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!  :)