A at 15 Months

I feel like it's pretty official that this kid is not a baby anymore! It's crazy how much he has been growing and learning these past three months.

At his 15 months checkup, his stats are:

• Weight: 22.5 lbs.
• Height: 31 inches
• Diaper Size: Still wearing the Size 3's.
• Clothing Size: Finally moved up to 12 Months outfits, but they're still a bit big.
• Likes: Singing and dancing to music, talking, exploring.
• Dislikes: Being tired, when the toys he's organizing aren't cooperating.

We think he is adorable and so much fun every day. His personality is continuing to develop, particularly the fact that he becomes very focused and serious while working on a task as well as his independence and stubbornness. The tantrums aren't always fun but I love seeing that he knows what he wants and his willingness to figure out how to get what he wants. Even though I never want him to grow up, I know he will and I love seeing a glimpse into what kind of an adult he might be.

He is very organized and spends most of his day collecting things, sorting them according to whatever he's in the mood for that day, and putting them in piles or lines or into a container. Usually he likes to put things in piles according to their shape and sometimes by color. It's amazing to watch his focus and attention to detail with things. His favorite toys aren't toys; he prefers organizing things such as his markers, board game pieces, mom's makeup or essential oils.

I am amazed at his comprehension level. He understands how to do almost anything I ask him, even if I only ask verbally and don't point or gesture to help explain anything. He loves talking and making animal sounds and is very animated and expressive. He also seems to have a lot of musical understanding and enjoys pretending to play instruments, such as he will clap his hands and make a crashing sound as if he is playing cymbals. If a song comes on the radio that has a strong beat, he claps along {usually very accurately with the beat!} and says "boom" as if he's playing the drums. As someone who loves music, I've loved seeing his enthusiasm for music!

He has had a bit of a love/hate relationship with taking baths in his vast 15 months of life. He loved it when he was younger but has had a couple bouts of being afraid of the water that we aren't sure what caused. But luckily, with the weather getting warmer, he has started loving bathtime again. And splashing everywhere!

Speaking of the weather warming up, we've been loving that we can finally get to the park more often again. He loves running around on the grass! He likes slides and swings but his favorite thing to do outside is to collect rocks. At our favorite local park, there are some little bridges that he loves to drop the rocks through the slats of the bridge down into the little creek below.

I love the park because now that he can run around on his own, he gets worn out by the time we head home... which means his naps have been really amazing lately! And good naps means this worn-out pregnant mom gets a chance to rest and recuperate in time to play with him again once he wakes up!

Although it seemed to take him awhile to start walking, his days of crawling quickly became long gone and he runs everywhere these days. He is quite curious and investigates things, like when he hears the loud noise outside on Monday mornings so he runs to the window to check out the garbage truck.

He enjoys reading his books and often begs to have the bucket of books dumped out so he can look through them. His favorites are the books with animals but he also enjoys books with things he can count {which he does by pointing at each one and counting "two, two, two."}

He loves discovering his body parts and can point to his nose, eyes, mouth, ears, head, hair, tummy, fingers, hands, toes, feet, legs, and arms. He seems to have a real knack for timing {like when we're trying to keep him quiet during prayers in church} to suddenly want to find our "noooose"'s quite loudly.

If I sneak a bite of something or chew gum, he has a sixth sense for food and gets in my face and says "aaahhhhh" meaning that I'm supposed to open my mouth and show him. And then he wants to eat some too.

He loves his milk and will stand by the fridge until he gets some when he wants it. He especially gets giddy when he sees a bottle of milk, but we have been trying to wean him off the bottle and just give him sippy cups. I never realized what a challenge this would be! A is very attached to his bottle as well as his bink and blankey.

When it comes to food, he eats like he's starving. I swear his little brain is thinking "What?? Put just one cracker in my mouth at one time?! Preposterous." So instead, he shoves in as much as he can without choking {and he makes himself look like a chipmunk}.

More than anything else in the world, this kid loves his dad. I've jokingly referred to M as "best friend," and apparently it stuck because the other day I was snuggling on the couch with A and told him he was my best friend... to which he promptly replied "No. Dad." This little boy is lucky to have the best dad in the whole world, so it's no wonder he loves him so much!

Amy's Mission Call

I'm not sure I'm ready to share her with the rest of the world yet {yeah, I'm a little selfish!} but I'm so proud of this lady! She is going to be an amazing missionary for our church!!

I've been so excited for her to get her call for several weeks now. She is one of my dearest friends and greatest examples in my life. As I have watched her grow up, she constantly amazes me. She is beautiful and tons of fun to be around, yet she has always made mature choices and stayed strong in what she believes.

When she told me her mission call was in the mailbox at our parents' house, I pretty much flew out of the house, threw A in the car, and we hit the road to Idaho! M had some commitments with work that he couldn't leave, so he wasn't able to come with us.

A was a sweetheart and slept part of the way {car naps are a rare occurrence for him lately!} so we were able to have a pretty smooth drive despite not having M to keep him company.

As soon as we arrived at my parents' house, Amy couldn't wait any longer! She wanted to keep it small and opened her call with just the immediate family. It was neat for me to have the chance to share that moment with her!

She will be serving in Louisville, Kentucky and speaking Spanish! She leaves at the end of June.

I am so excited for her! I am proud of her and know that her decision to serve is exactly what she is supposed to be doing with her life right now. I will miss her terribly, especially because she will be leaving only a couple of weeks before my baby girl is due. But I am extremely happy for her at the same time!

A and I were able to stay for three days. We definitely missed M a lot {A was so cute when we would FaceTime M each night before bed}! But it was also therapeutic for me to be able to spend the quality time with my family, especially my dad and Amy. At the end of January, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and this was the first time I was able to see him since the diagnosis. So between having Amy leaving for 18 months and having my dad going through his treatment, plus add in my crazy pregnancy hormones, I have felt pretty emotional and homesick lately! It was so amazing to be able to spend the time with them and watch A bond with my family.

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk!

A took five steps yesterday!

For the past couple weeks, he's been toying more and more with the idea that this walking thing might be beneficial. And the last few days, he's been gaining a lot more confidence in himself and trying to walk on his own and not just when we beg him.

While most of his little friends have been starting to walk around their first birthdays, A seems content with crawling {I can't say I blame him—he's pretty speedy on all fours!} and hasn't cared much about walking. I've been starting to get a bit nervous because his pediatrician said that they will start to be concerned if he still isn't walking by his 15-month appointment... and A will be 14-months in a week. I've had to remind myself that he has two stubborn parents, so of course the boy does what he wants and in his own time frame! But he's finally starting to go for it and his little wobbly steps are so dang cute!

But whatever he might have been slacking off on in the walking department, he has definitely overcompensated in the talking arena!!

This silly little boy is quite the jabberbox {and I can't help but wonder if it's because he's stuck at home all day with a mom who loves talking... poor kid!} As I've mentioned before, his first word was "dad," and then he added "mom" and "no" and "ba" for ball. He loves mimicking sound effects with his dad and I think that has really helped him discover lots of sounds he can use for words. Once he caught on that saying words helped us to understand what he wanted, his speaking has caught on like wildfire. His words now include:

• dad
• mom
• no {which he usually says when he knows he's doing something naughty}
• on no! {which he uses very dramatically!}
• woah!
• ba {ball}
• baba {bottle}
• bluh {blankey}
• beh {bink}
• go! {also said very dramatically!}
• ca-cuh {cracker}
• cuh-cut {chocolate}
• puh {up}
• dow {down}
• po {pull}
• pah {pouch}
• chs {cheese}
• teef {teeth}
• bye {which he usually adds dad after, even if it's not dad he's saying bye to}
• pat pat pat beeee {along with the show Little Einsteins for Rocket to blastoff!}
• two {he says over and over when "counting" something once we say one}
• moooo {what a cow says}
• bbbffff {what an elephant says, complete with gesturing the trunk with his hand}
• uhf-uhf-uhf {what a dog says}
• cak-cak {what a duck says}
• bee-bee-bee-bee {what a fox says, as learned from the music video}
• pvvf {please}
• dane chew {thank you}

It's so fun to get to communicate with him so much!

Surprise Surprise—Again!

Today was the gender revealing for our second little baby!! If someone would have told me a year ago that I would be equally giddy about knowing the second baby's gender as I had been about the first, I don't think I would have believed them. But oh gosh dang, I have been counting down the weeks and today seemed to take forever until our 2:30 appointment rolled around!

So, the thing is, I knew we were having another boy. Like seriously, I just KNEW it. This pregnancy has been so similar to my pregnancy with A, complete with minimal morning sickness and feeling well overall, that I interpreted it as a sign that it was another boy. {M wasn't convinced either way, but I think I had him swayed slightly more towards a boy just because I was so certain.}

Well... I'm officially 0-2 on this guessing game {so much for mother's intuition!} because our baby is a GIRL!!! And yes, I'm thrilled to not be outnumbered by the boys in our family anymore. There will be so much pink in this house and I'm already certain she’s gorgeous!

We were able to catch some awesome glimpses of her during the ultrasound, but most of the still-frame pictures they printed out for us ended up blurry. The only one that turned out clearly was the one pointing out that she is a girl... but flash forward 16 years, and I think both she and I will be grateful I didn't post her nakedness on the internet. So instead, my apologies for the blurry {and slightly creepy ultrasound-esque skeleton} picture of the front her face. I promise she has a really cute profile.

And I love her tiny little legs, feet and hands! She's simply precious.

I always look forward to hearing the baby's heartbeat to reassure me that everything is healthy and going great. Today, when the ultrasound tech locked in on her heartbeat and turned the volume up so we could hear it, A started dancing. I guess he likes hearing the heartbeat too and approves of his sister already because she makes good music.

So many friends as well as our families were anxiously awaiting the result of the gender reveal. We thought it would be a cute idea to have A help us announce the news to family and friends, so we set up a little photo shoot, bought pink balloons and made a little sign... but A had his own plan plan in mind. He bawled. We ended up with a lot of hilarious pictures of him appearing devastated about having a sister, but were finally able to snag this one good one thanks to some crazy antics from M that finally got A to give a little smile.

We think she is beautiful we are SO excited to have her be a part of our family!! I already love her so much!! And I am so glad to know for sure that she’s a girl because now I need {that's right, it's a need and not a want...} to start buying and sewing all sorts of pink, frilly stuff!

20-Week Ultrasound

Today was our Baby Girl's 20-week ultrasound. I think she wanted us to know that she's gonna be a wild child because the very first glimpse of her was with her mouth wide open like she was screaming! She was extremely wiggly and already seems like she has a ton of personality. I can’t believe how much I already love her!

After we got home and I had a quiet moment alone with just myself and and my ever-growing belly, I got to think about how excited I am to snuggle this sweet little girl in my arms! Most days, I really hope the 9-month plan goes slowly because I'm not sure I'm prepared or competent to be the mom of two sweet babies. But seeing our cute baby girl on the ultrasound screen really squelched any patience I had and made me wish the next 4½ months can fly by so I can hold my daughter!

It’s still kinda crazy to think we’re going to have two little ones in our house and keeping us busy all hours of the day... and night! But then at the same time, it’s also crazy realizing how much I love her already!! Oh em gee, I am so obsessed with babies.

We're Having Another Baby!!

BABY #2 IS ON THE WAY!! And we are so so excited!

We told close friends and extended family with the Christmas card we sent out:

But we let A be the one to make the announcement with his cute little t-shirt when we told his grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Finding out about Baby #2 came as a bit of a surprise, even though we had started talking about adding to our little family soon, but we are absolutely thrilled! I’m twelve weeks along right now, which means that Baby #2 should be joining us in the middle of July.

Baby A and Baby #2 will be about 19 months apart, which will possibly mean mass chaos in our house with two kids under the age of two! But I am so excited for them to be so close in age because they can be great friends.

So far, Baby #2 has been really nice to me with only a little mild morning sickness, just like it was when I was pregnant with A. Other than being tired, I feel great and am so excited to meet our new little one in about six more months!

This baby will be the second grandkid for my parents and this the fourth grandkid on M’s side with two boy cousins and a big brother all under the age of two. Lots of fun!

A's First Year

Each month, we documented A's growth. I love seeing each of the photos side-by-side and seeing how he's changed over these twelve months!

Happy 1st Birthday A!!!

I can't believe this munchkin is ONE! Time has flown by way too quickly. It seems crazy that it was already a year ago that we were holding our new little boy for the first time!

And this weekend, we partied like crazy to celebrate his first birthday!

We started celebrating a day early by having a friend party here at our house yesterday. We invited every little friend he has, but not all of them could make it {I didn't realize what insanity I was asking for when I sent out invitations to over twenty babies! Haha!} so it was a perfect sized party with the seven friends who were able to come. I'm so grateful for my sweet friends and their cute babies for coming to support A and help make his birthday extra fun!

The party theme was Henry Hugglemonster, a Disney Junior TV show that A really enjoys. I made some decorations and served A's favorite treats: graham crackers, Ritz crackers, and baby cheeses, along with baby-sized cupcakes!

And then the kids played and played and played. We got a few good pictures of some of the kids together, but most of the shots were blurry—typical of the fast-paced action of babies moving non-stop!

And, of course, I needed to document all of the cute moms and babies that came! So we took a group photo, which all the babies were well-behaved for... except for the birthday boy!

Then today, on his actual birthday, we had a family party with his grandparents, aunts and uncles. He was, once again, extremely spoiled by all of his adoring family members!! His cousin, Oliver, loved helping him try out all of his new toys!

A also got his very own birthday cake! It was so cute to watch him play with the frosting and explore the possibilities that exist from having a whole plate of sugar at his fingertips.

Even though he could have devoured the entire cake, he loved loved picking off the decorative pieces of blue frosting and only ate little pieces at a time. And he gladly shared with anyone who requested a bite! He's the cutest little sweetheart!

I love this little boy so much and hope he had the greatest birthday a one-year-old could ever ask for!