We're Having a BOY!!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!! We went for my anatomy scan this morning and there is no doubt that there's a little boy in there! Even though we had several "boy vibes" reported to us, we kind of felt like it would be another girl. What a wonderful surprise! His name will most likely be Jackson Edward, and we'll call him Jack. He was in there just flipping around and sucking his little thumb, which is exactly what Anna did during her anatomy scan! Once we got the news, Anna said, "I thought it was going to be a girl." But after a few more pictures and him sucking his thumb, she was sold. Everything in the scan checked out perfectly and the ultrasound tech was nice enough to oblige my 500 heart questions (because I take care of heart babies in the PICU). She checked the heart out in detail! The OB said that there was not a thing abnormal in any of it and my blood pressure was the lowest it has been in a loooooong time in that office. We just feel so blessed! After the last year, we are so thankful for a healthy baby and that our family will grow a little bit more. God is so good!

The start of the baby bump! (17+ weeks)

The excited big sister!

(Although she says she doesn't want to be a really big sister!)

On the way home, Anna and I stopped by Sherwin Williams and picked out some blue paint cards. What other color is there to paint a boy's nursery but Carolina Blue? :0)

Jeffro and Johnna's Shower for Penelope

A couple of Sundays ago, Johnna's sister, Sally, and a couple of friends threw Jeff and Johnna a shower for Baby Penelope in Wilmington. They had it in the basement of Jeff and Johnna's favorite bar/laundromat called The Soapbox. It was so "them"! It came complete with lots of yummy food, a couple of kegs of beer, cornhole, karaoke, and a kids' table. We had a blast and got to meet a lot of their close friends. They got lots of great stuff to get them ready for baby...

The making of cousins...

Anna singing "Dora Has a Little Lamb"

The soon-to-be family of four--karaoke style!

For those of you who need deciphering assistance, this cake says, "Ummm yea, Jbird and Fro...theys gon have dem's a baby. Woohoo!!" Hysterical!

Grands' Camp 2010

For this post, I have a guest blogger: Lynne Collins, aka Mimi!! I am so excited that she volunteered to do this for me! Mom--thank you, thank you! Just beware--there are LOTS of pics!

Monday morning we went to the Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Anna loved looking at the sharks and the “diver man.” She fed the turtles and the catfish with the Goldfish crackers from her snacktrap. Boy, were they excited!!! She took it all in and really was brave touching the horseshoe crab. It was fun! In the afternoon, we put the blue pool out and Anna and her “baby” had fun for two hours. After dinner, we took a walk around the block – Anna dressed in her “princess nekalaces” and her white cowgirl hat, just a talking to her ‘baby’ (the invisible one that she holds in her hand!) and her ‘princess angel that is holding the blue butterfly.’ Oh, my gosh! God is good!!!

The rest of the week, we just had fun “doing.” Tuesday night, we met Greg and Michelle at BWWs for Mimi’s birthday. We had a delicious cake from Apple Annie’s and Mimi was very excited about her IPOD and her Shalimar.

It was rainy Wednesday, so we just hung around – playing, reading, putting together puzzles, wearing big girl panties (that was a big one all week!), computer with Pawpaw, cooking with Mimi, being a princess, and a cowgirl and playing and talking and playing. We made ‘banilla cupcapes’ that were SO good. When it wasn’t raining, Pawpaw took Anna for a ride on his tractor. She had fun driving!!!!

Thursday morning, we picked Nia up and went to Greg and Michelle’s to go swimming. That was SO much fun playing with Nia, G and M! Then, Mommy and Daddy and Sarah came for a visit. Sarah stayed with us and Jeffro, Johnna and Nia and Greg and Michelle came to Mimi and Pawpaw’s for burgers and dogs. What fun - we laughed and laughed.

Friday, Sarah and Anna and Mimi went to the beach. It was a little rough but we sure had a good time just sitting on the beach and Anna running in and out of the waves, just a talkin’. Then we made our Grands’ Camp tee shirts with Anna’s handprint – fish, of course. Friday evening, we went to see Mommy and Daddy at the beach. Erin and Aaron were there, too. We went back to Mimi and Pawpaw’s and worked in the yard trimming shrubs and digging weeds. Anna sure is a good helper! Blades of grass make perfect microphones to sing into!

Saturday, Anna, Mimi and Pawpaw went to the beach and went swimming at the pool with Mommy, Daddy, E and A, Sarah, and Uncle Block. Anna was the focus of ALL attention and she LOVED it – so did everyone else! She jumped in and swam ‘by myself’ and jumped and jumped and had a GREAT time. Sunday morning the angels were put in their ‘families’ on the coffee table one more time, puzzles put together one more time, books read one more time and we packed Anna to go home. She was excited to see Mommy and Daddy and Sarah and to ‘go to my house, but I will come back to see you, Mimi and Pawpaw!’

Grands’ Camp 2010 was a blessing and a great time for everyone!!

Thank you, Mimi and Papa, for making Grands' Camp so much fun!!