The Best Cupcake I've Ever Eaten...

K & B went to the doctor yesterday morning and found out they were having a healthy little...

Now hold your horses!  You're going to have to find out like the rest of us did. :)

 Last night I experienced my first "gender reveal party," and it was awesome! :)

 Inside each of these cupcakes was either blue or pink frosting announcing the gender of sweet Baby L.

 What will it be?

 Baby girl?

 Or baby boy?

 Share Share's stoic guess...girl.

 My guess...girl.

 J says girl, and P (not pictured :)) said girl.  Whenever asked, P would say that the baby was going to be a girl.  How can you argue with that?  Maybe he can sense things...

 Papa (the man with 4 sisters and 2 daughters) thinks it's gonna be another girl...

 B's mom (Lolli) says girl.  B's dad (Pop) says boy...

(Also pictured on the iPad is B's sister and her family who live in Nepal.  How cool is technology!?)

 Group shot.  All pink plates except for B's dad.

 (B's mom is holding her iPhone with B's other sister and her family joining in the festivities from outside of Austin.  So fun!)

 Big bites...

 My mom now knows... :)

 Mom's starting to react...

Dad now knows...

My bite didn't reveal an icing color!!!  I had to pull it apart to find out! :)

 LOVE K and B's reactions in this picture...and of course B's mom's face is priceless!

 B's dad was the ONLY ONE who got it right!

IT'S A BOY!!!

 He's very proud of himself. :)

 So excited!  My parents' sweet neighbors came down to take pictures for us, and I'm so glad they did!

 Excitement.

 K confirming that it's a boy...

 So happy. :)

 There was fist pumping...

 Hugs and dancing...

 Laughing and tears...

 Inappropriate amounts of clapping... :)

 And more hugging...

 This is me telling my dad that now he's going to have to buy 2 fishing poles...

The night before we went to the doctor to find out what we were going to have, my dad said that if it was a boy, he was going to have to go and buy a fishing pole...so when I called him to tell him it was a boy, I told him by saying that he was going to have to go and buy a fishing pole.  I think he was in disbelief after having 4 younger sisters and 2 girls of his own to find out his first grandson was going to be a boy.  Now he's gonna have 2! :)

 The winner with his blue-filled cupcake. :)

 The grandmas were SO excited! :)

 But let's be real about things...we had to stop for a moment and actually enjoy the cupcakes.  I mean, we had to.  In fact, I was so excited that I might have had to eat more than one cupcake.  The number of cupcakes consumed was directly proportional to the amount of excitement felt.  Eating two cupcakes was the least I could do...

 The best cupcake I've ever eaten. :)

 The parents-to-be.

 K showing off the sonogram pics.

Already looking at baby boy nursery stuff...

 Opening baby boy presents...bring on the blue! :)

Here's the beautiful mama proudly holding pictures of her Baby Boy! :)

It was SO WONDERFUL to get to find that out with the grandparents and the aunts and uncles and cousins...it was like Christmas morning. :)  Of course, we are so thankful for a healthy baby, but I must admit, knowing that P is going to have a little boy cousin to run around with just warms my heart!!!  I can't wait for all of the adventures they are going to have together. :)

We love you already, sweet baby boy!  You keep on cookin' in there, and we'll anxiously await your arrival in August.

A New Addition to the Family...

Aunt KiKi and Uncle B are gonna have a baby!!! :)  We're so excited to be an aunt and uncle for the third time, and P is pumped that he's going to have a cousin who lives in the same city...he just doesn't know it yet. :)  Congrats, K & B!  We love y'all and are so excited for you!  You're going to be such wonderful parents, and this baby is going to be SO loved! :)  God is good. :) 

Sorry for the smiley face overload...I'm just really excited. :)

Hide Your Rolls...

After seeing that title written out, I realize it could have a variety of meanings.  Do not worry.  This is not a tirade against people wearing too little clothing too early in the season.  It is, however, a warning to those of you who might be around my child while eating a roll...or carbs of any type for that matter.

 So in this context, I will say it again.  Hide your rolls.

The kid loves rolls.  

Case in point:  the other night (which was when I took this picture) we had pasta for dinner, and we each had a roll.  We have wised up to the fact that if we want to get more than 1/3 of a roll of our own, we need to give the kid his own.  So we do.  P quickly eats his roll first. Mommy eats hers relatively quickly as well since I sit right next to P and my roll would the next one on his hit list.  P finishes his roll and continues on with the rest of his dinner (thankfully he will eat some fruits and veggies, too).  But then, towards the end of our meal, P looks across the table at J, who saved his roll for last, sees him enjoying it, and begins to strongly request that J turn his roll over to him. (You can imagine this scenario however you wish.  I would prefer that you imagine it with my child politely requesting to have a tiny bite of his dad's roll.  Whether or not you believe that's how it actually went is up to you).  I believe my exact words to P were, "Sorry, bubba.  I know you love rolls.  But you chose to eat yours first before all your other food, and Daddy, for whatever reason, decided to save his until the end so we could all watch him eat it."  :) And just so you know - we held our ground and were good parents.  We did not let our child eat another roll.  However, J evened that our by lying to the child that the roll was "all gone" while hiding the remaining portion under the table. :)

So you're hearing it here first...there's a new rule in our house.  When you eat your roll is no longer up to you.  It is absolutely determined by when the child decides to eat his roll.  All rolls will be eaten at the same time by all parties during a meal.  Failure to follow this suggested protocol may result in crying, whining, and pouting - by the adults when the child gets the rest of your uneaten roll.  Consider yourself warned.

PB & J

It's a childhood milestone...the first PB & J.  Because P had an egg allergy early on, I went ahead and avoided peanut butter until he was 2.  When I let him take some bites of my breakfast English muffin with PB after his second birthday, I felt like he got some little red splotches around his mouth, so I continued to avoid peanut butter.  Then the other day my friend suggested that I let P try some almond butter.  I did...and he loved it....and there were no red splotches. :)  Here's some photographic evidence of our first PB (or make that AB) & J experience...

I present to you, the first peanut butter sandwich:

 This is pretty good, mom.

 Hmmmm.....

 Just a little nibble.

 Almost done.

This is awesome!

 Only one more bite.

Speech Update

First of all, let me say THANK YOU for all of the kind e-mails, notes, and comments that I got in response to the "Delayed" post.  I was overwhelmed by everyone's support and love! :) 

Now for the fun part! :)  A report of ALL the words that P is using consistently!!! :)

Again, as of December 20, the only word that P used was "Mama."  No animal sounds, no imitation, no nothing.  My how things have changed! :)  We started weekly therapy sessions with an SST (specialized skills training) therapist on January 18th.  While I do think I'm learning a lot of good stuff about how to encourage language with P, as well as more "effective" ways of playing with him that foster and encourage creativity and problem solving, I also don't think that the therapy was the "magic key" that opened up the flood gates for P.  I really just think that it was "his time" to start talking...and go figure, just like everything else in his life, it was a little behind the curve, but he seems to be trying to make up for lost time. :)

Names: P loves to look at pictures of family members and even better - spend quality time with the real deal!  Recently he has been rattling off names of everyone he knows. :) (Please don't be hurt if your name isn't on here...we're working on adding to the list!)

1) Mama
2) Mommy (which started this weekend while I was out of town!  He sounds so big saying it!!!)
3) Daddy
4) Share Share
5) Papa
6) KiKi
7) B
8) u-dy (from Grandma Judy)
9) Pops
10) GiGi
11) -amps (for Gramps)
12) A-yee (for Ellie the cat)
13) A-kee (for Jakie the cat)
14) Elmo
15) Abby
16) Ernie (when he sees him in a book or on TV)
17) Bert (when he sees him in a book or on TV)
18) Jay - friend from church

Animals and Animal Sounds:  At times it feels like we're a walking zoo. :) P loves to mimic and identify animals.  I don't know if sounds should count as their own word or not...but he sure is good at making them!

19) Cow (his favorite)...Moo
20) Horse...neigh, neigh
21) Duck...quack, quack
22) Pig...(he does this precious snorting sound)
23) Cat...a high-pitched nee-ow
24) Dog...woof, woof
25) Shish (fish)...makes a fish face
26) El-phant...raises his arm and makes a trumpeting sound
27) Bear...roar!
28) Sheep (which was fr-eep for a while)...Baa, baa
29) Mouse...squeak, squeak
30) -affe (giraffe)...sticks out his tongue :)
31) -abbit (rabbit)...quickly breathes in and out of his nose
32) Frog (which currently sounds like another "f" word :/ )...(inconsistent with the sound)
33) Bird...tweet, tweet
34) Monkey...ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh
35) Goat...maa, maa
36) Owl...who, who

Food and Drink:
37) Wah-wah (water)
38) Apple
39) Na-nuh (banana)
40) Buburry (blueberry)
41) Ca-cker (cracker)
42) Peas
43) Cheese

Expressions/ Exclamations:
44) Boom!
45) Oh no!
46) Ow!
47) Whoops!
48) Oops!
49) Hi.
50) Buh-bye (high-pitched)
51) (Ready), set, go!
52) Up
53) Help
54) Peace (Please)
55) Achoo!/ Kerchoo!
56) Ni, ni (night, night)
57) Amen (P insists to pray before every meal :))
58) (One), two, hee! (beginning to count)
59) -ank ooh (thank you)
60) Hot! (like when I'm cooking)
61) Eat
62) Bible (he says this when singing Jesus Loves Me)

Around the house:
63) Shoes
64) Clothes
65) Tunes (music)
66) Ball
67) Phone
68) D.D. (TV)
69) Baby (no, we don't have another baby around the house :), but we do have lots of books with pictures of babies in them!)
70) Hat
71) -aci (paci...and yes, it sounds like he's cursing)
72) -ankie (blankie)
73) Bath
74) Bubbles/ Pop!
75) Headband (he likes me to put on multiple ones)

Transportation:
76) Car
77) Bus
78) Plane
79) Train
80) Bike
81) Truck
82) Boat

Oops, words I forgot, but I don't want to renumber the list :)
83) Fruit
84) Beez, beez (used to request Flight of the Bumble Bees)
85) Beep, beep (used to request Driving in My Car)
86) Cookies (used when we read the book The Cow Loves Cookies)
87) All done.
88) No.
89) -esh! (Yes)
90) Play.
91) -ay dough (play dough)
92) Dunk! (while playing basketball)
93) Shirt
94) Socks
95) Pants
97) Squirrel...chee, chee (according to the book The Cow That Clucked)
98) Snake...sssssssssss

Body Parts:
99) Nose
100) Eyes
101) Ears
102) Hair
103) Toes
104) Mouth 

The great part is, I'm sure I'm forgetting some!  In addition to adding new words almost daily, P is also imitating words and sounds left and right (although he doesn't always get them right, and he sometimes puts the end sound of a word at the beginning - like "pup" for "cup").

We had three goals for P after his first evaluation:

1)  To imitate sounds and simple words and utilize spontaneously in 6/8 opportunities during play activity. - WE TOTALLY DO THIS, NOW! :)

2) To attend and follow 1-2 step directions during an adult-led task for 10  minutes. - He improves on this every week and has grown leaps and bounds from where he was in January.

3) To utilize 25 simple words to express wants/ needs 75% of the time during structured play. - Do you see our list??? :)  Although I don't know that saying the word "elephant" really expresses a want or a need.  "Yogurt" or "carrot" might be more helpful. :)

It looks like we'll meet with a speech pathologist in a couple of weeks to see what our next step should be since he's making so much progress.  He does seem to have a hard time saying some words with "s" in them, and you can see his little tongue kind of turn to the side when he says those words, so that's something we'll need to watch...but overall, we just couldn't be more ecstatic at the progress he has made. :)

We'll keep you updated! :)

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend I turned J into a single parent and took off for north-west Arkansas with some great friends to attend my dear friend, Beth's, wedding.  We had a wonderful time celebrating her and her hubby-to-be, and it was a blessing to be able to be a part of their special day.  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was busy being an outstanding house party of one. :)

 Here is a long-ago picture of Beth and me.  We taught together for 5 years at PC and commiserated while getting our Masters in Ed. Admin.  We also share a love of science and math, music, and Jesus. :)

 

 Here's another pic of us together at our friend's wedding a year ago...in fact, it's the same friend that drove me to Beth's wedding. :)

A funny story...on the drive up we used the "Road Ninja" app to try to find where we could eat in McAllister, OK.  When I searched nearby locations, it listed gas stations, eating establishments, attractions, etc.  Turns out we were only 1.65 miles away from an unexpected attraction: Hell, as can be seen in the screen shot below. :/

Wanna get pasta?  Visit Choctaw Casino?  Hell?...anyone?

 As you can see, there were no ratings for "hell," but I will assume that they were not favorable.  Needless to say, we chose Wendy's instead.

The ceremony was in a beautiful little chapel and was SO personalized.  I LOVE going to weddings where the ceremonies fit the bride and groom and aren't just an "insert bride and groom here" sort of thing.  My favorite part was a time of prayer where the attendants circled around Beth and Adam and prayed over them while the congregation was invited to pray for their marriage as well.  They also had beautiful piano and flute (and go figure - the flautist, who was related to the bride, took lessons from my grandma!  Small world!!!) during this part...brought me to tears.  Such a cool moment.

 Here's the happy couple. :)

 Wedding cake (although they had yummy cupcakes for everybody).

Me and my teaching buddies!

Pretty flowers...calla lilies are the bride's favorite.

 

 They had a photo booth, which is, of course, fun and entertaining...thankfully E and J didn't make me feel like a third wheel, which can be hard to do while the couple you're with is smooching in the photo booth. ;)



Close up 1.  Cheese!



 Close up 2.  Hey! :)

 Close up 3.  Look what they're doing! :)

 Close up 4.  Looking as normal as we can while wearing boas, Hawaiian leis, sombreros, and large glasses. :)

It was a great weekend.  J and P survived (and thrived), and I admittedly enjoyed some alone time.  It's amazing how much more you appreciate being able to do things like get up when you want, exercise alone, and get ready at your own pace when you have a 2 year old. :)

2 other things to note:

1)  I had my first taste of Dan Dan Noodles from P.F. Chang's on this trip, and although I never go eat there, I would TOTALLY go back to eat those again. :)  Yum.

2)  Even MORE important, I FINALLY registered my Starbucks card to start earning "stars" so I can get a GOLD card.  That's right.  I'm on the road to gold.  Only 29 more card swipes before every 13th beverage is free. :)  Not to worry, you also get a free beverage on your birthday and free coffee refills while "in house."  I know what you're thinking, "How did you not sign up for this before!?!?"  The sad part is, the number of free drinks I could have had over the past 5 years is sickening.  Sigh.  Better late than never.

 

Happy Wedding, Beth and Adam!  I'm so excited for y'all and appreciate getting to be a part of your big day!