How Do I Recap Three Months??!!

Now that I have a little bit of time, I'll try to update just a bit.  No WAY I can really truly update you since Halloween, but we'll hit some of the highlights.  OK?

Thanksgiving:  We had a nice Thanksgiving.  I can't remember what we did or where we went, but I'm sure it was great.  I especially enjoyed the food....and the family, of course!  :)

Christmas:  Christmas was nice too.  Thomas seemed to "get it" more this year and really enjoyed opening presents.  We started a new family tradition of heading to the Raleigh Rescue Mission on Christmas Eve to donate various items - some new stuff, some gently used stuff, and a few bags of groceries.

Big News:  Most of you already know, but we're expecting baby number two in late July.  My due date is July 28, so I'm thinking this little one might have an August birthday like his/her mommy.  We had been trying for a little while so we were thrilled when we found out that I was pregnant.  I had a feeling I was but I was trying to be patient before taking a million pregnancy tests.  Well, I caved one afternoon and decided to give it a try.  Well, it turned up positive so when I picked Shawn up at work, I had some good news that day!  Since this is the second time around, we didn't wait long to tell our family and friends, in fact, we didn't wait at all.  Our family found out the next day and most of our friends found out within the week.  We thought we were just a tad farther along than we really were.  Turns out, we told the world we were pregnant at about 5 weeks.  Oops!  Thankfully, everything has gone well so far.  I'm now 18 weeks pregnant and we have our big ultrasound this Thursday.  So, we'll be finding out whether Thomas will have a baby brother or a baby sister.  SO excited to find out!

Like I said, all is going well, but this time has been a little different than last time.  A little more nausea and of course it didn't take long for my belly to pop out.  I'm naturally more active this pregnancy than my last.  Instead of sitting in a chair in front of a computer all day, I'm bending, moving, up and down, picking up a 30-some pound child, in and out of the car, playing, racing or running up and down our hallway (although I've convinced Thomas that now Mommy needs to "speed walk").  So, I'm hoping that will serve me well.

Thomas is so excited to be a big brother.  We had him call his grandparents and inform them that he was going to be a big brother.  He enjoyed sharing the news because of the reactions, but I'm not sure he knew exactly what was going on.  Now that Mommy has a belly that is growing by the day, he "gets it" more.  He regularly kisses my belly and talks to the baby.  He says things like "Hey baby", "I love you baby" and he often tells the baby what we're doing "on the outside" and tells baby what he/she has to look forward to - things like throwing the football or basketball and playing trains.

Speaking of Thomas, he is growing up to be such a big boy. He is becoming more and more self-sufficient. He loves to play trains and play with his cars. He also loves to play with his basketball, football and soccer ball. Nearly every day, he is eager for Shawn to get home so they can race up and down the hallway! I think if we let him, he would race continually for an hour or more! He's quite talkative these days and has hilarious things to say. He keeps me laughing, that's for sure. Some of the cute Thomas-isms that I can think of now are:


"Oat-me-meal" - what he calls his oatmeal in the morning; "Ohhhh, thaaaat's riiiight" - he says it like he's grown; "That sounds like a good plan" - if he approves of something I've said or suggested; "How was business today, Daddy?"; "I wish I could go to that Bojangles with Mr. Lucas"; "Hey Mommy, that food is going to go down into your belly and say 'Hey baby, nice to meet you baby'"

Well, those are some of the updates that were on the top of my mind.  Hopefully, I'll have really exciting things to share with you going forward.  Maybe the really exciting stories and wonderful writing will keep you interested, even without pictures. :\ ??

Out of Touch

I know I don't have many followers, but for those of you that do read our updates: just wanted to let you know, if you don't already, that our computer at home has died.  It was a great computer for a long time but he just couldn't go anymore.  So, I'm barely keeping up with email, etc. on Shawn's work computer when I can get on which is usually every few days.  My point.... blogging is probably not going to happen until we get a new computer (not sure when that will be).  I will try to update if possible and when I do update we will be going back in time and catching up.  Pictures definitely won't happen for a while.  :(  Oh well.  Maybe one day I'll get caught up.

A Goofy Halloween

Halloween has come and gone.  I'm glad.  I ate WAY too much candy.  Two bags of Brach's Autumn Mix, you know the bag with chocolate candy corn, regular candy corn and those pumpkins, to be exact.  I ate so much that I really got sick of it and it started to taste yucky...but then I kept eating it.  I need to work on my self-control. :)

We had a Dave Ramsey approved costume this year.  (Don't know Dave Ramsey?  More about him to come soon.)  We borrowed a Goofy costume from some friends.  Thomas was afraid of the hat part at first, but he warmed up to it.  We went trick-or-treating at Shawn's office on Friday afternoon.  Then, that night, our church had a fall festival.  Thomas' favorite part was hugging the Chick-Fil-A cow.  We visited him a number of times and Thomas got to hug him one of those times.  The hug lasted so long that we had to ask him to let go.  He loves the cow!  On Saturday the Museum of Natural Sciences in Downtown Raleigh had a Halloween event where the kids could wear their costumes and there were display tables of lots of Halloween-y animals and creepy-crawlies.  Shawn stood on the other side of the hallway with another mom while Thomas and I touched the snakes.  It was fun.

By Sunday night, which was actually Halloween, we were all Halloweened out and decided to stay home, relax and carve our pumpkins.  I think they turned out pretty well, don't you?

The Father Knows Best

Just wanted to pen a quick note in support of my very best friend in the world.  Kendal has ventured into the world of blogging.  She is not doing a "keep the family updated on my kids, etc." blog, she is doing what I call a "mommy blog".  I've been spending more time lately reading some of the good blogs out there that are supportive of Christian women and moms.  There is really some quality info out there and sometimes the little posts become somewhat of a devotional time for me, as they can be very thought provoking.

Kendal's new blog is titled "The Father Knows Best".  She will be be discussing "God's will for our lives as women, wives and mothers."  If you have any interest, or even if you don't, hop over and support her blog.  I've put her button on the bottom right hand side of this blog or you can find her at http://www.thefatherknowsbest.com/.  Enjoy!  I know I will...  :)

Ganyard Hill Farm

Ganyard Hill Farm, Durham, NC

So, after the weekend, the fun didn't stop.  We met Meme at Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham on Monday morning.

If you go to Ganyard, I think this picture is a requirement. :)

We checked out the animals.  This is a bunny named Lazy.

Played in the barn.

Went down the slide a time or two (hundred).

Said hi to the goats.

Picked some cotton.

Played in the corn pit, where Meme body slammed Thomas into the corn (in the nicest, most grandmotherly way possible, of course).  No really, he had a blast and kept coming back for more. :)

Milked a "cow"

Rode on the hayride.

Picked pumpkins.

...And even posed for a picture with Mama.

Meme, we had a blast!  Looking forward to next year.  Thank you for spending the morning with us. :)

Hill Ridge Farm & The NC State Fair

This past weekend we had more fun than should be allowed in one 3 day period.  Saturday we visited Hill Ridge Farms in Youngsville, Sunday we went to the NC State Fair, and Monday we met Meme at Ganyard Hill Farms in Durham.  What a whirlwind, but oh my, Thomas had a blast!!  The experience is best shared in pictures, so I'm putting them in two separate posts.  Enjoy!

Hill Ridge Farms, Youngsville, NC

We went with The Williams to Hill Ridge Farms, which is a pumpkin patch on steroids.  It has every sort of fun thing you could think of.  It's open all year, but this time of year is great because you get to enjoy all the fall-ish fun and pick out your own pumpkin.

Thomas gave us a photo op at every single animal on this sign (and there were two more not in this picture), but I'll only post this one.

He was excited to get his face painted again.  We let him pick out whatever he wanted and all he wanted was an American flag.  He pointed at the big flag flying at the top of the hill where the slide was and said, "I want a flag like that one"

They have a real Native American tee-pee.  We checked it out.

Sorry for the blur, but he was a blur the whole time in this hay pit.  Mama's allergies didn't enjoy the hay pit but Thomas did!!

My pumpkin, picking out a pumpkin.

We picked our pumpkins and then took the hay ride back to the fun stuff.

Only one of my FAVORITE pictures. A little boy that looks up to his Daddy.

We rode the train.  Choo Choo!!!

 NC State Fair, Raleigh, NC

We decided to head to the state fair on the last day - it's gonna be crowded.  Oh yeah, and it's 80 degrees!!!  REALLY crowded!  Can't say it's one of my favorite places to be, but Thomas had a great time, so it was worth it.

He rode lots of rides, thanks for Nama & Nandaddy.  Here he's rockin the 4-wheelers.

We ate much less junk food than I thought we would - made it out with a lemonade and some cotton candy, which Thomas obviously enjoyed. :)

This was the only roller coaster-type ride in the kiddie area.  Looked a little "jerky" so I suggested that Mr. Williams ride with him.  Glad he did.  Don't know if you can tell, but Thomas was NOT having a blast on this one.  He went from holding on lightly to grasping the bar for his life.  When asked whether he had fun on that one, the reply was "no".

He rode the hot-air balloon ride with another little girl.  They had fun together and were just each other's speed.  They were the only balloon not spinning wildly the entire time.  Isn't this just the sweetest picture??



We capped the day off with some ice cream.

Thank you Nama and Nandaddy for a great weekend!!

Where's Thomas?

Humor me.  See if you can find my son in this picture.

Can't find him??.....

How about now?

Yes, he fell asleep right in front of the door.  After I took pictures, I had to gently nudge him with the door so that I could get in and get him tucked into his bed....his perfectly comfortable bed.