Just like Daddy

So I pretty much look just like my Daddy (except maybe for my eyes...they are more like mommy's)

On weekends you can find me relaxing around the house with a drink in my hand just like daddy (except I prefer organic milk in a sippy and daddy likes his drink in a can!)

Around lunch time we finally get dressed...sometimes I wonder why daddy doesn't need mommy's help getting dressed like I do because mommy will often ask him if he  "is really wearing that?" Then its back to our recliner's (daddy taught me to put my arm up like this)

He said something about the "chicks really digging this pose?" 



We always make time to play with toys!! I found these really cool glasses so I can be just like my daddy now. Mom said something about them belonging to Mr. Potato head...not sure if she was talking about mine or daddy's? Daddy says all the girls love a smart man and these are really doing it for me. 

Here I am driving my train super fast...Mommy told daddy he would be able to drive better if he wore his glasses so I am going to wear mine while driving so I can be just like him!!

I love my daddy so much and want to be just like him one day!! Daddy says he may even try to borrow my glasses because they look so good on me. I told him "its hard looking this good!!" (but he can try if he wants!)

Its the little things!!

So I have had quite a few people ask me lately about Josh and I's date nights so here goes...when we were pregnant with Wade we decided that we would make time for just each other every week. Now the first 8-12 weeks were much harder to get away so I think we started this when he was around 3 months or so. Now don't get me wrong we love wade more than pretty much anything (now diet mt dew is a close second and by the way I only had one last week when we ate out...I used to have one or two daily.) Obviously I am only kidding but diet Mt Dew is high on my list of things I love. So back to the point. A girl that I used to work with in Greenville taught me a lot about the type of parent I needed to be. Unfortunately I watched as her marriage pretty much fall apart after they had a child. Her little boy became first in her life...she did everything for and with him, showered with him and slept with him every night instead of her husband. When I left Greenville he was 4 and she was still sleeping with him. So after watching how this could really destroy a marriage Josh and I decided to always put each other first. I will tell you God has really blessed our marriage so much from doing this. Is it hard sometimes when it is 815p and Wade is crying in his crib because he doesn't want to go to bed, Yes. However we know that is an appropriate time for a almost 2 yr old to go to sleep and it gives us time alone every night before we go to bed. Or when he whine's the entire way to church and says "no church." It would be easier not to go but I always tell him "daddy and mommy need to go to church together."

So we try to do something each week that is for just the two of us. It may not be an exciting date night out on the town but it is time alone. It actually may be Subway or McDonald's but hey its the alone time that counts!! We are so blessed to have family so close that wants to watch him once a week for us. Sometimes mom wants to keep him during the day and even though it does sound so nice for me to have alone time during the day I would rather save it for when Josh is home.  Most of the time it is not over night instead it is just 2-3 hours that we have without a child. Some weeks we may even just rent a movie and make some popcorn when he is in bed. The part that counts for us is...I am not on the computer and he is not watching sports and we are doing something together. It is so cute because Wade already knows about date nights. For instance last night I said "you are going to go stay with Mimi for a little while while mommy and daddy have some alone time." Wade says "mommy daddy date." Please please don't think I am bragging but it just works for us. Wade is so important to us but our marriage is more important. The best part is how we race from the car to my parents house when we get home from our date to try to be the first one in to see him. I think it makes us better parents to get out and have some time away. So here's to date nights!!

Our weekend

So these days wade has an obsession with movies. He loves to watch them and always seems to change his mind about 5 minutes into them and wants to watch different one. Here is the problem. He is scared of some of the parts. Yesterday we were watching Nemo and when Nemo's dad and Dori are looking for him there is a scene with a shark. Wade quickly crawls on the couch and says "its scary" and cuddles with me. I told him "its ok buddy he is a nice shark not a scary one" trying to help the situation. He looks at me and smiles and says the cutest thing..." its little bit scary." I love that he is starting to figure things out. It is so fun to sit and watch him think of what he is going to say. I thought it was too funny that when I told him it wasn't scary he realized to him it was still a little bit scary. Love that sweet boy!

We are having a great weekend at home. It is so nice after the busy Holidays to stay at home for the next few weeks. My mom has been so busy with my Grandad since he came home that she hadn't seen Wade in 3-4 days. I know that is not a long time but she was used to seeing him almost daily when she was keeping the kids. So between going back to work and being at my granddad's she was have wade withdrawal. So she kept him last night for us to have a date night out to eat. We haven't had one since New Years (I know its not that long ago we are so blessed to usually get out at least once a week alone!) and it was so fun. We went to dinner and to Barnes and Nobles for a little bit. Today we went to the gym and now wade is napping and Josh is playing poker with the guys. We are going to church tonight because we are keeping the little babies at church tomorrow. I am hoping wade does well like he did last week. Oh and sometime I have to find a nice outfit to wear for Tuesday night (we have a fun date night planned.) I am so excited; the six couples that we get together with are all going out to dinner in Durham and then we are going to see The Lion King at the DPAC. I can't wait. I know it is not Broadway but I have heard it is great. I will let you know how it is!!

I forgot!!

I knew I would forget something on Wade's 21 month post. When Josh got home he quickly reminded me that wade says "how bout" all the time. He will say "how bout this one" or "how bout raiolli" (ravioli). He also says "ok" all the time too.

Thanks for the prayers my grandad came home today!! Ashley was so sweet and came home and spent the entire day with him until they discharge him since mom and my aunt had to work. I met them at his house and we got him all settled and went and got his medicine for him. We are a little worried because he lives alone and is not walking well but we are all pretty close by if he needs anything.

Tonight Josh and I went to the gym and Ashley wanted to keep wade. We told him we were going to take him to Pops house for Ashley to babysit him. He was so funny and said "mommy daddy date?" We both laughed and said yes we were going on a date to the gym. When we were leaving they were watching tv and wade yelled out "he naaked." (naked) I ran back down to see what they were watching and it was just a guy with his shirt off. Oh how he cracks us up these days.

I feel like I have had lots of prayer request lately. One of our secretary's from 1 west (the floor I worked on in Greenville) that I loved dearly past away yesterday. She was young in her 30's and has two children who were there with her when she collapsed and watched her boyfriend and neighbor doing CPR until EMS got there. They got her to the hospital and intubated her but pulled her off life support yesterday because she had no brain activity from the lack of oxygen when she was down. I loved working with her and she will be missed dearly on 1 west. I just hate so much that her children will always remember seeing their mom like that. It really makes me appreciate every minute I have with my family because you just never know when it is going to be your time to go.

21 Months (yesterday)

In three months I will have a 2 year old. Even though that is hard to believe with Wade being so big and talking so much I almost feel like he is already 2! It is wonderful that he can communicate with me; he has been talking for awhile now but these last two weeks he has started talking so much more. Even my mom mentioned something last night about how much he is saying. The nice part is he is pretty much talking in sentences and it is so helpful! He doesn't get all the words perfect but he is getting close. His favorite sayings are: "Mommy/Daddy watch this" "Wade needs it" and "right now." I think he picked up the "right now" from me when I say... "come here right now!" He says it in such a country voice too??? It sounds like "noow." It is so hard not to laugh because he will say "granola bar right now" then he will say "needs it" and I have to explain over and over that he needs to say please instead of right now. The other saying we hear quite often is "no no Charlie that's wade's" that one always makes me laugh because it is usually related to food! Here are some other things he is up to:

-weighs 30lbs (we went this week when we had to get his new inhaler) I have no clue how tall he is. We are going to measure him tonight.
-wears almost all size 2T- shirts are a little big so he wears some 24mo shirts too
-size 7.5 W shoe
-loves to eat everything except veggies (has been eating with utensils for awhile now but is getting so much better at it these days)
-takes a 2-3hr nap every day
-sleeps from 8/830p until 7/730am -has been waking up between 4-5am for the last few weeks now :()
-talks all day long all the time...he repeats EVERYTHING
-loves to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" "ABC's" "Bumble bee song" "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
-loves to play with his kitchen food, his animals, cars, and play basketball (his other balls have taken a back seat to these toys)
-loves fire trucks, ambulances, rocks, big trucks, lawnmowers, school buses, and construction trucks
-loves the gym day care!!
-has not cried at church the last two times we have taken him (this is a first in our house!)
-loves to run and jump and can get both feet off the ground now
-LOVES- Mickey Mouse, Barney, Nemo, Bee Movie, Elmo, Chipmunks (loves watching tv and movies)
-LOVES bath time and when we try to get him out he says "take a bath again"
-hates having his diaper changed
-will sit on his new potty but has not done anything yet (he sits there for a second then gets up and asks for M&M's!)
-counted to three in Spanish three days ago with Nick Jr. ( I was shocked and sat with my mouth open, I have never heard him do that before)

This is my attempt of trying to take a picture of my 21 month old! Jumping from furniture is much more fun than sitting still for a picture.

 I am sure there is more I am forgetting. Josh and I both said two nights ago we wish he would stay this age for awhile. He is actually really good almost all of the time. I am sure they are coming but he hasn't had any "fits" and if he does cry about something it only last a second or two. He is so sweet most all of the time. His new thing to do is "hug" and "kiss" he will ask for them and it is so cute!! I even had to tell him the other day he couldn't kiss Tanner in the mouth!!!! Every now and then he will still want to hit and kick things but he is getting better about that. I think I will keep doing his monthly post until he is two and then I am going to do them every three months or so. This is the only way to take a picture of him (strap him down!)

We love you Wade, you are such a big boy and you are so much fun. I can't wait to see what you are doing next month!

Sleep is over rated!

I have to admit I was a little frustrated at 130am when wade was wide awake and talking to us! Here is the issue. Wade has RAD (Reactive airway disease) or Asthma is what it will be called in a year or so when he is old enough to be diagnosed. So every time he gets a cold it usually turns into a breathing issue. Well with his last cold he has kept this lovely cough for almost a month now. The problem is he coughs at night anytime between 1am-4am. He has coughing spells and needs his inhaler. Here is problem #2...albuterol makes him hyper. So after getting home from work at 1230am I layed in bed for about 15 min before he woke up coughing. Well we gave him his treatment and what do you know, he was wide open. I was a little ill because I was tired and I was nicely encouraging him (without yelling) to lay down and go to sleep. Even in our bed he would not settle down. In the midst of my frustration I sneezed 4 times and then I hear this sweet little angel's voice saying "Bess you mommy." Oh I just felt so bad for getting frustrated and gave him a big hug and kiss and told him thank you for being so sweet. Then he looked at Josh and said "night night Daddy."

He finally settled down and went to sleep. I know it is not his fault that he is coughing and that he needs his medicine I am just over the cough!! So I called the office this morning and the nurse is going to ask the MD on call about getting him a flovent inhaler that is a preventative inhaler instead of a rescue inhaler. I am really hoping they will call one if for us so we don't have to be seen. There are so many germs going around I really don't want him in that office. Hopefully we will all be sleeping through the night again soon and that his flare ups will get better once Spring and Summer rolls around.

Please keep my sweet friend Jessica in your prayers, she had baby Tyler last night and he was 10 weeks early. I haven't been up to see her yet but he is in NICU and doing ok now but will just have to stay 7-8 weeks. He weighed 3 lbs and was 14 in long!

New Years Eve

We had a great time on New Years Eve. We met the Nicholson's at Marbles in Raleigh and all the kids had a great time. Of course the grown up didn't get to talk as much as we would have liked because we were chasing little ones around! It was so good to see them again..it had been way too long. Here are some pictures from our day.

After Marbles we came home for nap time and rest time for mommy and daddy. Wade fell asleep in the car but luckily stayed asleep when we moved him into his bed. After nap we all headed to the place where I get my hair done for Wade and I to get a haircut. I also decided to "go dark" because I am tired of getting highlights. It is much darker but I do like it. She did it a shade darker than my natural color so as it grows in it will not look too bad. I am sure in the summer I will go back to getting a few highlights here and there but for now its close to my natural color. Wade did great getting his hair cut. When we told him we were going to get his hair cut he said "sucker?" It is amazing the things he remembers. He got a sucker in October when he had his first hair cut. He sat perfectly still and was in heaven eating that sucker yesterday. He looks so cute with his hair cut short.

Josh's parents got here yesterday while I was getting my hair done. They picked me up and we all went downtown to eat. We had a great time at dinner and Wade cracked us up when he said "thank you little girl...hotdog" to the waitress. The waitress was tickled because she was probably in her 40's. I was so proud of him because he has been saying "thank you" so much lately!! After dinner we headed home to get ready to go out to our friends house. Wade was so excited to stay with Nana and Poppy and could have cared less that we left. I was happy he was so good and slept pretty well for them. He woke up at 4am coughing (like always) and got in bed with them until 830am.

Josh and I had such a fun time celebrating the New Year with our great friends. We ate too much, played some games and watched the ball drop. We even managed to stay out until after 1am!! Thanks again to Nana and Poppy for coming and spending New Years with Wade. We got to sleep in until 9am which was wonderful. We did have to go to the hospital to see my Papaw this morning because he wasn't doing great but as of tonight he is doing better and his GI bleed seems to have stopped. Thanks for the prayers. I didn't do a good job taking pictures last night but here are the two that I got.