A Very Girly Ultrasound...

Allow me to set the stage for you before you click "play"...

I had just said giddily to our ultrasound tech (who was amazing in explaining everything she was doing!) "don't tell us the gender until the end of the ultrasound!.......unless it's just completely obvious, because then we might be able to tell on our own." I added that "unless" because if it was obviously a boy, we'd probably be able to tell.

She complied, and then put the machine on my belly and said "well, it's OBVIOUS!" I so wish we had that moment on tape,but Stace hadn't pressed record yet on the video camera....bumma.

Then Stace presses play. I was really confused. She said it was super obvious...but, I didn't see anything. WAIT! So that means...it's a girl?!

I must admit, I'm a little nervous about being able to love another baby as much as I love Boo Boo-- and sometimes I worry that other people will be able to too. And if so, I don't understand how. Will this baby be as wholeheartedly welcomed into the world as Julian was? The worry makes my heart hurt, and the mama lion inside me somehow already feels the need to be protective. But when that heart beat showed up on the screen, and when I heard it, this immense love filled my heart, and tears started streaming down my face. I have a sweet baby girl. I really fell in love at that moment. I can't describe the moment any better than that....and those few words don't do that moment justice.

It's a...

The Easter bunny told Julian he is going to be bringing him a baby sister this year!!!

We are SOOOO excited!!!

16 Months & Counting...literally!

A few days ago we went on a family adventure to our mailbox. As we were getting our mail, Julian started counting the numbers on the mailboxes totally unprompted! We were so excited...we had never taught him numbers with the mailboxes before!

Side Note: the parking spots at our complex are numbered, so when we are outside "woking" he will bend down when we get to a number, point at it, and say what it is.

So when that happened, I said "we should get that on video!" So yesterday seemed as good a day as ever, so right before we went to the mailbox, I grabbed the video camera so we could get his counting action on camera!

Note: he is probably saying "4" when he first sees the "1" because he'd just seen the number "14" parking spot, and he was pointing to the "1" in 14 and saying "1" and then I was trying to show him the next number was "4"...I think I did more harm than good! haha:) But he went back to what he knew:)

PS: I tried to get him to talk a little more at the end, but he just wanted to "rrr-wun" and "wok!"

I've Got a (Gender) Secret!!!

We just found out the gender of our new baby!!! I asked the ultrasound tech not to tell us until the end of the ultrasound, so we could hear all about the health first. But then I added the caveat: "unless it's just completely obvious, because if so, we might be able be able to tell on our own," so she could go ahead and throw it out there.

She put the machine on my belly and immediately said "well, it's OBVIOUS!" Indeed, it was!!! We are so, so, so excited!!!


I want to tell everyone but we are surprising certain family members this weekend...so...I've got to keep mum for a few more days! But I couldn't wait to at least say that we know and we're so excited!!!

Baby is in the 51st percentile for growth, and looks completely healthy! Baby has very long legs (who is this kid?!)! We saw a beautiful spine, four chambers of the heart, the liver, the neck, the mouth and profile. I really fell in love today.

Sweet Potato or Play-doh...?

Does it really make a difference?

wow...

Welp, it's Happened Folks!

As a parent, when you read about feeding your baby and toddler, it seems like every other sentence says "don't overfeed him!" or something along the lines of "your child will grow up to be obese if you teach him to overeat now," and then how likely it is to happen since childhood obesity is such an epidemic in the US of A.

Julian has always had a hearty appetite since the day he was born, and lately the amount of food he's been able to put down has been ultra impressive...and a little disconcerting! For the last few months I've been a little worried that Julian was eating his way into the "obese child" category. But I'd talk to wiser and more experienced parents than I and they'd say "it's just a phase...he's just growing so much right now...soon you won't be able to get him to eat hardly anything!"

Well, I believe it's starting to happen: this week, I noticed a tapering off of the amount of food he's been eating, and an overall decrease in his interest in eating. Anytime I have ever asked him "are you hungry?" or "do you want more food?" it was like stop, drop and roll for him straight to his high chair. He's always been ready for "more food" always...

Well, Friday came and with it the shock of all shocks! I asked him "are you hungry?" as he toddled into the kitchen behind me. And his immediate response "noooooo..." and he carried on his merry way. "What, no?!" I couldn't believe it...especially because it was lunch time. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! That was really weird.

Bye bye adorable baby thighs... :(

Oh, how I've missed him!

This is me with my very snuggly best friend. He has been in Seattle all week for a conference, but his returning flight just touched down in Atlanta!

Boo Boo and I had lots of fun together this week, but we missed "Dada" so much. The days were much longer without him here, and the nights much scarier. The first night he was gone, a baseball bat slept in his place in our bed, with my police-grade mace and a pocket knife (like that would do anything...) slept on my bedside table.

I have always felt safe in his arms. Ever since we first started dating-- almost 9 years ago--, something about being anywhere near him has always made me feel so safe and secure. I miss that. I'm ready for him to come back!

I love you, Buszhey!

This Time Last Year...

I was the owner of the cutest little Buddha baby in Naples, Florida!

J. Charles Update

Yes, Julian has a huge vocabulary. It goes even further than just repeating what people say-- he really knows and labels the things he's talking about with their correct names. So yes, he can pronounce tons of words, but there are a few things he says that are so funny and I want to document them now before he learns the correct way. It's already happened: he always used to call a "banana" a "badabadaba", but now he articulates "ba-na-na" perfectly. :( Gone is that baby word. Side note: I think kids who have trouble pronouncing their r's are the cutest! If I have a child like that, I will never correct him or her. hahaha:)

Here are the words he has the silliest pronunciations for:

Cheerio= "ra-ra-o"

flamingo= "RAH-nu-nu"-- he calls it the same exact thing every time and loves looking at it in Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do Dou Hear?

Basketball= "ba-da-da" (he's said basketball before, but I'm not trying to force it...I'm not ready for "ba-da-da" to go away just yet!)

Belly button= "bee bee bee bee" or "bah bah butt" depending on if he's in a really silly mood (he'll say it the first way in a really high pitched voice and a big smile on his face if he's feeling super silly;)
Up and down= he can say this just fine, but sometimes he says "up-an-nu"...it's like his slang for his usual "up and down" haha:)

He's totally into "airpanes" now and gets SO excited when we look at them in books or sees them in the sky. He's been into helicopters for a little while though, and he's equally as enthused when seeing them and loves to imitate them! He makes a swirling motion with his fingers and a little whooshing sound!

Basketball has a close competitor for his attention now with soccer. He loves to just kick around a ball and say "kict" and "sock-cer" all the time. It's really fun to watch his interests expand and the little world around him grow!

We've been doing ABC's lately in the bathtub and he's totally diggin the song all of a sudden. He sings "ABCD" with me, but then just smiles and dances for the rest of the song. :)

He has a little boo boo on his knee from when he fell and scraped it a few days ago. Today I leaned over and kissed it while changing his diaper, and afterwards he immediately started straining to get his mouth to his knee so he could kiss it too...and he's been doing it all day:)

For some reason he insists on stuffing HUGE bites into his mouth at once, or trying to lodge 500 cheerios into his mouth at once. What in the world?! Why does he have to try and stuff so much in there at once?! He could probably give us all a run for our money in "Chubby bunny"...

Lately he's been saying "again!" after we finish saying our prayer at night. I don't know if he's just super righteous or trying to con me into letting him stay up a little later...hmmm...? ;)

Haha! jk:)

Nobody here believes me...

that Stace is a rockstar! ;D A really big part of our lives for a very long time was Stace's band Lucid Blue. They were really good. I used to love going to his shows and watching everyone rock out while my husband and our friends rocked out with him on stage. I mean, I really loved it! In fact, I miss it a lot. On our first date, Stace and Nathan (other vocalist and our friend) were in the car and they turned on one of their songs and I was in shock..."Stace!!! Is this you?!" I said. Stace is so quiet, you'd never think he'd have such an awesome hidden talent...but he's totally a closet rockstar. He was in this band ever since he was about 14 right up until we left for Gainesville and he played rhythm guitar and was one of two lead vocalists.

Below is a montage I made a couple years ago of Stace's mission photos, set to a song he wrote about his mission. It is him singing the entire time. And if you click on the "Lucid Blue" link above, Stace sings the entire song of "Sometimes a Song is All You Need" and then he and Nathan switch off on the other songs. You can kinda tell which one is him, I think. His voice just sounds like I guess Stace's voice would sound if you heard him sing. But it's still always surprising! hahaha:)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And just, if you're feeling extra enthused and excited to be surprised, lots of people also don't believe me when I tell them that Stace's dad is ALSO in a band! I'll tell you what, this man knows how to party! Trust me, you'll get plenty of SATISFACTION watching the video below of Stace's dad's band (his dad is singing):

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Excited!

We are moving out of the neighborhood I lovingly refer to as the ghetto in a few short weeks, and I'm so excited! Of course, I exaggerate a bit (but only a bit) when referring to these parts as such, but I don't exaggerate when I say that I do not feel incredibly safe here when going outside. Reasons range from a sketchy neighbor, to the drug deals and crimes that happen just a little hop, tiny skip, and wee jump away. What we didn't know when we moved in is that you can tell any native Gainesvillian or, for instance, a cop (like our friend Jake Smith) about where we live and they'll probably give a slight grimace and say "ohhh..." or a friend of mine who's lived in this town since high school said to me a few weeks ago "Kim, I don't feel comfortable with you living there."

I must say, however, that this little town home has been very good to us and it definitely served it's purpose while we've had it. Ever since we moved in, I've really loved the layout overall, and of course the cost of rent! But there are just a few things I'm ready to be rid of, that I am reminded of more and more on a daily basis with an increasingly active toddler toddling around!

What I am looking forward to when we move:

• TILE floor (NOT CARPET) beneath my child's high chair. He could win a medal for food slinging. Tonight we had herb crusted fish. Niiice.
• No stairs for little Boo Boo's to fall down and get boo boo's.
• The washer and dryer being far away from the babies' (plural...whew hoo!) bedrooms. Right now it's right outside his door and the best time to do laundry is when he's sleeping (as much as he LOVES to help)...not conducive because our washer and dryer doors open and shut rather loudly.
• not the cheapest carpet available that looks dirty again the day after Stanley Steemer drops by.
• No more 35 year old bachelor pad/ drunken madness/ beer pong happening right outside my baby's window
• A YARD FOR BOO BOO TO PLAY IN!!! (We have about 5 feet of "yard" now, but it's covered in ciggarrette booties. And the front area for him to do his "woking" in is a parking lot and has broken beer bottles and trash all over it, which Captain Planet (ie: Boo Boo) insists on cleaning up...
• A fenced in yard, at that! Boo Boo told me he wants a sand and water table/ sandbox/ something fun to put back there for him as a housewarming gift...fyi ;D
• One more bedroom for Baby Bumpkin #2!
• a garage!
• a white picket fence in the front
• a SAFE neighborhood, complete with a community pool, playground and tennis courts
• lots of sweet friends from church all around us in said neighborhood!
• Plenty of room for friends and family to come and stay and visit!

Yes, we'll have to watch our "pocket books" a bit more now, but it will be oh so worth it. I am so grateful for a tax return that will be covering the difference in what we pay now and what we'll pay there. I am truly so grateful this is all working out!!! Now, we just have to figure out what we're going to do for the three days of homelessness between when we move out of here and into our new place...duh, duh, duh!

Because I Have Perfectly Beautiful Pictures Just Sitting on My Computer...

and it's been too long since my last post, here is a sampling of some of the most recent photos Julian's Grandmommy has taken of him that I absolutely adore.

(This little outfit wouldn't stay buttoned!)

He wanted to climb into the basket, and then get his read on...

He loves Easter "egguhs!"

And saying "choo choo!!"

My beautiful boy.

Pink or Blue?

I honestly will be truly happy either way: a little boy would mean a little best bud and partner in crime for Julian because they'll be so close in age, and I have looooved being a mommy to a precious little boy! He would most definitely have a ba-da-da partner! (Not that little girls can't play basketball!) A little girl will be someone for him to protect and watch out for, and it would be so fun to play dress up with her and take her to ballet and teach her girly things and have a little pink added to this man cave of mine! ;) So, either way: it's a win-win in my book!

I'm 16 weeks and hoping to know if this pregnancy will be donned with pink or blue! Am I about to find out?

We shall see!

All Julian knows is he's gettin' outta dodge!

He was sooo beyond tired when we met my brother over the weekend for a sneak peek at his little brother or sister! He just wanted to "wok!" (About 5 minutes after this picture was taken, he fell asleep in his Aunt Candace's arms:)

Here are Stace, Chris and I getting a good hour long look at Baby #2! It was sooo awesome! Chris was on call, so after he delivered 3 babies and dealt with a pretty serious bleeding issue from one of the mothers (in the span of about 3 hours) he gave us a good look at our little avocado! (Size of baby at 16 weeks:) My mom and sister-in-law Candace accompanied us. It was really special to have them there. The rest of the clan didn't come because we were going to surprise them in a really fun way later that afternoon, had we been able to determine the gender 100%.

I had drunk at least a gallon of water that day in preparation for the ultrasound (you're supposed to have a full bladder for the gender ultrasound), and I brought some Mountain Dew to give the baby a little bit more incentive to move around for us. I barely drank any of the soda at all, but the baby was seriously movin' and groovin' like crazy! Every time we almost got a clear shot of the gender, little one would move into a very modest position! Chris said he or she was sitting Indian style, which he'd never seen a baby do and he kept calling the baby a "little stinker!" haha:)

First Chris was thinking it was a boy, but then he kept moving the machine around and we definitely saw those "three little lines" (which indicate girl) but weren't sure because there still seemed to be a little somethin, somethin that would indicate a boy...though it could have been the umbilical cord. Or it could have been a little boy part. We just don't know! Though some people do find out at 16 weeks for sure, it is still pretty early. I was hoping we'd be able to find out, but I knew going into it there was a good chance we wouldn't be able to tell.

We also saw him or her sucking his or her thumb and that was quite cute:) All in all, it was really just great to see that *so far* the baby looks healthy and like he or she (trying to avoid the word "it"...lol:) is developing normally. We saw little feet and little toes and a spine and femurs and both hemispheres of the brain. I guess one could think that having just had a baby not too long ago, the novelty of the ultrasound would wear off, but I was utterly amazed all over again. It is truly miraculous how something so intricate could be growing inside a person...babies really are tiny miracles!

Over the weekend I found photos from the day Julian was born I'd never seen before that my mother-in-law had taken. This is one of them. It was so awesome to look through each of them. I may ask her to take photos again and not allow myself to look at them until 16 months later just because it was such a treat to do so this time around!

Sleeping, Sinners, Ant beds, and Easter Egguhs!

Sometimes I think our 16 month old is smarter than me! He is oh-so-observant and points out everything. Here are the things he's been doing lately:

• Last Friday, he was playing with his little toy cow, sheep and pig. He stood them all on their feet one by one, and then laid them each down on their sides, one by one, and then put his finger over his mouth and said "ssshhhh!" (This is what we do when we read the book "Big Red Barn" when the animals are sleeping.) He laid them down and said "shhh!" and put them to sleep:) He then put his cars to sleep, too! That he can transfer that from book, to himself, to another object (his toys) is amazing.
• He was at his Grandmommy and Popster's house last week (who he calls "Ma-Ma-Mee" and "Pop Pop" so cute!) and they had some ant beds in their yard. They only had to tell him once they were called "ant beds" and from then on he kept pointing to the little mounds and saying "ant beds"!
  
• On Saturday he kept looking at us and saying what we all thought was "sinner!" (sounded like "sin-erhh" with a barely pronounced "r" sound) which was kind of funny...and sad...were we getting rebuked by our toddler? :/ Well, today we put his shoes on so we could go outside, and then he kept pointing to my sandals I was about to put on and saying "sinner...sinner...sinner" OH! He was saying "sandal!" I remember last week Stace was teaching him that word while he put his sandals on. I remember lightly thinking "all he needs to know is 'shoes'-- which he does already know that word-- why complicate it by adding a specific type of shoe?" Why oh why did I underestimate my genius boy?

• He has known the color "yellow" for a while now. Whenever we ask him the color of something, he'd say "yellow" ("lellow"), and every once in a while he'd say "green." We'd kept trying to teach him by gently correcting him if he said something red, green or blue was yellow. But it wasn't something he seemed to care to pick up on. Well, today he pointed to the beach ball I painted on a poster and said "beach ball!" and then went and grabbed his beach ball and stood next to the painted one. I asked him "where is the yellow on the beach ball?" and he pointed to it and said "yellow!" then, totally unprompted he pointed to the green and said "green!" while I was still praising him for getting the yellow correct. Because he did it at the same time I was talking, I wasn't sure if I'd heard it right, but thankfully he did it again! "Green!" he said, and then he pointed to the blue and said "blue!" and then he pointed to the red and said "red!" (or, "reduhh!" he really likes to pronunciate the endings of words that end in consonants...) This reminded me that he really is listening and learning all the time, even if we can't tell it exactly right away...which usually we do...that is why we weren't sure if he really cared to know the different colors yet. He did indeed!
  
• Note to self: I really need to make a list of all of his words...
• This boy is ready for Easter! Grandmommy found him all sorts of Easter books and he loves reading them and is obsessed with Easter "eggguh!s"
• Thanks to his Gospel ABC book he got for his birthday and to his Grandmommy, he knows the word "prophet"
• We were a little nervous he had a slight milk allergy, as cows milk and yogurt would give him a little bit of eczema on his cheeks. He's always been able to eat cheese without a problem though. The doctor suggested soy milk & soy yogurt for him, saying he believed J would outgrow the cow's milk issue. So we've been using Silk Omega 3 & DHA soy milk and Stonyfield Soy Baby yogurt for the last four months. I'm happy to say that we re-introduced cows milk last weekend and he's outgrown the allergy! phew!
• He recognizes shapes (not just in his shapes puzzle that he originally learned them on) and will point them out. Ohp! I don't think I ever posted that story on my blog...I only did on Facebook, so here goes:
  On March 3, with his shapes puzzle, totally unprompted he picked up the diamond and said "diamond", then I asked him to point to the circle, triangle, square, oval, and octogan and he got them all right!!! I then asked him to point to the rectangle- he didn't get it right BUT he did SAY "rectangle!" (Note: he has that rectangle down pat now!)