Up Close and Personal!

Some first looks at Baby Girl Cardon. The ultrasound tech was able to get some pretty good 3D pics, which was SO cool! I have never had a 3D ultrasound, but it was really amazing how clearly you could see the baby's little features. Obviously the pictures didn't turn out as well as the live stuff, but I had to share.

The first thing I thought when I saw her was that she had her hand up by her face, just like Lucy always did. In fact, for weeks after she was born Lucy would wiggle out of her swaddling (and I made it TIGHT)so she could sleep with her hands over her face.

Today in kindergarten Lucy's class had the school counselor come in to talk about feelings, and then they drew a picture of how they were feeling that day. When the teacher asked her which feeling she drew, Lucy said, "Excited! I just can't wait to meet my new baby sister!" We seriously can't wait to meet this baby! Zachary is already pretending to hold her and play with her on a daily basis.

Jonathan thought this one was a little freaky because part of her head is being covered by the placenta, but I LOVE her little profile! I think her little nose is so sweet! We are 95% sure on the name, FINALLY, so that's monumental since we couldn't agree on Zach's name until after he was born. She was weighing in at 3 lbs. 12 oz. and is still feet first. She better flip soon!

So everybody always asks me: Who do I think she'll look like, since my kids are so totally opposite-looking. Who do you think this baby looks like? Lucy? Zach? Or all her own?

Soccer Star!

Now this is a post Uncle Taylor would truly be proud of! Last spring I got it in my head that I should put Lucy in soccer this fall, in an effort to give her the full gamut of childhood experiences. We'd done ballet and tap in Vegas, so I figured it was time to try out her sportier side.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!? Our first big meltdown was over the fact that the jersey was orange, not pink or purple. The second big meltdown was over the fact that she absolutely did NOT want to get sweaty and stinky!! That would be disgusting.

We finally convinced her to check it out and just see if maybe she could like soccer. We arrived and there were TONS of kids. I thought she'd be assigned a team with just a couple of kids, but I guess the way they do it now is they have all 50 kids show up, they have the parents coach them to do drills for 30 min., then they split them into smaller groups and have them scrimmage for 30 min. That's what I paid $90 for?!?

It was kind of a joke. Lucy wanted nothing to do with it. I knew I should have just stuck her in gymnastics!!

She actually did really well when it was time to scrimmage. She was fairly aggressive and went after the ball and seemed to have fun.

But she was NOT happy (despite the happy smile in the picture) to be hot and sweaty afterwards. She's quite a character.

Her jersey number is in honor of Uncle Taylor since he always wore that number during basketball season-- so she felt pretty cool about that.

Maybe we'll try this little guy next in soccer and let Luce stick to dance!

Labor Day Love

I love Labor Day. Well, let me be more specific: I love any government holiday that allows my husband to be home for a four day weekend (he also gets the Friday before off). Super!! This Labor Day we decided to take a couple of day trips to some cool surrounding areas, so instead of spending money on a hotel, we got to see two different places instead of just one.

We left first thing Saturday morning and drove the 2 hours to Myrtle Beach. We have totally fallen in love with Myrtle Beach-- it isn't stinky like the New Jersey shore, it's FREE to use and FREE to park, and the surrounding area is just one big vacation mecca with tons of shopping, restaurants, and mini golf.

It pretty much rocks. I was worried about it being crowded since it was Labor Day weekend, but we basically had it to ourselves. The water was warm, the weather was perfect, and it was overall just a great day at the beach.

After playing for a couple of hours we got dinner at Five Guys, and then headed to hit up the outlet malls with all of their Labor Day sales. We had a blast shopping! We get so deprived in Pinehurst with only Walmart and Kohl's to choose from.:)

Monday morning we decided to head to Charlotte, since we hadn't been there yet. It's only about 90 miles away, but because there aren't really any freeways that go East/West in the South, it takes almost 2 1/2 hours to get there because you have to putter along various country highways. Not crazy about that! But we made it just in time for lunch at "Cabo Fish Taco" which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

I got the special salmon burrito with chipotle sauce, and Jon got the honey wasabi burrito. It was pretty good!

Charlotte is famous for its local plantations, which I was SO excited to tour, but naturally they were all closed on Labor Day. So instead we swung by the downtown area, coincidentally where the Democratic National Party would be camped out later that week.

Then we headed to IKEA-- which is the only one for miles and miles, so it was a good time to get my IKEA-fix before the bambino comes. Plus the kids LOVE playing in the "Smaland" playplace which is fine by me to get to shop solo for once. We finally coaxed Zach out of the ball pit with the promise of chocolate cake up in the IKEA restaurant. Yum! All in all, we had some great day trips and will definitely be going back to both sometime soon!

The Great Key Caper

I recently had one of THE weirdest experiences of my life (to date), which reiterated to me that there HAS to be some sort of way in heaven to go back in time and get an explanation for a situation as to what really happened, because as of right now, I'll just never truly know and thinking otherwise would drive me nuts. So, bear with me as I record it for posterity, and I will try to make a long, bizarre, story short...er...

Back when my mom and sister were still in town, Sunday night after church I had to run an errand to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy (and although I went Saturday to pick it up to avoid breaking the Sabbath, it wasn't ready. Life Lesson Learned: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy!). Anyway, we got back from the pharmacy without incident, in my car, with my keys (this is an important detail; for any of you doubters, I know they were my keys and not Jon's because I used my pharmacy tag to pay). And I reiterate, how else would I have driven home, if not with my keys, right? The next morning we woke up set to take our guests to the RDU airport, and as we were leaving I absolutely could NOT find my keys. We probably looked for a good 45 minutes, turning the house inside and out and upside down, and I just kept coming to the same dread conclusion that they just were NOT at the house. Then the panic set it. How the heck was I supposed to drive them to airport when my keys were lost, and more importantly, where the HECK did my keys go?!? I knew I had them last night. So I called Jon at work on the slim chance that perhaps he accidentally took my keys instead of his-- but he definitely only had HIS keys. I then had to ask him to drive the 50 min. home (then back) during his lunch break to bring me his set of keys (with a spare to my car). Poor guy. He said a prayer with me over the phone that we would somehow find my keys, and subsequently, while he was driving home to the rescue, he got a call from the gym that someone had found my keys and dropped them off.

Pause with me here...

How had someone found my keys, when they were at MY house last night, and we hadn't gone anywhere since?!? I was bewildered. Actually, I was mind-blown. I called back and asked if they knew who had found them, and where, etc. The front desk girl said a groundskeeper from the Pinehurst Country Club (about 6 miles from our house) had found them out on the golf course that morning, and figured out to call "The Body Shop" (the gym) because the tag on my keys had a member number listed. That was it. All she knew. Somehow my keys had gotten from MY house, 6 miles away to the golf course, to our gym, and were waiting to be picked up there. When I picked them up they had obviously been through some trauma-- they had been run over a couple of times, the fob was cracked, and the key ring was completely bent out of shape...and they looked like they had been chewed on. ?? So, after many hours devoted to figuring out what the heck happened, the only scenario I can come up with (besides aliens and UFOs of course), is that after I got back from the pharmacy I went to water our flowers in the front yard, where my keys must have fallen into the grass unbeknownst to me. We have a LOT of raccoons in the area, who are notorious for being attracted to shiny objects, and somehow one got a hold of my keys and carried them 6 miles to the golf course, decided to finally drop them, where they were picked up the next morning by a groundskeeper (one of the 3 Nephites?!) who is my new hero, and unknowingly answered a prayer. Needless to say, I. AM. STUMPED. Anyone have anything better??

School Daze!

I'm officially an empty-nester this year. At least for 3 hours a day. And only for the next 2 1/2 months (or until the new baby arrives). But at least for now, I have no children at home to keep me company from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and that is because Zachary became a big preschool boy!

Is he not the absolute most adorable 3 year old preschooler you ever saw?!?

I enrolled him on a whim at the same Baptist preschool Lucy attended last year, and although I only really wanted to send him 2 or 3 days a week, they only offered a 4 day a week program, so it's a little much, but it is what it is. So far he's been very hot and cold in his response to school-- unlike Lucy who could have done preschool 24/7, Zach is definitely more of a homebody. We shall see how this next month progresses! If he just isn't liking it enough to justify the running around I do with both of them in school then I'll pull him out, but for right now, he's been mostly happy when I pick him up at the end of the morning and asks if he can go back. Yea!

As for this girl, she was born ready for kindergarten. She has jumped in with both feet to being at school from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and seems to love every minute. It's been bittersweet for me, because basically I miss her, but it is nice to know she's learning and being with friends and doing what she really loves to be doing.

Her teacher's name is Mrs. White, and again, I've just been amazed at how easily she has adjusted to the loooong days, eats up the homework, talks non-stop about her school friends and recess, is fascinated by school lunch in the cafeteria, and is adamant that she WANTS to ride the school bus home! I walked her into the school the first 2 days, and by day 3 she saw a friend and ditched me like it was no big deal to find her classroom and get her stuff all put away. Awwwww, Luce! She's 5 years old going on 15. Hooray for kindergarten!

Oh What Do You Do (at the end of your) Summertime?

After I got back from my girl's trip to New York City, my mom spent the week in Richmond with my brother and his family, as well as Whitney who had been up there nanny-ing all summer. So the kids and I twiddled our thumbs until Friday afternoon when we drove up to the Durham bus station and our absolute favorite sight to see came rolling into view: The Big Blue Mega Bus bearing Grandma Joanie and Whitney from Richmond!

We got one last rendezvous with both before they abandoned us for the West coast. We immediately headed over to "Allen and Sons" in Chapel Hill, a Southern BBQ joint featured in the June issue of Food Network magazine as one of the editor's all-time favs. She said she regularly has it overnighted, so I had super high expectations that unfortunately, fell pretty flat. Not my favorite...

The next day we decided to try a picnic in Southern Pines at a fun sand park the kids really like. Thumbs up from the Picnic Queen herself (or maybe she's just signaling "Don't take the picture while my mouth is full!!").

Zach had a blast pushing his monster trucks through the sand and stopped only for a bite or two of sandwich. He's happiest outside.

Lucy liked showing off her climbing skills to our guests, and attempted the monkey bars as well. She's getting closer!

After our sandwiches, we headed over to the cupcake shop across the street and each tried a fun new flavor. Lucy LOVES the red velvet. She is Southern through and through!

I got Miami Key Lime and Jon tried Raspberry Lemonade; Whitney tried the Cinnamon Banana and my mom the Chocolate Truffle. Perfect ending to a nice picnic.

Zachary got to show off his Spiderman costume he got in the mail a couple of days before, sent for Halloween by his Grandma Cardon. He LOVES this costume and flexing his huge muscles!! My kids are SO excited for Halloween...

That night we got dinner (despite a tornado warning) at the Mellow Mushroom and it was sooooo good! They have GREAT pizza, and even better was that because we had built in babysitters, we ditched the kids and Jon and I headed to "The Dark Knight Rises."

Sunday we all went to church where I had 2 extra helpers to assist me in nursery (I'm the only nursery leader for like 20 kids; can you say "PHILADELPHIA" all over again?? I guess if I did it once, I can do it again...), and then I made Whitney make us a HUGE bowl of this amazing corn salsa she makes. Apparently we bought some potent onions because she was crying up a storm... Well, either that, or she was just really, reeeeally sad to leave us the next day to go teach school in Utah. Teach school and get paid and have a single's night life, OR live in Pinehurst with me?!?! Still don't know how she made that choice the next day, but we sure miss our last visitors of the summer!!

A Big Apple Weekend

After all the traveling we did in July you'd have thought I'd be ready to settle back into normal life and just enjoy some carefree days before summer ends, but ha! ha!-- you'd be wrong. I still had one more big trip up my sleeve before school and the new baby tie me down. While my mom flew into Newark, NJ, I drove up solo to Richmond to meet Whitney and Sarah P. so we could all spend the weekend in NYC. Here's the scoop!

Although we didn't manage to pick my mom up until around 1 a.m. (it's about a 6 hour drive from Richmond, plus the 4 I had from Pinehurst), we still rallied for an early start to head into the cement jungle. We got to Chelsea around 10 a.m. Friday morning and started our day at Chelsea Market, where many of the famous Food Network shows (their studios are right above) are stocked with groceries and supplies.

It was an AMAZING market! Anything and everything food-related could be found, including French, Italian, and Asian specialty markets. We got to sample a few things here and there and probably could have spent all day, but time was ticking!

We then walked over to the newly developed High Line, which is a public park built along an old freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan's West Side. There were some pretty cool views, lots of vendors and food carts, and some local musicians to add to the flavor.

Whitney had made lunch reservations for NYC Restaurant Week at Tom Colicchio's famous CraftBar, where we got to enjoy a $25 three course tasting menu. I started with the fondutta with honey and pinenuts and was blown away! YUM!

I have watched Tom judge on Bravo's "Top Chef" for years, so it was fun to see HIM put his money where his mouth is. His food was really good. I got the burger with onion jam for my main course, and the peach cobbler for dessert.

We decided to head over to Lexington Ave. and try out a famous "Sprinkles" cupcake from Cupcake Wars judge Candace Nelson. We got there around 4 p.m. and the line was still out the door!

There were lots of flavors to choose from, but we finally decided on Dark Chocolate, Red Velvet, Pumpkin, and S'Mores. SERIOUSLY. Best cupcake I ever had!

My mom enjoying her dark chocolate cupcake in Central Park!

We then headed over to the Museum of Modern Art, which is free on Friday evenings, so we got to check out some pretty famous paintings from Salvador Dali, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet...and sit down. My pregnant feet were T-I-R-E-D.

Whitney posing outside Rockefeller Center, while we tried to sight-see and kill time before our Broadway show.

My mom had purchased tickets to see Mary Poppins at 8 p.m. and having heard good things from people who had already seen it, we were expecting good things.

And Broadway certainly didn't disappoint!! The music, the singers, the dancing, and especially the cool sets were everything you'd hope for and more from a Broadway show. It was a blast! We didn't get to our hotel in Queens until about midnight, and according to my mom's pedometer, we figured we walked about 13 miles that day. And let me tell you, I was feeling EVERY single one of those miles! I was exhausted.

Luckily we slowed it down Saturday morning and got a late start heading over to Battery Park around 10 a.m. As I learned the hard way the day before, Me + 7 months Pregnant + 95 degrees + Humidity = Unpleasant Swelling so I was determined to take it a little bit easier and insisted on using the subway instead of walking everywhere. We ended up taking the free ferry to Governor's Island which is only open to the public on the weekends.

After a quick trip there and back, we decided to get lunch at Cafe Habana-- a little Cuban Mexican dive with tons of personality that my cousin had found years back while living in NYC.

W-O-W-S-E-R. They have AMAZING food-- including the Mexican style grilled corn with cilantro and lime. Totally hit the spot!

We also tried the Cuban sandwich which had ham, pulled pork, Swiss cheese, chipotle mayonnaise, and homemade pickles. Again, WOW. Definitely one of my all-time favorites!

After lunch we walked a few blocks over to Little Italy and bought some mini-cannoli off the street. Not my favorite treat, but Little Italy is SO unique and fun to walk around we had to try something.

All four of us finally slowing down to pose for a picture. Boy am I regretting all of these unflattering pregnancy pictures!:) I felt like the Jet-Puff marshmallow man all weekend. Cheese!

And then the pies de resistance: Chinatown. I love shopping in Chinatown for knock-off goods. I got a super cute Michael Kors bag thanks to Whitney's bargaining, plus some sunglasses, and some souvenirs for the kids. So fun! We then got a late dinner at a hidden little Indian restaurant that we basically had to ourselves the whole time. I hadn't had Indian food in over a year, and it was DELICIOUS!

The next morning we got up bright and early (hence my lovely puffy face) to head back to Richmond at a decent hour, so I could then drive the additional 4 hours home before it got too late, and decided to get some chicken and waffles for breakfast in Harlem at Amy Ruth's.

Last time I ate their ironically I was pregnant with Zach, and I just remember craving that exact meal for 9 long months. They know their soul food, and the fact that we were the only white people in the neighborhood proved it. We got back to Richmond around 5 p.m. and I started on my way back home. Although I don't think my tailbone (or feet) will forgive me anytime soon, it was well worth the drive-- an excellent Babymoon for me.:) **And THANKS to my super amazing husband for taking off work and watching the kids all weekend so I could go. Love you!!**