Our Newest News

In case we haven't told you in person already- we are expecting Baby number 2! What a great mother's day surprise for our family. Of course, the day would have been better if Wilson and I hadn't had the stomach virus, but I'm sure when I'm feeling better, I'll hardly remember the yucky parts (then again, maybe not, we'll see). I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she went on and did a sonogram to be sure that all the aches and pains I'd been having were in fact due to the virus, and all looks well. I've attached the photo. There's an arrow pointing to the little peanut, although I'm not sure why that black void is the baby and the other one's aren't. But if doc & sono tech are happy, I'm happy!

Wilson is pretty excited. He wavers back and forth between sister and brother. Yesterday he decided that Jack is his brother so now he needs a sister. The dog was less than thrilled- he claims no relation. This morning he said he wanted to love the baby, so he put his head on my stomach and then gave it a kiss! I couldn't believe he even thought to do that. I also just moaned that mama's tummy hurts and he leaned over on me and said poooooor mama. I could get used to the sympathy!!

Dad has also been quite the super hero the last few days. Helping clean up after Wilson and the products of a toddler having the stomach virus while also keeping a close eye on his wife who's equally sick and pathetic. Poor guy- maybe he'll get to move out of the guest bed before we have to take it down for the baby bed!

I thought the ticker was appropriate since Phil has always claimed that he hatched.

When I went to put this photo back on the fridge after scanning it last night, I put it under a magnet right by one of my favorite pictures of Wilson. And then it just kind of hit me- I HAVE TWO CHILDREN. WOW- what an awesome responsiblity. I suppose the Lord only gives us what we can handle (I also suppose that's why he's placed me in a town with 4 grandparents & 7 great-grandparents!)

A Trip to See our Cousin, Baby Adam

Last weekend Wilson and I went up to Franklin, TN to visit Phil's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. We had a great time! Wilson was a super trooper in the car- I rarely heard a word out of him other than quoting movie lines or to let me know that he needed to make a pit stop. When we got there, Uncle Andy greeted Wilson with a remote control truck- WOW- what fun! We also went the zoo and to their science museum. We had a great time catching up and the boys actually had fun playing together a couple of times!! Following are a few pictures of the highlights.

Aunt Ashley is HA-larious!

Goldfish are much better when shared

(and while wearing coordinating Hula shirts!)

Playing trains

Playing with magnetic shapes

Wilson, Maggie, and Adam dancing


Controlling the train

Aunt Ashley & Wilson taking a ride on the Magic School Bus

Riding on the Carousel

Ashley & Adam on the carousel

Uncle Andy- You're the coolest!

Ken Osmond

If any of you are looking for Eddie Haskell . . . he's living right here in my house and looks, oddly, like a little boy we all used to call Wilson. My son's new tag line when he's in trouble and he's one step away from a spanking is:

"Mom, you look cute!"

(shoulder's shrugged, head tilted to the side, grin with tongue peaking through his teeth)

I feel like I should have a calf length dress and apron on and respond back, "no Wally & the Beave can not come out to see you. Now please leave, I have a cake baking and dishes to finish hand washing!" Who teaches them this stuff!?

Drum Roll Please

For the first time in TWO & A HALF YEARS I did not change a diaper or remove wet or soiled clothing yesterday!!!

Swinging

A Few More Wilsonisms

After the last post I have been reminded of a few more Wilson stories that I thought needed to be recorded for posterity (I have a feeling I'm still leaving some out, but I'll keep posting them as I remember them)


A few weeks ago we were meeting some friends at the Natural Science Museum. On the way there I was telling Wilson who all would be there, "Nathan's going to be there and Baby Thomas (Nathan's brother)is going to be there and Stella's going to be there with her little sister Lucy." Wilson thought about this for a second and said, "Thas a lotta kids . . . sigh . . . I need a broffer!"


When Wilson wakes up from his nap or in the morning he loves to announce this fact- "I wake up!" It's especially thrilling when he makes this announcement at 3:00 in the morning or about 10 minutes after he's been sent to his room for his nap. I'm like, "umm, you forgot to go to sleep- go try again, please." I must add that this must be an inherited trait as I myself used to announce myself each morning by proclaiming "Maggie's awake!" from my crib. It was my subtle cue to my loyal subjects to come and remove from my sleeping chamber.


When he's in trouble and is trying to avoid punishment he'll look at me with the cutest little smile you've ever seen, point at me and say, "Mamma, you're happy". And no matter how mad I really am, this really does make me happy and who can spank when you're happy. Cursed "original sin"- why does disciplining have to be so hard.


We'll call this one "nearly nude handyman". Phil was fixing our fence and gate this weekend. Wilson sat down to ponder life for a while and got lost. He had an accident. So I removed his undies and pants and then went to "hold something" for Phil while he hammered or screwed it into place. When I got back to help Wilson get dressed, I found that he had gone in and brought all of his tools outsides and was attempting to put the old gate latch back together, muttering "I help daddy- I hammer dis wight here . . ."

We think he may be getting a little influence from our Japanese neighbors. He consistently swaps "r's" for "l's" and vice versa. We actually have some friends who had their vet change their cat's name to "Loy" on his medical records because they found Loy to be a much cuter name than Roy. So now when we tell Wilson "we're going to Mr. Nate's house and we're going to see Nacho, Sam, and Loy" He says "we go to missa Nate's house and see Nacho, and Sam, and Roy." (No, no, no! Sing like this, not fa-ra-ra-ra-ra, fa-la-la-la-la- the Chinese restaurateur from A Christmas Story)

He is also constantly roaming around the house singing songs. It's hysterical, because most of the time he's purposefully making up new words to old favorites. He reminds me of the character Frances the badger in the children's books (Bedtime for Frances, Bread and Jam for Frances, and A Baby Sister for Frances)- she was one of my favorites as a child. She always made up random songs about what she was doing- and that's Wilson, just wandering around creating a little sound track of his life!

Trip to the Zoo

Monday, Jamie and I decided to take one of the last trips to the zoo before it just gets entirely too hot. We took Wilson, Nathan, Thomas, and their cousin Will. It was so much fun to watch the boys be boys. They ran, laughed, climbed, threw their sandwiches in the turtle pond, and watched birds poop. What more could you ask for?

Checking out bug specimen in a tunnel

Thoughtful observation of the flamingos

Hatching from alligator eggs and then attacking the mamma in the Mississippi exhibit

Testing out a dirt nest

The gator's secure Ma'am, you may continue with your zoological tour

Story update

It has been quite busy around here over the past few weeks. We got to see our cousin Adam over Easter & he's walking! What fun. There have been Easter egg hunts and trips to the zoo. Playdates at the park and story time at the library. A few stories from the past few months with Wilson follow (go down to the next post for a few pictures).

Wilson to Mamma while she's working at her desk: I hide da Easta eggs for you
I walk in to the yard to find that all along the horizontal piece of our fence Wilson has placed all the Easter eggs he found at his school Easter egg hunt for me to find

Mamma to Wilson at bedtime with Wilson repeating after her: Okay, here's your Bible verse, Love God . . . and love . . . each other . . . First John . . . 4:21
Wilson to Mamma: . . . Love God . . . and love each other . . . NO Mamma, it's UNCLE John- not first John . . . four tenty one

Mamma to Wilson: Wilson, do you need to poo-poo on the potty?
Wilson to Mamma: What's his name?

(a little explanation I'm sure is in order- we are about 85% on potty training and staying dry for the most part, but we are having a good bit of trouble with the, shall I say, solid waste department. So, to encourage Wilson, for any successful attempt he receives a new Cars character. Before he is even willing to try, he wants to know what the car he MIGHT receive's name is)

Wilson to Mamma: I need to tee-tee on potty. Thank u for tellin me. I so proud a u!

(apparently we're no longer for positive reinforcement or encouragement, he's available for self praise 24 hours a day)

Mamma to Wilson: Just PLEASE try your _______ (fill in the blank, veggies, meat, fruit, whatever is NOT the flavor of the week)
Wilson (touching whatever the food is to his tongue and putting it back on his plate) to Mamma: I try it, thank you, i so proud of you! You have bassert now.

Wilson (casually walking past a candy dish at his Granna's house) to himself: I tee-tee on potty (he then takes a congratulatory handful of jelly beans and shoves them in his mouth- apparently at some point that day he had made it to the potty on time and felt he was slighted by the fact that I have not rewarded that in over a month!)

Wilson to Lightning McQueen matchbox car: You in time out, you stay right here (apparently reenacting his teacher's actions to him that day in school)

. . . and my personal favorite . . .

Nice elderly lady in the grocery store to Wilson: Well aren't you just the cutest thing!?
Wilson to nice elderly lady in the grocery store: Bless your heart!

Picture Update

Our Play Group Easter Egg Hunt:

"I see one!"
Looking hard

Checking out all his eggs!
Nathan & Wilson inspecting a caterpillar that joined our egg hunt

Senior prom for my brother and his girlfriend, Jordan. BE-U-TI-FUL!

Wilson reading to his cousin, Baby Adam

Mamma, Aunt Ashley, Cousin Adam, and Wilson all bundled up and ready

for the Easter parade in Granna's neighborhood- in the freezing cold!

Easter Sunday

Life goes on . . .

Well, my day was going along just swimmingly. The beds were made, Wilson & I were bathed and dressed, the sink was clean, and laundry was drying in the dryer. We left to eat lunch and run some errands. I forwent my usual #5 at Chick fil A and got the healthier caesar wrap and diet lemonade. Wilson played in the place without crying and left without crying. We then went to 3 other stores (well past his nap time) and made some huge accomplishments without either of us melting down. I found the perfect foundation garment that I've been looking for- a tank top body suit to wear with all these low rise jeans that we're now forced to wear. Something to cover my fanny and it's stretch marks that are always hanging out the back. Can't tell you how thrilled I was to finally find this little item- as an added bonus it holds in the roll at the waist and it was on sale. I also picked up some hangers at Target so that I can finish my ironing and hang up the rest of Phil's clothes. I found an ostrich feather duster that the Flylady recommends- I'm adding a link to her site on the side bar, she's an amazing find if you're domestically challenged like me. I came home to find that it works really well, and Jack doesn't think it's MADE of ostrich feathers- he thinks it IS an ostrich. He is currently laying in the kitchen, panting his heart out, with the duster cornered on the kitchen table- whew, we're all safe. Wilson fell asleep on the way home, so it was no challenge to get him down for a nap. So, I sat down to check all my pal's blogs. Do you ever get lost on a blog rabbit trail. You know, you go to check up on your best friends, you leave a comment somewhere and realize that someone you haven't heard from in years also left a comment, so you click on them, find a link to their little sister's blog and pretty soon you're looking at pictures of people you've never met! Well this happened this afternoon. I got to a blog and the following video was playing.

Show me that Smile

It took about 2 seconds for me to realize that the girls are dancing their hearts out in the foyer of my former home- the Kappa Delta house at Mississippi State! It was so fun to see, then so incredibly depressing. Here I was all pumped up about a FOUNDATION GARMENT to hold my hiny in, while they are probably trying to figure how to show more of theirs off. And I say go ahead, girls. It's only been . . . let's see . . . oh dear god, it's been six years since I was in college! These kids aren't even old enough to have seen Growing Pains (the theme song they're dancing to) live- they've only seen reruns. Oh well, go ahead girls your cute figure will be gone soon enough. I'm thinking about letting Jack have a turn at the ostrich, maybe Patsy, the KD maid, will come down and do some alumnae work!

I'd like to say that Wilson's smile and "mama, member, blocks (some stamps that we got at Hobby Lobby) in car, let's getum" as he woke up and the fact that Jack still has the feather duster cornered would be enough to make me smile, but right now, girls, I'm think we need to have an emergency Mom's Night out 3 weeks early. And we will get there before 7 this time so we can get our 2 for 1's!!

Play Time

Just in case it's been awhile since you've been part of a playdate between a couple of two year olds, I thought I'd share the below video of Nathan and Wilson playing together. If I suddenly am unable to blog any more due to computer problems, you'll now know why!

Papa's Birthday

Here are some pictures from Wilson's great-granddaddy's birthday. It was a great time made even more special since Wilson's great-uncle Bruce was able to be down from Chicago for the celebration.

High-fiving with Uncle Brad

Construction movies (see the dancing video below) are even better on Paw's new big TV

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Uncle Bruce is the coolest- he brought me a bag of rocks all the way from Chicago. For some reason airport security thought this was odd!

Savannah

Last week Phil and I had a wonderful little retreat from the day to day. We drove to Savannah, GA last Monday and came home on Friday. We had a great time sleeping late, roaming around the city, and eating some great food! Below are a few pictures:

This is Chippewa Square, where Tom Hanks sat as Forrest Gump waiting on the bus.

This is the Griffin- one of our favorite little spots to eat. It's a pharmacy turned tea room by the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Fort Pulaski- built by Robert E Lee and used in the Civil War (it was VERY bright this day- I had to really work with the contrast and get rid of the color to get anything to show up)

Here's a little gator we stumbled upon at Pulaski, maybe if there had been a few more of these, Lee wouldn't have had so much trouble with the Yankees!

While we were gone, Wilson stayed with his Uncle John, Granna, and aunt Suzanne, who came down to help out because Big Daddy had to be out of town. I don't think he even knew we were gone. What do you think? (these are all scans of photos- the color's a little off on these, too):

Wilson & Granna

Wilson testing out Granna's new urns

Wilson and Suzanne

Granna walked in to find the above scene. Wilson decided he needed a better view of the TV, so he drug his high chair into the den from the kitchen

Pee-pie, Granna!

PS

Here's the video of Wilson dancing from two posts ago that I couldn't get to upload. Enjoy!

Playdate

Today was a pretty fun day as far days go around here. We woke up and decided that we should go for a pre-mom-&-dad-leaving-town-for-a-week check up. A couple weeks ago Wilson came down with basically a head infection- with sinuses, eyes, & an ear being effected. All that cleared up just about as quickly as it came on but he has been left with a cough that has just gotten worse. Diagnosis- the sinus infection just hasn't cleared up. Nothing a little antibiotic, a cherry sucker, and 2 Sesame Street stickers can't cure. Our best pal, Nathan's, little brother was feeling a little under the weather. So, since we all had to miss playgroup this morning we took some Chick-Fil-A over to their house for lunch. At one point we noticed that the older boys were playing surprisingly quite well for a change. We had not had any reports of a car being stolen or a "that's my's" being yelled from Nathan's room (a popular phrase of both the boys & a testimate to how early one's piers have an affect on a child- they both say "my's") They were actually on the floor PLAYING TOGETHER! In hind sight, Jamie and I should have grabbed the keys and the baby and ran- ANYWHERE. Two two year olds playing together is no small feat. Next, we heard the two just dying out laughing, then there would be a pause and then more laughter- which as any mom knows, means there's trouble just mere feet away. This puts you in a huge moral quandary- you're dying to know what in the world is so funny, but you don't really want to see it. You know they're actually having a good time without you and you don't want to interrupt, but you know whatever is so fun, also probably calls for disciplinary action. We sat for a while and listened to the laughter until we just couldn't take it anymore. We had to see. What we found were two boys learning and perfect many age appropriate skills. Basically they had invented a game (skill learned: intelligence, creativity, ingenuity). They were taking turns (skill learned: manners, working well with others) throwing anything they could get there hands on (skill mastered: being 2) and then dying out laughing (skilled mastered: being all boy, destruction is F-U-N). The floor was covered in train tracks, hotwheels, books, puzzle pieces and miscellaneous pieces of wall art (that were apparently prizes for the best throws). On a side note- the smell when you walked in the room would have knocked you over. This game apparently takes away the knowledge that you are supposed to "you know what" on the potty. So we had to clear a path large enough to lay the boys down and change them. They looked each other in the eye and began to chant in a sing songy way "I stinky, I stinky, I stinky. Mamma clean it up, Mamma clean it up!"(skill mastered: being all boy, destruction is F-U-N, boys make dirt & spew it everywhere [Chop we were right all along!] & if you're cute enough, your mom'll clean up anything) We also taught Nathan that you don't have to take a nap right after lunch, 2:00 will do just fine (hopefully his mamma won't hate me for this little life lesson). It actually worked out quite well for me. Wilson fell asleep in the car on the way home, mumbled his mantra "watcha movie" as I put him in his bed, then slept for about an hour. He woke up, came in my room, got in my bed, and slept for about another hour. Then woke up got in my lap and slept for another 30 minutes or so while I talked to Aunt Ash. We topped the day off by going over to Granna and Big Daddy's for the evening. I let them & the dogs finish him off. He was asking to put his pajamas on and get in his bed when we got home and happily only read one book. We said prayers and I tucked him in and left the room without so much as a "say prayers" "read 'bout Jesus" or "mamma lay side you" (roughly translated, pray about everything I've come in contact with over the last two years, read a Bible story- an excellent stall tactic, what mother is going to say "no, we're not reading any more about Jesus, now go to sleep" and lastly, mamma lay down beside me).

For visual aid, below are a couple of pictures of Wilson and Nathan playing (one at Wilson's birthday party and the other in their halloween costumes). Sleep tight.

Smarty Pants, Dancing Pants

Well it's been a long while since the last post and the days have mostly been filled with the laughter & screaming of a two year old. I've also been quite busy with the "small" job that I've been working on for the last year. The next adventure on our calendar is a trip for Phil and me to Savannah, GA for the week- next week and a trip to Granna camp for Wilson! We're all very excited. Check out the cool hotel where we're staying.

Many of you may remember that the only way I that I knew Wilson had started walking was by sneaking up on him and catching him doing it- he didn't do it on purpose in front of us for a month. Well aparently this is becoming a trend. I'm slowly finding out about all kinds that he knows, that he want show off when I ask. Then when I'm not looking, he's got all kinds of tricks up his sleeves. For example, last night while I was cooking supper, he was playing some games on the computer. One of the games is an alphabet game- click below to hear what spontaneously came out of his mouth while he thought I wasn't listening . . .

Click To Play

Okay, one more little clip. His Pat-Pat has found a very cool video series that talks all about various machinery- construction vehicles, farming equipment, etc. Apparently the sound track is quite catchy. As you'll see in the next video, white men CAN dance. (Okay, maybe they can't, but they sure have fun trying!)

Alright, for some reason the dancing clip wouldn't load! Check back later, I'll have my IT guy take a look at it . . . Phiii-ul!

The Nerve

I was just instructed by my two year old to "get out of shower & put make up on!". THE NERVE!! One of my eyes is almost completely swollen shut, I haven't breathed through my nose in 3 days, and my head is killing me all thanks to this little carrier monkey who's happily rolling a firetruck through my house. I have a good mind to tell him Lightning McQueen is just a cartoon, Elmo's a puppet and Santa Clause isn't real! Sheesh!

Supporting Our Troops . . .

. . . in our own special way. Due the military history in my family, I felt it necessary to in someway show recognition for the sacrifice our military men and women make for us everyday. There are so many ways- yellow ribbons, magnetic car ribbons, sending messages to our troops through various websites. But none of these really expressed my appreciation quite right. I thought and I thought and I thought. And finally I came up with the perfect way of showing our families appreciation. We gave our Christmas tree a flat top. Now every time we walk through our den and see the beautifully adorned tree with it's missing point our minds are immediately taken to our soldiers, their families, and of course their iconic hairstyle.

That sounded pretty good didn't it. I even began to believe it for a minute. Phil and I are secretly hoping that the first part of this post will sweep the nation and that we will have started the greatest holiday trend ever.

Actually, I hosted a Christmas party for my Bible Study here last week. I ran to Lowe's to get a tree and had to purchase the last tree there (and the last tree that was going to be there- on Dec. the 4th!). The truth of the matter is that this poor tree had, I'm sure, been on the bottom of the pile in the truck getting here and the top was ruthlessly broken out as it bumped along our MS highways. However, it was 24 hours and counting until my party and this lovely member of the fir family had the meager price tag of $18, so it came home with me to celebrate the holidays with us.

I had hoped to have a picture of Wilson with Santa to add to the post, but he couldn't be less interested. Every time I ask if he wants to go see Santa I get the ultimate 2 year old response- no, no, no, NOOOOOO. He then will add that he would like to go see the car. This would be the Subaru Outback that is being displayed a few yards up from Santa at Northpark. If you get a picture of Wilson with a station wagon in a Christmas card this year, you'll know that I finally gave in.

Hope everyone is having a very blessed season and that the joy of Christ's birth is surrounding all of your busy days. Merry Christmas!