ZOOrific!!

Family fun!

So, we just LOVE the zoo around here! It is terrific(hints the ZOOrific title)!! We took Hayden for his first trip last year, and he had a great time, but of course this year he enjoyed it even more. He had so much fun watching and interacting with all the animals. We actually had a hard time getting him to walk away from some exhibits! I am so glad we live close enough to make a trip at least once a year, because I think it is something he will always look forward to. This year we went for the "Beat the Heat" deal(yes, it was a month ago... blog slacker, I know!) and I must say we didn't quite "beat" the heat. We did get there on time(surprise,surprise), but it was still smoking hot! Lucky for us it was quite shaded so we didn't completely die!!!:)

Being a silly boy with his PJ pics the night before the zoo...

Including growling like the lion on his shirt,

And kissing his oh so sweet giraffe!!!

I even got lucky and got one of him looking at the camera!:)

Showing us the Parakeets...

They looked so cool all perched up on this tree!

Another cool thing about the parakeet exhibit was that you could actually feed them. You could buy food on a stick and hold the stick out for the parakeets to come and get. We didn't actually do that this time, but we watched other people do it and it was really cool. They would come right up to the stick and perch themselves near it and eat. Tons of people even had the parakeet perched on one hand and the stick in the other while it was eating. I thought Hayden might get a little too scared this time to actually hold onto the stick without dropping it straight to the ground when the parakeet flew over, so we'll try it next time!!

He showed us each and every Elephant!

And this one even walked right over towards us! Look at those huge ears!:)

We were able to get really close to the giraffes which was awesome.
We watched this one eat for a good 5 minutes and it was really
cool. We were so close you could even see the wrinkles in
their skin and how matted their poor little tails were.
We all really enjoyed the giraffes!

And Hayden even got to pet one!!!:)

This guy was Hayden's favorite. I think he could have watched the
orangutan's swing ALL day. He literally burst into tears when
we had to leave to let other people watch! They were
putting on quite a show for us, but I had no idea it
was so entertaining for Hayden until we
attempted moving on. I wonder if he'll
always like them that much?!?

He also REALLY loved this slide! I can't even believe we let him play
on the playground because normally we don't take the time for it,
but it was a good call this day. He had so much fun! I couldn't
believe he would even do this slide, but he did and he
smiled the entire way down!:)

Loving it!

Last year we opted not to take him in the petting zoo, but this year
we just had to let him try it. Another good call on our part.
He was a little hesitant at first...

But warmed up to the idea of petting them pretty quickly.

And before long was petting them right by himself!:)
We even got to experience the hand washing
station after this exhibit!!!

Watching the monkeys! We probably should not
have let him stand up on this ledge, but he
really loved it so we just had to!:)

Watching the kangaroo's jump, jump, jump!:)

I really can't believe I even have this picture. We just put him up
to this piece of cardboard on a whim. I was for sure one of
us would have to get up there with him. He proved
us wrong. Not only did he not need us, he
enjoyed being up there on his own!
I think this one of him peeking
out of the hole is so cute!

But, this one is definitely the funniest! He just had
to see what was under that hole!

And finally... one of him smiling and waving! Gotta love it.
Cutest little cub I ever did see!!

I just had to end the post with this pic...

Exactly what I wanted to be doing after the exhausting trip to the zoo!
Isn't this just the cutest thing ever?!?

See ya next time Zoo Atlanta! Be ready for us!:)

The Third Trimester... here already?!?

We can't wait to meet you baby Sawyer!!

Not only is it here, it is almost over! It seems like I was just writing a post about being pregnant and now there is only 5 more weeks to go until we get to meet this little guy! We are so excited we can hardly stand it! I have been feeling pretty good lately and little Sawyer is just growing like a weed. Lately at my appointments he is measuring big, so we'll see what happens when he decides to pop out! Seeing as Hayden was 8 pounds, 8 ounces, I am guessing Sawyer will be a big guy too. The doctors sure seem to think so. I think they are just trying to get me to agree to being induced early so they keep telling me he is big, but I guess we will find out closer to time. For now, I'll stay on my pregnancy diet,(yes, you read that right... they only want me to gain 6 more pounds!) and hope that keeps our little man the perfect size. For anyone who knows me really well, any sort of diet just sounds hilarious... I'm not big on restrictions. It is quite a stretch to think I can cut out french fries and sweet tea, but I guess I will try to limit it. I'll let you know just how long that lasts or if I actually make it to the end only adding 6 more pounds! I do love to eat!!:) Oh, and Sawyer is the most active guy ever, so I feel like he must love the food I am eating... I would hate to deprive him! Here are a few 3d pics from an ultrasound we had back at 28 weeks. I'm sure he's much bigger now(7 weeks later), but at least you can see him!

This crazy little guy had his legs up by his head almost the entire time we
were there. I guess he's pretty flexible! Maybe it is these crazy positions
he gets in that makes it a bit uncomfortable for Momma...

But, at least he's comfy and cozy! He slept the entire time we had
the ultrasound done. Of course I always tell everyone how
much he moves about and then he sleeps through the
whole ultrasound... he just had to make a liar out of
me!:) About the only movement we saw was
when he moved his leg and decided to put
his hand up by his face! So sweet!

And I just had to include this picture of Hayden when we had his ultrasound done at 32 weeks for comparison sake!:)

They look pretty similar huh?!?

We have been doing everything possible to make sure we are ready for Sawyer's arrival, including getting Hayden's new room ready and putting a few extra touches to Sawyer's room. We haven't yet, but are about to get down all of Hayden's old things from the attic so we can put those to good use again, and so I can see if there are any last minute things I am forgetting(you know how the pregnancy brain works!)! I am calling Zerorez to clean our carpets again, making new cabinet space for the bottles/breastfeeding accessories in the kitchen, making room in the living room for the swing, bouncer, etc., getting the newborn diapering needs set up, putting the pack-n-play downstairs, setting up one of the monitors in our bedroom with the cradle... are you bored with my list yet?!? It goes on and on, so I just think I'll stop there!!! Nesting is not even the word for what mode I am in right now... it is so beyond that a new word needs to be created. I am just so worried it's not going to be all ready that I go into panic mode. Lucky for me I have Matt to keep me somewhat level headed!:) I am also blessed with great friends and family, so that makes it nice as well. A good friend of mine, Tina, had us a little Baby Sprinkle(cutest name ever right?!?) this past weekend, which was super nice. I really couldn't believe it... it was so great! Some of my closest friends and family were able to come and we all had a great time. Tina had a few cute games for us to play as well as the best food ever. We had so much fun trying to answer questions about nursery rhymes and playing baby bingo, and everyone loved the food. My favorite was of course the HUGE chocolate strawberry cupcakes. They were amazing! I am so mad I didn't get any pictures of the food... it all looked so cute how she had it set up and tasted even better!:) Oh, and the decorations and invitations were precious! Needless to say, we all had a great time chatting, eating and doing all things "baby!" I am so lucky to have such great friends and family and really appreciate everyone "sprinkling" me with all things Sawyer! Although I didn't get any good food or game pics, I did manage to get some cute ones of the attendees...

Almost everyone!

This girl really knows how to throw a party... love you Tina!:)

Had to get a picture with Kahlia... the best photographer ever!

Can you tell I enjoyed opening gifts?!?
Thank you everyone... I loved them all!!

Such cute invites...

Jenn, Kimmie, Heather, Michele and I... the best neighbors ever!

Farrah is also included in the best neighbors category(she
just had to leave a little before we snapped that pic)!

Mom, Meghan, Meem and I... Gran, Aunt Kitty, and Elizabeth
had already exited the party. Thank goodness they
made it in the big group pic!

Now, to top all of that off, our good friend Kahlia from JKMitchell Photography, took some maternity photos for us a couple of weeks ago. I told you we are really getting ready for this baby. I just had to have some belly pics and am so thankful Kahlia could take them for us. We absolutely love them! I can't wait to show Sawyer what he made Momma's belly look like!! There can't be a better photographer out there!:) Kahlia always takes our pics for us and I couldn't be more pleased. You can see more of her work here. Beware though, before you click on the link be sure you have time... you are going to be on the site a while just staring at the cutest pictures ever! I am already thinking of how cute the baby pics of Sawyer are going to be!:) Those little baby pics just make me melt. So cute! I made a little slide show of some of the maternity photos and have put some of my favorites below...

Isn't this just the cutest?!? One of Hayden's daily "baby" kisses!:)
I LOVE it!!!

I just love this one...

So much love in that one belly!

Happy as can be!

Peek-A-Boo...

This one definitely wins the funniest award! I laugh every single time!:)

And now for the slide show...

Thanks again Kahlia! We love them all! And to you baby Sawyer... we love you so much already and can't wait to meet you. Not too much longer now!!!

A Sea of Fun...

I love beach pics!

Is exactly what we had when we were in Orlando, and the adventures even continued when we got home! Along with all of our other big adventures on vacation, we went to both SeaWorld and the beach!:) They were both SO much fun! Hayden absolutely loved watching all of the shows at SeaWorld. He would clap and clap after the performances... so cute! He also got really into all the "pish!" Between going there and the beach I think all we have heard for the next month is "pish, pish!" He just loved them! Although "pish" were at the beach, that was not his favorite thing about that outing. There he just loved playing with and eating the sand! We definitely looked for the fish and talked about them, but since you had to actually get in the water to see them he wasn't as interested as he was at SeaWorld. He had more fun playing with the sand and just talking about the "pish!"

I just think this is so sweet...

It was so cute to watch him watch the waves... he was trying so hard
to figure them out. As soon as one would get close to his feet he
would turn and run. And scream, and smile, and jump, and
throw his hands in the air, and clap... he just couldn't
get enough! I don't know if you can tell very well in
this pic, but he would tense up(shrug his
shoulders and all!) in anticipation of
the next wave. So funny!

Amazed!

My sweetest boys...

Doing what Hayden loved most... playing in the sand. I wish you could
have seen the two of us when it was all over. We were COVERED
from head to little baby pinky toe in sand!

I'm not sure what was going on here, but it sure cracks me up!

Daddy had lots of fun doing this...

And Hayden and I had a good time watching him!

We also had fun making our feet pic! Thanks for your help Auntie Tiz!:)

Getting ready to take his fish into the water! Let me note here that he was not
the biggest fan of the ocean water. We did get in it and play and there were
times he thought it was great, but then a wave would knock him over
and ruin that. Maybe next year when he's a little bigger and doesn't
get knocked down so easily he'll like the water a little more!

Getting ready to dunk those fishies!!!

I think this was one of those times he was enjoying eating the sand!

Poor guy needed his sunglasses...

I told you he enjoyed eating the sand more than anything else.
I mean he wouldn't even take the shovel away from his mouth
long enough to smile for the camera with me!:)

Now, on to SeaWorld...

Considering how we did at Disney with the characters,
I was super surprised we got this pic!

This dolphin show, Blue Horizons, was definitely our favorite show of the day.
It was awesome. The dolphins got soooo high when they did their jumps.
Daddy got some great pics of them in action...

And Hayden even got to see one of them up close!
He was so excited.... "pish", "pish", "pish"!!!!!

And these guys put on a show, "Believe" for us... just
not quite as entertaining as the dolphins!

We just had to pose by one!

There is no denying how cool this was... these
fish could do what the humans could!:)

Checking out the manatees...

And then smiling for Momma!

Daddy got to ride the new Manta roller coaster... lucky duck!
He is the one with his hands up on the outside. Cool huh?!?

We even got to see Elmo at SeaWorld...

And Hayden couldn't believe his eyes!

I don't really know if this was taken during Elmo and Abby's Treasure Hunt
or Pets Ahoy, but either way you can tell he loved it!
Clapped after every single act!:)

One of my favorite pics of the day. Hayden and Daddy
really enjoyed seeing the penguins habitat, and so
did Momma. It was nice and cool!:)

We also celebrated Auntie Tiz's birthday while we were in Orlando and that was oh so fun as well! To go right along with our "sea" theme we went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for dinner and had a great time. Auntie Tiz even got brave and did a little birthday dance up on a chair as we all sang for her. It was awesome!:)

Go Auntie Tiz, go Auntie Tiz... it's your birthday, it's your birthday!:)

Thanks to a sweet man outside the restaurant, we got this cute pic!

Since we've been home we have continued with the "pish" theme by taking Hayden to the Georgia Aquarium. We knew this would be fun for him since he is in the fish stage, and sure enough he loved it. He even loved it last summer when we took him for the very first time, but this year he was even more into it! He loved getting right up to the tank and even attempted to touch a fish. The touching part didn't actually happen because he got a little fish shy, but at least he thought about it! I am sure we will be taking many more trips to the aquarium... so FUN! It won't be too much longer until we can go see us some dolphins at the aquarium!:) Can't wait!

This was literally the VERY first thing we saw when we walked in the aquarium.
Silly me thought since we had such great luck with our character picture
at SeaWorld, we should have our picture with the nice whale shark
character at the Georgia Aquarium as well. As you can see,
it didn't turn out quite as well! Hayden was so upset
with the worker who allowed us to take
him up to see Mr. Whale Shark!!!

After Mr. Whale Shark we went to see these cute little guys be fed.
They were so cute chasing after their jello. Yes, you read
that right, they were feeding these otters jello.
Who knew jello was an otter food?!?

This is how Hayden watched the whole otter feeding... he loved it!:)

Next, we made it over to these fish-eating anemone...

Where we were actually able to touch them!

Hayden thought really hard about touching them,
but in the long run opted just to wave!!!:)
Better safe than sorry!

One thing is for sure, he was not the least bit nervous about getting
as close to the tanks as possible!

Even when it meant seeing this scary guy!!!

I think he would have sat and watched as long as we would have let him...

But, it was a little on the crowded side the day we went. OK, I take that back...
A LOT on the crowded side the day we went. I really couldn't believe it.
We have been to the aquarium our fair share of times and not once
has it been as crazy as it was on that Friday. It was so crazy
I made Matt take this picture for us to prove just
how many people wanted to see the fish!:)

Hayden did get a chance to get up close and personal with this "pish!"

And this giant grouper... doesn't he look so sad?!?

I don't know how, but at some point Daddy managed to get this pic...

And one of those sweet millions of people that were at the
aquarium that day managed to get this one!

These were some of the different kinds of scary sharks we saw that day... yikes!

Fun times!

All of our fish experiences this summer have been a blast. Hayden loves "pish" at the moment, so all of our "sea" adventures have been very appropriate. I'm sure Hayden can't wait for his next adventure, and we definitely can't wait to experience it with him!:)