One Last Dr. Appointment

Today we had our last Dr. appointment!  Last night I had a couple of contractions and was hoping I’d show up and he’d say “You’ve progressed!”  But, sadly, that didn’t happen and nothing much has changed.  It’s still looking like Monday is going to be baby girl’s big day, even though I’m totally ready for her to come!  So here’s to one last weekend as a family of three!

Callie’s Pumpkin Party!

This past Saturday we continued Callie’s 2nd Birthday Celebration with a Pumpkin Party!  I had lots of help the day of and I couldn’t have pulled it off without everyone! We had a little pumpkin arts and craft spot in the yard…

   The kids also had a great time on the swing set…      After we ate and played outside, we headed in for cake and presents.  The cake below was my attempt of copying a “pumpkin” cake I saw online, it was a lot yummier than it looked!  Big V and Callie shared a piece, she LOVES cake! Callie opened presents, she loved. each. one!We had a great time celebrating with our friends and family, and so thankful that they love our little one! 

The Viera Boys

My good friend Shannon had her twin boys on Callie’s Birthday!  We were so excited to go meet the boys the following day with the other Chamber Chicks.  Callie tagged along and did an awesome job being in the hospital room and around the babies.  I wasn’t going to let her touch or even hold one of them, figured “baby” steps was the way to go, but she was SO interested in them that before we knew it, she had a baby in her lap.

She loved pointing to their noses, eyes, toes, and just being plain sweet to them.  It made this momma SUPER excited to know how interested and excited that she might actually be okay around our new addition! Shannon was also great to let Callie get so close and “hold” them!  We loved seeing the boys and can’t wait till we get another visit!

Steven John Rowland

On Wednesday, October 6th, my uncle lost his 13 year battle against prostate cancer.  He has been an inspiration to our whole family to live life to the fullest, showing us it’s never too late too late to complete your “bucket list”.   During his battle with cancer, he volunteered as a subject in several groundbreaking clinical trials on the treatment of prostate cancer at the National Institute of Health.  The doctor’s there have stated that without patients like Steve, they wouldn’t be able to test new drugs and new combinations to try to make progress in their fight against cancer.  We will miss Steve every day but know that he is no longer in pain and can now watch over us peacefully.   Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers, the funeral is being held today in GA and everyone could use the extra support.  Also, the Atlanta Journal- Constitution wrote a nice article about him,  you can read that here.

Another Update

Not much has changed since last week in the form of progress, but there is an end in sight now!  If baby girl doesn’t make her grand entrance on her own, we’ll kick her out on October 18th.  It’s about a week before her actual due date, but the fact that she’s measuring so big already this should be okay.  Also, baby girl now has a name!  We’ve decided not to share it until she’s here, but it’s so nice to finally have that decided!  So, here’s to knowing we only have a little over a week left in the pregnancy- we can’t wait to meet our newest addition!

Kelsey and DR- Shower

This past weekend Vaughn, Callie and I traveled up to Campabello, SC to throw DR and Kelsey a shower along with her Sister and Brother.  We had a great time getting to know her brother and sisters and their significant others!Callie also had a great time helping the happy couple open their presents.  They were so patient with her and they got a lot of wonderful things! Only a couple more weeks until their big wedding now, and we can’t wait!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Callie!

It was two short years ago that you made us parents, the greatest blessing we’ve ever experienced.  Since then you’ve turned our world upside down and we’ve never looked back! 

In this past year, you’ve grown from our baby to our big girl, and that’s something that you are very proud of.  You now sleep in your big girl bed, in your big girl room.  You aren’t fully potty trained yet, but not far from it, and you get so happy when you use the big girl potty.  You are mommy’s big helper and anything you can assist mommy with, you are all for it.  This includes: cooking, laundry, shopping, buckling up your car seat, carrying groceries, and the list goes on and on.  You’ve also developed a BIG vocabulary- some words we understand, most we don’t.  You’ll repeat yourself over and over until we understand you, and sometimes that’s just us saying “oohhh really?!”  You point out everything to us, just in case we missed it; the bus, train, bug, baby, puppy, etc and if you don’t know what it is you say “YOOK MOMMY!”   You are a daddy’s girl, and I don’t think he minds one bit.  You scream with excitement when you hear him pull up to the house.  Sometimes you go and hide from him so he has to find you, but you don’t stay hidden long, you get so excited and run out before he finds you!You are a great eater, rarely do we come across something you don’t like.  At two years old, you are in the 99th percentile in height and 95th for weight.  You love to go to dance class and talk about it all the time.  We drive down the street listening to music and you tell us “DANCE!”  You get so tickled about it, and it always puts a big smile on all of our faces. 

You have started to like Mommy taking your picture and will even ask to “cheese” for us.  I could take your picture all day long sweet girl, it never gets old for me! Lately you can cop a little attitude towards us, but it’s because of all the changes in your life right now and you just don’t know how to express yourself in the proper way.  But that being said, 90% of the time, you are one of the sweetest, well behaved kids we know. 

You know that soon you’ll be the BIG sister and that baby sister will be coming home to live with us.  You love babies and even got to hold your first baby the other day.  You loved pointing to their facial features, and saying “Baby Night Night.”  You’ve helped me get baby girls room ready and get so excited when something new for the baby comes into the house.  We’ve installed the baby’s car seat in mommy’s car now and you continue you to tell us “baby’s seat” when we get in and out of the car.  We know you’ll be the best big sister to our newest family member, I know I can’t wait to see you in this role! Sweet girl, you are truly a blessing we are thankful for everyday, and I cannot imagine our lives without you now.  We may not know what the next two plus years will bring your way, but we know that you’ll do it with such excitement and enthusiasm it’ll be contagious. We love you big girl, more than words can even say!