Baby Boss 2.0...

While we were on vacation in Florida this year we found out some pretty major news... 

On December 24, we are expecting the arrival of Baby Boss #2!!! 

Steve and I were a little disbelieving, and beyond excited to tell the world. We started with his family, because they were all in FL with us. This is how we decided to share the news with them- needless to say, everyone was shocked! Since my parents weren't with us, we sent my mom an extra special birthday package in the mail, so the morning she turned 60, she found out about the upcoming arrival. :) We eventually shared the news with the world on Facebook, with some pretty cute pics, if I do say so myself. It was fun coming up with creative ideas to share the news. As excited as I am about all of this, I'm also a touch apprehensive about this whole Christmas thing. I have finally gotten used to the idea, and don't really think it's that big of deal anymore, but still. Poor kid is going to have to share its birthday every year with Christmas, or at least Christmastime. :( Oh well, I'm just crossing my fingers it arrives before the New Year (gotta get that tax return!) or NOT on Christmas- which means it probably will! :) Whenever this one makes its arrival we will be beyond excited. Even T is warming up to the idea- we'll see what his actual reaction is when the little one arrives, but so far he likes to talk about the baby and to the baby and likes to give my little bump hugs and kisses. It sure does make me smile. :)

Christmas 2011...

Christmas this year was another good one. I'm finding I really enjoy it more every year as Trey gets older (not that I haven't always been a huge Christmas fan- I have). From going to see Santa (he had a great time with this year, no tears), to getting our tree and putting the ornaments on (he was even pretty good about not taking them off), to the ever exciting (and never ending) present opening. It was a great year. I just wanted to put up a few pics of the good times we had.

Over it...

I'm so done and over trying to keep this up to date that I'm just starting over! :) Big surprise, considering it was last year about this time I said I was going to start catching up ;) Oh well! Most of the time life is more fun than sitting here writing about it.

In a nutshell, we've had a wonderful year. Trey is thriving and is a happy, healthy, (naughty), SILLY, nutty little monster! We're STILL working on potty training, although I admit, I am not very aggressive about it. I feel like as soon as I start to be, he will progress faster. We started just after he turned 2. My goal is to be potty trained by Christmas- we'll see! He loves to make trouble and messes and then come tell me about them, just to make sure. His favorite things to say right now are "I be right back" and "one second...". Apparently he has been listening to his Mommy. He loves to run, definitely not walk, and never be confined to a stroller again, which is exciting to say the least ;) Halloween was super fun because he started to "get it" this year. He was a very adorable Curious George and did a great job with the trick or treating. He went up to everyone's doors, mostly all by himself, and said "please" and "thank-you" (maybe with some subtle prompting). The best moment of all was when he looked at one lady, took the Nerds out of his bucket and tried to give them back saying, "I don't like it, don't want this". Steve and I could only laugh. We had a small scare at the beginning of October when he fell and sliced his forehead open on a step in our family room. It led us to the ER and to 7 stitches (just like his Mommy when she was 2). He was so brave and such a trooper, we were more scared than him! As you can tell, I hardly stop talking about my boy and LOVE being able to be home with him all the time!

Steve and I are doing great as well. Work is going well for him and he's staying busy, which is great. His companies seem to be starting more projects and have lots more work to do, which, thankfully, means more work for him. :) I had a great 30th birthday this year, courtesy of my wonderful hubby. We started on Wednesday night with a Tigers game at Comerica, then off to Mackinac Island (where I had never been before) for Thurs, Fri and Sat. On Saturday we left the island and made it back to GR in time for dinner with both our families and then my own personal GRBarCrawl and party bus with all our friends! It was SUCH a fun weekend and I am so thankful always for such an amazing husband. I've also been trying out new things this year. I've joined a Bible study for women at our church, which has proved to be quite interesting and insightful for me. I'm really loving it. I also joined a local MOPS group with some neighborhood girlfriends/moms. It is fun to meet other ladies/moms in the neighborhood and enjoy a little alone time. Trey actually loves going to the childcare area (they have TWO train tables!) which makes it easier for me to leave him for a couple hours.

It has been a BUSY, BUSY year, but as always full of good times and good people. So, hoping to have some more postings in the near future, but I'm not making any promises :)

Here is Steve and I on Mackinac Island. This is towards the end of our bike ride around the island, which was so fun and the PERFECT locale for our Schwinn Lakeshore Cruisers :)

When Trey turned 2 in June, we had a great "friend" party that was (hopefully) obviously ELMO themed. He thought it was amazing. Especially because those Elmo balloons hung around until AUGUST!

Here's our little Frankenstein and the cutest little Curious George you'll ever meet. Apparently he was ready for Halloween all month long!

My baby turns 1 (aka: June part 2)...

On June 26, 2010, we celebrated Trey's FIRST birthday!!! It was a jungle themed party with lots of fun animals. It was SO fun throwing my first kid birthday party. I can hardly believe that my BABY turned ONE! He is SO big and teaching me something new every day. I love watching him grow and learn and discover new things. He is such a funny and smart little man and reminds me SO much of his daddy :) I swear he is going to be an engineer, or a performer. He LOVES figuring out how things work. He takes it all apart and every once in awhile attempts to put it back together :) He also loves to chatter away, can't wait until we actually know what he's saying. Since it has been awhile now since his birthday I'll also update on how far he's come since then. At about 13 months he officially started walking- and I thought crawling rocked my world! He's a little bit naughty (especially when tired, like his cousin Jake) and hears the word "NO" a lot. His vocabulary is increasing, and every once in awhile a real one comes out ;) His favorites are "uh-oh" (also the first one!), "all done", the very awesome "poo-poo", "boom", of course "daddy", every once in awhile a "mama" (a VERY rare while), "ball", and "this, this" for any and everything he may want. He is also VERY good at grunting and pointing and whining. He loves to take people places. He grabs your finger and takes you around the house to different locations. Usually to his room where he will pat the rocking chair. You have to sit or he gets VERY upset. Generally he then leaves the room and you sitting there. My favorite is when he comes back and looks so surprised that you are still sitting there waiting for him :) He really is quite funny. He makes a whole repertoire of faces that are so silly, and he knows it. Clearly we adore him and can't get enough of him. We LOVE him so much and can't imagine our lives without him!!! Enjoy this glimpse into Trey's big day!

Trey's own personal cake, BEFORE.

WAY TOO MANY presents for one little boy!!!

Opening said presents.

Trey and all his grandmas... my mom (Grandma), Steve's mom (Nana), my grandma (Other-One Grandma), and Steve's grandma (Great-Grandma Kastelin)

Mommy even made him a custom shirt!

He had some presents for all his friends too!

And, AFTER! It actually took him a little while to get into the cake, but he soon made short work of it.

Cousin Claudia watches closely to make sure he's doing everything right! She's such a good helper!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE... (aka: the Big 3-0, aka: June Part 1)

On June 12, 2010, Steve turned 30! It was a milestone, so I planned accordingly. Like, planning a surprise party with 50 people at a West MI Whitecaps game the week before his actual birthday. And then planning an after party at our house, which even involved sending Trey away for the night (for the first time!). He had no idea, no clue whatsoever, and was COMPLETELY shocked. It was SO fun to do that. I still can't believe all the logistics with that many people and that many variables worked out. It was amazing, even though the weather didn't cooperate. After being beautiful all day, it started raining as we were walking into the ball park (which was my biggest fear). We were able to get into our private area and have our bbq though. They did eventually call the game, so in the end we actually ended up with free tickets to another game, AND were able to have our party. Steve had such a good time and couldn't believe so many people came out to celebrate and that I was able to pull off so many surprises. Here's a few snippets into the celebrations of Steve, both at the surprise party and on his actual birthday with his family.

There are a lot of June birthdays in our family, so even though it was a big one, he was still sharing a cake. I did make him his favorite chocolate eclair dessert though, too.

Overwhelming...

So last time I updated, many months ago, I swore I wouldn't wait so long again or miss so many events. Sadly, I was not so successful and as more and more time went on, I got more and more overwhelmed. So, I've just decided to start from where I left off and try and update a little as soon as I can (in my mind I think every day, ha!). So, on May 16, Trey was baptized by his Nana in her church. He was VERY good, even though likes to use A LOT of water! :) He was also the first baby to be baptized in her newly founded church in their new space. It was a wonderful day for the whole family and we were so happy so many people were able to share this special day with the three of us.

Mommy and Daddy with our new little Christian ;)

Three RSB's, all in a row

What a popular little guy!

I just couldn't resist this one... he's such a cutie!

The past few months...

We did lots of fun things this past spring. Here's a small snippet into what springtime with the Bosses was like :)

Tulip Time 2010- every year Carley and I take the kids to Tulip Time. Sometimes Steve even gets to join us, this year he and Ed came along, even though you don't ever see them in the pics. We had so much fun, even though Carley and I STILL haven't gotten/made Dutch costumes for the kids. Maybe next year...

Trey and Sam's first Tulip Time

Everyone LOVES a Dutch boy! :)

Opening baseball weekend we went to a Tigers game, which was GORGEOUS where our seats were in the sun and to the opening West MI Whitecaps game. The entire weekend was spent with our good friends Derek and Grace. As you can see, Grace and I also got very into the foam finger movement...

Grace and I with ALL our paraphanalia at the Whitecaps game.

Trey also thoroughly enjoyed the foam

Running the Riverbank Run 10K was a group effort. If you can't tell, mine and Carley's shirts say, "Step aside for the Bride". We just thought that would be fun. My first race ever was super fun, kind of got me into running, I will definitely do it again.

My first Mother's Day with my little man :)