Baby Shower for Landon

 Over the weekend, our friends Matt and Jenna, threw us a shower to celebrate Landon!

It was so much fun.  They set up a fajita bar and for dessert we had fried apple pies - this pregnant girl gave it all two thumbs up!

Eli opening his big brother gift from his girl friend, Abigail - Nerf dart guns!  I think the big boys had just as much fun playing with these as the kids did.

 Eli and Abigail

I forgot to get a picture at the shower, so here's an iPhone picture from later that night.  Aunt Katie spent the weekend with us and came to the shower.  We love that she lives so much closer now and we are able to see her much more often!

Big brother helped Mommy open gifts and read cards!

Our growing family!

Wesley and I are blessed with some great friends to share life with.  We are so thankful for them and are so excited to introduce Landon to everyone!

Eli's Big Brother Trip

Last weekend we made one last outing as a family of three and took Eli on a special big brother trip to the Georgia Aquarium!

Eli had a blast and was so excited!

He loves animals, so we knew this would be a big hit with him.

We saw beluga whales, whale sharks, fish, sting rays, jelly fish, dolphins, penguins, and more!

Eli was enamored with the scuba diver swimming in the tank and cleaning the glass.

We sat and watched the scuba divers and fish for a long time.  This particular tank had a huge glass wall, about the size of a movie screen.

We were there so long that Eli decided to make himself comfy.

He then decided he needed momma's phone to take pictures!

We found a fossil (of a whale shark, I think), and Eli insisted on having his picture made here.

The penguin exhibit was one of Eli's favorite.  He'd spent 2 weeks at school working on the letter P and learning all about penguins, so this was very exciting for him!

Daddy and Eli crawled through a tunnel, and then got to pop up in the bubbles to take a closer look at the penguins in their habitat.  (In Eli's words, "Momma too big!")

I've been to the aquarium numerous times.  I take my class on a field trip here at the end of the year, but it's always super stressful with that many kids, time constraints, etc.  It was really nice to be able to go through the aquarium leisurely and just enjoy the day.

I love all of the interactive things here.  Eli got to touch star fish and sea anemones.

Japanese spider crabs

Albino alligator

Eli squealed when the alligator began to move.

Piranha - Wesley's favorite

Touching sting rays!

 

We also saw the Dolphin Tales show, but no photography was allowed in there.  The dolphin tricks were amazing.  So fun to watch them diving and flipping!

It was a great family outing and we had so much fun!  I think this boy is ready to be a big brother now!

32 weeks

How is it that I'm already 32+ weeks pregnant?  I've said it before, but the second pregnancy flies by so much fast than the first!

In some respects, this has been a much easier pregnancy than what I had the first time around.  I haven't had near the problems with RLS that I had with Eli.  I also sleep a whole better, but honestly, I think that's due to being busy all the time with a three year old and work (as opposed to sitting at home all summer).  Like with Eli, I am thirsty ALL THE TIME.  For water.  Ice water, specifically.  I am drinking about 100+ oz per day.  I have had other symptoms/problems, but all of which are common to pregnancy, and thankfully no serious dangers to to me or Landon!  : )

By now, Landon weighs between 3 1/2 - 4 lbs, and is about 17" long.  He also has fingernails, toenails, and peach fuzz on his head!  Like his brother, Landon is an active little fella.  He rolls around often, and like my other two boys, I think he'll probably be a 'sotter' player!  He can suck his thumb, and is practicing his breathing for life in the real world.

This week my back pain has become really bothersome.  By lunch I'm worn out.  I try to sit down and rest, but teaching isn't really a "sit down" kind of job.  It's hard to rest when I get home...Eli wants to play!  Needless to say, I have crashed early at bedtime.

This weekend is a long weekend and we have big plans!  First off, it's a special big brother celebration/trip for Eli!  After that, we Wesley has plans to restain Eli's new dresser.  After that, we'll be able to move Eli's clothes out of his old room/dresser, and bring out the clothes for baby Landon.  That will leave wall decor is the last step to finishing Eli's big boy room.  Landon's room *should* be finished up this weekend.  I'm looking forward to the weekend and getting a little more organized and knocking some things off our very long to-do list!

Next weekend is our baby shower.  And I just realized that I need to sign us up for another car seat safety class offered at our hospital.  The closer to time it gets, the more I feel slightly panicked because my list of stuff to do/buy gets even longer!  By this point in my pregnancy with Eli I had tons of diapers.  Not the case this time.  Not at all.....

Landon, Daddy and I can't wait to meet you!  I can't wait to see what you look like and kiss your cheeks.  Big brother Eli is very excited too.  Before bedtime he likes to go (by himself) into your room and sit on the floor in front of your crib and read stories to you.  I hope you two will be the best of buddies!

The countdown is on!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Eli dances

Strike Up the Band!

In honor of tonight's national championship game, here's a little photo of our family with Auburn's last national championship trophy!  After last season, who ever thought we would have been here again so soon?!  Win or lose, it's been an amazing and very memorable season.

2010 national championship trophy

One of Eli's favorite things to do is to "play Auburn".  He starts out by playing band and performs his own pregame show.  Most of the time he is the drum major, and he begs people to be in his band---which means you have to run behind him and sing War Eagle.  Bonus points are given if you can do rare backs, high step, and rock while performing!

Wesley and I find this highly humorous because of our time in the band at Auburn (him on horn, me on the flag line).  I guess we owe where we are now, and our little family, at least in part, to the AUMB.  We met through band 9 years ago and have been together ever since.

Just for the record, we don't push or make a big deal out of the band.  Eli has picked this up through attending the majority of the home games in his short little life.  What you don't see is after you play band, you have to get out the football and play Aubie football.  Oh, and it's always the Iron Bowl when Eli is playing.  Sometimes he lets you be Aubie, but most of the time you have to be Alabama.  And then he informs you how much he doesn't like you.

Here's a great little article highlighting Auburn's marching band and Florida State's band (which my sister in law and father in law were apart of during their time at Florida State).  I won't go so far as to say it was the best time of my life (see the article), but it certainly made my Auburn experience.  I credit many of my college friendships (and my marriage) as a result to my time in the AUMB.  One quote from the article that I loved and felt hit the nail on the head (even though I'm no musicians) was, "Our standards for ourselves are high.  We teach a precise work ethic, a pride, that we hope will carry over to whatever the musicians do after they leave here."

And, because I've said much more about the band than I really intended to, (this blog post was just supposed to just be a cute video of Eli) I'll leave you with one more awesome video.  Yay band!

Auburn Band: 2013 Highlight Video from Alan Brazzell on Vimeo.

WAR EAGLE!  BEAT FSU!

Big Brother Stuff

 Before heading back to school tomorrow (yikes!), we've been working on some big brother stuff around here.

The first project was from Eli to Landon.  The nursery is basically staying the same as it was with Eli, but I am making a few small changes to personalize it for Landon.  I've been trying to be very conscious of including Eli in all that we do and not leaving him out of this, so I wanted him to make something for Landon's room.

I painted a canvas navy, and then gave Eli some paint that matched the bedding for that room.  Eli worked very hard to paint a horse (his idea) for his brother!  If you follow me on Instagram, it really did look like a horse...the red did anyway.  He wanted to add some green after that, and basically covered up the horse, but that's ok.  It was made in love! : )

I've had a few other little projects for the nursery that I've been working on this week, but will wait to reveal those for a little while longer!

We also have been hard at work the past several days to get Eli's big boy room ready.  Big brother was very excited about paint sticks and stirring the paint!

We let him put the first few strokes of paint on the wall.

Eli was tickled to write his name on the wall in paint!!

Above his name he also wrote "Mom" (Momma) and "Nana".  We decided it looked like Nana was written in cursive.

My parents graciously offered to help us paint the room and strip furniture this weekend.  It turned into a MUCH bigger project than any of us really anticipated, so we were very grateful for their help!

Eli's room, like Landon's, is still a work in progress.  Stay tuned for the final reveals!

2014

I can't believe it's 2014 already.  2013 was full of so many great things, but I'm so excited for what's to come in 2014.  Just to name a few...

*Landon making his appearance in just 2 more months (eek!)

*My brother's wedding

*Several trips to the beach

*Eli turns 4 (what?)!

*Wesley's 10 year high school reunion

I kind of think New Years resolutions are stupid.  If it needs to be done or should change, why am I waiting for a certain date on the calendar to do it?  Why wait???  But, nonetheless, here are a few goals for 2014:

*Blog more.  I said this last year, and at time didn't do a great job it.  In fact, I blogged less in 2013 than in any of the other five years that I've been blogging.  On one hand, I don't regret it, because it meant I was out living life and not sitting behind the computer every night.  On the other hand, this is our family's little scrapbook and record book.  Balance is the key I suppose!

*Lose weight.  I sure hope it comes off after March and doesn't overstay it's welcome.  : )

*Run.  I'm giving myself through the summer and the heat to recover/adjust to life with two kiddos, but come fall, I'm going to get back at it!

*Read more.  It's something I love, but between being a wife, mommy, and teacher, something has to go.  My list of books to read is always longer than I have time for!

*Be more intentional with reading my Bible.  Enough said I think.

Here's to 2014!