Carnesville Citizen #4

On our first day of vacation, we went straight to the hospital to find out the gender of our baby. Britton was certain it was a girl and even called her a girl. The doctor asked if we had any guesses. I said Britton thinks it's a girl, but I have a sneaky feeling it's a boy. Sure enough, new baby Carnes, the 4th citizen of Carnesville, is a BOY. I love it when people say, "Aw, Caden is going to be a big brother." Well, yes. He is certainly going to be a big brother! Haha. It doesn't take much for a little laughter. This little boy seems to move as much or more than Caden did. And we were praying for a chill baby. Ha. We're either going to be really fit for a long time trying to keep up with our kids or get old really fast from being tired of trying to keep up with our kids. The doctor said everything looked great, normal, and very healthy. My due date is somewhere between October 5-8. Caden's birthday is Oct. 17. We'll see what happens. It's always nice just to watch the baby move on the ultrasound. Unfortunately, Britton had the overwhelming task of keeping Caden still, which is about like trying to keep a frog in boiling water. Over vacation, we talked about names and decided on one. Here's pictures to reveal everything.

This is the most revealed Baby Carnes will ever be on this blog, but just in case you need proof, here it is. His head is on the right, leg at the top, and you can figure out the rest as it is clearly labeled.

His spine. Caden's first pictures were a little clearer, but I'll take what I can get.

A healthy little heartbeat...155Hz.

I love this picture if you can make out everything. I just have the image in my head of when we were watching all the movement. He was peeking in and out then opened his mouth. This is his partially revealed face with his mouth open in the center of the picture. His eyes are on the right in the shadows, and you can see his little nostrils.

And now to reveal Baby Carnes' new name...

Grady Perry Carnes

I took this at the beach...obviously. We were thinking about a few different names, so I actually wrote them all out in the sand. We revealed Caden's name 2 years ago when we were at the beach. I was also 22 weeks then. I compared my prego pictures, and I'm pretty much the same in size. I take that as a good thing.

Here's a little background on the name:

Grady was Britton's grandfather's name, and we really liked it and wanted to honor his life by continuing the name. Perry was my maiden name and is also now my middle name (so we will have the same middle name!). Some random little facts that only I would care about are that the name is Irish Gaelic, just like Caden's name. Caden's name means battle. Grady's name means child of nobility. Caden James and Grady Perry have the exact same letters in their name. No, we really didn't plan all these details, but me being a detailed person really liked all of it. So, there ya have it. Who would've thought we'd have 2 sons?! I love having my family of men...makes me feel protected and extra loved. We're so blessed and grateful to have a part in these 2 boys' lives. Here's to what's to come!

Vacation Part 3 - Beach Pictures

I'm the quintessential sucker for taking pictures on the beach. Yeah, yeah, it's so cliche, but they're fun to look back on and also served as gifts for our dads on Father's Day. We love going to the beach, so it's fun to see how we've changed. I didn't think beach pictures would even happen this time because our last 2 days there, it rained non-stop. We still had a good time, and fortunately right before dinner our last night (also our Anniversary), it stopped momentarily. We quickly changed clothes and headed down to the beach for one last visit. When we got there, it was so humid that my camera fogged up and was blurry for a while. You couldn't see anything. I kept it on several minutes and it eventually adjusted. It was super windy, so we tried to hurry and get out of there. Here's the few we ended up with. Better than nothing.

A quick daddy/son shot. I'm pretty sure I was saying poo-poo again to make Caden smile.

And a quick mommy/son(s) shot. Daddy didn't say poo-poo

and a quick family shot. I forget what language the lady spoke who took our picture, but we heard a bunch of different languages that week. It's amazing how you find to communicate. Our first day on the beach, a woman (from who knows what country) came up to us to tell us that the water would come up to our towel and stuff and wash it away. She and her friend were sitting on this miniature patch of grass further back. At first, I thought she didn't want us to sit there because we were in her way or something, but body language can communicate a lot. It made me thankful that we can speak at least a little bit of this new language we are learning.

Taking a walk. Britton doesn't like for Caden to walk on his toes, but I think it's too cute. I wish I could put him in a gymnastics class because he straightens his legs and points his toes so well. He also loves to do somersaults and pull himself up anytime he can. He's a strong little boy.

Another mommy/son shot. A few days before this we found out the gender of the baby. Stay tuned for the next blog post for the result and the name (if you don't already know)! This is me at 22 weeks.

I think this is a cute picture. The great part about taking the picture is you remember all the contexts surrounding the pictures being taken. Caden really wanted to go to the water, so Britton thought, why not...we'll just get our feet wet. Well, the waves were a lot bigger here, and the water quickly flowed up the shore leaving Caden's pants all wet and 1/2 of Britton's wet. We had to go back to the hotel for them to change before heading out again. You see this cute picture. I see water rushing up, nearly knocking them over, and the people next to us yelling, "Oh!" Fun memories.

Our beach trip came to a close, and we headed back to a different major city to get some immunizations for Caden. After the shots, we rushed over to Outback steakhouse where we enjoyed bread, salad, a typhoon bloomin' onion, steak, and chicken fingers. Oh, yum! I think this was one of Britton's favorite parts of the trip. Basketball was on a flat screen television, and this was the first time I absolutely didn't care. Poor guy never watches sports anymore, so I wanted him to soak up this moment. I was ok with no conversation because Baby Carnes and I thoroughly enjoyed all the food set before us and Caden was entertained by the waiters who were obsessed with him :o)

And with this, we end our vacation.

Our trip back was 1/2 smooth. We didn't get in until after midnight, so Caden was one tired boy. He did so great with all the flights until the last one. Glad that's behind us. All-in-all, we had a sweet 9 days of relaxation, time together, and good food. We're back to study language hard for 3 months then off again to have our baby!



Vacation Part 2 - Elephant Riding

Fortunately, we picked the perfect day to go elephant riding. It was raining really hard right before we left then as soon as the van picked us up, it stopped. The place wasn't far away. There was a nice breeze the whole time then the sun started to shine as soon as we finished, so it was never too hot and we enjoyed the sun that afternoon. Caden was a little apprehensive at times with the elephant riding, but he did so great and really seemed to enjoy it. His new favorite word to say all the time now is 'elephant' in the local language. We always ask him (in english), "What does the elephant say?" And he will raise his arm like the elephant's trunk and say mmmmm. Then he will say the local language word for elephant. I'm glad he understands both. I'm amazed at his understanding of both languages right now. Of course, where we were they don't speak the same language, so it was just gibberish to everyone else. Here's some snapshots of our trip.

Raising his arm like the elephant's trunk.

the elephants in front of us...gives you a good view of how we were riding. You'd think this would hurt the elephant's back, but you should see some of the stuff they load up there. We were probably nothing to them.

Here's our only shot of us on the elephant. The lady in front of us turned around, took our picture, and sent it to us. It's a little blurry, but at least we have a photo. Of course, Caden has his arm up again telling us what the elephant does.

stopping to take a picture. The clouds kind of obstructed the beautiful view of the sea behind us, but some memories can just stay in our heads.

After riding, we petted and fed our elephant. Caden was very unsure about being this close.

Me at 22 weeks with our elephant.

Me feeding our elephant. They eat the whole banana including the peeling and a bunch of other fruit. You can't see, but there's another elephant to my left, and he got greedy grabbing a hold of my basket trying to take our elephant's food. How rude! It took me off guard more than anything. 

At the end of our trip, a mama and baby elephant put on a mini show for us. Caden was really into it.

This is us back home. The picture's a little boring (he wouldn't stay still), but it's the shirt we got Caden. He loves wearing it because he can point to it and say 'elephant' in the local language.

Here's a few short videos of our time. The second video you get to see Caden raise his arm like the elephant's trunk. The last video you hear me say, "Ah-choo is peeing." Well, the mama elephant's name is 'Ah-choo,' and she was peeing. And when they pee, it's more like a miniature flood...just in case you were wondering:o)

Last part is beach pictures.

Vacation Part 1 - The Beach

I hate to do our vacation in 'parts,' but I have so many pictures to share. This first section is of our hotel, beach, and pool. We had such an awesome time and never thought we would be able to go to a place like this for so little money (minus flight costs!). We were just grateful for the time away with no worries. We picked the perfect spot. The beach wasn't busy, there was a mini-mart right next to our hotel, and all the good food was within a short walking distance from our resort. Unfortunately, it did rain straight our last 2 days there, but we were grateful for the little bit of sunshine we had the rest of the week. We also got to go elephant riding (will be in the next post) and celebrate our Anniversary (see previous post).

This was a cloudy day as you can see on the mountain. We are just coming back from the beach (a very short walk). Our resort went back into the mountains and covered a big area, but it was never crowded there.

This is 1 of 3 pools along with a kiddie pool all for Caden. I'm standing on the deck of another pool on the same level as our room. Beyond the pool is a lagoon and the beach.

Our room. We had such a huge and comfy bed with movie stations in English on a flatscreen :o). We also had a really nice view of the beach. We were actually in a different room at first that was a little bigger but quickly realized the air was not very cold. After a maintenance guy worked very hard to get everything working, they finally called and told us they had a new room. Fortunately, I had not unpacked everything, and we were closer to the pool and elevator on the same floor.

the other side of the room. Caden slept in our little 'foyer' next to the bathroom. I was so glad we had a refrigerator so we could eat lunch in the room and save a little $.

First day going to the beach. He was excited to go!

Aw, the beach.

I don't have any pictures of our first night, but Caden was scared to death of the ocean. The night we got there, we put him in the sand, and he was shaking out of fear. The next day, we took things really slow to help him get over his fear. He started out in a chair watching mommy and daddy take delight in playing in the sand. I went and got a cup of water from the ocean and brought it back to him. He was soon tip-toeing in the sand then heading toward the ocean to get some water himself. About 20 minutes in, he became the wave-jumper with Britton. He kept pulling our hands to go back. We were so proud of him for overcoming his fear, and I was especially happy to recline in a beach chair and watch :o)

Cute little boy

They had a few moments of throwing the football. Nice throw here.

He liked digging.

After getting tired of the strong tide at the beach, we headed back to the pool to enjoy the calm water. We bought a floaty for Caden, but his own little pool was perfect for him to stand in. We were always right there with him, but he enjoyed his freedom.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him. Such a great smile. I think I said poo-poo or something to get him to smile. He doesn't just say cheese and look like this.

He also learned to jump to us.

One of the best things about our hotel was the food. We ate there twice for dinner. They had great burgers, fries, sandwiches, and pizza. They also had the best drinks we have ever had. We tried the strawberry smoothie (my favorite), strawberry milkshake, banana milkshake, mango smoothie, and fruit punch smoothie (Britton's favorite). We really really liked the drinks :o) It was especially nice to use the poolside bar to enjoy our drinks by the pool. Here's Britton and Caden sharing a strawberry milkshake.

Of course, had to have another shot of our drinks. This is the greatest strawberry smoothie I've ever tasted. Oh to have it on my tongue once more.

Here's 2 short videos of us playing at the beach. The first one is of wave jumping, and the second one is of Caden playing in the sand while Britton went solo on the wave jumping. He would frequently call out 'daddy' worried he might not come back. It reminded me of a video of my sister when my mom went parasailing, and she ran after her yelling 'mommy.' You really just need to see the video.

Next up, elephant riding!

4 years

Last week, June 7th, Britton and I celebrated 4 years of marriage. That doesn't seem long at times, then others, it seems so long. It's amazing what can happen in 4 years. We were on vacation this year, and unfortunately, it rained all day and we were stuck inside with our can't-sit-still child. It was still one of the greatest Anniversaries because Britton put a lot of thought into it. He even woke up that morning and said, I know what you're probably thinking...that this day won't be special because of the rain, Caden, etc., but it will be. He was right. He left me notes with clues to my next note that I received all day long. The last note was hidden in a pillow in our hotel lobby! When I came back to the room (Caden being asleep), we enjoyed our pizza dinner (a tradition going to a local pizza place whenever on vacation) and watched our wedding video (which is never Britton's first choice because he relives all his crying). I was so excited to get to watch it. That's when we realized how much had changed in 4 years as we saw what had changed in so many other people's lives. It was also crazy to sit there with my pregnant belly next to our sleeping son in a pack-n-play. It's fun to reminisce and easier to live in our past memories that seem nearly perfect in our heads. We don't think about all the hard times and difficult moments that happen in those 4 years. We certainly don't want to dwell on our present troubles, but I wrote Britton a long note trying to focus on the positive in today. As much as I would love to reminisce about our beautiful wedding, blessed first home, what seemed like an easier life, I was thankful to be at the rainy beach with our screaming son celebrating four years. I would rather life be hard and have Britton than for life to be seemingly perfect and not have him. I am challenged daily in my marriage, but I am so thankful for Britton's vows to me that he reminds me of often that he will continue to choose me every day. So, although I strive to have this life that looks so marvelous and flawless, it's absolutely not, and I will gladly take the life God has laid out for me any day over trying to pursue perfection that I will never attain in my strength. I learn the most in the hard times as difficult as they are. I'm thankful for four very challenging years that have made me so grateful for the life God has given me. So in love. So thankful. So blessed.

Our Anniversary "date" complete with pizza, candles (bought at the mini-mart right next to our hotel), and our wedding dvd.



This is a collage I put together of a few of our wedding pictures. You should be able to click on it and make it larger.

This is actually a video of pictures that friends took at our wedding. I made this video a few months after we got married and posted it in our first blog. So, for all you new visitors to Carnesville, you can enjoy.

Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband.