A new shirt for Jonathan

Yes, you are reading that right... our little boy is going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!!

I got the surprise of a lifetime Father's Day weekend when two lines appeared on that little stick. This shirt was Clay's Father's Day gift (on Saturday because I just couldn't wait any more!)... needless to say, he was shocked too.

The shock has turned to excitement and reality as we saw our newest one's heartbeat... we are so humbled God would choose to create another life through us. See, our situation hasn't changed - meaning we still had less than a 5% chance of getting pregnant without medical assistance. We had recently acknowledged and accepted that our family may be complete at three... then God decided to reveal a bit more of His plan. For two people who wondered if we would ever get the joy of being parents, we will now have two children under the age of 2 before we are 30!!!!

For those who like details... we will be 10 weeks pregnant tomorrow making our due date February 27th. The kiddos (man, that still seems weird) will be almost 20 months apart. My nausea seems to be diminishing, but the exhaustion remains. We appreciate your prayers for the health of this little and me. We'll keep you posted on the newest member of our family...

Precious moments and funny faces

Do you think they have identical hairlines?









I had to capture this moment on camera...the boys were watching a little TV together... isn't this just adorable? The littlest one soon discovered I had the camera out so he had to ham it up!











Here are some funny faces I just had to share... what a little personality!

Birmingham fun

We had a great time in Alabama last weekend. It was great to see family, look at old pictures, recall the "old" days, and laugh...a lot! Our family gatherings are a bit different now...4 generations - 22 people - and now the grandkids have kids of their own. I think the "elders" enjoy watching us deal with parenting and being able to walk away.

Here is a picture of my grandmother with her 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.














We attempted to take a picture of "Mom" with her great-grandchildren, but it's hard to get 5 kids (ages: 5, almost 2, 1, 1, and almost 3 months) to cooperate! Of course our little one quickly tired of having his personal space invaded and that led to the littlest one chiming in...but at least we have them all in a picture!
















Our adventure was fun...a 3 car caravan with 4 children under the age of 5. A good friend and her daughter joined us on the trek so she could see her family for the weekend. The trip is normally 10 hours on the same interstate, but we made it in 12!!! The trip home became even more adventurous with the addition of a blown tire about 120 miles from home. After changing the tire, we learned a man had hijacked an 18-wheeler and was leading the police on a slow-speed chase around the metroplex. Needless to say, I-20 was shut down! We made it up to a highway that runs parallel to I-20 and worked our way home amidst the traffic with one car on a spare tire. We thought we were home free, but then ran in to construction! YEAH, RAH, improving the city!!! A mere 15 hours after leaving my aunt and uncle's, we finally arrived home. The children really fared well for the long drive.

We have been going to bed early and napping...and we are slowly recovering from this month of adventure. It is nice to know we will be home for a while. Now, it's back to the day-in/day-out of life. We welcome that simplicity after such a busy, but wonderful month.

Note on updates

I updated the blog with several posts today so make sure you catch all of them...and due to the number of pictures I wanted to post, they are all small. If you would like a closer look at any one of them, simply double click on that picture!

Continue to check back...we head out this coming Thursday to visit with my family in AL!

The birthday party

The Saturday after his actual birthday, we threw a party for those who have walked the long road with us while we waited for Jbird's arrival and celebrated his life this first year. Everyone seemed to have a great time - except the birthday boy! He was pretty disturbed for the first 45 minutes or so...he had an entire pool to play in, but he preferred playing in the sink...





Here are some pictures of the unhappy birthday boy...and the fun others were having. It was great to be surrounded by friends and family.

The cake

Here is the cake for the adults...and Jbird's cake. I had a great time thinking of how to make the frog look like he was coming out of water...do you see the fly he caught with his tongue?



Due to his mood, I chose for us not to sing...and even sitting down with the cake was a bit too much at first. He did finally get interested in the icing and he LOVED the marshmellows. Again, something upset him and he put his legs in the cake.



















After all the festivities, he finally got in a good mood and began to enjoy the pool! We had a great time celebrating his first birthday with friends who walked a long road with us. God is SO good...the blessing of a son, family and friends.

The actual birthday - part 1

On Jbird's actual birthday, we had a family dinner with my parents, sister and her family. It was a relaxed time to celebrate the first year of his life. He didn't much care for being sung to, but he soon got interested in the cake with the help of his dad!

The actual birthday - part 2

Cake eating was fun...he really enjoyed the icing, but not the cake part so much. We aren't sure what set him off, but at one point he wasn't happy anymore and he almost face-planted in his cake...but at the last minute he turned to the side.




Then it was time for presents...my mother couldn't wrap her gift so I had to cover his eyes! He was quite amused with this.





Then came clean up - a birthday bath!



What a great way to celebrate a year of life! It was a wonderful day.

The Skipper reunion

Well, I will finally take a moment to try to catch you up on all the happenings in our world over the last several weeks. We knew July was going to be crazy, but it is much more taxing than we ever expected and it is only half over! Don't get us wrong - we are having a lot of fun and great memories are being made, but we'll be glad for a bit of "normalcy" come August!

We began the month in Philadelphia, MS for the every-3-year Skipper family reunion. I think it is technically the Duncan reunion...but we refer to it as the Skipper reunion. It is always good to see family we don't see often and visit the southeast. Once again, I was amazed at how still it is there...and muggy. I have definitely acclimated to the southwest! We always laugh a lot and get some good entertainment from distant family members. Jbird was the youngest one in attendance, and he was a real trooper.

This was his first trip in almost 6 months and only his third in his lifetime. He did get to face forward this time - which made it a lot easier on all of us. The reunion didn't start until Saturday so we were able to have some QT with Clay's parents and sister on Friday...and Jbird enjoyed a few early birthday presents.



Here is a priceless picture of Jbird and his father "in conversation"! I can't believe I caught them both this way!








Saturday night there was a dance...and Jonathan got a bit groovy with just about everyone! He had so much fun, loved the grass skirts (Hawaiian theme)...and lasted much past his bedtime. Once he did sack out, the noise didn't phase him one bit as you can tell by this first picture...he is simply off in the corner of the main room where all the festivities took place!















Here are a few pictures of family...the man with the beard isn't Santa Claus... it is simply Uncle Fidelis. Jonathan got a kick out of all that facial hair!