and the gender is.....

drum roll.....envelope please....

yes folks, James is going to have a baby brother!  we are very excited to be having another healthy boy, even though we might find it a bit funny.  you see, Brian's living grandfather [Papa, for whom James is named] currently has SEVEN great-grandsons.  this will make his EIGHTH!  and no, i repeat, NO great-granddaughters.  what are the odds of that happening?  Brian says less than 1%.

i'm not sure i would call it relief, but we did have our boy name picked out even before this little man was conceived.  we have been quite back and forth about girl names, and were still in the process of making a decision when we found out.  as soon as we found out it's a boy in there, we told James about his special baby brother's name, and he immediately repeated it back to us!  saying his brother's name before his own.  [the name is going to be a surprise until his earthly debut]

we had a fun family photo session with my old friend, Brooke, yesterday afternoon at Comstock Riverside Park.  she is a lovely person and very talented photographer, owner of Brooke Collier Photography. she captures such beautiful moments, like this precious one of James reaching out for me while Brian pushed him on a swing.

[20 months old]

in other news, autumn is officially here!  and we are gearing up for a busy season filled with Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating at the John Ball Zoo, intimate Thanksgiving dinners and lots of family time.  not to mention the Christmas holidays, getting ready for James's second birthday party and preparing for the arrival of little Honey Pie boy.  i'm excited for the next 5 months!

little...[and it's back]

yes yes, it's been over a year since the last time i updated our little family blog, but i'm just going to dive right in here.  

@ 17 weeks, 5 days pregnant with Honey Pie

our little family is growing!  i have been thinking to myself lately, should i start blogging again?  what is the real point to it, for myself?  i rarely have time to sit down at the computer, and when i do, i am usually working.  but you know, Facebook and Instagram are not the only documentation i want to have of our little, growing life.  i want to remember all of the tiny, minute details.  And even though i've invested in a gorgeous journal for myself to write down all of my pregnancy memories (this second time around), and also have a toddler journal to record James moments, i rarely pick them up.  maybe this is a place where i can find some motivation to record our little life.

James [20 months old] with daddy on our balcony, eating a homemade fruit snack

so here is a little hello, to say we are back, in a little way.