21 Months & A 3-day weekend!

Happy Friday to ALL! This week has been a long one for sure and I am so ready to enjoy this 3 day weekend.

Today Cohen is 21 months. I've said it before, he is growing so fast and I know there is no way of stopping him. He is our fast growing little man! Nothing major has changed since last month. He has added more words to his vocabulary, tries to be very independent but still needy at times, and "out-ide" is still his favorite place to be. He mimics things you say or do. For example, a phrase I often say is "oh jeez" and then he will repeat it. However, the other night he was playing and dropped something and the next thing we heard was him saying "oh jeez". Charlie and I just started laughing. And has said it a few times on his own since then. It is very cute but just a big reminder that a kid will quickly learn anything you say or do.

Although I am looking forward to this 3 day weekend, it is also going to be a SAD one for the Gibson household too. I had mentioned not long ago that we had a very bad incident with our dog, Bogey. Well, after that happened, he broke through our gate at the stairs to the bonus room and a few days later, starting chewing on the molding around the garage door. These sort of things is something that even as a puppy, he never did. And it has brought us to making a decision that we have dreaded to even think about. This will be the last weekend we will have him as part of our family. We feel that he is acting out because he doesn't receive the attention he use to get prior to Cohen. Bogey is a good, friendly dog and it breaks our hearts to make this decision. But he deserves to be happy and have someone that can give him more attention. And since he cant handle staying in a crate while we are gone, we just can not trust him to have free range in the house. Taking the chance of something getting destroyed that is not replaceable or would cost way too much to replace. I am thankful that we were able to find him a home and I know, thanks to my parents, that he is going to family that will offer him the attention he deserves. The family lives on a large piece of land where Bogey will have plenty of space to roam and there will be someone at home with him almost everyday. A few things that I know Bogey will enjoy the most is being able to lay on a couch, something that I stopped once we purchased new furniture and sleeping in the bed with someone. We were informed that he will be able to do both of these which makes me happy. Though it is going to be the best decision for all of us, it still is going to be hard to cope with. And I am sure it will take us some time to get use too because he has been a part of us for 5 years now, since he was 8 weeks old. Please say a little prayer for us!

Well the work week is almost over and time to enjoy another quick weekend. I hope everyone has a Great Memorial Day weekend!

Lovin' all the babies....

For me, it seems that there has been a number of babies come into this world this year and still more little ones to come. Earlier this year, a few friends welcomed theirs. In April, my cousin-in-love Tricia, had her second, who we just got to meet this past Sunday. On Monday, a dear friend and who happens to be the BEST hairdresser, Deanna, welcomed her first, Makenzie Jess Hopkins. Who was a beautiful baby girl and I forgot to take my camera when I went to visit, so no picture to show. Then on Tuesday, my cousin Derrik and cousin-in-love Michelle, welcomed their second, a baby boy. I had the pleasure of getting to meet and hold precious Nathaniel Adair Nabors yesterday. He was 7 lbs 3 oz and 19 1/2 inches long and I might add that this little one came into the world with indecisive parents about the name. But thankfully, they decided and we can stop referring to him as "little dude" (LOL). Since mommy Michelle was ready to be in the comforts of their home and after she and baby received clearance from the Doctor, they were released after spending one night in the hospital.

A funny story that I just have to tell. When they arrived home, Michelle went to change his diaper and lets just say, Nathaniel was producing plenty of poop. We all shared some laughs with it. But what was funny, when we got in the car to leave, I asked Cohen about the baby and did he like seeing the baby. All he kept saying was "Baby poop" and that was it. My son definitely has some toilet humor....

Within the past several days, I have had the pleasure of holding a 5 wk old and two "very" newborns and I have absolutely LOVED IT! It is such a wonderful feeling and what joy it gives you when holding a precious one. And seeing the blessing that God has sent down to each family!!! Nothing like it.

There are a few more mommies-to-be, either for the first time or second, that will be holding their bundle of joy later this year. And I cant wait to be see these BLESSINGS take place for them!!!!

Adorable Alexander!!!

Sunday, Cohen and I along with GG, made our way down to Columbia to meet the newest addition to the Howard Family, 5 week old, Alexander Boggs. Who is absolutely an adorable baby boy! It had been a while since we had seen the Howards so it was really nice getting to hang out with them. And we also had the pleasure of seeing Aunt Jane and Uncle Mont. Cohen and Hamilton seemed to have had a blast playing together as well. When it was time to go, Cohen wasn't too thrilled to leave. And we hated to leave as well but it was time to head back to Greenville. Thank you Tricia and Craig for allowing us to come visit. It was wonderful seeing you all and getting to hold that bundle of joy you have been blessed with! Cant wait till the beach!!!

Aunt Libby (aka GG), Cohen, Cousin Tricia, Big Brother Hamilton, Uncle Mont and Baby Alexander

Two Sweet Little Boys!

Happy Birthday Papa!

We wish you a very Happy Birthday and Love You Lots!

Great Friends, O.K. Pizza & Not-so-good service

Crystal, Whitney, Lauree, Lisa, Amy, Kristen, Me, Lindsay & Shea

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For our Girls' dinner and chat No. 7, we decided to check out a new place that had opened up in Greenville - "American Pie Factory". As always, it was great to see all the gals and everyone seems to really look forward to these each month. This time, we were able to work it out to have it when Whitney was in town from Florida and we had the pleasure of meeting a new addition to Lisa's family, eight week old Claire. She was absolutely adorable!

I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with this place. The pizza was alright. I've had better and I've had worse. It appears that everyone was o.k. with the food but the service from our waitress, not-so-much! The number of times she had to fix someones bill was ridiculous. But most importantly, it really doesn't matter how the service or food was, spending time with the girls was worth it.

Getting ready to begin...

I am getting more and more excited about Cohen's Big Boy room and can not wait anymore. Within the next few weeks, my goal is to start working on cleaning out the other bedroom. I am thrilled that we finally have settled on a bed and now, all I have to do is place the order. Since the bedroom is fairly small, a twin or daybed was really the only choice we could go with if we wanted Cohen to have floor space to play on. I started focusing on daybeds but was finding that majority were on the feminine side. However, I finally found one and absolutely loved it. I have really enjoyed searching and finding accessories for the room and I just hope that once all of it has been put together, that it looks good. Something that I have really wanted was a vintage metal stop sign. Last year, I had found some traffic signs on PBK but just didn't want to pay the price for them. I kept checking to see if they would mark them down but one day, they were gone. I wasn't having any luck until I made a stop by Hobby Lobby on Saturday. As Cohen and I were making our way to the check out line, I just happened to go down a section that would put a big smile on my face. I spotted a metal traffic light wall art, so of course I wanted to check it out. Lo and behold behind it was a metal stop sign. I am sure that I would have bought it regardless but it was only $6.00. The traffic light sign was only $5.00, so I just couldn't pass on buying it too.

Since we decided to go with a tan color (thanks to Linds' suggestion), the color that is currently painted in the bedroom will look great. So we saved time and money! I still have several things that I need to get such as a curtain, shelves and would like to get some bins or totes for the closet. Hopefully I will stick to my goal to have the room cleaned out and can officially begin the process. Cant wait to share the final outcome!

So Blessed!

I hope every mommy out there had a great Mother's Day! I know I did and was quickly reminded of how blessed I am to have Charlie and Cohen in my life. Becoming a mother is such a wonderful blessing and I am very thankful God has picked me to be Cohen's mommy. The weekend turned out to be nice. Friday night, we just hung out at home and attempted to finish our Mother's Day gifts and I would find out that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. This year I decided to place Cohen's hand print on a plate. I was for sure this would be something Cohen would love to do but that was not the case. I was able to get the paint onto his hand but when it came time to placing it on the plate, Cohen wasn't to thrilled about it. Even with M&Ms, we couldn't bribe him. I kept thinking to myself, "way to go Tonya and waiting to the last minute, now I am going to have find a last minute gift".... Charlie brought up the idea of waiting until he was asleep. Wasn't sure it would work but worth the try. Of course that meant I had to rock him sleep and it didnt take long. He was out and after battling with a balled-up hand, we made it happen. I think they turned out really cute and both GG and Grandma loved it.

On Mother's Day, I was able to sleep in which I really needed it. I was suprised by my two boys with sausage biscuits. Even though we were getting crumbs everywhere, I didnt mind at all. It was fun just hanging out with them in the bed. I was then surprised with the sweetest card ever. It was one of those you can record your own voice and to hear the sweet voice of my 20 month old son say "luv u" was so precious. And Daddy did great picking out a beautiful picture frame that has a sweet saying about family, plus he put a picture of us three in it.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to my in-loves for our celebration of Mother's Day which was also Pops' birthday and an early birthday for GG.