Happy Birthday Todd!

We just wanted to wish Todd a very happy 35th birthday!! And many more to come. We hope that you had a great time at your party on Saturday....I know everyone else did. And the birthday celebration continues today (and knowing how your birthdays are, there will probably be more after today).

Michael and I are so thankful to have you in our lives and know that you will be a great father to our new arrival in March as well. Thank you for everything that you do for us. We hope that you had a great day. We love you!!

Deck the Halls

Melissa at My little World: Choo-choos, cars, and lip gloss tagged me with a Deck the Halls meme. It made me realize that Christmas is right around the corner and we haven't done too much preparation yet!

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate with peppermint is my favorite!

Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? Santa wraps all of his presents.

Colored lights on tree or white? Colored lights. We use white lights for decorating outside. We always had the light strands with the big bulbs growing up too.

When do you put your decorations up? Whenever we get them down off the shelf out of the garage. Usually the week after Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? That's a hard one because the holidays are all about eating. I don't know that I have a favorite one......

Favorite holiday memory as a child: Opening presents on Christmas Eve, loading up into the car and heading to my grandparents' house to open presents until the early morning. Then we would go to my other grandmom's house and open presents there in the morning. Lunch was always at my great-aunt's house in Philly. I didn't know you could fit so many people in one place that wasn't a restaurant.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What is the truth about Santa? :)

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We always opened our presents at home on Christmas Eve and then opened at my grandmom's on Christmas Day. We still open with my parents on Christmas Eve.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights on first, along with the tree topper, then decorate with ornaments and finally the Aunt Rose balls go on last. The finishing touch is the tree skirt, which I always have a hard time with.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it if I am inside and warm....not such a fan when I am outside and cold. We don't get too much here though.

Can you ice skate? Sure can! I used to have my birthday parties at an ice skating rink from the ages of 10-13. I got my own pair of ice skates when I was in high school and still have them.

Do you remember your favorite gift? I have always been blessed with many gifts so it would be hard to pick my favorite.

What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?Definitely spending time with my family.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Chocolate crinkles cookie.

What is your favorite tradition? Making Christmas cookies each year the weekend before Christmas. I love baking and getting everything together and eating cookie dough too!

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I prefer giving because I get such joy when I have carefully selected a gift that really makes someone happy.

What is your favorite Christmas Song? This is an easy one. It's Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses. My sister and I used to love to listen to it every year as we wrapped presents.

Candy canes! Yuck or yum? Yum. Had my first one this year in a chocolate covered brownie.

Ever recycled a Christmas present? Never, but I may have wanted to.

Don't Be A Scrooge! Tag 7 friends to Deck the Halls...Susan, Steph, Amanda, Amy, Manda, Staci, and Jen.

Tree Farm

We headed out to Harmon's Tree Farm today. The weather was beautiful today and it hardly even felt like it was mid December. We were bundled up and managed to get some nice pictures on the train as well as in the fields where they grow the trees.

Michael really enjoyed the train ride through the fields once we got going. He was a bit scared at first but he usually is that way when he experiences something for the first time.

After we got off of the train, we headed back inside to see Santa. We had looked at Santa on our way in and tried to get Michael to sit on his lap but he wasn't interested. When Michael saw him for the second time, he actually sat on his lap and talked to him for a minute before getting a treat.

We drank some hot chocolate and ate some fudge before heading home for the afternoon. We didn't get our tree from there as the type that we like is not grown in South Carolina. Looking forward to making this an annual tradition!!

23 weeks already

This pregnancy is flying by. I was 23 weeks on Saturday. It seems so strange for it to already be more than half over. It seems like we just found out that we were having our second child yesterday. I really want to be able to enjoy this pregnancy and remember every last bit of it. I can't wait to be able to welcome our baby girl into the world but at the same time, I want to be able to experience her kicks and movements for as long as possible while she is inside.

We are busy getting our house ready for our new arrival as well. The furniture that we ordered for Michael's new room is in and the room will be painted this weekend. The furniture will be delivered on December 5th and then we will finish setting up to move him in before Christmas. This will give him several months to get used to his new room, as well as give us time to get the nursery set up.

Here I am at 23 weeks:

Ultrasound Pictures

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound two weeks ago. It's amazing how quickly the baby grows and changes. I can't believe that in 4 months, we will have our daughter here with us. It's so exciting!!

Whole Body Shot



It's a Girl!



Feet!



We will have another u/s at approximately 28 weeks and I know that there will be amazing growth between now and then. I love watching our daughter change and grow before she even gets here!!

We are expecting....

Baby #2 on March 21st! I am sure that you had an idea of what I was going to say in the title, especially if we have talked/emailed in the past few months. I realized that I have never blogged about being pregnant again. It's not that I am not excited; in fact, the opposite is true. I think I am even more excited this time because I know how wonderful it can be to have a child and be a mom!

We had our big u/s on Friday, November 7th. Todd and I did decide to find out the gender. I wouldn't have minded it being a surprise but we wanted to be able to plan the nursery and not be gender-neutral. So we went in and the u/s tech started looking at the baby. You could see the baby open its' mouth and close it over and over. It was pretty neat and the baby was really cooperating for the u/s tech. We saw the head, brain, spine, two arms and two legs. Everything looks great and the baby is measuring right on schedule. Of course, I am sure you are wondering the big question: boy or girl?

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We are very happy that our baby is healthy and are looking forward to having a little girl. I think Michael will make a great big brother and he will be able to protect her when they get older. When she is dating, the guys will have to pass the scrutiny of her father and older brother. But that is far away!!

Michael doesn't quite understand what's going on but knows that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy. He is very sweet and will kiss the baby when I ask him to. I told him that he was going to have a baby sister and he said "Baby Kaitlyn", which is our friend's little girl. He thinks all babies are Kaitlyn, which is pretty cute. I am looking forward to seeing how he reacts when our little girl finally arrives here. I am hoping he will adapt to the change and we are preparing him as much as we can now. We ordered this furniture for his new "big boy" bedroom and it's awesome. I wouldn't mind sleeping on it at all.

Here is a picture of me at 18w 5d:

Halloween Recap

We had a great Halloween here. We did several things to celebrate the holiday. We started two Mondays ago by going to a local church and picking out pumpkins at their pumpkin patch. I got a larger pumpkin to carve and a small one for Michael to paint. We went with our neighbors, who have a little boy who is a year younger than Michael. It was so cute to see them running down the aisles between the pumpkins.

Wednesday night we went to Boo at the Zoo. Michael wore his Cars race car costume for the first time there. He was hesitant to put it on at first but once he did, he even wore the hat that went with it! We went inside and walked around the zoo. Some animals were still out and they had several exhibits set up, along with about 20 or so Trick or Treat stations. Michael did really well and walked around the entire zoo, holding hands with Todd and I. He even loved the music at the front of the park and was dancing along by himself. It was adorable. After we left, he was exhausted!

Michael and Daddy

Thursday night Michael painted his pumpkin that we got last week. He did a great job with it and didn't get any paint on himself and spilled very little on the newspapers that I had laid down in the garage. I was amazed considering two year olds are normally very messy. After he finished painting his pumpkin, he watched me carve mine. He wanted to "help" with the carving but the knife was sharp and making me nervous. I finished mine up and let him help me with scooping out the inside, which he didn't want to have anything to do with!



Friday he had a fun party at daycare and they got to dress up in their costumes and eat treats. Friday night we went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood with our next door neighbors and their little boy, who is a year younger than Michael. They went in his wagon and were pulled up and down our street, with stops at each house along the way. It was the cutest thing to see the two boys interacting together and going up to people's doors to get candy. When they were sitting in the wagon, our neighbor's son wanted to give Michael his candy and Michael told him no and put it back in his basket for him. Todd, Michael and I hit a few more houses around the corner and came back to our house shortly after it got dark. We gave out candy to the Trick or Treaters and Michael seemed to like this almost as much as going door to door. He wanted to take the candy out of the pumpkin and put a piece in each kid's bag. He did a really good job with this.




It was a great Halloween and so much fun to see Michael enjoying himself and understanding a bit more about what was going on. Yesterday morning he asked me for trick or treat candy so I guess it really did sink in!

Tagged

I was tagged by Joanna last week and am trying to get caught up on my blog posting. It's been far too long since the last one. The tag was a MeMe! Here are the rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences on your blog along with these instructions. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST. Tag five other people to do the same.

Would you believe that I am in my office at work and I don't have a single book in here? I just went out the door and got a book sitting on the table outside my office.

From South Carolina, An Illustrated History of the Palmetto State by Ernest McPherson Lander, Jr. and Archie Vernon Huff, Jr.

In April 1846 the Mexicans obliged by attacking one of General Zachary Taylor's patrols in the disputed territory along the Rio Grande. Administration forces immediately introduced war resolutions in both houses of Congress.

In the Senate Calhoun and a few others pleaded for more time, for more discussion, and for a cleared picture of events on the Rio Grande. An administration steamroller crushed their amendments, and on the final vote of 40 to 2 Calhoun abstained.

I bet that got your morning off to an exciting start! I know it did mine.

I am tagging the following people:

Susan

Alexa

Staci

Anna

Amy

Happy Anniversary!

Todd & I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary today. It seems hard to believe that we haven't always been married and yet at the same time, it seems like we just got married. I love every minute of being with him and am excited to see him at the end of my day. I am so thankful for all of the things that he does for me and the joy that he brings to my life. Our life together is so full of happiness and I am very grateful to have found the person that I will spend the rest of my life with.

It was on this day, 3 years ago, that we found out we would be parents for the first time. What a blessing that was! And now that we are expecting our second, I feel like our bond is growing even stronger as we add to our family again. Not only is Todd a wonderful husband but he is also a wonderfully loving and devoted father!

I am working today and this beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to my office this morning. I wasn't expecting anything like this, which made it an even nicer surprise!

Locks of Love

This past weekend, I finally decided to make the cut! I have been debating for a while about getting my hair cut shorter and donating to Locks of Love. I think it's a wonderful idea and was happy that I was able to help someone out who really needs it. Besides, my hair can always grow back. The minimum requirement to donate is 10 inches and that's how I much I donated. I probably got closer to 12 inches total cut off though.



Here are some before pictures:





During the cut:







Here is the after picture:

Tagged!

I was tagged by Joanna and thought it was a good opportunity to blog since I have been MIA lately.

A. Attached or single? Attached

B. Best friend? Todd

C. Cake or Pie? Cake

D. Day of Choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? Sleep

F. Favorite color? Blue

G. Gummy bears or worms? worms

H. Hometown? Brigantine, NJ

I. Indulgence? Manicures

J. January or July? January

K. Kids? Michael

L. Life isn't complete without? Family

M. Marriage date? 9/30/00

N. Number of brothers and sisters? One sister

O. Oranges or apples? Apples

P. Phobias? Spiders and bugs and the dark

Q. Quotes? Don't really know any.

R. Reasons to smile? Too many to list

S. Season of Choice? Summer

T. Tag some peeps: Susan, Alexa, Staci, Anna

U. Unknown fact about me? If I told you then it wouldn't be unknown any more!

V. Vegetable? Potatoes

W. Worst habit? Have to ask someone else

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound

Y. Your favorite food? Cheese

Z. Zodiac sign? Aquarius

We're Back!!

And we had a great vacation. I am still pretty wiped out from all of the travel but Michael did really well and we all had a nice time. I took lots of pictures and will blog about the trip after I get a good night's sleep!

Vacation!!!

Today we leave for a long weekend vacation. I can't wait to head out! We are going to visit my grandmom, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are also taking Michael to Sesame Place!!! I think he is going to love it as Elmo is one of his favorite characters (second only to Thomas or Mickey).

The car is all packed and we are ready to go right after work today. I hope that we have an uneventful drive up and can't wait to tell everyone about our vacation when we return!

Foot Fetish

OK, Michael has a foot fetish. He is fascinated with painted toenails. And only on grown women. He doesn't seem to be the least bit interested in painted toenails on little girls his age. We first noticed this a couple of weeks ago. He was laying on the floor under a friend's chair and was just staring at her feet (we thought he was down there because he was hot and the floor was cool). Next he noticed it on his grandmom's feet and after telling his other grandmom about it, she remarked that he had done the same thing to her.

Well, it's now getting a little out of hand. He manuevers the feet of his daycare teacher, our next door neighbor and one of my friends to his liking so that he can get the best angle possible. He also likes to lay close to the painted toenails. It seems like he seeks out the painted toenails in order to give them special attention. I wonder what is so fascinating about them. Maybe he can tell me someday when he gets older!!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I love to read other people's blogs. I could easily get lost in the blog world. It's like reading a bunch of books by different authors and there is never an end to the story.

While reading blogs yesterday, I came across this post. I thought that it would be really neat to have this on my blog and see what memories other people have of me. I have never met a lot of my blogging friends in real life, as I only know them online. But I thought it would be interesting to see what types of responses I get anyway.

5:55pm

The glasses were found in the backyard behind the deck about 5 feet away from part of Michael's toy screwdriver. Guess he was just leaving all kinds of things back there. What a relief to have found them!! I will have to keep my eye on this kid, that's for sure.

Where are they?

Well, Michael has had his glasses for a little more than a month now and they are already lost! We know that they are either in the house or in the yard SOMEWHERE. Where remains to be seen at this time. I tried to ask Michael this morning where his "sasses" were and he just shrugged his shoulders like "how am I supposed to know?". So tonight Todd and I will look for them when we get home tonight. Hopefully we will not spend the better part of our evening looking for them. Please wish us luck in searching....if only we had a metal detector!

And the funniest part about it all is that Michael doesn't really like to wear his glasses when we are trying to get him to put them on. Now that they are missing, he is asking for "sasses, Mommy" and "sasses, Daddy". It figured that he wants to wear them when they are nowhere in sight. I think he may be working us.

Doggies

We went to visit my parents for the 4th of July weekend. Aunt Michelle and Uncle Alex also came too with their doggies, Ben and Baxter. Michael has mixed feeling about the doggies. He gets very excited when they are at a distance but gets scared when they get up close. At least until he gets used to them that day. It starts all over again the next morning!

We went to a parade on the 4th of July before the doggies got here and Michael was walking up to other dogs and petting them.

Saturday night, we were outside playing with the dogs after dinner and getting ready to light some sparklers. Michael really wanted Ben to come over and see him and this is how he was trying to get his attention. It was so cute!!

Our little model!

We have been so busy with so many things lately. I can't believe that I haven't already blogged about this though, as we were quite excited about the opportunity.

My sister works for a children's clothing designer in the Raleigh area. They publish a catalog of their clothes twice a year. Last September, she asked us if Michael wanted to be a model in the catalog but we were going on vacation so we missed out. When it came time to shoot the Fall 2008 catalog, she asked us again if we would like to have Michael model in the catalog. So of course, we jumped at the chance to do it. We thought it would be a neat experience and something to have in Michael's baby book, which is only about half full.

The photo shoot was on a Friday in March and we got to see the proofs before the catalog was assembled. The photos were taken to show off the clothes but the photographer was able to capture Michael's personality as well. He looks so mischievous in the Christmas photo, like he is stealing a present from under the tree. In the other picture, he looks kind of bashful, which he was during the photo shoot at first.

I don't know how to post the catalog directly into this post so I will just put the link to the catalog here if you want to see our little model. He is on pages 15 and 48.

We are so proud of his modeling debut. A special thanks to Aunt Michelle and Chez Ami!!

Michael's New Glasses

Almost a month has gone by since my last post. So much has happened that I want to blog about but it just seems like there never is enough time. We always have so many things going on and if I could compose a blog post in my head while in the car, my blog would be full of entries!

Michael went for his opthalmologist appt last month and he needed to get glasses. He is nearsighted and the glasses will help him to see better and hopefully strengthen his eyes as he gets older. We went on his birthday to pick out a pair of frames and just got the finished product (with ear pieces to keep them on) on Thursday. He looks like such a little man when he wears his "sasses". He loves that he has them like Daddy does and knows that Daddy puts on his glasses when he gets up so we are trying to do that with Michael. He has worn them to daycare for 3 days so far and all is well there, which I was worried about. I do think that his eyes tend to get tired of wearing them and adjusting to them so we try to work with him on giving him breaks if he wants them. He is wearing them more and more each day though and I love how he looks!

Here are some pictures of our little man with his "sasses":

Now that he has his glasses, we watch him with delight as he explores the world around him like never before. It is truly amazing!

Our baby boy is 2!

I can't believe the time has gone by so fast but Michael turned 2 on Friday!! It seems like just yesterday that he was born and we were bringing him home from the hospital. It's amazing to me the changes in such a short amount of time. Our little baby is gone and has been replaced with a fun-loving little boy (most of the time). He now loves choo-choo's and trucks and loves to pretend he is driving somewhere. He is all boy!!

Here is a picture of Michael when he was a newborn:

And here he is at his birthday party on Saturday:

What a difference two years makes! Happy Birthday Michael!!

Waterboy

I can't believe a month has already passed since I blogged last. On Michael's first birthday, he got an Elmo sprinkler. Sometime last summer, I hooked it up to the hose and put it in the backyard for Michael to play with. He ran away from it so fast like Elmo was chasing him. I don't think he will be doing the same thing again this summer. Daddy was outside watering the grass and Michael couldn't stay away. He was drawn to the water like a moth to a flame.


Luckily it was a nice night outside because Michael got soaked. Here he is after all the fun of running through the hose as Daddy was watering the grass:

Then after all of that fun, he decided to ride on his new toy and dry off in the breeze. This was the first time that he didn't push it all through the yard and actually sat down and pushed the button to go. And he was off. Here he is on the side of the yard:

Looks like it's going to be a fun summer at our house!!

Easter Pics

We had a very nice Easter this year. We spent the weekend at my parents in Calabash, NC. We had an Easter egg hunt on Sunday morning just for Michael. He looked adorable in his outfit from Grandee and Grandpop and he will wear it again in his school pictures next week. Here's our little man:

Michael loved looking for the easter eggs and they probably could have been hidden more because he was such a good hunter! He knew exactly what to do just like he did at Halloween. He collected the eggs and put them into his Elmo Easter Basket. I think that he was a little disappointed when it was over. Then he started opening the eggs and eating what was inside.

Hunting for eggs

I found one!

Taking a break

I need to rest now that it's over!

My Little Dirt Devil

Well, it's official. Michael has his first toy that he just can't part with....it's a Dirt Devil vacuum.



He has never really been overly interested in toys but will play with them if you sit in the room with him. However, we went to a consignment sale on Sunday and he saw this vacuum and just wouldn't put it down. He pushed it all over the hall where the sale was held and just didn't seem to want to let it go. He didn't even try to play with any of the other toys, which was surprising because there were definitely some tempting ones there.



We were getting ready to leave the house for the day on Tuesday and he was crying and screaming when we took the vacuum away from him. As soon as he got buckled into his carseat and we headed out, he was fine though. But that night we got home and he went straight for the vacuum and only let it go to eat dinner. Of course, it was still in his sight. When it was time for a bath, the real tantrum started. He cried and cried for the vacuum for the whole time he was in the bath. After he got out and was dressed, he played with it again for a few minutes (that was a mistake on our part by not putting it away) and then the crying started again when it was time for bed.



However, this morning, I had the vacuum in the hall closet right behind the regular vacuum and he took it out and started "vacuuming". Well, I told him it was time to go and asked him to put it away and he did. Of course, this may have had something to do with the fact that the front door was also opening for us to leave and he loves the outside too!



If this is a preview of what the terrible two's are going to be like, then we are in for it!!



Here is a video of Michael "vacuuming" downstairs:

The Great Outdoors

Michael loves going outside so much. But last weekend, it was too cold for him to go out and play. Todd was outside doing some yard work and I think Michael really wanted to be out there too. On a warm day here, Michael can easily stay outside for 2 or 3 hours. Right now he is outside and playing in the truck, another one of his favorite things to do! Here is a picture of Michael in his uncle's truck a couple of weeks ago.















And here he is gazing longingly out the sliding glass door.


I love this picture because you can see his reflection in the glass!

Sickness

I had really hoped that 2008 wouldn't start out the same way that 2007 did. And it didn't for the first two weeks. Then the sickness hit our house. Todd had strep throat and Michael had a sinus infection. They were both on antibiotics for 10 days. A week later, Todd had bronchitis and a week after that, Michael had bronchitis and strep throat. Through it all, I have been fortunate and blessed enough to not catch any of this!

I finally thought that things were starting to look good for my sick men when I got a call yesterday that Michael was running a 102 fever. I took him home, gave him a bath to cool him down, we ate dinner and he went to bed early. When he got up this morning, there was no trace of the fever! We went to the doctor again and he tested negative for strep and the flu, thankfully. I don't know what he had but I hope that this is the end of sickness in our house for a while. Maybe we can take the quarantine sign down now......

Our New Shed

Last weekend we finally got our shed!! We have been waiting to have this built for about 6 months between waiting for the HOA approval and the men to come build it. It matches our house perfectly and looks like a cute little house. It even has a window on the side that opens and closes. We will use it to store yard tools and other things. Hopefully we can move enough stuff out of the garage into the shed so that I can park my car in the garage. And it's tall enough for Todd to stand up inside!

Here are a few pictures:


Front doors


Looking out the window

Outside the window


Inside under the roof

It even has a light!!

Side yard view

Happy 32nd Birthday!

Well, today is my 32nd birthday and I really don't feel any older. I have noticed since I turned 30 and subsequently had a child that birthdays aren't what they used to be. I enjoy just spending time with family and eating a little ice cream cake. I get far more enjoyment out of celebrating Michael's birthday now!!

I don't have to work today so Michael and I are just taking it easy before going out to lunch with Todd. It's nice to have some downtime for just the two of us to spend together.

Michael's 1st Haircut

I know it was a long time in coming but Michael finally got his first haircut on December 11, 2007! He looks absolutely adorable with his new do (not that he didn't before). We went to see Santa at the mall and then decided to get his haircut after that. He was semi-cooperative but I think what he didn't like about it was having to be still for more than 30 seconds! I held him on my lap while the hairdresser cut his hair and Todd was our photographer. When it was done, Michael was loving his haircut and kept moving his head around, making the hair swish from side to side.
Here are some pictures:

Happy New Year 2008!

Well, it's a new year and I want to try to be better about keeping up with my blog. We always have so much going on with our family and it seems like I should find the time to blog about it so I can look back and see what has gone on in our lives.

I have resolved to make at least one blog entry per month starting in January. I felt like the resolution of one per week may have been too much but we will see. There's always next year.....