Happy Thanksgiving!

From me and my turkeys!








I hope y'all had a blessed day of thanks with your families!

Lastly, here's a few pics of me and the Mister after our family pics the other day. I had to post them because he rarely agrees to taking pictures period. He must've just been "in the mood" after an hour with a professional a little earlier ...





Happy Black Friday for all you crazies braving the stores today. Me? I'm all about Cyber Monday. Shopping in my jammies? Yes please.

Have a great weekend loverlies!

Catching Up.

AGAIN.
Yes I know.
Here's a quick picture catch up ...


Crafting to "big boy up" C's room ...



Someone had his first ice cream cone, I think he liked it ...



I crafted a little burlap door hanger for Halloween ...



We went to visit my BF a sweet P who just got married and moved about 2 hours away ...



And visited out first of two pumpkin patches ...




















(Love that little booty)




The Mister and I went to my Silly & brother's Halloween party as a golfer and barefoot & pregnant (no I didn't have on shoes, yes my feet were freezing) ...






C hated dressed up as the Cookie Monster and really loved trick or treating with all our new neighbors and their precious kids ...


(Notice me holding his hands down so he won't rip off his hat)



HATED.
IT.


I grew ...



And grew ...



Celebrated baby Gage (who just arrived on November 9!) at my cousins baby shower ...



ANNNNDDDD C turned TWO! I can't even believe it ...








(SO blessed to have TWO great grandmas in his life)




And then this week the sick FUNK has hit my home. C had the tummy bug and I've had the cold from hell. I thiiinnnnkk we're all out of the woods. It's my own dang fault for actually thinking in my mind a few days ago, "Hey, no one's been sick in awhile, that's nice." Never, NEVER think that on purpose. Or you will be sick live to regret it.

And last but not least there is a DARLING giveaway at this precious blog.



They're giving away that outfit (of the school of your choice). Are you KIDDING me with the cuteness of her boys at BU homecoming?!?

On top of all that, I'm feeling great (people, if you can control it, BE PREGNANT IN THE FALL/WINTER. Night & day I tell you, NIGHT & DAY!) and getting more and more excited to meet this little boy each day!

So there you have it! I'll check back in a month soon I promise!

On Being a Boy Mom.

First and foremost thank y'all for every sweet thought and note you left on the blog regarding our having another sweet boy. We are SO excited! I can't wait to meet this little boy who, since he's jumped on and stumbled over every day by his big brother, is sure to be a tough little guy. And speaking of ...

I'm sitting here watching the debates and my thoughts started to wander to dreaming about who this little person is that's thumping around inside my tummy. Thumping as a result, I'm sure, from being annoyed with listening to these guys argue back and forth.

I won't speak for all moms but for me it's so different being pregnant this time around. The first time I was still my selfish self. You don't realize how selfish you are until you have a child. I also had no idea how much I could love. Not that I love my child more than my husband, that's not what I'm saying. But the love you feel for a spouse is a love that matures and grows and develops over time. Matures and grows and develops stronger and stronger. The love for your child is immediate. It explodes in your heart the minute you lay eyes on them and you know, IMMEDIATELY, that you would lay down in front of a truck, take a bullet, do ANYTHING to protect them from emotional and physical harm until you take your last breath. Its a terrifyingly wonderful kind of love. Knowing that love makes this pregnancy different. I felt it the day I knew I was pregnant. I wanted to protect that little peanut with every fiber of my being. This time, I knew what I stood to lose.

Saying all of that, let me come to another point. Having two boys. I honestly had NO preference on if this baby was a boy or girl. Well, that's a lie. The one thing I cared about and still do care about is that he's healthy. And praise the Lord so far he is. Having said that there is one thing that, as a now solely boy mom, burns me up and has since I've had C. When I first announced that C was a boy I got comments like "oh that's good, have your boy first and then you can have your girl" or "well maybe the next one will be a girl" and such things of that nature. They annoyed me at the time but I looked past them and got over it. But this time? THIS time? I got the same thing. I even got some "are you disappointed?" or "well, now you'll just have to have a third." But this time? THIS time? It PISSED me off.

Am I DISAPPOINTED?!? That I've been blessed with a healthy, precious, miracle of God? Am I DISAPPOINTED that, when tons of people suffer with infertility, miscarriage and other such heartbreaking issues we were blessed with a baby? Really? REALLY?!? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Did I miss something somewhere? Does it say somewhere that having girls is the only acceptable gender of babies to get excited about? Don't get me wrong I love me some precious baby girls. I love me some precious baby boys. I love me some BABIES. They are a portrait of innocence and purity and are precious, precious gifts of God. But I would never, NEVER act disappointed when I found out someone was having the same gender for a second, third, fourth (God help you) etc etc baby. Never.

So a word to the wise to those that don't have children or those that only know bows and ruffles. Don't act disappointed for your friends or acquaintances that are blessed with boys for the second time. Because these knee-scraping, dirt-eating, rambunctious-acting, loud-talking sweet souls they are raising up will someday become the husbands of your ruffle-bottomed, bow-headed, baby doll-loving, tender-hearted precious girls and their momma's don't need the idea that they received the short end of the gender stick. The good news is we already know we didn't. Because these boys, in the middle of running full speed at our legs, smacking the dog in the head with their trains and jumping on your back for piggy back rides will stop, walk over and give you a kiss smack on the lips and wrap their arms around your neck. At that moment, they're just your baby. Boy, girl, toddler or grownup, your baby. Until your very last breath. And your heart could not be more full.

(DISCLAIMER: This is not directed at a particular friend or acquaintance so please don't be sitting around wondering if you're the one that said any of these things. If you know me well enough to be reading this, you probably didn't.)

Catching Up With a Picture DUMP!

Heyyyyy there.  Remember when I told y'all I was pregnant?  And then fell off the planet?  Well I think I'm, very slowly, returning to earth.  I have been SO much sicker with this pregnancy than I was with C (of course, the pregnancy where I have a 22 mo old to chase after.  FIGURES)  But I think I'm out of the woods in that area.  I'm starting to actually be able to think about meat and vegetables again, watch TV commercials that involve any form of food without evoking my gag reflex and drink liquids that aren't water and milk.

Anywho, back to returning from outer space.  So we went to Michigan while I was secretly preggo.  And man I felt awful the whole. time.  Good news I was there with the majority of my family (minus the Mister, he had to work) and they were SUPER helpful with C giving me time to rest, relax, veg and have a little vacay time.  So let's get to the photo dump part ...

{Little man rocked the plane ride.  Mainly because he was in a state of hypnosis brought on by Thomas and Barney.}

{Um, pretty much loved the beach.}

{LOVED.}

{Just like his momma.  HATES when the ice cream's all gone!}

{Feelin' pukey but trying to look snazzy with my Silly and little sister.}

{Last day.  Couldn't resist this precious picture of my little man trottin' down to the beach.}

{And of course we got delayed on the way home so little man needed a "nack".  And I promise he's not jaundiced.  I was trying to be all "artsy" and used a setting on Instagram that came out ... a bit ... well, jaundiced.}

We had such a great time, we spent the majority of the time going to the darling town and shopping, cooking fantastic (that didn't sound so fantastic to me at the time, vom vom VOM-a-thon) dinners at the lake house, lounging on the beach, chasing C and relaxing.  It was a great time with my fabulous family.  

Also this summer, we had our first chocolate chip cookie ...

{You know you want a cookie now don't you?  Sorry he didn't get the "chew with your mouth closed" memo.  Ga-ross.  But hilarious nonetheless.}

And learned how to use a spoon ... 

{Who's mom of the year and puts Christmas jammies on their kid in August?  Me.  Right here.}

My best friend on the planet got engaged, we threw her a bachelorette party and she got married in a span of 2 months and words cannot EXPRESS how much my heart is filled with joy because of all of these events.  Her sweet hubby is a COMPLETE answer to prayer.  Watching them start their life together has been and will continue to be such a blessing.  Amazing.  

{Celebrating right after she got engaged.  This was obviously before I found out I was preg.  Hey there wine. Ohhhhhhhhhhh how I miss you.}

{The bachelortette (up top) at her dinner party.  And hey there zit mouth.  Thanks pregnancy hormones.}

These two continued their summer love affair ...

{Going in for the kill, approaching the target, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!}

I decided to get crafty to make something for my huge living room wall that I was having trouble filling up ...

{I'll let you guess what the last date ended up being ...}

I grew ...

And grew ... 

Oh and then we found out some more news ...

That's right!  C is going to have a LITTLE BROTHER!  And we couldn't be MORE thrilled!  I'm already used to a house full of testosterone, bring on some more!  I'll just have to be ALL the girly this house can take.  And I think I can handle that (smile).

So there you have it.  12 weeks of catch-up in one post.  If you've made it this far, you get a cookie.  Maybe C will share his with you?

Why I've Been Even MORE Mia Than Usual ...

Catching Up, AGAIN ...

Anyone else feel like the summer's flying by?

SHEEZ.

The last weekend in June the Mister kept C while I headed to San Antonio for a girl's weekend with my friend Amanda.

This is how the trip started out ...


And this is how it continued ...

















But the MAIN reason we went was to see this ...












That's right. Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour. OOOOMMMMMGGGGG it was amazing. Amanda and I both cried. Oh how I love MJ.

But it was great to get home to this guy ...



With his "kick-car" (guitar) that I brought him.

I promise to update about more later. Since then we've had Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (poor baby) and gone to my stepdad's lake house in Michigan and done all sorts of other summery stuff.

It'll be fall before we know it! I'm not going to lie, I'm ready for it!