My favorite companion

Jay has been my little buddy while Mike has been gone. He's so sweet. I'm so lucky to have him! He brings such joy to life. Lately he has launched into a serious "why?" phase. Reading books, watching movies, playing games... he always wants to know why, why why! One of my favorite questions recently was, "Mommy, why do you have hair in your nose?" Maybe I need to trim? :)

Yesterday we were riding in the car and I asked him, "Jay, do you miss daddy?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "That daddy is pretty nice. And he's kinda silly."

Jay can't wait for daddy to come home to play with him on the tramp, throw balls and wrestle. His pregnant mommy just isn't as good at those things. I know his daddy misses him so much too! Only a few weeks left. We can do it.

Here are some recent pictures from an outing at the park.

Baby Shower

(We are tickled pink and happy to say a darling baby girl is on the way! Anna's all set, except for one thing, All her baby clothes are blue and green! That just won't do, don't you think? Come join a shower of purple and pink!)

The women in our new ward are awesome. They have made me feel so welcome and really included me in their lives. I feel like I have already made some lifelong friends. Over the weekend a fewof them threw me a baby shower. I was so touched because this isn't my first baby, I'm new here and I don't have any family around so I figured I wouldn't have one this time around. But these great ladies decided I needed one, so Saturday was the day. It was so much fun! We didn't have too many people, but it was just perfect. The ladies that came were Colette Campbell, Janeen Caffrey, Melissa Amos, Caroline Judd and Karolee Alan. Collette made the adorable invitations and the poem included inside.

 (Caroline, Colette, Janeen, Melissa - Karolee had already left when we took this)

A few people brought by gifts but couldn't stay including Jill Reimann and Ana Brown. I think everyone brought food, so we had plenty of yummy things to eat.

We sat around talking babies and then we played a few games. In the first one we had to guess what was in 10 different unmarked jars of baby food. We couldn't open them, so we could only rely on our sight. I did terrible! I think I only got 2 right. It was fun though :) And now I have 10 jars of baby food waiting for my growing little girl. The second game was a game of Scattergories. We played 4 different times, each time using one of my initials as the letter to build the game off of. I did really well in this one. I guess it's due to all the practice I had playing growing up. After playing games we opened presents.

Jay especially had fun helping me open presents. Collete was so sweet. She brought him a little present too because she didn't want him to feel left out. Jay had a blast the whole time though. Karolee and Melissa brought their kids with them so he had some friends to play with.  I received so many cute dresses and girl outfits! It was perfect, just what I was hoping for. Here are pictures of what I was given.

Besides organizing most of the shower Colette gave me these pretty pajamas as well as the onsies turned into a laundry line decoration and socks she turned into flowers. So cute!

Caroline got me this cute jean jumper. She also included the duckie for something pink!

Melissa generously gave me all these cute clothes from Children's place. I love the skirt/sweater combo.

Janeen gave me this beautiful little blue dress. It has the sweetest story behind it too. She usually doesn't find out the gender of her babies in advance and when she was pregnant with her fourth she was totally convinced she was having a girl. She fell in love with this dress and had to buy it for her future daughter. Well, when little Wayne came along, all boy, she decided she would hold on to the dress in case she had another and it was a girl. Well, she's pregnant again right now (due in May) and "accidentally" saw during an ultra sound that she's having another boy, so she decided it was time to give up her favorite dress to me. How kind is that? She is awesome. I feel like Janeen and I have known each other for years. We have so much in common and always have a blast together. Our husband's get along great too - he and Mike are 2 of the only guys in the ward who aren't engineers. Not that there's anything wrong with Engineers, but it's kinda funny how many there are in our ward!

Jill Reimann gave me this beautiful little striped dress with the matching sweater.

Ana Brown gave me this sweet little shirt and leggings combo.

Karolee gave me these cute onsies as well as the blanket all the clothes are laid out on. She and Janeen also organized all the food for the shower.

I also have a few pictures I wanted to include of clothes a few others have given me. They are just too cute not to showcase!

Maria sent me this beautiful dress from Spain. I love it! It is so Spanish. The babies in Spain wear these types of dresses every day.

My parents sent baby these outfits from Hawaii.

Another beautiful dress my mom bought baby.

 A drawer full of cute things from my mom.

Grandma Erickson bought baby girl (she calls her Baby Annie) this adorable white polka dot dress. It looks so old fashioned to me (in a very good way). I think it's adorable!

 My good friend Mikaela made me these adorable infant booties. She hand knitted them in about an hour. She's amazing!

Can I just say, I love girl clothes? Thanks everyone for helping us get started in outfitting our little girl!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

 Having Mike gone for Valentines Day actually hasn't been too bad - well, not any worse than having him gone any other day. If I had my choice he wouldn't be gone at all, but we're making due. Jay and I had a fun Valentines Day here. Growing up, my parents always got my brother and I some candy and a little present for Valentines and I used to love it. Although it may seem like spoiling, I couldn't resist doing the same for Jay. So the night before I decorated and put out his Valentines gifts. It helped that Nona and Papa actually sent him a few gifts and some candy, so I didn't really have to do much at all! Although I did find him a Thomas the Train movie at Target for $5.

 Jay was pretty excited this morning when he woke up to hearts, candy and presents. He was quick to learn that "Happy Valentines Day" is a very good day. All day he was so sweet to me, wishing me Happy Valentines Day and giving me lots of hugs and kisses. As Jay opened his Valentines Day present I read him his Valentines Day card from Nona and Papa. They're in Hawaii right now and Nona had written to Jay, "I'm throwing lots of rocks into the ocean for you!" Jay knew that some of his presents had come from Nona and Papa and his little mind quickly made a connection. He came up with the idea that when Nona threw rocks into the ocean they magically grew into candy and presents and came to our house. All day he's been telling me, "And then Nona threw those rocks in the water and they grew and they grew and they grew and then they came here and then I had to eat the candy!" Well Nona, I guess your grandson really believes you can do anything! So funny.

We talked to Mike on the phone today too, which was wonderful. He's so good to call every day, even if he's super busy - which he is right now. The good thing is he's getting time and a half for having to work President's Day weekend, so I figure we can do something fun when he gets back with the extra mula. He was so wonderful though to send me a beautiful bouquet of roses for Valentines Day. They arrived on Friday and I have loved having them around to remind me of his love. I guess he figured he had to make up in part for being gone for Valentines Day! And for documentation sake, the above picture was taken today - I'm officially 34 weeks prego! Don't feel too sorry for me on Valentines Day though. Jay and I were invited over to our good friends, the Caffreys, house for dinner and they made us steak, twice baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, chocolate cake and homemade ice cream! It was so much fun. Jay had a blast playing with their kids too.

I also have to mention another adorable gift Jay received a few days ago from Grandma. When she came to visit she saw first hand the attachment he has to his little dog Lucky. Jay treats him like he's his little baby. Lucky plays with Jay all day, often comes with us when we leave the house, and of course sleeps next to Jay during naps and night time. Jay has a kitty he likes to carry around sometimes too, but Lucky is his favorite. Often Jay makes Lucky take naps, which of course Lucky needs a blanket for. The first time he got the idea to give Lucky a blanket for his nap Jay tried to drag his heavy twin size Spider Man blanket from upstairs for Lucky to use. When it took him forever just to drag it to the stairs and then it got caught around the railing he figured he better find a smaller blanket. So what did he decide to use? A little blue hand towel from the bathroom. This towel has been Lucky's blanket for the past two weeks and of course it has to come with us wherever Lucky goes. I have often been seen carting it around the grocery store and other public places. When Grandma came to town she decided it was about time we changed that (thank you!). Jay picked out some adorable fabric and grandma took it home, made him a hand towel sized blanket (she even measured it against a real hand towel) and sent it off to Jay. Jay and Lucky have both been very excited about Lucky's new blanket and happily it has replaced my old blue hand towel from the bathroom.

 Puppy Love

He is such a cutie! Oh, and you may notice that Jay's hair looks a little different. Well, I attempted to cut it and it turned out okay. Just don't look too close :) Happy Valentines Day!

Making Cookies

In our new ward I've met some wonderful ladies and we often get together for play groups. Today we met at my house to make some Valentine's day cookies with the kids. It was so fun! Jay had a blast. Here he is with his friends: Rachel, Mary Ann, Evelyn, Lydia, Grace and Sadie (yes, he's usually the only boy). It's so nice to have something for Jay to do during the day and grown-ups for me to talk to. I especially look forward to these play groups when Mike is gone for 5 weeks, like he is now. I'm trying my best to stay busy and keep my mind from not counting how many days left until he gets home and these play dates help. It's not easy for me to be home alone without him, but I'm learning from my experiences and relying on the Lord for strength. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful little boy like Jay to hang out with. He makes things much easier on me. He's my little pal and I love being with him! He sure knows how to have fun with his friends.

Laura!

A few weeks ago our good friend Laura "the $ bags" Barrett came to Phoenix to visit her friend Krista. Mike met Laura in high school and they've been friends ever since. We happened to be up in Phoenix the day she arrived so we were able to meet her at Chucke E Cheese and have a blast! Here we are playing.

It was so fun seeing Laura and we're so glad we could meet her for a few hours. We can't wait to see her again! Love you Laura :)