Time for a Baby Pool!

ENTER your best GUESS!!!

http://bebepool.com/babysantan

My official due date is Thursday, October 13, 2011!  So far this baby has decided not to budge just yet, and I am anxiously waiting to find out when he will decide to arrive.

When do YOU think he will arrive??  Also...what will his length, weight, hair color, and eye color be?

Let's hear your best guess!  I am curious to find out who's guess will be the closest!

Guess Here

Thanks for participating in our fun little Baby Pool!  :)

Happy 9th Birthday to Logan!

We just can't believe Logan turned 9 this year!  How is that possible?!?!  He is growing up so fast before our eyes.  It's sad to think he's already half way to age 18.  Crazy!!

We celebrated his birthday with a small family party this year, since he would not be in town for his birthday weekend.  Look at all the gifts he received.  He was so blessed!

Originally, we were going to plan a big party with a Lego theme, but since that didn't work out this year, Derek attempted to make a homemade Lego cake for him.  It is the shape of a square Lego with 4 little Lego men standing on top.  The toughest part was smoothing out the icing, but he did a great job!  One of these days I plan to take a cake decorating class to learn how to decorate a cake like a professional.

Logan really loved his cake, especially the little Lego guys!

After opening all his presents, we surprised him with one last present in the driveway....a new bike!  He had outgrown his old bike and was very much in need of a new one.  He LOVES it and rides it down the street and around the block all the time.

Happy Birthday, Logan!  We love you!!!

It's a.....!

The time has finally come...We recently went to our 20 week doctor appointment. Hurray!!!

It's my favorite appointment since we get to do the ultrasound and find out whether baby is a boy or girl!!! It's just like opening your favorite Christmas present. :)

The thought of waiting until the baby is born to find out which one we are having crossed my mind for a second. But, I am such a planner and could not wait! I need to know which colors to decorate with and what clothes to buy.

The whole experience is so amazing and surreal! We were able to see the heartbeat, legs, arms, head, stomach, etc. Baby was moving around like crazy!

Without having to leave you further in suspense, we found out our little baby is a....BOY!!!!

We are so blessed and excited! Now the hard part.... to come up with a name. Help!

Suggestions, please! :)

Turning Two!!

The week of Elise's 2nd birthday, we constantly heard so much excitement come from our little girl.  From, "Hey Mommy...It's my birthday!" to "Birthday party...Mom!" and "Look Mama...I'm Two!" as she tried to hold up 2 fingers to show her age.  It was the cutest thing EVER!

Not only is Elise talking a TON and saying so many new words, phrases, and now sentences, she is understanding things so much more and it's fun to have conversations with her!

For her 2nd birthday party, we decided on an ice cream theme since it's one of her favorite foods!  We brought little ice cream cups to school on her actual birthday to share with her friends.  And her party a few days later was an ice cream theme at the park, complete with ice cream cone cupcakes and ice cream sundaes!  She had a blast!!!

I loved watching her face light up and her expressions as she took in this celebration all for her!

Becoming a Family of Five!

We were pleasantly surprised to find out 4 weeks ago that I am pregnant with another baby!!  We are so very excited for the newest family member to make us a family of 5 in October this year!

A child is such a blessing from God, and we are excited to see what is in store for us as we prepare for this new little one.  I am 10 weeks along in my pregnancy right now and doing great!

Here is the ultrasound photo, our baby's first picture, taken on St. Patty's Day (3/17/11)!

Recent Favorite Phrases

Lately we have been hearing so many words and phrases come out of Elise's mouth.  I love it!  She is two months away from her 2nd birthday, and she talks non-stop!  Some of her words are just SO stinkin' cute!!

Derek and I have become very fond of the new names she has started calling us!  Of course, she still says Dada and Mama, but she came up with a twist to those names on her own.  She calls Derek by "Deeda" instead of Daddy.  And she just recently started calling me "Mommia".  We both love that she made them up on her own, and we hope they stick for awhile!

She also is always telling us, "I wanna race!"  Race sounds more like "wrace" with a W in front of it.  In which we then reply, "Ready, Set, Go!"  She pretty much runs all around the house now!  :)

When we ask her "Where is your baby doll?" or "Where is Daddy?" and others, her immediate response is "Right there!"

Every word recently seems to have an "ia" or "y" at the end of it too!  She wants to get "up-ia"; To read a "book-y"; To drink some "Milk-y"; and Wants to wipe her "Nose-y", etc.

Cats and Kittens are called "Meow", Dogs and Puppies are called "Woofs", Cows are called "Moo", and Horses are called "Neigh."  For some reason she will not call them by their name, only by their sound!  It's really funny!!!

We have been practicing the alphabet and counting numbers.  She usually starts her alphabet by saying "A B C", but then starts over and repeats those first 3 letters again and again, unless we help her go through the rest of the letters.  It's very cute!  And, I can't for the life of me get her to say the number "1"!  When we count together, I'll say "1" and she will respond by saying "2", and then she repeats every number after that until we get to 10.  But I cannot get her to repeat "1" for whatever reason!

Now for the not-so-cute phrases....Her instant response to everything when in certain moods is "No!", and when she doesn't want someone to touch or take something, she says, "Mine!".

I know there are a TON of other cute words she says every day, but I am drawing a blank to more right now.

And, the BEST phrase of all that she learned at daycare is, "Go Buckeyes!"  It's the CUTEST!!!  She goes around saying it all the time.  Ha ha!  :)

A great start to 2011!

Ending 2010, we were disappointed that Elise still had not figured out that she could walk on her own yet.  She constantly asked us to walk with her.  Or she would take a step or two then drop instantly to the ground, but would not just let go and walk.  We went to her 18 month appointment with the doctor in mid December, which was when she was actually 19 1/2 months, and the doctor was even puzzled.  This was the first time she had a child who had not walked by 18 months, so the next step would be to have her hips x-rayed.  

We had decided to not schedule the x-ray until after the holidays, in hopes that she would just suddenly start walking.  It still had not happened into the beginning of January, and yet we kept putting off making the x-ray appointment.  

Finally, on January 11, 2011 our prayers were answered!  I was putting Elise to bed, and she suddenly got all excited about her toys in her room the minute we walked through the door.  She started walking faster, let go of my hand, and took 7 or 8 steps until she realized she was walking on her own.  Then she dropped to the ground, of course.  The realization that she walked on her own was exciting to her, so she wanted to continue doing the same routine over and over again.  She went back to the door, said "Walk!", then started walking a few steps without holding on until dropping to the ground.  

Then, I sat on the ground within 3 steps of her toy kitchen.  I asked her to walk to her kitchen and bring food back to me.  We did this several times, while I moved further apart each time, with her taking no more than 7 or 8 steps total each time.  Well, we made progress!  I was so happy just for that, but it was now past her bed time and we couldn't keep this going all night. 

So, I walked over to her crib and told her it was time to go to bed.  Of course she did not want to go to sleep, she was on a high from walking without help.  Instead, she walks out the door of her room and keeps walking.  I thought, what in the world!!!  Did she really just do that?  

And from there she walked and walked and walked across the entire house for another 30 minutes.  Never mind that it is now waaaaaaaay past her bedtime!  Oh well!!  I was too excited to care!  We waited until Daddy came home to see her walking all over the place, and then we finally decided to put her to bed.  WOW!

Not only did 2011 start with our little girl walking on her own, this past week she went pee on the potty for the 1st time!  

She received a potty as one of her Christmas presents (no we are not mean parents, and yes she got plenty of toys too).  I just wanted to slowly introduce her to sitting on it at first.  She screamed the first time I sat her on it.  But I kept asking her every now and then if she wanted to sit on the potty.  Sometimes she would say "No," and sometimes she would say "Yes."  

After sitting on the potty 5 or 6 times in the past couple weeks with no results, she just yesterday decided to sit on it before her bath and read a magazine.  Next thing I know, there is a puddle in the bottom of her little potty!  Are you serious?!  I couldn't believe my eyes at first.  It didn't scare her, she just sat there looking nervous.  We praised her for going pee pee on the potty!!  Yay!  Her eyes suddently lit up, and she became excited along with us and clapped for her accomplishment!

Needless to say, January has been a very exciting month for us!  God is sooo good!!!