Ready to meet baby Grutter!!!

I'm almost 35 weeks and we are so ready to meet this little girl. This has been a very stressful pregnancy! My cerclage comes out on August 18th and the doctor thinks I will go within a week or so of the removal :) Here's hoping she is right!

Aubrey is excited to have a baby sister....let's hope she still feels that way when she arrives. Aubrey had a great 3rd birthday and got everything she wanted....namely lots of bubbles and Barbies! I can't believe she is 3 years old already. Time has gone by so fast! She went to dance camp this summer and had a lot of fun so we are enrolling her in ballet and tap which starts in September. She is so dang adorable in her leotard.

We are building a house now too. Something I swore I'd never do! But we could not find anything on the market that had everything we wanted. The house should be done in about 6 weeks. It has been a stressful process with everything going on with the pregnancy, but it has been fun watching the house come together. We are so ready for the baby to be here and to move into our new house....then maybe our lives will start to get back to normal!!

A present for Grandma and Grandpa

Since the file is too large to email, I am posting it on here so Grandma and Grandpa can see Aubrey. Enjoy :)

6 month update!

So I have been quite a slacker. So much to update since last August! Aubrey has gotten so big and has a mind of her own! She lets you know how it is. She loves playing with her baby dolls and strollers. She likes to pull everything out of her room and into the rest of the house just solidifying the fact that this is Aubrey's world and we are just living in it ;)

We also found out we are expecting another baby who will join our family in September. Aubrey is excited to meet the baby and has asked me to "open my belly" so she can see it....so funny! It has been a rough several weeks with this pregnancy. I have been very sick and on several medications. Since I am almost 10 weeks along, I am hoping that I don't have much more of this to deal with. Brad and Aubrey have been great through this rough patch.

Our house is still for sale and we are meeting with several builders to see if that is the route we want to go. We have not been able to find a house currently on the market that meets all of our needs/wants. It gets kind of stressful but I am trying to leave it in the hands of God knowing he will take care of us and lead us in the right direction.

Until next time...................

It's Party Time and Potty Time

Aubrey's 2nd birthday party was a lot of fun. We had lots of friends and family over and Aubrey got a lot of nice gifts. Just one more reason why we need to get a bigger house. We did a dual party with Jaden and the theme was Dora and Diego. All the kids had a blast in the pool and slip-n-slide. Brad cooked up burgers and dogs on the grill and I made the fixins. It was a wonderfully sunny day and Aubrey had a blast.

We had Aubrey's 2 yr well child visit today and she is 32 pounds and 3 ft tall....96th percentile for both! She got one shot and didn't cry at all. She gave us a weird look and then said "Owee" and then she ate her sucker. She was such a big girl!

Speaking of big girls......drum roll please........Aubrey went pee pee on the Potty tonight!!! TWICE!!! Of course, we made a big fuss about it and you could tell she was so proud of herself too. I hope this is a trend and not just a fluke thing. This is the first time she has showed interest in her potty so I think I will take her shopping to buy some underwear tomorrow and hopefully that will act as more incentive to keep going on the potty.

We have been very busy this summer. We have gotten to the cottage a few times and Aubrey LOVES it. She loves playing in the lake and riding the golf cart. We don't even have to take her in for a nap - she naps right on the boat for us! She is such a good kid that I am scared to have another one.

I am enjoying a week off work right now and don't go back until next Wednesday. I get to spend lots of time with Brad and Aubrey and am hoping to get some scrapbooking done before my classes start up again. The house is still on the market and we have an open house on Sunday. We are still in a waiting game with the house we put an offer on. I figure, what's meant to be will be. Thankfully, we are not in a rush to sell our house. There are 5 houses for sale on our street alone!

Here's a few pictures from Aubrey's party - Enjoy :)

Yummy!

Birthday kisses between cousins

Aubrey's new house!

Chillaxin' in her new chair

Birthdays

When I was a kid, I remember thinking that 30 was old. Now here I am! No longer a twenty-something. The last few years as I approached this milestone I wondered how I'd actually react to this birthday. And here is how I feel......BLESSED! I am reminded of the Tim McGraw song, In My Next 30 Years. He says, 'My next 30 yrs will be the best years of my life'. And I believe that to be true. God has blessed me more times over than I can thank him for and I look forward to the years to come where Brad and I will raise Aubrey and watch her grow and go through countless milestones of her own. I am thankful for a family that loves me and whom I can always depend upon, a career where I can be fulfilled, and a home to raise our child(ren?).

Brad planned a wonderful birthday party for me. I am thankful for all the friends and family that came out and for Steph and Kristi's help in planning. It was a great day and I am looking forward to many birthdays to come.

Now onto another big birthday, Aubrey is turning 2! Her actual bday is July 27 but we will be having her birthday party on August 2nd. Time goes by so fast! I know I have said that a thousand times but I just can't believe my baby is turning 2. I will post pictures from her birthday party. Until next time..........

Guess how old I am?!

In Saugatuck on my actual birthday

Long overdue update!

Aubrey is now in a big girl bed since she decided to take a flying leap out of her crib! Brad and I heard a thud and then a cry and went running into her room. I picked her up and tried to comfort her as she tried to wiggle out of my arms. I let her down and she stopped crying and ran to the living room yelling "Play! Play!". She was un-phased by the fall as I sat stunned with my heart racing on her bedroom floor. Overall, the transition has been great. She had a few nights where she got out of bed to get toys but one stint in time-out and she got over that. She likes to have Paris, our dog, sleeping next to her bed on the floor. Whenever we are done saying prayers, she starts calling for Paris to come. It is really cute.

Aubrey's First night in her Big Girl Bed

We have had an exciting two weeks of vacation. We spent 5 days at a beautiful cottage on Lake Michigan in St Ignace and the next week spent 5 days at the Wolf Lake cottage. Aubrey has gotten to see Mackinaw Island, rode on a boat worth more than my house, and swim in Lake Michigan. She even helped Grandpa drive the pontoon boat! We have had a lot of fun that it seems boring at home now. Though we have enough going on right now to keep us busy. My 30th bday was yesterday and Brad has planned a birthday party for me tomorrow night. It should be a lot of fun. I also need to start planning Aubrey's Elmo-themed 2nd birthday party. It seems like she just turned one! Time goes by way too fast. We actually bought a couple of her birthday presents tonight. She still loves Elmo and is getting back into Dora. Her big gift is going to be a house for the backyard....but shhhhhhh.....dont tell :)

Aubrey sleeping on the boat after a day in the sun!

Our house is still up for sale with no bites yet. We put in an offer on a house in Hudsonville today so we will see what that brings. We would really like to avoid a double mortgage but I know the Lord will guide us through this process and everything will work out the way it is supposed to.

Happy Summer!!!!

So long....no post!

Life has been so busy that I haven't had time to post lately! My summer classes started a couple weeks ago so I am once again busy with school. These classes are proving to be a bit more involved than the other classes I have taken. Just a few more semesters.......

I have also started selling Avon which I am really enjoying! I have been using the products and, since I went part time, I figured it would be a fun way to earn a little bit of moola on the side :) Or if nothing else, I could get my products at a discount! I have a website if you want to check out what's new with Avon - www.youravon.com/agrutter.

Brad is very busy with work. He had a record month last month. I hope that means the market is turning around and we will sell our house soon. So far, we have had no calls on our house which is not very encouraging. We did have an open house 2 days ago and 5 or 6 families showed up but no offers to date. I just need to learn a little patience.

Aubrey is growing like a weed. I am buying her 4T clothes now!!!! She isn't even 2 yrs old!!! CRAZY! I love being home more with her. She still loves Elmo and loves playing outside. She has another tooth coming in which will bring the total to 13. This tooth helped explained her recent crabbiness ;)

Not much else to report. We are looking forward to heading to the cottage this weekend and are hoping the weather holds out for us. Hope everyone is enjoying the beginnings of summer! Until next time......................