New Address!!

The link to my permanent blog is listed below. Like I said in an earlier post, I will leave this blog open to visitors :) See you guys on the new blog!

www.thesouthernhousewife.com

New Blog Update!

I am so excited to announce that the new blog will be up and running tomorrow!! Be sure and check back for the link! I'm so excited to finally open it up!! I will still leave this blog open to view. There will be a link in the sidebar of the new blog that will redirect you to the old blog (this one). I thought about going back and uploading all the post from this blog to the new one, but it is more of a job than I have time for. So, I'm leaving it open so that those who want to go back can :) Can't wait for tomorrow!!

Opps.

Please forgive me for my absence. I know the grandparents are looking for pics of Deke and I'm sorry I haven't uploaded any. I've had a head cold for the last two days and I've been doing some photo editing for a few sessions I just recently did. So, between chasing Deke all over the house and tending to business, I haven't had much time to sit and blog :( Also, I'm in the process of upgrading my blog, so I've been weighing the pros and cons of that decision. If I do "upgrade", the address should be the similar to this one, so don't worry. I'm not going to disappear on you :) This blog gets a lot of traffic from all over the United States......... and Brazil (?) and I wouldn't dream of leaving without telling where I'm going :) So, hopefully I can kick this head cold, finish editing pics and make a decision about this site and then I'll get back to blogging more regularly!

Deke's First Haircut.

Today was such a big day for The Little Monkey! We finally gave in and took him to get his first haircut. I wasn't quite sure how it was all going to go, but he totally surprised me with how good he acted! He didn't cry at all during the haircut. It wasn't until after we had paid and were getting ready to leave that he cried and started acting out. Apparently he's a huge fan of the airplane he was playing in :) Here are pics from our trip.

All smiles

He wasn't too sure about it at first.

My Big Boy

They had a television that was playing at his station. He loved watching the girls on the screen :)

Daddy and his boy

I know this pic is blurry. However, I do love me some kissy pictures with my baby :)

Asking for more kisses

Being denied monkey kisses :( That's ok, I got more later!!

My Big Boy and his new do'

Walkin' in Style.

This afternoon, my Mom came to visit me and The Little Monkey! We ended up at the mall, shopping (who would have thought :). I've been debating on whether or not to go ahead and purchase Deke some fall/winter shoes. I've been concerned that if I buy them now, he'll grow out of them before he ever wears them. So, I decided that we would head to the Stride Rite store and get him measured and just see if they had anything that appealed to me. Of course, they would be having an awesome sale that would make it super hard for me to pass up on. So, here are his new fall/winter shoes :) Ha!

Here's his casual shoes. Deke was measured as a size 5 1/2 and we got these in a 6 1/2 (should be plenty of room to grow). If you've ever owned shoes from Stride Rite, you know that most of their shoes are not machine washable and you need a protective spray to keep stains and moisture from ruining them. Well, these are washable and I'm so in love!!

Here's his dress shoes. He has a bad habit of taking his shoes off and throwing them down (and then I can't find them). I'm hoping these hefty-Velcro shoes will eliminate our current problem :)

I could have bought several more shoes, but I needed to stop while I was ahead :) If I'm not careful, Deke will wind up having more shoes than his Mommy. HA!!

It's a Monday.

Can you tell I have no mental energy left to come up with a good title for this post? Ha! Our weekend was so crazy! We always love going back to our home towns to visit with our families, but sometimes it's just exhausting. The Little Monkey of course loves going back home, where he is spoiled rotten for two straight days and is never without a playmate :) Gotta love family :)

Anyway, if you know me at all, you know I'm in love with Etsy.com. So last night, I was shopping around and found this adorable and clever little contraption.

It's a crayon roll-up that fits in your diaper bag.

So cute!

The Little Monkey loves to color and I think this little roll-up is perfect for his traveling crayons! I can't wait to get it in!!

For a pregnancy update, I am 19 weeks today and feeling better every day. This pregnancy has been completely different from Deke's and I'm slowly feeling my energy coming back to me. I must be entering the nesting phase, because I suddenly feel the need to organize/clean/organize/clean again. However, now a days it's becoming more of a challenge to bend over so this puts a damper on all my organization and cleaning plans :( BOOO!! We are suppose to go on September 8th for our "official" gender sonogram here in town, but the Hubby is thinking he will be in the Marshall Islands for work during that time, so we may be moving that appointment. I'm looking forward to this appointment because of the pictures. I remember the 20 week pics of Deke were so clear and bright and I can't wait to get a really good look at our new son!

Feeling Their Pain

Today, has been a day of deep thinking and a lot of tears. Some of you that follow my blog may not agree with this post and that's fine. We are all entitled to our own opinions and here is where I speak mine. I have prayed, prayed and prayed for our country over the years! I was a senior in high school when September 11, 2001 happened. I can remember every little detail like it was yesterday. I remember what class I was in, what I felt the moment I saw that second plane hit the WTC, I can remember grabbing my phone and sitting in the back of a dark classroom talking to my mom and I remember wishing so hard that what was unfolding in front of me on a 20 inch t.v screen wasn't real. I also remember feeling the same heartache when I signed my name to the September 11, 2001 Memorial Wall at Ground Zero on April 3, 2002. Still being able to look up into the nearby trees and see articles of clothing and window blinds twisted and broken in the branches really got to me and I began to cry right there. Unfortunately, it was all real and I feel like so many Americans have forgotten how it felt that day to see innocent Americans killed. This mosque potentially being built in NYC has really hit a sore spot with me. It's all I can think about and it has brought me to tears throughout the day thinking about how disrespectful and inconsiderate this project is to America and the victims families! Everyone in this country has the right to worship where and how they want. However, building a Muslim mosque ANYWHERE near Ground Zero is despicable!!!! My heart is aching for the family members of the September 11th victims and I am praying for them. I'm also praying that our country will soon wake up! If we continue down the road we are going down now, this country won't be fit to live in, in the next 20 years. I wanted to include a video that I found a few years ago. I can't watch this without crying and I want to share it with you.



Please pray with me for our country. We needed change, but not the change we've gotten. We need to change our hearts, minds and attitudes and pray for this country that we love.