Beginnings of Fall

I know I am falling behind.  I may end up having to make this a quarterly commitment after Burton gets here :)  I am fairly certain that we are in one of the busiest seasons; it seems like we are constantly jumping from one thing to the next.  I am ready for life to slow down a bit, you know, like in a few months when we add a newborn into the mix.  Here is a sampling of some of the things we we've been up to the earlier part of this Fall.  Countdown to Thanksgiving is on... I can already taste Aunt Jeannie's dressing ;)

September we went to Atlanta for the Garth Brooks concert with some of our dear friends Blake and Holly Beth.  

My favorite part of this picture is the photobomb by the girl in blue.

No surprise, he was amazing!

Meanwhile back at Honey and Graygry's... Two peas in a pod.  

Avery's school pictures... She is too cute for words.

I mean, come on?!

Zoo trip one Saturday with Daddy while Mommy studied for school. 

Trip to Granddaddy Wayne's farm the beginning of Oct.  

She rode with him like this for over an hour.  

So the rule in our house is no pacifier except for naptime and bedtime.  This rule is also supposed to apply on days when Avery goes to preschool.  Her teacher sent me this one day when she found Avery hiding in her cubby with her pacifier.  My dad said it's like she is getting her a quick puff of a Virginia Slim... Everybody needs a stress reliever during the day I guess, ha.   

Avery helping me bake cookies for her teacher at preschool for her birthday

Oh Boy Oh Boy!

We found out 2.5 weeks ago that we were going to be welcoming a sweet baby boy into our family in February!  We were both a bit shocked to be honest, even though I was convinced the entire time it was a boy.  But for some reason when the tech said "boy" we were both surprised.  It's possible we felt this way since Avery was convinced that this baby was a sister...and for the last 2.5 weeks since we have known it was a brother has continued to call him a sister (thankfully, we are finally coming around :)  My first thought was, "we have nothing at home for a boy!".  While M's first thought was, "I'm obviously excited, but I hate we are going to have to disappoint Avery.".  Ha!

Obviously with having a baby brother who is 11 years younger than me, I know how wonderful baby boys can be.  This little man is already so loved, and we could not be more excited to raise a son.  We just need to get a few more boy toys in this house, he is already going to be bathed in pink washcloths and towels, bless him.

We have decided to name him Burton Christopher.  Burton after Granddaddy Wayne (Matthew's grandfather) and Christopher after my dad.  We feel so incredibly honored to name our son after them.  We pray Burton will grow up to love the Lord by the example of these two and we cannot imagine naming our son after more deserving men.

Avery has finally taken to the fact that she is having a baby brother.  When we ask who is in Mommy's tummy she will now say, "Burtnen"  The other day when I said that Burton will ride in the backseat with her when he gets here she said, "he will be my riding buddy!". Sweet girl.

Here is the video of us telling Avery what the baby was.  She didn't really get it.  She actually sounds like she is saying, "It's a boy!" but really she is saying, "It's balloons!"

20 week ultrasound.  He was not the most cooperative.  This was the best profile shot we could get the entire time we were there.  

On the right, 22 weeks with Avery, left is 22 weeks with Burton.  

Adventures in Potty Training

Avery has officially been potty trained for the last month and half or so.  She kept asking to use the big girl potty, so we figured we might as well roll with it...  She has done (fingers crossed) really well!  She had about a week of semi-frequent accidents, but then seemed to have really figured it out!  We felt extremely lucky about how well she did.... I'm sure next time around it will not be as easy.  Here's hoping she doesn't regress after baby gets here!

I made a big deal about going to pick out her "big girl panties" at the store.  We celebrated with an Icee, which let's be real  was more for pregnant Mommy.  :)  She of course wanted Frozen and Princess Sophia underwear.  

She was so proud.  

Cutie

Next up on the "To Do Before Baby #2" list: move to a big girl bed and get rid of her paci (she only uses it for naps and bedtime....but boy is she ATTACHED).  Stay tuned for what I'm sure will be tales of our failures on this front ;)

Also, I can't believe our baby girl is about to be 2.5 in a few weeks!