it’s a ……

During this entire pregnancy, I had no idea what the sex of this baby would be.  I had no gut feeling either way.  Justin and I both thought it would be neat to have another boy.  With the babies being only 15 months apart, another boy would make a best friend and buddy for Judah.  I would love to see them play rough together, play ball together, etc.  We also both really wanted a girl this time just for the sake of having a baby girl.  We definitely both have always wanted a daughter.  Justin has a big soft spot for little girls.  And I just loved the thought of bringing some pink and ruffles and bows into the house.  Dolls, painting toenails, playing princess dress up, etc.  So needless to say, either way we would have been thrilled.

On July 23rd, at 18 weeks pregnant, Justin and I went in for the anatomy scan.  Most importantly we saw that all of the organs were in the correct places and functioning correctly.  The baby’s size was measuring right about average.  And then the moment we had been anxiously waiting for….

IT’S A GIRL!!!!!!

I actually saw Justin do a fist pump.  Haha!  And I started to cry a little bit.  It was like in that very instant, we both were so happy.  We realized just how much we each wanted a daughter.

After the appointment, we went straight to Wal-Mart to buy our baby girl something pink.  It was so fun looking at all the little girly outfits for a change.  Then we went to lunch and discussed names.  We had a boy name picked out ahead of time, but girl names were a different story.  I had a long list of names I liked, but Justin is SO picky!  We narrowed them down one by one and finally chose:  Annalise Faith.  We both loved the way Annalise sounded, and its meaning sealed the deal.  Annalise means “devoted to God”. 

Our entire family is already completely in love with this little girl.  I cannot wait to meet her and see what she is like.  My sweet baby girl.  My daughter.  <3

11 months

My big guy.  Really… he’s big.  Everywhere we go we have people comment on two things:  how big Judah is and how happy he is.  We are surely blessed with a smiley and social boy.  He seems to especially like to flirt with older women.  He knows how to get their attention and then just eats it up!

Judah man is quickly turning into a toddler.  He is standing up alone for longer periods of time—up to 20 seconds or so.  He took his first steps on August 5th—about 3 steps actually.  After that he would practice a few steps here and there every day. 

Judah started waving bye-bye a few days after 10 months old.. but won’t do it on command.  It’s only when he wants to, and it’s usually while he is in his high chair.  Speaking of his high chair, he is now eating just about anything we give him.  He doesn’t seem to be picky and loves to eat “big people” food.  He definitely seems to have a sweet tooth like momma.

He is very into standing up and jumping on couches and kitchen chairs.  He also uses his feet to spin himself in circles while sitting on his bottom.

Judah loves for us to put a toy in our mouths and make noises.  He cracks up every time.

He seems to be a risk taker.  No fear for this guy!  He actually climbed/jumped out of his crib at his grandparents’ house on August 11th… about 10 1/2 months old. 

Baby Perkins #2

Justin and I always knew we wanted to have our babies close in age, but didn’t know just how close they would end up!  We weren’t trying to prevent pregnancy, so I knew that we could be blessed with another little one at any time.  Luckily I still had some tests from when I found out about Judah.

The day was Tuesday, April 24th.  My sister’s birthday.  I was late and suspected I may be pregnant.  Justin was gone that evening to his church group meeting, but I couldn’t wait any longer to find out.  Judah was already in bed, so I went to the bathroom and scanned over the instructions for the test.. did what it said.. and then tried to be calm.

A couple minutes passed, and sure enough “pregnant” was the word staring back at me.  All I could think in that moment was “oh my gosh… is this real?  oh my!”.  Then my next thought was “how do I tell Justin?”.  I wanted to do it some cute and creative way, but I hadn’t planned this out well at all.  I was on pins and needles waiting for him to get home that night.  I kept thinking about how exciting this was, how happy I was, how hard this was going to be, etc.  It was very much mixed emotions.  So different than when we found out about Judah. 

Justin finally walked in the door, and all of my creative thoughts must have left at the same time.  All I could muster up was, “hey, I have something for ya…” and handed him the positive test.  Needless to say he was in shock too.  We were both definitely happy.  Babies, to us, are always a blessing.  And we even knew that it was a possibility that month.  And we definitely wanted this child.  But still, it was shocking to see a positive test when Judah was only 6 months old.

Judah and his little sibling will be 15 months apart.  I’m due this time December 23rd… a wonderful Christmas gift for sure!

Since that April night, we have shared the news with everyone we love and care about.  We have started preparing to welcome a second baby into our lives.  We have celebrated and dreamed about what our future will look like.  I couldn’t be happier!

I’ve fallen off…

It has been so long since I have blogged that I couldn’t remember my blogger password.  It’s safe to say that I have fallen off the blogging train.  And the picture taking train.  And maybe even the cooking and cleaning house train.  Yikes!

Normally I would just start here and skip everything that I have missed.. but because I want Judah’s milestones recorded, I’m going to at least do a quick rundown of those for my own sake.

8 Months--

scooting- pulling himself with his arms (started the day after he turned 7 months)

got third and fourth teeth.

weighed 21.11

found out he will be a big brother on 4/24!!! (here is my reason for the blog failure)

definitely babyproofing began this month.  Judah started exploring.

bangs two objects together to make noise

pulled himself up to standing on our ottoman on 5/16.

9 months--

wants to stand up all the time.

cruises along the furniture.

says “mama”

1st roadtrip to dallas to visit Aunt Candice, Uncle Dom, and cousin Ava.

wearing 12 months clothes.

6 teeth!

loving balls, anything that makes noise, and playing rough.

very interested in our cat, Sylvester.

finds one object/toy daily to carry around all day.

has started to notice when I leave the room and cries/whines.

started doing his scrunched up face.

10 months—

let go while standing on 6/22.

weighs 23.13 and is 29 1/4 inches long.

very efficient at crawling now on hands and knees. He loves being chased and will crawl faster if he sees us coming for him.

doing better with table food- loves fig newtons! also tried grapes, bread, mashed potatoes, puffs, and greek yogurt.

diagnosed with eczema on legs at 9 month appointment.

finally getting some thickness to his hair in the back

started clapping and doing patty cake on July 14th

I guess I’ll wait and do his 11 month post once he turns 11 months… less than a week from now!  My baby boy is growing up.  It really has passed us by so quickly.  I love my little monkey!