Grown-ups and pretending

I'm about to do something I may not have done since Banks was born: post pictures of something other than him.  Last weekend we had a grown-up weekend in Oxford for the Ole Miss/Georgia game.  I made a point to take pictures to document the weekend since I NEVER take pictures of things other than Banks these days.  I took four whole pictures.  Well, guess that's better than nothing!  We had a blast-catching up, talking about things other than our kids, and staying up way past my bedtime.  This was one tired pregnant lady come Sunday.  It was fun pretending that we didn't have any responsibilities!!!  I forgot how easy it is to just take care of myself for a few days!!!

The girls from the weekend: Lauren, Ashleigh, me, Molly and Ashely

Rare pic of me and the hubs

And speaking of pretending, I've been told that most toddlers don't begin really engaging in make-believe until closer to the age of three but I've been noticing Banks pretending more and more.  He pretended to call some folks on the phone last night and I heard him say "oh, I just doing a puzzle.  Mommy and Daddy almost all gone with dinner."  He's also started to pretend with his toys some.  He likes to pretend they're eating a snack.  The other day he told me "Lightening Queen make a mess."  And he had.  Apparently, Lightening doesn't know how to swallow apple sauce. 

The lawn mower was really hungry for a Cheez-It

 Not to say that he's pretender extraordinaire...when we ask him what we should name his brother, he says names like "donk" (short for donkey???) and "outside."  Outside Still has a nice ring to it, eh?  Much better than Donk Still for sure.  Poor Donk.  He's already getting the shaft as the second kid.  With Banks I documented (for our eyes only) my belly growth every week.  I'm doing good to remember to do it once a month this time around.  And we can't decide on a real name for Donk.  I don't remember it being this hard to decide with Banks.  I guess because we always knew if we had a boy he would be Banks.  This time we're going WAY back in the family trees to figure out what Donk should be named.  Wish us luck!!!

It's a....

One of the main questions people ask when you announce a pregnancy is "will you find out what you're having?"  The answer for me will always be a resounding YES!  I even fudged a little this time and told the doctor I was going to be out of town last week (I was out of town for part of the week) so that I could schedule my appointment for this week to find out what we were having.  Finding out boy or girl is always so fun to me.  It makes it that much more real for me and I can begin identifying and picturing myself with this bambino.  More importantly than finding out the sex, we get to see the baby and all its parts.  It is so very reassuring to see the heart, stomach, arms and legs, brain and spine.  Today we got to see our little bebe and it was perfect.  The ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know the sex.  You know our answer.  She put the wand up to my stomach and what did we see?  Penis.  Right off the bat.  We are super thrilled that we're having another BOY!!! 

All I could envision was these two boys getting stitches together, getting into lots of trouble together, and doing lots of rough-housing.  AM I UP FOR THIS???  Being an only child, I can't identify with what it's like to have a sibling.  However, I can only imagine that Banks and unnamed baby boy will have the closest of relationships.  They'll love each other and may even love to hate each other.  They'll play sports together.  Banks will teach him all about frogs and other yucky animals.  Matt will take them to sporting events together (leaving me at the spa, right?).  It's just going to be so much fun.  Lots of dirt and bloody knees but so much fun!

Just checking in!

I refuse to acknowledge reality.  Just a quick check-in and then I'm off to the beach again for a bachelorette party!  Good thing I won't be driving home in Tropical Storm Lee this go-around.

We had a blast at the beach last week.  It is amazing how it seems to take forever for vacation to get here and then a week flies by and it's back to business as usual before you know it!  We go to the beach every year with two of our couple friends and their children.  The boys are very close in age so I fully expected to do a lot of fight breaking up, however, they all played surprisingly well.  I also feel confident that Banks can be around an infant without me needing to fear for that infants life.  That's good news for our #2.

Banks had a ball on the beach. He was very interested in "catching whales" (unfortunately we didn't see any this year), seeing crabs and catching seaweed. He loved building "can-castles", eating lots of snacks, and digging holes. There was a monster game of monkey-see-monkey-do going on this week. Charlie had ketchup, Banks had to have ketchup too. Banks had a waffle, Charlie needed a waffle too. Banks and Charlie were born only a day apart so it is no surprise to me that they were two peas in a pod. Will was pretty confident in doing his own thing...pooping in the potty and playing with "his" iPod.  Such a big kid...

Will, Banks, Charlie

 All the young-uns: Banks, Maggie and Will Jones, Baylor and Charlie Berry

 My next post will be about whether Banks is having a BROTHER or a SISTER!!!  We find out next week!