We're getting closer...

This Saturday puts me at 2 weeks until my due date, and my feet are feeling like that can't get here soon enough! At my prenatal appointment on Monday, Baby Girl was doing great: heartbeat in the 150s and I'm measuring right around where I should be. I've been *feeling* like she'll come before her due date, but who knows if that means much of anything, right? :)

Joshua and I surprised David at his office on Tuesday for a "baby daddy" party they hosted for him (they decided that "baby shower" was too feminine, and I thought the name they chose was hillarious!). He was completely shocked--he hadn't expected anything, so they pulled off a great surprise! They had pizza and cake, and so many precious gifts for the baby--we were overwhelmed by everyone's kindness and generosity! I especially love a really cute shirt they picked out for Joshua that says "I'm the big brother" :) It was also really nice for me to meet David's co-workers and finally put faces to names. And while I actually remembered to take my camera with us (a HUGE improvement for me), it sat in my bag the entire time :(

Joshua has a new "big boy" booster seat, thanks to David's grandmother. We were able to put his high chair in the attic and open up some space in the kitchen, and we won't need to bring it down again until Baby Girl needs it. We'll take off the tray soon and scoot him right up to the table, which I think he'll love. Here's a picture from breakfast this morning:

A funny thing from yesterday: Joshua picked up a play cell phone from his toy box, opened it, and said, "Hi, Daddy!" Then he dropped it on accident and said, "Uh-oh, Daddy!" like he had actually dropped David. It cracked me up! This little guy makes me smile and laugh so often during the day, and I'm constantly amazed at how much he picks up on and learns each day. He has favorite books that he wants me to read over and over because he's memorized some of the words and wants to say them with me as I read. His current obsession: Rameses (the UNC mascot). He has a book about Rameses visiting all these placed on UNC's campus, and he wants to read it all the time and always talks about "Ra-ses." He even has a toothbrush with Rameses on it! We're starting him off right :) Go Heels!

All aboard!

Grandma Martha is quite the professional yard sale master, and she hit the jackpot this weekend with a Brio train set for Joshua. When we got back from my 36 week prenatal appointment this morning (good measurements and heartbeat, and I'm Group B Strep negative this time--woo hoo! No IV antibiotics this go-round!), Joshua and I put together the set in the dining room...rather, I put together the set despite Joshua's best efforts to "help," which usually consisted of him sitting on whatever I'd already put together and accidentally destroying it :)

Can you tell he's a little excited?

The swing bridge

My best efforts at using as many pieces as I could,
while still being able to make one complete route
(How cool is that train station?! When the train goes
through the station, it triggers these really neat train
sound effects that Joshua loves)


Even though the train is battery-operated and runs
all by itself, Joshua wanted a little more control

So we turned off the power and let him run the show :)

The engine was getting all the love

Who needs a boxcar or caboose with rider?

Over the swing bridge and through the mountain tunnel

Eventually he realized that the train and the tracks

didn't have to be a group package, so he took off

with the engine and carried it all around the house

The carnage left behind :)

**A few funny things from this weekend**

***

~Joshua is currently obsessed with prayers...out of nowhere,

he'll walk up to me, fold his arms and ask for me to pray...

so I just say a short prayer about whatever comes to mind,

and once I finish and we say "Amen," he's happy to go back

to whatever he was doing :)

***

~As we were working on converting our guest room into

the baby's nursery, Joshua decided he loved playing inside

her closet in the dark...after a minute, David and I realized

he was in there saying, "Prayer...amen" over and over.

I guess he's taking the Scripture about not praying out in

public but retiring to your closet to pray in secret very literally!

***

~The first few months Joshua was in church nursery, he did

great...he never got upset when we left and went to our classes.

Well, the last few months have been a different story.

Since David teaches the 11-year-olds in Primary during that time,

and I'll have a new little one very soon to take care of, I'm really

trying to get him to stay in there the whole time by himself.

So I snuck out after a few minutes and went to Sunday School

with no trouble. A few minutes into Relief Society, I hear

the back door open and after a second or two of silence,

I hear a voice I recognize right away cry, "Mommy!" His nursery

teacher said he got sad a few times earlier and asked for me,

but they were able to distract him and he was fine. Well, for some

reason, when they got snack out and another mommy came

to check on her little guy, Joshua lost it...and they couldn't get

him settled down...sobbing, runny nose, begging for Mommy...

the whole deal. When I came out into the hallway, he practically

jumped from his teacher's arms into mine and did the death-grip

hug and wouldn't let go for quite a while. We've only got a few

more weeks before this is going to be a lot more difficult...yikes!

Lunch with the girls!

My friend Amanda organized a little "Erin's having a baby girl" lunch for me at Macaroni Grill today, and it was so much fun! It was really nice to be able to spend some time with friends from high school, college, and my "current" life before we welcome a new little one into the family and I'm a *little* bit busier :)

(Erin R., Nancy, Erin B., baby Owen, Sarah, Jenny, Katherine, baby Marie, Amanda, Carla, and me with Baby Girl in utero)

Good food and good friends...what a nice afternoon! Thanks ladies :)

These are a few of my favorite things :)

It seems to be the little things that bring so much joy into the life of an active toddler boy :)

Like empty boxes:

Climbing into them...

Posing reluctantly in front of them for Mommy...

There's that smile Mommy loves!!

Climbing onto the coffee table and dropping them

over the edge while saying, "Uh-oh box!"

Scooting them around the table like a car...

see, the fun just goes on and on!



And the movie Cars:

Especially when watching it with Daddy :)

And his very own pair of sunglasses:
(these pictures were taken right before bedtime,

so Little Man was quite tired)

He rocks them in various ways--propped on his head...

Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool...

(A little Fresh Prince of Bel-Air shout out for ya)

And finally, around the neck...the closest to being

a frat boy that he'll ever be allowed to get :)

He's my little reminder that it doesn't take much to make us happy...I mean, all I need is this little guy and I'm grinning from ear to ear! :)

Aww shucks!

Just a few things...

* One of Joshua's newest phrases (courtesy of his daddy): "Aww shucks!" It makes me laugh every single time he says it!

* We had some of the Isgetts over for dinner on Saturday night, and the kids decided to watch "Cars." Joshua was, of course, in toddler-heaven: he got to eat pizza for dinner in front of the television while watching his favorite movie. I mean, does it get any better than that?

* Martha brought Joshua a little toy Lightning McQueen and he is in love with it! He calls it "race car" and takes it with him all over the house.

* Joshua is talking more and more all the time--he's starting to use lots of 2-word (and a few 3-word) phrases and I'm amazed at how many words he seems to pick up after just hearing them once or twice. He also fancies himself a comedian...for example, if I'm getting off the phone with David and I say to Joshua, "Tell Daddy bye-bye," Joshua will say "Bye-bye Papa" or "Bye-bye car." He'll do this over and over, and then as soon as I hang up, he'll say (with a big smile), "Bye-bye Daddy!" He also loves to snatch "Mommy's phone" and run around the house with it held to his ear. What a little monkey! :)

Friends sharing talents

I'm a really lucky gal. I have so many wonderful friends and I don't know where I'd be without them. They are a source of support and love for me, and I hope that I have been able to be the same for them. My friends are also extremely talented and generous in so many areas and are so quick to share their gifts with others, including me!

My friend Sarah took wonderful pictures of Joshua last fall that we were able to use in our Christmas cards and give as gifts to family members. My friend Amanda made a beautiful quilt for Joshua's room before he was born--he likes to point out his "blanket" on the wall every morning when he wakes up. So many friends from church, like Kristen and Melissa, made delicious dinners for our little family after Joshua was born (and Melissa taught me how to make bread when I was overdue with Joshua and bored out of my mind...David is extremely grateful for this one!) My friend Katherine and my sister-in-law Lisa have passed down so many beautiful baby girl clothes for our little one to wear once she arrives. Seriously, how did I get so lucky to have so many great women in my life?!

I was mentioning to a few friends at church how I wasn't sure where to look for a baby blessing dress. In our church, when babies are born, they are officially named and blessed at church, and they wear white for this blessing. Little girls always have these beautiful white dresses, and in some families, they are kept and passed down. My friend Jenny said she would love to make one for our little girl, as she had made blessing dresses for each of her two girls. I saw them yesterday--SO beautiful! So we went to JoAnn's to pick out fabric for the dress (we found some really pretty material with little white daisies on it), and I also picked out some fabric for a sling that my friend Nancy is making for me. With how active Joshua is, I have a feeling I'll be "wearing" my little girl a lot just to keep up with him! Sewing is one of those skills that I do not have, and I am so thankful that these great girls are sharing their talent and blessing us!

And finally...I am SO excited about this. A friend of mine from church named Erin has served as a doula for a number of women in our ward during their labors. If you don't know much about what a doula does, they assist the mother with physical and emotional support during labor. Studies have shown that doulas can help with shorter labors, less medication, reduced induction, and fewer C-sections...and they are a huge help for women attempting VBACs (me!). The midwives at UNC have mentioned at my prenatal appointments how supportive they are of doulas, and my friend Erin has agreed to help David and me during my labor and delivery. She met with David and me for a few hours last night and we are both really encouraged about her helping us during this special and important time.

Hooray for awesome friends and their kindness! I wish I had an awesome skill to share...couponing lessons, anyone? :)

I'm trying to change my blogging mentality

So after my prenatal appointment with the midwives this morning (Baby Girl is doing great! Good heartbeat and I'm measuring right at 32 weeks), Joshua and I visited with my friend Sarah and her two little girls (one is a couple of months older than Joshua, and the other was just born a few weeks ago). It was so nice to sit and talk with her (for almost 2 hours!) and catch up on life, motherhood, and families. She mentioned that during her newborn's late night feeding sessions, she checks out the blogs of her friends to see what everyone is up to. I apologized that I was so infrequent in updating mine, because I always feel like I need pictures or something really exciting to post about so that people would be interested in reading it. Sarah said that she tries to use her blog to capture not only the big moments, but also the little things that she doesn't want to forget as her girls grow up (and she is so good about updating often!).

*Light bulb moment for me!*

Joshua will be two years old in just a few short months, and he is growing up so fast! There are so many funny and endearing moments that I should take the time to record so that I will be able to look back on them as he gets older. And just like I enjoy reading the "little moments" that Sarah records on her blog, I'm hopeful that our family and friends will enjoy our "little moments" too. But my goal is to keep in mind that the most important reason for this blog is to have written reminders of this time in our little family's life, as Joshua is growing up and as we are adding a little girl to our home.

*****************************************


So if previous posts haven't thoroughly convinced you that Joshua is OBSESSED with cars (and trucks and other forms of transportation), his most recent request should seal the deal. He's never been a big television or movie watcher--in fact, the only thing he has really paid much attention to is commercials ("Harris Teeter!" "Kroger!" "Walmart!"), probably because of the repetition. We've tried the free kids movies at the local theater a few times with friends this summer, and after about 40 minutes, he is DONE and ready to go. This all changed about 2 weeks ago. He discovered the DVD "Cars" in our collection and asked to watch it...and he was hooked. Now, every single day (I am not exaggerating!), I hear "I-wa m-vie Cars" (translation: I want movie Cars). We usually have stuff going on in the mornings, so I'm able to put this off until after his nap. Instead of being greeted with "Hi Mommy!" like I used to hear when I'd get him out of his crib, now I get the request for "Cars." Now, he doesn't sit and watch the whole thing from beginning to end--he's way too active for that! He's enthralled for the first 30 minutes or so, and then he does his normal playing, with movie breaks in between. He asks for so few things and we're so active all morning long that right now I don't feel bad about having the movie on in the afternoons. Plus, there is the bonus of it allowing me to get dinner ready and some cleaning done without having Little Man underfoot the whole time. So right now, it's working for us :) And it is really cute to hear him talk to some of the characters: "Bessie!" (the cement vehicle) "Mac!" (Lightning's 18-wheeler) "Bye-bye cars!"


We've also been doing lots of pool time this summer, which has been so fun! It has been unbearably hot during the days, so this allows us to spend time outside without melting into puddles of sweat. On Wednesday mornings we meet up with some of the other little guys from Joshua's nursery class (and their awesome mommies) at the neighborhood pool of one of Joshua's buddies. And we've met up with my sister-in-law Lisa and her kids to go to their pool in their neighborhood too. Joshua is learning to float pretty well in his little water-wing-floatie-thing (that's the technical term--haha), and it is always fun to hang out with friends (for Joshua and for Mommy!)

I'm trying my best to really enjoy this summer with Joshua, since it is our last hurrah before he has a little sister to share my attention. I can't believe that he won't be my "baby" anymore! But just like I tell him all the time, he'll always be my baby boy, no matter how big he gets :)