What Decade Is It?

Happy 2010!  This is what it has felt like here in Atlanta for most of the month. But luckily we all survived the "Great Blizzard"...1/4 of an inch of snow/ice that literally shut down the city for a couple days. Seriously, schools were closing before the first snowflake even fell. Gotta love the south! We ain't used to such conditions!

Sooo... I hope everyone is enjoying their new underpants they asked for from Santa. Way to start a new decade! And you're welcome.

Mkay, clearly I'm a bit behind.  A lot has gone on this past month and a half. I'm going to give you the brief run down. First of all, Beau has been moved to his "big boy room". (Don't forget to say it they way I taught you.) I will give you all the gory details in a post following this one, as there are many details to share. It was long, and hard fought battle by both sides.  Final score: Mom- 1, big boy bed- 0. Insert evil laugh here.

My baby boy is turning two in less than a month. I had to type it for it to really sink in. Oh yeah, and not to mention that for his second birthday he's getting a little brother. Craziness is about to take residence in the Furlong house...even more than usual.

On to the holiday recap, shall we? Geez, I feel like the winners in my neighborhood who still have Christmas decorations up. Newsflash: It doesn't matter if you don't plug in your light up candy canes on your porch... I can still see them. And what was cute and festive a month ago is doing nothing but screaming I'M LAZY! now. It's time to pack it up.

Here is our Christmas card from this year. There was no way I was going to be in any picture, fearing people might mistake me for the holiday ham, so, I decided on Beau's Santa picture. It makes me laugh because he was so unsure of what he thought about Mr. Claus. This is the best picture we got...the others Santa is getting the stink eye from my precious angel.

Mooooving on....So, my mommy turned *cough* sixty *cough cough* on December 14th. I had everyone over for brunch that Sunday. For some reason I have just had the itch to cook and entertain these past few months. My first big ta-da being Thanksgiving, I conquered all the traditional Turkey Day fixin's. Anyway, I made what I considered to be a pretty impressive brunch spread (if I do say so myself, and I do) with the piece de resistance being this bad ass cake. (If you so much as ask me what those things are on top I will reach this screen and scratch your eyeballs with my crazy growing pregnancy fingernails. CLEARLY they are pinecones. Pinecones made out of almond slivers. That had to be arranged one by one. Painstakingly. No? Well try squinting a little. It helps.)

Well, we here at the Furlong residence drug out the celebration of Christmas for about two weeks. We went to about 101 different places. We just have such a darn big family, and I'll be danged if we didn't have Christmas with just about each and everyone within an 83 mile radius. But of course it was wonderful to celebrate with everyone.  Naturally, in my current "condition" I forgot the camera and/or forgot to take pictures of these events. Ugh. Poor guy. A million photos up to this point in his life, then mom gets preggo brain and it all dries up.  He'll be ok. I'll pay for his therapy.

I did get these few on Christmas morning after Santa came.

My favorite thing I got from Santa? A cleaning service. (My Kitchen Aid mixer a close second). Sooooo nice of Santa. Seriously, the combination of my OCD, my hormones, and my nesting instincts are driving us all insane. Things can not be organized enough or cleaned too many times. It's so nice not to have to worry about the major things like baseboards, blinds and toilets. I'm going to write a post to fill you guys in on what I have done to this house since Thanksgiving. Not one item escaped a Clorox wipe and a labeled tupperware box. From the attic to the garage. I'm not kidding. Just wait.

Now if I could just hire someone to keep my blog updated...

Thanks, Costco

I won.
We finally joined Costco.
With a muscle man and (soon to be) two growing boys, we decided buying in bulk would be a plus.

So Beau and I went last Tuesday just to kill some time and get aquainted. Preggos should be banned from this place. A package of 900 Oreos. Yes, please.

Which brings me to Thursday...

I had my routine doctor's appointment. No lie, as I was standing on the scale, the nurse blinks a few times, looks at me, looks at the scale, and says, "Am I reading this right?". Yes, sweetheart. Believe it. And despite my efforts to not wear jewelry or heavy articles of clothing that would weigh me down...I have gained another 10 pounds. In one month. Put that in your oven and bake it.

Trips to Costco are now limited to non-food purchases until further notice.

Anywho...

When Nanny was here over Thanksgiving she gave Beau his early Christmas present. He loves his bike. Well, that is until Leo makes him put his feet on the pedals and pushes him... thats when he screams bloody murder. Then it's just hilarious.

Seasons Greetings.

Yes, it's me...aaaand yes it is 4:30 in the morning. I made the utterly rediculous decision of drinking some orange juice (high pulp, calcium added, Pat...hehe) after 4 o'clock pm yesterday. Worst. Reflux. Ever. But, my digestive issues are your good fortune. Yes, we'll go with that.

I do want to apologize (again) for the blog neglect. But, you DO know it'ts that crazy time of year and I have been spending my time doing such productive things as:

Putting my Christmas decor up.

**crickets chirrping**

Oops.
No.
That's a lie.

Oh, it's definitely pulled down from the attic and sitting on my dining room table in all it's holiday glory. I normally LIVE for decorating my house for the holidays, but feel more like the Grinch this year. Let's just skip all the who-hash. My tree has been assembled for a week now without a stitch of decoration on it. Not a light, nay an ornament. And since I'm married to Scrooge in the flesh, it's just gonna stay naked until I somehow muster up some motivation. I did manage to throw away the pumpkin that has been gracing our doorstep for, oh, I don't know, TWO whole months. That's a start, right?

... So I've been doing my Christmas shopping.

Wait. Nope. Another fib. First of all, I hardly have the brain power to even wrap my head around the concept of gifts this year. The mere thought of going out amongst the crowds of sicklies and greedies makes my head explode. AND since I can barely fit in my car, all gifts are coming from a 1.2 mile radius of my house. Which limits choices to the Shell Gas Station, Big Lots, and, since the Huddle House closed, a Carribean Restaurant. 'Dats jerk wings for everyone, mon!

...But I've definitely been getting ready for baby.

Dammit. Can't get one by you guys. Let's just say...this baby better not decide to come a day earlier than planned. We are nowhere near where I had planned to be at this point. Since we are moving Beau to a "big boy room" (I feel like I have to say that in a high pitch voice and enthusiastic expression, even when talking to adults. It's awesome.) I had wanted to get him in there by Thanksgiving to get used to it. Ok, so it's been postponed to Christmas...New Years...Groundhog day?

Ok, the real reason is I'm feeling great and am always busy working out and volunteering in the community like a cow. A bipolar, sleep deprived, cow. When my mood swings are under control, my gas isn't. When I go an hour without peeing my pants, my back is killing me. I just don't want to bring everyone down with all my moaning, I mean, that's what I have a husband for.

Bah humbug.

Despite the devoured Halloween candy, overlooking the eaten birthday cakes, disregarding the fact that I have to vacuum every waking day to keep his hair under control, and even ignoring the occational "accident" (which I believe are on purpose to give me the doggie middle finger)...my baby boy LOVES this dog. AAAAnd as much as I hate to admit it, Baxter is really good with Beau.  Its really the only thing that dog has going for him right now...

Oh, and could someone please tell me when my baby was replaced by this little boy?  I know I'm hormonal, but it makes me weepy seeing how big Beau is getting. Ok ok...I am so over the top hormonal I was even getting teary at a re-run of the break-up episode of "The Girls Next Door".  But Hef looked so sad... and old...and sad...

Um, anyway...                                 

Playing Catch Up

Ok, everyone. Grab a beverage and get hydrated, grab a snack, get comfy... its gonna be a long post. So sorry it's been a while. I've just been really lazy busy. 

Well, let's get the business out of the way first. I had my 6 month check up today. Everything is good. Tootles has a strong heartbeat. We have to have his birthday "picked out" by my next appointment. Since I have to have a scheduled C-Section we even get to pick the day. Its sounds crazy. But I think for an anxious control freak like myself, it will be good. Oh me? I'm fine, thanks. Another seven pounds up. Geez. I stink at this. And whenever my doctor starts to reprimand me about my weight my life turns all "Ally McBeal" and all I see is a giant chicken wing in a lab coat dancing around. Weird.

Anywho, earlier this week I saw on the news that Cobb County was doing a free H1N1 clinic and vaccinations right near my house. It was scheduled from 2-7 this past Tuesday. I figured get there right at 2 while people are still at work and the kids are still in school and we would be golden. Ha. Wait, that deserves a something bigger....HA!When we rolled up to the back of the line I would guess that we were lucky number 2,381 and 2. Beau and I waited for 3 hours along with the rest of Cobb/Douglas County to get the most sought after thing in the United States since Tickle Me Elmo. Beau was so good, though. He just sat in his stoller and ate the lunch I packed him and watched all the other wild kids running around. Not one disgruntled peep from him all afternoon. Well, besides when the nurse jammed a needle in his thigh. But we are vaccinated!

In early October, I had my 10 year high school reunion. Wow, I'm getting old. I took NO pictures so I stole these from people's facebook pages.

Nicole, Jamie, moi, Amy, and Amanda

Me and Amanda showing our baby bellies.

Ok, on to the things ya'll really care about. Pictures of Beau. Leo and I love taking him to this park right near our house.

Ugh. I had grand plans for this Halloween. However, I completly overestimated my level of motivation. So I ended up making Beau a flying monkey costume (from Wizard of Oz) and I was the witch. The Wicked Chubby Witch from the NorthWest Suburbs. With my monkey. Anyway, I always make a huge vat of chili and we all head over to my Gramp's house and hand out candy. Oh, and speaking of candy... I purchased the quality bag from Costco. I'm talking like 10 pounds of Snickers, Reese's, M&Ms and Hershey's goodness. Well, I come home from an errand one day and that asshole dog of ours has cleaned me out of about half of it. Wrappers and all. Don't believe me? The proof is in our backyard.

Soooo... That was exhausting. See you in January. Haha. Just kidding.

Maybe.

********

Random post script... Can you believe that Blogger's "updated" version doesn't have spell check?!?! This is a nightmare! For all of us! Ya'll, I am so sorry, but there are just going to be a TON of misspellings/typos. We should all write letters and complain.

My Favorite Time of Year

Geez...I can't believe its already the middle of October. Time is really flying. It will be Christmas before I know it and then soon after that, Tootles W. Furlong will be here. No, we aren't really naming him Tootles, but the battle is in full swing and that seems to be the only name we can agree on at this moment (jokingly). Is it just me, or are boy names just so much more difficult to come up with? It must be manly, but not trendy, but also sound good with Furlong, and be a good football name, and not remind me of someone that I knew in middle school who smelled bad... AGH! Please submit your suggestions to the comment box! We have decided on a middle name, though! YAY!

Anyway, October is hands down my favorite month of the year. I just get all giddy when those cool nights come rolling in. Oh, and pumpkins. I love me a pumpkin. Katie and I took the kiddos up to Gainsville for our second annual trip to the pumpkin farm. Ooops, did I mention that the outlets are right down the street from the pumpkin farm? We might have stopped there too...And we might have purchased a few things... I may be chubby right now, but Kate Spade purses are one size fits all.

Um, back to what I was saying...I love going back and comparing pictures to last year's. So here is Beau last year, 8 months old, at the pumpkin farm:

Now, compare to this year... Such a big boy. It was MUCH more difficult getting pictures this time.

What little boy doesn't love playing in a gravel driveway?

Miss Molly was almost equally hard to photograph. I guess being propped up among random gourds and hay bales is cause for anxiety in some 3 month olds...hehe. How cute is she, though? She is wearing Beau's hat from last year... and next year Tootles will wear it... and the year after that... well, let's just say, it won't be my turn. (Katie, I cropped out the inappropriate pumpkin stem placement, hehe).

This past weekend was also my 10 year high school reunion! Stay tuned for pictures that I totally stole from other people!

SEX

That got your attention, huh? Nah, just wanted to let you know that we are having another BOY! God is good.