Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe it's almost 2010. Where did the year go? Josh and I have had a great year and are so Thankful for everything especially Wade. Today we went to the ENT doctor and on Tuesday Wade is going to have tubes put in his ears. We are so thankful they are going to do this and we really hope it helps him feel better. Of course I am a little nervous... I know it is minor surgery but it is still scary to think about your little boy being put to sleep. I am sure Wade will do better than me. I am most worried about him not being able to eat after midnight. He always wakes up and eats at 6am and then goes back to bed. His surgery is at 7:30am. I think I may wake him up at 11:30pm and feed him and see if that will help hold him off. I dropped that late night feeding when he was 4 months old but I am sure if I wake him up he will eat. Please pray everything goes ok Tuesday.

Tonight Josh and I are celebrating New Year's at home. Wade went to bed around 8:30pm and we made some appetizers and mimosa's and rented some movies. Not our typical New Years but it has been really fun! Here are some of the pictures from Christmas. These are from our old camera but once I download the new camera stuff I will try to add some of those as well. Hope everyone has a "Happy New Year"

Oh our New Years resolution is.... to get healthy. Not to loose weight or go on a diet but to eat better all the time. I only feed Wade organic baby food and I really want him to grow up eating healthy and the only way he is going to learn this is if he see's us eating that way. So we are going to try really hard to eat better. The last couple of months we have not been doing so well so it will be a lifestyle change for us.

Reading the Christmas Story-Christmas EveChristmas morning 2009

Look at all this stuff

Dec. 23rd, 2009

Wade's gifts (most of which are from my parents)

Christmas and Moving!

Well we had a great Christmas that went by way too fast. We did a lot of traveling and saw a lot of family. Even though we are all worn out we feel blessed that Wade has grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, cousins and lots of second cousins to see. We did so much I am not going to even try to go into detail but it was a wonderful time. Congrats to Ashley and Zach who got engaged on the 23rd! We are very excited. One day once we finally get settled in our house I will post some Christmas pictures. We love our new camera and enjoyed using it so much. P.S. The way this week is going it may be next Christmas before I get pictures up!

Of course his ears still have fluid in them and he did not sleep well at all. Actually he will not sleep in his bed anymore at night and we do not have a clue what to do? He naps fine and he goes to bed fine at 8pm but by 11pm he is screaming like you are cutting his arms and legs off. He will only sleep if one of us is holding him which means we aren't getting much sleep. We tried really hard not to bring him into our bed but last night we both were so tired we gave in. We have been holding him on the couch but we can't stay awake all night anymore. Of course we are sleeping in the new house so I am sure it doesn't help being in a new place but he was doing this at mom and dad's as well. So.... tomorrow we are going to the ENT and I am praying they will consider doing tubes if it will help. I just want our good sleeper back. He is great during the day other than being a little tired but at night we have a different child. Any ideas about getting him to sleep in his bed? He is taking 3 hour naps which is nice but its because he is worn out. I am not crazy about surgery but if it helps him I am all for it. Plus I am tried of seeing him hurting and all the antibiotics are really hurting his stomach. So we have our fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Well we are in our new house and trying to get settled. We are almost all unpacked but we only brought about half of the stuff from our old house since this house is half the size. We will have to store the rest in my parents garage. Poor Josh... this is his vacation week and we have been so busy moving and he has actually gotten less sleep this week than most because of Wade's ears. But, at least we are getting settled. I could have never unpacked and organized so quickly without him here. Thanks Josh we love you!! We actually have a date tonight and I am so excited. My parents are coming over to watch Wade and we are going to Sullivan's for dinner. It was part of my Christmas present. The other part is wonderful too!!! Josh is sending my on a shopping spree to Lily and White House Black Market at Cameron Village to buy some new clothes. He got two gifts cards and wrote me a sweet note and part of it said "Enjoy a day of shopping." I am so excited and cannot remember the last time I went clothes shopping. It was probably to buy maternity clothes. Not sure when I will get the chance to go shopping but I am looking forward to it. We don't have any plans for New Years this year. My parents will be out of town and since Wade isn't feeling well we probably would not be leaving him anyways. So... Josh and I are going to get some appetizers and make our favorite dessert and rent a movie or two and enjoy our new house. To be honest I am really looking forward to this. We decided we may go out next year but this year we are just hanging out. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Christmas Time

I just love this time of year... all of the Christmas smells, great food and even the crazy busy shopping days. Of course with my type A personality we finished shopping quite a few weeks ago but I still love to get out and watch everyone. I have worked a few days in the last week and I love it! Everyone is so nice and I really think I am going to enjoy being a triage nurse. There is so much to learn; it is going to be challenging but fun. I don't go back until after New Years because I wanted to be home when Josh has his vacation and we want to get settled in our house. We have been taking stuff over each night but we just have to get organized and we still have to unpack the storage unit. This past weekend we headed to Winston for Josh's mom's side's family Christmas party. We were so glad we were able to go. The party was changed until Sunday because of all the snow they got. We were glad to see everyone. Some of the family met Wade for the first time. We got some cute pictures of Wade in the snow. He didn't stay outside long but he seemed to love it. He is so hot natured he does not mind being cold. Tomorrow night we are having my mom's family Christmas at my Aunt's house. We draw names and get together to eat. This is a much smaller group. I only have one cousin on that side and one second cousin. We always have a lot of fun. We will do Christmas morning in Apex and the head to Greensboro to see Ashley and Zach and then head to Josh's parents on Christmas Day night. We started something new with my dad's side of the family and we are doing lunch the day after Christmas. It will be a busy couple of days with all the traveling. Wade is finally starting to feel better and tomorrow is our last day of medicine. I am just hoping and praying no one is sick because we will be around so many people the next few days. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here are some new pictures, somehow they got out of order? They are from this past weekend and our trip to see Santa.

Wade loving the snow

" Talking" to Santa at Crabtree

I love this picture

Our Family

This was us waiting in line for Santa

Busy Busy!!

Well things have been so crazy around here. This past weekend we started to move!!!! We accomplished our goal of getting the kitchen unpacked. We of course had more room in our old house so we have around 5 boxes of stuff that we have to store. The kitchen looks really good though. Dad had the entire house painted inside and out and it looks so good. We got to pick the color's and it turned out really cute. It is amazing what a little paint will do. It took 6 of us to clean the kitchen and it took two days. I guess the single guy who lived there did not keep his kitchen quite as clean as we would. Thanks to Ashley and Zach for helping. Ashley had the fun job cleaning the fridge and it was nasty. She did a great job it looks brand new. However the rest of the house and even the bathrooms were not bad. I think he started cleaning then stopped before reaching the kitchen. We are getting the locks changed this week and then we are going to start moving our furniture in. We just hope it all fits... the bedrooms are much smaller than our old ones. Even though this is not our dream house we know it is just temporary but I told Josh unless we really hate it there I do not want to move again for at least a year. Moving twice in 6 months with a baby is just too hard. Of course along with moving I started my job this week and Wade has another ear infection. He picked up a cold and of course it went right to his ears. So I should be sleeping because I have not had much sleep the last few days. I had orientation yesterday and I actually start at Health Link tomorrow. I really have not enjoyed leaving Wade so much this week but I know it will not be so bad after a few weeks of orienting. I have a few days I have to go during part of the day to learn the computer system but when I start learning about the phone calls so I cannot go in until 5pm during the week or anytime on weekends. The nurse line opens when the doctors office's close. I am a little nervous but also excited. With all of this going on I have gotten so un-organized and that is not my personality and it is driving me crazy. I feel like I don't know where anything is and my "to do" list is HUGE. I know it will all get done in time. Some days I just feel like I need a couple of more hours in the day. I am sure most mom's feel this way.

I Forgot!!

I knew I would forget something special that Wade is doing on his 8 month post. Josh quickly reminded me because he is so proud of what he has taught him. Wade is giving Hi- five and Josh loves it. It is so cute. He will do it with me but it is definitely something he loves to do with his Dad. I think he thinks its a game. He has also started waiving this week and today he was so cute... there was a little girl in McDonald's (she was probably around 3 or 4 years old). She of course was not even looking at Wade but when I went to feed him his carrots he is waving as hard as he could at her. It was so cute. I just waved back at him because I felt bad but he kept looking at her like "please notice me." I could just eat him up these days. Of course the first question Josh asks when I told him was "Was she cute?" Typical... but yes she was a cute little blonde girl. Its amazing what they learn because we really haven't been working on waving I guess he just see's us doing it when we tell him "bye bye." We have a busy weekend planned. Tomorrow night we are going out to eat and taking Wade to see Santa at Crabtree. I just pray he does not get sick from all the germs. We are going to start moving on Saturday. Well we have to clean first so that will probably take most of the day but we plan to try to get the yard stuff and kitchen stuff done this weekend. The house looks so good. The painters are finishing tomorrow. They just have the outside of the house left to do. It looks great, we are so glad my parents wanted to go ahead and do all of this for us. Of course they will be selling it when we move out so it needed to be done anyway but it is still so nice to have something look brand new!! I start my job Monday so we are going to try to get as much done before then. Ashley is coming Monday to help mom with Wade. I have never left him all day and I am already anxious about it. I know he is going to be in great hands. Josh even said he was going to come home from lunch and check on him!! Its so nice that Wade has such a great dad. He works so hard all day and is exhausted from getting up at 5:30am every morning and not getting home until 6pm. But the minute he walks in the door he is so excited and takes Wade and they play until 8pm (Wade's bedtime). We are so grateful to have him!! We are also going to try to go to the Christmas play at Apex Baptist sometime this weekend. I just love this time of year.

8 Months Old!!

It really does seem like the days are just flying by so fast. I can't believe I am closer to having a toddler than a baby these days. Wade is 8 months old today and has been the best "gift" Josh and I have ever received. We love him so much and he is just a joy to be around. Here is what he is up to these days:
- He weighed 19lbs 9oz at his last appt so I am guessing he is around 20lbs
-He wears size 3 diapers
-He is wearing mostly 12 month clothes but can still wear 6-9 month pants
-He has been sitting up for a month now
-He now tries to crawl but just gets mad and cries, he falls over to his stomach from sitting but can't do anything except roll after he gets there
-He loves to eat: he eats three meals a day and still nurses
- He has 4 teeth and has two more coming in
-He "bangs" everything and loves to be as loud as he can
-He says "dada" all the time and two days ago said "momma" for the first time (he has only said it twice since then)
-He LOVES his "pops" (my dad) they are best friends
-His favorite TV show is wonder pets and will sit and watch it
-He is a very "busy" child and does not like to sit still anymore
-He loves the Christmas lights when we go for our walk in the evenings
-He loves to read and look at books
-He is really funny and likes to make us laugh (he gets that from Josh)
-He usually sleeps great and naps twice a day (unless he has an ear infection- we are on medicine for #3 as we speak)
-He is so precious!!

I know I am forgetting things but this is what we are up to. He is on a great schedule and we love it; it makes life so much easier. However we usually forget about our schedule when we travel, especially during this busy Holiday season. We can't wait for his 1st Christmas this year. He is just so much fun.

Waving for the camera- of course with no smile

New Job and House!!

Today I got a phone call from UNC and I received a job offer!!! I am really excited because it is the telephone position I was hoping for. I have a lot of training to do since I do not have Peds experience but I am really excited to learn something new. I am also excited that I do not have to leave Wade much. I am going to work every weekend for awhile just to get the hang of it and get the experience then I will change my schedule around some to have some weekend time off. The nice part is I can work 3pm-11pm and not have to leave Wade for 12hrs all day or have to work 12 hours during the night. I have to do one day of hospital orientation on Dec 14th and then I will start at Healthlink. Hopefully I will get a few shifts in before Christmas. Wade is asleep in his bed and did not cry tonight. This is the first in quite a few nights. He is still pulling at his ears but he is exhausted from not sleeping much. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in in a few days.

We got to go to our rental house tonight and see it. My parents own it and the guy who had been living there moved out today. Surprisingly it did not look so bad. They had not seen it in 4 years. It actually felt bigger than I remembered. I guess anything would feel big since we do not have our own space except for our bedroom here. It has so be painted and a couple of things have to be fixed but we are hoping to be moving in in two weeks. I don't thing we will sleep there before Christmas because that is a lot of work to decorate for a few days but we will at least get everything in and un packed except for Wade's furniture so we can start sleeping there after Christmas. My goal is to have everything unpacked and organized and have pictures hung etc before we move in. Josh is off for 10 days after Christmas eve so it will be nice to get settled and just enjoy our new place after that. We are so grateful to my parents for letting us stay here for the last 3 1/2 months but we are excited to now have our own place.

Thanksgiving

We headed to Greensboro Thursday for Thanksgiving. We went and ate at Ashley's for lunch and had a great time. We stayed a few hours and then headed to Nana/Poppy's for Thanksgiving dinner. We were sad that Matt, Kendal, & Peyton couldn't join us. Kendal is now on bedrest for 10 weeks due to a placenta previa which we are hoping will resolve itself soon. Since she is having twins you have to be extra careful. She is doing great though even though it is no fun "resting" all day. Oh I forgot since I did not have my computer last week that we went to Winston for Peyton's 2nd birthday last weekend and found out they are having twin boys!!!! How fun, Wade is going to have so much fun with all of his cousins. Peyton is 18months older than Wade and Wade will be one year older than the twins. It is so nice having our kids close in age. Friday morning Josh and I got up and went shopping early. We actually went for Josh's mom. She is so sweet and lets us pick out our own Christmas present and we decided on the Nikon 3000 camera. It was on sale at best buy and we got there in time to get one. It is so nice and we are so excited. I feel like I miss so many cute pictures because my camera is so slow. Friday Peyton stayed with us while Matt went to work and we all had so much fun. She is really starting to talk now and loved saying "Josh" all day. He loved it too. Wade and her are starting to "play" together. We had a relaxing weekend and got to visit all of the great grandparents as well. What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. The only bad thing is that Wade got my cold and did not sleep well at night. Saturday he started grabbing his ears and sure enough I took him in today and we have ear infection # 3. This poor child. We are trying a different antibiotic and hopefully this one will work. I am so tired of him being sick. It is pitiful. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I added lots of new pictures since I finally have my computer back.

Little "Hugh" in his robe Taking a bath at Nana's house

Cousins (Peyton is thrilled about having her picture taken)

Thanksgiving Day- Wade is ready to eat... he now bangs on the table to let us know

Thanks "Aunt E" for my Thanksgiving hat

More pictures!

Thanksgiving- Wade & Charlie Wade's silly face- 7 months old

So sleepy

Peyton's 2nd Birthday(Peyton, Nana & Wade)

Mommy, Wade & Charlie

Pictures!

Here are some pictures I can finally post now that my computer is back!!

So tired from the hockey game

Watching the game
the boys

Braden, Andrea, Me and Wade

This was our date night before we left to go out!

Big Decision

Well the decision has been made and I have decided to go back to work. Now if you ask my husband it really doesn't count calling it "going back to work" because I am mostly interviewing for PRN positions and would just be working one to two days a week. My goal when I had Wade was to stay home with him at least 6 months. I feel like that is so important!! Well he is almost 8 months and I am so happy we have never had to leave him with anyone. I had an interview last week at UNC on the mother/baby floor and I should be hearing something back next week. They need help on weekends so that is a great option for us. I also have another interview on Monday...please pray it goes well because it is something I am really interested in. It is a pediatric phone nurse position and I could work every other weekend and only work 3pm-11pm and if I wanted more time I could pick it up during the week. I do not have Peds experience but she sounded like they may be willing to work with me and teach me what I would need to know. Of course I am sure they have many people to interview and someone with that experience would get the job before I would. Basically you are the after hours phone nurse when parents have a question about what to do with their child. I LOVE the fact that I would not be bringing germs home to Wade and..... here is the best news, after 6 months you can work from home!!! Now I am trying not to get too excited but I just hope everything goes well. I am just happy to have an interview. This job is also through UNC. I have enjoyed keeping Elizabeth so much and it has been a great way to stay home and make a little extra money. But I am looking foward to having a lot of free time during the week with Wade. This is the best thing about nursing, there is so much flexibility. I will let you know how it goes.

Computer issues and Hockey game!

Well I hate to say I was the dumb one to click on a link someone sent me on facebook and now my computer has this wonderful virus. One of my dad's friends has it and is going to be working on it for me to see if he can remove it. Until then I am without a computer. However it has been nice to go to bed earlier and catch up on some reading. Of course we always seem to have something going on and Wade has ended up sleeping with me most of the week. I am praying it is not his ears again. However we are pretty sure we know what it is. His front two top teeth are coming in... the little corner of both teeth has popped through and it seems to make him miserable at night. Motrin helped a little last night and he slept about half of the night in his bed. He is still napping ok it just seems like it hurts him at night. We go back to the doctor Tuesday to check his ears so hopefully they are clear. This poor child is going to forget what it is like to sleep all night.
Last Friday Josh got tickets from work to the Hurricanes game. Well of course mom and dad wanted to keep Wade for us but Josh really wanted to take him. He is loving having a little boy to start taking to sporting events. Well I am the negative one and I was really worried about how he would do because it didn't even start until 7pm and he is always in bed by 8pm. Of course he proved me wrong and he did great. We stayed the entire time and he did not get in bed until 11pm. He was amazed by all the bright lights and noises. We went with Andrea and Brad and their boys and had a great time. I also got to meet some of Josh's friends from work and it was good to finally meet them. So needless to say Josh is all ready to try another game or a football game. We were so glad Wade was so happy. Every time he would try to close his eyes something would happen and wake him up so he just gave up on sleeping and enjoyed the game. Of course we lost in over time. Josh was hoping to see a shoot out. Maybe next time!

We are sick again...

For a child who has never been to daycare poor wade is having a hard time fighting the germs off. My only guess is that it is preschool germs that he is getting. We took him in today and his second ear infection is almost gone but he has somehow picked up some type of virus. Yesterday he threw up 4 times... once on me, once on Josh and twice on the bed. Needless to say we have done tons of laundry. Luckily he has been fine since yesterday morning but he has this pitiful cough. Last night we had to put him in the bathroom with just a diaper on and run the hot water because it was starting to sound like "croup". It seemed to really help; he slept a little while in his car seat because he cannot lie down flat or he starts coughing again. I ended up holding him most of the night because he was not thrilled about the car seat. He has two days left on his antibiotics and hopefully the ear infection and whatever viral is going on will both be gone. It is just heartbreaking to see him sick and not be able to do much about it. What is everyone doing about getting the H1N1 vaccine???? We have it at our doctors office and they have set one aside for wade to get when we go back for the next dose of the flu shot but I am just not sure what to do about getting it? Hopefully this will be our last illness for a little bit.

Wade's newest thing

So here is Wade' s new thing. He makes this silly face and then laughs at himself. He was laughing so hard but of course once I got the camera out he would only laugh a couple of times... but he does the silly face quite a few times. He has Josh's crazy personality.

Couponing and bathtime

So I started couponing as a way to save a little bit of money now that I am staying home. At first I thought it was a waste of time and that you could only save a little bit of money but... Josh and I took a coupon class and we loved it. If you are in the Raleigh area I highly recommend it. A lady named Su teaches it and she is amazing and so funny. We had a great time. I am just getting started and here is my first purchase. It takes a little bit of time to get started but the nice thing is I only shop at Harris Teeter and CVS. Now if I have to have something that is not on sale or if I don't have a coupon then Walmart is the better choice. Today Harris Teeter started Triple coupons but the trick is you have to buy what is on sale and what you have a coupon for. So... I bought 3 rolls of paper towels, a box of cereal, minute rice, 3 toothbrushes, 4 things of deodorant, ketchup, syrup, dial hand soap, 3 packs of gum, and organic peanut butter. I got all of this for $13.00 and saved $30.00. I thought it was a good buy for my first real couponing trip. Let me know if anyone is interested in the coupon class and I can send you her information. We finally got the duck out now that Wade is sitting better and he absolutely loved it. This is a must for babies... I am going to start giving this for gifts. He played for 15 minutes. We also just started giving him toys in the bathtub and he thought this was so fun. Here are a couple of cute pictures.

Playtime

7 Months Cont.

This is why I have no clue when this child is sick. This was the day before we went to the doctors... he was supposed to be napping and instead I heard laughing and squealing so I went upstairs and found him pulling his bumper off the side of the bed and putting his arms and head underneath it!! This was by far the hardest month to get a picture because he was moving non -stop. I am amazed I was able to get the sign in the picture because he was grabbing it and trying to eat it. I had to give him his blankie to get him to finally look up at me. I think he is going to be active!

trying to pull the back bumper off the railings

trying to get away

such a mess

7 Months Old!!!

Tomorrow Wade will be 7 months old... I know I say this every time but where does time go? Tomorrow we will take his monthly pictures but here are a couple of new cute ones. Of course there is no smiling going on but they are still cute!

Our big boyThanks mimi and pops for the new chair

almost had a good smile!
Here is what he has been up to:

-He weighs around 19lbs (his last visit two weeks ago he was 18lbs 9oz)

-He is still chubby but has really started to slim down some since he has gotten so much longer

-He is wearing size 3 diapers still

-He is wearing 6-9 and 9-12 month clothes

-He is on a really good schedule these days...he takes a 1hr morning nap and a 2 hr afternoon nap (sometimes takes a 30 min evening nap as well but is starting to grow out of it)

-He goes to bed at 8pm every night and wakes up between 5-6am to eat and goes back to sleep until 8am

-He eats oatmeal for breakfast, a vegetable for lunch, and a vegetable & rice cereal with fruit for dinner

-He is still nursing and eats at 6am, 11am, 3pm, & 7pm (he still has never had formula)

-He loves water in his sippy cup but has not mastered holding it completely by himself

-He loves morning time and bath time (we have now grown out of his old tub and use his duck tub and have added some toys to bath time and he LOVES it)

-He is rolling Everywhere!!!

-He grabs everything and will roll or turn to get something he wants

-He is doing great at sitting especially in the bathtub (I still don't leave him sitting alone yet because he likes to throw his head back and lie down when he gets tired)

-He is so active and is moving all the time (his legs kick all the time)

-He is not crawling but is starting to like being on his stomach more and more each day

-He can walk a few steps backwards in his walker

-He loves to shake his toys and rattles and does the cutest thing where he shakes with his right hand and then switches and shakes it with his left hand. (he is so proud when he does it with both hands)

-He loves to go for walks and being outside

-He "babbles" all the time

-He has realized that we have dogs and he LOVES them- he laughs and wants to grab them all the time

-He loves anything plastic or anything that makes noise

-He is the happiest and sweetest little boy. I am so thankful I have been able to stay home with him for the last 7 months. He is such a joy to be around and we are so blessed that he is our little boy.

Unfortunately today he had to go to the doctor because the last few nights he started waking up screaming again and sure enough we have our second ear infection... the doctor did not seem to concerned he said if it was his 3rd or 4th we would be going to the ENT doctor. Hopefully this will be the last one for awhile. He was pitiful last night and almost made me cry he was screaming and crying so hard. I knew something was wrong much sooner this time. The doctor said we caught it early so hopefully the antibiotics will start working soon.

Happy Halloween!

Tonight was Wade's first Halloween and he had a great time... however he was a little tired because he slept until 9:15am this morning so he missed his morning nap and just slept 2 hours this afternoon. By 6pm he was so tired. We got him dressed and we took him up to church to the fall festival. It was so nice for all the kids and they even had a free hot dog/chili supper. Not to mention the fried snickers and oreo's!! We had to treat ourselves since it was Halloween. It was great to get to see all of our friends too. My "little" cow

Ready to go to the festival
This was a couple of days ago. I just loved this pirate shirt I found at kid to kid. Its hard to see in the picture because he is leaning over, but its so cute. That has got to be one of the best places to get kids clothes. Everything is so cheap. We also got his cow costume there for only $6. Well tomorrow we are going to just relax and hang around the house. Hopefully Wade will sleep well tonight... I have always heard that kids get all messed up when daylight savings time comes around. Hopefully it will only take a day or two for him to get in the swing of things. I am so excited for an extra hour of sleep. Happy Halloween. Oh I forgot to mention Josh and I started dating 4 years ago tonight. Its hard to believe we have been together that long and married 2 1/2 years next month. Not a great night to remember so we have always said Nov. 1st. (even though we don't count this as an anniversary anymore, now we just do our wedding date)

Josh's Birthday Part 2...

Josh's Birthday dinner

Cousins- Wade & Peyton I forgot to mention that Josh and I had a great date night for his birthday. We went to dinner and a movie and it was so fun. Couples Retreat was pretty cute but not as good as Hangover. Josh has gotten to choose the last two movies we have seen so it is definitely my turn next time. Thanks Mimi for babysitting!!

This weekend we packed up and headed to Winston to see Josh's family and celebrate his birthday. Josh felt pretty special to celebrate two weekends in a row. Mom and I went by Ashley's Friday to see her place and it was really cute. We didn't stay long because she had to work that night but we were able to grab a quick bite to eat and spend and hour or so together. Then Josh picked us up and we headed to his parents house. They only live 25 minutes from Ashley. We hung out with his parents and watched a movie Friday night. Saturday we took Wade to see his great grandparents and then went over to see Matt, Kendal, & Peyton and their new house. It was so good to see them and catch up. We planned to take the kids to a neighborhood Halloween hay ride/party but it was rained out. We love their new neighborhood. We also have to give a big CONGRATS to them... I have been waiting to say anything until Kendal starting telling people but they are pregnant again!!! We are so happy for them and Peyton. But the big news is... they are pregnant with TWINS!!!!! Peyton is going to be a great big sister. She did really well with Wade. Wade is going to be so excited to have 3 cousins sometime this spring. Saturday night we all went to Fill station (an old gas station turned into a restaurant in downtown Winston) and it was so good. We had a great time celebrating Josh's birthday and seeing everyone. Sunday we went with Josh's parents to Pilot Mountain to go hiking. It is the best time of year to go. It was so pretty. We were all dying but the time the 4 mile hike was over. I know Josh was tired carrying Wade in the backpack. Wade did great, we hiked for 1 1/2 hours and he didn't make a sound, just smiled. Of course I was nervous because of all the rocks and steps and the leaf's made it a little slippery. We were so thankful that we had a safe trip... however Charlie and I were in the front and as we were walking by some mountain climbers we heard them start yelling "rock falling" and this bolder fell right in front of us. After that I was so thankful to be back to the car safely. I am so glad that no one was hit with the rock because it would have been horrible. We were all so tired but had a great weekend!