Anonymous.

I am loving having baby number two be a surprise.  And, I think the baby likes it too.  Case in point, at my last OB appointment (I passed my glucose test, by the way (yeah!), despite the influx of Halloween candy at our house), the baby's heartbeat was 140.  I.e., the "breaking point" if you will for the old wives tale predicting gender based on heartbeat.  For some reason, when Buck told me that, I thought it was hysterical.  Buck has been checking the Chinese gender predictor calendar (I honestly don't remember what it said this time...it predicted Fawn was a girl, so I'm not hanging my hat on its accuracy) and the heartbeat, while I really am loving a surprise being a surprise.  That's not to say I don't like the guessing game...because I do.  I think the overwhelming prediction has been that we are adding another boy to this family, though there are a couple girl holdouts.  Either way we are truly blessed, so excited, and very thankful! 

And Then It Got Cold.

After two glorious fall days at the beach, the weather turned pretty chilly overnight.  No worries, though, we still had a great day.

We hit Chick-Fil-A for breakfast -- Fawn LOVES chicken minis, though he likes the honey-butter rolls much more than the chicken nuggets.  He insisted on playing on the playground after breakfast ("I need to get my energy out" -- I must tell him that we have to get his energy out a lot, he certainly has a lot of energy).  And, he convinced Buck to play with him.

Buck clearly exceeded the height limit...but who could stop such joy?

Then it was off to one of our favorite places...Bass Pro Shops.  We will visit a BPS wherever we are...seriously.  (In fact, funny side note, I received a phone call from our credit card company a couple of weeks ago looking for Buck who happened to be in LA for work.  When he called them back they were just making sure the California charges were really him.  Buck's comment to me -- "They must be questioning national, non Bass Pro Shops charges."  Sad, but true.)

It's never to cold to drive a four wheeler.

So even though our last beach day was really a non-beach day, it was a great day of family fun.  And, I'll take the beach in October over the beach in July every time.

More Beach Pictures.

Daddy arrived and it was game-on beach fun.  Beautiful weather -- sunny and just warm enough.  Plenty of sand to dig and shells to find.  And, the water was not too cold for wading and wave jumping.  Can't wait for our next trip to the beach!

Crazy Beach-Loving Fawn.

We had the lucky privilege of spending the long weekend before Halloween at Destin, Florida.  We needed to be in Destin on Saturday for a wedding, and turned it into a family getaway with Buck's family.  It had been ages since I'd been to the beach in the fall.  It was gorgeous -- definitely the best time of the year to enjoy the sun and sand!  I'd only taken Fawn to the beach in the middle of summer and this trip was a welcome change.  


Our first morning, Fawn was up and raring to go, sand toys and all.

It was 7 a.m. and fairly chilly for the beach (maybe 70 degrees), but that's apparently doesn't deter a two-year old.

I had to go with him so he wouldn't drown, but man it was chilly (and even chillier once we were wading in wet clothes!).

Seriously kid?  After dragging him back to the beach house and into some dry clothes, applying the sunscreen, and packing a lunch picnic, Fawn and I spent the rest of the morning playing on the beach...and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Buck that evening.  Fawn talked non-stop about teaching daddy how to play on the beach.  Apparently since Buck had never been with Fawn at the beach, Fawn's toddler mind jumped to the conclusion that Buck had never, ever been to the beach.  There was plenty of father-son bonding, though...more pictures to follow.

Baby Update and Belly Pic.

My little photographer took this picture (as is quite obvious by the height angle).  His current fascination with the baby ends with the belly pictures though.  He's had it with baby talk.  He continues to insist that the baby is in fact a cat (referring to it as both Figaro and Mr. Teddy Bones, which we finally figured out was a cat that Mickey Mouse goes fishing for in one episode) and meowing into my belly to talk to the cat (seriously, I kid you not).  I'm just laying low for now and figure he'll return to his sweet baby talk and excitement at some point .  .  . or not.  I am holding out hope, though, because he still gets very excited when he sees other babies -- and he loves to feel the baby kick (which usually occurs when Fawn is sitting in my lap for book reading before nap or night time).  It's as if the baby is trying to kick Fawn out of my lap.  Fawn, though, views the gesture as pure fun!  I am trying to emotionally prepare myself for the sadness that surely is to come when Fawn isn't my one and only.  I know our moments of being a family of three are fleeting -- and while that is so exciting, there is definitely a loss that comes with this precious time ending.  I know the loss will soon be replaced by bigger, better, more exciting things.  And we are so very excited to complete our family with this precious new addition.  But, for now, there's the looming loss and my fear of how both Fawn and I will react to the changes heading our way.

Trick-or-Treating and Halloween Manners.

Our little Mickey was pumped to hit up our neighborhood when it was time for trick-or-treating.  He has a light-up pumpkin that my parents gave him last Halloween that makes spooky music -- he was so excited to use it. 

All smiles for daddy.

Scary face for mommy (is he trying to send me some sort of message!?!?).

We accompanied Fawn to the front door for the first few houses, only to witness some surprisingly good Halloween manners from our Mickey.  I had prepped Fawn before the evening that he wasn't to grab for candy -- he was to either take what had been handed to him and say thank you or when prompted by the candy-giver to take one item and say thank you (unless he was offered more).  I really had no expectations of compliance, just trying to set the groundwork for good manners.  But, realistically I felt there was no way Fawn could resist a bucket of candy.  Lo and behold, he surprised me!  He said trick-or-treat, the bucket of candy was presented to Fawn, and he chose one item.  One neighbor suggested that he could in fact pick more candy.  His response:  "ummm...that's okay.  I'll get another piece at the next house.  Thank you."  Jaw-dropping experience!

We live across the street from a very sweet 5-year old boy who Fawn loves to play with -- luckily our neighbor loves to play with Fawn too, despite the age gap.  The boys met up after the first few houses to trick-or-treat together.  While it tugged on my heart strings that Fawn was on his own (so to speak) and I wasn't right there to experience his cuteness, I was also so excited for the big boy he's becoming and so happy for him that he can have fun with other children without Buck and me as props.

As for all of that Halloween candy, it miraculously disappeared from Fawn's sight while he was sleeping...imagine that.  We have baggied up his favorites (dum dums and smarties) for our current endeavor -- the dreaded potty training.  And, I have instructed Buck that he is to remove all traces of chocolate from our house or else I will not only lose the great weigh-in but will also fail my upcoming glucose test.

One more Halloween in the record book -- I'm reminded that next year will be a whole new ballgame with the presence of an 8-month old.  Until then, the pumpkins are packed away and the stress over costumes is done. 

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.

Yep folks, he wore it.  Fawn was Mickey for Halloween.  This year I had him help me set out his costume the night before and we put it on first thing and wore it all day (except of course for nap time when pajamas are non-negotiable).

 You can barely see the Mickey Mouse ears in this picture, but he loved them!  Early evening we were off to our street's annual Halloween party.  This year we did a hot dog cookout.  It's so nice to live on a cul-de-sac that plans such fun activities for kiddos (and their parents).  We've gotten a couple sets of new neighbors this year, so it was also fun to have new faces.

My boys on our way to the party.  Fawn was happy to agree to Buck's proposal that his car's "trunk" be used as a cooler of sorts.  We always end the Halloween party with a costume contest.  Before Fawn, Buck and I were the judges because we were unbiased, non-parents.  Trouble was we knew absolutely nothing about kiddie pop culture -- we could pick out Disney characters and superheroes, but didn't stand a chance with today's cartoon characters or High School Musical characters.  Now we're starting to learn, but we still have trouble identifying the tween/teen costumes!  And, even though we weren't the judges, Fawn won the costume contest.  I think just because he's cute -- his costume was pretty basic.  He was so excited and has a goody bag of Halloween-themed toys that I plan to dole out the next several years.

Jack-O-Lantern.

Though we've done the pumpkin patch thing every year with Fawn, this was our first year to experience the carving of his pumpkin.  We read multiple Halloween books all October (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Haunted Clubhouse, Clifford's Halloween, Clifford's First Halloween, 10 Trick or Treaters) many of which featured carved pumpkins in their illustrations.  Fawn was curious -- and wanted one of his own.  So, we complied (in all honesty I think Buck and I were way more excited to carve the pumpkin than Fawn was).

While I was gathering my camera and a spoon for scooping the inside gooeyness, Buck cut the top off the pumpkin and suggested Fawn use his hands to remove the insides.  Fawn's response (which was classic Fawn): "It's messy.  Mommy can do it."  Fawn comes from a long line of neat freaks (and I use that as a term of endearment) -- on his dad's side, not mine.  While he can push aside his OCD-tendencies to dig in dirt, splash in puddles, play in mud, he somehow can't at other times -- he hates for his hands to get messy while eating, for example.  And, apparently the sight of the pumpkin goo was just too much for him.  Buck was likewise not willing to dive in, so (of course) mommy did it.

You may notice that Buck is cropped out of the left side of the picture -- that means the photographer was none other than Fawn himself.  I didn't edit this picture at all -- he loves the camera (to be behind it, that is!) and takes pictures with my camera almost every day.  I plan to have a Fawn's photography post soon to share my favorites.  He will definitely be getting a kiddie digital camera for Christmas -- if you have given your kids one that you like, please leave me a comment or send me an email -- I'd love any recommendations.

Buck finishing up the carving -- another nice photo by Fawn.

The finished product on Halloween night:

Pumpkin Patch.

We've tried to make it a family tradition of visiting a pumpkin patch each year with Fawn before Halloween.  I am not sure three years counts as a tradition yet, but you've got to start somewhere.  We're so lucky to have such fun, accessible pumpkin patches close to Birmingham.  In 2009 and 2010, we visited Old Baker Farm in Harpersville.

2009 cuteness and chubbiness:

2010 slimmer, tractor obsessed little boy:

This year we went to the Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden.  While a little further away, it is open all day every weekday, so was a much better fit for our schedule.  Our October weekends found themselves jam-packed, so, unfortunately Fawn and I went sans Buck this year (I don't think Buck's shedding any tears over missing the pumpkin patch experience).  Great minds must think alike because we ran into multiple friends at the pumpkin patch, which made it even more fun. 

So excited on the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch:

Fawn displaying his loot (you would think he was miserable based on the face, but this is his current expression when asked to pose for a picture):

One nice thing about this pumpkin patch is that it allowed a la carte purchasing -- I could pay to ride on the tractor ride but only buy one pumpkin.  I knew I couldn't carry two pumpkins, possibly a toddler, and the baby growing in my belly back to the car sans Buck so we went with the one pumpkin option.  Fawn still make me work, though.  Not only did he pick quite possibly the dirtiest pumpkin in the patch, he also picked one without a stem.  But he loved it!

Beautiful day, precious boy, peaceful tractor ride back to the activities:

Then we hit the petting zoo (ho hum) and the inflatable park.  I was hesitant to take Fawn into the inflatable park because though he loves jumping on sofas, beds, parents, he has always shied away from inflatables.  I guess it's part of his first-born, cautious nature coming through.  But, he was eager to follow his friends so off we went.  While he definitely stuck to the smaller inflatables (REFUSED to climb up the inflatable slides) and was slow to warm up, he found his courage and jumped to his little heart's content.  With a huge smile on his face the entire time.  (I'm almost embarrassed to share this photo because I know you're thinking -- all the germs in his mouth! -- but it's just too cute and shows such joy!)

Let me tell you, these sweet boys were pooped!

Thank you Great Pumpkin Patch for an awesome fall day -- we'll definitely be back to continue our pumpkin tradition!

Pioneer Woman Meet Dr. Seuss.

I love the Pioneer Woman.  I don't have her cookbook, but love to search for recipes on her website.  I loved her book, and I enjoyed her television show (though it hasn't been on the past couple weeks...cancelled already?).  She made a quick, easy breakfast on her show that she called egg in a hole.  Basic concept: cut a hole out of a piece of bread.  Butter the bread.  Fry an egg in the hole. 

I've been trying to get Fawn to eat eggs since he was old enough.  With.  No.  Luck.  (I don't really care that he doesn't like them, they are just such a good, easy protein to have around that it would be helpful for the short-order cook to have another option.)

Fawn currently loves Green Eggs and Ham.  We have two versions -- the original and the lift-the-flap version.  Many a night he suggests that both be included in the nightly books.  Of course, I oblige. Buck on the other hand hides the Dr. Seuss books on the nights he is in charge of bedtime.

So, I attempted to feed Fawn a green egg in the hole.  I let him help with the food coloring (he picked neon green instead of kelly green, but you get the idea) and we scrambled the egg up before we poured it in the hole.  It wasn't a huge success, but a very good baby step.  And, he had a huge smile on his face.