I must admit!

I have betrayed my blog. I have indeed been phony all for my own personal gratification. I'm sorry, I do intend to be honest on my blog and not paint a phony picture but I have. I actually decided to admit it after ready this post from a blog I like.

Okay, the truth is. See on my blog banner. The little pictures of Andrew, my nativity and the stockings? Well, I have had those stocking for over a year now. I have had the best intentions on having them monogrammed. I even left them out of storage so I could do just that. I just have not gotten around to it. When I took the photo they just looked so naked so I decided to do a little "touching up" if you will. I thought I could live with it but I just can't and it just feels wrong. I don't even think the monograms look real at all but people who have seen the real ones and the fake blog ones first believed it. I really do want to have them done soon, I just don't see it happening. I figure I will have to get another one done next year so I might as well wait. If there is a positive thing that comes from all of this it is that Picasa is a fantastic and free photo editing program. I highly recommend it for minor touch ups. Well, I hope you all (all 5 of you) can forgive me for being fake. I will try not to do it again!

A very fun visit

Perry's parents came for a short visit yesterday and today. We had a fun filled 24 hours with them here. As soon as they got in we headed to Lake Lanier Islands. Every year the Islands puts on a big drive through light spectacular. We all had a great time but Austin and Andrew really enjoyed it. At Santa's Workshop there were carnival rides. Austin was very sweet to ride with Andrew on the little train. Andrew thought he was big stuff riding with Austin. He would not even smile for a picture! I don't have many pictures from the Islands but I will always remember the look on Andrew's face. Today after breakfast we all got ready and heading to North Point Mall. I love North Point, it is such a kid friendly mall. We ate in the food court then went to ride the carousel. They have such a pretty carousel with a ton of different animals. Everything started out smoothly. Andrew was riding a white tiger and Austin on a deer. After about 2 go rounds Andrew decided the ride was not for him. He rested his head on my shoulder for the rest of the ride but he never did cry. After the carousel we went to see Santa. Of course he was feeding his reindeer when we arrived. Luckily there was a lot to do around Santa's area. When we first walked up we saw a little train ride. I didn't know anything about it but Austin agreed to ride with Andrew so we put them on board. We paid for the ride and the conductor took off. I figured the train would just stay in the same area as Santaland. Oh no the train goes out of sight around the mall. I started sweating, what if Andrew starts crying? What if someone steals him out of Austin's arms? It was the longest 5 or 6 minutes until the train returned. If Austin would not have been with him I probably would have chased the train down and rescued my baby. Actually I probably would have never put him on board. Andrew did have fun though and Austin said he did too. After about 30 minutes of waiting around Santa finally made his entrance. Thankfully there is a little toddler play area next to Santa's area so Perry took Andrew to play while I waited in line. When it was time to sit with Santa I was a little nervous about Andrew's reaction. He sat with him for about 30 seconds but didn't like it at all. Santa said that he did great and there were no tears. The picture is actually better than I expected it to be. I guess if you prepare for the worst it's hard to be let down.

As you can see it's the same Santa, but my how he has aged in the last year. We looked sturdy and strong last year but this year a little bit more frail. Hopefully he will still be there next year, just maybe with a few added pounds.

Waiting in line for a few minutes. I am so happy I can dress Andrew however I want. Soon he will be protesting. Austin said he looked like a pilgrim! I say he looks like a sweet Christmas baby.

Our family plus Uncle Austin!

Uncle Austin being so sweet and protective!

Austin on his 8-pointer and Andrew before the Tiger started moving.

17 weeks

How Far Along? 17 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: on Monday at the Dr. I was up 3 lbs

Maternity clothes: some

Sleep: it's good

Best Moment this week: feeling the baby move around

Cravings: Chick-fil-a

Gender: I still kind of think girl, Perry has not mentioned this week what he thinks it is

Belly Button: It looks weird

What I miss: nothing really

What I am looking forward to: getting out of the questionable phase so people just don't think I am getting chubby! I want a visible bump!

Milestones: I made it to the wedding without blowing the seams out of my dress! Thank goodness the wedding is today and not in a few weeks!

Birthdays

Today would have been my mom's 51st birthday. A birthday that women of that age try to ignore. I think she would have accepted it with open arms, I know we would have. This May will make 7 years that she has been gone. At the young age of 43 she passed away from cancer. Yes it was hard then and it's still hard now! Sometimes I think it is harder on me now. Not to diminish the heartache that I felt when she was sick and then when she passed away. It's just that this stage in my life is when I think a young woman needs her mother the most. During college parents usually are not as involved so I never really felt that I was really missing out on any experience because my mom had passed away. I was able to sail through wedding planning by just having someone else do it for me. I don't think that I would have been so adamant about having a wedding away and having a planner if I would have had my mom to help me. Don't get me wrong I have an excellent step-mother and wonderful mother-in-law and they both helped me and would have helped more if I needed it. I really just didn't feel like messing with any of it. I don't regret it at all either. Now I am at the current stage in my life where I am having babies and I a girl really needs her momma. If there is anyone I would want to take advice from it would be her. I believe that she was the best mother that there ever was. She wasn't perfect but I find myself doing many more things like the way she did rather than not.
I am not sure why but I feel like this time around I am really missing her more than when I was pregnant with Andrew. I don't know if it is because I think this baby may be a girl and that stirs up all kinds of emotions about mother-daughter relationships. I am not really sure. I just know that if she were here she would be thrilled and that she would be so in love with Andrew. I think because I don't get my own mother's advice and constructive criticism I don't take either from others very well...at all. I don't find myself asking for advice and I tend to just figure things out myself when it comes to my mothering. I don't know if it is a good thing it's just a thing about my personality I guess. Speaking of personality, I think I am a lot like her, maybe it's just wishful thinking. People have told me before how much like my mother I am and I take it as the best compliment one could be given. She was just so awesome and personable. Well I think I am going to end this before it gets to deep. I will blog again about her one day when I can really go deeper, I just can't right now. I will definitely need Perry around so I have a shoulder to cry on!
Happy Birthday Mom, we sure miss you!

I thought these pictures were pretty cool. Here we both are with our boys on their first birthdays. We are both 23 in these pictures and it's strange that Matt and Andrew are dressed so similar. I had never seen this picture of Mom and Matt until a few weeks ago. I wish I had a better picture of Andrew and me from his birthday but this is as good as it gets.

Andrew's little tree

I saw this idea on another blog but I can't remember which. Andrew's thing right now is cars, not the movie, just the toys. Really he loves anything that has wheels, such a boy! Anyway, I had this little tree that I hijacked from my neighbors aka parents and it wasn't serving much of a purpose but now I think it is wonderful. I thought about adding more cars to the branches but I really think in this case less is more. I am satisfied and Andrew thinks it's pretty awesome. He was so excited to show Perry, he led him into his room pointing and saying "look look!"

Today we took Andrew to get his first real haircut. We went to a kids salon called Crewcuts and Pigtails, it's a very cute place with tons of stuff for kids to play with. Andrew did really well sitting in his airplane while the lady cut his hair. The only part that was a bit hairy, ha yes pun intended, was when she got out her trimmers for his sideburns. He hated those things being so close to his ears. He does looks a little older but I am so happy that we finally decided to just do it. I was not doing a very good job with his little haircuts at home.

Before

During
After
He is glaring at the lady with the clippers.

Mail from Santa