Sugar and Spice and All things Nice

Today we found out that the newest addition to our family is a girl! WOW! How blessed we are to raise a son and daughter...I'm still a little overwhelmed! Dean and I were accompanied during the ultrasound by DB and Uncle Scott. She had a ton of energy and was moving around as if she was excited to see that we were peaking in on her little cocoon. Our precious little angel already has the perfect name picked out - Mattie Elizabeth - named after both of her maternal great-grandmothers. It's neat to see these names come to fruition since they were picked out about four years ago before children were even a thought. We are praying for our little girl to arrive healthy and happy sometime in December or January (hopefully December).

I did the best I could sans a scanner for the ultra sound pictures.

Love the picture above of her face...she looked right into the ultrasound wand a lot during the exam. Must be very friendly already!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Summer Fun

Summer is flying by so quickly that I am holding on tight to each day trying to slow it down. Fall will be here soon with lots of changes and I'm not sure I'm ready for it all. Before I get caught in a tail spin here are some fun pictures from that past few weeks of summer!

Eating a Ritz cracker for the first time

Feeding the neighborhood ducks banana flavored puffs

A visit from Grandmamma

Being Happy!!

Dean & John @ the dinning out

What Dean & John ate @ the dinning out....so gross

Playing with balls

tickle time with daddy

loving Gabby

love sitting on dad's shoulders

first time @ Lake Gaston

DB with friend Hank @ Wendy

wanting to walk more

family picture @ the lake

first boat ride @ the lake with the Martins!

Cool hair!!!!

Snuggling close to dad

Mango Belly

First posting of "the belly" for child #2. Feeling better now that I'm in the 2nd trimester, but I'm still crazy tired...probably something to do with chasing Mr. DB around the house and up and down the stairs! Baby is the size of a Mango this week and is making me very hungry! We will hopefully find out the sex next week at the 20 wk ultrasound!!

On a HOT, Hot Day in July...

many record temperatures were set @ the Farmer house. Not only was it the third day of triple digit temps outside...little DB set his own triple digit record.

Outside temp: 104

DB's temp: 103

It was H -O-T everywhere!!! Since it was the weekend the options for going to see a doctor were less than desirable, but by 5pm I was a nervous wreck and we loaded up for an urgent care facility where DB was diagnosed with an ear infection in his right ear and a sore throat. It's so scary to see your little baby not feeling well and not know exactly what's hurting him/her. I'm so thankful to live in the country that we can get medical care and medicine so quickly...and I pray that that continues in the future. We are on the road to recovery and DB is taking his medicine like a champ and sleeping a lot.

DB weighed in @ a whopping 24 # 12 oz and is 30 inches long!! (Made my back hurt even more knowing the exact number extra pounds I haul around on a daily basis)

Our little traveler

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go up to Annapolis for a wedding and Dean's parents were able to meet us there for a fun weekend. DB is a great little traveler and loves seeing new places and faces. We toured downtown and the USNA - did a little shopping at the midshipmen store - ate some great food and just had a great time visiting with family. DB was particularly interested in other children during our adventures and loves 'talking' to them. A very social little dude.

A family picture

In other exciting news DB got his first hair cut last week. Dean trimmed the back for us b/c we were starting to grow a tail!!! This is the finished product:

Another baby....WHAT???

Yes, we are quickly expanding to a family four...this year!! A little unexpected, but who doesn't love surprises??? Baby Farmer #2 aka...'Teeny Tiny' (nicknamed by its grandmother) is due to arrive sometime towards the end of December. So far I've had 2 doctors appointments and everything is rolling along...well, now that we are past the 1st trimester!! ;) Yesterday I went to my 15 wk appointment and heard its heartbeat...152 and I also got a sneak peak at it! A Very very cute little baby is growing inside of me. It even looked right at me through the ultrasound machine and said 'hello mama'. A friendly, sociable baby! Most importantly, Dean and I want a healthy baby, but curiosity has gotten the best of us and we are wondering if its a boy or girl! When we first found out we were pregnant we both thought girl, then I had a dream it was a boy...so who knows. I tried to convince the doc to make an educated guess at my appointment yesterday, but she stuck to her guns and said we had to wait until 20 wks and then the answer would be 100% sure. I don't have a scanner @ home, but I'll try to get the ultrasound pics up soon! In the meantime enjoy some of the pictures below:

DB's first hike

1st pool experience

Do they look like trouble or what???

They really became best buddies this trip...can't wait to see them together later this year with DB walking

Special Time

Sometimes an unplanned trip can result in multiple blessing, which is exactly what happened earlier this month when Dean's squadron decided to send him down to a CRM class in Pensacola. We were excited about the opportunity to visit family and friends, but with all the craziness of this spring (will explain in later post) I was a little weary of the long road trip. We finalized plans and left on a Friday to meet the Farmer’s at their cabin in NC. It was truly a Godsend that we were there because within an hour of arrival a frantic man came scrambling up the road to the cabin in search for help. His soon-to-be-finance was struck by lightening at Max Patch (a point on the Appalachian Trail) and with no cell phone coverage he was forced to drive around looking for help. Dean and his dad immediately scooped up this man and went to the top of the mountain to help while Dean’s mom placed the 911 call from the cabin. Help arrived fairly fast as we could hear the sirens heading up to Max Patch, but unfortunately the girl did not survive the strike. We were definitely supposed to be there that night. Article below.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100608/NEWS/306080033/Woman-killed-by-lightning-at-Max-Patch-minutes-from-engagement

As we continued our trip down to Pensacola we were able to see more family and close friends, celebrate the arrival of my best friend’s twin boys and put a contract on a house! Busy week. On Friday morning Dean got out of class super early so he was able to ride up to Atmore with us to visit my grandmother. We had debated about going Monday morning, but with Dean able to join us we decided that Friday was the best day. We had a great visit with her. She was a sharp as ever and was up on the latest news: the oil spill, the military, lawn care, etc. DB enjoyed crawling around and checking out his new surrounding and even found a chair just his size. We didn't know it would be our last visit with her at the time, but how amazing that we were able to enjoy her company that Friday. Below are 2 pictures that we took that day. She passed away early Monday morning and while it was a complete shock to everyone we know that she is a better place!

Above, Great Mama (Mattie Lou) is explaining to DB that he can indeed walk and talk...if he wanted to... ;)

DB finding a chair his size!

While it wasn't the 'trip' we expected we know that God's hand was with us every step of the way.