It's like she ate Miracle Grow!

P-cakes 2nd birthday is this Sunday and I am in disbelief at the little person she has become. It really is like she ate miracle grow because she is growing and developing so quickly. It seems like within the last month or two she has really evolved into her own (very opinionated) self. She has always been opinionated, but now she can really tell us exactly what she wants. Her vocabulary is expanding everyday, and I love to see how she grows.

Some of her newer words are: dragon, pull, broke, sticker, straw, prayer, and more but I can't think of them all.
She mastered the 'sh' sound on Dash which is super exciting! Up until now she has been calling him Da. (Not to be confused with Dada.)

Her grandma and grandpa Boyd will be here tomorrow and I know she'll be thrilled. If I tell her now that they are coming, she just walks over to the computer because she's used to Skyping with them. It's so nice when we have the opportunity to see family. I know that Jordin and I are surprised at how hard it is to be away from family and friends. Not like we don't love them, we just thought we were a little more independent than we actually seem to be. We are really growing so much as individuals and as a family, but there are definite things we miss out on. I would even take the 5 hours away from family like when we lived in Utah- not that I want to live in Utah- because seeing family once a month is a breeze compared to every 4-6 months.

Now, I'm not complaining. I really love our time and experiences here, but we sure do miss our families!! There is something about seeing your baby become a little girl that makes you think about all the family members that are growing and changing and we don't get to see. Like our cute new niece that was born recently and she'll be like 5 months old before we meet her. :(

Okay, enough ramblings! Here are some pics from Easter weekend! We took P to a egg hunt in Saturday and it was a blast!

She was a natural!

She got to try out the Fire Truck!

They're so cute together!

We went on a walk and Dash chased after another dog, and P-Cakes got whipped in the face with the leash. She's tough. And she's Harry Potter.

At the Easter Egg Hunt, they pad a petting zoo. She didn't care about the ducks or bunnies. All she had eyes for was the Pony. Go figure. :)

One man's trash is a bed for P-Cakes.

Hey, all!

I am super excited about this before and after.

As always, there is a story to go with it.

About a week ago, we were driving home from a church activity at night. We were almost to our house when I looked at a house in our neighborhood and they had this toddler bed out on their lawn next to their garbage can.

(Something that is great about our trash service is that you can put ANYTHING next to your garbage and the good trash men will take it. No need to deal with it yourself.)

I yelled for Jordin to stop the car and we get out and look at this nasty, dirty toddler bed. It looked like it was in great condition, minus the thick layer of cobwebs and dust.

So, being us, we haul it home on the top of Claire.

Here is the before pic:

Before

Then, after a coat of Primer and some white paint, this is the after:

After

Nice, huh!? Especially because it was free!

We have been needing to get her a bed for a while because she can climb out of her crib so easily. Plus with the baby coming we just needed to upgrade her sleeping conditions. Initially, we were going to get her a twin bed but now we can save some money and wait a couple of years until she grows out of this bed. Her crib mattress fit perfectly in this bed so now all we need is another crib mattress when the baby comes, but those are a lot cheaper than a big mattress!

She LOVES it! While I was painting is she would stand on it and say, "Bed! Bed! Bed!". Silly little girl.

Drum Roll, Please... It's a..........!

It's been a while since I've kept you up-to-date on our lives out here in Tejas. We have been enjoying the winter here with just a very rainy season, but no cold or snow. Jordin has been working like crazy at his job. He is the only superintendent that is currently working in Houston on rehab-ing (so not a word, but go with me) so he stays busy and drives A LOT. But sometimes that's nice for me because I get to talk to him on his long drives.

--His office is in Galveston and nearly all the other guys are currently working on houses there. So driving from home, to Galveston, to Houston, back to Galveston at the end of the day to finish paperwork, and then back home makes for a lot of drive time.--

But he is working hard and is doing a great job.

Not that I'm biased. Anyway...

I'd like to fill you in on other fun happenings but first there is some exciting news.

Story Time:

So for the last two days, and mostly at night, I have been having sharp pain in my lower left abdomen. It's been bad enough to wake me up at night. So finally, after not getting much sleep last night because of the pain, I went to our family Dr this morning and she checked me out, but because I'm pregnant, she sent me to my OB instead so they could do an ultra sound. Maybe I should have just done that myself anyway, but oh well.

So this afternoon I went to my OB and we did an ultrasound. My ovary looks just fine. I thought that maybe there could have been a cyst on it or something because when I pointed to where the pain was, the doctor said that was directly over my ovary. Well, so the good news is that my ovary is fine, the bad news is that I still don't have an answer to the pain... I've had my gallbladder out and my appendix is on the other side of the abdomen.

Okay, so now to the exciting part!

While they were doing the ultrasound, the Dr asked if I wanted to know the gender of the baby. My first instinct was no because Jordin was at work and we have an apt set up on the 12th of April to find out so I figured I could wait. The Dr even suggested that I text Jordin to see if he cared. I did, but he busy at work and there was no response. So we finish the ultrasound and at the last second I change my mind.

That doesn't sound like me at all does it?! So they keep looking and this is what they can see.

 They did say that because I am only 15 wks, that it still a bit early to be super sure that they are right. I asked the sonogram lady (I don't know her correct title) what she gave it as a percentage of it really being a boy and she said 80% which is still really high for so early. Yay!! We're definitely excited! I called Jordin on the way home and he said that it was fine with him that I found out and he was super stoked!!

Awww... So cute!

Okay, well I did say I was going to tell more about the other fun stuff that has been going on but I've got to get dinner going. It'll have to wait! :)

I heart Valentines Day!

Hey everyone! How was your Valentines Day? I hope it was great! We had a great one! It's hard when it falls on a weekday because Jordin works such long hours, but it was still fun.

Jordin said that all he wanted for V-Day was money to buy an axle for his Blazer, so I made him a candy axle! (With a little money to put towards his axle.)

Here are the pieces. I looked up a Dana 60 (the type of axle he wants) online to see what it looked like. There is a sucker in the middle and technically it should be larger, but it was the largest i could find. :)

Here it is all put together!  Pretty cool, huh?!

I added foil to make it metal. It's almost real-looking, right? Yeah, he loved it! :)

He came home with a gorgeous dozen long-stem roses and a BIG bag of dove dark chocolate candy. Mmm.

This color isn't altered at all. The flash got to it a bit, obviously, but mostly these are just the most beautiful roses ever!

I love V-Day!

My present is also getting my hair cut and colored! Yay! I told Jordin that because I can't buy new jeans because of my ever-expanding waist line, I will still feel nice looking by getting my hair done! Happy Valentines Day to me!!

.. And to all of you! ;)

In honor of Valentines Day, Let's celebrate what marriage really should be.

I found this video on a friend's blog and I thought it was great. It talks about what marriage really should be focused upon.  Now, for me at least, some of the doctrinal things talked about are a bit different than what I believe, but that doesn't take away from what the underlying message is. And it is delivered so beautifully. So watch!
Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

August 29th, 2012

Hello Everyone!

We have some exciting news! The Boyd Family is expecting baby number two! He/She won't be making an appearance until Aug. 29, 2012 (approximately), but we sure are excited! We went to the Dr. today for the first apt and we got to see our new little one for the first time!

 In this pic, baby Boyd is upside down but either way you look at it, it's pretty hard to see if it looks like a baby. But I promise it is. Our Doc, Dr. Abair, seems great and she said that the baby has a strong heart beat, which we were able to see on the screen. No sound yet though. :(

The baby is measuring at 8 weeks so that is a technical due date of Sept. 4th, but they also told me Aug. 29th... Oh well, anywhere around there. :)

We are so excited. We thought we would have a harder time getting pregnant because I had problems with some of the birth control I was on. A doctor told us in October to go back on the pill for 3-6 months to try and fix my problems. Jordin and I talked about it and we decided to wait until the new year and if we weren't pregnant by then, THEN I would go on the pill.

Well, guess what?

We found out on Dec. 31st that we were expecting! What a New Year's Eve Present!!

The only horrible downside, which I think I repressed since I was pregnant with P-cakes, is the CONSTANT nausea! Blah. I am sick all day, every day. Jordin has been amazing though helping me when he gets home from work and babying me. :) Hopefully it doesn't last much past the first trimester like it did with P.

We really feel so blessed, and recognize this opportunity as a blessing in our lives. We can't wait until we get to meet him/her!  (My guess is a boy, but we'll see!)

Christmas Pics... Better late than never!

Yesterday I finally found the cord that plugs the camera into the computer so I can finally put some pictures up on the blog!  We had a wonderful Christmas. It was just us for the first time and we had a great time. Some of the fun gifts that we got: dolls, books, some camping gear, and I got a fun Kindle!

Here's Pailey with a stroller she got from her Great-Grandma Connor!

I am so proud of this tree! I love it. Although I am still vacuuming up pine needles...

We went on walks but it was a bit cold so we bundled her up tight!

Love this pic of her swingin'.

THEN, the day after Christmas Jody, Daren, and Dusty drove to see us! They actually drove all Christmas night to get there about 3:30 the next afternoon! They love us. :)

We went to the Houston Zoo and if you can take your eyes off the the wonderful toddler, you can see these crazy cows that they have in Africa. Look how long their horns are!!!

You should hear my monkey call to go with it! Ooo-Ooo-Ooo!

She loved the Antelope!

This is what we had to do so she could see some of the exhibits. 

We went to the Challenger 7 Memorial Park. I love this shot of P cakes and her Uncle Dusty.

They climb trees together.

So we took the frisbee to play with Dash and the wind whipped it into this MASSIVE thorny bush. Here the boys are trying to fish it out.

She's a natural model. Gorgeous!

Say Cheese!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo! Nana and Papa walking with P cakes!

 

For New Years, we played games and had lots of food. Including this Eggnog Trifle!

Bon Apetite!

These next pics are ones I took yesterday. She was having fun sitting in the window, so I had to get pictures.

I love silhouettes.

Buds.

There really is no baby more cute than her!

Now it's back to the same-ol' life. I can't believe the holidays are over already. Pailey also went to the ER this year! Can you believe it!? The poor girl had a temp of 105 and so we had to take her. It ended up being a viral infection and she's fine now but it sure took a lot out of all of us! Hope the rest of the year goes well. :)