18 weeks!

Our sweet boy is 18 weeks old and growing like a weed! Bauer, you are so entertaining! Unfortunately, we weren't able to spend very much time with you this week. Mommy and Daddy were very sick so you spent the week with Grandma Money :) You had a good time with her in North Carolina. You got to spend time with Sir, Grandma's work and church friends, and even got to spend a few hours with Uncle John. He played Mozart and the oboe for you and let you watch the animals on TV. You're so big that Grandma even took you to get some new clothes! You're wearing only 3-6 months and 6-9 months! You get rice cereal in the morning and at night. We can't wait to start you on solid foods because we know you're going to love to eat! You're still sleeping all through the night. This week you slept from about 10pm to 7:30am. We are so lucky that you didn't get sick because everyone around you did. We praise the Lord that he has kept you healthy through this terrible stomach virus! On your first Valentine's Day, mommy got you a new book and a Winnie the Pooh and Piglet friend that you love to chew on. Speaking of chewing, you're chewing on everything and I just know that one day I'm going to wake up and see a little tooth poking through! You rolled over for the first time last night from your back to your tummy! You were so funny. Those chunky thighs and big head give you a hard time! Mommy watched you do it three times but by the time Daddy decided to videotape you, of course you wouldn't do it! You are growing and changing daily and Mommy had a hard time this week not being able to see you! Thank goodness for the Logitech Revue. We got to watch you at Grandma's on the TV every night! You will have your 4 month appointment this week! You were supposed to have it last week but Mommy and Daddy were too sick to take you to the doctor! We can't wait to see how big you've gotten :) Also, this is your last week in this apartment! We are supposed to close on the new house this week and move in next weekend and next week! We are so excited for you to have a big house and place to play :) We love you, Zubba!

A sweet surprise :)

I can't help but be a little sentimental today. Exactly one year ago today, Lee and I found out we were going to be parents. It came as a HUGE shock to us. I remember everything about that day, right down to what I was wearing!! The weird part is that as I'm typing this I'm staring at my beautiful 4 month old boy and watching his Daddy play with him while he squeals :) He's such joy in our lives.

That day, Lee and I woke up and decided to spend the day at Mount Trashmore. I had been doing a vegan diet for a little over week and felt absolutely wonderful! I had just lost 5 pounds and it was a gorgeous day. It was unusually warm for February and lots of people were out and I remember snapping a few pics :)

Little did we know that later that day, we would get some life changing news. When I read the test...I started crying and Lee had a look of shock on his face. It was the scariest and happiest day of our lives. We couldn't believe it. The funny thing is, life wouldn't feel normal without this little guy.

We love you Bauer Ross! :)

Our Love Story

I've seen this on a few other blogs and I planned on doing this for Valentine's Day, but as you know, we were a bit under the weather this week. So I'm doing it now. And by the way..I feel the need to share my feelings on the big V-day and all it's cheesiness. I LOVE it. Pun intended. I've always loved Valentine's Day. I love all the pink and red and doilies and Valentine's cards and chocolate hearts. I may have secretly dubbed it Single's Awareness Day or "SAD" Day, several years in a row, and I may have made black "SAD" day cards for all my friends and co-worker's. I may have even carried a copy of the well known piece of literature called "I Hate Valentine's Day" with me to work on several occasions. BUT, that's when I was bitter and single. Deep down I still loved all the fun that came with Valentine's Day. I can't wait for Bauer to love it too. He already does. Because I got him a sweet little book called "I Ruff You" and a stuffed animal dedicated to all things love. SEE?!! I'm even swayed to buying my son ANIMAL FLUFF! I hate stuffed animals and all the clutter and fluff that goes along with it, but V-day does it to me man, it just does. Cue birdies singing. Anyway..on with the LOVE story <3

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Lee and I went on our first date, June 15th 2007. We consider ourselves as being together since then because we can't really remember the date that we made our relationship official. 5 years in June...wow :) feels like twenty..

2. How did you meet?

We met at work. For more info on THAT heck of a story you can see our wedding website here

3. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We were married in Fincastle, Virginia at the Kyle House. September 5th, 2010. It was a gorgeous day and one of the best days of our lives :) As far as how big...I'd say a decent size. We had 160 guests...lots of attendants..lots of food..and lots of alcohol! LOTS of fun of course! :)

4. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

We call each other ....Poo...Poop..booboo...it's as ridiculous as that. I don't know why we do. We just always have. :)

5. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

His sense of humor. The man makes me laugh EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I need that. His Geekery. I love it immensely. And his caring personality. He cares for anyone and everyone and helps anyone he can. I wish this list had more because I could go on forever.. <----whoops! See? It got really "Cheese" there for a minute!!

6. Tell us how he proposed? On one knee. :) Another great story to be told here. I'm too lazy to type today apparently.

7. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

I planned on making Lee a fancy candle-lit dinner and home-made oreos (HIS FAVE) but since being sick, that didn't really work out. We actually did get to have a light dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant..and had a lovely evening on our couch skyping with our little one :)

8. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

We did buy gifts for each other this year. We both wanted some stuff for the new house. I'll post about that later :) There was a lot of ETSY involved :)

9. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Communicate. EVERYDAY. Even when life is busy..sit down and talk to each other. Not about things that happened that day, but things other than that. Spend quality time together as a family too...we have snoogle time with our little man EVERY night :)

10. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

because you KNOW you wanted to see it just ONE MORE TIME! :) Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone!! :)

Ewwww.

This has been a rough week, folks! It all started last Thursday. I stayed home for work because I had a bad cold....I'm talking (the stay home from work type of bad cold). The next day it was even worse! How could it get any worse? I stayed home Friday and I let Bauer stay with me because he had a pretty decent cold too. Lee left work at noon to come home and help me. In all honesty...I'm pretty sure Saturday we spent the day resting. I made chicken noodle soup for our illness and we had our first snow.

Sunday Morning. DUM DUM DUM. We woke up feeling refreshed and decided to run some errands for the new house. (WE ARE MOVING NEXT WEEKEND...OMG!OMG!OMG!) We looked at some new appliances at Home Depot and decided to stop for a quick lunch at Hardees (it was right there) and head over to Target afterwards. Reason we chose Hardees: (I feel I have to explain myself because WHO really EVER eats at Hardees??) It was literally right next to home depot. Plus, I really wanted a hot-dog. When we got to the drive thru, Lee ordered a Frisco burger which looked REALLY tasty to me so I changed my order at the last minute. We both at the burger. DUM DUM DUM. We went on to Target and after about twenty minutes in the store, Lee said he didn't feel well. I told him to take Bauer to the car and get some fresh air, and I'd meet him in a few after I paid for everything. We didn't even make it home (which takes less than 5 minutes) I had to pull over for Lee to vomit. Of course first, I didn't think anything of it. I dropped him off at home to rest and Bauer and I ran out for one more errand. I came home. Fed Bauer. All of a sudden Lee is throwing up again. 10 minutes later, I'm throwing up. I just knew we had food poisoning. THANK GOD for Nana (see previous post) She came and got Bauer and took him to her place for the night. Lee's mom drove 5 hours from High Point, North Carolina to take care of us! Bless her! I vomited and had diarrhea (I KNOW...TMI..please put down your sandwich) till around 10 that night. Lee did the same until 4am. It was horrific and violent. Not only did I now have a terrible cough, but I had to deal with this. I truly just wanted to lay in the floor and not move, but you know how men are. They're babies when they're sick. I guess my mommy instinct kicked in and in-between vomit sesh's I was taking care of my husband. It took every ounce of strength I could muster. There is no WAY I could have cared for Bauer at this point. Did I mention we only had ONE bathroom. I'm mentioning it now. We have ONE bathroom. Let's just say...I had to make my way to the kitchen sink. I KNOW. HORRIBLE. and let's just say I DID ruin a few pairs of underwear in the process. IT WAS THAT BAD. BTW-if you're new to reading the blog...its not ALWAYS this gross. Only most of the time :) AND I'm an open book...so get used to it.

The next day could only be described as the sunshine that comes after the storm. The really bright kind. The kinda bright that reflects off of day old snow. That blinds you when you walk outside after drinking all night. That kinda bright. It was eerily too bright and my body was very very weak. The fresh air felt good. I even rode down to the ocean front with Julie just to breathe in some salty air. Lee was another story. His body hurt so much from vomiting that he had to stay on the couch. My body did too, but he actually had this far worse than I did. I felt so bad for him. MY heart literally broke for him and I hated seeing him like that. We decided to let Julie take Bauer back to NC with her for the week so we could recover from our "food poisoning" and my insane cough. Which by the way makes me sound like I've smoked 2 packs a day for 28 years. I haven't. A little peace and quiet and restfulness was in order and we received.

Fast forward to Thursday night. My mother in law calls me on Friday morning and tells me that she vomited all night long. Cue the DUM DUM DUM. I work all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with my co-worker, Nikki and friday night I get a text saying that she's been vomiting since 6pm. DUM. DUM. DUUUM.

I'm starting to see a pattern here. I've come to the conclusion that we caught the norovirus. It's going around Virginia like wildfire. There are outbreaks everywhere. There is a 48 hour incubation period and you can spread your symptoms for up to three days after your symptoms stop. They symptoms start suddenly..out of nowhere! You can be sick for up to three days but we all were VIOLENTLY sick for about 14 hours or less. It is HIGHLY contagious. You have been warned. I hope you don't get it. Its probably the worst stomach bug I've EVER had in my life! I'm terrified that my sweet baby is still going to get sick and I'm hoping and praying that's not the case. He's already had one major stomach bug and it killed me to see him so sick. Keep the lysol handy and for goodness sakes...stay home if you get it (although, I don't know how you'll feel like going anywhere).

For the record. I probably wont be eating at Hardees anytime soon. Or EVER. AND-vegetarianism is starting to look better than ever. Fo SHO.

You wish you had a NANA

Before we had Bauer we were worried. Very worried. Worried we wouldn't be able to find anyone to watch him when my maternity leave was over. I mean, who wants to leave their child's life in someone else's hands WHILE they WORK? Not this girl! AND, I'm sure not too many others like myself out there. We waited until the last minute to find someone because I was dreading the process. Then, Care.com came along. (No, I'm not promoting, nor have I been paid to say that) I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I knew. I KNEW as soon as I saw NaNa's picture that it was meant to be. I didn't even read her stats. I just emailed her and got right down to business. THEN, I read her stats. We interviewed with her a couple days later. I broke down crying in her living room. I wanted my sweet little baby to be in the best hands possible. Well folks..I'd like to introduce you to NANA!

WE. LOVE. HER. Period.

Mary Poppins ain't got nothin' on NANA. (And if you know me, you know how much I LOVE me some MP!) From DAY -1 we felt so comfortable with her. She has been a huge blessing in our lives. I LOVE seeing my baby boy happy everyday..that's how I know he's in good hands. She's so sweet and so caring and honestly..don't know what I'd do without her :) We love you, NANA.

Enough said! :)

What??

Legend.

Snow.

It snowed today! Bauer's first snow and the first snow of 2012! We were so excited just to go outside and let B see the white stuff. I know he would've LOVED to grab a big hunk of it and shove it in his face..but I controlled myself and limited my time to taking thousands of a few pictures. Thumpity Thump THUMP!

a few out-takes

Bauer was in a Glorious mood today when we took his Valentine Photos...so we had a few cute outtakes that we didn't use for our card that we would like to share. Prepare to GUSH. (That means YOU, Briggley Mae Grant!)

Just get a load of those chunky thighs, ladies...he'll steal your heart away :)

Love is in the air

We decided to do a Valentine's Day card to send to our closest family and friends this year. I am not revealing the card to facebook yet..but to all the masses two of you who read the blog..you are getting a sneak peak.. :) If you ARE in fact receiving one of these in the mail..you can expect it around March. Yup. We just ordered them today. Fact. Happy Valentine's Day. Love and be loved. Or as Ellen Degeneres would say..Be kind to one another :)

Super Bowl.

This was Bauer's first superbowl! (duh.) This year, the match-up was between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. SO. Being that we are Viking fans..it didn't leave us with much of a choice in who to root for. So naturally, we made a mature decision and picked the Patriots. It was the only fabric they had at the fabric store. That's how we made our decision. It would figure that they would lose. I did get great use out of the fabric as seen here...

and here...

We had Seth over for the big "game" and I made sloppy joes, baked beans, fresh salsa and lots of little snacks :) We had a great time...too bad Bauer couldn't hold his alchohol (j/k)...we couldn't resist.

Surprise visit!

In January, we made a surprise visit home to Roanoke to see the family...We spent our time with family and a few close friends. Wish we would've had time to see everyone :( Bauer loved seeing Gwampy and Gramma T and Great Grandpa and Grandma Showalter and Schmidt! We also spent some quality redneck time with Nick and Shay and Bauer's girlfriend, Briggsley. Yup. Its official. Be jealous. Bauer also got in a little Mozart time with Great Aunt Jan. We all agree that he will be gifted. He is. Don't make me remind you of all the "GENIUS" things he does on a daily...





Love this pic of Briggsley (Bauer's girlfriend) getting her dance on to "Elmo and I know it" (currently Bauer's favorite song) Classic.

Ringing in 2012!

I'm sure I'll have some massive Christmas post on here soon..but since I can't do anything in order I'm doing our New Year's Eve post. It was quiet. We stayed home and watched the ball drop. Had some champagne. We might have gotten dressed up just to take pictures. Ok we might've gotten dressed up from the waist up while wearing our pajama bottoms because we're cheesy like that. Yeah, I admit it. We do things in style in this household. I'd like to add that as soon as the confetti started falling, I chugged my champagne and went to bed immediately. I was still tired from 2011. Hey..I had a good reason..!

9 missed weeks

Ok, since I sorta left out NINE of Bauer's weekly updates..I feel as though I can't cheat you out of the wonderful pictures from those weeks...as the 52 week fabric project continues...I know you've had your panties in a wod just waiting for these. They start at 16 weeks and end at 9 weeks. Yes, I loaded them backwards. Yes, I'm too lazy to fix them. I apologize to the thousands of you who requested these..