Baby #2 is on the way!

I'm thinking that most people know now, but in case you don't, Baby Boyle #2 is on the way! We are so excited to be expecting our little surprise at the end of December. That's right, a holiday baby! And we aren't finding out the gender this time, which I am very happy about!

So, let me do the math for you and tell you that I'm 19 weeks 3 days today. I had a midwife appointment this morning followed up by our anatomy ultrasound. The midwife appointment went really well. For those who remember from last time, I developed high blood pressure at the end and I'm really making an effort to NOT have a repeat occurance of that. My blood pressure has been normal so far, so that's good. Baby's heartbeat today was 148, which is definitely going to throw my mom off in terms of guessing whether this baby is a boy or girl. It has previously always been around 160...and Imogen's was always in the 160s. Last but not least, my uterus is measuring at 22cm, which equates to 22 weeks, so that's a little ahead right now. I remember always measuring 1-2 weeks ahead with Imogen as well, so I think it's just because I'm short that it doesn't have anywhere to go except out.

The ultrasound went really well too! Our tech was so nice and explained what she was doing the entire time. She said the heartbeat was 145 bpm, which matches what the midwife had just heard on the doppler. She said the baby looks perfect: 10 fingers, 10 toes, heart in the right place, stomach in the right place, cord looks good, good amniotic fluid, etc etc. We are so happy and excited and relieved to know that things are going well in there.

And something interesting to me is that baby is already head down. I have been feeling so many movements down low that I thought FOR SURE that baby's feet were kicking me. Nope, he/she just has strong arms apparently.

How is Imogen reacting to all of this? Well, we tell her all the time about the new baby and the baby in mommy's belly, but I don't think she grasps it yet. She is so loving to her babies and stuffed animals though, so I'm hopeful that she will be more of a helper than the jealous type.

I definitely haven't been as good taking belly shots as I was last time. I will get one on Monday when I'm 20 weeks to share!

Incredibly Busy Weekends...

Just as the title leads you to believe, we've had some incredibly busy weekends lately. At least the last four have been packed with activities Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. It's been tiring, but after this holiday weekend, I think we are quiet for awhile, so that will be nice. However, even though all the time away from home makes us all very tired, we've enjoyed being outside with all the nice weather and spending time with friends and family -- here is a brief synopsis...with pictures, of course!

We participated in Armstong County's Relay for Life back in mid-June. We pushed Imogen in a stroller most of the way while we walked, but she did walk an entire lap by herself! While we were resting in our team's tent, Imogen enjoyed kicking around a ball -- she is very good at dribbling!

Also that weekend we drove up to Moraine State Park for our cousin's birthday party. It was a beautiful day! They have a small beach area and it would have been perfect for swimming if the sand would have been a little less rocky and the water a little less frigid. Nevertheless, after a few steps into the water with Daddy and Pop Pop, Imogen decided it was not for her and spent the majority of the rest of the day on a swing.

The next weekend we had a wonderful visit with our friends, Mike & Alysia, and their beauiful little girl, Talia. Imogen had tons of fun playing with her and in the picture below, was enjoying telling Mike a very interesting story...what was that story again, Mike?

Later that same day we went to a birthday party for my girlfriend's two daughters, one was turning 4 and the other turning 6. Because it was for two girls, there were TONS of kids there and Imogen loved playing with them all. However, she was one of the youngest and all the other children were trying to decifer what she was saying a lot of the time since she is a chatterbox, but still mostly talks in her own language. It was so fun to watch her interact with them since she doesn't have the opportunity to be around a lot of kids now. She is definitely very social! It was another beautiful day, so they had some baby pools set up and Imogen loved splashing around.

The next day was Father's day and we headed up to Kittanning to spend the day with family and friends at a picnic. It was yet again a beautiful day so we spent most of it outside and Imogen got to play with more kiddos in another pool. She just loves to be in the water! In the evening, we hung out on my parents new addition to their deck

All the activities of that weekend had the entire family feeling under the weather during the next week. Imogen got better first though, so we were happy she didn't get too sick.

By Friday, Imogen and I were well enough to go to Kennywood. My work has an annual picnic there in June each year, and Imogen LOVES riding rides, so I really wanted to take her. Of course, she loved every second and pouted when each ride started to slow down at the end. I would keep promising her that we would go on another and that would calm her down.

For everyone who made it this far, Congrats!, and that is the end of the June activities. I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures! Happy Fourth of July weekend!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Imogen!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday our dear Imogen!

Happy Birthday to you!

Our 'baby' turned 2 today. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad, but I'm leaning towards happy. I love all the wonderfully coordinated and independent things she does now! It's so fun and interesting to see her personality develop right before our eyes.

To celebrate her birthday, I took the day off work and we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. It was not Imogen's first time there, but it was her first time there where she could really look at and name the animals. She loved it! I think her favorite animal of all was the tiger. They only had one tiger in the forest today (although, I think they have 4 total) but he was playing in the water and entertaining us a lot. She also really liked the fishies, ducks, and birds. Go figure -- all things we see a lot when we're NOT at the zoo! Here are a few pictures from the day:

The newest baby elephant

Imogen marching along around the elephant exhibit

Walking with daddy

The entertaining tiger

Pointing to the fishie

A little overexposed, but oh well! It's mommy & me!

Our classic family shot by the big polar bear

Pretty girl!

Watching the polar bears v.e.r.y. closely

We were all tired by the end of the trip! But we had a great time!

Happy 2nd birthday to our beautiful little girl -- we love you!

Kennywood 2010

We took Imogen to Kennywood Amusement Park last Saturday and, even though it was windy and cool, we managed to get her on a few rides in Kiddyland. She definitely enjoyed them regardless of the fact that she had no clue what to expect every time we handed her over to an employee to get her buckled in.

On the swings, which I think she enjoyed the most:

On a helicoptor ride, in which she had no interest in touching the wheel, but rather hung onto the safety bar for dear life:

On the Whip. This one she was really unsure of, but warmed right up after being whipped around the turns once or twice:

We finished up the day with a ride on the big Carousel. She loved it so much, she went around twice! Here she is with her daddy and pop pop (as she is now calling him).

We're going back for a day next month, so here's hoping the weather is nicer and she can ride even more!

Big Girl Panties!

It's been awhile since I've posted and there is so much to catch up on, but the most exciting thing to share about Imogen is that she hasn't worn a diaper during the day in TWO months! She loves to pee pee in the potty and is a regular pro at this point. We do continue to wear a diaper at night, though, since I'm not sure she's ready for that just yet.

Several people have asked me how I taught her so early, but I have no tricks up my sleeve. I didn't read any books about it, I just followed my and Imogen's cues. Starting around 16 months old, I would put Imogen on the potty once a day before bedtime. She didn't do anything up there for a month or two. Eventually, one time she peed and I cheered and she caught on! We left it at that once-a-day trip for quite awhile and she knew it was coming and always went.

In February, I decided to try an all day bout with no diapers during a long weekend and it was mildly successful. The problem was that it was so cold at the time that Imogen had to wear layers which made it hard to get to the potty immediately if she had to go. We decided to scrap the big girl panties after the weekend and wait for another month.

In March, I decided to try again. It was warmer and Imogen could wear a dress around the house. I was home on a Friday armed with 6 pairs of cloth trainers I had just purchased. We put on her first pair in the morning and off we went. She peed in almost every pair that day, but we also had some success with her going in the potty. On Saturday, she did even better with fewer accidents. And by Sunday, she didn't have any accidents! She caught on so quickly! What did you give her as a reward, you ask? toilet paper! She loves the paper and so after she pees, we would give her a few sheets and she would throw it into the potty. It worked for us!

Her wonderful progress was kept going during the day on Monday and we haven't looked back at diapers, but rather clean up any messes and keep moving forward. Now, it is rare to have an accident and if/when she does, it's typically at home when she is too busy playing to tell us she has to go. It took about a week for her to start telling us she had to potty. And, up to today, we continue to ask her if she has to go every hour or so if she doesn't say something. We do trust her, but she isn't even two yet, so we know her success is continued with our help.

We have THIS travel potty chair which has been wonderful for potty on-the-go! Highly recommend! It's enabled us to take her anywhere and not be worried about where she is going to go to the bathroom.

I think potty learning has been my favorite milestone since walking. Our "diaper" bag is lighter, her bum is smaller, and we all enjoy the fewer loads of laundry.

In Her Mother's Shoes...

Literally. Click 'play' to see the fun!

Recent Knits

I haven't posted anything I've knit for quite awhile, but really it's because I don't want this to turn into a craft blog when really it's about our family. The truth is, though, that my love for my newest hobby grows each day and creating things for Imogen and others to wear is a creative outlet that I know I've been searching for for a very long time.

Recently, I went with a few friends to the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival in Cranberry. I saw some information there and heard people chatting about the relationship between math and knitting. (For anyone who doesn't know, I was a mathematics major in college and love, love, love it!) I think one of the reasons I love knitting so much is one of the same reasons that I love math -- you start out with something so jumbled, tangled, and unknown, and through a series of clearly layed out steps get to an end point of clarity...an answer....a finished object (FO in knitting terms!). I know it's crazy, but I love to take a skein of yarn, which if you're not careful with while winding can turn into a tangled mess, and lay the stitches in order in such a way that creates something beautiful. Every time I see new yarn, I'm always wondering what it would look like knitted up. Will it be beautiful? Will the colors clash? Will it be prettier than it looks in the skein? The unknown excites me -- it lights a fire under me that says....knit faster to find out!

Here are a couple things I've knit for Imogen recently...and I have so many more projects in my queue, that the infinity symbol comes to mind quite clearly :)

The Oriental Lily top knit in the colorway "Madeline" and dyed by Western Sky Knits. This colorway definitely looks way more beautiful knitted up than in the skein! I was surprised how much I love it!
This next top is called the Playtime Top and was written by DiscoBaby Knits. I knit it up in an unusual way -- I held together two strands of sock yarn to get the correct weight yarn for the pattern. The colorway is "Dandelion Chain" dyed by Dashing Dachs -- a dyer located in Erie, PA.

Imogen reading one of her FAVORITE books:

Trying on Mommy's shoes:

Sleeping Beauty

I came home from work on Thursday to find Imogen sleeping on the couch...like this. I guess it's just another trait she has from me -- the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, anyway.