Ripley's Aquarium!

One of the good things about Myrtle Beach is all of the cool touristy attractions they have around. What's even better is going to them in December when all of the tourists are GONE! HA! So Friday a couple of Declan's buddies all met up at the aquarium to take in the sights and had a blast. Follow that up with a Chick-fil-A date and playground session and you have one/four very happy kids. We had a great morning with Levi, Lily, Sawyer, Norma and Jeri! We've been very lucky to find some awesome kids for Decky and really sweet ladies that watch those kids for moi :) They might be grandma's but hey I'll take it...........I love them both and they really have been huge blessings for this new stay-at-home mommy.

Touching the stingrays:

Typical 

Why getting a group shot is so hard I will never know........

Decky loves him some Lily!

Photo courtesy of Lily Grace - and her finger. 

Good big sister feeding Decky some of her ice cream. And I guess making sure his head doesn't fall off.....

Hogan/Henson Fam!

This post is gonna be a combo as I had a few in the drafts that I haven't finished because my posting has been so sparce recently so here we go:

Nancy, the twins, Nana and Pop came up for a few days a couple weeks ago and we had a great time as usual. Nancy and the boys stayed with Decky and I (Paul was out of town) so Nana and Pop got a little bit of a vacation, although Nana took Decky for a day for me so that Nancy and I could do some shopping. The twins are muuuuuch better shoppers than Declan so they were great companions. Declan would have been a disaster.

In any case, for some reason I have tons of pics of Declan and Matty from this visit so here ya go:

Declan likes to get on his level. Its so cute........

Watching Elmo. Clearly they both hate it ;)

AH! gonna be such a good big brother Decky Doo!!! Trying to feed Matty his bottle...

Unwelcomed splash thanks to Declan Brady

And gotta give TJ some love:

Then last weekend we went down to Atlanta because Paul was going to recruit at the Final Four tournament so we decided to tag along. THEN my alma mater, Wake Forest, won their Elite 8 game which advanced them to the Final Four so it was even better!!!!! There was a massive alumni push to get a big crew together for the game and people flew in from all over the country so not only was it another great weekend with the Hogans/Hensons, it was also an alumni weekend :) Friday night I got to go to the game and then Saturday afternoon Declan and I went to the alumni "soccer game" and cheered on the "players" :) It was hilarious! And so fun. 

We also had another great weekend with Nana, Pop and co :) Carol takes care of the twins while Nancy works so Friday Declan, the boys, Nana and I took lunch down to Nancy at her school and had a good ole time. Nan has this massive screen in her room that hooks up to the computer so she pulled up the "Elmo slide" (think electric slide with decky's beloved elmo) and Declan danced to that for a good long while. We now have to watch it 8 times a day at home. Thanks Aunt Nancy ;) LOVE YA! hahahaa. 

Saturday morning we took Declan up to the local firehouse where they were having "breakfast with Santa" so Decky got to look at Santa from a very far away place as he is a super scaredy cat, and climb in fire trucks. Good combo! Saturday night we took all the boys to the Christmas parade in their downtown and it was really fun and festive. Sunday we had a cool little photo sesh and then headed on our way back to the MB! All in all, a wonderful weekend :) We are really looking forward to heading back there for Christmas and spending some more time with the fam. Love you guys!!!!

Some pics from the weekend:

What's in a name?

Well, this post is not to announce the name of little little buddy, so mom, Carol and Nancy, sorry to bust your bubbles ;) But in church this morning the sermon was on Jesus and all of His different names...................God, Lord, Savior, etc etc etc....and what they mean. The pastor started out by saying how people used to name their children based on meaning and nowadays its more about popularity or how it sounds with your other children's names or you like the way it sounds or whatever. But meaning has been lost somewhere along the way - and this totally hit a cord with me. I'm not judging anyone - I really don't care what other people name their children or why - but I do care about what I name my child and why. And yes I'm cheesy, and yes the meaning MEANS everything to me. I very rarely do anything haphazardly and while I do overanalyze ummmmmmmmmm pretty much everything in my life (apology #439 to my dear husband who deals with that daily), I have agonized over what to name our children. Declan has a pretty badass name in my opinion and it has a ridiculous amount of meaning behind it. There's many different layers - its Irish, paying homage to my husband and his heritage. St Declan is a saint in the Catholic church of Ireland, again, paying homage to Paul and his family. It means "full of goodness", which he is and I know he will remain. His initials are "DB" which started as a massive joke between Paul and Bill but turned into much more. "DB" was my father's grandfather, David Bradley, who they called "DB". Brady, his middle name, has meaning as well. Decky was conceived (ooops too much info?!?) in Boston where the quarterback is Tom Brady. My proud Irish husband is a humongous Notre Dame fan - Brady Quinn was the quarterback there......and when he graduated he got drafted by the Denver Broncos, the year Decky was born. I might be missing something but those are the big ones.........so we didn't just like the name Declan Brady. It has a ton behind it....and I love that and I couldn't be more proud of him, even though most people are like "huh....Deeee-clan?!?!" :) It happens. Apparently there are a couple shows on tv now with the main character, Declan, so his name is now becoming a little more popular.
  So with all the meaning behind Declan Brady, I've put a lot of pressure on myself and Paul to come up with a name of equal meaning for the little little buddy. We are sticking with the Irish theme, absolutely. I love it, I'm so proud to be married to such a proud man of his heritage and I love celebrating that. But that means that we have to find another Irish name that has a very cool meaning (or at least cool to us) and can be spelled by this child. Some Irish names are a liiiiiittle tricky :) We've had a heckuva time coming up with something but we have 2 right now that we both really like. Well...I like one more and Paul likes the other. Go figure ;) We will see what happens come late Feb, early March.......either way though, I really have enjoyed the process of name searching. I'm not Irish so its opened up a whole new world to me, one that I have really come to embrace. I know some people think I'm crazy and "why can't you just pick a name that you like just because you like it" but I don't know. I have to have meaning. I just do...........its who I am to the core. A cheesy cheesy cheesy son of a gun. But my goal is to pass along this passion, if you will, to the boys and they will understand why they are named what they are and live up to its meaning :) No pressure, boys.
 

Little little buddy........

Just a quick post to tell you how much daddy and I love you. I'm sitting here reading a book with my shirt pulled up and every few minutes I see, out of the corner of me eye, your crazy man legs kicking the crap out of me :) and it is so so awesome. Last night daddy and I watched you for five minutes straight. You are crazy dude. Crazier than your big brother was. You are seriously a wild man but I cannot express the joy it brings me watching you (my stomach) jump and contort itself. Just a few minutes ago you did a nice roundhouse kick and I literally watched your foot go from one side of my belly to the other. There is not much cooler than that sweet boy. I absolutely cannot wait to hold you in my arms.......you are so close right now. So close, but so far. Keep cooking but know that we love you so and can't wait to meet you.......and hopefully you will be a little more calm on the outside than you are on the inside :) but if you aren't...............well I'm well versed in that dept thanks to your big bro, Declan. Love you both. So much.


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My boy

Loves a good park :) and there is one on the other side of our neighborhood so usually if we are coming back from the store or a play date or something and have time before lunch we stop there and he plays for a bit. They have a "neigh" that he looooves:



He is actually neighing right there whilst riding :)

And the swings are always the biggest hit:









As always - I love him so.

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Drop it down low...

We are at nana and pops house and they have this dancing Santa (that what do ya know, Paul gave to his mom about 10 yrs ago) and a non-dancing elf that Declan is determined to figure out :) so he makes him dance. And it's really. really. really cute.

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Instagram life once more

I have lots and lots of catching up to do but here are a few of my faves over the last week:

Passed out on the way back from Charlotte. Busy few days :) you think he is comfy???



Loves his new hat. Too bad we live unmmmmmm at the beach now!!!!!! Oopsy







My mullet baby



27 weeks big



Watching the "elf on the shelf" DVD from nana!



Clapping for daddy while he puts up Christmas lights



Little copycat



My dad sent this puppy to the hospital the day Declan was born and he fell in love with it all over again today. Took him everywhere. And kissed him every 3 seconds



Sour lemon!



My blue eyed beauty. And his puppy



Helping daddy peel apples for their tgiving apple pie!



..............more to come later :)

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