I began this blog to capture moments of my life. Two years later, I got married, and two years after that, I had my first child. Now this blog captures more than just my moments.
When my mom was here for David’s birthday, she took me and David to the Virginia State Arboretum. It’s only about 30 minutes from our house. She showed me the Gingko Grove and explained that when the time was right all of the leaves on these trees would turn bright yellow at the same time.
So a few weeks after she left, John and I made our way to the Gingko Grove and the trees were bright yellow just like she said. We lucked out because John was only home for one day between a work trip to Hawaii and a work trip to Europe. The trees were stunning on this day!
This year for Halloween David was a skeleton. The weather Halloween night was beautiful. We didn’t take him trick-or-treating since he can’t walk and he doesn’t eat candy. But we still had fun dressing him up, listening to halloween songs, reading halloween books, and eating cornbread waffles with chili.
I originally included this update in my last post, but I figured it deserved a post of it’s own. We learned in July that we’re expecting baby number 2. And in October, we learned that baby number 2 is a girl. I am very excited to be a mom of both a boy and a girl. The due date is March 2.
This pregnancy has been different than my first. With David, I got a lot of severe headaches during my first trimester. This time around, I was exhausted and nauseous for a lot of the first 16 weeks, but didn’t get any bad headaches. Thankfully my mom was here with us for a lot of my first trimester and helped out a lot with David. I’m feeling great now and having fun looking at cute baby girl clothes!
There are little moments that have occurred over the last few months that I want to take a minute to write about on my blog.
Earlier this year, I painted our bedroom a dark grey while John was away on a work trip. He knew I was going to do this, so it wasn’t a surprise. He helped me pick out the color beforehand. We got new bedding and curtains. It took me forever to find bedding and curtains that I liked. I did a lot of online shopping and a lot of returning. We ultimately ended up with a gray ruffle quilt from Wal-Mart of all places! Sadly, the painting didn’t go as well as I’d like. I bought super high quality paint, but I can still see paint lines. I’ve painted a room before and it turned out fine, so I think my technique was good. I read online that a lot of newly built homes (like ours) have builder-grade paint that soak up new paint dramatically. So I’m guessing we need to do a few more coats…which I have not done. I’m not totally sure what to do?? I’m considering hiring painters to re-do it. We shall see. But here’s a small glimpse.
This spring we had quite the hail storm. The hail was so bad we had to have siding on our house replaced and our roof replaced (as did pretty much every other house in our neighborhood). We went for a walk about an hour after the storm and found hail the size of golf balls. You can see an example below. This is a screenshot I took of a video I posted in my family’s Marco Polo group. Truth be told, it’s a very blurry screenshot and not the best example, but it will help me remember the hail storm.
This year brought our first official Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as parents. We snapped pictures on the actual days. On Father’s Day, we forgot to take a picture until right before David went to bed. We are very thankful for this little boy who made us parents. We’ve learned so much over the last year. The newborn stage was a challenge for me with so many firsts and little sleep, but I’m grateful for David’s patience with us as we learn how to be parents (something we’ll be learning forever!).
Mother’s Day 2018Father’s Day 2018
Two of my best friends from high school got married this summer. It was fun to celebrate with them and their husbands.
Me and the new Mrs. Thorpe 🙂Me, Katie, Tina (the bride), and our high school choir teacher
David has been teething, teething, and teething some more over the last few months. He’s found relief in the funniest of places…like the knobs on our kitchen cabinets. We also have an end table in our basement that he apparently finds quite delicious. I need to touch up the finish as a result haha.
This summer, I found a farmer’s market about 30 minutes from our house that I love. They have a huge playground next to it that I think our kids will enjoy throughout the years. This summer, I picked up some beautiful sunflowers along with some delicious peaches.
David had his first ever kids meal at a restaurant in September. We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel, and he was a fan!
David has become quite the active little boy. This is most apparent to me when we’re at church and it’s quiet and everyone around us is still. David likes to play with anything and everything and likes to explore. Here’s a picture I snapped of David today during Sunday School (and yes, I realize I probably should be focusing on the lesson and not taking pictures of David. But John is in Europe, and I wanted to send him a picture so he could feel like he was at church with us haha).
On quite a few Sundays, we seem to spend a good deal of Sunday School in the Mother’s Room and this is my view as I try to listen to a talk on my phone or read in my scriptures.
And lastly, David was recently upgraded to a bigger car seat after his first birthday. Here he is in his new ride. I think he likes it!
My mom came to town for David’s first birthday. On David’s actual birthday, we did a small celebration after John got home from work. We went up to the park by our house and took a few pictures and then headed to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. We got David grilled nuggets with a cup of fruit and milk. This was his second ever real restaurant meal. He loved it! After Chick-Fil-A, we came home to open presents and then stuck a candle in a Little Debbie’s birthday cake and sang happy birthday.
The Sunday following David’s birthday, my sister, John’s uncle, and the Wagner Family (my aunt, uncle, and cousins) came over for a birthday dinner celebration. We had a taco and chip bar. After dinner, we gave David his birthday “smash cake,” which he didn’t seem to really like. I had a bite of it, and it was very rich! David was a bit of a sad baby on this night because he never took an afternoon nap. He just laid in his crib and cried for over an hour after we got home from church at 2:30 p.m. So, he was ready to call it a night as soon as he “ate” his cake.
We had so much fun celebrating our little boy! Seeing his growth this year has been a neat experience. My heart is so full of love for this little boy.
