Baby's First Goodies

You'd think after just spending a good amount of money more than we should have on Christmas, I would be sick of shopping. For toys, that certainly does ring true. I'd be fine to never see another Barbie or Bratz doll again for a long while. But when I opened up my email today from Baby Center and there in bright red font sat a coupon for a sale AND free shipping, I couldn't stop myself. Really, I was just going to browse. At first. And then I found myself filling my shopping cart. And emptying it. And filling it with a little less the second time. Then removing a few other items. And then I had to do it. I couldn't resist. I hit the "complete my order" button.

And our little boy-to-be has his first items on the way!

First I bought a First Years Close and Secure Sleeper. This bad boy is the size of a standard pillow and allows for the baby to sleep in bed with us safely. I inevitably end up co-sleeping for the first little bit and I have coveted this little sleeper for awhile. It will finally be here for this little guy!

Secondly, these SwaddleMe blankets seem to be making a huge splash in the land of Babyville. I thought I'd give it a try, too. (At first I had three in my basket but decided I should probably try it out before I stocked up).


And last but not least, baby has his very first little outfit of his own! Since James was so big at birth, he skipped right over the teeny tiny newborn stuff, so I really don't have much of that at all for this little guy (who will certainly NOT be weighing in at 11 pounds!) So, with much joy, I added this little Carter's sleeper to my order.

I'm not sure what it is, but there is something about buying the first items for the baby that make it seem so real--like he really is on his way! Today that's a great feeling. :)

Ally's Baptism

Ally was baptized today! It was such a neat program. She was baptized alongside another little girl, so we didn't have the whole program to ourselves, but it was still wonderful. Joel's mom gave a nice talk about baptism and the other little girl's grandmother gave a talk about receiving the Holy Ghost. The talks were perfect, the baptisms were beautiful, and little Allyson was just glowing all day long. It's always such a neat thing to witness. I hope she remembers this day with warm feelings for the rest of her life.

Here she is just before the baptism, with one proud Daddy. :)

Oh, and we also broke the news to Joel's family about the sex of the baby. We had debated whether or not to keep it a surprise for them (rather, to torture his mom ;) ), but Savannah spilled the beans. Everyone is excited and there was a good half an hour discussion about boy names. I think they rattled off every single "J" name in exsistence, and possibly made up some of their own. One of my favorite things about being pregnant is the regular naming pow-wow that goes on around the dinner table with Joel's family. They come up with all sorts of names and it's always a lot of fun.

First Snow!

Today was the first time it snowed a substantial amount this winter in our neck of the woods. And it was also the first time James was able to experience the joy of playing in the snow. He loved it!

Here he is, all bundled up and ready to go outside:

Checking the snow out, for the first time:

Cute picture:

And some pictures of the other kiddos enjoying the weather, for good measure:

Peeking.

My pregnancy is going well, which I'm happy to report. I'm already halfway there! I can hardly believe it. I had my ultrasound last week and all looks well with the baby. We decided not to find out the gender, although Joel was pretty certain he saw little boy parts. But the u/s tech did not tell us one way or the other, so we were left with still a bit of uncertainty. That's what we wanted this time. A surprise.

And then I went to my doctor appointment today.

He looks over my chart, which contained the u/s results from last week, and says, "Ah, it's a boy baby, huh?" Couple that with the big BOY sex symbol on the front of my chart, and I suppose that leaves no more question. So Joel's suspicion was correct...we are indeed having another little boy!

How many people do you know who actually do not want to find out the sex of their baby, but do so anyway without even trying whatsoever? Usually it is opposite--someone is dying to know the gender, but for whatever reason the baby does not cooperate and they are unable to find out. Leave it to me to be the oddball.

And here the little man is...


Isn't he wonderful? I am over the moon about having another boy. I am thrilled that James will have a little companion to grow up with. I worried that another girl would have felt left out with how close Allyson and Savannah are. But, really, as long as the baby is healthy (and all things point to good with the u/s and bloodwork so far), then that is truly all that matters. We are so blessed. SO blessed.

New Year, New Goals

*~*~*~*Happy New Year!*~*~*~*

I'm not one to make New Year's Resolutions. You know the saying, "resolutions are made to be broken"? Well, yeah, they were talking about me. I used to, once upon a time, make big, lofty resolutions only to find myself breaking them within a month or two...so instead of setting myself up for failure, I try to set smaller, attainable goals. And one of my goals for this coming year is to journal a bit more regularly. Hey, blogging counts as journaling, right? Right.

So, CHEERS! May 2007 be the best year yet.