Ethan's Wreath

What a day! Today I went to the doctor for my 37 weeks appointment. Really was hoping that he was going to have some really good news for me... along the lines of "whoa we need to get you in asap". But that is not the way that it worked...none the less I did receive some good news that I was at least make progress 1 whole cm. He told me that I should try to walk around as much as possible over the next few days.

Clint and I decided that we would make a special wreath for Ethan to have at the hospital. We walked around Wal-Mart for the longest time trying to figure out what to do as a theme. Then Clint and Aydan came up with the brilliant idea of Handy Manny! I must say that I am impressed with the great idea of my 18 month old and his father. It turned out really cute and it means a whole lot more than one of those wreaths that you can buy at the hospital. I just wanted to give a big thank you to my mom who came over and helped me out with it, and a big thank you to Aydan and Clint for the cute idea.

Pumpkins

The weekend before Halloween Clint spent a long time carving pumpkins for the 4 boys. He loves to do this every year, and looks forward to doing them. We have more Halloween pictures but unfortunately I have to wait and get them from Summer because our camera battery was dead. As soon as I get them I will be sure to post. I also have pictures of the boys picking out their pumpkins at Lyon's family farm.

Ethan's pumpkin. It is a spider and a spider web!

Gavin's pumpkin. It is a goofy face!

Hunter's pumpkin. It is a skull and cross bones!

Aydan's pumpkin. It is a skull eating a mouse.

I am very impressed with Clint's pumpkin carving skills. I worked a little bit on Hunter's and Ethan's pumpkins and it is hard work and tedious. The boys really loved their pumpkins. Hunter thought that they were awesome! Aydan said "oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh" and pointed. Gavin enjoyed looking at his and pointed at them. As for Ethan he did flips for his :)

Shout Out to my Hubby!

Just wanted to give my husband a lot of credit here lately because he has really been helping out. For a long time Clint really has been an awesome husband, but since my appointment about a month ago he has really stepped up to the plate with doing housework. I owe a lot of the laundry, dishes, and cooking credit to him. This pregnancy for the most part has been a good one. Broke out with fifths disease in the beginning, had to be monitored every month with ultrasound after ultrasound (which don't get me wrong was nice). Watched my husband and son battle through the swine flu...as well as several members of my class (luckily have managed to avoid it myself). But at my 34 week appointment I told the doctor that it felt like Ethan was dropping, and she told me that I need to be careful of what I was doing. I needed to limit the things that I was picking up (mainly Aydan) and try to put my feet up as often as possible.

Luckily I have a loving and caring husband who has really stepped up to the plate and helped out! Thank you Clint and I love you dearly! You are an awesome Dad and Husband!

Been A Long Time! But I am trying to come back...

Hey everyone I realize that it has been a REALLY LONG time since I last posted anything. Things at the Vandiver household have been HECTIC to say the least. Over the summer Clint and I decided to put our house on the market. So we spent weeks painting, packing, touching up, replacing carpet, putting in tile, etc. To prepare our house to sell. Finally in August we signed a contract to sell our house and purchase another house in Madison City. Well all was fine and dandy until about 2 weeks before closing when the couple that put a contract on our house got cold feet and terminated the contract. By this time Clint and I had packed up pretty much everything and placed it in a POD so that we could move fairly quickly. Also by this time we had both started back to work. Therefore, our personal time became very limited again. To make a long story short we got everything for the most part unpacked and put away again about a week ago. Since we are going to be staying here for a while Clint and I decided that we needed to redecorate our house to make it feel a little more "grown up" and more like our new home. So we bought new living room furniture, painted the walls, redecorated our bedroom... needless to say enough to keep us busy for a good long time.

In addition to all this excitement with the house we have been working on getting everything prepared for our newest addition Ethan Rhodes Vandiver. Due to arrive on November 29th if all goes as planned. We purchased new furniture for Ethan and moved it into Aydan's old room. Aydan now has a new "big boy" room with airplanes and Handy Manny painted on the walls. He really loves his new bedroom and I know that Ethan is going to enjoy his new bedroom just as much.

Clint has sold his old 2 door truck to purchase a newer one that is more accommodating to a family of 4. It has 4 doors and is so much bigger. I believe he LOVES his new truck, even though I know he hated to see the other go.

In addition to craziness this summer my brother Danny was deployed to Afghanistan to serve our country. I am very proud of him too I might add. Crazy to think that the little boy I used to play G.I. Joes and My Little Ponies with is now one of my heroes and role models. His 2 sons Hunter and Gavin and his wife Summer moved down here and are currently staying with my parents. It is nice having them around because we never have had an opportunity to hang out much with them. But it is almost bitter sweet because of the situation.

At any rate that is at least the some of the issues that have been going on with the Vandiver household over the last few months. With Ethan arriving shortly I hope to be blogging a little bit more than I have been over the last few months. But we will see how much actually gets done based on time. Please forgive me and I will try to be better.

Julie :)

Happy Anniversary!

WHOA!! Four years have come and gone so quickly! May 28, 2005 at 2:00 pm is the day that Clint and I got married. I remember it like it was yesterday. So many funny things happened at our wedding...and that is what made it memorable. Since Clint and I have been married the good Lord has blessed us with a another family member every year. The first year we were married we got Nemo from Mrs. Mallette a woman that I used to work with. The second year we added Eva to our family, who we got from my brother Danny and sister in law Summer. The third year we were BLESSED with little Aydan Wade. This will be our fourth year married and we are blessed with Little Bit. The Lord works in mysterious ways because if it was not for Athens State University then none of this would have come true for me. I am so thankful for all the blessing in my life...and I look forward to the many years of marriage that Clint and I have ahead of us. Hopefully we will not be adding something to our family for every year we are married...if we do we will be downsizing to plants and fish. Happy Anniversary Clint!! I love you so much...and thank you for being you and allowing me to be me! I look forward to our future.

P.S. Also thanks for being so understanding and going roller skating with my students on our Anniversary! :)

As we've walked these years together

Sharing each the other's load

Many trials we have shared Dear

We took some detours in the road

But if I met you on tomorrow

I would still give you my heart

If you should say, "do you still love me?"

I'd say, "Til death do us part"

Thank You God

Shirley J. Stankiewicz

Aydan a few hours old...

Aydan 1 Year Old

Sent straight from heaven up above

Came an angel for me to love

To hold and rock and kiss good night

To wrap my arms around real tight

To cuddle & nurture and watch him play

To kiss his boo-boo's all away

To keep him safe and warm & count all his toes
To hold the tissue for him when he blows his little nose

To laugh at his jokes, to clap as he sings

To tell him all the joy in my life that he brings

To clean up his play dough, to pull his legos apart

To pin up his drawings and tell him it's art

To watch his first day of school on the bus all alone

To fight back the tears as I make my way back home

To applaud real loud when he's in his first play

To help him with his homework at the end of his day

To adore & cherish and watch him grow

To guide and teach him all that I know

To see him through good times & help him through bad

To share in his happiness and cry when he's sad

To hold him close and be by his side

To watch him through life as my heart fills with pride

To help him with decisions, the best that I can

To know that someday he'll be a fine young man

Year Check Up

The one year check up already has come and gone. Aydan weighed 24 lbs 10 oz, was 33 and 1/4 inches tall, and was at the 97th percentile in everything but weight (95th). Dr. Cartwright said that he is a perfectly healthy little boy and will be over 6 feet tall. Scary isn't it thinking that your baby who was born 20 inches tall and 8lbs 1 oz...will one day be a man. CRAZY!!