Loquacious Lady

Well, I’m still alive. I have been SO bad about blogging because I’m just so dang tired and a good dose of nauseated. I don’t feel like doing anything.

But today, I woke up with goals:

Get a shower, get dressed in normal clothes instead of PJ’s, put on make up, dry hair. (So far, I’ve done all of that.)

Eat cereal, blog, go check out sewing machines in Duluth. (Still in the process.)

Come home, do laundry. (Well, I don’t doubt I’ll at least come home.)

Make an actual meal for dinner instead of Tom making himself sandwiches…again. (When it grosses you out to even open the fridge, it’s hard to cook. But I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!)

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Anyway, in order to complete a goal, I am blogging. And for your enjoyment, here are some photos of my brother, Jonathan, his wife, Lisa, and the fab four: Tyler, Madeline, Anna Kate, and Violet.

I took these the day before their 10th wedding anniversary. The picture of the kids pulling them apart is mimicking that same pose done with flower girls and ring bearers on their wedding day.

And I just realized that I put the new logo on both photos of Violet and Jonathan. Oops. I guess I went a little logo crazy. But can you blame me? I can’t wait to tell you more about the designer behind the logo AND the new website that will be coming soon. SO pumped!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the photos. I had fun looking through all the shots from that session and seeing the ones that really made me laugh or sigh or smile. Aren’t they a pretty family?

Jellybean is going to be so lucky to have all those cousins to play with so close-by!
~Meghan

Monday was my last day as Will’s nanny. I know I said that would happen in July, but things got moved up. Our last day together was pretty fun.

When I first got there, Will was still asleep. Elizabeth had set up a sweet goodbye present from her and Austin on the counter. Bath and Body Works for me, and a gift certificate to Babies R Us for Jellybean.

After Will woke up, we headed out for a full day. We started off by going to this little “beach” in a park at Lake Lanier. He loves the water, the ducks, and looking at the boats.

After playing there for a while, we went home, cleaned up, and headed to my place to pick up Tom. The three of us headed to my doctor’s appointment, since it was the only day they could fit me in this week.

It felt like everything had come full circle, knowing that I had kept Will since he was 5 months old, and on my last day as his nanny, he was coming with me to the first sonogram of my own baby.

After getting Jellybean’s first portraits, we grabbed some Zaxby’s (yes, I craved it), and ate it with Tom at our house. After eating, Will wanted to say hey to the dogs, then we headed back to his place for his naptime. Three and a half hours- that’s a pretty good nap!

When he woke up, we headed outside to play. And for me to snap some photos of him for his mama.

And, okay, one just for me. Silly Will would stare down the camera when the timer was going and then smile right after it took the picture.

Afterwards we headed back inside for Will to have dinner as we watched Flushed Away on dvd. Soon, Elizabeth was home, and Will and I hugged goodbye.

I’ve loved being his nanny, and the timing for it to end couldn’t have worked out any better. Now my own little one is on the way, and Will has gotten old enough to need to spend time with kids his own age at preschool. Perfect.

~Meghan

Thank you to everyone for your sweet comments on the blog, facebook, and twitter yesterday. Tom and I had a lot of fun hearing from y’all! We are so happy for those of you who are also expecting, and we appreciate the excitement, interest, and prayers from those of you who have all taken the time to get in touch!

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The baby has taken over.

It is a fact. I can no longer eat anything unless I’m in the mood for it. If I try, I gag.

No more are the days that I could just walk into the pantry or open the fridge and find something I wanted to eat. Even things I used to love are now unappetizing unless I’m in the mood to eat them.

Unlike most women I hear of who crave an item or two for an entire pregnancy, I crave different things daily. Or, more accurately, I finally find something that doesn’t make me want to be sick, and I feel so much better when I eat it. And then, a day or a week later, the very same food can gross me out.

Things I have craved:

*Pickles

*Ice Cream

*Arby’s (beef’n'cheddar with Arby’s Sauce and Horsey Sauce and curly fries)

*Chic-Fil-A (chicken biscuit and hash browns in the morning)

*String Cheese

*Oreos with Milk

*Chili Cheese Dogs (Tom refused to get me this one at 9AM)

*Spaghetti

*Salty Chips

*Chocolate

Things that make me gag:

*The smell of Bacon (at any time)

*The smell of grease (when I first wake up)

*Granola Bars and Crackers I normally like

*Brushing my teeth (don’t worry, I still do this at least 2x/day)

*Trying to force myself to eat anything I’m not in the mood for at that time.

*Pickles (After a week of craving them, it went in reverse)

So far though, I can’t complain much. I’ve come close to losing my meal a few times, but so far, I’ve escaped throwing up. I’m so grateful for that.

And then there’s the hormones. Obviously, the hormones are making me go through the food aversions and cravings, but they are messing with my emotions too.

I’ve never been on such a roller coaster. One day I’m so excited and happy about the baby (well, every day), and then, the next, I’m crying and worrying that something will go wrong.

Tom always has to fight laughter as he tells me this: “I know the baby is okay because your hormones are insane. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be crying or even worrying like this right now when you were so happy an hour ago.”

The hormones can also be blamed for the fact that I am utterly exhausted all the time. I wake up tired. I am tired all day. And then I want to go to bed early.

Our house is a disaster, my cooking has gone out the window, grocery shopping rarely happens, and I nap almost every day. I feel so lazy and worthless when I see how little I contribute nowadays.

And, of course, that means I start crying. Tom has fielded more than one tearful (on my end) conversation about how I feel useless and lazy and like a slob. Usually that turns into me claiming that he will quit loving me and that by the time I get my energy back, I’m going to get huge, and he won’t “like me anymore.”

Honestly, I don’t know how he keeps a straight face. And to be honest, he doesn’t always even try. Sometimes in the middle of crying, I will start laughing when I realize how ridiculous I sound.

Poor Tom.

The Bruster’s Incident

I also, a few days before we knew we were expecting, had a complete and total meltdown when we went to get ice cream at Bruster’s.

I was sitting in the car, waiting on Tom to come back with our cones (I had just gotten a shower and had no make up on), when he returned to tell me they were out of Chocolate Lover’s Trash, my favorite flavor there.

All I wanted was a chocolate-dipped waffle cone with my favorite Bruster’s flavor inside. And it wasn’t available.

You would think it was the end of the world the way I reacted.

I completely lost my cool and went a bit whacko with rage. I was furious. So furious that Tom suggested we just leave. That made me even more angry.

Finally I picked up my phone and furiously searched online until I found the menu and picked another flavor, which I deemed “stupid.” I knew I was overreacting, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

Well, they didn’t have that flavor either, nor did they have chocolate dipped cones. Tom was too smart to inform me of that, however. He had the girl dip a cone in chocolate, then go hold it in the freezer until it was hardened. And he just picked a flavor similar to the “stupid” second choice I had selected.

All in all, it took him 10 minutes of waiting to get that cone, but he did it.

Later, I fully realized what a nutjob I had been. I apologized to Tom for it, and I was so grateful that I had lost my cool in the car, rather than in line.

I even joked to him, “Wouldn’t it be funny if I was pregnant, and that’s why I lost it?” He just gave a half laugh and rolled his eyes. I’m pretty sure he was convinced I was insane.

Three days later? I got a positive test. And Tom has reallllly enjoyed retelling the story of me going all Hulk on him at Bruster’s preceding our finding out.

In summary, I’ve gone insane, and Tom is a saint. That’s pretty much what it comes down to at the end of the day.

No complaints about leftovers, again, because I don’t want to cook.

Or driving to Arby’s when we were supposed to grill out.

Or buying me even more Oreos.

Or how long it takes me to do laundry now.

Or complaining about any other household task I used to bust out at least once a week.

Although, he does sometimes just look at me and start laughing. I ask what his deal is, and he tells me that I’m going to look hilarious towards the end: huge, waddling, and short.

Somehow, he’s never said that while I’m having a hormonal shift, so it’s caused no tears yet.

Yet.

~Meghan

Yep! That’s right. We’re gonna have a baby! A bebe. A wee babe. I can hardly believe it myself.

Of course we’ve had a little while to get used to the idea. We’re 8 weeks pregnant, which means that we’ve known for about a month. And, well, it wasn’t exactly a “surprise” pregnancy.

Anyway, we’re due on January 28th. Suddenly, winter doesn’t seem all that far away!

Any and all prayers for the health of this sweet baby would be appreciated. I will be keeping the blogizzle updated as things progress…if I’m not too tired to blog altogether.

We are so unbelievably excited, and we just couldn’t wait to to tell the world any longer. Especially after hearing that little heartbeat going yesterday during the sonogram. That’s the best sound I’ve ever heard in my life! Tom wholeheartedly agrees.

Yay, Jellybean!

~Meghan

While we were in the pool at the beach house, my brother, Jordan, and our niece, Anna Kate, got into a conversation where she was showing him faces she would make to express different emotions.

Out of the blue, she said, “this is my cutest face.” And then she dropped her head to the side, somehow made her eyes twice as big, pulled her mouth into an almost sad little pout, and made everyone within 20 feet stop what they were doing to exclaim over this expression.

We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Here was a four year old who had figured out her cutest look, and she really nailed it. It was adorable. Of course, she got really embarrassed afterwards and didn’t want to show us anymore.

A few days later, I did manage to coax her into trying to make that face for my camera one more time. How could I pass that up?

Her eyes aren’t quite as huge in this picture, but I still think it’s a pretty darn cute face. Want to see what her mama thinks was Anna Kate’s inspiration?

(source)

Yep. Bolt. Bolt learning how to beg with puppy dog eyes.

If you have that movie, and you have children, beware. They will learn the power of the puppy dog eyes.

~Meghan

Recently, Tom and I purchased annual passes to Stone Mountain Park. Since there is a laser show we want to go to this summer, a Christmas village in December, plus it’s a place that more than one person has mentioned they’d like me to take some pictures, I thought it would be worth getting. I also just enjoy going there with Lisa and the kids (they go all the time) and with Tom.

Here’s the thing. Season tickets come with the opportunity to upgrade to the “plus pass.” If you upgrade them, you pay a little more upfront, but it includes things like a mug that gets you refills for 99 cents (big discount for the crazy prices at the park), 20% off food and merchandise (only see myself buying food), select dates I can bring a friend for free, and more.

But the biggest thing (to me) is that it includes admission to Snow Mountain. Snow Mountain is when, in the winter, Stone Mountain generates some fake snow (we don’t get a lot of real snow in GA, and when we do, we don’t go driving anywhere), and you can go tubing down the mountain, shoot snowballs at targets, do all the normal things you would do in the snow (forts, snowmen, angels, etc.), hang out at the bonfire, etc.

Normally, Snow Mountain costs an arm and a leg. For an adult to do all of that is $47. With the annual pass, you get $10 off. But with the Plus Pass, it’s free. Tom and I thought about going last winter, and we decided not to pay that crazy amount.

So I guess I’m wondering if anyone has ever been to Snow Mountain. If so, is it worth it? Is it really fun? Or is it a waste of time and money to upgrade my pass?

Thanks!
~Meghan

My birthday was last Thursday, and I turned the ripe old age of 26. I am really looking forward to this year. Unlike last year, where 25 freaked me out a bit, this year, I’m just loving it. Twenty-six is young enough to be young and old enough to be taken somewhat seriously. It’s good.

But I’m really excited about the new “friends” entering my life because of this birthday. I say “friends” instead of just friends because they are inanimate objects.

1. This year, my mom and dad gave me money towards the purchase of a sewing machine. I cannot WAIT to have it and to learn to sew.

My mom taught my sister how when she was growing up, but I had/have a serious problem sitting still. Even when I sit for a long period of time, I squirm, readjust, crack my toes, stretch, etc. I don’t think either of us were ready for me to learn sewing.

As a result, my sister is the second coming of Martha Stewart in all kinds of things- sewing, cooking, baking, etc. And I move around other people taking pictures. haha But I am going to try to learn sewing.

2. Tom shocked the mess out of me by surprising me with a MAC BOOK PRO!!!! I mean, WHAT?! I must have rocked age 25 to deserve that for a birthday gift!

Just joking. But really, Tom and I are both on the VERY last leg of our Dells, and we were so ready to move on to our next computers. I wanted an MBP, and he wants an Air. We’ve been making trips to Fry’s and the Apple store just to say hello to our coveted friends.

I learned two things from doing that:

1. There are no geniuses at the “genius bar.” At least, none that I’ve met.

2. If you stop by the Apple store with a stroller, they will get you out of there as fast as possible. You are not cool enough to be in that store. I plan to remember that when I want extra fast service in the future. I got swooped down on by about 3 people working there, waiting on my hand and foot as a team to get me out of there, when I stopped in with Will once.

Anyway, when I opened my present, I could hardly believe it.

We’ve both been waiting a long time for our new computers, and I don’t do the finances for our family, so I didn’t realize that we had been saving for it. Tom is sneaky. He even had it shipped to some friends (Chris of 8BIT and his wife, Brenda, thanks y’all!) so I wouldn’t see it. I had no idea.

Getting this computer also means getting the full version of PhotoShop. I can hardly wait. I am still using my Dell to edit until then (my PSE is only for PCs), and it is kinda killing me because my old computer is so slow and takes pleasure in crashing when I press save after editing photos. Ugh.

Anyway, I love my MBP.

And I am soon going to pick out my sewing machine (I’ve got my eye on one in particular), and between it and the computer, I’ve got a feeling I will be spending a lot of time getting acquainted with my new “friends.”

Anything I should know? About sewing or Macs?
~Meghan

One thing that everyone in my family looks forward to on their birthday is a video message or voicemail from my sister-in-law, Lisa, that contains all of our nephew and nieces (on the Patton side of the family) singing happy birthday to us.

All of them except for Ella, my sister’s baby. But since she’s only one, none of us expect that yet. Well…until now.

Apparently, when I walked down the stairs on the morning of my birthday at the beach, and my parents burst into a round of the “Happy Birthday” song, Ella was inspired to join in.

Shockingly, you could tell she was actually singing the song. Mostly for the applause, but I didn’t care. It was so sweet. It even sounded like she said my name at one point.

Of course, she’s coated in sunscreen, and I held my phone the wrong way for a video. But if you can get past that, it’s pretty cute. I fully expect a call from Ella next year.

~Meghan

Yesterday, my sister, Kristen, brother-in-law, James, and my niece, Ella, all headed down to the beach for some photo time. I really love sunlight for photos, and at the beach, it just seems that much prettier.

You might not believe me, but I was working HARD for every smile I got out of Ella-Belle. She was not in the mood, but I managed to dance like crazy, kick water all over myself, work up a sweat making crazy faces and noises, and get some smiles out of her. Phew!!

~Meghan

And this is our view.

By a strange and wonderful stroke of luck, mom and dad put us in a room with a view this year. (In a family with four kids, and with me being the youngest, this is rare.) We are LOVING it.

I promise to have a more interesting post later. Just a short post today, because I need to get back to hanging out with the fam. Hope you are all having a great week!

~Meghan