Sign laungage

I have been trying for a long time, and a lot more lately, to get Grey to pick up some sign language. He still has yet to say a single word. Elliot was so early and very proficient with her talking that this has been super frustrating. So when Grey finally signed "more" to me when he wanted more sunflower seeds, I was ecstatic! He did it again this morning and I caught it on video. I've been trying more signs too, like "bath" and "milk" and "all done." I am hoping now that he realizes how cool it is to sign and all the praise he gets from it he will want to keep it up.

Bicycle Riding

Elliot has had a bike for over a year and a half now and could not get the hang of riding it. Part of it was I was never patient enough to help her the way she needed. Part of it was that our driveway sucks for bike riding (it is flat and narrow at the top and then slopes down very quickly to the street. And part of it was that she would once in a while try and just get frustrated and stop. She never wanted to do it enough to really learn. Yesterday though she just got on her trike first and it just clicked. She finally understood that pedaling forward is how to make the bike go forward. Her knees were practically hitting the handle bars so I pulled out her Dora bike and she gave it a try. It was a little more of a struggle, but she got it! She still sometimes gets stuck and needs a little push to get her feet moving, but she was riding her back (yes, at 4 1/2). Now please don't judge about some of these pictures and one of the movies about not having a helmet on. We've just never told her to get it on because she never really rode or stayed on the bike for more than a couple minutes. When I realized she was going to really be riding, we pulled out the helmet.

This was later at the elementary school so she could practice a little more freely.

We stayed at the park for a while so the kids could play. We had a really nice time.

(Please ignore my chubbiness...remember I am 4 months pregnant and it is definately showing!)

Grey kept wanting to go down the slide on his belly and, of course, Elliot had to follow.

MIA again...

Between feeling yucky, getting sick, busy with work and just trying to survive around here, I have not updated my blog in quite awhile. Nothing extremely earth shattering has happened, but it is still nice to check-in once in awhile.

Elliot is back to preschool and loving it. Her teacher said that she is being a little less shy and participating more with the class during circle time. I feel a little guilty because she has standing playdates either here or elsewhere everyday of the week. It makes for a happy girl and a happy mom because I get things done and don't have to hear "I'm bored" or "what can I do now?" much at all. It actually makes Saturdays and Sundays the hard days even though Justin is home.

Here she is on the first day of school:

And here (Justin was doing the photo shoot- the one finger for the first day?):
And just because these were cute:

Justin is loving the school year as well. He loves to be in the classroom and in front of all those kids. And they seem to really enjoy his class. I wish I could just go watch sometimes to see him in action.

Grey is keeping me very busy as well. He gets into EVERYTHING!!! Way more than Elliot ever did. I have a garbage can in the kitchen that you step on the pedal and lid goes up. Today I found him eating a chicken nugget that he pulled out of the garbage! He still isn't sleeping well on his own, but is a whole other blog topic I am sure somewhere in the near future. We have 6 months to get that resolved before baby #3 comes. He loves to be naked and runs as fast as he can after bathtime anywhere we aren't such as into Elliot's room to play.

He also loves to play in the kitchen with the pots and pans, getting out wooden spoons and stirring imaginary things. Just the other day though, I found him here and stuck:

And on Tuesday we were at the park and he got his first bee sting. It ended up being very uneventful and he didn't even cry much. You can see on his upper lip though where it was red and swollen. By that evening though it was gone. We shall see what happens when he is stung again. Given his track record, he will be allergic...
I am starting to feel like I might survive again. I got hit with a really bad cold that had me down about a week, not to mention still feeling sick to my stomach all the time. Both have been subsiding though which is a huge relief. At the begining of the month I had a doctor's appointment and we heard the baby's heartbeat which was another big relief. I am at 14 weeks now and am so thankful to be starting to feel better!

So that about catches us up. Thank goodness. And I will try not to let it go so long next time.

Singing

Lately, Elliot has been spending more time outside and often it involves singing. Loudly. So yesterday I tried to catch her on video doing it, but as you can see, she caught me and quickly stopped. Be sure to have your volume up!

The Grant County Fair

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is go to the fair. Grant County has a great one because it is only 20 minutes away and small enough that you can easily see everything, but big enough to have everything you could want to see. Plus, Justin knows alot of the kids in it showing animals so it is fun to see some of his students. Elliot loves to see all the animals and Grey really liked it this year too. I got home and realized we really didn't take many pictures though. This is what we got:

(of course...eating pineapple pizza...)

All in all, it was a fun morning. Elliot wanted to try the rides and I said that she could choose one to go on, but then she chickened out and wouldn't go on any. Almost had a melt down, but quickly turned it around, thankfully.

Preggers...

For those who haven't heard yet...I am pregnant, expecting baby #3 March 18th. This all happened a little faster than planned, but we are very excited. So here are all the questions and answers that I am sure most of you have:

• How are you feeling? Really crummy. It seems worse than the last two, but I don't know if it is because I have two I am taking care of now, and one a needy 1-year old. But I am nearly all the time nauseous, but no puking (but it felt pretty close a couple times yesterday). I am so tired it is painful and it doesn't help that Grey is back to his old tricks of not sleeping in his bed at night. For the past 3 nights, Grey and I have been in my bed and Justin in Elliot's bed. I figure right now, I just need to sleep and we will fight that battle (again) when I start feeling better. I ask the doctor if there is anything to do to help this and basically he says no, just be thankful that it is a good sign of a healthy pregnancy.
• Are you crazy? How close will Grey and the baby be? Maybe a little, but who isn't. The kids will be 20 months apart which will be little challenging, but fine. We just figured why wait. Things are good now and we knew that we wanted more, so let's just get on with expanding our family.
• Are you having any craving? I think more so this time than past pregnancies. Egg McMuffins, apple fritters, chocolate cookies, pizza. You know all the good stuff for you. Also, baked potato with cottage cheese and peaches (not with the potato). This is the first time that I have wanted sweets during the first trimester. They turned me off in my other pregnancies. In fact, Justin is getting me an apple fritter as I type. My waistline may not be liking this so much especially since exercising seems to be a burden these days. Can't worry about it now though...and things should be getting better in the coming weeks.
• What does Elliot think? She is sooooo excited and wants the baby to come out now. She thinks it is a girl and that we should name her Daisy. We will see about that.
• Do you want a boy or a girl? Of course, I will take either and just want a healthy baby, especially because I already have one of each. But, just for the record, I am guessing a girl right now. My feelings might change (they did with Grey), but we will see sometime around the holidays (yes, I will be finding out...since I have the option, I need to know what kind of clothes to have ready and it narrows down half of the names).
• Have you thought of names? No, I can't really start thinking about it until I know the gender. Then the battle will begin! It is a tough thing to name a child. They keep that name forever. It's a hard decision. Grey didn't have his name until he was here.

I think that about covers it. I will keep you updated on the progress. Hopefully on September 1st we hear a heartbeat. If there aren't many posts in the next couple weeks, just know that we are surviving and trying to make it to bedtime each day in one piece (and sometimes bedtime should be 6:30).

Grey's One Year Pictures

He loves to show his belly.

That is my favorite!

His excited look.

Mr. Serious here, but almost a crack of a smile.

I finally had a decent experience getting pictures taken. It has been a LONG time since that has happened (other than our family pictures recently, but that wasn't in a studio and kinda doesn't count). Sears did us well this time. Having a very cute little boy does help though!