oh. my. goodness.

IT'S A BOY!

woooooooooooooah! i don't know why i am so shocked... but i am!

after spending the majority of the day thinking i was getting cues from 'up there' that i was having a girl, i was quickly brought back to reality. i think we were there for just about an hour taking up to at least 78 photos, the ultrasound tech wrote on the screen "I'M A BOY" and i honestly lost my breath. there were so many emotions and thoughts going on in my head that i didn't say hardly anything. i think we finally arrived at daycare around 4:15 and i had seven text messages and four missed phone calls... which made me laugh quite a bit cause i forgot about calling anyone at this point.

we picked up gavin and told him that he was going to have a baby brother and that's when it hit me... a little brother. WE'RE HAVING A BOY! wow! two little boys... oh my goodness! so excited! we got home and played outside and i got to send out the messages and make the phone calls and got super super excited. weird, we're having a boy!

since i put gavin in bed... which was just over 15 minutes ago i've changed every idea i had in my head for the baby's room; blues now, different bedding, different drawers, different shelves, pretty much different everything- and i thought i was so planned for a boy/girl baby room... nope. i've texted dan at least three times tonight (he's working on some basement somewhere) about different names i like. seeing what he likes... or more like, doesn't like. so i feel like the last 5 and a half months i've just been planning for a girl- which is weird cause i've thought this baby was a boy from the get go.

okay enough. this baby is healthy and a snuggler. the tech said that he wouldn't stop laying on his stomach, which made things hard for her to see/take pictures of, but still active. so that's also why it took so long. the only thing that is somewhat abnormal is that my placenta is low, which is what happened with gavin and we just had to monitor it and have a few more ultrasounds to make sure it moves up so there's not anymore complications.

so that's it. crazy huh? i guess i'm still in shock, but a good one :) two little boys... wow. this is actually what i prayed for when i was younger... two boys, then a girl.... hmmmm.

from the scratch... pumpkin pie

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

1 small pumpkin- you can find "baking" pumpkins at the grocery store. or i'm sure just a small pumpkin would do just fine.
2 eggs
1 1/2 heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

here we go.

mix:

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

add in :

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour (i used whole wheat)

cut your pumpkin in half and "gut out the seeds"

bake your pumpkin skins up at 350 for 45-60 minutes--

or until golden brown and mushy.

peel off the skin or scoop out the pumpkin.

puree so the pumpkin is a good consistency.

set aside on coffee filters or paper towels to drain.

add the 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

and then...

the spices/sugar and pumpkin.

mix together.

(gavin got to help a lot with this step)

i had already made pie crust the week before to make my

homemade apple pie... but i'm sure you could buy a pie crust and it would be just as tasty.

add the pumpkin mixture to the pie crust.

preheat oven to 450.

bake for 15mins at 450...

reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 mintues or until golden brown

and you can stick a toothpick in and have it come out clean.

let cool and enjoy... i like mine with whipped cream :)

i also made pumpkin cookies. they are delish and actually pretty healthy for you. i mean, they are cookies... but you know what i mean... nutritious cookies??? they are from ashley olsons blog. you can see the recipe here.

tis the season for pumpkin treats. next up? pumpkin cheesecake... yum!

pretty, fabulous fall

..so far.

today, however might be questionable.

gavin has been one lucky boy lately. he's been so spoiled by his grandma and his parents. every weekend there's a new outing, a new adventure. i wish i was this lucky when i was his age (and i very well could of been but who remembers when they were two? not me).

lets see here... first we'll start off with our nelson farm trip. on a gorgeous sunday afternoon. nelson farm is such a great place to go in the fall. i could easily go there every weekend.

he seriously could of spent the entire day on these little "tractor" bikes.

we had to pull him away from the bikes and all afternoon he wanted to go back.

and this calf hut was an endless amount of entertainment :)

he smiled and giggled the entire day at nelson farm.

getting the tractor wagon ready.

gavin's dream come true.

sitting on a tractor!

although driving it could quite possibly make his entire 2nd year of life.

in we go!

sliding down the slide with daddy and mommy :)

i'm not sure who enjoyed this more?

"momma, baaaaaby cow.. moo moo"

so then last sunday my mom and i decided to take gavin to the amaze n' farmyard, regardless of the insane 15+ mph winds. oh well, gavin seriously enjoyed every second of it. last year we tried to take him there and he cried and was crabby the ENTIRE time. so this year he actually got to enjoy everything amaze n farmyard had to offer.

crusin'... he thought it was so cool that "his tractor" was at amazing farmyard

and at home too... too funny!

"baby duke" this mini horse was soooo adorable and fluffy.

we kind of wanted to take it home. along with other little furry animals.

baby deer "lilly"

and the "kangas" aka wallobees.

feeding all the animals the corn just like we do at the farm. except here we didn't

have to worry about juliet eating gavins fingers!

awwww

"mom.... bunnies, look... cheese"

gavin and his grandma.

i've never seen someone love their grandma as much as gavin does.

i think its cause grandma spoils him ? and never says no? haha.

we found corn in places corn should never be after playing in it for a half hour.

i didn't get to enjoy the corn cause i wasn't wearing socks... oops!

ending our day driving the tractor... what a happy little man

whats next? well since mea is this week we (my mom, myself and gavin) are heading to our third annual trip to apple jacks in delano. which is MY favorite place to go, ever. they have the best lunch and baked goodies and of course apples and all sorts of small animals. let's hope for some good weather. but even this overcast/cloudy, cold, damp weather will be okay for us.

new news?

such a busy and wonderful week.

well, things are going to change around here... again. i've decided (with dan's blessing) that i'm done working at my job. monday morning i put in my two weeks notice letting them know that i was d-o-n-e working for them. the program that i work in is just so unorganized and the para's there do the majority of the work and with me being pregnant it was actually starting to be kind of dangerous to myself and my baby. so as of this upcoming friday i will no longer be employed. which is totally scary and also really exciting at the same time. i'm kind of fretting about it right now, but in actuality i would of been done in december so it's just a few weeks sort of my actual quit day. and our pay system is so crazy that i will continue to get my paychecks up until thanksgiving so that's good. gives me some more time to spend with my sweet love, gavin before the new baby comes.

in other news; our ultrasound is scheduled for october 19th so we will be finding out what this baby is that kicks my stomach all night long. i'm feeling that it's a boy again, which is fine, but would be in complete shock if they said it's a girl. i just found the bedding that i'd like to get for this babe and it's pretty gender neutral so i plan on ordering it as soon as i get permission from dan- which might take a little while since it's kind of spendy ;) but it's really the only big purchase we need to make before the baby comes..... besides girl clothing if it ends up being a girl. gosh the 19th seems so far away now.

oh, almost forgot! danielle and max had their baby. a little girl, piper grace johnson. i got the pleasure of meeting her thursday night. she is so stinking adorable. usually it takes me awhile to think that little girls are cute... but not this one. she has the most adorable dark brown hair (lots of it) and such tiny features. OHHH i could just stare at her for days. she's so so so cute. so congratulations max and danielle. couldn't be more excited for you both, oh and ryder too!

today i feel like i have so much to accomplish around the house before dan comes home and we get to spend the entire night alone--- which NEVER happens. we're going to dinner and going shopping tonight, with gavin going to my moms for the night. pretty excited. i have TONS of pictures that need to get uploaded as well.... i wonder what will get done today and what will have to wait till tomorrow. with all this rain i feel we might be stuck indoors all weekend :(