"Baby News...."

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!! 
We are beyond excited that we will be welcoming a daughter into our family in January.  We were honestly alittle shocked, as we thought for sure it was another boy.  My pregnancies have been identical, and I am carrying her the exact same way as I did Elijah Brooks.  Guess that just goes to show you can't go by how you feel or look during pregnancy, unlike what every book says!  We are so very happy, honored, humbled, and grateful for our precious daughter's life.  We have named her, but you will have to wait until January to find that out!  Elijah Brooks is very excited about meeting his new sister and keeps asking if he can "touch her tiny little feet" - although according to the ultrasound, there is nothing tiny about her feet!!  He enjoys talking to her with his ear pressed up against my tummy and likes to feel her kick - although, I am not sure he has actually felt her yet.  I have felt her plenty - she is quite active - but I don't think he is patient enough to wait for the kick. But, he thinks he has, and maybe he has. He has a book about a turtle who just welcomed a baby sister home and he has been enjoying reading it.  Although last night, when I asked him what he was going to say to her when he meets her for the first time, his response was, "I am going to roar at her"!!  Great.  We had a little talk about using a gentle voice - I admit, I had to laugh inside when he said it because he just had that "twinkle" in his eye when he said it.  I know that look, and I know he is just trying to get a rise out of me.  We are so very excited to see life from the other angle - a son AND a daughter.  I know I am "talking alot", but honestly, I am pretty speechless about it all.  I just never dreamed that God would bless me in such a way that He would 1. Allow me to marry the most Godly man I have ever met  2. To be a mommy to one little angel in Heaven  3. To be a mommy to one amazing, and oh so joyful, son, and 4. Now to be a mommy to a precious daughter. 

It's almost overwhelming to think of how we have been blessed. My heart is so full of joy, humility, and thankfulness this evening. 

Thank you GOD for my dear family. 

"Small Head, Big Head"???

Elijah Brooks found my sun visor last night and insisted on wearing it as we took our nightly family stroll around the neighborhood after dinner. I either have a tiny head (which has been said of me), or EB has a large head (which has been said of him too), because my sun visor fit my 2 year old perfectly.  Oh well, who cares about the size of a head (except during delivery, she says from experience)!  The only thing that matters here is he was cute as a button wearing it last night.  He said, "Mommy, it has an 'AmeriCLAN flag' on it. 

"Just a few pictures"

I have a big ole', long post that I am currently working on - mainly just milestones of Elijah Brooks and pregnancy updates so that I can remember them. I will post it as soon as I am finished, but for now, here are a few recent pictures.

We went to "toddler roll around" time at a local, indoor roller-skating rink. Basically, he just gets to ride his big wheel as fast as he can around a large skating rink under a disco ball, blinking lights, and music - Heaven for a little boy for sure.

He was supposed to sit under one of the "lucky lights" during a game (if you can call it that), and would you believe he won! He had no clue what had just happened, but I was pretty excited for him. Although, he was much more excited about the "prize" that he won - a sour gummy lizard. YUMMY!

Making Daddy a "Welcome Home" sign when he arrived back from Haiti.

Having a big time in the sprinkler!  I feel quite certain he was roaring like a lion in this picture! 

Of course, dumping whatever he can find out of his dumptruck.

We moved him to his big boy bed last weekend.  He LOVES it! His room is still very much a work in progress, but we at least have his bed set up.  The picture on his wall is the picture I had painted when he was born to match his crib bedding. It's such a precious picture with a beautiful verse of scripture on it just for him, so I really don't want it to go too far. I might just hang it in a different place in his room. The framed music above his headboard will stay right where it is. It is an original song that my Dad (E-Daddy), wrote for him when he was born. It holds a very special place in my heart, and it will for Elijah Brooks one day too. He has written a song for each of the grandchildren and had them framed. Dad, get your creative juices going for the new baby!! I am currently working on a project of "antiquing" pictures of very old tractors that I took pictures of in the country and will work on getting those in frames probably on the wall where that painting is hanging now. I gave him a choice of what he might want on his walls and he chose tractors - which was no surprise to me.  He helped me find the tractors in the country to take pictures of, so it has been a fun project that he was able to take part in.  I will post pictures of the final project when I am finished.

Clearly, he loves it!  I am pretty sure you can see his tonsils in this picture :)

Ahhhh - the innocence. Love his sweet, folded hands.

And the "pensive" look.

At age 2 1/2, he is in the biggest size of these precious "john john's"!  I am going to get as much wear out of them as I can before he completely outgrows them, which won't be long.  My TALL boy, with a size 11 sandal on his foot!

He managed to muster up one more adorable smile after this brief "photo shoot" before church on Sunday. Thank you Elijah Brooks!  One day, you will be glad...., or at least your wife will be glad!!

"9 years...."

Yesterday, Jay and I celebrated 9 years of marriage.  9 years.  That is so hard to believe. We met and started dating 4 years prior, so really, we were kind of celebrating 13 years.  From the last several posts, you have probably been able to tell that I have been missing my husband pretty badly recently and we have not have much time together...., you know, the kind of time where you actually sit down, look into each other's eyes and really communicate. There is such a difference in, "Hey Babe, how was your day"? and, "okay, really, tell me what's going on"?  Well, Jay and my sweet Dad must have pulled some serious strings to get us 24 hours in the nicest hotel downtown and in the nicest room in the entire hotel - not kidding.  I felt kind of guilty staying there, and might have even gotten "lost" in the enormous bathroom. I am not the best person when it comes to taking care of myself, and now that I am a mom, with another one on the way, it is becoming more and more difficult to think about me and take care of me.

Yesterday, on our anniversary, I spent 3 hours at the Spa complete with 1 hour of sitting in the "quiet room" (LOVE THAT), 1 hour of a prenatal massage, and 1 hour of a pedicure. I might have gone back to the "quiet room" (that is really it's name), and spent another 30 minutes there :)  Jay asked if I wanted to take a book with me to which I replied that I did not want to read or think about anything. I wanted to turn off my brain and literally not think for 3 hours - and I did just that.

Afterwards, we had dinner at a wonderful restaurant in town and stayed there well over 2 hours just talking and catching up on life.  Had a wonderful and relaxing night of sleep, "slept in" this morning (well, to 7:15, but to me nowadays that's "sleeping in"), ate breakfast, and then spent an hour at the gym together. Before children, we were at the gym everyday together and that was always a special time for us. We haven't had a gym membership since we had Elijah Brooks (nor the time really), so we just walk/run in the neighborhood now..., but it's usually me in the early mornings pushing a stroller, and Jay in the evenings running.  It was really nice to be able to do something that we enjoy together again.  We ran out of time to sit by the pool, which we wished we had been able to do, but Jay had a meeting at church at 11:30 he had to be back for. 

I am so thankful for Jay and my parents who made this possible for us!  Lord only knows, y'all of all people know how much our batteries needed to be "recharged".  This was such a treat for us, as this kind of thing does not happen very often. Thank you so much for taking such wonderful care of Elijah Brooks for us.  He loved every second of getting to spend the night at his special Bebe and E-Daddy's house.

I am a blessed woman indeed - blessed far beyond anything I ever deserved, dreamed or imagined when God gave me the gift of Jay as my husband and companion for life.

Jay, I love you more than I could ever tell or show you. Happy Anniversary!!