My favorite little boy

He loves to read (especially about diggers, trucks and bulldozers)

And he loves to be outside...and water flowers

Yay for springtime daffodils and 80 degree weather!

The hose is always a favorite toy for some reason

Just had to put this one on there...he's sad because "oats and toast" haven't been made quickly enough for breakfast. He asks for this every. single. morning.  So cute though:)

Welcoming Leena!

 Congratulations to my sister Erin and her husband Mark for the birth of their precious daughter Leena Kay Miller! She was born this past Wednesday, March 7, and weighed 8 lbs, 10 oz and was perfect in every way.

I love this sweet little girl so much and am already dying to see her again!

 How many of us can we squeeze in that bed with Erin? You really can't tell from this picture but she  just went through 36 hours of natural labor!!! I am amazed that she was able to do this and am so proud of her too!
She called me Wednesday morning to say she was heading to the hospital, and I spent the day literally dying for Nate to get home from work so I could head south to Nashville,  (Nate stayed back in Louisville with Andrew). Laura and I got to the hospital at around the same time that night (she drove from Lexington after she got off work) and met my parents who had anxiously been awaiting all day too.
Finally, at around 11:00 Mark came out and told us we could meet their little girl! If you didn't know, they were going to be surprised by the gender so we've been dying to know if it was a boy or girl. I told Erin that this may be the closest we get to having twins, us having girls a few months apart!
And now for more pictures of everyone who wanted to hold her:

 My mom (Granna) holding her new granddaughter

 Holding  my sweet niece!

Sweet mother-daughter picture:)

 Aunt La La (according to Drew that is her name henceforth:)

And the proud Grandpa

Catching Up

 A little bit of what the month of February looked like. We've been busy! The above picture is our one and only winter swim.  My friend Dana and I were brave and took our little ones to the indoor pool...I think I'll stick to the pool in the summertime...can you see the snowflakes outside the window and poor Andrew's lips turning blue? It's just too cold for a swim in the winter!

 We headed north to Erlanger for the morning last weekend and visited with Andrew's Grand-diddy.

 Andrew LOVED her and pretty much said "Diddy!" the whole way home. He gave her plenty of hugs too and we are glad she didn't mind the the fact that it appeared a small tornado went through her house by the time we left!

And in other BIG news...we found out we are having a little girl!!! We are so excited:)

 I did a fairly good job of documenting Mr. Andrew in the womb but this is the one and only picture I have taken on the one and only day of the week I get dressed (when I go teach)...20 week shot here.

 We've had unseasonable warm weather which we've taken advantage of by heading to the zoo to see the baby polar bear (who was putting on quite a show in this picture...Drew was mesmerized).

 And of course hiking...

 We let him run off some energy for awhile before the trail got narrow...he is a fast one!

 But so sweet...have I mentioned how much I love this little boy?

 Nate's mom (Omi) was so sweet to drive down for a visit...she watched Andrew while I was at work and while we had our ultrasound appointment...and I think Andrew was pretty happy with this arrangement.

 She got lots of hugs as well:)

 Tom came over for dinner and didn't know that he was expected to act as human playground...he was a good sport about this and Andrew had a ball.

 ...until he tried to take Tom's drink!

He finally settled for water in a sippy cup:)

Lately...

 There are so many things I love about this age (20 months)...I think Andrew is still in the sweet, innocent stage of life even though he can be a feisty one! A few things I don't want to forget:

• Hugs...always, throughout the day, he runs up to me, throws his arms around  my neck and practically knocks me over with a hug. It is so sweet and I love it each and every time.
• Independence: He definitely wants to try things on his own more. Putting on pants, socks and shoes to start with (no, he can't quite do these things  yet!) but I always have to negotiate and tell him he can  help me pull them up or snap the velcro on his shoes. He seems okay with this arrangement and while getting dressed and out the door takes awhile sometimes, he is learning!
• On that same note, he is much better at feeding himself with a spoon and fork. It gets  messy but that's what baths are for, right?

•  Sheer, uninhibited, carefree moments...this is the scene in our house each evening before bath time (note...the hat is not always part of the scene but this was too funny not to take a picture of). Naked time as Drew calls it (nake! he says) when he gets to run around clothing less. And isn't that about the cutest little bottom ever (and I'm sure some day this picture can be used as blackmail:) 
• blackmail:

• He loves his construction tools and cars! One of his favorite games to play is to line up all of them (about 15 different ones) on the coffee table, and I ask him to point out the digger, train, car, garbage truck, crane, airplane, etc. and he knows each and every one. 

•  While playing with a toy truck is fun, when the real deal comes along (driving down the street or if we are in the car and pass a truck or bulldozer) he has an excitement meltdown over it!
• Besides those toys, he loves to read books. He will grab a book, back up into my lap and snuggle up to me as we read the same book about 10 times. Then we read another one 10 times. 

• Playing  hide and go seek/peek-a-boo...kind of a combination game since I don't think he quite gets the game just yet. But he loves to try.
• I think this stage is such a "playing" stage...everything becomes a game or fun to him! Nate and I have even noticed him making the pieces of his grilled cheese "crash" into each other (they must be cars?) or growl at one another. It's kind of funny to think about how imaginative kids are, even with pieces of food.

• Being outside is still one of Andrew's favorite things and thanks to some great weather, we've gotten to go out lately. He pretty much just loves to run around, ride his tricycle or his "truck" and go for walks around the neighborhood. 
• He is also into ALL animals and the zoo is currently a favorite spot on a warm day. Also, books about animals, an animal on TV or outside, and especially, watching birds through the living room window with Nate are all things he loves right now.

In other news, I don't think I've posted anything about baby #2 at all. I did a few updates while I was pregnant with Andrew but isn't that just like how it goes with the second pregnancy? I'm about 19 weeks along and we find out the gender in 2 weeks. Cannot wait for that ultrasound! Now that I'm in the second trimester, I feel a thousand times better and actually hardly feel pregnant at all (I know that will change in a few months though!) We are so excited about this little one!

One of my favorite places

This weekend Nate and I got to get away to Shaker Village (Harrodsburg, KY) to stay for the night. Nate's parents came up and stayed with Andrew so it worked out perfectly. This was Nate's Christmas gift to me this year and I think he picked the perfect weekend to go.

If you've never been to Shaker Village, it's basically acres and acres of old Shaker grounds, with the original buildings that have been restored on the property. You can stay at the old Inn or one of the other  buildings and there is a restaurant and miles and miles of hiking trails. Nate and I hit this stream and while he was brave enough to attempt the log crossing, I wasn't about to get my pregnant self up there! We took a round-about loop to bypass this creek in the end;)
I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...we had perfect sunny days and warm(ish) weather for the last weekend of January. It was so nice to get away and hike!

  

We came upon all sorts of fun things while hiking...like old barns...

Creeks

Original stone Shaker wall

Old farm houses and fences

This was the building where Nate and I stayed (the East Sisters' House)

The Old Inn where we ate dinner in the Winter Kitchen

Shaker architecture is very balanced you could say. The men lived on one side and the women on the other. (The Shakers were celibate and this might explain why the group sort of died out in the early 1900's).

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We saw two coyotes drinking at this pond but they were gone by the time I got down there!

But these guys didn't mind us watching them eat!

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