big girl and baby brother

and just like that, my little baby is 2.

just can't hold still for a pose.

what initially started out as a relatively low key birthday for bea turned into a really fun (yet exhausting) day of celebrating with friends (and facetiming with family. curse you western states for stealing my family!)
i'm feeling the need to record the whole day. so. i will. feel free to browse, skip, or jump.
we had a fun birthday lunch with a couple of bea's favorite grown up friends, after which bea took an exceptionally long nap and woke up at 4 pm, so our plans to go to her favorite place (the aquarium, or as she calls it, the "karen") were derailed, so i decided to return something i'd been needing to return from homegoods and let her look at the toys there and pick something out with the store credit. i was skeptical that she'd pick anything because we tried to get her to pick something out at the toy store earlier that week with some birthday money she'd gotten from a great grandma, and she really could not be bothered. she loves the toy store, but she treats it like a museum more than anything else. she looks and wonders at all the toys, and oohs and ahhs, and occasionally will very carefully reach out and touch something but when we ask if she wants to take something home she just says, and i quote, "nope. i'm good." isn't that hilarious?! i'm going to try and keep that toy store attitude going for as long as possible! it makes it very easy to leave when it's time to go. no tantrums or "I WANT THAT!!!!!!"
anyway, i thought homegoods would be a repeat of the toy store experience, which it kind of was, but then in the clearance aisle, there was a pile of wadded up tutus. she looked at them (because, pink and purple) and went "mom! scarf?" and i told her "no, these are tutus!" i held them up to look at them and saw they were all only 3.50 a pop! so i looked them over to find the rips or tears that obviously had to be there in order for them to be that marked down, but nope! they were in great shape! when i held them up, she went "YAY! TEWTEWTS!!!!!" (which is what she calls tutus) and i was like "yeah! do you want to take one home?! heck, let's take two!!" and she grabbed a magenta sparkly one and a purple one. so that was fun. it's the first thing she grabbed in a store and really wanted to bring home.

birthday cheese

"HAPPY BERDAY AH YOU!!!!!"

then we went to carvel to pick up her cake. bradley and i had heard from several new england natives that a carvel "fudgie the whale" cake is a rite of passage for an east coast kid, so we decided to hop on that bandwagon and get that cake, because you never know where you're gonna be a year from now!

fudgie in all his delicious glory

after that, we went home and had hot dogs and mac and cheese for dinner (her previous request, current favorite breakfast cereal and overall food "special k" or "feshul k" was denied) and she played just dance (a favorite activity. i watch because i am fat and pregnant at the moment) until brad came home. then some very dear friends of ours who have 3 girls under the age of 7 came to celebrate and have cake with us. with 3 little friends, they basically brought the party with them and the girls had so much fun showing bea how to have a birthday like a big girl.
i didn't realize it until it was present opening time, but we sort of over did it. i was so concerned that we hadn't really gotten her any presents to open at christmas time because we were traveling, and her big birthday present was a play kitchen, so it wasn't a present that gets unwrapped, so i had been accumulating things all month long for her to be able to open. she had puzzles, dress ups, books, dishes, play food, and on top of that, gifts from relatives that had all arrived in the mail that week. it was a little over the top but hey, how often do you turn 2?! the girls all played with bea and her new presents, watched frozen and then headed home very ready for bed. all in all, a really great way to spend a birthday. she had been looking forward and patiently waiting for it for weeks, and i think it lived up to all the hype. she had a great day.

the next morning playing in her new princess castle from her aunt and uncle!

i hardly got any pictures because we were facetiming the whole time! oh well. this is what i got. hat and apron from gramma W and kitchen from mom and dad.

also, in other news WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was so excited when the ultrasound tech told us i almost cried. for various health reasons and after a lot of prayerful thinking, bradley and i decided a while ago that we would probably need to stop after 2 children. so i was really hoping for a boy, just because i'd really love to know what it's like to raise both a boy and a girl in this lifetime. of course i would have been just as happy with a girl but i feel like i would have always had this inkling to try *one more time* for a boy. i think heavenly father probably knew that and this little dude is a sign that we are donezo. I AM SO EXCITED! bea is excited too. i told her that the baby in my tummy is a boy, like daddy and that she is a girl, like mommy. she kind of gets it. she always points the the ultrasound pictures hanging up and then to my tummy and says "that's the mommy's baby tummy!!!! baby brother!!!!"

obligatory creepy 3d pic. i think he looks like bradley...?!

no mistake about it. that there is a dude.

the ultrasound went super well, no health issues, he is perfectly intact (: the only bummer is that my suspicious were confirmed and i do have an anterior placenta so i can't feel his movement as well as i felt bea's. i'm feeling a bit on the inside but nothing from the outside with my hand or anything. maybe that will change as he gets bigger (he already is 11 oz!!!) but for now it's a little quiet in there. i feel him pretty often it's just not very drastic.

these past few days i have just been overwhelmed with gratitude for how life for my little family is going right now. i am so grateful for bea and for who she is and for the little guy on the way. i am grateful we have a great place to live and that all of our needs are being met and that bradley is enjoying furthering his career in the city he loves. i am grateful to be close to the city i love, even though i haven't been able to go much lately. i am grateful to have friends both new and old around us. i'm grateful that i'm finally not feeling so sick anymore and that i can start taking bea out to do fun things. and, even though the winter royally sucks, i'm grateful to have brad home a day or so per week because of all the snow and ice.