Dress Rehearsal for Halloween

It's that time of year that Justin and I just love. There's something about football on TV, the weather FINALLY turning cooler, leaves changing colors and knowing that the holidays are quickly approaching that just warms my heart. I love Halloween. I think I get it from my mother. She always made me these elaborate costumes. I still remember my Rainbow Bright costume to this day and how proud I was to wear it and I probably broke the age limit of trick-or-treating a couple of years. So it's only natural for me to pass this love of dressing up down to my boys. Nolan wants to be a cowboy this year. In years past, I have this adorable costume picked out only for him to absolutely hate it and want to take off the hat after one second of wearing it. So this year in an effort to keep his costume on, we've been having some dress up time with our costume. Here's a sneak peek at some of the costume.

Daddy Mack

C.S., Mack, Neal, Cornelius...the man of many names. But the one we lovingly refer to him as is Daddy Mack. The man was the most independent 93 year old you've ever met. Until a couple of years ago he was mowing his lawn, cleaning his gutters and driving himself all around town. We heard of Daddy Mack's declining health just a few weeks ago. Even then it was hard to believe. He would talk about how he was about to die because his pacemaker was about 10 years expired but that pacemaker just kept on tickin' and year after year good ol' Daddy Mack was there with his unforgettable laugh, hunched shoulders and toothpick sticking out of his mouth.

The grandkids coined "Daddy Mackisms" that he would try so hard to say just right but things would just get a "little" mixed up. He would talk about how his cough had gotten into his "bronicals" and hearing the man say "Sauvignon blanc" was enough to make anyone laugh. But that is what made Daddy Mack - Daddy Mack. Every time Justin would get off the phone with Daddy Mack, I would wait in anticipation to hear if there was another Daddy Mackism we could add to the list.

Justin lived with Daddy Mack in Memphis after college for two years. Daddy Mack makes me look bad as a wife. He had homemade dinners on the table every night. I mean some good ol' home cooking and was a model to him of what it means to care for and take care of family. While it's been so hard that Justin has lost both of his grandfathers in less than a year, I know that both of these men have meant so much to him in his life and I see that love being passed down through the generations. We miss you Daddy Mack!

Daddy Mack with Justin as a baby (left), Nolan as a baby (right)

Daddy Mack doing his favorite hobby-fishing

Daddy Mack and Nolan-July 2006

And I couldn't find a video of Daddy Mack but he's talking in the background in this video of this and you can hear his contagious laugh.

Here he is pickin' on Justin's guitar in November of 2004 when we were in Memphis celebrating his upcoming 90th birthday.

Roly Poly Campbelloni

I know that Nolan has always had the nickname Nolie Polie but just for this short time Campbell has taken the nickname. We've had tummy time and one day I look over and he just rolled over! Don't they say second children do things faster to keep up with their older siblings? While I'm not in a hurry for him to crawl or walk (although when Nolan did I lost 10 lbs so maybe it's not so bad), it is fun experiencing the little milestones with Campbell but at the same time everything is going so fast with him growing up already! Here's a video of him rolling over. He kind of has a crash landing, we're working on "gently" rolling over. Please ignore the baby talk.

Double your pleasure, double your fun!

My best friend Angi and I have been best friends since 5th grade. Actually I didn't like her much in 5th grade, but in 6th grade I decided I liked her. Ever since then, I consider her my best friend to this day. She had twins 11 days before I had Campbell so we've experienced everything together. Her babies were early and stayed in the NICU so we even experienced our first night home with the babies together and called each other crying the next morning. She goes back to work tomorrow and I'm probably going to feel so lonely because we seriously have the longest conversations everyday about motherhood. Somedays we can't stop smiling at all that God has blessed us with and other days we talk about the guilt and hair-pulling moments of motherhood. We got the babies together last week and they "played". It was more eventful than our last playdate where the slept the entire time. We've already prearranged Reese and Campbell's marriage and that Tucker and Campbell will be best buds like their mommies are. Here are some pictures of our fun day...

Best buds
Campbell making the moves on Reese

Hey you better leave my sister alone or I'll let you have it!

Mommy Dearest

Wow, what a weekend! Justin's grandfather, Daddy Mack, is not doing very well at all right now. He's almost 94 years old and up until now has been in amazing health. He's decline has been rapid and they've called in hospice. Understandably, Justin wanted to go spend time with him.

I realize especially now just how amazing my husband is when I'm doing the single parent thing this weekend. I've had some moments that I am not very proud of. I'm afraid to say when you mix sleep deprivation, a newborn, a toddler and no break from any of it, it's a recipe for disaster. I wish that I could be one of those moms who make it look so easy and never complain but I'm just not being truthful with myself if I said it was. I somehow feel inadequate that I can't handle it all. How in the world do single parents do it? I wonder how in the world my mother didn't throw the three of us into the dumpster doing it by herself before my dad adopted me.

Don't misunderstand, I absolutely love my children and you would literally have to send me to a mental hospital if something happened to them. I just keep reminding myself how overwhelmed I felt when Nolan was born and while we were in the midst of it, it was never ending but looking back it was such a short phase. Now while the newborn part is much easier the second time around, it's managing a toddler and a newborn with two totally different needs that is exhausting.

Thankfully with family and friends in town, I've had help. My sister came over yesterday and I'm not sure if it was the odor I was giving off or the amount of grease dripping from my hair but she offered to take the kids just so I could go shower. What an amazing 15 minutes that was.

Nolan always acts like it's Christmas day when daddy comes home everyday after work. Tomorrow is my Christmas!

Chunky Monkey!

Well we went for Campbell's two month check up today and everything went well. Here are the stats: 12 lbs. 11 oz. (he gained nearly a pound in one week!) and 22 1/4 inches. He's in the 75th percentile for weight and head size and the 25th percentile for height. I wonder if those giant daddy genes are going to kick in soon? The doctor was amazed to hear he's sleeping 6-7 hours at night. Usually 4-5 hours is the norm for a two month old. I think he's just hibernating with all those rolls. Then came the shots....boy he was NOT happy. Wow, I think some glass might have shattered. Luckily, he calmed right down when I nursed him. All in all, it was a successful visit.

Labor Day Laughs

What a fun weekend! We managed to squeeze in as much fun as we possibly could in three days. We went to go to our nephew, Eric's, 12th birthday celebration with the family on Saturday, church on Sunday, and we fed the ducks and went to the park on Labor Day. We even enjoyed a very nice dinner without inhaling our food down in record time with both boys on Friday night. And...drum roll please...Campbell made it without a feeding 7 hours for two nights! YEE HAW! Can't get a better weekend than that! Here are some pictures from our fun-filled adventures.
Campbell sure does love his Granddad. They do share the same middle name after all.

Melt my heart!
Nolan loved riding the "American-go-round"
We actually saw this heron catch spear this fish and watched the poor guy get eaten. It was a real life Discover channel moment!

Nolan loved the turtles, ducks, and herons. He wasn't so sure about the geese once they started honking.

Let's go feed the ducks mom!

Here we are finished feeding the ducks, now it's time to play on the playground!

Campbell's talking to Gram in Kentucky. Who says babies can't talk? He was cooing up a storm telling her about all the fun we had this weekend. She loved it!