Our week

We had such a great week with Jeremy home. It makes us long for summertime and wish it'd be possible to have him home every day forever. We didn't do anything extravagant, but enjoyed time together and with friends! I learned that Seth is the only one that can stick his finger in Jeremy's ear first thing in the morning and have Jeremy laugh about it. I told him if I did that he'd be mad at me for a week and he said I was right hahaha We went to a Japanese steakhouse for the first time since he's been born and he was in awe of the whole thing. He was the star of the show at the table, flirting with all the ladies and couldn't take his eyes off the chef while he cooked our food. 

Here are some miscellaneous pictures : )

Longing to play football outside with the big kids...

Play date with our friend Olivia!

A trip to see the fishies....

This one's for you Dad! The perfect size lobster for you!

This 'crane' was digging mud out of the water...

This morning hasn't been as bad as I thought without Dada home, but Seth definitely knows he isn't here and isn't happy about it. Pray for us to all finish the semester strong - only 14 more work days (and a couple Saturday classes) before Christmas vacation! 

Thanksgiving

I hope this finds you all full and happy after a wonderful Thanksgiving day yesterday! I hope everyone was able to spend it with friends or family and enjoy time together. I know we have so much to be thankful for this (and every) year! Jeremy usually gets a full week off for the holiday (they start a little earlier to get this - so worth it) but it's just not enough time for a trip to NY. Having 2 weeks at Christmas seems crazy enough, 1 week just doesn't cut it when you have 2 families to fit in! 

So, we have stayed here almost every year since we've been married. But, we realized yesterday that only 1 of those years we spent alone, so what a blessing that is : ) Yesterday we spent the day with our family away from home. We have known this family for probably 3 years now? I'm probably not the right person to ask, but anyways, they have become our family here and we are SO thankful for them. We've had it planned for a while now that we'd spend the holiday together and what a wonderful day it was. 

Of course, the boys were the only thing that got camera attention and I didn't take nearly as many as I wanted to. But the food and company were absolutely incredible. The boys enjoyed their time together. Seth can be a bit overbearing on JJ sometimes, always wanting to hug him, but watching them play together sure warms a Mom's heart! I can't wait to continue watching them learn and grow together!

Hello? Hello?

I've been quiet, I know (sorry Dad) 

It really all started on Election Day. I opened my computer that morning and my screen looked like a TV with no connection. All fuzzy. I tried wiggling the screen back and forth, I tried turning it off and on. Nothing. It's been a great computer - highly recommend the chromebook. For only $300 and lasting 3 years, I'd say it's worth it! Thankfully, Jeremy was off that day, so after voting we headed off to go find a new one. I just wanted to get another chromebook since it was a short notice purchase and we hadn't been saving up for it. Well, they aren't so popular anymore and quite hard to find. We finally tracked down the one I wanted at Target and we got it (only $200)! I got it home and started checking it out. It's smaller than the one I had so I had to get used to it. Well, the screen started acting weird - cutting in and out, turning black. Long story short after calling technical support I had to send it in to have the hard drive repaired with HP. So, my current setup that I'm typing to you on right now is my computer plugged into the TV so that I can use the TV as my screen! LOL It's not the most comfortable or convenient. But I should have mine back by the end of the week. 

So, without the ease of having a computer to just open and get stuff done on, blogging hasn't been my first priority. I've just been plugging in to the TV, getting my work done and getting off. Not to mention that it's Thanksgiving break and Jeremy is off! Not to mention our lovely Cable company scamming us over yet again - taking up way too much of my time and energy. 

Seth is ever changing these days. I swear he grows up every morning. He now says "Woah" and "Ball". He loves to stare out the window at the big kids playing football and often carries his football over to the window and grunts. He has been fighting a cold for a couple weeks now. I'd say he's all better now except for a cough at nighttime. I ended up taking him to the doctor last week after he woke up with an ear full of blood. Momma panicked that he had done something with all his coughing. They found that the ear full of blood has a ton of pressure in it, to make it feel like he's on an airplane and he had dug in it and caused it to bleed. His other ear had some fluid in it so they gave us an antibiotic to prevent an infection. We go back next week to have it checked again. The doctor said we would need to keep an eye on the pressure if it doesn't go down, so you can pray that the antibiotic will continue to heal him and that once he's better the pressure will resolve. In all of that process, he no longer has a bottle at bedtime, which means no more bottles at all. This Momma wasn't ready. I didn't know our last bottle was our last bottle! We decided to try it since milk causes so much mucous and might be contributing to his nighttime cough. He hasn't really skipped a beat without it. Such bittersweet moments! I love his little personality, though. He is a sweet boy and has started calling for "Mama" a lot : ) 

We have been enjoying ourselves and I will share pictures soon! We will all have a hard time going back to Jeremy's schedule after this week of having him home - especially Seth. But, there are only 2 more weeks of college and 3 more weeks of school before Christmas break (and finding out if we have a boy or a girl cooking). We are looking forward to some wonderful time with friends on Thursday and even more so all of the family time that is headed our way!

Cool weather

We've finally had cool weather here in the South for the past week or so. I'm knocking on wood, crossing my fingers and every other superstitious thing that it is here to stay. I'm pretty sure we are all going to turn into snowmen when we go to NY for Christmas since anything under 65 has us bundling up, when I used to still be wearing t-shirts in that weather back in NY!

You can't go wrong with the staples like chili, broccoli or potato soup - but we've had both of these recipes in the past month and they will be devoured many more times in the coming months! 

Tortelli soup with Italian Sausage & Spinach

(I definitely recommend adding the sour cream at the end)

(Find the recipe here)

Sausage, Kale & Potato soup

(I used spinach instead of kale
and didn't have any rosemary - delicious without)

(Find the recipe here)

Add some crusty bread on the side and you have a soul warming comfort food! Best part - it usually lasts 2-3 meals in this house! What are your go-to (or favorite new) soups this time of year?

Sisters

Everyone always says siblings have a special bond, especially when they are two sisters or two brothers, but I'll be the first one to say (and I'm sure my sister would be the second) that my sister and I haven't always been close. 

But now, yes - sisters have a special bond. I think it got even closer after I got married and again after having Seth. I don't know what it is, but there's something magical about sisters. Being able to pick up the phone and talk to her. Even if it doesn't happen as often as you wish it could - or is "in person" as you wish it could be. I know she'll always be there supporting me when I need her to, or will just listen if I need to get something off my chest. I know I can talk to her about anything and she'll love me. I admire her as the mom and wife she is and am so proud of the life her and her family have created. 

I can't wait to see her in another month!

Be the Change you want to see...

Well, yesterday has come and gone. We couldn't wait for that to happen so we could stop hearing everyone's arguments about who was worth our vote and why. Well, this morning when I got on social media it wasn't over. Instead, I saw a whole slew of grumps and complaints over who won with a few "victory dances" in the mix. 

Did your pre-election arguments change anything?
Will your post election complaints change anything? 

We all stood for something yesterday. No matter who you voted for you were voting for something you believe in, or voting against something you don't believe in. We were all fighting for what we felt was right or wrong. Some of us "won" and some of us "lost", but coming up against each other doesn't make anything right and it certainly won't change anything. 

Our country needed our prayers no matter who won. I hope we can work together to truly make a difference in the one way that we can which is by loving each other. I hope with the new year and all the changes it brings approaching we can make a change among each other. I hope we can remove so much of the hate.

I applaud you all for having the beliefs you do and for standing up and fighting for them, even if I didn't vote for the same person. 

 Now it's done and we face another day...

...a day that the Lord has made. The Lord who is sovereign over all, no matter who sits in the White House. For those of you asking this morning - THAT is what I will tell my children. 

Happy November!

Baby T is now 14 weeks along! Although I'm impatiently waiting for my true pregnant belly (instead of the awkward inbetween stage where people don't know if you ate too many cookies), I really can't believe how fast it's going! We had a checkup last week and everything is going great. I was struggling with some headaches but I've recently found out that I needed caffeine (and of course plenty of water). It was very odd, because coffee didn't taste good in the early weeks and I went without it just fine, but something must have flipped inside because as long as I have 1 or two cups of coffee or tea, I'm okay! I've also been having some awful back pain which should make the next 5 months interesting. Jeremy does a great job rubbing it and I've been doing some stretches, but I may find myself at a chiropractor or getting a massage soon. Baby's heartbeat was 156. Seth's "first" heartbeat was in the 170's but eventually went down into the 140's and 150's. I'm still convinced we have a little girl cooking, but we will be finding out on December 15th! We both would love it to be a girl, but I also know how much fun it would be for Seth to have a brother so close in age. As long as they are happy and healthy, right? : ) 

Seth is doing great. He is 100% boy and loves to play with anything related to a ball, a car or a shovel. He has recently started dancing which is the cutest thing in the world. He also loves to clap at himself. Remember the ottoman we recently purchased for our living room? He loves to get inside of it and lay down. I say "night night" and close the lid and he giggles for a few seconds and then pops his head up to open it and play peek-a-boo. I have a list of things to catch on video, let's put it that way : ) Among all the cute things he is doing, whenever he gets a boo-boo he now comes to me to kiss it and then he is all better! Sometimes he asks me to kiss it 2 or 3 times, but it works like a charm, which warms this Momma's heart! 

We aren't really planning on doing Halloween with him for a few different reasons, but we did go over to a friends house last night to pass out candy. Jeremy had his college class and I wasn't super excited about being home alone with all the crazies out and had no intentions of answering the door without him here. So when we got the invite, it was perfect. Seth and JJ had fun playing together in their Halloween pj's and got to see a few trick-or-treaters before bedtime. Jeremy came over when his class got done, so it was fun to hang out with everyone, eat crappy pizza (just for you Rebecca) and of course some candy. We are so thankful to have family close by when all of our family is far away. 

I am so proud of Jeremy and all that he is doing for our family. He works all day long, goes to class 2 nights a week, has meetings and various things on other days and still comes home to be the best Dada Seth needs for a few hours before he goes to bed. It hasn't been easy having him do this and we are only in the first semester, but we keep reminding ourselves how huge it will be when he is done and I am so proud of him!

(I left my camera at our friends last night, so I apologize for this post being MIA of any cuteness....until next time)