And, the verdict is......

Ella's baby brother now has a name! After much deliberation, we have finally come to a verdict on the whole name game! So, before I fill you in on the big surprise let me fill you in on the whole process of how HE got a name.

Before we even knew we were having a boy, we had compiled a list of top names that we BOTH agreed on. If I'm not mistaken, I believe I listed these on here a few posts back. And, although we had our top name list, we continued searching for names that we liked. I found a few... Kermie found a few. I shared mine with him... he shared his with me. One of the names he found that he really liked was Wyatt. I loved it too! One of the names I found was Grayson. He loved it not so much! The conversation was over and Wyatt became part of our top name list. Then, a few weeks later, Kermie asked, "What do you think about the name Grayson?" My immediate reaction was... duh.... and... are you kidding me? In my mind, I had already dismissed the name due to the fact that I knew he didn't like it. In fact, I was gearing myself up for the possiblity of Wyatt becoming our next child. Low and behold, last night on our date night we decided that Grayson would be his name!!!! And, although we had many possibilities for a middle name, Jack was always the definite being Kermie's dad's name.

So, for those that were waiting in suspense (haha)............. Grayson Jack is the final verdict!

We love this weather!!

So, spring has officially arrived and we are LOVING it! This weekend is a long weekend for us because of CKEA day and Ella and I had made plans to make the most of it! However, with my car still in the shop, we've had to bum a few rides! Hopefully the wagon will be back in business on Monday!

Yesterday, mom took Ella and me to the park and shopping. Ella definitely enjoyed the park and said hi to just about every child she met. Because my belly is getting a little large these days, mom took over on most of the running for Ella and such! I think she had just as much fun as Ella did!

I (yes me! I love doing that kind of stuff) finally put Ella's big girl bed together a few weekends ago, so I have been wanting to get Ella's bedding for a few weeks now. After we hit the mall for a little summer clothes shopping for Ella we headed to Target where we found the quilt I've had my eye on. While there, I also found bedding for baby boy (yes, still no name, but I think we are very close). I know it's early to get his bedding, but it was the last one and I couldn't pass it up! It works so perfect for what we are trying to accomplish in the new nursery. From the picture, you will see it is only brown and white, so I am looking to add some green and possibly yellow to it. As of now, everything still matches with the current paint colors, but Kermie and I are now on a mission to decide how we want to get rid of the pink walls and make it more unisex. I am thinking a beige/tan color with some green? Not sure yet. I am also looking for fabric to make curtains from. Kermie is going to paint a huge tree and some woodland animals on the walls to tie everything in. We are also looking for a bookshelf of some sort for Ella's side of the room, a new chandelier, and a new rug to match. If any of you readers come across any steals let me know! I'm all about bargains!

Also, I am getting ready to sell all of Ella's clothes from 0-24 months within a couple of weeks, so if you'd be interested in taking some before hand let me know! Otherwise, they are going so we can make room for her big girl clothes and baby boy's clothes!

Hope everyone else is enjoying this weather as much as we are!! :)

It's a Boy!

Yesterday, we went for our 20 week ultrasound although we were technically only 19 weeks. I had been talking to Ella about the doctor visit for quite a while in order to help her understand what would happen and what it meant. In fact, we were on our way to mom's house yesterday morning before school when she asked me to tell her the story about "the belly and the jelly". I thought this was cute and proceeded to tell her what would happen and how she would see the baby on the tv. She replied by telling me she wanted to "hug or kiss the tv". She really does seem to be very excited about the thought of a baby and being a big sister. She tells me all the time about all the things she is going to do to help mommy and daddy with the new baby. The only time she has gotten a little "iffy" about the new baby is when we talked to her for the first time about sharing her room.

Being pregnant for the second time is so bitter-sweet (if that's the best way to put it). I am tremendously excited about having another baby, loving another child, and completing our family, but at the same time my world has been centered around Ella for 2 and a half years now. Of course I'm hormonal, but I continue to have weekly breakdowns about feeling guilty. This guilt mainly stems from the idea that Ella is the baby and she is our world and in just a few months she will have to share all of this with someone she does not know. Crazy... yes... normal... I hear so. Mom tells me that it took me a while to get used to the idea of my baby brother, but I am so very thankful to have him! We were so close and had so much in common, so I just pray that this will be the same for Ella and her baby brother.

So, back to the ultrasound! I thought that through these conversations with Ella about the visit and the baby that she was beginning to understand a little more about how we would find out if it was going to be a brother or sister, how it had to grow in my belly, and that we would only get to see the baby through a tv. However, after leaving the ultrasound room she began to cry (partly from being exhausted) and for the fact that we did not get to keep the baby. Sad, but sweet that she already loves him so much! Her favorite part of the visit was getting to hear the hearbeat. I plan to take her to the next visit and hopefully I can record the heartbeat for her to play when she wants.

The results... if you haven't already guessed.... it's a boy! We are tickled to death and still deciding on a name. I will post the verdict once it's final and post pictures of the nursery as we embark on the task of taking down "princess world" and making it suitable for a princess and a prince!

"The Belly and the Jelly"

Ella and Daddy waiting :)

Willy Wonka

A few weeks ago, Ella found our Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory dvd and insisted on watching it. I thought it might be too strange and even scary for her, but oh no... it's her new favorite movie. She asks to watch it on a daily basis and loves when Violet swells into a blueberry!!! What a crazy child I have :) Last night while I was picking up the house, I walked into Ella's room to find this:



Ella and her daddy laying on the blow up mattress in her room watching, yet again... WILLY WONKA! The lights were off, pjs were on, and I thought it was the cutest thing! In case you're wondering why there is a blow up mattress in her room...Lynise and Robert are coming over for the weekend. They always camp out in her room on the blow up mattress when they stay and Emmie sleeps in the crib. I'm sure Ella will introduce Emmie to Willy Wonka at some point this weekend! Kermie and I have decided that our next family movie will be Alice in Wonderland... I'm sure she'll love that one too!

Baby Names... What's your opinion?

So, finding a name for this second baby is proving to be a very difficult task! With Ella, we knew almost immediately Ella would be her name and Chase came easy as well. On the other hand, had she been a boy... that would have been another story! Kermie and I agree on some days and disagree on others. We seem to agree more on girl names than boys, so it seems like we're in the same boat as before! I ask Ella all the time what she wants the baby's name to be and her reply depending on the day is "brother" or "sister" which isn't much help at all! So, be honest and tell me what you think of some of our ideas and give other options if you have them!!

Possible Girl First Names:
Olivia, Addison, Adilyn

Possible Girl Middle Names:
Faith, Grace, Kate, Brooke (is that weird since it's my middle name?)

Possible Boy First Names:
Aden, Ethan, Cooper, Gavin

Possible Boy Middle Names:
Jack, Michael, Thomas

Happy Valentine's Day

Ella and I woke up from our nap today to beautiful roses from Kermie! Hers are on the left and mine are on the right. She was so amazed and wanted to carry each individual rose around the house. I had to remind her that the flowers would die without their water. Thank you Kermie for the beautiful roses! We love you!

February at Our House

It's been another month.....

I'm trying to keep up with this blog, but Ella and this baby have me exhausted and any spare time I have is spent trying to relax or sleep (or plan, do laundry, do gradschool work, etc)! So, sorry to those that read... I'm waiting for my second wind! I actually took off work on Friday because I just couldn't bare to walk into school and teach for 7 seven hours without crying or falling over! Luckily, my wonderful husband surprised me with the most thoughtful gift ever that morning when I woke up... a cleaning lady for the day! I guess he knew that our house was a wreck (seriously) and the odds of me getting it all picked up were slim to none. I'm sure all you mommys out there understand. So, with that being said... here's my attempt to get you all caught up on what's been going on around here!

Ella and her daddy have been into the tatoos a lot lately. Of course Ella's have to match her daddy's :)


After many months with no hair cut, Ella finally got it all chopped off! Here's her new bob :)

The sex of baby #2 will be revealed in about 4 weeks at our 19 week check up! I know Ella is excited to know whether or not it's a sister or brother. As far as she's concerned right now, it's both :) I'm itching to decorate, but am holding off until then. We recently got Ella a new bed, but haven't put it up because I didn't want to have to buy bedding to match the existing room and possibly new bedding for a new room. So, we are patiently waiting until March 8th for the revealing!

Everything else is pretty much the same around here; enjoying the snow days when we get them and wanting spring to hurry at the same time! I am so excited to have this summer with Ella... I'm planning to make it extra special somehow! Taking suggestions from anyone that's got any!