Busy Hands Are Happy Hands

Mom always says, "busy hands are happy hands," so I'm sure to always keep my hands busy so I'm a happy little guy.

Dad thinks I look like I'm posing for a commercial here. I think I should be the spokesperson for milk!

Armed and ready with my kitchen utensils

Snoozin' with my crayons and books

Fishin' in the house

Just goofin' around at the park

SURPRISE!!

Grandma Ellen and Grandma Robin both gave Mom and Dad their guesses at what the baby is going to be, and they were both right! So, now that they both know, I get to share the exciting news with you. It's a...

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Yep! It's a baby sister for me! Apparently she's already stubborn too, just like I can be at times. She was being kind of stubborn during the ultrasound and wouldn't let the nurse get all the pictures she wanted, but we still got some nice ones to bring home with us. Mom, Dad, and me are all excited for her to be here in a few short months!!

"Hello," From Baby

Today was a very exciting day because me, Mom, and Dad got to take a peek at our baby! Baby is 18 weeks 1 day today and weighs half a pound. I got to see my baby wave at me and the nice nurse gave me a picture to share with all of you. Mom and Dad say the baby is already taking after me because he or she is a squirmy little thing just like I was. Everything is going good and baby's due date is February 3.

Since I only have a few more months to prepare for the baby, I've been taking on a little more responsiblity to help Mom and Dad out. This week I got to help with dishes. What could be more fun?! A sink full of water and bubbles for me to splash around in, definitely one of my favorite chores!

I've been practicing for my baby by taking care of my stuffed animal monkey. As you can see, I do a good job at making sure he is well-fed!

Chocolate covered donuts are his favorite! I bet my baby will love them too!

Bird Shoal Island

On Saturday, Mom, Dad, Carissa and me took a ferry out to one of the barrier islands and had lots of fun!

Me and Aunt Carissa getting ready to go swimming.

The girls,

And the guys.

Me and Dad had fun swimming together,

And I'm pretty brave in the water so I did some swimming on my own too.

We all took a break to look for shells...

And guess what we found?! Mom, Dad, and Carissa each found a whole sand dollar! I was actually the first to find a sand dollar, but mine was still alive so we had to put it back. (Mom and Dad didn't want me breaking the law at such a young age). Me and Dad actually found a few live sand dollars, but we put them all back. Here's the ones that we did get to bring home.

2! 2! 2! 2! 2! 2! 2!

Can you believe that I'm 2 already?! Well, sometimes I say I'm three, but for now, being two is pretty cool. I had a fun birthday with lots of cool surprises.

I woke up to find tons of balloons that Mom and Dad blew up while I was still sleeping. They're so sneaky!

I love my balloons! (Which are still covering our living room :)

Posing with my balloons

I even took some of my birthday balloons for a ride in my new Gator!

And my balloons came to bed with me at naptime (atleast until I fell asleep and Mom snuck them out).

Since I'm two, I even got two birthday cakes! Mom and Dad made cool basketball and baseball cakes. My baseball cake even survived a tumble off the counter when I was being sneaky in the kitchen!

I loved all my fun birthday suprises. Do you know what the best surprise was? Well.... I went for a ride to the airport and got to bring back...

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Aunt Carissa!!

Yep, Aunt Carissa came to visit me until she has to go back to school. I'll be sure to post some pictures of me and Carissa having fun!!

Summer Was Fun, But We Wish Fall Would Come

If you ask anyone who grew up in North Carolina about the weather down here they'll tell you the same thing; you have to suffer through July and August before you can enjoy the rest of the months. This summer was even worse than usual. We haven't gone a full week without at least a couple of heat advisories since May. We've enjoyed the nice summer days that we've had here and there, but we're all ready for it to cool down just a bit. Maybe Aunt Carissa will bring cooler temps. with her next week :)

A few new pictures:

Last week, I got to watch Dad play softball every night in his week-long tournament. Dad's team did good so he even got to bring home a medal for me. I am really proud of my medal and have shown it off to people at the post office, the park, the mall, and the grocery store.

I went to an antique store one day and didn't even mess with any of the very tempting breakable items, but did find this fun Ryan-sized bench that I think is pretty cool.

(Hopefully I never have to use it for its intended purpose)

I am a man of many caps. I grab a cap no matter where I'm going, which now includes the bathtub too.

Besides baseball caps, I also like to wear bandannas on my head, and last week I was silly and even tried out one of Mom's headbands.

And a picture of us all before a barbeque at our friends' house.

Baby Update

Today, I got to go to the doctor with Mom to listen to my baby's heartbeat for the first time. My baby and me are already trying our best to give Mom a hard time together. When the doctor was trying to find the baby, I wanted to sit with Mom on the table, then of course I wanted to get back down. So, Mom was trying to hold on to me and then the doctor said the baby squirmed away when Mom had flexed her muscles trying to hold me. So, I had set a good example for the baby and stand and wait patiently so that the baby could scoot back up for Mom to hear his or her heartbeat. My baby is about 12 1/2 weeks old now and everything is going good.