The Chronicles of Turning 26...ia...

It started with a big smile and a "Happy birthday" from my husband right when I woke up. Then I went out and found this on my doorstep from my sweet friend Amelia. She knows me. I heart Baked Ruffles. And pink. And cookies. And sweet cards.

Then we went out to check out a couple furniture pieces I'd found on Craigslist. Afterwards we went to Chik-fil-a, where Boo Boo decided to dip his grapes in ketchup, because that's normal.

Then we went to Big Lots, where we got our very first EVER vacuum! Can you believe we've never owned a vacuum as a married couple (it's been almost 5 years)!? It's true. The first house we lived in was all wood/ laminate and tile flooring, so I just swept and mopped. Then my sister gave us her old broken one which worked fine for a little while 'til it completely died. Then we used my mom's for a while. Then we used Amelia's for a while. Ha! Now we finally got one. That story was way too long.

This vacuum is $130 at Target; $70 at Big Lots. Tha's whassup.

Then we went and got me a pair of sunglasses! YES! Yep, my birthday gift was $11 at Target. My husband is a lucky man, no? ;)

Then these two surprised us yesterday by saying they were comin down to take us to lunch and partay! It was so nice of them, and we loved their company! We went to the restaurant we went to when we told them Julian's gender when he was just a wee 19 weeks old. :)

Then we took some photos...

Just because he's so cute:

And told some apparently exciting secrets...!

And then, what was just going to be a quick trip to the mall to pick up a cookie cake Stace ordered for me

At first I thought "aw, 'Kimberly' he never calls me that!" but then I realized...it was all about maximizing the icing! haha! I married a smart one! PS: do you like the patriotic, *pink*, white and blue colors in honor of Memorial Day? :D

turned into a spontaneous shopping trip sponsored by the in-laws where I got a new maternity swimsuit, new Boo Boo clothes, and lots of fun new makeup!!! Yay!!!

Then my mama showed up!! It made me feel loved and special:) Also making me feel this way were the phone calls, texts and Facebook posts received from friends and family! What is it about a Facebook birthday post that can just make your day? I don't know, but they just do! :)

She came bearing gifts! I was definitely surprised, but happy to take them! :D (Despite what the look on my face in this pic may say otherwise...this was the only pic of the cute pool bag she gave me with all the beautifully wrapped gifts)

"Hooray!" Gigi! Thank you so much!!! I love you!

After cake and presents we went down to the pool and let the fearless 18-month old swimmer play for a while:) Then Grandmommy & Pop Pop loaded Boo Boo up in their car to play with him in Tallahassee for a couple days. I love you Boo Boo! I know you are having a BLAST!

Then I opened my sweet birthday card from my sweet husband

That really meant a lot to me. I love cards:)

We bought movie tickets via Groupon a few months ago and haven't gotten a chance to use them, so we used them last night and we went to see Something Borrowed! We both liked it...it was really cute! I liked the three main actors a lot, though Stace says he doesn't really like Kate Hudson. I told him the main actor, this guy, is almost as cute as him...almost!

No, there were no big parties, but my birthday was quiet and special because the people who love me told me so. And I love all of them too...so much!

Boo Boo Samwich

This evening, Boo Boo fell out of his mini rocking chair and then it toppled over onto his foot, so he started crying. I picked him up to kiss it, while Dada started doing silly things to make him laugh. Then Stace said "come here!" and held out his arms so Boo Boo would go to him, but Julian said "no!" and snuggled into my arms even more. Then Stace got on the other side and hugged him from that side and we started saying "Boo Boo sandwich!" over and over and he was laughing hysterically! He kept saying "again! again!" and so Stace would say "first you have to say 'Boo Boo Sandwich!'" So he'd say "Say Boo Boo" J: "Boo Boo" S: "Sandwich" J: "Samwich!" And then the crazy Boo Boo sandwich hugs and hysteria would ensue! This went on probably ten times, and then I said "ok! one more time! what do you say?!" and he said "tank you."

There are no pictures of the Boo Boo Sandwich...this will change soon! :) For now, this cute one will have to suffice for this post:)

i love poop.

I received J's one year album in the mail today and it was SO exciting to open! I really love it, and I think it's my most favorite project I've ever worked on. Not necessarily even because of the subject matter-- I'm just really happy with the way it turned out:) Here's a sampling:



One thing I noticed while I worked on his book is that I wish I had posted/documented even more. Here I was, thinking everyone probably gets annoyed with my non-stop Boo Boo posts, and when I went to make his album, I was wishing I had had more details to fill it with. So I am going to try to post more frequently about the things he does so I don't find myself feeling that way with this next album (2nd year) I'm about to start. As for when little girl graces us with her presence, I think I am going to do her posts every month like this girl right here does with her little boy. It seems like a really good plan of attack and a good way to keep up. Some months I didn't hardly have anything at all posted! So sad:(

So here are the things he's up to lately:

• today he finished swimming lessons! His lessons were one-on-one and every morning at 10:30 for 30 minutes for two weeks. I am so amazed at the progress he made from the first day to today.
  
• 
  He went from not kicking, not rolling over, and not wanting to reach up high and grab the wall, to being a kicking and rolling machine and he now thinks that grabbing the wall and pulling himself up is a game! He also learned how to float on his back. He even started paddling with his arms for the last three days. Keeping up and improving his new-found skills will take constant repetitious practice all summer long, for sure, but I am really glad we have a good solid foundation to build on. And may I just say that teaching a baby how to swim is truly an art form? There is a certain finesse to it that I just really need to work on. Ms. Lauren (his wonderful swim teacher who I'm pretty sure he's in love with) had me get in the pool several times to teach me how to do what she was doing, and I tell ya, I may need to practice just as much as him! I get frustrated with myself, but she tells me not to...he doesn't complain, but still, I am just not "Ms. Lauren!" That's for sure!

• We've been teaching Boo Boo how to say prayers for about a month or so now. We say "ok! Let's say a prayer!" And then ask him "do you want to say it?" and he smiles and says "yeay!" (mixture of "yeah" and "yay"). Then we tell him what to say, usually just word by word, and it's so sweet to hear him say the words. We decided we must get this on video ASAP...like tomorrow. A lot of times when we finish and say "amen" he smiles big and says "again!" I think he likes to hear the praise we give him when we're done with the prayer and so he says "again"...or, he's just a super righteous baby...hahaha! jk!...silly boy;)
  
• Tonight at TCBY he was like a little puppy dog begging us for bites of our yogurt. We shared with him until we finished, then he moved onto begging from Amelia. Then he walked over to some strangers who were doing the taste testers and started begging them. Oh boy.
  
• Tonight Daddy was holding him and daddy felt Julian break the wind, directly after which Julian said "pot-tey." This is a milestone! Perhaps the first step towards potty training? Stace and I both agreed on this, saying the first step is admitting that there is a problem! Right? ;)
• Julian LOVES the water! The first thing he says when he wakes up from a nap or in the morning is "Pool! Pool! Pool!" which actually sounds more like "poo! poo! poo!" Once he's there he never wants to leave! A friend of mine who was at the pool with us this week commented that he's just really "in his element" at the pool!

• He pretty much can feed himself now, with minor "hand-holding". Sometimes he'll quit the spoon and just dig his hand into his yogurt, but for the most part, he's really good with feeding himself at his high chair! Of course, he still gets messy!
  
• He still eats anything you put in front of him.
• He points out, on his own, and recognizes several letters, including A, B, C, D, I (which he sometimes calls "1"), O, P, and Z. I need a better ABC puzzle, I tell ya. And I haven't been working on letters with him in the bath lately because his bath toys are split between two tubs and I always forget to grab his letters before I run the water. I need to get back on that.
  
• He runs around the house with a big smile on his face saying "hi mama!" "hi dada!" "hi du-dah!" ("dude" to dada)
• He LOVES to say "HIT. THE. BALL!" and "KICK. THE. BALL!" When he runs he squeals "run!" and oftentimes follows it up with "soccsah!" or "soccser!" He still loves basketballs!
• Tonight Stace says he pointed out a hockey game on TV and said "hockey!" I wasn't there, and I immediately just doubted because neither of us have ever taught him that word...but I've learned my lesson on doubting this kid before. I'm sure he really did say "hockey".
• In books if there are multiples of one thing (like, say eggs or dinosaurs or ducks), he'll point to the biggest one of the bunch and say "BIG! BIG!" I find this so amazing. So perceptive and attentive to details.
• HE LOVES MUSIC. Always has, and I'm sure, always will. (It's in his blood, after all.) When music plays, it's drop everything and dance time. In the car, he simply demands "AGAIN! AGAIN!" which I think we've conditioned him to believe that when he's in his car seat "again" means "turn on some music and turn it UP!" We don't get far from the garage without hearing "AGAIN! AGAIN!" haha:)
• He'd rather be outside than inside any second of the day. We just need to get our lawn mower fixed so we can (mainly, so he can) truly appreciate our new backyard!
  
• He has been loving the Itsy Bitsy Spider song lately! He tries to do the motions with me and doesn't seem to want to quit til he gets them right.
  
• When he says "I love you" it sounds exactly like this: "I love poop." awesome. ;D
• I just asked Stace "help me think of the cute things Boo Boo has been doing lately." He reminded me of the above, and then said: "I don't know how you'd put this into words, but you know how when we're out in public, he'll run up to a big group of people and just stand there and swing his arms and smile?" We both laughed out loud at the thought. Yep. I know how that goes! Stace finished it up with..."it's hilarious:)"

• He is definitely a silly kid and loves to goof off with his friends, whom he affectionately and enthusiastically refers to as "FWIENDS!" but he also plays really well on his own quietly. I think he splits his time between the two. He seems perfectly content just chillin on his own. This reminds me of me. I like to be social, but at the same time, I really enjoy my alone time. It's so neat to see things in your child that you see in yourself...especially when I pretty much attribute entirely the genius part of my baby to his dadda. haha;)
  
• His favorite books right now are Peek-A-Boo books and any books that contain songs, like "Five Little Ducks" or his nursery rhyme book with animals. He points to the bear in it and says "Row, row, row!" because in that book, the bears are the characters in the "Row, row, row your boat" pages.
• Also in that nursery rhyme book for the "Hokey Pokey" song, he'll point to the animals that have hats on and say the name of the animal and then say "hat!" and then he'll point to the animals that don't have hats on and say what they are and say "no hat."
• He is a really good little helper and likes to help mommy "meam up!" or clean up!

• This boy SURE loves his Daddy! It seems all it takes is for him to take one look at him and he'll laugh. Dadda makes him laugh like no other. I am so grateful for these sweet boys in my life<3 :) And I'm so grateful we'll soon be adding a little girl to our little family! Wow!
  

In Case I Haven't Said It Lately...

I really, really...

REALLY love being a mom.

Picture from December 28, 2010

On Being Pregnant:)

A bit of the conversation this morning between Stace and I:

Kim: ...
Stace: Did you see that pregnant woman on the beach this weekend in the bikini?
Kim: yeah...
Stace: see! That was hot!

I love my husband for many-a-reasons, but I am especially grateful for his kind words and reassurances today. I have crossed over TOO SOON from the feeling light and cute & pregnant stage into the feeling fat and gross stage. Since we've been married, he has always told me he thinks pregnant women are "hot" and that makes me feel a little bit better on days like today...we'll see how I feel next week at my doctor's appointment when my midwife will probably cuss at me for gaining so much weight this month! ha! Just kidding! She is amazing and would never do that. Hopefully...

22 weeks. Today I am 23.1 weeks.

I am sorry to start off a post about pregnancy in a bit of a negative tone when I am SO thrilled to be carrying a sweet baby girl inside of me. I feel her WAY more than I did Julian at this point in the pregnancy with him; this is because with J I had an ulterior placenta which made it harder for me to feel his movements in the beginning. It is so amazing to feel her moving around in there, and I love her more each time I do!

Each time I think about getting to hold and snuggle and nourish a newborn again, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I can't believe I will get to do these things again soon with my own little girl! I think Julian is going to be such a sweet big brother. I can't wait to watch them interact. He's known for longer than all of us that he was going to have a "sistoh" as he put it, before we ever knew the gender.

And finally, since this post is about PREGNANCY! I am SOOOOO happy today! Today is just the best day! "Why?" You ask? Because two of my friends who have had a lot of trouble getting pregnant (one had to go through some intense surgery and then another had to endure IVF, among other things) ARE PREGNANT!!! They are both in the safe zone now and can tell people, and I am just beyond thrilled for them. I wanted to cry when I found out about each of them and their sweet blessings. I know they will both be such wonderful mommies and I can't wait to watch their pregnancies unfold and to welcome their babies into the world!

Happy day!

Greetings from Boo Boo

He is the friendliest little guy you ever did see! He loves to walk around the house, the store, the church, anywhere and just smile and wave at every single person he sees. He will say "hello!" or "hi!" in this super cute voice too. Lately he's had some particularly cute greetings:

• Upon seeing daddy bent down on the ground (he was getting something from under the sink), he walked up to his feet and said "hello, feet!"
• When over at my friend's house a couple weeks ago, he went over to her 2 year old daughter, poked her gently in the shoulder and enthusiastically said "hi, friend!"
• Whenever he sees Stace, and ONLY with Stace, he says excitedly "Hey doodah!" ("dude!")
• The other day he was in his swimming lesson with Ms. Lauren, and she had him on his back with her face right above his. After flipping him over in the water from tummy to back, right after his face got to the air and he opened his eyes & looked up at her, he smiled big, reached his hand up and waved and said "hi!"
• Whenever he sees kids, he gets excited and says "FRIENDS!" with a huge smile on his face!
• The other day a friend was over, and Julian and her almost 2 year old daughter were chasing each other around the house and hiding, and then squealing with delight when they'd see each other...it was SO cute! His first ever game of hide and seek, I suppose!
• Every morning when I go into to get him out of his crib (pack-n-play right now, actually), he just has the biggest smile on his face...like he's never been more delighted to see me/ us than he is at that moment. It is the BEST way to start a day!

A couple weeks ago he flung himself on the ground to start a temper tantrum: his first ever attempt to throw himself on the ground. Thankfully it was short lived, and he hasn't done it again since. We'll see how much longer that lasts!
He did start getting fussy last Saturday in front of Grandmommy & Aunt Candace. It seemed that a tantrum was ensuing, then he stopped himself and said "sawwy Mama"...I don't know if he was apologizing for real, or what! But it just looked and sounded as if he had been apologizing for his tantrum-- it was hilarious!

This little boy truly melts my heart. Words can't express how much I love him. It is amazing. I love this quote: “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” -Elizabeth Stone
It's so true. Oh Julian, what did we ever do without you!?

Order Successfully Placed!

Well, I'm just shy of six months past due for publishing this, but I just completed & placed the order for Julian's First Year Album! Here is what the front & back covers will look like (excluding any red that you see):

I did a 13x11 leather bound Heritage Makers album FROM SCRATCH-- I was always the one trumpeting to use templates! It is exactly 100 pages long (including copyright page, which I used every last square inch of to fit pictures from his 1st birthday into:)!

I started it a couple months ago, and I'd work on it late at night in between the packing & moving. I know, it's totally lame that I just started it when I was a consultant for HM, a company all about preserving photos/ memories! I blame it on the fact that HM had become a full time job for me, and I was so busy helping others with their projects, it was hard for me to take the time to do my own. Julian had just turned 3 months old when I started Heritage Makers, and I had JUST completed a huge album of his first 3 months with My Publisher. And then I didn't start another one until a couple months ago! So sad! Even now, when I haven't been an active consultant since December, I am committed to helping 3 past clients finish books and am excited & happy to help (I really enjoy creating with it!), but you can see why I got behind!

I am ready to get the second year album going, so I can be set for Baby Girl's arrival! With her, I am definitely going to do it along & along! Much easier that way:)

In Baby Girl news, her room is all set up! I have yet to do all the wall decor, but it's painted and the bedding is in place. My friend is going to help me sew a valance using the backside of the crib skirt (you never see that part anyway!), and then I can hang it along with the panel curtains. I am so excited every time I look in her room!

In family news, we are loving our new place and are truly thrilled to be here. What a blessing. Everything is pretty much finished, except for Julian's room is completely unfinished! And then all the wall decor that still needs to be hung. And I have a few projects up my sleeve to feminize a little bit, so Baby Girl and I can be better represented in this man cave of ours! :)

Anyway, it's 3:45 AM & I am rambling. Yay that the baby book is complete!!!

Once Upon a Time

This was the face of my baby...(March 2010, 3.5 months old)


And this was his profile...(March 19, 2010: 3.5 months)

And this was his chubbily little body (April 24, 2010: 4.5 months):

Reminiscing. Looking through his baby book and newborn pictures. I'm so grateful for photos & journaling that help us remember, and bring everything right back fresh to our minds.

Julian's FIRST Haircut!

Julian had his first haircut on Mother's Day! It was a bittersweet moment because A.) I was so afraid he'd lose his curls with his first cut because that's what I kept hearing. B.) Well, it's a milestone. C.) Sweet in that I was hoping that giving him a haircut would make random people stop saying "SHE's so beautiful!" I took it as a sincere compliment for a long time (pretty baby)...but after a while, it was like, alright folks: not only is he wearing blue, this kid is all boy! And so far, I think it's done the trick! I haven't heard any girl references all week!

So without further adieu, here are a couple before shots:

This look is what I like to call "The Mad Scientist"
An adorably delicious mad scientist, that is.

Catchin some rays and natural highlights on those lovely locks
But alas, it was time to tame the main!


So glad Stace was doing this and not me! He just took the reins and jumped right in. I would have been SO nervous!


AFTER! He still has his curls!!!

It is so tough to get a picture where he's looking at the camera these days!

Behind...


I'm very pleased with how it turned out!

Changing Bodies...

This picture was taken by our friend Amelia at the beach yesterday. When I saw it I laughed to myself: there I am, in my own little world (as usual) examining my ever growing belly, and there Stace is...my hunk a burnin love with his ever growing musculos!

Can you just tell me one thing? Why must my hubbsters look fitter and fitter everyday while I get fatter and fatter everyday!? laaame. just kidding;) But seriously.

MOVING ON...

Well, folks: life goes by so fast and I find that when I don't post often enough, I get so behind in my blogging about the things I want to journal and document. I haven't posted about Easter yet...and what a delightful Easter it was! I will catch up when I don't have my life in boxes waiting to be unpacked, but for now, I'll start with where we're at today....

We moved into our new home yesterday and I'm so excited about it! Our new place has a fenced in backyard! And a big bathtub (I love baths)! And tile under the kitchen table (as opposed to carpet)! And Stace & I have our own walk in closets! But I think it's so funny/ silly that the thing I might be most excited about is the remote control lights and fans! ha! How many times have I laid in bed with Stace, not wanting to get up to turn the light off? Now I can be as lazy as I've wanted to be all those times! ;D hahaha! But you know, as happy as I am about the house, I think the thing I'm most excited about is the neighborhood. It's just such a striking change from where we just moved from. We took walks yesterday and today to the pool and both times I thought to myself "I can't believe I live here!" I'm truly so excited and grateful that we were able to make this move work.

We have so many people to thank for helping us with our move! Stace's parents and my mom helped us SO much with packing and with Little Boo Boo! He loved to walk around in the moving truck:)

Yesterday on our first walk to the pool area!

He LOVES the pool and the kiddie pool!

He had a BLAST with his daddy letting him reach out for the fountain. When Stace would put him down, he'd reach up to be picked up again and say "AGAIN!" It was a really sweet little memory for me to watch.

Well, I have LOTS more boxes to unpack and take care of, so I should go. But I just wanted to say...yaaaay!