A Taste of Fall

Although it's not officially fall yet, we've had cooler temperatures here (hooray for the end of the 90 degree mornings!) and we're in the mood for autumn activities. This weekend, we took our annual day trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard (in the mountains of NC), and spent a gorgeous morning picking apples, tasting the fruits of our labor, and sharing a picnic lunch. Both Luke and Winnie ate more apples than they picked, and once they started tasting the delicious fruit, it was difficult to tear them away! We had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather, and here are some of our favorite pictures from the day:














The below slideshow (also in our Winterhoff Family Photo Albums) includes the rest of our pictures from our apple picking fun:

Breaking News!

This afternoon marked a huge, shocking milestone for our family, as Luke is napping in his "big boy room" and not in the crib for the first time! My child is such a creature of habit and routine (Hmm- wonder where he gets that...) and he knows that after lunch every day, we prepare for nap time. Today, I told him to go ahead upstairs while I let Winnie out and cleaned up from lunch. By the time I joined Luke, I found him lying in one of the twin beds in our guest room, surrounded by his stuffed am-i-dals, and covered with his new bedding that arrived in the mail earlier this week. We have been talking to Luke about moving into his big boy room soon, have just ordered his new furniture, and recently had a window seat/toy box built for the window nook. I anticipated moving Luke from his nursery only when he was ready (which I envisioned to be months from now!), and certainly not until his furniture had arrived, the room was painted, and we were able to mentally prepare with lots of build-up and excitement about this transition.


This afternoon, we snuggled in the bed together, read some stories, and then I told Luke it was time to go to back to the nursery and get into his crib to take a nap. However, Luke declared, "Baboo sleep in big boy bed!", and so I assembled his new bed rails and tucked him in, assuming that the novelty of napping in a different place would wear off quickly and we would switch to the crib in about 10 minutes. Without a video or audio monitor to let me know what was going on with my toddler, I strategically placed myself across the hall in the playroom, in a comfy chair which directly faces the door to Luke's new room. There were several attempts by Luke to come to the door, but I told him to get back into the big boy bed or else he'd have to go to his crib, and when I last checked, I found a peaceful, sleeping toddler in the bed.


I am astounded and am questioning several things:
1) Is it really going to be this easy?
2) When did my baby grow up?

It just goes to show that despite all of my careful planning and contemplating about "just the right time" to implement big (and little) changes, Luke has once again shown me that when he's ready, things will just fall into place. Here's to a hopefully long afternoon slumber and sweet dreams for my big boy!

Lil' Slugger

Tonight we went to our annual Greenville Drive baseball game, and we had a blast! Luke talked about going to the baseball game all day in anticipation, and when we got there, he was absolutely thrilled to ride the trolley from the parking lot to the baseball stadium. He kept calling it a bus, and pointed out the wipers, the driver, and the bell (his favorite song is still "The Wheels on the Bus). When we got into the stadium, Luke saw Reedy Rip'It, the Greenville Drive mascot, and practically jumped out of Daddy's arms to hug the giant green frog. Each time we saw Reedy during the course of the game, Luke would exclaim, "LOOK at that FROG!" and run up to him. It was adorable at first, but we became slightly embarrassed when Luke became an offical stalker of the mascot, chasing him all over the stadium and running up to Reedy while other children attempted to have their picture taken with him.


The other exciting highlight of the game was that Mark caught a foul fly ball! He was holding Luke on one hip, and made an amazing one-handed catch with his other arm. Mark gave the ball to Luke, and Luke clutched it tightly for the rest of the game, holding onto his special treasure. Of course we had to show the ball to Reedy, too!


This is the third year that we have taken Luke to a Greenville Drive game. The first time, he was in the Baby Bjorn, and just a few weeks old. Last year, we brought the stroller, but were exhausted after chasing around an active toddler who wanted to explore every part of the stadium and didn't sit still at all. This year was delightful: We sat in the grass for awhile, shared a soft pretzel with our son (no organic veggie puffs this time!), watched over 2 entire innings of the game (double the time of last year!), and Luke really seemed to enjoy the concept of baseball. Mark and I commented how much easier it is to go places with our child now, and then we looked at my belly, laughing as we realized that we have just a few more months until Sprout arrives and that changes again. But how fun it is to think that next year, we'll be going to our annual baseball game as a family of four!

Mommy's big boy!


My guys (proudly posing for their all-star shot) with their baseball!

Chuck E. Cheese's

We took a trip back in time last night, to a childhood place that Mark and I both remember as being lots of fun. After spending a dreary, rainy Saturday inside, we decided that everyone needed an exciting family activity, so we took Luke to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time. It is an understatement to say that Luke LOVED it! He ran from ride to ride, told us that he was going to "play special games", and was especially drawn to the characters. He couldn't stop giving hugs to that lovable, anthropomorphic mouse, and we literally had to tear him away from the bulldozer ride at the end of the evening. The pizza wasn't quite as amazing as Mark and I remember from our childhood, and the building seems to have shrunk (we both have memories of the place being so enormous!), but it was certainly magical to our son, and that made it worth every last token!

Hugs for Chuck E. Cheese:






Completely enamored by the "dancing mouse":




On the bicycle balloon ride:


Riding the train with Barney:


Playing "Whack a Shark" with Daddy:



Luke's favorite ride (what a boy!):

Pregnancy: The Highs, The Lows, The Hormones

Since I am almost at the halfway point through this pregnancy, I thought it would be a good time to write an update about what's going on recently:

The Highs:
People keep asking me if Luke has any idea that he is going to be a big brother. At first, I thought that he had no concept of what was going on, but he's proven me wrong on several occasions. One evening during Luke's nighttime prayers, he recited with me: "God Bless Mommy and Daddy, and Luke and Winnie..." All of the sudden, he grinned, looked up at me, and said, "And Sprout." I almost burst into tears of joy. I have no idea how he knew to insert this very appropriate addition, but he's said it every night since. Sometimes I just can't get over how amazed I am by my son, which leads me to story #2:

Several weeks ago, I asked Luke where Sprout was. He lifted up my shirt and pointed to my belly. I was so impressed, and we showed Daddy our new "trick" when Mark got home from work. We did it again, and Mark cleared his throat and said, "Carrie, you realize that Luke is pointing to the birthmark on your stomach, right?" After testing this theory a few times, we realized that Luke did indeed believe that Sprout was a mole/birthmark, but you can't win every time. Luke more than made up for it at our ultrasound last week. As soon as the ultrasound tech told us that it was a girl, Luke announced, "Baboo have a baby sister!" I wish we could have recorded it on video, but I know that I'll never forget that moment and the sense of joy and pride that I felt.

My sweet boy bringing Mommy a pink hydrangea (my favorite flower).

It's been a very exciting coincidence that all of my play group friends here were pregnant at the same time. All of our firstborns are within 6 months of age, and our second children will also be born within 6 months of each other, and all in the same order as the older siblings! Everyone was pregnant with the same gender as their first pregnancy, too, but Sprout has proven to be the only outlier. It's so much fun to go through this experience with my Greenville girlfriends, and we all can relate to each other's experiences, share in our stories and be in the same stage of life.

First, Second, Third, and Third Trimester Bellies (May 2010).


The Lows:
I really don't have much to add to this section, except for the inappropriate belly rubs that I get from complete strangers (such a violation of my personal space!). I feel great right now, but am already starting to realize how the second child may receive much less attention than the first. While I was pregnant with Luke, I pored over multiple pregnancy books, imagining the changes occurring to the fetus in my body as it grew and developed. We took weekly photos of my "bump" and were completely consumed by the new life that was going to join our family. This time, I rarely even open my weekly e-mails which compare Sprout's size to a random piece of produce (i.e. "It's Week 18, and your baby is the size of a large heirloom tomato!"). I'm so busy chasing around an active toddler that Sprout really has taken a backseat while in utero, but I'm trying not to feel guilty that I'm not sending her peaceful, zen-like vibes all day. I'm also slightly nervous about how I am going to divide my attention between 2 children, give each one 100% of my time, energy, and resources, and how Luke will adjust to having to share his mommy with a new baby (after almost 3 years of having me all to himself), but I know that it will all work out somehow.

This adorable little man certainly keeps me on my toes!


The Hormones:
1. My brain has officially turned to mush. In the last few days alone, I have completely lost my mind to Pregnancy Brain. I put away an unwashed pan in the cupboard, only for Mark to find it at lunchtime today and exclaim: "Gross! What IS this?" I just shrugged and replied, "I made grilled cheese yesterday." He looked at me incredulously. I also found an almost-full jar of jam returned to the pantry instead of the fridge, and a bag of frozen peas misplaced in the fridge (vs. back in the freezer). Tonight in the shower, I couldn't remember if I had shampooed my hair already (so I washed everything again to be safe), and I went to the grocery store solely to buy apple juice (after Luke asked for me to get it for 4 days), and I came home with an entire bag full of groceries, but no juice of course. Lastly, Mark asked me to do a load of whites because he was out of undershirts, and I insisted that I just did them a day ago, and that he needed to search his drawers again (since surely I had folded everything and put the clothes away). Two days later, I found the washed, but unfolded clothes in the laundry basket buried underneath a bunch of dirty things. Sigh. I also asked Mark the same question 5 minutes apart because I couldn't remember if we had already had a conversation.... the list goes on and on. It's very frustrating, but Mark reminded me that I had similar cognitive deficits while I was pregnant with Luke. Of course I don't remember.

2. Shortly after we found out that we were expecting another baby, I quickly calculated a Jaunary due date, but realized that since Luke was born 5+ weeks early, that this baby may be an early Christmas present. I started thinking about the meaning of Advent ("coming"), and how it is a preparatory season of looking forward and waiting for Christ's birth, and how poignant that will be to us this year as we await our baby's arrival into the world. As I tried to put this into words, I said to Mark, "Christmas is going to be so special this year. It'll be just like the Virgin Mary, as she waited for Jesus to come..."

I think Mark had trouble focusing on my rambling at that point, because he calmly interjected, "Yes, Carrie, it will be EXACTLY like that. You, riding a donkey into Bethlehem, giving birth to our Savior, in a stable surrounded by farm animals..."

Ok, so maybe it was a poor word choice on my part to compare myself to the Virgin Mary, but I was hormonal and overwhelmed by the brand new information that we were pregnant, etc. and I didn't know how to express my thoughts coherently.

So in the meantime, we continue to prepare, look forward, enjoy each moment of the craziness, the laughter, and the joy that our little blessing is already bringing to our family from within my belly!

Week 18 Bump (Yes, this is the first picture that we've manage to take since Week 10, but at least I'm wearing pink for Sprout!)

Nostalgia

In the midst of our recent travels, we had the opportunity to visit some places and people very special to us. We spent a weekend in Delmar, NY, where Mark grew up and where we also resided for 6 months after our wedding (while Mark was completing a rotation in his GE FMP program). Since the Senior Winterhoffs have since retired to Virginia and are no longer in Delmar, and our season of returning for the weddings of Mark's childhood friends has ended, we don't have an excuse to make that trip too frequently. But we still have very dear friends in the area, and spent a delicious afternoon and evening drinking them all in, meeting new babies that we had only seen in photos, admiring a gorgeous new home, and generally reveling in the warmth, comfort and love that old friends and shared memories provide. The next morning, we attended the church that was such a central part of Mark's family for 27 years, and we were surrounded by Mark's church family, who met our Luke, and made us feel very loved. About 10 times that weekend, I sighed a nostalgic sigh for the wonderful times that we have spent with our friends in Delmar and thought, "How wonderful it would be to live here."

Luke and Nuala playing (Their dads have been great friends since childhood, growing up in Delmar together, and are now both GE finance guys!)


Michaela and Jenna were such great helpers with Luke during our Delmar visit. Thanks, girls!


Luke and Baby Alec- such little men!


We also made a brief morning stop in Roanoke, VA on our drive. Perched on top of a mountain, we saw the giant star that served as a familiar symbol of welcome for this city where we bought our first home and spent 3 wonderful years. We drove through our old neighborhood, passed "our" house, commenting on the new paint color of the shutters, the changes in landscaping, and the noticeable lack of the 2 enormous shade trees in the backyard. I wondered if the woman who bought the house from us loved it as much as we did, if she shared a similar sense of homeowner pride at the completion of home improvement projects, gardening, and yardwork, and if her dog enjoyed swimming in the creek as much as Winnie. We parked the car, and Mark took Winnie on a walk through the neighborhood. He said that her tail didn't stop wagging and she proudly pranced along her "old route" as if she had never left. We reminisced over long-forgotten stories of neighbors, Winnie's puppy days, and the nostalgic memories that we created in Roanoke.

Happy young couple on the front steps of our Roanoke home.


Winnie's first day with us (October 2004).


However, everything came into perspective for me as we stopped at one of my favorite places in the world- the downtown Roanoke City Market. Although we still had hours to drive on this particular leg of our journey, Mark indulged my wish to hop out of the car for just a minute to walk down the street and soak in the outdoor farmer's market that I love so much. Rows of fresh produce, vendors with bouquets of bright flowers, and adorable restaurants and cafes lined the street that once was such a familiar part of my weekly routine. In those (pre-child) days, Mark and I would frequent the market often and have weekend "dates" where we'd go out to dinner at fancy restaurants or explore nearby wineries. For a split second, I thought of how simple and breezy life seemed then, as newly married professionals.

I hurried to our Jeep, which was double parked, flashers on and engine running. Our stroller was tied to the roof and the inside was packed full of bags, beach toys, snacks, and enough Elmo DVDs to last on a cross-country voyage. I waved to my most precious cargo who were waiting for me: My loving husband, who has made and shared all of these memories, our sweet Winnie, who was our first "baby" and allowed us to become parents, and to my most beloved 2-year old son, who was just seeing these places for the first time. I glanced at my reflection in a shop window, seeing my rounded, pregnant belly, and thought, "How full and rich my life is right now." I didn't want to trade it for the world. And that's the thing about nostalgia. It's just a brief yearning for past moments. I realized as we pulled into the driveway of our house in South Carolina after being gone for over 2 weeks, that it was just where I wanted to be. This month marks 3 years since we've moved, which makes it the longest that we've ever lived anywhere. And as I reflect on this, I realize: "We're HOME."

Baby News!

We found out today that Sprout is a GIRL!!!

We are overjoyed, and I have spent all 3 hours of Luke's nap today researching pink toile bedding for the nursery, obsessing over names for our future daughter, and mentally planning millions of details. It's so exciting to be able to picture our family with the addition of a little girl! Bring on the PINK!!