Surprise, Surprise!!

It looks like we will soon be a party of five...

We are still in a little shock from the news, but we are excited to have our first ultrasound next Tuesday when it may feel more real!

Daycare Gift

Have I mentioned that we love Deacon's daycare??

They are always so friendly and really seem happy to see Deacon each morning. Even his therapists have commented in his weekly paperwork: "Teacher has been working a lot with Deacon and making sure he has extra help to participate with class. She reports that she is already seeing him show more understanding in general!" She also mentioned that she witnessed Deacon walk up to his teacher her and give her a hug!! (This is not a normal thing for Deacon who loves to snuggle, but doesn't typically initiate the contact!)

We wanted to do a little something to show all of the staff how appreciative we are for their kindness. I thought of this in the middle of the night last week when I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep! (One of the only crafty ideas I haven't "borrowed" from the internet)

We baked homemade bread (recipe here), printed a card created on picnik, and purchased some nutella spread to go in a dollar store basket.

18 Month Deacon

Deacon, you are 18 months!!

You are 34.5 inches tall (97th percentile!!!), weigh 24 lbs. 11 oz. (37th percentile), and have a head circumference of 18.5 inches (31st percentile).

• You wear 2T/3T shirts and 12 month shorts! We finally found shoes you will wear: 18-24 month leather soled pedipeds. That is the largest size they make, so once you outgrow those we are praying you will wear regular shoes.

• You have a definite sweet tooth! You love all sugary goodies, but have grown to like most other foods too. Your fine motor skills have also grown! You are able to feed yourself almost any food with your fingers and drink from your sippy cup with no problem! We are now practicing using utensils.
  



• You are great at using those little fingers to find every little particle on the ground and putting them in your mouth. Your favorite non-food meals are paper, mulch and grass, which we find ourselves removing from your mouth often. Yum!
  
  



• Last month you started a new daycare and we are all in love! They agreed to place you in a class based on development and not age, so you started in the 12-17 month room. Within two weeks the director asked if you could be moved to the 18 month-2 year old room because you are doing so well!! You get excited every morning when we arrive and there is even a little girl in your class that makes "ah-ah" noises at you during breakfast.
  
  



• You LOVE being outdoors! The only time you ever throw a temper tantrum is when we open the front door, without letting you go outside. We are thrilled that it is finally starting to cool off so that we can play in the yard more!
  



• You also LOVE music! Your favorite toys and shows are the ones with a tune and you will sometimes even jabber along.
  



• Climbing is probably your favorite obsession. You have a blast at Little Gym every week and have learned to be very careful when getting on and off objects. You are not picky, and will climb on ANYTHING, but climbing inside the toilet is probably your happiest hang-out.

• Just like your brother, you waited until after your first birthday to start sleeping through the night. We have been well rested for a couple of months now!
  



• We are in the process of switching your seizure medication from Topamax to Valproic Acid to help with your language skills, since one of the side effects from Topamax is a loss of word retrieval.
  



• These past six months have been such a roller coaster, but we have been blessed beyond belief with your progress and thank God every day for you!
  

Fabulous photos by Carey Anne Photography

Back to Teaching

This picture illustrates my transition back to work perfectly:
Luckily, the month of August is over and I am slightly rested from a three day weekend. I'm hoping this week feels a little less chaotic and I can stay chipper all day, all week! (And catch up on my blogging!)

Carson's 1st Day of School

The tiny baby we held at the hospital 5 years ago started Kindergarten yesterday, and he had to be the cutest little guy in elementary (I am SO not biased...)!

Here he is with his Mario backpack:
We used my new silhouette to put his name on it in vinyl:

He posed a couple more times at the house for good measure:

His favorite new smirk to make:

I am all about sucking up to the teachers; a few extra brownie points never hurts at the start of the year!

We got the jars at Dollar Tree, baked some chocolate chip cookies, and downloaded the printable from here. It says "With you as my teacher, I'll be one smart cookie!" Carson has 2 teachers, one will teach in English half of his day, the other in only Spanish. His classmates are also a mixture of English/Spanish speaking children. By 5th grade he should be fluent in both languages. This is the only kindergarten class in our district to offer the Dual Language Program, and we are so thrilled he was accepted!

Brian met us from work with breakfast from McDonalds!

Carson was elated to finally be a "big kid" and wasn't the least bit nervous or scared. I did pretty well too, and only teared up twice the entire morning, which stopped after Brian and Carson started laughing at me!

We also saw my friend Jenny's daughters, Avery and Aubrey.

When I picked Carson up he said he had a great day!! He said his teacher was very nice and he didn't get any conduct marks. He played on the playground, cut, colored, glued, and his teacher read the class a couple of books. His very first school lunch consisted of baked chicken, mashed potatoes, oranges, and chocolate milk. (I think eating lunch in the cafeteria was his favorite part of the day) He also made a couple of friends, but hasn't learned their names, saying he needs "about 14 days to remember."

Fun Find Friday: Dinner Ideas

Now that we are back to work/school, it is time to get back into nightly routines, dinner being one of those! This weeks finds are easy, one-dish dinner ideas! I haven't tried these yet, so I can't vouch for them, but they look delish!

Honey Lime Enchiladas


White Trash Casserole - loving the name!

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Cajun Shrimp Casserole

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings/Chicken Pot Pie

Slow Cooker Thanksgiving

Three Cheese Pasta Bake - Cross between macaroni and fettuccine alfredo

Slow Cooker Shepherd's Pie

Fun Find Friday: Silhouette Inspirations

I received a Silhouette SD for my birthday this year from Brian and the boys. I have been wanting one for a couple of years and finally found a cheap enough deal on overstock.com to justify getting it. A Silhouette is basically a printer, but instead of using ink, it has a razor to cut images. You can feed a bunch of different materials into the machine creating all kinds of cool crafts and personalized items, like vinyl, cardstock, fabric, and even temporary tattoo paper.

I have found so many fabulous ways to use my silhouette on pinterest, here are a couple of my favorites (that I am not planning to give as gifts in the near future):

Monogrammed Cooler - The font may be a little too fancy for our family, but I love the idea of adding a little bling and making an ice chest more personalized without whipping out the sharpie

Fall Wreath - While it would take forever to hand cut each individual leaf, the silhouette could spit those puppies out in a couple of seconds

Mobile - May need to find a pregnant friend to make this for!

Fabric Artwork - They hand drew and cut the birds and leaves; I am not an artist, so I would use the fabric interfacing feature cut and modgepodge

Mailbox Decor - We have neighborhood mailboxes, so I couldn't make this for us, but how gorgeous!

Pinwheel - the silhouette also cuts foldables for 3-dimensional projects!

Monogrammed Sign - I think we need this in our entrance