Content.

Last night, the family took a walk to the park and I couldn't help feeling so content with where we are in life. I love where we live, I mean I would love to have a slightly bigger house or garage or more storage, but we live in a great neighborhood. I enjoy living on a military post for the first time and this time of year is so beautiful. I am so content with our family and the life we have made. The ability to make memories is so much sweeter after spending last year with 1/3 missing.

Watching Max crunch as he crunched the leaves and pointed out the squirrels, I realized how precious these moments are. Soon he will no longer be the constant center of attention and his world will be turned upside down. It is a weird feeling to be sad about it, but to be so excited to give him a little brother at the same time.

What a lot of random. Sorry, I am tired tonight.

Here is a little taste of what our low key weekend was like.

Working on learning how those darn pedals work.

Trying to figure it out.

Max's happy place.

Two walks to the park in one day = Max's best day ever. He walked the whole way there, but was happy Daddy brought the stroller so he could hitch a ride on the way home.

I hope everyone had a happy Monday!

The ghosts of Halloween Present, Halloween Past, and Halloween More Past.

Last night we took Max (and GB) out trick or treating at our town's downtown area. It was fun and it was nice to have an excuse to have him wear his costume an extra time. We have a family theme but I was lame didn't wear my costume last night. Don't worry I promise to bust it out on real Halloween. I seriously love Halloween so here is a look back through the years.

2012:

Mario and Luigi

2011:

The cutest little garden gnome around

Trick or treating with Momma. We went to a few houses for the photo op (and I may have enjoyed the bonus of candy)

 2010:

I loved this stage because he was like a little doll. I got to play dress up.

Barney, Betty, and our sweet little BamBam at GB's unit party. (Please excuse what I mess I was postpartum.)

Actual Halloween day. Our sweet little bumble bee!

2007:

And taking you way back to the first Halloween GB and I celebrated together. Officer and inmate. 

Because it's October

and we live in the real world (aka the lower 48 aka a place where there is currently no snow on the ground), we decided to head to the pumpkin patch last Friday. Max was really in his element. There were sticks, "punkins," and he got to be outside so he was in heaven. GB and I had fun, too!

He didn't know what to think at first.

It wouldn't be an adventure with a 2 year old if there wasn't a slight meltdown . Apparently telling Max that he can go play in the woods by himself is the meanest thing ever followed closely by not letting him go for a cruise by himself on the random riding lawn mower.

We even got a family picture with smiles on every face!

Checking everything out.

"More Daddy! Max fly more. More please!"

Getting creative

I make no secret about the fact that I was born without the creative gene. Like it never developed, ever. Luckily the men in my life make up for me. GB has had more free time this month than ever before since the Army has taken over his life. He has used it to his advantage by making getting his creative juices flowing. He has made us graves for our front yard, a new corn hole set, as well as an awesome Lego table for our little guys.

Lego table fun!

We decided to jump on the creative train and give painting a try again. When Max was littler, finger painting was a big time fail. He did not like his the feeling of the paint and you would think I was torturing him by having him do it. This time I decided to try a brush instead and that was a big time hit. He also did some spontaneous finger painting and he was much happier to do it this time. I made my own paint using the standard equal part flour and cold water plus a little food coloring. I did 2 cups of each and the only thing I would have done differently is make the paint a little thicker. I think when my helper did the stirring he stirred too much flour out of the bowl so the color wasn't the best, but we had a blast.  

What do you think? Next Picasso, right?

"Pway wif frens!"

Sometimes I find myself teaching Max things and then later being like "Why would I ever think that is a good idea?" The latest of example of this would be calling other kiddos his age, friends. We have spent quite a bit of time at the park lately and he loves to run up to the other kids, grab their hands, and say "Pway, frens. Come on. Pway wif Max!!" When they just look at him, he starts yelling at the top of his lungs, "FRENS!" The other little ones don't know how to respond. He is definitely the opposite of shy.

Getting him to leave is like pure torture. He is so happy on the walk there; laughing, pointing at squirrels, and talking about how excited he about "pwaying on the swide." Then on the walk home, he is such a sad little man. For at least the first block he cries, then he tries really hard to keep looking at the playground, then he asks, "Where frens go?" And it happens the same way everyday. Life is rough when you are 2 y'all.

He loves counting these balls. He can even count backward! I did not know he knew how to do that.

Crazy driver.

So much sass. 

So sad that he had to leave the toys.

Playing in the backyard made life better.

I hope everyone had a great Monday!

Halfway!

That is right. I am halfway done. The bun is half baked. I remember with Max that it felt like I would never ever reach this point, but with this little one it has flown by. With the holidays coming up, I have a feeling time is going to keep flying and we will have this little boy (that is right and another sweet little boy!!) in our arms in no time.

How far along? 20 Weeks 4 days

How big is baby? The size of a banana

Total weight gain/loss: up about 8 lbs today, but it has been fluctuating 

Maternity clothes? Definitely in pants about half and half in shirts.

Sleep: Getting up is the hardest thing in the morning. I have had a little more difficulty falling asleep at night, but when I fall asleep, I sleep hard. 

Best moment this week: Road trip with my family. We had so much fun!

Movement: I have really been feeling more and more lately. 

Food cravings: Avacado as well as chips and salsa

Food Aversions: Nope

Gender: It's a boy!

Labor Signs: No, thank goodness!

Pregnancy Symptoms: Holy heartburn and aches and pains.

What I am looking forward to: Finding a name for this little boy and having his movements become stronger so GB can feel them more.

20 weeks and 1 days and really thinking this baby is going through a growth spurt , because my belly is sore!

Fall Boy!

It is hard to remember that this is fall, but the leaves are slowly changing and there are even some on the ground. In the Pacific Northwest, fall means much lower temperatures, but I am liking in the mid to high seventies we have had the past few days. Yesterday morning and evening, Max really lived up to the terrible two hype so after dinner I decided it was time to run around outside to make bedtime a little easier. All I can say is he is all boy. He was picking up sticks and leaves, throwing things, and running everywhere. It was definitely the right choice and I love to watch him learn even doing small things.

Big Girl Dreams

Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

So it may be a lame dream, but I want to go to all 50 states before I kick the bucket. This is one situation that being part of a military family comes in handy. This weekend we decided to take advantage of GB's long weekend and road trip to my 24th state Mississippi! We went to visit one of GB's friends and to see an SEC football game.

Oxford, MS is an adorable town with a cute square and a lot of history.

Hanging out in the square.

Max was being a silly little guy!

The history teacher in me got way too excited by the signs like this throughout the town.

It wouldn't be a trip into Oxford without venturing onto Ole Miss territory!

The next day was game day, but unfortunately this momma was not prepared enough. I checked the weather earlier in the week and it looked like a perfect day for football in the mid 70s, with it cooling down on Sunday, which would be fine because that was our drive home day. Well from now on I am going to check more than once, because it was freezing and rainy. I only had sandals. We had to run to Walmart to buy Max a pair of jeans, and he used a pair of GB's socks. Max and I didn't last until the game because we were both drenched and cold (how does it go from 85 on Friday to 50 pouring rain on Saturday). We really enjoyed the little bit of tailgating experience and were happy that GB still managed to watch the game (I was more than okay to cuddle into my sweatpants, watch Sweet Home Alabama, and have some girl time with our hostess).

Ready to cheer on the rebels!

Momma and her boy!

Taking in the game day experience!

Max was such a little trooper even in the rain! He loved people watching!

WW: What's for dinner?

Can you guess what Max had? We will consider this a win because the past week dinner has been a struggle!

Happy October!

This is one of my favorite months of the year and not just because of it's my birthday month. I love fall. I love Halloween. I love changing leaves and sunflowers. Last year, October marked the halfway point of GB being gone and it was full of fun times for Max and I including adorable photo ops like this:

This month plans to be busy for us as well.  We have our big u/s coming up very soon, which means getting serious about naming this little one and starting organizing everything.We have several short trips planned. I want to go to a pumpkin patch. There is going to be a legit family costume theme for Halloween. Plus the smell and taste of pumpkin make me happy so that only adds to greatness that is this month. I wish every a fabulous 10th month of the year!

Bonus: Here is baby at 19 weeks. I started feeling sweet little movements this week , which was definitely of my week. Also one more week for good measure.

Two years of perfection.

Ok, perfection might be stretching it just a little, but in the middle of our move Max man turned two. I am still having a hard time grasping how this teeny tiny little creature

turned into a walking, talking, sassy, awesome little person.

While perfection may be a slight exaggeration, this kid is pretty awesome. He has starting speaking in full sentences. He counts to 12 and knows all the numbers up to there. He knows every letter by sight. He knows about 10 shapes. In fact, he loves to point to things in his room when he is supposed to be sleeping and point to different shapes. So at night we can listen to him say, "Where is a rectangle?" then pause for like 3 seconds and answer, "There it is. Window is a rectangle." It cracks us up. He loves to run, play, and giggle. He keeps us on our toes because he is just slightly sass. I have no idea where this came from, it must have been from his dad. Ha!

The past two years have been full of tears, giggles, sleepless nights, cuddles, hugs, and awesomeness. As hard as it is for me to believe how quickly the last two years have gone by, I am so excited to watch him grow this next year especially as a big brother. And hopefully next year we can have a little more fun on his birthday because this year he spent it in the car, getting carsick multiple times!

All About Baby!

I can certainly tell you that so far this pregnancy has flown by while I remember thinking that the time crawled  during my pregnancy with Max. I think that how busy our lives have been have played a very large role in this. We have had Alaskan adventures, moving, trips to see both GB's and my families as well as finally settling into our sweet little southern home. While baby has never been far from my mind (thanks to constant nausea and discomfort early on), the reality of our family becoming four has become more real as we discuss just where this new bundle of joy will live in our new home and visit the hospital that he or she will be born in.  I am so looking forward to meeting this new little one, but we are soaking in as much time as possible as a family of three and having Max be an only child.

How far along? 18 Weeks 

How big is baby? The size of a sweet potato

Total weight gain/loss: up about 5ish lbs

Maternity clothes? More and more. I can wear normal pants, but I get uncomfortable in the very quickly. My clothing of choice at this point seems to be dresses. I can wear many of my "normal" ones still and they all me to be cool, because adjusting to the humidity has been hard.

Sleep: All of the moving has left me drained so I sleep like a rock a night. 

Best moment this week: Purchasing a new mattress.  I know this is probably meant to be pregnancy related, but this mattress is heavenly. Since GB and I got married, we have been slowly replacing our hand-me-down furniture with our own, and this purchase is one of the best of our marriage. It sure makes it hard to get out of the bed in the morning.

Movement: Not yet! At my last ultrasound the doctor said she thought I would have an anterior placenta again, which can muffle the feeling of movement when baby is so little so I am not too worried about it yet.

Food cravings: Ice cream. Does it get anymore cliche than that?

Food Aversions: Most meat still.

Gender: Hopefully we find out soon!

Labor Signs: No, thank goodness!

Pregnancy Symptoms: Holy heartburn!

What I am looking forward to: Organizing baby stuff and maybe purchasing a few things after we find out the sex.

18 weeks at the Saturday market!

Hello again. I could come up with a million reason as to why I fell of the the blogging band wagon. We were busy trying to do as many Alaskan things as possible. We were getting ready to move. I found out I am pregnant again and spent much of the summer months on the couch not moving. That is right, there will be a new little baby B coming in late February. 

Which ever reason you choose to believe, I no longer have that as an excuse. We just moved down to the south and are so close to being all moved in. I am now well into the second trimester and am finally starting to feel better with some energy. We are all trying to adjust to a completely different timezone and some heat as well as humidity. 

Anyway, I am back and I am ready to blog about the changes in our family as well as our day to day life with our sweet little TWO year old! Time flies when you are having fun.

May and June were very busy.

**fair warning: this is going to be long**

After being gone for so long, GB had a lot of leave built up and we took advantage of it. We said good bye to the AK and headed to the real part of the United States. We enjoyed a cram packed 3 weeks of vacation, but boy were we tired after we got home. GB and I got to sneak away and have a little us time for the first time since Max was born. 

First up was a wedding in Seattle. GB and I actually set up the couple in college and they are such sweet friends. GB had the honor of being part of the wedding party. We celebrated, danced, and chatted the night away. I was so happy to see so many friends that I hadn't seen in forever. 

The first wedding that we have been to together since our wedding.

We got our dance on. "A little bit softer now"

Max spent that weekend with my parents. We drove back to my parents house for another day and some Max snuggles and then GB and I headed to Vegas. We had so much fun, but oh my goodness was it hot. We got to sit by the pool, see some of the sights, catch a few shows, and play some slots. All in all, it was a successful trip. By the end of it though, we were tired of the sounds of the slots and the smell smoke, and we were so excited to get our arms around the Max man.

Enjoying some date time and sunshine.

 After we picked Max up from my parents, we headed down for some quality time with GB's family and then back up to my parents for the last couple days of vacation. Can I just mention the fact that Max may be the most loved and spoiled grandchild I know? 

With all our travels, everything went very smoothly until the last day. We sat for over three hours as our first flight was delayed, missed our connection flight to AK, and then didn't arrive back home until about 2 a.m. The only food in the concourse we were in was a bar, which is awesome when you have a tired, hungry toddler. Ugh. 

When we got home, Max and I spent almost the entire first week outside. We bought Max a kiddie pool, and enjoyed the week of 80+ temperatures. Unfortunately, the heat and sunshine didn't last that long so we have been having to play inside and be creative. 

Here is a quick summary of our time back in the AK:

This is what happens when Mommy wants to take a picture of Max 's cute outfit.

I am pretty sure this is Max's idea of a perfect day.

Max's first concert. He was pumped.

Pure excitement.

Getting his groove on.

A family picture where we are all almost looking at the camera.

Playing playdoh!

Poor little wild man gets bored easily inside.

Swinging!

Whew! I think that brings us up to the present. I think life has settled down enough for me to be a better blogger. And if you made it this far, as always, thanks for reading!