Sheesh...

So it's been a while. Where do I begin?? I guess I'll start off with making some excuses :). We had a huge flood at the end of September that washed away our street, and we lost water, power, gas, phone, and internet, but not all at once. We got our water back after a couple of days, but we didn't have gas for over two weeks. Our power went off for a few hours every day for a week, but it finally started staying on. Our phone and internet were off for over a week. The street is finally done enough for us to drive over! Life is slowly getting back to normal.




On September 30th, we found out that we're expecting baby #2! We're so excited to have another little one coming in early June. My morning sickness has been really bad, though. It hit its peak (so far) last week when I couldn't keep anything down for over 36 hours. My doctor put me on two kinds of medication, and they're helping a great deal. I'm just not sure what to do about being so tired all the time...


We also found a house and will be closing on November 19th! We found it at the end of September after looking for about three months. It's a 4 bed/2.5 bath split level that was built in 1971. We're buying it from the original owner (she and her husband had it built), and she has taken great care of it. She's a sweet 91-year-old lady who has become a good friend. She's leaving all the appliances (including a fairly new washer and dryer) and about half of her furniture! She wrote out a list of things she was leaving behind and asked her realtor to see if Tommy and I wanted any of it. Whatever we didn't want she would take to Goodwill. The realtor took me around and showed me everthing on the list (which included three beds, a couch, and two armchairs!). I was feeling really sick by the end, so when she told me to go around with the list by myself and check off what I wanted, I said, "Can we just take all of it?" She said okay, and when Mrs. Overman (the lady selling the house) came home, the realtor told her we'd just take everything. To my surprise, Mrs. Overman threw her arms around me and said, "Oh, thank you so much!" She gave me a big kiss on the cheek and kept thanking me for taking that stuff off her hands. I kept trying to thank her, but I don't think she heard me. The backyard is HUGE, and I fell in love with it the first time we walked through. It's just under an acre and has lots of trees and even a spot for a garden. We love the neighborhood, too, and are excited that it has a swim/tennis program. We'll be sure to post pictures of the house when it's finally ours :).


Adam turned two on October 14th! I threw a birthday party for him and his little buddies at the beginning of the month, and it was a lot of fun. We had it at the park, and the kids had the playground all to themselves. Adam was way more interested in playing than in opening presents :).


We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat party on Halloween, and we dressed Adam up as a C.P.A. Please don't laugh at this poor kid's mom. That was the best I could come up with at the last minute (after he refused to wear the puppy costume I got him a few months ago). Tommy was even more vocal about the "stupid puppy outfit" than Adam was. Both boys have since learned not to mess with a sick, emotional pregnant woman who's trying to keep things simple. I put Adam in his Sunday clothes, put some gel in his hair, and made him a "Adam T. Armstrong, C.P.A." badge. Here he is (stuffing a Twix bar in his mouth):

All in all, we're doing very well. I'm hoping this medicine will keep doing the trick so I'll be able to keep up with this blog :)...

Hats

Greetings! After a five-month absence from my blog, I'm finally getting my act together. I'm writing up a few other posts, and I'm hoping to get them all posted by the end of the week.


In the meantime, I'd like to highlight one of Adam's greatest loves: hats. He has always loved putting things on his head--anything from blocks to socks. It doesn't matter how big the "hat" is or whether or not he can see when it's on, he just loves wearing hats. Check out some of the sweet lids he's had:

More posts to come, I promise :)!

Into the Wild

My friend Krista invited me and Adam to go to the zoo this past Friday with her and her son Thatcher. This was Adam's first time at the zoo, but he didn't get as into it as I was hoping he would. He got the most excited over the flamingos, probably because they were the first animals on display. At one point, he was peering over the fence when he suddenly bellowed at them at the top of his lungs. I think he was trying to wake them up, as some of them had been rude enough to stop strutting for him and doze off. Krista and I had a blast. It was fun to just talk and walk around. We'd packed some picnic lunches and enjoyed a somewhat leisurely meal next to the safari animals. I say somewhat because Adam would occasionally yell for more food if I was being too slow, and Thatcher would steal Adam's grapes whenever my back was turned. We were a bit disappointed when our sons wanted to examine the rocks and sticks and leaves instead of look at the lions and zebras and panda bears, but we'll just have to try again. Here are some pictures I was able to take when I wasn't chasing Adam:

Flamingos

"So, kid, ya gonna feed me o' what?"



I don't remember what this bird is called, but it had the thickest eyelashes I've ever seen!

I tried to get Adam to hug the giraffe, or at least stand next to it...oh, well.

"Dude, are they ever going to leave us alone? I mean, can't we just chill without them photographing our every move?"

"Ok, you look at my mom, and I'll look at your mom. Then maybe they'll leave us alone."

"Or maybe not."

The fences were simply fascinating...

All this guy did was stare at us.

We had so much fun! Thanks, Krista!!

The Buzz...

...well, almost. I decided earlier this evening to give Adam a trim after dinner. I've been putting this off for as long as I could because he is terrified of the electric clippers. He seriously screams bloody murder and squirms around in his booster seat during the whole ordeal, so it's a pretty tedious undertaking. I couldn't remember which clipper number I'd used last time, so I picked up the one that I thought it might be. I slipped it onto the clipper, took a deep breath (he'd already started screaming), ran the clippers over his beautiful blond hair...and almost screamed myself. I gazed in horror from the thick 4-inch locks dangling from the blades to the cropped line of stubble running down the middle of my screaming baby's head. I'd cut of about 2 1/2 inches more than I was going to, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I kept going, swearing I would never do this again, until I had cut all his gorgeous hair off. It's almost a freakin' buzz!! I'm still in shock. I won't even start on how I butchered the hair around his ears. I'm just glad he's too young to care right now so he won't hate me for the rest of his life...

BEFORE

This was during his bath last night. He actually put those letters up himself!

AFTER

When I was finished, I told him it was tubby time, and he cheered right up.

Look at the hair around his ears!! Has any kid had a more stupid-looking haircut??

Thus ends my sad, short, and stressful career as a barber. I have put down my clippers for the last time. Or at least until Tommy reminds me of how poor we are and how expensive professional haircuts have become...

Good Times

Adam has been an extremely busy kid lately. Tommy and I have been having a great time watching him learn and discover new things, and his personality is really starting to show. He continues to be as delightful as ever, but he definitely lets us know what he likes and doesn't like. For instance, Tommy gave him a spoonful of Moosetracks ice cream a few days ago. Adam got so excited that he almost knocked his booster seat over. He ended up eating half of Tommy's bowl (I didn't know this until it had already been done). Then a couple of days after that, I was feeding Adam some kielbasa and green beans. He has never liked green beans, but I always try to give him some in hopes that someday he'll learn to like them. Well, this particular night, he wasn't in the mood for them. I gave him a couple, and he promptly grabbed them from the tip of his tongue and flung them on the floor. After alternating between meat, applesauce, and green beans, I found that it was a hopeless case--the green beans were going straight to the floor. Then I got the brilliant idea to first get a green bean on his fork and then put some kielbasa on after so that the green bean was hidden. This worked once. After that, he'd bite down right behind the meat and keep the fork clamped there so it wouldn't budge. Craziness. Luckily he'll eat peas.

Here are some things he absolutely loves:

He's crazy about swings. We love going to the park, and he's been having a lot more fun now that he can run around by himself. He can even go down the slide by himself!



He could spend hours in the bathtub...

He got this lawn mower from his cousin Tyler and pushes it into everything.

I found him like this one morning. He'd pulled down all of his books from the bookshelf and was just sitting there flipping through them. We're glad he's looking at them now instead of biting them.

This hat is definitely his favorite thing. He takes it literally everywhere we go (except church), and he prefers to wear it backwards. He has a toddler-size hat but doesn't like it nearly as much as he likes this one.

He also learned to reverse in his car :).

Christmas

We had a pleasant, laid-back Christmas this year. Tommy finished his semester with outstanding grades, and we were able to spend some wonderful, stress-free time together as a family. Christmas morning was especially fun. We got Adam a little basketball hoop (he has now mastered slam-dunking--working on the dribbling now), and he loved it. He got so excited when he saw it all set up:

We spent some time with my family Christmas morning. The married siblings and Bethany went in together to get my parents a digital photo frame for Christmas. My parents were so surprised and happy, and even my younger siblings can't get over how cool it is :). After that, we headed out to spend the rest of the day with Tommy's family. The Armstrongs have a fun tradition called Christmas Bingo. Each adult buys a gift ($10 max) to put in a pile, and we play bingo to win a gift. We're allowed to trade, too, so it can get pretty ruthless. Tommy ended up with a Nerf gun, and I got a Wallflower fragrance kit with two refills (I love those things!!). We also get each of the grandkids a gift, and Adam got some pretty cool stuff :). He had a lot of fun unwrapping his presents, but he had even more fun eating Christmas dinner...

I'm Dreaming of a White...Thanksgiving?

We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona this year with my mom's family. The night before we left, we looked at the weather and saw that it was supposed to be rainy and a bit chilly. Tommy was pretty psyched because not only was he the first person he knew to ever go to Arizona, but he would be there when it rained. I mean, it never rains in a desert, right? It was definitely rainy when we got there, but the next day it snowed...like crazy. Huge, swirling flakes of snow. Tommy just couldn't get over it :).

We were able to get nonstop flights to Phoenix but were still a little nervous about taking Adam on a plane for the first time. He seriously couldn't have been any more pleasant! He loved looking out the window, unbuckling my seat belt, and pulling all the trays down. His favorite game by far, though, was flirting with the little girl right behind him. She was about ten years old and flying all by herself to spend Thanksgiving with her dad. I could tell she was pretty scared, but when Adam started poking his head out between our seats and giving her some toothy grins, she looked much more at ease. It was pretty funny to watch them interacting. All in all, he had a great flight and even managed to keep his good mood through our 2-hour ordeal with the rental car place (ugh). About ten minutes into our 2-hour drive to the cabin, however, he started letting us know how long a day it had been for him. Needless to say, that was a long, stressful couple of hours. His mood improved with a good night's sleep, and he loved playing with all of his cousins. Tommy was able to meet my grandparents for the first time, and I was able to visit with lots of cousins and aunts and uncles (there were 74 people who ended up coming to this reunion). One of the highlights of the trip was my first taste of In-N-Out Burger (Tommy has eaten there several times). It's so good that there aren't any of those out here in GA, because I would be eating there every single day--those burgers were so dang good :). It was a fun trip, but we were so happy to get home. Adam did even better on our return flight, which was such a blessing since we didn't have an empty seat next to us like we did on the first flight. He made lots of friends :).

We were welcomed home by a lovely flu virus that first attacked me and then Tommy. Thankfully Adam didn't get it, but it still took us a week to get over that nastiness. This Thanksgiving made us much more appreciative of several things:

• good health and full strength
• our gloriously soft pillow-top mattress
• elbow room at mealtimes
• two full bathrooms that we don't have to wait in line to use
• our own bedroom
• warm weather

All in all, this was a great holiday. We enjoyed spending time with family, and I loved showing off my own little family. I was a complete ditz, though, and took only a few pictures, but here are a couple of Adam with my grandma...