The Bed Rest

Well, there has been a change of plans in our household over the past couple of days.

My pregnancy has been humming along quite nicely, just like Grayson's, and Saturday marked the first day of my last trimester (28 weeks). I can't say that my body is the best at being pregnant, I have lots of aches and pains, nausea and fatigue, but all things considered am very healthy- no complications. Well, baby Joshua (yes, we're having a boy and have named him Joshua) decided to up the ante on Saturday night around midnight. Of course. We ended up at Labor & Delivery where they monitored me all night, um morning, rather. Around 3 am I started having contractions. They were so mild that I didn't really feel them- it just felt like cramping- but the nurse came in and said,"Um, you're having contractions every 2-10 minutes." Because my bloodwork and a sonogram had already shown that everything was normal, Joe and I thought we were in the clear and would be released after we saw the doctor in the morning. We were SHOCKED. Cue the IV and shots of Terbutaline, a medicine used to stop the contracting. I was dilated to 1 cm and 20% effaced. Thankfully, my body responded quite well, and the contractions stopped within 30 minutes.

I was released by 9 am to go home, prescription for more Terbutaline in hand and ordered to bed rest. Fantastic. No problem! It's not like I stay at home with a busy toddler every day. Sorry for the sarcasm. Thankfully, Joe is off work for most of the next couple of weeks so we can make some plans and rally the troops. I'm not yet sure if this is going to be for the duration of the pregnancy or how strict of bed rest it will be. Joshua measured a week and a half ahead of schedule in the sonogram; he's almost 3 lbs, so that was encouraging. I go back to the doctor on Thursday morning and if anything changes I'll let ya'll know! The great thing is that I feel totally fine and every one is *currently* in good spirits!

I will leave you with this: Joe's favorite "look" during the winter is jeans with a thermal under a T-shirt. This morning was the first one he got Grayson up and dressed. (Not first time ever, but, you know). This is what G came out wearing:

Not the best picture, but I think you get the idea.
I just love it and I love that Joe.

Randoms

1. Grayson kissed a sheep on the mouth. We took Grayson and Ami D (Joe's mom) to Mt. Vernon a couple of weekends ago. It was the perfect outing for G because it is a huge plantation that he can explore without having to cross the street. (Not to mention gorgeous) There was a pen of sheep and he was having a good time petting them and feeding straw to one sheep in particular, all the time calling it "wuppy" (puppy). I turn away for one second and when I look back, Grayson has leaned in straight to the lips and the sheep obliged. He is a very affectionate and tenderhearted child which is precious and I have to say that I am probably more comfortable with him kissing the sheep than putting his mouth on the grocery cart.

2. We have received a 2 year old parking ticket from Italy. In Italian. A final notice came to an old address from Florence yesterday. Joe had no idea that there had been any type of infraction while we were there and we are concerned that it is a scam. However, upon further research we think it is the real deal and my husband, being the honest man that he is, feels like he needs to pay the 105 EURO. He is pretty sure that he was driving in a restricted area and a traffic cam caught a pic of the rental car and traced us that way. We are wondering what happens if we don't pay it, because obviously we had no problem returning to Italy and renting another vehicle. Oh, and what happened to the other 2.5 years worth of notices? (Allen, we will be contacting you shortly to discuss the appropriate action to take)

3. Katie bar the door! The Aggies are going to a respectable bowl game and we ended the season ranked.

4. The best money I spent all month was on a pink baby doll stroller. And it is Grayson's. He had such a great time with them during our trip to South Carolina (at all the little girls' houses) that I decided to check them out at Target the other day. $10! Are you kidding me? I snatched that sucker up and prepared for the verbal onslaught once Joe got home from work. It sounded like this,"Why couldn't you have gotten him a toy lawnmower?" (because he's never seen YOU push a lawnmower since we don't have a yard and he wouldn't have any idea what to do with it) "Why couldn't you have gotten a blue one?" (someone please find me the blue baby doll stroller out there. Purple, maybe.) Never mind the fact that the child played with the thing for 3 hours straight that afternoon, completely changing MY life. Joe has adjusted to the stroller for the most part, except for yesterday when he asked me if we could take the fabric off the frame and dye it blue. I pointed out that the frame would still be pink and he stood down. Let it by known that Grayson will not carry any sort of doll or stuffed animal in the stroller. He will allow race cars, sticks from the ground, and sometimes his milk.

That is all.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Order Restored

You may say, "it was only Baylor..." But, need I remind you that beating Baylor has not been a shoe-in for the Ags in recent years. The voters seemed to appreciate the victory as well, and we are now #18 in the USA Today poll. I know this is probably not big news to a lot of our friends out there - especially those of you in SEC country, but the Ags haven't seen such lofty heights since 2007.

With the wins over Tech, Oklahoma, and Baylor, it seems the natural order of the universe has been restored. I can assure you that the world will now be free from pestilence, disease, earthquakes, and toll roads.

We should all observe a moment of silence for the new and improved (at least for now) Aggies.

A Wuppy

Grayson is still all about dogs. In August, he made his first (and only to date) animal noise: woof, woof. In early October he was walking past the TV and a dog commercial was on and he pointed and said,"Puppy". For efficiency, he has recently put the two together and says,"Woo, woo, wuppy" when he sees a dog.

So what else would he be for Halloween?

That costume cost 3 bucks at a consignment sale. Cutest $3 I ever spent.

Sweet little Luca stopped by. He wasn't too thrilled with his restrictive pea pod costume, but it was precious.

Our friend Jessica has never had a Trick or Treater in her LIFE. She grew up in the country and for the last couple of years up here no one has shown up in their townhouse complex. Sunday night was a momentous occasion for her and every time someone knocked she squealed like a little school girl and ran to the door. It was awesome. (By the by, has anyone else noticed the size of the trick-or-treater in this pic? She appears taller than Jessica who is standing up on the stoop. What is the statute of limitations on these things?)

We let Grayson walk to our neighbors that know and love him. We weren't going to let him get candy, but at one house they handed him a small Twix bar. He had no clue what it was for, but was oh so proud of that shiny, crinkly paper. He marched around with it in his hand from house to house showing it off. Of course the Wuppy was a huge hit. And if you ask me, the view from the back was the best.

He is so stinkin' cute in that costume that I may have to put him in it again this week just for kicks.

South Carolina on My Mind

Ahh, the South. Time just seems to go much slower there, people are friendlier and everything seems more relaxed. Although we technically still live in the South by a few miles, Northern Virginia is generally lumped into the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast culture. Don't get me wrong, the South has its own problems (that I won't get into here), but it is wonderful to pass some time down there.

A couple of weekends ago we returned to the city that was our home as newlyweds for 3 years, Columbia, South Carolina. The occasion was welcoming our best friends back to the states who were coming off the mission field for furlough after 3 years. Along the way we were able to catch up with several other friends that we miss dearly and attend the church that we are still technically members of. (We may need to get it on that!)

First stop, the Comptons, our old neighbors/good friends/martini drinking buddies (did I just write that?). It has been 4.5 years and 3.5 babies since we've seen them!

Maggie, the newest arrival

Grayson and Campbell

We then met up with my middle school cheerleaders who are now SENIORS. Grayson LOVED those girls!


Then we met up with the Merediths to watch a little football and introduce Kate and G.

It took a little while for them to warm up, but obviously they did. (And don't worry, Ellis, he's just practicing for the real deal!)

We spent the rest of the weekend with the Danfords and Hawkins. Yea!!

Baby Nate!

Grayson learning how to be helpful/sweet to babies.

The Hawkins. This is how family pics roll when you have a newborn and a toddler.

G loves Jaime

Mercy arrives next month!

Grayson with Aunt Sara

Boys

Ben with Aunt Ashleigh

And to all the others not pictured here, we had a wonderful weekend and cherished our time with each of you! Thanks for loving us and taking care of us!

More T-shirts!

*If you think wearing matching T-shirts is uncool, this post may not be for you.

(This post should have been written at the end of June, but I was busy gallivanting around Italy and spent the subsequent weeks as sick as a dog, wondering why I thought it was a good idea to get pregnant again. Don't worry, I'm over that now and happy to be with child.)

Team Dickerson

+

Team Hawkins

=

Team Hawkerson!

We have traipsed around 3 continents in these bad boys.

We've been pregnant in them.

When we first got them printed babies were not on the horizon, but we got 2 little shirts just in case.

Grayson

Ben (his shirt is on the wrong continent right now)

So we had T-shirts for everyone!


Until this guy came along in June...
We are oh so proud to welcome (belatedly) the newest member of Team Hawkerson:

Nathaniel Wib Hawkins!

Nate, we love you already and can't wait to hug and kiss you to pieces this weekend. (you too, Ben!)

And in the meantime, I'll be ordering more T-shirts.

Low Bridge, Everybody Down

Does anyone else remember the Erie Canal song from their childhood?

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, cause we're coming to a town

When we drove through upstate New York in route to the Canadian family wedding, we passed the Erie Canal. I thought I could remember a song and a picture book about the canal from long ago. Joe didn't think any such thing existed. (Of course he has been since proved wrong)

On our way home we had a little extra time and I begged Joe to stop at one of the parks along the canal. You may laugh, but it was one of those full circle moments for me.

It was beautiful and cool (temp.) and even had an old lock system you could look at. Of course my part in the side trip was almost ruined due to a sudden pregnancy ravenous hunger, but thankfully we had some Cheez-Its in the car to stave it off.

This was the weekend Grayson discovered the joy of throwing rocks into the water. (He did it in Lake Ontario as well)
It may have been a little further off the interstate than Joe anticipated, but he agreed in the end that it was worth it.

And you'll always know your neighbor and you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.