Sweet Baby Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today and were so excited to see our growing new baby. He/she looks great (no, we didn't find out if it was a boy or girl) and weighs approximately 15 ounces. It's so exciting to see how God develops a little one. We can't wait to meet this little person in about 19 more weeks!

Princess Parties and Baby Showers

Catherine has had lots of fun at some friends' birthday parties recently. At one party, all the princesses got their hair curled and fingernails painted. At the other party, they got "all fancied up" and had a wonderful tea party. It's so cute to see her have so much fun as a little girl. And she is so girly, that she loves every minute of it.

I've also had lots of baby showers lately. We had one 2 weeks ago for my friend Haley, who is expecting her first baby (a girl) in about 3 weeks. Haley is one of my best friends from growing up and it was fun to celebrate with her.

Last weekend we had 2 showers for my sister Kelly as she and Kevin get ready for baby Jasper. On Saturday night, we had a shower at the hunt cabin--you don't see many dads in camo opening baby presents :) On Sunday, we had a shower for her church and our family. We are so excited to have another boy coming to the family.

Pics by Frances

My friend Frances (www.franceslightcapphotography.wordpress.com) took pics of Catherine and Will last week. I always like to do pictures in the fall between both of their birthdays, so these are to remember when Catherine was turning 4 and Will was turning 2. She had lots and lots of great pics, but I just thought I'd share a few. These should be great for Christmas cards! We had a fun morning going on an "adventure" and exploring with Catherine and Will while she captured how incredibly precious they are at this age.

Trick-or-Treat

We had lots of fun trick-or-treating last night with our friends. We went to their neighborhood because there are a lot more houses and lots of little kids. Thankfully the rain held off for a little while and we had a chance to go all around. Catherine and Will were very excited about the whole process! They have a sweet tooth, so who wouldn't love getting all of the candy??

Catherine was a fairy-princess and Will was a fireman.

Getting ready to go: Will the fireman, Pressly the kitty cat, Catherine the fairy, and Olivia the pink unicorn

Trick-or-Treat!

Fun, fun!

New Landscaping

We got new landscaping in front of the house this week. Yeah! The other bushes were so overgrown and mismatched. And for some reason there were poky holly bushes right by the steps. So it's all gone and we have new Indian Hawthorne and Abelia bushes. They look tiny now compared to the others, but so much cleaner and fresher. The big camelias by the steps are starting to bloom, but once they're done, they will get a significant trim.

Here's the new look:

Here's the before:

Totally unrelated to the house, here's a cute picture of Will. Mimi and PopPop got him this little man hat the other week and he thinks it's great. Jay dressed him in his vest and tie to coordinate last night and he was so proud. How cute!

Fall Weekend Away

Jay and I went on our fall weekend trip to Chattanooga, TN this past weekend. We try to go somewhere each spring and fall, just to take a few days for the two of us to enjoy going on dates and relaxing. As much as we love our children, it's great to occasionally have a little break and remember what it's like to just be the two of us. We don't want to look at each other after they all move out one day and think "who are you?" I really appreciate that Jay puts this effort and energy into our marriage. I'm a lucky girl!

We stayed at the Stone Fort Inn in downtown Chattanooga. It's a small hotel (only 15 rooms) with lots of historic charm and antique details and furniture. And they have a wonderful buffet breakfast! We really enjoyed it.

It was exciting to just have the time to decide what we wanted to do, without having to rush home for a babysitter. On Friday night, we went to a Thai restaurant (one of our favorites) and to the movies. On Saturday morning, we walked around downtown, browsed a few bookstores, took a walk over the big blue bridge. We took naps, read books, and watched football that afternoon. We ate a great steak dinner at a restaurant called Hennen's on Saturday night and then went for a carriage ride (in the freezing windy 35 degree weather, but it was fun!). We had to head back to G'ville on Sunday morning so that Steve and Marcy could get on the road to go back to WV.

Here's the 16 week baby bump. (I think I have as much of a butt bump as I do a baby bump.)

Catherine and Will had lots of fun while we were gone. Mimi and PopPop took them to get Halloween costumes, carve pumpkins, make cupcakes, go out to eat at their favorite restuarants, have slumber parties....I don't think they missed us at all! They were asking to go to bed by 6pm last night though, so they must have been worn out. We are very thankful that our kids have grandparents (on both sides) who love to spend time with them.

It's great to go away, but it's always great to come home.

Just catching up

Nothing major to report, and this is a first for me...a post without pictures! But I just thought I'd catch everyone up on the little stuff and include some cute Catherine and Will stories.

• Will had his first run-in with the police the other week. We were downstairs in the bonus room playing and heard a knock at the door. Jay went upstairs to find a policeman. Apparently, Will called 911. He had gotten the phone off the hook a few minutes earlier and in his random number dialing, called the police.
• The other night I got them out of the bath tub. Jay was out of town, so I was doing my best to get everyone dried off and ready for bed quickly. This is when they think it's best to be super silly. So Will kept running around naked and Catherine kept saying "Will, don't go pee-pee." He then ran back into the bathroom and promptly peed all over the floor. We all actually thought that was funny. So I told them to stand still while I got a towel to clean up. Before I could do that though, Will ran right through the pee, slipped and fell in the middle of it. Now they're both crying and he's completely covered in pee. But I still thought it was funny!
• I love how Catherine phrases things or still gets a few words messed up. For example, she likes to put Vasoline on her lips, but she calls is "gasoline". She informed the other day that Daddy is tall and Mommy is low (I'm assuming she means short). And her new thing to tell us about every morning is what she dreamed the night before. It's usually about mommy or daddy or heaven.
• Will is doing much better with his speech. He's working on putting 2 and 3 words together at a time. His favorite 3 word phrase is "I don't know." It's really cute when he says it. We are having him seen by an ENT in November to have his hearing checked and make sure there are no physical abnormalities in the back of his throat or mouth that would be causing his speech to be slower than expected. I expect that it will be fine, but we just want to be sure.
• Catherine LOVES her dance lessons each week. She is so excited to show us what she has learned--plies, first position, her stretches, etc. It's definitely one of the highlights of her week. Jay took Tuesday afternoon off work this week to take her dance lessons and she was so thrilled about Daddy going with her. It was precious.
• Catherine and Will are both very excited about the baby in mommy's tummy. Will often wants to pray for the baby at night and loves to give it kisses and blow raspberries on my tummy. Catherine is fascinated by the whole process and she has babies in her tummy almost every day. She pretends that she's having baby showers, going to the doctor, picks out names, etc. It's so encouraging to see them excited about God growing our family. We'll be 16 weeks this weekend and are thrilled for this new little one.
• Jay and I are headed out of town this weekend for our fall weekend away. Mimi and PopPop will be here with the kids. I love having some time with just my husband. He's my favorite person in the world!

I'll post more (including pictures) soon. Happy Fall!