Another Party and A Visit To Aunt Amy and Uncle Eric's House

We had another birthday party for Brody on Sat. morning with all of Ja's family. We had his favorite thing instead of cake (since it was in the morning), Monkey Bread! Yum Yum! This time he knew what to expect when everyone was singing Happy Birthday and knew to blow out his candles when they were all done. It was so cute!
Enjoying the yummy monkey bread, it is lick your fingers good!

opening all of his birthday presents from family! He loved them all and really liked tearing the wrapping paper off of the presents! He also loved a card that sang the itsy bitsy spider..... :) We want to thank everyone for all the wonderful gifts that you gave him!

He got a wonderful police car and has played with it ever since!

Lilly had a lot of fun at his party watching him open his presents and intently watching him play with his fire truck and police car! I think she was taking notes for Christmas and making a list of some fun things she wants. :)

Uncle Jeremy teaching Brody how to hold his new putter that him and Aunt Brandy gave Brody! They also gave him a very cool golf bag so he can be just like them when they go play golf! I know that Ja and him will have a lot of fun on the putting green or in our back yard hitting golf balls. :)

Aunt Heather and Uncle Drew were in town visiting and Brody was very excited to see them! He really liked making things out of play dough with them. Brody had a great Birthday and we are grateful to all of our family's for making it so special!

A VISIT TO AUNT AMY and UNCLE ERIC's HOUSE!

Brody and I went to spend the week with Amy and Eric, while Ja was out of town on business. It was nice to be able to go there and spend a little more time with them. We were able to do a lot of fun things and I know Brody had a blast while we were there! I was a little nervous about the car ride since I have never driven with Brody by myself for a long distance drive. However he did really good and was able to entertain himself by watching some videos, driving on his steering wheel that we have for him, reading some books, and eating lots and lots of snacks!!!! :)

We went to a place called the Wonder Place where it has a lot of different centers that children Brody's age can pretend play with. It was very fun and I know that he would love to go back there! We also did a little shopping and Brody got to try out his new bicycle. My sister and I did some scrapbooking while Brody took his nap and was in bed. I was very grateful for this since I am so far behind and really need to get caught up before our little girl arrives! It is always better to scrapbook with someone else and especially her because she gives me good ideas! Brody and I also ate some very yummy food while we were there!! It was a great little vacation for us!

Pics from the Wonder Place

Thanks Aunt Amy and Uncle Eric for a wonderful week and for helping out with Brody! We had a great time and were sad to come home!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY BRODY!!!

Yesterday Ja and I celebrated Brody's 2nd Birthday with him! Hard to believe that he is 2 years old already! When people say that they grow up so fast, it is really true! We had a great day and I really think he enjoyed himself all day long! When he woke up he had his favorite breakfast of yogurt and homemade cinnamon toast! Then we got ready and went to go do some of his favorite things!
We went to Mardels where they have a big train track for little kids to play with. He LOVED this since it is much bigger then the one we have at home. He could of played with it all day, but it was getting crowded by other little boys who wanted to play as well! :) (I definitely think this will be a great winter activity for us to do)!

Then we got the hook up at Chick fil A during lunch. Ja knows a lot of the managers there since it is right across the street from his work. So when they found out it was Brody's birthday they made a big deal about it! :) He had a blast and loved all the attention! He then when to Nana and Papa's shop while Ja and I headed to the Doctor. (more about that at the bottom) He had a blast playing in his "play house" that Papa made for him out of boxes!

Marmee and Pop's then came over to celebrate his birthday at night. It was funny while we were singing Happy Birthday to him, he kept putting his fingers in the icing and licking them!! :)

" Hurry Dad I want to play with that!"

Marmee reading Brody a scratch and sniff book that they got him. He loves these!!

Reading another new book with Pops.

Here he is drilling some holes in his new tool bench. :) Funny that he knew right what to do with it since he has seen Ja use his drill before. :)

Riding on his new tricycle! This is going to be a lot of fun for him and keep us outside for endless hours I am sure! :)

It was a great day of celebration and we are so thankful that Brody is in our lives to bring us all the joy that he does! :) Happy 2nd Birthday Brody!

News about our little girl---

We went to the specialist yesterday and he told us some very good news! The bubble in her brain is gone and as far as he can tell she does not have any chromosome problems. (which is what they look for when they see the bubble). He was able to answer our questions and tell us that some babies have these and they don't cause any problems and that is what he thinks happened in our case! We are so thankful and know that God has had His hand in this the whole time. We are continually praying for her health and a healthy pregnancy! I am now 23 weeks and as you can see in the picture above am looking like I am pregnant now. :) I am definitely bigger at this point then I was with Brody, but I am thankful that she is growing and I will get as big as I need to for her! So keep growing Baby girl, we can't wait to celebrate your birthday as well!!

Our Trip to Branson

We were able to spend this weekend with my family in Branson! We all had a great time and were able to relax for awhile at my parents camp site, and go to Silver Dollar City. Brody loved being outside and really enjoyed everything we did. It was a great trip for him because he was able to do some new fun things.

This is him ridding his big wheel that my parents have for him. He can not reach the petals yet, but loves to push it along with his feet. He does a great job with it, and loved going around the camp ground with it.
He has a new found love for play dough! We play with it a lot at home and here he is with Pop's playing with it at the camp site.

Taking a walk with the Big Wheel
Eever since my sister and I were little we have been going to Silver Dollar City with my parents. It is a very family friendly place to go and we were glad we were all able to go again this year. It was fun being able to show the things I remember as a child to Brody. However there are a lot of new fun things there to do as well.

Family Pic. :) As you can tell it was a little chilly while we were there in the morning. However it got warmer throughout the day.

Brody and I were not able to ride the big roller coasters however we did pretend. :)

Him and Aunt Amy playing with the big water guns they have at Splash Mountain. They had a lot of fun things for him to do here, a ball pit, a big slide, and many different areas to go and explore.

His favorite part of the whole trip was riding a fun kiddie ride for the first time! He LOVED it!!! He would just sit there and smile because he was having so much fun!! Here he is riding the bugs with Jason, it was so cute because as he would come around he would wave at us and give us a great big smile letting us know that he was really enjoying this!

Here Marmee and Brody are riding the bug ride together!

His favorite ride was the frogs. They would go up and down quickly while going around in a circle. Here he is laughing because he is having so much fun! :)

I think this is a cute picture of him on this ride!! This was Ja and I's favorite part of the trip as well! We loved being able to see him really enjoy something he has never done! It also made us realize how big he is getting, he is going to be two years old this week!!! Where does the time go!

If you know our son at all you know that he has never been a baby or boy that will fall asleep in the stroller, because there is to much to see and he does not want to miss any of it! I can not even remember the last time I saw him asleep in the stroller, however this time he was worn out from all the adventures he had experienced and sleep overcame him in the stroller. :) Here he is sleeping on daddy's shoulder while we were waiting for our trolley to take us to our car. We had a great time not only at Silver Dollar City, but camping with our family! It was a lot of fun being able to relax by the camp fire at night and sharing those memories with our family!

Jason and I decided to take Brody to the fair. We had a lot of fun and even got to do some new things this year. Brody really loved the petting zoo and seeing all the different animals.
He was so happy that a goat came up for him to pet! His face is really cute here! :)

There was something new this year and it was free! It was just for little kids Brody's age and it was about life on a farm. He had to go get eggs from the hens, then milk a cow, pick veggies, and his favorite ride a tractor! Then he turned everything that he got in and got a free prize! We thought it was pretty fun for him!

Here he is not knowing what to do. "What I have to pick veggies, I really just want to go ride the tractor!!"

His favorite!

Then he even got to get on a big tractor! He loved it!

** Jason and I would ask that you join us in prayer for our little girl. We found out that she has a bubble in her brain. Apparently this is not uncommon and happens to 1 in 40 babies during pregnancy. My doctor said not to worry about it and that they usually go away, however she is going to send me to a specialist for him to look at it further. Sometimes they can affect the baby. So we are praying that the Lord would take this out of her brain!! We ask that you would pray for the health of our baby girl as well and would greatly appreciate it! Thank you! **

Baby # 2 is a ........

Wow! I still am in a state of shock! Before we went to the ultrasound Jason asked me if I would be disappointed if it was another boy. I have really been praying about this and asking that the Lord would open my heart to a boy or a girl, and I can honestly say that He did! I answered
Ja's question with an honest no, knowing that it would be great to have another boy like Brody and for Brody to have a brother! The whole time I have been pregnant I have really concentrated more on having a boy. We have looked at boy names (which we could not find one that we both agreed on) looked at boys clothes and thought about what I would do in another boys nursery. So you can guess my shock when the tech at the office said that he could not see anything (with Brody we saw it right away). I told him that I did not believe him and that I needed more proof than that if I was going to think pink!!! So he tried to move the baby so he could get a better look and sure enough he did! You can definitely see in our picture that it is a girl!!! So now I have had to change my thinking from Boy to Girl! As far as we could tell everything looked good, but my doctor will be able to tell me more when I go and see her next week. This is a picture of me at 19 weeks!

So anyone with a boy knows that shopping for boy's clothes is not as exciting as shopping for girls clothes. Cheaper, yes but all you really need for them are play shirts, colored shirts, pants, and jeans. So last night and today we have ventured into the world of girls clothes! Wow it is very different and much bigger than the boys side!!!! I must say that I got a little overwhelmed last night, you not only need a dress, but a sweater to go with the dress, then tights to go with the dress, then bow to match it, shoes that go with it, and that is all for only one outfit! :) However we did find some cute outfits for her and got some good deals! :)

Weekend of fun!

This past weekend we went to visit my sister and brother-in-law to celebrate my sisters birthday! We had a lot of fun with them and as always enjoyed wonderful food and fun around the town!

We were able to go down early on Friday, so we all went to a park and Brody loved driving the cars that they had there. He wanted Aunt Amy to ride with him but soon told her to get out and had her go and drive another car. This park was made for him!!! :)
I have not seen a merry-go-round in a long time! I remember riding on these when we were little kids. He wanted my sister to push him on it, but soon wanted off to go and drive the cars again.

We went to the Peabody hotel to watch the ducks that they have walking through the hotel and into a fountain that they have there. Brody enjoyed watching it. We had a great time while we were there and can't wait to go back!!

We thought this picture was funny!!! Brody had a scab on his elbow that started bleeding, so I had to put a band-aid on it to help stop the bleeding and to keep the Neosporin in place. However Brody does not really like wearing band-aids so we all put one on and he thought that was so funny and cool! :) He wanted ours on our elbow's just like his and throughout the night he would ask to see band-aids. Funny what you will do for your kids!!! :)

Boy or Girl

Weather the baby is a boy or a girl we still don't know. My last doctor's visit was to early to tell and when we find out we want to know for sure if it is a boy or a girl. So we are going to have to wait a couple of weeks until we find out. So I am trying not to think about it and focus on other things so that it does not seem so far away!! :)

Since the weather is so nice outside we have been to the park several times and enjoyed being outside! Here is a picture of Brody and I at the park tonight. I am 17 1/2 weeks pregnant right now. I don't know if you can really tell from this pic that my tummy is getting bigger, but it is! :) I remember not really liking the awkward stage of being pregnant when I was pregnant with Brody. Where no one really knows if you are gaining some weight or pregnant and where none of your normal clothes fit, yet maternity clothes are still too big!! I really don't want to buy a lot of shirts that I will only get to where for a couple of months, but I guess that is the joy of being pregnant, you have a great excuse to go shopping because nothing fits!! :) I have also found that my maternity clothes from Brody are a little out of style now...... and it has only been 2 years since I have worn those!! The shirts are a lot longer these days and I am used to that now, when you put on a shorter shirt it just feels weird! :) So we will find out in a couple weeks whether we are going to be playing with dump trucks and tractors, or dolls and barbies with our next child. Whatever it is we can't wait to find out!!

I had a funny conversation with Brody today which really shows how much he is learning and thinking about. Last night he did not sleep very good and woke up with a bad dream. He was crying and would not tell us what was wrong so by process of elimination we figured out it was a bad dream. ( Fun to do at 2:30 in the am!!) Jason finally got him calmed down and back to sleep after distracting him with many different things. So this morning during breakfast this was our conversation...

Me: Brody did you have a bad dream last night?

Brody: yeah

Me: What was it about?

Brody: ice cream truck ( he does not really like them)

Me: was the ice cream truck in your dream?

Brody: yeah, ice cream truck goes Boo Brody!

Me: (trying not to laugh) next time you need to tell the ice cream truck to stop!

Brody: stop ice cream tuck! stop ice cream truck!

It was a very interesting conversation into the mind of an almost 2 year old!! We then talked about how he needs to tell mommy and daddy if he has a bad dream and let us pray that Jesus will take that bad dream away and make it stop!

I had to share this because I thought it was cute and something I want to remember!

Park Day!!

We went to the park this past week since the weather was so nice outside!! I love being able to go outside and not worry about how hot it is going to be! Brody had a great time here and really enjoyed being able to run around and get out some energy. He is now at the age where he can go up the stairs by himself and I don't have to follow him up because I am afraid that he might fall. We still are right there just in case but he has a lot more freedom now that he is a little older. :)

Jason told him to put his hands up on this slide... like it was a roller coaster.... how funny!
He loved running down the ramp!!

He would jump on this by himself, but really liked it when dad was on it with him! Ja was on vacation this week and Brody was so excited to be able to spend more time with him!! He became a daddy's boy and wanted Ja to do everything. If I was going to go change his diaper, he would say, "Daddy change Brody's diaper". If I was going to brush his teeth, he would say, "Daddy brush Brody's teeth". And today after Sunday School he did not want me to hold him, he ran right to Ja and hugged him! :) It is so cute to see them building the father/son relationship and for Brody to get to spend all day every day for a week with his dad! :)

I love this picture, because you can tell that Brody is really having a good time!! He loved this swing and did not want to get out of it! It reminds me of being on a roller coaster ........ he kept saying, "Brody go higher"! What a little cutie!

** I am now 16 weeks along and am feeling a lot better then I was! I don't have to eat every hour just so I don't get sick!! So that is nice and makes it a little easier chasing this little guy around all day. I just started to feel the baby kick!!!!!! Yeah! I love that! It really makes you realize that their is a baby forming in your tummy! This pregnancy is totally different then my first one. I have not read any books and I feel like I am getting bigger faster, plus I sometimes have to remind myself to sit down and take a load off because I am pregnant! I sometimes try to picture our family with another little person running around, and I just can't picture any other child in our family besides Brody! But I hear that is normal and that you don't realize how much you are going to love your second child, just like you do your first! I hope so because I am a second child!! :) I go to the doctor this week and maybe (fingers crossed) we will get a sneak peek at what it is!!! We shall see! :)**