February Fun

So far, we've had a fun February!  Dawson and I are so thankful for our friends, the Gibsons, because we've managed to have a playdate with them EVERY week!  I am not sure who looks forward to these more-me or Dawson!  We've played at Gym Bugs and Tatarus-both are indoor tumbling gyms.  Dawson loved the trampolines and balls a Gym Bugs, and then he had a fun in the foam pits and just running in the huge gym at Tatarus.  I even got in the foam pits with him which I felt like I deserved a gold star for being this pregnant and managing to get in an out of the foam pits!  :)  We've also had a playdate here and at Charlie's house.  Unfortunately with all this playing, I somehow didn't manage to snap a single picture! 

Also this month our friends, the Whites, came over from Asheville for a visit!  We were thrilled to see them since it had been SO long!  Since we last saw them their family grew, and we were thrilled to meet Thomas!  We had a great afternoon and evening visiting and catching up while watching Dawson and Henry (1.5 years) play!  We always love to see them, and we're hoping to see a lot more of them now that we're only about an hour and a half away!

At the beginning of February Dawson started swim lessons.  He had been asking about his swim lessons like he had in Alabama before we moved, so we quickly found a place that offered classes for his age here.  So far we've had three classes.  They meet once a week until the end of March.  Dawson LOVES going to "swim class," and I can tell that since his last session of classes in Alabama he has become more comfortable in the water.  He still doesn't love to put his whole head under water.  This morning before swim lessons he randomly informed me, "God doesn't want me to get my whole face wet under the water at swim class."  How could I argue with that?!  BUT when we got to his lessons, he did decide to go under-although he wasn't crazy about that part of class.  He looks forward to his swim class all week, and every time we drive by the Wellness Center where he takes his lessons he points out:  "that's mine swim class on Saturday!" 

A couple weeks ago Dawson also got the chance to play with his second cousins Corbin (2) and Ashton (8).  Corbin is two months older than Dawson, and they played together very well! 

We also celebrated John's Mom's birthday this month, and Dawson had fun singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles on her cake about 10 times!

Dawson has also gotten to spend a couple of nights with his grandparents recently.  This has been great for me because I've been able to get some extra rest which I definitely need at this point, and it's been wonderful for Dawson to get to spend one on one time with them!  He's spent a couple of nights with Lolly and Pop which always includes a trip with Pop to see the geese in the pond in their neighborhood and at least one ride on Pop's John Deere.  He also got to spend the night with Nainie and Grandad and got to jump on the trampoline at their house.

For Valentine's Day we were a little sad because we didn't have our big group of friends to invite over for a party/playdate like last year.  Dawson and I still made lost of yummy treats thought-cake balls and cupcakes, and Dawson delivered them to his grandparents on Valentine's Day.  He thought this was great fun, and of course, he managed to come out with some Valentine's loot -including candy and suckers! 

Enjoy the pictures...

Dawson holding the White's newest addition-

Baby Thomas.  He held him for about 30

seconds before informing us: "I'm done!"

Dawson and Henry (the White's older son)

playing in the tunnels during their visit.

Dawson and Mommy during swim lessons.

Another swim lesson photo.

Dawson looking very serious after going all

the way under water.

Dawson and Corbin playing.  Unfortunately,

this was the only picture I got!

Dawson singing "Happy Birthday" and

about to blow out the candles on

Nainie's cake for the 10th time.

After we dropped Dawson off

to spend the night at Lolly and Pop's

we looked in the backseat to find

that Bentley was riding in Dawson's

carseat inside of the seat beside it

like normal.  We thought it was hilarious

because she rode there the ENTIRE way

home. It was as if she knew she was

the "only child" for the day. 

Dawson helping to cook Valentine's

Day treats.  He LOVES to help

in the kitchen!

Our Pea in the Pod: Carter Update 31 Weeks

     Since I have not done an update on our pea in the pod since 26 weeks, I had all 5 week-by-week pictures to share!  As you can see, Carter seems to be growing well!  He is still extremely active, and, if it's possible, he seems to have become even more active in the past week.  John and I get a kick out of watching my stomach "jump" as Carter moves around in there.  Sometimes we can tell that Carter moves completely to one side or the other and my stomach gets to where it's not a round bump anymore, but you can tell his littly body is all to one side because that side is so much bigger than the other.  That must be tight on him though because he usually goes back to the middle pretty quickly!  :) 
     Dawson is still excited for Carter's arrival.  He calls him Carter 95% of the time; thankfully we've almost forgotten about Mike the Turtle!  Dawson always makes sure to include Carter, which I think is really sweet!  If I tell him that Mommy, Daddy, and Dawson are going to do something, he always says, "AND CARTER!" as, as if I've completely forgotten!  I hope he's this excited to have Baby Brother around once he's actually born.  Dawson says, "Carter is coming out in April." 
The other day Dawson told me, "Carter needs to go potty" and then later he said, "Carter needs a sucker."  I'm not sure about the potty thing, but I know the sucker comment was a ploy to get a sucker for himself!  Dawson also told us that Carter is going to run in the yard with him when he comes out, so we had to have a talk about how he will be a baby and won't be able to run yet.  Dawson then informed me that Carter could crawl in the grass and get dirty.  Dawson also told one of our friends, "When Carter comes out he won't have shoes."  I'm not too sure where this idea came from in his little head, unless he thought shoes would be unnecessary since Carter won't be running?!  I think all his talking about Carter is sweet though because I can tell he already thinks about his Baby Brother a lot!
     I had my first doctor's appointment with my new physician here in Knoxville, and it went really well.  Carter is still growing well-as if I couldn't tell!!  I am feeling well, for the most part, minus being a little more tired with some swelling and hip pain as we're in the 3rd trimester!  I won't complain though, because I am so excited to have Carter, and because I think I am feeling better than I was at this point in my pregnancy with Dawson!  His heartrate was still right around the 150's where it's been most of the pregnancy.  I am on schedule to have another ultrasound around 36 weeks, so look for those pictures as we get closer to the due date. 
     Speaking of due date, I cannot believe we are TWO MONTHS and less than nine full weeks from the due date!  It's exciting, but hard to believe it's come so quickly. 

27 Weeks Pregnant with Baby Carter.

28 Weeks Pregnant with Carter.

29 Weeks Pregnant with Carter.

30 Weeks Pregnant with Carter.

31 Weeks Pregnant with Carter!

And just to make me feel better and

remind me that I wasn't always this size...  :)

This was me and Carter just 25 short weeks

ago when I was only 6 weeks pregnant with him.

It's safe to say he's done a lot of growing since then!  :)

Cherokee, North Carolina

For Christmas my parents gave John and I a trip to Cherokee, North Carolina accompanied by them entertaining Dawson for us while we went!  After getting settled in Tennessee, John still had a few days off so we decided to take our trip to Cherokee last week. 

Dawson was thrilled to get to stay with his Lolly, Pop, and Uncle Logan.  He had fun riding Pop's John Deere (always a favorite), going to see the geese in the pond in their neighborhood, going to the park and seeing the ducks there, going downtown after the park to have lunch with Pop at Nana's bakery, and being the center of attention non-stop, I'm sure!  :) 

John and I were excited for a little relaxation time since everything had been so busy for the past month (if not longer) with the move!  We took our time getting there and took the very scenic route which was wonderful!  The weather was perfect.  It was sunny and clear, so as we drove over the narrow, winding mountain roads we stopped several times to look at the mountains and take pictures. 

When we were almost out of the mountains and to Cherokee, I pointed out a huge animal laying down about 3 feet off of the side of the road!  It was an elk.  John pulled over, and I got out of the car with the camera.  We walked REALLY close until the elk stopped eating and looked straight at us.  We were less than ten feet away, so I was content with that for a picture...I didn't want to make him mad because he was HUGE, although John was trying to convice me to throw him a Ritz cracker!

After that we continued on to Cherokee.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us in the casino since you can't take pictures in there, but we had a lot of fun.  Harrah's is huge.  We checked into our room which was very nice-thanks Lolly and Pop- and then we checked out the rest of the resort. 

While we were there we spent some time in the casino (unfortunately, no large winnings to report!).  They also have a Paula Deen restaurant there where we had a delicious dinner.  We had a great time just relaxing while we were there too!

Thanks for our trip, Lolly and Pop!

Here are a few pictures from Cherokee!

John and I (and Carter-29 weeks) in front of some

of the beautiful mountains we passed on our

drive to Cherokee.

John with the mountains in the background.

Mountains.

More mountains.

More mountains.

The elk!  This is not zoomed in

at all...this is how close we got

to him!

Our room was very nice!

This says "Welcome to Cherokee" in Cherokee

with the English at the bottom.  In Cherokee

all the street signs are also written in both

languages.