WORLD'S WORST BLOGGER

I think it's official that I am the world's worst blogger. It feels like it has been FOREVER since I have updated.  So much for once a month . . . In all fairness, though, I have an excuse for the last few months. If our computer had a comfy chair/desk, it wouldn't be an excuse, but since I have to sit on the floor to blog, I'm giving myself a pass. Sitting in the floor with a baby in your belly is definitely not the most comfortable position. 
This pregnancy has been so different from the first. With Elisabeth, I was hungry all the time (which is probably why I grew to such gigantic proportions) and had some heartburn. I had morning sickness at night for the first 3 1/2 months this go-round. Despite not having had the crazy food aversions I had with Elisabeth, I haven't been so hungry, and I've only gained 12 pounds as of 22 weeks. All these differences probably should have told me it was a boy. And for the first month or two I was convinced I was having a boy, but then those silly online gender prediction quizzes convinced me otherwise.
Last week, though, we saw VERY convincing sonogram images of our little boy. I was completely shocked (why, I'm not sure---there are really only two possibilities).  We can't wait to meet William Kyle this spring. Elisabeth repeatedly said she wanted a little brother until the day we found out. When we asked her if she wanted a brother or sister (obviously we were confident she would say brother), she said, "I want a sister."  Oh well, I've told her a baby is a baby, and she is now constantly asking what baby William is doing.  I think she is going to make a wonderful big sister. Today when I put her down for a nap, she said we were both mamas.  I said, "I'm your mama, and you're Baby Paci's mama."  She looked at me like I had lost my mind, and said, "No, I'm baby William's mama."
I'll leave this post with some recent pics and hopes that I'll get Christmas and Santa updates on here soon!

Summertime at last

Maybe I should make my blogging goal to be once per season, rather than once a month. It felt like spring was over before I could blink this year.  We stayed here for Easter, rather than driving to Tyler. It's nice to get to go to our regular church for that special day, even though we miss seeing our families. Elisabeth has a super-cute Easter dress, but as usual, we were running late on Sunday morning and she wasn't volunteering for pictures. I thought I'd get some pictures of her when we got home, but sadly that did not happen. However, we had some sweet bunny photos made back in February, so . . . I'll count that as her Easter pic.

We have enjoyed the spring weather and gone to the park quite a few times. She loves to swing and says "Wheee!" pretty much the whole time she's swinging. The rest of the playground is not as popular because she is not a fan of sand, especially walking through it.

On May 6, our baby girl turned 2!  We definitely have a toddler on our hands---she has her own agenda, and is on the go nonstop.  The highchair has been put away, and we are working on potty training (a much huger undertaking than I was expecting. My baby has turned into a sweet girl who loves to make us laugh. She teases and giggles and does her own form of slapstick comedy.  I heard that for most kids, at around 18 months they began talking a lot more and imitating language. That didn't happen for us until she was about 23 months. And now, wow--our girl is a chatterbox! "Where Daddy go? Daddy work."  "Truck/Bus/Car Beep! Beep! Where truck go?"  And now her favorite: "No like it." Which is pretty much in regards to any food that is not fruit, yogurt, or turkey (which explains her skinny little body). My favorite is "Hold her please." She has not been much of a cuddler until lately, but the last couple of weeks she has made this request quite often. I love it! 
We had a small birthday party for her, which was not planned very well as it was on Mother's Day weekend. Luckily, Grandpa got to be here, and she had a great time.  I will try to plan a bit better for next year.

Snuggling with her hippo pillow pet from Grandpa.

We rocked out with Elmo!

Trying out the new "cicle" from Mawmaw & Pawpaw.

Goodbye Winter, Welcome Spring

Well, I certainly haven't done monthly posts as planned, but I guess I never really do anything as planned. And truthfully, January and February are not my favorite months. They are COLD---especially around here. We had 5 total snow days off from school in January.  I cannot ever remember a school year with more than 2 snow days. While it was nice to have some unexpected time together, it was not so nice that we couldn't go anywhere. We made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup and borrowed the Chuck Seasons 1 & 2 dvds from our neighbors and pretty much sat in pj's all day for almost a whole week.

In February, Grandpaw came to visit. We always enjoy time with him.  Elisabeth's mouth became very full of teeth in January and February, and by the end of the month, she defnitely was looking like a little girl--not a baby.

And now March. Spring is my favorite time of year. The cold has let up (for the most part). We get a break from school, and then when school starts back up it seems to just fly by. We headed to Tyler for the first part of spring break. We went to Caldwell Zoo on Saturday, and the weather was just perfect for a day with the animals. Elisabeth is pretty much obsessed with animals these days. She has loads of books about animals, and she can point out all the particular ones when you name them. She says puppy, kitty, and cow (Chick-Fil-A was a very exciting place for her with all the cow pictures) but for  the other animals she makes their sounds. She does a great monkey sound complete with scratching under her arms, and her elephant trump with outstretched "trunk" is my favorite. She had a wonderful day at the zoo, even if seeing the white tigers up close was a little scary. While in Tyler, we also got to visit my friend Candice and her 2 kids---they have a wonderful backyard full of fun stuff. After returning to Wichita Falls, my friend Wendy and her 3 boys came to visit from Oklahoma City. Having 4 kiddos in the house at once was definitely different, but the kids seemed to have a great time, and we always enjoy getting to catch up with Wendy. I'm looking forward to more R&R over what's left of the break. Hooray for Spring!

The flowers were so beautiful---too bad Elisabeth wouldn't look up!

So glad to spend some time with Grandpaw

The white tigers were beautiful, although a little
too close for comfort!

We love hanging out with the Zeitlers