Bryan & Lauren's Wedding

We celebrated Bryan and Lauren's wedding in Bloomington/Normal.  A lot of family came into town so it was so much fun hanging out with everyone.  Grayson loved playing with his cousins Tommy, Lilly and Aidan.  Thursday night we went to a restaurant called Medici for the rehearsal dinner.  The wedding was Friday, May 15th at 5:15pm at the Ewing Cultural Center in Bloomington.  The ceremony was outside on the lawn of a beautiful castle like structure.  The ceremony was very short and sweet and ended with us chanting Ommm to the happy new couple.  Towards the end of the ceremony it looked like a bad storm was coming and luckily it held off until about 5 minutes after the ceremony ended.  Afterwards we went to Epiphany Farms for the wedding reception.  It was held at a cute restaurant that features local grown food.  It was such a great weekend filled with lots of laughs and fun stories.  We are very happy to welcome Lauren to the family.  Bryan and Lauren are so in love and such a cute, happy couple.  Congrats to them on their marriage and we wish them a long life filled with happiness and laughter.  

Grayson ~ 20 Months

~ 20 Months Old ~

Grayson is 20 months old.  He is such a sweet little boy and changing everyday.  The main difference from the previous month is how much he is talking.  He is repeating every word we say and having conservations with himself in Grayson speak.  He does a great job using the word "Thank You."  Sometimes he says it for the other person, which is so cute. He is becoming more assertive with what he wants.  His new thing is to take your hand and pull you over to where he wants you to go.  He then pushes your hand down so you will sit with him.  He loves doing this especially when he plays with his cars.  I keep telling him to say sit down please and he will repeat it, but doesn't say it on his own yet.

We spent 5 nights at the Ohlanders house while they did repair work on our house from our flood.  Allison was amazed at how much Grayson is talking and said he is advanced.  Grayson had the best time hanging out with Cora, Elin and Gabe.  He was so excited when he woke up each morning because he knew he got to play with them all day.  He was still asking for Gabe days after we left.  We are so thankful to have such amazing friends.         

New obsessions...

Playing with the toilet ~ He loves to throw pieces of toilet paper in the bowl and flush it over and over again.  He did this when we were in Cancun and did it again when we stayed at a hotel (we had a flood and had to be out of our house for a week) and again at the Ohlander's house.  He is not able to do it at our house because we have locks on our toilets.  Thank goodness.

Playing in the car ~ He loves to go up to the front seats and beep the horn and play with whatever he can find.  He hates going in his car seat because he has too much to do inside the car.  This makes it very hard for mommy with my growing belly.

Climbing on the island chairs ~ our little monkey can now climb up on the chairs and get up on the island.  He loves playing with the centerpiece because it has rocks around the candle.

New things...

Matching Game ~ He loves playing with his matching puzzle game.  He can match up every single one of them and there must be 15-20 different things.  He is so smart.  I'm sure every parent says that, but from what I read he is definitely ahead of the game.

Counting ~ He has started counting, but skips right to 3.  He loves to count things and tries to count, but we still need some work on 1, 2, 3.

Recognizing things ~ When we ask him where stuff is in his book he points to it or will say what it is when we point to the object.  Some examples:  Good Night Moon ~ he can point to and say the following things: fire, clock, toy house, kitten, mittens, bowl full of mush, comb, brush, moon, mouse, stars, and cow.  Chicago Baby ~ he can point and say the following things: taxi, babies, bridges, balloons, boat, choo choo trains, pizza, ferris wheel, dinosaur, basketball, baseball, soccer ball, hockey ball (it's so cute how he says this so I don't correct him) and the bean (at Millennium Park).

First choo choo train ride ~ We met our friends from Bubbles, Jennifer and her daughter Charlotte and Lauren and her son Devin at the zoo.  We all rode on the choo choo train and Grayson was so excited he squealed.  It was his first time and he didn't want to get off so he threw a little tamper tantrum when it was over.  We also went to the zoo with Daddy, Oma and Ethan and twice (small zoo in Wheaton and Brookfield Zoo) when we were visiting the Ohlanders.  Grayson loves seeing all the animals at the zoo so we got a family pass to the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Visiting the Bean at Millennium Park ~ While we were homeless for a week we stayed at the Westin River North Hotel one night and the Sheraton Hotel one night in Chicago.  Our nanny took Grayson to the Bean at Millennium Park and he loved it.  He also had fun chasing the pigeons and walking around Chicago.

Eskimo kisses ~ He loves to give me eskimo kisses.  (eckimo kisses in Grayson speak)

New words...     

"That's okay" ~ Elin said sorry and his response was "that's okay".  He said this all on his own and we were all shocked.  Other new words...come here, come here mama, thank you mama, hold me, that way (he didn't want to go to bed and wanted to go outside of his room)

new Spanish words: no mas, uno mas, aquí, arriba 

Baby B #2 - 20 Week Ultrasound, Doctor Appointment and Belly Pictures

20 Weeks ~ 

I'm 20 weeks and halfway through this pregnancy.  It's amazing how fast it's going.  I still feel great, but definitely feel tired a lot.  My belly is huge!  People can't believe I have 5 more months to go.  We have been going back and forth on names.  I like Cayden, Liam and Camden.  Craig likes Liam and Camden and Julia likes Eli.  We are 99% set on the name Liam.  We both think it sounds very strong and love it.  

I felt him move on the inside around 18.5 weeks and it was so much fun.  I really missed that feeling after Grayson was born and very happy to feel it again.  I can't wait to feel him move from the outside and for Daddy and Grayson to feel it too.  I've gained 8.5 pounds so far.

Doctor Appointment ~

The doctor appointment went really well.  I was 20 weeks and 1 day and measuring 20 weeks and 5 days so just a little big.  He weighs 13 ounces and is in the 55th percentile.  His heart rate was 142.  The 20 week ultrasound was very long as they measure every part of the baby.  My doctor said everything looks great and next time they will start measuring my belly from the outside.

1st Picture ~ 20 weeks with Grayson

2nd Picture ~ 20 weeks with Baby #2

Here's what BabyCenter says about 20 weeks:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — about the size of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)  He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).