Noah’s school had a Mother’s Day Brunch for us today and it was really sweet.  You know the kind of event where the teachers tell you how excited the kids are to sing us a song (that none of them actually sing) before they pass out cold pancakes and stale bagels.  Nonetheless, it was a very sweet gesture and something fun for us to do on a Monday morning.

Unfortunately before they broke in to the festivities they read us a very sweet book.  But, I’m pregnant. I’m emotional, no two ways about it.  I remember being emotional when I was pregnant with Noah but not this bad! I don’t know if it’s worse because it’s a girl (and there is extra estrogen) or I just got lucky.  But this book, “Love You Forever”, turned me into a slobbering idiot.  As soon as I saw the title I started getting choked up and thought “this isn’t going to be good”.  Well, it wasn’t.  As soon as they read the first page I welled up before breaking into the “ugly cry”.  Lips quivering, water works like crazy, I was a mess. Noah kept looking at me like I was nuts and all the other moms kept asking if I was ok.  My voice was so shaky I had trouble explaining why I was so emotional.  I was/am completely embarrassed.  I feel like such an idiot.  I couldn’t keep it together and it was mortifying, not enough to stop, but just enough to lose all my dignity.

If you haven’t read the book, it’s so sweet. But oh my, prepare to tear up. Here are the words that continue to make me get misty even now – “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”  

So in French papier is paper.  In our house – it’s FRUIT LOOPS!  Yes, Fruit Loops.  I’m not exactly sure how Noah came up with his own name for them or how he would be able to communicate that he wanted some to anyone but us, but I thought it was cute enough to share.

I do realize I won’t win the Mother Of The Year Award for allowing my nearly two year old to have a few Fruit Loops now and then but to my defense his other favorite cereal is Fiber One; which by the way he pronounces perfectly.  It’s also taken him a few months to get through a small box of the “papier”, we’re hoping the stale, gross ones will turn him off eventually.

While I love Walter to pieces, if you’re anything like me the renderings below of our addition did nothing for you.  Here I come to the rescue with some real photos.  Pretty soon we’ll even be able to have guests stay with us.  We’re already taking reservations if you’re brave enough to hang with us and the kids.

This is before, taken only 3 weeks ago…

This is from the same angle taken yesterday…

And here’s the inside -

Looking out from the house, into the backyard (which is still plenty big)…

And now looking into the house from the back of the addition.  Notice the pint size supervisor in the sliding glass door?  By next week that should be a set of French doors.

Today they framed out all the walls and will start with the drywall soon.  I can’t believe how fast this has come together.  We’re very excited to move in.  If only we can decide on a paint color!

So we seem to go there a lot, I know!  We have an annual pass and Noah loves the giraffes and water park.  Monday our friends Rachel and Ayla had a lot of family in for Ayla’s second birthday party so we all caravaned up to West Palm for some fun in the (hot!) sun.

This was the first time we saw goats.  Noah got stabbed by the horns of one but did much better once he found some his own size and some without horns.  Ayla on the other hand warmed up very quickly!

Noah and the baby goat having a deep conversation…

And his personal favorite – the giraffes…

This was the first time we got to feed them leaves.  He had no fear.  I on the other hand didn’t want to get licked but was still slimed at least once.  Do you see my belly?  I’m not even half way pregnant and I already have a tummy!  It’s going to be a long summer!

Monkey see, monkey do?

Yeah, the waterpark!  Noah and Ayla’s Nana had a blast!  I got a break under the shade.

Here’s what Noah thinks of people watching him eat…

And we finished the day with rides.  Here he is on the Ferris Wheel.  Ayla’s Nana (Diane) was so great, she took him on everything I couldn’t ride because of my “condition”.  He loved every minute of it!

Okay, so I mentioned an addition.  Some of you might know that we’re adding on to the house. Well, this is the plan. Below is the house as it is now.

This is what it will look like with the addition:

Cool, eh?!  We can’t wait.  We so need that extra room.  That will become our office and free up the other bedroom for our other new addition.

I’ve been taking pictures of the construction progress. I’ll add those in a later post.

It’s a GIRL!  Today we were so excited to find out we’re expecting a girl.  The ultrasound was amazing and the little one looked perfect.  She waved and somersaulted for us.  There is still no better sound in the world than your baby’s beating heart!  I hope to get the ultrasound photos up soon but couldn’t wait to share the news!

We’ve also chosen a name for her, one we’ve had picked out since before we knew that Noah would be a boy.  Her full name will be Katherine Claire (named for our mothers) but we plan to call her Kate.  I can’t wait to meet her and see what she looks like (will she look like Noah?) but that’s not for 5 more months.  It’s going to be a long summer!

I know, we’ve been MIA for awhile.  You’ll never guess why.  Noah borrowed the adapter for my memory card (read: we haven’t seen it since) and all the great things he does were trapped on my camera.  Well Walter came to the rescue and found a second one we had stashed away.  Trust me when I tell you it was worth the wait…

We went to Stir Crazy for lunch last week and while we were waiting for food I put the chopstick helper clamp on a pair of chopsticks.  I played with Noah, pinching him and poking him to keep him entertained while we waited.  After the food arrived I ignored my plate that was between Noah and I and on the other side started cutting up his food.  When I turned I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Noah was eating the rice off my plate with chopsticks!  We never tried to show him how to use them or even encouraged him.  Our big boy figured it out all by himself.  He was so proud too, he ate every bite of his lunch.  Check out the video below!  I wish I took a photo of all the curious waiters that stopped to watch.  It was pretty impressive!

We’re pregnant!  I know many of our close friends and family are thinking, of course you are, you’ve been pregnant since late December but we’ve finally stopped hiding it from others.  Walter wanted to wait until we were far enough along to be comfortable telling work (unfortunately he works with a few dear friends so it meant not telling them either).  Now that they know we can shout it from the rooftops.  I can’t say I blame Walter for wanting to wait but it was a lot harder this time around for me to keep quiet.  It was also hard avoiding all of his coworkers or people who knew them because I got fat fast this time.  I could have never hidden this bump like I did with Noah, there’s no denying it or claiming a bad diet.

So the facts are that I’m 13 weeks pregnant, due on October 7th, but measuring a week ahead (just like with Noah who came exactly a week early).  The ultrasounds show a little baby shaped jumping bean who has a 50/50 shot of being a brother or a sister.  Hopefully we’ll find out more in a few weeks at our next ultrasound. 

So thank you all for your well wishes, your “I knew it”-s and your “I told you”-s.  We’re so happy to finally be able to share and to have such amazing friends and family to celebrate with.

For Noah’s birthday Aunt Lindy wanted to get him a Sit ‘N Spin.  Couped up in the house the other day we decided to get it early to keep us busy.  Shopping for it was fun.  We decided on a Simon Says Sit ‘N Spin.  I remember both of these toys vividly and its so funny to have my kid playing with versions of both almost 30 years later. 

Here’s him giving it a try.  He’s getting much more proficient! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEKGsg8CHyw

Happy Easter!  This was Noah’s second Easter but the first one where he really seemed to get what was going on (well the eggs and chocolate part anyway).  We opened up the basket the Easter Bunny left at home and then went to church where they had an egg hunt and butterfly release.  Afterwards we all went to brunch then headed home for a nap.  In the evening we went to Walter’s parents for dinner and a little more grandchild spoiling.  We had a great Easter and thank goodness Noah is feeling much better!