we will be heading to NE to say Wed-Saturday and I'm excited for an extended stay up in NE!

Will's 2 year old photo shoot

I wanted to try to get some pictures of our family and of Will outdoors this year - so I found a fairly reasonably priced photographer and we took pictures in early November out at Shawnee Mission Park.  It was a VERY chilly morning, and I felt so bad for Will---it was a quick shoot - and we got a few good ones, better than I was expecting.

Enjoy!!

Sarah's Spinoff

Not too much is new with the Altenhofen 4 (I need to change this blog name- whoopsie!)  Will is growing like a weed - and just repeating so many words that we say.  He loves to say 'Yeah, ok' - and getting very independent.  I think he is definitely ready for the 2 year old room at daycare - as they said he is teaching the other kids how to count to 10.  I definitely think that he could use a later nap, as he doesn't seem to want to go down for naps for us as early - usually around 1, and daycare puts him down at 11:30.  They say he goes down pretty well there, and doesn't ever use a binky there!! What?!!  I guess we are just pushovers, and he knows we will give in.  We are trying to be a little stricter about it though - but lately, he is getting over a cold, so I tend to give in when I know he's just not feeling well. 

In other news - the baby is growing and doing well.  I am now 15 weeks along - and we find out Nov. 4th what we are having!  I am very antsy for that and to start planning/picking out a name - and just feeling an even stronger bond with the baby.  Good, strong heartbeat - although I was a little scared at the last appointment as it took her a very long time to find the heartbeat.  Whew - when she did, she said it was perfect, 150.

Lastly, I wanted to let any followers of this blog, know about my desperate attempt to have a blog Spinoff - called Sarah's Eats and Treats.  It's following me through my experiences in the kitchen, as I attempt new recipes and try to cook for my family.  This is all from a true beginner in the kitchen, with the hopes of gaining more confidence, grow my skills, have a new hobby (cooking/baking and blogging) and developing some loved recipes.  Click here if you want to read a few of my first posts.  http://sarahseatsandtreats.blogspot.com/

Hope this finds you all well - here are some recent pictures of Will - and from the pumpkin patch we visited last weekend (we thought Will would maybe want to ride the train, b/c he loves them so much, but our sensitive little guy would rather stay back and watch - we tried a tractor ride and he was crying and wanted to get off.)  It may have had to do with his cold he had, but still!  I think he enjoyed it though, and liked all the pumpkins they had!  We went to Faulkner's in Lee's Summit - highly recommend!

Will playing with Daddy - 22 months

All Better!!

Wow - what a difference a week can make :)  Just reading back my last blog - I know I wasn't exaggerating at the time, but seriously, I am feeling so. much. better.  The biggest thing is just feeling like I have energy again--and nausea is pretty much gone also. It's amazing, Monday morning I woke up and just ... felt like myself again.  Oh, hormones :)

But, this blog is not all about me.... let's see, what new with Will.  Well, today he is 22 months exactly (I'm finding it weird how I still refer to him in months sometimes.... when most ask how old he is, I DO tell them he is almost two, promise :) I actually swore to myself I wouldn't be 'that mom' that spoke in weeks/months, but especially early on, it's impossible not to!)  Anyway, Bubs is super fun right now (again, I recognize I write this at least once every montly update)  Right now Will is really into:

- His train table - it's actually very hard to make him go outside and play during this gorgeous weather we have, at least that's good for the colder months ahead!! He loves saying "All aboard"  "Choo-choo" and then of course, anytime we aren't sitting there with him he says "Play" over and over until we come play with him.  (The funny thing is, once we start playing and having fun, he almost gets jealous and will take our trains away and start playing with them himself! ha!) 

- His imagination is growing like crazy!  From pretending to make things swim (by making his wrist dip up and down with whatever is 'swimming'), playing cars, and playing boats in the bathtub - it's so much fun to watch his imagination grow.

- He still loves 'Big Trucks', airplanes, walks in his wagon - or pushing his stroller himself, reading books, singing songs (he loves to sing the ABC's and does pretty well with knowing it!), dancing to music, and wrestling with Daddy.

- Can always count on him to eat: Mac n Cheese, grilled cheese, cottage cheese (yes, you are seeing a pattern here people), animal crackers, and following closely in his Mama's footsteps- any type of cereal :) 



Altenhofen 3 +1 :)

Well, it's true!!  We are expecting Baby Altenhofen #2!!! Due date is 4/4/14 - (I love all those nice, even numbers - I'm such a nerd)  But, we are absolutely thrilled - we can't wait to add another precious babe to the family and give Will a sibling! 

I am now 12 weeks along - and 2 weeks ago we got to see the baby at my 10 week appointment!! It was really sweet, it just never fails to amaze me at how tiny these babies are, and how they grow into these real-life people!! And just how Will was that size too, and now he's so big!  I do have to gush a little about how wonderful my OB is - I go to Regan Wittek at Womens Health Associates, and just love her!! She told us that the sonogram person was gone for the day, and I was kind of bummed and she said, NO--that means I get to do it, and I love that part!! She went on to talk about how beautiful our little gummy bear baby is, and how he/she looks absolutely perfect (seriously, the exact words you want to hear from your OB--not that things look good, or ok, you want to hear perfect, and I love her for that)  Even when we were leaving, Patrick was like, I really like Dr. Wittek.  Hopefully this time she will be there to deliver this baby!!

So, we are slowly wrapping our heads around adding another member to our family - I will admit sometimes I get a little anxious about the whole newborn stage again, the lack of sleep, the constant feedings, the battles to get them to sleep---- it's a tough time, and I'm sure will be harder also having a toddler as well.  But, as my friend Lauren told me when Will was going through that, it's funny how quickly you forgot those times, they go by so fast, and you will get through it!  Then, I think about cuddling up with my sweet baby, having them sleep on your chest, nursing them again (good and bad to this, a lot of good though - let's pray for no blep this time - holy cow, I STILL do remember how painful THAT was---worse than labor :)), and just watching him/her grow into themselves.  I hope I remember how to handle a newborn, and looking forward to three months off in the spring/summer just being a Mom. 

Lots are asking how I'm feeling.  It's a loaded question people . I want to be the positive Sarah that I usually am - but let's be real.....the first part of pregnancy is pretty rough!!  Here is what you can read about experiencing, but I truly am going through this right now:

 - Frequent peeing, (I should say urination to be more PC, but who cares?!) - this was actually one of my first clues that I was pregnant.... waking up every night to have to go to the bathroom, and barely being able to hold it from a car ride from work back to home. 

 - Irritible - uh, let's just say you could ask Patrick about this one.  One afternoon in late July - I was throwing this big fit about him not getting home from work when he said he was (seriously, I promise the normal Sarah would brush it off and not care) but this time I was seriously ticked and put me in a bad mood all the way down to the lake.  Pregnant Sarah just gets worked up about some silly things, luckily I can usually recognize it, and luckily my patient husband is pretty understanding and now we can laugh about it.

- Nausea - ugh, seriously.  This didn't start for awhile, so I was a little concern, but probably around 8 or 9 weeks, I would wake up feeling so sick, and then pretty much all morning.  The only thing that would make me feel any relief is to eat something.  I have a co-worker who is also pregnant who had a big tub of animal crackers - there were a few days that I was just constantly putting animal crackers in my mouth to try to settle my stomach, yikes!  Just like with Will, the mornings are tough, but from like 5-7pm is also a hard time, which makes dinner interesting.  Let's just say, I feel like it's my job to eat, and I am completely just eating whatever sounds good:  like pasta, pizza, sandwiches, salads (thankfully that sounds good!) -- basically nothing that is really healthy....fruits are good though, but veggies make me want to gag.  So, trying to not gain weight is a challenge, and I have already vowed to not look at the scale when I go to my appointments and just try to make as healthy choices as I can.  The nausea has gotten a little better, but still not great, hoping in the next couple weeks I will be back to normal with food cravings/aversions.

 - Heartburn - oh heartburn, my old friend, how I have missed you-- NOT!  Goodness, I have read that the hormones completely relax the esopheus muscles, which is why digestion is more difficult when pregnant.  I  have a strong feeling this baby will have a full head of hair, like the wives tale says - and the heartburn is here to stay. (I now have a pack to Tums in my purse, and will likely start popping them like I do gum ---another weird thing, my gum doesn't even taste good anymore!! For all those that know me, this is really weird, but saving us some money.....this happened to my sister too with her kids and me with Will too) 

 - Sluggish - I must say the mornings are VERY difficult to get going - I have like zero energy and just feel like I am dragging along. By about noon I am feeling better, but I apologize to any co-worker I come in contact with before 11am.  I actually had a meeting with my boss Gayla, and as we were discussing some important things ,she says, I can't read the look on your face, after thinking about it later, I realized, I was probably just in my fog and it's hard to pull out of it.  I told he rmaybe we should move our meetings to the afternoon for the next few weeks :)


Anyway, that's all the complaining I have for now :) ha!  I felt it somewhat important to record not only all the high's that comes along with pregnancy, but also some of the lows as well.  Obviously well worth it all in the end, and we can't wait to meet our little baby soon!! 

We are having a baby!!!

Patrick farting during the middle of our family photo shoot - his facial expression is priceless (obvious where Will gets all of his many expressions :))



August Update

Bubs hanging out at Marilee's

Took our first trip to Henry Dorley Zoo

So fun at the zoo!  Too bad Will was pretty tired

Celebrating Nicki's wedding with former roommates and co-workers

Silly boys playing - they were running from room to room, giggling non-stop

Hugs for Gramma J - for her bday celebration

Celebrating our year of turning 30 with my Phi Mu girls!  So fun!

Happy 29th Bday Daddy!  Celebrated with pizza in the park for Patrick's party :)

Swimming with Daniel (Will only sitting on side of baby pool - close!)

Go Royals!!

Driving Tin Lizzie - at Great-Grandpa and Grandma Altenhofen's in Seneca for Labor Day

Watching a train go by

Will SO excited for his new wagon I found at Rhea Lana sale

July Update

July has been a busy month, but tons of fun.  I am laughing at myself, reflecting over the past 20 months, and how at first I was going to blog every day, then expectations of myself was once a week---now I'm at a month at a time.  But, you know what, I think that's just fine and I'm not beating myself up over it.  I love documenting how Will is growing though, and truly want to capture these moments so I can re-live them again someday :)

 - 4th of July - we went to the Lake and had such a great time!  Amy, Cody, Gwyn & Daniel were all down, along with my aunt & Uncle, John & Kathy, my cousin Emily and our adopted-into-the-family-for-4th-of-July, Jess.  We loved watching the boys play on the deck, and getting some good Gwyn cuddles in.  Will is usually an awesome sleeper, and we don't have to worry much when we travel somewhere....however, the first night we were down there, he heard a VERY loud firework that startled him out of his sleep, and made him just terrified to go back to sleep in his pack and play.  I hadn't heard the poor guy scream like that in so long....it was so much worse than when he was a baby and crying in his crib.  We tried to put hin in bed with us (that never works---he is SO wiggly and never gets comfortable cuddling with us), and finally Patrick was like, we are going to have to drive him around until he falls asleep.  I figured we were both in this, I would keep P company.  We left at 11pm, he finally fell asleep after 30 minutes of driving, and very luckily didn't wake up when we got him out of the car (he always does) and P got him back to sleep.  The next night (on the actual 4th - we put a very loud fan right next to his pack and play to drown out any noise.)  I guess you could say we learned our lesson!
 Also, I was in one of my best friends' weddings over the fourth.  We had a blast hanging out with friends, enjoying some fun laughs and just an awesome wedding! 

 - July 10th-11th - Mack girls' summer trip to the Lake!  So much fun to see my cousins and auntie's and spend some time with them.  Not everyone could make it this year....isn't it so hard to get everyone together and schedules free?? But, we still enjoyed everyone that could make it.  Don even came down, stayed at a hotel, so that he could take us out on the boat.  So nice!! I really did miss my boys so much though, it's really true that nothing is really the same when you are without 'your people'.  It's so cheesey, but it's like I leave part of my heart with them when I'm away.  But, so nice to have some girl time, and especially good sis time.  We were saying how we were going to sing really loud all the way down, ended up talking the entire 2 1/2 hours, didn't even turn on music!  Then, of course we sang really loud on the way back to college style jams :)  ha! 

Fun in the Sun, Beach vacation, weddings and much more!

Fun Adult Night out at the Kenny Chesney/Eric Church concert at Arrowhead!  We had a blast and was a great date night!



Happy Father's Day - My Dad and his girls



Bubs wearing a big boy hat- looks so old, but this picture makes me heart smile

Galveston Island - Summer Beach Vacation!

Will doing great on his first flight - phew!

Loved our relaxing, fun week on the beach with all of Patrick's family - a new Altenhofen tradition?!!

Caitlin and Ben wedding rehearsal - was a bridesmaid over the 4th of July weekend at the Lake

Two of my favorite gals

Cousin pool day at MiMis

Will wasn't a huge fan of the ocean/water/beach - but we enjoyed it when we was napping :)