fall fun at Hill Ridge Farms...

Deacon is old enough now that I wanted to take him to an area farm that boasted of kid-friendly, fun fall activities.  Things like a tractor ride and/or pumpkin patch, a corn maze, etc.  It just so happens there is such a place called Hill Ridge Farms and -- bonus! -- it's 10 minutes from where we have friends living in Wake Forest!  So we made plans to come visit them and they were able to go with us to the farm.

And while there wasn't a corn maze at this farm (there's always next year!), there were other fun things for little ones to do, including a "colorful maze".  And for the short amount of time we had before the little ones were [subconsciously] ready for a nap, we found plenty to keep them busy!

1) the "colorful" maze -- it was a little wet from rain the night before but we enjoyed it anyway
2) Deacon loves to slide!
3) "driving" the 'cool bus :)
4) a long tube stuck in a mound of hay bales

 [Scarlett, Emily & Deacon checking out the gigantic tee pee]

I think the adults liked this one just as much as the kids!  They had pig races (and duck races and goat races) around this small circle track.  It was the cutest thing and the kids were right there at the gate when the animals came around.  I think they really enjoyed that.

 [nothing like a big pile of hay bales to keep a boy busy...]

 [tractor ride!]

It was a picture perfect day -- seriously, we couldn't have ordered it better than it turned out -- and we enjoyed spending time with our friends out in the beauty of God's creation.  We love fall in this household!

2nd birthday...

2nd birthday party...MUCH different than the first birthday party.

 

Instead of a small family gathering at our house, we partied it UP at a nearby park in Surf City with lots of friends and wind.

 

Yes, lots of wind.  Brrrr.  The party was from 10am-12pm on Nov 3.  Hello, fall!

 

Yeah, I took a risk.  You never know how it's going to be around here.  Had the party been a little later in the day, we would've been fine, but the cold didn't seem to bother the kiddos.  Just the adults.

 

Go figure.

 

 

 

Anyway, we still had lots of sunshine in attendance so that did wonders to ward off the chill.  The kiddos played on the playground for the beginning of the party and then when they started getting hungry, they wandered over to our shelter to grab some party snacks.  We had:

 

chocolate chip pumpkin bread

cheeseballs

goldfish

white cheddar popcorn

cupcakes

(cute little) mini water bottles

 

I did make most of the decorations again this year (it was a train theme), but couldn't do as much as last year since we had to set up outside.  Most of them were on the food table, but I did make a banner than no one could read cuz it was so flippin' windy. 

 

Nice. 

 

It said, "Choo-Choo, Deacon's 2!"  I hung it in our house for a couple weeks after his party, just to get some more mileage out of it.  :)

 

After everyone ate their fill, we spread out a big mat on the ground and let Deacon open his presents.  He did pretty good.  He never wanted to stop opening presents, though he did like to look at each present after it was out of the wrap.  You know, instead of just tearing into the next one. 

 

He gets that from his mama.  ;)

 

 

 

Once again, we had our awesome photographer Larry there to take photos for us.  Best idea I ever had.  He gets all the credit for these fantastic shots of such an important day in the life of our family...

 

 

 

Happy birthday, doodle bug!  We can't believe you're already a happy little toddler!  You bring such joy and laughter to our lives -- we're so blessed that God gave you to us.  We can't wait to see what the next year holds for you.  Love you with as much love as our hearts can hold!

Happy 4th!

We had a nice, relaxing day off yesterday for the 4th.  Jeff worked on (and finished up) a project in the shop in the morning.  I did a little crafting (and cleaning).  Deacon played and napped, as always.  :)  And then we went to a party in downtown Wilmington to watch the fireworks.

We were right on the water (the river) to watch the fireworks later on, but before that we hung out with lots of friends, the kids played, we ate gobs of yummy food and got a few games of volleyball going.  It was a good time, despite the ridiculous heat.

The fireworks were good; we were kind of curious about how Deacon would react since he was only 8 months old for his 1st fireworks display.  He did okay, but was kind of fidgety.  And it was late and he had played hard so he was tired, too.  Thankfully, the fireworks didn't last longer than 20 min or so. 

I took my camera but didn't get the first photo taken.  Deacon is just so busy, and being in a place with lots of stairs (decks) to climb, piers to wander out on (read: edges to fall over), I didn't have time to grab my camera, let alone carry it around with me.

I did snag this photo of him yesterday morning while we were playing, and even though it's kind of blurry in parts, I kinda like how it turned out:

[20 months]

3 months...

So.  We've had this precious child of ours for 3 months now.  I can't for the LIFE of me figure out where the time has gone.  I have this terrible fear that I'm going to turn around tomorrow and see him graduating high school...

[11 weeks]

It's been quite a journey so far, this parenting thing, and we're loving every minute of it!  Deacon has moved up to size 1-2 diapers now and we're still using all the diapers that our friends/family bought for us (the only ones we've had to buy so far were a few packs of newborn diapers because we didn't get so many of those).  What a blessing to have a closet full of diapers!

Jeff and I have gone out a couple Friday nights and left Deacon with friends.  He always does well with other people.  Everyone says he's such a good baby.  Yes, he has his moments (mostly between the hours of 6 and 7pm) but if he's going to be really good, I'd rather it be for someone else.  :)  That's what my mom always said about us, and I think she would tell you that we DID act better for other folks than we did at home.

[12 weeks]

Right around 12.5 weeks, we gave Deacon a bath in his infant tub but we left the newborn netting out for the first time.  He really liked having more of his body in the water and even went to splashing Jeff a little bit.  :)  He really does well with his baths and we are so thankful for that!

[12.5 weeks, in the tub without the netting]

[12.5 weeks, all dressed up for church]

We took Deacon to the pediatrician's office the day after he turned 3 months for some more vaccines.  It wasn't a scheduled appt but we needed to go back because at his 2 month appt, they were out of a couple of the vaccines he needed.  So our tough little guy got 2 sticks, one in each leg.  Once again, he was so brave.  He didn't even flinch for one of them and for the other one, he only cried for a couple of seconds.  It amazes me.  He did get a little fussy later on in the afternoon -- I could tell that his legs were hurting him because every time he moved, he would whine a little bit.  We gave him a little Tylenol and he took a nice long nap after that.  Good as new when he woke up.

[3 mos, the day of more shots :( See his bandaids?]

We are still so, so in love with this precious child of ours and enjoying all the ways he's growing and changing.  His little personality is just beginning to emerge and we can't wait to see how it develops in the coming months.

[3 mos, love my precious boy :) ]

Deacon -- week 3...

Hey, I'm catching up a little bit!  :)

Just wanted to post some of the things that happened during Deacon's 3rd week of life -- these obviously aren't really exciting but they're things that I want to remember nonetheless.  So let me proceed with the randomness:

At 15 days old, we took Deacon to Jacksonville with us since Jeff had his annual HR meeting at work to discuss next year's changes with insurance, flex spending, etc.  I usually try to go with him to that meeting because it's always a good thing for me to hear what's happening at the same time.  I have been on Jeff's insurance for about the last 8 or 9 years (which has been SO nice through a couple of job changes :), so the HR meeting is beneficial for me to be there for.  Deacon did great through the meeting -- slept the whole time.  :)

He seems to like car rides for the most part.  As long as he's not really hungry, he will usually fall asleep.  The thing we're dealing with right now is his little head falling forward -- mommy hates to see that!

[16 days old]

On day 17, we rode into Wilmington with Deacon so I could get a haircut.  While I was doing that, Jeff took Deacon down to Wilmington Maternal to show him off.  Everyone there loved him, of course!  I'm sure it's really neat for them to get to see the babies after following their mommies with ultrasound for all that time.

[17 days old, his first smile caught on camera!]

I got Deacon's birth announcement out by the time he was 17 days old -- pretty proud of myself for that. :) I actually designed the announcement before Deacon arrived because I knew that if I didn't, the chances of me getting these out before he was 3 or 4 months old were probably pretty slim. I mailed out announcements to out-of-town family & friends, etc. and then we handed out a lot of them to our Connect Groups (aka Sunday School classes) that Sunday (at 19 days).

[18 days old, our little Deacon burrito]

[18 days old, sound asleep...]

[19 days old, still so small]

Jeff went back to work when Deacon was 20 days old.  Boo.  :(  He didn't want to go, and we didn't want him to go, but he did.  It was so nice to have him with us for 3 weeks.  I know that that is RARE for a daddy to be able to stay out of work for that long when his wife has a baby so I'm so grateful for that time.  He was such a big help and truly, I don't think I could have survived those weeks without his TLC for me and Deacon.

[20 days old]

We went to Deacon's 2 week well-check at the pediatrician's office at 20 days (yeah, a little late, I know).  He had gained almost an entire pound from his last appt, up to 7 lbs 13 oz, and had grown an inch, up to 20 1/4 inches.  Dr. Vinson said he was doing really well.

After his appt, I took Deacon down to see the ladies at the office and they "oohed & aahed" over him, of course.  :)  Everyone came out of their offices to hover around him.  Lucky Carol got to hold him.  :)  She said that Deacon told her she could be his "nana".  Well, he doesn't have a "nana" -- just a Grandma Sherry & a Grammy, so I guess Carol can fill the role of "nana".  :)

[21 days old, one of Deacon's fave things to do...]

At 21 days old (3 weeks), we gave Deacon his first bath in his infant tub.  And he liked it!  He just sat there in the warm water and let me wash him up.  I was so proud of him for not screaming his head off.  We used the bedtime bath & lotion since it was later in the evening and oh, man!  He smelled so yummy.  :)

[21 days old, his first bath in his infant tub]

maternity photos, 33 weeks

You may remember that I mentioned a rather large shower being thrown for us this past weekend.  It was absolutely amazing -- I'm waiting to post about it, though, until I get some photos to post with it.

Until then, I thought I'd share some of the fabulous photos that my friend, Elizabeth, took for us when we were in Cary a couple weeks ago.  I am so.pleased. with how they turned out.  We went to a park there close to where they live and it was just perfect for our photos.  The weather was awesome and Elizabeth was so easy to work with, had lots of good ideas.  These photos are so precious to me, to preserve the memories of this, my first pregnancy...