Ready and Waiting

At the beginning of the summer, Elle and I made a list of things we'd like to do together before baby #2 comes. We wanted to:
-ride bikes around the lake
-take the paddle boat and Kayak's out on the lake
-go to breakfast at Ruth's
-go to the zoo with friends
-take a dip in the pool
-have fun at the splash pad
-play in the sand at the beach
-watch fireworks

Now that we've crossed everything off the list, our days look more like this.


We talk to the baby everyday and try to make her feel welcome. Elle sang her twinkle twinkle little star before bed the other night and tells her everyday to come out and give her presents. I love my days with just me and Elle and will always treasure them, but we are ready for our "baby sister" to come and join us.

Laundry Room Love

I've been wanting to put up wallpaper for years and finally pulled the trigger. The hard part is picking which one to use, there are SO many choices. While, I love how it turned out, it was the "practical" choice and one of the only ones my husband and I could agree on. All my other choices were "too girly" for his taste.

D bought cheap cabinets off of the classifieds and painted them white because we used to have a shelf with all of our detergents/cleaners sitting on it that made the whole room look messy. He also made the executive decision to paint behind the washer and dryer instead of wallpaper because of a lot of reviews he read said that water and steam cause wallpaper to peel up over the years and then it is often hard to find replacement wallpaper and really who wants to have to keep redoing all that work.

I found this wallpaper (thanks to LGN) at Steve's wallpaper.

Mother's Day

Deboro and Elle got me some super cute stuff for Mother's Day.

But my most favorite gift was a this little card from Elle.

I love being a mom. I feel so lucky to have little Elle in my life and another on the way.

Easter

This might have been my all time favorite Easter, besides that one year when my aunt Ann created a gazillion egg, egg hunt for my cousins and me when we were younger.
I loved telling Elle about the Easter Bunny and how he leaves eggs with candy and surprises. It was cute how she called jelly beans, "jumping beans" and the rest of the candy, "bunny candy." Even the shoes she wore on her first Easter egg hunt are still called her "Easter egg shoes."
On the Saturday before Easter she had a little hunt in the park with some friends. She loved every second of it.


On Sunday, the Easter Bunny had left her three goldfish which she named, Goldie, Nemo, and Easter Egg. She was obsessed with feeding them. And consequently, they died two days later. She asked if they went to work with daddy so I just nodded my head and went along with it.
Later that day she had her own Easter Egg hunt in our house since the weather wasn't great. The Easter Bunny tried to show up Santa by spoiling you this year.

Then we went to Grandma Peterson's house and she had a huge hunt with her grandma. I'm not sure who liked it more though, her or her 80-yr-old grandpa who ran across the lawn filling his bag with eggs. It was a fun weekend!

Brown eyed girl

Lately Elle is obsessed with peoples eyes and loves to talk about the different colors. She will say, "Elle's eye's bown (brown), mommy eye's bown, Bossy eye's boo (blue), Zach's geen (green)...Mommy, what color Zach's mommy eyes?" After I tell her she will sit for a second like she is imagining them and then say, "Ooooh."

I have to admit I'm probably just as obsessed with her big brown eyes as she is with all her friends'.

San Ngin

Deboro's sweet grandpa passed away last week. He was D's father figure for most of his life. One of his fondest memories is when his grandpa made a kite for him out of chopsticks and newspapers. He would also make him laugh with his jokes, nicknames for everyone and his dancing.

I remember the first time I met his grandpa, D had taken me home to meet his family and his grandpa greeted me with a giant smile, held up one finger and said, "You're number one!" And from that day forward that was the nickname that he gave me. Knowing very little English, he always knew just what to say. D's brother-in-law commented at the funeral that San would always make sure to say, "Hello, Goodbye, and I'll see you soon" to everyone who came through the door. We will see him again soon and when we do, I hope he is holding up his finger in the air and still calling me "number one."

Elle

We just had some pictures taken at Busath last month and we loved how they turned out. It was a fun change having a studio session because all of the photos we have are more casual. We wish we could have purchased all of them!

Cute things I want to remember that she has said lately:

-She put both her hands on my heart and said, "I hear your heart mama!"
-At lunch she leaned over to my mom and said, "What's up?"
-She came up to me and handed me my wallet and said, "Mommy big present! Open!" The said, "surprise!" when I saw the orange slice she has stuffed in the plastic part where my license goes.
-Everything (anything from an apple to a house) that is big is a "daddy" size and small things are "baby" or "baby Charlie" size.
-She loves when D takes her to go get a Jamba juice and she will say, "Oh, baby Jamba Juice is my favorite!"

Our lucky day

On St. Patrick's Day we found out we are having another little girl! We are so happy to have another little Elle running around. And most importantly I am so happy that Elle gets to have a sister. I would kill to have a sister so it means a lot to me that Elle gets to have one.

We went to the bakery up the street to get a surprise for grandma.


I'm not sure if Elle was sad because she didn't get to eat the cookie or if she really wanted a brother.

Then we came home and found a surprise from a little leprechaun.

Elle wanted to go swimming right then and there, so we improvised and went swimming in the bathtub. It was a fun St. Patrick's Day I'll never forget.

(I didn't bring my camera so my photos are just crappy iphone pics)

Sundance

We had a blast going to Sundance for the weekend with D's work. It was really hard leaving Elle, but when we got back it was as though she didn't even miss us. Some of the highlights were:
Hitting the slopes with the gang




Jewelry making with the girls
Our teacher (on the right) was "very friendly" to Kesha (what is she doing with her hand?).

Eating at the most delicious restaurants

And staying in our own private little cabin


We also enjoyed going to the spa and hanging out with fun people all weekend. It was the best weekend I've had in a LONG time! I felt so lucky to get to go.

Sundance details