Signs You May Be 6 Months Pregnant...

I have really enjoyed being pregnant so far, and it honestly has been easy for me. I know that many people have a terrible time with morning sickness and other issues - but fortunately I haven't had to deal with much of this at all. God has blessed us with a healthy baby, and has blessed me with an amazing experience over the past several months. With that being said, I thought I would share some of the things I have noticed lately that are out of the ordinary for me...

1. You cry (a lot) during the opening scene of Madagascar 2 when the baby lion is separated from it's father and consider leaving the theatre if it gets any worse.

2. A "good night sleep" means not having to get up more than 3 times to go to the bathroom during the night.

3. You have really weird dreams almost every night (I dream quite frequently that when the baby comes out, it is our dog Beau!)

4. You find your self completing "Nesting" activities that you never thought about before - such as cleaning out the back of the closet in the guest bedroom, or separating your craft supplies into organized Tupperware containers, or vacuuming behind the bed between the wall.

5. Shaving your legs in the shower has become almost impossible.

I wouldn't trade it for the world, but this has been a unique experience to say the least.

Anyways, we are also in the middle of getting the baby's room ready. We drove back from Texas this weekend with a U-Haul Trailer full of furniture and other baby "necessities" that need to find a place in our house. My friend Rachel has started helping me on the design for the nursery (you can see her ideas at http://thehotpinkpolka-dot.blogspot.com/). Son and I are going to get everything out of the room on Thursday so that we can start painting & move everything in (if it all fits!)

Who would have thought that someone so little would need so much stuff!!

I love Lilo!

Every year we drive from Jacksonville to Pensacola (about 5 hours) to spend a few days with Son's family before Christmas and then drive to Tyler, TX (about 9 hours) to spend time with my family. This year, as excited as I was about Christmas, I was even more excited to meet our new little neice, Lilo!

We got to meet her Friday morning. It was love at first sight! She was only 2 weeks old, and was already had the sweetest little personality! I got to change her, feed her, and hold her while she slept! Here are a few pictures...

Baby Lilo (we think she was picking her nose & fell asleep :)

When I first got to hold her!

Son, Son's Mom, Kim (sister-in-law), Lilo & Julie

Son holding Lilo

Boy, Oh Boy!

Well, as many people know I am not exactly what you would call a "Tom Boy", and I come from a family of all girls. I am very excited about having a boy (we always wanted aboy first), but I am not sure what I am getting myself into! These are pictures from an email that my mom forwarded me titled "Why Boys Need Parents".

Here is the rest of the email...

And you also find out interesting things when you have sons, like...

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A six-year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36- year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Lego pieces will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old boy.

11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15.) VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The fire department in Toronto has a 5-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. 22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

25.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

Cutest Nephew Ever!

Here is a picture of my nephew, Jaeden...he is in the car after flying all the way back home to Hawaii from California - and he is in a good mood! He is 1/2 Vietnamese also, so it's probably pretty close to what Collin will look like in terms of coloring, etc. Beautiful!!

Nursery Decorations!

This weekend my friend Rachel was in town visiting so she came over Sunday afternoon and helped me visualize the plan for the nursery. I had already picked out the fabric for the bedding, which I am making myself, but it really helped to talk about where we were going to put the furniture, what color we are going to paint the walls, and what type of accessories we would need to get.

I was starting to get nervous about the fabric that I had picked out because when I was a JoAnn's buying it the cashier made a big deal about it being "girly", but Rachel really liked it & had some great ideas on how to make sure that it was obviously a boy's room...see conversation from fabric store below:

Cashier: This is cute, what are you making?
Julie: Thanks, I'm using it in a baby's room.
Cashier: Oh, a little girl, how cute!
Julie: No, it is for a boys room
(**Note that the fabric is blue & green. Yes, it is paisley, but it is blue and green!!)
Cashier: You can't use that in a boy's room!
Julie: I think it's going to be really cute. It's for the bedding, and we are painting the walls blue.
Cashier: Okay, well we have some frogs in the craft section you could paint to try to make it more for a boy.

I am usually a very calm person, and it takes a lot to upset me, but I almost lost my witness in JoAnns! But then, what should I expect from a cashier...not an expert design opinion, right??

Anyways...

We are going to move the guest bedroom into what is the office/FSU room now (closest to our bedroom) and make the nursery in the other room (closest to the bathroom). We are planning on leaving the guest bathroom as is and using our bathroom for Collin for the time being. We really need to get moving since we will have the furniture here when we get back from Texas!

Bad Speller

Okay, I also have to mention that I type really fast, and am a bad speller! I just noticed that I can use spell check before I post, which I promise to do from now on...even for me misspelled words are annoying!

Baby Names!

We have officialy decided to name our little boy Collin James! Colling is a name that Son suggested, and James is after my dad. We had gone back and forth for a while about names...I always wanted somehting on the more unique side (Landon, Jackson, etc.) while Son liked the Biblical names (Elijah, Benjamin, etc.). Many of our friends will remember that we called the baby Elijah for several months before we even knew we were pregnant :)

Son finally came up with Collin one night while he was running, and it really appealed to both of us, so it's offical! (That is, unless I have a huge surge of pregnancy hormones, get really emotional, and decide to change it again).