Introducing Annabelle Ruth Duncan

Yes, she is actually a GIRL!!!!! We are so happy to be home from the hospital with our new little bundle of joy -- Annabelle Ruth -- 6 pounds, 13 ounces and 19" long. She was born October 30 at 8:41 PM. (Yay!! We didn't have a Halloween baby!!!)

Here are a few pictures of our beautiful baby. I'll post and write more later when I'm not so sleep deprived. Hmmmmm...wonder when that will be????? :)

Sorry...don't know why this one is sideways.

Why, Yes...I am a REAL NASA Astronaut

I'm ready to go!

We went to the Trunk or Treat event tonight at church and had a great time...especially Jacob. He now has more candy than any two year old should ever be allowed to eat. Fortunately, we've been able to keep him from eating too much. Unfortunately, Heath and I have been eating candy (and still are) all night long. This is not good. Why did everyone have to give out the good candy (Snickers, M&Ms, Butterfingers, etc...)? Where were the Whoppers? I wouldn't be tempted by Whoppers. Oh well. I have to admit...Snickers and Twix may be bad for you, but they sure taste good. Want one? Better get over here fast because the way we're eating, they won't last long!

Jacob was definitely the cutest (and the only) astronaut at Trunk or Treat. (Thank you David!) He loved his spacesuit and so did everyone else. He even kept his hat on the whole night! If he hadn't broken his sunglasses yesterday, he probably would have worn those too, despite the darkness. He still loves sunglasses. In fact, several people asked him where they were tonight because he always wears them to church.

When we got home, I asked Jacob if he had fun tonight and he said, "Mmmm-hmmm. Candy......games.....boons (balloons)...nites (lights)." He was able to play several of the games this year, which made the night even more fun. His favorite game was throwing tennis balls into a basket. Each time he finished throwing the balls in, he would say, "Again." He probably played that game five times before we moved on to something else. The funniest thing about it was how he would perfectly line up all three tennis balls on the ground before he picked them up to throw them. Must be the engineer in him, I guess.

Wait...I have to line up the tennis balls first.

The only thing we couldn't get Jacob to participate in tonight was the hayride. He kept saying, "Nike it...nike it....nike it" which means, "don't like it." Then later on when we were leaving, one of the hayrides was just getting back and Erika asked him, "You didn't want to go on the hayride?" Jacob responded, "No...tink you. (No thank you.). How funny is that? That's the first time we've ever heard him say, "No thank you."

Jacob and his friend, Dash, from The Incredibles.

It was getting colder, so we stopped to put on another layer.

Hmmm...what do I want to do next?

Is this a great costume, or what?

Yay! Boons!

Look! It's Deh-tub (Jacob)!

Ooooooooooooh Punkins!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, the gentle breezes, and the leaves changing colors on the trees. I especially love "fall food," like any and all things pumpkin -- pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies......ok, you get the idea.

Last year, we took Jacob to a local farmer's market where they had set up a small pumpkin patch and I got several really cute pictures. We visited that same pumpkin patch this year. Jacob had so much fun running around and trying to roll the "punkins" through the hay. Actually, he enjoys any outdoor activity. He also liked to go see the "people" (sticks with sheets on the top made to look like ghosts). I took a few pictures, but they all came out a little blurry. I guess something was wrong with the camera settings. As it turns out, the farmer's market is closed on Sundays, so we weren't able to buy a pumpkin that day. Maybe we'll get back there sometime this week to make a purchase and take a few more pictures.

Jacob and I looked at the pictures yesterday and he got so excited about seeing himself in the "punkin.......patch." That's the way he says it, with a pause in the middle. I guess he loves pumpkins just as much as I do!

I like this one!


It was very difficult trying to get Jacob to sit still for any posed pictures. I am surprised we got these!

Here's my favorite picture from last year's pumpkin patch outing. What a difference a year makes!

Sweet Moments

I know I've blogged about Jacob's little (and not so little) temper tantrums, but I'd say, the majority of the time, he is such a sweet little boy. The other day while we were in the car, I looked back at him and out of the blue, he said, "I yuh you, Mommy." (I love you, Mommy). That was just the sweetest thing and it brought tears to my eyes. He's done it a couple more times since then and I certainly never tire of hearing those words!

As many of you know, I've had a chronic stuffy nose for...well...it's going on 3 months now. The doctor says it's pregnancy related. Anyway, that stuffy nose has developed into a nasty cold. Perfect timing right? This morning, I was blowing my nose for the millionth time and Jacob walked up to me and said, "Nose.....munnin'?" (Nose running?) He seemed very concerned. I replied, "Yes, my nose is running." When I finally finished, he asked, "All beh-yuh?" (All better?) He is so cute. I love him. :)

It's Almost Time!

Well, I will officially be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow. Thirty-seven weeks is considered full-term, so I guess our baby could arrive any time now! I have to say, I am ready. While I might not feel completely prepared, I am ready to meet this baby and take care of her/him (more on that later) on the outside rather than on the inside. I've started sleeping on the couch at night because it's more comfortable than sitting up in the bed. Every time I lay down, the baby decides it is playtime and starts doing what feels like gymnastics -- not fun...for me. I also feel like my stomach can't get much larger, but as I sit here and type, I can almost feel myself growing. Although, I'm not sure if it's the baby or the chocolate chips I'm inhaling. I guess it could be a little of both.

An interesting thing about being pregnant is that total strangers will make comments to you and try to predict what you are having. At our ultrasound appointment, the technician seemed pretty certain it is a girl, but for some reason, I just wasn't so certain...until about a month ago. Heath was out of town with the guys for their annual "boys weekend." Since he was away, I decided I should have a "girls weekend." So, Kelly and I did some baby / maternity shopping in Charleston. The more we shopped and talked, the more I became convinced I was having a girl. After all, this pregnancy has been so different from my previous pregnancy with Jacob. Up until last month, Heath and I really hadn't bought anything at all for the new baby. I loved looking at all the cute baby girl clothes and did a lot of window shopping, but could never bring myself to make a purchase. This particular weekend, however, I finally took the plunge and bought a few things. I thought more about my ultrasound appointment and how the technician said she had been doing ultrasounds for 20 years. I thought about how she said she was certain it was a girl...even though she had to do a bit of searching to figure it out.

Just when I had finally convinced myself it is definitely a girl, something happened that planted another seed of doubt in my mind. As Kelly and I were walking down the street, two old men happened to pass by. One looked at me and said, "Hi...how are you doing today?" I said, "I'm good, thanks. How are you?" He replied, "Just fine," then he pointed at my stomach, said, "That's a boy!" and walked on by. Strange. I looked at Kelly who told me I shouldn't listen to him. "Paula, he's probably drunk," she said. And while there is a good chance Kelly was right, I couldn't get that comment out of my mind.

After a few days, I came to terms with it. Who was that guy anyway? A total stranger. What does he know? I shouldn't let some stranger get to me like that. I went shopping again and bought a few more girly things and that made me feel better.

This past weekend, I had even more strangers tell me I look like I am having a boy. When I got my hair cut on Friday, a lady who works at the salon said she thought I was having a boy. Then, on Saturday, the guy behind the counter at the Food Court looked at me and said, "Boy?" What is going on???? I talked to some people at church on Sunday about my encounters and they think it's just because of the way I'm carrying. All my weight seems to be out front in my stomach and as the old wives tale goes, if you carry out front instead of all around, you're having a boy.

As of this moment, I have decided not to worry about it. Whether this baby is a boy or a girl, we will love him/her the same and will be excited either way. Just in case, I did buy a gender neutral outfit to take to the hospital with us...along with our original girl outfit. The funny thing is, Heath and I have had a boy name picked out for a while. We still can't seem to nail down a girl's name!

On to another subject....Jacob. He still manages to make me laugh everyday. I'm hoping that continues forever! :) I didn't witness this next story, but it's really cute. Saturday, while I was shopping, Heath took Jacob to the play area in the mall. He LOVED playing on the little slide. Apparently, there was another little boy about his age playing on it too. One time, they both found themselves at the top of the slide. They looked at each other for a few seconds wondering who was going to slide down first. Finally, Jacob leaned over, patted the boy on the back, looked him right in the face, and said, "Go....go....go." So, the little boy slid down and Jacob went next. He's two and already has such good manners! Well....at least he did in this particular instance.

Sunday morning Jacob wore one of his suits to church. (Thank you Grandpapa!) He looks so cute in a tie. Don't you think?

Here he is pre-dress socks and shoes...and pre-hair being combed.

Here he is post-church ----- shirt untucked, very tired and his hair looking pretty much like it did when he woke up that morning. He was actually crying because he wanted to hold the camera to see himself. He wasn't at all interested in smiling for another picture.

One more little Jacob item.....Heath and I keep wondering where he gets his southern drawl from. It's so funny the way he says certain words like, salt: saaaww-t and dog: daaaww-g. Actually, he says dog exactly the way Molly Shannon from SNL used to say it in the dog show skit......"Cause I....uh-looooove......uh-daaawwgs!!" Does anyone remember that? Lately , he's even let the drawl slip into the word "baby." He says, "bye-beee." It's hilarious. Where is he getting this from??? Hopefully, I'll catch him on video saying these things so I can post them on here. I'll have to work on that.

Fun with Cheerios

Food can be so much fun, especially for a toddler. Take, for instance, a normal, everyday activity like eating breakfast. For grown-ups, it can be a pretty mundane part of the day, but to Jacob, it's playtime and a perfect opportunity to use his imagination.

This morning, he had cheerios, yogurt and raisins. Usually, he likes to put a cheerio in his yogurt and fish it out with a spoon. While he did do that today, he also decided to get a little creative. First, he began stacking a raisin between two cheerios and called them hamburgers. How cute is that? Then, he made a "slide" out of his napkin and let the cheerios go down the slide into his pocket bib, cheering, "Yaaaaaaaaay!" each time one fell in. After he acquired quite a large collection, he ate every one of them, then told me he was "all done." Who knew breakfast could also double as playtime? He makes every day fun, that's for sure.

HEH-NO! DER? BYE!
Last week, Heath found an old cell phone in his car and gave it to Jacob to play with. That has turned into his favorite toy. He's been obsessed with phones for a while and has several toy phones, but getting to play with a "real" one is so much better. Everyday, he makes calls to just about everyone he knows. I never do any prompting. He decides who he wants to call on his own. For a while, he called David ALL the time. Here's a little video of one of his daily phone sessions:

Sometimes when Jacob actually is talking on the phone to someone, he'll hit a button and I'll take the phone from him and ask," Hey...are you still there?" thinking he may have accidently hung up. Now, everytime Jacob hits a button, he says, "Der? Der?"

Jacob got his third haircut on Wednesday, and just like every other time, I think he looks so much older now. It's shorter than it has ever been! Since his hair has been growing so fast lately, we decided to taper it in the back a little. He looks more like a little boy and less like a baby every day.

COME OUT BABY!
Heath and I have really been trying to help Jacob understand that he is going to be a big brother and that there will be a new baby in our house. I think he's starting to catch on a little, but not to the point of full understanding. He does look at my tummy now and say, "Come out!" I've been telling him the baby is going to come out soon. Whether he gets it or not right now, he'll learn soon enough!

I ordered a new car seat cover and am so excited about it. I absolutely love it! (I know...little things make me happy). The car seat is all ready now, except I still need to find that extra infant head support. When Jacob was a newborn, he was so tiny, I think we actually used three separate head supports to keep his head from flopping around. Unfortunately, we didn't have them when we brought him home from the hospital. Look at how he just disappeared in the seat!

The "new" car seat

Altogether Now.....

"...Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff

He's Winnie the Pooh...

Winnie the Pooh...

Willy nilly silly old bear."

We celebrated my 29th (again) birthday yesterday by taking Jacob to see Disney Live! Winnie the Pooh and we all had such a great time! Jacob absolutely loved it and it was so fun to watch his face light up as each of the characters came out on stage. Each time someone made their entrance, he called their name loudly, "Nook...Mammit!!!!! ( Look, Rabbit)" "Nook.....Woooo" (Roo) "Nook...Tee-gah!!! (Tigger) "Nook...Pooh!" He was so excited! He danced and clapped and cheered through the whole show.

Of course, Jacob had his moments where he got a little distracted. Heath was astonished that we could be sitting in the third row, directly in front of the stage where Winnie the Pooh, himself, was standing and talking, yet Jacob still wanted to sit on the floor and go through my purse. Oh, well. That only lasted a few seconds before his eyes were back on the stage.

The fun began the second we walked in the door when Jacob saw all the sales booths set up with all kinds of ridiculously priced Winnie the Pooh toys, cups, hats, shirts, etc... Of course, we caved into the hype and bought a couple things. Who wouldn't?

I wish we would have captured this particular moment on video. When we handed this light up toy to Jacob, he pushed the button and started to shake with excitement as the bees lit up and spun around. His mouth was wide open as he watched it and whispered, "Wooooooooooooowww!"

Hmmmm...decisions, decisions. Which cup should I choose?

Ok.....notice how big this cup is. Notice how much blue lemonade is in this cup. Jacob drank this throughout the hour and a half show. Knowing how fast he drinks a little juice box, I should have counted on him chugging this too. By the end of the show, the cup was almost empty (Heath did have a few sips). Jacob drank so much of it so quickly that he completely saturated his diaper beyond its capacity. When Heath stood up at the end of the show, he couldn't figure out why his shorts were wet. Then we looked at Jacob and realized what had happened. Jacob had been sitting in Heath's lap and the diaper just didn't hold up. Oops! Glad I brought extra pants...for Jacob. Unfortunately, Heath just had to dry out.

Jacob wanted to sit in his own seat most of the time; although, he didn't weigh enough to keep the seat down. It was always folded halfway up, but he enjoyed "rocking" it back down. To him, the seat was almost as much fun as the show!

Worn out from the day's activities.

We went to church Sunday morning and then out to eat. Jacob fell asleep on the way home, but woke up when we arrived and never went back to sleep. So, he didn't get the nap I was hoping for before we left to see Winnie the Pooh. That explains this next video.

Needless to say, he took a bath and went right to sleep as soon as we went inside. He slept soundly all night long, probably dreaming of Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and all his other pals.

I Want to Wear Cheese Today

Now that Jacob is two years old, he thinks he is an adult and can do all things independently. He is very much into "self" -- doing things all by himself. "Self" is his favorite word these days. He likes to get in and out of the bathtub himself, push the buttons on the microwave himself, get diapers himself, turn on the lights himself, open his yogurt himself, etc.... Pretty much anything he does, he likes to do "self." I was amazed the other day when he turned on the kitchen lights. He used to build steps with his blocks to reach the light switches. Now he just walks right up and flips them on...no steps required! He really has gotten bigger!

Since he enjoys doing everything on his own, I've started letting him choose his own clothes and shoes in the morning (to a certain extent). Today we opened his shirt drawer and I asked him to choose a shirt. He looked through them for a few seconds, then pulled out a solid yellow shirt and said, "is one...cheese" (this one...cheese). I guess he wanted to wear "cheese" today. He's been pointing at his shirt and saying "cheese" all day. The shirt is almost the exact same color as American cheese, so in his mind, I guess he really is wearing cheese!

We spent last weekend with Heath's brother, Philip, and his wife, Michelle. It was a fun weekend and we had a great time visiting with them. Clemson pulled out a huge (expected) win over SC State, so that made things even better. The only problem was, like all weekends, the time passed by way too fast. I wish we could have stayed longer. Jacob enjoyed the trip too and is still a fairly good traveler. He did get a little antsy on the way back though.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

The morning of the football game, (Go Tigers!) Jacob ate about 100 grapes for breakfast. He loves "gapes." He spent the day with Uncle Kenny (a.k.a. Coo-coo Nanny according to Jacob), Aunt Tammy, Caitlyn and Bethany (Benny) while we went to the game. I think that was Jacob's favorite part of the weekend! When we went to pick him up, he didn't want to leave!

Dumpin' (jumping) on the stump!

Jacob loves to go up and down stairs, only now, he doesn't want any help. He's two, remember? He can do it "self!"

Obviously, Jacob wasn't thrilled about being in this picture.

In other news.....we haven't really started any hard core potty training, but Jacob is getting it little by little on his own. He uses the potty every night before his bath and yesterday in the middle of lunch, he started saying, "Potty, potty!" So, we went to the bathroom and sure enough, he had to go! He doesn't do that all the time, but he's catching on and that makes me happy.

Only about six more weeks to go before my due date! We've been busy trying to make our house bigger than it actually is...that's not going so well. A little more storage space would be helpful, but we'll manage somehow. I've actually bought several baby girl outfits too which is a big step for me since I'm still not 100 percent convinced this baby is a girl. BUT...for some reason, the more I buy, the more convinced I get. And no....still no name yet. Feel free to voice your suggestions!