WE ARE HAVING A......

GIRL!!!

Pink? or Blue?

We have reached the halfway point of this pregnancy. We can hardly believe that 20 weeks has gone by, and it is time for the "big", truth telling ultrasound. Granted we pray that all is healthy with little baby VW, and Jason's medical checklist passes with flying colors, we are both extremely excited to find out if we are adding a boy or girl to our family. This coming Friday we get to find out! Pink or Blue!?! We will soon find out!

We are taking a poll to find out what you think! Will Kyla have a little brother or sister? Take a guess, and post a comment if you would like. We will let you know the results this Friday! :)

Here are some facts about this pregnancy (some compared to last) to help you make your guess:

* My morning sickness was just all day nassau (same with Kyla), however it was earlier during weeks 4-7. My first pregnancy it was weeks 8-12.

* No major food aversions, but I love salt and water this pregnancy (with Kyla it was sweets).

* My skin is dryer this time, and was not as clear during the first trimester (With Kyla my skin was better).

* Felt the baby move at 13.5 weeks.

* Jason comes from a family with all male cousins except for one, I come from a family with all female cousins except for two.

* I had only gained 2 pounds as of my 17 week check up.

* Jason thinks it could be a boy. I really don't have any inkling, but have a desire as to what I want.

* Baby's movements are lower than Kyla's were. (I have heard that each baby gets lower with every pregnancy as well.)

Daddy's Girls

For Jason's birthday, my cousin took some pictures of Daddy's girls. It was fun, but tough to get Kyla to stay interested in what was going on. With some bribing of treats, we captured some great shots.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Happy Birthday Emmy!

Happy Birthday Kyla!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY little miss Kyla! We cannot believe that you are now two. You have grown so much this last year, and we cannot imagine life without you. These pictures remind us of just how much you have grown! You bring so much joy, fun, and determination into our family. We love your smiles, hugs, and "I Love You's". We are blessed to have you in our family, and so thankful that God has entrusted us with you. We know this next year will bring some changes to our family, but we know you are going to be the BEST big sister! We love you Kyla Grace! Love, Mommy and Daddy

Big Girl Bed... or Not

Kyla has now been in her "Big Bed" for a few months. She loves having her own big girl bed. For Kyla's birthday we are going to transition her room and bring in a little larger bed for her to sleep in. Right now she is in her crib transitioned into a toddler bed. Up until a couple weeks ago, Kyla would stay in her bed and have no trouble falling asleep in her bed. She started getting up, so we went in to method one. This consisted of calmly putting Kyla back in her bed, saying good night...we stay in our bed now, and then leaving. We would do this until she didn't get out anymore. This became exhausting!! We went for 45 minutes one night. YIKES! We finally got enough courage to try method two. This isn't probably recommended by professionals, but it came up as an accident one night. Kyla going on 30 minutes one night so we decided just to let her be. Neither Jason or I had the patience to go in and put her back in bed. The patience was already out the window. We waited for about ten minutes then it was quiet. We waited to check to make sure she was asleep. We opened our door and there was little Kyla, curled up on her rocking chair with her monkey and book...SOUND ASLEEP! So, for the last couple weeks, we let Kyla go to sleep on her own. She doesn't play for very long, if at all, and is asleep within ten minutes (on most nights). We still have our long nights, but when we check on her before we head to bed, we find that many times we need to move her back to her big girl bed because somewhere in her room gave her comfort to fall asleep.

House Projects

Coming into the fall, there were two things that HAD to get done. Well, I should say one of them HAD to be done for the sake of the foundation of our house, and the ohter...was for my own sanity.

The first project was creating a french drain in the front yard, right off the front door. Every time it rained of any significance last year (which happens to be 300 days of the year when you live in the Pacific NW), we would get a large swamp area that wouldn't quite drain right. So, we took on the project to fix it. Here are some before and after pictures.

The second project was redoing the dining room chairs. The table was in great shape, thanks to Jason refinishing it when we first got it. However, the chairs are very very old and need a simple touch. Having ugly chairs that are mismatch don't help my efforts of being content with what I have. So, when Jason was a work one day, I marched down to Home Depot got supplies and redid the chairs. All four chairs cost me only $20. Pretty budget friendly and a great new look. Sorry no pictures of the table and chairs together.