Christmas 2013.

What a fun Christmas!  We went on a train ride a few days before and we learned that Gage absolutely LOVES tearing open presents.

My sweet Aunt Gale got us all tickets to a train ride to see Santa Claus!  It was about an hour away and once we got there we got to ride on a train.  The train took us to see Santa.  We also had chocolate milk and cookies :) The girls (my nieces) got to write letters to Santa and mail them, make a Christmas craft, and listen a story being read...it was a great set up!  We love Aunt Gale, she always has fun stuff planned!

Lauren had to work Christmas morning so we did the Looper Christmas on Monday night.  The kids all got jammies so we had to snap a picture :)  The BEST Christmas present of all was that we found out my oldest sister, Lindsay, is expecting her 4th :)  I am so excited and we are hopeful that it's a boy so
Gage has a companion!  If not, we love girls too....obviously!!

To announce that Erik and I were expecting grandchild #8 for my mom and dad, Lindsay took this picture!  To reveal to us that she was pregnant, she photo shopped #9 into the picture, clever :)

We went to Erik's moms house Christmas Eve Morning.  We "did Christmas" with "J" (thats what Gage calls Erik's mom), Alicia, Chase, and Alicia's boyfriend, Zach.  Alicia got Gage a 'Hug Me Elmo' and 'Potty Elmo' both of which he loves.  Last night he slept with the hug me elmo :)  She always gets great gifts!  J got him ALL kinds of stuff...clothes, toys, and a really cool Radio Flyer Space Ship that turns 360 degrees.  He loves that too!

After Christmas at J's house, we went to Grandmaw Allene's house.  We always do Dirty Santa there and have a great time!  I ended up with a blender and Erik ended up with a nice blanket.  Gage, once again was spoiled by Aunt Brenda and Leslie (Erik's aunt and cousin).  He got a baseball bat and tee and one of his most favorite toys.  You put 4 balls at the top and you hit them with a hammer and they slide down a few tunnels, Gage has been playing with it all day!

After Grandmaw's house we headed back to Charlotte.

Gage got up at 8:30 on Christmas morning.  We put all his toys out from Burlington and let him unwrap a few from us :)  I felt bad for not wrapping more presents (we only got him a few things) because he loved ripping the paper off but now I know for next year!

Opening a big toy "fire truck" that was really a tow truck :)

"Um...mom, could you stop taking my picture?  I'm trying to open my present".

Helping Daddy open his presents.

Already tired!  This is his "lazy boy" from Yaya :)  

We went to my moms for lunch later that day.  We play dirty Santa there too!  I ended up with a hilarious shirt that my aunt made of me, my sisters, and cousins from several different Christmases ago...they are pretty funny :)  Erik actually didn't feel good on Christmas so after he ate he went home :(

Around 5:00 we headed to Mimi's house!  We always eat her infamous deviled egg sandwiches, frito dip, and bottled coke...anymore than that and I wouldn't have been able to walk.

Some more pictures......

There....an 18 week picture!  See, I did take one after all :)

The next morning he slept until 10:00!!!!!  Or course Elmo is hangin' with him.

Thank you Mimi for my train set!

Handy man Gage.

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!  We hope that God blessed you in 2013 as much as he did us!  Here's to 2014....another year of blessings :)

It's A Girl.

Gender appointments are the funnest (yes, I know its not a word) thing in the world!  Erik and I had been anticipating the gender appointment to find out what baby #2 would be.  Neither one of us had a CLUE what it was going to be.  When people asked I would always say I had no idea but I was leaning towards a boy, don't know why?!  I thought maybe we would have all boys.....boy (haha) was I wrong!

My mom went with us to find out the gender of Gage and she went with us this time too!  Erik, Mom, and I went to the appointment on Thursday, December 19th @ 9:30.  The ultrasound tech was very nice.  She checked to make sure 'baby' was healthy and glory be to God, baby is/was....which in all actuality is THE most important thing.

After about 10-15 minutes (it seemed longer) the tech asked if we wanted to find out the gender.  Um, duh!  So the tech got the "wand" (I don't know what you call it) in position (like the baby was sitting on a copier).  I could have sworn I saw boy parts but when she got real close, I knew it was a girl.  Sure enough she said "you going to have a girl!".  I cried, just like I did with Gage.  Not sure why but its so sweet to hear what your baby is going to be.  Mom was excited and you know Erik....he was his same ol' calm self but happy too :)  Although we have LOTS of girls in our family, we know Gage will be a great big brother.  We are blessed to be chosen to be parents of both a boy and a girl.  I know many people dream of having both sexes, so we consider ourselves lucky.

Well, heres to hairbows and tutus :)  I have already been on etsy.  I am VERY excited about girls clothes, there is not much to choose from when looking for boy clothes.  We are a little nervous about raising a girl and all the "stuff" (i.e. boyfriends) that come with them but we are over the moon excited and know that God is in control.

We revealed to the family on my dad's birthday, December 20th.  We wrapped 13 ornaments (6 blue and 7 pink).  The 13th ornament, which was pink, revealed that we will be having a sweet little girl!

She is healthy :)

So when the ultrasound tech showed this on the screen, I definitely thought it was a boy (that looks like boy parts to me).  Then......

she went to this view and I knew it was a girl!

*Please excuse the glare, that was the best I could do :)

The reveal on Dad's Birthday!

"THE" ornament!

Gage loves her already.  He calls her his "seesta".

Really mom...pink?!

Ooo...she'll look pretty in these.

Peek......

a boo.

And I am about to scream.  Blogger "cannot upload a video at this time"....for the thousandth time.  Ugh.  Anyways, the reveal video is on FB.

Oh and I haven't taken a picture since 12 weeks....to be continued :)

Cheers to growing hair....

I feel like I need to update many of you because I can feel the prayers :)  So as of today its been about 4 weeks since my last appointment to the dermatologist when he diagnosed me with alopecia areata.  I was supposed to go next Thursday but several of my spots have been inflammed, itchy, and red.  So they wanted me to come on in to get steriod shots.  Thankfully they were approved by my OB so off I went.  I got there and the doctor was concerned with the number of spots and how irritated they were (mainly the big one).  He said he still wanted to try the steriod shots because obviously the spray wasn't working.  Side note:  Erik had to spray my hair every morning and night.  It was really annoying because one, he had to basically spray my whole head because I now have spots every where and two, it made my hair really greasy.  When the doctor told me I didn't have to use the spray anymore, I was quite excited for both me and Erik!

Anyways....the doctor injected EVERY spot (sometimes more than once) in my scalp.  After about 30-40 injections he said the hair will grow really sssssllllooooowwww.....great.  The actual injections were with a needle but it honestly didn't hurt too bad.  He said I was tough :)  The bigger spot started stinging but thats because he had to inject it so many times.

I go back in 4 weeks.  If there is no sign of growth (he said there may not be because it will take a while) and still irritation, he wants to do a biopsy.  Yea, thats a little scary.

So, if you are praying, please pray that the injections work.  Please pray that there is no need for a biopsy, that can't be comfortable.  If none of that works, there is hope after the baby.  He said there is an oral medicine that is VERY effective (even with patients who have a more major case of alopecia) that I can take AFTER the baby.  But I am also hopeful that this is all due to hormones from being pregnant and I will be back to normal in May, we shall see!

The sweet ending to this story is.....I felt the baby kick for the first time today :)  That told me that all this hair loss is ALL.WORTH.IT.  Another side note:  it was a strong kick.....hmm....boy or girl?!

Thank you for your prayers, I can feel em' :)

WARNING:
I decided to be brave. If you have a weak stomach, DO NOT scroll down.  I'm hopeful that the injections will work and this is the only time you will see them!  They look extra gross because of all the injections (they normally just look like bald skin but they have some blood on them).  Sorry, I should have taken them before...oops.

This is the largest one and I promise it doesn't always look that disgusting.  I probably got 15 injections alone in this spot.  

To the left of my part.

The newest one....right at my hairline.

Right down my part.....getting difficult to hide these.

Thankfully.....I can hide the spots and I have this little one (and my husband) to show me that hair isn't all that important. I am COMPLETELY and utterly blessed.

Cheers to hair growth :) 

"Cool All Day"

Gage.....that boy is full of himself.  He is talking, talking, talking.  Like full sentences and questions.  He amazes us with some of the things he says.  He knows several nursery rhymes, "Jesus Loves Me", ABC's, counting to 10, everyone's name in our family, etc.  Obviously not perfectly but he is pretty impressive :)  The other day he had my phone in the car playing on it.  He pushed the home key so the screen went blank and he said, "what happened?"  Erik and I cannot claim ALL the credit.  Ya Ya (Cindy, his babysitter) works with him a ton.  In fact, she taught him Baa Baa Black Sheep, his favorite nursery rhyme!  She is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. thats all there is to it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again....she is such a blessing.  So we attribute a lot of how well Gage is talking to her :)

Gage is so hard to get a video of because every time I pull out my phone he says, "CHEESE".  But yesterday he was just in a video-taping mood so I was able to get 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' while we were riding in the car.

Later that day Erik turned the lights on the Christmas tree and he started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" then counting to 10 and then he's infamous....."Cool All Day" quote.  Please excuse the randomness, he has the attention span of a mouse :) We have NO idea where he got "cool all day" from but its hilarious!  Right now anything he sees that he likes (such as the Christmas tree ornaments) he'll say it.

Video coming soon......It won't upload for some reason.

Oh one more funny story (now you know were Gage gets his attention span from).  Being pregnant, emotional, hormonal, my hair falling out....I had A DAY last week.  Well I was sobbing in the car and Gage thought I was laughing.  So he started laughing hysterically and saying, "dat funny mommy, dat funny".  He KEPT saying it and laughing which made me start laughing.  Ahh.....love that boy!

Thanksgiving.

We arrived back in Charlotte in time for Thanksgiving.  As usual we ate too much.  The guys shot their guns and the women cooked, cleaned, and talked......ya know, that's how is always goes.  Instead of posting what I am thankful for on FB, I decided to just wait until the end and post it now :)

My 30 days of Thankfulness (in no particular order)

1.  A forgiving God

2.  My husband

3.  Gage

4.  The baby growing inside my belly :)

5.  My Family (parents, sisters, brothers (in-law), sister in-law, nieces, in-laws, nephew....ALL of them!)

6.  My job

7.  Erik's job

8.  A roof over my head

9.  A car to drive

10.  Heat in our house

11.  Daisy 

12.  My Friends

13.  Food to eat

14.  Thick hair....see earlier posts to explain why :)

15.  My phone

16.  Facebook (come on, you know you are thankful for it too)

17.  My computer

18.  Clothes 

19.  Shoes

20.  Running water

21.  Hot showers

22.  Freedom

23.  Grace Covenant Church

24.  Health

25.  GPS

26.  Lotion (especially in the winter)

27.  Airplanes

28.  Sunshine

29.  Tylenol

30.  Did I mention my husband yet?!  :)

I know I didn't tell WHY but a lot of these things I think so many of us take for granted!  I am so, very thankful and blessed.....the list would go on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Trip to Florida.

Erik, Gage, and I flew down to Florida right before Thanksgiving to visit with his dad and stepmom.  Gage had a GREAT time, he loved being with his Grandpa and Grandma Treena.  Gage called Erik's dad 'PawPaw' the whole time but Erik wants him to be called Grandpa, so we will work on that :)

This was Gages' first time on an airplane.  He did great!  We boarded the plane in CLT and not long after we sat down the pilot comes on the intercom, "we have a small light burnt out that has to be replaced before take off, we are expecting up to an hour delay" (insert moans from everyone on board).  Well......an hour and a half later, we were ready for take off.  The flight was fairly short (took about an hour and a half).  We kept Gage occupied with TV shows on the ipad (Dora, Bubble Guppies, Mickey Mouse, and Diego).  He probably had 4 suckers to help with his ears and 3 bags of "gummies" as he calls them.  Gary and Treena picked us up from the airport and we were off to West Palm Beach.

The biggest shock was how hot it was.  It was 80 degrees!!! So hot that we had to go buy Gage and I shorts.  Erik was prepared, we were not.  They do have a pool so we got to swim (I didn't get in but I did put my bathing suit on.

On Saturday we woke up and headed to the zoo.  Gage had a ball!  We saw all different kids of animals and Grandma Treena bought him some dip n dots, yum!

On Sunday Erik and his dad had tickets to the Panthers vs. Dolphins game.  They couldn't have picked a better game to go to....it was a nail bitter.  Panthers won in the last 45 seconds.  While they were at the game, Treena, Gage, and I went to this really neat wildlife park.  We walked a mile (Gage rode in the stroller) and saw lots of birds and ducks.  Gage did attempt to feed the ducks but he was interested in eating the bread without their help :)  We didn't see any alligators but that was ok because we saw them at the zoo the day before.  After Gage took a nap we attempted to go to the park but not long after we got there is started raining.  So we decided to go to the play area in the mall :)  Gage got his picture taken with Santa while we were there!  He wasn't so thrilled with Santa but eventually he let Santa hold him.  Clearly the picture is before the haircut, oops.

On Monday Treena had to work so Gary, Erik, Gage, and I went to the mall where Gage got a MUCH needed haircut and I got a MUCH needed pedicure :) The men and Gage went shopping while I was being pampered :)  Monday night we went to eat at a place called Two George's for Gary and Treena's 19th anniversary!

Tuesday.....oh, Tuesday.  So we got up that morning and took Gage to the park since we got rained out on Sunday, he LOVED it!  That boy would stay outside all day if he could.  We then went home, packed up and headed to meet Treena for lunch before it was time for the airport.  After lunch, Gary dropped us off around 2:30 for our 3:25 flight.  We get to the terminal and the sign says "departure from FL to CLT, 5:05".  Um....pretty sure we were supposed to leave at 3:25.  So Erik gets in line to ask.  As he is waiting in line one of the workers comes over the intercom "flight ------ will be delayed.  The plane you will be taking is still in Charlotte due to maintenance issues, BLAH BLAH BLAH".  Oooo, I was not happy.  Seriously.....we have a 20 month old here and you are JUST now telling us this?  I'm pretty sure you knew this LONG before our flight was supposed to take off (an hour from now).  So Erik called Gary and he came and picked us back up because we knew Gage would not last at the airport that long.  Long story short, our plane did not end up taking off until 7:30 that night.  We walked in the door at 10:00....ugh.  Erik said, "no more flying for this family", haha.  Gage was very good.  I guess because of all the delays many people weren't on the plane.  So we had an extra seat in our row...perfect, Gage had his own seat!  Again he watched shows and had tons of suckers and fruit snacks.....whatever kept him happy.

So, besides the nightmare flight back home, we had a great time!  It was so nice to see Gary and Treena and Gage absolutely loved them!  He ate kiwi for the first time and hasn't stopped talking about it since :)  Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for everything!!!!