A sneak peek!

Tomorrow evening Ely will be preforming in his first dance recital. He has been taking a break dance class at Kat's Performing Arts. He truly enjoys it.
I popped in for a few action pics.
Ely's famous head spin. I'm sure most of you have heard him talk about this move!
Head stands, walking on hands, whats next?
Who said boys can't dance? After all, don't some professional football players take ballet?

Break a leg Ely (but please not literally),
Mom

Fun Filled Weekend





Friday, May 11th
Philly, Angel, and Chelsea



I was so pleased to get a phone call from Angel stating that she and Chelsea would be in
Bloomington on Friday. They were interviewing IU and touring the campus to see if it is the right school for Chelsea. I say "interviewing" because Chelsea is a very intelligent (and very beautiful) student whom will have colleges competing for her. It is clearly Chelsea's choice of where to attend college. Lucky for us, we may have another niece at IU.
They drove a bit futher south to visit us. We were so glad that they did.
Angel and Chelsea got to meet some of my childcare children and Angel made a new friend.

Friday evening we had some friends over for Amaya's 12th birthday and boy did we get her good!
SURPRISE!
Everyone hid behind the couch and popped up at the perfect moment to pull off a surprise birthday party. Amaya didn't have a clue that a party was waiting on her back home.
Philly turned on some Beatles music ("They Say It's Your Birthday") and the party was kicked off to a great start.
With dancing....


Cake.....

...cake...
And more cake... (Meet Milina. My cousin Angel's daughter. An Angel in both of our families.)

...and party horns, this night was a hit!
This is Scout, one of best friends, Michelle's, 21 month old sweet girl, who also happens to be one of my childcare kids. She absolutely adores Philly.



On Saturday we had another special guest visit. This guest spend the night with and join in our Mother's Day celebration!
She also got to ride on Philly's shoulders after a trip and fall accident while out on our neighborhood walk.
Chloe Marie... another childcare kiddo. I have known her mommy for years, (Angelique) another BFF!
She absolutely adores Philly! (Did I already say that earlier?;)
And I think she kinda likes me too. Philly doesn't have to discipline the children all of the time so he is much more fun.

At the very last minute I decided that we would rearrange our schedule so that we could all go to Logansport for a quick Mother's Day trip. So on Sunday we got up early and headed up to visit family.
See a familiar face? There is Angel...twice in one weekend in two different towns...yippee!
Chloe was thrilled to see a familiar face. It didn't even take her long to warm up to the unfamiliar faces.

Amaya was happy to see these three beautiful sisters (nieces), Casey, Sarah, and Emily.

Two good looking young men, Tanner (nephew) and Austin (cousin.) Notice the bunny ears?
 and Ely...get'em Austin!

A couple sweet cousins Maddie and Katey.
Nick and Ely worked in some pitching practice.


And the whole purpose of our very quick trip up to Logansport and back (in one day)... Jinner, Philly's Mom! Sweet, kind, and absolutely hilarious! Got to love this women!
We hope everyone had a fabulous, family filled Mother's Day!
It just gets better every year!
Take care,
Jen, Phil, Amaya, Ely, and (of course) Baby

Heart rate=Gender

Or so it is said that you can tell the gender of a baby according to the heart rate. So what does everyone think our baby will be?
Heart rate=154 to 160 beats per minute.
My blood pressure=100/60
My weight= I have officially gained my first pound and a half taking me from 120lbs. to 121 and 1/2lbs! (Blahaha! In my dreams!)
The big news....NO MORE PROGESTRONE MEDICATION!
Mommy and Baby are healthy! Doctors orders are to continue to take it easy but, we are better than expected!
Baby's due date is said to be sometime between Novemeber 13th and 18th.

What am I craving?
Caesar salad, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries(strawberry shortcake is my weakness right now), green olives, rye bread, cheese, sprite with crushed ice, almonds and I can't forget apples with peanut butter.
I am truly struggling with meat so I have been working protein in through other foods.

How do I feel?
FABULOUS! Very healthy! Elated! Emotional...a sweet emotional though. I can get to thinking about a past vacation or event, hear a song, or watch the kids play together and the tears start pooling up just like that.
I don't feel like I am having mood swings but, maybe I am oblivious to this. We should ask Philly;)

How does Philly feel?
This is almost impossible but, Philly may be more excited than even me. If you know Phil, you know that kids are like magnets to him. Having his own baby....oh my, this may be the most protected child on the face of the planet. He has already stated that he is cutting a hole through our bedroom wall into the powder room (which is in the nursery) because it will save him from going out to the landing to get to the baby... approximately 7 to 10 steps. And I will not be shocked if he really does it.

Our next appointment is on the 30th of May. If all is well, we will have our ultrasound on the 21st of June! Wow, this pregnancy is flying by!

Love and Laughter,
Jen and Baby

Happy 12th Birthday Amaya!

Today is a very special day...Amaya's 12th birthday. Wow thinking back, the last 12 yars have gone by fast! We should be going out for a dinner date tonight but, Amaya has a softball game so we switched it to tomorrow. We sure hope it is a special year Sis!
Love you, Mom, Philly, Ely, and Baby

Another one of those moments....

Once again... can all moments be like this? Our kids get along "most of the time" but when you walk into a moment like this it sure puts a smile on your face and warth in your heart! We Love being Parents.

3 months!


We thought we would start with a "before Jen gets bigger" picture for comparison in the later months. So here I am three months pregnant. Pooching out? Yes! Already? You got it! And boy can I feel the changes beginning to take place. You would think I would be totally prepared for each pregnancy detail but, over the last 10 years since Ely was born, I have slowly forgot these unusual feelings that change daily.
3 months!
Thank You Lord! We are SO happy to see three months. We had a couple scares in the earlier weeks of this pregnancy but with 200 mg of Progesterone (hormone medication) each night before bed and following the orders to "take it easy," we are looking forward to a healthy baby only six months from now!

So, for those of you who do not know...we are not going to find out the gender of our baby. This is bound to drive some of our closest friends and family crazy. I am sure that the surprise will be worth it to all of us come baby's birth.
We have several boy names picked out but, the girl name are not going as well. Any suggestions? We would love to hear names that others think would fit our baby if it happens to be a girl.

Our next appointment is set for May 10th so there will be more to blog about then!

God is good,
Jen