Hi there! it's been a while!

yeah, I know it has. what I didn't know was how INCREDIBLY different it would be to have 2 kids instead of one, not to mention very TIME CONSUMING... which is why I haven't written anything in a while, a pretty long while at that. From the moment I get home from work each day (which I went back to on January 4th - 1 week early by accident)to the time I get up in the morning to go back to work, I have at least one child attached to me. Whether it be in my arms (Max) or on my back (Harlan), I literally do not have a free hand. I don't have a clue how parents of 3 do it with only 2 hands. I won't update you with all the borings (Max is sleeping longer than he was, Harlan is taking Gymnastics, blah blah blah) Instead, I'll just mention a few highlights to the last few months (outside of the obvious - welcoming my baby boy into this world on Sunday November 15, 2009):
*I ended up letting Harlan name her brother b/c his father and I could not narrow it down to something we both loved.
*I prevailed in giving him his FULL first name of Maximus after my most favorite movie character ever (Maximus Decimus Meridius from Gladiator - thank you Russell Crowe)
*I assure you that only when full name is necessary on documentation or when he is in trouble will he go by his full name. So for arguments sake, his name is just "Max".
*Harlan sang for the church in the choir the other night and it brought tears to my eyes at how stinking cute she looked. I brought back memories of seeing my dad's face in the audience when I used to do school plays.
*Another big event, we had both of the kids "dedicated" at church on Valentines Day. Our church waits until the children are actually old enough to be able to understand what baptism means before they baptism them.
*OMG, the biggest news, I'm going to be an AUNT in July - will be getting a niece compliments of Ann & Zac - yippee~~
*We got Harlan enrolled in school for this year (starting in August/September 2010) which is apparently very difficult to do at our church considering parents were waiting all night and had brought their lawn chairs to wait in line with. She had been on the waiting list for last year but a spot never opened up, so YAY for us for getting her in this time.
*I'm trying not to get too excited, but I think Max might actually look like me a little bit. Considering Harlan is an exact replica of Ross-outside of being a girl, I think that's awesome.

That's all I can think of at the moment, as I've said, my life outside of work is consumed with both of my babies and I wouldn't want it any other way. They are both such a blessing to us and I am so incredibly thankful for them each and every day. My little family of 4 is complete. That is a peaceful feeling. More later... promise :)

won't be long now...

well I am actually well in to my third trimester now (yeah, sorry about the lack of "frequent updates" that I promised)and actually feeling pretty darn good, aside from constant acid reflux/indigestion/heartburn (I've never been able to tell the difference other than it is all wretched). Harlan has started spoken to her little brother/my belly a few times recently, asking "when you coming brudder?" and kissing my belly,and even giving it strawberries if that's what you call them, which is all so cute I can hardly stand it. I realize though that I need to remember these moments fondly because I'm slightly terrified of her reaction once he actually gets here. she has been the star of the show for all 3 years of her life thus far, poor baby, she has no idea.
anyways, if I were a planning type girl, I would tell you that this baby will be here no later than 11/16/09, because they typically schedule C-Sections one week earlier than the actual due date. however, I'm not much of a planner really and I have high hopes that this little man will arrive promptly 3 weeks early like his sister did and we can cut out the unnecessary waddling and shortness of breath and heartburn/indegestion/reflux stuff that will most definitely continue until he gets here. I'll just say I hope he's not a procrastinator and gets here just as soon as he is healthy and able to do so.
still potty training with Harlan... she has good days and bad days, more bad than good and I hate to say it but I think it's mostly due a little bit of laziness. she just doesn't want to stop what she is doing (which is usually playing or watching toons) and go do it. fingers crossed that she has this potty thing down completely by the time baby brother gets here. I SO don't want to have 2 kids in diapers...
all for now, above is a picture of the belly at 32 weeks, yes, it's grown some since then and it's only been a week. ttfn.

Oh boy Oh boy...

...with that being said, we found out at the end of June that we are in fact having a baby boy. Shock and disbelief are the 2 words that came to mind when she told us. I was certain I would have only girls, just like my dad. But holy moley, it's a boy, I know, I saw "it" for myself (and now you can too... sorry son).
It took a few weeks before it actually set in too, and still every time I think about it, he makes me smile. I'm scared to death, but excited too. I've got my girl, I am a girl, I have 2 sisters that I helped grow up, I'm friends with mostly girls, so I've got the girl thing down... But I have absolutely no idea what to do with a boy and that makes me really excited. I'm looking forward to figuring out a whole new world, the world of little boys. Shoot (as Harlan would say), I'm even looking forward to the first diaper change where I get bulls-eyed right in the face with tinkle. It's going to be an adventure for me and I can't wait for it to begin.

Harlan is still growing like a weed, she's 2 years and 8 months old this month and saying something new everyday. This is the point where I would normally says she's as sweet as sugar, but unfortunately, she's hit a spell of the terrible two's recently. For example, we went to the mall on Saturday and she proceeded to play hide and seek with mommy in Sears. Only that wasn't the agreement. The agreement was to be a good girl and ride like a champ in the buggy until aunt Haley got there with the stroller. She doesn't like to listen to mommy though, because apparently, Harlan knows better. Keep in mind, shes waaaaay shorter than any and all of the clothing racks there, so while she was in her fun little clothes maze, mommy was trying not to panic at losing sight of her and trying to listen closely and chase after her "woo hoo's" all the while being 6 months preggo. Nice. Needless to say, she did get a swat on the back of the leg (diapers protect with too much padding on the rump) once I did catch her, but only after she finally came out calling "here I am mommy, I find you!"
*Note to self, she and I are not going to the mall again without reinforcements (i.e stroller, 2nd or 3rd grown-up in tow, and possibly some Valium)*
BUT- With as much havoc as she has been wreaking lately, she's still my little angel in disguise and I love her with all of my heart and soul and wouldn't trade her for anything in the whole wide world... at least not permanently :)
You know, I can't seem to shake the feeling that I'm about to miss these days... chasing after just one child...

the blog with a surprise ending....

gosh a lot has happened since I last updated... let's see, Miss Harlan celebrated her 2nd birthday on November 21 and raised the roof at her party at mimi & papa's house on the following Saturday. her Mimi & papa got her a swing set and we managed to hide it, even during the 2 days it took all the blood sweat and tears out of her daddy & papa to get it up. the look on her face when we finally unveiled it was priceless and as of now, she's a pro at all the elements on the thing, especially the slide. fast forward to December where we celebrated Christmas ( as most everyone does) and it was so exciting (for me & her her daddy) to see her cute little tired face as she saw what all Santa had left her. it takes her awhile to get going when she wakes up, so we may have rushed her a little because at first she just looked a little dazed and confused at what was going on, but once she woke up, man she was excited. that covers all of the major holidays for now...
my best gal pal Kathy & her husband Nathan (yes, the same couple who we joined for their wedding in St. Lucia a year ago) welcomed their first baby boy, Jackson Tyler Stockberger, on April 25 and I could not be more excited for them. This is all she's ever wanted and I am so happy that all of her dreams are coming true! and speaking of babies... we invited my Dad & Mom & sisters Ann & Haley and brother Jay over to the in-laws for Easter lunch to unveil the news that... drum roll please... baby #2 is officially cooking in this oven. It's kind of nutty too because the due date of this little kumquat is 2 days after Miss Harlan's birthday (PLEASE let it come sooner so they don't have to share their special day... and also because as most of you reading this may know, I am not very fond of the actual being pregnant part, if I could pop this puppy into a microwave belly of sorts and speed up the process, I would do it in a second) Needless to say, i will have much more to talk about now that there is another person growing inside of me, so stayed tuned for more updates. Now, let's see who all actually reads this because not many people actually know the big news as of yet... so surprise! hee hee

well Halloween came and went...

I was really looking forward to taking Harlan on her very first trick or treating expedition, even though she never knew one way or another, but unfortunately, she had been really sick all week prior and was not up to par by the time trick-or-treat time rolled around :( sooo, I finally convinced her to put her costume on this weekend for a photo opp, and as you can probably tell from the photo... she was not happy. Oh well, there's always next year, and she's still my favorite little stinker ;) enjoy!

is it just me or....

has time really flown by in the last 2 years? I mean, the summer months always fly by for me, but I was looking at my sassy little one yesterday and she's almost 2 years old. it seems like just yesterday I was moaning and groaning about being pregnant and I remember how much I could not wait for her to finally be here. well she's here and has been for almost 2 full years. it really is funny how all of the parental sayings that I never paid much attention to, really are true. time does fly by, they grow up way too fast and before you know it, they'll be gone and there you'll be... in your empty nest. I know, I know, I've got plenty of mommy years ahead of me before the nest becomes empty. and as I type this, I can picture myself remembering me type that very statement... as I sit in my empty nest. maybe it's time for another one so I can start the clock over and have 18 more fun-filled years ahead of me, instead of only 10 :)

That time we went out of the country...

OK. So Ross and I recently returned from St. Lucia and our honeymoon we never had/my best friends wedding and the only word I can think of to describe the trip and it's happenings is "wow".
So we left Birmingham for Atlanta shortly after work on a Wednesday and ended up in St. Lucia by way of Miami at around 3:30pm on Thursday, which is 32 hours after we had woken up on Wednesday morning. Did we sleep at all you ask? Why of course not. Needless to say, we were out of our minds exhausted. We then took the 1.5 hour roller coaster ride to our hotel. You see, St. Lucian's apparently do not believe in speed limits, stop signs or traffic lights, throw all of that together on a very mountainous island with very curvy 2-lane roads and add complete disregard for other drivers/pedestrians/animals on the road and you've got one helluva ride... better not be one prone to car-sickness! wow.
After a much needed nap, we were able to begin and enjoy our stay. The surroundings were really quite beautiful, albeit, not what I expected, but so nice and quaint. The weather was awesome, and the people were mostly accommodating. When I say not what I expected, it's because I didn't do my homework before we left so I didn't realize how poor the island was. Now I'm not really sure if "poor" is the appropriate word, to explain, the locals live in very modest homes in the mountains, grow their own fruits & veggies, use public transportation to get around (see above) and thrive on the tourism to make ends meet. Everywhere you go, someone was trying to sell you something, anything from the freshest possible coconut water (juice inside of a coconut)to trinkets made out of wire right there on the spot. Still, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that they didn't really like us that much. I felt like I could hear their thoughts, "stupid Americans". Maybe it was just my imagination, I don't know, but it sure felt like we were annoying them.
Now for the best part. It's a very rare occurrence when you throw a group of random people together and there's not ONE that sticks out as the annoying one, or the rude one, or the obnoxious one, etc. There was not a single one of those in the list of wedding guests. I have never been around such a great group of people that all got along so well and were able to have such a terrific time together no matter what we did. As most beach trips can go, I kept waiting for that one that got too drunk and acted a fool or the one that had enough and went off on another for no reason, but it never happened. It was SO nice.
And it occurred to me... how phenomenal these 2 people must be to have such an awesome group of people surrounding them. And the truth is, they are phenomenal, and then some. The friends, siblings & parents were all this temporary little happy family and we were all here for the same reason and for the same 2 people and that made it all beautiful. Truth be told, I had been waiting for this day since I first met the bride. She is one of the greatest people I have ever met and has always deserved the best there is. She had waited so long and so patiently to find it, and it was purely magical to be able to be there and literally watch all of her dreams come true. The smile on her face was priceless and her happiness that weekend is something I will never ever forget. wow.

Coming home was bittersweet. We were leaving paradise and coming "back to reality" and the everyday headaches of life... and it actually felt really good. The experience as a whole made us both appreciate what we had lost sight of, and that is how blessed we are, with our humble little home and modest lifestyle and most importantly, the love of both of our lives, Harlan.

wow.