Halloween, 1st snow, and a surprise.....

Hi all! It's been a long time since my last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! Let me fill you in....
We celebrated Halloween with a week full of activities. 1st up was the annual parade in our community. It only starts a few blocks from our house, so we were able to walk to our watching post and be some of the first people to see the parade from the beginning. It all worked out well, the weather was great, and we were able to be home in time for Ursi's bedtime too. I think she enjoyed herself...she absolutely loves anything that involves balloons and the many firetrucks with flashing lights were a big hit as well. She was a little unsure of all of the kids in costumes, but the fact that they threw out candy to everyone, made it ok :)
Next up, was the Halloween party at the community center. (Our boro did away with trick or treat last year) So, we went to the party and Ursula got to see McGruff the Crime Dog and the Dare Lion in person (not sure what she thought about them) but she did really well and again, collected a bag full of candy. A few days later was trick or treat night in Steve's parents' neighborhood, so we went over to let Urs put all of her "dih, dih, dih" (that's trick or treat to you and me) practice to good use. It only took her about 2 houses or so to catch on, and after that, she was diving into the candy dishes like nobody's business! It was like she knew exactly what she was looking for in there, even though she's never had a piece of candy in her life! It was cute though, she had a little bag that came with her costume that held about 2 pieces of candy, so I had to keep emptying them into a bigger bucket, which after the first screaming tantrum, had to be done secretly without her knowledge :) We all had a fun time and can't wait to do it again next year!
A few weeks later, we celebrated our 6th anniversary and 1st family day. When Ursula gets older, we are going to let her choose what we do on that day, but this year, we combined with Gammie's birthday and went over to their house for dinner and just all spent time together enjoying our newest family member! It was a very nice day for everyone.
So here are some new things that Ursula is doing now....she can now climb onto "big people" furniture all by herself, of which she is so proud :) she is saying tons more things, some of her favorites include: Paw Paw, bowl, bone (for the dog's bone), spoon, milk/drink (both the same word), book, pillow, star, didee, jingle(for earrings), that, and dwarf. I'll explain the last one...she has the 7 dwarfs from Snow White, that I got in Disney a few years back and right now they are her favorite toys. She actually calls them "ghoul" or something that sounds like that, but we know she really means dwarf. I know, she has a very random vocabulary, but we are able to understand a lot of what she is saying on a daily basis.
She has become very independent, preferring to feed herself, and complete tasks without any help, even if she needs it. She is also turning into a perfectionist in that, when she's putting things away, they need to be in the exact spot and things need to all face the same direction, it's cute to watch her get it "just right" :)
She loves all of her four-legged buddies and can say 4 of their 6 names. You can see a couple of pics below with her and her favorite kitty. He actually stayed still for a couple of hugs, usually she runs toward him yelling his name, which sends him quickly bolting from his comfy spot.
She is still a dancing fanatic and is not too proud to bust a move in the middle of a store, a restaurant, the car, well, anywhere for that matter. She is now accompanying that with song, for if you ask her to sing a song, she will belt out the newest "La la la la" or "rum pa pum pum" that comes to her mind. Obviously, we have started listening to the Christmas music here in our house :)
Another thing she likes to do right now is mimic people, and this can occur anywhere at any time as well. The other day I was in Target and there was a lady in the aisle across from us obviously suffering through a bad cold....she was looking for medicine and coughing like crazy. Of course, you and I would try not to pay attention and feel bad for her knowing how awful it is to have to go out for medicine when you feel so horrible. Yeah, not my daughter. She completely turned around in the cart so she could see the lady, and started doing her fake coughing. She didn't do it quietly either, no, it was loud and she was not stopping. I had to go to another lane and come back later. Pretty embarrassing. She does this too in places with unhappy children. She'll hear a kid either crying or really throwing a fit, and feel compelled to mimic their every sound. Again, another embarrassing situation, especially if the parents are right beside you trying to calm their child down.
We are getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving together on Thursday and that weekend we are going to decorate for Christmas and hopefully go to HersheyPark Christmas Candylane. Urs should be able to get her first glimpse of Santa, she can tell you that he says "ho,ho,ho" although she sounds more like Mrs Claus since she always says it with a very high pitched voice :) Then we'll move on to getting ready for our 1st Christmas with her home. I'm so excited to experience everything with her, as this will be the 1st one she'll really enjoy (she was only 7 months old last year).
She has her 18 month check-up on Dec 3rd and I can't wait to see how much she's grown. I know for certain she has gotten taller, and she might have gained a little weight, but she's still pretty thin. She is finally starting to fit into 12 month pants (they fit even better with a onesie underneath :) But she is very healthy and eats great so we are not concerned. She is finally getting her 1st year molars and so far, they're coming in without problems. She now has 12 teeth and her hair is getting longer, so she just looks like such a big girl now!
See below for new pics and I promise I'll update soon!!!!!

Getting ready for the party....

Taking it all in...

McGruff the Crime Dog & The Dare Lion
My first real house to trick or treat at (even if it is Gammie's house)
What Daddy and I do for fun....
My first snow experience (wasn't too impressed)







Oh, I guess I forgot to say what the surprise in the title is....well, I'll let Ursula tell you...

Hi everyone...I'm so excited to say.....That's right....our little Ursula isn't going to be the littlest one in our house for much longer....I'm PREGNANT! Can you believe it???? I know Steve and I couldn't :) I'll go into more details later, but to satisfy everyone's curiosity, next week I will be into my 4th month and my projected due date is May 22nd, exactly 1 week before Ursula's 2nd birthday! So far, I've had 4 ultrasounds, many blood tests, and a not-so-pleasant 1st trimester, but I've made it through with no problems and everything is going well. I have another prenatal appointment in about 2 1/2 weeks and on January 5th we get to find out whether we're going to have a boy or a girl (not that we're telling anyone though) so I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as the baby grows. Talk to you all soon!!!!!!