Long time coming...

Well so much for keeping up with the blog.  Yikes.  Last blog post was almost 4 months ago...
Which just so happens to be how far along I am with baby #2.  Coincidence?  I think not.  The last 4 months have been full of holidays, babies, sleeping and just trying to keep my food down.  This baby has caused me 100x more morning sickness than I ever had with Isaac.  Girl maybe?  We'll find out at the end of the month!  We originally planned to not find out, but as the ultrasound day got closer, I just don't think I can wait! Plus, let's be honest, I want to start buying more baby things.  Like now.  I'm too much of an organized person to wait.  Maybe if baby #2 is a girl I'll feel more prepared and baby #3 can be our surprise.  Or baby #4...right Stephen? :)
It feels wonderful to be back to my non-morning sickness self.  I'm back to cooking dinners, doing lots of activities with the boys and getting out of the house, rain or shine..or snow.  I thought I would never make it through that first trimester.  But here we are, almost 16 weeks!  The last few days I've started to feel a few flutters.  Which makes me so excited.  I remember how much I loved being pregnant with Isaac.  It's nice to finally be able to enjoy this pregnancy.
Besides pregnancy being at the top of our new things that have happened, we are also in search for a house.  This has been quite the challenge.  Numerous of houses and two contracts later, we are still house-less.  But, fret not, I believe we may be putting contract #3 down soon.  Fingers crossed this one is THE one!
Everything else has been cruising right along.  Stephen seems to continue enjoying his new(er) job and Isaac is learning something new everyday.  He continues to test every limit (as a 1 1/2 year old should) and keeps us laughing.  His newest "thing" he does is sing.  I haven't a clue what he's saying, but he's just singing along as he plays, as we drive in the car, as he helps me with dinner.  It's adorable.  I mean most everything he does is adorable, obviously, but this currently tops the list.  His language is growing like crazy, which is also wonderful.  Currently his most used word besides "Daddy" is "poop."  I know.  Of course he picks that up right away.  But now he tells us when he's got  a full diaper!  One step in the right direction toward potty training right??

I think that's about it for the last 4 months in a tiny nutshell.  I'll try and get some posts in about the holidays and other fun stuff that's happened recently.  And once again, I shall attempt to update more often.  I mean, I know I have a plethora of readers waiting for my every post. :)

St. Louis Trip

Ahhh...home sweet home.  At least for me.  I don't think it will matter how long I'm away, St. Louis will always feel like home to me.  I was glad to be back for a couple of days.

Stephen surprised me with a trip to St. Louis for our anniversary.  Such a good hubby.  He knows me well.  My parents ended up meeting us there also.  They actually kept Isaac during our first official night away from him, while we stayed at a hotel downtown.  It was a great weekend.

The view from our hotel room

We drove in on Friday after Stephen got off work.  We ate dinner in the car and kept Isaac busy for the three hour drive.  We had books, crayons, a empty paper towel roll, and full set of 3+ binkies.  I felt like a genius when I thought to tape some construction paper to a baking sheet to make it easier for Isaac to color on (especially since he loves coloring so much).  That lasted all of two seconds.  Just long enough for me to snap this picture:

The paper towel roll ended up being the most popular. He used it to make noises through and stick his hands/arms through.  It kept him busy for quite a while.  The other thing he became pretty excited about through our trip were watching the semi trucks go by.  Even when it got dark, he could see all the lights go by. 

We spent Saturday eating and shopping.  What we Perkins do best.  That night we went to my uncles new restaurant, Tripel.  If you're in the St. Louis area, be sure to check it out!  It's quite yummy!

Sunday we went spent some time at the park before Stephen and I headed downtown.  Now that I'm home with Isaac everyday, I feel much less guilty leaving him for a long period of time.  I was a little nervous to leave him in a new place with family he's not around too often, but he did great!  The next morning we drove up to him watering the plants outside with the hose.  The hose clearly won.  He gave Stephen and I a quick "hello" glance, then back to the water he went....that is until he realized we had donuts.  Then he was VERY happy to see us.  :)

Climbing up the slide...

Made it to the top!

Then he tried to crawl down...

Walking across the wiggly bridge 

First night without Isaac!

As we were getting ready to head out Monday morning, we decided on a whim to hit up the Zoo before leaving.  It was a scorcher outside, but we had fun.  It was nice to take pictures with Isaac in some of the same places around the Zoo that I did when I was little.  After leaving the Zoo, Isaac was worn out.  He couldn't even stay awake for us to get some lunch in him and he ended up snoozing all the way back to Kansas City.  

The best way to travel :)

Peek-a-boo!

Playing with pots and pans

In the kitchen, our pots and pans are kept in a low drawer, which Isaac has easy access to.  He used to bring them out just about every evening as I was rushing to cook dinner after coming home from work. I guess the excitement for the pots and pans wore off, because he hadn't brought them out in a while.  I think after getting them out for our "drumming" the other day, it resparked his interest in them.  

He brought them all out.  Sprawled them all over the kitchen floor.  

Then climbed into each and every one.

He thought he was quite funny...

Until he got stuck.

Big blue eyes!

Our new bird feeder

Isaac has started noticing birds more and more, so I thought a bird feeder would be fun to get.  He helped me fill it up with some birdseed and now we're waiting for the birds to discover it.  Unfortunately it's been out there full of seed for two days and not a single bird has been by.  As you can tell by the pictures below, our patio is also covered with seed, so I'm not sure what's keeping them away.  Hopefully some birds will come by soon enough.  I know Isaac will be thrilled to see them when they do!

Always has to give something new a taste...

He loves to water the plants!  Not a day goes by where he isn't carrying around the watering can or standing by the door wanting to get the hose.  He will water the plants for a straight hour (yes, this has happened numerous times...).  I also was lucky enough to capture this new face he's been making lately.  Just likes to stick out that bottom lip sometimes!  Silly boy.

Mini Canvas Magnets

While shopping at Michael's a few weeks ago, I saw these super cute mini canvases.  I knew I had to find a reason to buy them.  I put my creative mind to work and came up with these:  mini canvas magnets!  Ahh!  So adorable!  They turned out perfect.  Nonni's 30th birthday was coming up :) and Auntie B was moving into a new house, so I knew they would be the perfect gifts!  

We got right to work when we got home.  Isaac is always eager to paint, so he was excited as well.  

The little canvases were a perfect size for his little fingers.  He would add a little paint to one, then move onto the next, then back to the first, and so on.  So much painting to do!

When they finished drying I just added some adhesive magnet on the back and BAM!  

As simple as that.  

Now that he knows where his belly button is, he likes to show it off every once in a while.  :)