Holiday Travels

A belated Merry Christmas to all! Our holiday travels have not yet ended but I wanted to at least post a bit to catch up on what we've been up to over our vacation. Alex and I are still in Philadelphia at my parents' house, and we'll probably be heading back home on Saturday. Marlon went down to Orlando on the 26th for recruiting and he will also be heading home on Saturday. But to back track a week....

We started out our vacation last Thursday with a trip to State College to visit our old neighbors and friends. We stayed the night and had a great time visiting with everyone--I definitely realize how much I miss the Penn State area every time we go back--there's nothing quite like living in the town where you have so many wonderful memories....college, meeting my husband, buying our first home, the hospital where Alex was born, etc. We continued on from SC to Philadelphia on Friday and spent Friday evening with my family before heading over to Marlon's parents' house on Saturday for their annual christmas dinner/get-together with family and a few close friends. (I will have to post pictures later!) On Sunday Marlon and I actually had a "date day" and went into New York for the afternoon--we went to a yummy Pan-Asian restaurant for lunch, Ruby Foo's, then went to see Hairspray (which we really enjoyed!). I did learn that I probably won't be visiting any broadway shows again when I'm 6+ months pregnant unless we invest in the premium seating, since it was VERY tight quarters and not easy to get out of the middle of the row every time I needed to hit the bathroom!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family, then we headed over to Marlon's parents' house again for the afternoon (our families are only 30 minutes apart so we are extremely lucky that we can spend holidays with both!). Alex knew Santa came to visit and brought some presents, and she loved opening them all! Her few favorites were probably the dress up outfits from Aunt Renee and Nana (much to her daddy's dismay!), the Candy Land castle edition game (she doesn't have a clue how to play it but loves the little device that dispenses all of the game pieces!), and her flutes that are meant to be used in the bath (althought she is in bed playing them as we speak!).

That's a brief update for now--I don't want to go too crazy with the posting until I can upload some photos! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to enjoy time with friends and family!

Home Again

I finally returned on Friday from my week-long trip to Philadelphia for work. Alex and Marlon had a great week of father-daughter bonding, which was long overdue for them--they both had fun so I didn't feel so bad about being gone all week! I'm very grateful that Alex enjoys spending time with her dad and doesn't miss me while I'm gone. She goes many months without seeing him very often when he is in season, so this time is definitely much needed for the both of them!

We spent Friday evening visiting with Marlon's college roommate, Greg, his wife Krista, and their son Luke. Luke and Alex are only about 2 months apart so they have fun playing together. We were hoping to head to State College on Saturday to visit with our old neighbors but the weather didn't cooperate, so I spent the rest of our weekend making cookies, doing laundry, wrapping presents, and cleaning (in addition to spending time catching up with my family!). We are heading to Philadelphia this weekend for the holidays, so I have a lot to do around the house before we go, including finishing up the last of my christmas shopping.

As for a pregnancy update, I'm 28 weeks along now and am beginning my once-every-2-week visits to the doctor. It's hard to believe I've reached that point already! I've definitely gotten much bigger (I need to post a picture once I take one) and I'm definitely uncomfortable doing things like getting up from sitting on the floor. I still have 3 months to go so I can only imagine how I'll feel a few months from now! We're still going back and forth on name choices for the baby---it's definitely been tougher this time around!

Here's a quick picture of Alex and "her Sophie"--this was taken while we were trying to capture our christmas card photo yesterday (a little late, I know). This was not the final choice but I still thought it was very cute.

Oh Christmas Tree

I wanted to get a post up before I head to Philly for the week for work. We finally went out on Friday and cut down our Christmas tree, a family tradition. We were trying to wait around for nice weather, but when we saw that wasn't going to happen I figured that it's all about snow and winter, so let's venture out in the elements and enjoy ourselves! It was actually raining off and on, but the conditions weren't bad. Once again we ended up with a huge tree--bigger than we planned for. I think it was over 8 feet tall, but since we have high ceilings in our living room it fits. Alex fell asleep on the way to the tree farm (with a lollipop in her mouth) since she'd missed her nap.

Here's Alex and daddy venturing off to find our tree!

Our massive tree laying in the snow after Marlon cut it down...

Now this farm we go to does NOT have a bailer/shaker (we learned this last year) so we had to drive home on the interstate with this tree tied on top of our car, not wrapped up at all. If only we had a video camera for the ride home--I drove and Marlon held on to some of the twine through the sunroof to keep it from sliding around. We had to pull over a few times to re-adjust, and we finally made it on the 25 minute drive home. It was pretty amusing but it's so worth it when we pull into the driveway and realize we made it!

Our smiling kid helping hang the lights.

Alex and mommy (and baby brother) putting up the ornaments.

I was also able to make my first batch of christmas cookies yesterday--snickerdoodles, which we were able to enjoy while decorating the tree and listening to christmas music. Now it feels like the holiday season is here! I was even able to wrap a few presents last night and put them under the tree.

On a different subject, Alex has been doing great with potty training--only 1 or 2 accidents in the past week. Yesterday she was down for a nap (but not sleeping) and Marlon checked in on her only to find out she decided to go into her bathroom (which is off of her room) and use her little potty to go poop. Very independent of her, however she made a little bit (ok-a lot) of a mess because she then tried to dump it into the big toilet, and when it didn't come clean she went through half a box of wipes trying to clean it, then clogging the big toilet, then trying to change her dirty clothes (since she didn't wipe so well)--so Marlon immediately called for assistance and he got her right into the tub while I got the task of cleaning up the mess. It was pretty amusing (I debated taking pictures but thought I could probably do without), but despite the mess it's nice to see she's trying to do it on her own. "All By Myself" is the theme for this week. She wants to do everything all by herself, from getting dressed, to going to the bathroom, to getting stuff to eat. They sure do grow up fast!

The White Stuff arrives

So we're getting our first official snow day today--schools are closed and it has not stopped snowing since I got out of bed this morning. Alex stayed home today so of course we had to venture out and play in the snow for a bit. These pictures were taken over 4 hours ago, and it has snowed a lot since then, so I'll have to post some more pictures once I take some.

Alex enjoyed eating snow--whe was warned to stay away from the yellow stuff--so this one is of her leaning down to pick up some snow with her mouth.

And this is her enjoying it!

We made 3 mini-snowmen (they only had eyes and a nose--finding the other parts was too much work)--here is one of them!

I also realized I'd never posted pictures of Alex's newly painted room and new furniture. She loves her big girl bed and has done great sleeping in it. We have yet to decorate the walls, but I at least wanted to get the room set up with furniture. We also just painted the baby's room, so once that gets somewhat set up I'll posted pictures of that as well!

I also recently got some photos from my sister-in-law, Lauren of my nephew Carter. I had to post one because he's just so cute! I saw him when he was only 1 day old, but we're looking forward to seeing him again over the holidays! He just recently turned 1 month old, and he's getting so big! We're looking forward to the days when he can play with his boy cousin who will be born in a few months!

Deceptive Feeding Begins!

So I finally got around to purchasing the Deceptively Delicious cookbook a week or so ago, and yesterday I went out and got a steamer to cook veggies, so I decided to give some recipes a try last night. I must say that I am impressed so far, and it makes me feel good to know I am sneaking healthy food into Alex's diet. Last night I cooked and pureed sweet potatoes and butternut squash, which was a fun process. I did learn that my blender doesn't double very well as a food processor, so I think I'll have to invest in one of those. This morning for breakfast I made pancakes with sweet potato in them--I figured I should at least try the food that I'm feeding her, and I'll admit they were good! For lunch I swiped some butternut squash onto the bread when making a grilled cheese sandwich for Alex's lunch, and she didn't seem to notice. She also scarfed down the pancakes this morning--I froze the remaining ones but I'm not sure how well they'll hold up in the freezer since they seemed a bit more moist than regular pancakes. Last night I mixed up some plain lo-fat yogurt with some pureed frozen blueberries, added a little powdered sugar, then put them into popsicle molds to make frozen yogurt popsicles. I wanted to start with some of the easy, basic recipes to see if this idea is really feasible for me, and so far, so good! My next goal is to attempt to make homemade brownies with carrot and spinach in them!! I LOVE brownies, so I'm sure I'll be pretty picky about how these taste, but I'll keep you posted!

On another very important note....we need some feedback on baby names. This is totally Marlon's idea to post this on here--I'm much more a fan of "I really don't want to know if someone doesn't like our name choices, particularly if I really love them" but we have had a difficult time finding any names that we both would consider for the baby. So far we only have 2 in the running--and we each prefer one of them (not the same one of course). What are your thoughts? The 2 choices right now are Cameron and Kellan. Let me know which you prefer, and feel free to share any other suggestions you have as we're open to ideas!

A Day of Firsts

Wanted to update you on a day of firsts--I will forewarn anyone who isn't a parent--this all has to do with potty training, so I apologize in advance! On Monday night Alex pooped in the potty for the first time without any prompting! She told me she needed to go, and she went. BIG breakthrough! Then on Tuesday she went to school in underwear and stayed dry all day! Another big breakthrough! She has been staying dry through the night for at least a week now, but I'm keeping her in pull-ups for a while longer to make sure we're ready for that big step. I'm not naive enough to think it's going to be this simple from now on, but it's a great start. We'll see how things go today. Those of you who have worked through potty training can hopefully understand my excitement over something so small!

On another note, I can't believe that December is just a few days away. Does anyone else feel that the christmas holidays are sneaking up on us this year? I've actually gotten almost all of my shopping done already (yet another first!), so next on the agenda is to cut down our christmas tree. With Marlon's season still going (they have advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA's), we'll have to wait until we can find a day that works for him, but hopefully we can get one very soon--one of my favorite things to do every holiday season. What holiday traditions do you enjoy?

Our Holiday Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Our thanksgiving day meal with the soccer team was a good time--we had a ton of turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, stuffing, etc. and there were actually leftovers! Alex enjoyed eating the desserts--m & m choc. chip cookies, cupcakes, etc....We figured it was a special day, so what the heck?!

On Friday Alex and I traveled up to Hazleton, PA to spend the holidays with my family. I didn't take many pictures but my family did, so once I get some I'll post a few. I'll post some of the few pictures I took. It was a good time to relax, spend time with my brothers, and get to know my new niece Kaylee a bit! Alex LOVED "her Kaylee" and wanted to help give her a binky, hold a bottle, and take care of her when she cried (hopefully a positive sign of things to come!). Alex and Nolan also had a great time together, riding bikes around the house and playing with Grammy's trains that she brought up. My grandparents, aunt and uncle were also there. Although my grandparents aren't in the best health anymore, I think they really enjoyed seeing 3 of their great-grandchildren. My grandpa was still sharp enough to play a few games of Scrabble with us (and win!) so that was nice. Aside from Jon having to leave to go be with Renee and Mia, the weekend was very enjoyable. Alex is still fighting a small cold so she didn't sleep too well while we were there, and she has been getting up before 6 AM the past 3 or 4 days! Mommy is ready for her to sleep in again! Below are a few pictures of Alex with Kaylee, Josh, and Kendy. Hope she's ready to be a big sister soon!





I also had to include the next picture because it gives me a good laugh--Alex is trying on ALL of her new underwear that we just bought (with a little help from her dad). I think we are ready to go into underwear every day and see what happens! I talked to her teacher at school about it and she's ready to give it a go with us, so sometime this week we'll send her to school in underwear and see what happens. Over the past week she's been doing great telling us when she needs to go, staying dry all night, and staying dry all day. The pooping may still not be mastered, but I figure she'll probably learn more quickly if she has a few messy accidents in her underwear. (thus the reason for the purchase of a 10-pack of underwear--I'm thinking I'll be throwing out a few pairs that I just can't stomach the thought of cleaning!) Wish us luck!

On a side note that kind of relates to potty training, I have to recommend this soap that my mom found for Alex. She loves it and it really encourages her to wash her hands after she uses the potty. It can be found at www.squidsoap.com --it's made by Airborne and you should be able to find it in Walmart or Target (I'm not sure where my mom found it). The idea is that when you press down on the nozzle, there's a little ink pad that puts a colored dot on your hand--you then have to wash your hands long enough to clean off the dot. Alex thinks it's a ton of fun and it makes her want to wash her hands, which I appreciate because the whole dirtiness of touching the potty so much really freaks me out.

Update

Wanted to give you a quick update since I'm not sure how long it will be until Renee posts some info on her blog--Jon, Renee, and Mia are still at the hospital but are hoping to go home tomorrow. The first round of test results have all come back negative, so they are hoping to get some final tests back to see if they can determine what caused the ulcers/eye infection. Mia is doing fine and has been very good through it all--she doesn't seem to be feeling sick, which is great news. She is getting some medication to treat the infection and they hope to get a final diagnosis tomorrow so they can finally head home. Thank you all for your prayers--I know they appreciate them! I will let Renee finish the story on her blog--hopefully very soon!

Pray for Mia

Please say a prayer for little Mia. She came down with some type of eye infection last night and when Renee took her to the doctor today, they decided to send her straight to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia to run some tests because the doctor noticed some ulcers in her throat. She's had a battery of blood tests run, a spinal tap, and we are now waiting for all of the results but expect that she will be in the hospital for a few days at least. Needless to say, she is not yet a week old so we all are hoping that her tiny body can fight off whatever the virus is but it's still very scary for Jon and Renee. Please pray for Mia over the coming days--I'm sure Renee will update you all on the details in her blog when she can, but I will try to give a brief update when I know more. We love you Mia and are thinking and praying for you!

Happy Thanksgiving...

Happy Turkey Day to all! I hope everyone enjoys spending today with family and friends, remembering all that you are thankful for. Things I'm thankful for...my husband and daughter, of course....this precious baby growing inside me....the chance to spend time with family over the holidays....eating turkey and mashed potatoes (twice!), one of my very favorite meals!

We are having Marlon's entire WVU men's soccer team to our house for thanksgiving (about 35 people in total!) and no, I am not doing the cooking. We are having the food provided by a catering company so I'm able to just look forward to eating, with the exception of making sure the house is clean! Then tomorrow Alex and I will head to my parents' house out in Hazleton, PA where they are spending the holidays, and we will celebrate by having our meal there on Friday. My grandparents, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Bruce drove out from Illinois, Josh, Kendy and Kaylee will be there, and I think Jon will be making it up with Nolan so it should be a great time! Marlon has practice (they are preparing for the NCAA playoffs) so he'll stay behind. It works out well since we are able to spend today with him and tomorrow with more family.

Just wanted to post a few pictures--these were taken last night as Alex helped me make red velvet cupcakes. She takes after her mommy and loves to lick the batter when we're done! My dad and I always shared this job growing up as my mom baked, and now Alex and I continue the tradition! As you can see, red velvet batter is very red and messy, but she enjoyed it! You may be thinking, what is she wearing??? Yes, in fact, she is wearing her bathing suit. Another one of those things she obsesses about--I figured it was a nice day outside (it reached 70's) so what harm could be done for an hour or so in the house before bed!

This one was taken a few days ago as Alex read to all her "friends" one afternoon. (this is her new bedding-the new furniture arrives on Tuesday so I'll post some of that soon once we are done!). She needs this big bed just to fit every stuffed animal she can find in there with her. This morning I found her pink rain boots and a pair of brown shoes in bed with all of the friends.

Mia's first photo

Well, maybe not her first official photo, but at least it's the first one on my blog! She looks like she's not too happy with her mom for the trauma she just went through! I'm not sure yet if she looks like big brother Nolan--we'll have to see what pictures look like as she grows a bit, but I know she'll be a cutie! This was one of the few pics my mom sent over last night. I believe the vitals on Mia are that she was 6 lbs., 13 oz., and 20 1/4 inches long (correct me if I'm wrong Renee!). I'm sure Renee will soon be posting pictures on her blog (see the hangin with your naybor link) so keep an eye out there for updates! I'm looking forward to meeting my newest niece very soon--Alex is going to have a hard time keeping her new cousins straight!

Welcome Mia Rose!

Most of you probably haven't even read my last post yet, and Mia has already arrived! Renee made quick work of it once she arrived at the birth center, and Mia Rose was born at 8:00 this evening! We're still waiting for all the details and some pictures, but I wanted to pass that news along! As far as I know mother and baby are doing well! Congratulations Renee, Jon, and big brother Nolan!

Come on Mia we're waiting for you!

Renee and Jon are en route to the birth center as we speak, so hopefully we will have news of baby Mia's arrival very soon! Renee has been having contractions all day long and they are now only 3 minutes apart, so we are praying that Mia arrives quickly once they make it there! Renee is SO ready for Mia to come so hopefully this is the real deal. If Mia makes her appearance before midnight, she will be exactly one month younger than her cousin Kaylee!

As an update to yesterday's post, we made it all day today with no potty accidents! Alex was in panties all day once we got home from church (with the exception of nap time) and she stayed dry all day! I by no means believe this battle is over, but we'll score one point for mom and dad!

*****As an update, just got a call from my mom with a Renee update--she has arrived at the birth center and is dilated 9 CM!! Her water hasn't broken yet so they'll have to decide whether to break it or wait it out, but my parents are on their way--hopefully they will make it in time! My next post will probably be about Mia's arrival!

Off to the Movies!

Today was a day of a couple firsts--the most exciting one being Alex's first trip to the movie theater! I took Alex, along with my friend Jess and her boys Jameson and Jarrett, to see the Bee Movie this afternoon. We bought a huge tub of popcorn and took along some m&m's and lollipops and decided to give it a try! It actually went pretty smoothly and Alex really enjoyed it. I did learn that she's not quite heavy enough to keep the seat from trying to collapse on her, so she spent most of the movie on my lap, but she was happy eating bowl after bowl of popcorn! It went so well that we're already planning ahead to our next movie outing--possibly to see that movie that just came out Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium--that looks like something kids would enjoy.

The other first was not quite as enjoyable (for me at least!). I decided to let Alex spend most of the day in "big girl underwear" (not to the movies of course--I'm not that crazy), and it definitely was far from successful--we went through 4 pairs of underwear, pants, and socks due to her not telling me about needing to go potty until it was too late! I had thought it may be worth giving it a try because she recently has been telling us when she needs to pee so we can make it to the potty(BEFORE it happens) although pooping is still consistently in the pull-ups, and because her teacher at school says she almost always uses the potty and stays dry, but I guess she doesn't mind being soaking wet as much as I thought she would! I figure I'll give it a go again tomorrow once we get home from church since we'll probably be around the house all day--we'll see if we have any more luck!

No pictures to share today but hopefully in the near future I'll have pictures of Alex's redecorated big girl room--we picked out paint and her new bedding arrived the other day, and her new furniture should be arriving in the next few weeks. I'll make sure to share once we get it all done!

Welcome Kadence Ann!

I wanted to say a quick congratulations to my cousin Juliet and her husband Kendrix on the birth of their first child, a little baby girl! Juliet gave birth to Kadence Ann on November 6, weighing in at 8 lbs., 10 oz. and 19.5 inches long. I haven't seen pictures yet but I'm sure she's adorable! 4 babies down, one more to go! (Renee--I'm expecting a call at any time!)

Baby Update and other stuff...

I realized I haven't given much of a baby update on our end (I've had so many exciting things to share about other babies!), but I'm now about 21/22 weeks--past the halfway point!! Things are going well and I just had my fetal echo this week, and at this point everything looks completely normal, which we are very thankful for! I'm getting bigger these days, and Marlon just noticed how much I've popped in the past few weeks. I'm feeling pretty good aside from the occasional heartburn, and we're starting to talk seriously about coming up for a name for this little boy! We talk to Alex a lot of about baby brother, and we talk about all the ways she can help with him once he's born--she wants to help give him a bath, help feed him, help put him down for naps, etc. We'll see if this all is true when baby brother actually arrives!

I included a few photos that were taken this week. I'm trying very hard to document parts of this pregnancy, although it does seem to slip your mind a bit when you have another child to take care of!

See below for our most recent laugh we had with Alex and her nighttime habits...Marlon went in her room to find that she had somehow moved herself off the bed and was sleeping standing up. And yes--she is wearing dress shoes to sleep in! We are currently in the process of working her into a new bed. We took the toddler bed/crib down a few weeks ago and she's now sleeping on her new mattress/box spring on the floor until I order her a new headboard and footboard for her "big girl" room.

Last weekend we had our old neighbors up to visit, which was fun. Grace is one of the few girl friends that Alex has, since almost all of my friends have little boys! We moved from State College just as the girls were getting to the age that they could become friends and play well together, so it is always nice to be able to see them again. Grace is 8 months older than Alex and her sister Edie is about a year younger, and the 3 girls had fun playing together! Below is a picture of Grace, Edie, and Alex. To get a sense of how little Alex is, take note of how close in size she is to Edie, who is 17 months old, compared to Alex's 2 1/2 years!!

Welcome Maximus James!

I wanted to say a quick congratulations to our friends, Mike and Amy, from State College. Yesterday they welcomed little Maximus James into the world--8 lbs., 1 oz., and 21 inches long. Mike and I used to work together in State College--and Amy and I became friends as a result! I hope to be able to share pictures soon---that's 3 babies down, one more to go (Renee!)--actually, there's another baby due in a couple of weeks in my extended family--my cousin Juliet is expecting a baby girl around Nov. 15 I think--this will be her first, and we're so excited for both Juliet and Kendrix!

Catching up...

I've got a lot to catch up on! The last 5 days have been very busy for Alex and I. Marlon has been on the road a lot recently, but that hasn't stopped us from having some fun! This post has a bunch of pictures so enjoy!

Alex was invited to her first birthday party for a classmate from school, Anthony. The party was on Sunday at the local farm--it was a sunny day but a little cold when the wind blew--but Alex and the other kids had a great time! They got to pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, jump on trampolines, ride in the little cars that were pulled by a tractor (see picture below), see some animals at the petting zoo, and ride a hayride. Great idea for the whole family! The picture is of Alex and her friend, Jarrett, who we spend a lot of time with.
I had to add this picture, taken after we got home from the farm, because Alex looks so big! (I think it's the shoes!). These are her newest obsession--rain boots. Nana gave them to her a few months ago, and I was worried that she will probably outgrow them by the time spring rolls around, so I let her wear them to the farm. She's worn them every day since!

On Monday we headed to Philadelphia for a few days. On the way we stopped in to visit Josh, Kendy, and Kaylee! Kaylee is a beautiful baby, and Alex loved everything about her! She wanted to hold her, kiss her, pet her head, give her a binky, tuck her blanket around her. I'm hoping this is a good sign of things to come!

After leaving Josh and Kendy's, we headed out to spend a little time with Jon, Renee, and Nolan! We hadn't been to visit them in a while, and we wanted to give Alex and Nolan a little time to play together and get a chance to see Renee one more time before baby Mia arrives! I didn't get many good pics of the kids together because they were always on the run, often in different directions, but I wanted to include one of my little nephew Nolan, who is totally adorable and not so little anymore!

We headed on to Grammy and Granddad's, our final destination, where Alex got to play with Grammy on Tuesday when I went to work for a bit then headed off to visit Carter, my new nephew! It was so great that he happened to come into the world when I was in the area so I was able to get an early peek at him! He is also a cutie--congrats to Lauren & Jon!

And last but not least, we drove home yesterday just in time for Halloween! This was the first year Alex actually went out trick or treating--last year we had just moved to WV so we stayed at home and dressed her up and let her hand out candy. She caught on very quickly (after some practice run-throughs in the car)--we actually went to another neighborhood so Alex could go around with her friends Jarrett and Jameson--and she had a great time! She walked the entire way, didn't get scared at all, and probably would have continued going for hours if her bag of candy wasn't so heavy! At one house they walked to the door and knocked, and while waiting for someone to answer I actually heard her yell "Hello--is anybody there?" I just laughed and thought--was that really my kid? She went as a ladybug (in case you couldn't tell) and she loved flapping her "wings" like a ladybug would do. I couldn't get her to smile for a photo (as usual) but at least she didn't look miserable in this one!

Carter George Pasko

My next sister-in-law, Lauren, had her baby tonight! Carter George Pasko weighed in at 7 lbs., 15 oz., 20 1/2 inches long. Still waiting for the first photos, but my mother in law says mom and baby are doing well. I'm actually in Philadelphia right now so I'm hoping to get a chance to visit my newest nephew before I head back to WV. Hopefully I will have photos to share soon!

First glimpse of Kaylee Mae...

Here are a few of the first photos taken of my niece! Her mom dressed her up in the cute outfit for her hospital photo--isn't she sweet? Check out my sister-in-law Renee's blog to see some pictures they took from this weekend when they went to visit. Alex and I will be stopping out in Harrisburg to meet her next week on our way to Philadelphia, so I will have some new pictures to add soon! (Sorry they are so small but that is what happened when I downloaded them!)

My co-worker and friend, Kathryn also had her second baby on Saturday, Oct. 20--his name is Alden. He is the younger brother to Sam--I have so many close friends with 2 little boys (Heidi, Victoria, Jessica)!! Kathryn was due 2 days after Kendy, on Halloween, and she had Alden 2 days after Kendy--it seems everyone wants to deliver pretty early these days! 2 babies down--3 more to go!! Marlon's sister Lauren is due Nov. 7-so we're expecting news any day on her, my friend Amy from State College is also due in early November, and Renee is due around Thanksgiving! I am looking forward to the arrival of my next nephew and niece!

The next photo was taken of Alex the other day on our way to Marlon's soccer game-she's dressed in her WVU track suit! She loves going to daddy's soccer games, although she rarely watches much of the game at all--for her it's all about eating popcorn (she can polish off a box all by herself--not that this is something to be proud of!) and watching DVD's--I usually bring along the portable DVD player and we can usually sit inside one of the boxes, so it's perfect because it allows me to watch the game and her to have fun! Daddy's games are also a special treat because she gets to stay up really late! The game on Friday night started at 8:00, and we stuck around until the very end. The parents had a tailgate for the team afterwards, and we even stayed for a bit and Alex loved all the goodies they had to eat! I think we left a little after 11 pm! She showed no signs of being tired until we got in the car, but even still she stayed awake the whole way home, although she crashed pretty quickly once we got inside. She's our little energizer bunny!

Kaylee Mae

I have my very first niece! Kaylee Mae was born yesterday, October 18, around 10:20 pm.--6 lbs., 13 oz. She shares her birthday with her mommy (my sister-in-law Kendy!). No pictures to share yet but the family is doing well. I hope to go meet her soon, but we're excited to add another member to our family! More to follow soon....

Hail, our house, and Jessica Seinfeld

So this post has a little bit of everything in it--some random things I wanted to document and chat about...the first photo is from our recent hail storm. This was a few weeks ago, and since I'd NEVER experienced anything quite like it I had to make sure and take a photo. Both Marlon and I were wondering if it was actually a tornado--we had 60+ mph winds, rain, and hail pelting all of the big windows in our house. It was pretty scary! This day had been a nice sunny day in the 80's, and the storm came through around 10:00 pm and I couldn't believe our deck was coated with white balls of hail. It blew all of our furniture clear across the deck--it's a miracle nothing broke!

This is a picture taken the other day of Alex wearing her plastic fireman's hat while playing with her dad. It's a rare one of her smiling so I had to share it!

As promised, here are a few photos of our house. West Virginia is a state filled with mountains, so finding flat land is very difficult to do. We're fortunate enough to have a small portion of flat ground in our backyard, and a flat area on the driveway. In case you can't tell from the following photos, we live in a new development so we have the joy of seeing all of this construction when we look out our back window! It will be interesting to see how the landscape changes once we have a huge house sitting behind us!

The final one is of my sweet girl kissing the scarecrow out front. Too cute to not share!

My last random question--Did anyone see the recent Oprah about Jessica Seinfeld's book, "Deceptively Delicious"? She basically mixes all sorts of vegetable purees (squash, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, etc.) into everything she makes for her kids--according to Oprah the food tastes pretty good, too! I'm actually considering buying this and trying it for Alex. As most of you know, she is a very picky eater--she doesn't eat fruits (other than applesauce and the occasional bite of banana), she eats virtually no vegetables, and doesn't eat much meat either. Oprah made all the foods look so yummy-like brownies with spinach in them, chicken nuggets cooked with sweet potato or broccoli puree. Jessica says she just spends an hour once a week pureeing all of the veggies then putting them in ziploc bags, then throughout the week she pulls out bags as she needs them and adds them to whatever she's cooking. I think I might give it a try--I would feel better knowing that Alex was getting a more balanced diet than she gets now! Anyone else see this?

A day in the life of our 2 year old

So I'm too lazy to post pictures this evening (but I promise to do that soon!)--I'm watching SYTYCD and waiting patiently for Alex to decide to go to bed. Tonight she came to her door with every excuse imaginable....I dropped my hair bow (twice), I tore my bandaid and I need a new one (twice), I bumped my head, I need to put Dora's clothes on...the list goes on and on. I think she's finally quiet (sleeping in the middle of the floor--at this point, she can sleep wherever she'll close her eyes!)--she was up this morning at 5:30 am so I'm hoping she gets a good night's sleep!

I thought I'd share some of the interests she has these days...she likes to recite nursery rhymes (I can thank school for that--we never read nursery rhymes at home--isn't that horrible?) She has Jack & Jill went up the hill down pat, and she's also mastering Little Miss Muffett. She's testing my memory of the correct words in those nursery rhymes--definitely not something I've thought about in a long time! She likes to play "Where is me?" which is a very simple version of hide and seek where Alex "hides" (usually in plain sight) and Sophie (the dog) and I have to pretend to look for her. We can play this game over and over for a good 20 minutes, and she thinks it's hysterical every time. She can count to 10 in Spanish (again, a school thing)--Marlon and I had to ask ourselves how old we were when we could count to 10 in Spanish...suffice it to say, we were much older than 2! She is slowly expanding her picky eating habits--she will eat anything for daddy, so we've gotten her to eat chicken pot pie and mashed potatoes this week. She still gags with every bite of mashed potatoes (probably because she tries to swallow everything she doesn't like whole) but at least she's eating it! She's taken a new liking to chocolate pudding (thanks to Grammy for introducing it to her at the pizza place!), although we're trying to limit her milk intake these days due to some bowel issues! She is learning her full first name (although saying Alexandra is definitely a mouthful!), she knows daddy's name is Marlon, mommy's name is Jenn, grammy's name is Ann, granddad's name is Ken, pop-pop's name is Keith, and nana's name is Jenny. She loves to run around the house and play with Marlon--their favorite game is yet another version of hide and seek, where Marlon hides and Alex goes looking for him, then shrieks and screams when she finds him. She has recently begun to stick objects in her nose--so I'm realizing we have to pay close attention to what she's up to--so far I've caught her sticking a raisin and a cheerio up there--the cheerio came out pretty easily but I had some difficulty with the raisin...hopefully that was the last time for that, although I have a feeling it's only the beginning!

That's a little glimpse into the life of Alex these days...pictures will follow! My husband just pointed out to me that most of you have never seen where we live, so maybe that will be a topic of a future post...seeing as how the blog is titled the LeBlancs in West Virginia, I guess I should show you a bit about our life here!

It's a BOY!!!

That's right--my friend's prediction (or should I say the pencil's prediction) was correct--I am having a boy! This was an exciting day-early birthday present for me as we went to get an ultrasound yesterday--this was a 16 week ultrasound since I was determined to be slightly high risk since heart defects have occurred on my mom's side of the family, but even at this early stage there was no mistaking it! I will have my regular 20 week ultrasound at the end of October which will hopefully provide a clearer picture of his face, but I just wanted to share this news with all of you! At this point everything else looks healthy with the baby and we will find out more definitively about any potential heart issues when I have a fetal echo done in early November, but so far there is no cause for concern. We just pray that our baby boy will be healthy, and we can now get Alex excited about having a baby brother! Marlon has already started to toss out names of famous soccer players we could name this baby after....of course they are all foreign so I'm not sure how well they will work out, but we'll see if we can compromise!

Below is the nice clear ultrasound photo--no doubt about the sex of this baby!

Please don't think I'm crazy...

OK--So I hope some of you have heard this before so I don't sound completely crazy....I tried this a few years ago with some friends from Rita's and it really seems to work, and my friend Jessica just tried it on me this evening...so I thought I'd pass it along to see if you've heard about this before.
There's this thing you can do to people that supposedly will tell you what the sex of your child will be (my sister-in-law Kendy will love this)--and it also should accurately tell you the sex of children you already have (not that you don't know the sex of your current children, but this is just a way to confirm that this thing works!). It requires a few common household items--dental floss, a paperclip, and a sharpened pencil. Have I peaked your curiousity yet? Hopefully I can accurately explain this without pictures--so wish me luck. Take a piece of dental floss and tie it onto a paper clip that is pried open. Stick one end of the paper clip into a pencil eraser so you have a hanging pencil. Have a friend who also has nothing better to do hang this pencil over your wrist with your palm facing up--it's important to hold it very still. This is no joke--the pencil will begin to swing (supposedly from the energy you give off)--if is swings side to side (in a straight line) that signifies boy. If it swings in a circular motion that means girl. If you have multiple children, it will swing for the first one, slow down or come to a stop, then swing for the next child, and so on. (Do you think I'm nuts yet?) I recall doing this years ago and it worked when I tried it on my mom--1 girl then 2 boys (it goes in order by age). My friend, who has 2 boys and had a miscarriage in between, said it worked for her too. It swung in a straight line, then stopped and quivered (a sign of a miscarriage), then it swung in a straight line again--freaky!! She tried it on me and it swung in a circle first (to represent Alex), then it swung in a very big straight line--signifying boy! She said she tried it on another pregnant friend and the swinging motion was very strong and pronounced--perhaps because of the increased energy and hormones that us pregnant women give out! Now I'm not one of those superstitious people who believe it these things, but I'm definitely curious to see if it turns out to be accurate when we have our ultrasound! When I did it years ago with my Rita's co-workers, it also said a girl then a boy--very strange, huh? Now when I did it with my Rita's friends, we just used a silver chain with any sort of a silver pendant hanging from it, but the rest of the concept was the same.
If anyone has nothing better to do, try it out if you have kids or are pregnant--and write me in the COMMENTS to tell me if it worked. I'd love to see my 3 pregnant sister-in-laws try it since they all know what they are having and should also give off that pregnant energy. If you think I'm completely whacky, you are entitled to that opinion too! We'll know soon enough if it was accurate for me!

September Happenings

September has been a busy month so far with soccer season underway and Alex starting at her new school, ELF (Early Learning Facility). The WVU soccer team is off to another great start with a 4-1-0 record--follow along with the team by going to their team website! http://www.msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?sport=msoccer

Alex started at her new "school" right after Labor Day, and she is really enjoying it. She stopped crying after the first few days and now seems to be excited to go each morning. This school was highly recommended to us by people we know in Morgantown, so after a year of being on the waiting list a spot opened up for her this month! The price was essentially the same as the daycare she was going to before, but you get so much more for your money!! The school is for children ages 2 through pre-K, so she is one of the younger children there, but she seems to be catching on to the routine quickly. The school really works to teach children how to be independent and encourages them to go to the bathroom on their own, wash their hands, brush their teeth, drink from the water fountain, etc. They get to play outside every day, and they will even go out during the winter--we will need to send her with snow clothes, boots, hat, gloves, etc., which I'm sure she will LOVE! They have a rotating curriculum of classes that the children rotate through each week--they have mini-classes on Math, Language Arts, Music, Science, Art, Social Studies, and Computers. Today they went on a nature hunt and collected rocks, acorns, grass, flowers, leaves, and dirt :). All of her items were sent home, glued to a piece of paper for us to cherish! Yesterday she came home with her pockets full of rocks that she collected on the playground--that was a pleasant surprise to find :) Below is a picture of her before leaving for school the other morning--it's so hard to catch her with a smile since she is NOT a fan of posing for the camera (she typically runs the other direction!)--this time we caught her mid-smile and it was pretty funny, so I thought I would share!
Alex participated in her first Show and Tell at school today, and she brought her Snap n Style doll Erika, given to her by Aunt Renee for her 2nd birthday! Erika was all dressed in her soccer outfit, and Alex's teacher said she talked A LOT about Erika's clothes and her hat. The teacher helps her show the object around to her class, then it goes back in the bag to bring home. I wasn't sure how that would work out but her teacher said she did very well!

Last but not least I'll share the very first "Belly Photo" I've taken with this pregnancy--just taken yesterday. Where do the months go?? I'm just about 4 months and I'm feeling pretty good--some days I'm extremely tired but that's usually the exception. Most evenings I'm on my own with Alex since Marlon usually has practice, and I imagine I'd be pretty tired even if I wasn't pregnant since a 2-year-old sure keeps you on your toes! I'll try to share more pregnancy images as there is more belly to be seen! I'm definitely in maternity pants these days unless it's nice enough to wear comfy gaucho pants--luckily the shirt styles these days are much more forgiving, so I still have a number of normal shirts that still fit. My friend Jessica was nice enough to pass along a ton of winter maternity clothes, which will definitely help me get through the coming months without spending a ton of money!

Guess that's it for now! Until later....

Philly Road Trips and other news...

The past month has been extremely busy as Alex and I have made 2 trips to Philadelphia--one trip for my nephew Nolan's 2nd birthday party, and the other for my sister-in-law Lauren's baby shower! It was great to be able to celebrate each event with family even though Marlon was unable to make the trips due to soccer!

Below is an example of the kinds of fun Alex and Nolan have at Grammy and Granddad's! Nolan LOVES tractors so while Jon let him drive around, Alex joined in and drove the electric fire truck. She did well pressing the gas but not so well steering--she nearly hit the cars in the driveway a few times.

We also got to take the kids to Sesame Place--my former place of employment throughout high school and college! I took Alex, along with Jon, Renee, Nolan, and Renee's sister Nicole. We got to play in the water, see a show, watch the parade, and go on one ride, which we waited in line forever for! Even though the ride only lasted for a few minutes, it was fun to experience my first amusement park trip with Alex. Alex still has no concept of fear and is not afraid of anything--she had a great time on the ride! Below is a picture of us waiting for the ride to begin!

I wanted to add in this picture of Alex and Granddad because I thought it was cute. They were outside with the fire truck that came over to Grammy & Granddad's house at Nolan's party.

The next big event was this past weekend--Lauren's baby shower. Lauren (Marlon's sister) is due right in between Kendy and Renee, my other sister-in-laws, so we are going to have a very busy October/November! Lauren is expecting a boy and both Kendy and Renee are having girls. At Lauren's shower we were finally able to meet baby Maya, the daughter of Mark and Rebecca (Mark is one of Marlon's closest friends)--Maya is already 7 months old and we had not yet been able to meet her, so it was nice to see them at the shower. Alex was chatting with Maya and trying to console her as she was beginning to get fussy!

I wanted to also include a picture of the guest of honor at the shower--Lauren and her fiance Jon. I've always thought Jon looked like my brother Jon. See any resemblance? This picture also includes Alex helping to open gifts! It was the only way I could keep her occupied, even though that only lasted for about 10 minutes!

Last but certainly not least, I have to add in the little detail that we are expecting baby #2 in early March! I wanted to take a picture of Alex in her "BIG SISTER" shirt to post, but it seems like I haven't been able to find the time to do that, so although this is a bit more low-key, the news is exciting nonetheless! Alex seems to have a good interest in babies these days, and she's always been a great helper, so it will be exciting to see how she behaves as a big sister. Pregnancy is definitely more tiring when you have a 2 year old to chase after--Alex is one of those kids who is ALWAYS full of energy, never tired, never wants to sit down, can't stop moving. She rarely needs to eat or sleep and is very much like the energizer bunny! All of these characteristics are wonderful but definitely a bit more challenging these days! With Marlon being in season right now he is not home too much, but when he is Alex is all over him wanting to climb on him, chase him, and tackle him. I think she realizes that I don't have quite as much energy so daddy has become a bit more fun, which is perfectly fine with me!

I think that's enough news for one evening. More to follow soon!