WHAT A WEEK: BABY'S GENDER & CONCERT IN CHICAGO

Last Saturday night, I looked at Samuel and said, "It's been a really big week."

And it was. We found out the gender of baby #2 and went to a long-awaited concert in Chicago!

20 WEEK ANATOMY SCAN
I'll start with the baby gender because, oh my!!!!!!





Ready for it....

IT'S  A  GIRL!

Surprise!! surprise!! surprise!!! We were so shocked and thrilled to find out that baby number two is a little girl!

We were both kind of thinking it was another boy, to be honest, just because this pregnancy hasn't been drastically different from my first pregnancy. But this is the second time I have been completely wrong on predicting the gender. I was so confident that Charlie was a girl. I'm 0 and 2 on that!

The ultrasound technician started out checking the heartbeat and trying to wake the baby up. :) I told her I had been feeling a lot of movement, but mostly at night. Just a few minutes later, the baby woke up and stayed moving around the entire time (very unlike big brother's anatomy scan. he stayed rolled into a ball the whole time and didn't even let us finish the whole checklist at that appointment!). Then the nurse said, "It's looking like a girl!" and I said, "What! Are you serious?"And sure enough, she could see very clearly that it was a GIRL. Samuel and I were thrilled by this happy news!

All of her measurements and photos during the scan looked great. We are so thankful for her health thus far. Her heart rate is now around 144 bpm.

Crazy enough, I did have a dream that it was girl a few months ago! My dream was that we had arrived home from the hospital with a baby girl and I could remember NOTHING about the delivery or even being at the hospital. So I guess you could say, I had a gender prediction dream! But let's hope that last part doesn't happen in real life.

Over the course of the day we found out, we called and texted family and shared our gender reveal photos above with them. Our family was just as surprised (and happy) as we were! I had several close friends who guessed girl, but most of our immediate family was also thinking it would be a boy. But it goes without saying that everyone, especially Samuel and I, was over the moon thrilled to hear that we are having a little girl. We are so thankful for her precious life and cannot wait to meet our new baby girl sometime near the end of February.

BEN RECTOR CONCERT
Samuel and I also went to a really special concert in Chicago last week!

For my birthday back in August, my wonderful + amazing + sweet + thoughtful + husband got me surprise tickets to see Ben Rector in Chicago!! The concert was at the Chicago Theatre and we were pumped. It was our first time going to Chicago alone, too, soo we were really up for an adventure!

We only live 25 miles from Chicago according to the map, buuuuttttt it definitely takes over an hour to get there. Always. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the concert venue, but thankfully we left about 2 hours prior to the concert start time.

The show was so good, y'all. He sang all my favorite songs from the new album and there were a lot of really special surprises in it too. And we loved being inside the Chicago Theatre! It's so beautiful.

October is off to a really fun start. We have family coming in next weekend and Halloween right around the corner (one of my personal favorites, as you may or may not know).

In the mean time, I'll just be sitting here letting it sink in that we are having a baby G I R L.
I can't believe it.

Emily

OUR FAMILY IS GROWING! + PREGNANCY UPDATE

I haven't officially announced our exciting news on my blog: We are adding another James baby to the family sometime at the end of February 2019!

We are so thrilled and thankful to the Lord for this sweet gift of life. Every time I think about it I am completely overwhelmed by the reality that this is a gracious gift from the Lord. I am so excited to snuggle another little baby and to watch Charlie become to be a big brother. 

I thought it would be fun to share some details about this pregnancy and compare it to my first pregnancy some, how it has been different or the same and if that is any hint at the gender. And speaking about the gender...our anatomy ultrasound is at the beginning of October! Ahhh, I can't wait to find out. 

So let's get into this pregnancy update!

How did you tell your husband?
I told Samuel totally different this time around. For one, our first baby was a happy surprise. :) Also, Samuel was basically waiting outside the bathroom door with me to find out. And, he was the one who recommended I even take a pregnancy test to begin with because I didn't believe I was pregnant. Ha! We found out together, and I was already 8 weeks along at that point.

This time around, we had just started trying to get pregnant again. I had a very strong feeling that I was pregnant for over a week before I took a test. I didn't really keep him in the loop at all, which is so unlike me, but it was all because I wanted to really be able to surprise him with the pregnancy test since I didn't get the chance to do that the first time! I kept my suspicions and buying a pregnancy test a little secret until I knew for sure. I took it early one morning while he was at the gym before work, and when he walked back in the door, there I was with a positive pregnancy test! 

Were you surprised? 
I wasn't! But Samuel was! Opposite of last time. 

How many weeks along are you?
18 weeks.

Baby's heart rate? 
It's been 154-155 bpm.

Cravings? 
For most of the first trimester, NOTHING sounded good. It was a  s t r u g g l e. I would get so so hungry, but felt like there wasn't a thing that was actually appealing. 

Eventually I started to crave egg salad sandwiches - for like two weeks straight. Then I craved this little made up combo with tortilla, cream cheese, pepperoni, and cucumbers and ate that every day for like two weeks as well. Bagel with cream cheese was also a staple early on. I might have also needed a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonalds a couple of late nights. My husband is the best. ;) 

Gender? 
We are going to find out in early October! We are both suspicious it's another boy. I would guess boy based on not being terribly sick, acne improved, and similar pregnancy "feel."

1st trimester symptoms?  
Sickness- I only threw up one time (around 6 weeks) because I waited too long to eat breakfast which made me sick. There were two other instances were I thought I was going to get sick, but I hurriedly shoved a bagel in my mouth and it went away. It's a weird sensation to feel nauseous and be eating at the same time, but that is the secret in the first trimester. 

Tiredness- No joke, I could not go one day without taking a nap while Charlie was napping. It was unbelievable how tired I was. Sometimes on the weekends when Samuel was home, I would take a nap basically as soon as I finished eating breakfast and then again when Charlie was taking his nap. I have never been more unproductive or let chores go more, but it was so unavoidable.

Hunger- SO so so hungry all the time.

Can't Stand- Super sweet food and my sugary gummy vitamins.  I had to switch to a non-sugary vitamin because the others tasted SO sweet!

Round Ligament Pain - This was waayyy worse this time around. Basically any time I would stand up after sitting down for a while, that muscle would spasm and shoot pain! I had to be sure to stand up super slowly so that it wouldn't hurt. It's finally happening less often.

Other- I had major bloating and discomfort in my first trimester as well. So miserable. A homemade peppermint oil scrub right on my stomach worked wonders. 

Movement?
I started to feel light flutters around 15 weeks pregnant. By 18 weeks they feel like tiny kicks! I remember starting to first feel flutters during my first pregnancy around 17 weeks, so for me it's true that you feel movement earlier the second time around.

Maternity clothes?
I have started to wear maternity clothes here and there for comfort, but I can still wear most of my normal clothes right now. Same as first pregnancy at this point. 

Baby name? 
It's sooo much harder this time!! I feel so picky. We have mentioned a boy and girl name that we like, but we don't know if we will use them yet. Send me some suggestions y'all cause the ones I keep reading online are....terrible haha.

2nd trimester symptoms (so far)?
Energy- Hallelujah, my energy is ten times more than it was last trimester! Around week 14 I really felt a jump. I don't have to have a nap to function and that is a relief!

Sleep- Still getting up once a night to go to the bathroom, but sleeping fine. Crazy dreams, but that's normal for me. I had some back pain at night lately and started sleeping with a pillow between my knees which has helped.

Bump- Oh yes. It's here for the party.

Left: August 15 (13 weeks along),  Right: September 18 (Almost 18 weeks)

Thanks for reading this little update, friends! I don't know how often I will be able to do these, but we will definitely share the gender sometime after we find out. What do you think - boy or girl? ;)

Emily

APRIL ADVENTURES: TWO WEEK TRIP TO KY AND TN

Loooong time no blog! How's your start of Spring been? It's been a busy month for us, but filled with the most exciting things like family, vacation, and lots of traveling. 

When we went back home to Louisville for Christmas, we knew it would be our last time in Kentucky until April. You may not think 4 months seems that long, and really it's not, but it was the longest stretch between seeing family we had had since moving last July. And it was going to be over winter which would make it feel even longer. But come April, Samuel would be attending the T4G conference for work which, as it happens, was back in Louisville! So all three of us were going along to spend time with family for a whole week.

During that long winter like I mentioned, we found out that both of my sister-in-laws and their families would be moving this summer. It seems hard to believe that in the short span of a year, all three of the James kids would be moving to new states away from family for the first time. But each for great, God glorifying opportunities that we are so excited for! For the last few years we have been doing our James family vacation in May, but with the moves coming up, we started to wonder how we could squeeze in at least a small family vacation in April. We had this crazy idea to take the week after the conference off for the family vacation and it worked out absolutely perfectly. That's how we ended up sneaking in a TWO week trip!

The first week of our trip, which contained the 3 days of Samuel's conference, we stayed at my parents house. We did ALL the things, you guys. We had a belated Easter meal with my Mamaw and aunts and uncles, Charlie and I had a mall shopping day with Mimi and Aunt Rae Rae, Samuel and I saw A Quiet Place on a date, we had dinner with sweet friends from our pervious church, I saw one of my best friends from high school, Charlie and I got haircuts by my talented cosmetologist sister, we got pedicures, ate Steel City Pops, and played the worlds hardest game of sequence.


S N A P S H O T S  from  the  first  week

Easter// Mamaw + Charlie

Mimi reading Charlie a new book

My Favorite Muffin + Aunt Rae Rae

He was a BIG fan

We went to the Zoo with cousins and old church friends!

B O T T L E  B R O K E N  (on  accident!)

Charlie was bottle broken during this trip!!!! Color me SHOCKED. Before this trip, he was drinking basically all of his cow's milk in his bottles. He would ask for it every time and get super sad if I even thought about putting the milk in a sippy cup. He would drink his water in a sippy cup or Contigo water bottle, but not that precious milk. It had to be a bottle. Even though I was hoping to break him of it eventually, I was totally fine with him keeping the bottles until 2ish, or at least until he finished cutting his last teeth - the two year molars. Throughout teething, the bottle was his main source of comfort so I was fine with him having it until then. 

I joked to Samuel about "forgetting" to bring the bottles to see if we could break him of it, but decided the thought of having to go buy new ones in Louisville if he needed it would be silly. So I washed them and put them out to dry the morning we were schedule to leave Wheaton. That night in Louisville, I went to make Charlie his bottle before bed and I realized I DIDN'T PACK THEM. I was highly anticipating having to go get at least one bottle the next day, but would you believe it, he never asked for it. Not once in the whole two weeks. And then we came home and he still didn't ask for them. So, I hid them away and his bottle days officially ended. I was amazed how easy it turned out to be! Maybe the Lord made me forget to bring them to Louisville. ;)

  

D A T E   N I G H T 

Also squeezed into that week was Samuel and I's first night away since having Charlie. He did great spending the night with Mimi and PopPop! He's such a champ when it comes to saying goodbye to us and we are so, so thankful. We ate dinner downtown, and walked along the river at sunset. It was really special to be able to do that back in our hometown.

Louisville, Kentucky

G A T L I N B U R G  James  Family  Vacation

On Saturday we left Louisville for a 4 day trip to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our James family vacation! That place is our go-to getaway. We stayed in a big cabin and soaked up all the family togetherness, playing games and watching The Greatest Showman for the first time. We always love to go to Cades Cove, and this time we got to see a mama and baby bear just hanging out nearby. We also went to the aquarium, played putt putt, and went out for pancakes!

Charlie had a BLAST getting to play with his cousins on this trip. His speech went through the roof after spending that time with them, too. He was already saying tons of words well, but after being around the other kids his clarity was noticeably better. He fell in LOVE with his two little girl cousins, Leighton and Addie. It was especially precious to watch him be so sweet to Addie who is 5 months old.

We will always treasure this vacation before everyone's big life changes.

Cades Cove 

Addie and Aunt Emmie

The cousins 

Cades Cove// Charlie + Leighton

We headed back to Wheaton on Friday, almost two weeks later. With that we had officially taken our longest trip as a family ever. I was so excited to share this trip with you, but also to "blog scrapbook" it for myself for years to come. We left this trip feeling so thankful - for parents who hosted us, a job that let us travel, a baby who slept well for the first time on vacation, for time to spend with family and friends, and for new exciting things ahead for the James kids.

If you thought that was all the excitement we had in April, stay tuned for another APRIL ADVENTURES post from when we went to CHICAGO with family last weekend! I will have a happy report of a much smoother trip this time around, and some new favorite food finds you have to do if you come to Chicago. 

Stay tuned for more adventures.
Emily

A VERY TODDLER HALLOWEEN

I love Halloween.

There, I said it. 

My husband thinks its hilarious and weird how much I love Halloween, but I don't care. I don't love the scary/spooky kind of Halloween, but rather the carved pumpkins, babies in fuzzy costumes, bowls of candy corn, and glittery decorations kind of Halloween. That's what I'm all about. So today I thought let's do some fun Halloween activities....as best we can. 

Painting Pumpkins

We bought some pumpkins from our friend's adoption fundraiser a few Sundays ago that I have been decorating with and I decided to let Charlie finger paint them today. He was very serious about it, you guys. He actually preferred using a paint brush over his fingers. Note taken for next time around. And he only tried to stick the paint brush in his mouth once, so I'd call that a success! 

Let's talk about toddlers and painting. I was sure to strip him down to his diaper, cover his high chair with plastic, and use non-toxic washable acrylic paint. What are your best tips for toddler + painting? I would love to do more of this in the future, and I'm sure there are better tips or hacks out there for some great painting, so be sure to send them my way.

Pausing to look at the doggie outside

I also decided to paint and carve one myself while Charlie played with the pumpkin lid and guts. I thought that would be a fun sensory activity for him. He touched the guts once and that was enough for him. For whatever reason he thought the lid was more interesting. I just carved a simple "C" for Charlie.

Halloween & Trick-Or-Treating

Months back, I had not even started to think about Charlie's costume for this year when my mom said, "You know, I think I have one of your costumes down in the basement." And sure enough it was perfect for Charlie! It was so fun for him to wear something that was his Mommy's.

It was super cold and I couldn't get him to say trick or treat like we had successfully practiced aalllllll week. Of course. We were out for maybe 20 minutes and visited a total of 6 houses but that's okay! He had fun, got to wear his costume, and all the sweet people we met on our walk just wanted to eat him up. He was genuinely more excited about wearing his mittens than he was getting candy or wearing a costume. Oh, toddlers are the best!

On a mission for some treats

"Wait, I'm pretty sure I heard another doggie."

As a final thank you if you made it to the end of this very long post, here is yours truly Halloween '95 reppin the OG pumpkin outfit. 

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

THE PUMPKIN PATCH

Last Saturday the forecast called for rain, but we had a sunny enough morning to decide last minute to go to the zoo for their pumpkin festival!

Cosley Zoo is a small zoo nearby with all kinds of farm animals, bobcats, foxes, owls, hawks, rabbits, and a duck pond. Charlie loves it, and it's free for Wheaton residents - so it's one of our favorite outings. This was Daddy's first time going to the zoo with us!

There were piles of pumpkins big and small, a mound of hay bales, and a few kiddie rides. Charlie was only interested in the pumpkins for about a half a second and then he spotted it. THE RIDES. If this kid ever gets a wiff of something fun happening nearby, he will sniff it out. He is all about F-U-N.

After a few minutes of watching him stare longingly at the trade ride, Samuel and I looked at each other knowing we had to get him a ticket. It was his first ride!!! I can't believe he's already old enough to go on a kiddie ride. Time, slow down! I was pretty confident he would love riding the train. But I will admit I got a little worried when the train pulled away and he looked backed with wide eyes and said, "Dada!?" But by the end of one time around the loop, he realized he loved it! What a big boy.

Here are some pictures from our day. Enjoy Charlie's very wind-blown hair.  😆 

This is when it happened. 

Me: Charlie, look at these fun pumpkins!

Charlie: OMG RIDES, MOM

Happy October, y'all!