My "baby" is 22 months old

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Today Aiden is a mere 2 months away from being a TWO year old. With baby #2 on the way, I find myself staring at him even more frequently, soaking up every cuddle, every toothy grin, every giggle. I keep telling myself to stop referring to him as my baby and start calling him my big boy.

*cue hormonal pregnancy tears.

He is growing and changing so quickly and I just love all his little quirks. He still loves being outside and has become such a good helper. He always picks up the cat's food bowls when they finish eating and hands them to me, closes drawers and the fridge when they are "left open," picks up trash on the ground to throw away, etc. He is the biggest sweetheart ever and gives us kisses on demand. I never want that to end! My new favorite thing he does is call Drew, "Drew, Da-da." He picked up on me calling Drew by his name a few months ago and so he tacked that on to Da-da all on his own. It's hilarious. Last night after Drew kissed him goodnight, Aiden said, "Goodnight, Drew Da-da." Seriously. It's adorable.

Here are some of Aiden's favorites at 22 months...

Favorite Foods: Watermelon, Yogurt, Chipotle rice bowl and quesadillas, Bananas, Oatmeal, English muffin pizzas, Grilled cheese and Donuts. This kid loves donuts and lives for Saturday mornings when Daddy comes in the front door with a white box. He still won't just straight up eat vegetables unless they are in a pouch, mixed with somethin or pureed (the only exceptions to this are potatoes and black beans), but really who can blame him?

Favorite Hobbies: Bubble baths, Pushing toy cars all over the arms of our leather chair, walking his Thomas Train or Firetruck around the neighborhood and greeting our neighbors, being read to, throwing rocks in the creek by our house, chasing around the kitties and pulling Sawyer's tail.

Favorite Toys: Mr. Fox, Thomas the Train Push Toy, Little Tikes Water table, Any truck, train, plane or cars character.

Favorite Movie/T.V. Shows: Pixar's Cars, Thomas the Train, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Sid the Science Kid, Peg + Cat Sesame Street (Elmo's World).

Favorite Books: Roadwork, Little Blue Truck, Goodnight Gorilla, Indesctructible books (Baby Faces, Beach Baby, Baby Peekaboo), Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See, Thank You God, "The Mama book" (a recordable book I made for him when I had to go out of town a few months ago).

Sleeping Habits: Sleeps from 7-7 and has been pretty consistent with this schedule for about a year now. Praise Jesus.

Most frequently said words and phrases: "Watch Cars", Mama, Dada (or lately: Drew-Dada), Kitty, Donut, Bubble bath, Go hide (he loves  playing hide and seek with us!), "More Yum Yum" (granola bar), Big truck, Lawn Mower, Go Outside, Brush teeth, "Ready, set, Go!"

New things this month:

• He is starting to sing! When I say, Old MacDonald had a farm, on cue he says E-I-E-I-O! It's the cutest thing ever. 
• He now knows all the characters from the movie Cars and all the names of the trains from Thomas. (Should I be proud or embarrassed? We obviously have watched these shows a time or two. Haha. I choose proud.)
• Two months ago we transitioned away from his pacifier so, no more Wubbanubs! I didn't have to use any special tricks, just slowly took it away and he eventually stopped asking for it! 
• He is finally loving the church nursery. Finally. 
• He is starting to add possessives to words..."Mama's shoes, Aiden's shoes, Dada's shoes, etc." 

He is just the happiest, sweetest, smartest kid ever (says every Mom ever.) But really...it's true.

Pregnancy Files 2: {The Bump Week 16}

Best Moment this week: Feeling baby move around for the first time! It's always such a slightly weird and yet truly amazing feeling. It doesn't get old.

Food cravings: Cheese and crackers, oranges, Chipotle (same as with Aiden!)

Movement: YES! I didn't feel any movements with Aiden until 20 weeks so these next few weeks are a bonus for me!

Symptoms: Tired due to my pregnancy insomnia, always hungry, terrible pregnancy brain and some lower back pain. But I'm very excited about my upcoming maternity massage (paid for by wellness dollars from work). Yay! I didn't have one during my pregnancy with Aiden, but this time around I plan to get a few on the company dime. Haha.

Nursery: Wait, we have to do the nursery thing again? Haha. We are working on decluttering and organizing items in our current craft room/office before we can do any real work. But I do have some nursery ideas pinned (they are all for a girl though. Hmmm.)

Letter for Baby:
Dear Little Sweetheart,
I am so excited for you to join our family. I can't believe in a few months we will be a family of four. With all the excitement surrounding you, my biggest fear is that you will not feel as loved as your brother did because you have to share me right from the start. I'm already behind on your nursery and on these posts (even this one I started two weeks ago and am just posting), which isn't a big deal, but it makes me feel a little guilty. I do think of you so often, but your brother keeps me busy and I don't get to spend as much time dreaming of our time together as I did with him. But baby, I promise to give you all the love I have to give. You are already such a special gift to us and we want you to know that from the start. My prayer for you this week is that you feel loved even now as you grow inside me. I pray my love for you radiates through to you and washes over your little body like a tidal wave.

Love,
Your Mama

 "This is the life" tank top found here.

See my 16 week post with Aiden here.

Some beach, somewhere {Where we spent our Anniversary }

Drew and I celebrated 7 years of marriage on Lake Michigan with a family getaway. It was a perfect way to celebrate...on the beach with our little man! I also got to see some of my college girlfriends while I was in Michigan and then we ended our trip by visiting my sister and brother in law. We packed a lot in to one week and had so much fun!

This was our first family trip to Michigan and we loved it. We stayed in a small beach town called St. Joseph and it had everything we could've wanted in a beach town. The beach (duh!), cute restaurants, ice cream, a splash pad, fruit farms and even a historic carousel. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip...

Some of our favorite St. Joe spots:

Silver Beach (Eat at Silver Beach Pizza or take a pizza to go and eat it on the beach!)

Silver Beach Historic Carousel

Whirlpool Compass Fountain (Splash pad)

Bredeweg Acres for Blueberry Picking

Caffe Tosi

Do you have a favorite spot in Michigan? 

I'm curious to know more about cute little Michigan beach towns!

First Trimester Rewind {The return of the bump}

Oh the first trimester. So much excitement and so many symptoms. When I was pregnant with Aiden, I honestly felt great in my first trimester. I was tired, but I was hardly nauseous at all and I slept really well right up to the very end (with a little help from my pregnancy pillow.) Don't hate me for that, because I've pretty much made up for it with this pregnancy. Nausea, insomnia, weight gain, oh my.  But I can't even be mad about it because every symptom means there's a baby that is growing inside of me and that fills me with so much joy.

So my first trimester included lots of eating (the only thing that made me feel less nauseous), taking naps with Aiden and reading in bed at 3AM when I couldn't sleep. There were doctors visits, our first ultrasound and the return of my bump, which has decided to pop out way earlier than last time. I personally am super excited about this (my pants are not so excited though so I got rid of them. Haha.) Here's my first trimester in pictures....

"So you're saying I am going to have to share you?!"

And of course a few weekly bump pictures! 

I have already come to terms with the fact that this time around I will not do a bump picture each week. I'm sure you're all super disappointed. Ha.

So all you Mamas out there with multiple kiddos, what are some must haves for Baby #2?

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