The blog is back!

Ok so I took a break from blogging.  Actually, the truth is I just haven't had time!  It gets pretty busy being the single mom of two little girls! 

In future posts, I will get back to really writing about what is happening in our lives.  For now though I just want to put a new picture up of my two little love bugs!

Life is busy and we are having fun!  Hope to update on a regular basis!

Wish I had some pictures.....

But I don't!  You can see recent pictures of Brookie on my facebook site.  Go there to check them out.

Brooke is doing great!  She started preschool the Monday after Easter and she LOVES it!  She seems to learn something new everyday and has adapted really well.  She just seems older though....

She is a mess!  I think the girl might be just a little bit spoiled!  Misbehaving or not, I love every second of it and sometimes I just wish I could make time stand still with her.  My dad was holding her the other day and I suddenly felt like crying she seemed so big in his arms.  I guess with each new stage though it just gets better..... until they are teenagers, right? 

As far as the baby.... 27 weeks and 1 day!  I can't wait for her to get here! 

She now has a name:  Jacie Elizabeth

I just love the name Jacie and after searching through books and websites that is the one I really like.  The Elizabeth was my great-grandmother's name and my aunts. 

There is this website that sends me information on fetal development.  It's kind of cool to get an update every week of what is happening.  Here is the update for week 27:

Just looking. "What are all those lights and shadows?" After being fused shut for more than four months, your baby's eyelids can open again. This, combined with the facts that the visual part of her brain is active and most eye structures are complete, means your little one can see the world around her, limited though it may be. She can't make out objects yet, but she sees light and shadows.



Rock-a-bye baby. By paying attention to her movements inside you, you can get a good idea of how your baby spends her days...and nights. Just like babies in their mothers' arms, your little one gets lulled to sleep by rocking. Your daily activities may not feel like rocking to you, but the amniotic fluid provides such a cushion that all your baby feels is gentle swaying. So she's likely to sleep more during the day. It may be a different story at night, once you lie down to get some rest. Suddenly, she's awake and ready to party!  ("J" tells me this is true, she said as soon as she falls asleep it seems that the baby gets really active...to me that's great news, that means she is developing normally!")

Measuring up. Your little one will gain about 1 pound over the next month. This week, she's up to 9.6 inches, crown to rump, and weighs about 2 pounds. Though she's growing quickly, her brain and lungs are still immature. Luckily, she's got 13 more weeks to get ready for the outside world.

Starting to get things ready!  Moving things out of the room that use to be my office and will now be the baby's room.  Went shopping with both Gramma's a couple of weeks ago to register for my baby shower and that was alot of fun!  And of course just enjoying every moment with Brooke and trying to journal things so I never forgot the cute and crazy stuff she does! 

A couple of funny conversations with Brooke over the past few weeks:

"Mommy, my name not Brooke anymore." 

"Okay honey well what is your name?"

"My name isn't Brooke anymore, it's Princess."

OKAY PRINCESS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Brooke are you getting excited for the baby to get here?"

"Yes I am the BIGGGG sister!"

"That's right!  Are you going to help mommy with your baby sister?"

"Yes!  I'm going to take care of the Poop!"

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN TO ME!

I'm telling you this little girl just cracks me up.  There is never a dull moment.  Even when she is being challenging, I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have her in my life. 

I have a special request for this post.  My cousins Tyler (15 years old) and Keri (about the same age) lost a good friend in a tragic accident over the weekend.  The kids are really taking it hard and could use some extra prayers right now.  The young man who was killed is named Logan and I'm sure his family could use some prayers as well. 

Thanks!

Spring is finally here....

and it's off to a big mad race!  Which is okay with me except that my baby is getting older :(  In fact, she started pre-school on Monday but you won't be seeing any of those pictures just yet.  This post is reserved for:
Fannie Momma (doncha worry, I will explain if you haven't already heard me talking about it)
Country Livin' (I'm sure if you see me often you have heard about this!)
Easter Weekend with my parents
Quick baby update
Lot's of pictures so I'll try to keep the words short!

First of all - baby update.  In case you haven't already heard me talking about it.  It's a girl!  We went for an ultrasound last week and they confirmed that.  She was one active little girl in there!  She started out with her head down and when they started the procedure and tried to get her to move around a bit, her arms and legs were flailing and then she did a flip and went with her head up.  It was AMAZING!  No name picked out for sure yet.  I'll try to post some ultrasound pics and more info in the next week or so. 

Now about "Fannie momma" that is the endearing name we have now given this creature:

This picture explains why we call her that ... if you get close to her....she fans out.  She is doing this because as you can see next to her, she is protecting her eggs.  What you can see in this picture is the terrifying noise she makes.  She is a serious bird I'm tellin ya. 

So this particular bird is a Kill Deer and it is common for them to next on the ground.  It takes 3 weeks to a month for the eggs to hatch.  When they do, unlike most birds, they are fuzzy and cute.  Don't mistaken me for a bird lover.  Actually I am not fond of birds and this little creature scares me!  We are sorta making friends now.  I put up some stakes so Brooke has some boundaries and knows how close she can go and so no one drives over the nest.... since she was kind enough to make it in the drive way.  I thought about charging her rent but as I said... she's not real friendly :)

Now speaking of birds and such.  We've got some wildlife out in our part of the country.  You know, I have always enjoyed camping and the sounds of the night time when you can hear the insects and frogs and such.  But these little dudes are LOUD.  I have a difficlut time falling to sleep yet at the same time it is relaxing.  The one thing I can not tolerate though and thought it was going to be the final straw that convinced me I needed to get my license to carry.... a woodpecker.  He or she is kind enough to begin pecking at 5am every darn morning!  Just when I thought that was becoming tolerable and was sleeping it through it most days.  The other night I am lynig in bed trying to read and what do I hear?  None other than a cow carrying on.  That thing was serious about something.  It's all kind of comical.... if you know me at all!  I'm really a city girl! 

And now for Easter.... my mom and dad came over on Thursday night and stayed until Saturday and then my brother and my gramma came over Saturday for a few hours. Mike and Suzanna also came out for a couple of hours on Friday night and we all went to dinner together.   We had pretty good weather and Brooke was able to play outside alot.  My mom and dad bought her a new swing set and she LOVES it.  Unfortuantely, of the 100 pictures I took this weekend, can you even believe none of them are on her swing set??  She did get to ride her barbie doll finally and she is liking it but not quite loving it yet.  I think she gets a bit scared.  We also went to a little duck pond and park we found in Troy.  On Sunday morning then Brooke and I went to church and Mike and Suzanna joined us. 

Brooke watch the garage.....

Mommy, I done a while! 

Ok honey...maybe I should see about insurance coverage?  lol

The pictures below were all taken at the duck pond.

Here we have Little Miss Priss in her cowgirl boots.  She is all about picking out her own shoes these days.  I don't see any sense in arguing wtih her if we aren't going somewhere special!

Had to throw this in here.... is that duck suppose to have an extra hump on its beak.  None of the others did!

Then it was time for some playground fun.... I'm not sure who had more fun Brooke, my mom or my dad!  :) 

Brooke decided she wanted to climb a tree...doncha worry my dad is just out of the picture, she wasn't in any danger!

My favorite picture from Friday is probalby this one with all of us in it. 

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday (before my parents left).

Brooke loved finding her Easter basket out in the yard and she loved hunting Easter Eggs.  When we got inside she was very excited to get the new Barbie Mermaid movie she kept asking for when the ad would come on.  She watched that  movie probably 5 tims over the weekend. 

And last but certainly not least ...here is my baby girl all ready to go to church on Easter morning.  :) 

My favorite Brooke quote from the last 2 - 3 weeks, "hey mommy, my name is not Brooke anymore." 

so I said... "Well  honey what is it?"  She replied, "My name is Princess" 

Does that make me the Queen?? :)

Three Year Old Pictures

A couple of weeks ago, Gramma Karen and I took Brooke to have her three year old pictures taken.  Karen wanted to try a new place in Chesterfield called Artistic Impressions.  There were three young men there who did the pictures and they were really great with Brooke.  I have a CD that has all 70 shots on it - these are not necessarily the ones we ordered but just pictures that I think show her personality a little bit! 

 

I think this shows it all right here!  She's a ball of energy and silliness most of the time and I LOVE it!

It's hard to believe that my baby girl is three already.  She is growing so fast - in fact, I'm hoping she makes it through the rest of the cold weather in her winter clothes she just got for Christmas!  She seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt right now and every time she wakes up, she looks like she grew another couple of inches. 

At times, this age is very challenging but I am really enjoying experiencing the mind-boggling speed at which this child can not only move, but think and speak as well! 

As I sit typing this, she is down for her nap and it's probably the first time all day I've had much of a chance to do anything besides chase after the girl!  :)  I'm probalby going to try to sneak in a couple of Z's myself before she wakes up again...gotta recharge my battery!  LOL

IS IT REALLY THE END OF FEBRUARY ALREADY??

It's hard to believe that March is here!  We spent the entire month of February celebrating Brooke's birthday!  Because my family lives an hour or more away, we have a separate birthday party with them.  Here are some pictures of Brooke's party at my parent's house.

Brooke and cousin Sami Jo

Sami Jo laughing because the candles keep lighting back up.  Why?  Because Paw Paw Roger accidentally got trick candles!

My cousin Julie with her twins Nick and David and their friend Tori .

Enjoying her sock monkey and animal crackers from Uncle Mike and Suzanna.

My Aunt Gay who recently moved home from Tennessee - we love having her home so she can enjoy watching the kiddos grow up and so she can come to family functions!

Suzanna and Lexi enjoying some birthday cake.

Brookie enjoying some birthday cake!

The day after her party, we had a pretty decent snow storm.  Here are some pics of that:

Unlike her momma - this little girl seems to really enjoy the snow.  She would play and play out there if I would let her but I get too cold and have to come in!  Jody also loves playing in the snow and as you can see the two of them play pretty well together...most of the time!

This past weekend, Brooke and I had the whole weekend to stay at home and enjoy the quiet!  It was a lot of fun...we had a pajama party on Saturday, followed by a make up session, play dough, bend-a-roos, baking, Barbie Dolls and then House - she was a great big help!  We played "house" and she helped me vacuum, do laundry, make beds, etc.  It was fun!  I like it when we get to stay at home once in a while!

As far as an update on the baby.... I'm trying to figure out how to get copies of the ultra-sound on here!  We found out that "J" is only 17 weeks into the pregnancy so it was too early to tell if the baby is female or male.  The due date is July 28 - that seems like soooo very far away!

Please continue to pray that God shows me the path that's right for me and Brooke and the new baby.  He is working in so many wonderful ways in our lives and I just can't tell you how very blessed I am!