Happy 2nd Birthday Leo!

Leo had the best 2nd birthday a little boy could hope for! The day started off great with a portrait session at JCP. The photos turned out so adorable and I can't wait to post them. Of course, Leo was all smiles.

After photos, we went to the Toys R Us and let Leo spend $20 worth of Birthday money. He bought a few cars a a junior golf club set. Have I mentioned that he is obsessed with golf?

After his nap, the rest of the family came over. In addition to mommy (me), daddy and Grandma Laurel, we also had Aunt Tiffy, Uncle Martin, Grandma, and Grandad come over. We ate quiche, potato salad, and other goodies. Next Leo opened presents. Leo was so spoiled with gifts. With every gift he opened, he would ask, "cars?" Luckily, he did receive many awesome cars, along with books, clothes, coloring books etc. Leo was basking in the glory of his special day and loved all his presents. After presents, we played golf outside for a while, chit chatted and had fun watching Leo play. It was a gorgeous day, so we wanted to spend as much time outside as possible. After play, we finished with cake.....yummmy!!!! For a second year in a row, Leo opted for a Cars cake. At least the boy knows what he likes.

We finished the day with a trip to the grocery store. This may sound boring, but now that Leo is officially 2, he gets to go to playland while we shop. This is a play area in the store that is attended to by a store employee. Leo has been begging to play there every time we go shopping, but because he wasn't 2 yet, it wasn't permitted. In a way, this was a 2-year old right of passage. The lady who watched him said that he was the most confident 2-year old she had ever met. Cool!

All week, we have had Grandma Laurel in town. Leo adores her and they are best buddies. She is so good at playing with him, so he always asks for "grandma too," or "grandma come" indicating for her to play with him. He is really going to be heart broken when she leaves ( I think she will be too).

For the first time today, Leo said "I'll miss you," when Grandma L and I left to go to the store. It was the sweetest thing ever! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful 2-year old.

Baby on the WAY!!!!

I have a HUGE announcement! Joe and I will adding another little one to our family. I am now 12 weeks along and the baby is due September 26. So far, everything looks great with the baby. We heard the baby's heartbeat and got a ultrasound photo of our cute little blob! The pregnancy came as a surprise, so we feel extremely grateful and blessed.

So far, the pregnancy has been much more difficult than with Leo. I had horrible morning sickness, fatigue and severe food aversions. With Leo, the pregnancy was so easy that I questioned many times if I was actually pregnant, but the second time around has proven to be much different. It is all worth it though!

I will start posting photos of my growing belly too. I am just starting to show, so that is fun, however, I just look bloated.

Too Much Fun!

Leo and his toddler friends celebrate
their 2nd birthday's together!
Leo's "date," Evie, is sitting next to him

This kid is BRAVE!

Never to early to learn a good work ethic

Face painting at its best!

Feeding chickens with Lorenzo and Marcy

Leo has had nothing but fun over the last week. Last Thursday, I took him to the Portland Children's Museum with the annual pass my parents gave him for his birthday. He LOVED it! He had so much fun that I took him 2 days in a row! His favorite feature is the digging pit with shovels, buckets and construction trucks, but he also loves the interactive water exhibit, the train table and the face paint. We had a blast!

Leo also visited his friend Lorenzo and was able to help feed their pet chickens. That provided endless fun for both boys who have similar dispositions. So cute!

Joe took Leo to the play group's 2nd birthday party and Pump it Up Jr. Unfortunately I had to work, but apparently Leo had a great time. He fearlessly climbed all the tallest slides and bounced around like a crazy man in the bouncy rooms. He was not at all cautious like most of his toddler peers. What a dare devil.

On Sunday, I celebrated my 36th birthday. The day was super low-key, but it was nice to sleep in, get flowers and go out to dinner for beef brisket and the fixings. The Oscars were on that night, so Joe and I watched them. My big treat will be to get some new sunglasses in a few weeks! Yeah!

All Smiles!

Leo's New Jammies

Our Young Scholar

This is my Happy Boy

It's been a while since I have taken photos of Leo, but he looked so cute and grown-up yesterday, so I decided to break out the camera. He can now say cheese to the camera, so I may be able to get him to start posing a bit.

Leo's language skills are building daily. He now uses simple sentences and can communicate almost any thought to us. This makes things a lot less frustrating for everyone.

Our biggest problem with Leo is the amount of time he sleeps at night. He is usually asleep by 8:30 pm and wakes up at 6 a.m. (sometimes earlier). Most toddlers his age sleep 12 hours straight, but like most things with Leo, he never follows the rules. In the morning. He will start calling for me. When I enter his room, he beams, "good morning!" At that point, I know there is no way he is going back to bed. He usually naps for 2 hours in the middle of the day, so I nap with him, which is one of my greatest pleasures in life.

Today I am taking him to the Portland Children's Museum. My mom bought us annual passes for Leo's birthday, so we are going to take advantage of the gift early. More photos to follow!

Beautiful Weather

Leo and I try to have daily adventures. We had a week of unusually beautiful weather, so Leo and I were able to take our adventures outdoors. Leo now can navigate the play structures at parks alone. I have a constant eye on him, but he can climb up to slides and slide down them unassisted. He has no fear too and engages with all the big kids (3-5 year old boys), when we go out.

The educational dvds I got Leo from the library are paying off. This morning, Joe was wearing a Tee-shirt that read Property of the NBA, and Leo was able to identify every letter in the word PROPERTY with the exception of the E. AWESOME!!!

Leo has really gotten into his cars from the movie Cars. He is obsessed with them. He loves them so much that before bedtime, he has to kiss them all goodnight.

I was super sick last Monday with a stomach bug of some sort. I actually threw-up multiple times that night, which I rarely do. Luckily Joe was able to stay home from work so I could sleep all day. Unfortunately, it seems as though Leo has a bug right now. He's had 4 dirty diaper changes today (poor thing), but he's still playing as hard as ever. Leo never seems to let anything get in the way of play.

Happy Boy

Leo has now been in his toddler bed for a few weeks and although he is doing ok, we have had a few challenges. Although he goes to bed fairly easily, the other night he kept leaving his bed to go under his rocking horse to fall asleep. After finding him under the rocking horse twice, we went in a third time and he was completely passed out under the comfort of Butterscotch. It was cute, but very strange.

The other night at 12:30 a.m., Leo was calling "Joe" (he only yells "joe" when he wants Joe to come to him because that is what I do, otherwise, it's always daddy) and when Joe walked in the room, Leo said "good morning!" He was so excited and had no idea it was still the middle of the night.

Leo got a new pair of Car shoes today in size 7. He has declared that "McQueen is cool." Also, much to our dismay, he has become fascinated by bad guys. We have explained to him that we are all good guys in this family and don't like bad guys.

Leo continues to learn numbers, letters, colors and shapes through educational dvds I get from the library. I figure he might as well be learning something during television time.

We are very blessed that Leo is so healthy and rarely gets sick. He is still a picky eater, but he has such an abundance of energy, that he must be thriving. He can be sweet and affectionate and is a very good kisser and hugger now. We are so lucky!

A Room fit for a very Lucky Toddler Boy

On Saturday, we had a huge milestone with Leo. We transitioned his room from a baby's nursery in to a toddler's playland, complete with a toddler bed. He LOVES his new bed and after 3 nights, he has done fairly well. The first night, we had to go into his room twice to put him back in bed, which was a relatively easy start to the transition. The following night was even easier, but last night was quite the challenge for Joe (I was at work). Since the Season premiere of Lost's 6th a final season is tonight, we are crossing our fingers that Leo doesn't decide to get out of bed and play. Although it is amusing to walk into the room and see a half asleep little boy playing with his train table. Also, his train table makes sound effects, so he is not fooling anybody when he decides to escape from his bed.

I am so proud of Leo for taking such a big step, but it makes me realize how much he has matured. He uses simple sentences all the time now and is learning the letters of the alphabet. He also has some new favorite books. He loves his 4 pack set of Thomas books (A Crack in the Track is his favorite), along with Goodnight Moon.