B&W balloons

B&W balloons
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.

Cake Time

Cake Time
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.

Big Red Car

Big Red Car
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.

Kade's 2

Kade's 2
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.

Kade and Lillian

Kade and Lillian
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.

Happy Birthday Kade

Kade turned 2 yesterday, and he really had the perfect birthday. We went to his "class" at the library where Miss Terri sang "Happy Birthday" and gave everyone a #2 stamp on their hand. Afterwards we ran some errands and had lunch at McDonald's, Kade's favorite. He blessed Mama with a marathon nap in the afternoon so I had time to frost his cake and get the house ready for our get together that evening. Our friends Brian, Melissa, Andrea and Robert, and their little girl Lillian all came over for Kade's favorite dinner- homemade mac and cheese. We also had tomato soup and Brian's bruschetta (thank you Brian - delicious)! Kade loved being the center of attention. He put on his Wiggles show for everyone and showed off all his toys. He loved his cake and didn't even cry when we sang Happy Birthday, and he even tried to blow out his candles (I guess all of our practice paid off). Everyone brought him such thoughtful presents, and he was so excited. He is such a lucky boy to have so many people around him who love and care about him so much. Mama and Daddy are also very lucky to have such wonderful friends. It was great to just relax and enjoy Kade's special day. It seems like yesterday when we were driving to the hospital in anticipation of what was to come-now two years later we have a happy, intelligent, independent little man who just lights up our lives in more ways that we could have ever imagined. We love you Kade.

Saturday is the big family party with the Kraus' and Roth's. We are going to have a full house, but we can't wait to have everyone together, and I know Kade can't wait to show his cousins all his cool new stuff. I'll post about the party and my big undertaking of the week - the Big Red Car cake!

New site

What a weekend! My mom kindly offered to take Kade off of our hands for the weekend so we could prepare for his upcoming 2nd birthday party. We managed to get a lot done, including our elusive project of hanging draperies in the dining room. To be honest though, we really missed Kade and he was literally all we talked about. Poor Kyle was sick the entire weekend, and he still isn't feeling like himself. He bought me erikakrausroth.com so I could have my own blog. So just when I get into updating Kade's site he has me switching to a new one. I promise I'll keep up on Kade's news here, but I'll blog about the pregnancy on my site.

Speaking of the pregnancy, I felt a real, fullblown kick this morning. I've been feeling the little bean doing flips and swimming around for awhile now, but when I woke up this morning (at a blissful 8:30) I started poking my tummy to see if I could make him move and BOOM- there it was- a big, stop doing that mama, kick! I was so excited that I ran downstairs to tell Dad the news (he slept on the couch due to his constant coughing and sneezing fits). True to form, our little bean refused to let his father in on the action. Maybe he'll kick again for his big brother, I'll have to try it out when Kade wakes up from his marathon nap.

My growing belly

Our little bean at 10 weeks cheering on the Steelers on Superbowl Sunday.




At 14 weeks Mama looks a lot happier since we finally heard the heartbeat.




Kade is already in love with his baby.




He thinks we all have babies in our bellies, even his own.

Here goes nothing

After lurking on mulitple pregnancy blogs for the past 15 weeks, I've decided to dive in and start my own. I surprised Kyle with the news of baby #2 on Christmas Eve and since then time has flown by. I can't believe how much I have already bonded with this baby. Kade and I heard the heartbeat at 14 weeks. It was the most beautiful, reassuring sound. I had been so nervous up to that point. I took my pregnancy with Kade for granted. I never worried and I just assumed that he would be born healthy and happy, but the moment I held him in my arms for the first time I realized that he is truly a miracle. I didn't think about all the things that could have gone wrong until I saw that they hadn't. Pregnancy is amazing, women are amazing, science is amazing, God is amazing.