Ta-Da!

Would you believe this is the face of a two year old who just went potty on the big potty for the first time?



Haha...he is concentrating so hard he doesn't look as excited as he was! Aunt Sassie was our lucky charm that made it happen!



Of course, Ian has missed his Sassie terribly and keeps asking about her. In her honor, he used the potty again last night. :-) We're so proud of him!

Mommy's Haircut

Last Tuesday was a super busy day! It was a typical busy day though with a million things to do and I had planned to blog about it so that one day when I am living the life of slow-moving luxury (hahahahaha...I wish!), I can remember these busy times. However, it was so busy, I didn't end up blogging about it! Aunt Lissie arrived the next day and I sure wasn't going to blog when I could spend time with her. :-) So, a week later, I'm just now catching up.

After Ian's stylin' walk to the park, I dropped him off at playcare and went to meet my friend Katie so we could both get haircuts. It's been about seven months since we had gone to get haircuts and we both needed them! I told Jannette to do her thing and make it look good. She did, but it was so much shorter than she had ever done it before!! It has definitely taken me some time to get used to it, but it is really easy to blow dry.

I love how the back looks here!

I'm sure it doesn't look quite as good when I do it. I wish I was rich enough to pay Jannette to come do my hair every morning!

Ian's Stylin' Park Trip

We have been very glad that the weather has been warm enough to take walks to the park. It's been a bit chilly, but it hasn't been too bad overall. Last Tuesday when Ian and I headed to the park, I just had to take a picture on my phone! Ian is definitely developing his own sense of style.



Right now, stickers are hot, Elmo is rockin', "Muheen" (Lightening McQueen) hats are cool, and mittens are in! And of course, brown rain boots go with everything!

Fin's Shower: Fun & Games

As friends started to arrive, we pulled out goodies for some good ole fashioned baby celebrating fun! I'm actually not sure what Hillary is doing in this picture, but apparently it is pretty funny. :-)

Renee, Lissie, and Hillary making play-do babies.

Ian was thrilled to join Miriam on the other side of the room and make his play-do baby too!

Ta-da! Finished babies! Can you guess whose is whose?

Here's a little bit more of a close-up. Maybe you can figure it out now!

Give up? Ok...top left yellow baby is mine and Ian's (preggo lady made with balls of play-do), top right pink baby is Miriam's, bottom left pink baby is Renee's (look at that detail...she was the obvious winner!!), bottom right blue baby is Hillary's (she won the geek prize!).

There are just two left. Can you guess which one is Nana's and which one is Lissie's?

Yup...Lissie's is the yellow baby on the left and Nana's is white baby on the right wrapped in a blanket.

Next game: draw a baby on your head without looking!

Intense concentration!

Haha...love the look on Lissie's face! That's an artist hard at work!

Finished! Of course, Lissie might just have an edge on blind contour drawing from teaching middle schoolers how to do it...just maybe. :-)

Nana's baby!

Miriam even wrote Finley's name!

Haha...love this pic!

Hillary's baby comes complete with sound effects!

I turned around and found that Ian had been drawing his own baby too!!! Oops...Momma should have given him a paper plate as well!

Group photo!

While we were taking pictures, Ian was ever so helpful and opened Aunt Lissie's presents!

Haha...he had so much fun getting everything out. Mommy got it all put back together so Aunt Lissie could actually open her own presents.

After all that hard work opening presents, Ian was ready for some dessert!

While he was otherwise occupied, Lissie took pictures with everyone. Here's Lissie and Miriam.

Lissie and Hillary!

Lissie and Renee!

Lissie and me. :-)

Lissie and Nana.

By this point, Ian was out of his high chair and was thoroughly enjoying a cake pop!

Loving our new camera and catching all of Ian's cute expressions!

Those were some yummy cake pops!

When guests started leaving, we let Ian play with the balloons. Needless to say, he was thrilled!

Erin, another one of Lissie's former roommates, showed up for a bit at the end. Apparently she just something rather shocking haha!

Just kidding! It was great to meet everyone though! We are really looking forward to Fin coming and can't wait to meet him!

Fin's Shower: Setting Up

Lissie had spent the last week in Texas having all her Texas family showers. The last half of the week she was in our neck of the woods for the shower at our house. We were so glad that she got to stay with us for a few days! We loved having Aunt "Sassie" with us!

Yesterday was finally shower day! Lissie and Ian went over to Nana's house so James and I could decorate. Hillary, who is one amazing friend, left her house super stinkin' early to drive five hours to Lissie's shower! She ended up arriving early and we were glad for her decorating help! She came up with this awesome bow and tie combo for the Sock Monkeys.

Hillary also did the streamers! Nana got the sock moneky slippers for Lissie. (Have you guessed the theme of the shower yet? ;-) )

Lissie and Ian showed up just a little bit before the shower was schedule to start. Hillary got to meet Fin!

The entry way desk held the diaper cake, invitation, and sono picture. And, of course, balloons!

Nana held Ian. His favorite phrase while we were getting the last of the stuff ready was "hold you" and Mommy already had her hands full!

Sock monkey cake pops!!

Yum...candy!

Finley William has his own name banner!

Sock monkey themed cupcakes.

More cupcakes!!

Coca-Cola was so nice to manufacture bottles that matched our theme!

Dessert bar, banner, and food table in the background.

Ian hanging out at the food table. There were Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets on there, after all!!

In honor of Aunt Lissie's salsa cravings during this pregnancy, we had Prairie Peach and Sante Fe salsa.

Sock monkey party favors with more monkeys!

Stay tuned...fun and games to come!

Dear Fin

Dear Fin,

I got to feel you kick last night. Your Mommy, Uncle James, and I were watching the debate on TV when your Mommy picked up my hand and placed it on her belly. Sure enough, just a minute later, I felt you wriggling around inside your Mommy! You are a strong little boy!

Tomorrow we are having a baby shower to celebrate you. Your Mommy and Daddy waited a long time for you to come along and everyone is so excited that you are on the way!! Nana, Auntie Liz, and I have been planning and planning lots of fun surprises for your Mommy tomorrow. It is going to be a fun day and make us even more excited about getting to meet you in person.

Cousin Ian doesn't yet really understand that you are growing in your Mommy's tummy. In fact, he can't even say your Mommy's name right! He keeps called her "Sassie" or "Sasses". He's learning though. And I know he will have so much fun showing you all of his favorite activities.

I've heard you've been promised a trip to Disney World AND Disney Land! Maybe we can convince your Mommy and Daddy to take you on a Disney Cruise with us too. Ian would love to have you along (and so would we)!

Well, baby boy, you are very much loved! I can't wait to hold you and cuddle with you and run away with you baby-sit! You are so precious to all of us and we can't wait to spend time with you!

Grow strong, little one! We'll see you in a few months!

Love,

Aunt Laura

How In The World...

...am I gonna survive this semester? I honestly have no clue what I was thinking taking 9 hours this semester to be a full time grad student! Oh yeah - graduating in May!!! Or at least that's the plan. I'm going to see if I can take the comprehensive exams instead of doing a thesis. A thesis was a nice dream. But I am so ready to be done.

Then I can spend more time with this munchkin. He loves his sunglasses in the car. Or more accurately, he hates the sun shining on him in the car, so he tolerates his sunglasses. The sun doesn't bother him when we are outside walking, just while in the car. Go figure. :-)

This past weekend, James spent 2.5 hours putting together our new computer cabinet. I am so excited about it! Hopefully we can keep the kitchen table clear now.

Ian was thrilled to see the new jungle gym that Daddy bought him. ;-)

Well, I am off to bid for my work schedule, write a lesson plan template, start research on my language and gender variation paper, fold some laundry, write a grocery list, and see about switching the thesis to the comps. Please check back in May to see if I am still breathing. Just kidding! Well, sort of kidding... Deep breath...here we go! The semester is officially in full swing!