Bode Philip!

Our new Bode has finally arrived! I am so amazed at how similar Lola and him look at the time of their birth. Dark hair, dark blue eyes and a tan complexion. So far, he has done great! Lola is already an amazing big sister. Lot's of "I help!" and "I hold!" They are so cute together!


These pictures aren't super, so 1 - it's taking me some time to get back in the groove of picture taking and 2 - it's hard enough to get one kid to look at you, let alone two!

Kiss #1 of 378 in his three days of life! :)

Here they are with the gifts they bought for each other and the shirts I bought for them. This was one of those times when Lola had to "hold" him!

Bed Hog

So... on occasion Lola will wake up and want to come sleep in our bed. And Brian and I are too lazy to really put up a fight so in she comes. You would think Brian and I could take on a 22 month old, but no. This girl pushes, kicks and moves wherever she darn well pleases and Brian and I will end up with the 8 inches on each side of the bed. I was trying to take a picture, but not sure if I did it justice.

Brian's Pre-Birthday

Brian's birthday is in early September, but with all of the baby festivities that will be going on, his parents offered to celebrate early. We went out to dinner with them and then back to their house for cake and ice cream.


The birthday boy and his little girl!

August 23rd

So... I continue to stink at taking pictures and posting them, but I do have news to share. My doctor has agreed to induce me on Tuesday! Five days left! I'll go in about 7:00 am and if all goes well, my doctor said 8 hours from start to finish, but we will see.

I'm very excited to meet my little boy and will post the news and pictures as soon as I can!

Random Pictures

There hasn't been too many fun and exciting things to take pictures of lately. Since it's been soooo hot, I've just stayed inside to 'nest'. Occasionally Lola will go outside with Brian to water the flowers, but for the most part, we all just stay inside. Surely it has to end soon, right?!

Speaking of nesting, I wasn't sure if it was something mental or if it was real. Regardless, I am definitely nesting. All I do lately is walk around looking for something to organize or clean. I've cleaned closets, under beds, dusted our blinds (I think for the first time since we've moved in), re-organized our bookshelf... it's out of control! But kind of fun!

During my coat closet organizing last night, I had a bunch of gloves, hats, slippers out, trying to figure out what we still use. Lola thought it would be fun to play a little dress up. She couldn't get her snow boots on, so she opted for her slippers, hat and sunglasses. She thought she was something pretty special!

Lola used to love the vacuum and always wanted us to hold her while we would use it. Now, she has become a little scared of it. My mom was using it the other day at her house and Lola went running into the kitchen where Wyatt was watching TV. I guess he picked her up and had her sitting with him (notice his arm around her). He was taking good care of her! :)

Ella's birthday party was a couple of weeks ago. Lola REALLY enjoyed eating her cake and ice cream!

3-4 weeks and counting until Little Preston arrives! So far, so good. I went on a tour of the brand new Birthing Center at my hospital yesterday and it's very nice!

Nesting?

I'm not sure if I was just tired of having a cluttery house or if this is what you call nesting, but something kicked in this weekend. Lots of cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering. One of the things I've been working on is getting caught up on Lola's baby book and getting ready to start the boy's.


Some of the pages in their books are "My First House" and "My First Room". So these pictures won't be exciting for anyone here, but are really for my Missouri relatives.


Our house:







Lola's Room:













We also made progress on the boy's room this weekend, but I'm not ready to unveil it yet, since it's not done.


5-6 weeks left!

"Booots"

Just a funny story...


For several years, Brian has called me "Booots" (and yes, it has to be spelled with 3 o's). It's just a cute inside joke that has become my nickname from him.

This weekend, Lola picked up on it and started calling me that. Brian thought it was very funny, so of course Lola kept doing it.


Brian would call for me and then next, I would hear "Booths!" and then the two of them laugh. I would say "Lola, you need to call me mommy!" And then again, "Booths!" giggle, giggle, giggle.

It was cute, but I much more prefer mommy!

A few random pics

I feel bad for not being a very good blogger lately, so I took just a few random pictures this weekend.



Lola loves to "cook" when we are in the kitchen, so here she is making us some lunch:







I asked Lola what color popsicle she wanted and she said "purple" so I got her a purple one and me a green one, which I thought was lemon-lime. I was very disappointed to learn it was watermelon (I don't like watermelon at all!). So Lola ate mine and hers!

4th of July Weekend

Our three-day Fourth of July weekend was a very nice and relaxing weekend!

On Saturday, my friend Heidi and I had a little play date with her two boys and my Lola at a local park. It has such a cute water park for little kids, but Lola was being very shy and didn't really want to play in the water. So instead we swang and swang and swang! She is a big fan of the swings!


Here she is with Parker:






Still swinging... (moved to the big girl swing)






On Monday, Denise and Russell hosted the annual 4th of July party at their house.

Wyatt and Lola in the pool:







In the slip n' slide







Not a great picture, but here she is, walking Darren and Angie's dog - Pip. Lola was walking around saying "Pip! Pip!"

Lola's 18 Month Pictures...

.... which were actually taken closer to her being 19 months.... and now are just now getting posted at 20 months. Kind of the story of our life lately. My friend, Autumn, did them again and I was very pleased. I just can't get over how she is looking more and more like a little girl!




















ps... 9 weeks left until we meet baby boy... (and if I keep up my high maintenance act with my doctor, then 8 weeks!)

Fun in the Water

Since it was supposed to be a hot weekend (and 7 month pregnant Jaline doesn't really do hot weather), we wanted to get outside early in the day to play. My mom had bought Lola a water table, so I was putting that together while Brian and Lola were watering the flowers.

She REALLY likes playing in the water so it didn't take long before watering flowers just became Lola playing in the hose! She also loved her new water table and even thought she would get in!

Memorial Day at the Zoo

Our Memorial Day weekend was very uneventful (normally this would be a good thing, but I was desperate to get out of the house), so on Monday morning when we woke up, I decided we were doing something fun as a family. We decided to go out to breakfast and to the local zoo. Little did we know that half the population would be at the Memorial Day Parade (which was at the park where the zoo is). We drove in circles for awhile trying to find a parking spot and avoid making a wrong turn and ending up actually in the parade, but we finally made it. Lola didn't really know what the zoo was at the beginning of the day, but she seemed excited to be going!


On the way to the zoo






Watching the sea lion show






Petting the goats

The difference between city folk and country folk...

According to Brian, the difference between city folk and country folk is... 'when you hear a tornado siren, city folk run to the basement to seek shelter and country folk stand outside and look for the tornado'! :) So, when I heard the tornado siren this afternoon, my first instinct was to take Lola and head for cover! Brian made fun of me, which led to a little bickering and his quote above. After the bickering, (and ensuring the tornado siren had stopped), we decided to plant our flowers... outside... in the lightning... with our daughter! A few times, I did really question if that was a good idea to have Lola outside, but she seemed to be enjoying herself.

(In my defense, the siren was not coming from our county, but I'm sure I was hearing one echoing from miles and miles and miles away!) :)


So here they are planting our flowers:

The Boy

Brian and I were having lunch together on Friday and we realized that "the boy" will be here before we know it. In fact, it's just over 3 months away!


The first sign of his pending arrival was delivered this week. On Saturday evening, we put together his crib and put the other furniture in it's tentative place. None of the paint or decorating is done yet, so this is just the beginning, but it's exciting to see some things in place.

This isn't a great picture of it, but there will be more to come.

Dance Recital

Brian, Lola and I went to Sabrynn and Corinne's dance recital on Saturday. The girls did such a good job! Lola wasn't quite as entertained as I thought she would be during the rest of the recital, but she did love seeing the girls on the stage!

Lola is 18 months old!

...Or a year and a half for the non-parents. :) It's so funny, before being a mom I couldn't understand why you counted your pregnancy months in weeks and why you counted your children's age in months. That forced me to do math, which I really don't like doing. Now, here I am... I'm 24 weeks pregnant and my daughter is 18 months! :)

Lola had her well child check up last week and everything went very well. She was in a really giggly mood, so she was interacting quite a bit with her doctor. He was very happy to hear that her words are coming along finally and loved seeing how active she was.

She's definitely growing up. She's 32 3/4" tall (75th percentile) and 23 lbs 6 oz (40th percentile). She's always been tall, but this is the lowest percentile she's been in weight.

She does so many adorable things, I wish I could write them all. Maybe this week, I'll work on a list!

Lola's New Swingset

Last weekend, Lola's daddy, Grandpa Larry and Papa Dana built her a new swingset. It went really well and she loves swinging in her toddler swing. The first time I swang with her, I made the mistake of swinging alongside of her. Now, everytime we are outside, she points at the swing next to her and makes me swing with her. Um.... this belly is not getting any smaller and the day I break the swing, will not be a good day.