10 Weeks and counting....

It is officially TEN! weeks til we are due to have this baby, which in reality probably means I won't see him for another 11 weeks at least. And although his room is not finished and he doesn't have a name yet, i'm not too stressed. I am definitely more ready to have this baby out this time around. It is still fun getting to feel him move around inside me, but I can't wait to meet him in person, and not be dealing with what seems like every symptom you can have in pregnancy (well maybe not every symptom). I have been feeling ok for the most part, but the bigger I get and the hotter it gets outside, it is becoming quite unpleasant. I think the biggest problem I have right now is not sleeping well at night, then having to get up with Annie and take care of her during the day while I feel exhausted from lack of sleep. But since I have the most wonderful husband in the whole world, he has been so helpful with Annie when he is home in the mornings and at night. I better get used to it though because I know it is not going to get any easier once the baby comes and I am up feeding him all night, then having to care for two during the day. I trust that God will give me grace in my time of need though, and he will be my strength. This is what he has called me to be. What an adventure this will be. Women do it all the time and that gives me hope, HAHA. In all seriousness I am very excited to meet our little man and have two children. Here is my 30 week pic as of this morning.

     So we have been filling our days lately with going to the splash pad at the zoo and the one at the park which has been so fun. Although it feels like 100 degrees out, the kids love playing in the water. Annie loves going with "TyTy" and "Bibby" and running around with them. The first time we went she was very leery of the water splashing everywhere and shooting out from all over, but since we have gone several times now, she loves getting out there and filling her little bucket up so she can go dump it out at some random place only to go fill it up again and do the same thing over and over and over again the whole time we are there. I love that girl! She also got her first little shiner the other night. She was playing on the couch and tripped and fell face first into the end table. It turned black and blue right away and swelled up. We felt so bad for her and babied her the rest of the night.  You can see a little of the black eye in these pics.

We got so hot at the zoo the other day we had to get ourselves some ice cream. Little did I know as we were posing for this pic to send to daddy, Annie was about to lick the ice cream with a mouth full of dorito's, and yes, she did leave them behind for me. I guess she thought I would like dorito/mint flavored ice cream. HaHa.

    So June 14th was Scott and I's 4 year anniversary. I can't believe it has been 4 years already, and I am even more in love with that man now than ever before. He is the peanut butter to my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he is the hop to my skip, the milk to my cookies, the....well you get the point. He was out of town on the day of our anniversary but was able to make it back that evening around ten o'clock. So Annie and I went to Chick-fil-a for dinner to celebrate. Scott actually planned a wonderful getaway overnight in gatlinburg that weekend. We had dinner at the Melting Pot, played putt putt golf, and stayed overnight at a nice hotel. The next day we had a delicious breakfast at the Pancake Pantry, then Scott said we could do whatever I wanted from shopping for a new outfit at the outlets, to doing the new Titanic thing in pigeon forge. We ended up going home because I want to wait to shop until after I am pregnant, and we thought it would be more fun to take Annie with us to the titanic thing. For some reason we just love taking her to things and seeing what she thinks of them, more than what we think.  I don't really have any pics from that unfortunately but here are some beautiful flowers I have growing out front. I love the vibrant colors.

Here is where I got them from. The only place that gets the most sun in our whole yard.

 I forgot to mention that on our Anniversary even though Scott was out of town I got a special delivery from him from edible arrangements. Let me just tell you... This....made....my...day.... They came right after annie and I got back from the gym so I was starving hungry but wanted something healthy to eat, and then this lovely bouquet showed up. Everything was so fresh and juicy and it's making me hungry right now just thinking about it. He was so sweet to do this for me. Don't worry I saved some for him to enjoy when he got back.

 This little stinker thoroughly enjoyed it with me. Her favorite part was eating them off the sticks they came on.

 I have been trying to get Annie to enjoy some other activities so she doesn't get bored with her same toys in the house she has to play with over and over again every day. Plus it's so fun exposing her to new things like finger paint. We started with a paint brush, then it just got down and dirty from there. Here is after she finished her version of Van gough. I think more paint was on her body than the paper. She loved it and I didn't care how messy it was because first of all it was washable, and anyways, I just let her play with the hose after she was done and she pretty much cleaned herself up while having fun with the water..

 Scott went out of town again this week so I visited Peter and Bethany while mom was helping them tile their bathroom. Here are the ladies hard at work.

 And here are the kids hard at play. Peter was watching them while I just hung out while mom and Bethany worked. Annie loves playing with Hudson too. Annie loves all her cousins so much, and it is so fun watching them get older and interact more with each other.

 Getting all cozy and snuggly after playing outside.

 Recently scott has been on this Sonic milkshake thing, so we have been going and getting milkshakes at Sonic after dinner a couple of evenings. Of course since it was after dinner it was close to Annie's bedtime and drinking a milkshake before having to go to bed was not a good combination for us. She would lay in her bed wide awake, making all kinds of noises and fussing some because she was wired from the sugar, before finally drifting off to sleep at like ten o clock at night. But hey! It's summer time and it's fun doing things like this as a family every once and a while. We all really enjoyed the milkshakes too, especially this little girl.

As you have heard me mention Scott has been traveling out of town for business a lot lately so when he goes away, I try to find some way to make myself busy by working on the kids rooms or doing some sort of project to help pass the time. I think that I have been nesting a little too as they call it. While away on one of his trips, mom came over and helped me paint Annie's new room (It's the same green as her other room was because it matched her fabric the best from her baby bedding). I decided to keep the same color scheme for her from her baby room because I love the colors and you can easily turn it into a cute toddler room using the same colors but just throwing a few extra things in there. On another trip Scott took I threw all her stuff on the walls and painted the circles you see in the pic, and brought all her closet stuff over, and toys. Now the only things left to move into her new room is her dresser clothes(which I need to still get a dresser) and the little girl herself.

 And on another trip Scott took, I decided to paint the babies room. Since I am going for Safari theme I stuck with a good tan on the walls and I will dress them up with decorations. I went shopping and found some great African animal figures of moms and babies and thought they would go perfect. I can't believe I found these guys at Burlington Coat Factory. Who knew?

 This below was from Hobby Lobby. I know this doesn't look much like a babies room but I love this theme so much and I don't think the baby will care what his room looks like until he's like 10 years old or something like that. Don't worry I will still put some stuff up to help stimulate him as they say. I'm not finished yet, this is just so far.

 And here are some cute elephants that were also at hobby lobby. There are really some cute things on pottery barn kids too that I like, but I have to slow down on the spending right now, especially since there are more important things to purchase like sheets and bedding and stuff for when he actually gets here. My mom is actually going to make the bedding for me as soon as we figure out the fabrics we like. I'll show you all that stuff later.

Well that's it for now

Your Truly

It's Summertime!!!!

Well Summer is in full swing here in knoxville, TN. We have already enjoyed lots of outdoor activities including golfing, boating, and swimming. I'll admit it's been getting a little difficult motivating myself to get outside being pregnant and all, but I want to get Annie out to enjoy being outside so I just try to be careful and not be out too long to get overheated or anything.
      I can't believe how close we are getting to having baby number 2 (our little unnamed man). I'm getting excited now knowing we are in our third trimester and there is an end in sight. This has certainly been a more uncomfortable pregnancy than my last. Perhaps it's because with the first you are so excited to experience anything related to baby, even heartburn is exciting. Yes I admit I didn't mind it the first time around because it was related to pregnancy. Now i'm a little more anxious to have him in my arms more than my belly. I probably feel this way because I now have a toddler that I am running around after and caring for so I get worn out a little quicker. I don't want to be ungrateful though, in fact I am so very thankful that God has kindly blessed us with another child to add to our family. I admit sometimes I get nervous thinking about caring for two, but after talking with other women/moms in the church I am very encouraged knowing that God gives grace to the humble, and I'll be the first to admit I can't do this on my own. Annie has been such a wonderful addition already to our family I know another baby will be more fun. Speaking of Annie..... She is now saying words to let me know when she needs or wants something. Sometimes I understand what she says and sometimes I don't. She is getting so old and grown up. The thing she says most now is "HELP". Whenever she is doing something and can't finish or just can't do it she starts saying help. help. Then I tell her to say help PLEASE. "NO" is her favorite word now also, we are trying to teach her to say no thank you, or yes instead. She is a pretty good girl for the most part. I love her sweetness so much. We have decided to wait to start potty training until after the baby is born, but she is showing great signs moving in the right direction. A couple of weeks ago, she pee-peed on her little potty, and a couple of days ago she pooped on her potty. These were the first times I took her diaper off to sit on the potty, and sure enough she went potty. It's a good sign but we are still working on her letting us know when she has gone in her diaper and more aware of what she is doing. Plus we must first deal with the challenge of moving her to a big bed and that's a little more time sensitive than pottying.  I will have to put up pictures of Annie's new room (same color scheme just a little more fun), and the babies room. I finally get to have my safari theme room! Yay!!! I will show you that stuff later, in the meantime enjoy some pics of our updates lately. Enjoy.....

 Playing at the splash-pad water park on a hot day with other friends from church and cousin ty-ty and libby.

 Golfing with Daddy, Lucy, uncle Josh, and Paw-paw last Sunday. The girls liked playing in all the sandboxes all over the course. Lucy was helpful entertaining Annie.

 Chasing each other around on the golf course, to distract the golfers.

 So Annie is so attached to her blankie that I have had to practice leaving it in her bed unless she is going to sleep, only then can she have it. But of course this is what she does. She sneaks in her room and tries to pull it through the crib rails, if she can't get it, then she just lays down on the floor with whatever part she can get a hold of. It's kind of humorous because when she really wants it, she starts saying "night-night" to go to sleep just so she can have it.

 This pool we got for her last year but never pulled it out, so we pulled it out on the back deck and she  likes it so far. Daddy put a little soap on her slide for her so she could slide down it easier.

 Annie had her first wake boarding experience with Scott the other day. She did great. My phone didn't take the best pics but below she is actually waving at us. She seemed to enjoy it, and it's a great start. She trusts her daddy so much.

 I got her all warm and cozy after her ride, in her pj's.

 This was when we had our first swim at the YMCA this summer. We have a membership so we can go to the pool anytime we want to. They have a great kid pool outside. P.S. I have really been enjoying my friday morning Zumba class at the gym. It's a fun way to get cardio. I'm the only large pregnant girl in the back struggling to keep up HAHA. I'm sure I look pretty goofy dancing with my big belly, but I know it's good for me.

 Here was another boat day with Adam and Holly and Matt and Shannon on memorial weekend. We went out on Sunday and had another fun boat day. Above is the guys floating in the water to cool off with the kids, and below we are eating at Willies (our favorite restaurant on the water). We like to pull the boat up and eat here while spending the day on the water.

 Annie and Judah were enjoying the live music down below.

 That is one boat full of Kiddos.

 Ty-Ty loved the boat and had pretty good sea legs moving around while the boat was in motion.

 Annie snuggling with Aunt Shanny.

Thats all for now folks.

Yours Truly.