Guess What?

Jackson is going to be a big brother!!

So here's the story. Adam and I have been trying for another baby for a while--4 months actually. Yup. Crazy, huh? Considering it only took 3 weeks the 1st time. Stressful to say the least. Our plan was to be preggers by Jackson's birthday and keep it a secret until then, and announce at the party--didn't happen.

Last week, I knew I had missed. Then, all of a sudden, I couldn't remember when my last cycle was. Did I miss? Did I miss calculate my start date? Am I cramping? Why are my boobs so sore? Why am I SOOOO FREAKING TIRED?! Well, Adam was out of town last Sunday, so I decided to take a test by myself. Instantly--POSITIVE. The funny thing is, even though we knew it was going to happen sometime, I was flooded with emotion at that one single moment of seeing it show 2 lines. My first thought: holy crap. This is going to change Jackson's life dramatically! What is he going to think? Will I still love him as much? Will he feel left out? Then, holy crap. I'm going to get fat again. Great.

Really, those were the only two things I thought about. I hate saying it, but I wasn't overly excited like I was the first go-round. Although, I have heard that from a lot of mom's now, so I don't feel so terrible about it now!

The next thing I did--went upstairs to the office to order the cutest shirt I had ever seen online! I had had the thought about a year ago that when we got pregnant again, I would get a shirt from Babies R Us that said Big Brother, and then write: "I'm going to be a" on the top--then I found this shirt when I was searching for his birthday shirt, and knew that I had to have it! And, I wouldn't say a word until it was here.



So I waited until Wednesday when it arrived to plan the announcement--that's right, 3.5 days later of keeping a secret! (and in fact, the UPS guy was the first person I told! Then Marcia, the receptionist at Dr. Taylor's office when I made the appointment!) WOW! That has never happened to me. I'm a blabber mouth--**NOTE: never tell me a secret. I have to tell at least one person. Unless you are my mom, my hubby, Rachel, or Stacey, I will tell someone your secret! With theirs, I keep my mouth SHUT, but anyone else is fair gossip people. Don't get all judgemental, you know you do it too! HA!**

When I told Jackson, the first thing he said was "A baby Anna?" NO. "A baby Mari?" NO. I've held two babies in the past 3 weeks--Anna and Mari--both of which Jackson LOVED! I asked him, "What is Mommy?" "Mommy pegant!" Yup.

So on Thursday morning, Adam was home from work and I knew I had to tell him then b/c we had our first appointment on Friday. So I put the shirt on Jackson, grabbed the video camera, and headed up stairs to surprise Daddy! I'll try and get that video online soon. He was shocked, kinda happy, kinda weirded out that I could keep a secret! All at once! But by the end of the day, he was elated!

We went to see Dr. Taylor on Friday--love that office! They were all excited to see us! We go back next week for an ultra sound and bloodwork, but in the meantime, she already started me on my Progesterone ( I had hormone issues with Jackson that could have caused me to miscarry had we not caught it soon enough) just to be safe.

On Saturday, I was super tired, but we had plans to finish the office closet and my parents were going to help. We were supposed to have my family over afterward for dinner and then have Jackson announce (same as with Adam) but I got really tired and cranky, pissed off at Adam, nothing was going right, so everyone left--no dinner, no announcement, and I went straight to bed to take a 3 hour nap. Lovely.

Later, we put the shirt on and headed to Memaw's and Pawpaw's with the video camera again and told them to come outside. Jackson said "ook at my chirt!" "Mommy pegant!" Mom and Dad and Tacey were both happy! WHAT? NO WAY! YOU ARE A LIAR! HOW COULD YOU KEEP THIS A SECRET? WHAT HAPPENED TO "I'M NOT HAVING ANY MORE KIDS?" THAT'S GREAT! WHEN ARE YOU DUE? etc etc etc....Then on to GG Jane's for more showing of the shirt, video, "WHAT? NO WAY! WHEN ARE YOU DUE? WERE YOU TRYING? HAVE YOU GONE TO THE DOCTOR? NO WAY! Again, I'll get the video up as soon as I can....

We called Adam's parents on our way home. We had called them earlier in the day, but they were working on their house, so we knew they would be done by 9:30 at night! Grandma Patty answered and we told Jackson, "Tell her the surprise. What is Mommy?" "MOMMY PEGANT!" Patty said "Isn't that a big word for a little boy? Couldn't you have taught him, "Mommy's going to have a baby!?" Jackson yells, "NOOOO!" HA! But I don't think she thought we were serious. Grandpa Doug asked, "Is this for real or did you just teach him to say that?" Once it sunk it, holy cow were they elated! Doug could not get on the phone fast enough! "Were you trying? That's great! That new house does it to you guys every time!" (which is true, we buy a new house, we get pregnant---FYI: we're never moving again.) We didn't get to chat long, but it made me feel good that they were so excited. The more excited everyone else was about it, the more excited I have become. I cried on the way home after telling the families--it made it all real then.

So we've only told a few people. This is our big announcement! We are due March 23rd (roughly) but due to the fact that my OB does not to VBACs, we will be scheduling a c-section the week before the actual due date. We'll find out more next Wednesday at the ultra sound.

Our family of 3 will become a complete family of 4 next spring. It's very surreal! We are so excited! Holding all these babies lately really puts you in baby mode. At this point, a lot is up in the air--how much will I be working, if at all. How much sleep are we going to actually get this time around (before, Jackson and I would nap on the days that we didn't get much sleep at night, but now I have a toddler, too!) I know Mom's do it all the time, it's just scary. I can barely handle one, I can't imagine two right now. Also, in the time that we have been talking about babies with Jackson, he has reverted a little and had a few accidents with potty training. And he wants to be held like a baby. And he wants me to hold him at night to fall asleep. This could get interesting.....

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we journey through pregnancy once again! I'll be posting pregnancy updates on my photo blog, as not to take away from Jackson's blog! Caution: it could get vivid!! HA!!

BIG big boy bed

For Jackson's birthday party, we invited Grandma Patty and Grandpa Doug to stay the night after the party was over. We FINALLY have room and a place for them to stay whenever they come into town (we had a couch and a floor in the old house--Jackson was still in a crib then and we had wood floors, so it was difficult to have anyone stay the night!). My mom was cleaning out her upstairs with the intent of getting new carpet and re-decorating once Stacey is moved out, so I offered to take my old bed off of her hands!! HA! It's a full size bed...which is perfect for our spare bedroom.

So we got the bed, a night stand, a lamp, and a headboard from them about 2 weeks before the party. Little did we know that THIS would become Jackson's favorite (and only) place to sleep.
When we got the bed, Jackson immediately wanted to sleep in the new bed. So, I let him. Then, the next night, it was "I sleep in Momma's bed?" NO. "I sleep in Daddin's bed?" NO. "I sleep in Memaw's bed?" You mean the guest bedroom? "Yes, Jackson sleep in the geeeuuuusstt-bed...woom!" And this is where he sleeps now. In fact, he told me the other night as I was putting his jammy-jams on: Do you want to sleep in your own bedroom tonight? "No momma, it too mall." So, he's in the big boy bed....we'll be changing the crib/toddler bed into the full size bed soon and putting that mattress in his room. He sleeps so well in it--through the night and WELL into the morning--until like 9:00am! He gets a full 13 hours of sleep at night! I love it!

This bed has also finally allowed us to be on a night time routine: bath at 7:00-7:20, jammies by 7:30, milk and pick out books til 7:40pm, read stories til 7:55pm, close our eyes and try and be out by 8:00pm. So far so good, he's usually out by the 2nd story! Yeah!

Some shots of Jack Jack sleeping in his BIG big boy bed:

Cute pics!

***We interrupt this blog for some random cuteness!**

"Ooo Catch Nemo, Daddin?"--LONG Weekend

So on Friday, we had a busy day planned, and Daddin was heading out of town for a fishing adventure in Port Aransas. He and 5 buddies chartered an off shore boat for the weekend, and so Jackson and I had the weekend to ourselves!! YEAH! (no offense Daddy, we just like hanging out together!)

We got up early on Friday with a full day planned. We started out by picking Grandma Netty up and then heading Target to get a few things, then lunch, then to the library for Kindermusikk--which was a total bust. I don't know which was worse, the 3 5 year old boys that were running around like newly released hyenas, the singing voice of the fat lady teaching the class, or the fact that she is the OWNER of KINDERMUSIK and she DIDN'T INTERACT with the KIDS!! (we won't be going to her anytime soon for music lessons!) The class was supposed to last 1 hour--we skipped out after about 15 minutes. Oh well. It was an adventure.

That put us a little bit ahead of schedule, so we headed straight up to Kingwood Medical Center to see one of my good friend's Malee and her new baby girl Anna Malee! Jackson was super cute in the hospital. We had practiced saying "Hi, Baby Anna" in the car, and he said it so sweetly. When we got there, he didn't really like seeing Mommy hold the baby, but he stood next to me, with his hands behind his back (b/c I didn't want him touching the new baby--it would have made me a nervous wreck as a new mommy!) just looking! So sweet! Although, he did sneeze a HUGE sneeze while we were in the room and just about threw Mommy into panic! DON'T SNEEZE AROUND A NEW BABY, JACKSON! Sorry Malee!
I got some cute little shots of Baby Anna before it was time to head back home:








As we were leaving, Grandma Netty told Jackson to go tell everyone it was great to see them, and bye-bye. He went to Chris, shook his hand and said "Good to see you", then to Malee, shook her hand, "Good to see you", and then to Malee's mom, "Good to see you"! So polite!

On our way back to the Houston area, we called the Stowe family who was staying in Galveston. I knew they were at Moody Garden's so we thought we could meet them for a drink and dinner during their last weekend in Texas. They are the one's moving to South Carolina on Monday! How exciting!

Jackson slept the entire way down there, but was excited to see Charlie when we got to the hotel! We ate, drank, and has a great little visit with them. It was sad when they left, but I didn't cry b/c I know we will be visiting them VERY soon! Next summer at the latest!

On our way back home, we stopped in at Kemah. Every Friday night, they have a fireworks show on the boardwalk. We drove pretty fast to get there in time, and sure enough, Jackson yelled from the back seat "KEEBOOMs! KEEBOOMs! Right dare!!" Then, as I'm driving, "Park right dare, Momma! Park right dare!" "KEEBOOMs!!" He was thrilled!

We finally made it home, and then that night, as Jackson lay crashed out on the couch, I bought 2 movies from OnDemand: August Rush (freaking fabulous movie! If you haven't seen it, you HAVE to get it! Sooooo good! A great feel good movie! I cried--good kinda cry!) and the 27 Dresses (also a good movie, but not NEARLY as great as August Rush!!) oh, to bed at 3:45am...

Saturday morning, we slept in. Really. Like 10:45am. Really. Then, in full Ramie fashion, put on just enough clothing to be decent, same for Jackson, crawled down stairs, grabbed the keys, put Jackson in his car seat, and drove for donuts. 4 to be exact. Why? Becuase that's all a donut shop has at 11:20am. We meandered over the Grandma and Grandpa's to share our loot and just veg-out for the day. I didn't brush my teeth, I didn't brush my hair, I didn't even put shoes on. Not on Jackson either. .....it....was....fabulous!! I haven't had a lazy day in months so I took advantage. I apologize to any of my bride's that I put on the back burner this weekend--I am working Monday-Friday getting images posted and Amy's books done, and Valorie's bridals processed. I'll be working--I promise!

In the afternoon, GG Jane came over while Jackson was napping. We put together his John Deer Tractor that she got him as a birthday gift (really, she couldn't decide between the battery powered 4-wheeler or the John Deer, so she got both, thinking that she was going to save the John Deer for Christmas--yeah right! Do you know who my Grandmother is? She doesn't save anything for Christmas! It was like that last $10 in your pocket at Vegas burning a hole in her pocket!)













He LOVED the tractor! He's "fawmow Jack" on it! He picked up on how to peddle pretty quick, which really suprised me. He's a pro! After the tractor, we played in the sprinkler and went home to crash on the couch again! This time, it was Wizard's of Waverly Place (everyone knows I'm a Disney Channel junkie--I love the kiddie shows, so sue me!) and cheese cake for dessert. Oh, how great has our weekend been!

This is Jackson running over "I turn it up!"

We called Daddy when we got home--"Ooo catch Nemo, Daddin?" No. After chartering the boat, they caught nothing. Only 1 fish. 1 keeper out of 12 hours of fishing. Some guide that guy was. He said it was the worst fishing result he'd had all season--Really? And it HAD to be when my hubby paid you a bunch of money, didn't it?! Oh well....Jackson and I had a great weekend, and so did Daddin, even though he didn't get any fish! HA!

"Twim Twim, PawPaw"

On the 5th of July, we had a birthday party for GG Jane (if you do the math, that's a birthday a week for us in June-July: Grandpa Scott, Grandma Netty, Grandpa Doug, Jackson, GG Jane...and if everyone were still alive, we would have added GG Joe, and GG Dutch too! Not to mention [aunt]Rachel, [aunt]Lindsey, and Keith! YIKES!!)

So we have dinner at Mom's, along with swimming. Jackson is a fish--hands down, loves the water. He's a really great swimmer too...with his floaties and tube, he's a rockstar. If Mommy is in the pool, we've been working on just the floaties, or just the tube to build up some muscles....maybe next summer we'll be swimming with one or the other, but for now, we are safe with both. So safe, that I can sit on the side of the pool and just watch him wade around in the water. I feel comfortable doing that--and I'm a little over protective when it comes to water!

So on Saturday, Jackson and Grandpa Scott were pretty much the only fish in the water. So PawPaw took him for a ride, while the rest of us played Wii! Oh, the bowling + tennis tournaments were ON!! I love Jack Jack in his little sun glasses: he's say "too bright, Momma!" He has no problem wearing them and keeping them on in the water--now out of the water is a different story! He's so fair skinned that we keep him pretty covered and coated with SPF. I'm terrified on him burning! (and secretly, I want him to have this same perfect skin when he's older--I've learned my lesson about the sun/wrinkles/sun spots/etc!

Foreshadowing

My friend Courtney got Jackson this adorable backpack for his birthday (which matched the theme of the party to a tee!) He had been waiting for me to take the tags off (it had been hanging on his door for about a week) and I finally had time to sit with him and put some of his favorite things in it for us to take along during our errand running. His pack included the following:

-his laptop (I work, Momma)
-big boy pants
-wipes (I clean, Momma)
-Thomas
-2 books (to weed)
-Leo (his wyion)
-GoldFish (my 'nack)

Obviously, it was a little heavy on his 26.4 lb frame, but he was super excited to wear it. But when he walked to the door, I stopped dead in my tracks...like one of those things you see in the movies. I grabbed my camera from the table and shot away. I'm telling you, it was like he was in slow motion, walking away from me. I was sad. It hit me so hard that it's not going to be long before he is walking to that door to go off to Kindergarten....

"Where'd Meemaw Doe?"

The other day, Grandma Netty was at our house playing, and apparently told Jackson that when he woke up from his nap, they would play with his car washer. Well, he fell asleep and about 30 minutes later, he woke up, which was also 2 minutes after she left. He woke up, came into the office, asked "Where'd Meemaw Doe?" I said, "She left, baby, she went to her house." Well, the lip went out, he asked a few more times, and then came the crocodile tears! I called Mom so that she could hear what was going on, and she said she had just turned into her driveway, but she was making a U-turn and heading back. She was not about to let her angel baby cry like that!

In the meantime, I took pictures of the big cry-fest that Jackson endured in the minute 30 seconds it took her to get back to our house!

Don't ever promise a 2 year old something and leave:





When she came back, Mommy still had some work to do in the office, so she took Jackson back to her house so that they could play with his car washer and eat Tee-tos (Cheetos).....oh, happy again!