It's a BOY!!

We had a dr. appointment on Friday and were able to find out we are having a little boy!! I can't wait for this experience. Lauren wasn't all that thrilled though. When we told her that she was going to have little brother she said "I want a girl!" She has come around though. Lauren will be a wonderful big sister and has already told me that she is going to help with the baby and help clean :) I love that little girl so much and cant wait for this little boy to get here. I am so excited to be a mommy again and Steve can't wait to have his little boy. Although our little girl loves to play in the dirt with Daddy. We haven't decided on a name yet, but we are working on it. I have already been looking online for boy bedding and trying to decide how to decorate his room. Our family will be complete with the arrival of this precious gift from God and we couldn't be more thrilled at the prospect of being Mommy and Daddy to a beautiful little girl and precious little boy!!

And Baby Makes 4

I know I haven't posted anything in so long that I bet you thought I forgot how!! We have been so blessed recently. We found out several weeks ago that we are going to have another baby!! This is something that we have prayed about for sometime now. Not necessarily to concieve but to bless us with the child that we have wanted in His time. I guess that time is now. We will be 10 weeks on Thursday. We have our first pre-natal appointment on Friday and had an ultrasound. Everything looked good and the Dr. is pleased with the pregnancy so far. Having another baby brings on a whole new list of things to do. Mainly to sell our house and get a bigger one!! Which is going to require getting a storage unit because our house simply can't hold all of our stuff along with Lauren's toys and Steve's office. 1300 square feet is not alot of space. The next problem we run into are the dogs. They need a new home. We dont have the space or time for them that they need. We have found a home for our lab with some wonderful friends of ours on the coast, but our sheltie still needs a new place to live. We have to do all of this in the next 6 months. It is a huge undertaking, but it is what's best for our growing family. We will get there and God will provide all our needs at the time He sees fit for us. That is such a comfort when things seem to be out of control.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!

Yes that's right folks we went to the circus. The Shrine Circus was in town last weekend and my Dad and Mary got tickets for us all. Lauren decided to not take a nap that day so I wasn't sure how the afternoon would go. She had a blast despite being tired. The circus started and she was hooked. She loved the tigers jumping around on pedistals. The dogs were probably her favorite act. They were amazing climbing ladders and walking on wires. She also liked the elephants, but not enough to ride one once she got close. She loved the ladies spinning on ropes because she thought they were butterflies. She even said "be careful butterfly". We left at intermission since she was so tired, but we had been there for about 2 hours. We went to eat at the Germantown Commissary. Which was wonderful!! We had a great time and Lauren got to see her first circus.

Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas!! Lauren was so excited for days before hand. She didn't want to go to sleep at night. We started off the Sunday afternoon before Christmas with my Mom's extended family. Then we had Christmas with my Dad and Mary on Tuesday night. Lauren has absolutely loved playing with everything my dad and Mary got her, especially her doll house and Archie puppy. She also loves the puppets that her cousins, Cayden and Cobe, sent her. We then move on to Christmas Eve Morning with Jerry's side of the family. We had a great time seeing Jeremy and Ashleigh again. Lauren decided to take a nap instead of opening most of her presents that morning. She did open her purse from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Ashleigh and had to take it shopping with her on the 26th. Christmas Eve Night we went to my Aunt Ronna's (my dad's sister) to have Christmas with my Dad's family. Lauren had a blast with her princess couch and Ryan's car. Once we got home and got her castle open, I didn't think we would get her out. She also loves the lucky duck game from Granny and Poppy and the mixer from the Marcantels. The next morning was Santa had come and her reaction was great!! She walked around the corner and looked under the tree and said "OOOOHHH!!!" She found her Little Einsteins Rocket first and loved it. Santa also brought her the little people learning village, bristle blocks, crayons and sticker books, aquadoodle, smartville alphabet train, a cabbage patch and doll bed. Santa was good to her! I think that is why she peeked around the corner the next morning to see if he had come back. That afternoon she finally finished opening presents from my Mom and Jerry. She has played with her kids tupperware so much already. Steve and I are already tired of her cooking and pouring us drinks. Friday night we exchanged presents with my Mom's brother, Paul and his family. Lauren got puzzles and books and money. We had breakfast Saturday morning with my Mom's dad and opened presents again. Lauren got more money. At this point I think the kid has more money in her savings account then we do. :) As you can tell we had a busy holiday season and that is only my family. We still have yet to have Christmas with Steve's family. I had to come back to work to get a break :) It was fun though!!

Christmas Time is Here!!

We have finally finished decorating the house and Lauren is so excited. She has an advent calendar where each day is a miniature book that doubles as an ornament. She loves to put them on the tree and then take them off to "read" them. She helped decorate the tree this year, so many of our ornaments around the bottom are on the same branch. I love watching her every morning when we get up and turn the tree lights on. She is just amazed that they come on by themselves (we have a remote!). She just stares at the lights and says "oooohh!". She is also thrilled with her daddy's stocking (it is a penguin). She thinks it is so funny. We have several ornaments that she loves to look at, but knows not to touch. She goes up the tree, points to the ornament as close as she can without touching it and says "choo choo" (a train) and Mickey (Mickey Mouse ball). She is also recently enamored with my Snowbaby collection, to the point where she hits her head on the glass in the curio cabinet trying to look at them. She is growing so fast and learning so much. It is hard to believe that she is 19 months old already. I can't wait until Christmas morning to see the look on her face when she realizes Santa came to see her. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Wisdom Teeth

I am not sure why we have wisdom teeth, but it would make sense that they should not have to be removed. Anyway, I had mine out last Thursday. All four were taken out at one time, which I think is probably better than doing it in stages. Needless to say I was out of it for a few days. I did manage to take Lauren to the Fall Festival at church on Halloween for about 30 minutes. More on that later. I thought I might starve to death after having these teeth out. A liquid diet is not great after 2 days. I need more substance. I finally moved up to mashed potatoes and then chicken and dumplings. I managed to eat pasta with meat sauce last night and garlic bread. It looks like everything is on track with the healing and hopefully I will be back to normal soon. I must say that I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for my mom and stepmom. They took care of Lauren for several days while I was on some great pain meds. I am looking forward to moving on and putting this all behind me.

Tatti's Wedding

This past weekend we traveled to Atlanta, GA for my sister, Tatti's, wedding. Lauren was a flower girl and did a great job I must say. We arrived late Wednesday night to get the weekend started. Thursday night I went to the bachlorette party with all my sisters and Tatti's friends to a tapas restaurant. We had a great time catching up with each other (since we never get to see each other). Friday we all went to Chris' house (the groom) to make flower arrangements and to finish up last minute items. Saturday at 2 was the big event. Everything was perfect. The flowers, decorations, bridal party couldn't have looked better. Especially Lauren (I may be a little biased). Tatti was walked down the aisle by her father and looked gorgeous in her white gown with red sash. The ceremony was really sweet and touching with the fathers saying a pray of blessing over the couple and my brother-in-law officiating. With the vows spoken and rings exchanged it was time to party. The reception was at a community center not too far from the church. Chris did an amazing job with the lighting and Mary, Paula, and Ronna did a wonderful job decorating the tables and such. I don't know if this reception would have happened if it hadn't been for Paula. She is such a wonderful person and good friend to Mary. The bride and groom left and went to Florida on their honeymoon. All in all it was a great but tiring weekend. We miss you guys already!!

Lauren in the white dress not wanting to take pictures!