Lots to catch up on!

I hope you all haven't given up on us. With the busyness of life, sometimes our poor blog gets neglected. But I will try to catch you up. I'm doing great! I've been trying just to soak up the goodness of being in the second trimester. In a few weeks things will start to get uncomfortable. I'm currently 27 weeks along.
Andrew is doing well. His vocabulary has finally started to take off. He has maybe 10-15 words that he will use without being prompted, but he has maybe 30 or so that he will repeat if he is reminded. It's so fun to hear his little voice and what words he will pick up next.
And not to leave out my dear hubby, he is busy with tax season so we don't see too much of him these days.
Here are a few pics of what we have been up to lately

In case you are curious, this is what I looked like at 26 weeks prego:



















I'm so glad that Andrew enjoys reading books. My heart melts when I catch him reading quietly in the corner.



















Andrew loves cheese and usually complains/begs for more when it is gone. Imagine his delight when I peeled a piece off his cheek :)














Andrew in the snow. We haven't seen too much of the white stuff around here this winter.


































Love the pure joy on his face! We bought him a stool so he could wash his own hands. This is a hit day after day.







































Matchbox cars are the toy of choice around here. I'm amazed how long he plays with one single car!



















Ryan getting Andrew all riled up right before bedtime














A sensory project gone wrong. I thought Andrew playing in Cool Whip instead of finger paints would be a little easier on ME to clean up. I should have guessed that he would rather eat it than play in it. So we cut that play time short before he ate a whole tubs worth.














My friend, Kelley, brought over a slide for Andrew. He sure does love that thing! I love the facial expressions I captured.

It's a Girl!!!

We received big news yesterday...our second child will be a daughter!! At 20 weeks and 1 day, she weighs in at 12 ounces and is absolutely beautiful!! We can't wait to meet you!!!

"Talking"

I don't know what happened in today's news to rile Andrew up, but I sure loved hearing him rant about it!

20 months

So it's almost Christmas and we have no snow on the ground. Usually I wouldn't mind this, but I've really been looking forward to taking Andrew outside to play in the snow. We had one snow fall of about 2 inches or so. In the pictures coming up, you will see him having a great time even in just a few inches of snow.
Andrew has also been learning a few words. He is a little behind in his vocabulary. He 'talks' all the time, we just don't know what he is saying. The words we can understand are 'go', 'down', 'downstairs', and 'Mmmmm, milkies' (aka: milk).
In other news, I am now 18 weeks along in the pregnancy. I have a nice round belly and am feeling great! We will hopefully find out the gender of our baby by the end of this month.

Always the helper! We hope his love of shoveling the snow continues for a long time :)





























And here, Andrew is helping Daddy fix a door knob.

big news & more...

As you can see from the picture, our big news is that we are pregnant! In this picture I am 12 weeks along. Due date is May 17, 2012. I was shocked that my belly popped so early. When I was pregnant with Andrew I didn't start showing until week 18.















My 2 handsome guys














Andrew's 'cool' look















Andrew dressed up as an alligator for Halloween this year. He didn't quite understand the idea of 'trick or treat' yet, but he sure did have fun running up and down the streets in his costume.



















Picking through all his goodies. He basically had fun just throwing all his candy on the floor.














Funny face :)














Andrew loves to play in the dishwasher. If I don't fully click it shut, he will get into it as in this picture

18 months

At 18 months, Andrew's growth continues to be off the charts. He gained 2 lbs 8 oz, now weighing a total of 32 lbs 10 oz. He also grew almost 2 inches in just the past 3 months. Amazing! He has a few new interests: turning light switches on and off; shapes (he's particularly good at pointing out moons & stars); and his favorite food is now kiwi. He has 8 teeth and 2 more growing in on the bottom which has resulted in more drooling, more thumb-sucking and more finger gnawing. Poor guy! And he finally got his first pair of 'real' shoes. Up until this point he has been wearing soft-soled shoes. But with rainy and snowy weather on the way, he needed something more substantial. The funny thing is he wouldn't wear them for the longest time. I would put them on his feet and he would just stand there and cry, like his feet were in cement. Anyway, we are finally making progress though he is still a little clumsy.

My little helper

My dear Andrew has become quite the little helper these days. I love it! He helps outside in the yard, or unloading the dishwasher or dryer. It may take a little longer with his help, but watching him 'help' just warms my heart. He's always going to be willing to do chores, right?!

Sweeping the deck:



















Putting yard waste in the lawn bag, mostly acorns at this point. We must have a million of them in our yard:


































Dusting the floors:



















But at the end of the day, we still have time to have some fun. Pushing his bike, instead of riding it, is a big hit these days: