May- My first official Mother’s Day! Ian tried to make me a heart with a hand print in it. His hand didn’t cooperate too well, but I still love it.

Stephen started biking after I won him a free bike in an insurance drawing. He had been wanting to start for a long time, so it was a great win!

June - Stephen & I took our first real vacation together since our Honeymoon. We went to Vegas (our first time there together) & had a great time even though it was over 100 degrees every day! While we were gone Ian had an extended slumber party with Grandma Lorri, Grandpa John & Reggie where he learned to say his first two-word saying – “Uh Oh”

It was Stephen’s first Father’s Day & Ian’s first trip to the zoo. We went to the Scovill Zoo in Decatur, but it was about 105 degrees out so the trip didn’t last too long. Ian did like petting the (devil) goats for awhile though.

July - Ian’s first birthday!

We picked our first tomatoes from our first family veggie garden in late July. Ian LOVED checking the garden everyday & even knew which ones were ready to pick. Hopefully he gets a better green thumb than me.

August - Our niece Audrey was born.

Ian & I went to Holiday World with my parents, Grandma, Aunt & cousins. Ian rode his first amusement park rides & really liked it. I think he is going to love roller coasters when he grows up – just like mom & dad!

We took a family trip to the Ozarks (courtesy of Jimmy) with a couple from my office & their daughter, Rubye. It was Ian’s first time on a boat – a yacht  – and he seemed to like it a lot. The lake kept putting him to sleep though. He fell asleep every time we took him swimming in it & while riding on a speedboat!

September - Our niece Amara turned 1.

October - Ian had his first haircut – he did really well considering we took him right before nap time.

We took a few trips to Curtis Orchard where Ian rode the ponies & fed the goats. I got the most amazing salsa ever – try the corn salsa from there if you ever get a chance.

Ian was a green dragon for Halloween. He liked his costume so much that he insisted on wearing it to the grocery store that night.

November - Stephen went to Georgia for his best friend Chris’ wedding. It was freakishly cold for Georgia that weekend, so their outdoor wedding had to be moved inside. Otherwise they had a great time.

Thanksgiving with 4 kids under 2.5 years old = ridiculousness. We found out a couple of days later that we are expecting baby #2, but we didn’t tell our families until…

December - We cut down our Christmas tree & Ian was very disturbed to see a tree on top of our car.

Ian behaved wonderfully all day Christmas Eve & Christmas. It was a Christmas miracle! He knew Santa was someone cool, but he didn’t really get why yet. He LOVES the school bus he got at the JJ’s Christmas party, but the best present was probably his new best friend – Bearemy – that Grandpa Gary gave him.

Stephen’s last day at the Herald & Review was December 31. Ian & I are thrilled about this because we actually get to see him during the week now!

January - Ian began staying at home with Stephen on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. He still goes to daycare Tuesdays & Thursdays.

We officially announced Babywatch 2011 after our 1st Dr. appointment. We got to hear the heartbeat so it feels a little more real now. Our due date is currently set at July 31, but we will get an official due date after my ultrasound in March.

I finally got to have a girl’s weekend with two of my college roommates – Jessie & Steph (it was snowed out in December). We stayed up until 3:30 am one night/morning – I’m pretty sure I was in labor the last time I stayed up that late!

Ian has discovered climbing, so we tried changing his crib into a toddler bed. Let’s just say that didn’t go too well. He is back to sleeping in the crib for a while & I am just hoping he doesn’t figure out how to climb out of it.

And that brings you up to now!

–Mallory

I don’t have any major changes planned for Earth Day this year. I’d love to say that we are putting in solar panels and a wind turbine, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

The most important thing that I plan on doing this year is to keep teaching Ian about the outdoors. He loves going outside. It’s fun to keep track of how many things we can find in just our yard when we go out exploring. Green grass. Blue sky. Yellow sun. Brown trees. Yellow dandelions. Purple flowers on the ground. Red flowers in a bush. Bunny rabbit. Puppy dog. Kitty cat. Squirrel. Red bird (cardinal). Brown bird (sparrow, mourning dove). Black bird (starling, robin, grackle, woodpecker). Tiny leaves (honey locust). Prickly needles (pine). Big leaves (maple).

Now we just need to make sure he doesn’t try to put everything he finds in his mouth…

Mallory and I got this washer and dryer from my grandfather’s house when we got married. I don’t have the old manuals in front of me, but I think these appliances are around 15 years old. We can’t complain, though… they worked and the price was right (free).

The pump motor went out on the washer last week, putting a bunch of water out on the kitchen floor. The service man I spoke with said it would cost almost as much to replace the part on this model than to buy a new one. That wasn’t really the answer I wanted to hear, but didn’t surprise me too much.

I had to take a few loads of clothes to the laundromat down the street over the weekend. Normally not the worst thing in the world, but the creepy guy in the corner was paying a little too much attention to me while I was folding Mallory’s clothes. It was odd.

While doing research on new models we became pretty excited about the energy and water efficiency on this combo… I actually think I’m more excited about the new washer and dryer than I really should be.

The delivery guys just left, and this is our new set… not only are they energy efficient, but they play a little song at the end of their cycles. I think I’m going to install a countertop above the set to help with folding, organization, etc.

Who am I kidding? I think I’m going to write “INSTALL LAUNDRY COUNTERTOP” on my to-do list. I’ll get to it eventually.

Mal is away for the weekend on a business trip, but we’re using Skype so she can still see her boys. Ian seemed very confused about Mommy being in the computer, but he’s starting to get the hang of it now.

Hopefully it’s not something we have to use very often for us, but I’m hoping we can use it whenever we can so Ian can see grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, mistresses, etc. The added bonus of using the computer? You can see the baby without fear of being spit-up on…

Actually, in the middle of writing this post Ian and I had a little video-chat with Nathan and Jaci up in the suburbs… here’s their dog, Chief, taking a closer look at the baby in the computer.

Are any of you already on Skype? Look us up… Mal’s screen name is malloryhaas, and I went out on a limb with stephenhaas. If you aren’t already on, it’s free… so you just need a webcam on your computer to chat. Hopefully we’ll be seeing some of you soon.

Sorry that I haven’t posted anything for more than four months… Ian keeps hogging the computer to check his Twitter feed.

Here’s a quick picture of the Haas men hunting for the perfect Christmas tree. I’m not sure if his method was spitting up on the ones he liked or didn’t like, so we just let Mal choose for us.

Ian waits on a bed while dressed in his "going home" outfit Thursday, July 16, 2009, at Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana, Ill.

Ian Paul Haas is seen in the warmer of our room at Provena Covenant Medical Center Wednesday, July 15, 2009, in Urbana, Ill.

Baby MacGyver is still just hanging out for a little while… actually three days late now, which seems like an eternity. I can’t imagine what it feels like for Mal since she’s actually carrying him around.

We went to the doctor for another checkup this morning. The nurse hooked Mal up to the monitor for a while so they could make sure baby was OK. MacGyver seems to be perfect right where he’s at… and with the exception of a nasty rash, Mal is doing great too.

Nothing else to do right now but wait. I’ve tried pushing him out, we’ve taken walks, I’ve tried luring him out with toys and candy… nothing seems to work.

If he still hasn’t come by Thursday morning we have an appointment for Mal to be induced at 6 a.m., but for her sake I hope we don’t have to wait that long…

I’ll update if anything changes…

We’re timing contractions in the living room right now, so I have a pen in my hand and she has a decent writing surface on her belly.

She’s lucky I’m not using my sharpie marker…

Another test of the phone straight to the blog… Our new pool is short enough that mal can wade around and barely has to pull her shorts up.