We received a letter from Cody this week! It was very upbeat and long! 6 pages! He's got some goals in mind, some possible hobbies he would like to try a hand at, and seems to be getting along pretty well in Clarinda. We're happy to hear from him that his faith is still strong and he's working at making better choices. This was a huge relief and made us smile, especially his playful attitude in the letter!

Becca has a new favorite song! She loves to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat! She'll help with the row-row-row...and before you get to the merily-merily-merily-merily.....she gives her version with Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! When you get done with the song, she'll make the rowing motion and say row-row-row really fast! Its hilarious. She looks so funny doing it! its not so much a rowing motion, as it looks like when you do a bunny imitation, with your paws in front of you? You just have to see it!

Becca is also counting very well. Every other number that is. If I say one, she'll say two, and so on up to ten! We get so tickled with this game! She's also doing better on her colors. Most times now, she will pick the right color when we ask her to show us.

My friends Jennifer and Jessie welcomed Caleb William into this world on Wednesday night! I'm so looking forward to meeting this little man! I knew it was going to be boy! I'm sure Becca will love him up as well. We decided not to make the trip to the hospital to visit. We'll let them get settled at home for the next week...then make a point to go and visit!

Yesterday, my cousin Josh and his wife Meg were in town for a baby shower! They are due in June with a girl! It was great to see them. We're sorry we couldn't stay longer, but it was fun to catch up with all the fam!

it only took 2 weeks....

For Becca to ATTEMPT to climb over the gate in her bedroom. We placed the gate on her bedroom door, considering now she is in her big girl bed.

So this morning, she decided to dump out the basket in her room ~ turn it over and use it as a step. So I took it away. She then found an unopened package of diapers. Yep, tried again. So I took those away. She then attempted to use the papermache' boxes that Grandma Deb made for her. Yep...those have been put away to now.
*shaking my head*

So her room should look clean and uncluttered at all times now. Bed, Dresser and Night stand is all she's got!

She's such a monkey!

Happy Easter!

The cutest and coolest Easter Bunny came to our house! Check her out!

We've continued to be busy this last week! I felt like I wasn't ever home!
Had a "mandatory" party for work Monday night. That sucked. Didn't get to see Becca before her bedtime. Tuesday was Xavier's birthday, so we ate dinner and cake at their house after work. That was fun! Becca and Xavier don't get to spend as much time together as they used to, now that Xavier's in Kindergarten. I can't believe he is 6!

Wednesday was a fun day! Wendy, Jill and I took a day trip to Des Moines to his some antique and scrapbook stores! That was a blast! We laughed a lot and spent a lot! But it was all so worth it and we all soooo deserve it! We'll definitely be doing this again! Thursday I only worked 1/2 a day and spent the afternoon cleaning Becca's closet out and packing away clothes and toys that are too small.

Becca has come into her own language this week! Its hilarious. She's really trying sentences now. There is a lot of babble and noise, and about 3 words tops that you can recognize. But we can mostly get the jist. We laugh a lot...and Tim and I give confused looks to each other a lot too! But we always reassure her by saying, "Good talking, Becca!"

Yesterday, Becca painted her yearly Easter Egg. Last year I started buying the wooden eggs you can get at the craft stores. I let her use craft paints, and paint one egg each year. I'm marking the date and her age on each egg, so that when she is 18, we will have a huge collection of her craftsmanship through the years! Not a lot of change from last year...besides the thickness of the paint! We joked that it will take about 10 days to dry, because there are just GOBS of paint on this egg!


The Easter Bunny left some new playdoh, sunglasses, cookie cutters (for the playdoh) and a bubbles wand for her today. Oh, and we can't forget the eggs with Spiderman treats in them!
ok, just have to share one more picture....she's so funny

So much in such little time!

This week has been crazy busy for us! We had Dr's appointments, errands to run, church group and extra hours to work and recooperating from last weeks birthday party, we also had the unexpected...

...like Tim falling through the back door cement steps on Friday evening. Luckily, he didn't get hurt. Not even a scratch, but we did have to wash off a couple of brats he was carrying to the grill! Ha! So, yesterday we took some time to go to the Home Depot to figure out our next "STEP"...ok, bad joke. I think we will be building some nice wooden steps, and when things dry out a bit this spring, we'll replace a few warped boards on the deck and stain it. Anything to help this deck look better than what it does right now!

Becca made it through the night every night this week in her big girl bed! She's an ol' pro at it now! She's done so well. We did have to give in and give her back the paci to help her feel safe. We'll attempt that hurdle again in a week or two. Here is a picture of her the 1st night in the bed! I love the perspective of this one. Shows just how little she is in this (not so big anyway) twin bed.


This morning, we took down the crib! No going back on that one! She didn't hesitate at all! She even attempted to help. That is when she wasn't trying to climb the crib as we were taking it apart. Tim says, " as if it isn't frustrating enough to take these things apart, but its a whole 'nother story when a 2 year old is crawling over your face and jumping off your back!"


I think the best news we had this week, and I'm surprised I didn't mention it sooner...is that Becca is growing! I mean physically! Its been a long time since we've been able to say that! At her 2 yr well-baby check on Monday, we discovered that she's gained 2 lbs and 1" since November! We love this! So she's now 24.8 lbs and 32 1/2". Still small. But her pediatrician is happy with the long awaited growth! We go to Iowa City at the end of April, so hopefully they will be just as pleased, and we'll not have to do the level 2 testing for growth hormone! Please continue to pray that she continues to grow!

Night #2

Becca made it through night number 2 in the big girl bed! It took a little bit of tender time with Daddy to fall asleep but she did great! Daddy said it only took about 5 minutes! Yay!
And its so sweet that she hasn't yet realized that she can get out of bed when she wakes up in the morning. So she waits until I come in to get her to get dressed! She's so used to us coming and getting her out of bed! Not saying that she won't figure that out...but I'm not going to encourage it!

Mom and Dad get their first " unassisted " time in their new condo today! The previous owner is out sooner than expected...so now they are going to take measurements and look things over before the crew shows up to clean carpets and start putting fresh paint on the walls! Mom is beyond excited. That woman probably won't sleep from now until a month after they move in! She'll be up drawing furniture arrangements every night!

Oh! I don't remember if I mentioned it or not...but Xavier now knows how to tie his own shoes! Tim teased him and said now that he knows how to tie his shoes, maybe Xavier should ask his mom if he can borrow the car! Uncle Tim loves to tease him!

" Momma...I buh-buh-buh!"

Well, she did it! Becca spent her first night in the big girl bed last night! We had thought about waiting until the weekend, and attempt nap time first. But when we took her up to tuck her in, she jumped in and layed down and kept saying, " please? please? please? It was too adorable to not let her at least TRY it.
We could tell she was nervous, and got out a couple of times to give us hugs around our legs. So I sat down next to her to sing You are My Sunshine. She took to that and fell asleep. UNTIL I left the room and came down stairs. But she really only fussed for about 10 minutes after that, and they were kinda fakey cries. She fell asleep all on her own( which she is used to anyway ) and slept all night long!

This morning, after I got ready and posted the first 2 blogs of the day (hahaha) I could hear her talking to her animals and singing herself. So I peaked in and she was laying upside down, with her legs on the headboard! I wish I had taken a picture! She saw me after I said Good morning, and she flipped over, got up on her knees, pointed at the bed and said, " Momma...I buh-buh-buh!" She was so excited. I'm pretty sure she was telling me, "I'm in the big girl bed!" She was very happy this morning!

Ok, first night down...lets do another!

A whole lot-a growin' up goin' on!

Ok, because the blog reads newest to oldest, you are reading this before the "party" entry...but I thought that this milestone was deserving of its very own entry!
Becca's birthday present from Momma and Daddy was a new Big Girl Bed! Ok, the bed itself is an antique that Grandma Deb found at a garage sale when becca was about 3 months old...Ha! But the Bedding is new!

We set this up before the party so everyone could see! We took about 30 pictures of her with the bed, but she wouldn't sit still long enough to get a really good one. She's a little jumpin bean...and along with the theme of the birthday party, and plenty of ants in her pants!



We can't believe that she's already for a big girl bed. Well..ok, we'll see how ready she is when we try it out! Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Becca (on the 9th)

Wow! Becca Boo has turned 2! We spent all last week slowly and piece by piece getting ready for her party at the house on Sunday! Tim and I cleaned all day Sunday, baked and decorated her cake and caterpillar cupcakes! I had a lot of fun with that. I'm inlove with the theme we did! We thought the Bugs and Butterflies theme fit her perfectly!



She received many wonderful gifts. From toys to clothes, to puzzels, to yard decorations, to hats and mittens and books! We got it covered!

And right on que, when asked how old she is, she will say " twoooooooo " and hold up both index fingers to show you how many. She hasn't yet figured out how to hold up two fingers on one hand!

We had a great year, and look foward to the next! We love you Becca Boo!

In like a lion?

I can't believe its March already! And even more so, I can't believe that in one week...Becca will be 2 years old! Wow!

With getting closer to 2, we're hearing more words, clearer attempts at words she's been saying, and some small 3-4 word phrases! All in the last 2 weeks, she's really exploded. Its fun! She surprises me every day with something new she will say...or attempt to say!

She has also become quite the jumper! Jumping is all the girl does! She'll say to you in question form, " I jump !" with eyebrows raised and nodding her head matter of fact. She cracks us up! And she will jump from anything, be it 3 inches or 3 ft off the ground, she doesn't care! Ok, She hasn't hit 3 ft yet, but she has attempted to jump off her little folding table that sits about 2ft off the floor! I think she surprises herself when she did do it, and sent Tim and I panicking! We can't turn our backs on her for long, because she will move quickly to jumping stance and do it before we turn around again! She now says, "TA-DA" after jumping, and she puts her arms in the air. This after watching a gymnastics meet on tv a couple of weekends ago! Becca has a fantastic floor routine that starts with a skip from one room to the other singing, "teetee, teetee, teetee". She gets in the middle of the living room, and does a belly flop without hesitation! This, to her fearless mind, is a double twist-back flip-round off-spin and splits. I'm sure of it. We give her a 10.0 every time!
Time to call my aunt Patti and see if she's interested in doing lessons again?

This week was a long one for us it seemed. We welcomed the weekend with open arms! I attended a baby shower for a good friend from small group and church. That was a blast. I've never had so much fun at a shower that wasn't my own! It was a funny group of girls, 4 pregnant, including the guest of honor. So no shortage of stories and experiences flowing in that room! It was great! OH! I have to share. I made a Baby Bouquet! I shared my idea with several at work, and they insisted on pictures to help them either understand, or see what it looked like completed. So I did. I also made the baby card to coordinate ( cause I'm a freak like that ).I just bought a greenery and daisy bush, plucked off some of the flower heads and leaves. I rolled up washclothes, burpclothes and onsies, and then slide them down over the stems. I would have used rubberbands to secure them, but instead used some clear twist-ties. Then I wrapped it in tissue paper like you would find at a flower store! Fun and easy. It did take time to assemble...but for a unique gift, I'd do it again!


Tim spent the afternoon today with the guys. He's taken up gaming again. I'm ok with that. Gives him some time to do what he likes, and gets him out of the house. Becca and I had lunch with Grandma Deb and Gaga Bob, and Wendy. Then we hit Kohls for the BOGO sales, and then Target for some birthday party supplies.