I have been very blessed, like I said before with so many people who've offered their services once Colbie arrives and I can't thank God enough for putting these great people in my life.

Recently one of my best friends Noele, who is also expecting her second child this spring threw me a very cute Baby Sprinkle. In case you don't know a Sprinkle is basically a Shower for a subsequent child. I was very blessed with the number of awesome girl friends I have that were able to show up and have fun and celebrate little Colbie.

We played some fun games, one of which was measuring my belly with string, and I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing that almost everyone's strings were absolutely huge on me. Noele had some great decorations and put up some cute baby clothes on a clothes line that I got to take home with me! I just love girls clothes.

There was some great food, but most of all this amazing Chocolate truffle cake ever, and it had Colbie's initials on it too. WAY cute!! My favorite part of the shower though was enjoying chatting and laughing with all of my friends. You don't realize what you have sometimes when it's right in front of you. Anyway here are a few pictures of me opening presents and enjoying time with my guests. Hope you enjoy!!!

Being pregnant is not an easy task, being pregnant while chasing after, loving on, and entertaining another child is even harder, but I think for me one of the hardest things about being pregnant is being short.

Pregnancy takes a big toll on my petite body, especially my back and hips, and I think that is why God would never bless me with multiple babies at the same time. Luckily, Avery was pretty average at 7lbs 3ounces and I'm guessing Miss Colbie may be around 7lbs 9ounces or so.

But even with the difficulty sleeping, eating, bending, heartburn, entire body aching I'm trying to enjoy this pregnancy because it will be our last pregnancy. My favorite part though *enter sarcasm* are the lovely people, even other moms who just don't understand the old saying, "If you don't have something nice to say....don't say it at all."

Yes I know I'm short, yes I know I'm pregnant, no I'm not having twins, triplets.

After leaving a restaurant with Avery the other day an older woman said to me, "I hope you're close to home!" I didn't really get what she meant but assumed she meant close to the end of my pregnancy (and now realize she meant in case I deliver.) But anyway I continued to say nope, 4 more weeks for me. She said, "Wow!" and I said, "That's how I feel!"

Even when I was pregnant with Avery I got the, "Are you due yet's." You would think that moms would know better but even some of them make their remarks. Surprisingly, I only gain about 30-35lbs with my pregnancies, but being only 4' 10" really every ounce makes you look humongo! So I just deal and turn the other cheek and hopefully when Colbie is born people will start saying, "Wow you look good," and "did you just have a baby???," even if they don't really mean it. :)

Because Avery was delivered through an "emergency" c-section I wanted to discuss birthing options with my doctor to see what the choices were. After talking through the reasons behind the initial c-section and planning for family and friends to be available to watch Avery and help with recovery Joel and I decided, along with our Obstetrician, that a scheduled c-section this time around would be best for our family.

Luckily the ban that the hospital had on child visitors has been lifted. I was very nervous and upset that there may have been the chance that I would not have been able to see Avery during the time that I was recovering from the c-section. I have not been without her for 24 hours ever and most of the time she is sleeping or with Joel. But again praise the Lord that Avery will get to come to the hospital and meet her little sister and see mommy.

We actually scheduled a sibling maternity tour for Avery which is a class that teaches siblings how to hold the baby, diapering, and shows them around the hospital as well. We're very excited to attend that class this week and are so blessed that the hospital that we are delivering at offers the class at no extra cost.

Back to the c-section part of the post :) Can't blame a pregnant lady for being scatter brained right?!?! Luckily we were able to discuss/find out the c-section date via the Ob office, (awesome office) well ahead of time in order to start making plans for family and friends to come help us with meals, taking care of Avery, and me recovering. Joel only has a couple of paid maternity days and thankfully is able to use some sick time to take care of us, but with my surgery I'll need extra help and have been so blessed with my mom and sister and friends offering to help out, it's definitely taken a huge burden off my chest.

Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for, and some of you already know through my emails or facebook posts but our scheduled c-section date is March 26th. So this will be Colbie's birth date, unless she decides to come early. Although I'm done being pregnant at this point in time I'm hoping she waits because everything is so planned and I'm totally a planned person (when I can be.)



On a side note, I won a wonderful giveaway for a service from Baby's First Phone Call. Basically Joel and I  enter phone numbers of those who want to be contacted when Colbie arrives and then once she's here we record one message that goes out to all of our friends and family who've been put on the list. It even allows us to select certain times not to call someone in case it's very early in the morning, and will leave a message if the phone is not answered. Pretty cool if you ask me. If you haven't already given us your number and name please do so quickly in case she decides to come early.

I know every parent thinks their child is the smartest kid on the block. Well, Joel and I are no exception. Since the moment our little Avery was born we noticed how observant she was for a newborn. She'd check everyone out in the hospital, looking around, seemingly studying their every word and movement.

Since her arrival we've noticed she has an extremely good memory and picks up on things, colors, letters, whatever we teach her relatively fast. She walked at 10 months, which is not extremely early but in the earlier than the average child, started talking a bunch around 15 months, not like one of the "Your Baby Can Read" kids but to us she's pretty smart.

Here are some signs of giftedness:

Birth – 2 years

Early expressions (e.g. smiling)
Unusual alertness
Interest in books (turning pages of books before 1 year of age and paying attention when read to within 6 months)
Interest in computers
Unusually active and high levels of energy (but not hyperactive)
Playing with shape sorters by about 11 months.
Ability to form two word phrases by 14 months
Ability to understand instructions by 18 months
Ability to say and understand many words before 18 months
Could stay still and enjoy a TV programs (e.g., Sesame Street) by the age of 1
Has favorite TV shows/VCD/DVDs by age 1
Appears to require less sleep (yet not sleepy or irritable due to lack of sleep)
Recognition of letters/alphabets by age 2
Recognition and rote counting of numbers 1 – 10 or higher by age 2
Recognition of colors by age 2
Recognition of first word by age 2
Interest in puzzles by age 2
Has long attention span in interest areas by age 2
Ability to form at least 3 word sentence by age 2
Interest in time by age 2
2 – 4 years

The following includes all/most skills in the checklist above.
Early and extensive language development and vocabulary, forms grammatically correct sentences as compared to peers
Interest in computers (not video games)
Ability to solve a 20-piece puzzle by age 3
Has a vivid imagination (includes having imaginary friends)
Extraordinary feats of memory
Extreme curiosity and asks many questions
Specific talent (if any), such as artistic ability or an unusual facility for numbers - becomes more apparent by age 4
Ability to memorize and recall facts easily
Early development of a sense of humor
Ability to do one-to-one counting for small quantities by age 3
Recognition of simple signs and own written name by age 3
Ability to write letters, numbers, words, and their names between 3 and 4 years
Ability to read easy readers by age 4
Rather independent on the computer by age 4
Demonstration of musical aptitude just after 2
Ability to do simple addition and subtraction by age 4
High degrees of mathematical understanding by age 4
The above checklist is at best regarded as a rough guide and bear in mind that not all of the skills and age guide mentioned is absolute. Some children may demonstrate these abilities at a younger age and some may be older and yet classified as advanced learners. However, this can be a good guide to look out for signs of early advanced development in children and provide the necessary platform for them to flourish.

As for Avery, she's certainly an active kid, but can focus and concentrate on certain things. She loves art and draws faces, with eyes, ears, cheeks, hair and the rest all the time. She has always loved books and pretends to read them to us sometimes. She has been a pretty chatty baby, toddler and now preschooler and even amazed our Pediatrician with her vocabulary, which to me, says a lot.

The doctor also called her percotious, which I thought was mischevious, but it actually means being exceptionally early in development or occurrence or exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age. We found that although difficult for us to deal with, Avery would always say words to ask questions and if we did not answer them she would persist and need that affirmation before she talked about anything else.



She's a very very inquisitive girl, asking what people's names are that she sees in the stores, asking why certain things are the way they are, or what small things are.

Avery loves watching television and I don't think it's because she's a couch potato, I really believe she understands what is happening in the shows, and even at an early age would discuss the show with me.

She definitely has never been a sleeper, and that is a listed in the signs of early giftedness. I'm assuming because they want to be up learning/playing. I guess I should be happy for my lack of sleep because of this.

We were amazed that Avery knew all of her colors, some shapes, and how to sing her ABCs before age 2.

A few strange things that put us in awe of Avery is that even before she was 2 she knew the difference between boys and girls and would tell us that Mickey was a boy and Strawberry Shortcake were girls and even label strangers on the street and be correct all the time. Avery also remembers things from when she was 1 that I would have a hard time remembering.  She even noticed as we were in line picking up our Santa photo that the Santa on the products was not the Santa we'd seen. (I think we may be in trouble)

Avery is such a ham and always loves to trick us, steal our seats, she loves being silly so definitely has a sense of humor.

Avery knows all of her letters (occasionally forgetting a G or a K here and there) she also likes to write O's, T's, H's and X's. Loves drawing smiley faces with hair, cheeks, ears, eyes, nose, smile, sometimes a beard. Her favorite thing is to make up characters on the computer (paint.net) with daddy. We play with the library computers too and they're a lot of fun. Avery has started to become very good with the mouse these days.

Avery has memorized her age, what state she lives in, what state her grandparents live in, both of our names, how to spell her name, what my, Joel's and her birthdays are, (Month and Date), her numbers through 14.

Knows her numbers on her hand, and also will add her fingers (ie 1 and 1 = 2)

Avery loves music, any instrument, she's drawn to piano, played the harmonica and was VERY into it. Will chew, hum, clap to the beat of a song. Anything for a little rhythm with this girlie!

She's a little bit of a perfectionist, lining her shoes up, having certain things in certain spots, getting upset if something is not done in her order. Maybe I would say she's particular instead. :) That's okay mommy has a little bit of that in her too :)

I was a gifted child and in the gifted program at school starting at grade 3 and hubby was smart, after all he married me.

So what will we do with this talent? Well, we'll nurture it and help her grow as much as we can. At this time we don't have the money for pre-school but at the same time I feel right now I'm giving her everything and more than what she would/could be learning plus more hands on time. She's getting the socialization from our friends and many play dates so I'm not worried about that either.

We're surrounded by some very smart kids and awesome parents too so that's a blessing for us. We're so glad that God has put this beautiful, bright little girl into our lives and made us her parents.

So it's been a while since we've had a family update post, I figured it'd be nice since there are a lot of great things going on in our lives.

Joel has been working on his blog doing a bunch of different things including attending to his new blog Theme Park Syndicate (in case you haven't already checked it out.)

Jenn is getting ready for Colbie to arrive, getting all of Avery's baby clothes washed and folded to go into the nursery. Colbie is doing great, at our appointment on February 4th her heart rate was 151 and the doctors said she's doing great. They even told us we'll be able to pick a date for our scheduled c-section. How exciting and weird.

Avery has been doing an amazing job, learning how to spell her name, and doing great with knowing her letters through Hooked on Phonics. She's a letter crazy lady now!

We've had a little bit of snow here and there and Avery really enjoys being outside these days when we get the chance.

Here are a few of the latest pictures from our lives, enjoy!!

We just got about 3 to 4 inches of snow with a bit of ice mixed in. Unfortunately, all of the stores were sold out of sleds so Jenn and I had to improvise. I figured a large storage bin lid would work. And then Jenn came up with the idea of using a jump rope as a way to drag it. The hill in our backyard was a bit to steep to sled down safely with Avery, but she loved getting rides around the yard and neighborhood.

I was excited to show Avery the wonders of snow building. Snowballs, snow forts, snowmen, etc. But, the icy, crunchy snow wasn't good for building anything. Or so we thought. We made snow towers by stacking the plates of snow. We made one for each member of the family. It was fun to get outside and play in the snow.

Last weekend we planned on taking Avery to Build-A-Bear to say goodbye to Paci, however she got sick and we didn't feel like it was good timing to take her Paci away from her when she was ill. So, today we are having our Hello Kitty, Bye Bye Paci "party" at Build-A-Bear.

We invited a few friends to make the event even more special, and perhaps encourage others to get rid of theirs too. I got the idea from a mom website, and boy let me tell you there are about a million ways to get rid of Paci from snipping the end to the Binky Fairy.


Since Avery got a Hello Kitty DVD from her Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Stacy she has loved Hello Kitty. She has a few dollar store jewelry items that are Hello Kitty, and some Hello Kitty stickers that she gets to put on her Bed Chart if she stays in bed at night. So when I saw Hello Kitty at Build-A-Bear I knew this would be the way to go.

We've been prepping Avery for a while now telling her that we are going to get Hello Kitty and put her Paci inside and she will not be able to get it out, but she will be able to keep Hello Kitty with her whenever she wants. She has said a few times that she's excited and is a big girl and wants to get rid of Paci and even though she only uses it at nap and night time (and even then typically it falls out,) we're still a little nervous as to how well she'll do without it, but we feel it's time and she certainly understands it's time to say, "goodbye."

This Hello Kitty is very special, it is the 35th Anniversary Hello Kitty and even comes with a necklace for Kitty or Avery to wear. Avery was very adamant about getting Hello Kitty from the time we suggested giving up Paci.

The Big Party


I had invited a few friends from my mom's groups to join us in celebrating Avery's big day. Unfortunately some of them couldn't make it, but we still had a great turn out of Avery's friends, some who built their own animal and others who bought accessories for the pets they already had. You're welcomed Build-A-Bear!

Fortunately, and even though it was a weekend, BAB wasn't too busy, we did have a small party ahead of us but that gave us more time to remind Avery why we were getting Hello Kitty in the first place. Once it was her turn she gave the man Kitty, told him her name and got to step on the pedal to "fill Hello Kitty's Belly." I think at this point Avery was enjoying herself but being a little shy since she didn't know the man who worked there.

She listened to his instructions about warming up Kitty's heart and making a wish very intently. Of course you don't want to make a mistake when you're creating a new life! After she placed the heart inside Kitty she then took her Paci put it inside Hello Kitty without a second thought and said, "Bye, bye." We tried to make it a huge deal and were very excited and proud of her.

Afterwards we did the routine BAB things, like washing her Kitty off, picking out clothes (can't have a naked Kitty!), and printing out her birth certificate. Avery even gave her Kitty a big kiss, although I think she was a little confused as to why Kitty doesn't have a mouth.

We got a chance to play in the mall play area with our friends and even had a fun lunch at the food court, one of Avery's favorites, Chick-Fil-A.

All in all Avery did a great job of saying goodbye to her Paci and was excited to become such a big girl.

Check out some of the video we got of Avery washing her Kitty and taking good care of her.

We went to The Prenatal Picture on Friday and got to see Colbie in 3D. Not only did we get 3D images and '4D' video, but Jenn's mom and sister (Hi Hayley) were able to watch the session live through the Internet. Prenatal Picture also had a den-like area with couches and a projection screen in case you bring a large group. I was using that area to keep Avery occupied. It was cool to see Colbie's eyes and mouth open, but other than that she wasn't too cooperative. We all need our sleep, right?

Here's a slideshow of some of the best pictures from the session:



Now we know:

The Many Styles of Avery B. Well not so much her styles but the styles of her hair. I used to pray that her short somewhat wavy hair would be long enough for me to do something with it and now that it's not a mini-fro anymore, actually it's an entity of it's own sometimes, I can do more with it.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, are the Many Styles of Avery B.....

We hope you've enjoyed the viewing of the Avery's styles and plan on having more to come with Avery and probably once little Colbie has long enough hair her too!

We originally decided that since we found out and told everyone the gender of this baby that it would be fun to keep the name a secret. Well, it's hard for us Bullocks to keep things from our family and friends. As of two days ago we picked a name and decided that it was a definite for our little baby girl.

Today, we thought it'd be a nice gift to give our family and friends to announce our name, so we did. We've decided to name baby #2......Colbie Evelyn Bullock.


There it is folks, not very traditional, but with names like Joel and especially Jennifer we're not ones to give our children "plain" names. Thus was born Avery. We wanted something that would also go along with Avery and our style in general and found Colbie.

Here are some fun facts about the name.

Colbie is a female English name originating from the name Colby. It is typically a boys name, but has become a girls name as well. The name means dark or dark hair, which I'm sure our little one, if anything like Avery, will have dark hair, and lots of it (although I've had considerably less heartburn with this pregnancy.) Famous Colbies: Colbie Caillat, (our daughter was not named after this pop singer.)

Evelyn is in honor of some of the women in our lives. Three ladies including Joel's grandmother that passed this past March, Joel's mom's middle name, and my grandmother's middle name are all Evelyn. So we thought it would be appropriate as a middle name for our little one.

Avery is having fun pronouncing "Sissy's" name and often says, "Her name is sissy," and gets mad whenever we say otherwise. Too cute!!
I think for a lot of people since it's not something that you automatically hear, (is very uncommon) that it will take a while for it to grow on people, but we love it and are excited to meet our little bundle in March!!

So Merry Christmas to you and yours. May your New Year be blessed as well.

Love,
 Joel, Jenn, Avery and Colbie Bullock

Wow, I can't believe we're almost in the home stretch with this pregnancy. Today I have 100 more days until my due date. Of course baby will come before then by scheduled c-section, but since we don't know that date we'll stick to my due date.

My mom's group did an amazing photo shoot, with my amazing photog friend Barbara, it's something we try to do annually, Glamour Shots. A few of us mommas got together and had a blast, here are a few shots from the shoot, and me enjoying being just the right size.

Dear Family Blog (and our blog readers),

 I have a confession, I've been ignoring you because, well, I'm in a relationship with another blog. I didn't realize that a new blog, chasing raising a 2.5 year old, getting over a cold and taking care of a sick little one, running and being active in my mom's group, being pregnant, and getting ready for the holidays would distract me from my first blog love.

 I'm asking for your forgiveness because I do love you and I want this relationship to grow and flourish. So, if you'll have me I'd like to try to be better and spend more time with you. There are a lot of things we still have in common and I don't know what I would do without you.

 Let's plan a date after the holidays. And for now I wish you (and our blog readers) a very Merry Christmas!!

Love, the ever so sorry,
 Jenn

Jenn Turns the Big 3-0
Today, Jenn turns 30. She was treated to a fun afternoon with her girls including lunch and some pampering with a manicure and pedicure. Avery and I made her a card and then tonight we took her out to eat. I hope she had a great day today. 30's not so bad.

Happy Birthday Jenn!

I've spent the last few weeks upgrading Jenn's MommyB blog. I have to say that my little blogging protege has come quite a ways in just a few months and hopefully the new site will help her even more. Aside from a completely new look with better organized content, she now has her own domain, so it will be easier for her to give out her site's address.

On her site she'll continue to review kid and mom related products while giving her personal tips and tricks as well. You'll find her reviews on pretty much everything. A few of her recent reviews include the Santa Buddies DVD, my favorite childhood book The Napping House, the Dora Christmas CD, and Piggy Paint, non-toxic finger nail polish for kids. And, she's got an exciting celebrity product review coming up later this week.

Hmm 2's and 5's what's that a card game?? Nope, it's actually how old Avery is 2.5 years old and how far along I am in this pregnancy 5.25 months. Strange huh? Exactly one day apart from each other.

My 2.5 year old is doing amazing these days. She is loving going to the library to get books and videos, wanting to pretend and make up songs all the time, and she actually ate pasta for the first time in her entire life. I know I know what kid doesn't like pasta, well mine I guess. (See future posts on the pasta eating.)

Here's a cute video of Avery singing her favorite Church Nursery song, Baby Bumble Bee....



As for baby we're about 90% sure we've decided on a name (if she really is a girl ;) ) but have decided not toshare the name with anyone until she's finally here. Sorry folks we thought it'd be a nice surprise. Little baby is very healthy and growing so much. I've been feeling her move for about 10 weeks here and there and now I'm feeling her every day through the day. Joel finally felt her kick the other night, hooray! I think this is my favorite part of being pregnant, feeling little one move around even if I am being abused *LOL*

• Preheat oven 325 degrees F.
• Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high until foamy.
• Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
• Stir in morsels and nuts and spoon into pie shell.
• Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.