Little Brother!

Well, Taylor's going to be a big sister to a little brother! We had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and I decided not to torture Matt so we found out we're having a boy (he almost cried, but I think he was smiling too much). Here's the pics...sorry if they're a little grainy...the scanner wasn't working too well(the top one is a profile, on the left is a foot and the bottom on is a profile with his hand by his head). He's been very active, just like Taylor was and he probably flipped over about 10 times just while she was doing the ultrasound!
Taylor had her 18mo pictures taken by our friend, Aaron, again and they turned out great! Here's the "final" pictures and if you want to take a look at more, here's all of them. Aaron has infinite patience as most of the shots were "action pics" (his studio is a loft and Taylor enjoyed running around totally ignoring the items I brought to corral her).

We've also had lots of visitors the last few weeks, which Taylor has loved! The 2nd weekend in March, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Paul came for a weekend and brought along their dog, Lily who Taylor enjoyed thoroughly. Aunt Kelly, Taylor and I went for a swim and hung out the rest of the weekend. Here's a pic of Taylor helping Aunt Kelly with laundry and a video of Taylor playing with the dogs (it's actually from just after Christmas, but you'll get the gist).

The next weekend, Daddy was out of town, so Grammy (Janice) came to visit as not to miss out on this very cute stage of Taylor! The weather was pretty crummy that weekend with the 6 inches of snow we got, so we mostly played around the house. Here's a couple of pics and videos from that weekend. Did I mention Taylor is still very girly? She loved Grammy putting lipstick on her!

And here are some videos from that weekend too:






If you want to check out more Taylor videos, just go to YouTube!

You know you're in Nebraska when.....

I am posting with Ed today. He travels quite a bit all over the nation and Canada these days. Last year he was driving from Colorado to Kearney when trucks in both lanes on I-80 came to a complete halt. It didn't take long to see the reason. A pivot irrigation system had gone berserk, traveled out of the field, and parked itself across the interstate. Ed took the time to snap a picture, then drove through the median and around the equipment. A big tow truck was just arriving to clear the road.

Shortly after that, he was traveling on the east coast. That was also an interesting drive, as there was an overturned cattle truck complete with cowboys on horseback rounding up the escapees (not what you would expect to see in North Carolina) and, not far away, an overturned chemical truck. That brought out a crew in 'hazmat' suits to do the cleanup. Usually he just comments on the weather and any unusually pretty scenery.

Love,

Janice

News from Mary Jo

Sorry to be such a downer with all of the happy baby news on the blog, but I want you all to know I will be having a total hysterectomy next Tuesday, April 6 (hopefully). I have a malignancy in the endometrial lining of the uterus. It was caught early, doesn't seem to have the gynecologist too upset, but needs to be REMOVED! The surgery will be done by a gynecological oncologist at the UN Med Center. They are planning to do robotic assisted surgery which will allow them to remove everything using a kind of laproscopic procedure and the recovery time should be faster. The nurse told me some patients go home the next day. I was supposed to be down for the pre-surgery consult today, but they called this morning from the office and told me the Dr was stuck in Cincinnati,(some plane scheduling problem following a conference). So, I go in at 9 am on Friday. They assure me there shouldn't be a problem with doing the surgery on the next Tuesday, and I hope that is true. I just want to be finished with all of this!

Suzanne has also rented an apartment in Hastings that allows her to take her cat, and she has possession April 1. She has agreed to move in slowly and stay here while we are in Omaha to take care of the livestock. My burning issue is to get some curtains up at the windows, which are at ground level, with a sidewalk passing by. Otherwise, I'm letting her figure most of it out!

Congratulations Niki & Matt!

Thank you for posting your US pics. You can even see the three vessel umbilical cord with Baby B's pic. They both did a great job of allowing their profiles to be imaged. Am so glad to hear that you are feeling grand! Take care, Theresa

Team Strotman is on Team Blue

The verdict is in and Matt and I are thrilled to welcome two boys into the world this summer! Everything checked out fantastic at the ultrasound on Tuesday and we are so unbelievably excited. Thankfully everyone is healthy and growing.

Baby A is already punching, kicking, bullying and measuring bigger than average (11oz). This may be funny now, but probably less so in a few months when I'm huge and roasting. I tried to blame Matt for being so tall but he was very quick to remind me that I was the one born 9 pound 7 ounce and 22" long. Guess we were just destined to have big babies. (I keep reminding myself this is much better than the alternative.)

Baby B is much more shy, and a touch smaller (10oz) but he throws a mean punch back.The best part was when the ultrasound lady was measuring something super tiny and technical on B's brain and the room was silent. She's moving slowly, trying to get a good shot, everyone squinting, and..... BOOM! In comes A's foot from out of nowhere with a swift kick to the face and sends everyone into a laughing fit. Yep, those are my boys.

As far as me, I continue to happily coast along in second trimester bliss. The weather has been beautiful and that's really helped me stay active and happy. I can feel both babies moving quite a bit which is strange and very entertaining. I love laying in bed at night and waiting for little kicks while imagining them playing together in there.

Here's a few pictures. I know it's still early, but we can already tell they are pretty adorable.

Baby A
Baby B

Thank you to everyone for the congratulations, well wishes, and prayers. Can't wait to see you all soon!

Love,

Niki and Matt