Baby Boy and "Big" Boy...

We had the best ultrasound yesterday! We had to go get baby #2 checked out again because during the first ultrasound they weren't able to see a part of his heart. So, lucky us, we got to go see him again! He was in a great position for us to see him, his heart and everything else looked great (he definitely enjoyed showing off his manhood again), and the ultrasound tech even switched her machine over to 3-D so that we could get some great pictures of him! These are so amazing to me - I was totally tearing up in the ultrasound room! Isn't he just adorable?? I cannot wait to snuggle with him.

That big circle on his forehead is the reflection of the ultrasound or something. In the second picture his little hand is up by his nose. :)

Here's a picture of him in 2-D. This is a side profile shot, and while we were looking at him move around he had a really big yawn! The tech managed to snap a picture of it right at that moment. Can you see his mouth open wide? Thanks, Rocky, for letting me use your scanner to post these!

Here are some pictures of our out-of-the-womb baby... or maybe we should start calling him our "big" boy! It is so difficult to get a good picture of him nowadays because he is always on the move and will not sit still and pose for me! Here's a few times I managed to get some decent ones...


He loves his buddy, Hank...



And he loves this big exercise ball...



It's funny... my friend Andrea has mentioned several times on her blog that when she takes certain pictures of her boys they look so grown-up to her and it makes her a little sad. I totally feel that way about these pictures I just posted - like he's growing up too fast! In some ways he seems so much like my little baby, but then in others he's just like a little boy. Oh, and for the record, I think we may have some words being said in addition to "Mommy"... tractor, water, hot, what's that, dryer, dog, and airplane (although dog and airplane don't sound anything like they should, so maybe they don't count). He still won't say "Daddy", though... poor Phil!

Someone Get This Kid a Helmet...

Dad is the Funniest Guy Ever!!

Lots of great laughing... some even sounds like crying it's so intense!

Most Thoughtful Husband Award

I always knew I had the best husband in the world, but this is yet another instance that confirms it. It's a good thing I didn't put much makeup on today (cleaning - not leaving the house) because I would have just destroyed it with tears!

My cell phone plan has been up for renewal and Phil and I have been trying to decide what to do about new phones. I really want an iPhone, but we don't get good AT&T coverage where we live and it would be pointless to have that phone with bad reception and no internet signal. So we went to the Verizon store to see what phones they have there and I loved the Blackberry Storm. It's not as great as the iPhone, but it's pretty close. I get a good discount on it from Verizon when I renew my contract, but it's still kind of expensive, so we had kind of been going back and forth about whether or not I should get it. I was really trying not to push the issue too much b/c I know we have been trying to be good about our finances, so I thought I would just wait a little while.

Well, the FedEx man just knocked on the door (which I thought was weird, b/c usually they just leave things on the porch) and I went to answer it, sure that he was delivering one of the three packages of presents that we mailed home from Florida. Well, he had a much smaller box and needed my signature and when I examined the box I saw that it was from Verizon! And guess what was inside.... yep, a Blackberry Storm. I swear, Phil is so good to me. Too good, probably. I get unreasonably frustrated with him sometimes b/c he's not really goo-goo ga-ga lovey-dovey like I am, but he just shows his love in different ways - like taking care of me and doing things to make me happy. I need to read that book, The Five Love Languages. What a great man I have!

Christmas Vacation

We had such a wonderful time visiting our families in Florida. Even though the plane rides there and back were basically nightmares (thanks to the airlines - not Jackson), they were totally worth dealing with to get to spend two weeks with family. Here's a recap in pictures of some of the things we did....

We arrived at my parents' house at 3:00 A.M. on Christmas morning after missing several flights and running through airports to thankfully get standby seats on later flights. Jackson slept in pretty late that morning, but was happy and ready to explore and open presents as soon as he got up!

Jackson didn't really want to play with any toys... he was happy just pushing boxes and toys around the floor...

Getting a little sleepy on Popeye's lap after opening presents...

Jackson was very lucky to have both sets of grandparents there to love on him! He loved playing outside with Nana and Papa Swoop...

Two days after Christmas almost my whole family on my dad's side came to our house for the day. It was wonderful getting to see everyone!

My dad spent the afternoon cooking delicious ribs that we all enjoyed later!

My sister saddled up her horse, Charlotte, so that everyone could take turns riding her. She sure got a workout! We thought Jackson might cry when he sat on the horse, but he liked it! He really loves that horse.

When it got dark we all went inside to play some card games. We have so much fun together!

Later in the week Phil and I took advantage of our close proximity to Orlando and Anheuser-Busch's military discount to visit Sea World for the day.

J actually showed some interest in Shamu! It was neat to see him get excited.

He really loved the shark tunnel, too...

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to reconnect with old friends...

Merrick, Christy, and Merrick Baroni stopped by to visit us one day. Thanks, guys! It was great to see you! I got to meet up with one of my best friends from high school - Jenni. She is pregnant with her first baby (a girl)!

And then Phil, Jackson, my parents, and I went to visit another of my best friends from high school - Kristen (and her family). Kristen's mom and mine are good friends so her parents invited us all over for lunch one day. We had a great time! Jackson enjoyed watching Kristen's oldest son, Drew, and playing with all of his toys.

Jackson's favorite part of the trip by far was playing and running around outside. Looking at and petting the horse was an extra bonus any time she was out in the field.

I bought J a little pair of Wrangler cowboy- type jeans in Klamath Falls and oh, my gosh - they looked so cute on him!!

It was hard to get a picture of J outside - he was almost always on the run!

I stuck this picture in here b/c I thought it was funny. It was a little chilly that day (maybe 60's?). Look at how my family is dressed compared to Phil! My sister even went in to put her puffer jacket on! I guess it's that thin Florida blood... :)

More watching the horse... this was a different horse that was running around a little pen. We almost couldn't tear J away!

Right before we left Florida we drove up to visit my grandparents. My Pap-Pap is 91 years old and still sharp as a tack. My Mimi takes really good care of him. It was wonderful to get to spend time with them. I love them so much.


And last, but not least, here are some pictures from the horrendous trip home...

The one time we got J to fall asleep on the plane - only for about 45 minutes, though. He just totally crashed.

And his very favorite thing was the moving walkway in the airport. We literally rode those things about 20 times, but it kept him happy and burned off some energy!

Now we're safely back home trying to sleep off a little jet-lag and get back to our normal routine. Thanks, everyone, for such a wonderful two weeks! We are so blessed to have such fabulous friends and family!
P.S. Chris and Charlene - we loved seeing you, too, and I want to include some of the pictures of our time together on here! E-mail us your pictures when you get a chance.