Paczki, Birthdays, and a Shower

It was time for our annual paczki making day with Lent arriving next week. My dad and Chris came to Minnesota this weekend to celebrate Lauryn and Soren's birthdays, so we were able to wrap both events into one day. Paczki are a fried Polish doughnut. My mom used to make them from scratch and then have everyone over to our house before Lent for a Paczki party. I can vividly remember the amazing aroma that would be coming from the kitchen after my mom would pick me up from school. It was so hard not to sneak a doughnut early. Then that night we had family and friends over for cards, doughnuts, polkas, and visiting. It makes it very special to me that we continue my mom's tradition.
We began with all the bakers in the kitchen. After making the dough, we had to let it rise for a few hours before beating it down and repeating the process.

While the dough was rising, Kelsey and I snuck away to Diane's wedding shower. It was good to put faces with names that I have heard about and get to know some of Diane's family. There was good food, good company, and many really nice gifts for Natey and Diane. It makes the wedding seem that much closer!
Next, we headed back to my brother's. We missed the frying of the dough, but definitely not the taste testing! They turned out better this year than any previous year we have made them. All of our practice is paying off!


We also celebrated our niece, Lauryn's, and nephew, Soren's, 7th birthdays. They opened presents and we had cake and ice cream. Although, our bellies were pretty full from the paczki, we made room :)



I have not seen my dad since Christmas, so I was very anxious to spend time with both he and Chris. We talk on the phone a lot, but it is just not the same as being together. The day seemed to fly by so quickly and we were headed back home before we knew it. The exciting thing is that I will be seeing them again soon because Baby Skala is due in 2 weeks.

Morning Photo Shoot

Kelsey was hamming it up yesterday morning before she left for daycare, so I took full advantage and snapped a few pics.



Other random things:

Kelsey's manners have been so good lately. She always says please, thank you, and you're welcome. For example, tonight when we were coming home from swimming lessons I told her what a good job she did and she replied with "thank you, mommy." Also, if we give her something she asks for she is also very appreciative. I hope this continues as it is so sweet to listen to and makes Matt and I smile everytime.

When we tell Kelsey we love her with all our hearts, she responds by saying I love you with all my heartbeats.

I had a doctor appt yesterday and I am already dialated. The doc also did an ultrasound to determine baby's weight and he seems to think between 4-6 lbs right now. I am 38 weeks, so the big day can technically come anytime. I have another appt next week to check on everything. Let the waiting game begin. Will this baby come sooner or later?

Don't forget to make your guess in the baby pool! Time is running out :)

9 months!

I have reached the 9 month mark! I am now going for weekly appointments and anxiously awaiting the big day. I still think I have the full three weeks to go because my belly still has plenty of room to grow. We'll see though! Baby might have his/her own idea. Here is the belly thus far:

An Overdue Top Ten

Here is an updated top ten of what Kelsey is up to these days:

10. Dancing and singing any second she gets. She likes to use her microphones or anything resembling one. Who knew a turkey baster would get so much use as a microphone?

9. She has enjoyed being outside with the temperatures having been in the upper 30s and 40s. She has shoveled with Daddy and recently even got her bike out.

8. Princess anything! This girl is a princess fanatic! We have Snow White, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Tiana, and Cinderella everywhere. If this baby is a boy, he is coming home to a princess castle and we will need some blue to toughen the place up! If it's a girl, we are set!

7. Watching videos on Matt's phone. Matt downloaded an app that has videos for her and she loves it. She also likes to play games on his phone as well. Is it amazing or a little sad that a 2 year old can work a smartphone?

6. She likes being video taped. She will ask us to tape her while she does random things. Then she wants to watch it back right away.

5. Helping to bake/cook. She always pulls a chair up to the same spot and is a great helper. She especially likes to mix things.

4. Going to swimming lessons. She does really well and enjoys the water. Although she likes to do her own thing at times, we can tell she is retaining skills from one week to the next and is starting to get the idea of the front crawl.

3. Going to dance class. I am not sure whether she likes dancing or socializing more. On the way there she always lists all the friends she will see and then has to be sure to say hello to all of them as soon as she sees them. There are times she will go stand by them to dance and leave me by myself. So much for mommy and me!

2. Her wide vocabulary. She throws out words sometimes that seem too big for her. Yesterday the word she kept saying was "actually." "Actually, I want apple juice. Actually, I like Little Mermaid." She carries on a conversation with ease and is so good about getting her point across. It is not always the clearest, but she can be easily understood most of the time.

1. The #1 best thing right now is that Kelsey is potty trained. (I hope I am not jinxing anything!) With the baby coming soon we have heard regression is normal, but hopefully we won't have to deal with that. But for now, we have met the stage where she tells us she has to go and we do not have to sit by the potty for a long time to wait for her to go. She still wears a pull-up to bed, but she wakes up dry almost every night. She has been doing this for about a month now. Way to go Kelsey!

Weekend Review

I love the weekend. I look forward to it all week and am always sad to see it go. This weekend was no exception. We didn't have much planned, and I was thrilled about it. It seems most weekends we run from one thing to the next and before we know it Sunday night creeps in and we are getting ready for Monday.
To start off the weekend, Kelsey and Daddy had some quality time. I posted earlier that they are best buddies lately. Here they are with some close-up pictures. They also built a fort last week in the living room. They colored and sang songs in it. Plus, Kelsey is a whiz on Matt's smartphone and she liked to watch videos on it while sitting in the fort.


Saturday morning we had a maternity photo shoot. Our photographer took some unique shots, so I will be anxious to see how they turn out. She was gracious enough to take a picture of the three of us on our camera as well just to have one right away.


When we got home, we were lazy bums. We laid around, watched a movie when Kelsey napped, and played a lot. It was great. Of course there was a list of things waiting for us to finish, but we put it off instead. Oops....

That night, my sister and her family came to town and we had dinner together. It has been awhile since we saw them with both of us having busy weekends lately, so it was nice to catch up. We appreciate them making the trip down.

Sunday morning was church and breakfast. Kelsey was spoiled by the Ginskey cousins with some cute heart glasses and a coloring book for Valentine's Day. She loved them both! Grandma and Grandpa also joined in the spoiling with a Valentine's gift. She is so lucky! When we got home, Kelsey napped and Mattey and I tried to get caught up on our list. Once Kelsey woke up though, Matt and she went outside to build a snowman. The weather today was perfect for it! They made a snowman and also made snow angels. Kelsey was not as worried about getting wet outside this time. I am guessing the warmer temperatures helped make it much more enjoyable.




What a great weekend! Can we have a few more like that please?

Super Bowl Champions!

Yesterday was the Super Bowl, and I was lucky enough to watch my favorite Green Bay Packers defeat the Steelers. To watch the game, we went to Matt's parents along with Stacey and boys, Nate and Diane, and Ed and Sharon. It was a very fun crew! There was a huge spread of food! Oh my goodness! It was something to behold. My in-laws are wonderful and even wore green and cheered for the Pack. They are great! Plus, my hubby, nephews, and sister-in-law wore green and gold gear, which is quite a rare occurence. I was definitely in my element and loving every minute of it all. It was a close game which kept things interesting. I had a few moments where Matt reminded me to calm down because he did not want to make a trip to the hospital. But I kept my cool and cheered on my team to victory. What a great night! Way to go, Pack!!!

Daddy's Girl

Kelsey is such a Daddy's girl right now. She always wants him to play with her, follow her, sing with her, dance with her, etc. They are best buddies. Here they are on their computers together. Kelsey will tell us, "I'm checking my email." Yikes! Crazy the lingo she already knows!

Shoveling with Daddy

This winter has been so cold that Kelsey has not had many chances to play outside. However, it was a little warmer this past weekend, so Kelsey went outside to help Matt shovel the driveway. When I asked her if she wanted to go out, she was so excited. I told her she had to go potty before going out and she was racing to the bathroom. Next, I got her all bundled up and sent her out with Matt. She was so happy! After about 20 minutes, she was ready to come in though. She is completely all girl because she was upset that her mittens and boots were wet. We had to explain to her that they would dry and it was ok. I hope Kelsey gets a few more chances to play outside yet this winter.

Date Night

Matt and I knew for awhile now that we wanted to plan a date night before the baby is born in about a month. The remainder of February and early March are already pretty busy, so we worked it out to go on our date last night. We were very unsure about what we wanted to do and went back and forth all week with ideas. We finally settled on going to the Minnesota Timberwolves game. I have never been to one so it was a new experience for me. Matt called up a friend who works for the Twolves, and we got really good seats. We sat in the first row behind the court seats. They were awesome! We were close enough to the players that we could hear their conversations during the game. Prior to the game though, we went out to eat at a place downtown called Kieran's. We got a recommendation from my brother and changed our mind to the this place last minute. It worked out great because the food was really good, service was quick, and the atmosphere was fun. Then we went to the game and watched the Twolves vs. the Denver Nuggets. The game was a blast and very entertaining. We were thankful to Matt's parents for watching Kelsey so we could go out. This will probably be the last outing for just Matt and I before the craziness of the new baby comes. I am glad we made time to do this because it was so great to spend time with my hubby.

PIcture of the Day

The other night Kelsey said, "Mommy, take my picture with Daddy." I can't say no to that.

Belly Love

Kelsey loves to talk to my belly. She will tell us there is a baby in my tummy, but I don't think she truly gets that it is a real baby. However, she talks to my belly everyday anyway. She has to lift my shirt though as if maybe the baby can't hear her when my clothes are covering it. She puts her face right next to my belly button and will hug and kiss my belly, too. She is still pretty sure it is a girl and hasn't changed her mind on that one. I wonder if there is such thing as big sister's intuition? We will find out in about 5 weeks!

Pillow Talk

Kelsey and I have started pillow talk before bed. The routine lately is bath, snack (and a show depending on time), books, pillow talk, prayers, and lights out. It started with Kelsey wanting to tell me about Mary's house that day right before bed every night. So I started calling it pillow talk and she loves it. We both have to lay our heads on the same pillow and face each other. She still has the habit of playing with my hair, so she usually twists my hair and talks. The two main topics lately have been Mary's house and swimming lessons. It usuaully lasts about 5 minutes. As we have done this for a few nights now, she is getting better at asking me questions, too. It is pretty sweet and a great way to wind down the day. I hope she always wants to tell me everything. I will get back to you on that when she becomes a teenager ;)