Birthday Gifts

Michelle had been excited for her birthday party for weeks! So when the day finally came she was all smiles and giggles!

Her favorite part of the pre-party set up was definitely the balloons!

I still haven't gotten pictures uploaded from Michelle's actual party, but she got some awesome gifts!

She plays in her play set every day! She slides "really fast!" and drives "like captain hook" and even looks through the telescope at the starts and sees "Mickey's comet"! It's also an awesome spot to hide!

"Shhh, don't tell Daddy where I am!"

Nana got Michelle this huge treasure chest for us to put all her new toys in! We probably unload it and re load it at least twice a day! She also got a few new Little People play sets. She got an airplane that she calls her "Rocket" and a boat that she goes fishing for "gooy fish" in.

Mommy and Daddy got her this little pool to keep her cool when we play outside. So far (since it's been super hot) there has only been one day a week that she hasn't insisted on playing outside. Sunday, the day we go visit Grandma and Pa, is the only day of the week Bryan and I get to stay inside for the majority of the day. So this was a pretty good gift (if I don't say so myself!). Nana also gave us a bigger pool that Bryan and I actually fit in and that has helped a lot too!

This is actually a drum! lol! Michelle decided to use it as a seat this day for some reason. But Jess has a pretty cute picture of Clayton using it like an actual drum on her blog.

Speaking of Jess- The Jones family got Michelle this alphabet toy that sticks to the fridge. Michelle plays with it every time we go into the kitchen! She puts a letter in, dances like a mad woman, and then puts the letter down below until all the letter have had a turn!

Wait a sec... what's that she has spelled out?!

Awww ;) What a sweetie!

She's 2

I can't believe it's been two years! I've been a mom for TWO YEARS! Michelle has been a wonderful daughter, and such a blessing in my life. She is SO smart and SO beautiful! She still has her chubby little baby cheeks and those squeezable legs. But, I can tell, they won't be around for much longer. She is starting to look more and more like a little girl and less and less like a baby. She speaks so clearly it's crazy! And full sentences too! She knows all her colors, and shapes; she can count to 13, and name almost any body part. She plays "kitchen" like a champ- she makes really good burgers and ice cream. Michelle is so sweet and thoughtful. She will come over and pat your back and tell you "it's ok" if you look sad. Then she'll go get you something that will "make you feel all better!" (usually her sippy). She also blows kisses to you anytime she thinks she might be getting in trouble, and does a big cheesy grin. She's starting to get the hang of potty training. We're still new at it though so accidents are expected (although she's only had one so far today!) She loves to "run away" and "hurry" everywhere she goes. She also loves "party hats" and "birthday cake". We've been stuck on the birthday idea for about a month now! lol!

I just can't get over how far she has come! I love her to death and couldn't be more proud of her!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

Recently Bryan and I have been looking for ways to save money. One of the ways we came up with is to switch from AT&T or Cingular (whatever it's called right now) to Sprint. We'd end up saving about $50/month. I REALLY don't want to switch though. Here's why- I LOVE my phone!! I have the Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot:

Only mine is silver. Anyway, it's a perfect phone for me! It does everything I want a phone to do (talk, text, and, even though I don't use it- it still makes me feel like someone would be able to find me if anything awful happened, GPS). AND it's an awesome camera!! That was my number one requirement for my phone. I wanted it to be able to be a basic phone, and have an amazing camera. This phone takes 8.1 mega-pixel pictures! It zooms, it does black and white, sepia, it does video and even has different modes (night time, action, portrait, etc.)! So I get GREAT pictures off of this phone. After I get them loaded onto the computer they're actually better then the pics I take with my regular camera. That's also where my problem comes in. I HATE loading pic from my pone to the computer! It's supposed to be able to do it automatically through snapfish, but that requires the internet and I don't pay for a media package. So I have to do it the old fashion way of uploading from my memory card. This is where the issue comes in. My phone uses an itsy-bitsy-teeny-tiny Sandisk M2. It doesn't fit into any printer or PC so you have to put it into a "converter" or "adapter" or whatever they're called! But for whatever reason mine never works! I always have to try 3 or 4 times to get it to fit into the computer right and then half the time the computer says that the memory card is blank! Yes, I have looked and looked for a cord or something that I can hook up straight from my phone to the computer. It doesn't exist.

So I LOVE my phone because it takes these awesome pics and does everything I want it to do, and I HATE my phone because I can't get the pics off of it!

...

Thanks for listening to my current rant of frustration!

Winnie the Pooh

Every since I was a little girl I have loved Pooh! Michelle also loves Pooh. Remember these pics?

She will sit and watch the whole hour long Pooh movie without getting up once. Then, when the movie is over, she'll come get me and ask me to play the "Eeyore show". (It's the Winnie the Pooh episode on the Bonus DVD about Eeyore's birthday.) And she'll sit through that too!

So I don't think she'll have a problem on June 15th...

We might have to wait till the 17th or 18th when Bryan can come with us, but with Michelle's birthday being on the 16th... it's like Disney released it just for her! (and me too!)

Baby Cami

Introducing the sweetest baby girl I have had the privilege to cuddle since Michelle! Meet Cameron Renea! She was born on June 6th, weighs 5lbs 12oz, and has the most beautiful blue eyes you've ever seen!

No, Cami isn't my baby, she's my niece! Although I wouldn't mind if my baby girl turns out just like her! This is Jessica's little bundle of joy. And I do mean little! Cami is so tiny! She really feels like a baby doll when you're holding her! She is absolutely perfect and I can't get enough of her!

Speaking of not getting enough of her, Michelle can't either! We went to visit her in the hospital (ok, we went to see Jess too, but mainly Cami!) this morning and after we left Michelle just about lost it! All she kept saying was "Go see baby Cami! Need to hold baby Cami!" It would have been really sweet if she hadn't been throwing a fit while she was saying it!

Having Cami here just makes me even more excited for my little girl to come! I really do hope she is a lot like Cami. I haven't heard her cry even once, and she lays there so still and content and just stares at her mommy- straight in the face. It's absolutely precious!

Baby Update

Tuesday was our last sono! We went in hoping to find out two things. First, we wanted to make sure the baby was growing ok. We have been a little worried because, even though I've felt the baby kicking and flipping, I haven't gained ANY weight! I'm halfway through this pregnancy and, according to the Dr.'s scale (cuz mine doesn't go this far into detail) I've gained a total of .2 pounds. So... yeah, we were a little worried about how this little one was growing.

It turns out that everything is perfect! Our little peanut weighs 12 oz and is measuring just a little smaller then the average 21 week old fetus. The original due date was October 11, but the measurements put the due date as October 16th. Not too far off. Plus, Bryan and I aren't exactly big people. Bryan's on the shorter side of average for a man, and I'm just short! lol! So our poor kids are kinda doomed to be small.

While we were looking around trying to get a profile picture (which we never were able to get!) Michelle started fussing about wanting to see the baby. The sonographer let Michelle come pretty close to the screen and was showing her all the little parts of her new sibling when we got this shot (above). I'm not sure how clearly you can see it, but the baby's arm is up next to the head. During the sonogram the arm kept waving back and forth. It was pretty sweet; like the baby was say "Hi everyone!! Here I am!"

And finally the announcement you've been waiting for...

Another girl!! I'm so excited for Michelle to have a sister! When she announced that it was a girl I was so mixed with emotion about it. I really am glad to have another girl because we already have all girl clothes, sisters are so sweet, Bryan is an AWESOME daddy to girls, and I would honestly be a little nervous to have a boy... they just seem a little too active for me right now! lol! But, at the same time, I did want to have a boy eventually, but I don't know for sure if I want to have more kids, plus I knew we were going to have a name issue!

Or at least I thought I knew that. As soon as the sono was over Bryan's face lit up and he said "So... it's **** then!" Completely out of the blue, like he just knew that was her name. And then Michelle repeated him with "Baby sister, ****!" So we're pretty sure that will be the name we're using. I've already told a few family members and I think Bryan has told a select few people at work, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to publicly share the name yet. We got some pretty nasty comments about Michelle's name and I'm not sure that I'm confident enough yet with this name to say "I don't care what you think" to those kind of comments yet. Maybe in a week or two... we'll see!