peek-a-boo

PEEK
Peek

A
A

BOO!!
BOO!

It’s one of Charlie’s favorite games these days; although I mostly love it because he rarely covers all of his face when he is hiding but regardless laughs and smiles SO big when you ask “Where’s Charlie?!” So cute!

Oh and as another random fact guess who finally cut two more teeth today! This sweet (although teething and grumpy at times) kiddo. The random part of it all is that he cut two top molars… not the two bottom teeth he is still missing or his canines… is that normal?

“we have two babies”

If you ask my little Jay Bird these days he will joyfully announce that we have TWO babies!!! Which is true, in a sense; we are very excited and blessed to announce that baby number 3 is baking and that we are anxiously and excitedly waiting for his or her arrival in late July or early August. However, let me clarify for a few of you before any rumors start flying… yes we are expecting number 3 but not number 4 just yet, no twins for us ;)  Jay counts both Charlie and baby #3 in his “two babies” count- sweet boy!  Also, to cover a few questions that I know you have (we have already gotten them many times) so you don’t have to go to the trouble of asking…

-Yes, we know what we are doing.

-No, this baby was not a surprise but rather a very exciting planned (well as planned as babies go) event.

-Yes, this does mean we will have 3 kiddos ages 3 1/2 and under.

-Yes, our house will be crazy… crazy full of LOVE!

-No, we did not do anything to try for a girl.  While we would be thrilled to add a little pink to our lives we are just thrilled to add a perfectly happy and healthy little person to our family, regardless of gender.

I think that about covers all of the big ones however if I missed anything feel free to leave a comment below and I will happily answer away :)

We had our 12 week ultrasound today and were thrilled to see that everything is growing and developing perfectly, so without further ado we introduce our little bean.

Just in case you aren’t versed in ultrasound photos the first photo is of baby #3’s profile and it extends past the shoulders and the second photo is of a tiny little hand, fingers and arm (it looks kind of like a little paw- but is incredibly adorable).

baby #3

waving baby #3

grandpa

On Friday we spent the day surrounded by family and friends remembering Jamie’s Grandpa; I never knew that my heart could feel so heavy yet full all at the same time. Throughout the weeks after losing Grandpa, story after story was shared, memories were recounted and the same sentiment was reiterated over and over again about what a wonderful, wonderful man he was. I ache with our human sorrow, finding it still so difficult to believe that he is actually gone and I struggle each time Jay asks if Grandpa is coming over or where Grandpa is. Moving on without him will be so difficult but I can’t help but feel SO richly blessed for the time that we got with him.

ready with Grandpa

laughs at lunch with Charlie

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (New Revised Standard Version, 2 Tim. 4.6-8)

2013

The ball has dropped and the New Year has been rung in and as we begin 2013 I have a hard time with some people’s approach to the past year. I think that it is easy for most people to look at the past year and only remember the difficult times and the things that they so quickly want to get away from.  I think it is difficult, yet so much more rewarding, to point out the things, regardless of how small, that were so wonderful and I can only wish to  relive a million times over…

Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so as we begin 2013 I want to take a moment to remember, remember those cherished moments and times I don’t ever want to forget because I can only hope that is what my children will do when they get to an age where they are able to reflect.

This year…

-My baby boys turned one and two years old.  They are happy, healthy and so FULL of life.

-Jamie and I celebrated 6 years of marriage.  We didn’t have a big celebration or go out for a fancy meal but we did take a moment to acknowledge just how lucky we are to have found each other.

-My baby boy, Charlie, learned to sit on his own, crawl and then walk.  He is exploring his world with each new mile stone and taking it all in.

-Charlie started giving kisses, hugs and started saying Mama and meaning it.  Melt me…

-Jay Bird learned SO much… news songs, new words, colors, shapes, the beginnings of reading.  I could go on but this post just isn’t long enough. He is a sponge and I LOVE that he is continuously soaking it all in.

-Jamie’s job got better and he got to finally work from home once a week consistently which means that we got to have lunch with Grandpa almost every week for the last year; something so simple yet so cherished.

-We watched as dear friends expanded their families and welcomed precious babies into this world.

-We visited with family and friends that we don’t get to see often.

-We welcomed family back home.

-We played.  We played inside with toys, we played outside at the park.  We played uninterrupted with our children for as long as we wanted to.

-We celebrated holidays both big and small with joy and the enthusiasm of our children.

2012 has been a year full of blessings; here’s to 2013 and another year of the same.

sweet moments with my boys

meeting santa

Santa makes the rounds in Winter Park every holiday season; driving down the streets, waving at people, passing out candy and making a few stops along the way to visit with kiddos.  Since one of his stops was just down the road from us we decided to pack up the boys and meet Santa.  Both boys were pretty leery of actually sitting with him and honestly, Jay only did it after getting distracted by Charlie screaming but he did sit with him and told him that he would like some new books for Christmas- LOVE that kiddo!

Here are the photos in all of their glory- the lighting was horrible since we were standing in a dark parking lot but you can get the general idea and it has been documented for posterity’s sake ;)

Jay and Santa

Jay and Santa

Santa’s set up- a john deer tractor with a Rudolph head pulling a trailer with a sleigh attached

Rudolph

Santa's set up

 

we decorated our tree

Last year we didn’t decorate our tree… it toppled over once (because a certain little boy pulled on the lights) before the decorations were on it so we decided to just stick with lights to be safe. This year, after a bunch of deliberation Jamie and I decided that we would decorate our tree. I like having the decorations on it and all of the memories that are coupled with them; however to be on the safe side we only hung non-breakable ornaments. It was the first time that Jay helped decorate the tree and I love that we let him help. He had such a great time looking at and hanging the ornaments and I love how there are places with clumps of ornaments because he hung them so close to each other :)

Here’s photos from the decorating and by the way he does not have to be convinced to wear the holiday headbands at all; he loves them! He did last year too…

Jay offering Daddy a chair because he told him that he couldn’t reach to put the star on

Ruby

On December 1 this little guy crashed at our place. If you aren’t familiar with the Elf on the Shelf (it’s fairly new) check this out for more specific details but here is the gist. Elves are assigned by Santa to children’s houses to watch and see if they are being naughty or nice. Each elf (named by the children/family) is magical and cannot be touched by the children without loosing their magic. Each elf flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa and then shows up in a new spot in the house every morning until Christmas- call it a modern “Santa’s Watching You” with a mascot. Surprisingly, the day before Ruby showed up at our place Jay was playing and asked me if I had met is elf friends- Ruby, Pinks and Sammy. So the name Ruby, which he came up with on his own, kind of just stuck…

Honestly, all of this is a little above Jay’s head. He can’t grasp that Christmas isn’t today and he is a little confused about Santa but that aside, it’s still fun and I can only assume that it will be more fun next year and each year after that. Kids add so much magic to the holidays :)

So here’s a sneak peek at Ruby and the super awesome breakfast that he (yes, Ruby is a dude) brought from the North Pole on his first morning visit…

Charlie REALLY liked his snowmen donuts!

love this next photo because of Charlie’s feet- he’s rubbing them together absent-mindedly