It's A.......

Boy :)

Yes.  We are blessed to have a son joining our family in four short months.  Lovebug's little brother is still on track to be born around May 15th of this year!  Coach was apparently one of the only people to think I was pregnant with a girl.  I knew it was a boy... I've just felt so different throughout this entire pregnancy.

This means it's time for our heated discussions on names to begin.  We've ruled out a few...Kirk and Kinnick.  Just can't do it.  Sorry babe :(.  It also means a whole lot of selling Lovebug's pink and purple clothes to make room for lil' man's football and baseball clothes.  FYI... absolutely NO SOCCER clothes can be given to this boy.  That would send Coach into a heart attack and I would not do well with that happening right now.  I also have to get all new nursery gear.  Yikes!!!  So much to do in so little time.  Lucky for me I have my trusty big sister helper to help with all of this stuff.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, Baby Boy's first pictures :).  Don't worry... for those of you who think that ultrasound pictures look like aliens, there are labels to help you.



{what a handsome lil' guy.  We think he has my nose :)}



{I can't wait to kiss on those toes!!!}



{sooo many things to think with this picture... 1. He's waving   2. He's high 5ing all of us    3.  He's showing he's a lefty}



{he is looking away from us so you are seeing his back}

{the money shot.  He is for sure 100% boy!!}

And now, the COOLEST picture of them all, at least it is to me, the 3D picture of him.  This is where the alien looks kind of come into play.  When we had the ultrasound done on Wednesday, he was weighing in at a whopping 13 ounces {heavyweight!!}, so there's not much meat to make his cheeks look loveable and squeezeable... yet.  Fear not, my cravings of anything sweet should start helping the cause for that.  Or, it'll just make my cheeks get bigger. 

But I digress.

Here he is in all of his high-tech ultrasound glory...

{that would be his right hand up near his cheek area.  Isn't it crazy!?!??!  That's our son!!!}

We're all so thrilled with the news.  Lovebug has already picked out his name... Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Yeah.... I don't think so, either :)

Lovebug's New Kitchen

Grandpa Dale took quite some time to make Lovebug a very special Christmas present this year.  She got herself a fancy new kitchen set!!  What little girl doesn't wish to have their own kitchen? 

When I was younger, my grandpa had done the same thing for me.  Needless to say, add 27+ years onto my kitchen set and well, things have progressed.  Not only did she get the kitchen, she also got a mixer, pots and pans, a microwave, and a toaster {along with numerous other kitchen supplies}. 
 
Anyway, here's proof that Lovebug is in love with her new kitchen. 


{walking downstairs at Grandpa Dale's and seeing her kitchen for the first time}

 

{there it is!  A real faucet and real knobs on the stove.  Thank goodness they don't really work!!}



{A look at the insides.  Wire shelves and a drawer on the oven that actually opens up.}



{Lovebug's crazy "cheese" face to show how excited she was about it}



And now, here are some pics of her kitchen in her newly re-arranged toy room.  Notice that the kitchen is super messy.  It's used every.single.day.





{one happy cooker :)}



Christmas With the Nellis'

The Friday before Christmas Day, Coach, Lovebug and I loaded up the mom bomb and traveled home to Grandma Sally & Grandpa Dale's house {side note:  they are no longer Mama Sy-ya and Papi Dale :(.  Girlfriend learned how to say their names the right way... they are not happy with that} for some Christmas fun with them, as well as Uncle Jason, Aunt Ann, and Lovebug's cousin Owen.  We hadn't seen them {the TX crew} since July for our family vaycay {posts to come on that in the upcoming weeks :)} and Lovebug was PUMPED to play with Owen again!!

We hung out, watched our fair share of cartoons, ate a TON, and watched as my Mom & Dad's living room got DESTROYED by more presents than anyone should have to watch kids open :). 

Here are just a few pictures from our time together.


{Grandparents with their grandkids... smiles from everyone}





{There is nothing cuter than a Daddy and his daughter}



{cousins}



{Uncle Jason, Aunt Ann & Owen gave Lovebug her own princess outfit.  Poor Aunt Ann has to get her girl fix through Lovebug.  From the looks on her face in the background, she was lovin' it just as much}



{our precious princess}



Pajama Girl

What kind of Mom would I be if I didn't snap a few semi-embarrassing pictures of Lovebug wearing her pajama shirt on her head instead of her body? Well, I wouldn't know, because that's just what you're going to see :).

FYI:  I apologize for the blurriness of these pictures.  My phone isn't the best at taking quality pictures :(

Out With the Old...

And no, I do not mean the New Year... at least not in this post :).

The week before Christmas, Coach and I received an early Christmas/Birthday/Valetine's Day Tax Return Money Day Present and got our new appliances delivered.  It was a day I'd been not so patiently awaiting since we bought them Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are a few pictures of our white on white kitchen before.



{white, white, white.  Too much white.}

 Here is a shot of that same exact area after the lovely delivery men had removed them.  Don't mind the huge blue cooler in the bottom corner of the picture.  It was holding all my precious refrigerator foods :)



{Looking better already!}

 And now, the picture you've all been waiting for... the AFTER picture!!!!  I absolutely LOVE these appliances.  I felt like such a grown-up buying them :).



{aren't they GORGEOUS?!??!}

The fridge door does happen to bang into the wall, which we were both nervous about when looking at it to begin with, but I couldn't be happier with what we got.  The oven did a splendid job with all of my Christmas baking this year {and also sustained its first spill in the form of burned powdered sugar on the 2nd batch of cookies}, and the dishwasher {not pictured} literally does a load of dishes twice the size as our old one in 1/2 the time.  A miracle in my eyes!!



Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011 was perfect for our little family of 3.5 :)  I bought Lovebug's costume on Thursday night so she could have it for her daycare party on Friday, and of course for the big Beggar's Night on Sunday! 

Lovebug has been very, very into princesses lately {which you would know more of if I could get myself on this here blog thingy a bit more often}, Snow White in particular.  Well, when you a) wait to last minute {story of my life} and b) are cheap, you do not get a Snow White costume.  BUT, you do get a pretty darn cute other princess costume.  Really, it was Rapunzel, but all Lovebug cared about was that she was a princess!!!

We both took her trick-or-treating and OMG.  I swear, my kid makes me so proud with every.single.thing she does.  As Coach took her to the first house, she was a bit nervous, but with some coaxing from her dear favorite Daddy, she made sure to say trick-or-treat.  The best part, was she needed little to no coaxing to say thank you. :)  She was very happy to put her candy in her bucket.  We convinced her it was safe to go to another house.  Basically, from this point on, she said trick-or-treat all by herself, and of course, used her manners to say thank you.  I'm tellin' ya folks, it's two little words like that coming out of our adorbs' princesses mouth that melted me at my knees that night {there's no way it could have been that I felt sicker than a dog with nauseousness though :)}.

We toodled around our neighborhood, then hit up Coach's aunt and uncle, as well as Coach Ankeny, Daddy's coach boss :). 

All in all, it was a great night spent as a family.  I'm looking forward to many more fun nights like that.  And now, what you've probably scrolled through to find already... the proof is in the pics.



{the one and only time she'll know what it's like to have straight, blond hair}




{love that cheesy face!!!}



Life These Days

Hello all you faithful followers.  Please forgive me, again (and again) for being a very, very huge slacker in documenting our lives on this blog.  It's so hard for me at night to pull myself away from playing with Lovebug to document what's going on.  Thankfully, though, I am no longer having to pull myself away from sickness :).

Here's what's happening in our lives right now...

COACH:
 Still teaching away.  He got some good coaching news and has a new position this year and is very excited about it!  His new assistant coach is a former colleague from where he used to coach.  Needless to say, we all know it's going to be a super fun summer for him!!  Poor guy is getting over a nasty respiratory illness which has had him down for the count for a few days.  I think he's also earned a few new white hairs {sorry dear} from the stress of a pregnant wife and a very, very independent and spirited 2-year-old girl. 

ME:
  Well, I am 14 weeks and 1 day today, which means I'm in the 2nd trimester!!  I had some nasty morning sickness {which with this pregnancy pretty much stayed in the morning only!}, but I haven't gotten sick in nearly 2-3 weeks!!  That's been a fantastic thing... however I have been super, super tired.  I have found myself falling asleep on the couch, bed, or floor {or Lovebug's bed} around 8pm several times... only to be woken up at 8:30 to truly go to bed.  Nights have been restless.  I'm showing :)  and have already busted out the maternity pants.  They're bigger on me this time around than last time, so that's making me feel quite nice.  And, I have to say it because I'll never believe it unless it's in writing... I've gained 8 pounds so far!  Trust me folks, that's HUGE news to me! :)  My kiddos at school now know I have a baby in my belly, and one of them lifted my shirt to see it yesterday.  Lovebug does the same thing to me, then proceeds to look straight into my belly button.  What?  Didn't you know that was the way to see a baby?

LOVEBUG:
  Oh, lil' miss Lovebug.  She is more spirited, independent, crazy, and loving than ever these days!  Her imagination makes my head spin!  She's all about using her "feeper" {aka: sweeper} to clean the floors at night while holding her cell phone with her shoulder and carrying her purse on her other arm.  That's talent, wouldn't you say?  She is uh-bSESSED with Dora {which, I at this point, could handle living without} and will randomly quote things from her favorite episodes {"Mama, I want yummy gummy fruity fishy snacks like da mermaids please", "no swiper, no swiper, no swiping!"--as I try to take something out of her hand}. 

  The other day, she swore up and down that she saw #7 Marvin McNutt on the streets of our town {which she can also name now when asked where she lives!!}.  Her favorite thing in the world is to play on my her iPad.  She has a smidge bit of a problem though...she doesn't ever listen to an entire song!  However, when Daddy and I ask her to find our favorite songs, she finds them right away {Walking on Broken Glass for me, Party Rock for him :)}.  Lovebug has also found that when Daddy feels good, he'll break it down on the dance floor with her and man, oh man!  I have to tape it so you can hear her giggle.  It brings a smile to my face just thinking about it.

  She is still obsessed with her Daddy's Hawkeyes.  She knows Coach Ferentz, Herky, Marvin McNutt, and of course, most of the words to "Back in Black".   OH!  You'll love this one... when asked about the Cyclones?  Her response is that of a true Hawkeye fan... "Disgusting Cyclones.  They're gross!!!".  This response brought a small tear to her Daddy's eye.  It didn't to mine when at church last weekend at Mom & Dad's she saw a Cyclone on a diaper bag next to us and said it semi-loud enough to be heard by the people around us... during prayer time.  Nice timing.

  Today marks a big day for her.  She has decided it's time for her to wear big girl panties at Holly's house now.  Oh yeah, and her name is now "Howee".  No more Hy-ya.  Which also means that Mama Sy-ya is now... you guessed it, Mama Sawee".  I'm very sad to see those two names go.  It was always so unique and fun. 

  Lovebug is beginning to gear up for Christmas.  Yesterday she told me that she wants to see Santa Claus, but he can't touch her.  When I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring her this year, her response was "cereals.  Lucky Charms."  When I asked her if she wanted the real ones or the ones like Mommy buys, she of course said "the real ones.  A big one and a little one."  Pretty sure Santa doesn't need to bother bringing her anything else, because those will be the only two things that get used for quite some time!


Well there you have it.  I hope to blog about Halloween{she was a super cute princess}, and do some way back Wednesday posts over the next few weeks about our family reunion/vacation this past July.  Better late than never, right?

Before then, I'll leave you with a picture {though it has poor quality} of my two favorite people in the world...