Baby #2 Coming!

Ian is going to be a big brother!  Baby #2 is due to arrive in late November!  I am 13 weeks (tomorrow), and finally feeling a little better.  The first trimester has been pretty rough...lots of nausea & sickness.  Thank goodness for Zofran!  This pregnancy is a huge blessing, especially after we dealt with a miscarriage last December.  We continue to pray that things will go well for the remainder of the time & thank God for allowing us to be trusted with another one of His children.  We should find out the gender in early July.  Pretty much everyone has predicted that I'll have another boy...we'll see!!

Zoo Trip

Yesterday, we had a much-needed family day!  We started of with breakfast at the Copper Oven, then headed to the Sedgwick County Zoo.  We hadn't been to the zoo since I was on maternity leave and Ian was about 6 months old.  Now that he's older, he knows a lot of the animals & their sounds, so we figured he'd really enjoy it....we were right!  I didn't get too many pics because we were busy corralling the little guy, but here are a few...

Canadian geese with their babies!  So cute!!

My fav...a peacock!  I was hoping he'd fan out his tail, but no such luck...still beautiful!

Petting the baby goat

He was so cute!  The goat was rubbing up against the fence like a cat!  

We bought a year-long zoo membership, so I'm sure that we'll be back a lot over the next year.  I'll be sure to capture more pics!

Yes, we're still here....

I just realized that it has been a pretty long time since I've posted anything on my blog!  Sorry about that!  We haven't had anything major going on, just been busy with everyday things.  Here are a few recent pics.  Since the weather has been nicer, we have been outside a lot more.  Ian likes to help his daddy with the yard work.  Here is a pic of Ian "mowing" on the deck, with daddy mowing in the background. 

 My mom and stepdad have an old tennis court in their back yard.  The giant concrete slab is good for games...

 ...and wagon rides...

 ...and shooting hoops.

Jason, Ian, and my dad

Easter Weekend 2012

We've really enjoyed Easter Weekend 2012!  Jason's parents came to visit this year, and we've realized that it's kind of become a tradition for us all to get together for Easter!  Jason had to go to work after church on Sunday, so we started the celebration early by having Easter dinner on Saturday night.  Cathy did all of the cooking, and our meal was delicious!  We had honey-glazed ham, roasted regular & sweet potatoes, asparagus, deviled eggs, and hot rolls.  For dessert, I made my mom's banana pudding recipe.  It was all so delicious!!

On Sunday morning, Ian saw that the Easter bunny came to visit.  He received a basket full of Elmo goodies, a boat and plane for the tub (or pool :), bunny ears, and animal cookies!

I decided to get creative, so for breakfast I made mini blueberry muffins, but I tinted them yellow, blue, and pink....kinda festive, I thought. :)

Our little snuggle bunny seemed to like the muffins!  He ate them all!

 

 This year, our church really promoted baptism on Easter Sunday.  There were plans to baptize 13 people...AMEN!!  Two of our close friends, Justan and Shelby Shinkle, both were baptized after heart-felt testimonies.  It was so amazing to see their outward expression of love for Jesus Christ.  What a perfect day to get baptized, too?!

 Here is a quick family pic after church!  This is pretty much the only pic that I snatched of Ian wearing his Easter outfit.  Isn't he a cutie?!

Thanks for a great weekend, Harlan and Cathy!!

Happy 18 Months, Ian!

Dear Ian,

Happy 18 months!  The past year and a half have been amazing for us!  You are doing sooo many new things now, and we are having so much fun watching you & trying to keep up with you!

You have quite the vocabulary now.  The list of words that you can say include: mama, dada, mommy, daddy, nanny, poppy, nana, ga-ma, mimi, night night, bath, bobbies (bubbles), bees (books), lala (Elmo), baba (bottle), wawa (water), ooey (Zoey), Jesca (Jessica), cookie, eat, car, ball, block, vroom, bye bye, hi, uh oh, Heddie, Edie, JayJay, hot, brrrr, choo choo, moo, tractor, roar, dog, doggy, nee (nose), no no, eye, duck, and boat...those are the words I can remember, at least.  You are a little sponge now and can repeat nearly everything we say!  Uh oh...now we have to be careful! :)

You still love cars and everything that's transportation-related.  When we drive home from Jessica's house (your babysitter), you see the train tracks go over the bridge and say, "Choo choo!"  You point at the train with a huge grin on your face.  You like to also play with your Rock-n-Roll Elmo doll, your Fisher Price Little People Zoo with animals, and anything that's not supposed to be a toy (i.e. remote controls, cell phones, hairbrushes, etc).  We recently got a little play gym with a slide down in the basement, and you love to climb up and go down the slide.  You are also great at going up and down the stairs now!  We still have the gates up, just in case you try to get a little too brave. :)

Your favorite foods now are raisins, graham crackers ("cookies"), cereal, turkey hot dogs, cheese, and the fruit pouches that you can squeeze, and peas and carrots (you call them blocks and balls..haha).  You also like to dip your food in sauce.  Sometimes you eat the food, and sometimes you just lick of the sauce...haha!  You've had your first chocolate milk about 3 weeks ago and LOVED it!  We give you a little as a treat every now and then.  Bananas used to be a hit, but you don't seem to care for them as much now.

Your daily routine has changed because now you don't take your morning nap.  You typically take a nap from around noon until 2:30pm or so.  You are a good sleeper, but still have to have your paci.  You roll all over the bed and throw all of your toys and pillows out before you get comfy.  Around 7:45pm, we start our nighttime routine - bath with "bobbies" (bubble bath), baby massage, milk & reading books, then "night night."  You love to pick out your own books now, but will push them away if you don't like the story, or if mommy doesn't read fast enough!

Daddy has been taking a class at WSU on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Shelby and Mary watch you while he's at class.  You love playing with JJ and Sarah.  The other day when we pulled up to Shelby's house, you yelled, "Jay Jay!!"  It was adorable!!  It continues to amaze me how much you grow and learn everyday.

You are tall and thin.  We haven't had your 18 month doctor's appointment yet, but you have been wearing 18 month pants for at least 2 months now.  You have 16 teeth!  The only teeth left are are your last set of molars.  You've had 4 haircuts thus far, and you usually tolerate them well with the assistance of a sucker. :)

For your actual 18-month birthday, we celebrated by going to the Dallas World Aquarium and the Arboretum.  We were on vacation in Dallas, so you got to spend time with with Nanny, Aunt Heddie, Uncle Chuck, and Eden.

We love you, son!!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Afternoon at the park....

Today was a beautiful day, so Ian and I took a walk to the park.  There is a park in the neighborhood behind ours, with plenty of places to run around.  Ian loved the freedom, and I loved that he was so happy. :-D

 

Hot Rod Car Show

This weekend marked the Starbird-Devlin Hot Rod and Customs Car Show at Century II Center in Wichita.  Proceeds from admission benefited Jason's work (Wichita Children's Home), so Jason knew all of the details.  He thought that Ian would really enjoy seeing the "big" cars, since he LOVES all of his toy cars.  Jason was right!  Ian seemed to really like it.  He didn't act as excited as I thought he might, but I think that's because it was pretty crowded....probably overwhelmed him a little.  There were tons of neat cars and motorcycles.  Here are a few pics!

This reminded me of something that the Jetsen's would drive!

An old Harley Davidson!

Hudson is One!

Last weekend, we traveled to Enid to help my cousin's son, Hudson, celebrate his first birthday!  My cousin, Scott, and his wife, Ashley, did such an amazing job preparing for his first big day (although, I'm pretty sure Ashley is the mastermind for all of the adorable decor :)  The theme was "Winter One-derland"...so creative!  Too bad it was about 65 degrees outside on Saturday.  Given that Hudson's birthday is in mid-January, I'm sure he'll have a snowy celebration at some point.

The garland was so neat...gum drops and marshmallows!  Ashley ordered the design templates from Etsy

Loved the frosty punch!  She attached the gel-cling penguins to a punch bowl...so cute!

Candy cane posts in the living room

She had lots of kid-friendly foods...all so neatly displayed!

Yummy cake ball snowmen...the body was Funfetti cake and the top was chocolate

Month-by-month pics

Hudson's smash cake!

Mama with her little man!

Ian wasn't a fan of the hat

Getting ready for some cake

Scott, Ashley, and Hudson

Here's our little fam...

We had a great time helping Hudson celebrate!!  It's so crazy how much work can go into a 1-year-old's birthday....(I'm only speaking from experience!!)

Happy 1st Birthday, Hudson!!