Smile of the Day...

What a fun, spiky haired, squeaky clean little sweetie we have!

An Excerpt...

"Ah the power of mother love. How it stretches and swells across generations, uniting mother and child, fleshing out the expectant mother's identity and femininity, shaping the personality and life of her child, and changing society in ways our culture has chosen to ignore. Mother love is ultimately a love song, a siren's call, luring women to new ways of being...to sacrifice and being turned inside out....to fulfillment.

For mother love to be a positive force in a child's life, a woman must move beyond her need for control and her fears of vulnerability. She must grow, as it were, a new heart."

The Power of Mother Love
Dr. Brenda Hunter

Fall Fun at Calloways Fall Festival!

This was moments before the brace gave in and this huge piece of plywood tumbled over into my arms!

Found the perfect one! (It didn't involve as much time consuming decision making as I thought it would. After all, he is a fast paced two year old...no time for all that choosy choosy stuff!)

Love these guys!

To Surprise or Not to Surprise...

The Carousel at Stonebriar, Sept. 2010
My Sweet Surprise!

Sorry to leave you hanging this whole time! I know you were dying to find out if we decided to know the sex of our new baby.

I went to bed thinking about it, woke up thinking about it, Josh emailed me before the appointment wondering if I had decided...

We arrived at the Dr's office and settled right in. Josh asked if I knew what I wanted to do, and I shook my head. I got blood taken, got my flu shot, got an *ahem* exam, and then Dr. Ryder asked the magic question. The sono was next and she wondered if we wanted to know the sex. I told her in an unsure, squeaky voice that I wasn't sure. At this point Josh is shaking his head, thinking we should just wait until we're sure. That is what any normal person who hadn't made their mind up would do.

Now we're staring in awe at our baby up on the flatscreen on the wall. It's kicking, turning, and being generally cute. Our sono tech measures everything and asks if we want to know the sex. I told her I wasn't sure. Then after a minute I blurt out "ok, tell us!"

"Do you still want to know if I'm not 100%?" she says.

"Oh, well. What percentage sure are you?" I ask her.

She laughs. "I won't go down there until you decide"...I guess she's afraid I'd not want to know then see a big you know what that gives it all away.

"If you're not 100% then don't guess" Josh pipes in.

Now I'm about to throw up from the anxiety. I don't know why putting a sex to this sweet baby is such a big deal to me. I just don't understand it!

She goes in for the money shot....and those little legs were closed so tightly I couldn't believe it. I was so relieved! I laughed and the whole picture on the screen jiggled as my belly wiggled around. She tried a few more times and found nothing definitive! Talk about a sign. Now I'll just have to decide if I want to know in another 4 weeks or if we want to be surprised....

That little Joseph was one special surprise. And since we only had a boy name picked out it worked out perfectly.

Someone Turned Another Year Older...

And it wasn't Joseph...yet. This ol' mama is 31! My friends took me to the Arboretum for some fall birthday fun. The weekend before we celebrated with Edie and she brought over One Serious Chocolate Cake. It had a mousse-like icing and crumbled chocolate cookies on top and in the middle layer. Dang it was good!


Getting the kids together for a fall picture was ridiculous. Absolutely wore me out. I love 'em to death, but forget about it! Coincidentally, we all dressed our kids in green and brown! How perfect was that!?


And....this was as good as it got. But that's ok...because it was time to head off to the pumpkin patch and pumpkin house village. Everything was spectacular!


Always a hit, the petting zoo was a favorite. I was pretty freaked out though with all the goat poop everywhere. Next time I'm bringing a second pair of shoes!




Amidst the running and screaming, I lunched on a super yummy portabella panini, a chai tea latte and a birthday strawberry cupcake. Life doesn't get any better than this!

Things have been so fast paced this month. I remember October always being busy, but not this busy. I prefer things slow...but I have this problem where I don't want to miss out on anything, so it kinda makes for a difficult situation.

I've joined a MOPS group. It's great!! MOPS (Mother's Of Preschoolers) is a world wide organization dedicated to keeping moms sane and in touch with other like-minded mamas. I decided to join with Kristen and it's been really fun so far. We have meetings twice a month which include potluck brunch, a speaker or craft, focus and discussion on a particular topic (such as teaching our children philanthropy), and we talk about our book we're reading. But the groups are encouraged to get together outside of our meetings and my group has really been getting out there! A number of play dates and moms night outs have happened and although I've had a great time, it's more to juggle on the calender. Joseph really seems to enjoy being busy though, and running around in this incredible weather can REALLY do a body good!

I also started Stroller Strides to get in SHAPE for this bun in the oven. I had a lot of anxiety concerning labor and not having enough "umph" to push with Joseph, and it's still on my mind with my second baby. I finally decided to start a prenatal fitness regimen instead of dwelling on being out of shape! I can tell you right now that I need to tone it down until I get more in shape or get more used to working out while pregnant....cause these workouts are wiping me OUT, sister. I've been giving it my all thinking...hoping....that I'll start to see some toned arms, less flab, more endurance, but I think the little parasite in my belly might think differently. It says moderation is the key to this mama's fitness program. So the deal with Stroller Strides is that it's designed around having your children with you. It's absolutely fabulous. We meet outside somewhere scenic and Joseph gets pushed along in the stroller while we walk, do our resistance band stations, and stretch. Our first time, at the end of class I took off his seat belt for him to get out while we warmed down and he told me he wanted to keep exercising! He loved it! Now that is some sweet motivation right there!

Off to the Dr. tomorrow. Should be getting blood work done, family history taken, and meet with the insurance specialist. We'll get a sono too....and after months of wanting to know the sex, I'm double guessing myself!! I don't know for sure if they'll even be willing to guess at this appt (almost 16 weeks) but I think if the baby is turned right they will be able to tell. I don't know what to do!! It was SO fun and gave me a feeling that words can't describe when Dr. Ryder delivered Joseph and held him up to Josh and said "What is it, Dad?!?!" It goes beyond just wanting to know so I can decorate and shop. I almost feel like I am cheating nature or something and am not supposed to know yet. Who knows?! I'm sure I'll change my mind a million times before my sono. I'll certainly keep everyone posted! ;)

Been feeling so much better than the first trimester but have been pretty tired more and more lately. I read that the baby will grow more and faster in the next month than any other time in it's development. This totally corresponds with me being way more hungry and tired than normal. I need a darn sandwich as we speak. Food and sleep...the life of a pregnant woman. Ha.

Shout out to Alicia welcoming baby Jenna Reese yesterday!
Shout out to Peter and Kacey who are due any day now!! (Anything yet??)
Shout out to Casey who is 4 weeks behind me...BFFs having babies together!!

Love you all! Signing off to go raid the fridge.

so hungry...