a wink and a smile

Yesterday I received the gift of a wink and smile :) Granted, the wink was somewhat involuntary, but the smile was in response to me smiling at my sweet boy! Nothing warms my heart more than seeing Jackson smile back at me! I know that he recognizes his mama, and that he is connecting with me. He blesses me more than I could have ever imagined! It's so hard to believe that he is already 5 1/2 weeks old...he rolls, scoots, smiles, and makes all sorts of precious noises :) He seems to have a new sound every day! It's amazing to watch this tiny little person learn and grow and change!

bright lights, big city

Last weekend I had the chance to see the bright lights of Las Vegas! While I decided it is completely and utterly NOT my scene, it was really fun to see the strip and all the beautiful casinos! My favorites were the Venetian and the Paris, which appear very true to their names. You'd swear you had stepped into Venice or Paris when you enter the casinos!

I met a group of girls from work there for the weekend, and we really had a great time! A few highlights from the weekend were Madame Tussaud's wax museum, the view from the House of Blues Foundation Room (a highly exclusive Vegas hot spot) on the 60th floor of Mandalay Bay,and dining at Emeril's Delmonico Restaurant. The food and atmosphere were phenomenal, and I'm not sure I've ever been quite that stuffed after a meal! As though I was going to leave even a morsel on my plate from Emeril's kitchen! Fat chance...

our little acrobat

I have been feeling little flutters in my belly for a couple weeks now, but usually only if I'm laying in the fetal position, or scrunching my stomach somehow so that baby has less room to move about. However, today is the first day when I have felt all sorts of movement and fluttering without changing positions or anything! It is SO exciting and splendidly wonderful to feel our little baby swimming around and doing sumersaults in my belly! I am loving each stage of pregnancy, and it seems like each week brings about some new and exciting thing! The next change will be feeling the movement on the outside of my belly, which Daddy is very excited about! I'm excited too, because then he will feel like he is more a part of what is happening with my body! Every day it is becoming more and more real and more and more evident that we are having a baby in just over 4 months! I have my little bump now, I feel movement, and we are starting to get the house ready for baby! It is getting more exciting everyday, but I'm thankful we have some time, because we have SO much more to do :) And so much more to look forward to! I am determined to not wish my pregnancy away just because of how excited I am to meet our baby! Pregnancy is so fun, and so wonderful, so I am going to slow down, and enjoy it, because it will be over before I know it!

oh baby

Lately I have struggled with some concentration issues at work...I think about the baby in my belly with extreme anticipation, and sometimes I can't think about much else...What will my baby look like? What will its sex be? Will it have mommy's eyes? Daddy's nose? Oh I simply can't wait! 179 days to go! It will fly by, so I'm attemping to slow my life down a little bit so that I can enjoy pregnancy and get everything done in the seemingly short (yet forever long) time we have left! There are so many things to figure out, and think about, and plan for, but it's such an exciting time :) I sometimes still can't believe that God has given us this little miracle, but I sure am thankful for our little peanut! Today is the official 15 week point, which just blows my mind because that is only 5 weeks from putting me at the halfway point! In some ways, I feel like we just found out yesterday even though it has been 2 months. Time really does fly when you're enjoying life! I'm hopefully entering the "feel good" portion of my pregnancy. This is a very welcomed thought! I have definitely had my share of symptoms with this baby, but I am thankful that everything has been tolerable...I never felt like I was on my deathbed, which is a blessing :) And no matter what this pregnancy throws at me, i'm still (God willing) going to have a baby at the end of it :) And that completely outweighs anything that could plague me during this short 9 months! Thank you Lord for this precious precious baby! Grow him or her healthy and strong and prepare Jamaal and I to be the loving, godly parents you desire us to be!

cute cute

We had a fun filled weekend with our nieces :) They are hilarious, and so sweet! Samantha is talking up a storm, using full sentences, and Lizzie is giggling and sitting up on her own. It's amazing how much they change between visits! I wish we could see them so much more often!

We had a wonderful time with Jeremy & Kirsten too, as usual! Unfortunately we didn't have nice weather, so we spent a lot of time inside, but at least it was relaxing! We did end up going to the farmers market despite the rain. We got lots of yummy fruits and veggies, and had fun watching people admire how beautiful the girls are! As usual, the visit went quickly, but it was nice to not have to share our time with them...usually they come over for a few afternoons or evenings, but this time they stayed with us Friday through Monday, which was a really nice change! It's so much fun to have little ones in the house! We are so blessed to have two beautiful, sweet, fun nieces! It will be so much fun to continue watching them grow and blossom into little girls, and then young women! It will happen before we know it, so I do my best to not wish their little lives away! We won't see them again until Christmas, but it will be a very happy reunion! Everyone will be home at Mom & Dad's, and it will be a real treat! :)

random facts about kissing...

Who knows why this is my post for today...I just stumbled across this on the internet and found it interesting...who knew?

Approximately two-thirds of people tip their head to the right when they kiss. Some scholars speculate this preference starts in the womb.

The most important muscle in kissing is the orbicularis oris, also known as the kissing muscle, which allows the lips to “pucker.”

French kissing involves all 34 muscles in the face. A pucker kiss involves only two.

Kissing is good for teeth. The anticipation of a kiss increases the flow of saliva to the mouth, giving the teeth a plaque-dispersing bath.

Kissing at the conclusion of a wedding ceremony can be traced to ancient Roman tradition where a kiss was used to sign contract.

Under the Hays Code (1930-1968), people kissing in American films could no longer be horizontal; at least one had to be sitting or standing, not lying down. In addition, all on-screen married couples slept in twin beds...and if kissing on one of the beds occurred, at least one of the spouses had to have a foot on the floor. (my how things have changed...)

The mouth is full of bacteria. When two people kiss, they exchange between 10 million and 1 billion bacteria. (eek!)

And to end on a happier note...
Passionate kissing burns 6.4 calories a minute. A Hershey’s kiss contains 26 calories, which takes five minutes of walking–or about four minutes of kissing–to burn off.

So go pucker up :)