24 weeks...and counting

What a great weekend!!
Things started off with "The Right Stuff" on Friday, when I purchased tickets to the NKOTB, Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees Triology concert for me and 5 of my closest girlfriends and neighbors! June 20th y'all! I cannot wait!
Friday night, Ben and I took Tyler to meet Steph, Pat and Dylan at Stax in Roswell. Longest wait EVER but the best turkey burger I've had in a LONG time.  Ben also got his review and bonus number on Friday so that always calls for some celebration!
Saturday my parents arrived and we went to Roswell Tap for lunch, followed by a trip to Northpoint Mall to get Tyler a present (because that's what my parents do...spoil my child rotten). Saturday night, my parents babysat so that Ben and I could go to our next door neighbors house for a Game Night/Birthday party. We had such a great time. I laughed so hard I was almost hoarse the next day.

Sunday we hung out at the house in the morning...Ben went to Dunkin to grab us all breakfast (Seriously, if you ask Tyler what his favorite restaurant is he says Dunkin Donuts). After my parents left we had lunch at Your Pie with our neighbors Alice and Ryan...kids in tow, and after a running a few errands we had some neighborhood kids over for a playdate.

Tyler was exhausted and asleep by 7:45 and Ben and I watched some Walking Dead....fantastic show!

So...this Friday I will be 24 weeks! Officially 6 months along. WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can't tell y'all how excited that makes me! Since they will be taking little Jacob at 39 weeks (via csection) that means I have 15 weeks to go! I've been struggling lately...more so that with Tyler's pregnancy so I feel like I'll use my blogger forum to vent about it.
But Let me get this out of the way first though...
1. I'm extremely excited about Jacob's arrival
2. I'm extremely grateful that I didn't have any fertility problems and that I'm able to carry children (trust me, I know a lot of people that are struggling with this right now) 
3. I love being a mom more than anything in the world and cannot wait to start this experience over again in May
4. I pray every night for a healthy and vibrant little boy

With all that said...I'm extremely depressed about how tired and hungry I am, and how much weight I've gained in the last few months (extremely is probably not the right word...don't want y'all to think I'm crazy psycho depressed or anything). I guess it has to do with the fact that I was in a great place right before I got pregnant. I had just lost 22lbs and was training for a triathlon. As soon as I got the positive pregnancy test, I started gaining weight. I think I gained about 10lbs in the first 8 weeks of pregnancy. My two pregnancies were extremely similar in the fact that I just had this "hungover" feeling for the first trimester. Not violently ill...just that feeling that if I didn't eat something every couple of hours I would throw up. Then the remainder of the pounds started creeping on in the second trimester...so now I've gained back all the Weight Watchers weight...plus some. And I still have 3 months to go, and we all know that this is when the REAL weight starts to pack on.
I guess I am just anxious to get the scale going in the other direction again. I'm confident that this time around I'll be more comfortable with the process of being a mom and therefore can concentrate more on weight loss. Last time, my world was so rocked by this amazing little creature that came into my life...I loved him with every breath in my being but at the same time I was scared that things would never be the same again. Now I know that they will never be the same, but it will be much more amazing than I ever thought it could be.
I think I will embrace the stay at home/stay in shape mom for a little while while on maternity leave and with breastfeeding will HOPEFULLY get most of the weight off in the first 3 months...plus I'll rejoin WW Asap! That's my goal!
Of course I'll be documenting the whole thing so I'm sure you'll see both my successes and failures!

That's all I have to say today! Thanks for listening (my 10 followers, LOL).
This was not a pity party by any means...I think I just needed to give myself a little pep talk.
15 weeks...I can DO IT!!!!
Now if you'll excuse me, McDonald's is calling my name.

Is Anyone Else Out There As Pumped As I Am?

DUDE!!! I cannot wait to see NKOTB in concert again, alongside 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men. They are coming to ATL on June 20th and you can bet your sweet ass that I'll be there singing along to every freaking song!

First night out after baby say WHAT????

Weekend Update

What's up peeps? Hope y'all had a great holiday weekend! My company decided to let MLK day be a float holiday (take it now or later in the year), and I took it! Heck, I'm almost 6 months preggers...I need all the breaks I can get. So it was nice to have Monday off!

This weekend was hectic but fun! We went out for Asian as a family on Friday night and then Saturday morning headed to Spartanburg bright and early. My grandmother was recently in the hospital (over a week) fighting double pneumonia. Combine that with refusing to walk, Parkinson's and Dementia and we had no choice but to move her from Assisted Living to a full fledged Nursing Home. Since I wasn't able to get home to see her when she was in the hospital, we decided to go see her on Saturday. She looked a lot better that I expected, so that gave me some relief. After our visit to see Mama Bobbie, we headed to check out my brother in law's new bakery in downtown Inman. (since we were in the area)
Travis opened Sparkle City Sweets in December and so far it's been doing well. Tyler loved his cupcake!

We spent the rest of the day playing with T at my parent's house, then grabbed pizza for dinner before Ben and I headed to the movie theater. We took full advantage of the free babysitting and went to see Silver Linings Playbook. My choice and a Total chick flick! I loved it...Ben liked it enough, I guess.
But WHATEVER...I'm carrying his bay-bay, so I get to use that to my advantage every once in awhile right?
The next morning we headed back to Atlanta in time to host a bunch of our neighborhood friends for the NFC Championship...tons of food and booze (not for me though...boo) and good times. It was a great game but sadly the Falcons aren't going to the Super Bowl.

Monday, Ben and I dropped Tyler off for a couple of hours at daycare so that we could get some errands done and get the house cleaned from the previous night's festivities.

Overall, a great weekend! Hope your's was great too!!!!

Globes, Playoffs, and More

I had nothing on the books this past weekend. By that I mean we had absolutely nothing planned. Sometimes this sends me into a panic mode, other times I relish it because we've been so slammed with stuff.

This weekend I felt a little bit of both. I was still catching up from the craziness of the holidays, but had enough recoup time to feel that we should be out doing something fun.

Turns out my weekend of "nothing planned" turned into a weekend of crazy fun!

Friday night, we had a family "make your own pizza" night. Tyler is such a fan, and Ben and I have become fans too! So that was the nice quiet time that we needed!

Saturday morning we hit the gym and Tyler hit the playroom. Afterwards, we headed to lunch at our favorite place Wildflour, then went to get Ben some glasses. After glasses shopping, we treated ourselves with some ice cream since it was GORGEOUS outside all weekend!

We also hit up Home Depot to buy paint for the nursery (it's being painted on Wednesday, can't wait).

That afternoon, we decided to go bowling and a bunch of the neighbors came too. At first it was utter chaos trying to get 4 families bowling at the same time, but it turned out to be a great night!

Sunday, we went to church and Dunkin Donuts, then at 1pm all the guys came over to watch the Atlanta Falcons game at our house. I was "wife of the year" (no really...I was) and made apps for the boys while entertaining 5 kids upstairs! After the Falcons won, I had a short time to clean up before I had all the neighbor girls over to watch the red carpet for the Golden Globes and eat cookies! Back to back parties... I'm an animal ya'll! I made Chewy Butterfinger cookies and Cookie Butter cookies, and they were so delicious!

The kids were sent to the basement to play while Ben and Doug (another neighbor dad) supervised. Everything was a little too quiet for my liking, so I headed downstairs to check on the bunch...that's when I saw this:

This picture doesn't do it justice, so let me explain. Santa brought Tyler his 12 volt Jeep for Christmas and left the box down in the basement. So Ben decided it would be a great idea to let 6 children climb in the box and start shredding the Styrofoam pieces with their hands. It literally looked like it snowed in my basement and the children were covered from head to toe in tiny pieces of foam.

The kids thought it was the best thing ever...and Ben thought he was Dad of the year! The mom's however (having bathed most of the kids already) were not as pleased.

But we couldn't help but laugh...and laugh hysterically I might add. It's moments like this that make me so happy to be a parent!

Have a great week Everyone! 

Baby Update

Yesterday was my 5 month check up with my OB. Over half way there WOOHOOOO!!! May, 2013 can't get here fast enough people!!! I'm ready to have my family complete and start life with our new bundle of joy! (And not to mention, drink wine, eat sushi & deli meat, have my morning cup of coffee, start back at weight watchers and work out hard core again...did I mention drink wine?)
Good news is that everything looked great at the doctor, which is always a big relief!

We've also made a couple of big decisions over the past month or so that I'll be happy to share with you!

First, the name! It's official that our new little man will be named:

                   Jacob Drew Sullivan

The name has been on our short list for awhile but we were always throwing around other options. However, recently Tyler started calling my belly "Baby Jacob" and the nickname has kind of stuck. So we've decided to go for it. Can't wait to meet you little Jacob!

Second, the kicking...I can already tell I have a wild man on my hands. He's always up to something in there..including sitting on my bladder (TMI, I know) but seriously, I go to the bathroom every 5 freaking seconds!

And lastly we've definitely decided to go for the second C section. I think it's the wisest choice and it will keep my va-jay-jay intact. SO...the actual delivery date will be sometime between May 16-18. HOLLER!!!!

That's all the updates I have for now, but I'll keep you posted as things progress!
Happy Friday Ya'll

Superbowl Link Up

If there's one thing that I enjoy talking about at 5 months pregnant...it's food! So I thought I would link up with Amy over at The Story of Us to discuss favorite Superbowl dishes!!!

I can't believe the Superbowl is almost here...and more importantly...I still can't believe that the Redskins lost last week! There goes Ben's dream of seeing Washington in the playoffs in good ole ATL this week. I would have spent a small fortune to get him a ticket though...and I would have even volunteered to stay home to take care of the little man. Don't I rock as a wife? I digress...let's get back to food shall we???

Last year I made two delicious apps for our Superbowl with the neighbors! One was a new recipe and the other was an old favorite. I highly recommend both!!! I don't mean to toot my own horn but they were amazefest! In fact, I'll probably make them both again this year! 

Let's start with the old favorite... Hankie Pankies!!! 

This is probably one of Ben's most favorite foods in the world. I first learned about Hankie Pankies from our friends from grad school, Julie and Jim. I think they are a common occurrence up in Michigan (where Julie and Jim are from), but this southern girl had never tasted them. They are delicious and extremely easy to make.

Hankie Pankie Recipe

Source: othersideoffifty.com via Kristen on Pinterest

The other recipe were Emeril's Baked Jalapeno Poppers! Very difficult to make....but so worth it! I made Ben cut and de-seed all of the jalapenos and he swears that his hands burned for two days. 

Baked Popper Recipe

Source: foodnetwork.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Clicking on the links above should take you right to the recipe!

So there you have it! Two delicious appetizers that I will probably duplicate this year! Happy Eating Y'all!!!!  

It's the Playoffs!!

This past weekend was probably one of the laziest we've had in awhile.  I always find that the first few weeks of January are always a little low key as we wind down from the craziness of the holidays. It's nice... but at the same time it's depressing. Tyler is still talking about Santa and what he wants next year. And just the other day he told me he wanted to be a knight for Halloween. It's hard trying to convince a 3 year old that he'll have to wait 10 more months before the holidays are here again.
But alas, it's January...and I'm just hoping for snow!!!

Friday night, Tyler took his new jeep out for a spin with our next door neighbors, and we ended the night with make your own pizzas. Tyler LOVES doing this!
Saturday, I woke up not feeling well at all. I had the flu shot the day before, so I think that might have had something to do with it. But I was having cramping too, so at the advise of my nurse, I took it easy for the day. I stayed in bed while Ben played Super Dad. The boys spent the day hanging out. Tyler went to kids club while Ben hit the gym, then they went to Target to stock up on soccer gear (we signed Tyler up for soccer beginning in March). The afternoon ended with an exhilarating trip to the car wash...well exhilarating for a toddler, that's for sure!
That evening our sitter came over to watch T so that Ben and I could go out to dinner for our neighbor Kristen's birthday party. We met the Schmidt's this summer and they got us involved in church again, which has been nice! We went to North Atlantic Seafood and it was delicious.

By Sunday I was feeling much better! We spent the morning running errands and Tyler rode his Jeep with our across the street neighbors.

Big Pimpin...

Sunday Afternoon we headed over to Mike and Roberta's for the Redskins game! It was the first round of the playoffs and we were all so excited that the Redskins had such a great season. Roberta made a bunch of apps and the kids had a blast playing in all of the empty boxes (Mike and Roberta just moved to our neck of the woods 2 weeks ago). The O'Rourkes and the Manders joined us as well! It was a great time, but a sad sad loss. Regardless of the defeat, HAIL TO THE REDSKINS! It was a great season, and I can't wait until next year!!!

New Year's Eve Progressive Dinner

We had a great New Year's celebration with our neighbors! We did a progressive dinner this year..which was a lot of fun! We started with apps at Jill and Shawn's, then we had the main course at our house, dessert was at Edwin and Tatiana's, and then we had a dance party and rang in the New Year at Anna and Oscar's!
Good times were had by all...and my little insomniac toddler even stayed up past midnight! New Year's Day was spent watching the Gamecocks play KICK ASS in the Outback Bowl and also included a family bowling trip!
Here are a couple of pics!!! I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year!!!