A warmer day with some sun

We had an unusually warmer (close to the 40's) weekend, with about four straight days of sun. I think that is a record. We even opened our windows to get some fresh air, it was amazing!

Unfortunately, Luke & I have been cooped up inside most of the week, sick with colds. We were bummed that we couldn't get out much. I got the worst of it, right on top of the morning sickness (that lasts all day) and fatigue. Matt was home all week, it was so nice to have him around to take care of us. He took Luke out one day for a little while and played. 

The older Luke gets, the more he looks like his daddy.

Cleveland is number ONE again....

Poor Cleveland. 

This time I feel a little bad. Cleveland is the brunt of a lot of jokes, but sadly most are true.

There are positive things about Cleveland (which you could gather by reading most of my other posts), but I'm telling you, people really don't like this time of year....maybe that's why we're ranking number one on these crummy lists.

Here it is:

Cleveland is now ranked number one as THE MOST MISERABLE CITY IN AMERICA.

Thank you Forbes.

Do I seem trunky? Matt thinks I am. 

No wonder no one wants to visit us.

Well, at least we're not Detroit.

(We're not Detroit.)

And not to mention, Lake Erie (about 5 miles from here) is completely frozen over right now...for the first time in 14 years. 

It's cold.

Cleveland Ranked THE WORST WINTER CITY IN AMERICA!!!!

I believe it. 

Go here for the article and pictures.

1. Cleveland (that's US!!! pooo)
2. Boston
3. New York City*
4. Milwaukee*
5. Chicago*
6. Minneapolis*
7. Indianapolis
8. Columbus (also in Ohio).
9. Detroit*
10. Baltimore*

I LOOOVE Cleveland the rest of the year. But winters are nothing but dirty snow that just keeps coming down all winter long, freezing cold temperatures and the worst part....almost always gray skies....sooo depressing.

It's interesting because we have friends "suffering" that live in a lot of these other cities listed here (the ones with stars). As for everyone else, be glad that you're not in Cleveland!!!

Hooray for our last winter here!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

A new tradition we started this year was making these truly a.m.a.z.i.n.g. sugar cookies. I have been on a hunt to find the perfect, yummy, soft sugar cookies and last year I finally found them. They are super unhealthy-which is why they are so good. I have waited an entire year to make them. Once a year for these killer cookies is good for us.

In the past we've never really done anything big for V-day, mainly because...well...we're poor.

So, I wasn't expecting anything big, but I have a very sweet and thoughtful husband. This year he surprised me (I love surprises!!!). Friday night we were just sitting down to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympics and Matt ran down stairs and brought a back a baby! It was our good friend's baby & I knew they were going dancing that night, but wasn't sure what was going on.

Anyway, earlier in the week he had planned with his friend a babysitting swap. We watched their baby for a little while Friday & then they watched Luke for a while on Saturday.

Matt took me out to lunch at a very yummy Italian restaurant. We had a five course meal! It was deeeelicious!! After, we picked up Luke & had to run to the grocery store. Matt quickly ran in while I waited in the car with sleeping Luke. Then all the sudden my door flies open and a bouquet of roses are shoved in my face. Sure, it was kind of last minute, but still really sweet.

As for the actual day (today), we spent 6 hours at church (church, my visiting teachers visited with me, two baptisms of our Primary kids and a dinner). We gave our Indian friend, Gupta, a ride home and when we pulled up to his apartment he asked me if we wanted to come up for dinner....I almost died! 

We had just eaten a big dinner and had lots of desserts. We were stuffed. It's really hard to turn him down, because he doesn't take no for an answer. I hesitated in answering and thankfully he realized we had just eaten and took it back. But, he still wanted us to come up for a half an hour or so, to visit with him and his wife.

We couldn't say no, even though we were all very tired and ready to get home. Sure enough, we were served fruit salad, strawberry milk and some cereal/chip stuff. They are very kind and very hospitable people, but I'm telling you, it almost killed me to get it down! Anyway an hour later we were able to leave.
It ended up being a better visit than I had expected, but we definitely had a tiring day!

We hope everyone had a great Valentines Day!

(sigh) Motherhood.

Sorry no pictures on this one.

Today as we were "spring" cleaning our house & packing up several boxes (even though we aren't moving until May) Mr. Luke learned how to take off his diaper. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal (because we'd put him in timeout & he probably wouldn't do it very often). BUT, as he was sliding his bare bum across the wood floors in our dining room, he then decided to say, "I pooped Mom!" 

We had poop smeared across the floors, on his hands, under his finger nails, on his feet, between his toes and on his clothes. It was so gross. We quickly put him in the tub and cleaned up the mess.

Ohhhh the joys of being a mommy! 

(It is gross, however, when it's your own child...it's not quite as gross...but...still pretty gross).

We're getting a......

Is this not the cutest little face you've ever seen?

Maybe we're biased, but we sure think it is.

When you see his face, you think, "he's so innocent & sweet."
And this is all very true (most of the time..hehehe).

But there is a secret this little guy knows that maybe you don't know.

And as I'm sure you've guessed by now....

Yes! We're getting a puppy!!!!!

Well, actually no. 

We'll probably never get a puppy because we are both deathly allergic & neither of us are "dog people." 

So, the truth is, we're having another baby!

We are all very, very excited and anticipate the arrival of our next child. I wasn't exactly expecting to share the news so quickly, but after our first appointment it finally hit me that this was actually happening. Up until now, I would forget every now & then that I was pregnant. After I spread the news to the family, I figured either on facebook or blogger or somewhere it would get out, so I thought I'd like to be the one to share the news!

I am 9 weeks along. The ultrasound looked absolutely perfect with one little baby (thank goodness).

My due date is September 14th. 

Friends and family are among the nosiest of people and I must admit it has been a lot of fun the past 6 months or so keeping "our little secret" on when the next one would be. It's like once your first hits 18 months, everyone is on your tail about when the next one will be. Had "our little plan" worked out how we expected it, we'd actually be having another baby in just a few weeks. However, we were reminded that everything doesn't happen according to our time-table. Unfortunately, last summer we experienced a miscarriage that was awful and I wish that no one would ever had to go through them (though, they are very common). After waiting quite a few months we are happy to be pregnant again with a healthy, normal pregnancy! 

The timing couldn't be better. We have no clue where we will have this baby yet. It will come a few months after Matt begins residency. 

We are planning for a boy (and really, really, really hoping for a girl). We'll be happy with whatever we end up with.

We feel very blessed and fortunate to add another member to our family. It was such a relief to hear the baby's heartbeat and see the little peanut. 

So far, I have felt pretty good. I have been lucky to not have thrown up yet! I have felt nauseated and quite tired, but overall pretty good this time around. I can't get enough caffeine free diet coke, apples and tortilla chips dipped in salsa (which I have never been a fan of). This is definitely a different pregnancy than Luke's, but we'll see what happens!

We can't wait to find out what we're having!

A boy or a girl???

The Party (lots of pictures!)

What a party! 

Well, Dave, Meg & McKelle made the long (6 hour) drive up here to dreary, cold (really cold, like 15 was the average temp while they were here) Cleveland to celebrate McKelle's 1st birthday & Luke's 2nd.

Here are some cute pictures from the big birthday festivities!

Little Miss Princess McKelle.

Isn't she a doll?

For the birthday dinner, Meg & I pulled out some fun decorations I had lying around. After we hung the streamers, blew up the balloons and put on the bright green table cloth. I knew we needed some sort of fun center piece and this is what I came up with. I think it turned out just fine and tied the boy-girl party theme together.

And finally, my bubbly, bright colored, freshman college plates & utensils came in handy. They looked so cute. We had homemade pizza (yum).

These little cuties sure got spoiled this year.

Their parents & grandparents sure love them!

 

Meg and I had lots of fun decorating these cute little fun-fetti cupcakes for the babies!

Oh man, they were YUMMY!

Luke was so cute to watch blow out the candles. It took him quite a while, with a lot of spit flying.

 

 

Luke got some fun toys from mom & dad. He loves his pretend food. First thing in the morning he says "Eat food!" And then he runs to his bag of pretend food & "eats" it. And he loooves his guitar. This boy is definitely going to be musically inclined. He is obsessed with music!
And thank you to his grandma J for Walle, his favorite movie & all the other great presents from both of his gma's & aunties! 

Happy Birthday kiddies!