Welcome to Virginia

Besides being pregnant, another reason for reviving the blog was to keep in touch with family and friends from our new home across the country. Although it is old news now, the three of us moved to Northern Virginia on July 13th. Why would we do such a crazy thing? Well, Tim was offered a great job as a Research Economist the Economic Research Service within the USDA in Washington, DC. We found a great home, in a nice neighborhood and are settling in just fine over the last 2 months. It's still hard to believe that we're here and not in Washington State, but it's home for now and we're happy and thankful for a good job in the otherwise struggling economy.

A huge blessing about this job is that it allows me to stay at home full-time with Maria (and the new baby in 6 months). We've come to realize that this is a definite luxury and we are so thankful. It has been an adjustment for all of us to have Tim gone all day (his commute is 40 minutes each way), but our family time is maximized in the evenings and on weekends now that he doesn't have homework looming over his head. We can say with confidence that we've entered the 'real world' and are pretty happy about it! (I guess I should let Tim speak for himself since he's the one that has to go to work!)

Daddy home from his first day of work (7-18-11).

I'm Pregnant!

So, how did we find out we were having another baby, you ask? Well, we had only been 'trying' for about 3 months (which is how long it took last time) when my birthday rolled around. It was a Saturday and I was planning to take a test that Monday. Before going out to a nice dinner that night, Tim casually suggested that I take a pregnancy test so we could be certain before having a glass of wine with our meal. I obliged and was shocked to find out that I was indeed pregnant already! I don't think either of us were ready for it, to be honest, but once it sunk in a little, we celebrated both occasions that night (minus the glass of wine)!

Baby #2 is due March 1, 2012

It says "Pregnant!"

Fifteen Months

15 months already and I never even posted a recap of Maria's first birthday. Ooops! Well, her birthday was awesome and she was celebrated by all of her wonderful friends and family. As you can see in the previous post, she LOVED her cake and luckily didn't end up with tummy ache! So, now that we're at the 15 month mark, I wanted to write a quick update with her stats and start a list of words that she is using.

Current stats:
Weight - 24lbs. 2 oz. (70th percentile)
Height - 30.4 in. (50th percentile)

Words she is using:
Mama (sometimes Mommy)
Dada
Puppy
Oli (Oliver) -- who we just rehomed, by the way :(
Up
Down
More (with sign language)
Pees (Please, also with sign language)
Goss (Go Outside)
Ball
Diaper
Bath
Wor Wor (Word World)
Mimi (Maria)!
Cup
Car
Hi
Buh-bye
Bear

Animal sounds:
Moo
Cack Cack (duck)
Woof woof
Baa
Raarr (tiger)

Here she is as a duck for Halloween:
This age is SO MUCH FUN!

Giant Cupcake!

I will post a recap of Maria's first birthday soon, but here is a video of her cupcake experience. She LOVED it, to say the least!

CHEESE!

She is so silly!

Eleven Months

Only one more month until the big BIRTHDAY! I know I say it all the time, but I seriously cannot believe how much she has changed and how fast these last 11 months have gone by. Maria, you are a joy and a treasure to Mommy and Daddy!

Lately

• Maria knows "duck" and can make a quack sound. So adorable.
• Last night was the 4th of July; Maria completely slept through all of the fireworks including the *very* loud city show that takes place in the park behind our house.
• We had Maria dedicated by her Grandpa on June 27th. It was amazing. God is amazing.
• We drove from Pullman to Graham, from Graham to Portland, from Portland to Government Camp and back to Portland, and then from Portland to Pullman. Not fun with an almost-11-month old.
• Just noticed that Maria has at least one more tooth coming in on top; possibly two. That might explain some of the miserable car ride(s).
• Our friends Katie and Aaron came over on the 4th and we had a great time. They are seriously so fun to be around.
• Maria is taking more and more steps on her own. She is so brave.
• Our trip to Government Camp gave us the opportunity to take a 5-generation picture with Tim's great-grandmother who is 98 years old. Special memories were made for all of us.
• I need to post more pictures, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. And it's already time for Maria's 11-month update. Where does the time go?