Third boy-child...what are we going to do???

So we had our ultrasound this morning. Could not believe when we saw "boy parts" on the monitor, but there he was. Our Tiger is a boy! I'm still coming to terms with the no new baby stuff and no girly, ruffly, pink clothes again, but I know I'll be excited, and not just resigned at some point. I'm excited to meet him, just not looking forward to the next few months with nothing to prepare. I was really hoping to be able to re-do the nursery and get new clothes organized in the dresser and all that. It's ok, though, we love our Tiger!

We still don't have a name for him, though. We haven't been able to agree on a name yet, and I've run out of boy names that I'm just really excited about. So, please, if you have a name you'd like to suggest, we're open!! We'd love to hear what you think! We don't want to repeat letters though, so no "S" or "J" names...and not really wanting to use an "L" name, either. Also, Daniel, Max, Mark, Paul, and a few others are definitely out. They've already been suggested, and turned down...I actually love Daniel and Max, but there are some very cute doggies who already have those names, and we can't use them. My current short list includes Zachariah, but AJ doesn't like it. He does like Zachary, which I'm not a huge fan of...go figure! But neither really sounds like "our" kiddo.

Anyway, here are some pix from the appt. He's perfectly healthy, normal size for his due date, and his heart looks great. He's about 12 oz, and his heart rate was 145 beats per min.

Heart rate
Profile w/ either an arm or leg up there
Same thing
His cute little feet!
nose and mouth to check for cleft palette.
Yay for 4D ultrasounds! He looks like the other two...
He had both feet up by/over his head pretty much the whole appt.
Very flexible little one! Maybe he will be a gymnast or a dancer!
More profile
The first boy pic...I started thinking maybe she saw something else, but if you look at the next pic, you'll be able to tell that there was no way anyone could mistake him for anything but a boy!
Poor Tiger, having his private areas on display! But now we all know for sure!

Kids' names

OK, this is for Jessica...you want to know about my kids and how they got their names, and I think that's a pretty cool idea, so I'm gonna do it, too.

Joshua William:

Well, I've always loved the name Joshua, despite its popularity. I love the Biblical stories about Joshua, and how strong he is as a leader of God's people, and I pray that same spirit will be evident in our Joshua. It's also AJ's middle name, so that was nice, too...not a huge fan of "juniors", but this was kinda the same concept w/o being that.

William was AJ's choice. It's a family name, both on his mom and dad's side. On his mom's side is apparently William Barret Travis, and his Grandpa on his Dad's side can trace their family back to Kaiser Wilhelm I...I believe his sister's branch (the kaiser's).

So anyway, we had Joshua William, which is a classic sounding name, and very "male". I'm like Jessica, I'm a fan of definite gender names.

Samuel Henry:

We didn't have a new "boy" name picked originally...took some brainstorming on our part. We came up with Henry pretty quickly, actually AJ did, but I liked it right away, partly because it's my Grandaddy's name, but I also just like old fashioned type names. Samuel took us awhile longer...but one night I was lying there thinking about things, and it popped in my head, and I decided I loved it! We had been studying Samuel in our Bible study class, and that's probably why it popped in my head, but I loved having another strong Bible name for our son, and it sounded really cute with Henry. Come to find out, apparently my great grandfather (my Papaw's father) was named Samuel, too, so it's also a family name. Plus I think Sam is just about the cutest boy name ever! I love it! Which is good, huh? Since my kid's named that...

Tiger:

Well...we don't have any for sure yet, we're waiting to see what gender the ultrasound tech happens to see in a couple weeks, but we do have some contenders. I'll share them, since we're not secretive about names, like SOME people I know (Jessica!! lol, just kidding).

For a boy we've discussed Thomas as the first name, with James or Eugene as middle names...Thomas for my Papaw (Tommie) and James is AJ's dad and Eugene is his middle name, named for his Dad, Gene. We've tossed around others, but that's the strongest candidate for now. We haven't been doing a lot of brain storming lately, since we're so close to finding out what Tiger is. Plus we've been busy, and AJ's gone currently.

For a girl, we've thought about several...many more options for that gender, as we don't have any yet! Gwendolynn is the top of my list currently, but switches places regularly with Margaret and Kaelynn, with Ruth and Aisling as middle names. I'm trying so hard not to get my hopes up for a girl that I've been trying not to dwell on it too much either way. With both the boys I knew they were boys...with Sam I even had a dream about him, that he had brown hair and everything! Kinda weird, but w/ Tiger, I've felt that it's a girl some, and then immediately doubt everything, and back peddle so as not to get my hopes up. We'll welcome and be excited by either boy or girl, but let's face it, we're both hoping for a girl...and so is Josh, he really wants a sister! We'll see (hopefully, if Tiger cooperates) on May 28th, and we'll figure out a name from there. Only bad thing about if it's a girl: What will we name her? I've got about 18 names that I love, and there's only one child in here!! LOL! We'll figure it out!

Anyway, that's the story of our kids' names.

The Census

So when we filled out the census awhile back, Josh was curious...so we decided to see what his answers to the questions would be. I wrote them down so I could share them!

Age: Josh "I not know....umm...free."

Are you Hispanic: Josh "No. Mommy's."

Are you white: Josh "Well...I have whipe on my pants..."

What race are you: Josh "What's a race?"

Daddy "Who your ancestors are."

Josh "Am I ancestor? I wanna be a car race!"

Do you sometimes live somewhere else: Josh "Ummmm...yeah! At Grandmom and Grandad's house!"

It was hilarious! Though tempted, we did not put his answers on the form.

Birthday Donut Tradition continues...

OK, once again, backwards order. Sorry. But personally, I'm just thrilled I can finally upload pix again!!

OK, so we had a tradition in my family growing up: on your birthday, you get a chocolate donut w/ sprinkles, and a candle in it for breakfast. (As we got older, we sometimes switched to the slightly more healthy birthday bagel!) I LOVE donuts so I wanted to continue this tradition with my own family. So here's Sam's first birthday donut. Scroll down, it's on there, I promise!!

After breakfast, (AJ was already at work), my Dad took the panel off the dishwasher to inspect the leaking part. He fiddled with it, and discovered the probable fix, but we have yet to order the new part and try it out to see if that's actually what's wrong. Anyhoo, I got a few cute pix of the boys "helping" Grandad with the dishwasher.

Birthday donut at last! Fully committed to eating the whole donut and getting as much chocolate frosting on his face as possible for maximum picture cuteness!
Before he committed...
Seriously, Mom?? Can I eat yet??
Grandad holding Sam's hands so he didn't grab the candle flame...he really wanted to. And Big Brother Josh singing Happy Birthday to Sam!
Everyone eagerly watching the candle lighting...even Gus
It looked a little girly b/c they used Easter colored sprinkles.
The fun headband/hat didn't last too long!
More to come...don't want to overwhelm Blogspot when it's actually cooperating!

12 week photo

Easter Sunday...I'll try to take another one soon. Not much bump going on here in this pic.

I did start feeling Tiger moving around some about a week later (13 wks). Not all the time, but when I eat something cold or sugary, or am sitting really still. Can't wait to find out if it's a Tiger or a Tiger Lilly!!

Time

Check out the tickers on here!!

Less than 200 days till Tiger's due!

TOMORROW my little Sam will be ONE!!! Can't believe it...!!

Catching up: Playing at Foster's playground

So Josh and I went one afternoon to my old elementary school to play on their playground. There are a few things left from when I went there...but not many! And even the "new" stuff is starting to get so old that it's falling apart. Well, some of it. Josh had a ball!

Excavating...these were still a little large for Josh
But he loved playing and trying to dig up the dirt anyway!
Sliding down the BIG slide
This is something they put in either right as we got there, or the next year, I can't remember...so about 20-21 years ago!! (Wow, I'm old...)
Hey, Mom, I'm posing for you!
He loved swinging from this little bar at the top of the slide!
Climbing up
Firetruck...new...Josh posed for me...isn't he sweet?? What a good fireman!