Judd is 1!

I can't believe that my little baby turned 1 on Friday. It just seems like yesterday I was waking up at all hours of the night to feed him, and wondering if he would ever sleep through the night. He is now sleeping through the night, walking, laughing, and signing milk, more, and please. He doesn't talk much, but he is a pure joy to have in our lives.


We had a small party at our house Friday night, but his birthday party is going to be Dec. 29 when we are home for the holidays. I decided to have his 1st birthday party with our family. Here are a few picture from Friday night.

He loved playing in the cake, but he didn't want to eat any of it.

Daddy, Jake and Judd playing with Judd's new basketball goal. 

Baby Trey Update

On Jim's birthday, November 29, we had our 20 week sonogram. This was a great sonogram. We got to see many pictures of the baby. At this point, we have a breech thumb sucker. Also, the baby was sure to keep its legs crossed and the umbilical cord in between the legs. We have a great picture to prove it.
Below are a few pictures from the sonogram. If you would like to view Jim's favorite go to his blog.

This is the picture of its legs crossed.


This is our baby sucking its thumb.


This is a picture of the face and hands.

Jim's 30th Birthday

i can't believe I am married to some one that is 30.:-) The best part is that he just gets better with age. If you want to see what I gave him for his birthday check out his blog.

Happy Anniversary, Jim!

I know that I am a few days late, but I wanted to express my love and thankfulness for my man. Our anniversary was November 23. This marked our 5th year together. It is hard to imagine that we have been married for 5 years. Our time together has gone by so quickly. We honestly love each more today than we did five years ago.

Jim, how can I thank you for your humility, leadership, genuineness, love, and constant joy. You have made being married to you something better than I ever could have imagined.

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

In just a few days, I can start celebrating Christmas. In our house we have one rule about getting the Christmas spirit. We must wait until Nov. 30. Jim requests that we not start celebrating until after his birthday.

As I prepare to decorate my house, wrap presents, do more projects with Jake, and just truly enjoy this time of year I wonder if I enjoy all of the things of Christmas more than I celebrate the greatest Gift of all. Tonight I was reading a blog, http://www.girltalk.blogs.com/, and they were discussing worldliness and this quote really made me stop and think about my motives for Christmas.

"Take the Christmas season, for instance. Every holiday I can be drawn to all things Christmassy--the shopping, buying gifts, wrapping presents, decorating the tree, baking holiday treats, attending parties and celebrations. Of course these things are not wrong in and of themselves. They can be delightful gifts from God. But I can be tempted to desire them more than the most important thing--regardless of the season: sitting at the Lord’s feet (Luke 10:38-41). And then I wonder why my heart feels so dull come December 26th."

How about you? Will you be to busy "doing" Christmas this year to sit at the Lord's feet and grow closer to Him this year?

This is the most wonderful time of the year......

Drivers License

Today was somewhat depressing. I went to the TN DMV and got a Tennessee license. I think the hardest part was giving up my Georgia license. I am happy to be here, but there are things that make my sad at times. Georgia has always been home. I have had a GA license since I was 16. It is just a little hard to give up your past.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday in Tennessee. We decided that it would be to long of a drive to Georgia for such a short time.

Jake and I did Thanksgiving activities through out the week. He really enjoys "projects."


This is Jake holding his turkey puzzle.


This is the turkey we made by tracing his feet and hands. The body is the outline of Jake's feet and the feathers are his hands.

After breakfast, Thanksgiving morning Jim, Jake and I sat down and wrote things that we are thankful for on fall leaves. We really wanted to teach Jake that we should be thankful for all the blessings God has provided for us. After we finished we hung them on the window for us to discuss throughout the day.

This year our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of ham, mac and cheese, and green beans. I decided to cook things that I knew all of my boys would love. Here are a few pictures of our lunch.

We are blessed beyond belief. I am so thankful for the life God has given me. I look forward to another year to be thankful to the Giver of Life.

Preach like Daddy....

Ever since we moved to TN, Jim had been wearing ties on Sundays thus making Jake want a tie to wear "like daddy." A couple weeks ago I went shopping with a lady in our church. I passed by the little boys department and decided to get Jake a tie. He has been wanting to wear it to church, but we don' have any dress shoes and I just don't think a tie and New Balance "go" together so I told him that I would get him some dress shoes this week.

We went to the store yesterday and found some dress shoes for Jake. He was so excited he wore them all over the store. When we were checking out he told the cashier, " Look I have shoes, now I can wear my tie and preach like my daddy." Priceless......
edit...we had to return the shoes so now he has black cowboy boots which are just as great to preach in.:-)

So this Sunday, Jake will be wearing his shirt, tie, khakis, boots, and preaching like daddy........

Home

We made it home safely. We home last Wednesday morning. It was so great to see Jim and be with him again. Jake and Judd were so glad to see him, Jake was running through the airport and Judd was kicking his legs and waving his arms in the stroller. It really is amazing the bond between my boys and their daddy. I am very thankful to have such a loving devoted husband who treasures the role of father.

We had a good trip in Elko and in Atlanta. It was good to see family, but we are glad to be back.

Missing My Man

This week the boys and I have been in Georgia. (I will post more later) We have enjoyed our time, but I really miss my man. He has been painting our house and working while we spend time with our family.

I have such a wonderful husband. I’m blessed beyond anything I could ever imagine because I have him as a husband. I prayed for a long time to find someone like Jim and God answered my prayers so perfectly in him.

I can't wait to see him very soon.

Jim, you are the love of my life!

Go Dawgs!

Go Dawgs! I am so excited that the Georgia beat Florida! I just wish we would have beaten Tennessee.

Bobbing for Apples

I feel like I rarely post about Jim and I. Tonight we went to two Sunday School classes fellowships. At the first Jim and I bobbed for apples. I thought I would post since this is such a cute picture.

Judd....Walking??

Judd is only 10 months and he has started walking. There are very few things that he has done before Jake, but walking is definitely one of them. He has only taken 6 steps, but it will not be long before he is running after Jake. This is going to be so much fun. I am excited that he is walking. I get tired of holding 22 lbs when we go places.

Hopefully, I will get a picture of him and post it soon.

Trey

Sick and Tired! Those are two words that would describe the last twelve weeks of my life.
Yes, we are having another baby. I am due April 16. We found out that we were pregnant two days before we left Georgia. Our house was in boxes and we were celebrating becasue we were going to have another little one. We are calling this one Trey since it is the third one. We wonder if this one will be a girl or boy. So far this pregnancy has been very different than the others. I have been much sicker and more tired. The tiredness could be due to the fact I have two some ones running around all day.

The fun has just begun! I cannot wait to meet this precious baby!

Growing Up To Fast

My baby boy has his first tooth. Judd's first bottom tooth broke through today. This is a sad day because I just love the toothless grins. Soon he will have a mouth full of teeth just like his big brother. This is the first step towards graduating and moving out! Hopefully, I will be able to post of pictures soon.

Pure Joy

I finally sat down and figured out how to upload pictures to the blog.
Here are some recent pictures of the boys.

Birthday Humor

Today started off pretty early for our family. Both boys woke up before 7 and they were so whiny. I just don't understand why children just don't sleep when they are sleepy. In about ten years, I am not going to be able to drag them out of the bed at 7:00 a.m.

Well, since we were up so early, Jim was a little bit ill. After breakfast I looked at our calendar and saw that today is his brother Dan's birthday. I turned to Jim and said, "Hey, It's Dan's Birthday." Jim in his best early morning humor typed his very funny email to Dan.

"For a special gift on your birthday, I decided NOT to call you at 6:45 this morning when the boys woke up. I thought about you again at 7:30 and decided I would give you another gift and wait to call. Now, it is after 8:30 and, once again, I’m showering you with love and appreciation as I am still waiting to call you and wish you a Happy Birthday. So, know that you are thought of and that (even though you might not realize it) you have received multiple gifts from me today!!!

Love you bro,
Jim"

This may not be as funny to you as it is to me, but I lived through this morning and I am glad that we can still find humor in the midst of turmoil.

New Beginnings...

As of July 8, Jim became the new pastor of Crosspointe Baptist Church in Millington, TN. We are quickly preparing to move Aug. 7. Our first Sunday is August 12.

God has so graciously found us a house and we are praying that our house in Ga will sell very quickly.

This process has been diffcult and exciting. Jim and I have said repeatedly that this has been a very clear decision, but one of the hardest that we have ever had to make. It is hard to leave our family, home state, North Cross, and our friends. I know that God has a plan for us, but it isn't always easy being obiedent.

The following verses have been great reminders for us through this process:
Isaiah 43:18-19, Isaiah 45:3, Isaiah 55:8, and Jer 29:11-13.

I know that God is faithful and He will be our Comforter, Sustainer, and Rock through this time.

My prayer for the boys:

Jake and Judd
-transition into the new house and church
-that they would have godly playmates and influences
-remain heathly
-that they would not be anxious
-that they would love Jesus more as a result of us moving to TN
-that they would be a bold witness for the Lord

Jim
-wisdom and discernment
-guidance with decisions that must be made
-God would us Jim to grow His kingdom as a result of us being in TN

This is a new season....this is the time God has chosen! I pray that we will honor Him with our lives.

The Perdues will miss Georgia!

10 year Reunion

I really enjoyed my 10 year reunion. It was nice to see everyone after so long. Our reunion was really good and classy. The committee did a greta job planning a preparing for the weekend.

Friday night we met at HOCO and had a tour of the school. It was so much bigger now. Several things had changed. I think I was most sad to see that the carpet was gone and that the round tables were missing in the lunchroom. Next, we went to Cheddar's for a time to hang out and get reaquainted.

Saturday there was a family picnic at Ted Wright park. It was hot, but it was fun to see everyone's family.
Saturday night was great. We had a semi-formal event at Houston Lake Country Club. I really enjoyed hanging out. I even made my way to the dance floor a couple of times. I think that Jim enjoyed laughing at me. I couldn't get him to join me, but it was still so much fun. To top off the evening, everyone voted on superlatives..i.e. most changed, least changed, prettiest female, handsome male...etc. I won Most Changed in 10 years. How funny! Jim and I would like to think that the change was Jesus in me, but I know that my physical appearance is very different also. My hair is about 20 inches shorter and I weigh about 40lbs less.

Jim and I had fun and I look forward to 2017!

Summer....

It has been so long since I have updated. Our life is has been so busy the past few months. Here is a run down of what we have been doing:

June 1-2 Family Vacation at Lake Blackshear
June 17-22 Visit to Elko
June 29-30 10yr Reunion (more information to come)
July 2-5 Youth Camp for North Metro
July 6-8 Fly with the boys to TN (more information to come)
July 10-14 Family Vacation at Lake Burton

whew! This is too much travel for one family. Thankfully we are back home, but now we are trying to get ready for the season of our life......

Happy Mother's Day

This is my third Mother's Day! I am amazed at how quickly time flies. Jake was only three months old on my first Mother's Day. It was a fun day. My mom gave me a very special present that day. It was a "grandparents book" that journaled my whole life through pictures and family trees. It took her countless hours to create the book, but I LOVED it and I still do. However, it is at her house so that she can update it periodically.

I love everyday that I get to hear the word Mommy. At times, I may wish to not hear it anymore that day, but I do love my boys and love to hear Jake say mommy (soon Judd will say ma ma :-)). Being a mother is the one of the greatest joys of my life. First is being a child of God, and second is being the wife to the greatest man, Jim Perdue.

Mother's Day is a great day! It is even better now that I have children. Not from the point of view that I am Jake and Judd's mom, but now I can truly appreciate my mom even more.

Mom: I just want to say thanks a ton for enduring the pain of birth on March 19, 1979. And thanks for putting up with all the mess I handed you as a child. You've put up with me 10,275 days and for that I'm grateful. There's no doubt I'm blessed to have survived many of those days.

p.s. Jim wanted to know what I wanted for Mother's Day. This is what I asked for: I want twelve hours of "me" time so that I can clean the house and run errands all in one day. How awesome of a day will that be??!!! I must say I can not wait!

Sonny's

In an earlier post I mentioned that Sonny's BBQ was special to Jim and me. I guess I will explain today.

Before Jim and I officially started dating we both drove two hours to a Christmas expo in Charlotte, NC. I was still in GA and he was in Seminary at the time. Two of my girlfriends, Jessica Goheen (now Moody)and Melissa, and I decided to drive to this expo. JIm thought it would be fun to meet us there. *side note* after being married to him for almost 5 years I know that this trip was a sacrifice for him and he only wanted to be with me. He is not big on Christmas Decorating and he doesn't like shopping. this makes me smile*end side note* After we finished shopping Jim talked us into going to eat at Sonny's in Charlotte. Jim and I sat down and ordered the exact same thing and we ate the bread the same way. This meal was just one of the many light bulb moments during our short dating relationship. We have eaten at that Sonny's many times since our first lunch and we love to retell the story when we are there.

Another excting trip was when Jim took me to eat at Sonny's in Warner Robins the day that we go engaged. How perfect!

Lastly, we ate at Sonny's in Buford for lunch the day that I went in to labor with Jake.

Who would have thought that this one restaurant would hold so many special memories for the Perdue family.

p.s. We tried to eat at Sonny's to help induce Judd, but it just didn't work. :-)

Blessed!

I am blessed! I have the best husband in the whole world. He is a great husband and an awesome daddy. Before we had Jake, I always thought he would be a great dad, but now seeing him with our boys just amazes me. Jake and Judd have an amazing godly example to look to as they grow to be men of God.

Quick Visit

Wednesday afternoon we left Forsyth County to visit the great Warner Vegas. Actually, we drive past it to Elko since my mom moved, but I still like to say Warner Vegas. We spent several days visiting with my mom, Benny, and my grandparents who live a mile from my mom. It is always good to go home especially when there are five adults to watch two boys. I feel more like a supervisor when we are visiting. :-) I just make sure the boys are fed, napped, and living on "the schedule" while everyone else takes care of them. It is such a wonderful blessing to be around family and to have some help. I was even given the opportunity to take two showers and get dressed without being interrupted.

Wednesday night Jim and I met Jessica Perdue at Sonny's for dinner after our VERY long (long as in the boys screamed or whined most of the ride) ride home. Sonny's is great and it has so much meaning for Jim and I. (Sonny's significance in our lives could have it's on post). After dinner Jessica came out to the house and Dan met her at mom's. They enjoyed seeing the boys. It was so good to spend some time with them.

When we arrived at mom's Jake was still running around barefoot with the keys, his Papa gave him, in his pocket, and holding up his pants as he ran around. He LOVES Elko. I think part of his love comes from the fact that he gets to ride the 4-wheeler, go-cart, and the tractor. What's not to love about the country!!! Oh I forgot about the new kittens....he gave them names this week...Brown, Lil Waser (laser), and Zeb.

On Thursday Jake had another visitor. Jim came out to visit for a short time. Jake loves Jim, but I think Amber is soon to take his place:-)

We had a great visit home. I am excited that summer is coming and we can spend more time in the country! Simple pleasures and children's laughter!

Potty Training Update

Week 2-

I know that I left you last week on the edge of your seats wanting to know how Jake was going to continue. Well I am pleased to announced that Jake is potty trained. He is doing great. He still has to work on telling me that he needs to go without me asking, but he is catching on.

Funny moments- I have given him a very elementary explanation of the digestive system. It goes in your mouth, down to your belly, and in the potty. So now everytime he goes #2 Jake looks in the potty and he says there is my chicken, there is my hotdog, bye-bye meat. It is hilarious, and if it works I am all for it.

Judd- What a great little boy! He is so sweet! He is now going to sleep without crying when I lay him down.

I am so glad that the weather is warmer so that we can play outside more.

Day One...Potty Training

Jake and I started the dreaded journey of potty training. I have said that I was going to wait until he was close to three to start training him, but ever since he turned two I have really felt that he was so close to started. He wasn't interested, but I was say other cues that led me to think he would be ready. SOOO...

I started reading information. I was clueless. The only thing I did know was I was not going to buy pull-ups and once we started I wasn't going back to diapers. So you see why I wanted to wait to start. While I was trying to figure opt what to do I had a conversation with Jim's mom and she told me about the 7 days and $75 method. The general idea is parents stay at home with the child for several days and allow the child to walk around the house naked all day long. The potty is put out so it is constantly available to the child. Parents regularly remind the child to use the potty when necessary. Rosemond argues that children won't tolerate urine and feces running down their legs, and will quickly learn to go to the potty to avoid accidents. The $75 is for carpet cleaning.

Well I thought this would be perfect. I need my carpet cleaned anyway why not give it a try. So I set the date Monday, March 26. No more diapers! We started telling Jake that he was going to start going on the big boy potty and we named all of the different ways to go on the potty.

Well D-Day came this morning. When Jake woke up we took his diaper off and he ran around all day with one of Jim's T-Shirts on. We sat him on the potty and he wasn't thrilled to be there. But if you remember from my last post Jake loves to blow out candles. So we had candles in the bathroom for him to blow out every time he sat on the potty. He didn't go. I set the timer on the microwave for 20 minutes. When it beeped we ran to the bathroom. He sat, blew out candles, and got up. Set the timer again...it beeped. Same result as last time. Set timer....this went on for three hours. I knew that he was getting close to going since he continued to drink in between sessions. Around 10 the timer went off and we ran to the potty. He did the same as the previous tries, but he started to really squirm like a worm. I told him what he needed to do to go tinkle and finally HE WENT! HE smiled so BIG! It was great. So his reward is to flush the toliet and wash his hands. He was pumped!

He contined to go tinkle in the potty the rest of the day without ANY accidents today.

I guess you are wondering if he went #2. Well here is that story: right after lunch we sat on the potty. I knew that he would have to go #2 because he ALWAYS does so we tried. NO luck! So we went back into the living room. He was sitting reading a book and all the sudden he stands up takes off his shirts and RUNS to the bathroom saying "mommy I HAVE to go potty." I ran in there behind him and he is on the potty looking at me telling me to "go back in there." about 2 seconds later there is #2 in the potty and he is off looking in the toilet to see what just happened. I did the potty dance and he was able to hand me the brand new wipes that we had been saving to use for this very special occasion.

So to sum up 13 hours of potty training on our first day with one word I would say: SUCCESS!!!!

I am so proud of him!
p.s. this is a long post and I am not going to reread it so if there are mistakes please forgive me!

Happy Belated Birthday Update

I am a week late blogging about my birthday, but it was extra special this year so I want to be sure to share.....

The day started with me getting the boys up and going to the gym. When we came back there were flowers on the table with candles burning and cupcakes were placed at each of our seats. Jim came running up stairs when he heard us walk in. We all sat down and Jim and Jake sang Happy Birhtday to me and then we blew out the candles. I then opened my cards from Jake and Judd. Jake had written and colored in my card :-) Jim gave me a pedicure and a coupon for two shopping trips by myself while he watches the boys. What a great present!!! I haven't been shopping in forever much less by myself. I am pumped!

Well after we ate lunch we had another round of cupcakes and they sang Happy Birthday again. Jake loves to blow out candles but he doesn't like to eat the cake.

To end the evening we ate dinner with some people in church and we finished dinner with the last round of cupcakes and Happy Birthday. Right before we went to bed Jim gave me his card which included cash to take on my shopping trips:-)

It was a great day and Jim did a great job making me feel extra special!

All of this is really funny because Jim's family doesn't make a big deal out of birthday's and I think that it is my birthday the whole month of March! He always feels this huge amount of pressure to make me feel special each year! He is the best husband in the whole world. I am blessed!!!!

It is March Madness time again!

Well it has been a year since I started blogging. I think that I may have blogged a total of 12 times in one year. Like I said maybe I will get better

My brackett this year is going to be a bust. I picked random teams and can't wait to see how badly I lose. I will keep you posted!

By the way, I have caught Jake pulling down his pants and taking his diaper off looking to see if he has gone #2 two times this week. Thank goodness his diaper is only wet when he decides to do this:-) I know it is time to start potty training, but I am trying to wait until the summer. The boy is a mess!

Jake is Two

Life is going great!

Jake turned two on Feb. 27.We had his party on march 3. I did an airplane theme. We invited several of his friends and all of our family. He had a blast playing. He doesn't like cake so he enjoyed blowing out the candles. I cannot believe that my little boy is growing up so quickly. He is saying things and making me laugh more and more everyday. Jim and I have been teaching Bible verses and he can now quote Eph 6:1, Romans 3:23, Gen 1:1 and we are now working on Phil 4:13. He is a joy and we are very blessed to be his parents.

Judd is sleeping through the night. He is sleeping from his last feeding at 10 until somewhere between 4-6. He actually slept until 7 last Sunday. He is smiling big open mouth smiles and even giggles.

Jake has mixed reactions to him. At times he can be very sweet to Judd and others he just wants to make him cry. I guess this is the beginning of great years between brothers. However, once again tonight I prayed that they would have a strongbold, they would love each other in a very special way, they would seek to follow Christ and be Him obedient in everything.

i am going to try and blog more often. Who knows! I may get to busy with the boys! :-)

Late Nights

Six weeks after Judd is born I am still awake in the middle of the night feeding him. As you can see I have found that I can be productive at 2 a.m. I use Jim's laptop while I am up to return emails, catch up on the latest news, and now I am even updating my blog.

So how is life as a mom of two boys? BUSY! The first few weeks were difficult, but now the main difference is I have very little time for myself. However, I think that once Judd sleeps through the night and I don't feel like I need a nap everyday I will be able to get somethings taken care of during nap time. I do love my boys. I am sure that life will be very active when Judd gets a little bit bigger. Something tells me he isn't going to continue to let Jake poke his eyes and shake his feet.

I have started going to the gym and the boys go to chldcare. This has been great for me. I am excited about losing the rest of the baby weight and wearing all of my clothes again. :-) I am just not satisfied carrying 7 more pounds.

more to come from the late night brain.....that's another thing... I am losing my memory more and more each day!