We'll Pretend That I Haven't NOT Blogged For Six Months...

Once again, it's been awhile :) We've had a few things going on in the interim, including:

Finally selling our house in Connecticut the night before I went into labor

Having a baby - Cooper Jackson - born June 24th!

Our last time at Amma's house in Maine

Driving across the country with a three year old and a three week old

Car breaking down 2 hours from final destination on said cross-country drive

Living with Mike's parents while we house-hunted

Mike starting a new and awesome job

Lilly starting preschool

Buying and moving into our new house

Missing our friends in Connecticut, but LOVING being back in Colorado!

Now that we're all caught up... I'm going to try to be a guilt-free, reformed-perfectionist blogger from now on. We'll see what that means!

Waiting...

No updates in a while, life has been crazy!  We put our house on the market the first week in May, preparing for our move back to Colorado.  Within two days we had three interested buyers and two really solid offers.  We negotiated on the first offer following the inspection and couldn't agree on the amount to be credited back at closing, so the buyers walked away.  The second offer was great!  We had the second inspection and the buyers found that our house had old lead paint.  They freaked out.  Mind you, our house is 100 years old and we could have about guaranteed that there would be lead paint.  Most houses in town have some old lead paint on them somewhere.  Ours is under at least two other coats of non-lead paint.  But they rescinded their offer.  So, after a month of negotiations we were back on the market.  Things seem bleak at this point - we are planning to hit the road for Colorado a month from today.  But we are just trying to be patient and faithful and trusting that things will work out the way they need to.  Not necessarily the way we think would have been best, but the way they need to.  There's great beauty in looking back and seeing how our plans usually aren't the best, but God's always are :)

Our hope was that our house would be sold well before our baby got here, but that hasn't proven to be the case.  But, since our baby seems to be taking his sweet time, there's still hope!  My due date was yesterday, the 19th.  So, we're dying with excitement waiting to meet our new baby, and also so desperately hoping to sell our house.

That's it for now.  Hopefully my next post will be with pictures of our sweet little boy!

Catching up (again)...

I've clearly gotten a bit behind on pictures and I will add them eventually, but I thought I'd just jump ahead to the present, in the interest of saving my sanity.  We have just a few things going on right now (more on that later), so rather than waiting forever, here's the latest!

Saturdays.

Our little family of three will soon be a family of four, and I find myself really treasuring these moments before everything changes.  Saturday mornings (when we don't have all kinds of plans) are the best.  This morning was beautiful - warmer, breezy and sunny.  We headed into town for a little breakfast at Starbucks, got some books at the library, then went to Elizabeth Park to just soak up some of the amazingly lush things that suddenly emerge here after a long, cold winter.

Our breakfast at Starbucks.

Miss Lilly trying to get every last crumb of her blueberry muffin.

My favorites.

Scattering seeds at the Park, an acceptable activity somewhere other than our yard :)

Though I look like I'm due any day now, we've got five-ish weeks to go!  Can't wait to meet this little guy!

Me and Mikey.

Mike found a really cool old door.  I think Lilly was contemplating munching on some lead paint.

Our little entertainer.

My little buddy.

The top of a beautiful gazebo.

A view of the rose gardens.

There was a wedding going on and I was trying to explain who everyone was to Lilly.  She told me she didn't want to be a groom someday and I said good.  How about you be the bride? :)

Circus

We found a great deal on some last-minute tickets to the Ringling Brothers circus and decided Lilly might like it.  So, after she didn't sleep at all during her nap (a very rare occurrence), we headed off to the XL Center.  

I've never encountered a sweet-tooth like Lilly's.  We rarely indulge it, but we thought it might be fun for her to finally try some cotton candy.  We quickly discovered that the cotton candy cost $12 a bag.  Instead we settled for some ice cream.  They suck you in with the cheap tickets, then try to rob you blind with the cotton candy :)

Before the show, checking out the tigers with Dad.

Not exactly a fan of the "animal" smell.

Watching the elephant paint a picture.

I think she's got a future.

Due to the aforementioned lack of sleep, Lilly wasn't exactly a happy camper at the circus.  We left at intermission, meaning that I missed my favorite - the elephants.  We did at least get to check one out up-close!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lilly!

We had a great day today, celebrating all that is Lilly :)  We have tons of pictures and some video and I'll try to get them posted soon.

I can't believe that we've had three years together - what a gift, what a challenge.  We've loved every minute of life with our little fireball.

Happy Birthday Lil!

So Proud.

After all the turmoil of the last few years (job changes, moves, questions, cancelled moves) Mike has finally landed in the place he is supposed to be - in full-time ministry.  We thought it was going to happen last year.  We thought we were going to be heading down to Austin.  We had our house in CT on the market and were getting all geared up to become Texans.  And then things started to unravel.  And at the same time things opened up at our church here.

And now, finally, after six long years of trying to figure it all out, Mike gets to be in full-time ministry.  On January 25th our pastor announced that Mike would be joining the staff at Calvary Fellowship.  I was so overwhelmed and happy that I cried while Mike was up on stage.  Only he and I (and God) know what it has taken to get to this point.  And we are so grateful for it.  So I cried tears of joy and gratitude.

The announcement itself wasn't that big a deal, but it meant so much to us.  Of course, Lilly threw up right before church that morning, but we wouldn't be swayed.  She and I hung out in the back of the church so we could be there to celebrate that moment as a family.  The two pictures I took are both fuzzy but I knew that Mike would die of embarrassment if he saw me taking pictures, so I had to be quick and stealth :)

So, Mike left his amazing job at Travelers and headed into the great unknown.  And I have never seen him so happy and so perfectly suited for something.  And I am so thrilled that God loves us so much.

Boy or Girl?

At the doctor's office, waiting to go back for our ultrasound to see our baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl!  We didn't find out with Lilly, so this was a whole new thing for us.

After Lilly wriggled all around the room and spilled her whole bag of Goldfish on the floor, we found out that our baby is a boy!  Mike and Lilly checking out his pictures!

Our celebratory dinner at Ichiro afterwards

Then on to Babies R Us to check out some boy things.  Lilly and I decided to test the gliders.  Heavenly!

Discussing the various chair features. We finally agreed we liked the one Lilly was in the best :)

Swimming Lessons

We enrolled Lilly in swim lessons on Saturday mornings for eight weeks.  I can't say that she quite aced the butterfly, but she did at least consent to enter the pool - progress, progress.  We got her to go underwater a few times but she really isn't a fan of water in her eyes or face.  She was the only girl in the class and seemed sort of horrified that the boys would just jump in and go under.  I think she really needs a brother :)

Trying to convince her to go underwater

Posing for Dad

Lilly goes to the Dentist

Lilly had her first trip to the dentist, which went quite well!  I wasn't sure how she'd do, but she was a champ.  Teeth looked good and we don't have to start flossing yet due to the spacing of her teeth.  Thank goodness, I'm just not sure that flossing and a two year old would have been a winning combination!

She practiced her brushing on the dinosaur and collected several stickers upon departure, which made it all worth it! 

Trip to the NYC

After Christmas we all headed down to New York for the day.

The huge tree at Rockefeller Plaza

Something about the city and missing her nap just wipe Lilly out :)

We went to Brooklyn for some amazing pizza at Grimaldi's.  Yummmmmm.

And then we walked back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was a really misty night and a beautiful walk.

Bellies full of pizza!

A bit behind

These are out of order (why am I so picture-posting challenged?) but they're also three months late, so I guess better than not here at all :)

A Christmas family picture

We're starting a family band (on the Wii)!

The lovely ladies (me, Lilly, Tory, Kammy - Uncle Bill's girlfriend, we love her!, my mom)

Here's what I think of my dad's bizarre desire to have everyone dress in the some color and take close-ups

And here's what Tory thinks

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

I love Christmas Eve!

Lilly checking out her new Rose Petal Cottage

Honestly, how many presents does one two year old need?

Breakfast by the fire

Baby Boy Pictures

At long last, pictures from our ultrasound!  Our scanner isn't working for some reason, so I had to take pictures of the pictures, so they're not very clear, but hopefully you can see a little bit of him!

This is a 3D (4D?) picture with a pretty clear shot of his face!  The thing on the right side is the placenta (he was using it like a pillow, so we couldn't see his whole face) and on the left is his arm.  His eyes are closed and his mouth is open.  I think he's a good sleeper like his sister :)

This is a more standard ultrasound picture, but really hard to see.  It's a profile of his face.  You can see his nose and mouth sticking up at the top and the umbilical cord in the background (it kind of looks like it's coming out of his mouth).

We were the last appointment on a Friday, so she was sort of rushing and we didn't get the most clear pictures we've ever seen, but I thought I'd post a couple.  We also have a VERY clear shot of some boy bits, but I didn't think my son would want that aired, so just trust us, it's definitely a boy :)

This is a test, this is only a test.

I have more blogging to get caught up on, but just thought I'd see if I could finally post some video.  We'll see if this works.  The following is just a random video of Lilly at the beach last June.  It's not the most exciting footage you've ever seen, but if I can get this to work we'll move on to something a little more interesting for next time!

The time has come

I'm finally (starting) to get caught up on blogging today.  I'll back-date some entries (cheater!).  The earliest one should be Mike's birthday - November 17th.  I guess it's kind of been a while since I posted pictures!

It's a...

BOY!!!

We honestly would have been thrilled either way - it would have been nice for Lilly to have a sister close in age and we've so loved having a girl - but it's really exciting that we'll get to experience at least one of each!  And he looked great and healthy and weighs about 11 ounces.

The more Mike thinks about it, the more and more excited he gets.  And he'll finally have someone to pass all those baseball cards on to :)

We brought Lilly with us, thinking that she might like to be there and see the ultrasound.  But she hadn't slept during nap time and she really couldn't have been less interested.  All she wanted to do was ask questions about random things in a really loud voice and spill her bag of Goldfish all over the floor of the ultrasound room.  And she doesn't quite seem to get that we now know that it's a boy.  She keeps telling people that she's having a baby sister OR brother.

We didn't find out what Lilly was and I think that I will miss that element of surprise.  But it's really fun to start thinking more specifically about life with our baby boy.  And to think about decorating the room!  I have (unfortunately) formed quite an obsession with Restoration Hardware's baby decor.  Uh oh.

P.S.  My mom seems to have located my camera cord - we think Lilly might have "helped" my mom pack after Christmas.  I'll try to scan some baby pictures later today, but if I can't they'll be posted as soon as the cord gets here (hopefully Monday)!

Where are you?

I know it's been FOREVER since I blogged, but life has been like that lately.  I finally tried to get caught up the other day, only to discover that I can't find the (very unique) cord I need to upload pictures from our camera to the computer.  I have searched high and low and can't find it anywhere.  I hate losing things!  I looked for a replacement for it at a couple of stores and it's not there either.  It's backordered on the Sony website until March 8th.  I'm really hoping it will turn up soon.

So I promise to get caught up on everything soon.  Lots of good things, lots of sad things - life.  The great news is that tomorrow at 4 pm we go to the doctor to find out the gender of this new little Tolerico and we can't wait!  It's a high point among some lows.  Will post an update then.

Lots of love to you.

Amma

I have a lot of blogging to get caught up on, and I will, but if you're reading this it would mean so much to me if you could say a prayer for Amma, my grandmother.  Mike and Lilly and I had a great visit with her less than a month ago, but she's really not doing well now.  She has congestive heart failure and is in hospice with probably only a few days left.  She has been the center of my mom's family for so long, the real heart and soul of the big, crazy bunch of us.  She is so loved.

I've been having a hard time with this.  She and I have always been so close.  I got to spend six summers with her in Maine in high school and college.  The summer before my junior year in college was the best.  I was going to spend a semester in London, but didn't leave until the middle of September, so it was just she and I, enjoying summer turning to fall.  Every night she would watch Larry King Live and I would read and we would chat about people, our favorite topic.  We also ate a lot of "toasted cheese" sandwiches.

She has been such a constant in my life.  She calls me her clone.  Her love has meant so much to me.  But I know that I will see her again and there is so much peace for me in that.  I am sad.  Very, very sad.  But I am so grateful for her love and that I have gotten to love her.  I pray for peace and joy and love for Amma.  May she feel the love of her family and her God forever.