A Day at the Stables

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Hodge Podge

Since we were at the beach for almost a week, there are a bunch of photos from the weeks before that I haven't gotten around to posting yet.  Before they all slip my mind completely, I figured I'd put the mish mash of randomness up here today in a series of fun facts...

1) Niall would rather sit by the side of the pool, reading the latest issue of "Thomas and Friends" catalogue than actually get in the pool.

 

2) But he likes beaches, child pools, and fountains.  Obvi.

 3) Sometimes Niall likes to follow (mainly Jack)...

and sometimes, he's a solitary man...

4) Niall loves watching trucks and cars drive by... especially with daddy.

5) It is no longer worth it try to make lunch dates with my friends- Niall will not sit still for more than 5 minutes.  Case closed.  I smiled for the picture anyway, but as you can see, Niall was not interested in sugar coating his crankiness.

6) And who doesn't like to repeatedly jump on their grandpa's stomach until he can't breathe?

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The final days...

We made the best of our last couple days on the beach.  Niall dug some of his most complex, load bearing tunnels...

 

Side note: Daddy, did you accomplish as much as I did on the job site today?  I think not.

He pushed his strength to the max, lugging heavy buckets of water back and forth from the shore...

And he even managed to drink a bottle of water without inhaling a pound of sand...

But big boy woke me up at 3am the morning of our evacuation and decided not to go back to sleep until 9am.  So my 6 hour drive home was a full blown screaming nightmare.  We were obviously both really tired and off schedule.  I'm honestly not sure how I made it without pulling off to the side of the road and having a good crying session.  But it was all worth it.

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Come On, Irene

Man, oh man.  Looks like this cheeky little lady named Irene is going to (literally) storm in and ruin my week at the beach.  How could she think it would be ok to break up this party?...

What's up with all these natural disasters anyway?  I was pretty shocked and excited to experience my first earthquake while I was sitting right there in my beach chair.  I felt my chair swaying back and forth, and I kept turning around to see if there was a little kid pulling on it.  Even though it was weird, I just went about my business.  10 minutes later, my sis-in-law informed me that we had just experienced a 5.8 earthquake!

We've had so much fun these last few days.  I had no idea what a beach bum Niall would be this year.  The last time we went was April, so he's really changed a lot since then.  He'll sit with his shovels and "DUMP TWUCKS!!!" for hours, just piling the sand in there and then dumping it back out.  Over. and over. and over.  It just never gets old for this guy.

So it will be sad when we have to leave either tomorrow or Friday.  We're trying to wait it out and see when everyone is evacuating.  It's supposed to hit either Saturday or Sunday, so we're hoping we can leave Friday night.  That will give us 2 more days of fun in the sun... and, more importantly, Dickey's frozen custard:

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It's a...

BOY!!

Sorry for the delay.  I just realized that I left everyone hanging after my big appointment Friday.  The reason I was so desperate to find out last week was that I was leaving for the beach on Sunday.  So it was great to be able to know before I went on my little vacation.  And when I say "great," I mean crucial to my sanity.

Anyway, back to Friday afternoon...I couldn't believe it.  My sister-in-law, Kate, and I were anxiously waiting for the sonographer to come in the room (as we quickly inhaled sandwiches we had stuffed in her purse).  As soon as she got started, I explained how I have a 21 month old boy and everyone thinks this one is going to be a girl...

Really, everything seemed a little different about this pregnancy: the way I was carrying, the way my morning sickness was always at night, and just a gut "girl" feeling I had (note to self: while it is usually highly encouraged, maybe I shouldn't trust my gut).

Well, almost right off the bat, before I could even prepare myself for this big announcement, she said "Oh yea, that's definitely a boy."  Kate and I just started laughing and smiling and I teared up a little.  I have to admit, I was a little confused about what I really wanted... of course, I want need a girl at some point, but I also want Niall to have a little buddy to grow up with, close in age.

And now I know that it worked out perfectly.  This is exactly the way it should be.  Most people think that I must be a little disappointed that it's not a girl, but I honestly couldn't be happier.  Until next baby, when I might freak out on the sonographer if she tells me it's another boy.  But for now, I'm beaming with pride and excitement for my 2 little boys.  Here are some more pix of baby boy:

How freaky is this one?  I never had a 3D pic with Niall...

Back to the beach :)

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Always Learning

Nope, I guess I didn't quite learn my lesson on this one.  Maybe spices/seasoning for toddlers is not such a good idea...

By the way, the tops were all screwed on tightly-- this little bugger has just figured out how to unscrew them.  (See previous post about me figuring out how to keep Niall entertained while I'm making dinner).

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Wordless Wednesday {Dog Whisperer}

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