Wednesday, November 9, 2011

grow baby grow

 20 weeks
 26 weeks
27 weeks

As of tomorrow, we will have 11 weeks to go.  With the holidays, I am sure that it will fly.  I am getting nervous!  I feel like I have a lot to do in a little amount of time, but all of that is superseded by the fact that I can't wait to meet this little guy!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

it's a

BOY!

We went to the ultrasound Friday afternoon and we were delighted with the news that Jerek will be having a younger brother to play with!  Everything is "perfect" according to the tech and I am right on schedule.  We are so thankful for this new little addition to our family.

My thoughts have switched gears.  Instead of laying awake at night and worrying about if this baby will have 3 eyes or a finger coming out of it's forehead (I'm not the only one that worries about this stuff, right?) I now wonder if HE will have my eyes or the same swirly cow-lick on the top of his head, like Jerek does.  Will he have my green eyes or brown like Daddy's?

I can't wait to meet him!

Also on Friday, we had Jerek's best buddy spend the night.  The first over-nighter we have had.  Truth be told it was a little crazy.  The weather was nasty, cold, wet fall weather which meant the boys had played inside all day.  Being stuck inside = CRAZINESS.

We packed them up in the car and drove over to a local church with a play-land.  We had it to ourselves and the boys ran around and played and had a great time.  No hitting each other over the head, no throwing toys, no tears.  It was almost blissful.

The next morning we whipped up pancakes for breakfast and watched the boys entertain themselves:


I promise, we used light syrup!
They then ran around in circles, with the guitars, for a half hour.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

misty

Jerek started preschool on Monday.  It was a day that I almost dreaded.  Not because I would be teary that my "baby" was growing up, or because I would be leaving him in the care of adults that knew nothing about him (yet).

I was scared for him.  My sweet little boy is T E R R I F I E D of other children he doesn't know.

He's fine with adults, almost too ok with adults he doesn't know.  There is a small part of me that sometimes questions why he hasn't been scooped up and taken yet.  He has no problem talking to adults at the park, the gas station, the store.  He will leave my side to talk to someone about anything.  It took us 15 minutes to pay for my coffee and his kid drink at the gas station today, because he wouldn't quit talking to the attendant.  At least she thought he was cute!

He is also fine with the other kids at church.  I assume this is because the poor kid has been at almost every service, every Sunday, for the majority of his life.  He knows everyone and everyone's kids.  He has also gone from an infant to a busy 4 year old with the same base group of children for those 4 1/2 years.  PLUS his best buddy is one of the other PK's.  So, church kids, they are safe kids for him to play with, talk with, run around screaming in the worship center with (which we are trying to curb, I promise!).

But, children he doesn't know?  He avoids them like the plague.  We take him to McDonald's to play (eww, gross, I know, it builds his immunity, right?) and he REFUSES to play if there are other kids.  Even a cute little toddling 2 year old that can't even get past the second step causes my son to stop in his tracks, turn around, and pleasantly eat his french fries instead of playing.  Take him to the playground, same thing.  It doesn't matter where we go, he freezes up and just watches.

So, Dad and I knew that preschool was a MUST for his social development.  Even though our budget is tight (like counting pennies sometimes) and I have an early ed. degree, it was going to be worth the money and my sanity to make him go.

Open house went well.  He was very shy, refused to talk with, play with, or interact with the few other kids that were there, but he warmed up to the teacher.  We decided that was a big deal.  At least the teacher saw and understood what he was like and did a good job at trying to get him to do activities at the same table as the other children.  We left, got icecream, and Jer said that he was excited and thought he would have fun.  PHEW, wipe the brow, at least he is excited.

Monday morning, Jerek came running out of his room, "WHEN DO I GO TO SCHOOL!!"
"After lunch, buddy."
9 a.m. "Mommy, can we eat lunch?"  "What?!?  Why?"  "'Cause I wanna go to school!"

I picked him up that afternoon and he could barely sit still.
He had had fun.
He loved it.
He made a new friend and played with her on the playground.
Can he go tomorrow?

I didn't cry.  He didn't cry.

It was a good first day for the first ever day of school!


Monday, August 22, 2011

a peanut for the lil peanut

My dear friend's daughter celebrated her first birthday this weekend.  She is a teeny-tiny little ray of sunshine and because of her petite-ness they all call her "lil peanut".  In loo of her nick-name, they themed her birthday "Circus" and had peanuts, old circus posters, red and white stripes hanging from the ceiling to look like a circus tent, and momma even made her a little black top hat!  She had found a picture of  a knit peanut "doll" and asked if I could make one for a present for lil birthday girl.  Now, we both searched for a pattern, but neither of us could find one.  So, I had to improvise and make it up as I went!  I personally loved how it turned out, super cute and a little whimsy.




To my dear peanut,
I love you so much sweet baby!
And although you are not really mine, I love you like you are.
Life would be less without you and I am so thankful that God has give you to us!
Love,
Me

Thursday, August 18, 2011

sauder's village

My friend (see her blog here) had free tickets to use for Sauder's Village, but she needed 4 adults to go to use them!  So, we got a couple of us mommas around and all 6 of our boys and treked out for the morning.  We all had a good time and it was so nice to have the boys play and the moms talk.  What a great day of fellowship and fun!


The boys had a great time playing in the kid's house!











They feared the fake cow at first, but then decided milking it was pretty fun!



Lots of fun animals to see and pet!




Miss Lynn showed the boys where all the frogs were in the pond.  
This may have been their favorite spot!





Train Ride!



He held my hand like this the entire ride
 sigh
 I love my boy!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

imagination station 8.16.11

 Jer has been asking to go to the Imagination Station for a couple weeks now.  As much as I love taking him, it is never near as fun (or intimidating) for Jer if he goes with other kids to play with.  So, we recruited Jer's besties to go with us this time and they had a blast!


Working the robot

 flinging things on the turntable

 Even the little one got in on the fun!




 My favorite fire fighters!

 
I just love all these kiddos!  Thanks for coming with us!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

drawing

I had to post this.  It's a picture my lil J-man drew last week.  It is of himself and his "girlfriend" Astrid from the "How to Train Your Dragon" movie.  He loves her so much. . . .


That's him on the left side, holding her hand.  Astrid is in the middle.  Now the weird things coming off her torso, towards the bottom, are the leather pieces of her skirt and the spikes (see below).  The two round things at the bottom of Astrid are her feet (I originally thought he had her anatomy wrong, whoops!)



Friday, July 22, 2011

thirty one national conference

July 13-16th, Columbus, OH

My ride canceled on me the week before conference and so I thought maybe God was telling me to stay home.  We were having difficulties figuring out a babysitting kid-sitting (Jerek says he is no longer baby and does not need to be babysat) schedule.

My director called me with a ride that wasn't leaving until late Thursday morning, kid-sitters fell into place, and I got my bag packed the night before.

Worship with Scott Monroe


 My Group

Took a class with this lady, she is awesome!





The new product line.













Next year conference is in Atlanta, I plan on going as a director!

Oh, and here is my 11 week picture, taken at conference: