Our "baby" is two!

Today our little man turns 2!  Time truly does fly.  This little guy has been such a joy.  He's taught me a lot about myself for sure.  God knows what we need, and I've needed this little man, strong will and all, to teach me new things, and to grow me more! :-)

 Here he is at breakfast sporting some awesome hair.  Breakfast time is fun.  We usually get daddy out the door, and then eat together.  He pretty much always reminds me that we need to "pay!" (pray) as he reaches for my hand.  He then ends the prayer with a hearty "amen" and we chat about the day while we eat.  He usually asks about his little buddies, JJ, Joy, and Miles, (neighborhood kids).  He'll want to go outside to play or bye bye in the car.  The he'll sit and talk to me while I clean up.  Lately he's been playing with some shiny beads from our wedding that I recently found.

Awww, I just love his little kissable face.  He's so quick to forgive and love on me when I get angry with him. He likes to be with mommy and get snuggles, although it's getting hard these days with my big tummy.  He snuggles for a few seconds, then it changes to squirming. :-)

I'm so blessed to have been given 2 years with this little booger, and I pray that the next two are even better!

I love you, Samster!

we're heading into month 8!

I think that monthly updates are a little lame, but, hey, at least I update once in a while, right?  Today marks the end of month 7 for this pregnancy, and the beginning of month 8.  I'm really starting to feel pregnant these days, and am having those thoughts of, "2 more months!?"  But, it'll come and go I'm sure:-)  I've thrown out something in my hip which is causing me a lot of pain.  Hopefully my chiropractor can fix it on Monday.  Pete's been in Utah, (will get back tomorrow night) and so dealing with my stubborn nearly 2-year old has been rough.  But, that, too, will soon pass.

This baby is sitting so much like Sammy did.  He's kinda like a basketballmorphingintoawatermelon right now.  His little heels are choosing to kick at the same poor rib Sam liked.

Check out this not so little man!

Lately Sam's been obsessed with his little yellow boots.  I snapped these photos of him in his mismatched glory and had to share.  Little goofball!

Other than that, I'm getting the spring cleaning/baby's coming bug, and I have been finding lots of dirt!

Oh, and, I almost forgot to mention, but we do have a new, used car.  It's a Toyota Corolla, (for anyone who is wondering).  Pete got it from a family in the Chantilly area.  They had several calls for it, (good price, low miles) and when Pete called they asked him why he wanted the car.  He explained that he has a very pregnant wife who would love a car with 4 doors, rather than 2.  It works much better for the car seats.  We got the car!:-)  Thankfully, the Honda sold a few days later.  Minutes after it hit craigslist, Peter had several bites, and it went to the first guy who asked.  God does care about the small and big things for sure.  I just need to remember that and praise Him no matter the circumstance.  I don't have any pictures of the car right now, but I'll try and post some sometime.

Month 6-check

Today we complete month 6, woohoo!  I realize that I still have the 3 largest months left, but the days do seem to be flying by.  I'm starting to tire more easily, and my body has the normal aches and pains of pregnancy, but over all I feel great, and I'm very thankful for a healthy pregnancy so far.  Here is our little man finishing up month 6.  He's VERY active right now.  I feel lots of strong kicks, and can see his little heels.

We're working to transition Sammy over to a big boy bed, (starting with nap time), and the only way to accomplish this is to rock him to sleep.  So far he refuses to stay in the bed.  Most days he will rock to sleep in about 10 to 15 minutes, after we've looked at his truck book (thank you Aunt Jeanette!  That's his favorite!), and any other books he likes.  He most often goes on to sleep when I start singing.  These days when I'm rocking and singing to Sammy, his little brother starts kicking in earnest.  It's really kind of amazing to be holding one child on the outside, and one on the inside.  Those are truly precious times.  I hope to look back and remember them when the chaos of two crazy boys begins!

We've picked up potty training again, and amazingly, this week, Sam was really good about it.  He wore undies all day each day, and only made a few puddles.  I'm still not getting my hopes up very high as this is a process, but it's nice to see that he's starting to get the hang of it.  He's SO cute in his little undies!

In other news, it looks like we're getting new neighbors.  I recently ran into an old friend from my TeenPact days who came out here to school, met and married her husband there, and now lives in Winchester.  To make a long story very short, it looks like they will be moving into Joseph's townhouse in a few weeks!  I'm so excited to have them close.  They have two cutie pie little girls, and it'll be so nice to have a walking buddy, and just a good friend close by.  

We're so looking forward to warm weather!  Sammy is the most best behaved out doors and at the park, and I'm guessing we'll be spending a lot of time there this summer.  I took him to the park last week when we had a random warm day.  He literally ran for almost the full 2 hours we were there.  Folks at the park commented to me about his energy.  He just needs to go go go.

He's all boy that one!

~Julie 

V-day

is really just another day, and I've never really been that into it.  But, for this year I really felt like making a special dinner for my family.  I don't think I've made a "special" dinner at home for us since we got married.  By that I mean a holiday or special occasion meal.  I make dinner all of the time:-p

I intended to get more pictures of the food that I made, and I had visions of much more than this, but once the candles came out, Sam became VERY interested in dinner preparations, and I had a hard time just getting the food on the table.

For the main course I made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas.  Yes, this was a man's meal for sure.  I've never fried anything before, and I had fun trying my hand at it.  I overcooked these a little, but Pete still liked them.:-)

Here's a candid shot of some of the other food.  Like I said, I was just doing my best to get it all on the table while keeping little fingers out of the candles.  The crazy thing with Sam now is, that if I move things out of his reach, he just grabs a kitchen chair and goes to it, ah, good times!

For dessert I made a buttermilk, chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting.  I don't bake much beyond cookies these days, but I really wanted to try my hand at a cake.  So, here was the result.  I did make it a little boyish in honor of the men present.

Yum!

It was fun to make something special for these two special men God has given to me.  I truly am blessed!

5 months, and a growth spurt!

This little LaRock mister is really reminding me of Sammy.  I'm sure he'll be different in many ways, but the pregnancy and growth feel very familiar.  At our last appointment when I was in week 20, this baby measured at about 18 weeks.  I remember Sammy measuring small at one appointment, then at the next he had my midwife saying, "cut the bagels, mommy!".  It's really strange how my kids do that!  We'll see how I measure in a few weeks, but based on the way I look, and the amount of stretching I've felt, this kid's grown plenty!  I was looking at this photo of me when I was pregnant with Sammy.  Here I am 5 months with him:

The picture above is me at 5 months with our newest little man.  Yes, I think I just carry big and out front.

In other news, we were hit with a snow storm last night.  Our drive home from Purcellville was seriously crazy.  Thankfully Peter was with us and drove like a champ.  Visibility was terrible, and when we hit the mountain there were cars off the road everywhere!  We had to stop several times and clean off the wipers just to be able to see well enough to continue on.  We made it fine, albeit slowly, until about 1 mile from our house.  There's a road with a really large hill, and one needed speed to make it up.  Unfortunately, folks became stuck ahead of us, and there was oncoming traffic, so we got stuck.  One man who was hopelessly stuck took to pushing folks.  He helped us the first time, but we just slid.  So we turned around and prepared for attempt two.  The silly drivers behind us though, didn't note the stuck cars on the hill above OR the oncoming traffic and so passed us and created more stuck cars, grrrr.  FINALLY we had a clearing and went for it.  This time the gentleman pushing out cars got in front of our charge, (by mistake) and we once again came to a halt.  He graciously gave us another few good pushes and we made it.  It was very nice to get home and out of the snow.  I think we have between 8 to 10 inches.  I'm a fan, now that I'm home, warm and safe!
 

LaRock baby #2 and Sammy's pox.

Our newest addition is now 21 weeks old.  The following picture was taken at 20 weeks, but you get the idea.  He, (yep it's a he!) is growing  a lot.  He's started kicking a lot more, and I'm getting more excited to meet him!  This pregnancy has felt very similar to Sammy's.  I've had many of the same aches and pains, the morning sickness was almost exactly the same, and I'm carrying out front.  It's funny how it all kind of comes back.  I've been able to get out and walk alot, (Sam's been a trooper getting out in the cold). Exercise helped me so much in Sam's pregnancy.  So far the same is true with this one.  We're working with the same midwife we had with Sam.  I always love our appointments.  Peggy's really become a good friend, and we really like working with her.  We've also gotten to know the other midwife in the practice, and we really like her, too.

While we were home for Christmas, Sammy picked up the chicken pox from my brothers.  He handled it like a little trooper though.  

just starting to break out...

pox boy!

still smiling:-)

He's still got a few scabs, but other than that, he's back to normal.  He's such a goober.  He communicates so much now, and copies so many things he sees.  It's hard to believe that he'll be 2 in just a few more months!

We're getting back into the grind of things.  It's been really busy, but that seems to be the norm for most folks I talk with.  I realize that I often don't put a lot of words on my blog.  Maybe one day, when I have more time, or maybe when I make more time, ha, I'll type more.  

One last thing; just remembered.  I got a sewing machine for Christmas!  Thanks Dave and Liz!  I'm hoping to make quilts for each of my boys, (and one day one for me and my big boy).  I'll have to post progress on here.  I'm very excited to be getting back into some sewing.

Christmas in Illinois

 In 2010 we decided to spend Christmas with my family in Illinois.  We were able to take almost two weeks, and just enjoy spending time with them.  Before we left we had our first Virginia snow.  Sammy had a great time stomping around in it!

We took the train to overnight to Illinois again.  It wasn't so relaxing this time as last.  Samster decided to get up at 3am, and refused to go back to sleep.  Thankfully Peter and I took turns with him while the other slept.  But, needless to say, we were worn out by time we arrived at my folks.  My sister Jane brought her little cutie, Teddy over, and he and Sam got to hang out.  Sam had a very hard time sharing, (as the following pictures will demonstrate) but it was good for him! :-)

"but, I want both phones!"

waahhh, not gonna share!

okay, but I don't like this...

Below are some fun pictures of most of my family.  I didn't get any of Janessa and Justin or Jane and Jonathan (sorry guys!), but I think I got most of the others.

Judy and Jeanette

Trying Jeanette's glasses

Joanna and Judy, again with the glasses :-)

Joanna and Jeffrey

Sisters.  Don't ask me what Jeanette and Judy are doing here.

Aunties with their nephew.

awwww.

My "little brothers, Jeff and Jed.  Growing up!

Stud.

My mom and dad.

Jane, Teddy and Sam.  Jane's due with baby#2 in about 5 weeks!

We had fun visiting with friends, and just spending time with my family.  Sam had a great time getting to know his Cole aunts, uncles and grandparents better.

The trip home went much more smoothly.  Sam slept well on the train, and was mostly good.  He did manage to get the chicken pox from my brothers, but handled it very well.

For an update on baby LaRock #2 and Sammy's pox see the next post.  This one's getting long!