The BIG Belly--only 3 weeks left!

We had our maternity pictures taken last weekend--it was so much fun! Ethan was SUCH a sweetie when we had them done!! He is still lifting my shirt saying "hi baby" then kissing my belly and hugging it and then saying "ba bye baby" and pulling my shirt down. Lately he has been telling Mike and me that he is going to "hold baby"--and he is very excited about this! Only 3 weeks to go until he is a big brother and our now organized household is chaos! haha :) We are all very excited though. Ethan has also been listening to the baby lately. There's a couple pictures here where he has his ear to my belly "listening". He has been to the Dr. with me so much that he is a pro! He get's to use the stethoscope when we go to the Dr. and he puts is on my belly and then on his and says "baby". Very sweet!















I went to the Dr. yesterday and everything looks great! He said that I am measuring larger than I should be (no surprise there!) but that everything looks and sounds good! Here are some pictures from our photo shoot. Enjoy!'











Listening to the baby :)

Our baby girl's room

By popular request--here are the pictures of our baby girl's room! It's kind of a pink explosion--but we LOVE it!! We are decorating with butterflies and flowers. I still have some decorating to do, but at least this will give you the overall look of the room! My most favorite thing in there is the butterfly chandelier/mobile. Mike will tell you how SUPER fun it was to hang given the vaulted ceiling in that room--but it was all worth it! Once we name our little one--I am planning to put her name on the wall with the nylon butterflies. And I ordered nylon butterflies to add to the tiebacks and a few butterfly mirrors to hang on the wall too!

Furniture is called cinnamon























The pattern of the bedding is KidsLine Bella--it's mostly pink but with a little lime green and some blue too!











The chandelier/mobile goes up!










My mom was a HUGE help in getting the room done. And, the incredible sewer that she is--she made all the curtains for the room and altered the valances that I bought. Here's a couple pics of the progress. I just loved the b/w of her hand!

Just Being Silly!

I had to put this on the blog because it was so cute...I turned around and Ethan was sporting Mr. Potato head's glasses! Very cute :)














Also--we often make smoothies at home and Ethan LOVES them--here's pic of his smoothie mustache!










Last, but not least--I got this awesome new stool for Ethan--I pull it up to the counter and he helps me make dinner or do dishes or bake. Here he is washing dishes--he doesn't have a shirt on here because he just poured a whole glass of water on his shirt ;) He is such a great little kitchen helper!

Talking up a storm!

Today Ethan said the whole alphabet on his own--no help from Mommy and Daddy!!! We were so excited! The letters that he couldn't say just a few weeks ago he says perfectly. Plus, when he sees a word, he tells you how many of each letter...my parents were visiting a couple days ago and my dad had a "Cornell" sweatshirt on. Ethan said..."one-C", "two-L", "one-O" etc. We were trying to figure out what he was saying and then it dawned on us--he was spelling out my dad's sweatshirt! It was SO sweet. He does that now with most words that he sees. And--he can almost count to 15 on his own too! He counts to 10 perfectly with no help and can almost say 11, 12, 13, 14, 15!! He is just doing SO well with the speech--Mike and I could NOT be prouder. He says 3-4 word phrases now too. After his bath tonight he said..."bye bye cookie...(cookie monster is on his toothbrush)...out see Daddy...wawa" He wanted to go see Daddy and get a drink of water. He is really doing so so well! Anytime I say..."look buddy a (whatever...dog, plane, car, etc)" he says..."I want to see".

We also had our maternity pictures taken today and he was kissing and hugging my belly. He lifts my shirt--gives my belly a kiss and hug and then says "ba bye baby" and pulls my shirt down. VERY sweet. We were taking a picture today and he just put his ear down to my belly. It was sooooo adorable!! I will be sure to post some pictures as soon as I have them!

NEW Playhouse

As most of you know, I am obsessed with Craig's list. I get the best deals on there and have sold a ton of stuff. Well, I have been looking for a playhouse for Ethan for the back deck since last summer. They are crazy expensive if you buy them new. I found one (finally!) and it was only $60. If you buy it new it's $300! I was so excited about my deal and as you can see from the pics below, Ethan LOVED putting it together with Daddy and cleaning it off! He loves playing in there and it's been a nice addition to the deck!

Catching Leprechauns!

This week in speech therapy, Ethan and Miss Lala made a Leprechaun trap in honor of St. Patties Day and we had a St. Patrick's day treasure hunt! The idea behind the Leprechaun box is that you put moss inside and gold painted balls of foil...when the Leprechaun goes into the box to get the gold...the box catches him! Definitely a concept that was a little over Ethan's head but he loved making the box! haha. The treasure hunt was cute too...she made a four-leaf clover trail all through the house and we had to go "find" something at each clover.

Spring Clean-up with Daddy

This weekend the weather was great! So, Ethan and Daddy headed out to do some much needed yard clean-up. Ethan, of course, wanted to help with his very own rake :)

You can see Mike's new car in the background of this picture too--Mazda 6 Grand Touring.












Have to stop and watch the planes!

Bellies....Bellies....Bellies!!

This week one of the moms in my mom's group was sweet enough to throw a little "sprinkle" for all of us pregnant mommies in the group!! We have 15 moms/babies in our group and of the 15, 7 of us are pregnant with our second baby OR just delivered a second baby! It's fun to have a great group of girlfriends to share motherhood with and now motherhood x2! Here's a picture of a few of us at the sprinkle. Me, Meredith (in the pink) and Lauren (in the black and red) are due only 2 weeks away from each other. Can't believe that as of tomorrow, I only have 5 weeks left! Time is flying by!! :)

SO many breakthroughs! ABCs...123s...and his name!

Ethan has made SOOOO many breakthroughs with his speech this week! It seriously brings a tear to my eye!! He can say every letter in the alphabet now!!! There are a couple letters that are hard for him like "g", "j", "q", "w", "x"--but he does try to say them. He definitely knows what letter comes next too when we are saying the alphabet so I know he knows it! Plus, he counts from 1 to 10 now and says every single number!!! And the most exciting thing...when you ask his name he says..."Eth"!!! These are huge huge breakthroughs for us. He can now say, "Elmo", "help me", "cookie", "eat", and a ton more! This week during his speech therapy he and Miss Lauren made a homemade tambourine and we all had a mini dance party after! It was a lot of fun! Here's a picture of the progress. :)