happy halloweeeen!

from me + baby 8 ball (magic or non-magic...your call)

the first of many homemade costumes to come for our little peanut

20 wks

We finally got to see our baby again this morning!  Everything is looking pretty good, so we're grateful for that.  If ultrasound pictures weird you out, then you might want to skip down to the last bit.  But, I had to share, because for one thing...it's fascinating, and for another thing...it's kind of hilarious.  Oh, and it's my baby, and this is my blog. :)

 Peanut is smart.  See it holding up it's index finger.  It knows it's #1,

and our first baby (besides the 4 legged one, of course).  

Or it's already an avid sports fan, and someone snuck it a foam finger.

 Here's the profile shot.  See it's tiny nose, mouth and chin?

(Hint...it's lying on its back and the head is on the right.)

 Happy Halloween!  Baby H would like to go as a skeleton this year.  From this 

angle, peanut is facing us, and you can see his/her eye sockets (again, on the right), 

arm (next to/above its head), and knee folded up on the bottom left.

And finally, here's a little wave, with his/her tiny bony fingers (see the little hand!).

Not to be outdone by his little brother or sister, here is a photo of Scout after he snuck onto the couch and ate half a bowl of candy corn that was on the side table.  Needless to say, he's been feeling a little sick to the stomach today.  I told him that's what happens to me when I eat too many in a row.

jowlin'

So, this might be slightly embarrassing...

But, in the spirit of sending off one of my favorite photographing co-workers, David Naugle, thought I'd share a few photos he took yesterday.  [Sidenote: Somehow I became the random stand in for various photo shoots around the office.  One day I went through all the photos DN has taken of me and sent them to Jamie, one email at a time, for a good laugh.  They are hilarious.]

I digress.  Ever heard of jowlin'?  It came around before planking.  You know that face your dog makes when he shakes his head back and forth...the way his lips go all out of control all over the place....that's kind of the idea.  In fact, here's a whole website devoted to Jowlers.  

Official Urban Dictionary definition:

The violent shaking of one's head side-to-side in order to obtain a photograph of one's face distorted from the intense side-to-side motion.

Pretty sure Naugle has photographed most of the company jowling (and if a video comes my way, I'll be sure to post), but for now, here are a few of my favorite lovely shots.  

And then, just for fun, he took some photos of me and Scout.  

I'm sure going to miss having a professional photographer around all the time. 

more tales from the dog

These past two days haven't been the greatest for Mr. Scout...

- Forgot to pick up his crate from his stay with Sue this weekend, so he was given the privilege of staying in the laundry room, crate-free!, during the night or while we were out.  We even put his bed in there to make it comfy.  Talk about freedom (in a small measure), huh?  I went home to take him out at 2pm yesterday, and when I got home at 6:15pm, he'd peed all over his bed and the floor (which he NEVER does).  Lovely.

- Last night, I was using an old baking sheet in the oven, and the thing was smoking like nobody's business.  Needless to say, the smoke alarm went off.  More than once.  (For those of you concerned, dinner was fine.)  Pretty sure the high pitched noise scared the little man to death.  He ran out the door to the top of the driveway, laid down, and wouldn't budge.  When he finally did come inside, it was clear he was traumatized, so J let him on the couch to snuggle with him.  This was where he landed (picture below)...acting like a cat.  He hardly moved the rest of the night.  

- I'm happy to say that Scout it back to his old self again this morning.  After a fun run around with Cooper, another office dog, I took him out to potty.  And do you know what happened?  He pooped out a sock.  Yep, the SECOND of Jamie's dress socks that I've seen come out of his back side.  Think there's any chance they're a pair?  Or that the husband might start picking up his socks?  Or that we can actually train Scout to not eat socks (our trainer says it can be done)?  Sigh.

- But on a fun note, the lil' man sure is loving the weather and the leaves.  One day I'll get a video to show you, but he runs up and down the strip of grass outside our office, and buries his head in the pinestraw.  Then he'll roll around in the leaves/grass looking all happy.  It's pretty adorable.  

- Oh, and my friend, Charlsie, has officially declared me a dog person.  Maybe it's the countless pictures I put of Scout on twitter?  Oh well, guess it was bound to happen. 

Katsaridaphobia

If you know me well, you know that I have a serious fear of roaches.  And apparently, the scientific name for that is Katsaridaphobia.  And apparently I'm not the only one who has this fear.  If you see the image below, you'll see what my google search sprung up...aparently there's even hypnotherapy for cockroach phobia.  (BTW, just writing all of this gives me chills.)  

I know it seems silly.  And I realize it seems like it's not possible, but I really am scared to death of them.  In college, my roommate, Micah, and I used to just keep track of the roach in our room until we could find someone who would kill it.  Or we'd wait til it got to a decent spot for us to spray a ridiculous amount of roach spray on it so that at least that way we could kill it from afar.  Silly?  Yes.  Serious?  Yes.  

But I'm coming to the realization that I'm going to be a mom in a few months.  And one of the things moms have to do is kill roaches for their kids (or else train their kids to be roach killers, which I fully intend to do; however, there will be a few years before it's ready for that).  So, I'm trying really hard to man up and get over my fear.

But this morning just made me plain mad with the casualty I had over a roach.  You see, I have this great mug that I keep at the office.  It's large and microwavable (w/out getting too hot) and perfect for a big cup of chai or tea (and pictured below, except mine was brown w/ creme type).  I got it back when I was working at Starbucks, and got a sweet discount. :)  I keep this mug in a drawer, so no one else steals it (it's happened before and I went 2 weeks w/out it).  Well, this morning's dreary weather was perfect chai sippin' weather, so I pulled it out, took it to the kitchen, and just as I was about to pour the milk in, I see the tiny, thin nasty legs.  

Yep, there was a roach in my mug.  And worse than that, it appeared that it was stuck to the one of the inside side's of it (I didn't realize it'd been so long since I'd used it!).  Although I typically prefer them dead, the reality of it all was very disheartening.  So, I do the most logical thing anyone in my position would do...I leave the mug on the counter, stare at it, and wait for the next boy to come into the kitchen.  Poor Dave W.  He did his best to simply dispose of the roach (is it terrible that I contemplated keeping the mug, and just running it 100x thru the dishwasher at the highest temp?).  But the thing was crunchy (eww...his words, not mine) and stuck.  

So, alas, I had to say goodbye to my favorite work mug.  It now sits in the kitchen trash can until the trash gets taken out tomorrow night.  Dang roach, you win again.  If I was keeping a life score it would be: Roach - 225, Molly - 10.  I know they die in the end (points for me), but the heart attack they almost give me is major points on their end.

weekend starts today!

I'm taking tomorrow off to travel down to Dublin, GA, and here are some of the things I'm most excited about!

1 - The MOST exciting thing will be celebrating Shellie and Jose as they tie the knot this weekend.  The more time that passes, the more confident I am that, other than the gift of His Son, marriage is the greatest earthly gift God gives us.  Plus, she'll be an absolutely stunning bride.  Oh, and we love her family, and it's certain to be a fun time. :)

      

2 - The bridesmaids' dresses are this lovely color (or somewhat close to it).  Does that not just get you in the fall mood?  

 3 - The bridesmaids' dresses look like this (except in above color).  Thank you, Shellie, for choosing an empire waist...even tho you didn't know I'd have a growing belly by your wedding!  It makes this preggo feel and look so much better (since that's really what it's all about...).

4 - Have I mentioned that Shellie's getting married?!  Shellie and I met in grad school and became instant friends.  Then we ended up living together for a season at the Terrace.  She has been such a blessing to me, and in my opinion, there's not much better than watching your friends fall in love.

 5 - I found a super affordable dress, in the adorable houndstooth fabric featured below, that I plan on wearing to the rehearsal dinner.  It's a great cut, and in my opinion, showcases my better features at the moment.  (Once again, being vain.  I apologize.)

6 - I get to hang out with these girls!  All but Leah (Shellie's cousin on the far left) were in a small group the first year we were living in Atlanta.  They were so instrumental during that time, and Shellie's wedding (+ festivities) have given us a great excuse to see more of each other!

And just a few more reasons...
- The weather's supposed to be perfect!
- We're staying in a hotel room.  It's the La Quinta Dublin, but it doesn't matter.  Whenever Jamie and I stay at a hotel, I feel like we're on vacation. :)
- Good food. 
- Dancing.
- Scout's #1 reason he's excited for the weekend: He gets to hang out with his cousins, Gabby + Bailey, and play all weekend at Gma Sue Sue's!  

Hope you enjoy your weekend, too!

punkins

I know, I know, every year when October rolls around I go a little pumpkin crazy.  I mean, I've only blogged about it a few times (here, here, and here :).  But, who can resist when the air turns crisp, the leaves start to change, you start pulling out your jackets, and pumpkins are everywhere?!  

It's funny, bc I am not really a warm color person at all (save game day :).  But, somehow, come early October orange pumpkins tend to fill our small home, and I love it.  (However, I'm a sucker for the white, green, and various colored pumpkins.  If only they weren't so expensive!)

A few snapshots of the abode....

love our front porch, and our new foliage

(pardon the flags, but we're trying to deter Scout from eating the plants!)

really, really love the white pumpkins peeking out from the greenery

and winter lettuce.  when I saw them at Pike's, I just couldn't resist.

isn't it un-American to not have a mum by your front door for fall :)

sweet Lindsay made the most delicious pumpkin muffins for us!

if you like pumpkin, you really need to keep up with her blog during this

month, as it's declared all-things-pumpkin!  she even tried out 

pumpkin mac-n-cheese.  and the granola looks heavenly.

Yoforia has finally put pumpkin spice yogurt in their stores,

and it is amazing!  try it w/ graham cracker crumbles and

it tastes like pumpkin pie.  yummm!

For a small group treat, I tried out this pumpkin fluff recipe that I saw on Pinterest

Pumpkin-y things that I have yet to indulge in, but definitely plan on...

- Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte

- pumpkin butter

- pumpkin bread (although, Lindsay did make us some delicious pumpkin swirl bread)

- Devon's pumpkin cookies

- pumpkin pie

- one of my mom's Thanksgiving pumpkin rolls

- Lindsay's pumpkin apple parfait

- this Pumpkin Risotto recipe from Southern Living

- and, of course, some Brach's mellowcream pumpkins!!

Baby H may be deterring me from certain foods, but I'm so thankful the peanut is loving pumpkin as much as I do!

super dog

I know this is my second "fluffy" post in a row, but I just couldn't help myself.  This is hil-a-rious.

am I really that old?

because most of the time, this is how I really feel....

and then I remember that I'm going to be a mom in a few short months.  sigh.  oh, and turning 30 in january.  sigh.  sigh.  oh well, cheers to them both!  

how we found out

And now for the details that I had to keep to myself for what seemed like forever!  

The Day We Found Out

Although we weren't preventing anymore, we were still pretty shocked when we found out we were pregnant...mainly because it didn't take much time at all!  The week after July 4th, which also happens to be the week of Jamie's birthday, I was missing a key element that usually sends a big signal that you're not pregnant.  Jamie knew this, but we had decided to wait until the very end of the week to test for sure.  Well, his birthday rolled around that Friday, and I just couldn't wait.  I bought two tests, and decided to take one that morning...without telling him.  

After making him his favorite breakfast, banana pancakes, I snuck off to the bathroom and waited for the results.  Welp, as you can guess, the screen read a big, fat PREGNANT across it.  So, I walked out and asked Jamie if he wanted his first gift.  He agreed, and I just went out and said it..."I'm pretty sure we're gonna have a baby."  

The rest of the morning was somewhat of a blur - we had our freak out moments, I cried, we took a 2nd test, more freak out moments, frantic research about what I can and can't eat, lots of googling about what to do next, more freak out moments, etc, etc.  And then the realization that I can't tell anybody!  As hard as it was, it was a fun few months for Jamie and I to talk through it, dream, plan, and let it sink in.  

Here's a series of photos we took the next morning (really early, as you can tell!) - 

remember this photo that I referenced in his bday post about an exciting

morning?  even more exciting than you had probably thought :)