Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

4 Weeks and 19 months

4 WEEKS:

That is about how long we have before we meet Baby 2. In the last couple of weeks, it has really hit me that we are going to soon have another baby in this house. With the great excitement, also comes great anxiety. There is still so much to do to prepare. Just over Thanksgiving, we finally decided on a name. Brody Garrison will make our family of 3 grow to that of 4. Over the weekend we brought home a crib, now we have to put it up, buy a mattress, I need to finish the bumper pads for the bassinet, clean, freeze dinners...... the list could go on and on. I know when the day comes, Brody will come when he is ready and he won't judge me for how many items are still left on my To-Do list.

19 MONTHS:

My little man has turned 19 months. I can't believe how big he is getting. He is talking so well and has even said a few phrases... "Music on please", "Hey, Daddy".... It is still just as amazing as ever to witness this little person learn and discover new things. Aidan is in school two days a week and is doing very well. Well, except that he hasn't taken a nap at school for the last 3 days. I love my little tuff guy more and more every day. I can't wait to see how all of our hearts grow to make room for Baby Brody.

Halloween

Halloween has never been my favorite time of year. I have good childhood memories of trick or treating up and down our street and going to the Fall Festival at church. But, I have never been sure about the whole dressing up thing. I always had a hard time deciding what to dress up as and didn't want to dress up if it wasn't going to be funny or well put together. Brandon is good at coming up with costume ideas and he made the past few Halloweens a lot of fun. Well this year celebrating with Aidan changed everything. I had a lot of fun visiting the pumpkin patch, having halloween play dates, coming up with costume ideas and making his outfit... We dressed him up for Gymboree class, and again for Trunk or Treat at church, for Preschool, and one last time for Halloween night. We didn't go trick or treating, but Aidan had fun wearing his costume over to Gran and Papa's. I'm already thinking of costume ideas for Aidan and the baby for next year. I hope Aidan grows up enjoying dressing up on Halloween!

My Little Fisherman

(Taking after his Uncle B and Uncle Shawn)

The Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Aidan to his first Pumpkin Patch. Who knew that this was such a big business. It was so much more than just pumpkins. There were cows, and goats, and train rides, oh my! Aidan had a big day.

When we first got there we checked out all the animals.

Aidan picked out a pumpkin just his size. (He really thought these were balls and later tried to throw them.)

Aidan and Brandon walked through the corn.

Even though you may not see it on his face here, Aidan laughed and enjoyed the train ride.

So many pumpkins.

It's been a long day.

Fall is here in Nashville

Here are a few highlights of our fun weekend. Video created by Aidan's proud Daddy.

Liam'sTurning 1!

Last Thursday, Brian met us in Nashville and flew with Aidan and I to Austin. Mom and Dad met us there and we all spent 4 days with Bethany, Ken, and Liam. Liam turns 1 yr old tomorrow, but we celebrated his birthday on Saturday. It was so cute and Liam seemed to enjoy everything (except for the cake). It was a great visit. Each visit makes me wish more and more that we all lived closer together. It may be the last time I get to travel until after baby #2.

Best Buds

Summer Fun

This summer has been a blast. So many good memories have already been formed. To start off the summer, at the beginning of May, Brandon and I discovered that our small family of 3 will soon become a family of 4! We are very excited. We are currently 14 weeks along which puts my due date on January 9. I have been feeling pretty well. A little tired and nauseous, but little time to think about it. Brandon has been great about letting me sleep in and taking care of Aidan in the mornings. Aidan loves his daddy time. Aidan and the baby will be 20 months apart. We may have a few crazy years, but my prayer is that they will be the best of friends.

In June, Bethany and Liam flew to Nashville and we were able to spend a week with them. It was so much fun watching the boys together this trip. We headed first to my cousin David's wedding. He married Sara in Starkville and the wedding was beautiful. Then we headed to Nanny and Paw Paw's house for a few days. We went to the splash pad and swimming at GG's. Then we loaded up and headed to Gatlinburg. A few hikes, lots of eating, the rainforest zoo, driving Cade's Cove were some of the events that entertained our free time.

Following summer baseball and weights, Brandon has had two weeks off. During this time he went with the youth to church camp at Fall Creek Falls. Aidan and I visited for a few days. Aidan loved exploring the trails and swimming in the pool and he thought he was big stuff around all those big kids. Then we went to Cincinnati for 3 days. We had never been to Cincinnati before so we thought, since it was in driving distance, we would head that way. We walked around Newport Levee, went to the aquarium, visited the animals at the zoo, and listened to some music at Fountain Square.

A Lot Has Happened in Two Weeks

May 1 - Play Date

Aidan had a wonderful afternoon playing with his friends. Riley, Declan and their mommies came over for a fun get together.

May 2 - After all the heavy rains, our neighborhood flooded. At 9:00 pm on Sunday, we were forced to evacuate our house. The speed at which the water rose was quite a scary experience. The following day, Brandon and I borrowed a canoe and rowed to our house to check things out. Men and women were wading in the water to save their beloved pets and the water was neck deep in the roads. At that point, the water was 3-4 inches from our front door. Rowing in a boat to your house - what a surreal experience. The water continued to rise until that evening. We were able to get to our house on Tuesday by foot. The water was up a little passed my knees at that point. When we got to the house and opened the door. Shouts of joy and praises to God went up to the heavens. We were within a 1/4 of an inch from the front door, but no water got in. A small amount found its way in through the back door and the sunroom floor/subfloor will have to be replaced. We were so lucky. Someone was taking care of us! The replacing of a hot water heater, furnace, ac, sunroom floor is minimal compared to everyone around us. Both neighbors on either side of us got 6+ inches of water in their house. They are tearing out floors, cabinets, carpets. Throwing away mattresses, furniture, etc. Our street makes you emotional just to drive down it. We were so blessed and say our prayers of thanksgiving daily.

Our backyard around 7:00 pm on May 2.

Our driveway when we were leaving at 9:00 pm on May 2.

Our neighborhood on May 3.

Our house on May 3.

Our driveway on May 3.

Our backyard and the top of our shed on May 3. No fence can be seen.

The water line.

Our backyard on May 4.

After the water went down and people started cleaning, this is what most houses on our street looked like.

May 6 - Aidan turned 1!!! I can't believe it, but my baby boy had a birthday. We celebrated at Gran and Papa's where we were living at the time. Aidan got to play outside in the fountain and creek, open some presents, and eat a cupcake. I do think he enjoyed himself.

Playing in the creek with Papa.

Aidan got a baseball set from his daddy.

Aidan loved his birthday cupcake.

May 8 - Aidan and I went to Collierville and spent a few days with Nanny and Paw Paw. We got to watch Brian walk across the stage at the FedEx Forum and receive his diploma. He is now a college grad!

May 16 - We celebrated Aidan's birthday with family. Many people were able to come, even Aunt Bethany and Cousin Liam from Texas. We were able to have everyone over to our house for a Barnyard Bash. It was lots of fun and Aidan received a lot of fun toys. What a great day we had!

Best buds! Check out the cute shirts that Nanny made.

Aidan's helping his daddy put together his new swing set.

Aidan's new spiderman.

Aidan loved his choo choo train.

All ready for mother's day out.

May 18 - To round out the last couple of weeks, Aidan and I got the stomach bug. It has been a ruff couple of days, but we are recovering and today has been a good day!

Mommy's Little Helper

Aidan is currently in a stage of dumping things out and then putting them back.. somewhere else. We have been practicing with his shape sorter so that could be a contributing factor. This has become a fun little game we play - Aidan dumps things out and puts them in a new location, and Mommy tries to find them. He loves to take everything out of one of his toy baskets and put everything back into his diaper hamper, or pick up anything he can find in the den and put it in his push toy. I couldn't find my car keys the other day when we were trying to meet friends for lunch. I later found them in the dog's water bowl. Brandon has misplaced his cell phone only to find it had mysteriously ended up in my purse. I have to check the garbage every time I throw something away because Aidan has learned to open the lid and loves to throw away his farm animal frig magnets.

He helps with laundry...

He helps pick up the kitchen...

I have been so proud of my lipstick plant. It loves the sunroom and has been blooming like crazy this year. I noticed that a particular lower section of the plant started missing some of it's flowers. I found them tucked away nicely in the bottom drawer. He prunes!

A Happy Easter!!

What a beautiful day Easter turned out to be. The Easter Bunny came for a visit and left a basket full of goodies, but Aidan didn't even seem to notice. We attended church and Aidan looked so handsome in his Easter suit. After church and a quick nap, we three went to the park and enjoyed the nice day. It was wonderful to have a day together (completely baseball free!!) and to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with our little man. HE is risen indeed!

Here are a few Easter pics:

Our little man

The boys in their Easter outfits - so very handsome

Aidan loves walking all over the playground

Who knew Easter basket grass could be such fun

Austin

Aidan and I just returned from a long weekend in Austin. We had such a wonderful time with family. Aidan did great on the plane. Between me, Nanny, Paw Paw, and Uncle Steven he was well entertained. It was fun to watch Aidan and Liam play together. They definitely interacted more this visit than before. Liam is crawling around and Aidan was happy to show him a few new tricks. There was a lot of fun packed into a few days; Bethany, Ken, Steven and I even enjoyed a kyaking trip.

Aidan and Liam playing together

Enjoying a beautiful day

There was just one little snag in the vacation.... I misplaced my wallet, but didn't realize it until I was at the airport. At the moment of realization, I got hot and nervous and flustered. I didn't know what I was going to do. I talked to airport security. After 100 questions about where is your wallet, do you have anything with you to confirm your identity like bills perhaps (like I carry bills with me on vacation), my birthday, who I lived with, his birthday, the make and model of my car, and on and on, I was escorted through the security line on to more security for pat down, additional scans, testing bottle liquids, and then I was freed. We made it to the gate with just minutes to spare. Well, Bethany found my wallet folded up in a stroller and she shipped it to me overnight. Everything worked out in the end. Note to self----never go to the airport without first checking your wallet.

We are looking forward to Bethany and Liam's visit in May.

Spring Break

Brandon was on Spring Break this week. Aidan and I knew that Brandon would be busy with baseball most days, but little did we know that Brandon would come down with an Upper Respiratory Infection on Sunday. He was laid in bed for most of 3 days. Not the way you want to start your break; especially after being healthy all year. Well, Brandon is still not 100%, but we did get to get outside yesterday and enjoy the beautiful day. We took Aidan to Radnor Lake and did a little hiking. We hiked about 3 miles around the lake and tested out the backpack carrier that Uncle Shawn had gotten us. Aidan loved it. He loved being up high in his seat and he loves looking around at everything outside. If Brandon and I stopped to look at the geese or turtles, Aidan let us know that he did not think too highly of our slacking off. He liked to be on the move at all times. We had a lot of fun. I'm glad we got to go and hopefully we will have many more beautiful days like that for some more hiking.