forgot to put this on the previous blog... just some more christmas pics!

Merry Christmas to All...

Trace's first look on Christmas morning (i love how he is dragging his blankie behind him!)

we had a GREAT christmas! so many people to see and places to go, but we had a blast!

we celebrated christmas eve at meme and grandaddy's. nanny was in town from huntsville and we had fun celebrating with her. as always, there was wonderful food, great laughs with the crazy kids, and tons of presents! trace racked up... getting a monster truck, rocking chair, ninja turtle stuff, new markers and coloring sets, a hi-5 dvd, tool set, alphabet train, and lots of other things! nate and i got a great gift basket including gift cards and a free nite of baby-sitting! then we headed to the communion service at church, where i read a christmas story to the kids. trace sat in my lap for a few minutes, then sat with shannon and lala. then he decided to go behind the choir loft and jump up and down on the chairs. since i was reading the story, i tried not to look, but i heard you could just see his little head bobbing up and down, and it musta been funny b/c everyone kept laughing. he also stole the show with his loud "amen" after prayer and when poppi was helping with communion and headed back to the front of the church trace kept saying "where'd poppi go?" too cute!! we got home and put trace in christmas pj's and then read the christmas story from luke chapter 2. he also got a children's bible from meme so we read his version as well. i know he is young, but it's a tradition we started last year and i hope to continue it, to help us all remember the real meaning of christmas. even though it's so fun and we get caught up in the excitement of presents and santa, we always want trace to know and remember how baby jesus was born on christmas day, and would later die for our sins so that we could spend eternity in heaven.
christmas morning we woke trace up and let him see that santa had come. it was so fun to see his excitement over everything, even the little things in his stocking... like a blue's clues toothbrush! that kept him happy for at least an hour! we basically got him 3 gifts, since that's what the wisemen took baby jesus. he got a tonka cars set with 3 cars/tracks that he loved. he also got lots of new books to read. and i think his favorite was his horsie and cowboy hat. the horsie on the stick is almost as big as him, but he loved it! i got a new camera, woo hoo! i love it. i've already taken a ton of pics, imagine that! and i got some new fleece pj pants and a gc for a pedicure (which i used on friday!) nate got some new clothes, a gc for a massage, boxers, socks, all the typical stuff! we then went to bitsy and poppi's house for presents and brunch. it was a lot of fun, and we got to see granny, nana and papaw as well. and again, trace got tons of gifts! several toy dinosaurs (or saur saurs as trace calls them,) new cars pjs, a hermie dvd, a harmonica, clothes, a diego pillow book, and other toys i'm sure i'm forgetting. let's just say our house looks like a toy store now! nate got new cologne and the dark knight on blu ray. i got a new scrapbook for lucas, an adorable scrapbook of trace that mom has been secretly working on, and a beautiful handmade flannel christmas quilt from mom. i love it!! we ate so much after opening all the gifts that i thought i would bust!
since we already made our christmas trip to huntsville to see mamaw and pawpaw last weekend, we were able to come back home and REST on christmas day. how fun! i really used the past 3 days to get some much needed rest. i think i took a nap every day. it was wonderful! and yes, we did a little shopping friday, and of course some cleaning and cooking here and there, but it was so nice to chill out some. i took trace to walmart saturday and nate took down ALL the christmas decorations. seriously, i didn't do anything except pack up the wrapping paper and stuff. what a great hubby! i did however have to go thru several tubs of baby clothes and sort them out. that was exhausting but it really needed to be done, and soon! lucas will be here before we know it!
ok, i realize this has been a long blog... i'll wrap up by saying i hope you and your family had a great christmas as well, and truly were able to relax and remember the real meaning of the season.
so here are a few pics from our christmas fun... hope you enjoy.

trace and his blue's clues toothbrush from his stocking

my handsome lil cowboy

sitting in all the mess!

Merry Christmas 2008

christmas fun

my sweet santa baby!

well we have been staying busy this past week... we went to huntsville sat to visit with nate's grandparents b/c we aren't gonna make it up there on christmas day. then we were back in town and headed to zoolight safari with the cousins sat nite but trace got sick. my poor baby threw up and was running a high fever. so we went back home for the nite, and i stayed home from church sunday with him, then we headed to my parent's house to do my granny's christmas. then it was off to the galleria and olive garden for rob's bday dinner, then we went to pick trace up and visited with some friends who were in town. wow. are you tired yet? b/c i was exhausted monday morning, and i still am!! i'll work til 2 on christmas eve, then head to meme's where hopefully they will have saved me a lil bit of food if they start lunch with out me :) then we'll do presents and such and then head to church for a candlelight communion service and i will read a christmas story to the kids. and then we will finally head home, put trace in bed, and then SANTA comes! YAY! christmas morning we will do presents at our house, then head to my parents for brunch. yummy. and for the first time since nate and i have been together, (6 years) we will go back to our house and chill on christmas day. I CAN'T WAIT! it was a hard decision to not go up to huntsville, but at some point, we have to make those decisions and hope that everyone understands. we will be making new traditions with trace and lucas too when he is here, and one thing i want is for them to be able to hang out at their house on christmas and play with their new toys, watch movies, just whatever! so although we will def. miss going to mamaw and pawpaw's house and seeing everyone, i am excited to have a more low-key day. and when we went to visit with them sat they completely understood our choice. i was relieved! anyways, low-key days... that's what i love these days, and they are hard to come by! i am taking a vacation day friday, so nate, trace and i will have 4 days together. how fun!!!! hopefully we take the tree down, get christmas stuff back up in the attic, and focus on baby stuff after that. wow. sounds like my low-key weekend has already gotten busy!!!!!! oh well. at least i won't be at work! and just to make this post more fun, here are a few new christmas pics...

LOOKING FOR SANTA (my fav pic!)

and because i can't help showing a few from last year, check these out. look how much our babies have grown!!!!

who thinks meme will need a bigger door next year? how are 6 babies gonna fit for this pose?

32 weeks...

so i went to the dr for my 32 week check-up. my blood pressure was a little high (i can't rememeber what it was though, i get it mixed up with the fetal heart tones. baby brain i guess!) but dr adcock wasn't too concerned. he just said to try and get some rest. HA. that's a joke, right? and i am still measuring a little bit ahead, but again, not too concerned. so overall i got a good report and will go back in 2 weeks for another quick check-up. 2 weeks from then will be the first of a few lovely checks to see if i'm making any progress. hmmmmm. we shall wait and see!

a side note: please pray for meme's stepmom beverly. she is in the icu in huntsville and probably will not make it too much longer. terri is up there now with her daddy. please pray for god to be merciful, and for his peace to cover terri, her brother alan, their daddy, and also for bev to be comfortable. what a hard thing to go thru around christmas, but we are trying to trust god's plan right now. thanks for praying with us and for us.

all dressed up

Here's the latest belly pics... Saturday night was Nate's office Christmas party. It was fun to get dressed up, but I had a hard time finding a cute outfit that I liked. At first I thought I could kinda hide the belly, but yeah, at 8 months pregnant, that's not so easy to do! So I ended up with a tight fitting shirt that showed off my growing baby bump :) I go to the doctor Tuesday for my next check up, wish me luck!

Prego Blues...

Well it seems these pregnancy hormones are catching up with me... I have just been very emotional the past few days. (It's bad enough when other people notice, but the fact that I admit it strait up lets you know, it's been rough!!) I don't think these dreary, rainy days have helped much. Now SNOW on the other hand would make me happy, but I doubt our area will see much, and I'm sure it won't stick if we get any. Oh well... we can always hope!

Nothing really new with us, just staying busy and watching my babies grow so fast (Yes, I mean Trace AND Lucas!) My belly just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully I can make my clothes stretch a little more and they will fit til I deliver this boy :-) Not too much longer and we will meet our little man! I can't WAIT! And Trace is also growing and just becoming so smart. He talks non-stop, and even though sometimes we can't understand him, more and more things are making sense. And the boy LOVES to sing, I think he is gonna be just like his Daddy in so many ways! He loves singing Jesus Loves Me, but knows the chorus best. Some other favs are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It (his fav verse is "Say AMEN!" and he throws his arm in the air and yells "Ah-MENNNN!" It's soooo ADORABLE!!!!!!) OH, and he knows his ABC's! He can't say all of them, but he def knows the song. Actually, I think he really does say all of them, b/c if you start him out, then stop, he'll pick up where you left off. I love to hear him rush thru HIJKLMNOP. It's so funny. And if you say W, X, he shouts Y AND Z! I'm telling you, he amazes me! He can also count to 10. The best part is I know he picks most of these things up from Caden and Kenley. We work with him and sing, count, etc, but when he burst out singing Twinkle Twinkle while eating dinner the other night, Nate and I both were like "We didn't teach him that!"

He keeps me laughing, even if I am laughing through the tears these days! ;-) I love Trace so much and find myself at a loss for words when praying and thanking God for my sweet sweet baby boy!

We have a few Christmas things this weekend... Saturday night is Nate's work Christmas Party. Bitsy and Poppi are watching Trace for us so we can party the night away. HA! I am looking forward to getting all dressed up (well as dressed up as this Lil Mama gets these days!) and eating some good food and hanging out with our good friends Mandy and Bobby. I doubt I'll get out on the dance floor or be too wild and crazy, I'm just hoping to stay awake thru it all! LoL. Then Sunday we have our Christmas Program at church at 9 & 11 AM, which always proves to be a great performance. The kids choir will sing and I always love to watch them. Hard to believe the boys will probably be up there next year! WOW!

I'll try and remember to take a few pics before we go to Nate's party and post them this weekend! Hope you all are having a Merry Christmas Season! Stay safe and Warm, maybe we'll see some snow later on today!

LUCAS in ACTION!

so lucas is on the move... sometimes i wonder if he is trying to break out of my belly!! when i lay on my back he goes nuts! i took this video a couple weeks ago but was having trouble loading it. i know it's a wierd angle, but obviously i did what i could! i was just laying in bed and thought it would be a cute little video to help me remember these days of pregnancy. hopefully you can get past my heavy breathing and horrible nararation, and see lucas moving around like crazy! only 8 more weeks of this, time is flying by!

Goodnight Mom

ok... does anyone have the kids book "goodnight moon?" well it is one of our favs at the house, we read it at least 5 times a week if not more. trace loves it, and flips the pages faster than we can try and spit out the words! well when we went for our 30 week doctor visit today, nate was reading a parenting magazine and came across this HILARIOUS version of the book. it's probably funny to any mom/parent, but we found it especially funny since we have memorized that book from reading it so much!

OH, before i share the revised version, does anyone wanna know what the dr said? he said everything looks GREAT but i am measuring 2 cm ahead... i am 30 weeks and should measure at 30 cm but measured at 32 cm. so what does that mean? WHO KNOWS!! i hope it means lucas is coming a lil early and not that he's gonna be 10 pounds! maybe he just had a growth spurt in the last month (it was thanksgiving ya know... and i did eat a lot!) but i go back in 2 weeks and we'll see how he measures up then!! i am hoping and PRAYING that lucas comes early, at least a week or so. :) the main reason is b/c nate's dad leaves feb 1 for honduras and i'd hate for him to miss out and see lucas by email pics for the first time! my official due date is feb 8. so dr adcock said we'll just see how things go, and he can probably induce on jan 30 if things are progressing. and if he's on call. so please join me in praying that either i will have lucas on my own before feb 1 (i think i will) or that dr adcock will be on call and will agree to induce on friday jan 30! ok. sorry for the rabbit trail! just wanted to share the lucas update.

so here's the poem:

Goodnight Mom
(with apologies to Margaret Wise Brown)

In the messy green family room
There was a telemarketer ringing the telephone
And a crying toddler because
His brother just popped his red balloon
And a picture of --

The cow jumping over the moon
(which someone colored on with permanent marker)
And there was a missing teddy bear,
And a girl with gum in her hair

And one to be scolded
And laundry to be folded
And a very hungry spouse
And something stinky in the house
(that no one else seemed to smell)

And a comb and a brush and a colicky
Baby who just won’t shush
And a frazzled mommy screaming #*%#@

Goodnight messy room
Goodnight scribbled-on moon
Goodnight cow getting out while she can
Goodnight telemarketers and the popped balloon
Goodnight long-gone teddy bear
Goodnight cereal bar smeared all over the dining room chair

Goodnight spitup
And goodnight leaky sippy cup
Goodnight much-too-little- house and
Goodnight grumpy spouse
Goodnight comb and goodnight brush
And goodnight to a certain 4 year old
Who just needs to hush right now I mean it

Goodnight Elmo
Goodnight toys we’ll pick up tomorrow,
Or the next day
Hello chardonnay and TiVo--
“me” time finally

-Sarah Jio (Parenting Magazine, Nov. 08)

so can you moms relate to this or what?? I LOVE IT! nate read it out loud to me and we were both CRACKING UP! of course i would replace hello "chardonnay" with hello "TYLENOL PM!!!" :-)