Cousin Adventures, Activities and Valentines Day

I haven't posted many real updates since the New Year. It seems we just get busier every day. But as you can see from the above pictures, we've managed to find some time to relax and have fun, too. Here are some of Lily's updates from the last few months.
1. We're starting the big girl process ... step #1 = sleeping in her big girl bed. We found a cute Tinkerbell toddler bed at Toys R Us on sale. Hopefully it will tempt her, right? If I weighed less than 50 lbs I would definitely want to sleep in it. Step #2 will be potty training wish us luck. She already loves to sit on it, we juts need to start!

2. Lily has started talking in short sentences. I need to post some of them. She like to tell me, "I know. I do," especially when we are doing something that she wants to do herself.

3. We've finally hit the hard core teething stage. We are at 13 and counting. It seems like they all came at once. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night crying, "Ty en ol" (Tylenol). Poor little girl!

And here are some picture updates of our latest adventures!

Lily and I made sugar cookies for Valentines Day. It was our first cookie adventure together and she LOVED it. We were going to make them for her cousins, but as you can tell, Lily had a little too much fun with the dough. I am not sure how much drool ended up in it!

We also made our second trip to Discovery Gateway downtown. This is the first time we have been since she could walk so I was excited to see her explore. Much to my surprise, she spent the majority of time playing with the baby dolls. She carried the baby doll in the picture around for two and a half hours. She had several others that I convinced her to share. The baby went with us to the water feature (the worker let her give the baby a bath) and to Lily's other favorite activity -the balls!

Lily is a Trost girl through and through - she loves her chocolate!

Cousin Titan came to visit us while his parents had a Valentines getaway. We had too much fun! He is such a good baby. Lily thought he was there just for her. She was obsessed with his belly button. The next day we had to dress him in a buttoning onsie to keep her from getting to it. It definitely taught me a lot about preparing for number two!

We figured Lily was safe for the cousin picture since she was sleeping. Titan is not so sure.

Sugar and Spice or Snails and Puppy Dog Tails?

Our big ultrasound is coming up on March 5th so I thought I'd take an informal poll on what the gender of Parker Baby #2 will be. A few details to help you with your vote ....

1. Myself and just about everybody else was convinced that Lily was going to be a boy. I remember telling Johnny the night before her ultrasound that I was 95 percent sure. And according to the Chinese calendar, heart beat theories, etc. .... she was supposed to be a boy, too.

2. I am almost as convinced that this baby will be a boy. For that reason I am voting girl because I do not trust my motherly instincts :).

3. There are more boys than girls in Johnny's family. No family has had two girls in a row. Will we break the trend?

4. The girls are winning out in my family. 3 girls to 1 boy.

5. And now for a little about the baby. This baby is a MOVER :). I felt the first movement at just over 15 weeks. Johnny and I had been hoping for a calm child to even out our exciting times with Lily (which we do love :) ). I have the feeling that we will have no such luck. The baby's heart rate has typically been in the 160s. The baby also loves Lily. Whenever Lily is leaning against my tummy is when I can feel the baby the most. Either the baby is saying hello or "move it. I am on my way!"

6. Lily's vote is for a baby boy named Bruce.

A Giveaway :)

My First Give-a-way!

Lucky you!

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought that it was a fun idea! So here it goes:

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. (this was written on the post I copied and pasted here...I'm not sure I'll be able to think of something extremely strange).

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!