Our Baby is One Month Old

Joseph is One month old today! It has flown by! It makes me a little sad that he is growing up so quickly...but I am looking forward to sleeping for 8 hour stretches again at night. :)

This past month has been such a blessing to our family. Most of you that read our blog know that it took us almost 2 years to get pregnant with Joseph. About a year into the process, Rodney told me that he had read this verse in Genesis and it was what he was going to start praying and believing for our family too. So, for a year, every month, we held out hope for our Joseph. (we would have been THRILLED to have a girl, but I always felt from the moment the test told us we were pregnant, that this would be our Joseph).

Genesis 30:22-24 "Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” She named him Joseph, and said, “May the LORD add to me another son.”

It still makes me tear up a little when I hear someone talk about our "children" or our "boys" because for so long I thought that might not be a reality for our family. For 2 years we prayed this verse for our family..Psalm 113:9 "He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD." (I was not childless because we already had precious Beau, but we still prayed and belived for more).

Our sweet Joseph is a pretty good eater and sleeper. He loves to be held and does not love to be put down in his bouncer, swing, car seat, or really anything else....yet. Today, he did sit in the bouncer for about 15 minutes while he chewed on a puppy dog stuffed animal that my aunt Betsy gave him....I think he was trying to get some milk out of the dogs ear :) He does sleep great in his crib or pack n play though! Beau loves being Joseph's big brother. He tells everyone the baby's name is Joseph David and wants everyone to call him by both names. Beau loves to help us and the baby. Most of the time, he is a big help! We are trying to enjoy every minute of this stage of life because I know our kids are growing up so fast.

Happy One Month Birthday to our Sweet Answered Prayer...Joseph David King

New Year's Baby

We started 2011 off with a bang! On Saturday, January 1, 2011 we woke up and did our typical Saturday morning routine with Beau.....we all rolled out of bed around 7:30 and went to the couch to watch Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder cartoons. Sometime during Bob the Builder, my water broke. My water broke with Beau and it was hours before my contractions really started (thanks to pitocin at the hospital). I told Rodney that my water broke during the cartoon and got up and got my things ready to go to the hospital. I told Rodney there was no rush because last time things moved so slowly. Well, with Joseph, my contractions started almost immediately after my water broke. I was trying to be chipper while Rodney showered and while we were waiting on my aunt to get to our house to watch Beau. I did not want to upset Beau because he was already a little upset because "the baby broke the water bottle inside mommy's belly"....hilarious! We got to St. Vincent's and checked into labor and delivery. We got a great nurse for the morning shift and she told me that I was progressing so well that I would not need any pitocin. (thank you Lord!....I hated having pitocin with Beau!) The nurses also told us that we were their only hope of having a New Year's Day baby so far. I am a (secretly) competitive person....I love to win games, have the best score or grade, etc. But, you would never really know it because I am horrible at sports and most games :) Anyway, when I heard that there was another couple that checked in to deliver their baby also, I kept asking if they had delivered yet....they did not deliver before us, so we won! We had the first baby on New Year's Day at St. Vincent's....I was a little sad that we did not win free diapers or cash, but that's okay. :)

I was able to get my epidural after a few really strong contractions around 1:00 that afternoon. At 5:31 p.m. on 1/1/11 Joseph David King was born weighing 7 lbs 15 oz, 21 inches long. (This was a pound + some ounces bigger than Beau, so Joseph looked huge to us). He got a 10 on the apgar scale because he came out with such a pretty complexion/color. He has lightish hair (blondish/reddish) with blue eyes and we think he is perfect. :)

Beau loves having an extra person in the house and loves to "help" us with Joseph. He does not love when Joseph cries (Beau covers his ears and tells us Joseph is crying.) Beau does not want to be alone to play or do anything currently...he says he needs us to watch him play because he is a baby. (fun times around here!) Hopefully when the weather warms up and we are not iced in for days, Beau will remember that he is a big boy and can play on his playground outside.

Our New Year's Baby:

Christmas 2010

A few weeks before Christmas, we headed to Calera to ride the "Santa Special" train. Beau loves trains and he was very excited to go, but not really excited about Santa. He kept asking where Mrs. Clause was. He told us that he wanted to ask Santa for 2 blue trains for Christmas and we said that was fine. Santa handed out gifts to the kids on the train. Santa pulled out a frosty the snowman stuffed animal out of his big red bag and Beau took it and said "thank you." After Santa moved down the train, Beau looked and me and said "but I wanted two, blue trains." Hilarious!







We had a very relaxing Christmas this year. I was unable to travel because of high blood pressure at the end of this pregnancy, so we stayed close to the house and enjoyed lots of family time and food. :) We enjoyed going to our church Christmas Service. Beau sat with us this year and he did a great job! He loved the music and the camera that was recording the service. It was attached to a crane and he stared at it for most of the service. He really enjoyed lighting the candles at the end of the service and singing songs.

This was our last Christmas as a family of just 3, so we really enjoyed just being with Beau and watching him open his gifts and enjoy them. He understood this year that Christmas is where we celebrate the birth of Jesus. So, of course, we had Happy Birthday Jesus cupcakes on Christmas morning. We spent all day on Christmas Day in our Pj's until we went to see my family that night, in town, for Christmas dinner. Beau kept asking when his friends were coming over to give him presents for Christmas. We tried to tell him that his friends would come over sometime and play with his presents, but Beau kept insisting that they would bring him presents too. :)

Playing Hungry Hungry Hippos that he got for Christmas
Taking Lamby for a ride on his new motorcycle
Singing Happy Birthday Jesus....this is the same candle that he got at our Church Candlelight Service...he would not turn it back in at the end of the service
Helping Daddy put Joseph's pack n play together...he needed to get tools and his hard hat for the job :)
At the Candelight Service
So Handsome!

At Zoolight Safari on New Year's Eve....we got there in time to play for a little while before it started pouring down rain. We rode the train and joked about how my water could break on the train ride....it did break about 12 hours later on New Year's Day. :)

Fall and Football

We have had a busy fall enjoying Auburn football and playing with friends. We had a block party the night before Halloween and Beau had a blast! He dressed up as Thomas the Train and had a great time riding his bike around the street, eating sweet treats, and jumping in the bouncy house in our neighbor's yard. There were probably 60+ people there and Beau loved playing with all the neighborhood kids!
Thomas the Train!
Riding the bike 3 houses down to the party
The bouncy house...it had seen better days and could only hold 4 or so kids at a time without one side slightly caving in...super safe for a bunch of kiddos!
Eating a sweet treat and catching part of the Auburn game on the big screen outside




The weekend before that we went to Auburn for the Auburn-LSU game. We took Beau tailgating and into the game with us. He was such a trooper (considering it was a 2:30 kick off which is in the middle of nap time for him). He loved watching all the people, seeing the eagle fly, watching for Aubie and the camera man. These guys next to us would stand up on the bleachers and stomp their boots loudly very often, so Beau would get up when they did and stomp too...his new balances didn't have quite the same affect as their boots did. :) He fell asleep on Rodney's shoulder at halftime and slept most of the 3rd quarter. He woke up and was ready to enjoy some skittles....a stadium size box that he ate almost entirely by himself! It was a fun day and a great memory for us to have.
Beau and Papa at the Tiger Walk
Our seats were about 4 rows up from the field...not a great way to watch the game, but Beau had a blast watching everything else...especially this camera man that would swing back and forth across the sideline






Not a great family pic because Beau got cut out of it, but it's the only one we had!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

On Saturday we went to the Old Baker Farm Pumpkin Patch in Harpersville. Beau was most excited about these ride on toy tractors that were everywhere. He would hop on them and drive them around and around. He had been on a red one several times and was waiting to ride a green tractor. He finally got to ride one as we were walking towards the parking lot on our way out. I didn't think he would ever get off of it!

We started off the pumpkin patch with a trip to the petting zoo. We saw goats, bunnies, pigs, horses, cows, and ducks. A lady let Beau pet a duck and he clung on to me and wanted me to pet it with him....one day he will learn I don't love to pet live animals at zoo's and farms very much. Oh well...after that we lathered up with hand sanitizer and kept on the tour of the pumpkin patch. Next, Beau found some hay bails that he could climb on and jump off of...fun for a while! Then, we made our way down to the line to get on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Beau was so excited to see "site builders" (tractors, bulldozers, etc.) on the hay ride to the pumpkins. He ran through the fields to find the perfect pumpkins for our family. He said he was stronger than me so he would carry them for me...this lasted only a minute or so before he handed me 2 pumpkins to carry back to the wagon. They carted our pumpkins to the parking lot for us so we didn't have to tote them around the farm the rest of the morning...very nice! We picked them up on our way out of the parking lot.

He had a great time (despite how HOT it was that day!). This was our last pumpkin patch as a family of 3....we probably should have gotten a family shot, but we are so bad at getting those!


Sitting on a hay bail with Daddy and Papa...they are laughing because Beau kept sliding off the hay bail before we could snap a picture







Playing in the Cotton Bounce....cotton was everywhere!






Pointing at the bunnies....not a fan of touching any of the animals up close


Riding the green tractor that he had been eyeing all morning long!

Beach Time!

We went to the beach two weeks ago for a few days and it was so very nice! The weather was perfect and Beau took great naps every day because he was so tired from swimming! We stayed at a condo that had pools that were mostly in the shade (which worked well for our fair-haired/skinned family). We played on the beach early in the morning before the sun was too bright or too hot. Beau loved the swimming pools and the sand, but did not like the ocean. He would not even put his toe in it. He loved to watch the helicopters fly by and see all the boats in the ocean. He has already asked us when we are going back!


The morning we were leaving for the beach...this is his "new" smile for the camera

His favorite place...in the sand!

Toting all the floats for pool time

Eating a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles from Thomas' donuts....he ate the entire thing and then we had pool time for hours to run off the energy!

Doggy Paddling in the swimming pool


Walking with Daddy to the ocean to get some water for the sand castle


Refusing to actually go in the water...




Mommy and Beau after eating at the Boatyard restaurant...we eat there every year and he loves to look at the boats coming in and out of the dock

Favorite Pool activity of the week....letting Daddy throw him in the air to Papa...over and over and over..