perspective

through all the chaos these days.. 

two things that bring peace to my heart and a smile to my face.

This verse: 

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." - 1 John 5:14-15

And this boy:

homeward bound.

Life is extremely busy these days!  But with new things.. like..

building headboards.

 love this Erin :)

  

and painting cupboards.

 and doing lots of phone photo shopping.

and lots of pinning.  lots.

 

and measuring windows. and buying paint brushes and tarps.  and researching decks. and buying alliances.  and craigslisting.  and closing down Lowes almost every night.

and daydreaming of what our new house will look like.  someday!

words.

Thought I'd post an update on Leyton's ever-expanding vocabulary!  Just in the past week, it's doubled!  Impressive, coming from 5..   He's getting more daring in the words he replicates and how he attempts to communicate.  yes, yes.. I know this is another mom-excitement probably only to me and not many other people, but that's ok :)

Leyton's words:

1. Mom, Mommy, Mama

2. dada.

3. up

4. All done (aww done)

5. No.  With the headshake and all.. ugh.

6. Landon (an-don) lucky kid!  No if only he'd say Erin before she left for school...

7. apple

8. lawnmower (aw-mower)

9. Elmo

10. hot

11. baby (bebe)
12. ball (ba)
13. more

and the animal noises... 

elephant. lion. tiger. bear. fish. sheep. bird. cow. puppy. horse. monkey

and last bragging.. 

he can point to his head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, toes and belly button.

ok that's it!  I just have to remember these wonderful moments.. :)

boy or girl?

Let's start the vote on baby #2!  I'm putting up the voting this on this blog.. I'm curious what ya'll think!  I never say ya'll.. it just felt right though.

Luke and I really have no idea.  Near the beginning, I thought girl because a few of my symptoms were different, but for some reason after the ultrasound, we are thinking boy!  Neither one of us have a preference at all.. we're so excited for either!   

Here's my feelings though.. I would obviously love a girl.  What's not to love about those adorable clothes these days and just holding an itty-bitty gentle girl?  But at the same time, a boy is the safe option.  Meaning, I know what to expect with a boy.  I have all the clothes (oh, so many)... the boys (ahh the boys!!) would share a room together when they're old enough and it would just be fun to have two brothers! 

So, honestly, we don't have much of a pull either way!  Thoughts??

I also haven't posted a belly picture in a while.  This is just your standard, cheesy, take it myself in a mirror photo but you get the idea.  20 weeks!

mr. 17 months!

Leyton recently made his way into 17 months!  I have to say.. without sounding like that bragging mom.. I am loving this age! He is SO much fun lately and just hilarious!  He is constantly learning new things and it seems like everyday I get to see something else he knows and can do.  A few updates..

As of yesterday, he is transitioning to one nap during the day.  This kid has a history of sleeping for hours! 11-12 hours at night and he was doing 2 naps during the day consistently.  But just recently, his naps have been pretty inconsistent.. either the morning or afternoon will be really short or he just won't take it at all.  So we switched to one and so far it's going great!   I'm surprisingly loving my morning time with him.   I was a little bummed at first to say goodbye to showers and having some alone time in the morning, but it's super fun.   This morning's agenda was breakfast, hanging out, watching Cat in the Hat (he's obsessed), running to the bank and Starbucks (have to keep some bonus for mom!) and taking a nice long walk to the park to play for a bit.  Head back, I get a quick shower while he plays and then we eat lunch.   He is so cute and fun these days so I really am loving it!  

He is talking quite a bit.  Still rambling nonsense words all the time, and he's very passionate about it, he really thinks he's communicating.  But his actual words list in still pretty much the same.. ball, Mom (love that one!  and he said mommy today!), da-da, aww-done, apple.. I think that's it!  

He's a champ at his animal noises, so funny.  And getting better at different body parts.  Again, I'm partial.. but he's a smart little sucker!  I'm impressed easily.. the highlight of my day so far was Starbucks.  ahh the life of a mom. :)

Oh, I like this one.. he also tells us when he poops but patting at his diaper.  It's adorable :)

That's about it!  Life is crazy around here.. hence the lack of posts.  The closing on our house was pushed back to next week so until then we're just trying to get ready and spend as much money was we can!  ugh.

Cabin Weekend

Last weekend, we had the awesome privilege of crashing at the old O'Leary cabin for the weekend.. it's the wonderful, quaint cabin on McGregor Lake in northern Minnesota.  We went last year with Steph and Kevin and had such a great time.. remember?

This year, all the siblings could make it so Steph and Kevin, Nate and Britt, Luke, Kristen and lil' Leyton made the trip up for the weekend.  We had so much fun!  Leyton woke up early everyday (sorry!) but was a champ at napping... the sun wore that kid out!  We spent a lot of time cruising on the boat, laying out at the dock, crashing a beach, reading book (mmm) and just relaxing!  It was wonderful. 

This is an annual thing, right guys?

 

He loved these cowboy boots!  He kept wanting them on and walked around clicking on the floor. This is hilarious throwing skills lately :)

 

 

Just love this picture!

chillin' on the boat..

spitting off the boat with dad.

thinking he's cool with the Coke..

 Auntie Steph and Uncle Nate!

Britt and Nate

the girls!

the boys!

halfway point!

Yesterday, Luke and I had our 20 week ultrasound to check on how little baby #2 is growing and cookin' in my belly.. it is SO fun!    We were talking on the way there, that it's even cooler this time around.. well, just in a different way.  We know now that this little squirmy thing on the screen turns out to be a really live baby!   A real live Leyton (of some form!)...   

The baby is doing great and growing perfectly.  When we saw it, it was swimming around, being quite active.  It was laying breech, with its hands next to its feet, folded right in half.  Reminds me of someone I know.. :)

We could have found out the gender, and it was a little bit tempting, having the ultrasound lady say that she knew!  ahhh!   For some reason, after yesterday, we're both leaning more toward boy.. but I really have NO idea!  It drives a bit nuts, but I do love the suspense, waiting and guessing for this little thing!

Here's the cute baby!!

profile shot.

head and feet, right next to each other!

face.  hard to see, but creepy skeleton looking face staring at us!

In week 20, the baby weighs about 10.5 ounces and is about 6.5 inches long, about the length of a banana. That's pretty long!  It's swallowing more these days, to practice working on the digestive system.  He/she is producing meconium.. good to know :)  As our awesome doctor explained to us, it's developed all its parts by now (wow)  but it needs to stay in there quite a bit longer to grow and grow.  Not a problem, this thing is staying put and I will keep growing with you, bud!  don't look into that, could be a girl "bud," right?

I'm not going to lie, I'm getting a little freaked out lately.. as the days and weeks creep along to the day I will become a mother of 2!  That's a scary/exciting thought!  holy cow..

that's all for now!  oh small updates.. Brent and Suz are leaving Thursday (don't get me started, the tears will start flowing) and we get the keys to our house on Friday!!  And more posts coming of great pics from our weekend cabin adventure..  here's a sneak..

have a wild Wednesday!