Bella & the Merry-Go-Round

We had a family outing to Worlds of Fun this weekend. Bella is now big enough to ride the rides at Camp Snoopy. After having the fun visiting the first aid booth (I sprained my ankle) we waddled back to the merry-go-round. I rode with Bella on the stationary bench for her first ride. She LOVED it. She liked it so much that she wanted to try a horse next. She kept pointing to them. So Jay took Taylor and Bella on for their next ride. Bella was so funny, she didn't like that the horse went up and down. She clinged to her daddy and was practically climbing up his chest. We didn't get to try anything else because of my ankle's swelling...but I'm sure she'll enjoy trying some other rides when we go back.

Kinsey says "hi" to Daddy!

Jay FINALLY got to feel Kinsey kicking around. We were watching Heroes last night and he laid there with his hands on my tummy and she decided it was finally time to say hello. She's been strong enough to feel from the outside for a few weeks but he just hasn't been able to catch her poking around until just now. It was pretty neat for him to be able to connect with her like I've been doing for weeks now.

And the name of O'Brien #3 is...

Mackinsey "Kinsey" Rae O'Brien

21 weeks, 19 to go...

You asked for a belly picture, so here it is! Jay and I went out on a date to the Ameristar casino on Friday night when our outdoor drama got rained (or better yet tornadoed) out. So Kaitlin, our babysitter, came over and watched the kids while we went and gorged ourselves at the buffet. We also went into the casino because we'd just watched the movie "21" and we really wanted to see if a deal actually says "winner, winner, chicken dinner" when a blackjack is dealt. They don't. I only saw one while we were watching but the lady surely did not say it. What a bummer.

"Aladdin" by Taylor

This may not seem like a big deal to most people...but for a 3 1/2 year old this is REALLY good artwork. They are supposed to be attempting lines and geometric shapes. At this age they are supposed to be able to tell you what they are drawing, but you aren't supposed to recognize it. Truthfully, I'm proud as a peach that she's got her Daddy's artistic gene!!!

It's a GIRL!!!

We went for our 20 week ultrasound today and were praising the Lord that our baby is healthy baby girl so far! She was VERY active during the ultrasound so we got to see just about every side of her that we could ever want to see. She enjoyed stretching her legs out and showing us just how long her legs are. She also curled her body up so we could see her put her feet up by her head. She was very interested in sucking her thumb as well. We also had the pleasure of watching her empty her bladder. I guess she was so excited to make her debut that she just couldn't hold it anymore! Anyways...enjoy the photos!

She is showing us her profile here:


Now she is showing us some leg!


Taylor was so excited because she could actually make out the baby on the screen and Bella just kept saying "baby". It was too cute! I love my awesome little family!

Open Gym @ The Edge

The gym where Taylor takes gymnastics holds an open gym for preschoolers on Friday mornings. We haven't been in a while because Bella just hasn't been big enough to really do anything there. I decided I was going to be brave and try it. Man oh man did the kids have fun. Bella found another baby to play with...the one in the mirror.



Taylor busied herself going down the inflatable slide...



Walking across the high beam...



Climbing the rope...



and just generally making friends and playing.

So what did Bella & I do other than play with the mirror??? Bella discovered the tumbling track (aka a very long and narrow trampoline). She found that it is much fun to run up and down this track and to make some good attempts at learning how to jump.



She also experimented with hoola hoops...



Finally both of the kids ran out of steam (yay for mama)! There is a little rainbow that the kids use to do back walk overs on in class that we had flipped over and the kids were rocking together to end the day.