ELI

Weekend Fun

Eli, Josey, and I picked the boys up from school right at 3PM on Friday and headed to the lake. They were in the water before I could get out of the car! They swam until about 7:30 then came in and joined Jason and my folks for grilled hotdogs. It rained on Saturday morning, but it was still beautiful at the lake. The lake is full of clear, cool water and it was great just sitting on the porch enjoying the view.
Around 11AM Jason and the boys headed to town for the pinecar derby at church. Hugh and Grant did a great job with their cars and had a good time at the race. I went to a baby shower...baby showers are so much more fun now that I have a baby of my own. I can appreciate all the neat gifts and I know everything the new mother to be is going through.
It's 8:30 now on Sunday morning and Eli is still sacked out. He picked up something at the nursery last Sunday and has been sick the past few days so I stayed home with him while everyone else went to church. You'd hardly know anything is wrong with Eli, he still has his sweet, happy disposition. I'm sure he'll be waking up soon ready to eat and play.
Grant & Hugh's cars are on the far end
Here's a picture of H&G with our Children's Minister, Jeremy

Cute Cousins

My good friend Tammy, who became my cousin after I married her cousin Jason, had a baby boy about a week after I had Eli. So, Michael and Eli are basically the same age and we have enjoyed watching them grow up together. Tammy and her family (which includes a pastor husband, Paul and a beautiful daughter, Mallory) were in town recently and we met up for lunch. Here are a couple pictures, one from when our boys were two months old and one when they are almost 11 months. They'll both be celebrating their first birthdays soon!

Is It Christmas? No, It's A Girl!

We've only known for 72 hours that we are having a baby girl, but already we are overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of our friends and family. Gifts, cards, and well wishes are being sent our way and we are soaking up all of the love and joy. Apparently folks love to buy the pink stuff...or maybe it's that they're worried I really will dress baby girl Walker in all of Eli's hand-me-downs!

We sure appreciate all that's been done for us!

Pretty in Pink

We told Hugh and Grant tonight that they're getting a little sister. They were thrilled! We celebrated with pink cupcakes, three of which spelled out "It's A Girl". Everyone got in on the fun.

Sugar and Spice and SOOOO many things

I awoke at 4:30AM today and of course once the thought of my baby girl hit my mind I couldn't go back to sleep. I wanted to wake Jason up, but showed great restraint and waited until 5:30AM when his alarm went off. Then I snuggled up to him and we talked about our baby girl. Well, truth be told I did most of the talking, he was still pretty groggy!
Since I really had not allowed myself to consider the possibility that we would have a girl, I now have so many things swirling around in my mind about how this is going to change our lives.

Some of the first comments Jason and I made upon finding out that it's a girl:
"Now they can't play on the same baseball team" (Ronda)
"I'm gonna have to keep my gun handy" (Jason)
"Now we'll have someone to take care of us when we get old" (Ronda)
"What are we going to do with a girl?" (Jason)
"I'm not going to let her boss Eli around" (Ronda)
"She's going to have a lot of blue clothes to wear" (Ronda)
"I must be going soft" (Jason)
And our doctor's comment after high fives all around, "Good, this means I don't have to do a circumcision".

It will certainly be a fun adventure. We will tell Hugh and Grant the BIG NEWS when we see them tomorrow. They both want a baby sister so bad, they are going to be thrilled when we tell them. If you recall, Hugh wanted Eli to be a girl. When we told him we were having a boy he said, "Maybe the doctor was wrong."
As for Eli and Josey, they were both fine with the news. Josey has had a lot of pressure on her being the only other girl around here, she will enjoy the additional sweetness. And Eli is just happy all the time, so his big grins when we told him he was having a sister were expected.
We sure do love having boys, Jason and I both feel we are natural fits as boy parents and that they are fun and easy. We're both a little intimidated about having a girl, but we know she will enhance our life experience in ways we cannot even imagine.

Three Men and a Little Lady

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!

We just left the doctor's office and he gave us the news. Jason and I are in shock, but absolutely thrilled. When the ultrasound tech said it's a girl, I made her keep on looking for boy parts. Jason and I decided we better stop calling her Jack! Baby Girl Walker is doing great, she is perfectly healthy and progressing well. Her momma is doing fine too. We'll share more news in a week or two -- after the shock wears off!