We've been pretty busy, but not with anything too exciting. I've done more cooking and baking =). Elise has mad progressin her gross motor development. Matthew is still mischievous and adorable. Gilbert has been busy working and getting rid of things on ebay.

Elise is getting to be just as busy as Matthew is. I found her trapped inside one of the dining room chairs the other day. She wasn't too upset about it but she couldn't figure out how to get herself out.



She's pretty particular about the temperature of her formula. If we're out and about and I can't warm the water up a little, she usually ends up looking like this because she spits some out. I can't really blame her. I've tasted the formula and it's pretty nasty. I'm looking forward to her starting regular milk in a few weeks.



Grammy bought Elise a dress in Hawaii. Here she is modeling it.



This was just bad timing but it makes me laugh pretty hard.



Matthew pretending to be asleep. Complete with snoring.



Silly boy



Snack time with Long Haul. Mommy made chocolate chip cookies.



Friday night we decided to head out to an outlet mall just to take a look around. It's been a while since we did any kind of shopping and it was just nice to get out of the house for a bit. Gilbert scored pretty big. Elise got a new pair of shoes. I got a top. I'm pretty hesitant to buy anything right now because I feel like I can't commit to any one size for a while. I've already told Gilbert that all I want is gift cards for Christmas so I can buy some clothes =)

Matthew had fun on the little ride on toys they had while we were there. We never actually put money into them because I think that would've scared him a little.





Elise just hung out in her stroller most of the night.



We're starting to get some warmer weather and it was warm enough for Matthew to wear shorts the other day. I just loved that he looked like his Daddy =)





Silly boy



Elise's version of "peek-a-boo"

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Well, Elise mastered pulling up on to her knees and is pulling up on to her feet more and more. The other day I caught her trying to climb the stairs. She's still to short to really get her leg up there, though.





Elise has also officially started crawling. Finally.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

There's just something about playing with Daddy's guitar case







More snack time. I just love his expression here.



Elise also discovered Matthew's Batman quad this morning. I think she wanted to ride it.





As for me... well, I've done more cooking, baking, and sewing. Who knew I had it all in me? I made Bobby Flay's chicken pamigiana last night with my own recipe for marinara sauce. I also decided at the last minute to make some focaccia bread and it came out really good. Last week I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch and was informed by my husband that he prefers the store bought Pillsbury cookie dough over homemade. I can live with that. At least he eats what I cook for him. As for sewing... I made Matthew a guitar strap since the strap that came on his guitar is way too long for him and he wants to wear it like his daddy. I plan on making another headband or two and doing some hemming/mending. I'd say the nesting kicked in early this time around. Oh, and I got a hair cut. For the first time in about 8 months =)



I have my 24 week appointment today and can't wait to hear our little girl's heart beat. She's been pretty active and is starting to make me a little uncomfortable. I definitely feel as though I'm carrying bigger this time around. We're 90% sure about her first name but haven't settled on a middle name yet. To be honest, we haven't talked about it a whole lot lately. Our 2 little ones (and our neighbor's 2 little ones) keep me pretty busy.



Elise will be 1 three weeks from tomorrow.

So it's been fairly busy. If nothing else, my kids have been pretty busy. Matthew is busy being 2 and getting into all kinds of mischeif... including 2 calls to Poison Control last week because one day I found him playing with Gilbert's guitar polish and the next day he decided to taste a Glad Plug In... yeah... that's Matthew.

Elise has been busy mastering pulling up on to knees. Better late than never =). Other than that, she pretty much follows Matthew wherever he goes and plays with whatever he plays with.

I have been busy baking... both a baby and desserts =). Seriously. My cravings are all over the place. One minute I want something savory and the next minute I want something sweet. Gilbert has benefited greatly from this. My jeans have not. I say that, but the men in my house want to have me committed whenever I complain about how big I feel seeing as I have gained all of 5 lbs and I'm more than halfway through this pregnancy. Although, maybe it's high time I get Aunt Theresa's cherry pie recipe since Gilbert hasn't had it since we moved to Texas.

So Valentine's Day I took some S'mores Cereal Squares to church. Technically, I don't think this counts as baking, but



Then we had some steak and pasta for dinner



The steak was followed by a store bought cheesecake. Mmmmm.

Later in the week I made Bakerella's Peach Crunch Cake for small group. Most people compare it to a cobbler. All I know is that it was easy and sooooooooooooo good. Here's the link.

Last week I made Wookiee Cookies from Gilbert's Star Wars cookbook. Here's the link to that recipe.

I've been busy cooking, too, thanks to the Food Network for intensifying my cravings, but I don't think I've made anything the impressive lately. Other than that time I made some chicken parmigiana... I think this weekend we're going to indulge in some more of that peach crunch cake. Seriously, though, I've been busy.

On to the real reason you're here.



He's a rapper







Elise is finally pulling up on to her knees!!! She's also started making the funnies faces when she sees the camera. These are all intentional.







I see a lot of myself in this picture. It reminds me of one of my baby pictures. Otherwise all I see now is Gilbert.





Gilbert's dad sent this shirt for Matthew and needless to say, he's never worn it out of the house. I did want to get a picture of him in it, though, to send to his grandpas.



Busy Saturday morning with LOTS of errands to run. Both kids fell asleep in the car.





More silliness



Baby Girl is growing and moving around quite a bit. She's still nameless, but at least we have a few choices now so that makes it a bit easier. I've also been busy looking at fabrics online because I can't find any bedding I like for her room. Seeing as Elise will be too young for a big bed when this baby is born, this baby will be getting Matthew's crib and her own bedding set. Now if we could only settle on a name =)





2 weeks until my next appointment. About 6 weeks until Elise's 1st birthday. Holy cow!

Well, our family is definitely growing. Elise is still content to army crawl (slither) around the house but she's definitely wanting to put more weight on her feet. Matthew never stops talking and never stops moving. The things that he says have us laughing all the time. My tummy has definitely grown, too.



Project number 2 is complete. It's interesting trying to learn something new with 2 small children constantly demanding attention. It makes it really hard to sew a straight line when you're a beginner and your 2 year old is asking for four different things at once. The kids can be distracting =). Oh well, that's why I'm starting out making things for my kids and not others. Anyway, Matthew doesn't care that the seams are perfectly straight. He just likes that he can carry his crayons around and it has Transformers on it. Practice makes perfect, right?











I have a few other projects in mind so I can improve on these new skills. It should be interesting.





Matthew ripped a hole in the knee of his jeans the other day. I felt oddly proud of my boy for achieving this childhood milestone.



Elise and her Cabbage Patch doll. She enjoys it a lot more than I thought she would.





My kids are funny... and cute...





Check out the bed head





Well, on to the big news. We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. The baby looks great. All of the major organs look good and baby is measuring a little small but nothing of concern. Just a few days behind. I'm sure what you all really want to know is whether or not the baby cooperated... well it did. Gilbert and I were completely wrong and we were informed yesterday that we will be having another GIRL! We were shocked. We both felt so strongly that it was another boy that it took a bit to process it. She doesn't have a name yet and I figure it'll be a while before we settle on something, but I will let everyone know when we do.

Baby Girl's face. Looking right at us.



Her spine =)



The belly