March-April 2010

Where oh where have we been? It’s been almost two months since our last post and boy oh boy have we been BUSY! We have been everywhere from the beach to Easter egg hunts! So join us on this little excursion of the past two months!

Back in March we took a little family trip over to Anna Maria Island for a weekend away. We stayed at an amazing house right on the beach! It was perfect! We had great weather for playing on the beach but the water was still a bit chilly! Here are a few pics of the kids and daddies playing on the beach…SO much fun!

After we got home we had a great visit from our old friends Natalie and Tyson. They were back in Florida visiting family and friends. It was great to get the boys together and to see just how much they are growing and becoming little men! Here they are eating at Chick-fil-a and then playing in the back yard…such little hams!

Easter was just around the corner and we had a lot of celebrating to do! And let me tell you…we celebrated this year! We took Brooks Easter egg hunting twice and we even had a mini-egg hunt at our own house Easter morning! Our first egg hunt took place two weeks before Easter and it was in Baldwin Park (Ella’s neighborhood!) It was a HUGE egg hunt with tons of eggs for the kids to find! Brooks and Ella had a ball! In fact that is what Brooks kept calling the Easter eggs…it was too cute!

Our second egg hunt too place the Friday morning before Easter. It was a beautiful morning and the kids had a blast “finding” all those eggs. Egg hunting for toddlers is not what you think…it is actually dozens of plastic eggs scattered around a wide open field! It is pretty much a big free for all of little ones but super cute to watch!!!

Checkin out the Easter Bunny...not too sure and him!

Then to top off our Easter day Mark and I took Brooks to his first real NBA basketball game after church. It was SO much fun…we didn’t even know it but it was family night at the Magic game so there were hundreds of kids in attendance! We sat up in the Cambria Club and they had hidden Easter eggs all over for the kids and adults to find! Brooks was like a kid in a candy store…he thought it was a big game and would get SO excited every time he would find an actual hidden egg! And the candy inside was a bonus! Here he is cheesing it up with one of our friend’s little girl…he was quite taken with Chantal!

The beginning on April brought beautiful weather to Orlando. We have been taking full advantage of the spring warmth and getting outside as much as possible! Here are some shots of Brooks helping Mark wash the cars…he was such a great (and super cute I might add!) helper!

Here we are taking the first plunge of the year at the “heated” pool in Celebration. Brooks just LOVES the pool. We actually started swimming lessons this week and Brooks is already a super star! He loves the water and has zero fear! That is a good and bad thing…I am just thankful that he is learning to respect for the water and how get out of the pool on his own.

My dad came to visit and Brooks had a great time with his PopPop. My dad even took the time to help feed B his dinner…don’t worry it shocked me too! :)

The highlight of our April was the big road trip we took down to Key West for my sister’s wedding. We had an amazing time seeing our friend and family and helping Becky and Troy celebrate their special day!

Outlaws or Inlaws???

Taking advantage of the beautiful pool and beautiful weather. Like I said before B loves the water!

Check out my new wings!

All the family hanging out at the rehearsal dinner...what an amazing time!

Brooks was very taken with the open bar...he kept going back to get his cup refilled...with ice that is! :)

Wedding day...isn't Bec a beautiful bride???

Here are some pics of all of us after the sunset ceremony! It was such a gorgeous day for the special couple!

And it wouldn't have been a complete trip to Key West without Mark making a trip to Irish Kevin's...his favorite bar of all time! Here he is enjoying a nice frosty beverage!

Here Brooks is taking Ella for a ride on his little red Mini...such a lady's man!

Last week Brooks and I took a mini road trip up to Gainesville to see our friends the Jones'. It was so great to spend a couple days with them and to get the kids all together...the fun is never ending! While we were there we took a hike on Paynes Prairie. The kids had a ball walking the nature trails and looking for alligators...and they were not disappointed! They were everywhere!!!! I think we counted 18 total! Here are a few pics of the kids on our hike.

This is a picture of the first alligator we came across...the kids were thrilled!

Checkin out that gator!

Brooks has been growing and changing at an exponential rate the past few weeks. He amazes me every day with a new word, thought, mimic or connection. His vocabulary is incredible. He is such a verbal child, always chatting and telling me something or the other…and it usually has to do with what he is seeing or wanting. It’s like a light bulb has gone off in his head and he now understand how to communicate. Just the other night we were sitting at the dinner table and out of the blue he says to Mark (in his own special way) “digger…tractor…mmmm…PG…uhhh…Brooks!” He was trying to tell Mark that my mom had come over earlier that day and brought him two new toys…a digger and a tractor-truck. It was so cute and I think the first full and complete thought that he has expressed! He is learning his colors and is actually doing really well. At first everything was “geen”. I’m not sure why that was his default color but now he is doing much better with labeling the correct colors. He can count to three and is working on four and five. He will complete the “four-five” sequence when you count “one-two-three” but he won’t count that high on his own. He knows all his animals and sounds, he knows every different type of tractor and truck in his machine book (and I had to learn all those names right along with him too!), and he will repeat anything that he hears...especially the expletives like "dang it, nuts, and oh my gosh!" :) My favorite thing he knows now is his first name and his last name. He will point to himself and say "Books!" and when you ask him what his last name is he will say "Ba-Tie-A"...it is SO stinkin cute!

But his biggest accomplishment to date is he can point to and tell you that there is a baby in his mommy’s tummy! Yep that’s right!!!! Surprise!!!! We are expecting number TWO!!!!!! We are all so very excited! It was a little bit of a journey to get to this place so needless to say we feel very blessed. I am about nine weeks along and feeling pretty good so far! I am definitely tired and not too sick...just waves of nausea every now and again but nothing to complain about! Brooks is just now getting the idea that I am not pulling his leg when I tell him that there is a baby growing in mommy's tummy. At first he would just look at me shake his head and say "noooooo!" really loud! It was kinda cute but now he is starting to get the picture and is being very loving towards me and my belly! He will even pat and kiss my stomach! Those little endearments turned into silly antics this afternoon when he was sweetly smooching my belly and then all of a sudden started blowing raspberries...he thought it was hilarious! My mom said he was just trying to make his little brother or sister laugh! It was definitely working on me! Here are a few pictures to prove it!

So the plan is to keep up the blog (weekly I hope!) just like I did when I was pregnant with Brooks. It is just a really cool way to keep all my thoughts and feelings about what is going on in one place and to be able to share this special time with our friends and family (near and far!) So here we go!

Our new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce.

The baby is starting to look more and more human. His/her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Our baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do the tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. The baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The eyes are fully formed, but the eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She/he has tiny earlobes, and the mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that our baby's basic physiology is in place, it is poised for rapid weight gain...just like Brooks! :) We are due December 11th, but the baby will probably be born a week before according to our doctor. It will be another scheduled c-section so before too long we will have an exact "birth date"! We went to our first doctor's appointment today and all is well! I go back next Monday for blood work and some other testing. Here is the first belly shot that we've taken...not much of a belly yet but it will get there soon enough!