Cookout with friends

Yesterday we had our good friends over for a cookout. All the kids had a great time playing together and the adults were able to get in a good visit. We don't get together nearly as often as we would like to, so it was nice to have this time together.

Gracie getting in some practice

All the kiddies!

Playtime

Little Miss Lilah

Giving Lilah kisses

Grace at 21 months

I am a little bit behind, but last weekend Grace turned 21 months! At 21 months Grace has entered into the playing pretend stage. Her baby dolls have become a big part of her day and she loves to take care of them. Grace also likes to play pretend with her doll house and play with her play food. We get interesting dinners made for us at any time of the day! At 21 months Grace has also started 'testing' us. She knows what will make mommy and daddy upset and what will get her sent to timeout. Sometimes she does not so great things just to get a reaction from us...who would have thought?! Gracie's vocabulary continues to grow like crazy. She says words or phrases and we think to ourselves...when did you learn to say that? Now that Grace is able to express herself more we have seen her little memory come into play. I will tell her something before bed and the next morning she will bring it up again. At 21 months Grace loves her family, running, baby dolls, puppies, juice, bubbie baths, naps, snacks, playing in the basement, and girly things. Grace doesn't like getting her teeth brushed, getting dirty, when someone isn't playing with her, and falling and getting boo boos.
Happy 21 months sweet girl!

Brookfield Zoo

Today we took a family trip to Brookfield Zoo. With the extremely hot weather and our busy schedules this was actually our first family zoo trip of the season. We were able to explore some areas that we haven't seen yet this season, Tropic World and The Swamp, and saw our usual favorites the giraffes and bears. We had a great morning together as a family. At dinner tonight we asked Grace what her favorite part of the zoo was and she told us, "The Monkeys!" Here are some picture from out trip.

Phillips Park Zoo

On Friday Grace and I went to Phillips Park Zoo in Aurora. It is a small zoo that has wildlife animals...and it's free! Grace enjoyed looking at the animals, but she seemed to enjoy walking up and down the hill of rocks and dancing to the music they were playing more.

Children's Museum

Gracie completed the summer reading program through the Naperville library and one of her prizes was a free pass to the Dupage Children's Museum. Today seemed like a great day to go! We got there right when it opened and ran into my friend Brittan and her son Garrett. We played with them for a little bit and then did some exploring of our own. This was actually my first time there, so it was fun to explore right along with Grace. She had a great time and was too busy to look at the camera for any picture! I think her favorite part was the pretend train they had set up. The kids can pretend to be conductors and hand out tickets to the 'passengers.'She also liked sorting the teddy bears into their different colors.We left by 11:00 and that was a good thing because the museum was absolutely packed by then!

It's too HOT for clothes!

Seriously this heat is getting ridiculous! It really is too hot for clothes, but running around naked is only acceptable for children...thankfully! Nonetheless we still get outside when we can to enjoy summer before it slips away. Last night after dinner, when I was watering flowers, it was still over 90 degrees out and Grace kept asking for her pool. So I stripped her and just let her run around in her diaper. At first Grace was a little confused, but she got over her insecurity of being a little 'naked' and let loose. I would say drinking out of the hose was her favorite part! And yes I know there's not much water in the pool, but that's how Gracie wanted it.

A Trip to Danville

We were in Danville Friday through Sunday of this past week visiting Bryan's family. We haven't seen Anne and Cliff since Mother's Day, so this was a much needed visit. For now Grace has decided to call her grandparents 'Mee-Maw' and 'G-Pa.' Time will tell if these fun names stick! On Friday we had lunch and then got to meet Sarah and Nick's baby girl, Ryan. She was born on June 22nd and is the newest addition to the family. Grace was excited to see baby Ryan! She pretty much left her alone, but would call her name out and go up and look at her every so often. On Saturday we had some playtime outside in this dreadful heat and then later on Bryan and I went to a wedding, so Mee-Maw and G-Pa were on babysitting duty. I know they enjoyed having some one on one time with Grace. On Sunday it was more visiting, playing, and then a cookout before we left.You would think being there for 3 full days I would have a lot of pictures, but that didn't happen. On Sunday morning Anne made pancakes for breakfast and Grace fed the leftovers to the birds, so that's all I got! After a long drive back we were welcomed home with a broken air conditioner...Ahh! We had a family sleepover in the basement, which was interesting and thankfully our air was fixed later on the next day.

Exciting News to Share!

We are thrilled to share with everyone that we are expecting Baby #2! Many of you already know, but now we are making it Blog "official." I am due January 22nd, which makes me about 12 weeks along. We just had our 12 week appointment and I got to hear the heartbeat, which to a mother's ears is one of the best sounds in the world. We found out we were pregnant way back in May and slowly have been telling friends and family. Gracie wore her special "Big Sister" shirt to tell our parents and brothers about a month ago. Our families, of course, are very excited for us! We have shared the news with Grace, but she's too young to really get it. I do tell her that there's a baby in mommy's belly and she just kind of stares at me like..."I don't get it Mommy." She loves her baby dolls and taking care of them, so I usually try to relate the babies to her new brother or sister. Tonight we asked Grace what's in mommy's belly and she said , "Baby." :)

So one of the first questions you usually get after telling people you are pregnant is, "how are you feeling?" Umm...well...a whole lot better than I was. I am not going to sugar coat it; the first trimester was pretty horrible. I was nauseous 24 hours a day for about 5 weeks and of course I was tired...very tired. There were days where I couldn't make it off the couch and I would count down the minutes until Bryan would be home. This made me very sad at times because I wasn't able to play and give Grace the attention that I would have wanted to. I know I wasn't this sick with Grace and to have to take care of a toddler on top of it...oh my! Thankfully this seems to be all over with! Fingers crossed! The second question you get is, "are you going to find out what you are having?" Bryan and I went back and forth with this answer and I think some days we are still unsure. With Grace we were 100% sure that we didn't want to find out and it was the best surprise of our lives when the doctor said, "It's a girl!" For some reason with this one we are leaning more towards finding out. Something inside me is saying, "do it!" I have a desire this time around to be more planned and prepared. So of course my mom thinks it must be a boy :) We still have some time to think about it!
Here are two pictures taken so far at 8 weeks and 12 weeks. I feel bigger than I did with Grace at this point, but I have heard that you show sooner with your second. I have already gained 7 lbs this trimester...yikes. I went from being very active and eating vegan to being not so active and eating not so vegan...so that will happen. Interesting thing is that I am still not at the weight I was before I got pregnant with Grace, so I do have that going for me! But really all that matters is that the baby is healthy and I am healthy :)

4th of July

Our 4th of July celebrations lasted two days. On the 3rd we went to my parents house for a cookout and then bravely attempted to keep Grace awake to watch the Naperville fireworks. We (Bryan and I) haven't seen fireworks in over 4 years...sad I know! We sure have heard them, but nope we haven't gone to see them. This year it was going to happen! We headed over to the church by my parents house to watch them. Grace did well considering she was up way past her bedtime and the fact that it was still a hot and humid 85 degrees out at 9:30 pm! She liked pointing out the purple ones in the sky and wearing her glow necklace. We were all sweaty, hot, and tired by the time we got home, but I am happy that Grace got to experience her first fireworks!

On the 4th of July we headed over to the Voller's house for a picnic. They have an annual 4th of July gathering, but this is the first year we were able to actually go. Grace was very excited to see her friends! All the kids played in the water in the backyard. Layla and Molly did a lot of "jumping" into the baby pool! Sara bought snaps for all the kids and they had fun throwing those in the front yard. We had great food and a yummy berry pie for desert before heading home. The night before was such a late one that we had an early night for the 4th. Thanks for having us over Voller's! Happy 4th of July!

Our little firecracker

Water table fun!

The 3 little ladies

Time for the pool!

Throwing some snaps

Stomping on them works better!

All the kids having some fun :)

Anniversary

On June 28th we celebrated our 4 year anniversary. It sure seems a tad longer than 4 years, but not in a bad way! We went to Wildfire in Oakbrook for dinner and then rented a movie for a relaxing night at home. Gracie was with Nana and Papa for the night and had all kinds of fun! Here's to many many more years and a big thanks to Nana and Papa for watching Gracie.