Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas 2011---- where are the pictures???

Well... I have misplaced my camera. So I have absolutely no pictures from Christmas. We have a few videos on the Blogger camera and Josh's phone. Other than that I have one from my phone I took the other day as I was taking down the tree. This year was tough. I was so emotional thinking about my grandmother and Dad not being here; I definitely broke down several times. Last year we had just learned that Daddy had lung cancer and he was taking chemo and radiation. We had no idea that in a week he would be gone. My Aunt Jane and Uncle Richard came in and spent Christmas with us so that was nice (we are their only family left) and we were thrilled they were here. We had Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve since my sister and her family were leaving to go to her in-laws that evening. Mom cooked a big breakfast and we all brought food; I made 2 quiches (is this plural?), hash-brown casserole, and pigs in a blanket. Eli's favorite toys were the take apart truck with working drill and the plasma car. He also had fun with his new power Buzz Lightyear truck from Mawmaw and Pawpaw. He was a bit skittish at first but was soon pushing the button and riding around like a pro. Isaac was absolutely pumped with his new I-pod touch (he had been saving quite a while for it) as well as his new air-soft gun from my mom and step-dad. Josh and I did stockings for each other but I did secretly surprise him and I got him a 'work coat' (a Carhart jacket) for all the tree splitting he needs to do at our new house. We continue to adhere to the 3 present rule which we started a few years ago. The boys get three presents from us and their stocking. However by the time we are finished with Christmas on both sides of the family they definitely have more than enough. We both see no sense in spoiling them senseless since they are spoiled enough as it is throughout the year. Our philosophy continues to be "If 3 presents were good enough for Jesus, they're good enough for anybody!" Christmas morning we had all intention of going to church but for some reason which I think is related to the back molars Eli is cutting.. we were up all night. He was sooo cranky Christmas morning even the presents were not enough to contain the beast! He whined and whined.. so he went down for a nap at 9:30 am and after that he had a much better day. We went to Josh's family after Eli's nap and had a great time being with all the family. This year all his siblings and their families were in town for Christmas. Even with the sadness of my dad missing we are so blessed to have wonderful families that shower us with love.

House update

Trying to decide on a color....
The cedar shakes are going up!

The built-in's are in (without the doors of course)

Mason is working on the rock for FP

We finalized our kitchen granite (Typhoon Bordeaux)

Final color-- Autumn Grey (it's a green grey)

Final color on front of house (front is almost finished except for rock work on front of the house and wood posts)

Baby girl's pictures


Josh shot these from his phone so they aren't the best quality... but you can see her little profile in this one and this is the supposed 'girl shot'.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Polar Express

Mama on the Polar Express
Audra really wanted to take Carter to see the Polar Express this year so I agreed to bring Eli along too. Mom went with us and of course Camden came too. We went to the 5 o'clock ride and the boys did great on the trip there (1/1/2 hour drive). We were a bit rushed for time so Audra dropped us off at the door and went to park. I put Camden in the baby bjorn and we grabbed our bags and Carter and Eli and off Mom and I went to find our seats. We both forgot our phones so we ended up having to wait on Audra to get back from parking because we had her ticket. We rushed to train # 5 (all the way at the end) and boarded the train (loads of fun with 3 babies and heavy bags). We listened to the Polar express story, Santa came aboard and gave the boys a bell,  and we had hot cocoa and cookies and sang Christmas carols.  Eli didn't want to sit still and of course didn't really grasp the whole Polar Express thing but I think he enjoyed seeing Santa, getting his bell and singing. I think he needs to be a bit older to really enjoy the experience. Carter will be 3 in May so he had a great time and looked out the train window. After the ride, we grabbed a quick supper and then headed back home. Carter fell asleep pretty quick but Camden and Eli both cried for about 10 minutes which always seems like longer. We took Isaac when he was 3 so I am glad the little boys got to go too! Well I was just trying to upload some pictures from the adventure but all the images of the boys are videos soo I guess we will just put one up of mom!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I've picked out her nursery

Well.. since the painters are working hard on the interior colors I decided I needed to pick bedding and decide on wall color asap. I want something elegant and not too pink so I found a set I love from restoration hardware. I am going to find a white crib set somewhere.

Monday, December 12, 2011

It's a ...................

GIRL!!!

I am in total utter shock! I was 100% sure this baby was a boy. I had picked his name,  and allocated furntiure and bedding.  I am very thankful everything looks good so far. We were able to see all her anatomical structures and everything measured on target. We laughed because her legs measured in the 60-70% percentile and at Eli's ultrasound his measured in the 15%. Josh has a long torso and short legs so Eli definitely took after him. I don't know any thing about being a mother to a girl... but I guess I will learn. My sister has two boys and we have two boys so I thought we were destined to have all boys! I wanted to wait until Christmas to find out but of course I couldn't wait when I got to the ultrasound and I had to know. We did go to the mall and buy two Christmas ornaments with pink on them and I had them enscripted with "Baby Girl Allison, coming May 2012". We had Josh's brothers and sister meet us at his parents house and let his mom open the gift. She said she knew it was a girl the whole time. We also gave my mom an ornament to open and she was in total shock! We brought Isaac a pink gum ball (after 5 tries we finally got pink out of the machine). He said he wanted a sister :) It may take me a few days to get used to the idea of a girl; but I am very thankful for this blessing God has given us. 

Last minute pics...






We had a few requests from family that they wanted some pictures so I called spur of the moment to JC Penny, through some clothes together and off we went. Not the usual Katy Cook caliber of course but we got a few cute shots. Eli was a PILL... he did not want to cooperate. I think we are heading in the 'terrible two' territory. We've been using the 'cry mat' at home that my friend Amber used with her daughter and that has worked pretty well. When he pitches a fit for an undue cause then he has to go sit on the 'cry mat' until he is finished crying.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Isaac's 5 K

Isaac has been running before school to train for a local 5 K with  another elementary school in our county. The "Track Pack" has been a really neat way to get kids active... our PE coach and a couple other teachers started it up this year. The kids raced at Lake James State Park and were all really excited. I took pictures because I figured I wasn't up to being a 'running buddy'. I have done absolutely zero physical activity this pregnancy so I figured running a 5 K probably wouldn't be a good way to start out at 17 weeks. I do want to start exercising to some extent... I just need to find the energy and time.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Flutters and names?

I felt the baby move! I just love that feeling and it never gets old... well not at least until you are 40 weeks pregnant and they are more like jabs!  I thought I had been feeling him this week but it wasn't until tonight when I was re-reading Breaking Dawn that I know I felt him move! I know I am saying him but I am so sure this is another boy. Everyone is giving me a hard time because I am so adamant that it's a boy again. Here are my names: Amos Seth, Jonah Seth, or Jacob Seth. Josh hasn't agreed to any of these but I like them!  What do ya think? Seth is for sure because is Josh's middle name. I am partial to my boys.. but of course I just hope and pray for a healthy happy baby!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

ummmm... Food!

I thought this was cute... we ate at a Thai restaurant tonight and had chicken satay. Eli loved dipping his chicken in the peanut sauce until he got a little too much and his poor mouth was hot. Both my boys love spicy food.

16 weeks and Thankful

Well this is my first belly picture of this baby... time goes much more quickly now with a toddler on the loose. I am feeling better... the first trimester is over and I hope the total exhaustion that goes with it. I have also been quite nauseous this go around. I am already wearing maternity clothes because they feel so much better and it was nice to be able to expand while eating our two Thanksgiving dinners this year.
16 Weeks Baby # 3


It was sad this year to celebrate with out my daddy.. I keep thinking about last Thanksgiving. We had no idea that it would be the last. Last year, Josh, Isaac, Eli and I went up to his house and brought food because he was going to be by himself. He wasn't feeling well then.. just coughing but he was on antibiotics and taking cough medicine so we thought he would be better soon. Eli was just starting to cruise holding on to things and holding your hand and we said 'next year he will be running'. Unfortunately he wasn't here this year to see Eli running. This year we ate at Josh's parents house on Thanksgiving day and then went to my Mom's on Friday and had 2 huge meals. I am so very thankful for God's love, my family, Josh, my children, our health, our new home, our jobs, our church and my friends. I feel very blessed and am often not thankful enough.
Here are a few picture from last Thanksgiving.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Eli's first haircut

The mullet is gone


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

13 1/2 weeks and other happenings

Baby update: Today we had a doctor apt for the new baby. I ended up having to take Eli and Isaac with me so that was a little interesting. It definitely helped that Josh met me at my OB office..he has been to all the baby appts because he works near the office. My BP was 100/60 and the OB guessed baby's heartbeat to be around 160. We have been listening to the baby's heart beat on a doppler at home and it's been running 150-160.  I have gained 3 lbs total so far.. I was sure when I stood on that scale I had gained at least 10 so I was happily surprised.  Josh couldn't believe I had only gained 3 lbs either. I feel like all I have done is eat, eat, eat.

House update: We are getting our rough in inspection for wiring this week and they are finishing up rock work, and siding on the outside. They poured the concrete for our front porch!! Our contractor says they will start sheet rock the middle of next week!

Isaac update: Isaac went on a field trip to the "Greenway" today, he is doing 'Track Pack' at school where he is training to run a 5 K. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:30 before school starts.  He always misses Tuesday because he has Battle of the Books on Tuesday mornings at the same time. This is his week to be anchor for the WGLN announcements and I have missed it every morning.... eek! He also has Cyberkids (a robotic club) every Thursday afternoon but they have put off competitions until February, which is a good thing.. they definitely need more practice.  He is not playing any sports right now but wants to play baseball this spring.

Eli... is a wild man. His new thing is, "Daddy, DADDY, DADDY" "Come here!" "Sit down". He wants Josh to play with him in his room every evening when he gets home from work. It's pretty cute!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween 2011

Eli the zebra, Isaac, and Carter as Elmo
This year Isaac decided he was too old to dress up so he helped chaperone Mr. Eli. Plus he was able to eat the candy because Eli doesn't need any yet. Eli is 19 months and decided that he did not like his costume. He was a little zebra.. one of the last costumes I found at Target the other day that would fit him.... I am so on top of things! I tried it on him a few days before Halloween just to see and he screamed every time. I even put the zebra's head on and so did Josh but nope E would not have it!  On Halloween, Audra and I went to Mom's.. we had Halloween cupcakes, apple cider, and carved two pumpkins with the boys before we took them 'trunk or treating'.  We did manage to get Eli to keep his costume on with raisins as a bribe!

The house is coming right along :)

I am still not sure what siding color to pick so if you have any suggestions let me know. I had an interior designer come out and she suggested green.. she thought I needed a contrast color. My rock is 'chocolate grey' and the windows and window trim are a dark expresso color, we also have dark grey mortar in the irregular rock around the base of the house. I had originally picked a tan brown color to pull out some of the brown in the rock but now it just doesn't look right.. the decorator thought it was too 'fleshy'.  So I don't know but I need to make a decision soon! On the inside we have almost all the plumbing, electric work, and HVAC complete.. I think we are a few weeks away from sheet rock. I am trying to get a central vac system installed before they sheet rock.. does anyone have any experience with one of these? I will try to post a picture of the back of the house later. The back porch is up!

Part of the front of the house on 10/29

Front of the house- the nursery room

Dining room bay window and building the front entrance way

The left side of the house.. with first coat of primer. Not sure about siding color

Finished rock 10/31/11!

Friday, October 14, 2011

House Progress


Front of house- putting on green board

Garage is poured!


Back of house... cutting out windows

View coming up driveway


Windows are in! Bedroom # 2 downstairs


Monday, October 10, 2011

9 weeks

Today we heard Baby's heartbeat-- 164 bpm. Such a sweet little awing sound... knowing that there is a little tiny life inside. They did blood work, I got a flu shot, blood pressure and weight. Somehow I have gained a pound I guess because I feel like I constantly have to eat to keep the nausea away. It's so strange how your body works. I was sick with Isaac, not with Eli, and now I am nauseous again with this one. I feel like I am already popping out there and some of my pants are already starting to feel snug. We will go for our anatomy ultrasound on December 12th. Josh is going to find out (not me, or I would tell everyone) and come up with a neat way to tell me, and our parents on Christmas day. That's my plan at least.. we will see how it goes and if I am able to look away. I would just like a happy, healthy baby!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Expecting... AGAIN!

So it's official.. we are expecting again! Baby # 3 is due around May 12th. Eli will be a little over two when he/she gets here and Isaac will be 11! Yikes.  I am going to put it down on here that I think this baby is another boy... Josh won't comment because he says he has no clue this time. He was 100% sure Eli would be a girl so he is choosing not to guess this time. I think it would be awesomely cool not to find out but I am sooooo impatient I know that would never work. We should find out close to Christmas the gender so I am trying to think of some nifty way to tell our family; but I know that if I see the ultrasound I will be sounding the alarm right away. I found out I was pregnant on August 30th...  When Eli bumped into me and I was sore and then Josh told me I was being ill... so later on that evening so I decided to take a test. Sure enough "pregnant" popped right up! We had decided that we would start 'trying' and if it happened that would be great and if it took a while then that would be just as fine... sure enough first try and boom! We will be in our new house before this baby arrives; however I will be HUGE when we move again. I was 8 months pregnant with Eli when we moved last time!

7 week ultrasound of Baby Three - Heart beat was 140 bpm



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Camden Thomas

My sweet nephew, Camden Thomas Boykin was born today. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was born on 9/28 at 9:28 am. He looks just like his brother, Carter. He has jet black hair and his daddy's little face and lips. He was born via c-section and swallowed some amniotic fluid so he is in the NICU. He is having trouble breathing without oxygen right now.  My sis is doing okay except for being in a lot of pain and not having her sweet baby with her. She did hold him this evening. We are hoping and praying for a very brief stay in the NICU.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

18 months

Mr. Eli is 18 months old.. sniff sniff. At his well baby visit yesterday he weighed 29.5 lbs (90%) and was 34 1/2 inches (90%). He didn't have to have any shots except for the flu shot. He made an A plus on his developmental screening and is a joy to our lives.

So what can Eli do now?? Well... Josh and I tried to count his words but were unsuccessful because there are so many. We just counted the names of people he knows and had almost hit 50. He is starting to combine words such as " I see dog" and "mommys shoe" and imitates everything. He loves to read "Good Night Moon",  "Brown Bear" (he recites this one along with us), and loves to look at his first word picture book where he can name a lot of the pictures. He is starting to sing.. he gets a few words of "Jesus loves me" and "Baby Beluga". He can answer questions...says 'no' and will say "uh huh" for yes. He will say 'yes' if you ask him to but he uses "uh huh".  He names all sorts of body parts including 'eye brow' and loves to play in the bed with Mommy and Daddy in the mornings and poke Josh's eyes while saying "eyes, eyes".

 He can feed himself with a spoon, and tries to put on his shoes (unsuccessfully.. but it's so funny watching him try to stuff his feet in them). Eli runs, jumps, climbs.... even up the ladder to Isaac's top bunk (with me behind him of course). Can scribble with crayons but doesn't have much interest. He is definitely not a picky eater as you can tell from the  29 lbs.- he likes Thai, Japanese (he says "rice and chicken"), Italian... well really any type of food. I think his favorite is still spaghetti. He is doing better holding my hand when we are out places- we still have episodes where he runs and I have to chase after him. Sometimes it is just easier to strap him in the stroller.  He takes one afternoon nap usually 12-2 in the afternoon, goes to bed around 830pm and wakes around 730am. He is a much better sleeper than his older brother was. He usually gets excited that it is nap time and takes his passy, and blue silky blanket and goes to his crib waiting to be picked up and put in. Of course there are the exceptions such as yesterday when I put him down and he laid in there for an hour and wouldn't go to sleep!  He says "poo poo" when he goes but has no interest in the potty.

Here are some other little things he  has done recently.  He will go get the broom to dig a car out under the couch.  He noticed that our niece has a pair of Chacos similar to mine and that the straps were alike, so he went and put both shoes together and tried to buckle the shoes together. He saw a Buick car on vacation and started saying "Nanny, Nanny ( she drives one). He was able to navigate us from the elevator straight to our room with out making a mistake on vacation.

Ohh and he has a mullet... I just can't cut the curls yet!

We love you Eli Thomas and are enjoying watching you grow!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Back to work.....

Isaac is going into 6th grade... ahhhhhhh! It makes me so sad that this is a year of 'lasts' for us at Glenwood! He is so excited to go back to school. I am going to stay part-time (Tues, Wed, Thursday) so I can be with Isaac and keep 4 days a week with Eli. I truly enjoy my job... I have great co-workers, a wonderful classroom, sweet kids, and my job is definitely rewarding. I have a few older kids that I really need to 'fix' and dismiss from speech so I am pondering ways to intensify therapy for these few. Another perk is that I work closely with one of by best friends (highschool buddy/college roommate) and we have lots of fun together. My mom is keeping Eli two days and my mother-in-law is keeping him one day a week. He has lots of fun and says "Pawpaw" every time we go on a gravel road thinking we are going to visit Josh's parents. He also knows when we get to the stop sign near my mom's house and will say "Nana", "Papa", "Ben" (the dog) and "chick chicks" (the two chickens mom adopted from Carter's birthday dibbies).

Wilmington

Josh and I have been wanting to take a vacation by ourselves ( did I say that?) for some time. I didn't want to leave Eli his first year of life because he was nursing and since then we haven't found the right time. However we finally just decided to take a long weekend and go to Wilmington (the condo was free, which helped!). My mom  and step-dad kept our boys. I was nervous to see how Eli would do away from home but other than asking for "Mama" ten times a day he was fine. Mom said he slept great and was a good boy. She told him we were gone to the beach when he asked. One morning she went to get him out of his crib and he said "Beach?" wanting to know if we were still gone. Josh and I had a wonderful time even though we missed the boys. We slept in (had almost forgot how to do that), saw 5 movies, ate yummy food, and enjoyed each others' company. Josh as been swamped at work since his office caught on fire a few weeks ago and I am heading back to work soon so it couldn't have come at a better time. It is nice to able to sit down at a restaurant and actually get to enjoy eating dinner for a change. We stayed right in the historic section so we were in walking distance of pretty much everything downtown. We toured the North Carolina Battleship which is where this picture is taken from (our room is in that building behind the coast guard ship).


Had dinner on one of these adorable private balconies on River Street with live music in the background.












Saw, "The Help", "One Day", "Conan", "Planet of the Apes", "The Change Up" (as you can see we each picked a few movies). I loved "The Help" even though the book was better! Josh even laughed out loud several times.
















House building 101

Well, it has been wonderful to finally break ground and see our house being built. I will post some of the pics that I have previously put on fb.  We had house roped on July 14th, drilled for water on July 19th, and foundation was complete July 27th. Today is August 22 and we have all the bottom floor rooms framed, sub floors on top floor and half of the top floor framed. We have already made a lot of decisions but I know there are lots more to come. We did decide on chocolate gray rock and are getting ready to make decisions on kitchen cabinets soon. I really like the distressed white cabinets paired with a dark wood island and darker flooring but I guess we will see. It is going quickly but I know it will start slowing down soon. My sister's house is going great too.. she may get to be in by Christmas. Our builder says we should be finished anywhere from January to April.
Here is the progression so far:
Two bedrooms, Jack & Jill bath, and walkway on top floor
Front of house (Master Suite on right, foyer, dining, and bedroom on left)


Subflooring


Foundation is set!

Laying out house


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Isaac is ELEVEN

What? Eleven? Nooooo way! We had Isaac's birthday party at the local water slide again. Unfortunately I have no pictures because a huge storm came about 45 minutes into his party and doused the whole affair. He has been wanting a Nook Color for his birthday.  I decided it would probably be a good investment for him because I cannot keep him in books... they are a bit cheaper and easily accessible. He was thrilled of course.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

2011- What a year for my family

Yesterday my Uncle Richard's father died. Uncle Richard is Aunt Jane's husband. So much heartache in such a small amount of time. This year he has seen his brother-in-law (my dad) die suddenly, his wife (my Aunt Jane) get diagnosed with cancer, and then his mom died in May on his birthday and now his dad died after a complication from a hip replacement. Please keep my aunt and uncle in your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The LAST Potter!

Harry Potter tickets bought!

Babysitter booked!

Am I a dork??

YES

We are ready to break ground!

Okay finally after MONTHS of trying to figure out our budget and what we want  in our house we are ready to start building. We never could find the 'exact' plan we wanted so our builder drew our plan from pictures of plans we liked. I will try to take a picture of our house plan and post it. Our driveway is graveled and the grader has cleared out more dirt from the building site. I met with our builder yesterday and we decided the plan needed to be flipped (again!) and that we need to cut down the dirt about 5 feet. I am ready to see some block in the ground.

Date night

Josh and I had a date last week.  We met my mom and step-dad in Asheville at Olive Garden for a late lunch and then they took the boys while Josh and I went out. We decided to go see a movie since that is a rarity now days. We saw 'Bad Teacher' with Cameron Diaz... vulgar but funny. We stopped at our favorite Thai restaurant and had thai tea (love this stuff) and shared sushi.  We finished off the evening with a trip to Target.  

Ummmm... Food!

Kellie and I had lunch at this restaurant in Asheville called, Blue Water Seafood. They are only open for lunch but the cuisine was amazing!  They also have a fresh fish market... too bad I don't know how to cook fish. We both had the Po Boy special, a sandwich of fresh blackened fish with a yummy sauce on french bread, topped with lettuce and tomato. We need a re-run of this place.

http://www.bluewaterseafood.net/main/