Winter Wonderland!

The day after Christmas we woke up to about 7 inches of snow. That's certainly a lot for this area and especially in December. The boys were super excited. Just before Christmas I had purchased new water-proof mittens for the boys at Walmart. They were the only things I could find last minute, so they would have to do. Chandler did okay with them, but Brighton was not a fan and would keep pulling them off and then cry because his hands got cold. Brighton did best if we distracted him from eating snow (which he could do all day) by pulling him on the sled.

Here's Chandler eating snow. Why do kids like to do this so much??

Chandler, Brighton, and Maverick gave me a Flip for Christmas. I was super excited and wasn't expecting it at all. I took a few videos of the boys sledding and also building a small snowman. When I figure out how to add the videos to the blog I'll post one here.

Christmas Recap:

We had a very nice Christmas. Our Christmas tradition begins with opening up one present on Christmas Eve. The boys got new pajamas and you can see the excitement on Brighton's face as he tosses them over his head.

The boys also had fun setting out milk and cookies in anticipation for Santa's arrival.

Santa was very good to our boys and Chandler got his wish for a race car. Here he is with Dad and Brighton testing it out. They were on their way to the kitchen where it was easier to pedal. Later that day Chandler pedaled it several times up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. Granddaddy Bob, Mimi, Grandma, and Nanny came over later in the morning and had a nice lunch of ribs and baked potatoes with us. It was a great meal enjoyed by all.

My Aunt Judy and Uncle Johnny have moved up to Raleigh from Mount Pleasant, SC. Their daughter, Jenny and granddaughter, Chloe are also living with them. They came over about 4 p.m. to visit with us. Chandler, Chloe, and Brighton had fun playing with play-dough after dinner. Chandler even tested out his new Wii game featuring Diego. He caught on to it very quickly and I'm sure will be great at it soon.

It was shortly after dark that the snow began to fall.....a white Christmas.....can you believe it? According to WRAL we haven't had measurable snow in Raleigh on Christmas day since 1947. We woke up the next day to this!

In Memory of Uncle Dennis

Dennis Seagle passed away on December 26th, 2010. He was a wonderful husband, father, and uncle. I have so many fond memories of him and my heart aches for his family. Here is a favorite picture of mine from Brighton's Baptism. Dennis is holding Chandler, and tickling him. This truly captures his fun loving spirit.

This picture: Back row, Joel, Uncle Dennis (holding Chandler), Aunt Elizabeth

Front row, Erin, Grandmother Cooke (holding Brighton), Me

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free,

I'm following the path God laid for me.

I took his hand when I heard his call,

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day,

To laugh, to love, to work, to play.

Tasks left undone must stay that way,

I've found that peace at the end of the day.

If my parting has left a void,

Then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,

Ah, yes, these things too I will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow,

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My Life's been full, I savoured much,

Good friends, good times, a loved one' touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,

Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your heart and share with me,

God wanted me now, He set me free.

Christmas Unwrapped!

Tonight the family headed out to Crossroads Fellowship where Mimi and Granddaddy Bob attend church. They were having a family event called "Christmas Unwrapped" that had games and inflatables for kids, many live music events including carolers, bands, and a chorus. There was also a live nativity with real animals. The boys had a blast. Here they are getting ready to race through the obstacle course.

Dad had to help them out because Brighton (and Chandler too) needed a boost up this mountain.

Here's Chandler diving down the slide!

There were also free cookies and drinks which were a hit with the boys. They especially liked dancing to the live music as seen in this video:

Baby Belly!

So I'm finally getting around to getting some belly shots! Let's just call these 25 weeks. I definitely look pregnant now, but if I'm wearing clothing that's not tight fitting people aren't so sure. I'm feeling like the last week I've really popped out. I'm starting to not be able to bend over so easily and getting the boys dressed can be challenging. Luckily Chandler is pretty self sufficient and I can sometimes get him to dress Brighton, although Brighton normally demands that mommy do it.

Here's a couple shots of a nursery that is giving me inspiration for Maverick's room. The theme is going to be hot air balloons and airplanes. I really like the look in these two pictures. I don't think putting up chair rail in the room is in our budget, so I'm thinking about the idea of a faux chair rail (basically a painted line the same color as the trim). That way, if we decide to add chair rail later we can just put it over the painted line. With the pottery barn bedding I purchased I got a free quart of Benjamin Moore paint. I purchased one additional quart and hope that it will be enough to paint the bottom third of the wall. I haven't purchased paint for the top half of the wall yet. I also would like to paint some airplanes and hot air balloons around the room. I priced a few local muralists and let's say that's not in our budget either. I'm hoping with a projector and some good pictures I can come up with something.

Christmas Ornaments

Some people have theme trees with only certain color ornaments, but I think most have trees that showcase ornaments with special meanings. Several people choose to give their children an ornament a year with the plan that one day these ornaments will go on their children's own tree. Derek and I do that with the boys and they certainly enjoy looking at their ornaments. This post however is about some special ornaments to me. Derek and I don't get ornaments every year, but we have been pregnant twice during Christmas-time and these are two special ornaments to me. The first one we had in 2006 when we were expecting our first baby. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but we were so happy to be starting our family. This little ornament features a hen sitting on a nest and a rooster reading "Parents to Be" Every time I see this ornament it takes me back to the time when it was just Derek and I. Those days seem so long ago, but I know one day it will just be us again. I'm glad I'm at the point in my life where I'm enjoying my little ones even if they are hard to handle some days! We are so blessed to be parents.

This next ornament is one that was just given to me last week, but I know it will always hold a special place in my heart. This ornament features a cute little mouse standing on top of a pickle jar. The jar reads "special delivery" The mouse is also very pregnant and is eating an ice cream cone. Love it! So cute! It's perfectly fitting for me since I love pickles and ice cream, especially when I'm pregnant. I prefer pickle chips from Lynnwood Grill, but I haven't had much extra money for that lately.

What are some of your most memorable ornaments? Leave a comment and let me know!

The door is fixed! (and the hole is temporarily)

Derek stayed home from church on Sunday to tackle these two important tasks that our neighbor, Gerry was so nice to help us out with. I wasn't there for the majority of the work but I can show you the finished products. They tackled the door first. As we are learning with most projects around the house (around our house at least) is that they are always more complicated than you would hope. Last Saturday when Derek was able to get the door re-hung but then it wouldn't fit we figured that we'd just have to saw down the door some to make it fit. Well, Gerry determined that the frame was so out of whack it would be best to replace the frame with a new door already hung inside. That was the plan. Gerry went to Lowe's to get the supplies.

Here's the finished product. We now have a door that actually shuts and is hung where it opens into the bedroom, rather than the bathroom to give us more room when trying to use the bathroom sink, etc...

All that is left is the painting of the door and touching up the trim that we had to pry off to re-hang the door. Another complication I was told is that the new door didn't fit properly in the hole because a previous owner had put sheet rock up over wood paneling inside the bathroom rather than removing the wood paneling. Basically this left the opening for the door too thick for the new door to fit properly. Luckily Gerry had a solution for this that didn't require renovating the whole bathroom!

After the much longer than expected door project, it didn't leave much time for the closet. We decided on a temporary patch. The above pictures shows the top shelf in our closet with a small piece of sheet rock screwed into the ceiling. The plan is to eventually take everything out of the closet, scrape the popcorn ceiling off and then properly fix it. This project will have to wait until 2011, but hopefully before Maverick comes.....otherwise it might never happen :)

We are Viable!

We've reached "viability" with Maverick this past Wednesday. I'm now 24 weeks (and two days) which means if Maverick was born, there is a good chance of survival. That's so hard to believe. I certainly don't want a pre-term baby, but it's comforting to know that we are past this point in the pregnancy.

In other news....I know I've been lacking in belly shots, so I will get Derek to take one and add it to this post lately. All of my maternity clothes are way too big and I was lucky enough to have some smaller sizes passed down to me from one of Chandler's preschool friend's mom. It's so nice to have clothes that fit!

I know that I guessed this baby was a girl (and I was wrong!) but I've also guessed that it will be an April baby. I'm starting to second guess that as well! Maverick is a very active baby. He moves all the time! I also felt him move much sooner than I felt Chandler or Brighton move. There are some theories as to when a baby will be born based on when quickening (or when mom first feels baby move) occurs.

One theory is that the baby will be born 5 months from when the mom first feels the baby. That date will be St. Patrick's Day 3/17/11. Another theory is that the baby will be born 147 days from when quickening occurs +/- 15 days. That range would put Maverick coming sometime from 3/13-3/28/11 (I omitted the - 15 days because that would be in premie range). I'm considered "Full Term" at 37 weeks (3/16/11) so I hope he'll be born sometime after that date. I have to be full term to have Maverick at the Birth Center, so that's really my only goal. A Saint Patty's Day baby would be very fun, but it will more likely be an April Fool!

When the door doesn't fit and you fall through the ceiling......part one

So these pictures are from last Saturday when we started tackling one of the many projects that we want to get done before Maverick's arrival. The boys and I went to a "measurement event" for a research study that Chandler and I are a part of. While we were gone, Derek got started on re-hanging the master bathroom door. We have had an accordion style door on this bathroom for more than a year so we could shut it with a pack-in-play inside. This was Brighton's napping spot while the boys were sharing the "nursery" Now that Brighton is napping in the nursery and Chandler has quiet time in the big boy room, we no longer need to have a pack-in-play in the bathroom. That's nice!

Derek managed to rehang the door in the opposite direction that it was hung previously (it now opens up into the bedroom instead of into the bathroom). The boys immediately got their tools and "helped" dad with all the hammering and chiseling. Unfortunately, the door is much larger than the opening and will need to be cut down to size with tools we don't have. Fortunately, our neighbor, Gerry has offered to help us out this coming Sunday to get the door to fit.

On another note, I mis-stepped in the attic last night and fell though the ceiling. Whoops! Luckily, only one foot came through the ceiling and it was in the master bedroom closet. Also, I wasn't hurt badly, only scraping up my leg that went through the floor. Now on Sunday Derek and Gerry will be fixing the door and the ceiling. I still can't believe I did that, but at least it's not that bad and can hopefully be fixed easily. Look for part two for more details.....

When the weather outside is Frightful....

So if you can believe if we are having another snow day here in Raleigh. It is actually kind of a mess outside with the freezing rain so we have been playing inside. Mom got the idea to give both boys a hair cut with the promise of playing in the bathtub with "foam" afterwards. Chandler did a much better job of sitting still than Brighton, but overall the solo haircuts went well. Here are some pictures of the boys enjoying their foam in the tub:

Decorations of a 3 Year Old

Forgot to share this a couple weeks ago. Chandler insisted on taking decorating the tree into his own hands.



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Cherub Choir Christmas

Chandler and the Cherub Choir had their annual Christmas preformance this Sunday. They sang Jingle Bells and also rang bells during the interludes. Chandler did great! He actually sang this year and was quite proud of himself!

During children's time, Chandler and Brighton sat up front to hear Pastor Jay's message about poinsettias. They were both very good and listened intently to the story.

Both Nanny and Grandma came to watch Chandler's singing. After church, Grandma posed with the boys in front of the Christmon Tree.

Merry Christmas!

Obligatory Santa Visit!

This morning, I walk out of my room after getting ready to head to work for the day, and I am greeted with 2 boys screaming with delight. They are not usually this excited for a normal day. Chandler gives me a great big hug and says, we are going to the North Pole to see Santa today! Wow!! Mommy had just informed them that they would go visit with Santa today. Chandler came to his own conclusion that this meant they would be driving in the new van a long way to the North Pole! He instructed me to make sure that we had a movie in the van that they could watch.

"I'm going to ask for a new race car!", says Chandler.
"Me too!", says Brighton. (Usual response to anything Chandler says.)

So, it took a little discussing to make them realize that Santa had come to Raleigh for a visit, so we wouldn't be driving to the North Pole, but none-the-less they were very excited!

Here is the photographic evidence. Daddy wasn't there to adjust the camera to the situation so that the lighting would come out ok, so the second one is heavily edited to make it somewhat visible, because the boys took a great picture! They loved it and were not afraid at all, Chandler asked for his race car, and Brighton ended up asking for a big truck!

Bye Bye Trailblazer :(

Well, we bit the bullet and are now the proud owners of a Chrysler Town & Country. That means the Trailblazer has to go. We just can't fit 3 carseats in it, so we needed to upgrade. It was quite the experience trying to work out the best deal, but we are certainly happy with what we got. I'll have to post some pictures of our new ride soon, but the only ones I have are it covered in snow. The boys love it and request to watch a movie (which we don't) every time they ride in it. Right now the boys are in the Captain's chairs, but will both move to the 3rd row once Maverick arrives. If anybody needs a great Trailblazer give us a call. It's in my dad's yard for sale.

SNOW!!

Who could believe that it would snow this early in the year? The boys woke up from their nap and were super excited to see the snow. Of course that meant we had to get all our gear on and have fun outside. Derek was less than thrilled to go outside in the cold (he's more of a hot weather guy) but I reminded him that he was lucky that I agreed to come too.

All the boys wanted to do was eat the snow. We really need to get them some better snow gloves. All we have are knit ones and they get soaking wet as soon as they touch the snow. Then the boys want to take them off and their hands are freezing. Really, it's not the best...so hopefully we get some gloves for Christmas or before the next snow! That night we drove around and looked at Christmas lights in the snow! How pretty! It's not often that we can do that down here, so it was a real treat. For you locals, there are some great lights in the Stonehenge neighborhood that are even set to music. We'll definitely have to do that again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! We had a very small gathering with only our family and Lindsay's parents. We had caught a nasty stomach bug in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and it had made it's way to Grandma and Nanny. They stayed home and we brought them by a plate. That night mommy went out shopping for some early Black Friday deals and brought home a gingerbread house. We all had fun making it but the boys wanted to eat the candy more than use it for decorations.

Christmas Parade

We finally made it to the Raleigh Christmas Parade. We hadn't been there since the boys were born because some of the past years it has been bitterly cold. This time it was cold, but bearable. We got here at 9:30 and it was already packed! Luckily, Derek was able to take the boys up the the front row so they could grab some candy.

It was a great day for a parade, and we hope to make it back more often. We heard this is the largest parade from D.C. to Atlanta. I pointed out to Chandler and Brighton the color guards for all the high school bands that came by and said that's what Mommy used to do. They would scream and yell every time one went by and say, "Mommy do that!" (Brighton's version).

Praises and Prayer Requests

Our Sweet Baby!

I know you all must be dying to know what we are having this time. Well, we almost didn't make the appointment because I got violently ill with a stomach virus Tuesday night. Luckily it was short lived and I'm just exhausted from being up all night, but no longer throwing up. In the above picture our baby is using the placenta (the darker colored area) as a pillow. The baby was really squished in there and it was a very long ultrasound appointment because the technician had a hard time getting the baby to move and getting all the views needed to confirm a healthy baby.

We were able to find out that we are having a boy! We are all thrilled, but Chandler is warming to the idea of another brother because he had his heart set (as much as one can at three years old) on a sister. It was really special that my dad came to the appointment (he was off for Veteran's Day) and has never come to any appointments like this before. We will name the baby Maverick Robert (Robert is my Dad's name) and he was really touched.

Now for the prayer requests:
Luckily we do not have the complication of a single umbilical artery like we had with both boys, so that is a HUGE relief. One of the kidneys is measuring large at this point which is indicating reflux of urine from the bladder back into the kidney. This is fine in utero, but if the problem persists once the baby is born, bacteria would be easily introduced into the kidney which could seriously damage it. Worst case scenario would be surgery after Maverick is born. The good news is we are scheduled for a third trimester ultrasound (2/1/11) to check the kidney's size. In 90% of cases, this issue will have resolved by this point. We will be praying for that. If it is still measuring large, Maverick will need to go on antibiotics as soon as he is born and then based on the severity, surgery would be considered. Thank you so much for your prayer for this to resolve on it's own. I know the Lord is the ultimate healer and I put all my faith in him!

Secondly, as I mentioned a terrible virus is making it's way through our house. I am pretty much over it, except for exhaustion, but now Chandler has been up all night puking at least once an hour. More than likely it's only a matter of time until Brighton and/or Derek start. Alice (Derek's grandmother) came to help me on Wednesday as I was useless and now she also has the virus and has been sick since noon yesterday. My parents watched the boys for us on Thursday night, so hopefully they don't get it as well, or the family that watched our boys (THANK YOU JENNIFER) while we were at the ultrasound appointment. Please pray that by some miracle at least Derek doesn't also get it, or that this passes quickly and I can get some rest. I was up late trying to disinfect kitchen, bathroom, etc...and also have several (puked on) loads of laundry to catch up on.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Here's one last picture of Maverick. It's hard to tell for those of you not familiar with looking at ultrasound pictures, but Maverick has both of his feet and both hands up in front of his face. Looks like we may have a gymnast!

Also, Chandler is already much happier today (than he was yesterday) about his new baby brother. Yesterday he insisted that he was having a sister and if it was a brother he was calling him "Indiana Jones". Today it's "Maverick" so that's a good start :)

When did Fall become packed with activities??

Okay, so maybe Fall has always had this many activities, but now that our boys are old enough to do most of them we're exhausted. Where do I begin?

First Daddy took the boys to a story time at the Leesville Library while mommy went to a party. Chandler wore his police man costume and Brighton was a monkey. The story time was outside and at night, so the boys had a blast.

Then there was the annual Women's Birth and Wellness Center farm party. We keep having babies just to get invited :) Chandler was the UPS man and Brighton was a football player because it was so HOT!! Here we are getting ready to go on our hayride. WBWC said they will max out at about 420 babies this year! Wow! Lucky for me they never turn down somebody who has had a baby there before. Otherwise....who knows where this baby would be born?

There will be a separate post about Brighton's B-day on 10/28 and the party on 10/30. We also squeezed in a party for Patrick Little who turned one on 10/29. Then the day before Halloween we finally got around to picking out a pumpkin to carve. We went right up our street and quickly grabbed one before heading to a fall festival.

The church where we go to MOPS has a fall festival every year and this is the first year we've been. What a fun time. There were games for the kids, pony rides (we didn't do the wait for this), inflatable bouncy things for kids, free food, including cotton candy----a hit, and dinner too! Definitely will do this again.

Finally there was Halloween. Here are my two cuties getting ready for trick-or-treating. Chandler was officially a fireman and Brighton was a monkey. They got way too much candy and Mommy sent 75% of it to work with Daddy who was instantly the office favorite.

Happy Fall Everybody!

Baby Belly

Here's the first official picture of the baby bump. There's really not a big bump yet (in my opinion) but at least I'm "starting to show". This picture was taken on Halloween (obviously) as I was dressed up as a clown. I'll be 18 weeks tomorrow! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. We are scheduled for an ultrasound next week (11/11) and we'll hopefully find out the gender of this baby. That is a first for us. I'm somewhat excited, but also nervous about the appointment. I foremost want a healthy baby and wonder if this baby will have a single umbilical artery, like both previous pregnancies. I know that both boys turned out fine even with that complication, but I'm still curious if we'll be that "lucky" again. Then there is the whole finding out the gender part. I know that whatever they tell me, assuming the baby cooperates, I will not quite believe it until I see it! We've never traveled this path before and if it was up to Derek we probably would still wait until the birth. I, on the other hand, just can't take the suspense one more time.

So here is your chance....if you are a reader of this blog, go ahead and put in your guess with the link above. Nobody has guessed boy yet. Could this be that we all are hoping for a girl this time? Not sure, but anyways, put in your guess and we'll find out the gender soon enough.

On one last note, I've been feeling this baby move every day since I went to visit my grandmother, Thelma, a few weeks ago. I was 15 weeks, 4 days at the time and this is more than two weeks earlier than I felt any tiny movements with either of the boys. This is so reassuring to me and I love it. I feel the baby all the time, but especially when I'm still (which isn't often in the day) and while trying to fall asleep. Love it!

Wax Moustaches!

They were all excited until they actually took a bite of the wax. Does anyone actually like the taste of wax?





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2 Years Old!!!

Look at me on my new birthday bike!!!


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Happy Birthday Sweet Boy

My baby boy is two! I can't believe it....how fast these years have flown by. Luckily I have another baby on the way, because it makes me sad to think he's not a baby anymore. Most of the time he insists he's a "big boy" but sometimes he'll still say he's a baby and the baby says "wah, wah, wah".

Today we went to our photographer and had his two year pictures done. I can't wait to see them. He did so good, but it was funny...he'd put up his hand and say, "right back, bye". We were all laughing at how funny he is. He has a very funny sense of humor and knows it.

Brighton loves to do everything that Chandler does. He even says he is three years old. Every thing is "me too!" That's one of his favorite phrases. Brighton and Chandler still share a room and Brighton does great sleeping on the trundle bed. The boys' bedtime is about 8 p.m. and they normally get up from 7:30 -8 a.m. Brighton still takes an afternoon nap sometime about 1 p.m. Lately I've been shortening it to 1 1/2 hours so he's ready for bed.

Brighton is so outgoing! He loves going to preschool and I often leave him in the two-year-old class while I volunteer at church. He's actually not in that class because of the birthday cut-off, but you'd never know. He fits right in and gets mad when it's time to go. His vocabulary is very good, and I think is probably ahead of others his age. He will often speak in 6-8 word sentences.

Brighton's two year appointment is sometime next week, so I'll post stats then.

I love you sweet baby boy!

Love, Mom