More Birthday Celebrations.

We celebrated Fawn's actual birthday on Thursday with a birthday breakfast.  We had planned on going out to dinner too, but Fawn came down with bronchitis and just wasn't up for it.  Poor guy!  Luckily, we had some fun new toys to keep us occupied in our house while the germs were killed by Fawn's antibiotic.  Needless to say, it was a long few days cooped up inside with a sweet little one who felt puny, but I am so glad it didn't coincide with baby number two's arrival!  We spent lots of time in pajamas -- and rooming our new machines.

So proud of his new excavator which he insists is a gift from Daddy...which is actually technically true.  While it was one of Fawn's gifts from both Buck and me, Buck did all of the birthday shopping this year.  My husband, my hero.  All I had to do was wrap.

Hard at work.

Look at all his new machines!  How fun!  Such a boy!

Fawn is Three!

Fawn turned three on Thursday, and we celebrated with a small party for his friends last Sunday at iJump.  In anticipation of Fawn's birthday I was planning on two celebrations at our house -- a celebration for family since everyone lives in town and a celebration for friends with their mommies on a weekday.  Buck, always the voice of reason, insisted that this was too much to take on with baby number two rapidly approaching.  And, he was probably right.  That would have meant two rounds of house cleaning, two rounds of decorating, and two rounds of cooking.  This preggo mama just wasn't up for it.  So, I took the lazy way out and paid others to handle Fawn's birthday for me.  It was worth every penny and so much fun!  Definitely the way to go with a winter birthday and our current life circumstances.  I literally sent the invitations, ordered a cake, and bought favors.  Then all I had to do was show up -- it was that easy!  Fawn and his little buddies all seemed to have a blast -- and that's really what matters.  There will be plenty of years for creative birthday parties.

Fawn after some serious jumpy house action.  He was so caught up in playing that (unfortunately) I didn't really get any good pictures of him at his party.  But, at least you can see that he was there!

Then it was time for food -- pizza, cake and ice cream.  The kiddos got to re-fuel before heading back for more jumping fun.  (I'm sure they all slept great that night!)

Getting ready to blow out candles.  Fawn sang "Happy Birthday" to himself.  It was hilarious!  It was also so much fun to watch Fawn sit at a table with some of his school friends -- it helped me really picture what lunch time is like for him on school days.  So funny to hear two and three year olds carry on a conversation!

A huge thank you to our friends for coming out to celebrate Fawn's birthday.  He was so excited to have his buddies at his party!

Funny Kid.

Fawn has been quite the comedian as of late. He is constantly cracking us up and has started laughing spontaneously. He finds himself hilarious (like father, like son). In all honesty, I find both my boys hysterical! Case in point.
1. Fawn and I were picking up a shirt that I'd gotten monogrammed for him. The young man who helped us was covered with tattoos. Fawn said to him: "I like your stamps." He thought that the tattoos were all stamps. He then said "you must have been a very good boy to get all of those." Luckily our tattoo-covered friend was laughing and not offended.
2. Fawn and I were eating dinner with my mom and dad and aunt and uncle. I said it was time to go home, but Fawn insisted he was going to stay with my mom and aunt. He said to me, "You go home mommy. Call me if you need me."
3. Fawn got scared during a recent thunderstorm. I tried to calm him down by telling him that storms were God's way of sending us water to fill up rivers and lakes so we would have water to drink. He said, "We don't need God to send us water. We can just go get some from the refrigerator."
4. Buck took Fawn to the boat show yesterday. They had a blast. When I was putting Fawn to bed last night he told me that I could go with them next time because "there were lots of big, chunky girls there." Lovely.

New Camera, Same Sweet Face.

I haven't read the manual yet, but I've been reading some photography blogs to try to figure out how to use my new toy.  I've got to say that the Pioneer Woman's photography blog is awesome, easy to read, and very understandable.  While I haven't been successful in capturing a great picture of Fawn yet, even these early tries are a great improvement over my old point-and-shoot. 

We live pretty close to a great walking loop through the woods that's about a mile long.  Fawn loves to hike through the woods exploring -- he was so excited to find a yellow leaf amidst all the brown.

I love this little boy -- especially how much of a boy he is.  He was totally pumped that we saw not one, but two, snails on our walk, plus a slug and a worm.  (The poor worm didn't live to see another day after Fawn tried to not so gently get him to crawl on a stick...but maybe gentleness will come later.)

In an apparent attempt to reduce any appearance of a double chin, this is Fawn's latest look when he suggests that I take his picture.  (One additional perk of the new camera is that Fawn is interested in getting his picture again!  Yeah!)  I'll take whatever angle I can get -- even the up-the-nose shot.

Farmer Fawn.

One year after the John Deere tractor birthday party, we are still pretty obsessed with tractors around here.  And, this new toy from Buck's parents is a current favorite.

It's a pedal toy, which is great because Fawn will ride it for a solid hour and "get some energy out" as we say around here.  We live pretty close to a church with an awesome parking lot for safe riding.  I'm still trying to figure out how I'll get the John Deere tractor into my car plus a stroller for the bambino.  Hmm...only time will tell.  But, I'm sure we will figure out how to spend many more afternoons enjoying a nice ride.

Finally, Christmas Morning Pictures.

Okay, I've now successfully uploaded pictures from my new camera to my computer.  My goal is to get the camera manual read before Fawn's birthday party and baby #2's arrival, but somehow that keeps falling to the bottom of the ever-growing "to do" list.  So without any editing (maybe next time!), enjoy:

Despite all the pre-Christmas build up, Fawn was pretty skeptical Christmas morning.  He would not open his presents at first, but insisted that mommy and daddy do it for him.  We gave him time to warm up, though, and he finally got excited!

So excited about his new Mickey Mouse fishing rod!  Too bad it's not fishing season around here yet...but don't worry we've been practicing casting in our driveway.  And let me tell you, Fawn may be headed for a career as a professional fisherman -- he's pretty good!

Loving Pat the Hammer and his Lightening McQueen red race car.  It was a merry, merry Christmas morning!

Nesting Nonsense.

Whew...we've been busy around here.  Buck and I both seem to have caught the nesting bug.  The good news is that the house is super clean and organized.  And, the bad news is that as soon as baby #2 arrives I'm sure that will all go out the window.  A fresh start feels good, though. 

We've gutted Fawn's playroom -- removing the "grown-up" furniture to make room for baby things and give Fawn some much needed additional space to play.  Now our family room is looking a little frat house/bachelor pad with some mismatched furniture.  Just a sign of the times with little ones around...there are plenty of years for a nice, decorated look.

The baby things have been moved from the attic and re-assembled.  Buck's replenished his stash of batteries for all the gadgets too.

Car seat base is in -- after a stop at our friendly neighborhood fire department.  You would have thought we'd have remembered after a year of using the thing, but better to know we've got it in correctly.

I've washed and organized all of the gender neutral clothing -- in all honesty basically all of the newborn and 0-3 month sized clothes without Fawn's name or monogram.  I see no reason why a little girl (though I'm still convinced we're having a boy) couldn't wear a blue outfit to sleep. 

Oh, there's still more to do -- I've got a couple more loads of laundry (baby towels, changing pads, sheets for the bassinet, baby blankets), I've got to pack the hospital bags (I've made a list and stocked up on travel sized toiletries, but it all needs to be assembled), and I need to make sure everything for Fawn is organized for my stay in the hospital.  But, we're feeling more prepared, more excited, and yes more scared.  Let the countdown begin...