Playing at Mamaw's

Here are some of the pictures we took on Sunday when we went down to Josh's Mamaw's house to see her and to let him play. Wade is one lucky little boy to have so many great grandparents that he gets to go see and spend time with! We actually did this before we went to look for our tree but because of the way I saved these the post are backwards!!

Christmas Tree

After leaving Josh's Mamaw's house on Sunday we stopped to get our Christmas tree with Josh's parents. We went to this cute little tree farm place across the street from their house. Wade had a blast running in and out of all the tree's even though he was exhausted already. We even managed to get a couple of cute pictures. They were so nice there and they wrapped up our tree and put it on top of Josh's car for us. Wade was asleep within 3 minutes of driving and slept the entire ride home. We dropped him off at my parents house so we could unload the car (which was so full it was crazy) and put our tree up and get the lights on. Wade got home just in time to "help" put the ornaments on the tree. He really wasn't that interested in helping. He only wanted to play with the gold star! We watched Elf while putting the decorations up. We just love that movie. Wade wasn't too into the movie but had a good time playing with all of his toys. He loves to come home to his toys after being gone a few days!! We are so thankful for such a great weekend. Here are some pictures of trying to find the perfect Christmas tree!

A few random's!

Much to my surprise the Geek Squad called yesterday and said I get to come pick a new computer that they are not able to fiix mine. I was really surprised and excited to do so. So we went last night...Best Buy was a success and we were there less than an hour and left with a new computer. I got another Toshiba and it is pretty much the exact same thing hardware wise but a newer version on the outside. I was happy it all worked out and that this one has another year warranty starting today!! There are even one or two from our trip to the zoo in early November that I forgot to blog about!

Last week mom and I took Wade to the Shriner's Circus. My grandad got us tickets and we had a fun time. Wade actually did pretty well and loved the tigers and elephants. The funniest thing is he started crying when the guy was trying to be funny and kept falling off the trampoline. Wade started crying and kept telling him to bounce. He was crying so hard we had to get up. He thought he was getting hurt every time he fell of the trampoline. So after the intermission we tried it again and he once again did great until the monkey's came out and one of the monkey's was hitting the monkey trainer (being funny.) Well once again Wade (my sensitive child) started crying and asking to leave when they started hitting. This is one thing I may never understand. Wade will hit us and bite and then laugh his little head off. However if he sees anyone hit or if anyone pushes him of throws something at him he will cry like his heart is broken. I guess its ok if he is inflicting the pain but he doesn't want to see anyone else hurt someone? Here are a few pictures from the circus and some that I got the other day when we were doing some yard work! I just love these pictures of him playing in the leaves and the one's of him and Josh doing some yard work. There are a few other random around the house photo's mixed in too!

Shopping!!

Josh's mom kept Wade last year while we did some black Friday shopping...this year she had to work so we were not sure what we were going to do. Wade slept until 7:30am and since we were all up early we decided to just try to take him with us since we didn't get up so early like we did last year. We went to Babies R Us because they had diapers on sale and I bought a bunch the year I was pregnant and really wanted to buy some to stock up on. We got over 600 diapers for $70. It is such a great deal. There big boxes of diapers were on sale for $10 a box. We also went to Target, Walmart and Toys R Us as well. We stopped at Chick-fil-a after two stores and had a great family breakfast. Wade was so good all morning. It really helped that Josh took him to the toy section in all of the stores to "play." We headed back home to Josh's parents for lunch and Wade's nap. Josh and I both got on a couch and watched tv and rested while Wade slept 3hrs and 15 min. He was worn out. After he woke up we went to my Grandparents house to see my dad's side of the family. It is such a blessing that all of my dad's family (much bigger than my mom's) live just 30 min away from Winston. It really makes it easy for us to see everyone when we go home. The best part is that my dad has two brothers... one lives beside my Grandparents and the other lives across the street. Some of our cousins came over to Grandma's as well. Logan is my cousin's little boy and he is just a month older than Wade. They had a lot of fun running around and playing. When we left we went over to Matthew and Kendal's to help Matt because Kendal had to work. I really realized how much work it is to have twins and a 3 year old. Someone always needs something! I was thankful for my one child this weekend. Josh's and I left and did a little more shopping and his parents brought Wade home for us. We found Wade a "manly" kitchen set for Christmas. He is going to love it. We are pretty much done with all of our shopping except for a few little things.

Saturday we relaxed for a bit and then headed to Josh's grandparents house to see his mom's side of the family. Wade is so lucky that he has 3 great grandmothers and 3 great grandfather's that love him so much. Josh's grandparents live on a farm and have cow's that Wade got to feed (of course I did not have my camera!) He had a blast riding in Papaw's truck and feeding the cows. Wade was ready for a nap after playing so hard at Mamaw and Papaw's house. He took another great nap and then Ashley and Zach came over and we all headed to Chuckey Cheese. I will try to say this nicely but after walking in the door we were ready to leave. We only stayed about 15 or 20 minutes. It was really crowded the people that were there weren't really into watching there kids. Kids were running everywhere and into people and it was just not a great place for a toddler. So we went to Hanes Mall (a great huge mall) and walked around for a bit. Wade rode the carousel and even went to see Santa. I didn't have my camera and he wasn't too thrilled to sit with him unless we were holding him. He did give him a Hi-5. We got Wade a couple of pairs of new shoes from Stride Rite.  I just love there shoes so much...they are a little pricey but so worth it! It was good to spend some time with Ashley and Zach too.

Sunday we relaxed all morning and then went to Josh's other Mamaw's house. She lives only a mile or two from Josh's parents house. However she lives on 19 acres (I think) and there is a barn and a creek. So needless to say it is a little boy's heaven. Wade came in to see Mamaw for a  minute or two but then wanted to run and play outside. I love it because he can run wild and we don't have to worry about the road. He loved throwing sticks into the creek the best. It is so special that Wade has most of his great grandparents around still and that he just loves going to all of their houses!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving! I just love having Josh home for 4 days...it is so nice to have help with Wade. Thursday started a little rough for us. Josh and I were in our room finishing up packing and Wade was playing with one of his balls in the living room. He kept saying "watch me daddy" and would hold the ball against his stomach and run into the couch??? He was having a blast. Well of course when we were not watching we heard a loud "thud" followed by a loud cry. We both ran into the den and Wade was lying still on the floor on his side. We slowly picked him up and he started screaming. At first I thought maybe his arm or collar bone was broken but I was able to calm him down and he could move it. Something just wasn't right...I just had that mom feeling. So Josh sat down with him on the couch and I was talking to him making sure he understood things and all of a sudden he turned a white pale color and his lips turned blue. Talk about heart failure. I kept talking to him and ran and got him some milk and his color finally came back. He never stopped breathing but turned a horrible blue/gray color. I called my mother- in-law and she gave me some neuro type things to have him do and he did great. He knew his name, colors, could lift his arms and even tried to jump and then laughed. So after thinking about it I guess he just fell so hard he got the wind knocked out of him. I was so glad that we would be sleeping in the same room with him all weekend just in case he did have a head injury. There were no bruises or bumps so I think he must have just fell really hard onto his back/side? I was so thankful we did not end up in the ER on Thanksgiving.

So obviously running a little behind since the accident we quickly got ready and headed to my Aunt's house for lunch. My mom has a small family..it is just her and her sister (her family) and my grandad. My grandma died when I was in nursing school. I only have one cousin on mom's side and she has one daughter. So it is a small group but we had a great time. Wade was in heaven because we eat in the back garage where my aunt has a daycare and Wade just had a blast playing with all the toys. It was really great for us because we fed him first and then he played while we all ate. We ate too much and then we drew names for our secret santa gifts. It is so nice that Josh and I both draw a name and that is who we buy for, it really helps not buying for everyone. We buy for the kids that are under 18 but that is only Wade and my cousin's daughter Kayla. So for now we only buy for Kayla...one day we will get to buy for Ashley and Zach's little ones!! Around 130p we left and headed to Winston. The timing works great because it is past nap time and Wade is so tired he sleeps the entire way. We got to Josh's parents house and got to relax and look at all the sales paper before Matt and Kendal and the kids got there. I love going to Josh's house because it is just so "homey" if that is a word. It is so nice to just hang out and relax with nothing to do. We all ate supper when Matt and Kendal got there and we had a great time. Thanks to Josh's mom for cooking such a great meal. We always eat so well when we go home. Wade ate meatballs, green beans and sweet potatoes before they got there and then ate some more when everyone sat down to eat. He was an eating machine this weekend. All the kids did great at dinner. You never know what will happen when you have 4 kids all 3 year old and under!! We cleaned up and played after dinner until bedtime and it was so nice to see everyone and catch up. Wade really enjoyed all the attention and getting to stay up late all weekend.

Never Say Never

So I love some of my friends blogs that I have been reading about "never saying never." Oh how this was me...about 21 months ago! My mom laughs almost every day and says "this is what you get for always saying..."my child will not act that way!" Oh I was such a good mom before Wade was born and Wade was the perfect sweet angel I always imagined. Yesterday really made me realize just how wrong I was all the times I said "mine will not do that."

Here are just a few examples...
-My child will not scream out in restaurants...he will sit in his highchair until we are all done (yea right who ever eats and gets done first takes wade out to run around most of the time.)
-He will always ride in a stroller or a cart and sit there peacefully!! ( I will say he loves to ride in the cart most of the time but does not love his stroller.)
-He will not hit, bite or throw things. (He does all of this on a daily basis)
-He will not throw his food. ( This one makes me laugh because what he will do is say "do not do that" and then he will proceed to dump his food into the floor and laugh. This one makes me the most mad!!
- I will never try to bribe my child to be good or buy him things just because he wants it ( actually I did not give in last night but Josh bought wade a stuffed animal because Wade took it up to the register and said "buy it" "buy it" The best part is that it is a pink monkey!!)

Oh I know there are so many I am forgetting. I really think I have learned so much in the last 20 months. I know that I have more sympathy for mom's when their child is screaming or acting out in public. Now I just laugh because I have been there too! Last night was a classic example of my great parenting skills. We went to the mall last minute and I was already worn out from the day. Since we were not planning on going we did not have a stroller (this is mistake # 1.) Well Wade had been pretty good yesterday and has been taking great naps even over 3 hours! So we decided to get him a cookie for a special treat (mistake # 2.) Well we don't give him sugar unless it comes from fruit or a granola bar. He only had one of the little bite size sugar cookies but you would have thought is was one of those huge cookie sandwiches that were full of icing the way he started acting. He started running everywhere probably as fast as he has ever ran!! Thank goodness Josh was there because I couldn't keep up with him.

Finally after we found and bought "banana"  Wade's new pink monkey toy he calmed down and sat on Josh's shoulders for a few minutes. Well we made the mistake to put him back down and he went crazy again. This time dragging that pink monkey all over the mall floor and even throwing and fetching him throughout the mall. I know we sounded crazy saying "wade pick up your pink monkey right now!" We were those people that I used to stare at and say "my child will not act that way." So if we tried to take "banana" (Josh and wade named him) away Wade would have a little fit and scream. Oh what a fun time. Well if things could not get any worse Josh was paying for some shoes and I had to take Wade out of the store because he was laying down in the middle of the store on his back (why I do not know?) So I decide to take him out of the store to let him walk (yea right) around. Well I must have grabbed the Tasmanian devil instead because he took off so fast a nice guy actually playfully got in front of him to stop him for me because I was running down the ramp after him. So I finally grab him and he stops and relaxes for a second and then took off in the opposite direction. Well this time he was not running so fast thankfully but he was knocking down two signs in the meantime. Those cardboard signs outside of stores and stands that are impossible to stand back up. So picture me trying to stop him while holding our stuff and then trying to pick and stand these signs back up. Well I got one back up but the other one just had to lay there. If he wasn't so heavy and my hands were not full I would have just carried him around.

After about loosing it (the signs were the last straw) I saw a glimpse of heaven! Gymboree!! I remembered they have a little TV in there. So I grabbed him and drug him into the store and told him to sit down and to not get up. He actually did pretty good after he got the chair re-arranged the way he wanted. Of course Josh was done just a couple of minutes after that. On the way home he was a little show off spelling his name and counting to 10. He is also really close to knowing his ABC's so he wanted to sing that. I think he was sucking up to us because he knew we were a little frustrated. All we could do is laugh. We felt like teenage parents who didn't have a clue to what we were doing.

When we got home Wade had his milk and then asked to go "night night" it was 9pm which is an hour later than his normal bedtime. He did the funniest thing ever. He was in his crib and I was just talking away to him and he looks at me and says "cose the door" and I said excuse me and he said "mommy cose the door." I think he had worn himself out at the mall and did not even want to talk to me. We have always put him to sleep awake and we always close his door when he sleeps. I guess he likes it that way. I am so happy he is so easy to put to bed!! I may do the rest of my Christmas shopping online!!

It wasn't food poisoning!!

Well what I thought may have been food poisoning (I thought Josh had food poisoning last week...it was a virus!) definitely was not. Tuesday night I started feeling bad and did not want to eat dinner(very unusual.) Well sure enough Tuesday night I started getting sick and it was horrible. My mom and dad were life savers because Josh really needed to go to work so my dad came and picked up Wade around 830am Wednesday so Josh could head to work. They kept him all day and even let him spend the night. What a blessing because I could not get out of bed all day on Wednesday. I didn't even sit up until 4pm. Today I feel like a new person. I am just hoping that we will all be well for awhile now!!

I am so excited that my free Christmas cards came and I love them. Once I send them out I will put a picture on here of what they look like. Our calendars came too and they are so cute. We went ahead and put up all of our inside Christmas decorations on Monday. (everything except our tree) We are waiting to do our wreaths and our tree until after Thanksgiving. I can only imagine what Wade is going to do to the tree. I don't think I will be able to put presents under the tree until Christmas Eve because I am afraid he will try to open them!!

I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving; I feel like it was just Halloween yesterday. I love spending the day with all of our family. I think we may do some shopping the day after but probably not too early in the morning. I love going to Josh's for Thanksgiving dinner and then sitting around and looking at all the sales papers. That is one of my favorite things to do Thanksgiving day. Hopefully my computer will be back one day and I will be able to post pictures again. My goal was to be caught up on pictures and after printing 320 pictures at Walmart I think I may be!! Now I just need to get all of our video's uploaded again. I feel like that is a never ending process.

A Long Week!

Well had I known that we would have all been under the weather I probably would not have chosen to take Wade's paci away this week. However he has done great and only cried the first day. He is napping great and even sleeping better at night than he did last week!! Josh went to a Chinese buffet this week with his boss and they both got food poisoning the same night!! Well I am starting to question whether or not it was food poisoning because Wade also started having bad diapers and vomited twice and my stomach has not felt great!! Josh was dying and actually really really sick so if it was a virus Wade and I just got a mild case of it. Wade was also stared on a antibiotic for his lovely upper respiratory infection that will not go away!! He has been trying to get over this for 2 weeks now. I am happy to say it is great to not have to worry about having a paci. I am so proud of him. I have to say 19 months has been a great age for us to take it away. I think Josh wouldn't have minded waiting until he was over 2 (he mentioned last night he felt like he was still really young) but he is glad we have transitioned so well. On another irritating note my computer is back to the Geek Squad because the problem was not fixed, actually it was worse!! So one day I will upload photo's again. With Wade not feeling well he has been pretty fussy this weekend and we got some really funny pictures of him last night having a melt down. Something we will laugh at one day (not so funny last night.) He kept saying "all gone" and screaming? I think he was talking about his yogurt melts that I told him were all gone. We headed to Food Lion to take care of the problem but it didn't make him happy. He was just irritable.

He has said a few really funny things this weekend. Friday night Josh and I ran a couple of errands and grabbed a quick bite to eat. When we picked him up from mom and dad's he was singing "shake your booty" "shake your booty" and laughing his little head off. Thanks Dad for teaching him so many important things these days!! He also did something he has never done. He was sitting in his chair watching basketball and dad taught him "Go Carolina" and he would point and say "basketball." Last night when we stopped by mom's during the meltdown he went to his chair and sat down and asked for "basketball."  He has never asked to watch anything but "Wade's shows."

Friday night when Wade was throwing up we had him in our bed watching TV with us. Well I always have a sweat shirt on and Wade is so hot natured that we keep the heat on 68/69 (I know its cold.) Well Josh was in a T-shirt and he just happened to mention that it felt like an ice fridge in our house. Forgetting that Wade was in bed with us I jokingly said "get a sweatshirt on...duh" Well not even 30 seconds later I hear "duh" and a little boy laughing hysterically. Then I hear "sweatshirt" and he thought that was the funniest word he has ever heard. We all got a good laugh and tried not to say it again.  Saturday morning I hear "sweatshirt duh" (this child does not forget anything!!) We just could not help but laughing. He is going to keep us on our toes for sure!!

45 Days...

It is hard for me to even imagine that Christmas is 45 days away. Next to Fall this is my second favorite time of the year. I am so glad that I did get most of my shopping done early this year. We still have a few things to buy but I always like to wait to get the last few things done closer to Christmas. I know it is crazy but I love going to the mall and walking around and just watching the hustle and bustle of the season. One thing that I am going to make sure I go ahead and get started on is our family Christmas card. When Josh and I got married we started a tradition of sending a Christmas card out to our friends and family. I love putting a family picture on our card for those we don't get to see to often. It is so much more fun now that Wade is here and now that he is changing and growing so much. Two out of the three Christmas's since we got married we have used Shutterfly for our Christmas card and they have turned out great! I also started something new last year which is a Shutterfly calendar with picture's of Wade each month and I can't wait to do that again this year. It is a great gift for his Grandma's.

Shutterfly is doing a promotion for 50 free cards this year and I could not be more excited. I love all of their cards!! I always have the hardest time choosing because all of the cards are so cute. I started looking last night but with over 700 to choose from it is going to be hard to decide. Trying to get a cute family picture is another story! We will take what we can get with a one and a half year old. Here are some of the links to Shutterfly's cards.

www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards


http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards


http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

I am really hoping that we got a cute picture from Ashley and Zach's wedding that we may be able to use. So far I think that this card is one of my most favorites for this year. I love anything with polka dots and almost everything I usually pick looks girly to Josh. I thought this was really cute but not too girly at the same time!

(In full disclosure: In exchange for this review, I received 50 free cards from Shutterfly)

Pappi Bear!

Today was the big day...actually I just decided randomly this morning that we would do it today. We got rid of Wade's paci (pappi- as he calls it.) For the last couple of months he has only had it in his crib or on long car rides and I am hoping this will help tremendously. I wanted to take it away during the day first and then take it away all together. We decided to go to Build-A-Bear and to "give pappi to a baby bear." Wade and I have been talking about it all day but I do not think it really sunk in until tonight when they were not in his bed. When I handed Wade his paci's (three of them) to put inside his bear he immediately stuck one in his mouth. I was able to get one last picture of him with his paci. He was so funny because as I was trying to take it away from him he was holding on to that paci for dear life. He did finally give it to the guy that was helping us. I am not sure why I decided to do this today except for the fact that I do not work at all this week and this weekend I only work one morning for 4 hours. I figured we may have some sleepless nights. Tonight he did cry for pappi for a minute or two and then he cried for "daddy's bed" (which is not unusual.) I picked him up because it made me sad to see him missing it and we rocked for a few minutes. I put him back down and he cried for a minute for some water so I took him his cup with a sip of water in it and then he was asleep in just a minute. He has never asked for his water cup so I think he just wanted it for comfort or to just hold something. I figured it wouldn't hurt for the first couple of days or so. We made Pappi bear so you could feel the paci's still but that just made him mad and he threw Pappi bear down. Overall I have to say it went much better than I thought and he was asleep before 9pm. Hopefully the next few nights and naps will go ok to. Here are some pictures from our adventure! My baby is growing up so fast.

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Fall Fun

Fall is by far my most favorite time of the year. I love the smells of pumpkin spice candles, the weather, college football, the fair, watching the leaves change colors and knowing that the Holidays are just around the corner. So needless to say when I looked out my window yesterday and saw this I just couldn't help but smile. I love Fall so much but not as much as these two sweet boys!!