Mountain Trip

We got back on Sunday afternoon from our little family getaway. It was SO nice to have some time away with just the three of us. Somewhere different. Somewhere with cooler temperatures. Somewhere with some really neat things to do. You could tell that Eli just loved his time away with us. We hadn't been back to stay at my mom & Tom's mountain house since Eli was 5 or 6 months old. Last time we were there, we tucked a few fun ideas away for the next time we came back. We definitely want to start going at least once a year, and this seems to be the perfect time of year to go. The biggers kids are back in school so places aren't at all crowded, and the weather is as close to perfect. It's also nice to go in the fall to see the colors change, but sometimes its already too cold for a lot of outside activities. Needless to say, we had a great time!

We got there on Wednesday afternoon just in time for Eli to take a short rest. He's never been one for sleeping in the car. We then went out for an early dinner and to stock up on groceries. After that we went for a long walk in the neighborhood. As fun and beautiful as it was...those hills are not made for pregnant women!
But these 3 could have walked for days!

Our Bailey girl LOVED being back in the mountains. She's such an easy dog to travel with, so we were happy to be able to bring her along on the trip.

We didn't really have any big plans for Thursday, which was kind of nice. We got up and ready, and then went into town for breakfast. Eli had breakfast #1 at the house, and then ate again with us. There's no denying that he's my child...we love our breakfast! :) I love going out to breakfast, so that was a great way to start the day. After breakfast we decided to hit the outlet malls and do a little shopping. We shopped until about lunchtime, and then went back to the house for family naptime!


We spent a lot of time out on the front porch again this time. It's the perfect place to rock, play, and eat cookies!



Eli was pretty fascinated with the cabin. He kept calling it the 'cool house.' He especially loved bathtime in the giant jacuzzi tub! Fun...but not such an easy way to scrub down a busy toddler!
We were all most looking forward to our trip to the Tweetsie Railroad on Friday. I need to dedicate an entire post to that though, because it is by far one of my favorite family memories thus far!

On Saturday morning we woke up and went out to breakfast again. The sky was pretty gray, and we were getting a little wind from hurricane Irene, but we still had a few things we wanted to do outside. We brought some of our leftover bread from the house, and went to a cute little duck pond near one of the local colleges. There were walking trails all over and gorgeous scenery in every direction, so we were hoping to snap a few pictures.
Eli had never seen that many ducks at once before. They were EVERYWHERE. At least 100 or more. And it's obvious that they get fed very often!

We fed them from the bridge, that way we didn't get attacked by the geese. I may or may not have been scarred by a goose as a child.
We even made out with a family picture from this trip! A nice elderly gentlemen stopped his car and offered to take our picture. People are so out of their way friendly around there.

We decided to go on a little walk, and boy are we glad that we did!
We were all mesmerized by this gorgeous waterfall, and didn't want to leave! Eli kept saying, 'that's amazing!' and 'that's so beautiful!'


This was another morning filled with such sweet memories for us.
And a very happy boy!

Later that afternoon we had planned to go golfing as a family. This is something that Danny has been wanting us to do for a long time. As soon as we booked this trip, he knew it would be the perfect opportunity. Golfing in the mountains with much cooler temperatures sounded much more appealing to me than in the sweltering heat of Hilton Head anyways. Eli loves to go golfing with his daddy, but I'm never there to get any pictures of it, so I was excited to tag along with my camera. It was a little breezy out that afternoon, but the guys didn't seem to notice.
Ready to go!
Eli's favorite part was always running up on the green to help hold the flag. He was such a cute little coach/caddy, and cheered his daddy on the entire 18 holesHe always picked his ball and daddy's out of the hole, and came running back to show me with such excitement.

Taking a short breather.
So proud!!
It was neat for me to be on the golf course with my hubby. Something that he's always been so passionate about, but that we've never really done together. I can tell that Eli and Danny will play many rounds of golf together. I'm glad that I went now, because taking your mom to the golf course won't be so cool in a few years :)

My body may have been aching by the end of our trip, but it was so worth it! We made the sweetest of memories, and are already looking forward to our next trip. Our next trip...as a family of 4!

Lately

Lately...we've been enjoying the end of the summer, but praying that Fall will come SOON. I hate rushing the days by, but I am SO ready for all things fall. We're heading to Columbia this weekend to celebrate sweet baby Luke's 1st birthday, and then taking a family trip to the Mountains next week. We've really been looking forward to this trip, and have some fun things planned. We're hoping for cooler temperatures and no rain! I'm looking forward to capturing the beauty of the mountains with my new camera, and especially the look on Eli's face when he gets to take a train ride through the mountains.

I haven't been taking too many pictures lately. But here are a few fun ones from the past few weeks...
We went to a fun pool party for our sweet friend Owen who turned 1 last week.
Eli more than really enjoyed his bright green cupcake.
We joked that he looked like Shrek when he was finished with it. He was covered in pastey green icing, and then did some body finger painting. Thankfully I was able to hose him down before he was able to turn the entire pool green.
Eli had majorly been missin' his best gal pal Charlotte. We missed out on playdates with her for a few months while I was so sick.
But they've been making up for lost time! They play SO well together, and you can just tell how much they adore one another.

And obviously still very much in love...:)

For this child I prayed...

Last week was a pretty exciting one for us! We decided after my last OB visit that we just couldn't wait 4 whole weeks to find out the sex of this baby. After going back & forth for a few weeks, we finally decided to go in for a gender ultrasound on Wednesday. Danny hasn't been able to make it to Beaufort with me for any of my appointments yet this pregnancy, so we met on the island for a lunchtime ultrasound. We are so overwhelmed with joy to share that we'll be welcoming a baby GIRL into our family in January!!! It really and truly is just starting to sink in for me. We ended up having another quick ultrasound with my Dr on Friday, and he was able to very quickly confirm that she is indeed a she! That's when it became real for me. This little guy is going to be such a fun, helpful, and loving big brother. And we just can't wait to see him step into fill those big brother shoes. He's been referring to this baby as a girl since the very beginning, but now the rest of us can finally join him :)


For this child I have prayed, and the Lord has granted the desires of my heart. 1 Samuel 1:27

Potty Training

We're currently on day 3 of potty training in the Morgan household. I hadn't planned on tackling this this week, but sure enough, the opportunity arose and we had no choice but to jump on board. We've been absolutely BLOWN away by the success we've had! We knew that Eli had been showing all of the signs that he was ready for quite some time, but we had just been dreading it terribly! We knew that this summer would be the perfect time to do it, so here we are. The whole process has been relatively stress free, other than the typical first day bumps in the road.
Day 1 started off rough, but by the afternoon he had really caught on. We were in it for the long haul and not turning back!
Day 2 seemed like a walk in the park! He was cheerful all day, and more than cooperative. He started telling us everytime he had to go, and/or just going by himself. He really prefers to go on his own terms, and does better if we just let him be. He only had 1 accident all day!
Day 3 started out rough, but only because he really just wanted to be left alone to handle things himself, and was probably getting a little stir crazy from being cooped up in the house for several days straight. He went ALL DAY without an accident! We decided to venture out of the house, and meet some friends for dinner. We weren't sure what to expect. We put a pull-up on, and had his potty in the back of the car just in case. We kept reminding him to 'stay dry' and let us know if he had to go. Much to our surprise, he stayed dry! That was a huge relief. Good to know we'll be able to leave the house again :)

I'm just praying that the worst is over, and that he doesn't get lazy or bored with this! This is something I've been dreading for the last 2 years. I've heard so many horror stories, and went into it expecting the worst. Here's to hoping our good luck continues!
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Thought I would give a little update now that we are almost one week into this. Things are still going great, much to our surprise! Each day it gets even easier, and I stress less about the possibility of accidents, etc. We even conquered our first public restroom potty at Moe's yesterday! He's not having accidents, and as of yesterday, he's now starting to stay dry during naptime and nighttime. Something that I didn't expect to come so soon. We're still doing diapers during those times, but will make the change to pull ups soon if he continues with this trend. We're just so proud of our little guy, and SO very thankful that he took it easy on us in this department.

Long visits & a Roadtrip

We have been blessed with lots of wonderful family time this summer. We had really been missing my mom, and couldn't wait for her to come for two whole weeks! She had just finished 8 weeks of down time after her first eye surgery, so she was ready to get to us as well! She flew into town the same day that the Morgan crew was heading out, so it was back to back weeks of fun for us. We fit in some local fun the beginning of that week, went to my OB check up together, and then on Wednesday we packed up and hit the road to Virginia. We were sad to leave Dan behind, but he stayed busy with work, baseball and many rounds of golf ;) We are SO thankful to have a toddler who travels exceptionally well. He watched his movies, read books, and took the occasional 20 or 30 minute nap. My mom couldn't believe how patient and quiet he was for 8 straight hours. We stayed at my grandparents house again this time. Eli does really well there, and remembered all of the fun things there from our visit at Christmas. I'm also very thankful that he still sleeps so well in a pac-n-play. That has made traveling arrangements much less difficult. We fit in SO much fun during our week long visit, but we also did a lot of relaxing. I read an entire book, and took a nap almost every afternoon. Pure bliss! My grandparents absolutely light up when Eli is around, so it was fun for them to have a good long visit together. We enjoyed many of my favorite homecooked meals, which was just what the Dr. ordered for me (literally!) I was also able to spend time with several of my sweet girl friends from highschool, which is always hard to do when we're home around the holidays.

Eli greeting his Mimi at the airport!
All smiles! Mimi had lots of fun goodies for Eli from Disney World.
The infamous hat. For some reason this kid loves hats. Especially this hat that he came across of my grandmothers. He wore it for at least the first 4 days of our trip.

He is still just as smitten with grandaddy as always. He earned major 'cool points' by upgrading to a riding lawnmower aka 'tractor' the same week that we arrived. Eli spent alot of time in the garage 'driving the tractor.'

And these two are another story! My cousin Patrick, 'Uncle Pat' is just as much a kid as Eli is. So of course they had some serious fun together. They played golf in the backyard one night until they were both completely worn out.
We planned this trip so that we'd be there for the 4th of July. My dad's side of the family has a big family reunion every year on the 4th, and I haven't been able to go since the year that Dan and I got married. It was extra special to be able to go and introduce Eli to so many that had never met him before. It's also a great way to see everybody at once! Eli had a blast playing with his second cousins and enjoyed plenty of sweet treats. The boy was soaked in sweat and in desperate need of a nap by the end of our time there. We headed back to my Aunt's house to rejuvenate and get ready for cookout #2 of the day.
Eli with his 4 second cousins. Dalton and Heather were in our wedding almost 4 years ago...hard to believe!
Happy 4th!
We had a fun family cookout at my Aunt Karen's house late that afternoon.

They have a sweet Bassett Hound named Cleo that Eli is seriously obsessed with. He followed her around and copied her every move...which was usually sleeping on the floor :) He's still talking about her, and insists that every Bassett Hound he sees is Cleo.
We left VA on Wednesday morning. It was another good trip, other than the horrific weather we were in for the last 3 hours of the trip. My mom wasn't leaving until Friday afternoon, so we were able to pack in some more fun before she left. On her final night here we went shopping, took Eli to some play parks, and had a fabulous ice cream date at the outlets. There's just nothing like homemade ice cream on a hot summer night...or anytime for that matter! We were so sad to send her back to Texas, as always, but know that we'll be seeing her again soon.

June Recap

The summer is FLYING by. The highlight of June was definitely our week long visit with family that we hadn't seen in way too long! Becky, Jason, Noah and Colin flew in from Seattle for a much anticipated week of fun in the sun with lots of boy cousins. GG & Goomba were able to come from Florida; and Katie, Charles, Chase, Jacob & Luke from Columbia. That's a total of 6 boys...under the age of 6! The week was full of sweet sweet memories...countless hours spent in the pool, trips to the beach, trolley rides (enjoyed by all besides a certain very nauseaus pregnant woman), baseball games, family dinners, golf course games, and many many more. It was just so good to be together, that we really didn't care what we were doing! Our main concern was keeping all 6 of the boys entertained, and finding ways to tire them out. The adults spent lots of quality time by the pool while the kids were napping, which was so relaxing.
I will always have the sweetest memories of Noah reading to Eli. Within 5 minutes of us reuniting with them on Father's Day Sunday, Noah was already reading book after book to Eli, and explaining each page as he went along. Eli loved having this special time with his biggest boy cousin. Eli and Colin were such sweet buddies too. They are about 5 months apart, and logged some serious playtime together.
I probably have 300 pictures of just the kids in the pool. They seriously lived in the pool for the week. We even let them swim in the rain one morning...mainly because we feared the outcome of being stuck in the house all day!
Definitely one of my favorite things we did with the boys was spending an evening at the baseball field. We always joke about having enough boys in the family to field a baseball team...and pretty soon we just might! Pop Pop pitched to each of the boys, as they all took turns batting & running the bases. Aunt Becky helped them all run the bases..and Eli still talks about this! They were all in absolute heaven, covered in sweat & dirt, and ready to head home & rinse off in the pool by the end of the night!

I thought it was way too cute that in almost every group picture I have, Chase is always right next to Eli. Chase is so sweet and affectionate, and is always the first to give out a great big hug. He calls Eli his 'buddy,' and I'm sure he's really glad that Eli is getting old enough to finally play with the bigger boys.
Thanks to a very creative Aunt Becky, all of the boys were transformed into superhero's for a night! They loved running around the backyard in their capes together. You could just see their little imaginations going.

Everybody was able to make it to the beach on Saturday morning. The kids loved having GG & Goomba, and Nana & Pop Pop there with them. We all enjoyed watching baby Luke experience the beach for the first time too. He was just as laid back as always, and even managed to catch a cat nap. Next time he'll be cruisin' all over the beach!

We are so grateful for our time together, and for the memories that were made. It's hard to believe that there will be another Morgan baby in the mix next time we're all together! This will make grandbaby #10 for Danny's parents. The Lord has blessed this family in ways that we never could have imagined.

Pregnancy Update

I didn't keep any kind of journal when I was pregnant with Eli. I'm kicking myself now because I have a hard time remembering exact weeks of when certain things happened the first time around. Now that we've made it to the 2nd trimester, I want to start keeping track of the little things.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 14 weeks
Size of baby: Now bigger than a peach!
Weight gain: Still trying to gain back what I lost the first trimester.
Maternity Clothes: Not yet! I should be able to make it until the fall in my regular clothes.
Gender: Can't wait to find out!
Movement: Sometimes I feel tiny flutters when I'm laying on my back at night, but that's about it.
Sleep: Sleeping fine, other than the 2 or 3 trips to the bathroom each night. Also trying to adjust to sleeping on my side again.
Symptoms: The nauseau is FINALLY settling down. It still rears its head at night some, but it's much more tolerable than it was. The last few weeks I've been dealing with headaches, but I'll take that any day over all day sickness. And then of course just being tired all the time.
What I miss: My energy! I'm hoping to get that 2nd trimester energy boost here soon.
Cravings: This week I've been seriously craving cucumbers & pickles. And then red meat (just as I did with Eli). I could eat steak every night.
Best Moment this week: Moving on from the 1st trimester! And finally showing a noticeable baby bump!
What I am looking forward to: Starting to feel the baby move a little more, and of course counting down until our big ultrasound!

Father's Day

We've just had the best Sunday celebrating all of the wonderful dad's in the family! We've been blessed with an abundance of Godly leaders, and I'm so thankful for the dad, grandad, and great-grandad's that Eli will grow up under. It's so comforting to know that all 7 of the young boys in our family have such wonderful examples to follow.

I couldn't help but think back to the day that my husband became a father! I love talking about the sweet memories from that day. The tears that flowed from his face when he saw his son for the very first time. It was a few minutes before I saw Eli, but Dan had already told me all about him. I just remember him saying over and over, 'Ash, he's perfect!' And then crying some more...:)
Such a proud daddy!
Showing him off to Mimi and Nana.

Danny is such a wonderful dad. I love the way that he cares and provides for us, always gentle & loving, and always quick to be silly. I couldn't have asked for a more hands on husband and father. I sure can't wait to see him with 2!

Exciting News!

We've got some big news that is just too exciting not to share, and much too obvious to hide! We are expecting baby #2!! We couldn't possibly be any more thrilled, and can hardly wait to meet our new & tiny blessing in January. Eli acts very excited about becoming a big brother, and at least pretends to really understand what we're talking about. He talks about the baby in mommy's belly ALL the time, and loves to look at the ultrasound pictures. I pray that he's still just as excited when it comes time to welcome his baby brother/sister! And yes...we can't wait to find out what we're having. I'm already itching to start decorating!
And the ultimate question that I'm asked daily...How are you feeling?! Well...pregnant! And for me, that means sick sick sick. The first trimester is always rough for me. I've got 3 weeks of 24/7 sickness behind me, and I'm just praying that the second trimester will bring some welcome relief. It's been a daily struggle to continue being all that Eli needs and deserves, while feeling aboslutely miserable. We've got some really fun weeks ahead, so I'm praying that I'll be feeling much better by then. As bad as I've felt the past month, I feel SO blessed to be carrying this baby and even appreciate the pregnancy symptoms that come with it. After suffering a devastating loss back in February, we are holding tight and trusting fully in God's plan for our family. We know that the Lord never gives us more than we can handle, and that always brings much needed comfort. We are so very ready to become a family of four!