12 Weeks!

Ultrasound from our last visit a couple of weeks ago. You can see the forehead, nose and chin already!

How Far Along: 12 weeks, 5 days

Size of baby: Just over 2 inches. The baby is the size of a plum.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: -2 lbs. I've gained 1 of my lost pounds back.

Maternity Clothes: I broke down and wore a pair of maternity pants to church on Sunday because I was being too lazy to iron my regular pants which still fit just fine. May I confess that I did enjoy the elastic waistband!

Gender: Nothing official, but I have my suspicions. We find out for sure (if the baby cooperates) at our next appointment on January 3rd! Jeremy and I are both so excited. It seems like this pregnancy has flown by so far, and in less than 4 weeks we should know what we are having.

I put up a quiz on the left side of the page for you to vote whether you think we are having a boy or girl. We'll see how many of you readers are right soon enough!

Movement: Not yet.

Sleep: I'm doing better, but still pretty tired by night time.

Symptoms: Some dry heaving, but only one time to actually get sick this week. I think it scared Jackson since we were home alone, and he wasn't too happy with the baby for making me sick. It was really sweet that he was so concerned, but I just tried to make him understand that everything was fine.

Cravings: Blackberries! I can't get enough, which is funny since I couldn't get enough strawberries when I was pregnant with Jackson. Pretty similar cravings, huh!

What I Miss: Nothing really. It's been a pretty normal week.

Best Moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat at our appointment. It was 160 beats per minute, and it's the sweetest sound I've heard in a long time!

What I am looking forward to: Finding out whether we are having a boy or a girl. It will be soon enough!

Nothing Says "Merry Christmas" Like Disco Dancing Elves

A Little of This…A Little of That

I feel like it’s been forever since I blogged, and there is so much that I haven’t told you. I mentioned last week that we had a computer virus, but I didn’t get to tell you how much fun that was! We got a pretty nice Trojan virus from Facebook, and luckily for us, we have a great friend named Tim who got the virus off for us. He’s the best! While the computer was being fixed, I have to say that I enjoyed having a break from computer stuff. I always blog Monday through Friday, and to have a few mandatory days off was a nice change, and one that was probably pretty good for me.

In baby news, I am now almost 13 weeks. I had another ultrasound a few weeks ago and I haven’t had the chance to upload the picture of it. The baby is growing perfectly, and we got an amazing profile shot of the baby’s face. You could already see at 11 weeks the outline of the forehead, nose and chin. The baby had the hiccups the entire time we were getting the ultrasound, which may or may not have been compliments of the Mountain Dew I drank before I went to get rid of a major headache! And guess what? I wore my first pair of maternity pants to church on Sunday, not so much of out necessity, but more out of laziness; I didn’t feel like ironing my regular pants!

On the Christmas front, we have our house ready for Christmas with the tree up, lights up on the house, and Christmas cards ordered, but I have miles to go before I sleep as far as gifts are concerned. I’ve almost got Jackson taken care of, but that’s about all I can say. I got a new Christmas CD last week, and all Jackson has wanted to listen to since then is Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song. He loves it! I absolutely adore Christmas music, but I wish Alvin had more gift ideas than a plane that loops the loop, and I don’t think I know anyone (other than Jackson) that would want a hula hoop for Christmas.

Y’all have a great day!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Jeremy and I want to wish my Mom Happy Birthday today. She's such a wonderful woman, and we love her very much. I hope she has an amazing day!

Happy Birthday!!!

I Promise I'm Alive And Well, However The Same Cannot Be Said For Our Computer

I'm around, however we have a virus on our computer right now that is taking some time to sort out. I'll be back with lots of pictures and updates when we get everything cleaned up. Take care!

P.S. People who invent computer viruses should be strung up and shot.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from my favorite little Indian! Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend, and don't forget how truly blessed we are. Take care!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I told you yesterday that our church is in the middle of an amazing revival. Our speaker, David Ring, has cerebral palsy, and his testimony is incredible. Last night at church David sang one of my favorite hymns, Victory in Jesus. I could not believe how much he touched me with his words. I found a video clip online, and I know that if you watch it you will be blessed. Have a great Wednesday!

So Here's What's Going On...

We are in the middle of an amazing revival at church. Our speaker, David Ring, has cerebral palsy and has been blessed with one of the most incredible testimonies that I have ever heard. I searched YouTube for him, but most of the clips on there were really old. So instead, I found part of an interview with him just to share with you a little bit about his story. Please watch the video below, because I promise you will be blessed! If you ever get the chance to see David in person, you will not regret it.

So because of the revival we haven't been getting home until well after 9:00 at night, which with a preschooler, has made life interesting around here. He hasn't gotten into bed until after 10 both nights, so blogging is being put on the back burner for right now. I'm sure you understand! So I'm going to leave you with a clip of David, and I'll be back tomorrow. Have a great day!

My Rootin’ Tootin’ Cowboy

We had a super busy weekend around here. Saturday morning my Mom and I took Jackson on a quick photo shoot in the downtown area to get some Christmas pictures. I had his entire outfit planned out, and literally at the last second my eyes glanced on something in his drawer and I changed his entire outfit. I dressed him in a vintage cowboy shirt, complete with black cowboy hat, his bootcut jeans, new cowboy boots, and as a last minute thought I added his holsters to his leather “Jackson” belt. The  best part of this to me is that the cowboy shirt and cowboy hat were what I wore to my 4th birthday party, way back in 1984, and I was able to get Jackson’s 4 year old Christmas pictures in the same stuff. I ended up loving the pictures, and I’m going to have such a hard time deciding what shots to go with. Between Mom and I, we ended up taking over 200 pictures! Here are a few shots:

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll never be able to make my mind up! Have a great Monday!

I Guess Better Late Than Never

We found our lost camera cord, and I realized that I never shared the pictures of the cutest Ninja Turtle that ever was. I know that November is halfway over, but if I didn’t share them sooner or later, I just couldn’t live with myself! So enjoy!

See…I told you he was the cutest Ninja Turtle ever!

Jackson was a little nervous around his 2 favorite Superheroes

Who knew Raphael was good at golf?

Look who warmed up to the Superheroes!

My nephew Luke was a little stinker for Halloween!

Jackson and Tinkerbell, I mean Gracie!

I’m giving a thumbs up to this Halloween stuff!

Not only was our turtle great at golf, he’s also a champion horse rider!

Have a great weekend!

10 Weeks!

How Far Along: 10 weeks

Size of baby: Just over an inch. The baby is the size of a prune.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: ???. Last official check at the doctor was -3 lbs, but I'm not sure now.

Maternity Clothes: Nope

Gender: Nothing official, but I have my suspicions. I guess we'll find out soon enough if I'm right!

Movement: Not yet.

Sleep: I'm incredibly tired all the time.

Symptoms: Just tired and moody. I'm sure I'm delightful to live with right now.

Cravings: Nothing really this week.

What I Miss: Not being tired. Have I mentioned how tired I am?

Best Moment this week: Jackson admitting that he would be okay with a baby sister if he has one. That's progress folks!

What I am looking forward to: Another ultrasound on Monday. I love these little sneak peeks!

I've Got Nothing

I had intended on finally posting the long lost Halloween pictures of the cutest Ninja Turtle that ever was, but then I ended up taking a "nap" at 6:30 at night that lasted almost 2 hours. When I woke up I brushed my teeth and went back to bed.

So today I'm cutting myself a break. I'm growing a human right now and I'm whooped. I'll catch up with y'all tomorrow. Have a great day!

What Drives Me Crazy About Wal-Mart

I had to make a last minute stop at Wal-Mart last night after a Pampered Chef party. It was there, amongst the other people just like me who were willing to shop in drizzly conditions, that I got to thinking about some of the things that drive me crazy about Wal-Mart. This list is by no means conclusive....

• Buggies that resemble small cars being pushed down the aisles. As if there isn't enough anxiousness about parking your buggy in the aisle for too long, now they're pushing these small cars on us. I can't handle the pressure of steering the dumb thing!
  
  
• The milk is on the complete opposite side from the dog food, way back in the corner. It seems like I'm always having to reach all 4 corners of our humongous supercenter because of some random thing on my list. I think that's their plan.
  
  
• Only having 2 aisles open in the entire store. Years ago Wal-Mart used to have a sign posted that said if there were more than 3 people in a line, that a new line would be opened up. Now, you're lucky if you only have 5 people in front of you. That's why I don't feel bad about reading magazines while I'm waiting.
  
  
• Self Checkout. Sam Walton would roll over in his grave to think that he was going to have customers checking themselves out. Where's the service? I usually refuse to use the self checkout aisles out of principle. By gosh, if I'm going to check myself out, you better be giving me a discount.
  
  
• Last night I gave into self checkout temptation due to the insane lines and ended up getting carded for buying cough medicine for Jackson. So a guy that worked at the self checkout had to actually come check me out, which to me completely defeats the purpose.
  
  
• Our Wal-Mart has a redbox machine inside one of the lobbies. The weird thing is, they park and charge the electric scooters a foot away from the redbox machine, which means you practically end up sitting in the scooter chair trying to browse the redbox machine. Fun times.
  
  
• The Express Lanes for people with 10 and under. Why is it that when I have two or three things to buy, that I always end up getting stuck behind someone who is cheating on the express lane? You're not fooling me, mister, with your buggy full of stuff!
  
  
• People who leave dirty diapers, trash and chewed up gum in the parking lot. Disgusting! Who does that kind of stuff?

And since I'm doing a post about Wal-Mart, I just had to share a link to People of Wal-Mart. If you are feeling down, just click on over. You can't help but enjoy some of Wal-Marts finest! **I can't be held responsible for some of the language there. Just enjoy the pics!**

What drives you crazy about Wal-Mart?

Just Another Manic Monday

• We went to Mississippi this weekend to visit Jeremy's family. It's been awhile since we've been to visit, and Jackson loves his time there. He got to visit his Papaw, Papa and Gigi, Aunt Lacey and Uncle Ben, ride his 4 wheeler, get a new pair of cowboy boots, and watch Toy Story 3 with everyone. It was a great visit! Pictures to come soon!
  
  
• I read all 759 pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows again this weekend to get ready for the movie release this weekend. I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it! I love me some Harry Potter, and the movie looks like it is going to be amazing.
  
  
• Auburn is now 11-0, and I'm loving it! Warrrr Cam Eagle! I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding Cam Newton right now, but he is the best football player I've seen in a long time, and I'm so glad he's playing for Auburn. We are now SEC West Champs!
  
  
• Now that the Carnival Splendor ship has been towed back into port, it has been announced that Carnival Corporation is giving each passenger a free refund on their cruise, as well as a free future cruise. I just want to be clear that if someone is gun shy about taking another cruise after you were stranded at sea because of a fire in the engine room, I would be happy to take their free cruise. I would gladly make that sacrifice if it meant that someone else could sleep better at night not worrying about their adventure of Titanic proportions.

Bye y'all!

Toy Story 3 Will Be The End Of Me

We saw Toy Story 3 when it first came out back in the summer. I loved the movie until the ending, at which time I bawled like a baby. It was ridiculous and quite embarassing about how badly I was boo-hooing over the movie. I don't know if it's because I'm the mother of a little boy who is growing up way too quickly, or I'm just a sap, but whatever the reason, I left that theater a mess.

Now the movie has come out on home video and my parents got a copy that they have let us borrow. So far we've watched it about 6 times, and I've yet to make it through without crying. Blame it on pregnancy hormones, or being a mother, or just being a woman. I have no idea why I'm like this, but every time I think of Andy growing up and going off to college, Woody being separated from his friends, and worse, the toys getting put in the attic or thrown away, I lose it.

Jeremy and Jackson seem rather amused at my antics, and the other night my sweet little boy did his best to cheer me up. He walked over to me, gave me a big hug and kiss and said, "Mama, I can't wait until I go off to college and get rid of all my toys!"

Gee thanks kiddo. There's nothing like pouring salt into an open wound...

9 Weeks

How Far Along: 9 weeks

Size of baby: Just under an inch. The baby is the size of a green olive.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: –3 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Nope

Gender: No clue!

Movement: Not yet.

Sleep: I wake up early and then I'm worn out by 9:00 in the morning. Then at night I can't unwind enough to fall asleep before 11:00. It's ridiculous.

Symptoms: Very sore chest and just very tired. I've been rather crabby with Jeremy, and I can cry at the drop of a hat!

Cravings: Strawberries and saltines.

What I Miss: Regular sleep patterns.

Best Moment this week: Another ultrasound! The baby is measuring 2 days ahead of schedule, and looks just perfect. I have another ultrasound in 2 weeks.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out if we are having a boy or a girl. Only 9 more weeks!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

B-I-N-G-O like I’m sure you’ve never heard before!

Let The Food Fights Begin

Jackson has been going through a frustrating stage of eating lately. He's being so picky about food at home, but from what he says, he eats everything they give him at school. Honestly, it completely baffles me because other than pickles, mustard and sauerkraut, I can't think of many foods I don't like. With Jackson, he refuses to eat corn at home, but eats it all the time at school. The same goes for English peas and carrots. Ugh. I love corn but if I cook something with corn in it, like soup or a casserole, he insists that all the corn is out of it before he will touch it.

Now I used to give in to his tendencies and 1)not cook with corn or 2)pick it all out for him. Now I'm much wiser and tell him that if he doesn't want to eat it, then he has to pick it out for himself. The other rule that I've learned is that like it or not, he has to at least try some of everything I cook. Monday night this caused such drama at our house that you would have thought I was physically harming the kid.

I made an old favorite of Jeremy's and mine called, "Main Dish Cabbage." It's super easy, and all it contains is ground beef, cabbage, and tomato soup. I knew the cabbage was going to be a stretch for Jackson, but paired with some pink eyed purple hull peas that he loves, I thought that we might be able to pull it off.

Well, apparently I thought wrong.

He did great with the peas, even eating seconds, and he ate the ground beef from the casserole even though he fussed the whole time. Then it came time to try the cabbage.

Y'all, I can't even describe the level of meltdown that occurred at our kitchen table. Our sweet, loving little kiddo turned into a Gremlin of sorts and completely unleashed on us. I've never seen anything like it. Around this time it occurred to us that Jackson wasn't going to buy our line that cabbage was just like spinach and would make him strong as Popeye.

Here are as few of the lines we heard from our favorite little Drama King:

I AM NOT EATING THAT STUFF! SPINACH DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THAT! I DO NOT LIKE THIS! DO NOT LAUGH AT ME! I'M NOT HUNGRY ANYMORE! DON'T LOOK AT ME! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, I'M NOT GOING TO EAT IT!

He ended up running away from the table about 5 times, but each time we calmly got him, sat him back down and told him that we didn't care how long it took him, but he WAS going to eat a bite of cabbage, even if it took all night.

It was around that time that I realized I had turned into my Mom.

After about 10 minutes of sitting there, I got him to put a bite of cabbage in his mouth. He immediately started crying and was going to spit it out. I just quietly said, if you do that, you're going to get another bite. He waited about 5 minutes, crying, with the cabbage there in his mouth refusing to chew or swallow. It looked gross enough to make me sick! Then, when he did try to swallow he had gotten himself so worked up that he ended up gagging. I let him spit the bite out, and after he calmed down, I just quietly got another bite ready.

This time he ate it without complaining.

The whole meal was less than 30 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. I'm so glad that Jeremy and I stood our ground, staying calm the entire time, and didn't let him run the show. I explained to Jackson after he finished how proud I was of him, and that trying new foods is important. I may not be able to get him to like certain things, but he can at least give them a try!

But I will NEVER make the kid eat mustard or a pickle!

Wishing On A Flying Star

The other night Jackson and I were cuddled up before he went to bed. It's during those times before bed when we end up having some of the best conversations, and this night in particular was no disappointment.

Jackson: "Mommy, have you ever wished on a flying star?"
Me: "I've wished on a shooting star."
Jackson: "Same thing. I want to wish on one tonight."
Me: "Sounds good to me. What do you want to wish for?"
Jackson: "Let me think a second. How about I wish for my Mommy and my Daddy and my baby. And I'll wish for Macy and my whole family. And my toys. And that Jesus doesn't die on the cross anymore! How does that sound?"
Me: "That sounds like a great wish to me!"
Jackson: "Yeah, I did do pretty good tonight!"

In a million years, I could have never wished for as great a kid as Jackson, and yet somehow he ended up as mine. I've been so blessed!

Weekly Confessions

• I had to try 6 pairs of pants on Jackson this morning before we found one that fit him in the length. That boy of mine is growing like a weed! If he keeps this up we'll be broke before Christmas just trying to keep pants on him!
  
  
• I've been milking this pregnancy all I can. I think I've only done dishes twice in 2 weeks. Lucky for me, I have a great husband who lets me get away with stuff like that!
  
  
• Thanks to the wonderful world of netflix, I've introduced Jackson to Inspector Gadget cartoons. I feel like a better person now.
  
  
• I've been obsessed with watching reruns of Golden Girls. That has got to be one of the best sitcoms ever written. Well, that and Friends. It doesn't matter how many times I have seen an episode, if I come across either show on TV, I'm hooked.
  
  
• Jackson's class has a behavior "stop light" that shows how your child acted during the day. I got to school the other day and his teacher said, "Jackson got put on red today." It turned out that my precious, delightful, sweet child pulled his friend Charlie's pants down in front of the class. My dear friends, he's only 4. Imagine what he's going to be up to when he's 14.

Have a great weekend!

8 Weeks

How Far Along: 8 weeks

Size of baby: just over 1/2 inch. The baby is the size of a raspberry.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: –1lb.

Maternity Clothes: Not yet, but at times my jeans are getting a little bit tight! I may be close to resorting to a rubber band soon.

Gender: No clue!

Movement: Not yet.

Sleep: I’m so tired, but when it’s actually time to go to sleep I can’t. Then I end up waking up at like 5:00 in the morning and absolutely can’t fall back asleep which is so frustrating!

Symptoms: Nothing really this week unless you count being VERY hormonal and irritable.

Cravings: Pineapple and apples! I’ve been like a mad woman with eating pineapple this week. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but if you could be a pineapple cannibal, that’s what I would be. I’ve eaten 2 fresh pineapples so far this week, to the point that I’m inhaling the pineapple, gnawing at the meat with juice dripping down my chin. It’s downright shameful, and quite honestly I think it scares Jeremy!

What I Miss: Regular sleep patterns.

Best Moment this week: Getting to see the baby again with my second ultrasound. I’m having some progesterone issues just like I did with Jackson, so until everything evens out at 12 weeks I’ll probably have several more ultrasounds just to make sure things are still going well. I think with Jackson I ended up having 14 ultrasounds total, which was a great sneak peek at how much he was changing. I don’t know if I’ll have that many this time, but I do love every little peek we get! I know I’ll have one more this Monday, but I’m not sure what happens after that

What I am looking forward to: Finding out if we are having a boy or a girl. Only 10 more weeks!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I had every intention of showing off the cutest Ninja Turtle that ever was, but unfortunately my camera cord has gone on sabbatical. One would think that the camera cord would be easy enough to find, but they would be wrong. As I was flipping through my pictures on the computer, I realized that due to my 2 recent hospital stays, I never got to share some of our October pics. So here you go!

Jackson’s class took a fieldtrip to the Pumpkin Patch and we had such a good time.

Jackson running with Charlie (he insisted on wearing his hood, even though it was too small!)

Jackson’s class

Isn’t he the cutest thing ever!!!

The day after Jackson’s field trip we packed up and went to Atlanta for the day with my Mom to go to the Georgia Aquarium. It was Jackson’s second visit, and once again he wasn’t disappointed. We had such a good time, and we were so glad that Nana could go with us!

I think that was the biggest fish I’ve ever seen!

Jackson LOVED the scuba divers!

Under a whale shark

Then, the day after our trip to the aquarium, we went to another Pumpkin Patch after church with my parents, Kellyn, Jason and Luke. We had a blast just like we always do. I just realized that I don’t have any pictures of Mom and Dad from that day, but I promise they were there!

Luke’s first trip to the pumpkin patch!

Jackson and Luke

Next year we’ll have 2 kiddo’s!!!

And the day after these pictures were taken I was put into the hospital for the first time. I don’t have any pictures of that!

Have a great day!

Get Out The Vote

If you have been reading me for any amount of time then you probably know that politically I’m a die-hard conservative, and I freely admit that I’m obsessed with Rush LImbaugh and Sean Hannity. I think our government has gotten way too big, and it’s time we change things. I’ve tried lately to stay off my bandwagon, but it’s been hard. There is absolutely nothing that I support that this administration has done. I’ve realized that on the political spectrum I lean so far to the right that I might as well be laying down.

So today, I’m excited! It’s Mid-Term Election Day!!!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

Here’s what I’m hoping for today:

• Republicans/Conservatives take over the House of Representatives, including in my own district which would make me very happy .
• Nancy Pelosi loses her job and that evil smirk of hers is wiped off of her face. That would make me very, very happy!
• Republicans/Conservatives take over the Senate, and that my Senator keeps his job.
• Harry Reid loses his job and has to return to Nevada where the unemployment rate will be 1 higher!
• President Obama will be in tears by the end of the day because he knows his agenda will be done!

So the way I see it is that today is just the beginning of the end of the Obama era, and I’m so excited over the possibility of what could happen politically today. Please, whatever you do, GET OUT THE VOTE!!! Our future is riding on your ballot!

I've Got Nothing

Between trick-or-treating 4 times over the course of 2 days with the cutest Ninja Turtle you've ever seen, eating 2 bags of popcorn, 2 hotdogs, boiled peanuts, and a cup of hot chocolate at various church events around our area, and attending a bridal shower Sunday afternoon, I'm worn out!

I'll post pictures of everything Tuesday, but for now, I'm heading to bed. I'll catch up with you later!