Kayleigh's birthday dinner

We had Erik's family over for a pizza dinner last night. We bought pizza from Costco. It's really good if you have a membership and have never eaten their pizza! (Don't I get a refund if I plug their products??) We always have fun together, and there is never a dull moment with all of us around. I'm pretty sure the girls are trying to figure out why all of the men's voices become so much louder when they're together. We ladies still didn't have to talk that loudly to be heard over their yells. I guess it's a man thing...
Kayleigh was a little shy at first, but food brought her out of her shell. She ate a whole piece of pizza and then was ready to get down and play with her cousins Thor and Zac. It was funny because Kayleigh would keep a constant eye on Zac and then want to do whatever he was doing. You'll get to see that in the picture of Erik spinning Kayleigh around. Erik did it with Zac, so he had to spin Kayleigh around, too.
One thing we noticed this year from last was the change in how Kayleigh and Thor ate their cupcakes. Last year, Kayleigh was very delicate with hers at first. I guess in the last 365 days, she's realized how good icing and cake is. This year she went at it, and Thor was the less messy one.
Thanks everyone for your cards, emails and calls. I think it was a great day.

Happy birthday Kayleigh!!!

I can't believe that Kayleigh is two!! I'm pretty sure I said that last year when she turned one. This year has been an amazing year with so many changes. Her hair has grown so much this year. She has learned to walk, gotten a full mouth of teeth, she can speak in almost complete sentences, and just this week she started to get both feet off of the ground when she jumps. How can I forget going pee pee in the potty??? She has only had 1 accident today, and has been in big girl pants except for nap time. I know there are tons of other things that she has started to do this year, but those seem like the big things. We are so proud of our big girl and how much she has grown!



Yesterday she had a party at school, and I got this video of her before the kids had cupcakes and watermelon. It was funny because 3 of the little boys wouldn't come over for the song because they had seen the cupcakes. They were sitting in their seats waiting for snack time. It's a two minute video, so it's not short, but I think it's worth it.

Tonight we're having Erik's family over for dinner. We're going to have pizza and more cupcakes. Kayleigh does better with cupcakes than she does with regular cake. That means that we're not going to have an official "theme" for her party, but the girl is TWO. What does she know??? She just knows that she's going to get some sweets and gifts. What a day!`1

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enough said. :)

We're having a.....

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I decided I couldn't wait another 18 weeks to know if we are having another boy or a girl, so at my ultrasound this afternoon, I had the technician write down the gender on this card, and then I had to wait until Erik got home from work to find out what we're having. I really thought that I would be able to make it until the end and be surprised in the hospital, but that isn't the case. Ever since the last ultrasound, I have been dying to know what we're having! I dream about it and think about it all the time. When I would think about it, I would think of having another girl, because that's what I know. When I would dream about it, I am always pregnant with a boy. I was given no clue as to the gender.
The pictures are of the card that I made for Erik this week. I wanted something that was pretty and that could be kept in the new scrapbook.

"No, Kayleigh do it!"

Ahhh...the wonderful age of 2! And we're not even there yet! I think changing Kayleigh's bed to a big girl bed has totally changed this girl's attitude! It took me twice as long as usual to get Kayleigh up and out the door for school this morning. She has now decided that she wants to take her jammies off, put her clothes on, and not let Mommy touch her toothbrush. Silly me decided to put her shoes and socks on at home this morning since it's cold outside (!) but that backfired as she still took them off on the way to school.
I am glad that Kayleigh wants to do so much by herself, and I know it's going to be helpful in the near future, but it is a little annoying right now as I am on a bit of a schedule for the next week and a half with school. This week we have a little leeway, but she's in trouble next week when I have to be at school by 8:45.
Kayleigh tried to go pee-pee yesterday at school, but didn't actually do it until I got there to pick her up. It's okay because I'm fine with her just getting used to sitting on the potty and wanting to go. We can be more hardcore this summer when we can spend a few days at home officially learning the potty ropes. It was funny because she said she wanted to go this morning when we got to school, but I figured she wouldn't do anything when her diaper was wet. (She didn't.) Then, another little boy wanted to go who is NOT potty training, and he did it! After he went and got the praise, Kayleigh wanted to sit on the potty again. I knew it was too soon for her to have to go again, but what the heck? Let her do it and not frustrate her by telling her no. The kids are in a new classroom with a little potty in it, and I think they're excited about their new "toy".

Our big girl!

Erik and I decided to finally change Kayleigh's crib to a toddler bed after talking about it for a couple of weeks. She has disliked being in her crib for awhile, so we figured we might as well bite the bullet. She has a long night Friday night. She never got out of the bed, but kept waking up and wanting one of us to come up with her. She took a good nap on Saturday afternoon and slept all night last night. Woohoo!! Today when I took her up for her nap she tried to follow me out the door, but I closed it and we have one of those handles on it to make it harder to open. She must have put herself back to bed, because that's where she was when she woke up! This girl is so easy!

This was our week to help out with the kids downstairs at church. Kayleigh has moved up to a new room recently to be with more kids her age. That room has a little potty in it. While Erik and I were down there with her, she came up to me and said that she wanted to go potty. I have allowed her to sit on the toilet and have encouraged her to try it, but I'm not in any way trying to push the issue...I'm saving that for this summer! But, when she said she wanted to go, I figured why not? Sure enough, she sat on the potty and PEED!!! I was soooo excited that I almost started calling everyone from the bathroom! After her nap today, I asked her if she wanted to try again and she did. And she went again!! This girl is soooo easy! I'm going to talk to her teachers at day care about letting her try during the day, but again, I don't want to say that we are officially potty training because I don't know what it'll be like for her at day care. I think it'll be a lot easier when we're at home for the summer and can spend the day inside practicing. Of course, she can always learn at Grandma and Abuelo's house while she stays with them! :)

Europe update

So...Erik and I are leaving in less than 3 weeks for our big European vacation. We have officially bought our train tickets and have reserved rooms at hotels. I think that means we're ready to go! At least I know we can get there and have places to stay. I'm sure the rest of the trip will fall into place. We know what we want to do in each city, but we haven't booked any tours or anything.

"More happy to you??"

First, let me say that I don't know how Kayleigh learned the Happy Birthday song. She has sung it before, but none of her classmates have had a birthday recently, and I don't think we have sung it around her very much. Today I was in the day care office with Kayleigh, and I saw a sign for free cupcakes. Since I was starving, I decided to get one. Kayleigh first asked for some "happy to you", which I figured out was the cupcake. I gave her a little bite of the cake, but not the icing. After her first bite she kept asking, "More happy to you??" It was so cute that I couldn't resist!

Muffins with Mommy

Kayleigh's day care had "Muffins with Mommy" today for Mother's day. It was fun to get to go this year. I think Kayleigh was sick last year and we missed it. She didn't really sit down to eat with me because there were other kids in there running around and she wanted to join them. She had about a bite and a half of her muffin. I had a good time talking to some of the other moms, mostly a couple of girls from church. I saved the muffin that Kayleigh grabbed off of the table for her to eat at snack time in her classroom. She was NOT happy when I had to leave, and that always makes it hard. She had been distracted for a little while, but then started talking about wanting more strawberries. I think when she realized I was going to leave she was suddenly starving...or just starving for attention. You decide.
Happy Friday! Hopefully my students will be good today and I can have a good day before the weekend.

A picture of me...

I thought I would put up an updated picture of me and my new baby belly. I think I'm extra obsessed with how I look and if I'm carrying differently than I did with Kayleigh since we're not finding out what we're having. It probably makes it worse that the nurse said how obvious it was to her. At first I thought I was carrying lower than I did with Kayleigh, but then after looking at old preg-o pictures, I decided that it's about the same. I seem to push out farther up top, if that makes sense, and it'll be awhile before the bottom half catches up with the top half. Hopefully this obsession will go away after a few days and I can resume life as usual. I have a feeling this is going to start all over again on the 27th when I get another ultrasound. I'll try not to dwell on it, but what do you think of my two pictures?



Me at 18 weeks with #2


Me at 20 weeks with Kayleigh

New baby pictures

In case you haven't heard, we had our big ultrasound this morning. I think I surprised everyone by not finding out the sex of the baby. So far I'm glad I didn't cave. I can't wait to meet this little one, too! The heartbeat was good and strong, all of the organs are developing like they should, and this baby was showing his/her "stuff" for the whole world to see, and Erik and I didn't peek!
I did realize, though, that Erik is going to get to tell everyone the name/sex of the baby at the hospital after I deliver, so I won't get to be a part of that, but I think he's going to have to go out there with the video camera rolling to get everyone's reactions. So parents, get your surprised and excited faces ready for the big day!! You only have 21 weeks to practice!

I tried to get pictures and video of how Kayleigh acts in the mornings, but she likes the camera too much, and whenever she would see it, she would say, "cheese!" I'm glad she'll show off for the camera, but it doesn't give a good glimpse into our morning. She was cracking me up this morning diving under her pillow. I would then start asking where Kayleigh went, to which she would reply, "Kayleigh hiding". Too funny.
Yes, Kayleigh has a full sized pillow. It's because she loves Erik's and my pillow so much that I decided to get one of her own.