Little and ....Little Little

I wouldn't be surprised if no one except my in-laws, parents, siblings and a few friends read this blog anymore - I am probably one of the worst bloggers ever!  But, on a bright note, that means only the really important people read this...aww...thanks guys.

So if you  haven't heard yet (although we are in regular contact with all the above mentioned people reading this blog...)  James is going to be a big brother!  We are expecting another delicious boy in May and are sooo excited!  We waited until Christmas to break the news but it was kind of hard to keep a true secret since I was sporting a noticeable baby bump after announcing in my Christmas letter I was back to pre-pregnancy weight.

                                                                           27 weeks

Since we call James 'Little' we've started calling the baby 'Little Little' since he, as of yet, has no name.  If things go the way they went last time, it may be a while (as in, in the delivery room) before he officially has one. 

Jared decided to practice holding two babies at the same time when we babysat for our friends - as you can tell, he wears all his true emotions on his face...

 

So there you have it - our wonderful news, Jared's true look of joy, and my belly.

An update on us the last couple months:

Christmas was wonderful -
Little discovered the magic of Christmas lights. (We left the tree pretty undecorated, expecting the tipping over to be a regular thing, but it never happened!  Ah well, less to pack away.)

 We saw the famous Nativity in Cedar Rapids.  After it was damaged in the 2009 flood, the church was approached and offered it on condition it was restored and displayed - the members restored it through hours and hours of work and now display it every year opened to the public with over 400 other nativities (smaller ones) and live music - it was a beautiful and cool Christmas experience and set the tone for the season.  (We like to say that Little Little was with us here since I'm four months pregnant, can't you tell?  I definitely could since I was VERY emotional - I stopped crying ten minutes before we left - we were there for 40...)

 

We went to my home for Christmas where James was the littlest shepherd in the Nativity we act out every year--

 The littlest shepherd had a watchful dad...

 ...and of course was best friends with the shepherd dog...

 ...on so many levels...

... he visited Grandpa in an unscheduled off hours visit in his office for a foot exam  - passed with flying colors even with his shoes on....

...and had his heart checked out by his cute cousin Brooklyn, the aspiring doctor herself.

 My amazing mom and dad -

 Not everyone rolled in until later, so this is just a few of us after church in the foyer -

 

Church was a rough one for Little Man - another little boy accidentally tripped him and he fell into the corner of the pew - he took it like a champ though, crying less than a minute--Little Rocky...

 

It's really fun to be with my siblings and their kids of similar ages...I can't believe we're so grown up!

 

 

After the holidays we got down to business and bought him a bigger car seat.  It came in a nice big box and Jared cut a hole in it so it could be his car.  (He LOVES cars, like any true boy - 'car!'  'car!' as we drive anywhere).  As you can see, someone else seems to be waaay more excited about it than James who seems slightly perplexed as to why he's stuck in a box...

 

And while I'm on the topic, James updates:  He became our little coal miner - seriously, he loves wearing it on his head and is unafraid to venture under the stairs with me...

 ...and since both J and I wear glasses, he naturally wants to be part of the team but this is as far as he gets with them...

 

 ...and I obviously talk on my phone way too much around him - he has full on conversations with pauses and nods, "Yup!" on anything - my hairdryer, the remote...

 

...and sometimes he doesn't stop even while getting ready for bed ...

Right after Christmas he started doing a scruchy smile which surprised me - I don't know why, it just did...

 and he has six adorable teeth...

 which we brush daily (he asks every time we go into the bathroom, 'teeth!' 'teeth!') but we've found the only real way to let us do the brushing instead of him, is to let him brush our teeth as well...he's pretty good...

 ...he loves spending time with his daddy, which is less on this current rotation, but he still managed to help him make my birthday cake...

...and we've been lucky enough to have a lot of snow and below 20 F days here this winter - so far our Little Man has been tolerant of it (although today it was warmer and he really loved it!)

...and he is the best peek-a-booer you've ever seen.

 

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you.

So in a nutshell, we're doing great!  I mean, look at that face, how could we not?