Baby Boy Lay Name Reveal

So, we decided on a name for Baby Lay at the beginning of this pregnancy. It helped that we had already talked about boy names when we were pregnant with Audrey so we already had a general idea of what we liked. Most of our family and friends know the original name we chose - Joshua. A couple of months ago we started rethinking the name. It just didn't feel quite right when people would say it or we would say it. So we started thinking of other names in April and it took us quite some time to find a name that we both really liked. The name we finally decided on we really love! We have held back from telling most people for a while because we wanted be sure we wouldn't change our mind but at this point things have been ordered and there is no going back and we are really in love with his name! The day we went to the aquarium in Atlanta there was a share a coke event outside and just for fun we made some coke cans and we were able to snap a few pictures. No, Audrey is not drinking a coke in the below picture, she is only holding it for the picture. We are not really a coke or soda drinking family with some exceptional love for coke but we thought it was super cute that you could print names on a coke can and thought this would be a cute way to announce Baby Lay's name. So, scroll down to see a picture of Audrey sharing her little brother's name:

In case you have trouble reading the can, Hudson is the name we chose. We decided to wait until he is born to announce his full name. We are all so excited for Hudson to be here! August 7th can't come soon enough!


Love and hugs to all,
Nicole & Sam

What We've Been Up to Lately/ Audrey's Trip to the Aquarium

Hey everyone! I am sorry that I haven't posted anything in a while. My goal is to eventually post once every week but between outings with family, travelling this month, chasing after our little adventurous girl, keeping up with house chores, and spending time as a family (basically life) I just can't seem to accomplish that goal. I'll get there one day!

We went to Tennessee over Memorial Day weekend to visit family and it was really nice to see everyone. We stopped in Helen, Georgia on the way home for lunch and to do a little exploring and it was very crowded but we still had a great time! The weather was beautiful and Audrey was very interested in the people tubing on the river (pictures below). We want to take a trip there with Felicia and Jack some point soon and let them tube down the river. F & J are in Florida with their Dad until June 5th and I am SOOO excited for June 5th to finally get here because I miss them so much and as an added bonus my Dad, niece and nephew will be here too that weekend! We have a couple of fun events planned and I am really looking forward to having them here with us and looking forward to a fun-filled Summer with the kids!

When we were down in Florida for Mother's Day, Audrey decided she was terrified of the pool which was really disappointing because we love the pool and we have one in our community as well as family that live close by with a pool and we were really planning on doing a lot of swimming over the summer but her sudden fear put a little bit of a damper on those plans. Luckily, when we were in Tennessee, Audrey decided after seeing her cousins swimming in her Uncle's pool that she was not as scared. She wouldn't really go in at that point but she wasn't shrieking and clinging to us and she would let us put her feet in which she hadn't let us do up until that point.  Since we have been back home in Georgia and the weather has been warming up we have been taking Audrey to the pool nearly everyday and she is definitely over her fear and I am happy to report that she now loves the pool! We are looking forward to a Summer full of swimming! I added a couple of pictures of her swimming with Daddy below.

Today we visited the Georgia Aquarium and Audrey absolutely LOVED it! She loves "pishys" and "toytels" (that's fish and turtles in toddler). She also loved the penguins and the otters, which she thought were doggies. I was able to take A LOT of pictures. I even brought our good camera and it really paid off because I got some adorable pictures of her and a lot of her with Sam. I cannot even begin to describe how much love I feel when I see them together. Sam is such an amazing Dad! Audrey loves him so much and it's very obvious she thinks he is the "fun" one and I definitely agree with her! I know Felicia and Jack agree too! I feel so blessed and so lucky that we get to bring another little person into the world together in August and I can't wait to meet our son!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day and that you enjoy the pictures! I put a couple of extra pictures in too.

I couldn't resist adding this picture. Sam was watching a baseball game and Audrey looks absolutely terrified. She also looks like she is trying to cover her baby's face! By the way, the two friends on the couch with Audrey are her current favorites. She is obsessed with baby dolls but this one is by far her favorite and of course, she keeps her pink "doggy" close by at all times too!

A bath time photo just because these are so much fun! I actually take a lot of these but never post them. 

This photo was taken at an automatic car wash. We thought she would absolutely love it but she was really scared and wouldn't stop clinging to Sam. I guess we will be hand washing the car going forward!

Audrey goes through EVERYTHING but the diaper bag is one of her favorite things to go through.. Most of the time I let her because it means I can get something else organized (which she eventually takes apart too)!

Playtime with Dad! 

How could I resist taking this one? This was taken in our hotel in Tennessee over Memorial Day Weekend. 

You might be wondering why Sam still has a collared shirt on? That is because we ordered pizza and he was only power napping until it came. We ate pizza at 11pm in bed while Audrey slept and IT WAS AWESOME :) 

Yet another sleeping photo of Audrey (I have trouble resisting these)! I realized later that this was the only picture of Audrey in her Memorial Day dress.

This was taken over Memorial Day weekend in Helen, GA. Audrey was very intrigued by the river and the tubers. The dress she is wearing was her 4th of July dress from last year that her Aunt Jen bought her and it still fits with room to spare, amazingly. 

I really love this picture!

Audrey is usually pretty independent and wants to walk around everywhere by herself now. She is very adventurous! I'm surprised that she didn't try to climb this bridge because she tries to climb everything in our house!

Pool time! How cute is this bathing suit? Aunt Jen gave it to her when we were down for Mother's Day Weekend. Audrey gets compliments on her dresses in church nearly every week and I always tell everyone that her Aunt Jen spoils her (and has great taste)!

Total Sam expression!

Audrey looks unsure but she thought the penguins at the aquarium were pretty cool!

She thought the otter were pretty cool too!

There were GIANT fish in this tank, hence the expressions! 

I absolutely love this picture! Seeing the wonder in her eyes when she was looking in these tanks was really cool!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for checking out the pictures!

Love,
Nicole

House Pics

Hey everyone! I promised house pictures so here they are! I did not photograph the bedrooms, well actually I did photograph them in their messy, unpacked state but I am not posting those pictures. The rooms should be finished and decorated by the end of the month and I decided to wait until then to do a "bedrooms" post. We have a three bedroom house which I thought might be a pain because we had a four bedroom before but I really love this house. It's cute and comfortable and so easy to keep clean. It has made me realize I'd really like a one story house when we buy (although Sam still wants a two story) Our Master is big enough that Sam is able to have an office in our bedroom and we have really beautiful tray ceilings in our room, a huge walk in and a large on-suite. I don't think we could possibly need more. The girls also have a large walk-in closet in their room.  I had the option of having a boys and girls room or a big kids and little kids room and Felicia was quick to say she wanted to share a room with Audrey and have a girl's room which made me happy because Sam and I already had all these ideas for how we want to decorate Jack and Josh's room. Anyhow, as soon as I have finished the rooms, I will do another post. Here are the front, back, and main living areas of our house for now:

I had to post this one first even though you can barely see the front of our house. I love Audrey's smile in this picture! She loves to be outside now and is all smiles when we go for walks!

Front

Front 

Front door / Foyer

Living room 

Dining room

Kitchen (View from Family Room)

Kitchen - The door in the middle leads to our garage and the door to the left is the pantry door

Kitchen 

Windows in Kitchen (view of backyard)

Playroom (Family Room)

Backyard

Backyard

Audrey's getting ready to do some exploring

Backyard (Right)

Backyard (Left)

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Love and hugs to all,
Nicole and Sam