Owl

We got Caroline some owl pajamas for Christmas and have been working on getting her to say "owl" and "whoo."  She can say it a little clearer than this video but she is still pretty cute. 

Our sweet girl has been taking time with her words.  Last time we went to the doctor they asked if she could say at least 15 words and I'm not even sure she was saying one at that point!  She's working on it though.  She's got hi, mama, dada, bye, down, and dog pretty good.  We're working on some more!

Snow

The obligatory snow post!  Georgia doesn't get snow often and especially this much!  I'm not sure of the official measurement but I think we had about 5/6 inches.  Crazy! 

Caroline and I woke up early and waved to daddy as he headed out in the snow!

Our sweet neighbors walking down the street, arm in arm!

I love these little overalls but I never put her in the them because they have a fleece lining and it's rarely cold enough for them!

Caroline is a funny little girl. I'm still learning about her personality. She is very cautious about new things but most of the time she will warm up the situation.  This is her second snow this year and she was more comfortable this time. She was fascinated by the crunch of the snow under her feet at first.

Poor girl had to wear socks as gloves.

The socks seemed to work pretty well because she wanted to hold snow balls.

She just walked and carried snow balls in her hands for much of the time outside.  She treated them like little babies.  She was so cautious with them! 

Sometimes I can't help but giggle at her little age.  It's funny when she finds herself in a quandary and can't get out of it.  She was definitely stuck in this position until I came to rescue her!

We had a good time playing in the snow today and are thankful for that Mark is home safely with us tonight.  I hope that the snow/ice will not stay around for too long! 

She was RIGHT - I was WRONG!

What a day!  Overnight, about 4-5" of snow fell all over Atlanta.  Big deal for the Big Peach.  I was supposed to take off at 7:30 this morning but realized that Delta cancelled that flight and rebooked me for Tuesday morning.  Maybe they knew something I didn't.  It gave me an option of booking a later flight this morning leaving Atlanta at 10:55am and connecting through Detroit.  I booked it!  Nicole told me time and again that I shouldn't go and that it would be a very dangerous drive and that the flight wouldn't go and that I wasn't being silly.  She was right.

The roads were one big sheet of smashed snow.  Not exactly icy, but not anything like I thought they'd be.  When I got to the airport and trudged my way inside, things looked like 3am on a Monday night and not 9am on a Monday morning.  TSA was only open on two lanes and it was plenty.  People weren't going anywhere.  To make a long story shorter, my flight was delayed while we waited for three more flight attendants.  Then we boarded and waited for permission to leave the gate.  That took an hour.  Then we taxied out and waited for a spot to open at the deicing pag (our plane was in Atlanta overnight and had a good three inches of snow ALL over it).  We waited for about an hour and a half.  Then we started deicing.

It took a team of five or six trucks a good hour or so to get close to the wing where I was.  They had to blast off the snow.  Then they all quit and pulled over to get more de-ice fluid, or so we thought.  Then the captain came on to say that because the flight had been out of the gate for about three hours, and hadn't taken off, it had to return to the gate or face steep penalties.  So the flight, that was now about five hours late, was cancelled.  Great.  Nicole was right.

I made the long, treacherous drive home soaked in humility and accented with snow.  I've cancelled my trip to Baltimore.  I won't be able to get out tomorrow either.  And I'll listen better next time, I promise.

Old news....

but still oh so exciting...we are having another baby!  Of course, everyone who reads this blog already new of the good news.  Mark and I told family and friends weeks ago but I just have yet to make it "official" on the blog.  We've been busy with the holidays and then things slowed down a lot and I have just been too lazy to write anything.

The good news is that after Christmas we went to the doctor for a check up.  I was 10 weeks along at that point.  The doctor tried to listen for the heart beat but couldn't hear it quite yet with the little machine they normally use so he sent us for a sonogram!  We were thrilled to say the least!  I thought the little babe was still a bean but nope there was a little head, arms and legs.  Mark said, "You must not have been reading your pregnancy books!"  Sad but true.  The heart beat was also 175.  I have told a few folks but at the beginning of the pregnancy I felt a little more worried this time than I was with Caroline.  When I was pregnant with Caroline there was just lots of excitement and "baby" was all I could think.  Now that I know and understand the depth of love that I have for Caroline, the feelings are much different.  I understand what a miracle a baby really is and all of the things that could go wrong or right.  Thankfully, the feelings of worry have disappeared.  The good news is that we seem to be pregnant with a healthy little baby.

The bad news is that I have been feeling very yucky, almost all the time but especially at night.  I was not sick at all with Caroline.  Well, only twice after eating a banana and the night time was a little bit harder with her too.  However, my body is just having a hard time with this little one.  I have been sick and gagging and nauseous and tired and weak and just about all of it.  One silly example for those that know me well...today was chilly but sunny outside.  We had the opportunity to walk up the street and get our veggie basket from our neighbor.  I turned down a walk outside because I was not feeling well.  That NEVER happens!  I LOVE to be outside anytime the sun is out!  I really do hate to complain because I hear this is normal but since I didn't experience it with Caroline I was just caught off guard. 

Mark has been a saint through it all.  I know people talk about their husbands being great all the time and I'm not saying Mark is better.  I'm just saying, that I'm not just saying it to say it.  He really has been amazing.  He has done and is still doing almost everything for me at home.  I try to cook occassionally because it makes me feel like I'm doing my wifely/motherly duty but other than that Mark has been doing it all.  He cleans, washes dishes, does laundry, bathes Caroline, puts her to bed, everything!  He then cares for me by getting me food, medicine, rubbing my back, getting me drinks, etc.  He does all the hard work and then lets me "help out."  For example, in the mornings he gets Caroline up, changes her diaper and brings her to me with a book so that I can sit in bed with her and read while I'm still waking up.   It's really ridiculous and wonderful at the same time.  I really don't know how I would do all of this by myself.  He's just great.

All of this to say, we are very excited about adding another little one to our family!  Through all of the yuck it's been wonderful to see Mark being such a sweet dad and husband.  Caroline is still a little dream girl, although she has been working on our patience a little.  :-)  I'm sure the next will be a blessing too!

One more thought...Mark has suggested that we not find out the sex.  I'm not against the idea, in the past I just never thought I would be able to do it.  Any thoughts?

Here's to the end of the first trimester...only a week or so left!

Christmas!

We spent Christmas in Augusta this year.  For the past couple of years, we keep saying that Christmas is eventually going to end up in our home with our little family but I still just love going "home" to Augusta and thankfully the girls are still young enough not to care.  Mom and Vern and the greatest hosts - making sure that we are all comfortable, happy and well fed!  Mom cooked and cooked and cooked and then served everything on her beautiful Willow House stuff.  I feel like I live in a magazine when we go home!  We really didn't do much while we were home.  There was a lot of relaxing and playing with the girls.  Here are some pictures to document our time...

I promise I wasn't reading the book upside down.  Mark thought it would be funny for the picture.  : )

One of the traditions that I have started for our family is new pjs on Christmas eve.  This year I was in a bit of a rush but I found Caroline and myself matching pj's and I couldn't resist!

The pj's didn't last through the night though and Caroline ended up matching Grinny in polka dots on Christmas morning!

The girls got all kinds of fun toys for Christmas!  The "tricycle's" were a favorite.  Of course, Kelsey is the sweet dare devil!

Then there is just sweet.

Caroline spent some time pushing Kelsey around on the tricycle...

and in the second favorite Christmas present...the baby doll stroller.

After hearing reports and seeing pictures of beautiful snow in Atlanta, we finally got some in Augusta too.

Vern, got lots of camera goodies for Christmas and we tried taking a girls picture.  Unfortunately, we needed a bigger back drop and to work on the shadows a bit.  The one below is still my favorite.  Everyone's got a smile!

We had a wonderful time in Augusta celebrating Christmas!  Thank you to Mom and Vern for hosting all of us!  The past couple of days at home have been great too!  I'm especially thankful for some quiet time with not much work for Mark and me both!  Here's to preparing for a new year and lots of changes in our family!

Pure Joy

In the video below you will see Caroline's favorite Christmas activity.  Multiply this video times a million and you will see what we have been up to our at our home.

Shouldn't we all be this excited to celebrate the baby in the manger?

Celebrating Jesus

We've been a bit busy around here...tis the season!  We've been working, traveling, partying, cooking, playing and much more.  The blog hasn't been updated for awhile so I thought I would share a few pictures that show how we have been celebrating Christmas this year.

Our Sunday School class had a great Christmas party!  Lindsay and Brad were gracious hosts and we had a sweet time together.  I'm so thankful for this group of friends!

They are pretty good at bringing a smile to our faces!

Sarah and Reagan invited us to a Christmas festival at a church down the road.  I love our church but I have to say it's really fun to church hop during the festival season!  :-)  There were free hot dogs/hamburgers, hot chocolate, smores, face painting, animals, Santa Claus and much more.  We had a good time wandering through all of the fun.

As you can see Caroline still gets really excited about those animals.  :-/

Recently, Caroline's favorite spot has become her daddy's lap.  She snuggles right up with him and reads and talks.  She goes in to visit him while he's working and just sits in his lap while he types emails.  She is definitely a daddy's girl!

Last night we attended the prime rib dinner at church.  After hosting the homeless for a few days, it was quite a change of scenery at the church.  The fellowship hall was packed and everyone was enjoying fellowship and good food.  While the festivities were wonderful, it was hard not to think of the folks that had been eating a warm meal there the night before who were now out in the sleeting rain. 

After dinner we visited the live nativity in the sanctuary.  I really enjoyed being able to sit and reflect for a few moments on the birth of Jesus. 

Tonight Caroline helped to make her first batch of sugar cookies!  We are planning on taking a few to her teacher at school tomorrow. 

I am thankful for the celebrating that we have done so far this season and look forward to some more sweet times together as a family as we reflect on the gift of God's son!