Halloween 2010, Our little Lady Bug

We had a very fun Halloween! I hope the rest of you did too.


I think this was the first year that Elliana at least sort of understood what was going on.


We decided to go up to my sister Jenn's house so that Elliana could trick or treat with her cousins. We all had a great time! I don't know who had more fun, the adults because we laughed all night, or the kids because they were loving getting candy.

Here's our lady bug with her cousins Devyn (cheerleader), Hudson (GI Joe), and Reagan (cowgirl).


Ha! I love how they're all looking in different directions.



Some highlights from the night:
Elliana kept saying "More candy!" as she walked away from each house.

Elliana saying "Ooh Devyn pretty" when Devyn walked out in her cheerleader costume.

Reagan saying "Ooooh" as she watched Ellie put on her costume.


Watching Reagan and Elliana take in the first Halloween that they'll remember, and watching them run (or ride) from house to house.

I'm sure there are many more fun memories that were made, but it's late and I'm tired and I must go to bed.

I'm looking forward to the many more memories we'll make as the years pass. Next year, we'll have two little ones to dress up! Our life feels so much more full with little voices and little feet running around the house.

New Family Photos!

Caleb and I spent the afternoon with our good friend Becky. Becky just happens to be an extremely talented photographer too (lucky for us). After seeing the amazing work that Becky did with my sister Jenn and her family photos, I begged Caleb to give me an early birthday gift and book Becky for some family shots too.

Becky sent me just a few "sneak peeks" tonight.

I absolutely LOVE her work! Here are a few of my new favorites:



I love these. Actually, I love all of them.




Isn't this just gorgeous of Elliana? Check out those eyelashes.


This is one of my favorites. Becky really captured Ellie's smile here.



If only I was taller. ;-)

One last thought. I can't believe how big I am already. I feel like I look full term already. How in the world do I still have half of my pregnancy to go? I'm going to do some serious working out after this baby is born. :)

Thanks again Becky for sharing your amazing talent with us!

Silly Ellie!

Do you all remember this post, when I talked about how Elliana likes to put my (clean) underwear on over her head while I'm getting ready in the morning? Every time she tries to outdo herself and put on more and more and some days you can't even see her face by the time she's done.

Well, this is how Elliana looked yesterday morning by the time she was done.



I helped her take these off and I counted with her while we took each pair of underwear off. We counted up to 25!



Ellie is so funny, there's never a dull moment with her around.

I'm sure some of you might think it's odd that I'm sharing this on the blog, but what are Mom's for? Some day, when she's older and wants to know what she was like as a baby/ toddler, I will have so much fun showing her these quirky little things that she does now.

15 Weeks and Counting

I am 15 weeks pregnant now! The past few weeks have gone by really fast for me. I had a routine exam this past Wednesday. It was pretty uneventful, the heart rate was in the 160's and I'm measuring right at 15 weeks!

My Dr., Dr. Susie, predicts that we are having another girl. I thought that was interesting considering at first I was 95% SURE we were having a boy. For some odd reason though, that feeling has gone away (and it really isn't because of Dr. Susie's prediction). I guess we'll know in about 2 months.

My 20 week ultrasound is already scheduled for 3 weeks from this Wednesday (I'll only be 19 weeks then, but close enough). I can't wait to see baby again. We won't be finding out at that time if we're having a boy or girl. We've decided that we will find out, but not then. I came up with a fun idea (if I do say so myself) to have the ultrasound technician write the gender down and put it in an envelope. Then we're going to give that envelope to a friend and have that friend go out and buy a gender specific outfit and wrap it for us. We will open the wrapped gift on Christmas day. I think it will make Christmas extra special this year!

There's really not much else to report at this time. My only concern is how big I already am! I became HUGE while carrying Ellie and I'm already SOOO much bigger. I'm seriously a little scared. I brought it up to Dr. Susie and she said I should expect to get bigger sooner since this is my 2nd pregnancy. Oh great! Check the proof for yourselves:

Here I am pregnant with Elliana at 15 weeks:


And here I am pregnant with baby #2 at 15 weeks:




Here's my pregnancy stats:

How far along: 15 Weeks and 5 days.

Size of Baby: Baby is 4 inches long from crown to rump and weighs about 2.5 ounces (about the size of an apple).

Total Weight Gain/Loss:Umm... yeah, I can't believe I'm actually going to share this but I'm already up 8 pounds. Scary.

Maternity Clothes: Oh yeah. I couldn't fit into my non-maternity clothes if I tried. I guess I can wear a few stretchy non-maternity shirts but I definitely have to wear maternity pants.

Gender: 20 week ultrasound is right around the corner but we'll be finding out on Christmas day!

Movement: A little flutter here and there. I'm still anxiously awaiting the time that I get to feel baby move on a daily basis. That's my favorite part of being pregnant.

Sleep: It's getting much better. My energy has returned now that I'm in my 2nd trimester and I don't have to get up and eat in the middle of the night anymore. :)

Symptoms: 1st trimester symptoms are mostly gone. Now I just get to feel baby move every once in a while. I still have a VERY strong sense of smell which isn't always a good thing. :)

Best Moment This Week: Feeling my first really strong movement from baby.

What I'm Most Looking Forward To: More movement from baby, the 20 week ultrasound, and maternity photo shoot. My sister Jenn inspired me to have professional maternity photos done.

I guess that's it. I'll definitely keep posting updates on here.

Another Random Post

I decided to do another random post since none of these subjects really go together.

Life has been good lately. I'm really enjoying our fall but unfortunately it seems to be zooming by. I don't know where September went and we're already almost half way through October. Crazy!

All of my sisters and I blogged about how much we love fall goodies so we decided to actually get together and bake some. This past Saturday my mom and two of my sisters got together (Courtney already had plans-sorry Court, hopefully next time) and we baked some pumpkin bread, almond cake, and frosted gingerbread cookies. We frosted the cookies with red, yellow, and orange icing just to make it feel more fallish. :) We had a great time and we're all very much enjoying the goodies.

Caleb says every time he opens this tupperware it smells like the holidays. :)

I had my hair dyed this past weekend and I decided to go back to my natural brunette color for the fall and winter. My family was not happy with me because they're always saying that they like me better as a blond. If only I didn't have to pay to be blond. :)

What do you think, blond or brunette? I actually like changing it up a bit with the seasons.



I've been feeling baby move more and more lately and I LOVE that feeling. There's nothing like it. I can't wait until I can feel baby every day. I also can't wait until we name this baby so I can stop calling it baby. Ha! I've been trying to get Caleb to sit down with me and pick out boy names and girl names but due to his CRAZY volleyball schedule I think it might have to wait until after volleyball season is done (about mid-November).

Speaking of volleyball, I can't believe there's only 2 weeks left of the regular season and then it's time for the long road to State! Again, where has the time gone?

I don't know what it is, but it seems like Elliana is looking and acting so much older lately. My baby Ellie is gone and she's developing into a little girl.



One of her latest things is that she has to pack her own "purse" anytime we leave the house. She'll grab a small gift bag (or any bag for that matter) and she'll fill it with her toys, books, play phone, just about anything that's hers. It's adorable.
Here Ellie is with her "purse". Doesn't she look SO grown up here? It makes me sad.

This Wednesday is a FREE zoo day at the zoo. So, we're getting together with a bunch of friends and going. It should be lots of fun and the weather looks like it's going to be perfect! I'm really looking forward to it.

Now if only I can find a day to take Ellie to a pumpkin patch and/or corn maze. I don't know if she would enjoy it but I definitely would. :)


I love this girl's smile.

I think that's it for now. I'll be back after my 15 week OB appointment this week to give an update on the pregnancy. I can't believe I'll be 15 weeks along already.