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!!