Zoo Fun!

We went to the PKU annual day at the zoo/fundraiser today! It was lots of fun and I give a big shout out to my friend Kellye who made it all possible. She has done an amazing job with starting the Tennessee chapter just a year ago and has raised lots of moolah for PKU. Although this was Lila's first "official" trip to the zoo, Michael likes to say that she has technically been to the San Diego Zoo with us when I was about 6 weeks away from giving birth. It was a very hot day, but I think Lila really enjoyed it. She would get just excited about the trees and water as she would the animals. She did like the goats, and as with any animal or person she gets very excited, but then when it is time to get close or touch them, she pulls back as she is doing below.

I love her! Concentrating...

Excited about the meercats...

Out of the Dog House

I must admit, Michael made up for my lack of mother's day gift with our anniversary gift. I have to cut him some slack because he has actually been planning on this for a while and was debating on what occasion he should give it to me (mother's day, anniversary, or new baby being born day). For our very first Christmas together (dating only 2 months) he gave me a diamond necklace. I loved this necklace. It is what I wore the day we got married and was the first time I had ever received jewelry (nice jewelry anyway) from my beau. Well, you can only guess what happened. Yes, I lost it. Oh it makes me sick just thinking of it. I still go to look for it in my jewelry box like I still have it. Well, Michael decided to get me an upgraded version this year for our 5 year anniversary! I love it! The only thing that makes me nervous is I have 6 pieces of jewelry to keep up with. AAHH! My engagement and wedding ring, my diamond necklace, my pearl earrings that he got me last year for our anniversary(I am counting each one because I always end up losing 1 from every set I own), and the pearl necklace he gave me for giving birth to Lila! He's so good to me!

(For Real) It's A.....

BOY!! AAAHH!! We are excited, but what to do I do with a BOY? Michael says we put them in the dirt and let them play. Lila will be a great big sister, I just know it.

It is kind of blurry here, but you get the idea of what we saw! It was awesome. I didn't know that anyone would be snapping pictures of us, but here we are after finding out. Thank you T.D. for snapping this. I promise I had already looked and talked to Michael at this point. He was still in shock! (He was convinced it was another girl.)

It's A......

We don't know yet, but will find out in 2 days! YEAH! There is a package sitting in my passenger seat with the results, but we haven't peeked! Here I am at 19 1/2 weeks. I am SO much bigger at this stage than with Lila. I took photos every week with her, but I have slacked and not taken pictures this time. So sorry little one. I will try to do better from here on out! (I don't know why this is typing underlined.)

All girl

I had just finished putting away Lila's shoes in the drawer when she went over, opened up the drawer and proceeded to pull all of these out and play. That's my girl. I can't wait until she discovers my purses!

I am putting away Lila's laundry and I turn to find her here. (I promise that there is an outlet cover on that plug behind her.)

Jello Monster

I've created a monster. A jello monster that is. Thanks to my friend E.C. I made this yummy strawberry pretzel jello salad. After dinner, Lila was still looking for something to pick up and put in her mouth. I decided that she could try some of the jello. Boy did she love it. If I would have let her she probably would have eaten the whole 9 x 13 pan. This was the result! Here she is saying, "Hand over that spoon. I am a big girl and I can feed myself." Her new thing is holding her own spoon. Even if it already has food on it, she won't just stick it in her mouth. SHE has to be the one to dip it in the bowl/jar and then she will put it in her mouth. Technically it doesn't always go straight to her mouth. It may end up there after whatever is on the spoon catapults through air onto my walls, her highchair, and most of the time her face and hair. We also won't tell her that half the time she puts the spoon in the jar, nothing ends up on it. She looks so proud after she sticks it in her mouth, so I will just let her believe that she is swallowing something off of the spoon. My baby is growing up!

The Greatest Gift

So, I must say, I tend to be a little spoiled by my husband. Therefore, I end up expecting a lot from him. Poor Guy. I must preface this post with saying that I have a wonderful wonderful husband who is so good to me! I am very lucky to have a man like him and I don't want anyone to think I am here to complain about him. However, I must tell of my thought process during my 15 minute pity party to give the full effect of the story. I know that what I am about to type next is going to make me sound like a total brat, but hey, at least I am honest. :)
It started off that all weekend Michael kept saying in a very exasperating voice that he just HAD to go get me something for Mother's Day. I am thinking to myself..."Don't Tell Me you are going to buy me something. You make it sound like it is this detestable duty for you to get me something for carrying your child for 9 months(and everything that goes with it), 18 hours of horrible back labor with no epidural , and countless nights of being up all night while you snored away, to give you this precious gift!!!" He surprised me last year with a sweet gift when I was pregnant and not expecting anything, so I just knew that this year, MY FIRST OFFICIAL MOTHER'S DAY, he would pull out all the stops. Well, Sunday morning comes and I am the one getting Lila ready (which really isn't a big deal), but then I ask what we are doing after church. He says he doesn't know. On the way to church, he asks if I want to go out to eat afterwards. I asked him if he knew where to and if he packed food and a bib for Lila. Of course the answer was no. He did get me a very cute card from Lila. It is one of those song cards and Lila dances away everytime you open it, so I know they had a great time picking it out! Oh, and he also tells me that my mother's day gift is that I can go buy the dining room furniture that we have already been planning to buy. To me that SO does not count! Anyway, after my little pity party I decided that I would plan us lunch and take care of it. This was of course also my day with my sweet little girl and I didn't want to ruin it by pouting. Needless to say, I was feeling sorry for myself like a spoiled little girl until this..... At this moment, I realized that THIS is what Mother's Day is really about. One reason that this is so special to me is because Lila doesn't do this. She doesn't lay her head on your shoulder and fall asleep, let alone let you rock her. We came in from lunch and I held her and she just snuggled up to me like she knew. Like she knew that I needed the reminder that she is all I need. I didn't want to lay her down, so I just held her and loved on her. All the worries of "Am I a good enough mom? Do I read to her enough? Do I play with her enough? Does she get enough sleep? Enough to eat?" All of that faded away because she told me at that moment that she loved me and I was all she needed too. This was my mother's day gift. She is my gift. I don't need some big extravagant gift from Michael to make mother's day special. Just getting to be a mother and knowing that I do have a wonderful husband and family is what is special. I am already crying, so I don't want to write much more, but I just want to add one more thought. Happy Mother's Day to my Momma! Now that I am a mother myself, I realize just how special you are and I can't thank you enough for everything you have given for your children and your grandchildren. I am so thankful to have you. I love you mom!

Yummy Yummy, Jeffery's Sunday Brunch!!

Just a few more...

Since a new weekend is about to begin, I am trying to get caught up from last weekend. After the kindermusik program, we had a yummy lunch at the Puffy Muffin and then headed to the park for some swing time. After mom and dad left, Lila and I headed up to a friends house for girl night where we played some Guitar Hero and Wii. My back was seriously sore from playing tennis...which I dominated at by the way! :) Luckily, Lila went down to sleep easily, however it caused me to stay out later. I will not be documenting any pictures from that.








Here is a picture of Lila with Daddy and Papaw before they left for their trip. Lila tends to take a little while to warm up to some people. She was unsure about Papaw, but once he got out the fridge magnet to play, she knew he was a good man!

We'll All go round the Irish Trot....running around!

No, I had never heard of this song either until Kindermusik. Lila loves her music class! I am sad that this was the last week for this session. She practically jumps out of my arms when we enter the room. She was so cute 2 weeks ago when we walked in and Miss Rachel, said "Hi Lila!" Lila loudly said "Hi" and waved. It was super cute. That has been her new thing the past few weeks. Anytime we are out, she is waving and say hi to everyone. I love it! I know I have said it before, but this girl has rhythm! She gets her head a goin' and both hands up in the air and "conducts." She loves anything that shakes. I purchased some maracas at Target....the best buck 99 I have ever spent! 2 come in a pack, so she can share with a friend. Here are some pictures from class and from her end of the year program. When I get my video camera downloaded I will post her actual performance. While Michael and his dad were in NY, my parents came for the day and were able to attend Lila's program. And yes for all you fashionistas out there, I made a fashion faux pax. We wore the same outfit 2 weekends in a row. I couldn't resist the doo rag again for her program and plus the outfit I had ordered for her to wear had not come in yet. So, here is my little dancin' queen!

Lila loves the shaker box and always turns it over to grab all of them out. She looks as though she is about to tell C.T. to back off! :)

Father/Son bonding time.

So, a few months ago Michael was talking about wanting to go to NYC to see a game in the Yankees stadium before the new one is built. I am talking to him telling him that if we are going we need to plan our trip soon, yada yada yada. Our anniversary is in May and we have tired to incorporate some MLB games on our trips. I noticed while talking to Michael he isn't saying a whole lot. I finally ask him, "Do you want me to go to NYC?" He pauses and says "Yeah, if you want to." I ask him if he is wanting to do a guys trip or something and he finally tells me he was thinking of taking his dad. I thought it was so sweet that he didn't want to hurt my feelings, but I thought it was a great idea for him and his dad to go. His dad had never flown and is such a big baseball guy that I knew he would enjoy a trip like this. Because they are men and didn't have me around (I am not bitter I promise) they did not get very many pictures. :) However, here is one that I really like of them at Monument Park. It was just a short trip to the game and back so Michael still owes me a big sight-seeing, play-going, shopping trip there soon!

Where O' Where has the week gone?

Is it seriously Friday again?!? What a week. Work has been crazy busy. I know I should be thankful, but I have spent the past 2 days in tears over it. I enjoy my job and love what I do, but... What I do not enjoy is when people tell you they are going to do something and do not follow through or when they mislead you on purpose. I also do not enjoy feeling as though I am ignoring my daughter while I am on the phone so much with work that my phone is dead by 4:00. There is no telling what all she ate off of the floor and what she was in to that I don't know about. (Maybe she actually had a GRAND time and there is no need for all this mommy guilt?!?!?) Today has been much better. One of my dear clients came and fixed my computer for me. YEAH! I can actually upload pictures, burn DVD's, and do my work again. Thanks B.B.
My parents are also here, but just until tomorrow. Michael and his dad are in NYC to watch a game in the Yankees stadium since this is the last year for it. Michael would like to see a game played in all of the stadiums, so I am glad for this opportunity for him. He has been working so hard that I hope this will be a nice break for him and not an added stress of being out of town again. He will hopefully have lots of pictures for me to post when he gets back.

Ok, so the biggest news this week is this:
I am warning you that the news is totally dorky and cheesy(as S.E. confirmed about me), but I am super excited about it!
We will be going for our big ultrasound on May 13th? (Am I seriously already 18 weeks?)
Anyway, our anniversary is May 17th. TTU is holding an alumni day at the Braves Game in Atlanta. We will not be finding out the sex of our baby at the Dr.'s office on the 13th. Instead we will find out on our anniversary at the Braves game on the jumbo tron message board! YEAH! Hopefully we will have enough time to get a picture. I am a little sad that we will not have our reaction on video like we did with Lila, but I still think it will be neat. Everytime I tell people what we are doing, Michael just laughs and shakes his head. Thank you Lord for giving me a man who puts up with all my crazy antics.
Ok, I am off to bed. We have Lila's Kindermusik program in the morning. I hope she does well since she really didn't nap well today and it is right in the middle of her nap tomorrow. She also has a tendency to totally stare at people, so I hope that she participates likes she does in class and not just stare all the new people down!

I have really got to quit typing these posts late at night when my eyes are closing, because I find 511 typos later. I apologize now!