Galveston

Sunday we headed down to Galveston for the start of our hometown vacation week. On the way there we stopped by Texas Children's to see our friends' daughter, Alanna, who had heart surgery on Thursday. Dr. Heinle also did her surgery and did a beautiful job. When we got there, Alanna was down in the play room making necklaces, happy as could be. She compared her "owie" (scar) with Jake's and was pleased they matched. She is definitely another ASD success story, and I know Dusty and Claudia are relieved the ordeal is over...praise God!

When we got to Galveston, we headed to the beach. Jake went to the beach in Florida last year, but he was only 5 months old and not sitting up yet. We knew he would love the beach this time. I kept him in his church outfit so I could take pictures in the cute crab outfit Nonnie had sent him this week. Pretty adorable!

Ty then took him out to play in the waves. He was unsure at first but soon had a blast. He found a little girl his age to chase around and ran up and down the beach to his little heart's delight. We just stayed a few hours because it was awfully hot. We checked in our hotel and then went to eat some delicious seafood. Monday we took Jake down to the pool to swim and then headed over to Kemah.

In Kemah, we let Jake ride his first "ride" and also took him on a train ride...

We're back at home although today's plans didn't go so well. I thought I was feeling so much better, but I realized I was out of my miracle drug, Zofran. Today, without it, I was literally sick at least once an hour. My doctor changed offices over the weekend so it was hard to get a hold of a nurse, but I finally spoke to her at 4:00 and she called in the medicine. I'm feeling a little more human now...hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. I was thankful Ty was home to help me with Jake, but I don't want him to spend his week off with a sick wife either. I hit week 11 in two days...I'm counting the days until the first trimester is over! Until then, I'll stick with my miracle drug and hopefully enjoy our family week together.

A Day at the Museum

Today we had our playgroup at the Woodland's Children's Museum. I can't believe I haven't been taking Jake there all summer because he had a blast. It isn't fancy by any means but has a great assortment of hands on toys for the kids to play with. Jake spent the first half hour just smiling and laughing because he was so excited to be in a wide, open space and not confined to his stroller. We had about 9 moms plus kids come and it was perfect for a hot summer day. Jake spent quite a bit of time playing with the train sets which I believe we will need to get him before too long. The hit of the day for all of the kids were the drums. They had out several drums and all of the kids were mesmerized. I had great intentions to take many pictures, but of course got distracted and just got this one of Jake. He wouldn't sit still to take one with any of his girlfriends that were there. Next week Ty is taking a week of vacation and we're having a hometown vacation. We're headed to Galveston on Sunday and then we'll come back and do all the things in Houston we don't do too often. One day we're going to take Jake back to the museum, and I know Ty will enjoy watching him play. We're also headed to Kemah, the downtown Aquarium, an Astros' game, and we'll take Jake to his first movie. I'm excited to spend the week with my two boys. I also found some medicine which is helping me tremendously so I'm able to go out and feel much better again. Just two weeks until the 2nd trimester...I can't wait! I'll post lots of pictures next week because I know I've been a slacker this summer. Now, I'm going to take a nice nap while Jake is asleep :)

Pictures from July

Here are a few pictures of Jake from earlier this month:

One of my best friends, Randi, came to town in July as a sponsor of her church youth group in Arkansas and brought her her new baby Brady with her (Her other two boys stayed with a friend at home). Here's Jake posing with baby Brady--a taste of what's to come for our future big brother! He was sweet with Brady and very gentle...it was great catching up with Randi as well!
Some of our good friends, Gary and Claudia, invited us out on their boat one evening. Here's Jackson and Jake hanging out on board. I love the picture below of them checking out the lake. They are so cute together! We had a great time on the lake with the Babb's!

We put the boys in their life jackets and then in their floats, but the life jackets weighed them down and made them lay down flat. Both boys weren't too happy about this, but we got a picture anyway! (I was in the water with them by the way--we didn't just throw them out there!)
Jake on the 4th of July! Ty bought a new flag for the house and we had Jake pose with it before hanging it.

Here is Jake last weekend in Marshall. Nonnie let him dig into the watermelon and he made a complete mess and loved every second of it! Below he's with Aunt Casey and Uncle Jose.

A Family of Four

I know its been quite awhile since I've posted on our blog, but I've had a pretty good excuse. It turns out that Jake will be a big brother next February! I'm due on February 19th which means Jake and his brother/sister will be just over 24 months apart. This was quite a surprise for us, but a very, very nice one. We had a difficult time getting pregnant with Jake, but this baby was a surprise from God! What a blessing!!! With Jake, I was only sick a few times my whole pregnancy, but this baby is quite different. I've been sick 24 hours a day for 4 weeks now--I've decided "morning sickness" is a misnomer. Also of course taking care of Jake while I've been sick has been an adventure. Lucky for me I have one great 17 month old who is laid back and is generally very content.

Jake continues to always make us smile and amaze us with his joy. He weighs 27 pounds now and is quite the stocky little fellow. People are always amazed at how heavy he is when they pick him up. He is a "solid" kid--to think we were once worried about him growing :) I know he'll make a great big brother when the time comes. I've taught him to point to my stomach and say "baby," but I know he has no idea what that means--its just pretty cute.

We've had a pretty relaxing summer so far. I do have some pictures to post later of Jake; I just need to upload them to the computer. This past weekend we went to Marshall to visit Ty's family and had a really nice time. We got to see all of Ty's siblings and spend some time with them as well as his dad and stepmom.

In other news, we had to find Gilbert a new home last week. This was really traumatic for me and I'm pretty sure I was more emotional since I'm pregnant. Gilbert was the first dog I ever loved--I never was a "dog" person before him, but I fell in love with that little guy. He just never adjusted to life with Jake and we had a really rough last few weeks with him. He'd always been neurotic, but he really went a bit crazy. Any time Jake cried, Gilbert howled at the top of his little lungs. The boiling point was him biting Ty on the 4th of July. We think he was scared and just snapped, but we couldn't have that around Jake so Ty found a nice older lady that lives in the country to take him. I packed all of his sweaters, Halloween costumes, scarfs for the winter, and other clothes up and gave her all of it. I know its best for him and us, but it was pretty sad. It will be a LONG time before we ever have another dog. So goodbye dear Gilbert!