The past few weeks

I just realized that it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted. We, like always, have been busy around here. We had family come in for Memorial Day weekend and then a few days later went to Atlanta for Uncle Andrew's graduation. Even though we have been busy, we have noticed a change in Will. He seems to be growing up before our eyes, almost like he knows that a baby is about to come and he will be the big brother. Of course we tell him that a baby is coming, but we aren't sure he really understands.

Mike and Andrew. Mike is such a proud big brother!

He is saying more and more words and we are starting to understand what he needs/wants. Some of his new words are book, car, plane, shawty (shower, we have a good time with this word!). He also says I'm sorry, it's ok, let's go, ready and thank you and pieces together words as in "bye bye daddy". He also has figured out how to get our attention...he simply yells mommy or daddy over and over until we answer. That's a lot of fun when you are actually trying to have a conversation! He copies everything we do and say right now, which can be scary if you aren't careful. We have already heard him say things that we would rather him not say. We don't use curse words at our house (at least most of the time), but I don't want my 21 month old saying "dang it". You know what I mean?

Will playing with his bubble maker.

He is also starting to become more independent and wanting to do things by himself, including helping around the house. On many days, he is mommy's little helper! He
is very good at feeding Gracie, folding (or unfolding) clothes and emptying the dishwasher. It might take longer with his help, but I cherish his desire to be right with me. And like a typical little boy, he is totally into cars, tractors, trucks, planes and trains. Pretty much if it is a mode of transportation, Will wants to point it out to Mike and I.



Other than that, time is flying by. Sweet baby Luke will be here in a matter of weeks. I am almost 34 weeks, and I can't beleive it! My doctor says he looks great, but he could be big. Possibly 8.5 to 9 pounds. I feel good, but am starting to get more and more tired, especially at night. It is hard to get up off the couch or bed or floor for that matter. It is hard to hold Will right now, but I can't refuse him when he asks to be cuddled. Thankfully, I know I just have to make it a little bit longer.

33 weeks and 5 days

Mommy/Son Road Trip

Road warriors!

Last week, Will and I went on our first road trip without Mike. It was the longest that I have ever driven with Will by myself, 5 hours, and the longest that both of us have ever been away from Mike, 6 days. Oh yeah, and I did it at 30 weeks pregnant! I'm not going to lie...I was a little nervous to make the trip. I mean just stopping to go the the bathroom was going to be exhausting. But, we made it and we got to see lots of family; both sets of grandparents,my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. We were able to meet my newest nephew and Will's newest cousin, Tate. We were also there to see Tate baptized and to go to Jake, my cousin's little boy, 2nd birthday party. Thought I would post some pictures from the trip so you could see all of our fun. It's quite a few pics...just so you know!
Eating a cupcake at Jake's party.
This kid loves cake!
Will and my cousin Ryan. Will fell in love with him!
Will loves a good swing. Whether it is on the playground or...
...or his cousin Tate's swing. I saw this week that I will have to put a gate around Luke when he is in the swing. Will just could not keep his hands off it!
Will and Tate. He loved holding his cousin and giving him kisses!
Gran, Will, Tate and myself.
I hope he loves his new brother like this!
Will and Poppy, or Pop-eye as Will like to call him, at the carousel in Chattanooga.

A week in motherhood

Mother's Day 2010 has now come to an end. This year it came at the end of a long, emotional, exhausting week. A week that had me questioning whether or not I am a good mom. Whether or not I am doing the right things to discipline my child when it comes to certain behaviors.
Will is an active 20 month old. He has a huge smile and an amount of energy that Mike and marvel at. He seems to be able to go on longer than the energizer bunny. He is at such a fun age, but it is also a challenging age. With all of his energy, we are stating to see more and more behavior that needs to be corrected. And this has proven to be frustrating, because we don't always get the desired behavior from our discipline methods. So we are having to revamp the way we do things with Will.
On Thursday a quote from Beth Moore's Esther study came to mind. The gist of it is that God chose me to be Will's mom and no one else. He chose me because he knew that I had some quality that no one else has that will allow me to raise Will. This gave me comfort as well as the ability to rest. Knowing that God has entrusted me with Will, to raise and care for him in a way that only I can, is humbling. And it has been an encouragement to me every time I think about it. I know that I am far from perfect, but I am doing my best at motherhood. It is hard, without glory or rest, and quite literally a battle some days. But it is by far the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I thank the Lord every day for this amazing opportunity to raise on of His children.


Happy Mother's Day to both our moms, my Grandmother, my aunts, my sister and all my wonderful friends! Thank you for being amazing examples of what it means to sacrifice for your children and to love them unconditionally!

27 weeks! Already!?

I was checking e-mail today and got a pregnancy update e-mail from babycenter.com. It was titled "Your pregnancy: 27 weeks". What!!?? Where has the time gone. This pregnancy has flown by in comparison to Will's. Granted, I don't have near as much time to sit around and think about sweet little Luke as I did Will. But still... I didn't think it would go this fast. Things are going really well. I feel great, but am starting to get to the point where I feel pregnant. You girls who have been preggo know what I mean. My stomach is starting to get heavy and even hurts at times and just getting up off the couch is becoming a hassle. For now, I can still have plenty of energy to chase Will. But I'm not gonna lie, I take a nap most days when he is napping. Hard to believe in 13 weeks, I will be a mother to 2 little boys!

So, for the sake of my sweet 2nd child and those of you who don't see me everyday, here is a picture of my belly at 26 weeks.


And for kicks, here are few new pics of Will.
Will and Jocelyn. She is the little girl next door. We watched her for a little while the other night. She is 3, an older woman. Will worked hard to impress her!
Will & Daddy trying to figure out how to get their soccer ball back that they kicked into the next door neighbor's yard. Too bad the dog got it and chewed it to shreds!
Will wearing one of his daddy's shirts.

Blue Angels come to Charleston

Will and I checking out the planes.

Recently Will has doubled his vocabulary and has become increasingly interested in things that fly in the sky, namely birds and/or planes. Every time he sees either he gasps and points up at it and says bird. Even if we are in the house and he hears a bird tweet or a plane fly overhead he does the same thing.
Mommy and Will...sorry just had to throw in another of the 2 of us! :)

Because of this we decided to take Will down to the Battery to watch the Blue Angels practice for their upcoming air show this weekend. (Sidenote...Growing up I saw them several times when they came to Chattanooga. We lived so close to the airport that we could sit in our backyard and watch the whole thing. The guys would fly so low that there were times that you could see the pilots in the cockpits.) Mike had never seen them so I was excited for both my guys to see these awesome planes.
One of my attempts at catching a pic of the planes. It was much harder than it looks!

When the first fighter jet flew overhead it was so loud and it scared Will to death. He started crying and I instantly felt like a horrible mother. I brought no ear plugs. I didn't think it would bother him that much. We realized though that it just scared him. After he got over the initial shock of that first plane, he seemed to enjoy what he was seeing. He even pointed at them as they raced by us. Mike loved every minute of it as well. They are pretty cool to watch, especially on a 85 degree April day overlooking Charleston Harbor!
Will pointing to one of the planes.
Will playing with the "balls" at the Battery. Its one of his favorite words right now!

Now, as for that vocab of Will's I was telling you about. Here are the words he is saying consistently:
dog
bird
thank you
juice
more
no
yes
mommy
daddy
baby
stinky (thanks to daddy!)
1,2,3
aci(paci)
Acie(Gracie)
ball
He is also good at copying what we say. He tries real hard to watch our mouths and mimic exactly what we do. It's crazy the amount of stuff he learns each day!

Introducing.....Tate McGill

Tate

So...my little sister made me an aunt today. Christopher Tate McGill was born early this morning, like 5:30ish, after about 26 hours in labor. He was 8lbs 3 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. I have only seen pictures, seeing as how I live 9 hours away. But you better believe Aunt Whitney is dying to love on her new nephew...and I will soon. I'm planning a trip in mid-May with my Gran and Will(if Linny and Seth will have us!)
I am so proud of Linny and Seth and know that they are going to be great parents to precious little Tate.
Tate and my dad (a.k.a Poppy)

Easter...better late than never

Easter 2010 was an Easter that we will never forget. Not only was it our first in Charleston, but it was River Church's first Easter celebration. It was also the Sunday with our biggest attendance, 201 people, since we launched in January. After worship we had the opportunity to eat lunch together as a body. The kids even had an easter egg hunt.

Will cared absolutely nothing about the egg hunt. The few eggs he did get in his bucket, were all but put in his path. He pretty much couldn't miss them. He liked the eggs a lot more when he realized that there was candy in them. When he opened them he would smile and say "oh!".

Will was much more interested in running and playing on the playground.

All in all, Easter was a lot of fun, and a very special day.

Mike's family came to spend Easter with us and a few days after. They were on Spring Break and we had a lot of fun. We went to the beach, went to eat at Hyman's and went and spent time at Patriot's Point at the U.S.S Yorktown. We all loved them being here, but Will did the most. He loved having Grandma, Paw-Paw, Uncle Drew and Kristin come and spend time with him.



Will and I in front of the U.S.S Yorktown. An aircraft carrier, complete with fighter planes. It was so cool.
Will sitting in a fighter plane. He loved it and didn't want to get out!