The body

That's what I'm gonna call Decky from here on out :) The kid has a body on him................and he's finallyyyyyyy "thinning out" - he is certainly not thin, that's actually a funny thought. Declan, thin. HA!!!! but he's LENGTHENING and he's got thighs that are more muscular than a lot of grown men's, a little 6 pack comin' on, biceps paul lifts lots of weights to get and a booty that will bring on the laaaaadies! he is too cute. and i'm not biased. AT ALL.

i looooove a strong boy and that's we've got with this solid rock of a child.

check out mr skinny :)

Gotta get the juice!

Breaking in his new cords.....if I can't dress a girl in tutus I will dress my boy in corduroys and love every second! he looks so OLD. hurt me.

Love this face :)

And yes...........he's always eating :)

Daddy's 1st win!

It is no secret that Paul took over a rouuuuugh situation down and this season has been ten times harder than I think anyone (Paul especially) thought it would be. He did finally get his first win a few weeks back so we had to document. We love you and are so very proud of you, love!

cheesy baby and verrry cheesy daddy

"Boo boo"

Here's the video of him saying "boo boo". Love you little stinker!!!

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HOT HOT HOT:

Awhile ago, Decky got a sweet burn on his hand from the stove. We were making breakfast (I'm pretty sure just pouring cereal, should be fairly painless) but decky had turned on one of the burners without me knowing and then placed his hand directly on it. I literally heard it sizzle and then rip his skin as he took it off just as quickly as he had put it on. It was a pretty bad burn but he toughed it out like a champ, and he even learned a new word, "boo boo" :) it took a good two weeks for them to heal because the burns were smack on his hand, which he uses everything for.................so they would rip open almost daily and looked horrible but eventually they started closing up. Yuck - talk about learning a lesson the hard way.

I wrapped his hand up and then put this sock over in ATTEMPT to stop him from ripping open the blisters but that lastest about 2 seconds. He did think he was hotstuff though for those 2 seconds with his sock..............................

GiGi and Decky

I finally got pictures from the last month off my camera and there were some really really great ones of my mom and Declan from our last (very windy) beach trip :) It was really cute when I was going thru these and the first one came up of the two of them and he said "gasp.......................DEE DEE"! Sometimes he can get the "g" out, sometimes not. We're working on it...............along with the rest of his words that are verrry hit or miss :)

22 weeks with little little buddy

And we still have a looooong way to go you big boy. Hang in there please!

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"man man"

So decky loves him some superman! He has a plate he eats off of multiple shirts he loves to wear. So when we were at Wal Mart and I held up multiple different costumes for him to choose from, he kept yelling and pointing "man man"!!!! So man man it was:

Man man likes mommys boots:



And he likes to read:



And he likes to dance:

Cowboy and man man



We had a great time at the library this am with deckys buddies. They had their own little parade and gave out looooots of goodies. I was able to distract with grapes but not sure how much longer that's gonna last.......He tried about five diff times to unwrap a jolly rancher he stole from another kid. Thief with a sweet tooth! That's my boy.

Off for mommys nap now! :)

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Little gym rat

Last Friday Declan and I joined our new friends at a local gym for their "preschool playzone". I was not sure what to expect but I will say it was way better than anything I was expecting.

Declan spent the entire two hours running, climbing, jumping, rope swinging, balance beaming, somersaulting, you name it.

I do tend to let him learn things the hard way so if he falls, he falls. At least here there was lots of padding :)

We will be back!


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Mamaw!

Pushing decky while out on a little walk :) love this pic!!



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Declan Brady...

My little Irish baby.



His name comes from St Declan and means "full of goodness". And that he is.

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Discovery Place!

Discovery Place is basically a children's science museum in Charlotte that I never thought was very fun when I was young but now that I have a kid myself I think its awesome! And really, it is. I just never appreciated it.

I took decky there on Monday and oh my word. WE, yes we, had a friggin blast. The kid was in heaven.



First of all they have the downstairs which is a small aquarium and has a few kiddie science rooms. There is also the toddler playzone that I cant even explain but was so neat. They had this big water structure that Declan played with (and soaked himself) for about 30 minutes. Everything in there, while made for the toddler age group, was educational and I loved watching his mind work. I know he doesnt understand the ins and outs but just to see him kind of cataloging it away for the future was really cool - he was so intrigued.

Then upstairs is for the big kids but Declan was as much into that as he was the downstairs.

This was an example of the pulley system and while you are supposed to sit on the chair and pull yourself up, mommy had to help decky until a very cool little 10yr old boy came by and saved my arms :) it was actually two little boys and their mom. I asked if they were bros (yes) and if it was just the two of them (yes) and the mom looked at me like "you think I would try my luck a third time??" ;) I saw my future and I have to say it was pretty great. The three of them were so cute and having a genuinely good time together.



All in all, we had a super fun, interesting morning. If you are ever in Charlotte, you have to check out DP - you won't be disappointed. I wish I could explain it better but you will just have to go and see for yourself! :)

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The joys of pregnancy

i'm just gonna warn you, this is probably an inappropriate post but I want to A) remember everything about my pregnancies, even the little/gross parts and B) i'm determined to be honest about the process :) Because i really feel like women are sometimes afraid to say what they REALLY feel and what REALLY happens. So, to the 3 people that read this blog (hi mom), here ya go:

everytime I sneeze, I pee.

we were up in Charlotte this past weekend and i don't know if there was something funky in the air, if i'm allergic to my brother's dog, or maybe my friend's dogs, i have no idea....BUT something got both decky and i going badly up there, thus, i sneeze every 2 minutes. and i swear if there is an ounce of liquid in my bladder, it comes out!! ITS HORRIBLE!!!!!!! HA OH MY GOSH! poor paul last night was like what the fffffffffff.................you are an animal.

so little little buddy, i love you, but you are making it seem like mommy is not potty trained. and i'm 28 yrs old. i'm not sure if this is a function of your big brother doing a number on me on his way out into the world or what but i do NOT remember this happening last time. oh lordy pete........i still have a long way to go so lets hope i can curb the sneezing or else i'm gonna be in diapers along with my 20 month old. Life is goooooooood ;)

A couple belly pics:

I will try to do a better job of having Paul take these but usually by the time he's home I am looking a hot friggin mess and want nothing to do with my picture being taken. Go figure both of these were taken at the end of the day though, the second one after a long walk with Decky outside so I look reaaaaaaaaal good.

I feel so bad for baby #2 - this is his life. I was on top of everything with Decky.......I took a picture every week, documented his growth, read about what fruit he was this particular day etc etc etc. This one I'm lucky if I remember that I'm pregnant right before Declan jumps on my belly. Directly on the belly. I've remembered about 1 second before each time which gives me a half second to throw up the Heisman to my little boy.

Ugh.......I'll try to be better for you little pumpkin baby, I really will.........in any case, here is your mommy at week 19 and 20!

19 weeks

20 weeks

As you can see, the baby is everywhere. Declan went straight out so I thought I had a cute belly with him. Not so this go round........As if my hips weren't wide enough already, this little stinker just wants to span the whole width of my body making me look goooooooooooooooooood :) Love you little little buddy ;)

Biebs

Here's my little Justin Bieber haired fella:










It was a little windy down at BHI and it did a good number on his hair :)

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Beach!!

We went down to bald head to be with my parents for really only a day and a half but had a blast! The weather was a littttttttttle off but decky was loving life :)

On the ferry ride over:

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The gallop

He has been doing this ever since last week when he rode the pony. To be honest (and fair because come on he's only 1.5 yrs old) I have no clue if the two are related but it's pretty funny :)

This one is from the beach. It's Declan's ADD at it's best :)

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And the verdict is.............

Of course I do :) Again!

Shocking does not really describe the moment when the ultrasound tech looked at me, looked at the screen, looked at Declan, looked back at me and says "yep, they can share a room". WHAAAAAT?!??!!!? A boy? No friggin way! I was sure. Like 99.84379732% sure that this baby was a girl. Paul and I hadn't even discussed boy names. Not for a second. I was looking at white cribs online. I googled and pinterested little girl nursery rooms to get ideas. I went into the baby girl section of Carters. I was imagining wedding dress shopping 26 years from now with her.......

 I'm not sure where I went wrong but we are 100% (I saw it about 8 different times :) ) having a boy. Declan is going to be the big brother to a little brother. Trucks will continue to rule my life. Ball games will take over the television. Blue will abound......................... :) 

I am not, in any way shape or form, disappointed to be having another boy but I will say that I am a little sad. I was trying to explain it to Paul last night and the only way I can describe is that I look at the two of them, and I see the pride in Paul's eyes when he looks at his son. He sees a bit of himself. He sees the two of them in the future going to a Yankee game, cheering on the Dukies (sorry dad) when they're playing Carolina in basketball, giving him a secret high five before he heads out on his first date knowing exactly what his teenage boy is thinking at that moment ;) He's not a little Paul, but he is a little Paul. And I wouldn't have it any other way.....but there's a small piece of me that would loved to have had a little "me". A BETTER "me". I'd love to consult on clothes, hair styles, dresses, boys....whatever. I would love to watch her be a total kick ass competitor on whatever playing field she decided to play on (because she WOULD be an athlete :) ), I'd love to hold her 5 days after she gave birth to her first child and know I was the only one who could make her feel better. 

There are things a father and son can only experience and the same goes for mothers and daughters. In the same breath though, the exact same goes for mothers and sons and I will get that times two now. I think the thing that I'm having a hard time getting past is knowing how most little boys grow up - they love their mothers, without a doubt, but eventually they leave. Girls always come back around. Girls ALWAYS need their mothers. Boys do too but its not the same and I suppose I'm just mourning this future that I thought was going to be there (because obviously we were gonna be really really tight ;) ), thus the emo blog post :) My aunt put it very well at one point when her boys were getting married. She said, "this is what you want.....you raise them to be strong, independent men who will start their own family................but then they start their own family." I will do my damndest to raise these boys to be loving, respectful, honest, hardworking, incredibly upstanding men who will attract equally amazing women who will in turn include me in their lives :) Deal boys? Ok, thanks!

In any case........................ I love Declan more than life and I know the same will go for this little boy so while I needed to get this out, and like my sister-in-law said to me last night, although I probably need 24-48 hours to get over it, I WILL get over it and enjoy this unbelievable blessing that Paul, Decky and I have been given. I truly believe God gives you what you need. And apparently another boy was it for our family. So thank you, Lord, for this little fella........................I know how much I love Declan and as hard as it is to imagine loving another child this much, I know its possible and I look forward to what he will bring into our family as I know it will be absolutely amazing. I believe that. Just have to keep telling myself it until I can get over..........myself :)

Our first pics as a family of FOUR!