fun on the 4th!

we had a blast this 4th of july. we started our day with the parade in baxter and parker loved collecting all of the candy they were throwing. thankfully he doesn't realize exactly what candy is yet--soooooo helpful with all of the food allergies issues! we did give him a lollipop which he kept saying "hmmm I like it!" over and over again!

then we headed to the pool for the first time this season since i finally had the "all clear" from my orthopedic surgeon to get my foot wet. parker was a bit scared of the water at first, but after about 3o minutes he became obsessed with the frog slide. brandon's job was to keep up with him the whole time since i couldn't really walk around yet without my beloved boot. after pool time, we all headed home to relax and rest up since we were invited to enjoy BBQ with friends of ours later in the afternoon. it's so nice having good friends that have young kids for parker to play with!

we were hoping to take parker to see the fireworks this year and that had been the plan all along until we realized they didn't start until 9:45. they shoot fireworks over the lake near our neighborhood, so we have an awesome spot BUT by the time 7:30 rolled around (parker's normal bedtime) we realized that keeping him up for another 2and half hours just until the fireworks even started was going to be a challenge and we would most likely end up paying for it the next day. SO, that being said, no fireworks this year :-( maybe next year i won't be 9 months pregnant and will be up for the challenge!

here are some pics from the day--i attempted to shoot 100% manual which was a great learning experience but as you will see it took a while for me to get the settings just right!




at the parade.........

with mommy--it is SO HARD to get him to take a pic with me these days!

bbq at our friends, kate's saying grace:

at the pool, seriously could NOT get him to sit still for this one!

with daddy at the pool

two weeks

so it's two weeks left until show time. of course i'm hoping it's not really two weeks and of course given my history (parker was 12 days late), it could be longer. BUT past performance does not predict future results as my mutual funds state. in the meantime, i'm enjoying some down time and trying to keep myself busy. i have several more accessories to paint/purchase for the nursery and of course i'm entertaining myself with sewing projects. now that i no longer have a 6th toe (the dreaded pin) i'm cleared to go to the pool starting sunday YAY! my plan is to spend every morning next week basking in the sun and enjoying some mommy bonding time with parker at the pool. i'm also getting the itch to start working JUST A LITTLE BIT soon. i'm the kind of person that doesn't know what to do with myself if i don't have some goals set in place. now that i've passed my real estate exam and technically i'm the VP of the Jackson Real Estate Group, i'm going to start helping brandon with his business. SO stay tuned as one of my marketing objectives for the company is to start a real estate blog with tips and useful information for clients and future clients. AND of course if you know of anyone looking to buy or sell a home call me! we are going to have another mouth to feed very soon :-)

busy week

it's been a busy week, but life has been great! i had my real estate exam tuesday morning and i passed! i'm so thankful to have that behind me now as i was spending every free second i had studying for this thing. now that it's over, i've been enjoying crossing things off "my list" and am in full nesting mode!

i've also had the chance to get back to the sewing machine and work on my new design line Sassy Cakes Designs. i'm SO excited about this as i love designing kids items full of sassiness with great colors and fabrics! my hope is to offer unique boutique gifts and clothing at non-boutique pricing. it's all still a work in progress, but stay tuned for my website launch coming soon. www.sassycakesdesigns.com!

in the meantime, here are just a few of the small projects i worked on this week:

monogramming on this one by welcomebaby.biz.

i should be getting new patterns in any day now and will have some super-cute girls clothing to share--check back soon!

top 10 tuesday

some of my randomness for you to enjoy:

1) i'm out and about cruisin' in my boot! thank you lord! now if i could only drive again.

2) i'm so jealous of all my friends who are spending each day this summer working on a lovely tan by the pool. i'm hoping for some good news from the foot doctor this friday and maybe i can get my foot wet soon.

3) potty training is back on. parker is going #1 in the potty rather successfully and he's even keeping his diaper dry at nap an night time again. orange skittles seem to be a great motivator. i think it's funny that he ONLY picks out the orange ones!

4) i just got photoshop elements today and i am EXCITED! BUT...

5) for the record, windows vista REALLY sucks. why can't it just work normally? why does it cause so many problems and why aren't there any fixes??? why can't i get my computer to connect to the internet??? this is really interfering with my social life these days, especially since i'm stuck at home when b's working.

6) parker likes to sing and dance to madagascar--he likes to "move it move it" :-)

7) i'm running out of room, i've got all sorts of body parts poking out my stretched stomach. OFFICIAL NOTICE--the eviction notice is going out in 3 weeks. it would be sooner if i didn't have this metal pin sticking out of my foot (pin to be removed in 2 and a half weeks lord willing!).

8) i can't believe i don't have the nursery painted already. good news, my mother in law is having someone come and paint tne nursery and the boys' bathroom for me YAY!!!

9) i'm taking my real estate exam next tuesday. i pray that i can pass this thing and that my pregnancy brain would somehow function normally again and get the oxygen it needs to remember all this information.

10) aren't you proud that i'm blogging more? i'm trying to do better, but no promises with the next little one on the way. not sure how much time i'll have with two little ones.

35 weeks and counting

today is the day--i've hit the 35 week mark. this is a big milestone thanks to my friend allie who was pregnant with me the first go around. she was my "marker" during that pregnancy as she was SUPPOSED to be due just a month before me, however, kate decided to speed things along and surprise us all 5 weeks early :-) let's just say in all of my first pregnancy paranoia, my bags were packed that night at 30 weeks!

anywho, i can't believe it's here already and this go around i'm just starting the packing process. normally at this point i would be anxious to get this baby out of here, but it's weird this pregnancy--now having a broken foot and waiting for the dreaded pin to be removed (about 3 more weeks to go!), i'm not in such a hurry to have this baby. yes my stomach is huge, bending over is a challenge and feet are constantly up in my ribs all day long, BUT this pin sticking a half inch out of my pinky toe has worked great as a distraction! and do i really want to go through labor with it still in my foot?!?!? it seems as if God has planned this perfectly though like he always does. i've got 5 more weeks to go and assuming i don't pull and allie (love you girl!), i'll get my pin out at 38 weeks and have just enough time to hit the pool and work on a tan (sans boot), get a massage and have beautifully manicured toes all in time for the arrival of my little sweet pea!

"see you later alligator"

another cute thing this little munchkin has started saying--i love it!!!

recovery

well, we are in day 4 post-op and hanging in there. it is really hard on a nesting mama to not be able to be on her feet! i feel like i am constantly asking for EVERYTHING and bless everyone's heart who have had to deal with me! each day gets a little bit better, but all i want is this stinkin' pin out of my foot! not only is the mere thought of a pin in your foot nauseating, but to constantly FEEL it there and be reminded of it is just awful. not to mention i totally hit it the other day which hurt like CRAZY!!!

on a lighter note, parker is becoming more and more toddler everyday, which means more emotions, more independence and more super-cute things that come out of his mouth! lately he'll say "hi buddy" when he sees me and brandon or he'll load up his large dump truck, put on a hat and say "bye! see you later!" and run off pushing his truck. oh and he has to pile ALL of his books in bed with him at nap and bed time! it's so funny to watch him in the baby monitor reading books to himself. i just hope i can recover quickly so i can spend some great time with parker before he has to share me when his brother arrives. i was SO looking forward to spending this summer at the pool with parker every day, but it looks like that's on hold for now :-(

wow, what a week!

it's been beyond a crazy week needless to say! the craziness began last Sunday when in all of my pregnancy clumsiness i took a bad step walking down the stairs to my garage and fell and broke my foot. the actual fall wasn't all that bad, but as soon as I did it, I heard and felt a "pop" in my foot. all night i tried to convince myself that the "pop" was just the stuff that I dropped and my foot was NOT BROKEN, i mean i'm 34 weeks pregnant i CAN'T have a broken foot!!!! but by the next morning my foot had swollen so bad that it clearly wasn't looking promising. luckily i was able to get in with orthocarolina monday and after seeing the x-rays, there was pretty much no question that my foot was broken. and by broken i mean, full break, bone badly displaced.

i was then referred to see an orthopedic foot surgeon to determine if i needed surgery or not. finding an available foot surgeon in the charlotte area is nearly impossible, and if i did need surgery it needed to happen ASAP before my foot started to heal. luckily i was able to get a specialist appointment on tuesday, but unluckily this doctor wasn't very accomodating to mine or my baby's needs and there was no way i was going to have him perform the surgery he was suggesting. i called orthocarolina and requested another appointment with a different doctor--by the grace of God i was able to get in with a wonderful doctor! after walking through a bunch of scenarios, pros and cons, life with two active boys in the future we determined that it would be best to move forward with the surgery this week.

so we woke up this morning at 4:30am, packed my bags and headed to the hospital. the trip totally reminded us of when we headed to the hospital to deliver parker, except we weren't going to be leaving with a sweet bundle of joy this time. not for another 6 weeks. thankfully the surgery went very well and baby boy did great. the hospital staff was phenomenal in taking care of me and the baby. now i'm just sitting on the couch recovering, typing this post with a bag of frozen peas wrapped around my left foot. i should be pretty mobile in my "boot" in a few days and the pin should be out in 4 weeks just in time for baby to arrive.

thanks to everyone for their prayers, support and encouragement during all of this! and what a blessing to have such great parents and in-laws in town to help out with taking care of me and chasing around parker!

oh and before i go, did i mention that we added a trip to the urgent care for parker in the midst of everything this week? yeah, parker fell and hit the wall corner and split his head open. sooooo, off to the urgent care we went tuesday night and three stitches later we headed back home.

now i'm just waiting to see what this next week brings :-)


Recovery:


Check out my pin!

parker's 2nd birthday party!

parker's 2nd birthday party was a blast. first, we had both sets of parents in town plus my brother and sister-in-law. it was so great to have so much family around to celebrate and help out! parker's latest obsession is curious george so we of course had a curious george themed party this year, which he just loved! seriously, i've never seen the boy so excited before in my life! from the minute he woke up from his nap until we encouraged him to settled down before bed time, he was non-stop on the go! he loved his balloons, LOVED opening all of his presents--he didn't/couldn't wait until i had planned for them to be opened and his egg-free curious george cake turned out great! thanks to my sister-in-law melissa for doing such a great job decorating!!!

planning a birthday party for two year olds was much more involved than last year. this year the kids are mobile so you have to have something to do with them, plus we had some older kids join us as well. originally the plan was to have a bunch of outdoor activities, but with all of the storms and rain, we moved everything inside which actually turned out just fine. i had several "games" planned, but it turns out that kids are pretty much still easily entertained by balloons and food. brandon and i had spent weeks working on the backyard to fix the drainage and re-sod where the water was sitting and destroying our grass specifically for parker's party. so unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy the new backyard, but it was probably best for the fresh sod anyways.


overall, i was thrilled with the party and happy to see my baby so happy! i'm also so thankful for such great friends and family--thank you all for sharing in such a special day for us!!!



here are some pics from the special day:

family pic with birthday boy--wish i could get him to look and stop drinking his milk!

my mom, sister-in-law (cake decorator) and brother

curious george

egg free curious george cake!!!

parker on his new ride, a birthday present from mommy and daddy. he was SO excited to get this!

blowing out the candles with daddy. parker actually tried to eat the flame!

top 10 tuesday

i've never done this before, but i thought it might be something fun to blog about each week. here's this tuesday's top 10 random stuff:

1) we had a crazy busy memorial day weekend this year and are still recuperating. we had A LOT of family in town for parker's 2nd birthday party. the party was a huge success despite the rain and a lot of people were able to come! stay tuned for a separate blog for the details and pics!

2) i'm happy to say we were able to make parker an egg free birthday cake this year--yay! it actually tasted really good too!

3) i'm officially signed up to take my real estate exam june 16th. YIKES!

4) i'm also officially in full nesting mode--T minus 7.5 weeks. DOUBLE YIKES!

5) if this rainy weather would ever leave charlotte, i'm looking forward to hittin' up the pool this weekend.

6) and if i can get a break from studying and nesting, i've got some new, super cute sewing projects i'm anxious to get started on!

7) B and I have finished week 2 of P90X, granted we've been doing it for 3 weeks now, but due to the stomach bug, we had a little hiatus in between weeks.

8) potty training is still a work in progress, with very little progress :-(

9) i'm looking forward to date night this week to celebrate my birthday since B and I were so sick on my actualy birthday. 3 weeks later, i think we can handle some mexican food!

10) in preparation for parker's birthday party, brandon and i successfully completed our landscaping project, which included a french drain (sounds impressive right?) and re-sodding a chunk of our backyard. unfortunately it rained, so we didn't even use it for the party, but at least it's another big item i can cross off of my "before baby#2 comes" list.

parker speak

i thought it would be fun to share a few of parker's favorite phrases right now. there are plenty more as he's talking in sentences more and more these days, but here are the few i can actually think of right this second as i publish this post:

"i do it" (he is obsessed with this one and must try and do everything by himself first)

"Mom!" (it's no longer Mommy--he sounds so much older when he does this)

"bye....wuv you" (always makes my heart melt!)


"yah!" (he says this even when he means "no")

"pack pack" (backpack)

"down" (he says this when he wants me to pick him up which is ALL THE TIME these days--he does correct himself and say up as he knows the difference)

"my turn"


"i sorry"


"whoa" (that's how he says "hello" and continues to jabber while pretending to have a conversation on the phone)

and our favorite, which started yesterday, is calling us by our first names :-)

blessed

i just celebrated my second mother's day and i am so beyond thankful to be a mom. being a mom has been the most rewarding yet challenging job i have had. i always knew i wanted to be a mom with lots of kids, but i really had no idea as to the emotional impact it would have on my life, not to mention how it would change my relationship with God. now i can truly understand God's love for me and the sacrifice He made for us.

as i celebrated mother's day this week, i was also reminded of how blessed i am to have my son Parker and to be expecting another one very soon, you see many of my friends right now are going through fertility challenges, medical issues with their children and the loss of a young child. so while there are moments (sometimes days!)where i'm challenged to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion thanks to my strong-willed and very bright child (and i know you fellow moms know exactly what i'm talking about!), i have been trying to be grateful for these moments and cherish them with all my heart. oh how i am learning to welcome these precious times and actually smile when it's the 3rd time my child has had an accident in one day! i think about how some of my friends would give anything to have these moments with their children again.

easter pics WAY late :-)

better late than never right!

this year we had some wonderful friends invite us the week before easter to an easter egg hunt. parker had a blast and somehow knew just what to do with finding eggs and putting them in his basket. we then had another egg hunt in our backyard on easter day. enjoy the pics!

takin' care of business

***please note: this was NOT a set up!

potty training fun!

so last week we decided to start potty training parker by accident. i mean, we had been planning to start the process for a while, but i guess i was being my perfectionistic self and procrastinating for fear that i would do it wrong. but when i decided to let parker run around the house naked for an hour the other day just to "see what would happen", he quickly learned all about his bodily functions! so the next day when he came up to me and said "pee pee" with his pants down, i just knew i had to jump on this window of opportunity. parker then successfully went "pee pee on the potty". brandon and i made such a production about it and was thrilled to experience the pure yumminess of an M&M for the first time, that parker decided to go "pee pee on the potty" another 20 plus times in the next 30 minutes so he could see our pure joy and get his treat.

we are still in the midst of the training, but doing pretty well. i mean, parker does great just as long as he doesn't need to wear any pants :-) so this week i've been working with him on wearing his big boy undies and also using the potty in the car. yesterday was a blast when we spent 15 minutes grocery shopping at harris teeter and then another 30 minutes in the parking lot going "pee pee on the potty" 6 times. what else was i supposed to do? every time i tried to put him in his car seat to go home, he would yell "pee pee!!!!" and sure enough he would go on the potty. that's what i wanted right??? still i'm amazed that he's gotten this far and he's not even 2. my little boy is growing up way too fast.

belly shot

here's a shot of my belly at 25 weeks and my next little boy!

Super Glue and Other Fun Stuff

So this morning as we were just about to head out the door to go to the gym, Parker fell and sustained his first "real" injury. He busted his eyebrow open and honestly it wasn't that bad (i.e. not much blood and the tears went away after a few minutes), but after further inspection the cut did look a little deep so off to the pediatrician's office we went. Luckily Dr. Smoak was able to use the medical super glue and seal that bad boy shut. Sure beats paying the Urgent Care copay for stitches! Since this will be, I'm sure, the first of many injuries to come, here is a photo documenting the incident:

See, not so bad, but it was definitely in need of some doctoring by a professional.

And since I haven't posted in so long, here's a few updates on the rest of us. Brandon's been busy selling houses and there's actually signs that the market may be turning around woohoo!!!!!! I'm about 6 months along with boy #2 and pretty much feel great minus the sciatica back pain I've had for the last few months. Some days I'm as good as new, others I can barely walk. I tend to do better once Brandon has given me a little massage :-) I've been busy "nesting" trying to get the boys' rooms organized. Parker is going to move into a big boy room with big boy furniture and baby #2 (the name's a surprise!) is going to get the hand me downs. Poor little guy. I've also been busy studying up on photography so I can attempt to get some great newborn shots when "little guy" is here. I've been trying to practice some new techniques on Parker, but he is always on the go! I need a subject that doesn't move so I'm going to borrow some friends babies to practice on. Parker's been doing great--still as active as can be, obviously. He's still super sweet and loves to give out kisses, especially when he's in trouble :-) He's also started talking in 2-3 word sentences so we've been having a blast!

And here are some pics of Parker from March:

Here's his new haircut:

Showing off his moves:

Ready for the beach!
Calvin Klein Jeans Ad:

Catching Up!

i have no idea where to even begin. as you can see i've been quite the SLACKER! Now that i've joined the ranks of the unemployed and am lovin' every minute of being a stay at home mommy, i've really got no excuse!

first things first, i am happy to publicly post that i am pregnant again AND i've just hit the honeymoom period of every pregnancy "the second trimester". i still require naps here and there, but the morning sickness is GONE. this time around it was quite awful and knocked me off my feet for a good 7 weeks!

second, Thanksgiving was fabulous with a trip to blowing rock with the family. we cut down our 10 foot Christmas tree, strapped it on the Acadia and headed home before we left the mountains. Christmas was a blast as well, with my parents coming into town and Parker enjoying his actual presents this year, more than the paper and boxes. all in all, the holidays were great and we are blessed!

on the horizon for 2009, i am busy nesting like a crazy woman in preparation for number 2--due july. my house WILL BE super organized by then! i've also started studying photography more and have been learning some new stuff on my camera, so stay tuned for some photog posts. i need to get back into the sewing groove as well as i've got some super-cute items i want to make.

update on the little guy, parker's doing great. he has literally EXPLODED with words. he learns multiple new words every day and speaks in sentences, although i usually have no idea what he is saying. he enjoys going to gymboree every week where he can run around, tumble, climd and slide. i am counting down the days until spring will be here! although i am thankful for the dusting of snow we got today--it is a rarity here in charlotte!

hopefully i will do better posting more regularly this year--it's one of my goals, so we'll see how well i do. take care.