Pig in a blanket for Halloween!?!

Well, we announced Jakey on the ole blog by saying we'd have Shrimp at Christmas. Basically, the first time we saw him on an ultrasound picture he looked just like a shrimp. And, until we found out "it" was a "he" we referred to it as "shrimpy". =) Lovingly, of course. The funny thing is that he turned out sooo not shrimpy! He was 9lbs 7ozs and to this day is a very big boy! Anyway, I digress.
We found out the first week in February that we are expecting baby#2! We were shocked, surprised, elated, worried, scared, overwhelmed, joyful...but most of all THANKFUL. After having Jake, then thryroid surgery and then brain surgery in a matter of 12 months I wasn't sure that my body would ever get pregnant again! If you're unfamilar with the functions of the thyroid and pituitary glands, all you need to know is that those are two of your body's master controls as far as hormones. And let's just say that over half of my thyroid is gone and my brain still has a tumor of over 1cm in diameter. I wasn't sure if I could get pregnant on my own or if my body would maintain a pregnancy. The doctors weren't, either. All they (Endocrinologist, Neurosurgeon, OB/Gyn, Family Practitioner) said was, "if you want another baby, try for another baby." Oh, and the neurosurgeon added to that sentence that it must be a consideration in my mind that another pregnancy was possibly committing to another brain surgery soon after the baby. This is because Estrogen grows higher and higher during pregnancy and estrogen is also known to grow tumors. And, possibly, it is why I never had brain tumor symptoms until immediately after Jake was born, because I had the tumor all along and it grew large at the end of the pregnancy.

In case you're wondering, baby #2 has already gotten slighted by a much un-cooler nickname than Jake. You people have been telling us it would happen! ;) Baby #2 wouldn't get or have everything Jake does, right?!? The pig in a blanket reference is because we've seen him or her several times via ultrasound and the last couple of times he/she's been snuggled up in a ball all curled up. :) And, as far as Halloween goes, our due date is mid-october but Halloween was the closest holiday and I had to reference one since Jake's due date was Christmas Day.


So....... we are thankful! If you ask me, each baby is a miracle- everything has to go perfect at the perfect time to conceive. Well, this messed up, "genetically inferior" (according to my hubby) ;) girl got pregnant on her own exactly one year after brain surgery! And, when I say on my own, I firmly believe that this baby was meant to be and that my God did all of the work and care for us.
We appreciate that He knows our deepest wants and needs and that we've prayed for a baby and a brother or sister for our sweet boy. I'm ever so thankful for our boy, he was our first miracle baby and we didn't even know it at the time! Now we've been given another and we couldn't be happier! The God that made the trees, the oceans, gravity, ants, hurricanes, love, marriage, family, friends, and babies has proven to us again that He loves us and wants what is best for us. To think of someone so mighty that these things are created by Him and yet He listens to his children's petty desires is simply amazing.

We would be so grateful for prayers on our behalf. We long to hold a healthy baby! And, I would be thrilled for the brain tumor to remain the size it is so that it will not cause any future problems. We will not know until later on during the pregnancy if it is growing, I'll have an MRI probably mid-late summer.
Thank you so much for sharing in our life, our excitement, our joys, our struggles and for praying for us and checking in on us via the blog!!
Our hearts are happy and we love this sweet baby so much already!

Jake's 1st Livestock show!

sweet boy on the pony ride! he's looking so much like a little boy and much less like a baby!

monster trucks! he couldn't get enough!

driving an airplane ride!!

baby piggies!

goats eating his zipper on his jacket!

LOVING the pony rides!

Riding the monster trucks that bounced up and down. The little girl that was riding with him was a couple years older but got scared so Jake ended up having the whole ride to himself, and they let him go again, too! :)

Walking into the Alpaca/Llama barn

Papaw and Jake

Jakey, Mommy, Daddy

Last Friday we took Jake to his first Houston Livestock Show. We had tons of fun in the amazing weather! I didn't even have to take my sweater off all day. We rode rides, rode a pony, watched a little bit of the livestock show/judging, saw lots of animals and ate Cheddar's on the way home. It was a great day! (Other than Jake's nap taking place the whole way home and not at home!) :)

More cuteness...

Story #1:

So tonight we ran out as a family to grab a prescription from Target. On our way home we are at the light closest to our house and a motorcyle pulls up next to us. Jake was pointing out his helmet and called it a hat. I said, "That's a helmet, you know what that is. It's a hat that protects our heads when we ride bikes or play sports."
Soo....fast forward five minutes later- we're home and I'm sorting Jake's laundry. He "pulls up" next to me on his little step 2 motorcycle and says, "Helmet, pease?"
It was so cute he immediately ran in the door, found his motorcycle and asked for a helmet. I love how they soak up everything and apply it at this phase!

*Too bad Mommy's too lazy to take a pic (and upload it) of her cute, clean boy wearing his camo pj's and riding around on his bike with a pretend helmet (hat). We really need to find a dress-up helmet for this boy.

*Story #2:
The same night we were walking through target and Jake started acting a little crazy...whining for Mommy and such. So, I said, "Jake - be quiet, you're acting like a nutcase!" I didn't think anything of it. I had been on the phone with insurance and the pharmacy for hours and was just over the whole thing. We paid for the prescription and headed for the exit. As we were walking out, Jake starts loudly saying, "Nutcase! Nutcase! Nutcase!" Too bad his listening and speaking are getting so accurate, because it's a little embarrassing the things he repeats -- and says perfectly clear. All Jeremy and I could do was laugh!

*Story #3:
The other day Jake was singing his abc's for his Daddy. He got through the first several letters and then sang, "now I know my abc's next time won't you too sing me!" LOL

*Story #4:
When Jake counts to ten, you can understand all of the numbers, but when he get to seven he always says, "fedent" and it's my favorite "word" that he says, it's just so cute. We should probably correct him but I really don't want to!! Hopefully we'll get a video posted soon before he starts saying it correctly.

Bye-Bye Mommy's Purse!!

This is way too funny of a memory not to write down.

Tonight after we ate supper we ran to kroger to get a few things. After grabbing a redbox and a couple of groceries we got back to the car and I got Jake out of the "car" part of the cart and Jeremy loaded the groceries. By the time I had Jake strapped in I turned around and the cart wasn't there, it had already been returned. So, I obviously assumed that Jeremy had taken my purse out of the top of the cart and put it in the back seat. Well, as we were pulling out of the parking lot we hear "bye-bye, Mommy's pirse! bye-bye, Mommy's pirse!" I immediately realized what Jake was saying and jokingly asked Jeremy, "You got my purse out of the cart, right?!?" He looked around and shrugged so I had him speed back to where our cart was....and the nice shiny gold of my purse became visible. We still don't know how Jake noticed it, but I'm thrilled he did!
Apparently he's much more observant than his Daddy and he totally made my day--what a funny story!! Our day woulda gone downhill fast with a stolen purse!!

2 year well check (in a nutshell)

Well, "everything checks out perfect!" in the words of our doc. That's it!








............I should make a few other notes but it was pretty quick today.
*Jake is 90%-ish in height and 80%-ish in weight. If my memory checks out I think he's over 32lbs and 37 inches. My sheet is in the car w/the exact #s.
*The doctor had him undressed and was looking at his legs and squeezed them and said, "he is solid, solid muscle!" I said, yeah, he pretty much is being super active or sleeping. There's no tv time or craft time or anything that keeps him sitting down, even if mama wishes he'd slow down a bit.
*After asking how long he sleeps at night, and me saying there's got to be an earthquake to get him out of bed before 8 he asked what time he went to bed. I said between 8 and 8:30. He said, "Well, the boy needs his sleep. Don't wake him up. And, in fact, when it's time for preschool in a year or two do not schedule it earlier than he would naturally wake up." Um, good luck with that. :) His Mommy still hates getting out of bed early- if I had it my way he'd never start school. :)
*After seeing that Jakey is in a big bed, potty-trained, eating well and healthy, sleeping lots, talking well, behaving well, etc he said, "Well, this is about as easy as a two-year-old can get. Good luck with him at 2.5 or 3!" haha-- mama has faith that Jakey will continue to impress us with his sweetness, smarts, sleeping, etc. :)
*His height was estimated to be 6'2-6'3 minimum when he's full grown.
*The nurse and dr commented on how they hadn't seen us in so long. I said, I know! Other than one well check about 6 months ago and a diaper rash burn when the pampers drymax came out we've not been to the dr at all in one year! (And he'd just seen the nurse practioner for the burn, not Dr. E) I'm shocked but thrilled that he stayed well his entire second year. I think God just knew we already had more dr appts and co-pays this year than any young family ever should! ;)

Can you tell that we are so in love with our big boy?!? We are cherishing every day of being his parents and are so proud of the sweet boy that he is!

Weilun's visit!!

Last weekend Jeremy's college buddy and a good friend of our's visited us. Weilun joined the military after A&M and is now a Captain in the Air Force. He seems to come visit us about once a year so it was only his second time seeing Jake. We relaxed, talked, ate, and just spent some quality time with him before he's deployed again.

I wish I could remember all of Jake and Weilun's conversations, because we just kept on laughing. The one I remember most is when Weilun said he could tell I enjoyed staying home with Jake and asked what we did during the day. When I told him other than the usual cleaning, playing, etc that we went on lots of playdates with our friends. We asked Jake who his friends were and he began listing them..." Kiki (Kinley), Emi (Emily), Tay Tay (Taylor), Anna, Wiwy (Lily)"....(all girls!) And Weilun said something like, "Wow, I'm impressed all girls!" And I said who are your best buddies?!? And Jake replied, "Jax!!" And later on he added his friend Nico to that "buddy list". Too funny!!

For days after Weilun left Jake asked where he was and pointed to the guest air mattress and said, "Waynon's bed, Waynon's bed!!!" I think it's safe to say he misses Weilun's company already, and so do we! He is such an amazing friend and we are blessed by his friendship.

all boy :)

talking on the phone- usually it's Papaw or Jax and they talk for several minutes :)

firing up his grill from Noah and Tate-- he loves that thing! Especially the "mutsard and ketchup!"

He's still my baby when he's sleeping. So breathtaking!


And yet, so big boy!!

We call this "Worley Wipeout" haha. We all watch wipeout as a family, and Jake entertains us with his wipeouts off of his toy bin, the couch, the ottoman and just throwing himself on the ground in general. I think we could invite friends and charge a ticket price! ;)

See what I mean?!? He is TOTALLY boy.

Most of the time. :) You gotta also be in touch w/your sensitive side!

Several times a day he takes my hand and leads Mommy to Daddy's closet. "Daddy's hat, pease!"

This little man just makes us smile! He loves tackling, wipeouts, cars, trucks, bikes, airplanes, the outdoors, hats, girls, sleep, talking on the phone, and his mama's ruffled scarf. Just thought I had to post some of his daily antics. :)