Carter has an Announcement!

Guess what guys? I'm going to be a big brother!!

I'm still not really sure what that means, but my daddy says I'm a baby anymore...I'm a Big Boy. My mommy has been teaching me about sharing my own toys more too! I guess I'm excited but I'd still rather have another bike instead! :)

The newest member to the Morris Fam will be here in July! Scott and I are so thrilled to be parents of two. I'm 6 weeks along now and was originally planning to wait to tell everyone, but we've decided to spill our secret early for two reasons.

1. Scott and I are so excited about this pregnancy and can't wait to have another little one in our house. Our family is going to be complete now with two children.

2. I have been so deathly ill I really need a place to vent. I don't like being a complainer, and nothing is worse than my poor husband working all day and then coming home to someone who mopes around in pain all night. So I've decided this blog is going to be my place to get it all out and hopefully Scott can have a fun wife again (at least two times a week!)

I am excited to be able to track this pregnancy better than with Carter though!

There have been so many differences in these two pregnancies so far though:

1. With Carter my starting weight was 130, now I'm at 123

2. I was definitely not this sick with Carter (I throw up at least 3 times a day right now)

3. Eating is such a chore right now, with Carter I wanted sweets all the time! (And french fries)

4. I was working full-time and going to school full-time with Carter at this point in the pregnancy, and now I'm counting down the days until I'm officially a stay-at-home mom! (3 1/2 weeks to go!)

5. I'm not the least bit stressed about this new baby, but with Carter I was a huge stress mess!

6. I wasn't this tired all of the time! We all know I have a ton of energy, but lately I just can't seem to pull it together.

7. I am so much more excited this time around. Even the little pains (that stop me in my tracks) are fun right now because this is the perfect timing for an addition to our little fam.

We are so excited and just ready to enjoy this pregnancy and the changes that come with it!

Blessed, Fortunate and Thankful....We are the Morris'

With Thanksgiving nearing around, I've decided it's time to post about what I'm thankful for. I am one of those people that get caught up in the "everyday" life sometimes and forget how much I really do have. Thanksgiving becomes my chance to remember what we've been given and to hopefully carry out the feeling for a few more months too!

This is a list of things that I am so grateful for in my life (in no particular order)

1. Of course my husband. What would a thankful list be without Scott right? He is truly my best friend and being married to him has made my life so much better! It's been over 7 years now and we have become so close within the last year it's amazing. He is one hard working guy, putting in on average about 60 hours every week and still managing to come home and be a fun dad to Carter. He has made me realize how much being a wife means and how much I am loved by one person. I am so fortunate to be able to be a stay-at-home mom soon and it's all because of him!

2. The next one I'm sure you can guess....my other little man, Carter. He was one of those unexpected surprise babies and has turned out to be the one thing both Scott and I thank God for everyday. I am so grateful for his easy-goingness! We take him everywhere: dinner, mall, shopping, friend's houses, and he is so good everywhere! He is such a happy little guy with the personality of a 10 year old already! My life has changed so much becoming mom and I'm so grateful to Carter for doing that to me. He has allowed me to realize what life is really about....family.

3. I am also thankful for our home and finances. We have a great home that will allow us to grow and change in for many years to come. We are so fortunate to have a playroom, a huge kitchen and a great master closet now and a decent sized lving room to be a family in. We have put so much time, effort and money into the house that it's now ours and really represents who we are and what we value. We also have a great financial future right now, mainly because of Scott's hours he works and my "amazing" ability to stretch a dollar. So we can honestly say that we don't live paycheck to paycheck anymore. (at our age I have to say we are a little proud of our hard work and dedication to our budget)

4. I am so grateful that I now have three complete families that mean so much to me. My mom, stepdad, brother and sister have been so much fun to grow up with and man have we shared some moments to remember! Growing up in the military really makes you come closer as a family. My dad, stepmom, and two sisters have really been an inspiration to me. Though I didn't share my everyday life with them, I am so close to all of them and consider myself lucky to have two sets of parents. My in-laws are seriously the best in the world! I couldn't have asked for a more fun, caring, example setters and genuine people to become part of a family with! With three families, we get a little spoiled! :) I love and admire every single one of you!

5. I love my friends. I don't have that many (only two that have known me since my high school days) but the friends I do have are amazing. I'm not great at calling people back or keeping "dates" but for some reason they remain my friends! I am so lucky to have so many people that I can enjoy hanging out with, in both good times and bad.

6. Ironically I'm very thankful for the trials I've had in my life. I didn't have your typical childhood, but now that I'm a mom, I am so grateful. The problems I had to overcome in my younger years have really made me who I am today and I am so glad! I am stronger, more mature and genuine because of my upbringing.

7. I am grateful that I'm a young mom. As much as I didn't want to become a mom at barely 21, I really am looking forward to being one of the younger ones at daycare. I can't wait to be one of the young fun moms with teenagers in the house! I am so glad that I will be just turning 39 when Carter graduates high school, hopefully I can be a cool mom! (probably not though!)

I am so blessed, a little spoiled and very lucky to have everything that I do (especially at my age!) I am so glad that Scott and I can give Carter a bright future and lots of fun memories.

What are you thankful for? Have a great Thanksgiving this week!

Back to Normal!

Carter is all back to normal...which is a great thing but that also means we're back to terrorizing the house and making messes everywhere! He is such a happy little boy and I'm so glad to see him back to his normal little self.

This is one of his favorite birthday presents....he rides it everywhere in the house! He even wakes up in the morning asking where his bike is!!!

This morning Carter had a huge breakfast! He ate 4 pieces of toast and entire apple and a bowl full of grapes! As you can tell his appetite is back to normal as well!
Though it's always nice when he snuggles and relaxes more while he's sick...I am so glad things are getting back to normal for us!

Mom of the Year....NOT!!!

I am definitely not in the running for the Mom of the Year Award anytime soon! We finally figured out what was going on with our little man yesterday......he repeatedly got the stomach flu (his daycare friends "shared" a few times with him) within a short period of time and so his digestive system just bascially shut down.

I kept thinking things would get better, but it's been over 2 weeks now (16 days!) but it's only been getting worse. He slept in our bed for about a week because he would wake up in the middle of night and throw up so quickly, without warning, that he would choke if I wasn't there to get him up! Good news: the stomach flu is gone and now we just have to get his little digestive system back, to normal. Which means a high "starchy" diet, lots of water, extra acidophilus, and plenty of Maalox tablets. (did you know little kids could take those?)

After about three weeks of our family getting sick, being sick and feeling sick I am so ready to get all of us healthy! I have done at least 4 loads of laundry a day now to catch up, sprayed two cans of Lysol around the entire house and have gone through an entire container of hand soap!

Also, when we took Carter in to the Pediatrician for his "chronic illness" has also got his Two Year Checkup! He weighs 25 pounds and is 34 inches tall! He is growing up so fast now and seriously makes Scott and I laugh repeatedly everyday! He can actually say a few full sentences now and learns new words everyday. Last night he said, "I want some wader peez"

Scott and I love him so much and just enjoy watching him grow up into the little man he's becoming. Now that we have his condition under control and at least figured out, we should be good to go for the future!

Changin' It Up!

After over a week of our entire family battling the "lovely" stomach flu I think we're finally getting over it. (Carter's still a little weird but at least Scott and I are well enough to take care of him now!) Since we're recovering I decided it was time for a change, including the blog. So of course I called on my cute sister-in-law who is ever so talented with the headers and "vua-la!"

This is a pic of what I've been doing the past few days with my time....

I did get a chance to get out of the house (with just the girls) and go to a purse party. I will admit I'm a "Purse Party Virgin" and can NEVER go back to shopping at the mall again! I'm in love with the purse I chose. For those that don't know about these types of parties it's all brand name purses (like Prade, Dolce and Gabana, Louis Vitton, etc) and they are amazing "knock-offs" for $40! Love it! Here's my new best friend...

This was just a random picture I had to include, Scott and I heard Carter yelling from him playroom last night and this is how we found him....
Silly boy!

Getting in the Thanksgiving Spirit....

Thanksgiving is such a fun time of year for me...I love the changing leaves, the introduction of cooler weather and of course the fun decorations!

Here are a couple of things I bought to get in the spirit of Thanksgiving:

This is the cutest doorknob hanger! And I found it at the Dollar Store!!!!!

These "real" deocrations we still have from our adventure at Day Farms...
This is the cutest idea (I didn't come up with it alone!) I got this frame with glass in it at Ben Franklin's for $2 and the vinyl letters for $1.50 so the whole cost $3.50 and it's adorable!

So this craft thing has nothing to do with Thanksgiving but I made it the other day and thought I'd share. I had this frame that I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby and I made the "artwork" to go in it. The pictures are actually from a "French-Inspired" calendar. By ripping certain pictures and "collaging" them together this is what I got....
Having today off made me realize how much I'm going to LOVE staying home as of next month! It's amazing what you can get done when you don't have work to think about....:)

Playing Hookie!

So I will admit that I'm really not feeling "that" sick...but after all three of us throwing up, feeling tired and just not having energy to clean...my house is a disaster!

I have about 12 loads of "throw up" laundry to do, cleaning in every room and about three dishwasher loads of dishes! So I decided to stay home today and take care of business. Carter's at daycare and Scott's at work so I have the entire day to get going!

My first stop was to get a new rug for our living room. (In case anyone is the the shopping mood: Shopko is having a "Buy One get One" sale) I got these two rugs for the price of one and they look amazing!

I love my hardwood floors but in the winter time it's so hard to have a hard (sometimes cold) surface to walk on when you're relaxing. These are definitely going to come in handy!

I feel like such a good mom/wife right now (which is usually not the case) because I have a roast in the crock pot for dinner and I'm currently baking some cookies so we can frost them tonight. My family better enjoy it because I don't cook, let alone bake, a ton around here.

I hope everyone is having a great day and getting lots accomplished!

Quality Hang Out Time!

Today is my normal day off, and it also happens to be Veteran's Day which means Scott has it off too. The plan was for my mom and sister to watch Carter for us while we had some fun "hang out" time!

I've decided when you plan something it never actually ends up happening. Scott was really sick and threw up numerous times last night and now I'm feeling a little queasy! So, my mom and sister took Carter to I'm sure his new favorite place....

Scott and I haven't taken Carter there yet so I'm sure it was a real treat for the little man. While Carter was having a good ol' time with Grandma and Aunt Ju Ju, Scott and I hung out on our couch and watched a couple movies. Though I was really looking forward to going out today....I have to admit it hasn't been all bad today. We actually have had some time to really talk about things (in between bathroom runs) and just hang out together in misery.

I'm starting to feel better so hopefully we're all back to normal within the next little while.

Weekend Recap....

This weekend was a weekend full of Carter's newest friend: RYLAN! Carter and Rylan do so well together, so Jackie, John, Scott and I can really just hang out while the boys entertain eachother.

This weekend we had a "family date night" at Fat Cats and of course had to eat at the Pizza Factory. It all started out so well, and then my little Carter threw up about 4 times! Of course each time was all over me...it's always a humbling experience when you go into the bathroom to wipe the throw up chunks off of your shirt and pants while the other cute girls are checking their makeup!

I took my camera in hopes of getting some really cute shots of the boys together, but this is about as far as I got...

Scott and I also painted our office and the other bedroom downstairs this weekend. Poor Carter didn't feel well so he really just wanted to be held and see what Scott and I were doing.

This is the new color of the office (love it) and the third bedroom downstairs is a similar color.

Here's little Carter getting in on the action!
I seriously hate white walls and now we've almost painted every wall in our home! I figured since we're staying here for a little while longer we should make it our own in every room. The thrid bedroom downstairs has been transformed into my amazing walk-in closet! I love it!

We have a few more plans for the rooms upstairs...I'll keep you posted!

Daycare Friends, Airplanes and Monkey Business...

Carter goes to an in-home daycare twice a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) he absolutely loves it too! It's been a rough ride with daycare (not really with the providers...just the "leaving my baby" thing) well this is definitely one the best parts....

He was all tuckered out from his really busy day with his friends, this is how I found him tonight when I came upstairs from doing laundry.

We went to the mall a couple days ago and my funny little Carter is still talking about the "pane" (aka Airplane) This is the famous plane we've been hearing about all week!

I know it's not Halloween anymore but Carter loves his monkey costume....I was able to get this shot.....Priceless!

He's such a funny little guy and definitely keeps Scott and I on our toes!

Amazing Deal.....Practical Purchase!

Since Scott and I decided to stay in our home, we thought it was time to "upgrade" a little. One of my complaints about our living room is that we only have one recliner (which Scott usually claims as his own) so when we watch a movie there's nowhere for me to rest my feet.....solution: my new ottoman!

As many of you know, Scott and I have furnished our home with second hand furniture and DI purchases...well we're "growing up" now and have the means to buy nicer things. So this time last year we bought new couches (I still got them for a deal at RCWilley but they were brand new) and this year we got this:

I absolutely LOVE it! There are 4 compartments for a TON of storage, 4 "tops" to either be trays or coushins and it's such a beautiful chocolate leather! (So durable for Carter and our little Timmy)

We all know I didn't pay full price for this ottoman, I actually found it on KSL from a lady who is very "well off" and wanted to redecorate. It's only 3 weeks old and retails for over $600.....I only paid $350 for it!

This is one of the best investments we've done yet! Scott and I can sit next to eachother while watching a movie on a Friday night, or I can rest my feet anytime I want, and now I have a ton more storage for my living room!

House Update....Memories

Today Scott and I came to the decision to stay in our home. We have had mixed feelings about putting our house on the market from day one, and just decided that we want to stay an enjoy our home for another couple years before moving again.

We are so attached to this house, Carter grew up here since he was 6 weeks old and it's our very first home! We have done so much work to this house and right now are excited to just simply enjoy it! Though listing a home is definitely NOT as much work as I thought...knowing what our future is going to consist of is a comforting feeling!

Today's market definitely is the perfect market to buy a home...but right now the thought of decorating, painting and organizing another home makes me sick! On a very positive note: staying here will allow us the much needed flexibility in our budget when I do quit next month!

I came across these old photos of our home before we bought it and thought you guys would like to see......

We really have put so much time, effort, money and thought into making this house our home and it's going to be a nice change for us to just sit back and enjoy it now!