The Countdown Begins

2 weeks from today we will have baby #2.
We found out last week that due to my gestational diabetes I will be induced on February 12th. It was a little bit of a shock at first, but we are excited to meet this baby and be a family of 4!

Our goal for the next 2 weeks is to get Elias to walk! We have begun daily practices and might have to go to "2 a days". He is making some progress, but still prefers crawling fast to taking the time to keep his balance and take steps. Hopefully soon everything will click together and he will be off and running!

We will keep you posted on walking and baby #2

Surprised!!

Some of you might know that this year is a momentous year for me...I am turning 30. A few months back I mentioned to Ben that since this is such a big birthday, it might be nice to have a party, maybe even a surprise party. He proceeded to tell me that I really didn't want one, that I didn't like that kind of thing. Well, being the "helpful" wife I am, I then went on to remind him weekly at first and then twice a week the past few weeks that my birthday was coming up...Ben, being the husband he is, seemed not to pay much attention. I really thought that he had not done anything about my birthday and was beginning to think that he was going to plan something the day of (not very exciting).

Well, last Saturday night we had plans to drop Elias off at my parents and go and see a movie, or so I thought. We had talked about doing dinner first, but Ben "conveniently" wasn't hungry. So off we went to drop off Elias and head out when....sure enough Ben had planned a surprise party for me at Mom and Dads. Friends from church and Emmaus were there to celebrate and boy, was I surprised! We had a fun time visiting and watching the kids play. I even did have a piece of great birthday cake (carrot cake, one of my favorites) despite my strict pregnancy diet.

Ben did a great job with the surprise...more than I could have asked for. Truly a great husband...now lets see what he does on my real birthday:)

The cake! Carrot and lemon poppy seed.

What Fun!

Elias has always enjoyed the simple things in life...a cool whip container (before we had lots of toys), toilet paper rolls, empty maccaroni boxes...and now his birthday balloons. I must say, these balloons have gotten more play time than any of this new toys from his birthday or Christmas...

Oh, the fun...

The tongue out might be inherited from his Uncle Marc!

Always making a mess...the pants are off because just earlier he dumped Mommy's water glass all over the floor...and then crawled right through! (I was sitting right there but didn't notice)

Birthday #3

Being only 1, Elias sure got a lot of birthday parties. We celebrated his birthday over 3 weeks with 3 parties. The first being in Canada with Ben's family, the second with my family and the third (and last!) just this week with friends from Emmaus and church. A special friend of the family, Stephanie celebrated her birthday over break, so we had a double party for Elias and Steph when all their friends came back to Dubuque.

The birthday cake...can you tell that it is balloons? The idea seemed easy, but it was work for me!

Birthday buddies!

Eating a piece of his birthday cake...I am not sure how much got into his mouth.

Andrew Daughters, one of Elias' favorite friends from church, came to the party. Elias was so excited!

Can I help?

Elias is becoming ever so helpful now that he is 1. The other day I was baking his birthday cakes and he was in the kitchen. I guess he decided I needed another bowl to mix in and decided to get one for me...not sure what size I needed, he proceeded to empty the whole cupboard, giving me my choice of bowls and pots.

Which one would be best?

What a helpful guy! How can you get mad at that face?
(I didn't get upset....but just got the camera instead!)

One Already?!!

We can't believe that Elias is already one! We have enjoyed this year so much and can't imagine not having him around. We often say "What did we do before he came?"

We were able to have a family birthday celebration on December 29th, before everyone headed back home. Needless to say...Elias got spoiled again!

Wondering why everyone is singing and looking at him.

Enjoying some birthday ice cream cake. He ate so much, I think he got a 'brain freeze' at one point!

Opening the presents with Julia and Addie looking on, ready to help. Addie loved the toys as much as Elias did.

Elias and Addie wrestling. This activity started just this week, with Elias being the instigator most of the time. Poor Addie did not always think it was fun.