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!

They're Baaaaaaaaccccccccckkkkkk!

First of all, let me say that I hate Walmart.  Seriously.  Aside from their sub-par products, their layout is terrible.  I attempt to be smart and park on the one side-either pharmacy or grocery-that I know I will spend the majority of my time in.  What I have now learned is that it doesn't matter where I park.  Because of their crappy layout, I drive my cart all over the store looking for something that should be in a very obvious place only to find it in an obscure place.  I have to ask for help a lot.  Target, I miss you.

Banks and I ran to Walmart yesterday to get three things.  It took us an hour (and not because I had to ask 100 times where something was).  We could barely navigate the cart for the futons, mini-fridges, and microwaves that occupied the isles.  It can only mean one thing...the students are back.  The store was filled with doe-eyed freshman and their parents with carts full of stackable drawers, full length mirrors and irons.  The parking lot was pure madness.  I had to park a mile away and the freshman, or their parents, do not know how to drive.

I can't help but remember my own move in experience with my mom in the bathroom crying, my dad dragging all my clothes across the parking lot, and my roommate and I just dying for our parents to hurry up and get out of there so we could start our lives as "grown-ups."  In our little neighborhood of townhouses, the ones that have been vacant all summer are now filled with partying college kids.  Matt and I can only look at each other and say "remember how easy it was then?"

Life did seem so complicated then but we didn't know any better.  Life seems complicated now and I'm hoping that looking back I'll just say that I didn't know any better.  I want a house.  I want my stuff to be unpacked and for my pictures to be hanging on the wall.  I want (and need) my bella bands but I don't know in which storage place my maternity clothes are. People keep asking if we're settled and I have to answer "yes, no, then yes again."  We moved from Memphis and got as settled as we were going to be in our townhouse.  We put a contract on a house that we were very excited about only to find out two weeks before closing that it was in the worst flood zone and we would be advised to back out of the contract.  We backed out of the contract.  Two weeks later we had to move to another rental as we had told our first landlord that we had a house and he rented out the townhouse to someone else.  So, no.  We weren't settled.  Now, we're in another townhouse in the same complex.  It looks just the same.  We attempted to arrange it somewhat differently so that I wouldn't feel like I was in Groundhog's Day.  This time we moved ourselves.  One word: miserable.  But, we're in.  The boxes are unpacked again so yes, we're settled...until we find another house and move yet again.  It makes my head hurt just thinking about packing again.

Banks has done amazingly well with the moves.  He's at a perfect age for it.  Aware that his surroundings are different, but not yet apprehensive about the changes.  People keep telling me that two is such a fun age.  It is in some senses...I love listening to him sing his ABC's and read books to me.  He can count to 20, loves to dribble and shoot his basketball, and play soccer.  I love that we can communicate and that he is more independent.  I am trusting him with more responsibility.  I do not love the tantrums and that he never seems to know what he really wants.  He cries for milk, I give it to him, he cries because he wanted juice.  It's exhausting.  He also hasn't been to MMO all summer and his attachment to me is growing stronger and stronger.  When we're at home, he very rarely plays independently which is so funny to me because when we're out anywhere he takes off and plays all by himself for hours.  He doesn't want Matt to do anything for him and when I attempt to force him to let Matt change his diaper, etc...well, you can just imagine. 

The good news is I'm starting to come out of that first trimester slump.  Banks and I may survive each other yet.  I still have no patience, but I'm starting to have more energy and just feel like a normal human being all the way around.  We're getting geared up for going to the beach next week and it really couldn't come at a more opportune time!  We go with two other couples and their children so I know Banks will have so much fun playing with them and it will be a nice change of pace for all of us.  So, here's to holding out for the beach and for hoping that these students learn to drive by the time we get back!

Banks has an announcement!

He's going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!

I will say for sure that this pregnancy has so far been very different from my first.  With Banks, I never really felt sick.  I was tired as all get-out but never sick.  This pregnancy has been a different story.  I spent most of the first trimester nauseous.  Granted, I really cannot complain since vomit never came out of my mouth (and I hate to throw up more than anything else in this world) but I felt like it could at any minute.  And the tiredness.  Wow.  Poor Banks has been subject to much more T.V. lately-not that he minds in the least.  It's all I can do at 10 a.m. (yes, I meant to type a.m.) to keep my eyes open.  I am also extremely dumb.  Pregnancy brain has already set in...well, I even wonder if it ever left.  We drove to Hernando for a birthday party that wasn't until the next day, Matt asked me to buy him some Coors Light at the grocery store and I bought Bud Select without even noticing the difference (in my defense they both have silver boxes), and it took me 20 minutes the other day to find the keys and they were in the door.

I am grateful to say that I'm starting to feel like a normal human being again.  I'm ever more thankful that the news is finally out and I don't have to pretend-when it's a billion degrees outside-that I feel great and am not the least bit pregnant.  And, let me be very honest.  I couldn't have pretended much longer anyway.  There is a definite pooch ALREADY.  I was like six months pregnant with Banks before I had to move over to maternity clothes.  This go-round I'll be lucky to make it to next week! 

 We are all very excited to add to our little family. 

 Banks gets it as much as a two year old can.  He, for the longest, would say every time that he wanted a baby sister.  Now he goes back in forth between wanting a sister and a brother.  Good news for him is he'll be getting one or the other.  We'll find out at our next appointment and it can't come soon enough for me!

First Haircut and Sass

We finally took Banks to get his hair cut!  I've been so resistant...wanting to wait until we had his two year pictures made...but it had gotten a little out of control.  He had a little flap in the back that went from the crown of his head down the back of his neck and it was nothing but a big rats nest every morning.  The sweet girl who cut his hair did a great job of shaping up the back and just trimming a little off the front and sides.  Honestly, he needs a little more off the front and sides but I was so scared it'd be too short!

Banks has also turned into a big stinker.  He is too funny with some of the things he says!  My mother-in-law kept him last weekend and he told one of the nursery workers at her church that he wanted two hotdogs and no bread for lunch!  Where do they come up with this stuff?  He also likes to say things like "no talking, mommy," "my do it," and my personal favorite "why?".  With an increase in sass, I am required, as a parent, to say a lot of things I've been dying to say, such as "don't sass me" or "because I told you so."  He really responds to such sayings. 

And then he was TWO!!!

We had such a fun day yesterday!  It was fun to celebrate his birthday on the same day that we had his party.  Since we're renting a townhouse and there's not much space here, we decided to have his party at Holli's Sweet Tooth and it was perfect!  All week whenever we talked about his party he's say "Carter, Cooper comin?"  It really is sweet how he's gotten to love his friends here and was excited for them to celebrate his big day with him.  Not that he wasn't excited about the food.  He kept saying he wanted to eat cupcakes, cake and ice cream.  And he succeeded. 

We started off the day singing and eating a big fat cinnamon roll donut.  Nothing but sugar for the birthday boy!

Because the party was at lunch time, we had some food for the kiddos.  I made candy-shop themed food like Lollipops:

 and gumballs.  They also had Starbursts (star shaped PB & J), Caramels (cheese cubes), and Ice Cream cones filled with goldfish.

 I think the cake turned out quite cute considering when I went to pick it up (30 minutes before the party) they told me they didn't have our order.  Although it doesn't look like the original that I ordered I think it turned out great for a rush order!!!

And, in case cake and ice cream weren't enough, I added some cupcakes to the mix.

Holli's provided the candy bag favors for the kids and I had some "thanks for making my party so SWEET" tags made for them.

 Kids table

 Having a little pre-party snack:

 He absolutely loved it when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and was so proud that he was able to blow out the candles himself!

 What a sugar high looks like:

 One happy birthday boy

 After the party, and a much needed nap, we set out to open his presents!

Mimi and Grumps were there to help.

 His favorite toy?  A Cars racing track complete with "a-queen" (Lightening McQueen) and another car that I'll have to learn who it is.  Next up on the favorite list is his new four wheeler!

 "Get you!"

 Learning to ride his new tricycle.

 At the end of the day, it's much easier to just get pushed by Gram!

Last night I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he said "my birthday party!"  Melts my heart that he had so much fun on his special day!