Playing Catch Up

I know we're on to the Christmas season already, but I still haven't shared my Thanksgiving pictures with you!!! We had a great time with my family in San Antonio. My Grandma even came in from Virginia to be with us!



Here is the playground thing that my bro fell off (the red roof!!!)

While we now know he has a fractured sinus (who knew you could even do that??) we are thanking God that he didn't hurt himself worse.


Two turkeys... the one on the left weighed more!

Charlie made some delicious trail mix to snack on.

Playing at the park!

Pretending to slide

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thankful Thursdays

A handful of the things I am thankful for tonight...

• all of your sweet encouraging comments on my last post- THANK YOU!! It helps to know there are others out there that have gone through the same thing when you're waking up for the third or fourth time at about 4 am and this is night seventeen of no sleep (or something like that!)


• my dear mother in law that came over to spend the day with me so I could take a nap and get a few things done around the house... and for doing the dishes- thank you!!!


• my amazing mom who knew just what I needed and even though she wasn't able to do it herself (because of living too far away and that darn job she needs to retire from!!!), is sending over the Maid Brigade tomorrow to do it for her.


• my wonderful husband that took care of [still sick] Charlie for me this evening so I could play Pokeeno for a little girls' night out! Always does the trick for a tired momma.


• the fantastic nurse at our pediatrician's office who I also know from church who gave me her cell phone # that I called three times today to ask specific questions about which vick's vapo rub, where to put it, and side effects of this antibiotic.


• the hope that I will sleep through the night again...one day.

Good night...

We're at it again...

... listening to the Christmas music channel! After all your comments on the other post, I had the courage to go for it! I mean, come on, its the most wonderful time of the year! Why not start it a little early? And Robin, I am jealous of your Christmas decorating... I told Paul about Matt telling you to decorate and he literally said "I don't care." What a scrooge... :)

Thankful Thursdays

Just a small number of the things I am thankful for right now...

The beautiful healthy safe happy boy bouncing in his jump-a-roo right next to me

The warm, safe, and dry home I live in

The husband I love that will soon walk in the door to have lunch with his little family

The parents that raised me to know Christ and to know love that we will be with in two weeks

The teenager that was once the annoying little bro that has turned into the funny, fun, cool, talented brother and friend.

The parents that raised Paul in a Christian home and taught him how to be a husband and father

The grandparents and aunt and uncles that Charlie has that I love so much and I know love him so much

The church we have grown to love and that feels like family

The friends that I know we will have forever

The King of Kings that became a man, the lowest of men, that we might know Him, follow Him, and be with Him forever- that He would draw me, shameful sinner that I am, into relationship with Him.

What are you thankful for today?

Confession...

Charlie and I are listening to Christmas music today... I just can't help myself!

Its stormy outside, so I don't really want to go out. He's playing, I'm doing some cleaning. It just seemed right! :) I've got the "Sounds of the Seasons" tv station on... I just went to it thinking, hmm I wonder if they have any Thanksgiving music... and then got hooked on the Christmas music! But, man, they must save the good stuff for the true holiday season, because so far I've heard Bette Midler's Christmas version of 'From a Distance', Mary Chapin Carpenter's 'Christmas in the City', and now its Kidz Bop's version of 'All I Want for Christmas is You'... Looks like I'll have to wait a few more weeks for Bing and Rosemary or Manheim Steamroller! Oooh here we go, Barbara Mandrell's 'I'll be Home for Christmas.' Come on, admit it, you can't wait either!!!

Where I've Been/Halloween Costumes Part Two

After a fun weekend in San Antonio, we all came back sick. Paul's started out as allergies and Charlie and I had sniffles and stuffy noses. Charlie had his six month appointment Monday where it appeared he had the beginnings of an ear infection... plus shots, which equals fever for him. Meanwhile, my sniffles and stuffines have turned into a full blown cold and Paul woke up this morning thinking his is taking a turn for the worse too. So, yay, fun! My house is covered in boxes of Kleenex and crumpled up ones over flowing the trashcans (and the coffee table and bedside tables)... yikes.

Here's a picture with his poor little shot fever and stuffy nose

And in other news... our Halloween costumes are coming along well!!

Move over Leanne, I've got my Simplicity Beginner's Choice Level Two pattern from 1981 and I'm on a roll.

Quote from the beginning of the instructions:

"Smart you, you're about to sew something wonderful! Something that will fit better, look better, and be of better quality than things you buy. But, more importantly sewing will give you hours of pleasure and satisfaction. "

Umm, did that say hours?? Uh-oh, what did I get myself into!!!???

And the Winner is...

Lacey said...
Is it a hot dog stand?? I saw last night that in this months Parents magazine and I thought, maybe she read this and is using this??? So I got on to see your paper and noticed the letters could be that. So, that is my guess. Charlie a hotdog and you and your husband the hotdog vendors??
October 3, 2008 7:45 AM

Yes Lacey, you got it!!!! I cannot believe anyone guessed it. Here is a very bad picture of the picture in the magazine.

And a picture of the beginnings of our costume...

Halloween Costume

Ever since Halloween last year when I was pregnant, I've been trying to come up with a fun and easy costume idea that the three of us could do together for this year... after months and months of searching online, searching magazines, and wracking my brain (okay, so maybe I didn't work that hard for it...) I have finally found our costumes!!! It will be super easy and pretty cheap to concoct, but may take some time, so I'm already getting started...

Here's a glimpse of the beginnings of our costumes...

Any guesses??

*if you already know because we told you, please don't give it away just yet!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Yes, its a parade. Family tradition! :)

Charlie's holding the flag! So patriotic.
My mom, brother, and us on the fourth of July
Sleeping through the fireworks

Happy Father's Day!

To my dad, my father-in-law, and my husband- Happy Father's Day!!! Thank you for being the amazing and God-following Dad's that you are!!!! I love you!

Hodge-Podge Post

Okay so I've been a bit of a slacker-blogger lately... and I am going to blame it on the fact that I have a new baby and am still not getting enough sleep! But I wanted to catch all my blog friends up on what's been happening lately so this will be a hodge-podge post of all the blog posts I wanted to do over the last few days...

One month old!
Charlie turned one month on May 9th! I can't even believe how big he's gotten...

• We had him weighed and he's 10.5 pounds already!


• He's already wearing size 1 diapers and has pretty much grown out of all the little newborn outfits and is fitting into most 0-3 month stuff.


• He's also losing his hair in the front. Every day when I look at him it seems like there's a little less hair on his forehead. Poor baby... its still so long and thick in the back, Paul says he's getting a "skullet."


• He has just started tracking people with his eyes- turning his head to look at Paul and following him with his eyes as he walks to the other side of the room! He also looked at his mobile in his crib for the first time today! He actually noticed the little elephants turning above him!


• He's starting to make these precious little "big boy noises" as we call them- little coos and ahhs and goos! Along with all the other newborn grunting that never seems to end-which is the reason that I'm planning for tonight to be his first night in his crib (he's been sleeping in the pack 'n play in our room, but the grunting keeps me awake!)

I can't believe how fast he's growing and as tired as I am, I want to cherish every moment of this newborn time.

Losing my brain!
I've heard that brain cells are lost in pregnancy and childbirth and now I am experiencing first hand that this is the truth. And it is compounded by the lack of sleep in the first few months leading to a complete loss of brain function at this time. The other day I completely forgot sweet Ashley was bringing us dinner and left the house only to have her arrive and have to leave it on our porch! That same day, I forgot a friend was coming over to see Charlie (within 5 minutes after she called to tell me) and put him down for a nap just before she arrived. Also that same day, when leaving the hospital after weighing Charlie, I walked up to the completely wrong car and tried to open it and was appalled by a huge scratch on the side of it that I had never seen! Well I had never seen it because it was not my car. Do the brain cells ever return???

Mother's Day/Baby Dedication
Today is my first Mother's Day and it has been so fantastic. My parents and brother came into town for the weekend and we also dedicated Charlie to the Lord at church today. It was his first time at church and he slept through the whole service! Yes!! I had everything perfectly timed as to when I was feeding him so he would hopefully be content during the dedication and was he ever! Sleeping so peacefully in my arms! We then had lunch with my family and Paul's parents. It was a great day.
In case you don't know... our baby dedication is our way of presenting Charlie to the church and to the Lord. Its a way of saying that we want to raise him to know the Lord and pray that one day he would know salvation through Christ. We prayed for him and the other babies being dedicated as a church and the church prayed for us as parents. It was a really special day!

All ready for church! All I can think is... Hurry up and get him in there while he's happy and before he spits up all over his outfit!

Isaiah 30:21

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying 'this is the way; walk in it.'"

Palm Sunday

I mentioned before that Easter is probably my favorite holiday. Well, today is Palm Sunday. I remember loving this day as a kid because all the kids in the Protestant army chapel we went to got real palm leaves to wave pretty much during the whole service. Now I love it in a different way, for a different reason...its the beginning of the Passion week, Christ entering Jerusalem triumphantly. Everyone cheering. But He knew why He was there and that this was another step in His obedience that would lead to death, a horrible death on a cross. The onlookers cheered and worshipped, but a week later they would be urging that death.

"For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah 53:2-6

Thank you, Lord.