Bubble wrap and applesauce!

Here are two recent videos that will give you a little glimpse into the joy I get each day being home with our mischievious little monkey!

Here he discovers the joy of bubble wrap. It's fun stuff!



Here he goes on and on about his favorite food...Applesauce. It is worth it to watch the whole thing. He gets pretty animated toward the end.

A few of my favorite things...

I couldn't resist posting some pictures of some of the beautiful gifts we received for Lydia at her "sprinkle" yesterday. You know this sweet baby isn't going to run out of things to wear when you have to take two pictures to get in all the gifts from the shower! Scroll down one more post to see pictures from the party.

My grandmother handmade this gorgeous pink blanket. It is so soft and will be a family heirloom for sure! It's hard to see, but it is a very intricate design.

Jeff was so thoughtful. He and Anderson totally surprised me and got Lydia this adorable outfit for next fall. He snuck it in with the other gifts at the shower. Check out the elephant...she is wearing red high heels! I love it!!

So sweet...a personalized silver bracelet from my grandmother's sister. It's her first piece of jewelry

Several newborn gowns for the hospital and few weeks afterwards. They are all so soft!

These outfits are from my friend Kim and I LOVE them because they are sort of vintage looking...so cute!

Adorable big brother little sister outfits from my friend Jennifer

A good southern girl starts out with lots of monogrammed items! :-) I especially loved the personalized diaper bag from Jeff's mom, the lime green pillowcase dress and of course the leopard print monogrammed onesie!

A video monitor from my mom!

Jeff's granny Dot who passed away a few years ago made this porcelain doll and painted it as well as sewing the entire gown and bonnet. She was a very talented artist and Jeff was so happy that his mom saved this doll for him for all these years in case he ever had a daughter. I can't wait to display it in Lydia's nursery!

A "sprinkle" for Lydia

Sunday afternoon some very generous friends hosted a baby "sprinkle", not to be confused with a baby shower for Lydia and me. The invitation was adorable and the wording was perfect for a second baby.

I had a wonderful afternoon at NorthRiver with women that have really impacted and shaped my life in one way or another both in the past and the present. My bible study friends the "soul sisters" from our old church were there as well as many of the members of the small group Jeff and I lead at our new church. Most of the female members of mine and Jeff's family were able to make it, some driving 3 or more hours to attend. I also had a few lifelong childhood friends there and some new friends I have met through various playgroups since having Anderson. I was totally overwhelmed by all of the sweet, sweet gifts that this group of women gave in anticipation of our precious Lydia's arrival. It was so much fun to open all of the girly, frilly things. I am still in such awe to have been blessed with the experience of preparing for both a boy, with Anderson and now a girl, with Lydia.

Jennifer C., me and Ashley W.

Mom and me

Adorable gift!

Me and Karen W.

Most of the women in my family (and John)

Jeff's niece Anna, me, Jeff's mom Judy and his sister -in-law Andrea

The four preggies: Amy Smith, Nikki Richardson, Leila Holley and me. We are all due within a month of each other. All of us except Amy (this is her first) had boys the first time around within about 6 months of each other and the three of us are having girls for our second babies!!

Amy and I live three doors down from each other, both of our husbands are attorneys, we are both due on August 8th and our last names are both Smith...oh and we both wore the same dress...oops!

My favorite surprise guest. Jeff brought Anderson towards the end of the shower!

Anderson's First Haircut!

Cool Chair!

Well at 22 months old, he finally actually needed a haircut...well he didn't really NEED it but he was starting to get a bit of a rat tail in the back and mommy couldn't have that! Poor little guy! It took him almost two years to have enough hair to need a haircut. I hope Lydia will not suffer that same fate!

I took him to my hairdresser Ric Patton at H2O. I have used Ric since I was 15 years old...that is coming up on a whopping 17 years! I am picky picky about my hair and that paired with its thick, course, curly texture (that I of course decide to straighten...not an easy task) made it hard to find anyone I really liked that did a good job as well. I even drove back and forth from Birmingham when I lived there to have him do my hair!

"Wow, Mommy...a sucker!"



We were really worried that he would freak out, but like I said we were just trimming a tiny bit off so I knew he wouldn't be in the chair for too long. I did bribe him with a cow sucker he got at school that week (they were studying farm animals) to keep a scene from ensuing since it is a rather upscale, adults only salon! He has never had a sucker before! He didn't even know what to do with it. I had to finally just shove it in his mouth so he would know it was candy! Ric was laughing at how protective I have been with Anderson and sugar/sweets. I figure that the longer I can hold off on that battle the better!

He never cried and did so well! I was very proud of my big boy! Enjoy the video and pictures.

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce!

So file this one under I am "that" mom! Anderson's 2nd birthday is fast approaching and I have totally been in a nesting frenzy. This time around I am not just stressing over the nursery...I am stressing over everything...big boy bedding, landscaping and even the plans for Anderson's birthday party. When I was pregnant with him I was put on bedrest at week 29, just 3 short weeks from where I am with Lydia right now. My fear (however irrational it is) is that something will happen and Anderson will get a jipped for his birthday. Definitely NOT alright with me, especially considering that this will be his last as an only child...again...I know it's totally irrational!

So...when checking into renting a blow up bouncy house for his party we discovered that to rent one was the same price as buying one at Toy's R Us...so now I am "that" mom...you know the one that has now spoiled her son by buying him his very own industrial size bouncy house...seriously, it comes with it's own motor! Ha! They had a replacement plan for 15 months for only 20.00, and I know a friend who bought the same model and has used it for two years now without incident. It's a pretty durable toy! We have used it about 5 times in two weeks, so I think we will be getting our money's worth! When we get ready to deflate it we tell Anderson that "bouncy" that is what he calls it, is going nite-nite. He'll run over and kiss it nite-nite. The next morning before he is even lifted out of his crib he asks if "Bouncy" is awake...so adorable.

Last week we had Jennifer and Giulianna over to try it out. They are so cute together. Anderson's whole demeanor truly does change when she comes over. I think he has a little crush! The kids bounced themselves silly and both slept very soundly that night!!

Two Lydias and maybe even Two Andersons???

Ok, this is quite possibly the most strange, chill bumps up your spine, completely weird set of coincidences I have ever experienced or even heard of for that matter!

Jeff and I actually got the name Lydia from another blog...I know...how 21st century of us! My friend Julie has a friend Chelsea who has another friend Cassie...and all of these blogs list links to one another, so I occasionally check these other blogs to see cute pics of their babies, etc...even though I don't really know them. Well almost a year ago I ran across Cassie's blog, which I found so interesting because they were an American couple living in Scotland (for work) and raising their daughter there. Her name is Lydia. I immediately filed the name away if we should have a girl. I even told Jeff about it and he agreed that he really like that name for a girl too. SO....fast forward several months and ooops we were pregnant a little sooner than planned. So as talk came up about boy and girl names we both went back to Lydia as our top choice for a girl name.

Now...the night before the ultrasound I was so nervous...about the health of the baby, but also the fact that I was scared I might be disappointed if it wasn't a girl. I had all of the classic "girl" symptoms (craving sweets, bad nausea, etc...), but I was really thinking that a girl may not be in the cards for us. Now don't get me wrong I would have loved a baby boy as well, but I knew this is our last baby and another boy meant no girl...ever...and I was just not sure I was OK with that. That night I happened to blog jump and landed on Cassie's page again and noticed something I had never noticed before in her "about me" section. Her Lydia's birth date was August 8th...which is my due date! Not only a due date, but since we are doing a repeat c-section it is actually already scheduled for that day, so it will very likely be our Lydia's birth date as well. I told Jeff and we both were like....whoa...that's got to be a sign. The next day we found out we were having a girl!

I thought about contacting this far away friend-of-a-friend in Scotland to tell her about this, but just got busy and never did. Finally last week I did it. I decided that if someone saw Anderson's name and loved it that much I would want to know, so I commented on her blog to tell her the story. WELL...

...she emailed me back the next day to tell me that the coincidences don't stop there. She is pregnant again and guess what her boy name is....Anderson!! They don't do "gender" ultrasounds there so they aren't sure what they are having, but if it is a boy they like Anderson and Brayden. And hold on to your hats for one more twist, she is due June 25th. Our Anderson's birthday is June 22.

So we very well could have two Anderson's with the same birth date and two Lydia's with the same birth date...just an ocean away! How cool is that??

He never met a source of water that he didn't like!

Anderson LOVES water. He has been that way pretty much since he stepped foot out of my belly. Bathtime is his favorite time of day and when the warm weather comes around he's hard to get out of a pool or sprinkler. Recently after a hard rain he even discovered the wonderful world of water puddles...dirty water...EVEN BETTER!! Enjoy a few pics from recent water fun!