Okay, there has been a lot that has gone on since last October - go figure and I will attempt to update everyone with my crazy life!
So where to begin...
Right before Halloween, Matthew and I discovered that we are expecting baby number 2!! We are more then excited and can't wait to welcome our new little blessing to the family sometime in July 2010. So, to back up just a bit and answer the question that I'm sure everyone wants to know - yes! we were trying for a baby. In fact, I think most would be shocked to know that we've been trying since February of last year!! Because of my struggles with conceiving Skylar, I thought it best to try early but really thought that it would happen much easier this time around. I was wrong of course, but God is faithful. To spare you of the hairy details, I'll give you just a synopsis. After a couple of months with no success, we found ourselves face to face with infertility treatments which ended in only more heartache! After the pain became too much, I found myself once again on bended knees, asking and praying and with each negative pregnancy test - a deeper kind of pain. However, after Matthew and I experienced a "false positive" and I was just about to give up, God comforted me. One morning I was making our bed and out of no where the hymn "Those that wait upon the Lord" popped in my head. I was singing along until I found myself near tears wondering if this was His way of speaking directly to me. The following Sunday, pastor spoke from that verse in Issiah saying once again "those that wait upon the Lord..." and I knew, yes - it was for me!!! And wouldn't you know the very next month, God gave me my baby! And without fertility drugs!! He is truly an awesome God and I am so thankful to be His child!!! Phew - let me wipe my tears off the keyboard...
Alright - so here it is, my happy day of finally seeing that positive! I had taken regular tests but Matthew seemed skeptical given our false positive from the month before. So, I pulled out the big guns and then there was no denying it - PREGNANT!
Our plan was to wait until Thanksgiving to tell everyone but we were just too excited. Instead, on Halloween we had Skylar dressed up as a Bumblebee with a t-shirt over the top that said "Big Sisters Rock." We went around to each of our family members, with video camera in hand and waited until they realized what her shirt said. It was so nice to see everyone's reaction! 
After that, we had an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy and there we saw our "peanut." This became the name for our baby because again, we weren't going to find out the sex, nor were we going to tell anyone his or her name. Ha! So here's my baby's first pic...
Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful as Skylar and I were both sick. Her with another ear infection and me, well - morning sickness was NO fun!! Matthew and I joked about how I haven't had a "real" thanksgiving in a couple of years... first, we got married and celebrated our Thanksgiving in Cancun (eating club sandwiches), the next year I was pregnant and ended up spending Thanksgiving in the Emergency Room due to a stomach virus leaving me severely dehydrated, the next year Skylar was born but had a milk allergy and since I was nursing her - I couldn't have anything with dairy in it and then this year - morning sickness so bad that to even think of eating food, I wanted to hurl!! It was nice spending time with family though and my mom once again, went all out on food preparation which I'm told from my loving husband, was quite delicious!Now onto Christmas! I remember as a little girl I would get so excited when this time of year rolled around. And even now, when the Christmas music starts playing, lights are being hung and every store smells of cinnamon and peppermint - I get all warm and tingly inside! And then, it's all just one big nightmare! What with the shopping, and the preparation, and the traffic, and the girl behind the counter who obviously wasn't given the memo that "it's the most wonderful time of the year." AAAAAHHH! Thinking about it now brings back so many stressful memories! This was my first year to shop with a toddler so maybe that has a lot to do with it too! One day, we spent 3 hours in Target with what should have been a 1 hour trip! But when you have a strong- willed toddler who wants to go one way while you're going the other, it turns into two hours of chasing them through the store! As my mom would often say "merry freakin Christmas." How true it is that we become so lost in what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. We did have a very nice Christmas aside from the mayhem of shopping and Skylar and I starting yet another cold. Skylar was very spoiled...as always.
Every year Matthew and I put our decorations up the day after Thanksgiving and this year was no different - despite my morning sickness! Granted, we moved at a much slower pace - but it all got done in the end. It was so fun because this year, my baby girl got to help with the tree. She helped tangle the lights into more knots and she did a wonderful job taking down the ornaments that mommy had just put up! Oh, but it was still so much fun. Matthew did the outside - his normal job but this year added to our collection by decorating the bushes and buying an 8 ft penguin who spent most of his time on his back because we live on a "mountain" as my cousin Eric would say, and the darn thing would blow over every night!!! Needless to say we didn't win the "best decorated" award!
So we took the little girl to see Santa and were prepared that it was most likely going to end up in tears. Last year was great! She had no clue what was going on and we got this cute little "gummy grin" out of her. You know, the grin with no teeth! It was just precious! This year, that was not the case. All she knew was that we were standing in line, looking at really cool pictures and talking about getting something to eat when all of the sudden she's face to face with some creepy old guy, in big red suit who insists on yelling "ho ho ho" at her! It took her 1.2 seconds to turn and scream bloody murder!! We did get a cute pic though that Matthew and I laugh at each time we see it...oh, poor Santa!
After the nightmare had ended, Skylar had cookie baking day with her Nana and cousin Jack. Now, THIS was something she could enjoy. She had her own Apron, her own rolling pin and as much icing as her little tummy could handle! Yep, that's about all she wanted out of cookie baking day, icing!! Yummy! 
Another cool December adventure was SNOW! We couldn't believe it...not just that is snowed but that it was LOTS of snow!!! We of course imagined that we would make a family-fun day of it and go outside, take pictures, catch snowflakes on our tongues, etc. However, Skylar had other plans. We took her out, expecting some great reaction and instead we got tears! But, can you blame her? I mean - it is pretty cold and wet. Obviously with it being Texas and all, the snow wasn't going to stick. Instead it was like soft rain. Cold and wet soft rain! So, she wanted nothing to do with it but we managed a few pics before the meltdown...
Happy New Years! It wasn't the best New Years Eve for us since ALL of us were sick once again. We got hit with some kind of bug which kept us indoors and asleep by 10:00pm. We still enjoyed somewhat of a light show however since our neighbors behind us so graciously partied until 2:oo in the morning. And I really think they must've purchased every firework known to man because the amount of fireworks going off and the array of colors, were just unbelievable. Truth be known, I probably wouldn't be complaining had we felt better and were able to sit out and actually enjoy every bit of it but you know how it is...being sick is NO fun at all!A little after New Years, Matthew and I went for our NT scan to see how "peanut" was doing and to take the Jack or Jill test. For those that don't know, it's basically a blood test to determine what you're having. If you are carrying a boy, you will have an extra Y chromosome in your blood (not the baby's) and if the presence of the Y is not there, then you're having a girl. So much for surprises, right? We were just too excited to wait so we went for it!! Anyway, during the ultrasound the tech explained that it would be way too early to determine the sex (we were 12 weeks) so she didn't even seem like she was going to look. After she got all of the baby's measurements, she discovered that peanut was measuring 9 days ahead of schedule making me 13 weeks instead of 12. At that point, she decided to go ahead and take a "peek" to see if anything was visible and sure enough she said "well, I think I'm pretty sure what it is you're having." Since I couldn't really see the monitor, I looked at Matthew and he was grinning from ear to ear! She made a guess that it was a boy but said that it's still too early to say with 100% certainty. Either way, the blood test came back two weeks later confirming the techs "guess" and we are thrilled to announce that we're having our first baby boy!!! I couldn't be more thrilled! (The pic below is from his 18week u/s which I'll talk about more in a later post...just thought I'd share)
During all the excitement, Matthew had some time off and we decided to take a fun family trip to the Houston Zoo. We've been a few times already since we have a membership but every time is an adventure. Skylar had so much fun with her daddy looking at all the different animals. She especially liked what we referred to as the "Nemo tank." I think she was fascinated with all of the bright colors. It's funny because she would go right up to the cages to look at so many different animals and didn't seem afraid but pigeons - ya, they would scare the crap out of her. She hated them! We had a great day and can't wait for the weather to get warmer so we can take more trips!
Skylar has really been into baby stuff lately. Anything and everything that has to do with cuddling, swaddling, nurturing, feeding - ALL of it. She even goes as far as to rock and shoosh her baby's as if she's rocking them to sleep. The thing is, it doesn't necessarily have to be an actual baby that she does this with. It can be anything from her baby to her stuffed lion to her stuffed puppy - anything at all. So here she is, reading her "babies" a book. And yes, she propped them up in their own chairs before getting a book out! Adorable!
So...although there is plenty more to update, I will leave you with this for now!!
We knew that we wanted to get her something like this around Christmas but just didn't want to spend a fortune. Well, this one came up and was such a good deal, that we just couldn't pass it up! It comes complete with a swing set, slide, monkey bars (which will be for later of course), a small fort and picnic table!! It's purrrrrrfect and she LOVES it!! Here's some more pics for your viewing pleasure: 
She loves this thing and is starting to really figure out how everything works. For example, the other day I asked her for some scrambled eggs and she grabbed her little pink skillet and started stirring it around and voila! make-believe eggs!!
Now, here's Rody. He is such a cutie patootie, right?! The idea is that she can sit on him and just bounce her little heart out. However she would much rather sit on mommy's tummy and do that while cuddling Rody! I would much prefer the other way around but you take what you can get! 
And now for her latest attraction...behind door number three...a new playhouse!!! Her daddy just recently bought this for her as "practice" because he really has his heart set on buying her a huge playground for the backyard. She really does love this little house. It even has a porch light and I'm thinking of setting out a little doormat for her! Cheesy???? Of course! But I'll do it anyway...ha! 
So there's a million other things in there such as a music table and a dance station and a car but this was only suppose to be a "sneak peak" remember?!!! So I'll leave you with this one last thing which is one of the 5 pictures of her hanging in her playroom...
This was taken with her one year portraits...isn't she a doll?!?!