Why Pear loves her Daddy...

Stephen is such a fun dad! Pear and I are so blessed to have him. Pear and I patiently wait, everyday, for him to come home from work so that we can get our kiss and hug and then Stephen usually will take Pear and play for a little bit while I finish preparing dinner. Here is a glimpse of why we love him...

Finally Finished with the Rental!

Well, after much hard work, we are finally finished remodeling the rental unit. Stephen has put so much time and effort into the place and it looks great! Now it's time to work on our part of the house. I can't wait! I have paint picked out and we will probably start as soon as Stephen is rested and ready to get back to work!We hope to have a renter for the lower unit soon. Here are some pictures of the finished product.

We're having a girl!

Well, we had our first ultrasound last week. It looks as though we are having another wonderful, healthy, little girl. Stephen, Pear and I are thrilled! I think it will be perfect. Pear is going to have a playmate and best friend for life. And I don't have to buy a thing because I already have all of the girl clothes that I need.

Her name is Jovie Blythe Backholm. The reason? Because we like it. For the record, Pear is named Pear Zinovia because we like the name as well. It has nothing to do with the movie Princess Diaries! I have had people ask me if it's because of the Ginovian Pear?! No. Her middle name is Zinovia after her great-great-grandmother. Her first name is Pear because we like it.

I have attached a couple of pictures of Jovie. Can you decipher them?

A day at the Hobby Farm

Pear and I decided to drive down to my parents' for the afternoon. Pear absolutely loves to go to Mammy and Pappy's house. I'm not sure which she prefers: the goats, the chickens, the bunnies, the dog, the cat, the peacocks, the horses, the kids or the toys. She likes them all! Today, Piper rode Mac while we were there and Pear just had to get on him with her. So here is a picture of her first horse ride. What do you think of Pear's outfit? That's what you get for not changing the diaper before you leave the house. She had to borrow Libbi's clothes.

Animal sounds and more...

Pear has been reciting her animal sounds for a few weeks now and I finally got it on video. She has been talking a lot more over the last couple of days and she said her first sentence today. At lunch I gave her some cheese, she ate it all and said "more, more, more," she then paused and said "more cheese." She also can count to three. And she will tell you how old she is as well as hold the one finger up.

Stephen and I enjoy Pear so much. We can't wait to have another one to enjoy! By the way, we only have 5 months to go!

Our Scaredy-Cat and her new toy

Pear has been needing some new toys for a while now and I finally I found a great deal on this Little Tikes slide/fort on craigslist so we picked it up a week ago. It is the perfect size and Pear has a blast on it however, once she climbs up the steps, she's stuck on it until Stephen or I can rescue her. She doesn't think that she can crawl down the stairs or go down the slide by herself. She is such a little scaredy-cat! I have helped her go down so many times now. I would think she'd get the hang of it but if I leave her in her room, I eventually hear her little voice saying "help, help, help," which sounds more like "hep, hep, hep." Nonetheless it was well worth the $30 I paid for it as it has already provided hours of entertainment and I'm sure it will provide even more once she figures out that going down the slide doesn't hurt too bad.

Personality

We are seeing more and more personality come out of Pear. This picture demonstrates the look you would see if she disapproves of something you said or if you are simply a strange person staring at her, such as Stephen's cousin Philip the other day.