Gavin's Birthday Interview

I decided to start asking Gavin the same questions on his birthday each year to see how his answers change.  Now that my Flip camera is working again, I thought it would be cute to "interview" him - wonder how many years he'll let me do this! :)

Gavin's Birthday Interview

And just a couple notes - up until today, every time we asked, he said he wanted to be a doctor for babies like Baby Hamm.  I think the trip to the vet yesterday influenced him.  He refuses to eat watermelon, so I have no idea why he said that!  He does, however, love black olives and pasta so those were right on.  And his favorite toy - a trumpet?  He's been asking for one, but doesn't even have it yet....not sure how that it his favorite.

A Letter

Dear Gavin,


Is it really possible that you're 3 years old?  I guess time flies when you're having fun, and that's exactly what life is all about with you in it.  Mommy and Daddy have so much fun with you everyday.  You truly are the sweetest little boy in the world.  We love how you'll randomly say, 'Daddy, I love you, ' or 'Mommy, you're the best!'  You're such a sensitive little guy and we can't wait to watch you grow into your new role as Big Brother.  


You do so much now that reminds us daily that you're not a baby anymore.  You eat your hot dog on a bun...no more cutting it up.  We spend family time playing board games or Hide-n-Seek.  Just seeing you run around in your little underwear, even though it's been 8 months since we've seen you in a diaper, still makes us smile.  And we love to hear you say, "May I get down from the table please?" and watch you carry your plate to the sink for us after dinner.  Such a well behaved 3 year old at that!


But, at the same time, there are still times you remind us you are still our little boy.  We both especially love after bath time, when you snuggle up with us in your towel and watch a show.  You could sit there for an hour if we let you before you'd want to get dressed.  It feels so good to snuggle with you.


Mommy loves that there are little things you do daily that shows off how you're like your parents.   It makes me smile when I see you pulling off your socks and throwing them out of the bed - Daddy has to sleep with socks on, but like you, Mommy can't stand it!  But, hearing you request nuts for a snack reminds me that you are truly your Daddy's boy.  


You're so into sports right now and it is so fun to watch you in the backyard playing baseball or kicking your soccer ball.  We love to hear you sing.  You're full of songs these days!  You're going to be quite musical - you did, afterall, ask for a trumpet for your birthday!  We can't wait to watch you open that gift up.  Your imagination is really coming out, too.  We love to sit and listen to you play with your toys by yourself.  Hearing you give them voices is just too cute!  


We love you so much, Bug.  Happy 3rd Birthday!  Thank you for making everyday so special.  

Eggs!

Sunday afternoon, we spent some time dyeing some eggs for Easter.  It was a little more fun this year since Gavin was more into it.  Here are a few shots for you -

Open to Suggestions

Well, we still don't know a name for Baby Hamm/Baby Sister.  Once we found out she was a girl, we talked about using the name we thought we had decided on (since before Gavin was even born) as a middle name instead.  And it's driving me crazy not being able to agree on a name!  So, I'd love to hear your ideas.  If you want to share some of your favorite girl names, you can comment to the post, email me, message me on Facebook...whatever.  In a few short months, we'll all know what her name ends up being!

Videos!

Yay!  I finally got my Flip software working again, so I'll be posting some old videos (including Christmas!) over the next week or so.  But, here's a cute one just because...

Wordless Wednesday

**Someday he'll hate me for this picture, I'm sure....but for now, he's so excited about all of Baby Sister's things and he really wanted to try on this barrette!**

Easter Egg Hunt

We told Gavin before he went to bed on Saturday that the Easter Bunny would probably visit us if we were sleeping well and hide some eggs.  He woke up to find a note from him telling us that he had in fact visited and hid 15 eggs in the house.  He had a great time finding them, and was really good at it, too!  I expected the hunt to last a little longer than it did!

And he was, of course, thrilled to find that the Easter Bunny had filled the eggs with M&Ms and Reese's Pieces.  When he finished opening them all, he told me he wanted candy for breakfast.  :)  Sounded like a good idea to me, too....but we were responsible parents and had him eat a real breakfast and have the candy for a snack.

26 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Hamm is the size of an eggplant.  She is about 2 lbs and all five senses are fully developed!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Up another pound, so 20lbs total now. 

Maternity Clothes: Yep, pretty much everything (except sweats). 

Gender: It's a GIRL!!!  When the name is decided, it will be kept a secret until she arrives.  

Movement: Feeling lots of movement now and can see her move from the outside.

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good still!

What I miss:  Not much - trying to enjoy this one since it will probably be our last.

Cravings: Not really anything in particular - I've just been eating a ton lately!

Symptoms:  I'm noticing that I feel a lot of pressure lately and my belly just feels so heavy!  I don't remember it feeling like this so early with Gavin.

Best Moment this week: Yesterday, Gavin was sitting on our bed and out of the blue he said, "I'm so excited!" I asked him why he was excited, thinking he'd say something about his birthday, and he said, "For Baby Sister to get here!"  :) 

A Romantic Evening

To prepare for our special night, Gavin and I made a quick and easy dessert that Daddy loves!  Chocolate Pudding Pie! :)

So, the night wasn not exactly the romantic anniversary you might imagine for your 5th wedding anniversary, but at least we were together, right?  Friday night, we got rain.  A lot.  In a way, it was a blessing because otherwise Jarrod would have had a game that night, so at least he got to stay home.  He got home a little earlier than normal, so it was nice to have his help making dinner.  I planned crab cakes, spicy broccoli, and caesar salad for dinner.  As I always do, I pulled out our wedding champagne glasses for our dinner.  Mine was filled with sprite, Jarrod's was filled with red wine!

The rain was really coming down while we ate and it was getting darker and darker.  I asked Jarrod if he thought we should turn the weather on and he joked and said, "Eh, if there's a tornado, we'll hear the sirens."  As we were finishing up, he got up to let Shirley out and I turned on the news.  They were highlighting a confirmed tornado is eastern Oklahoma and the arrow tracking it's path was pointing right at us.  I started panicking calmly - you know, the panic that moms encounter when you're really worried but don't want your child to know.  Jarrod and I quickly did the dishes, while keeping one eye on the sky and one eye on the radar.  

The news kept saying that the tornado sirens were going off, but we didn't hear a thing, which really made me mad.  What if something happened in the middle of the night?  I hate that we can't hear them.  We eventually moved into our bedroom to watch the weather so we could be closer to our closet.  When they talked about a confirmed tornado near the airport, which is 10 minutes from us, in the closet we went.  Shirley laid in there on her bed while I read books to Gavin.  Jarrod brought in pillows, and we told Gavin we might have to lay under them.  He thought that was hilarious and kept hiding under them.  All of a sudden, the rain stopped and you could hear the wind howling so loud outside.  Jarrod ran in and laid down, too.  It was quite nerve wrecking.  And let me tell you - trying to get down into that safe position I taught my first graders all those years while also trying to make sure Gavin was covered up WITH my pregnant belly = IMPOSSIBLE!  We were only crouched down for probably 5 minutes, but I was so sore when we got out of that closet!  

So, we're safe.  The storm passed and within minutes, we were looking at a gorgeous sky!

We've seriously had rain almost nonstop for 5 days straight now, and it's supposed to continue through Wednesday.  There's flooding all over the place and we've even had some pretty crazy hail.  I can't wait for the weather to change!

A Look at Anniversaries Past

I got to thinking this morning about our past wedding anniversaries and what we were doing...


2007 - 1st Anniversary - we spent the night in our first home for the first time!
2008 - 2nd Annivesary - we were celebrating the fact that I was now 37 weeks pregnant with Gavin and considered "full term" and wondering how many more days it would be just the two of us.  Turned out to be just one more week...
2009 - 3rd Anniversary - Jarrod arrived home from NY late that night with flowers in hand, just in time to celebrate our anniversary and help me prepare for Gavin's 1st birthday party.
2010 - 4th Anniversary - we were in our new home in Arkansas for less than a month and I got a surprise delivery of flowers while trying to put Gavin down for his nap.
2011 - 5th Anniversary - we are now expecting Baby Sister and celebrated with a nice dinner at home with our Bug, then spent some time in our closet under pillows, dodging a tornado...  I'll explain more tomorrow with some pics of our dinner.  :)

Swagbucks

I've had a few emails recently about Swagbucks, so I thought I'd share a few pointers.  First of all, you can check out a post already made on one of my favorite coupon blogs to get more info.  Check it out here: Swagbucks

To make sure I'm earning some swagbucks, here's what I did.  If you use Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can install the swagbucks toolbar and it will be there as a reminder to use their search engine first.  A lot of times I earn a swagbuck just for opening up Firefox.  I always search for things on their search engine before going to Google.  Sometimes I'm not satisfied with the findings, so I do then go to Google, but it's worth the extra step to me if I have a chance at earning some swagbucks!  :)  Remember that Fridays are mega bucks days so I always try to search a lot on Fridays.  When you get to 450 swagbucks, you can redeem them for a $5 Amazon gift card, but there are also lots of other choices for rewards.  I signed up to start using this in mid-October, and I just redeemed my 8th gift card.  That's an extra $40 to spend on Amazon!  


Want to try it?  Sign up here! Swagbucks!

Anniversary Plans

I can't believe it's been five years since we exchanged vows in front of all our family and friends!  I love you, Jarrod!  We've had five years of ups and downs, lost some pretty amazing people, added to our family, and moved to two different states.  I wouldn't have wanted to spend my time with anyone else.  I'm looking forward to a nice dinner in tonight - crab cakes, spicy broccoli, and caesar salad!  Yum!  And maybe, if we're lucky, we'll even be able to stay up for a movie after Gavin goes to bed.  :)  Yes, we are that old...  Happy Anniversary!

Recipes

I just realized I haven't posted a recipe in a while.  Two weeks ago, we tried Skillet Nachos for a quick dinner before I had a party.  We made them with ground beef though since that's what we had in the freezer.  They were yummy...typical nachos if you ask me with just a little twist.  


Last week's new recipe got pushed to this week.  I feel like our dinners have been a little off because of parties and Jarrod's baseball schedule.  But, we finally got around to making last week's recipe a couple nights ago.  I tried Bayou Bourbon Glazed Salmon for us.  I'm not a huge fish person, like I've said before, but Jarrod wanted us to try a salmon recipe.  I ate this, and of course I loved the Bayou Bourbon - it's one of my favorite Tastefully Simple products.  I can't say I loved this recipe, but I did like it.  I preferred the Mahi Mahi when we made that.  I just don't think salmon is my favorite.  

Baby Girl Clothes

Here are the outfits I got at the consignment sale last week - all of this for $50!

Thirteen Thursday

13 wishes...

1. I wish I could see my family and friends more often.
2. I wish my friends blogged.  I love reading blogs, especially when I know the blogger.
3. I wish people would learn how to reply to messages and voicemails.  Seriously, since I moved here, I've noticed more and more (mostly Tastefully Simple related) how many people just don't get back to you.
4. I wish Chipotle would hurry up and open.  It was supposed to be ready in March, now they're saying mid-May.
5. I wish allergies didn't exist.  Gavin and I are both suffering!
6. I wish Jarrod had a 3 day weekend, every weekend.
7. I wish gas prices would go back down.  It really messes with my budget.
8. I wish my diaper bag would come.  I can't wait to see if I really like it! :)
9. I wish we could decide on a name for Baby Hamm, but I think it's looking like we may wait to see her to decide.
10. I wish I could get some energy today.
11. I wish there were more hours in the day!
12. I wish Gavin would fall asleep for his nap.  
13. I wish Shirley knew how to vacuum up her own dog hair.

Wordless Wednesday

Celebrity Sighting and Diaper Bag

Last night, I went to the Rhea Lana presale event.  For those that don't know, Rhea Lana is a semi-annual consignment sale that takes place here for children's items and maternity clothes. I went last month to the one closer to me and got Gavin some cute clothes and me some maternity items.  But, we didn't know we were having a girl at that time.  So, the one about 20 minutes south of here is taking place this week and I decided to consign some of Gavin's clothes.  (I've already made $40 just from the one day presale...it opens to the public today!)  

Anyway, I head down there last night after dinner and was able to get 11 items, including some cute dresses and a Boppy cover, for $50!  But, the best part for me - I saw Mrs. Duggar and one of her daughters!  It's been a little more than a year now that we've lived here, and the Duggars (from the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting) live just 20 mins or so away.  I haven't seen them yet, but have secretly wanted to since Day 1.  When we came to find a place to live, one of Jarrod's coworkers took us by their house so I could see where they lived.  It's pretty neat to have 'celebrities' so close to us!  So, I was thrilled to make eye contact with Mrs. Duggar and have her smile at me! :)  

On another note, I {accidentally} ordered a diaper bag yesterday.  One of the daily deals sites that I stalk frequently {www.babysteals.com - if you don't check it now, you should!} had Ju Ju Be diaper bags on sale yesterday.  They weren't a brand I'd ever looked at because of their price, but being on sale intrigued me.  So, I started reading reviews and watched the little video they had on their site and I was really impressed.  It looked really organized, had an optional shoulder strap (which the Vera Bradley one I was leaning toward didn't), and was still machine washable!  Plus, with the discount, it was cheaper than the Vera one.  The only thing that I wasn't thrilled with was the color of the liner.  But, I added it to my cart to see how much shipping would be, and when I hit 'next' it said, "Thank you - your order has been submitted!"  Apparently, I was logged into my Google Account and had a credit card saved.  I didn't even know what credit card I used!  I was so confused.  But, I'm taking it as a sign that maybe it was meant to be.  I'm anxious for it to come in a couple days so I can play with it.  This is the one I got, but with a champagne colored liner, not the silver.  

You can see the inside organization that I love here: Ju Ju Be Organization

I'll be sure to post about it when it comes in!  :)