Fun Weekend

Last weekend Dustin's parents were in town and we had tons of fun and celebrated Ella's and James' birthdays. It was so great having them here and Ella was excited because she got to have them all to herself when they babysat her while we were at our ultrasound appointment. She sure loves Gra gra and Pa pa as she calls her Grandma and Grandpa.

This is just a cute picture of Ella showing me her bear.

This was Ella before church giving me a "smile." She spends a lot of time pushing her stroller around.
Here is Ella with her cousins on the McQuay side. She loves Hannah and James and gets so excited to see them.
We had the birthday party at Dustin's grandma's house. Ella had a blast playing soccer in her huge yard with Hannah and James.

Ella opening one of her presents from Grandma and Grandpa. She loves all dolls and babies.
This is Grandma showing Ella the pillow she made for her big girl bed.
Ella was super excited to get a bike from Grandma and Grandpa. She especially loves that she can put one of her babies in the basket. Ella asks to ride her bike everyday. She hasn't totally figured out how to pedal, but she is really close. I am so glad the weather has been getting warm because Ella is loving getting to play outside so much.
Her Aunt and Uncle gave her a Disney princesses helmet that she LOVES to wear, even when she isn't riding her bike. Here she is modeling it with her Grandpa.
Ella finally really got into singing Happy Birthday and the whole birthday experience. She has been singing Happy Birthday a bunch ever since the party.
Ella and James blowing out their candles.
Thanks to everyone for such a fun weekend!! I still can't believe I have a 2 year old, even after two birthday parties.

The Doctor Was Wrong...

I had my ultrasound on Friday and it was very surprising. After my last visit I was feeling a little confident it was a boy. My doctor did warn me that his machine wasn't as nice and he may be seeing the cord, but we just couldn't get a good shot. So obviously I was totally surprised when the ultrasound tech started to check and I could tell it was a GIRL before she even said it. To be perfectly honest Dustin and I didn't really care what we were having, we were mostly concerned that baby would be healthy. It was so fun getting to see our little girl and Dustin said he was happy because the surprise made the whole appointment much more exciting. She is a busy little girl, just like Ella was in my tummy. She was moving all over the place and she did not want us to get a good profile shot of her. The tech tried about 10 times until we could finally see. She kept burrowing her little face toward my back and making it difficult. We were able to get a video of the ultrasound which is so awesome. I have already watched it a bunch, it is just so amazing to see how developed a baby can be when we are only halfway done. We are so grateful that everything looked perfect with our little girl. We think we have the name narrowed down to 2, but we are still open to new ideas. We like to decide before the baby gets here, so I am sure we will pick something soon. The 2 names we think we might end up with are Annie or Alice. They are actually both family names, but that is not totally why we picked them, just kind of a bonus. Dustin and I each have one we like a little better, however his favorite is quickly growing on me. Obviously we like names you don't hear as much, but we want something normal and easy to spell. We already know she is always going to have to spell her last name for people. :) Anyway, feel free to offer us opinions and suggestions. I want to pick something soon, I hate not having a name to refer to the baby as.

Here is the money shot, we are 100% sure it is a girl!!

And here is her profile. I think she is still turned a little, but she still looks so cute. She had her ankles crossed the whole time and her hands up by her face.

And finally, here is me a few days ago at 20 weeks. Yay, I am halfway done!! I might have to start doing covered belly shots for the blog. I am kind of gigantic and I don't want to scare people :) It is kind of funny because she is still small and yet I am getting so big. I am nervous for how I will be at the end. I need to figure out how to do a side by side on blogger. I was looking at my 20 week picture from Ella and I was so much smaller!! It is just funny to compare the two pictures, especially since I thought I was so big last time around. All I have to say is that the body is amazing to be able to go through such a transformation, and then to go back to normal (hopefully).

Belly and Birthday

I have been meaning to do a post about Ella's birthday party for about a week, but once again time has gotten away from me and life has been busy. To start things off, here are my most recent belly shots. I missed about 5 weeks of pictures and then got 2 in a row. My belly has really been growing so you might even be able to tell the difference between the pictures. I sure feel different from last week.

Here is me at 17 weeks.

And this is me today at just over 18 weeks. I am just starting to feel uncomfortable and sleep is getting harder, but it is all worth it.

In other baby news at my appointment last week my doctor did a quick ultrasound to check the gender. The baby was in a really tough position and so he was having a hard time getting a look. At first he said girl, but then we got some better looks and he thought boy for sure. He gave us an 85% chance that it was a boy. It really looked like a boy to me, but we will find out for sure at my real ultrasound appointment on the 19th. I am so excited to know so that I can start getting the nursery ready. Also, I think I have been feeling the baby for the last week and half or so, but I don't know for sure. They say it is easier to notice the kicks the second time around but it is still a little hard for me. In the last few days it has been more pronounced and I am more confident that I am actually feeling the baby and not my food digesting.

On to the party...

A week ago my sister and I threw an Elmo birthday party for Ella, Riley, and her husband Loran. He was a good sport to share the party with two 2 year olds. I decided that I would attempt to make them a cake. This was the first time I have ever done this, but it actually went better than I thought and was kind of fun. Dustin made the frosting and helped to get the colors just right.

This picture was at the beginning of the process.

And here I am with the finished product. I was going to try and put the names on, but I ran out of room and I had a small amount of confidence of me making the names legible with frosting. We decided to go with the ages.

This is a group shot of some of my family. Notice my brother on the far left being his usual self :) As you can see Dustin and I had some fun decorating our house. We were quite proud of what we did with our fan. :) Although now that I see it in a picture, I think it looked a little more impressive in person.
We played pin the tail on the donkey which was hysterical. To my family, we have a video of each person playing, so let me know if you want them. Here is my nephew, Josh playing. He was the big winner and beat 11 of us.

Ella loves her cousins, but she really likes Josh. She constantly wanted to be in his lap or doing just what he did.

Loran and Amy put together a pass the parcel game. This is my mom opening one of the layers.

Amy helping Riley open a present.

Ella opening presents. She still does not totally get it and gets pretty excited about the tissue paper.

Loran opening his gifts. I think we all gave him ITunes gift cards.

The two birthday boys and the birthday girl blowing out the candles.

Cute Riley enjoying his cake and ice cream.

It was a really fun party, and to all my family, I hope you had fun!!

I still can't believe that I have a 2 year old. Ella had her 2 year check up this last week and here are her stats:

24.0 pounds (16th percentile)

34 3/4 inches tall (76 percentile)

The doctor said she was great in every way and we agree. I need to do a post about everything she is into these days and all the talking she is doing. I will just tell you for now that her latest interests are the color pink and watching Aladdin. :)

This picture is from today. Dustin got up with Ella and let me sleep in a little bit. I came out to find them like this watching their favorite show, Curious George. This picture makes me a little sad because I am husbandless (if that is a word) for the next 12 days. He left for a work trip to Costa Rica today and I already miss him. I am really pathetic and we have only been apart for a couple nights over our nearly 5 1/2 years of marriage. I am excited for him and know he will have fun, but I am going to miss him and I know Ella will be sad once she figures it out. And I am really glad we have an alarm system to make me feel safe.