A Lil Bit of Easter...

I don't have too many pictures to post from Easter...I've been slacking on my picture taking lately. We had a great weekend! Ava and I went with my sister and neice to see the movie Rio in 3D last Friday. Ava amazingly did much better than I thought she would! She liked the 3D glasses and looooved the popcorn. Just towards the end of the movie did she get a little ornery. :) We spent the night at my mom's and got up in the morning for Gribbles' donuts. I crave them like crazy when I'm pregnant, so I caved and had a maple creamstick, apple fritter, AND a glazed donut...in one sitting. With a big glass of whole milk! SO yummy :) We had Easter dinner at my moms on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny day...summer get here soon!!

We went to the Easter service at Vista Community Church sunday morning. We attended the early service...which was kind of hard to drag ourselves out of bed at 7am on a weekend, but the next service wasn't until 11. We've visited this church here and there over the last year or so, and really, every time we go I love it more. It's such a laid back, come as you are church. The pastor cracks me up. He's young, with a young family and relates his sermons to REAL life. I always leave Vista's services feeling refreshed, with a quality message I can put to use in my life for the week--and beyond. The church is filled with young couples with young children, which is what I'm looking for. Without local family around, its important to me to be part of a church community for support. Whats that saying about "it takes a village to raise a child" ? Yea, I'm looking for a village of young, christian, faith-filled, fun-loving spirits who get a kick out of supporting their community and serving God, who love life and all it has to offer...I need a village like that to surround my family. I might've found just the place at Vista. Of all the churches we've "tried out" over the past year, this place feels the "homiest"...that's not even a word? :) And I'm so excited for Vista to come closer to home for us this fall!

We woke Ava up Easter morning and told her the Easter bunny came to visit us while she was sleeping and he left presents!!!! The girl hears the word "presents" and goes ballistic! She's at a great age...

The sleep still in her eyes <3

Easter books, Tinker Bell movie, easter silly bands, gardening tools, sippy cup, webkinz bunny, chocolate, and her most favorite of all--JELLYBEANS! :)

Showing me her shovel.

These were my Easter sweets!

Hope you had a fantastic Easter!

30 Weeks

I've reached the 30 week point this week. All is going great! We had our 3D/4D ultrasound today...which totally rocked our world. :) I love all the excitement that comes with pregnancy. First its the pregnancy test, then the first ultrasound, and then the gender determination, and next is the 3D/4D, and then labor comes and soon you're home with a new baby!! For me, pregnancy is a time when I get lots accomplished. Closets uncluttered, bedrooms purged, cobwebs removed from corners of the house I forgot existed. We have projects GALORE going on over here. Our list is about 2 pages long. Finish painting exterior of the house, fence in backyard, reseal the deck, replace deck furniture, replace front door, install storm door, paint kitchen, replace countertops, add backsplash, ...heck, decorate the nursery! And that's just the tip of the iceberg ;) I think I'm going nuts trying to get this all accomplished before the baby comes because I know I'll be doing nothing but nursing a newborn and trying to entertain a 2 & 1/2 year old everyday of my life this summer. Bring it on. :)


Picked up Stella's nursery bedding last week. Bedding #1 won our hearts and many of yours it looks like. :) I love, love, love that light blue color and pink together for baby girls. Many of the first clothes I picked out for Ava were that color, and I find myself drawn to the same color for Stella. Probably because blue is my favorite color. And Ava's too. She will pick out anything she sees that's blue and say, "oooh I yike bwue!" Never fails. :) It's a nice break from pinks and purples...although I love girly colors too, don't worry. ;)


Picture time!

This technology is incredible. I love that you can see her knuckles and even the bones in her arm, but it also shows off her chubbiness :)

She's got all my favorite baby parts. Button nose, kissy lips, chubby cheeks!!

This person is in my belly right now! 2nd pregnancy and 30 weeks into it and I still can hardly fathom how incredible it is to grow a baby. God gave women an amazing 'talent'.

I love her little hands up by her mouth. Wonder if she'll be a thumb sucker?

Love me some baby footsies!

...and it's officially undeniably official...baby Stella is a girl. :)

Click here to see Ava's 3D/4D pics!

Which One?

Help us out friends! We can't decide...

Use the poll over there on the right side-bar to place your vote!

Her room will likely have a light blue accent wall...the other colors are yet to be decided on. ;)

Bedding Set #1

Bedding Set #2



This is likely the only new item we're buying for her. She can't have everything hand-me-down! :)

Lately...

I've been pretty lousy at keeping up with our blog lately...please forgive me. :)

I think if I don't start posting more pictures and updates, there are a few family members that are going to disown me...so here I go! =)

Gosh, when I'm not actually sitting down to blog I have a million and one thoughts and ideas that come to mind. And now that I'm here...nothing! Hate when that happens...

So, starting with Miss Ava...

She's been a full blown 2 & 1/2 year old lately. Her personality is sprouting more everyday. She can be bossy and independent one minute, loving and docile the next. She loves to play "monsters" with daddy and she's always on the lookout for "Swiper da neeky fots!!" (Swiper the sneaky fox). Hilarious and annoying at the same time! I can't tell you how over Dora the Explorer I am! Thankfully, I think she's fading a little for Ava as well. She enjoys Tinkerbelle, Minnie & Mickey Mouse, Backyardigans, Finding Nemo and basically anything else that involves ocean animals. She loves playing with play-doh and coloring with markers (mostly on paper...but sometimes on herself too). She always wants to make caves with the play doh and fish that can swim in the caves. She likes me to color with her and draw stick figures of our family. She even asks for me to draw "daddy's van & daddy's fo-wheelder". And she loves drawing rainbows. It's pretty cute to see her preferring certain things over others and having her own independent thoughts. Amazing little person she is!

She looooves books. We read a few books everynight before bed and lately she's been asking to read books before naps as well. The nap book requests are likely her sneaky way of delaying the nap...but oh well. :) She still takes about a 2 hour nap everyday. I'm not sure how much longer the naps will last...especially after we transition to her big girl bed. Either way, it will be take a nap or have 1 hour of quiet time everyday. Speaking of big girl bed... I think we'll take the plunge next week. She's getting our spare bed which is a full size bed. Totally skipping the toddler bed...mostly because we need the crib for the next baby. I think she'll like it. We keep talking about this "big girl" bed she's about to get and how special it will be. :) We'll see how it goes... no matter what, it's all just a phase, right? ;) I will tell you one thing...the girl cannot fall asleep in our bed. She woke up last week around 2am, crying and asking to be rocked, so I thought she'd just fall asleep in our bed since it was the middle of the night. I brought her to our bed, she snuggled up beside me with her blankie, and 20 minutes later when I thought she must be asleep she looked up at me and said, "mommy, i wanna watch tv". LOL. She was STILL awake!

She definitely eats like a toddler nowadays!! Wow. I can't imagine what some people go through, because although she's getting picky about things, she still eats a monstrous breakfast and lunch. Dinner is always a struggle. She's boycotting anything that has the slightest hint of spicyness. No tacos or other mexican for this girl. Sometimes the food can't even be too warm or she says its too hot and won't eat it. She has issues with textures too. No cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, carrots, avocado (which she used to love) and there are plenty of other things she wont eat. Regardless, I make what I make for dinner and if she doesn't eat it, or even take a bite of it, then she just doesn't eat dinner. She'll usually ask for a snack later, before bed, and she can have an orange or some other fruit...or we'll try her leftover dinner. The good news is, she's growing and healthy...so I guess she's not starving... ;). I feel especially reassured since she gets her Juice Plus everyday. 17 servings of fruits and veggies right there. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am with that product...but thats an entire post in itself! So if you want to go there and hear my exciting story on why I live & love Juice Plus, then please email me. eric-liz@hotmail.com. I love the stuff. It's enhancing our lives for sure! :)

Onto baby #2...

I'm growing and glowing. A little more everyday! This has been a wonderful pregnancy. I'm thankful everyday for every kick to my bladder or ribs and all the shooting pains in my back. Honestly. I wasn't this aware of how precious a healthy pregnancy is during my pregnancy with Ava. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved it and knew it was purely miraculous that a human being can live and grow inside your body for 9 months and then come into this world kicking and screaming. But I realize now, mostly because I take care of sick moms all the time, how much of a gift it is to have a healthy pregnancy. I love growing this sweet baby girl!

We are slowly...and I mean slooowwlly...getting a nursery together for Stella. Time goes by so fast with a little one at home already. And honestly, we've learned a thing or two from having our first. Basically, you don't need much to take care of a baby. A boob (well, two) and diapers will satisfy their needs for quite awhile after they come home!! :) But really, we do plan on getting her room all dolled up and cute...we just need to make some decisions on some simple things like paint color and then just DO IT. We are using a lot of stuff from Ava. The good thing about having another girl :) It's pretty cheap to prepare for another one! We can't wait to meet her. It's crazy to think we'll have another little one running around who owns as much of our hearts as Ava. Cannot wait! I don't think Ava totally understands the idea of having a baby sister soon. She knows where baby Stella is and will point to my belly when we ask about her, but the other day when we asked if her belly was full after she ate she replied, "yea, my baby stella full too!" Haha!! Soo...I don't think she gets it. I don't know what she's thinking sometimes...lol.


Okay...some pictures...

 Nothing like starting with a blurry pic! She's been wanting to wear a cape like a "super hero" lately. So we tie her little blankie around her neck and she zooms around the house like superman. Can you say tom boy?! The babysitters little boy is crazy about super heroes too...that's where she gets it! :)

Trying to catch her in action!

Nutty girl...

My sister in law and I at her baby shower. She's having a boy! Baby Drew meets Baby Stella ;) Lori's due the end of May and I'm due the 1st week of July.

My 26 week belly shot.

Not sure if this girls hair will ever grow!

She's loving the new Dora bow I made for her. ;)

Popcorn and a movie...our kind of night!

The jealousy begins...even though she doesn't normally love having her picture taken, when daddy starts snapping shots of mommy and baby Stella she has to get in there! :)

It's a Girl!!!

We had our anatomy scan today and this baby is looking wonderful. So healthy, so wiggly, so absolutely precious. All measurements are looking perfect and I'm feeling fantastic. Thank You God!!!

We also found out our sweet baby's gender today...and yep, as the title suggests...it's a girl!! We are on cloud nine!!! I am so excited to have another girl and cannot wait to watch my two sweet girls grow up together as best friends...sometimes worst enemies...but mostly best friends. I know from experience having a sister is THE BEST and although mine is 11 years older than I, we've experienced the best things together. We've moved together, lived together, attended college together, worked together...you name it. I can only imagine how fun it will be for Ava to have a sister 3 years younger. Awesome. And although Eric didn't land a boy this time...he was all smiles for hours after leaving the OB office. He can't fool me...he secretly loves having all us girls around to fill his heart with sappy-love and occasional drama. ;o)

We've decided her name will be Stella. We haven't secured a definite middle name yet...but we have several ideas. I've loved that name for awhile now. I love that its classy & unique. And of course that it goes well with 'Ava'. :) Thankfully, I have an agreeable husband. I'm leaving the middle name up to him though...well, mostly. ;)

Here's some pictures from lately. I'm 20 weeks now...half way to the end...sadly. ;)

growing and growing!

 Belly smooches!

 Oh, the love I feel for my babies...

Stella's first outfit. I can't wait to have a summer baby!

Lately...

We're tired of winter. Plain and simple. Trying to find ways to stay active during the winter is a constant struggle. Especially when it's only reaching highs of 23 degrees out there! I know, I've heard...its supposed to creep up to the 40's and 50's this coming week. Natures way of torturing us, because it will freeze over again the following week! Despite the ice and single digit wind chill temps we have gotten out a little. By we, I mostly mean Ava and I. I'm home with her 4 days out of the week, so staying cooped up isn't an option.

Here's some ideas for you if you're coming down with the mid winter cabin fever too.

-- Cosi downtown Columbus: what's not to love here? If you have children take 'em!! Great toddler/ preschooler play area.

-- Kingdom of Bounce near Easton: indoor facility with 6 or so huge inflatable toys/slides/bounce ball pits. GREAT for kids to climb, run, and jump on to wear them out for a good nap ;).

-- Storytime at the library in Dublin: big hit over here. Always a bunch of kids there and Ava gets a kick out of watching everyone. She loves listening to the stories. Not all that energy
expending, but it gets us out of the house!


-- Recreations Outlet in Powell: they sell wooden play sets (slides, swing sets, etc) and open their showroom up for kids to come play...for a small fee. Some mornings are free. Fridays I think?

-- Firefly Cafe in Clintionville: small play area for the kids, WiFi available :), bring a friend, some coffee or tea and let the kids work off some energy!

-- Dublin Rec Center in Dublin: swimming!! My girls most favorite activity ever! You can pay by the trip and don't have to be a member, which is nice. They have slides, a lazy river, and a nice big pool. Ava absolutely loves it...me too! And the water is a cozy lukewarm. The best part...I don't wanna freeze!

-- Jungle Jacks at Polaris Mall: eric's favorite place to take Ava. It's a decent sized play area in the mall and the toys are great. Ava likes to crawl up on the tree stumps and crawl through the hallowed out tree trunk...or "cave" as she calls it. It's decent for a mall play place. And I don't worry about all those little germs crawling around these places...my girls got Juice Plus on her side. ;)



That's about the extent of our getting out...besides occasional play dates at our friends' houses. Spring cannot come soon enough. I'm ready for play grounds, playing in the yard, parks, going on walks, and bike rides! Be gentle these last few weeks of winter Mother Nature. For the sake of all us cabin fevered families! ;)

Please post other ideas if you have any! Constantly on the lookout for fun indoor things to do with a toddler in Columbus!

Well, Well, Well...I'm Baaaaack!

Hi there! Did you miss us? I don't know what happened, but I completely fell off the face of blogger for the past month & a half! Actually, I do know what happened...it's called Christmas bustle and 1st trimester exhaustion. :o)

I feel like this is going to end up being one big catch up post including all things December and I might even throw in a belly picture...since I am 13 weeks now and there has been a belly down here since about week 8. Number 2 is definitely a little different than I remember Number 1 being!

First, let me get in an Ava update. Christmas was a stinking blast with her this year!! Two has been the best yet! Terrible two's? Barely. I mean we have our moments with her, but overall she's talking clearer and communicating what she wants and needs, which helps with the frustrating moments. I hear the 'terrible two's' really don't hit full on til they're 3 sometimes, so we've still got time! ;o) She's very concerned about her happiness right now. And our happiness. She likes to make sure we have happy faces on at all times. She'll get upset about something (usually its when I won't let her watch any more Dora epidsodes) and throw her bottom lip out and through these huge crocodile tears she'll say, "noooo, me wanna watch doorrrraaa". The push-over in me then usually says, "ok, ONE more and that's it...then we have to play with blocks or play doh," to which she flashes me the biggest smile ever and says through the tears still sitting on her cheeks, "me happy mommy, me happy!!!" At this point, if daddy is around, she'll go to him and ask him to wipe her tears away, "git me tears daddy" and he takes the bottom of his shirt and wipes them away, then she'll come snuggle up on the couch and cuddle under her blanket and watch Dora without moving a muscle for the following 20 minutes. It's unbelievably bitter-sweet. Bitter because she throws a fit about not getting her way...sweet because we absolutely cannot resist her. Sometimes I'll ask her if she's ready for bed, and she'll reply, "nope." Then I'll ask her if she needs to go potty, to which she replies, "nope...me happy mommy." She's just a happy girl...and that's her favorite way to be. :o) Bless her little heart.

Her emotions are definitely blossoming these days. Along with sharing how happy she is all the time, we've also seen her show fear of things lately. She's kind of acting afraid of the dark, so she's been sleeping with a little flashlight that came on one of her books she got for christmas. Being the christmas season, there was plenty of "the Grinch" airing on TV. One evening we sat down to watch the cartoon version and not 2 minutes into it she was running to me saying, "me cared mommy." I'd ask her what she's scared of and she'd say, "da gween ginch!" Soooo, we turned that off and will attempt it another time...like next year. Here's a funny story....The other night we went out to eat for dinner. We sat down at a booth and Ava sat on my side, like usual, but didn't stay there long, like usual. She prefers to crawl under the table over to daddy's side and stay there for a few minutes and then decide she wants to come back over to my side, and this continues pretty much the entire meal. We've given up fighting it...hey, at least she's not running in the aisles tripping the waitresses. Anyway, I had a pair of winter boots on that have fur around the top. Lots of fur...brownish colored. Ava had been back and forth under the table a couple times already, but the next time she slid under the table I felt her brush up against my leg and then she started screaming bloody murder, climbing back up onto the booth fighting for her life. This was a fearful scream...not a painful scream...you mom's know what I mean, you can definitely tell the difference! I scooped her up into my arms and she was shaking and screaming and sweating!! I calmed her down a little and said, "Ava what happened honey, what's wrong?" She's clinging to me for her dear life at this point. She said, "me caaaared." "What are you scared of Ava?" "unner da table...a chicken." Eric and I looked at each other. Did she just say she's scared of a chicken under the table? And she obviously believed it because she was a hot mess!  I asked her, "you're scared of a chicken under the table?" Her whole body still shaking, "....yea." What!?!?!? I couldn't help it...I was busting my guts laughing at this point. I showed her my boots and said, "No honey its just mommy's boots, there's no chicken under the table." She replied, "nooo mommy, chicken boot!" We actually had to remove her from the table...she could not relax and we were pretty much done eating anyway so Eric took her to the car, I paid, and we went home. The girl obviously has a thing against chickens. She never likes them at my mom's either. They really freak her out. Oh and to top it off, after her bath tonight I was getting her jammies on her in her room when Portia's tail knocked against the wall downstairs and made a noise. Ava said, "me heard dat mommy." I said, "yea, I heard it too..what was that?" She got very quiet and still, put her finger up to her mouth and whispered, "a chicken mommy." I said, "what! there's no chickens in this house Ava!" She started to freak out again, but everything was okay when she said, "me shut da door! chickens out dare!" So she shut the supposed chickens out of her room and all was good. My gosh...what an imagination...one that gets a little outta control it seems!! :o) She's a blast! Gotta watch those chickens... hey, I don't blame her...I'm scared to death of roosters. They are mean little devils.

After all that, I just want to cut to some pictures...so here they are...enjoy!

Silly girl...

Check out that hair!!! I like to call her Albert Einstein on days like this! :o)

Back in late november...picking out a christmas tree at Cackler Family Farms.

We (I mean, Eric) cut it down this year instead of picking one of the pre-cut.

Haul it away daddy!

Helping daddy water the tree...

Back when I wore jeans...I've worn probably one pair in the last month. Straight up uncomfortable.

And here's why jeans are so uncomfortable! This is my 11 week belly. This was taken on a particularly 'bigger' day. It's always a little more out there in the evening. Just at an awkward stage right now...too small for maternity jeans...too big for regular jeans (unless I leave them unbuttoned or loop a hairtie through the hole...and that's just too much work). So it's been yoga pants and jogging suits for me....everyday!

Christmas at mom's.

Aunt Tammy ever-so-graciously got Ava a drum set...complete with a tamborine, christmas bells, and noisy shaker eggs. Thank you so much sister. :) :) :)

Funny story...my sister and I both got mom a rooster calendar...the exact same one! We knew before she ever opened them that we both got her calendars...our 1st "dohh!" moment...but didn't know what the other one's design was. And we made her open them at the same time, only to discover that they are exactly the same!! "Dohh!" #2! We do that too often...same dishwasher, same stove/oven...we should know better. :o)

Ava got a toy box made by papaw for christmas! She likes to crawl in it... :)

Ava with her cousins in their christmas jammies...Mahala, Torie, & Brianna.

She got blocks for christmas and loves building "kye krapers" (skyscrapers), "castles," and "choo choos."

"Kye kraper" in progress...go Ava!

Her idea, not mine. I tried removing the basket before setting her on the toilet, but she insisted that I leave it there, "nooo mommy, my hat!" Okay girl, whatever! :)

Portia was pampered this christmas. We took her to the groomer where she got an oatmeal bath, nails trimmed, and ears cleaned. She, however, didn't enjoy any of it except the oatmeal scrub I'm sure. :o) Ava was happy to have her home!

Opening gifts at home on Christmas Eve. We shouldn't have given her this present first...it was her favorite by far and she didn't want to open anything else! It's a LeapFrog Laptop...or a "puter" as Ava calls it. :)

Daddy got a finger-print gun safe! We had a very bad scare a couple weeks ago at our house when someone tried to get in our house, through the front door, around 4:30am. A man was outside the house jiggling the door knob, knocking, and ringing the doorbell. Eric's mom was staying with us for the weekend and it woke her up. Not knowing what time it was, she came downstairs and went to the door thinking that Eric had locked himself out of the house or something. When she thought to ask, "who is it?" and got no reply, she looked out the front window and saw a man, definitely NOT Eric, standing at the door still jiggling the door knob. She said her stomach dropped to her knees and she ran upstairs to wake Eric, who promptly flew out of bed, threw on a robe, grabbed his hand-gun, and ran down the stairs. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911, somehow, its amazing how slippery your fingers are when you're panicked and trying to dial three simple numbers. I told them some man was trying to get into our house through the front door. She kept me on the phone, and in the meantime Eric was yelling at the man through the door that this was not his house and he needed to leave. He peeked out the window through the curtain and tapped on the window, when the guy looked up at Eric he shoo'd him away and told him to leave again. Aaand the weirdo went right back to trying to turn the door knob and put his key in the doorknob. So, Eric tapped on the window again, this time with his gun, which apparently sobered the guy up enough to realize this wasn't his house and he turned away and quickly walked off down the street. Well, my husband was not about to let him out of sight! So he went out and hopped in his car and slowly followed the guy down the street for what seemed like seconds before the police cruiser pulled up and put the sloppy drunk in hand cuffs. When the officers came to check in on us they said the guy was 'toasted' and they would give him a wake up call. We haven't heard anything about it since then. It was just really scary having a creep outside our house who was relentless on trying to get in our front door. I still get a little uneasy at night...especially if I'm home alone. Creeps me out just sitting here typing about it!! Anyway, it's over and Eric has been asking for a fingerprint gun safe for awhile so I thought that would be a great christmas present...I guess...even though guns freak me out! After this incident however, with Eric frequently going out of town, I will know how to use his gun. Don't make me bust a cap in your ass! ... ok sorry, but talking tough supposedly helps make it possible to do that if ever needed right? ugh...don't even want to take my mind there. Ok, now onto more pleasant things!!

Pleasant things like iPads!!! The Mr. went waaaay overboard this year and I was completely shocked that he got me an iPad. The lil sucker. ;o) This thing is amazing though. I absolutely love it. Get one for yourself soon!

Oakley ski goggles! I made him promise he wouldn't mud them up by wearing them 4-wheeling like he has the last 3 pairs of ski goggles he's owned.

Boo bear loves this minnie mouse camera. It flashes and the viewfinder changes pictures when you take a picture.

Pretty in pink! She's my girl...

Mooching off daddy for some of his cereal. She woke up and her pj's were turned completely around...just one of the many things she does in her bed before she falls asleep at night. :o)

Daddy snuggles and cartoons...two of her favorite things. She'll tell us, "me daddy's girl" when she's with daddy, and "me mommy's girl" when she's with me. She's just the sweetest babe ever.

Hope that works as an update for now! I'll try to keep up now for awhile. Hopefully my energy comes back soon and I won't require daily naps while Ava naps. ;o)

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Upcoming New Year!!