Thanksgiving 2013

I was so thankful for Thanksgiving day.  It was the first time I had been anywhere expect the grocery store in a week, and Brant's first time to leave the house.  He does not like being cooped up at home either.  It was a different year for sure.  We are working on building up leave time since I wiped out all of mine for maternity leave with Brant, and will need that much again in such a short time.  All that to say we didn't go home. Luckily, our families still made it special.  Ike's mom, Ms. Susie's family lives about an hour away so we drove there Thanksgiving day to have lunch.  I could not taste a thing such a sad thing. ha.
Brant met his cousin, Kendal for the first time!  We have big plans for these two to be good friends!

These two are 3 months apart.

Brant loved Hanna.

Kendal and his sweet Mom.

The only picture of the three of us...the best we could do this year.

Then for the weekend my family came to our house.  My sister, cousin Ashley, and I ATTEMPTED to cook.  We did eat...but it was interesting getting there.  Apparently our oven does not work well.  It was still fun, and I am so glad I was able to see them all.

The only picture from the weekend.  Brant, Pawpaw, and Mimi.

I would say Brant's first thanksgiving was a great one filled with sweet family time!

9 months

I know all moms say this, but really how did 9 months go by so fast!  This past month has been a month of developments!

• Weight:  Still not sure but I would guess 20lbs at least!  
• Food:  You LOVE food!  You are not a fan of purees, but you do so good with food that we have not had to give you many.  You will eat the fruit purees, but prefer the real thing.  You have tried SO many new foods lately.  Some I am not sure are very age appropriate like banana nut muffins.  I walked into the kitchen and your daddy had shared his muffin with you.  No reaction so that is good.  You love green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, roast, crackers, pears, bananas, cranberry, peas.  Really the only things you have not liked is sweet peas and celery (not cooked, cooked is fine). 
• You are on the MOVE! You are crawling and pulling up on everything.  You will let go and stand for a few seconds.
• Your new found moving has made putting you to bed difficult.  The second we lay you down you jump up and pull up on the side of the bed.  Not sure what to do about this for now we have to pat your booty till you go to sleep.
• Crawling has made you more independent.  You are much more content to play by yourself on the floor with your toys.
• You are babbling more and louder now, but no words that we can pick out yet.  You get your point across usually though.
• You are getting 4 teeth on the top!!!  We can see them starting to peek through.
• My personal favorite as always is....You are the sweetest baby ever and shower us with lots of hugs and kisses. 

You spent some time at Nana and Granddaddy's (more on this to come) so she took your 9 month pictures for me.  You are Mr. Serious in this months pictures.

13 weeks. #2

I have no pictures for this post but here is our 13 week update for baby #2.
How far Along: 13 weeks
How big is baby: The baby is the size of a peach
Weight gain/loss: actually lost a few pounds somehow
Maternity Clothes: Yep.  I am wearing maternity jeans already.  I can still wear most of my tops but you can see the little bump already
Stretch Marks: No 
Sleep: Sleep is good.  I am so tired in the late afternoon/night.  I can barely make it to 8pm!
Diet: Salty food.  Sweets are not at all appealing to me, but I can't get enough chips and dip.
Gender: Don't know?? Can't wait!  We would love either really!  We both agree a boy would be nice since Baby and Brant will be so close in age, and we have EVERYTHING for a boy.  But then pressure is on for baby 3 to be a girl.  :)  
Movement: YES!  I didn't feel Brant for several more weeks, but I definitely feel it already.
The belly: Oh it is growing so much faster this time!
What I miss: Nothing much.  I forget I'm pregnant most of the time other than the tiredness at night.
Symptoms: Heartburn for sure!
What I'm looking forward to: Finding out the sex of the baby!
Best moment of the week: Feeling Baby moving!

Santa visit

I wanted to get a cute picture of these two boys while they were in their Christmas clothes...  I had all these big ideas about how cute they would be.  Well...they are both cute regardless of their cooperation.

We decided to go to Bass Pro to meet Santa.  I don't think we quite realized what the wait would be like.  We do like that they give you a time to come back.  You will still wait in line a while, but it was better than it could have been.  We met Ms. Clause while we waited.

We visited the fish tank.  Brant was just taking it all in. This was also his first of MANY trips to Bass Pro.

Then the big finale...Santa!

Brant did great waiting in the line for an hour.  He started to get really tired, but we made it and no major Santa drama this year.

Christmas 2013

Here is a little tour of our Christmas decorations this year!

I thought I had pictures of all the decorations but just realized I don't have any of outside or Brant's little tree.  Maybe I will add those later!

Surprise Blessing

So here is the background on our little surprise blessing.  Most of the people who read our blog know our fertility journey which I share  some of here.  There were many frustrating years and tears in that time, and I still ache for those in this phase of life.  It's hard and it hurts.  During those days we vowed to trust in the Lord and his timing and for us that meant not using birth control after we had our first child.  I am in no way saying that if someone uses birth control they are not trusting in the Lord's timing.  I am saying this was OUR conviction.  Plus we always said let's just have them back to back.  So after Brant was born I never went back on BC.  In my mind I just knew in 2 years or so we would start the process over again for baby number 2.  God had other plans and we are rejoicing in those.   

Ephesians 3:20  "Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."

And the rest of the story....
Saturday, October 26 we had friends at our house and were just finishing breakfast.  I was starting some taco soup for supper because we were all set head to the pumpkin patch with some other friends that afternoon.  I start opening the beans, and they smelled terrible to me.  I called Ike over to see if he thinks they are bad.  He knows immediately!  I have a terrible sense of smell so this tips him off.  He says you should take a test.  I was sort of thrown off, but I do and well it says pregnant.  I was in complete shock.  I've taken so many pregnancy test I just was not expecting it.  It took me a little time to really let it soak in, and I will admit I was am scared of having two babies basically.  However, I think it will be so great for the two of them to have each other, and I pray they will be the very best of friends.  We really could not be happier to be adding another sweet baby to our family. 

8 months old!

Our sweet little boy is 8 months old actually on November 22, I'm running late with post. 

• Weight:  Not really sure on this one.  I would guess 19 and some ounces.  You are wearing 9-12 month clothes.
• Food:  It is amazing how your appetite picked up over night!  You love to eat.  You have had a good bit of "big people" food lately.  Bananas are your favorite but you love all fruit.  We learned at thanksgiving you also LOVE macaroni and cheese. You have not rejected any "big people" food though.  You are however not eating many of the veggie purees anymore. 
• You love your sippy cup still, and you do have a favorite.  You can be particular.
• You can't talk of course but you are excellent at communicating.  You let us know when you like or do not like something. 
• You love to stand and walk.  You hate to sit or lay.  When we try to sit you on the floor you straighten out your little body and fuss, refusing to sit!  Very strong willed.  You can walk behind your little pushing toy and you have learned to move in the walker. 
• So since you hate to lay you have not even attempted crawling.  You get really upset if you end up on your belly. 
• I still say you are mr. personality!!  You LOVE people!  You are always smiling at everyone.  I have started picking you up to go with me to the grocery store because you are so good and you love looking at all the people and balloons.
• Sleep is going great.  You have been going down pretty easily lately.  We did do a little crying it out, and you still may fuss some but not long at all. 
• You have a tender heart, I can tell already.  You have a classmate that is adjusting to school and the other day you reached over and patted his leg.  I about died I was so proud of you.
• You love to give us kisses!  It my favorite of the milestones!  I love picking you up in the afternoons to be greeted with a kiss. 

Here's the 8 month photo attempt!

Unexpected time at home

More to come on the previous post.

Sickness has been running ramped in our house lately.  The Friday before the week of Thanksgiving I come in to work, and one of my co-workers tells me his son has RSV.  Well of course it had crossed my mind that this maybe what was wrong with Brant, but had dismissed it.  I did have this nagging feeling that he may need to go in to the doctor though.  So I called and they said bring him in.  Yes, yes indeed he did have RSV.  This meant we did not leave the house the whole weekend!  He was still a happy boy, but coughing a lot and congested.  Luckily he did not have it bad enough for breathing treatments although they gave him one in the doctor's office and he took it like a champ no fighting me at all.  Around Sunday I started feeling terrible too.  I made it to Tuesday and I was in the doctor's office.  They were not sure what it was but treated me for strep because it looked like strep although I tested negative for it.  Apparently pregnancy and strep is not good at all so they couldn't take chances.  So basically Brant and I hung out at home all week.  Praise the Lord Ike did not get sick!

Our little monkey   

We moved to the big bath tub recently and he loves it.  This is only time being on his stomach is acceptable.

Just a little morning hair.

These two are working on a friendship still.  We are getting there.

I love this.  His paci was under the table so he made it under to get it but could not figure out how to get back.  He was not happy, and I of course needed a picture before I could help.

This is his favorite thing in the entire world...standing.  He loves to pull up on anything and "walk".  He would walk around holding our fingers ALL day. 

I enjoyed the extra time at home with Brant.  This sweet boy is growing soo fast....

Surprise!!

Coming July 2014!  

Sneak peak

Here is our sneak peak from Ms. Vickie.  I highly recommend Vickie Ross in Florence, MS.  She is very patient and doesn't give up easily on getting a good shot!

Flu season.

A rare thing these days...A picture of the two of us.  I love this man more every day.

We had Christmas pictures made last week.  Which was super fun, but Brant was way too interested in the things around him rather than pictures.  He is such a curious boy these days.  All smiles on the way of course.

We just recently pulled out the pull up toys, and Brant LOVES these!!!  He's not crawling or looking interested in it all, but is very interested in standing up. 

Daddy is the pro at getting Brant to sleep at night.  I know we are going to have to work on the putting him in the bed to go to sleep thing again.  We had it down, and recently have been rocking or holding him more.  Oh well, he is only little once and is pretty easy to transition to his bed from our arms. 

Last week Ike was so sick.  Wednesday he went to the doctor and was told he had Bronchitis.  Friday he seemed to only be getting worse so he went back to the doctor.  Come to find out he had the FLU (yes, we all got flu shots).  So after work on Friday I came home to Ike throwing up everywhere.  It was all too much.  I got a wake up call on how much Ike helps me.   We definitely did not want Brant to get it so we made a decision to send him to my sister's house.  They met me in the middle to pick him up.  We know it was for the best, but we are missing him like crazy!!!  He will be home tomorrow afternoon and I CAN NOT wait!!!!  Ike started feeling much better so we were able to get all the inside Christmas decorating done which is great because it would have been tough with Brant.  It was also nice to have some us time.

Here are the pictures they have sent me....I think he is having the time of his life again.

 We are talking to uncle Jason about this...no no to video games!  :)

 Mimi and Papaw came to visit him

Then he went to there house for a while.  Mimi says watch out American Idol.

 Final stop is Nana and Granddaddy's house.  She will bring him home tomorrow.