beach trip

We are headed back from Sandestin :(  We had a GREAT time, and Porter had sooo much fun!

If you ask him what he liked he'll tell you: sand, the pool, and the race cars (go karts)!  Can't wait til next year to go back!

We were so lucky and got NO OIL while we were there (in Sandestin), but the water was yucky with seaweed :(  Me & Porter are possibly the only people to go to the Beach for a week and come back paler than we were--I think I used up 4 bottles of 50spf while we were there...Ryan managed to come home with a tan sunburn ;)

Here are an obscene amount of pictures (but not even close to all the ones I took ;))

checking out the hot tub (which was about the same temp as the pool!)

first day at the beach

he loved everything about the beach--including sand everywhere

waiting in line to ride the "race cars" aka go karts with daddy

he loved the bumper boats...

and was SOAKED when he got off

 he was excited about his first solo ride...

...until it started going (he was screaming, "get me off of here!").  we didn't (bad parents)...

and he eventually got used to it (though I think he's giving the ride operator a dirty look here)

the next ride (train) he wasn't taking ANY chances and made mommy ride with him (and I BARELY fit ;))

the airplanes were more his (SLOW) speed...apparently he has no problem with heights!

the swings were nice & slow too

little gilligan--he LOVED his hat

more football on the beach with daddy

Porter loves alligators, so we took him to fudpuckers to see some real ones!

feeding the gators!

being "buried" by his new friend natalie.  Natalie & her family were by us on the beach every day and Porter had so much fun playing with her and her little brother, Nicholas

We were both hot & tired by this point ;)  We made it about 4 hours everyday on the beach though...

...which lead to GREAT afternoon naps!

He loved the lobster's at Poppy's....until they got one out to show him!

Porter is rather cautious and would much rather watch them in the tank!

we started getting more meltdowns by day 4 ;)

At Baytowne with Daddy

my two favorite boys

being silly with mommy

the only family pic we got!

dancing fool

showing all the girls his moves :)

a special treat our last day!

pointing out EXACTLY what he wanted at Johnny Rockets....

...and here it comes!!

a strawberry milkshake--yummy!!

to the beach!

We are on our way to the Beach--we're almost to Mobile right now!  And I could not be more excited!!  Even with all the oil, I'm still excited to get out of town for a week and RELAX with NO WORK!  After looking at the NOAA Trajectory for the oil spill the last couple of days I was starting to get upset that our trip would be ruined, but then after looking at all the FUN things we can do that DON'T involve the Beach, I'm determined that the oil spill will not RUIN our family vacation!!

But I will say that the trajectory is looking a little better today so hopefully we'll get a few good "oil free" days!

Before we left, I had my 31 week appointment today with a 4d ultrasound!  Ryan & Porter both got to go :)  Porter kept asking when he was going to see "Sissy"--he didn't quite understand that he was "seeing" her ;) 

I was still measuring 4 days behind (same as my 20 week ultrasound) which was exactly what I measured the entire pregnancy with Porter--and he was 4 days early!  I'm not sure if they have officially changed my due date to the 11th or not??!  The ultrasound tech marked me as due the 11th, but my chart still says the 7th--It would be GREAT if she could wait until the 11th though, since Ryan will be done with training camp by then ;)

She weighed about 3.5 lbs, had chubby cheeks, and hair!  And most importantly was healthy and right on track...and she's still a she--I was starting to have panic attacks/dreams that she was actually a he and had NO idea what I was going to do with the PERSONALIZED  bedding (that has 10 YARDS of light pink silk!), and the crib that I tediously painted--not to mention all the cute smocked outfits :)

Only about 2 more months to go!

"it's a river!!"

Tonight, as I was doing some things around the house (mainly laundry from our trip!)--Porter started screaming from the living room, "Mom, LOOK IT'S A RIVER!!!".  Sure enough, when I came to the front windows, I saw running water going down our street!  It had been raining, but I didn't realize we were flooding!  Porter was so excited to see the "river"...when it stopped raining, I let him go outside and he was even more excited!  The pictures don't even show how deep it was--right after we came back inside it started raining hard again and it probably rose another few inches!  It's starting to go down now, so hopefully the rain has stopped and we won't have any more "rivers" :)

"look, it's the river"

This was in the early stages--it got all the way over all the weeds in the deep ditch by the road!

30 weeks and on the go...

I can still see my {swolen} feet...barely

(I need a pedicure too...)

I am now about 30.5 weeks pregnant and we have just a little over 2 months to go!  

My feet and hands have started swelling a little--I never had any swelling with Porter--and I'm starting to get "uncomfortable"--a lot earlier than with Porter! 

I am also soooo tired!  I so enjoyed our trip to Charlotte because I got to nap every day...Porter had lots of entertainment and I RESTED! 

I think it's going to be a long summer BUT we'll be on the go so much I think it's going to fly by!

I think I've said it before, but I'm not a "cute" pregnant person--instead of going "out" I just get WIDE!  And trust me, I'm getting wider by the day hour!

We just spent a week in Charlotte {we're driving home right now--25 miles from Auburn--whoo hoo, we'll be home before dark!) and we'll get home in time for Ryan to go to mini-camp and then head back out for another week at the beach with Porter on Monday and then be back for the second mini-camp! Then we have lots going on the week we get back home--I don't think I see any free time on our schedule until July!  And then we'll be busy getting baby girl's room ready--let's hope she at least has a crib to sleep in by August :)

Oh, and scroll down from a post earlier today or CLICK HERE to find out baby girls NAME :)

party, party

We have spent the last week in Charlotte visiting Ryan's brother and his family!  Porter had a blast with his cousins Kensi, & Erin!  The last time they saw each other was last Memorial Day and I'm amazed at the difference between Porter turning 2 and turning 3!  They had much more fun playing this time :)

We were there for Porter's THIRD birthday and he was lucky enough to have TWO birthday parties while we were there!  We had him a party on Saturday (his actual birthday), and then again on Monday when Mush-Pa and Bong-Bong {Ryan's parents} came to town!

We had so much fun in Charlotte and are excited to see everyone again in a couple of months when Bennett makes her arrival!

Here are a FEW (OK, a lot but just a few of the ones I took) of the pics from the week!

Playing with the cousins our first night there:

Kensi with her dance trophy--she was so proud :)

Birhtday party #1:

The cake (YUMMY)

 

Presents :)  Porter was especially excited about this part and after his nap, when we had everything set up and waiting--he wasted NO time and we had to open all the presents first :)

He got a little shy when we started singing happy birthday and hid ;)

He was over it in time to blow out the candles, though!

At the edge of their neighborhood, their is a small farm with horses--we took the kids to feed them some apples, but SOMEONE only wanted his apple for himself!

walking to see the horsies (Erin was the only one willing to pose;))

Party #2

again, still shy when we sang to him...

....and he's back!

We weren't happy ALL of the time {he did not want to go to bed with Mush Pa and Bong Bong still there}

he thought Mush-Pa could save him from bed...

All the grandkids {we'll be adding another soon!!}

I think these next two pictures sum up Kensi & Erin's personalities perfectly!!

Kensi (almost 7):

Erin (4):

We had so much fun and can't wait to see everyone again soon!!

baby girl's name

When we first found out the baby was a girl, and we decided on a name, we decided that we would NOT tell Porter the name since we didn't want him to "spill the beans"...but after telling him that he was going to have a baby sister--he quickly started calling her "sissy"!  

It quickly became obvious that she would be forever known as "sissy" unless we told Porter her real name--so we did!  

He still calls her sissy though, and it's transpired to "sissy meatball" {meatball is another story all together--he calls everyone meatball now!}...and then last week he decided her name was going to be "daisy flower".  

BUT he does know her name, and has told everyone :)  If you ask Porter what the babies name is, he'll go through his top choices:

1-Sissy

2-Meatball or Sissy Meatball

3-Daisy Flower

4-Her "real name"

So who knows when she gets here what he'll actually decide to call her--we're pushing for her "real name" {somehow I think "meatball" won't go well for her in kindergarten}

I broke down and told my family the name {BIG mistake--I immediately remembered why we weren't going to tell the name--All I'll say is the word "weird" was used in the first response of the name} and Porter has finished spilling the beans to the rest of Ryan's family this past weekend!

Sooooo,,,,,I figure it won't hurt to just go ahead and get her name out there!!

Bennett Sibley Hollern!

Both are family names--Bennett is my great-grandmother's (my mom's paternal grandmother) maiden name and Sibley is another of my great-grandmother's (my dad's paternal grandmother) maiden name.

I love the name Bennett, and it would have been Porter's name if he had been a girl--I almost named him Bennett, but I didn't want it shortened to Ben {I have a "thing" about names that are shortened and my husband is the worst at shortening names!}

There area a lot of boys in the Payne family with the name "bennett" as a middle name, but no first names and no girls, so she'll be the first!

We easily decided on Bennett, but Sibley took a little while--I really only cared to have one family name, so I told Ryan the middle name was up to him but I gave him some family names from my side and I just happened to throw "sibley" in the mix {thinking it would be the last one he'd choose} and he loved it!  I'll admit it had to grow on me at first, but after a day or so I LOVE it!!  

I love that her name is different  and Bennett means "blessed one" and Sibley means "sibling"  so I think it fits perfectly!