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The long awaited update...

Okay, so sorry that I have neglected the blog. Life has just been busy. Y'all know how it goes. November was kind of slow and we didn't really have a whole lot going on. Until Thanksgiving. We at 4 times!! Needless to say I gained back about 5 pounds that week. But, I have made a positive choice and have decided to go back on WW beginning in January. I mean, who am I kidding, I could never diet during Christmas!! Since then, time has just flown by. I am so glad that most of our family that we usually swap gifts with have decided not to this year. Mainly because everyone is going through a rough time (including us) but also to just enjoy the time together and not stress out about gifts! So, we don't have a whole lot to buy this year and that has made this time of the year so much more enjoyable! I can't wait until Christmas morning this year though! Nolan is going to love everything we have bought for him!
This past weekend we went out with friends to Wild Bill's and met Emerson Drive on Friday night and had a bonfire at our house on Saturday night. Most of David's firefighter buddies came over. Whew, what a night! We had a blast and it was so much fun to see everyone - minus all the kiddos...pure adult time!
This week is a little bit of downtime before the chaos begins and I am enjoying being with my boy. I love watching him play in front of the tree. He totally loves it and is just dying to touch it!! I know this is a bit of a short update, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I have not completely forgotten about this thing....just prioritizing! But, tomorrow we are baking the Japanese Fruit cake with "La-La" so stay tuned for some great pics! (La-La is Nolan's word for Grandmother :)

Celebrating our anniversary

David and I celebrated our anniversary this past weekend with a wonderful dinner at Bonefish (thanks to my MIL for the giftcard!!!). I know I posted about our anniversary, but I wanted to express how lucky I feel to be married to such a wonderful man. He works his but off for everything we have and he comes home to us and never once complains. He works a full time job at the fire station, risking his life each and every shift, and he still goes to a second job after that. We have been going through a rough spot financially here lately, but as everyone knows, a marriage is work and we work very hard every day at our relationship. To me, that's how I know that we WILL make it the rest of our lives together. We communicate (sometimes not so well), we love each other whole heartedly, and we love this thing called love. He is not below any extra work that comes his way and I am so humbled that he would do so. He split wood last week for my dad, and I've never seen him so humbled. God will get us through this. This too shall pass. But, we had such a great time with each other on Saturday night and I look forward to a lifetime more of dates like that. I love you so much, Honey!

Dumbo is not so dumb....

Nolan was Dumbo on Halloween. Probably the cutest costume I have ever seen on a kid! We had a costume swap at MOPS and this was the costume I got! He was the cutest thing thanks to my fellow MOPS member Anne! Our plans veered off course, of course and we ended up eating dinner at our house with Scott, Holly, Haley and Kennedy Votava and then we headed over to David's mother's neighborhood to go trick or treating. Nolan posed so perfectly for pictures and he would even stop on the sidewalk and say "Cheese!" And, about the title of this post, he would walk up to the door, say "Trick or Treat!" and then "thank you, bye-bye!" Everyone absolutely loved his costume and one woman even ran inside to get her camera to take a picture of him. Another woman asked if he was a Republican?! Too funny. I had to take a rear view picture of the costume because that tail is just about the cutest thing ever! He WOULD NOT let go of his Elmo pail for us to hold for him. He tripped and fell and spilled his candy about a million times, but he never cried and he would never let us hold his Elmo for him. In hindsight, we probably should have pushed him in his stroller, because we ended up walking a good ways and he got sooo heavy and it was very difficult to carry him and the Elmo pail. We had a great time and I think we will probably make that a yearly tradition!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 2 year anniversary. David's at the fire station, so I'm spending the day and evening with Nolan. Today marks the first time that anyone else felt Nolan in my belly. My mom felt him kick the morning of our wedding while we were still laying in bed. David felt him that night after all of the excitement was over. This seems like a good time to share our story.......

This picture was taken of us the very first time we ever felt a connection and at the very beginning of our courtship. July of 2004. We all took a chartered bus to the Kenny Chesney concert. I put my number in David's phone and a few weeks later he called! Ever since then (a few break ups in between) we have been attached at the hip. I knew that David was the one way

before he did, but as we always (jokingly of course) say, I loved him first and he loves me the most. After 2 years of off and on dating, David finally broke down and gave in that he really was actually in love with me. I think that is a hard thing for bachelor's to admit, that they really are in love and they have to say goodbye to bachelorhood. Nevertheless, David moved in with me in May of 2006. The same week that David moved in with me, a coworker at the Fire Station had a massive heart attack on a fire one night and was admitted to Emory. About a month later, he passed away. The day before he passed away, we conceived our beautiful son, Nolan, although we would not be aware of this until months later. That was a very sad time in David's life and it essentially brought us closer together. All throughout that summer, my body was going through crazy things, but I could not figure out what. I took 4 (yes, that's right 4) pregnancy tests and they all said negative. I kept getting migraines everyday and was missing a whole lot of work because of it. Finally, my primary care doc sent me to my ob/gyn to get put on birth control pills to hopefully even out my hormones since we knew that was what was causing my migraines. On Monday,

September 11, 2006 (funny date, huh?!) I went to the ob/gyn expecting to get put back on bcp and all would be well. Well, I was pregnant! 12 weeks pregnant!! That sent a whirlwind through my head. Dr. Bruscato did the ultrasound and I was expecting to see a little tiny speck, but, nope, there he was. I couldn't believe it! I knew we would be alright, I just, honestly, always figured I would have a hard time getting pregnant since I spent so many years on bcp. But nope, God had a plan for our lives. We got married 6 weeks later in a small backyard ceremony, which is exactly what I had always pictured for us. Our lives have never been the same. For the better, of course! We welcomed Nolan to our world at 3:31 am on Saturday, March 17, 2007. After 18 hours of very difficult labor, Nolan Wayne Goddard was born via c-section weighing 8.13 pounds and 19 1/2 inches long. Big baby! I am so proud of us as parents, as a couple and as a beautiful family. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life as David's wife and Nolan's mother! God has blessed us so much already, I am always anxious to see what he has in store for our lives next! Happy 2nd Anniversary, Honey! I love you with all my heart and then some!

Haayyy!!

These are the beautiful (somewhat and not always) words I get to hear every morning (at the side of my bed as he climbs in) as early as 6:45 and as late as 7:15. That's right, Nolan is in a big boy bed now and for those of you who don't remember, I do not usually wake before 8. Just not a morning person. Guess I'll have to change all of that. Well, not really a big boy bed, just the toddler bed rail on his crib. He began climbing out about 2 weeks ago and he was getting stuck up on the rail and then falling and hitting his head. So, a few days after he first climbed out we put up the toddler rail. He is (don't hate me for this) doing remarkably well. We put him down at around 7:30 to 8 pm and he sleeps the whole night until the early morning. And even then he is pretty good about climbing up in the bed with me and letting me snooze for a few more minutes. How completely precious this time is in our life right now. I am so lucky to be able to enjoy this time with my son, as I know many of you who read this are not able to do this on a daily basis. I cherish each and every moment I get to be with him. Although, I will admit that he has hit the terrible 2's at 19 months old. The cliche is true. He just screams all the time. All day. Not because he's in pain or anything, but just because that's the voice he chooses to use at this time. It's lovely. I usually have a migraine at the end of the day. But, this is just a bleep on the milestone chart. This too shall pass.


We went to the Yellow River Game Ranch a couple of weeks ago. I highly recommend this to all parents of toddlers. Nolan absolutely loves animals and all the animals at the game ranch are lovable and will actually follow you around the whole ranch. He loved it. The deer, the bunnies, the donkey's, the ducks, the bears, the buffalo, the peacocks, the pigs, the chipmunks and squirrels...the list goes on. Squirrels and chipmunks would actually eat out of our hands - and Nolan's hands too. That's how gentle and tamed these animals were. All of the other animals (besides the ones in cages - bears, mountain lions, foxes, raccoons....) would eat out of your hand too. And, if you do go, you can bring your own food like cereal, crackers, bread, acorns, regular corn (off of the cob of course), carrots...etc. If you don't bring food, there is food to purchase before you enter and there are candy quarter slot machines to get a handful of food out of. I even think some of them had dog food in them. Nolan had the best time. It's just down the road and it was only $8/person for adults and kids under 2 get in free. One more thing, well, actually two things, at the end of the walk around the ranch, there is a "bunny park" where you can actually walk into this enclosed area with nothing but bunnies and they are the most adorable things you have ever seen. Nolan loved the rabbits. And the bears....well, they were adorable but pitiful at the same time. They would prop up on their behinds and hold their mouths open for food. And, if you missed them for a few seconds, they would wave their paws like "Hey, what about me...I want a peanut"! It was adorable. And if a peanut fell on the ground and not in the respective bear's mouth, they would not get aggressive, that bear would just turn around and find the peanut. Too cute.



The next day after the game ranch we went to my Mom's house in Ellijay. We had a blast. It's always good to get to spend some time with Granny and Uncle Carter. On Saturday we went to Bert's Pumpkin Farm and took some adorable pics of Nolan. We wanted to go on a hay ride but the line was forever long and it was HOT!! We left there and went to an orchard on the way back home. Nolan got to slide down a huge slide, sit on a cow and have his picture made, ride a pony ($5, for about 2 minutes, but it was worth every penny to get to hear him say "Giddy up!"), sit on a tractor, and get a "hay ride." The "hay ride" was the shuttle (tractor pulling a covered wagon) that took us from the parking lot to the entrance of the orchard; it wasn't a long ride, but it killed 2 birds with one stone. Nolan has an obsession with tractors right now, so he loved every second of it and he thought he got to drive the tractor. It's too cute to watch him discover the world. I know that these memories he will probably never remember, but myself and David will always remember the very first time he rode a pony and went down a really long and steep slide all by himself. That weekend is something that I hope we can repeat every year. It was a good visit in North Georgia overall and I hope we can go back again before the year is over.



This past weekend was my 10 year High School reunion, which I coordinated. Not as good a turnout as I had hoped for, but the people I love the most showed up. Thank you all for coming and supporting my effort. Maybe the next one will be even bigger and better!



We're still trying. I'm just praying everyday and believing that in God's time he will provide us with another child. Thank you all for your prayers. I know that the power of prayer "transcends all understanding."

Just an update.....

Thank you to all of you who have been in prayer for me. Still no word if I'm prego or not, but we shall see with a week or so. Things have been a little busy around here. Last week I spent 3 days with my Grandmother (who is now referred to as "thatha" or "lala" by Nolan; I can't discern which one he uses the most) making pear preserves. Most everyone will be receiving a jar for Christmas this year. I loved every minute of it. Who knew it would take 3 whole days to complete this process. The first day we picked the pears. 2 5-gallon buckets full! The second day we peeled, cored, and sliced the pears. Then you have to cover them in sugar and let them sit overnight. The 3rd day you have to boil/simmer the pears in the juices until the consistency is just right. Then, you jar them. I still have to find/buy labels for the jars. That will be my next creative project in a few weeks. This week, however, my creative project is a Yard Sale! I've been saying I would like to have a yard sale for over a year. The time just seemed right. Besides the fact that David's at the station tonight and not here to help me prepare for the first day tomorrow, and it's going to be 46 degrees in the morning!!!!! I've been waiting on the cooler weather, and of course, it happens on the day I choose to get out of bed before 8:30!! Oh well. I hope we'll make some money. We could use it right about now. Grandmother will be here tomorrow to help me and Samantha (my MIL) and MeeMaw (my GIL) will be here on Friday, and David will be here on Saturday. Long days and hours, but I hope it'll be worth it. That's all for now!