My top 3 awkward pregnancy moments...

and this is only from the past week.

1. While attending a conference on adoption last weekend, an older man stops me in a hall and places one hand on my lower/ mid back and the other hand over my naval and shakes my belly up and down while he says in a low voice "no adoption necessary". Strangely, it happened so fast that I wasn't that shocked or offended, but I could have been on so many accounts and how was he to know seeing that we were and are still perfect strangers?

2. On the following day, I was at an outdoor shopping area and a man asks "is this your first?" I say no, that it is my second. He asks, "are you sure it isn't your second AND third?" On the one hand, i understand that many people don't keep up with pregnant people and so maybe this is a fair question. However, on the other hand, under no circumstance should you ever err on the side of a pregnant women looking like she is carrying multiple humans in her stomach when there are any other explanations.

3. On Friday I got a pedicure with my pal Katie. When we walked in a woman came straight up to me and touched my stomach while smiling. I don't know if she said anything because I was on the phone with Sprint at the time and was caught a little off guard. I thought maybe she was the woman who was going to do my nails just being ultra-friendly as to secure a good tip, but she was just another customer. After my phone call was done, she went on to tell me that she was "getting married tomorrow and after that [she] would like to do that" (pointing at my stomach). I assume she meant be impregnated when she said "that."

Anyways, Lucy is due this coming Friday- woohoo! We are ready to go, or as much as possible anyways. Getting to spend some extra special time with Annie for now- priceless. I really do love pregnancy until about the last 3 days to 1 week. I have officially crossed over and can't wait to have both my girls on the outside and to be able to breathe, sleep on my stomach, and not have to support the weight of my stomach with my hands!

Additionally, I am tired of J calling me "big mama".

'

This is me and my friend, Leah, a couple of weeks ago. She was due 10 days before me on Feb 23rd and delivered Henry on Friday, Feb 26th! What a cutie:

Things are getting much more real now....

whoa.... we're 5 weeks out

We are only 5 short weeks (or less) away from having our second child. Whoa...

Her name is Lucy Pearson Lopez. Annie calls her Lu or Lulu. You can too if you find Lucy too tricky to say. We love the name Lucy and just kept coming back to it as we considered names. We like the type of names that we associate with down to earth girls. We like names that are plain, but not super popular (not in the top 100). It means "light" which has significance for us as we hope that her life would be a light for other lives. Pearson was my mom's middle name, my grandmother Mary's maiden name, so it is significant for us as well.

I don't usually think through things too much unless it is near. That is why I didn't really think about the connection between being pregnant and having a baby until the last week or so. I am now filled with thoughts of getting things ready for a baby, making plans, etc. I think the hardest thing is knowing that Annie's world is about to get turned upside down. I was explaining to Annie today how Lu was going to come here soon and live with us and how we will share everything with her. I started to get really teary-eyed as I told her that I am her and Lucy's mommy and that J is her and Lucy's daddy. I know many of you have several children and know this feeling well. Many of you are probably thinking, "big deal". That's kind of what I thought when people expressed these feelings of sadness over the first child not being the only child anymore. You just hate to see their little hearts hurt over the loss of attention, even if you know it's going to be a good thing for them. Don't get me wrong, we are THRILLED about meeting Lucy and already love her so much, but I just want to soak up all the time I can with Annie these next few weeks while I can give her some undivided attention. Lucy will never know the difference since she already is not an only child. For Annie, this will be the biggest change of her life so far.

As far as actually having her and figuring out a newborn- I feel much more confident the second time around! March 5th is the expected day and we can't wait for all of you to get to meet her as well! Lord-willing, we'll see you soon, Lu!

Merry Christmas!

I've been working on this post since Christmas. I'm really bad at this..... In the words of my friend Lee Wilson- most people will find this post boring with the exception of some family, but again, I don't just do this for you- it's my public scrapbook, too. :-) I just wrote some special things to help me remember what happened and I have some reflections from the Christmas season at the bottom of the post.

(Christmas afternoon)

Hope you all are having a great day! We just woke up from our naps to the sound of the double doorbell ring. Not a great sound if you are a parent with a sleeping child, BUT to our joy- were greeted with fresh fried egg rolls from neighbor Lisa!

Now that I am full and Annie did not wake up from the doorbell, seems like a good time to post a blog about the holiday!

Christmas Picture Album 2009

(December 23rd)

Papa Earl (Sally's dad) came in to town earlier this week and we got to have a small Christmas celebration on the 23rd complete with sushi and a radio flyer wagon. Annie's response as he wheeled it in "oh boy, oh boy!" as she stood perched on her tippy-toes dancing around like she needed to use the bathroom. She probably peed her pants and is thankfully still in diapers. We went for a stroll around the block to look at "yites" (Christmas lights) and she has played and eaten most of her meals in it since. A hit, to say the least! Thanks, Papa!

(December 24th)

We had a big Peck celebration over at Kevin and Les' house on Christmas Eve for lunch. The whole clan. This celebration includes all Peck siblings, spouses, dad, children, my mom's sister and her clan, my grandma, most of the in-laws, and a few friends- this year we had the Engstroms, Dean, and the Suhs complete with Yuna! All in all, about 40 people! Always a party! We had a mexican feast in honor of us, I suppose. ;-) At the ardent request of Kevin (sal's bro), we always need to make sure we have ice cream pie. This is a family tradition. One year we failed to make it and he said "this is the one thing I ask of the women who love me." It will not be forgotten again, dear brother. One of my favorite moments was when Ellie opened our present to her. I got her Guess Who? but sometime between the time it got wrapped and opened, she got it from someone else. I knew she already had it, but I didn't want to unwrap it, return it, etc. so I decided to just give it to her and let her go pick something new out. I was really curious what reaction she would have as a 4 year old who has, at her age, just started training on social graces- although she is very mature for her age- she is still 4. When she opened it she screamed with excitement "another Guess Who?!" She was genuinely thrilled as if it was the expansion pack. What a hoot.

J and I exchanged presents to eachother during naptime! It was so fun and relaxing. This was my most successful year shopping for J. As you might imagine, he's pretty hard and funny to shop for. He is a giant so that rules out most clothing stores (excpetions: Nike Outlet - where they keep the big boy clothes that didn't sell, American Apparel- big boy shirts in the back bin for $6/ pop) On his loot list: a Nike track jacket (XXL and Xlong, flip-flops, 3 American Apparel t-shirts, some camera equipment, a framed square family picture (he's very particular about the framing). Stocking stuffers: underwear, undershirts, dark chocolate peanut-butter cups, newly printed pics of Annie, a Homeslice shirt (for Annie. J and I can't usually think of things to get so we often default by getting Annie something we know the other will like.)

We headed over to J's parent's house after naps for dinner, movie, and Jesus' birthday cake. A Christmas tradition for the Lopez clan is to watch one of four movies together- Die Hard, Home Alone, It's a Wonderful Life, or Muppet Christmas Carol. It's a Wonderful Life was on so we watched that. It was Molly's (sal's sis) first viewing. She still has about 30 minutes to go so all in all she was left off at the most depressing part of the whole movie. George Bailey just wished he'd never been born! Clarence to the rescue! We got Annie home in time to put on her new Christmas Eve pjs (peck tradition).

(December 25th)

We woke up this morning for breakfast with Molly (sal's sis), J's parents, me, J, and Annie. Molly made a feast of eggs benedict (peck tradition) and blueberry crapes. Delicious! Thanks, Mo!

Annie then opened the awesome kitchen set, complete with laundry center from Nonnie & Tata! This thing took J about 5 hours straight to assemble, which he enjoyed because the directions were really well written! I made 5 attempts to get this thing at Toys R Us before calling my dad who was in Missouri to go get one there! They were totally sold out everywhere! It was totally worth it- she loves it! P.S. to all my friends with little ones, I highly recommend spacing out the opening of presents. It was so good for Annie to be able to enjoy each thing. Lessons for next time: space out presents even more and get her a whole lot less! :-) Our family is so huge at this point that I don't think she would notice if we didn't get her anything. Thinking of implementing the 3 gift rule- a need, a want, a surprise! Thanks, Jamie for that great idea!

I'm not great at reflecting, but here goes. Since I became a Christian, I have always been a little confused by Advent and would not say I practice Advent for all it was intended to be. I have spent this season trying to get a better idea of how people do it. I never really knew why Jesus' birth should matter more on that day or month more than any other time, but I have seen how much God tells His people in the Bible to "remember" through festivals and feasts type celebrations. This coupled with the fact that we are still awaiting Christ as Christians, tells me it's a big deal to practice anticipating Christ, not only in December but always! If we get off track, we always have December as a good checkpoint. :-) Secondly, I really enjoyed getting to teach Annie about Christ to the greatest degree that she could understand. We spent some time everyday playing with a nativity set (talking about the characters and telling the story) and I really loved to see how much she gathered from that time- simply, that Jesus was special. She spent most of everyday carrying him around in her little hand. I can't wait to reveal greater things to her about Him as she grows.

Sidenote: I caught myself constantly reminding Annie that Jesus was also a man that grew up and did amazing things. For all of you Talladega Nights fans, I felt like Carly at the dinner table reminding Ricky Bobby, who only prays to sweet, baby, Christmas Jesus, "you know, Jesus was also a man".

Much love and a happy New Year!

Pumpkin Patch

Went out to the Elgin Pumpkin Patch with a couple of families- the Engstroms and the Gentrys!

Here is a classic kids' photo. Everyone equally distracted and/or unhappy.

The Engstroms

The Gentrys

Us

And a few solo shots...

Hudson Engstrom- so cute!

Logan, this picture should be on match.com if you weren't married.

It looks like you are trying to market yourself as "the outdoors type".

The big boys- Micah, Eli, and Calvin! Went all the way to Elgin and the main attraction-

a grasshopper.

Good day!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween started out with some bagels with the family and all the kids in their costumes (except Halle, who insisted on wearing her Hello Kitty Halloween shirt for the 3rd time in a row:-). What a funny girl! Little Ivey was not shown since she was sleeping most of the time. Pictures of her and new baby Bryce to come!

This year, we decided it was time to finally do J's ideal Halloween costumes: oompa loompas. At first, we were all going to be oompa loompas, but since oompa loompas are disturbing enough, we decided not to subject the world to a pregnant oompa loompa. However, J insisted that the world be subjected to a 6'6" oompa loompa.

On the other hand, what is more disturbing? A pregnant oompa loompa or a pregnant Dora the Explorer? Hmmm... both are creepy. You decide.

We had a great halloween! J and Annie developed quite the fan base with the neighbors, with several of them asking to take their picture.

We had several friends come over and bedazzle us with their costumes. We will hopefully post them as we get the pictures!

Hope you had a great one!

Beach Trip

So since J started his new job in January we haven't taken any vacation time. Realizing that we have a busy Fall ahead, he decided to take 2 weeks off starting the day that Total Sports Camp ended. I desperately love any beach, lake, etc. and Annie had never been to a beach yet so it was time to go. On Saturday we booked 4 days at Port Royal in Port Aransas, TX, leaving on Monday. Sort of a last minute decision- it was so worth it!

Strangely we realized we had never taken Annie on vacation without other family members around so we were all hyped up! We had no clue how much work it is to take a 1.5 year old on vacation by ourselves. WOW. We considered several times taking her to this daycare center and asking if we could just pay for dinnertime. Not necessarily the relaxing get-a-way you imagine. We both brought tons of books that we never once cracked. As soon as she would go down for a nap or bedtime, so would we. Even though it was lots of work, it was so amazing to see her on the beach and exploring everything.

This trip was full of firsts: J's first time to Port A (a place full of memories for me), Annie and J's first swim in the awesome Port Royal pool complete with a slide ride, Annie's first crab salad, sno-cone, sandcastle, and hermit crab encounter!

Can't wait to do it again!

(we've never had smiles this big from annie actually directed at the camera)

(i don't think this is true)

(i feel like i need to explain j's shirt. i bought this for him as a gift in mexico. he really likes wearing intimidating tank tops when he is on vacation.)

(lovin' some pool time with daddy)

(her favorite beach activites: eating sand and sitting up to her chest in the ocean until the waves came and splash over her or she starts sinking)

( j found tons of hermit crabs. annie had no fear whatsoever- she loves them!)

(the boats outside sally's family's favorite Port A restaurant- Virginia's on the Bay.)

(we decided to introduce the ol' "bury the daddy in the sand" idea. if you notice annie in the top left that pretty much tells the story about how cool she thought this was.)

Annie is a big sis!

For those of you we have run in to over the last couple of weeks, no surprise here, but for the rest of the world- we are having a baby! I am 8 weeks and 3 days which gives me a March 5th due date. The baby and Annie will be almost 2 years apart.

We are thrilled and humbled that God has yet entrusted another person to us to love and raise along with Annie! Thrilled- because there is nothing more fun than a full house! Humbled- because we daily realize what a big important job it is to raise a little person.

I have been feeling pretty sick, though not as bad as it was with Annie. I am not sure if I just have a higher threshold for discomfort and suffering after having Annie or if it is, in fact, more mild. No way to tell, but I'm thankful either way. J and Molly have been so helpful!

I love, love, love that I get to have another baby, but I feel so far removed from newborn world after only 16 months, so I have been really nervous about it until today. Seeing the lil' one on the sonogram just makes you melt, so I started looking back through Annie's baby books to remember what it was like the day she was born. I just remember the day J first went back to work after Annie was born. I called him crying saying "she's scary. Please don't leave me here by myself with her". Somehow, I made it through and I know God is going to help me once again since this whole new baby thing was his idea anyhow. Fast-forward to a picture of me a couple months in and I am holding her with one arm and smiling. I must have gotten used to it somewhere along the line so I know I will figure out that whole two-child-thing, too.

If you live nearby and we spend alot of time together, you are probably asking yourself, "So Sal, how does this affect our friendship?" Answer: For the next 6-8 weeks while I still have morning sickness, here is what you can expect:

- I won't be hanging out with you late at night.

- During the day, Annie will be watching hours of TV while I lay on my side on the couch. (Feel free to lend us kid DVDs. We are pretty tapped out on what we got :-)

- If you want to go to lunch, we must go someplace that serves plums, Gatorade, or Ramen noodles.

With Annie, all sickness went away at 16 weeks and then pregnancy was the best I have ever felt in my life! I am looking forward to those hormones again!

We would love your prayers for a healthy and joyful pregnancy!

Ideally, this post would include the sonogram picture, but it is downstairs and then I would need to scan it and stuff. It's not going to happen tonight, but maybe soon!