First day of preschool!

Today was the big day! My baby went off to school for the first time! We got off to a good start in the morning without running late and I was even able to take some pictures of the big day. (Of course since he hates his picture taken I had to bribe him with a granola bar though). Then we were off on the Garrison School Bus to make it to preschool. The teachers recommend that dropping your child off in the carpool line is the easiest and smoothest transition for the children. I was very apprehensive about not walking him to the classroom but thought that the teachers know what they are talking about and I wanted to do this the best way possible. Well as soon as the teacher opened his door, he burst out crying. I gave him a kiss and tried to reassure him and before I knew it they were walking inside. I drove next door to my gym to go work out and sat in the parking lot and cried! I suddenly had no idea why I thought it was a good idea to sign him up for school and I just kept imagining him crying all day long. It took everything in me to not turn around and peep my head in the window to check on him. After praying and crying for a bit, I composed myself and went for my workout. Ok, and I'll admit that I had to call Ashley and cry a little to her and then later when Graham called, there were some more tears. It's the pregnancy hormones, I promise! It felt like the longest 4 hours of my life, not knowing if he was loving it or hating it. But soon I got into my chores of laundry, coupons, grocery lists, and then I hit the grocery store. Before I knew it I was almost running late to pick him up! Wouldn't that have been nice to be late for carpool on the first day! When I pulled around, there he was standing on the curb, holding Ms. Sheri's hand with the biggest smile on his face. He was so excited about his day. Ms. Sheri said that he did wonderful and had a great day. She said he and one other student did the best in the class and never cried. He even ate all of his lunch! During the car ride home he was so happy and was telling me all about his day of playing with cars, singing songs, and that he liked his teachers. He said he can't wait to go back on Wednesday! And now that I've gotten my silly emotions out of the way, I'm looking forward to Wednesday too!

Athens

What a wonderful weekend we all had! Friday started by Nicholas and I going to meet his teachers. At first he was apprehensive when walking into his classroom. After a few minutes his teacher asked if he liked cars and he literally jumped out of my arms and yelled "bye-bye" to me without turning back! Then in a few minutes another little student came and he ran up to her, so excited to have a little friend. I know he will do just fine in school, of course that doesn't stop me from feeling a little nervous and emotional about tomorrow.

Next we loaded up the car and headed down to Peachtree City for Nicholas to spend the weekend with Aunt Lauren, Uncle TJ, and Trip and Mady. Nicholas was so excited and didn't get off to a great start as he wouldn't take his afternoon nap. But I think overall he did well. He had so much fun playing with his cousins and he's already asking to go back again sometime. He refused to talk to me on the phone the entire weekend and was calling Lauren "mom" by the end of the weekend. He really felt right at home. We are so thankful for Lauren and TJ for having him--I know it wasn't easy!

Graham and I had a great time with each other this weekend. We had a dinner and movie night on Friday then headed to Athens Saturday. Graham got to eat at some of his favorite places and we had a great time shopping in downtown Athens. It was so nice being back in Athens where it all began and reminiscing about our favorite places, including this picture in front of the fountain at Herty Field where Graham proposed. We were even able to meet up with Graham's freshman roommate and his wife on Saturday night which was nice catching up.

We ended the weekend with a family birthday celebration for Graham and Lauren. What a wonderful weekend it was for us all! Hopefully Nicholas will be able to stay awake for his first day of school. :)

Graham's 30th Birthday

In true "Aunt Carol style" as we joke in my family, Graham has been having a wonderful birthday celebration, multiple times over. And we're still in the middle of it! This past Saturday we had our first low key get together with my side of the family to celebrate. The funniest part is that Nicholas now really understands that birthdays=cake. He spent all Saturday demanding cake, blowing any surprise for Graham that I had gotten him a cake.

Yesterday was officially Graham's birthday. He started the day with a birthday breakfast and then off for a full day of work. While he was at work Nicholas and I made cupcakes for him (since the previous cake had been eaten). Now, unfortunately I'm not much of a baker so Nicholas has never baked with me before now and didn't understand the concept of waiting to eat the cake. I managed to avoid a meltdown by showing him how to decorate with sprinkles. He had so much fun and went through 2 1/2 bottles of sprinkles, most of which ended up on the floor! When Graham got home we did presents and cupcake (and according to Nicholas, Graham is turning 2) and then Mommy and Daddy went out for a date!

Today, Graham took the day off and we decided to have a family fun day. We went to Chickfila and met Papa for lunch and then took Nicholas to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. It took him a little bit to get a hang of things but soon he was having lots of fun. His favorite games were that ones that he and Daddy would do together like basketball and skeeball.

This week's excitement continued as Graham and I went to Parent Orientation tonight at Nick's preschool. It was an informational meeting to get us prepared for the school year and tomorrow we take Nick to meet his teacher. I've been really excited about preschool starting but after going to the meeting, it all hit me and I'm nervous now and hope he does well. I can't believe he's actually going to be going to school! It's going to be an exciting weekend as Graham and I will be going to Athens and Nicholas will be spending the weekend with Aunt Lauren, Uncle TJ, Trip and Mady. I know he will have a wonderful time and hopefully he will be still standing on Monday for school to start!

My Bulldawgs!

Here is a little peak into what has now become a nightly ritual for the boys after dinner. Nicholas begs to listen to "Go Dawgs Sic Em" as he calls it. Immediately when the 4th quarter song comes on his hand goes up and he knows exactly what to do. He loves dancing with his crazy daddy and has his own little touchdown dance. Graham has trained him well! We can't wait to see the fun he will have this football season watching the games and doing touchdown dances with his Daddy. They are quite a pair. Before we know it there will be another little guy joining in on the fun too!

Speaking of Graham, his book, Hero's Tribute, went to the printer last week! It will be on book shelves in October! We are so thrilled and just can't wait. I am so proud of him and know it will be so successful. God is using his book in a powerful way and I am so blessed to be able to stand by his side during this whole process. The publishers have already asked him to start working on the sequel and to send them the synopsis! I'd say that Graham has lots to celebrate on his 30th birthday next week! This is quite an exciting year for the Garrisons. I love you, honey :)

It's officially a boy!!

My 20 week ultrasound today confirmed that we are having another boy! He looks very healthy and is measuring a little big (big surprise there)!

Once again the ultrasound tech was talking about how "busy" and "active" our baby is! He continues to kick and move constantly. I sure hope the little guy likes to sleep too though! Here are some of the pictures from the ultrasound. One of them shows his face, looking straight at the "camera". The next shows his "boy parts" marked by a little arrow and the third shows his precious legs and feet as he's kicking his momma. My midwife said that we will most likely induce just after Christmas unless he is measuring very large earlier than that. Now, if we can only pick out a name for our sweet baby boy. Until then, we love you and can't wait to meet you Baby G!

Family Fun (and a lotta frustration)

It seems like our Saturdays are always taken up by busy plans or chores but happily yesterday we spent the day just having fun. I had heard about a new "sprayground" (a water playground) that had opened up nearby and we went on a search for it. It was such a nice new park with a great water area, 2 large playgrounds, nice fields, and even a concession stand. There was even a farmer's market going on while we were there! Nicholas had lots of fun playing in the water although he is quite timid with the water and won't run through the fountains like most of the other kids. After a while in the water we moved over to the playground and continued the fun. After we'd had a little too much sun, it was time for lunch and then we went to a nice used bookstore. Nicholas really enjoyed the bookstore too and we all three picked out a book to buy.

Saturday evening we had a neighborhood social in the cul-da-sac. We met some new neighbors that had just moved in and they have two children. The little boy and Nick share the exact same birthday. Nicholas had a great time playing with his new friends with their wagons, frisbees, and chalk. We then left to join the family for dinner out. Aunt Carol and Uncle Cliff are in town and it was good to see the whole family. However, that leads me to my frustrations as Nicholas nearly drove me crazy with his tantruming and crying...

This has been such a difficult week with him. He has been sick with tummy troubles since Wednesday morning. I thought he was doing a little better but today the problems have persisted. So not only am I going through diapers and diaper cream like crazy but I am out of ideas of things to feed Nick that won't upset his stomach, might actually be healthy for him, and he will agree to put in his mouth. On top of that, the terrible two's have come out in a big way. It's like he flicked a switch and he has now decided that he will not cooperate in any way. The "tricks" that used to work with him, no longer do. And the crying and fussing is happening more and more often and is more frequently in public. Today we had to take him home from church after numerous tantrums. Of course I've been expecting these problems to arise but he'd been doing so well that I thought maybe it wasn't going to happen just yet. The interesting thing is that we haven't been able to find a discipline tactic that motivates him. He actually almost enjoys time outs! He will scream and cry and kick about whatever the issue that he doesn't want to do and as soon as we tell him he has to go to time out, he nearly runs to his room and sits like an angel and is very happy during the entire timeout. It's very strange.

So I am bracing myself for another week of bad tummies and bad behavior, but I'm praying for a turnaround!

Back to normal

It's always hard coming back from vacation and getting back to life as normal. For me it's meant that my week reprieve from morning sickness is over and I find myself sick again most mornings (it must all be in my head, or it's the house, I can't decide). Nicholas has been having difficulty adjusting as well. For a while now, he has been such a good boy and rarely, if ever, has to go to time out. But this week he's spent everyday in time out at least once each day. On Tuesday he had a huge tantrum at the register in TJ Maxx when I wouldn't give him the candy that was there by the register. Unfortunately, he became a little too dependent on "treats" while we were at the beach as I often had to bribe him with a treat at dinners to get him to stay at the table and eat. He now asks me for his treat every single day, even first thing when he wakes up. I hope to break him of this expectation quickly. Another thing that he started last week was saying the sentence "I don't wike (like) it". It's actually very cute how he says it in his little toddler accent which is probably a good thing for him at this moment because I'm sure that the cuteness will wear off quickly with me. He says this all the time! Not only about not wanting to eat or drink something but also if he doesn't want to do something like hold my hand in a store or get in the car.

Today we met my friend Lesley from Sunday School and her three kids at their pool. Nicholas had so much fun. He saw Hannah (5) and Emma(4) jumping in the pool and started jumping in to me too. I sure got an arm workout with how many times I was catching him and putting him back on the side to jump in again. I'm sad that the summer is coming to an end and our days at the pool are numbered.

Our week at the beach

Nicholas and I just returned from a fabulous week in Destin, Florida with Mimi, PopPop, and Aunt Ashley. It was so sad being away from Graham for an entire week (he had to work) but we sure did enjoy ourselves. I don't know if Nicholas has ever had so much fun. We stayed in a cozy 2 bedroom cottage near the beach. It was a perfect place. They had a golf cart shuttle that would take us down to the beach if we didn't want to do the short walk and of course Nick loved this. The pool was a lot of fun and of course the beach was beautiful. One of Nicholas's favorite things was watching the numerous helicopters and airplanes that would fly over the beach. I really think he's going to be a pilot someday, he is so interested in them. On two of the nights we went to two different shopping areas that had some wonderful things for Nicholas to enjoy. His favorite things were the fountains that he could run and play through. The first time that he was surprised by the fountain underneath him, he got soaked and was really scared. After that he would only run around the perimeter and wouldn't risk getting near the spouts again. But the second night, he made friends with 2 sweet older boys age 7 and 4 and he wanted to copy everything they were doing in the water. It was so adorable. I've included a little video of Nicholas playing with Sam and Max in the fountain. Other highlights from the week include lots of relaxing beach time, pool time, and shopping at the outlet malls. Thank you Mimi and PopPop for a wonderful vacation!

Then 2 hours after returning from the trip, Graham and I got all dressed up to go to my 10 year high school reunion. It was a wonderful night that we enjoyed so much more than we expected to. Many of our old friends made it out to the party at Horseshoe Bend Country Club. It was neat catching up with everyone, even those that I wasn't that close too while in high school. And Graham even enjoyed himself with Matt and some new friends that he made. Then after the reunion we went down to the W hotel rooftop bar for the "alternate reunion" that someone had planned. We joked about how this was the trendiest place that we've ever been to, and here I am pregnant at this club. Here we saw some of my old friends that didn't make it to the regular reunion and we continued to catch up with those that came to the first party. It was a great night all around and I'm sad that we'll have to wait another 10 years to do it again!