This morning at the Hunton house:

Stephen: "Adler, come here, you need a tissue."

Adler: "Oh! I know!!" (running over to couch and wiping snot nose on decorative pillow, followed by big proud smile)

Getting ready for baby!

So let the count down begin! I'm 31 1/2 weeks pregnant, official due date is Feb. 15th, but since Adler was born 2 weeks early, I'm expecting this one to hopefully to the same! So, with Christmas traveling taking up 2 weekends, we will have just about 4 weeks to get it together before this sweet baby boy gets here! I can't wait to meet him!

I can tell you already that he is following closely in his big brother's footsteps...he is measuring large and is extremely active! My stomach looks and feels like a waterbed. 

I had a wonderfully sweet shower Tuesday night, pics to come. Just wanted to say hello!

Mommy

Since we've been back from Texas, Adler has switched from calling me Mama to "Mommy".  A couple of my friends have mentioned this transition and it just makes me wonder what goes off in their heads to make them change the name. I guess the next transition will be from Mommy to Mom. I can kind of see why kids make this change since "Mommy" sounds like a name you say when you ARE a baby and "Mom" is a name for when you are a big kid. All kids want to be big kids. So, that makes sense to me. I wonder if the same is for Mama to Mommy? Hmmm....deep thoughts...but I sure do love the sound of "Mommy". I'm glad to be Adler's!

Time to play the lotto?

Here's how my luck has gone in the past two days:

• Yesterday found out Stephen was going to keep his job. (big news!)

• Then a few hours later got a phone call that I was the recipient of a sweepstakes I had randomly entered at my doctor's office to receive 18 years of free Cord Blood Banking for baby #2 plus a $1000 gift certificate from Babies R Us!!! I didn't believe it until I got it in writing today, but looks like it's for real! Cord Blood banking is a way to store your baby's stem cells (collected from the umbilical cord at birth) which has potential medical uses to treat life-threatening diseases (around 70 diseases as of today) for your child and any member that is a match. Siblings have an 80% chance of being match! The doctor that delivered Adler is actually a spokes person for this company, so I know it is legit! If you are expecting or know someone who is, complete the form here to enter for their final drawing in December. You never know!

• Then I got a confirmation email from Old Navy that my order was on it's way (outfit for my baby shower next week). For some reason, I went online to look at the clothes one more time that I had bought and found two of the items had gone on sale! Don't you hate when that happens? I called their customer service and they credited my account the $16 something without any hesitation. I love Old Navy. This was perfect because I was paying $17 for shipping to get it to the house in time, so it's like I got free shipping!

It seems in life, I'll get a string of "good luck" moments. And then a long dry spell. Three years ago, I won a $500 shopping spree to Bloomingdales (sadly, it didn't go very far there) and the next day, I won 2 flights on Delta to anywhere in the U.S. or Caribbean. I took my Bloomingdales gift certificate, bought Stephen a new swim suit and flip flops to surprise him with the Delta gift certificate. We went and saw Josh Rouse that night too...man, that was a fun night! I think we booked our flights to Aruba the next day. 

Well, it might be another three years for my "luck" to return, but so far, it's been worth the wait!

He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. Proverbs 21:23

I was reminded today that I need to be mindful of the words I choose, not only in general, but especially around Adler. He's had a runny nose for the past several days. I looked at his face, snot running from nose to mouth, and said, "How can you stand that? Doesn't that drive you insane?" as I wiped his face. He looked at me with questioning eyes and said, "Insane?".

Hmph, probably not the best phrase to teach a two year old.

Lord knows there have been worse things to come from these lips, but a good "speed bump" to remind me to proceed with caution. These little ears have always been listening (scary to think), but now he is repeating!

I pray, with only Christ's help, to be a Proverbs 31 mother: "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

"Thank you, DaDa, and thank you, MaMa"

Sweet words spoken by my 2 year old when we brought him into our bed over Thanksgiving after waking up in the middle of the night. 

Not sure what woke him up and we let him whine it out for a while, but eventually, no body was sleeping, so we brought him into our room. After he got settled and it was quiet, he said this little sentence. 

Exhaustion and frustration disappear. 

Love you too, Adler, sweet dreams!