Happy Birthday Aunt Nikki!

Last weekend we traveled to Stow to celebrate Aunt Nikki's birthday. We had a great time relaxing at the Piland house and Avery was happy as could be to get non stop attention from Nana, Papa, and Aunt Nikki. On Saturday afternoon we left Avery with Nana and Papa while Erich, Nikki, and I went to see a movie. The movie was awful, but it was great to spend time with Nikki and we had a fun afternoon. We celebrated that evening with the best chocolate cake on the planet (thanks Nana!) and spent the rest of the night vegging out. The next day was Mother's Day and we all went to church together, then came home and had a big roast beef meal for lunch followed by more chocolate cake. I was stuffed for the rest of the day! Nikki teaches the 3 & 4 year old class at their church and even though Avery is barely two, she got to join Aunt Nikki's class for the day and she had a great time. Thanks for sneaking her in Aunt Nikki!

Two beautiful girls

Loving her time with Nana and Papa

Happy Mother's Day, Nana!

To Nana Piland and Grandma Kelley, thanks for being the best moms and grandmas our family could ever hope for. We are beyond blessed by the love you pour out on all of us. I could never hope for better examples of how to be a mom.

Mother's Day thoughts

Mother's Day was special for me this year. Knowing that baby #2 was on the way filled me with mixed emotions. There's a unique maternal feeling that thrives when you know there's a life growing inside of you. I'm humbled and excited as I anticipate the opportunity to mother another little one in the coming months. I've never felt more in my element than I do right now, with one on my hip and one in my belly. However, along with the excitement of looking forward to the big change that's about to occur in our family, there is also a part of me that is mourning the loss of how things are right now. Avery has been my one and only for two years and it's hard to imagine having to share the mothering part of my heart and my life with someone else. Erich and I were discussing this with some great friends the other night and Bruce, the father of two grown girls, said something that will always stick with me... "When your circumstances change, so does your capacity to love". I know that the moment I lay eyes on that babe, God will do a wonder in my heart and I will suddenly know the joy of loving two children equally and extravagantly. Until then, I'm soaking in every moment with Avery. Cuddling, reading the same books a hundred times a day, singing every disney princess song, laughing, going on walks... all of the things we've always done, but now I'm paying a little more attention and holding her a little tighter. These thoughts were going through my mind on Mother's Day as I cherished the present and looked forward to the future. I've never felt so sure of God's purpose for me as I do when I'm being Erich's wife and Avery's mother. It's still sinking in that I get the joy of doing this all again with baby Piland. It was a Happy Mother's Day, indeed.

Happy Easter

This year it was our turn to spend Easter in Marysville. We had fun visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Kelley, making a trip to see great Nana K, and then spending Easter Sunday with our extended family with great Grandma and Grandpa Staley. It was a fast and busy weekend with lots of fun packed in!

It was rainy and wet most of the weekend, so Grandma set up an Easter egg hunt for Avery inside. She loved it! Here she is, very proud with all her loot.

Easter morning with Grandma and Grandpa

Thanks for the great Easter basket G&G!

Avery loved everything in her basket. Especially that plastic egg full of m&m's.

Here is Avery in her beautiful Easter dress. You'll notice she's not wearing it in the photos that we took on Easter day. We were almost through with the 2 hour drive to Marysville when I had a panic moment in the car, "the dress!". In the chaos of getting out the door that morning, I'd left the dress at home. Thanks Grandma for saving the day with a quick trip to the store for another cute dress for Avery. I was sad she didn't get to wear her original dress, but she still looked adorable and nobody knew the difference.

These bunny ears were made for Avery by one of Erich's coworkers. She loved them and wore them around the house for many days.

Since we were going to be out of town for Easter, we hid Avery's basket at home a few days before Easter and had our own holiday at home. After looking all over the house, she was very excited to finally find it in the coat closet.

Being Silly

Just another day in the life... Here are a few pictures of general silliness and goofing around at the Piland's. Erich and I were just talking yesterday about how we are sure that Avery will be in her high school drama and musicals as she grows up because she is such a performer. It's hard to get it to show through in pictures because she's not the hugest fan of the camera, but at home she is a silly, goofy, laughing, smiling, singing girl. She brings us joy and keeps us cracking up.

On a rare night that she actually ate and enjoyed the "grown up" food that we served for dinner (she usually begs for peanut butter bread or mac and cheese)

Horseback ride with Grandpa. She's lucky to have two grandfathers that aren't afraid to be goofy and have some fun.

Playing the "up and down" game with Papa. She loves being tossed up and down in the air.

Thanks to a local groupon deal, we got a year long family membership to "Imagination Station" (our Toledo version of COSI) for a great price. We took our first trip a couple of weeks ago and Avery loved it. Her favorite part was dressing up like a firefighter and driving the fire truck.

Having fun with Daddy

Avery is obsessed with stickers. Here she is getting sassy.

Horsing around with Aunt Nikki

Gettin Jiggy With It

Ever since I was little, the Kelley family has celebrated St Patrick's Day in a unique way. It's a tradition that I hope never dies. Toasting Grandpa Kelley (my dad's dad) with green 7up, jigging around the house to an old Ruby Murray record (jigging Kelley style... which means jumping up and down a lot and running circles around the house with a partner), and eating my mom's delicious shamrock sugar cookies. The past couple of years, Erich, Avery, and I have had our own little St Patrick's Day party up in Perrysburg because we were unable to make it to Marysville. This year though, the whole family was able to coordinate schedules and make it possible for all of us get together so the grandkids could all experience the fun with each other. We were very sad that Erich had to work and wasn't able to come, but we've already checked his schedule for next year and we've got it on the calendar so we know for certain he'll be able to be there! Here are a few pictures to give you a glimpse into the lives of the crazy Kelley family.

Our fearless leaders. We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Will and Uncle Travis

Katie and Uncle Paul

Spencer and Katie

Aunt Shannon and Uncle Travis

Our attempt at a cousin picture. Avery wasn't having it. This is the only shot I got where they were at least all in the frame.

Spencer and Avery. Cousin love!

Grandma, Avery, Aunt Kristen, and Sophia

Karly and Avery

Avery, we hope you always remember that because you have Kelley blood you are an Irish girl at heart... especially on St Patrick's day! I hope someday you look back on your childhood with treasured memories of this holiday, just like your momma does.

Big Girl Bed!

Shortly after Avery's 2nd birthday, we made the leap and moved her to a new bedroom with a big girl bed. We'd been planning to make the switch for a while, and with the news that the nursery would soon have a new occupant we thought it would be good to go ahead and move Avery so she'd have plenty of time to transition. Avery does not like change and I was bracing myself for a battle. I was envisioning weeks or even months of Erich and I being up in the middle of the night trying to keep her in bed. I anticipated nap time all but disappearing because of the change. Thank you Lord that Avery proved my wrong!! The first night was a little rough. She cried for over two hours and it was a little gut wrenching to hear her saying "I want my crib!" over and over again (told you she doesn't like change). But once she finally fell asleep around 10pm, she slept through the night and that was it. The change was made. From that point on she was excited about her new room and her bed and she never asked for the crib again. She still chooses to sleep in a crib or pack n play when we are at someone else's house (like Grandma and Grandpa's or Nana and Papa's), but she easily transitions right back to her bed when we get home. I think sometimes I don't give the girl enough credit. We're getting ready to tackle potty training in a couple of weeks and I'm having similar apprehensions about how things will go... I'm anticipating a struggle. Let's hope she takes to potty training as easily as she did to this change. I would love to be wrong again!!

The Pilands are Growing!

Well, this post is about 18 weeks overdue, but that's what morning sickness (all day long), a pinched nerve in the back, and an active toddler will do. We are thrilled to be expecting Piland baby #2 sometime around October 12th, 2011. After several months of hoping and praying, Erich and I were ecstatic to find out we are pregnant on Feb 1st (the day after my birthday). The test was really just confirmation of what we already knew since I had spent several days beforehand experiencing all the textbook symptoms. I've never been so happy to throw up. :) We kept the news to ourselves for a while and then announced to our parents (and called all the siblings by phone) at Avery's birthday party when we were about 10 weeks along. After that we slowly started sharing the news with extended family and friends, so this post is probably no surprise to anyone, but important none the less! We'll find out if baby Piland is a boy or a girl, and most importantly that all is healthy and well, at an ultrasound in a little less than 2 weeks. It will be fun to start talking names and imagining our family of 4 with a little brother or sister. Avery is as excited as a 2 year old can be. She knows there is a baby in my belly and talks about it often. When we ask her if she wants a brother or a sister she says "brother", but when we ask if she wants a boy or a girl she says, "girl". Good to know she won't be disappointed either way! Her best friend Gracie has a 3 week old baby brother, Luke. It has been so fun to watch Avery hug and kiss him and talk about how much she loves him. Let's hope the feelings carry over to her own little sibling!

My pregnancy with Avery was an absolute breeze. I was a little nauseous and tired during the first trimester, but didn't experience anything out of the ordinary the remainder of the pregnancy. Looking back, I wish I had been more appreciative of how smoothly that pregnancy went. So far things have been a little different this time around. The morning sickness was intense (thank you Lord for zofran!) and lasted several weeks longer than I expected. It was quickly followed by lower back, hip, and leg pain that I've been warned will most likely last the remainder of the pregnancy thanks to a pinched nerve. I recently discovered that being in the water really helps so lots of pool time and water aerobics at the Y have been offering some much appreciated relief. I don't want to complain too much though. Every time I feel that little babe moving around and kicking, I'm reminded about the miracle that I get the privilege of being a part of and I thank God for my back ache! Erich has been amazing, as always... taking over many household duties, giving daily back rubs, and making sure he's always nearby to help with Avery when he's not at work. I am a lucky lucky wife!

Here's an outdated ultrasound photo of baby Piland taken at about 9 weeks, looking like a little blob and about 3 cm long. If you look closely you can see the start of arms and legs. If we were to get a glimpse of the baby now, just 10 weeks later, it would look like a fully formed baby... about 6 inches in length. One of God's amazing wonders. We're looking forward to checking in on things at our ultrasound next week and we'll be sure to post updated pictures!

Carousel

There was a weekend in January that we were scheduled to go visit Nana and Papa in Stow, but I woke up feeling a bit under the weather (more on that later). Not wanting to cancel, Erich offered to take Avery and go ahead with the trip, leaving me at home alone to rest and sleep (Super Dad!). Even though I didn't want to miss out on the fun and especially dreaded the thought of being away from my baby girl, I knew it was the best decision for everybody. Well, miss out on the fun I did! Avery had a GREAT time with Nana and Papa, especially when they took her to a local mall to ride the carousel. She loved it so much that she didn't want to get off. Nana, Papa, and Daddy all took a turn riding it with her... what a loved little girl.