pumpkin patch pics

I knew I wanted to take Judah to the pumpkin patch this year.  He LOVES being outside, especially when he can run free!  I also needed some new pictures of Judah, my ever growing belly, and us as a family.  So I contacted my good friend and wonderful photographer and set a date!

We had lots of fun watching Judah explore.  He loved the pumpkins so much that we had to buy one for him to bring home.  He played with it for days afterwards.

I can’t believe how big my little guy looks in these pics.  He’s such a toddler now.. not a baby.  But I guess that’s a good thing since baby girl is on her way!  Not to mention, Judah is so.much.fun right now!  Justin and I both love this age.. we cannot get enough of our little guy’s personality.

Happy FALL!!!  (my favorite season!)

Annalise’s baby shower

I had three sweet friends get together and throw a little shower for our Annalise Faith.  We honestly didn’t need much for her since we just went through all the baby gear stuff with Judah.  But getting little pink girly clothes and blankets and bows was lots of fun!  Plus I just enjoyed the “grown up” time with some good girlfriends and family.

I’ve just started putting a nursery together this past week for Annalise.  It’s looking pretty cute!  I’ll try to remember to post pics of it when it’s all finished.  We sure don’t have much longer!!!  About 6 weeks til I’m holding the princess in my arms.

Judah’s 1st Birthday Party

We had a small birthday party for Judah with family and only a few close friends.  The party was held at his Nini and Papaw’s house (Justin’s parents).  We chose to go with a monkey theme since we always call Judah our little monkey.

Even though Judah was not feeling very well on his party day, we believe that he had a good time.  Our goal with the party was to let Judah know that he is so special to many people that love him lots!

After most of our guests arrived, we began opening gifts.  Judah was blessed with a bunch of clothes and pj’s for the upcoming winter months as well as a bunch of new toys.  Justin and I got him a little couch that folds out into a nap mat type thing.  He LOVES it!

Next we sang “happy birthday” and let Judah dig into his cake!  On his first bite, he made a face like he wasn’t so sure about all that sweetness.  But he quickly decided it was yummy and went crazy with it.  He definitely has a sweet tooth like his momma and daddy!

We wanted to take pictures, but Judah wanted to share cake with Daddy!

For the rest of the party, everyone just visited and had cake and ice cream.  Judah really seemed to enjoy all of the attention and the fact that he had other kids around to play with.

12 months

Wow.  So this is it.  My baby boy is officially a one year old.  I could easily get super mushy on this post.  So many emotions.  The whole day I kept thinking, “at this time last year I was…….”.  It’s just crazy to think that it was a whole year ago.  It’s crazy to think about all of the growing and changing and learning that takes place in a single year.  I spent time looking back at our pictures from Judah’s birth and the weeks after, and honestly… I hardly remember that itty bitty baby.  Today he only vaguely resembles the newborn in those pictures.  I knew the year would fly by, but it went faster than I could have ever imagined.  I’m so very thankful that I could stay home with him during this time and really cherish every moment.  Even in the tough moments, I kept thinking to myself that I need to savor the moments because all too soon they will be a memory.

Anyway..  this post is really supposed to be an update on my Judah man.

On 8/27 he stood up by himself from a crawling position.  He has been walking everywhere all the time.  The guy was an immediate pro.  After only a few days he was trying to run!  He has started “dancing” when he hears music.  It’s soooo cute!  I cannot get enough of it.

Some of Judah’s current favorite activities:  pulling everything out of every cabinet he can find.  He also loves to “drum” on anything and with anything he can get his hands on.  I’m trying to teach him to be gentle before baby sister comes… but no luck so far!  He is a rough and tough little boy.

His favorite toys lately have been balls, a little toolbox with tools in it, and stacking cups (he doesn’t stack them.. just bangs them together).

Our monkey is down to 2 or 3 7 ounce bottles each day.  We have tried every sippy cup on the market, and he simply prefers his bottles!  He will drink juice and water from a cup.. but throws a fit when we offer milk in a cup.  This will be something we work on in the coming months. 

Judah is talking and jabbering a ton.  I so wish I knew what he was saying.  The only “real” words he says are daddy, mama, and he has said “Nini” one time.

He is in 18 months shirts and pjs, but 12 month pants fit him best because of his height.  He is 31 inches long and weighs 25 pounds, 8 ounces.  He is in a size 4 shoe.  He really does not like wearing shoes, but we are working on that!  I want him to have shoes on at least when we are in public since he is walking around so much.

We had Judah’s birthday party about a week early on the 15th.  He had a great time, but apparently he came down with a virus that day.  He woke up from his nap before the party very grumpy and with a fever.  The fever hung around for a few days and went up to almost 104.  He also developed a rash over his entire body.  Little buddy was pitiful to say the least.  Justin and I were heartbroken and exhausted!  It was the first time Judah has been really sick, and we were all a mess over it.

Thankfully he is all better now.  We are happy to have our smiling bundle of joy back.. even if he is a toddler now instead of a baby.  I tell him all the time he will always be Momma’s baby!

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!