Three Big Celebrations!

1.) JD has been using the potty (going tinkle) for about 2 weeks now! It's been wonderful! He still wears a diaper for nap and bedtime simply because I do NOT want to wash sheets every single day of the week. During the day however, he wears underwear and goes to the potty all by himself whenever he needs to tinkle! He will even get up from the table during lunch or dinner to go to the potty and he has come in from playing outside to go to the potty a couple of times also! Just a couple of days ago, he did his first *ahem* poop in the potty!! He was so proud of himself afterwards, and I definitely shared in his pride!

2.) I am over 20 weeks pregnant, so we're halfway there, and everything is going great!! My cervix still shows no signs of shortening or dilating and the baby is growing a mile a minute. He is also very strong, and I base this on his powerful punches and kicks that he administers all throughout the day and night.

3.) John David and I just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, and I can say with certainty that I am the luckiest woman in the world to be married to such a wonderful man. He sent one dozen fuschia and white roses to me on our anniversary, and they were so beautiful that I just had to share a picture. I love you, John David!

Oh no! The BIG 3-0!

Yes, it's true! I am no longer in my 20's! Turning 30 wasn't nearly as traumatic as I had anticipated. I think the thing that made it such a smooth transition was the fact that I was wonderfully surprised by my family who drove all the way to NC from Georgia to celebrate my birthday with me. I was treated to an entire day of pampering to include a manicure, pedicure, hairstyle, new clothes, new shoes, perfume, and a dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Olive Garden! I felt like a princess and enjoyed the time with family so much! During dinner, JD jr serenaded me with the sweetest rendition of Happy Birthday before I blew out my candles. He also enjoyed my birthday cake very much! :^) We wrapped up the weekend with breakfast at Cracker Barrel before everyone had to make the long drive back to Georgia. What a great memory I will always have of my 30th birthday!

Our big boy!

Here are a few shots of JD that I took over the past couple of weeks.

In the first two pictures, JD had just climbed into his chair to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I had just run upstairs for a moment to throw some clothes in the dryer. When I returned, I found JD face down in his plate and using his sandwich as a pillow. He had not taken a nap on this particular day, so by 6:30pm, he was exhausted! I wiped his face and took him to bed where he had no trouble falling right back to sleep.

The last 3 pictures are some that I took at the lake here in Winston-Salem. It was a beautiful day -- definitely before this heat wave arrived -- and JD thoroughly enjoyed seeing the geese and ducks at such close range.

It continues to amaze me just how much he is growing up! I love him more than words could ever describe!

Oh BOY!

Well, the verdict is in! We're having another boy! We are so excited, and I can tell you that JD Sr was beaming when we saw the identifying part. :^) We didn't even have to be told what we were having as we both saw "it" right away during part of the ultrasound.

Everything is still going great with the pregnancy, and I have begun to feel the first movements over the past couple of days. I just LOVE that part of being pregnant!

JD jr has been practicing his role as a big brother. He has a beanie baby surgeon doll that he calls his "green baby" and he just loves to nurture it. I heard him talking to the doll in his room the other day, and he was using the sweetest voice. I peeked into his room and found him reading a book to the doll, so I grabbed the camera right away. On those days that I find JD practicing wrestling moves on his baby brother, I'll have to show him these pictures and remind him of how sweet he knows how to be! :^)

We are so very excited to be welcoming a new little blessing into our lives and we thank God for this wonderful gift!

Picking Blueberries

This past weekend, we took JD jr to pick blueberries at a nearby blueberry farm. As we were getting ready for our outing, we realized that we went on the exact same weekend last year. We had a great time; however, I must admit that JD Sr did ALL of the work. Being 17 and 1/2 weeks pregnant in the hot sun can be quite draining. I mainly kept an eye on JD jr as he ate blueberries just as quickly as he picked them. Needless to say, his bucket was empty when it was time to go home. JD Sr managed to pick about 1 and 1/2 gallons of blueberries, so those should last us quite a while. We managed to get a photo of JD jr this year that was virtually identical to one that we took last year at the blueberry farm. I was truly amazed to see how much he has changed in just one year. We plan to make this particular activity a summer tradition as JD has loved it each time we have gone, and he definitely loves eating the fruits of his labor!

Miscellaneous Pics...

The first picture is one of JD just being silly. I was going through a box of things I have saved over the years, and I came across the Disney hats that JD Sr and I wore when we visited Disney World a handful of years ago. Of course, they were a big hit with JD jr, and they immediately found their way into his room. I knew I saved them for a reason!

The next picture is of JD snuggling with a plush soccer ball that has become his FAVORITE snuggling toy. It was given to him by a friend of ours from church when she brought us a meal during the week after my surgery. He loves it and insists upon sleeping with it each night.

The final pictures are of JD sleeping on the floor at the top of the stairs. Notice this occurred on 2 different occasions as he is wearing different clothes in some of the pictures. The first time I found him in this odd location was after I had put him to bed for the night and then went downstairs to make a phonecall. After about an hour of talking on the phone, I headed upstairs for bed and almost stepped on JD who I was shocked to find sleeping at the top of the stairs. I guess he got out of bed soon after I tucked him in and then just drifted off to sleep as he listened to me jabbering on the phone downstairs.

The very next day, he woke up from his afternoon nap, came out of his room, lay down in the same spot at the top of the stairs and went right back to sleep. Too funny! He hasn't done it again since those couple of times, but they were great photo ops nonetheless!