Santa's workshop

My Dad and I were like Santa's elves yesterday while we worked in the barn on Chris's Christmas present. I decided to make his present this year, and I'm really excited about it! It's turning out so nice. We planed the wood, designed it, cut it and today I'm headed back to help finish it up. It's so much fun seeing it all come together. 

Here we are headed out with our masks to cut the wood. I took a few more pictures yesterday but they'll have to wait so I don't give away too much to the hubby. Hopefully he likes the finished product, and it's nice to spend time with my Dad too! We make a good team :-D

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Waiting for Santa

My parents took this picture yesterday of Alex and I thought it was really cute. He's camping out waiting to spot Santa.

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Alex's room

I've finally gotten back to working on Alex's room. It's only taken me three months! I  finally hung a few things and put curtains up and a border. 

I feel like it's finally coming together. 

It's funny, a lot of this I've had for quite sometime. My dad and I worked on his name back before I even went back to work!

It really feels good to get it done though. Last night when I woke up around midnight to feed Alex, I ran into his room and it actually surprised me that it looked different. 

Now I just need to work on the rest of my house. I've only been living there two and a half years. I've got some time.

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no poopy day here

Yesterday Alex and I got to spend the entire day together. It was so nice to look over and see his little face while I did some work at home. He talked to me and even came with me to work for a few hours while I did a few things there.

The ladies loved him and how could you not? He can brighten any day!

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WHOA

Alex took a spin in his cousin Nathan's exersaucer over the weekend while I cleaned up the kitchen. He's a little too small to reach out and touch anything yet, but he just thought it was super cool to be able to see everything.

He loved being able to watch me run around the kitchen and he told me one minute longer in his swing and he was going to up-chuck.

He really loved moving his little tooties under him too.

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Hanging out with the ladies

Alex went to his first baking exchange Saturday.

He asked me, are you sure I can't go to work with Daddy? But once he got there though he realized how much fun it is to hang out with the girls. Not only are we just a lot of fun, you get a lot of attention from everyone too. 

He got to hang out with his cousin Samantha, until he drooled a little and she said "Eewww he spits!" 

From there he sat with his great-grandma Mary, since she didn't mind if he spits. He thought she was pretty cool.

Then after a while, in true man form, the little guy decided he would just sit and wait for all the baking merriment to be over. All in all, a good day. Plus he thought grossing out a cousin wasn't too bad either. He told me on the way home he might come back with me next year :)

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Ouchie

Yesterday was Alex's first round of immunizations, and probably the first time he's really cried hard.

Broke. My. Heart.

Before the immunizing commenced, to show Alex that shots aren't that bad, I got the H1N1 and the flu shot.

He wasn't impressed.

What he really wanted to say was, "That's great Mom, but try getting three shots in the fatty part of your legs."

When we got home Chris snuggled with him and Alex felt better :) His ouchies were nothing a little snuggling couldn't fix, and maybe a little bit of infant Tylenol too. 

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Alex talking to Mommy :)

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Three little stockings

Yesterday I worked on decorating the house a little bit. Chris was out hunting and I brought some decorations up from the basement while Alex supervised.

There's something so magical about Christmas when there's a baby around. Even decorating gave a whole new meaning this year. I really loved hanging that third stocking on the fireplace! It's a time to bring out old traditions and to make new. 

I'm looking forward to going out and getting a real Christmas tree as a family, and handmade ornaments from Alex, and see his face light up on Christmas day. 

There's so many things to look forward to!

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Thankful for family

I'm thankful to spend Thanksgiving with our family! It was fun having the boys together and we had a fantastic meal yesterday thanks to the always amazing chefs, Joan and Mike. After the dinner we all gathered around for a family photo. It's always fun getting everyone together for a picture.

First it starts off with getting everyone rounded up. Here we have the kids and their kids. I think I'm smelling Alex's head for some reason. I  guess I can't get enough of that new baby smell.

Then, once everyone is situated, Chris sets the camera on a timer and runs in place... This normally works, unless the camera isn't buckled down correctly. Then you get a nice shot of the floor.

After all the bugs are worked out, we get our great Thanksgiving family shot :-D I love you guys! Another wonderful Thanksgiving with the fam. A day of good food and great company!

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Countown to Christmas decorating

The countown to Christmas decorating has begun! I'm slowly easing into decorating this year for Chris, who believes you don't think about Christmas until Thanksgiving is out of the way. Don't even think about putting lights up outside while it's warm, oh no. Although, I've got to admit, the house I saw the other day that could have landed an airplane with Santa in a hot air balloon on it's roof was a little much.

So here is my new project. I want to decorate the fireplace with something a little different this year. I've already put in place this very heavy, metal dohicky. (which I used for a while as a headboard) But this year, my plan is to attach a wreath to it and decorate the mantle with greenery.

I just have to find a new home for our wedding picture, but that will be a fun project too. I want to make a silhouettes of Chris, Alex and I and frame them to go near that picture. Anyway, I'm going a little off-track.

Here are a couple inspiration pictures that are a little over the top, but you can kind of get my idea.

So we'll see how it turns out, I'm hoping this weekend I can have a little fun with it all! Until then have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Watching eye lashes grow

There's nothing more fun than staring at your baby all day, just watching their eye lashes grow. 

     

Mother, oh Mother, 
come shake out your cloth, 
Empty the dustpan, 
poison the moth, 
hang out the washing 
and butter the bread, 
sew on a button and make up a bed. 
Where is the mother whose house 
is so shocking? 
She's up in the nursery, 
blissfully rocking. 
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little 
Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo). 
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due 
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo). 
The shopping's not done 
and there's nothing for stew 
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo 
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo. 
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue? 
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo). 
The cleaning and scrubbing 
will wait till tomorrow, 
for Children grow up, 
as I've learned to my sorrow. 
So quiet down, cobwebs. 
Dust go to sleep. 
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep......

Tomorrow after work I'm watching the hair on his head. It should be a great day.

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Helloo blog world!

Alex says good morning everyone! He sends his love from his boppy, in his stylish little whale sleeper. He was excited to go hang out with his grandparents! Somebody's got to keep them in line you know?

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A day of firsts

Chris and I woke up Saturday morning excited to take Alex around for his first Halloween. We were going to make stops to our families houses and show off our little pumpkin. It wasn't until we tried to zip up our little pumpkin we realized how quickly babies really do grow.

Alex decided to get a growth spurt since we tried his costume on two weeks ago. 

We couldn't even get him zipped! He wasn't too happy. So we put him in his Halloween shirt given to us by our neighbors Brian and Ann and his pumpkin hat and socks given to us by my mom and dad and we had ourselves a Halloween baby!

Alex really enjoyed his day out!

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Our little pumpkin

Wow have the weeks flown by! Our little pumpkin will be seven weeks old tomorrow! And this weekend he will be dressing up in style and will be matching his cousin Nathan! Stay tuned for more pics...

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Happy one week!

Happy week birthday to baby Alex!

A few things we've learned during our first week as new parents:

1. Always be sure you have the new diaper ready and waiting.

2. Even when you think they're done with their business, they can surprise you.

3. You can never get too much sleep.

4. Be prepared to hover above his crib at all times of the night, even when you know you should be sleeping.

5. You never knew you could love something so much that you've only known for a week!

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Look who has arrived!

On September 11, at 3:28 in the morning, we welcomed a new addition our family! Alexander James, weighing in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 19 inches long made his way into the world! 

We brought him home on Sunday and have loved every minute that we've spent with him. Today we gave him his first bath and we just can't help but stare at him. He is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and I can't believe that something so precious could be ours.

We'll keep everyone up to date on all his little fun adventures!

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Watch out blog world!

We're now hooked up onto the internet at home! This way I will be able to keep everyone updated on all our little baby joys and I can still help out at work as much as I can. We took this picture the other day with the photobooth on our computer. Love you Mom and Dad!

Right now we're on baby countdown! Our doctor has been worried about my blood pressure, and our appointment yesterday was his breaking point. My blood pressure was through the roof while I was sitting in the office, but as soon as I lay down it goes back to normal. So he has me on bed rest until Wednesday, when he might induce me! 

We're going to the hospital at 9 a.m. on 9-9-09, to see if my blood pressure is any better and if it's not, it sounds like we might be meeting our little guy!

I'll keep everyone posted!

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No Mr. Tree... you can't hide behind me

Chris thought it would be funny to take my picture in front of a gigantic tree while we were on a walk, which later I realized is pretty much only about twice as big as me. Give me a few more weeks and maybe the tree can hide behind me!

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Is that a watermelon under your shirt?

We're only three weeks away from our due date! We measured the belly over the weekend, and I'm up to 42 inches around! My biggest maternity shirts are starting to look small... I'm hoping our littly guy makes his debut soon or I'll have to go out and buy a new wardrobe. 

It's funny when you get this big around how tough it is to do some of the little things you took for granted. Like getting somewhere quickly, or putting on a pair of pants. I've almost knocked myself out a couple times trying to get a leg in.

So on that note, I would like to thank my mom for the fantastic job she did on my toenails :) She surprised me with toenail polish on Saturday and painted my little piggies :-D It really meant a lot to me since I don't see them very often anymore. So whenever I catch a glimpse of my toes I smile. Thanks mom!

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A work in progress...

Here's the start of our little nursery... We still need to do some decorating, but we've got a lot put away and organized.

We still need curtains and some artwork on the walls, but it's getting there. Slowly but surely :-D More pictures to come!

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Canning crazy!

Yesterday after work, Chris and I took a little drive down to his grandma's house to borrow a few of her canning jars. We've decided to hop on the canning bandwaggon and go canning crazy this fall. 

We want to can all sorts of things and pack it away for the winter. I'm really excited about it! My parent's neighbor Beverly gave us a canning book for our wedding last year and I've been thinking about it ever since. 

So we'll see how it goes! We've got the jars and now we just need some lids and rings and we'll be on our way. 

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A room arrange and an upset husband

I found out yesterday when you're 33 weeks along and you get it in your system to completely move around your bedroom furniture you will not get a happy husband when he gets home.

After our stellar doctors appointment yesterday I came home floating on a cloud with dreams of fitting our pack and play in our bedroom. I want to get it all set up for whenever our little guy makes his appearance.

The only problem was we have a gigantic bed and a long room.

Chris was off playing softball so I thought, what the hay, I'll just nudge a few things around and if it looks terrible I'll just nudge them back and no one will have to know.

Three hours later I had the whole room rearranged, the dresser moved out into the kitchen to get moved downstairs and an upset husband walking through the door. By the way, the mirror is going to go, it's just so darn heavy I thought I'd really get in trouble if I moved that.

He couldn't stay mad at me too long though, I think the rearrangment works great for us. Now we just need to move in the tall skinny dresser and we won't be going to the kitchen for our socks.

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Still cookin'

Here I am at 31 weeks, just enjoying the kicks and movement :) Chris and I went to our first Childbirth Education class Wednesday and it was a  lot of fun.

We got to take a tour of the birth center and peek into one of the rooms that we'll be eventually admitted into when the time is right. It was all very nice! As we came up the elevator onto the floor we saw our doctor, and I know it sounds silly but it was pretty neat to see him up there ready to deliver. 

It was also fun to talk to all the other pregnant women and listen to their stories. Our class is a two and a half hour class and it goes for six weeks. Everything seems like it's just around the corner now. We have 9 weeks to go, but I have a feeling it's going to fly by!

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Our baby and my big belly

Last Thursday Chris and I had our 3D ultrasound done, and wow was it amazing! They estimate our little guy weighs about 3 lbs, 6 oz., and it was so much fun to finally get a glimpse of the little guy who's been kicking at my belly for the last few months.

He slept most of the time, but for a while he was playing with his toes! 

Apparently, since he's been getting bigger by the day, so has my belly! I've kind of begun to get used to my big belly, as funny as might be, but yesterday I was reminded more than once about the watermelon of a belly I have.

Chris and I went to a local restaurant for breakfast yesterday morning, the waitress sat us down and then asked "So, do you know what you're having?"

Wouldn't that normally mean to eat? Thats what I thought anyway, so I answered "I haven't really decided..." When I looked at the faces of the waitress and Chris I realized that I had answered that question wrong. She was asking if we were having a boy or girl!

Then later on, I was shopping with my mom and a little girl came running over, stopped abruptly at my side and stared at my stomach. Once I looked down she ran back to her mom and whispered... "Does she have a baby in her belly?" and her mom smiled at her and said "yes, she has a baby in her belly." 

Then the little girl peaked back over at me and whispered back to her mom, "I think it's going to be a big baby!"

I thought I was going to be sick from laughing once my mom and I were out of the store.

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Spud and Ted's excellent adventures part one

I feel like I have two furry little children. One's name is Spud, and the other Theodore. It's Spud's dream come true, having another furry friend to play with! He just can't believe his good fortune. 

After Teddy arrived he kept looking for his little retired family. He would run to the back window, the front window and he even put himself up in his little crate for a while.

But by night time he was feeling good! Chris chased him up and down the hall at home and he "zinged," which the jack russell equivalent of a spastic marathon run. And when it was time for bed he hopped right onto this little red blanky his parents lovingly brought with him and went right to sleep.

It was a good start to our puppy watching week :-D

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A puppy sleepover

Spud is anxiously waiting for his little friend Teddy to come visit. My parents are heading down to Tennessee for my cousin's wedding and we are watching their jack russell terrier while they're gone.

Spud couldn't be more happy.

He LOVES when Teddy comes to visit! And everytime I ask him if he's excited about Teddy coming he spins in little circles and he runs to the door. It's seriously the cutest thing. 

So the next few days we will be documenting the adventures of Spud and Ted, it will be fun.

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