And so it begins...

I keep talking about how much Brody loves his little brother. He is rather obsessed with him:) well this week i have noticed how much Levi already admires his big brother! All Brody has to do is walk by Levi, and Levi's little face just lights up with this "that is my big brother!!" look on his face. It is PRECIOUS. Levi looks at Brody like he is already his hero and he cant wait to be like him one day. I know it seems like i may be exaggerating...especially for a 3 month old...but im NOT. He seriously gets this look of pure admiration on his face! I LOVE it! Sometimes its hard for me to even feed Levi because he is craning his neck around trying to figure out where Brody is. I guess we better raise Brody right, because I can already tell Levi will want to do EVERYTHING his big brother does:)

3 months

Today Levi is 3 months old. i know ive said this before, but everything about the second child has been completely different. I have always said that im not a big fan of the baby stage. with brody, i enjoyed every age, but i was really happy once he got to the age where he could interact more and play with me:) Ive never really had the "baby bug" as some people say. BUT, with all of that said, i am enjoying EVERY SECOND of Levi being a baby. I guess i realize this time how fast they grow. And i know what im doing this time....im not trying to figure the baby thing out this time, im just able to enjoy it! Im finding myself sad as he grows out of clothes and i find myself telling him not to get any bigger. He is seriously a PRECIOUS baby. He has been amazing since day one. He is still as happy as ever and only fusses when hes starting to get sleepy. He smiles anytime you look at him and its getting easier and easier to get a laugh out of him:) He's starting to grab at things and play with his toys. He sleeps pretty well at night...usually from 9:30-7:30 with me putting his paci in his mouth around 5 when he gets restless. We are so thankful and blessed to have this sweet boy in our lives!

Brodys 3rd Birthday

ok this is long overdue...
Im not sure how its possible, but i have a 3 year old. Not just a 3 year old.....but a sweet, kind, thoughtful, tender-hearted, hilarious 3 year old. I knew all these things about Brody way before we had Levi, but these things have shown themselves even more now that he is a big brother. He is an AMAZING with Levi and he loves him to pieces! Levi is so lucky to have him as his big brother. We have not had many issues with Brody at all in his 3 years. He is so tenderhearted, he cant stand for us to be disappointed or upset with him. which makes him easy to discipline. He LOVES his daddy and they are best buddies. He cant wait for him to get home from work so they can wrestle :) He is such a big helper and loves to help me do just about anything! We love our big boy and are SO proud of him!

We had a little party for Brody the weekend of his birthday and he wanted the "Cars" theme. SO lightening mcqueen it was! A friend of mine has recently gotten into making cakes and she is amazing! The cake turned out so cute!



Brody and his buddies:)



We are so blessed that the Lord has allowed us to be the parents of such an amazing little boy! We love you Brody!

Bible Stories with Brody

Brody is obsessed with Bible stories! He is always so excited to go to bed at night because he knows we will tell him a Bible story. Its funny how when you are telling a 2 year old a Bible story, you quickly realize how violent some of them are! He LOVES the story of David and Goliath. He and Brian act it out at least once a day! I am hoping he doesnt think that all mean people need a stone thrown at their head:) Joking aside, i love the fact that he already loves the Word of God and cant wait each night to hear another part of it! His favorites right now are David and Goliath, Jesus Feeds the 5000, Jonah and the Whale, Moses, Noahs Ark and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego (LOVE the way he says King Nebuchadnezzar- "King Ka-mezzer Ka-mezzer") . I am going to try to upload some of the videos we have taken of him telling these stories:)

2 months old

2 months...wow...already! We are enjoying Levi's precious smiles, sweet "coos", and occasional laughs:) He is a such a sweet baby! Still as happy as ever, and mommy is happy too getting to sleep 6-7 hours stretches at night:) Levi already loves his big brother and Brody loves getting him to smile and "talk" to him. Levi went for his 2 month appointment yesterday. He is 23 3/4 inches long (75th percentile), 12 lbs 3 oz (70th percentile), and Head Circumference- 41 cm (75th percentile).

Big Brother

I dont think i can say enough about what a good big brother Brody is. He is such a big helper! Having him be almost 3 with a newborn around definitely has its perks! He loves to help and I definitely ask for his help alot:) Hes always going and getting things for me and he has the biggest smile on his face like he is so proud of himself when he does it! Yesterday, he tried to help a little too much though.....

Brody likes to help me give Levi his baths and I usually let him help rinse off the soap by pouring water over his belly and legs with a cup. Yesterday when i was bathing Levi, Brody said he was going to get the cup to rinse him off with.....well apparently he filled the cup up in the sink....with COLD water. I had my back to him and as i turned around to get the cup, Brody leaned over me and started to pour the water on Levi....thankfully he didnt pour much, but it was enough to make Levi scream at the top of his lungs. Brody knew he had done something wrong and had the saddest look on his face. He said "Im sorry, i will be a good boy, mommy! What did I do?!" He looked like he was going to cry:( He slowly walked out of the room and i called after him and asked where he was going. He said "I am going downstairs, cause i am sad:(" As much as i hated it for Levi that he got cold water poured on him, i couldnt get mad at Brody. Poor baby was trying to help and he was SOOO sad when he knew he had upset Levi.

Last night we went to homecoming at NRCA. I decided to leave Levi with mom and dad since it was supposed to get down in the 30s. We dropped Levi off with them, and were riding down the road when Brody all of a sudden realized Levi was not with us:) He said "mommy, Where is Levi!!" i reminded him that we left him with Nonna and PopPop and he said, " But i NEED my little brother!!" I love how much he already loves him...and im sure that love will continue to grow and Levi starts to interact more with him:)

Babies Babies Everywhere

This post is long overdue....but some of it was top secret information that i wasn't able to share for awhile. But now i can! My brother and lindsay are expecting a baby!!!! seriously, i could not have been more excited! i thought it would still be a couple of years before they were ready to have kids. i just knew we would be done having kids by the time they got around to having any cousins for my kids:) so when they told me they were expecting, i was SOOOOOOO thrilled! Levi and their baby will only be 6 months apart. Well....if that weren't exciting enough....GET THIS.....with Lindsay and Parkers announcement of their pregnancy, that meant that us and EVERY ONE of our siblings were expecting!! AT THE SAME TIME! How crazy is that?! I was due in september, Brian's sister Krystal due in November, Brian's brother Adam due in January, and Parker and Linds due in April! WHOAA! thats alot of babies in a matter of 6 months. Levi will have 3 cousins all within 6 months of him. How fun is that? can you tell I'm excited?

1 month appointment

Levi went in tuesday for his 1 month doctors appointment. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile) and was 22 1/4 inches long (70th percentile). Hes growing like crazy and is already changing so much! He is still getting up one time each night around 2:30, Brody is still completely obsessed with him:), And we are adjusting to our new normal around here!

All about Levi

Well our newest little guy has been in our lives for 3 1/2 weeks now. He is such a good baby! When he was born, the nurses were concerned about him because he didn't cry when he came out...thankfully there was no reason for concern and that just showed the laid back baby he was and has still proved to be. He Rarely cries...if he does, it's usually because I am purposefully making him cry to wake him up for a feeding! He will fuss when he needs something but I don't think I've really ever heard him in an all out cry... Probably because he's very easily soothed...all it takes is a paci or a hand on him:)
scheduling has been extremely easy with him too. He has been a good sleeper since day one.... Totally unlike his big brother:) i have only had to get up with him one time at night since he came home from the hospital. He is so predictable....I feed him for the last time at 9:30 then we are in bed and asleep by 10:30. He wakes up at 2 am on the dot:) we go back to sleep at 3 am, and then he will wake up 6:00. I usually put his paci in which holds him off for another hour until his brody wakes up. This had pretty much been his schedule since day 1. I am a schedule freak and love predictability, so this makes me one happy girl:)
now it hasn't been completely smooth sailing....we've had our share of frustrations with nursing. He did great in the hospital but as soon as he got home he didn't want to have anything to do with it! Sometimes it would take 30 minutes to get him to even latch on, and then of course another 45 min to an hour to eat.... Making our feeding sessions last an hour and a half sometimes. Which wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't have a 2 year old begging me to play with him:) alot of times I would have to resort to using the pump and giving him a bottle, because we would both get so frustrated! About the time we got all of those issues worked out, I came down with mastitis. I have never felt so sick in all my life... Along with the pain, you get the most horrible flu symptoms and fever! Not fun with an almost 2 week old and a 2 year old!
Now we are past all of that and we are settling into our new normal around here as a family of 4:) Brody is still an AMAZING big brother...he smothers Levi with kisses and says 100 times a day "he's so cute!" and when Levi is fussing he says "what's wrong, my baby?" yes,Brody has claimed him as HIS baby;) I am so thankful for my boys and that the Lord has chosen me to raise them!

Big Brother

Brody is SO excited and proud of his new little brother. I love the fact that he is old enough to really interact and give his opinion on what he thinks about Levi. When he first came to the hospital to visit, his little face absolutely lit up when he saw Levi and realized he had FINALLY arrived. He seemed to completely understand that he had come out of my belly and that this little baby we had been talking about for months was finally here! He immediately hopped up on the bed with me and wanted to hold him. His little face was PRICELESS. He was completely in AWE of his little brother. He sat there and held him for the longest time and just stared at him with the sweetest expression on his face. He said things like "can we take him home with us?" and "do you like him Mommy? me too!" and "I love him". I know jealousy is always a worry of parents once they introduce another little one into the family...Brody has been jealous, but not of our time with Levi...with HIS time with Levi. When people came to visit in the hospital, he didnt want any one else to hold Levi, but HIMSELF:) We had to ask his permission for other people to hold Levi! Since we have been home he has been the biggest helper. He wants to help with every diaper change, he helps rub alcohol on his belly button, and hands me the wipes. He is constantly loving on Levi and rubbing his face and just is so sweet to him. He thinks its his job to tickle Levi's feet while im nursing to help keep him awake:) The transition so far has been great..i know Brody will probably have his moments where he gets jealous and wants all of mommy's attention, especially once Brian goes back to work, but for now we are so thankful at how easy Brody has transitioned into being a big brother!

Levi Brian Kohout

We are so excited to announce that Levi has arrived! He was born at 6:24 am on Sunday, September 12, 2010. Levi weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. Here is the lengthy version of how he came into this world....



Early Saturday morning Brian met his mom in virginia to drop Brody off for the weekend so he could go to his cousin Harrison's 2nd birthday party. Then Brian and I had the rest of the day to ourselves to get some things done and spend some time together. We ran a few errands, totally detailed my car (since we would be having a new baby riding in it soon:), went for a long walk, i took a long relaxing bath, went to olive garden for lunch/dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon, watched a movie (sherlock holmes). Brian even made a comment during the day about how great it would be if i went into labor that night because we wouldnt have to get anyone to come stay with Brody in the middle of the night since he was already away in virginia. We went to bed around 10:30, Brian had just fallen asleep and i was being kept awake by a very wiggly baby in my tummy. During the third trimester he has been so active between 10 and 11 at night, making it SO hard for me to go to sleep. I was laying there awake, slightly annoyed at how much he was moving, when i felt a "pop". It was a very odd feeling and i thought maybe my water had broken but i didnt feel that "gush" of liquid that everyone talks about. i decided to get up out of bed and see if anything happened....and yes, my water had broken. i woke up brian and he jumped out of bed and was already dressed and standing by the door ready to go, by the time i had cleaned myself up. I called the doctor and she said that there was really no rush to get to the hospital until i started having contractions. She told me i was welcome to go back to sleep and wait until contractions started or i could come in now...whatever i wanted. who in the world can go back to sleep after their water breaks?! We pretty much got straight in the car and headed to the hospital! I started having contractions on the way to the hospital (5 min apart).
One last belly shot before we head to the hospital....


We got to the hospital a little after midnight and i was 4 cm dilated. They told me i could get my epidural whenever i was ready.....i waited for awhile because i didnt want it to slow my labor down at all. At 3 a.m. i decided that it was silly to wait, because MAYBE i could get some sleep if i wasnt feeling my contractions. I was able to rest some, but i dont think i slept more than 30 min. At 5 a.m. i was 8 cm dilated, and at 6 a.m. i was ready to push! Levi was born at 6:24. Let me just say that having a baby the second time around is SO MUCH EASIER! Now, granted, Levi weighed a whole pound less than Brody did. But the whole process was way better! i was much more aware of everything going on, was having a conversation with my doctor about her kids soccer league while she was stitching me up (lol), and just felt much more laid back about the whole process. Levi had to go to the nursery for a couple of hours right after he was born just for them to monitor his breathing a little bit. He didnt cry a whole lot when he came out and was grunting alot, so they wanted to make sure his oxygen levels were ok. They let us hold him and spend some time with him though before he went. His oxygen levels were great and he never had any trouble breathing...praise the Lord! He just didnt feel like crying when he came out:) So far hes been really laid back...lets hope that continues! Brody is such a proud big brother...a post will come shortly about that!

Still pregnant....

Well I'm 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant:) this is exactly when Brody was born so I'm crossing my fingers for today! I went for my 38 week appoitment on tuesday and not much had changed since 37 weeks. Still 2 cm dilated and the doctor said his head is really low. Because brody was such a big baby, my fear (and the doctors) is that if I go up to my due date or later with Levi then he will be HUGE. I had a hard enough time getting Brody out without a c-section! So the doctor scheduled a ultrasound for Monday to try to determine how big this baby is. If he's big like Brody then we will talk about inducinge sometime next week. I really don't want to be induced, but I also don't want to wait so long that I have to have a csection because of how big this baby is! So I'm praying for labor this weekend!

update

well im almost 37 1/2 weeks and we are impatiently waiting the arrival of Levi:) when i went to the doctor for my 37 week checkup i was 2 cm dialated and she said my cervix is very thin. Which i guess i good news...im making progress anyways:) ive been having contractions on and off for the past few days and some other things have been happening that would definitely be TMI to share on the blog! So we will leave it at that:) Im pretty much on maternity leave now. I am supposed to work next thursday, but im seriously doubting i will be there....or strongly hoping anyway:) Parker and Lindsay are coming in town tonight for the long labor day weekend. It would be oh so convenient if Levi came while they are in town!

just waiting....

its been awhile since ive posted...but at this point we are just sitting around waiting for Levi's arrival. im getting pretty impatient. The nursery is complete for the most part and i am in heavy nesting mode right now:) Brody is starting to sense that Levi could be here really soon i think. Today, he asked me "is Levi coming tomorrow? and then i will have a little brother?". While im super ready to meet our newest little man, its hard for me to believe that he could potentially be here 2 weeks from now. Im 36 weeks, and Brody came at 38 weeks. This pregnancy has been completely different than Brody's though. By this point with Brody, i was swollen from head to toe, looked completely miserable, and had gained 36 pounds by 37 weeks. So far ive only gained 25 pounds , i have had no swelling, and i feel pretty good. Other than some back pain by the end of the day, i really cant complain. Like i said, COMPLETELY different than Brody. Makes me wonder if this baby will not come as early as Brody did :( THAT i would not be happy about! I have to end this post with a cute saying by brody a few weeks ago.....
I was sitting with a bowl of cantaloupe and Brody said, "mommy, dont eat too much cantalope, cause it might hurt your belly and it might hurt Levi's belly too":) SUCH A CUTIE...looking out for his little brother already.

Best Surprise EVER:)

Wednesday night Brian told me that he would be picking me up from work the next day (thursday) and we would be going out of town for the weekend. He told me that was all of the information i would be getting and that there were 3 rules. 1)I could not talk to ANYONE about the trip 2)I could not facebook about the trip until we got there 3)No questions! Hmmm....i had no idea what was going on!

So he picked me up from work, we got in the car and started driving. When we got to Charlotte, i thought we were surely going to be stopping there....nope...we kept driving. So i decided to go to sleep until we got to our destination. I was wondering why in the world we were traveling that far away just for a weekend getaway. So i wake up an hour or so later in Greenville, SC....still not sure what in the world Greenville has to offer, but brian had told me we were just going to be relaxing and doing some shopping, and just spending time together (thinking to myself...why did we drive 4 hours to do that?) BUT downtown Greeville was GORGEOUS at night and the hotel we pulled up in front of was beautiful! So im sitting in the car admiring the downtown while brian is checking into the hotel....when my very sleepy eyes see the most WONDERFUL sight in the whole world....Natalie and Gary Snuffin strolling the streets of Greenville!! I jumped out of the car and yelled "you have got to be kidding me!!!" Natalie looked just as surprised as me! So Gary and Brian had concocted this whole thing together and wonderfully pulled it off without me and nat guessing anything! The "rules" made alot more since at this point, because they knew that if Natalie and i both put on our facebooks that we were going on surprise trips with our hubbies, we would surely guess what was going on:) oh AND Brian and Gary had arranged for people to keep the boys...so we were both "kid-less"!

a little background info on the snuffins for those who dont know....They are some of our very best friends who used to live in wake forest with us until the Lord called them to a church in Auburn Alabama. We were pregnant with our boys at the same time and they are 4 months apart. Now we are both pregnant again with our second batch of boys and they will be 2 months apart:) So Greenville is exactly halfway for both of us to meet!

Our hotel

Nat-24 weeks and Jana 32 weeks pregnant


We had an AMAZING weekend! i cant remember the last time i had dinner out with another couple WITHOUT KIDS...much less spend an entire weekend with another couple! So we just enjoyed each others company, had lots of great conversations over really good food, and did alot of shopping:) It couldnt have been a better weekend! THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH TO OUR HUBBIES FOR PUTTING THIS TOGETHER FOR YOUR PREGNANT WIVES....WE ARE SO THANKFUL!!

Brody's funny sayings

Brody seriously cracks us up daily...probably hourly...with the things he says. people always tell me to write them down so i can look back on them one day, so these may not be funny to anyone else but brian and i, but i want to keep record of them, so i can remember how cute and funny this little guy was when he is 16:)

About a month ago, after falling and hurting his hand in Lowe's with his dad, he was at the checkout and continued to tell the cashier over and over again about his hurt hand. The lady finally asked him if she could rub it for him. After she rubbed his hand for him, she said "Is it all better?". Brody said "NO, JESUS makes it all better, JESUS!!"

Brian asked Brody a few days ago if he was hungry yet.....Brody replied "No, just drinky" (instead of thirsty:)

Yesterday i let Brody have a sip of my Pepsi...he always makes the funniest faces when he drinks anything with carbonation. This time he made an exceptionally funny face. i asked him if it was good....he replied "yeah, but its sprinkly" (im pretty sure he was trying to say the carbonation was "tingly".

27 weeks

i had a doctors appointment on tuesday (26 weeks). I passed my glucose test (yay!!) and everything is looking great so far! Before i left for my appointment, Brody asked me where i was going. I told him i was going to the doctor and his response was...."Doctor take baby brother out your belly today, mommy!?!" LOL. he is asking more and more about his baby brother...hes getting a little impatient...so am i though i guess:) Hes starting to talk about him almost every day, which just melts my heart. He's going to be such a great big brother!

Brody's Day Out with Thomas

We took Brody on a trip just for him this past weekend:) we thought we'd spoil him alittle before baby brother comes and rocks his world:) Brody is obsessed with trains right now...he loves Thomas! His trains are just about all he plays with when he's inside. Sooo we took him up to Boone, NC to a " day out with Thomas" at tweetsie railroad. He absolutely had a blast! The whole park was decked out with Thomas stuff and Brody got to ride in the train actually pulled by Thomas:) he was so cute..... He acted like he was meeting the biggest celebrity of all time! The night before we left to go up to Boone, he spent the night with my parents ( they went with us). We told him we had a suprised for him and that we were going to go ride a real train in the morning. We decided not to tell him it had anything to do with Thomas because we knew his little face would be so cute when he saw Thomas if he didn't have any warning:) anyways... Needless to say he was extremely excited and had a hard time going to sleep. At about 10:00 mom heard him say "Brody is all done sleeping. Brody come downstairs all by himself!" ( he NEVER gets out of bed). Then mom hears his little feet coming down the stairs. Cute little thing was SO excited about his trip! we had told him that after he was done sleeping then we would go ride the train! i guess i need to be more specific next time:)




we spent sunday just enjoying the moutains. We hiked up to see the Linville falls....it was 2 miles. Brody was such a trooper! he did the whole 2 miles right there along with us! he really enjoyed it!

Learning Letters

I am constantly amazed at what kids pick up without you really working hard to teach them! Brody is beginning to learn his letters...we write them alot with sidewalk chalk:) mostly the easiest ones....H, T, O , and M are his favorites. I spell his name out loud to him alot, but we really dont WRITE it alot. When Brian was in Europe he brought back a train for Brody that spelled his name. He has not put that thing down since brian got home! So, the other night, Brody was playing with the train and put the train together..mostly in order...it said BRDY. The O was hidden behind him....i told him to find the O and see if he could put it in the right spot. I pointed to each letter and asked him to tell me what they were. He got all of the right and then i told him to put the O where it should go in his name...he unhooked the trains and put the O right in between the R and the D! Brian and i were both very shocked:) I love seeing him learn things....he is growing up so much!

sweet conversations

Im starting to think Brody is beginning to get the fact that there is going to be another little one in the house soon. Im sure it will still be a shock and alot to get used to once the baby does get here....but, hes starting to ask more questions and talk about "baby brudder". Heres a sweet converstation we had in the car a few days ago:)

Brody: "mommy, when baby comes out of your belly, Brody be big brother??" (Brody talks in 3rd person..lol)
Me: "yes, sweetie...your going to be a great big brother"
Brody: "Baby Brother help Brody feed horses??" (Brody thinks this is his job)
Me: "yep! you will have to teach him!"
Brody: "Brody share trains with baby brother??"
Me: "hopefully!!" LOL

I love that he is starting to think about what it is going to be like once his little brother gets here:) hopefully he will be as excited as he is now to show him how things are done around here:)

Tubing

For those who remember, last summer at 20 months old Brody rode the tube for the first time. He was not exactly thrilled about it! He didn't scream or cry...just whined and had this look on his face that he would rather be back in the boat:) well this year was a different story......he LOVED it!! We spent the day out on the lake with my parents and Parker and Lindsay. He loved watching everyone ski (except me of course who has to take the summer off) . He was so worried when anyone would fall... He would tell PopPop to "go back and get them!!" with the most worried little look on his face:) we waited until the very end of the day to let Brody tube. He of course rode it with Brian, and he loved every minute of it! He was waving and giving us 2 thumbs up almost the entire time. And he usually hates it when water gets on his face... But kept asking Brian over and over again to spray him in the face while they were riding it. He loved when the waves would come an the tube would bounce up and down too! He got in the boat and told us that he was skiing too:) what is so hard for me to believe is that I was 3 1/2 when I started skiing!! that is him, next year?! What!? That seems crazy for me to think of letting him ski behind the boat next summer! We shall see:)

24 weeks

This pregnancy is really flying by.....im feeling GREAT now! besides, the extremely hot weather that has been and will be coming our way over the summer! We still have not completely decided on a name for this sweet baby boy yet.....we are getting close though i think:) let me just say though, that this baby is SOOOO active! for being only 24 weeks, i feel him move ALL OF THE TIME! it sometimes borders on annoying....lol. Every doctor appointment that i have, the doctors make comments about how i have a wild one on my hands. we will see....hopefully this isnt a sign of things to come once hes outside my belly! i have finally cleaned everything out of the used-to-be guest room, and picked out paint colors. once brian gets back from europe, we will start on getting the room ready for the baby. im trying to do alot now, since im feeling so great! i want to be able to relax and just wait for the baby once im huge and miserable:)
AND, of course, i cant finish a blog post without commenting on my best little buddy....he seriously is the SWEETEST boy. i could go on and on about what a sweetheart he is. it is such a JOY to be his mommy! sometimes i feel alittle sad knowing that the days of just the us are coming to an end. He is my buddy and we have so much fun together. its been JUST US for so long now, that thinking about that changing is a little sad:( i cant wait to see what his little brother is going to be like, though. i know life is about to change drastically! its easy for me to grasp having another baby....but the hardest thing for me to wrap my mind around is Brody being a big brother (that sounds silly as i type it) but its so true! its just weird for me to think Brody is going to be the oldest and the big brother to the rest of our kids! i know hes going to be GREAT at it though!

Cant live without it....

something i became completely reliant on with brody, and now i cannot live without, is our video monitor. i seriously think brody may have a video monitor in his room until hes 6 years old! one reason, is probably the fact that his room is upstairs and our is downstairs. We went ahead and purchased another video monitor since baby boy #2 is on the way. This monitor has a split screen, so you can see up to 4 rooms AND it has 2 way voice. So, we can talk to brody too if we need to. This is really coming in handy because, hes at a stage where hes having more and more trouble falling asleep at night and hes always calling us to take him potty or cover him up. its nice being about to talk back to him! So hes thinks we are somehow INSIDE the monitor, and he loves carrying on conversations with us. The other morning he woke up yelling for his dad (who was already at work) that it was "too dark" in his room. he kept saying over and over again, "its too dark, dad! its too dark dad!". i just continued to ignore him hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep:) then all of a sudden his yelling got EXTREMELY loud and i looked over at the monitor and all i can see is his eyes, nose, and mouth on the monitor screen. i started laughing uncontrollably in my bed all by myself. He got up as close as he could to the monitor, looking in it to see if anyone was in there and was yelling at the top of his lungs! HAHAHAHAH

Its a BOY!!!!!

Brody is going to have a little brother!! We are SO excited! i know Brody is going to be such a great big brother:) He is already very excited about it.....whenever you ask him what the baby is, he will throw his arms up in the air and yell " IT'S BOY!!!!!!" If the ultrasound is any indication of what kind of child this baby boy is going to be, then we are in for it! Baby boy was moving around like crazy...the ultrasound tech could hardly get the measurements she needed. she told us that this baby was definitely her challenge for the day! She was worried she wouldnt have any good pictures for us to bring home, because they were all blurry from the movement. She eventually got some good ones though...thankfully:) I could have told her he was a mover though....ive been feeling him move since 15 weeks. At 16 weeks i could even feel some little kicks on the outside of my belly with my hand.
Not only is he extremely active, but hes already measuring a week ahead...so looks like i will have another big boy on our hands! As long as i can remember (probably high school) i have always wanted a family full of boys:) its funny how the Lord does that! But i remember in highschool, me and my mom were talking about families and i told her that i would love to have boys:) Looks like thats whats happening!

Funny Brody sayings

Brody is seriously cracking me up these days. He is talking so much now...i really dont think there is anything he cant say. Today on the way to church (Easter Sunday) we asked him if he remembered why we have Easter. He said " cause Jesus is Alive!!...and blue jellybeans!" i seriously could not stop laughing.
While eating lunch today i offered to share some of my salad with him. he said "Thanks Mama! Brody proud of you!" so obviously we tell him we are proud of him when he shares:)

New News:)

So i will try to update our most exciting news over the past 4 months:) For those who haven't heard...we are expecting baby #2 in September! We couldnt be more excited! Brody and his little brother or sister will be 2 years and around 10 months apart. We find out in 2 weeks whether it is a boy or girl....i cant wait!! I have been so much sicker this time that i was with brody. I THOUGHT i was pretty sick with brody, but i had no clue what sick was until i got to this pregnancy. i started having "morning sickness" (which we all know is not just in the morning:) around 5 weeks and im still sick. thankfully its gotten a little bit better in the past week. I have been the sickest at night...pretty much throwing up every night before i go to bed...no fun! BUT i know its for a good reason and seriously could not be more thankful to be sick!

People keep asking me...or assuming...i want a girl. But honestly i dont care AT ALL! there are so many reasons i would LOVE another boy! ive always pictured myself with boys in my little family. BUT....of course a girl would different and very exciting! SOOOo all that to say...if someone let me somehow choose what i would have, i honestly dont think i could choose! So i will leave that to the Lord...and i cant wait to see what he has chosen!

Brody has said some really cute things about the baby....i feel like he understands as well as a 2 year old can:) The first time we talked to him about us having another baby, brian asked him if he wanted me to have another baby. Brody acted like we were going to trade him in!! he said.."NO! Have Brody!" we of course explained to him that we would be keeping him too:)
He also asked me one day when he could hold the baby and i told him it was going to be a while before the baby would come out of mommy's belly. He bent down real close to my belly (talking to the baby) and said "come out now, baby!"


I have had so many ultrasounds this pregnancy...its been so nice! I love how my doctors keep such a close eye on me since i had a miscarriage before brody. This particular picture was taken at the Pregnancy support services of wake forest. Our church is very involved in supporting this organization, so I volunteered to have an ultrasound done because they needed to train their staff. It was seriously amazing! i got to sit and watch the baby moving around for 45 minutes while they were training! at the doctors office they look at the baby for maybe 1 minute to make sure everything looks ok. so this was definitely a treat! i was AMAZED at a 11 week old baby moving around like crazy and showing his arms, legs, and fingers! its crazy to me that at 11 weeks some people dont really even know they are pregnant but there is a fully developed baby living inside of them! i was again reminded of how precious these little lives are, and alot of the women that come into this facility are contemplating abortion when they are way farther along that just 11 weeks! and look at how precious that picture is! i just cant imagine! . All that to say, watching my baby move around for 45 min was amazing! i was so thankful for that opportunity!

Well i will be sure to blog when we find out what we are having!

Knock Knock

Brody makes me laugh with the things he says. Hes forming alot of sentences and can just about say anything he wants to. Now that hes conversing so well, we can really see whats going on inside that little head of his. One thing recently hes been saying...and i have NO clue where he got it from...is Knock Knock. No, not when hes knocking on a door and needs to come in. When he wants to get our attention and we arent paying attention to him! LOL. We can be having a conversation and when he wants to interrrupt he will yell "Knock Knock"...and sometimes even "knock" on our leg...then he will proceed to tell us what he wants once he gets our attention:) It makes me laugh everytime he does it!

Snow

I know this is a little late, but i hadnt had a chance to post about Brody's adventures in the snow:). He absolutely LOVED it! It started snowing right before he went to bed, and he wanted to go outside in it so bad. we told him when he woke up he could play in it. The first thing out of his mouth the next morning when i went to get him out of bed was "Play snow now, Mama??" he definitely had not forgotten about the snow on the ground and wanted to go out right away to get in it! It wasnt the best day for playing in the snow, it was sleeting for most of the day and was freezing outside....but he did not care! We had to force him to come inside to get warm every once in awhile...hot chocolate was the bribery to get him to come inside:)

We have a mile long road outside our house that no one drives down but us....so that led to ALOT of fun for Brody and the adults:) We were without a sled, so brian hooked up a plastic trashcan lid behind his tractor and pulled Brody all over the place on it! i wasnt sure how he would do...all by his little 2 year old self....but he LOVED it. He fell of a couple of times and jumped right back up and got back on:)







The second day, Andy, Sara, and Logan came out to our house to help us both from going stir crazy i think:) Logan wasnt exactly thrilled with the snow, but he was a trooper!


Brian and Andy wanted some fun of their own, and went in search for something to hook up behind the truck that they could ride on up and down the road. They came back from the barns with a barrell....me and sara looked at each other and were pretty sure we would be taking one of then to the hospital for some kind of injury...lol. They rode that barrell "rodeo style" up and down our road, needless to say there were alot of falls...but they had a blast. Heres some proof...







Logan finally figured out a way to enjoy the snow by using our steps as a slide:) Brody and him had a great time sliding down the steps for quite awhile. Brody of course didnt want to come in, so i stood inside the door and watched him and let him stay outside sliding down the steps. I was cracking up watching this little 2 year old out there all by his little self just having the time of his life:)

Bedtime Prayers

Most nights, Brian and I put Brody to bed together and then Brian will spend a little extra time in the room with Brody rubbing his back and talking to him..and most recently saying bedtime prayers together. well brian had to go outside and get the horses ready for the snow last night, so i put brody to bed. I sat down next to his bed and he said "Mama Brody Pray".....MELT MY HEART!! So we thanked Jesus for all of our family, Riley, the horses, his stuffed animals, his pacis....at least 3 times each! LOL he kept naming people that we had already thanked Jesus for, but wouldnt go to sleep until we thanked Jesus for them AGAIN:) i went downstairs for a few minutes and when i came back upstairs, i heard him saying "Nonna and PopPop too, Lindsay and KaKa(Parker) too, Meme and Poppy too...." he was in there thanking Jesus all by himself. i cannot think of anything else i would rather hear!

Big Boy Bed

Brody finally made the transition to a big boy bed last night. It went way better than i thought it was going to! He was very excited when we were converting his crib to the toddler bed. He kept climbing in and out while brian was putting it together. He thought it was so neat that he could climb in all by himself! He went right to bed and didnt try to get out! I did wake up around 1 a.m. to check on him and found him asleep on the floor with his blanket. I picked him up and put him back in bed and i dont think he ever woke up.

When he woke up this morning we left him up there and watched him on the video monitor to see what he would do....and who would have thought, the child stayed in his bed for 30 minutes and didnt even try to get out until we came up there to get him!

I just laid him down for his nap and he didnt try to get out of his bed for naptime either! Sometime i think i dont give him enough credit:) i thought this was going to be a tough transition....well i guess i shouldnt speak to soon....i will let you know after a week:)