Christmas & Baby Shower

Monday, December 28, 2015

The Christmas festivities have come to an end and we are relaxing at home right now while there is an ice storm outside!  Here's a quick rundown of some of the holiday fun that we shared with family.  

We began in Houghton Lake visiting Josh's dad and stepmom.  It was really nice to catch up with them and it was the first time they got to see the baby bump in person.  Unfortunately, they lost power in the middle of the night so we woke up to a chilly morning and Josh's dad figured out how to use the coffee maker without electricity (very impressive!).  

After that, we drove over to Cadillac to visit the rest of Josh's family.  Bruce enjoyed spending time with his doggy cousins, Ava and Bailey, even though there was not even a dusting of snow to play in.  On Christmas morning we all impressed each other with magic tricks from our Christmas poppers.  

Our last Christmas visit was in Holland with my family.  Brian, Patty, Yan and Kai came to visit too.  We haven't seen them since summer so it was really nice to hang out.  Yan and Kai are getting so big!  We exchanged gifts and had a delicious dinner.

Below are a few pictures/videos from the holiday celebrations.

Bruce enjoyed opening up his own presents on Christmas morning.

Happy puppy:)

Our family on Christmas night

Part of Sam's Christmas gift from Josh was the jellybean game "Beanboozled".  To play the game you spin a spinner to choose a color jellybean.  Then you have to eat that jellybean.  The trick though is that half of the jellybeans are yummy flavors and half are disgusting.  Check out the video above to see if Chris gets to eat a chocolate pudding or a dog food jellybean!

After all of the Christmas celebrations, we still had our baby shower to look forward to on Sunday.  My Aunt Norma and Uncle Tim were gracious hosts once again for a Howell family function.  Since everyone knows that Baby Leask still doesn't have a name, part of the shower included people writing down their name ideas and we read them all while opening the presents.  Some of the memorable ones include "Lego Leask" and "Laura Olivia Leask aka L.O.L".  I can assure you that neither of those two are going to be the winner:)  Thanks to everyone who came to show their love for Baby Leask!

Lauren took the quilt squares from our wedding guestbook and sewed them into a baby blanket.

We received lots of gifts that matched our "arctic animals" nursery theme.

After the baby shower Josh gave Maggie the last of her Christmas presents - an all you can play trip to the arcade.  They had a blast!  Maggie said that her favorite game was "Mortal Kombat 3" because she dominated Josh in best out of three.  She also enjoyed "Star Trek Pinball".

Updated bump shot from today.  The doctor said at 35 weeks I would have another ultrasound so we can get an estimation of the size of Baby Leask.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

-Laura

Two Thanksgivings

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Thanksgiving has come and gone and before we know it, it will be Christmas. Then just around the corner it will be time to meet baby!  Time sure is flying by. Here is the current baby bump.

For Thanksgiving we celebrated twice.  We began on Thanksgiving day at my Aunt Colleen and Uncle Pablo's home. It was really nice to be able to see many of my relatives that I haven't seen in a while.  The next evening we drove up to Cadillac for a second Thanksgiving.  We went to "Breakfast With Santa" at the local Mason's Lodge.  We also went to Dutchman Tree Farms to get Josh's family tree (a yearly tradition).  This year there was no snow on the ground, so no snowball fights (there was an incident last year that I don't like to talk about :)  All in all it was a great long weekend with family.

A side note of bad news - I failed my glucose test which means I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  I blame it on having the test the day after Thanksgiving ;).  For now it just means that I have to monitor my blood sugar daily and cut back on carbohydrates and sweets.  Lucky for me, I haven't had too many crazy pregnancy cravings, so it hasn't been too hard....yet.

Check out the pictures below from the holiday weekend!

-Laura

    

We assembled the crib over the weekend. Check out Bruce at the bottom of the picture. I think he knows his days of being an only child are numbered. 

I received the drawing below from one of my students when I returned from Thanksgiving break:)

Baby Progress

Sunday, November 1, 2015

With just over 100 days until we meet Baby Leask, Josh and I have started the preparations.  First up...the name.  When we first found out we were pregnant we quickly had a top boy name in mind.  When we found out Baby Leask was a girl, we realized naming her wasn't going to be quite so easy.  Right now we have a list of about 20 contenders and are working to narrow it down (and adding more names in the process!).  Our goal is to narrow it down to 2-3 names and then decide on the winner when we finally get to meet her.  We did decide that we are going to keep our final name choices a secret, so it will be a surprise for everyone in February!

We are also working to finalize our plans for the nursery and begin decorating.  We have decided on a soft "ice blue" palette with a theme of arctic animals.  So far we have ordered the crib (actually Josh's parents provided us with the crib:) and the rug.  We decided on a colorful crib since we aren't doing any painting.  We have A LOT of work to do, including figuring out what to do with the current guest bed in that room (anyone need a mattress?).  We will update with pictures when the nursery is finished but until then check out the preview below.  Also below is a picture from today with the current bump progress.  I don't really believe that baby is the size of a cantaloupe, but that is what my photo app says!

-Laura

P.S. Yes, that is a Star Wars poster. It fits with the arctic theme!

Growing Baby

Monday, October 12, 2016

We are officially more than halfway through our pregnancy!  Josh and I are enjoying creating a list of possible names (no, we haven't picked one yet) and starting to plan for things we need to buy for the nursery.  Living in a tiny two bedroom home (with no basement!) has definitely provided some storage issues, but we are determined to make a cozy and comforting nursery for our baby girl.  Check out the picture below to see the baby bump slowing growing.  I did have one of my third grade students comment on the bump a week ago by saying, "Mrs. Leask, your baby must be growing because you used to be skinny!"  Gotta love the brutal honesty of an eight-year-old :).

-Laura

It's a Girl!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Today Josh and I went to our anatomy ultrasound and found out we are having a baby girl!  It was a total surprise since most people seemed to think that we were having a boy due to my lack of pregnancy symptoms.  We are thrilled and cannot wait for HER to arrive!  However, Josh did make the announcement that the first person to buy her something pink is the last person that gets to hold her.  But since we have already decided on a blue nursery, I think a little pink is okay;)

-Laura

Big News!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Josh and I are expecting our first child!  We are thrilled beyond belief and can't wait to watch our little family start to grow!  The due date is February 21st and we should be able to find out the gender at the end of this month (yes, we want to find out).  Below is a picture from our first ultrasound way back when the little one was only 9 weeks (currently we are at 17 weeks).  Prepare for lots of baby updates on the way!

-Laura

Howell Family Reunion

Saturday, August 22, 2015

We were lucky enough to have Brian, Patty, Yan, and Kai stay in Michigan for a whole month this summer.  I didn't get pictures of everything we did together (and that would have been a long blog post!) but below are a few of the activities.  It was great to spend a lot of time with the four of them!

We picked blueberries and enjoyed doughnut blueberry sundaes.  Grandpa was the champion blueberry picker!

Kai is quite a cutie.  He mastered walking during his Michigan trip.

We went to the Frederick Meijer Gardens and saw their new Japanese garden exhibit.  Here we are in the zen rock garden.

The kids had lots of quality cousin time.

We spent some time at Tunnel Park in Holland.  I am not sure who had more fun building in the sand, Annie Lou or Patty!

We celebrated Grandpa's 62nd birthday!

Yan really enjoyed the Children's Museum in Ann Arbor.

Sam enjoyed spending time with Tio Brian


Kai learned "So Big" :)

Frank and Terri's Wedding

Monday, July 27th, 2015

A little over two weeks ago we traveled across three states to celebrate Frank and Terri's wedding.  Frank (or David/Dave as many know him) is Josh's childhood friend.  Josh remembers moving to Cadillac and having Frank knock on the door and ask, "Can the new kid come out and play?".  Frank was as close as a brother to Josh growing up and Josh was honored to stand up as Frank's best man in his wedding.  

We made the trip along with Josh's parents and his little sister, Maggie.  The five of us squeezed into a Jeep Cherokee and made the 9 1/2 hour drive there with Josh's dad driving the entire way!  The wedding was fantastic.  They had beautiful weather and a perfect venue.  I have never before tasted so much delicious food at a wedding. Between endless hors d'oeuvres and a stocked dessert bar, we barely had room for the main course!  Josh gave a very nice best man speech and the rest of the wedding was perfect too! Below are a few pictures from the day before the wedding and the wedding festivities.

-Laura

P.S. Special thanks to Josh's dad for driving the 9 1/2 hours back home too!!!

Frank and Josh at the rehearsal dinner

The small town of Mt. Arlington was beautiful!

Josh and I enjoying the hammock swing

Yes, Maggie is taller than me now :)

It was fun spending a lot of time with Josh's parents!

Beautiful decorations

Frank got a little choked up during the ceremony.  It was very sweet.

The happy couple

Josh giving his best man speech

The building was a perfect place for a wedding.

We enjoyed all of the scenery on the drive.

Fourth of July

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Last weekend Josh, Bruce and I spent the holiday weekend at the Gallinger's cabin in Lupton, MI.  We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather and good company.  We spent a lot of time relaxing and boating.

On Saturday we participated in a Fourth of July golf cart parade.  Lauren stocked up on decorations at the dollar store and we decked out the golf cart with a Hawaiian theme.  Even Bruce got in the spirit with his hula skirt and leis!  We were sure we were going to get first place until we saw the golf cart that was completely made over into a covered wagon.  This also made us relive our days of playing the classic game "The Oregon Trail".  We didn't win any prizes but we will always remember Justin in the coconut bra running with a purse ;).

We are very thankful to Mr. and Mrs. Gallinger for letting us spend the holiday "On Golden Pond".

-Laura