Troy's party

We celebrated Troy's 2nd birthday with family this past Saturday. His actually birthday is the 22nd, but to avoid all the holiday rush of Christmas week, we partied a little early.

Not the best picture being an action shot, but man did he love the balloons!! They practically trumped almost any gift he got, they were a hit!

Opening gifts, notice the soccer ball, it didn't leave his side the whole time we did presents.

Playing with his new b-ball hoop with his cousins.

Sitting on his new dump truck, if you see the clothes stash behind him you'll know his parents were very happy this year, plus a smile when asked for it is hard to come by.

A cupcake, juice & a ball! What better way is there to end a party, he was in heaven!!

Things that make you go hmmm . . .

So when you're not quite 2 year old randomly says to you "mommy, potty, go peepee" & say this mom reluctantly takes him to the toilet where he indeed does proceed to do as he said. Then as she shockingly checks his diaper to see if he had already gone, thus reminding him he likes to "play" by the toilet & that's why he wanted to go & it turns out it was bone dry, does this mean said 2 year old is trying to tell mommy something?? Especially since mom was in no way trying to push potty training (hasn't even mentioned or attempted anything of the sort) & basically was planning on having little sister here for a bit before any "big boy" changes of the sort were attempted! Does this mean that mom yet again gets to be reminded that she's really not in charge of the household . . . hmmm.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect him in undies tomorrow or anything, actually I don't even plan on buying them yet, he got praise & a happy meal, hopefully that will suffice. Yet I just wonder if this little mans mom doesn't push this, if he's going to try to do it on his own anyway!! Hmmm . . .

Think . . .

PINK!
We just found out that baby #2 is a girl!
We're very excited for our new little sweetheart to join our family in March!

Halloween

Pinocchio! Our little man LOVED being in his costume this year! He even kept the hat on for most of the night. We weren't sure if people would know who he was, but it was a fun weekend & not too cold for his "not so wintry weather" costume.

Off to the ward party! Halloween bag & stake directory in hand, what more do you need?

The family, pre-trick-or-treating.

All the Ulrich cousins on Halloween, pirates on your left & soccer players on your right. Always a hilarious attempt to get them all looking at the camera, smiling we don't even go there, we just try to see all the faces! Troy was a bit more interested in the toys he was stowing in his bag before it was filled with candy.

Bringing up the rear with the trick-or-treating gang.

The chaos at the doorstep, this one had a talking something that Troy wasn't digging!

Just our cute boy, I guess technically in Halloween colors right! He's growing so fast, almost 2!

Update

19 Weeks!

I'm not very good about keeping up on/documenting my pregnancy so here's an attempt, we'll see how it goes. I'm actually exactly 19 weeks here, in my mind officially "showing" not just looking like I have some extra around the middle.

An actual smile, teeth included. He's a rare "smiler" when it's asked of him, but there are occasional documented glimpses.

Riding with daddy on "Small World". He loved singing & clapping along with this ride at D-land. His 1st official big boy trip, where he could interact & remember the rides names, etc.

The merry-go-round, a favorite of course, but he was all business. No smiles, no letting go before-during-or after the ride.

We got to visit cousins in Utah for little Claire's blessing, he loves babies! I'm pretty sure that's a good thing for his lil bro. or sis., but time will tell. :)

Giving hugs to Jake, he's loved saying his name constantly & talking to him on the phone since the trip!

More love for his cousins, he had a great time playing & interacting

with them on their own turf.

Being a silly boy in the closet & his attempt at smiling while saying "cheese".

So time has flown by lately! I started feeling like an actual person again around 15 weeks, breaking through the fog of the 1st trimester. But it still seems like a whirlwind since. Troy is our happy little talker. We've joked that he's definitely not our "show off" baby, in that he would never perform something new (smile, crawl, walk, talk, etc.) in the moment we'd ask him too, mainly for family. But he sure loves to repeat words now!! He sits at his chair when he's eating & points around the room to all the words he knows. We quiz him on cousins, aunts & uncles names & he'll repeat them back. Most things sound accurate or pretty close, but a few favorites that don't are "merker" aka microwave and "myker" aka uncle Michael. He's getting much better at letting us know what he wants via words, not just pointing & grunting, which has been a good thing . . . usually. For instance when he was in sacrament meeting at church a few weeks back while pointing to the door he kept saying oh so quietly, "outside please, outside". We were not thrilled!! We're having fun adventures in our family & are grateful for our blessings!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

My little sister got engaged yesterday morning!

Congrats sis & Ben, you lucky guy! We can't wait for you to join our family or for May to come. We love you both! Enjoy your "happy engaged Provo" living! :)

Early birthday!

So before I turn the big 3-0 tomorrow, we have some exciting news! Troy is finally joining the ranks of "big brother", YIPPEE! We're very excited for a new little bundle to join our family sometime around mid March, 15th or so. Yes that means I'm barely pregnant, but our lovely little addition has very kindly made itself known since before I could even think pregnant & loves to remind me ALL DAY LONG that he or she is in existence. Much different than with Troy, unfortunately!

I had big plans of announcing it with a cute shirt or something similarly fun, but due to how lovely I was feeling decided I didn't want to "pretend" to feel fine around family anymore & so Mark's idea of "ghetto- paper on the shirt announcement" won out & you have what you see before you. Gotta love the creativity right!

We're excited to be expanding our family & to share our news with all of you!!