Talking, talking, talking

Neil is definitely a talker - just like his mama.  He has begun to repeat things that we say, which is terribly scary.  Guess we are going to have to really watch the potty mouth now!  Neil's best words come from the books that we read over and over and over again.  Right now, he points to and says, "moon, choo-choo, juice, milk, ball, bug, down, up, dog, cat, amen (at the end of his prayers!), DG (my mom), nanna (Rodney's mom) and a few other things that I can't think of at the moment.  But, he's doing SO well and really starting to enunciate things.  I can't get enough of him right now - he's SO much fun to hang out with.  And he knows all his body parts - he can say nose, eye and mouth, and point to (but not say) hair, tongue, teeth, ears, belly button, knee, arm, hands, leg, foot, shoes, toes and fingers.  Such a smart boy - so proud!

Lindsay, Rusty, Jen, Neil and I went to eat breakfast this morning at Three Little Birds - if you haven't been there, it's one of my favorite places.  SO GOOD!  The weather in Charleston is beautiful and I'm so proud of the people that ran (and walked) the Cooper River Bridge this morning.  Lindsay and I vowed to do it next year.  I honestly haven't done it before because I've heard it's such a nightmare getting over there in the morning - not really a good excuse I guess.  So, next year - I'll do it next year :)

Neil is doing so well with his health and his sleeping patterns.  He has been sick a time or two, but I do feel that keeping him at home has been good for him so far.  Rodney and I are working out a pretty good schedule now too - both of us are home one day per week with him and Rodney's mom is keeping him the other two days.  We alternate on Friday's, depending on what is going on that week.  I can't believe this beautiful day today - after breakfast, Neil and I went to Wal-Mart and bought him a little tikes basketball goal.  He's napping right now and I'm about to put it together.  I will try and capture his face when he plays with it for the first time.  The kid is COMPLETELY obsessed with basketball - just balls in general, but he really loves basketball.  We have a standard size basketball goal in the driveway and Neil will literally stand below the goal and try and throw the ball as high as he can.  So sad - so I couldn't help myself - I had to go and get him his own goal that he can actually reach.  It will be fun!  And he LOVES to be outside.  I'm telling you - he is SO much fun right now.  I just love this age.

Caroline and Emily are in town to walk the bridge, so hopefully we are going to have a big ole group of people going out on the town tonight.  I can't drink, but I can definitely eat!  

I hate that I don't have pictures to post - I actually do, but I don't have a way to get them from my camera to the computer.  I'll be sure to do it at work this week so we can share the new videos and pictures ;)

Neil's 1st spaghetti dinner

Neil, Rodney and I had a really nice family day today.  We had a great morning cleaning and organizing some things around the house then went to lunch for Jody's birthday at California Dreaming.  I had something I've never eaten there before - and that is really saying something!  If you've never had their BBQ chicken nachos, you MUST order them next time you're there.  So good - seriously!  Now every time I do to eat there it's going to be a toss up between the BBQ chicken nachos and the creamed spinach nachos.  Ugh, decisions!

After lunch we all had a great nap.  Thank goodness for Saturday (and Sunday) naps - I think they really help me make it through the week!  Rodney made spaghetti for dinner tonight.  Instead of feeding Neil the spaghetti with a fork, we decided to just let him go at it.  As you can see, he LOVED it.

So Rodney and I traded off watching Neil tonight.  I went out first for Lindsay's birthday dinner downtown, then came home to keep Neil while Rodney went out with a fun group for Jesse's birthday.  So much for doing things together!  At least we both had a good time :)

Merry Christmas (a little late)

So where have we been over the last two months?  I've had my head in or around the toilet for the most part - yep, still sick!  I'm now 20 weeks pregnant with a little GIRL.  Can you believe it?  How am I so lucky to have God bless me with a little boy and now a little girl - I'm still in awe and shock from finding out on Thursday.  

I promised some friends that I would be better about updating the blog.  I know I've been terrible about it, but one POOR excuse is that it's been so cold and we don't have heat in the office where my computer is - so it hasn't been convenient to go up there and update the blog.  So, I'm using Rodney's computer while Rodney sleeps and Neil sits beside me watching the baby crack movies (Baby Einstein) and playing with a balloon.  He is completely obsessed with anything that is remotely similar to a ball and has been since day one.

Christmas morning was a blast.  Neil LOVED his wagon and his climbing castle (thanks to Santa's little helpers).  We were crafty and a did re-gift some toys that Neil already played with - heck, he doesn't know any better and we saved some money!  He just loved having all the toys on display for him to jump into.  So cute and so much fun.

A few days before Christmas, Rodney and I took Neil to go see Santa (and the Christmas lights) at the James Island County Park.  Santa and his photographer helper were the best I've ever seen!  We rode the train around the park to see the lights and had a great little family night.  If you've never done the train before, I honestly do suggest it - especially if you have kids. 

Oh yeah - Happy Valentine's Day!  My plan was to make today SO special for Neil - get a card and small gift...yeah, none of that happened.  Maybe next year!  Next Valentine's we'll have a 2 year old and a 7 month old - crazy to think about.

Some of you all know that Neil stayed sick in day care, so we decided to take him out for a while.  He didn't go back after Christmas "break."  I can honestly tell a huge difference in his health already.  We've started him on a multi-vitamin with iron and I think that has helped tremendously too.  Nancy, Rodney's mom, keeps Neil twice a week and we hired a Nanny to keep him two other days and I was keeping him every Friday.  That worked for a few weeks until our Nanny found another job last week.  So - if anyone has a good suggestion for a Nanny, please let me know.  There are a few good leads I've gotten from Craig's list, but I really want someone that is going to be reliable and is interested in staying on for at least a year or more.  

Well, we are going to explore downtown Charleston today with the million other people for the 

Southeastern Wildlife Expo - should be fun!

Happy 1st Birthday (party) Neil

Long weekend! We had a fantastic time with Neil at his 1st birthday party on Saturday. Thank you so much to everyone that came and made his day extra special. For those of you that weren't there, we missed you! And, I promise I'll post some pictures as soon as I can.

He did pretty well opening presents - those that weren't opened by the other children that were there - so cute! After he opened his presents he literally PASSED OUT. I was holding him, he laid his head on my chest and was OUT. I've never seen the kid pass out like that -he was completely exhausted. I let him sleep about 30 minutes, then we woke him up to do cake and ice cream. It wasn't a good situation with the cake - he HATED it. Definitely didn't like everyone staring at him and shouting happy birthday. My friend Carissa said it best when she said something to the effect that it must be completely frightening to be a 1 year old and have a flaming cake placed in front of you and everyone shouting at you for no apparent reason.

Rodney and I went for our 1st baby appointment for little hancock #2 - everything was great. We saw a heartbeat - yes, only 1! I don't know why, but I had more than one person ask if we are having twins. NO - there is only 1 baby in my belly. The doc set the due date for July 3rd - it's going to be a HOT summer.

Halloween surprise

What a special 1st Halloween for Neil. He went to school in his BOO shirt his Aunt Caroline gave him and even though he was sick, we took him to our immediate neighbors to show off his costume. Some thought he was a dinosaur, others a lizard and some a dragon - whatever he was, he was VERY CUTE!

And doesn't he look all grown up in his hat? Since it's been chilly, Nanny bought Neil a hat to keep his ears warm. I think there are many more of those in his near future - he LOVED to look at himself in the mirror with the hat on. Check out his hair when he pulled the hat off - ha ha. He's going to kill me when he gets older! I took the video this morning - Neil has gotten really good at walking with his walker. I know it won't be long until he's walking on his own!

And we definitely had a Halloween surprise. Rodney and I found out that we are expecting another child!! We are completely thrilled. Both of us were born in July and it looks like we may have a July baby - we'll see. It's VERY early in pregnancy, so please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. Here we go for round two!

Hancock family update

The last month has been nonstop action! Jamaica was a BLAST. Caroline and Jason had the most perfect wedding. Everything about it was beautiful - couldn't ask for more. Rodney and I completely enjoyed our week in Jamaica. If you haven't done an all inclusive resort before, DO IT! It was the best experience - service was fantastic, drinks were great (duh) and the food wasn't too bad either. There were so many restaurants at the resort to choose from - we never got bored. Here are a few shots of our vacation.

We got back from Jamaica on Thursday and I left for Hartsville Friday for my 10 year High School reunion. It was a BLAST. Had a great time with many friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Jessica, Dani and I ROCKED it out! We missed all of you that weren't there (Lindsay and others, slackers!) Neil got to hang out in the big city of Hartsville too - spent some quality time with his DG!

So, I returned from the HS reunion on Sunday and left for my friend Rachel's wedding in Michigan on Thursday. (Told you I'd been busy!) Her wedding was absolutely perfect too - she is going to have the most beautiful pictures. Her photographer was amazing! We did a little Bachelorette party on Thursday night - too much fun. I could not get over the colors of the trees - just gorgeous.

Believe it or not, I actually worked a full week the next week and got to spend some quality time with my son! This past Friday night we went to Widespread Panic in Charleston and Saturday I headed back to Hartsville for Caroline and Jason's wedding reception. It was at Lawton Park - so much fun! Caroline and I took Neil to the pumpkin patch on Sunday afternoon and tried to play like we were photographers. After many many many shots, we came out with these. Not SO bad, but oh how I wish Lindsay was there!

And finally, REST with two of my three boys. But not for long...this weekend is Citadel Homecoming, next is a shower in Hartsville, then Neil's birthday, Thanksgiving, Clemson vs. Carolina, then it's basically Christmas! Oh how the time flies. I can't believe Neil is almost 1!

My child is a GENIUS

I honestly don't know where the last month went - didn't even realize it has been almost a month since I posted last. Neil has been moving faster than ever and really beginning to come to life! And now I know that he is brilliant. I'm a proud mom!

Well, it's about time to start putting up some of Neil's things he is too big to play with. Thank goodness these are mostly large items - like the exerciser or whatever they call those things. We had one upstairs and one downstairs, so I'm very excited about getting them in the attic! It's funny, but all he wants to play with now are boxes, balls, pots and pans, electronics - basically anything that you have that he's not supposed to play with. How do they know that?

Neil is really testing his balance lately. He'll be standing up holding onto something and just let go to see what happens. Usually he falls, but he's actually standing up more and more. I think walking is in our near future.

Rodney and I leave for Jamaica on Thursday. Caroline and Jason are getting married on Monday, October 6th, so Rodney and I are making this our second honeymoon and going for an entire week! We are staying at Sandals Negril for a few days and then traveling to Sandals Montego Bay for a few days before we fly home. Nancy is generously keeping Neil while we are gone, so I've also lined up a few friends to help her out. Lindsay has signed up for one night, Brittany is keeping him one night, Robbie is keeping him an afternoon or two and Mary is keeping him during the day a day or two. I have WONDERFUL friends! Thank you all for helping us out while we're gone. We definitely couldn't do it without you.

Neil had school pictures on Thursday - I tried to snap a couple of shots while trying to entertain him and not get in the way. Here is what I came out of the shoot with.

Neil is on a pretty good schedule now - sleeps through the night (thank goodness) and takes a morning and afternoon nap. I love that he's eating all real food now - it's so much easier to feed him. Takes MUCH LONGER than before, but it is more fun. I absolutely love to watch him feed himself. When he misses his mouth and struggles to get the food in - so funny. Not that I sit and watch him struggle - I promise I don't!

Well, off to pack for the week in Jamaica!