Random sampling...

So, Drew got a black eye from having his socks on and running on the floors at the same time. He fell pretty hard right in front of me. He actually bumped his head above his eye but a few days later, his eye took on the bruise. David took this picture so we could remember...
This is a picture of Drew and his dad helping put chairs and tables away after church. Drew is such a good helper! Of course, in this picture, how can you resist a free ride on this cool apparatus?
So, I wanted to share another piece of Drew's train room - I actually took everyone's advice on the blog and after talking to my mom, decided to put in the picture of Drew laughing (Aunt Wendy's favorite) and the two pictures of him running towards me on the tracks and him running away from me on the tracks (Herb's favorite ones) in a collage for one of his walls in his room. I am still deciding if I want to paint the white frames the same blue we painted the letters in his name...

Come one, come all! Here is how my "bonus" room turned out in our house. This is our fourth bedroom a.k.a our guest bedroom. When we got our king bed for our room, we decided to put both queen beds upstairs and make more room for people to come and visit. I have a French theme running throughout our house so I got these French blue duvet covers off of overstock.com, bought more pillows and here it is all ready to go. To the left, I have four paintings that have the same color blue in them of French/Paris landmarks when I visited there years ago.

Potty-Training

HELP! I need help... seriously. Drew was potty-trained during the month of July when we moved to PTC in this little temporary apartment Cooper had put us in. Once we moved to the house in August, he totally regressed and will go #1 on the potty no problem with no accidents but not #2. Everyone told me that takes longer, but he was doing it and now he's not, two months later.

I've tried pretty much everything - getting the cool potty seat to sit on, even the stool to match, the big celebrations, chocolate/candy as a reward, even now I've bought toys for a "goody bag" which he can choose from when he poops on the potty and even though he says he wants the toys, it hasn't worked yet at all. Even the idea to let him clean himself up, let him be uncomfortable in it, even following him around from room to room so he can't hide from me to do it! And now, he's figured out after his nap, he can poop in his underwear because I don't know he's awake yet.

So, let me tell you why I need help... I am getting totally frustrated and I am downright upset each time he goes in his underwear or pull-up. I've tried talking to him and having conversations with him and what comes out of me is just frustration and sometimes anger. I don't want to be so upset with Drew but I admit I totally am. Does anyone have a suggestion I haven't tried??? I am seriously going crazy with this...

Drew's room

So, my project is Drew's room since we moved into the house. This is his first big boy room and I am finally seeing it take shape. (I will post a picture when it's finished.) But I wanted to share our painting of his name. These letters were displayed in his nursery in white but they yellowed a bit for the last two years in boxes so I decided to take my friend, Vanessa's approach, and spray paint them! I gave Drew two different choices of blue to use in which he ended up choosing the best blue for his room and David did all the hard work... of course with me looking over his shoulder and making sure it was to my satisfaction! :)

Now, we have even hung them on the wall! Again, more to come on Drew's room...

Name Game

Okay, so we don't have a name still for this baby girl. I honestly think we might be one of those people who waits until she's born only because we have no idea! That will drive me crazy. I know some people say babies look like certain names but all I can remember with Drew was that he didn't look like anything other than "baby." So, I don't think that method is going to work for us.
So, here is where we are. We kind of had this idea that since David and Drew were "D" names, we'd name all our boys names that start with the letter D. So, then David wanted to name our girls with "K" names like my name, Kinsey. But nothing is really sticking. We were going to name Drew, Keira, if he was a girl and David still likes that. I have just seen it used more in the last 3 years and seen more kids with that name.

I would like to name her close to my sister's name, Keely, so we've thought of Kaylee, Kiley, Kallie... but still nothing seems like "it." I really love the name Kerrington (saw it on the show, So you think you can Dance, this summer) and actually, David likes it too but thinks it's too long with Pistorius. And then finally, we like the name, Dilan, for a girl but David's mother has already begged us not to name her granddaughter a boy's name although David tried to tell her Drue Barrymore played a character named Dilan in Charlie's Angels some years ago.

So, there you have it... many of you have asked and that is where we are. I am not saying we won't go with one of the names above but it just has to feel right and at this point, nothing does yet. AHHH! I am kind of scared we won't feel that way about any name which would be awful but I know we still have time left to have the moment we just know that is what she is supposed to be named.

Something we actually do know is her middle name which will be Camille, after my mom.
Any suggestions, thoughts, ideas and opinions are welcome! :)

Good times!

We have had such a fun week! First, there was visiting teaching which I love doing because we have two awesome women on our route that we get to visit with and our kids are all the same age and so they get to play with one another. So, we had two great playdates - even though Drew was tired on Tuesday when we visited Jaime, it was a lot of fun and then on Thursday, we visited Jenise, and we made the visit into a longer one by going to Chick-fil-A for lunch all together. Drew and I got to ride on Jenise's golf cart and here is a picture of Drew and Jenise's son, Fox, eating their ice cream on the way back.


Then, we received a very special package from MawMille and Popo which contained brand-new Halloween pajamas for Drew and even a precious pink sleeper for our baby girl. Here is Drew showing off his new favorite pajamas.


And on Friday morning even before school, Drew helped me clean the house. We swept, vacuumed, and here he is cleaning off his own chair he sits in for meals. He loved cleaning with me and he felt like we were playing together which was great! :)

Inman Farms Heritage Day

We were invited to Inman Farms Heritage Day by our friends, Laura and Stan Johnson, and it was a lot of fun. Drew didn't last as long as we had hoped as he got tired before lunchtime and fell asleep on the way home but the time we were there was great. Drew loved hanging out with their son, Jake, and their little girl, Kate, and I think Drew enjoyed his friends as much as the farm (if not more)! The farm had a lot of farming activities and various tractors to see. The weather was gorgeous and it was just wonderful to be outside on the weekend as a family!

Train tracks

I got this great idea from one of my visiting teachers, Casey, where she took her son to the local train tracks and got some great photos. Because Drew loves trains and I am trying to decorate his room in trains, I decided that would be a great shot to put up in his room maybe in black in white or something. (I got the idea from the Pottery Barn kids catalog). Anyway, on Friday, before David got home, Drew and I went over to the tracks and we got some fun shots. I am in no way a photographer but I was happy with a few of the ones I got. Enjoy!

Drew's reaction to his baby sister

So, we asked Drew if he was a boy or a girl, and he said he was a boy. We then asked him the boy/girl question about mommy, daddy and Beva (our dog), all of which he got right of course. Then I asked, "Is the baby a boy or a girl?" He answered, "a girl." So, I told him he was right! Thinking this would get some type of reaction, he was like, 'yeah mom I already knew that,' and he proceeded to try and hide from the video camera David was using to capture it all...

Nashville trip

This past weekend we went to Nashville, TN! We met my dad & his girlfriend as well as my sister and her fiance up there. Last year, my dad had given all of us kids a free trip anywhere his miles would fly and Keely and I chose to go together on a trip but it took us over a year to plan it all. We stayed at the Union Station hotel which Drew loved because of course it was an old train station and there were trains still running near it. It was actually a beautiful hotel and we loved staying there.
Friday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw the performers there and Saturday night we went to the Rice/Vanderbilt football game. It was so much fun. We also got to explore Vanderbilt campus and go to many great places to eat that Keely remembered from college. David, Drew and I took our own exploration trip to see the Nashville temple as well. We just had a wonderful time and Drew could not have been in a happier mood to see family. We miss them already.

It's a GIRL!!!

Yes, we are having a girl! It was difficult to see at first because she had her legs closed. I really thought we were going to walk out of that ultrasound not knowing either way still. David jokingly said, "It must be a girl, the baby is being so modest!" But eventually we saw the three white lines that indicates a baby girl and all of a sudden the tech was stopping the image and labeling it a "female." So, it's official. We are going to have a daughter!

We are very excited and realize how fortunate we are that this baby is very healthy and that we are going to be able to experience having both a boy and now a girl. We have no name for her yet, but I am sure we can figure that out by the time she arrives in February... at least I hope so! :)

We plan to tell Drew together tonight for our FHE lesson and videotape it. He has been saying all along he wanted a baby sister so either he knew it all along or his wishes have come true. :)

19 weeks

Okay, my friend, Shanan, made a good point! I hadn't really posted any pictures of this pregnancy so here one is we took tonight - the night before we find out what this baby is, a boy or a girl. I really hadn't been showing but lately, the baby is showing itself. So, here I am at 19 weeks tomorrow.

By the way, we had a fabulous weekend in Nashville and I will post those pictures tomorrow sometime I am sure. Thanks again, Dad, for a wonderful birthday trip (that only took us over a year to plan and actually go on)!!!

Also, thanks to everyone for their concern over my family's well-being during the hurricane that hit Houston. Some of my family did have to evacuate and I am glad to say everyone is safe. We are just waiting until tomorrow to hear how their houses and belongings did in the storm. Will keep all of you posted and we are thinking of all of our family and friends dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Ike.

MONDAY...

So, we only have a few more days left to find out what the sex of this baby is. We find out on Monday morning! I am so excited as we really need to know in order to pick out a name for this little one. If it's a boy, we pretty much have the name and all the stuff for it but if it's a girl, we are back to the drawing board on names and will need to start accumulating "girl" things. Boy or Girl, we will be thrilled!

If you do have a guess, what do you think it is???
There is a poll located to your right where you can vote! :)

Off to Nashville!

Tomorrow we are off to a weekend in Nashville, TN! We will go to the Grand Ole Opry tomorrow night and then the Rice/Vanderbilt football game on Saturday night. We are meeting my dad and his girlfriend and my sister and her fiance up there and we are really looking forward to it!
David, Drew and I are driving up there - about 4 hours or so and stopping off halfway in Chattanooga. Should be FUN!

Ups and Downs

So, I already had a phone call from Drew's teacher... apparently, he had a rough couple of days last week. His teacher told me that Drew was crying a lot and not able to calm down. She also said he is not allowing the teachers to comfort him or even the other students. She said he is intellectually on par with all the other students knowing all his colors and numbers but emotionally he is struggling. But the good news is that Drew had a good day today! The teacher reported that he didn't cry all day until someone hit him on the playground but he recovered well from it.

Also, Drew is doing the carpool line now which is when the teachers take him out of the car and he walks by himself to class. So, he is doing well with that! :)

Labor Day

For Labor Day morning, we chose to go eat breakfast at The Waffle House. I am not a huge breakfast person so we never do this but since David just got home the day before after being gone a week, we made the most of our holiday together. We also bought new couches on this day as well! So now, we can actually have some people over!

Precious Puppy

So, I was walking by the laundry room today and heard snoring... knowing that was odd, I checked and look what I found. Yes, Beva climbed in the laundry basket to take a nap. Too cute... she loves wrapping herself up in our clothes but I'm not sure I've ever seen her do this before!

Not again...

Yes, it happened again. My quest to find new blog backgrounds erased all my blogs on my blog list. Now, I thought I had the perfect way to make sure this didn't happen but it did SO if you are not listed and you usually are, PLEASE let me know. I did the best I could to recover my blog list so far but I may need your help! :)

Also, how do you get your blog background? I've tried pyzam and if you want to change your background you lose everything so I am moving on from there. I've tried Mattie Kay but she has limited ones to use... so what do you suggest me try out???

Georgia Resident

Yes, it's official... I no longer have my Texas driver's license. First of all, it expired this summer and I had to get a new one. Of course, by the time it expired, I was in Georgia so I figured I would have to just succumb and get a Georgia driver's license. Mind you, I never did get a Utah license in the three years we lived there.

But I wanted to show all of you the building in which you go to get a driver's license in Fayette county where we live. Yeah... looks totally shady; mostly like a barn which is how one of my friends here so accurately put it. Anyway, it was only 20 minutes to get the whole thing done, and I got the license right there on the spot, new picture and all. So, now I have absolutely no proof I'm from Texas... On another note, I did register to vote here in Georgia so that is all taken care of and once again, it is official somewhere (in case my family conveniently forgets) that I AM an organ donor. :)