This is dangerous.

Two days of shopping...

Team Pink!!

It's a girl! She weighs about 7 oz right now and measured exactly to my due date of October 31, 2009. Here she is:



Girl parts:


Yay for little sisters!!

The countdown is on.

My big ultrasound is in less than 48 hours, and to be honest, I'm really nervous! Haha. This is a whole new experience for me, so I'm really unsure about how I'll feel about it all. I know that when Carter was born and we found out that he was a boy, it was just such a rush of euphoria and adrenaline that all I could think about was how amazing and sweet and tiny he was. His gender didn't make the least bit difference to me.

Now that I have a son, I know the joy that comes with sweet, smelly, funny, rough and tumble boys. I would honestly and truly love for Carter to have the gift (though he may not realize it's a gift for many years) of a baby brother. I know they'd just be inseparable.

Then there is of course the pink element. I am the girliest of girls. I love pink. Everyone knows it. I also am so close to my mom and my sister. I'd love love love to have a girl and have that relationship with my own daughter.

So Wednesday will come and there will be a ton of excitement and probably a little sadness no matter what...because contrary to PaRandall's belief, there is only one baby!! So the time is on, place your bets. No anonymous polls this time - I want to see who is right ;)

Congrats x2!

Thanks to Brandon for inviting us to celebrate his law school graduation in New Orleans! Tulane was a great host (free water and umbrellas when it started to rain!!), not to mention ELLEN!! We had a great time this weekend in New Orleans and we're so proud of Brandon!






And then we have that other graduate.... :) Congrats to Ryan for his amazing achievements!! Getting a degree in engineering seems hard enough, but going back for a master's degree? It was a really long tough road, but he did it and Carter and I couldn't be prouder :)

Mom, are you reading this?

I'm sure you can find some reason to make this:

At least it wasn't a four letter word...

On the way to school this morning:

Mama: Listen, buddy! Elmo's singing!
Carter: That's stupid.
Mama: ::does double take:: What did you say?
Carter: That's stupid.
Mama: Did you just say stupid??
Carter: No. Jake did it.

The luckiest mom in the world

This morning Carter and I got up and dressed as usual, and he was his usual semi-grumpy but still quite cuddly self. As all mornings go, I feel bad because I have to rush him and dress him and we don't have time to stop and really connect. This morning was just one of those mornings where he followed me like a puppy dog and just chatted as I got ready.

We walked outside to the car and he was roaming the garage a bit as I leaned over into the car to put down my coffee cup in the cupholders, when I felt two chubby little arms wrap themselves around one of my legs. I looked down and I just scooped him up and hugged him. I just felt like I had to focus on him for a few seconds before we rushed off to work/Meme's house.

So he wraps me up in his arms and sprawls out around me, and then I feel him patting my back. He then said, "You ok, Mom? You feel all better?" How did I ever get so lucky to get such a sweet and compassionate child? Unfortunately, his sibling has been playing havoc on my stomach, causing severe morning sickness for months now, and Carter is so observant and has obviously noticed and watched and listened as Mama got sick in the mornings.

So I squeezed him even tighter and told him, "I'm all better, buddy. Hugs from you make it all better!" Because they really do.

Cast your vote!

Did I mention we love the beach?

Alas, we are back at work/Meme's house today, but over the weekend, we all had a fantastic time at the beach! We left our house bright (well, dark) and early on Friday morning at about 4am...I thought (keyword: THOUGHT) that Carter would remain in a semi-comatose state and sleep much of the drive, but he surprised us all and stayed away until after we got into Baton Rouge around 5am! Then he woke up for the day around 6:30am! I thought he would be a total bear, but happily, he woke up like this:



Calm, and laid back, as usual. The drive was pretty uneventful, if you don't count the obsessive handwashing that we forced on everyone at each rest stop. No swine flu here! Luckily Carter did fall asleep again for a quick midmorning nap...



Our first stop was in Navarre Beach, so Carter could dip his toes into the sand. Next time, if PaRandall insists on stopping in Navarre Beach again, I'm insisting that Carter hop into their car so they can hear, "I go on the beach? I go to the beach now? I go to the beach Mama?" over and over on the remaining drive to Destin ;)





Welcome to Destin!



We arrived and promptly changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach!



The wagon was a huge success! Thank goodness we had something to let Carter ride in and also carry all his stuff!



And the moment we'd all been waiting for...would he like the beach? Would he like the sand? Would he like the water? OF COURSE!!







Playing all day makes you really tired!



That evening, we went to Johnny Rockets for a quick bite to eat, and the saddest part of the trip occurred. As we were sitting at the table, Carter saw this little train go by, and said to me, "I go on the choo choo train?" so of course I sent Ryan over to buy tickets while I waited to snap some pictures of them. He seemed excited and fine, until...he realized Mama wasn't going too! It was tragic! The train driver rode them around for a bit, even stopping to offer Carter bribery in the form of Dum-Dums, but it wasn't enough and they had to turn around and come back. It really broke my heart because he seemed so excited about it and I wanted him to have fun :( We'll try again when we go back for the 4th of July. Here are some of the happier pics:





The next day Sutton arrived (with Jarrain and TT and her family too :) It was a bit chilly on the beach, but they all still had fun.















Thank goodness again for the wagon!



We were even able to humor my mom and take more family pictures:

From Destin - May 1-4, 2009

We're already looking forward to our July trip!

He's a true Gaspard (even if he looks nothing like one)

Carter: Mama, whatchu doing?
Mama: I'm packing our bags, buddy. It's time to go home.
Carter: Nooooo! I go to de beach.
Mama: I'm sorry, honey. We have to go home. Our vacation is over, but we'll come back.
Carter: Noooooooooo! I go to de simming pool. I go to de beach!!

Unfortunately for all of us, we did have to go home, but Carter proceeded to pout about it all day. He's a beach bum just like his Mama!!

Going to the beach!