Soccer, Take Two.

Baby Girl Haynes.

Here she is, in her first official blog appearance at 16 weeks and 2 days:  Baby Girl Haynes. 

Unfortunately, Ben and I have ZERO girl names we can agree on at this point, so "BGH" will have to do for now.

I have no idea why it's taken so long for me to publicly post about my pregnancy on the blog...but it has.  It could have something to do with the fact that for the first 13 weeks, being a pregnant, working, mother of two simply wore me slap out.  Or it could be that for the first 13 weeks, cakes and cookies and ice cream and cupcakes and candy bars and all that good stuff made me puke my guts out.  Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that during those first 13 weeks, I had a "gagging" episode at least once a day, much to the delight of my husband and children.  Or it could simply be that I've been too busy enjoying myself and my family to simply take the time to write.  Sometimes, I'm learning, being in the moment is so much better than blogging about it.

But here we are.  I've been pregnant for sixteen weeks with a teeny, tiny baby girl.  Babe is estatic, and will probably stay that way until the baby is actually born and she sees me holding her, at which point I'm sure Hadley will freak out.  Harris is pumped, too, although he was really pulling for a boy.  So much so that he shed big crocodile tears when we told him that God had, in fact, made a little baby girl to join our family.

His original wish, of course, was this:  "Since we already have one boy and one girl in our family, what could we get that's not a boy or a girl?"  Seriously.  And Hadley asked for a baby elephant.

So I'd say we're doing well.  The kids are stoked and ask about the baby all the time.  I can't wait for them to feel her move!  It's summer, so things are laidback and easy and the days are full of trips to the gym and fun activities and naps and naps and naps and naps, and I'm soaking up every minute of this bliss I can.

But I'm also secretly counting down the days to December.

Babyland!

Cassidy and I have been planning on taking the kids to Babyland General for the last couple of weeks.  When Tyler arrived home yesterday and said that he'd be interested in going with us, we knew today was most definitely the day to make the trek up to Cleveland. 

Poor Tyler.  When he got to the house this morning and realized exactly where we were headed, his enthusiasm waned.  He thought he was getting himself into a short trip to the baby store (something like Babies R Us), and was more than willing to kill an hour or so with his sisters.  When he discovered we were actually planning on heading to "Cabbage Patch Kid Land," he wasn't quite so excited. 

Until we got there, that is.

The leafy cabbage chair was super cool, but Tyler quickly pointed out that the best photo op would be a life-size cabbage with a hole in the middle so that everyone would be able to stick their head in it and have their picture taken.  I'd have to say I agree with him.

Babe brought along "Baby Rosie," and the kids and Rosie (and the adults) thorougly enjoyed wandering the nursery halls.

While many of the exhibits are the same, the new Babyland General is huge!  It's extremely clean and spacious, with tons of dolls to look at and love and hug and buy for $250.00.

Take a look at the some of the kids available for adoption:

The big hit, of course, is the birthing tree.  We were lucky enough to see two baby girls (Grace Abbie and Olivia Susan) born during our trip today.

Harris was a little freaked out at the first delivery, but couldn't wait to watch the second!  Hadley, on the other hand, loved the deliveries, but freaked out quite a bit when I actually held the new baby.  Harry and Babe both "adopted" a small, furry dog from the hospital, and after watching the doctor check out the new babies, my sweet kiddos spent a good amount of time "checking" their new puppies. 

Turns out both are healthy and well!

And turns out Babyland General just earned a permanent spot on the tour.

Let the Summer O'Fun Resume...

After a very quiet week of it being just Ben and I at home, we are super stoked to have our family back under one roof.  While we enjoyed our "adult" time (think lots of eating out, sleeping late, and a trip to The Fabulous Fox Theatre for a production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"), we were more than ready for our sweet kiddos to return, and Harry, Babe and I wasted no time in getting back into our "Summer O'Fun" swing today.

For the fifth year in a row, we made our annual trip to Suwanee for some free fountain fun.  We were lucky enough to meet the Lockharts, Mayfields, and Boozers today, and the kids had a blast getting soaked.

Here's the best group shot I could manage.  They don't stay still for long!

Both Harris and Hadley continue to amaze me with their fearlessness around water.  They were more than eager to get wet and needed no prompting to hop right in.

Harris even, all on his own, made a beeline for the "huge, hugest" fountain right in the middle of the park. 

I promise he's in there!

Babe held her own in the bigger fountains, but wasn't quite feeling the biggest one today.  She much preferred checking on the "babies" and even took a few minutes for a quick tummy yummy break.

We played hard until lunch time, when we took over Mellow Mushroom.  Harry and Babe were even treated with Rita's (their very favorite) for dessert.

Hadley described the day with her trademark, "this is great!" and Harris raved about the experience as well.

We'll definitely be making a return trip.

N!K!O!T!B!S!B!

My voice still hurts. 

And I'm pretty sure I did one too many pelvic-thrust dance moves. 

But it was totally worth it.

The New Kids on the Block, as expected, did not disappoint.  And much to my pleasant surprise, I realized that even though I've always preferred N'Sync, I actually know (and like) most of the Backstreet Boys' songs.

I also realized that I'm part of a very special generation:  one that spans at least a decade of boy bands.  My friends and I are old enough to know all of the New Kids songs (something that the younger BSB fans in attendance could not claim or understand) yet young enough to hold our own with the Backstreet Boys stuff as well.

In other words, we screamed our heads off.

And, in addition to our super fantastic seats, we got to pimp this bad boy all the way to Philips (and The Varsity):

To say we're super cool would be an understatement.

We've most definitely got the right stuff.

Father's Day.

While I'm not a huge fan of manufactured holidays, I've come to realize how thankful I am for that little day on the calendar set aside to celebrate fathers.  My ultimate goal, of course, is for Ben to feel that we honor and celebrate him and what he does for our family every day, but it's still nice to have a little built-in time every June.

We played it pretty low-key this year and simply enjoyed being together as much as possible.  The morning started, of course, with the gifts.  Harris really, really wanted to purchase one of the following things for Ben:  a new police car, tools to fix a police car, a real hammer, or a hammer that Ben could use to hit himself in the face.  Instead, we went with a screen cover for the ipad and a few pairs of Ben's favorite Banana Republic boxers.

I think everyone was fairly pleased.  Except for Babe, that is...some days she doesn't really dig picture taking.

We spent the morning at church, the afternoon napping, and the evening indulging in Chinese takeout, burning some calories on the swingset, and building some policeman legos...all things our Daddy is pretty good at doing.

Happy, Happy Father's Day, Ben!  Thank you for loving us!!  We love you all the way to the moon and back!

Rain Delay.

We spent Saturday night at the Gwinnett Braves games with the Church of The Way staff and leadership team. 

Our original plans included a group tailgate, a start time of 7:05, and a trip around the field for the kiddos with their soccer team (it just so happened to be I9 Sports night as well!).  Even though none of that actually happened (instead the walk got canceled, we headed to Taco Mac with the Boozers and the Mayfields, and returned in the 2nd inning to a game with a late start), we ended up enjoying our trip to the ball park and hope to make it out again soon!

Water Babies.

Our tiny neighborhood pool is starting pay off...I think we've made more trips there in the last two weeks than we did all last summer.

No complaints here.

Party!!!!!!!

On Friday night, our friends and family came together to celebrate five years of these guys:

It seriously seems like just yesterday they were born.

Anyway...

Despite the rainy weather and the first twenty minutes of the party spent in the indoor pool, we ended up having a fantastic time splashing around outside on this:

Kim, Britton, Ben, and I rented one of the local parks and recreation pools (complete with play structures, water slides, a lazy river/whirlpool area, and a shallow play area for the little ones) and ended up hosting one of the most family fun birthday parties I think I've ever attended.

The slides, of course, were a big hit with everybody.

Well, everyone but Babe.  She spent her evening playing in the kiddie pool and cuddled up with Ms. Ginnell.

The rain really cooled things off, but even with the chill, smiles were everywhere.

We ended the evening with cake,

and opened gifts as soon as we got home.

Happy, happy birthday, sweet boy!!