PREGNANT and STUFF!

Hi Friends and Family -

Well it has been months since our last entry. And in those months SO MUCH has happened. As you probably all know ( but there might be someone out there who missed the news ), Scott and I are expecting our second! We are due in late March!! - That tells you how long it has been since our last post. So I am now 31 weeks prego, we do NOT know the sex of the baby - and we do not plan to find out (although we do have one more ultrasound and I can say, I am tempted). The pregnancy has gone great so far, I have been experiencing mostly fatigue, no morning sickness and slight mood swings (Scott might disagree with slight - but to heck with him! Ooopps I mean he is the BEST).

As for our first! Lucas is doing GREAT and had a blast this past year. We have done so much I don't even know where to begin. We had a fun trip this summer to the Toledo Zoo ( If I remember correctly is was like the hottest day of the year !). Lucas and I also ditched dad and went on a 3 day road trip with Grandma Grace to Grand Haven. We had a great time, it was the off-season but still warm so downtown wasn't to busy and the beaches were only occupied by birds. We stayed in a cozy little place right off the beach and got to watch the sunset every night! Lucas loved watching the boats and chasing the birds up and down the beach!

We spent July 4th in Tawas with the Schommer Clan. Which was a blast with nights under the stars warming our feet by the fire. I even got to see my very first shooting star - it was so amazing! On the 4th the town put on a great little parade - complete with balloons, candy, beads and fire engines - Lucas was in Heaven!

The rest of the summer is a bur and then the holidays just seemed to roll right in. Halloween was very cool since Lucas was old enough to actually participate. He visited the houses up and down our street (but it took them about and hour! Scott is a real social butterfly - Sometimes I wonder who enjoyed it more, Lucas or Scott???). Our neighbors are really great, many 0f them had special surprises especially for Lucas!

Of course as you all experienced too, Thanksgiving came screeching in only to be followed by the Christmas festivities. Christmas was wonderful although we had a slight snag on Christmas Eve when our power went out - Brrr. Lucas and I had to head to Grandma and Grandpas for an impromptu sleepover. The power outage changed our plans for a cozy little family Christmas morning, but we ended up having a great time (after moving all our gifts) with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncles David and Garrett.

I think Lucas thought that life was turning into one big party after one bigger party. And I think it was true since after spending the holidays with both sides of our families, we then celebrated Lucas' 2nd birthday - Oh yes boys and girls he is 2! We can't really believe it either. The birthday celebration was the end to our social calendar and we all enjoyed it. Lucas is still easy to please... we provided him with about 30 balloons and he was good for the entire day. His new favorite song of course is Happy Birthday - which I swear we sang it to him at least 5 times that day - and at least once a day ever since. He even talks about birthdays now, totally drawing the connection between cake, candles, balloons, the Happy Birthday song and birthdays! It is really fun to see things start to click in his mind and for him to be able to verbalize his thoughts and ideas. What a miracle children are!

Lucas is really continuing to grow and learn. It is hard to even keep up with where he is since every day he makes our jaws drop with new words, some 2 and 3 word phrases and yes the things he mimics - we have now learned our lesson on watching what we say ( we sure don't want to hear 'crap' forever). As I said, it is such a pleasure to see him begin to comprehend almost everything and his thirst to learn more is unquenchable. Scott and I can't say anything with out him trying to repeat and in most cases try to use the word again on his very own!

So hear we are, a new year to experience together and soon with one more! We are so excited too be a family of 4 !