Doing the Charleston...

Mike and I try to get away for a vacation every year around our anniversary and this year we headed to Charleston, SC, based on the recommendation from a couple in our Foundation Group. I think that this was probably one of the best, most relaxing trips we've taken together in awhile. 

Major THANKS to our parents who graciously watched Lucy while we were gone- we SO appreciate both of them being able and willing to take care of her so that we could get some much needed time alone!

So, here we go....lots of pics, by the way....

Oh, and a major criteria of this trip was that we ate good food. That's the one thing I can do these days- eat! So, we took lots of pics of our food because in my heart of hearts, I'm a huge foodie. 

Waiting in Houston for our flight to SC- we both had terrible colds and were awful to sit next to, I'm sure, because we were both constantly sniffling, sneezing, blowing our noses, coughing, sucking on cough drops, etc....so sorry to those around us!

When we arrived Saturday afternoon, we drove to downtown Charleston and enjoyed a late lunch at  Poogan's Porch

I had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and greens, as well as their delicious biscuits! Sad that they didn't have mac 'n cheese (as was recommended), but it was still quite tasty!

Mike had a BLT with fried green tomatoes- he was happy about his food

We then walked around downtown Charleston....

....saw the beautiful old houses...

...walked through the pretty archways and trees...

...saw the Pineapple Fountain by the bay.....

We then drove to our condo in Isle of Palms. And what an AMAZING view we had on our porch!! I mean, stunning! Our condo was awesome- it was so cute inside, had a super-comfy bed, full kitchen, and plenty of chairs to enjoy coffee in the morning while over-looking the ocean. One of our favorite things is to crack the windows or doors open and hear the ocean waves all night, which we were able to do. 

On Sunday, we slept in and then headed to a little neighboring island to eat at Poe's Tavern. It was lovely- we sat outside, enjoyed the nice weather and had these massive hamburgers...

my burger with goat cheese dressing and bacon and blue cheese slaw...yummy!!!

Mike's with swiss cheese and BBQ sauce

Mike trying to fit his boca around this massive burger

we then strolled along the beach for about an hour and daydreamed about owning a beach home like the ones we saw....

me and my preggo belly

That night, we wanted to go to a yummy seafood restaurant  one of the local's told us about. However, there was a massive storm that cut off the power to our building for about a minute, therefore, not allowing the gate to open, so we were stuck in our condo. Ever the resourceful husband, Mike found a beach umbrella in the storage unit and we walked to the next-door bar and had a quick meal there (probably the least-favorite meal of the trip). Once we got back to the condo, someone had manually opened the gate, so we actually went to the restaurant that we had originally intended to go to and had dessert. 

On Monday, we slept in, made breakfast, and went to Drayton Hall. The plantation had many, many old, beautiful trees with moss on them (although we found out later that it's not really Spanish Moss, it's called something else, but I can't remember what it was called!)

Drayton Hall

pond outside of the Hall

We took a tour of the inside of the home- here is the original plaster ceiling

....original painted wood siding...

one of my favorite pics of the house...

hand-carved wooden mantle 

trees around Drayton Hall

where the rice paddies were (I think!)

Our last night in Charleston, we took a walk on the beach around sun-set.....beautiful and cold!

Then went back to Water's Edge restaurant  (place we wanted to go when the gate wouldn't open) and had this amazing crab dip as an appetizer

I had the almond and chive crusted grouper with goat cheese mashed potatoes and asparagus

and Mike had the shellfish pasta- both were equally amazing! We took home pecan chocolate pie and ice cream and watched as Obama was re-elected

Our last day before flying out, we went back to downtown Charleston and took a horse and buggy tour, which was actually quite good! 

We saw lots of beautiful houses.....

One of my favorite pics of the houses

We had a really great trip and it was hard to come back, but we did miss our sweet Lucy!

Pumpkins!

Last Thursday we met some friends at Owens Farm Pumpkin Patch. It was fun- got to go on hay rides, walk among the pumpkins, see some animals, climb on some hay, go through a maze. 

Lucy wasn't in a super-great mood that day (hence it was difficult to get her to smile and get great pics), but we did have fun- her favorite was the hay ride! We went twice because she loved it so much!

Best pic I got- she loved to climb on the hay

She LOVED the hay ride!

this is what she'd do when I asked her to smile

This is her first pumpkin! She painted pumpkins at school last Friday- so sweet!

Lucy woke up with 102 degree fever last night around 10:00 pm, and was feverish all day today and not in a super-great mood. So, I thought it might be fun to carve a pumpkin inside while watching the Cowboy game. She was mildly entertained, but did enjoy picking up the pumpkin carving utensils. :) 

watching Daddy carve the pumpkin. Mommy did the dirty work and scooped out the innards

checking out the glowing pumpkin- she said, "oh, wow!" and tried to kiss it

the finished product!

17 weeks

17 weeks along- crazy!! Baby girl is the size of a sweet potato this week! :) 

I'm feeling pretty good these days- the nausea has gone away (went away around 14 weeks), and for the most part, I have enough energy, although on days that I do too much (like every day last week!), I get really tired. For the most part, I don't have any aches or pains yet. :) Totally sporting all maternity clothing. 

I started feeling the baby kick around 13-14 weeks (just slight kicks every so often)- still haven't picked up in frequency or intensity yet, but I'm sure that will happen any day now!

Lucy can point to my belly when I say,  "where's sister?" It's really cute! She's going to be a great big sister, she's already such a great little helper (will go and get diapers, put dirty diapers in the trash, go and pick up toys, put stuff up, etc). 

We are going to have a 3D/4D sono next week, so I can't wait to see my little girl again! (and to confirm that she is still a girl, as some people have been freaking me out that they thought they had a girl at 15 weeks and then found out later it was a boy once the baby was bigger). I have faith in Jules, my friend who did our sono, that our baby is in fact, still a girl. :) 

So, so thankful that everything is going well so far- as my OB said last week, "you're pretty low maintenance!"  Let's pray it stays that way!

"Our State Fair is a great state fair...."

A week and a half ago we went to the State Fair with our community group families (minus the Pokludas). We've done this together as a group for the past 2 years and have always had so much fun! 

I had been looking forward to this day for a long time, because I just knew that Lucy was going to LOVE the Children's Medical Center Barnyard with all the cute animals- she LOVES animals of any kind, and I couldn't wait to see her joy!

We packed into the Treadaways' new Swagger Wagon and met the Saugier's at the Fair and had a blast! We were quite the sight to see- two double Bob strollers plus our stroller (6 kids under the age of 7 plus two preggo mommies...)

Here we go!

Daddy and Lucy (so fun to see this pic, especially after Big Tex burned down this week!)

If I could only bottle the energy she has, I'd never be tired...

Callie and Parker

Lucy LOVED the animals!!

test-driving the cars

Lucy giving Case a hug

All the kiddos- and Lucy giving Case a hug- so sweet!

My souvenir from the fair was this lovely shoe. I have no idea how it happened, other than I spent 4 hours walking around the fair in good tennis shoes, but apparently I have sesamoiditis (inflammation of the tiny bones in the bottom of my big toe)- on Sunday after the fair, I woke up with really bad foot pain and couldn't  put any weight on my foot. Thankfully, I was able to go see the podiatrist on Tuesday and got this lovely shoe (which actually makes my foot feel so much better and keeps me mobile, which is important when you have a very, very busy 18 month old!). I get to wear this for another week and a half, then hopefully it's healed. :) 

The podiatrist said he sees these types of injuries all the time around the fair....guess I'm turning into an old woman or something...

Oh, and the fried food- we had (of course!) Fletcher's corny dogs, funnel cake, fried mac and cheese (was not great), fried moon pies, fried jambalaya, fried cheese curds, and fried pecan pie (which was quite tasty!!). Note, we didn't eat all of the fried food by ourselves- it works great when you have a big group and  everyone can get a taste! Oh, and of course, a caramel apple (my favorite!), cotton candy, and cold root beer from the big wooden barrels.  

It's a....

 We found out last week (at 15 weeks along), that baby #2 is a girl!! I could not be more thrilled and excited! I had thought all along that the baby was a girl (higher heart rate at the first OB visit, and I just had this feeling that it was a girl- of course, I had this feeling that Lucy was a boy the entire time I was pregnant with her, so I didn't trust my instincts!).

**I have no idea why these wouldn't let me upload these the right way, but I tried everything and it wouldn't work right, so tilt your computer to the side or something. Sorry!**

Sweet girl laying on her tummy (well, it looks like she's standing with the
way the pic is)

girl parts!

cute little feet!

Our sweet girl looks perfect- 4 chambers of a beating heart, diaphragm intact, two parts of a brain, spinal cord intact, kidneys that are working, 10 fingers, 10 toes, and is measuring right where she should be. She didn't like to be photographed (like her sister!) and covered her face a couple of times. It was hard to actually see what she was- she is very modest and didn't like people looking. But eventually, Jules (our good friend who did the sonogram), was able to tell that there were in fact, no boy parts, just three lines down there that mean she is a girl!

I am so, so excited for Lucy to have a little sister- I pray that she and this little one will develop a sweet friendship, love playing together, sharing secrets, doing "girly" things together, etc.

I told Mike that evening after we found out the baby is a girl, that I feel overwhelmed with the awesome responsibility of  raising two girls. I so desire for them to love the Lord, know His ways and follow them, teach them all the lessons I've learned along the way (that He must be their source of significance, not to find significance in the approval and desire of men, not to settle for someone who is good enough, but who is the BEST, etc). There's so much I want them to know, so that they can be wise, godly women. I know that I can't do this on my own, that the Lord has to go before me and only He can inscribe all these great truths on their little hearts- I'm merely the messenger.

Now, we just have to figure out what to name this sweet baby. "Babs" is her nickname for now, thanks to Aunt Elena.

Poor Mike, he's going to be out-numbered..... :)