A Little Update Plus Decorating!

We've had an eventful couple of days around our house!  I took it easy over the weekend and let Jordan handle John Michael and do everything around the house.  I've been experiencing some abdominal muscle/ligament pain.  I rested my stomach muscles over the weekend and it got better but it came back on Monday night.

I headed to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and they basically said it's not going to get any better until I deliver.  It's really hard to force myself to realize I can't pick everything up and that I really do need to take it easy over these next month or two.  Luckily, my husband is wonderful and he has been taking care of so many things around the house at the end of the night. 

Surprisingly, I woke up this morning with NO pain at all.  I know if I push it or do too much it could flare up again, so I'm going to wear my maternity belt every single day, try not to do any housework, and hopefully I will be pain free through the rest of the pregnancy!  I was really down last night....of course as a mom I was wondering how am I going to take care of my family, my house, the laundry.  How am I going to make sure John Michael doesn't feel that I'm forgetting about him since I'm trying not to pick him up as much. 

We really prayed about it and we really feel God is just going to take care of us over these next few weeks until the delivery.  We have in-laws coming in this weekend and then my mom and brother are coming at the end of October.  I know it's going to help me so much to have family up to help us!  We've also had so many wonderful friends from church ask us over and over if we need anything and that feels so nice to know if we really need them, they're there.

Moving on!  I'm not doing too much in the way of decorating for fall.  I have a lot of Halloween things, but for now I'm just doing a few fall decorations around the house!

I have a glass jar that I filled with lemons for the summer, so I filled it with apples and different small gourds for fall.  It resides on the kitchen table!

Later, after I unpacked some boxes I found this little pumpkin wreath so I wrapped it around the glass jar and I think it looks pretty good!  John Michael is in the background eating his "crackah"!

And, is it crazy that it makes me insanely happy everytime I light my new fall candle?!  The best part is that I randomly found it at Wal-Mart and it was on Roll Back!  Whoo hoo!  It smells heavenly.

Next, I put a fall leaf swag on the fireplace mantle.

Looks so fall-ish!

I also decided instead of buy the $100 wreath that I fell in love with, I would just reuse my old wreath and stick in a few pieces that I already had and then added some pumpkins for fall!

Yeah, you can't see it from the street, but it's pretty cute!

Tomorrow is pumpkin patch day and I can't wait!  I know I'll have some super-cute pictures to share!

Go, Tractor, Go!

After Library reading day last week, I took John Michael up to our outdoor mall to get out of the house for a bit.  It seemed like it had been raining for two whole weeks, and even though I knew I was pushing my luck taking him two places in one morning before A: lunch and B: nap...I did it anyway.

I let him ride the little John Deere tractor at the food court!  It was so cute.  He had a really good time on it.

He was very serious about driving his tractor!  He probably would have sat in it for 10 whole minutes driving the steering wheel!  This boy loves wheels!

After we played with the tractor we headed outside into the sunshine and played in the playplace.  He likes to go in and out of the little fake tent.

It's so hard to get a good picture of him because he's on the move so much!

He thoroughly enjoyed the turtle too!

After we played outside I let him push the stroller all the way back to the car.  Another big mistake....after such a long morning AND using all his might to push the stroller, the child passed out.  I mean he was OUT and he took his afternoon nap at lunchtime instead of later in the afternoon!

We had a fun morning and I was just happy it wasn't raining!

Verse O' the Day:

See to it that no one misses the grace of God.

Hebrews 12:15

Game ON!

This weekend is the big Alabama/Arkansas game!  I wish the game was going to be up here so that we could go!  I know John Michael would really enjoy seeing the football game live and in person!

John Michael is all ready for the game!  He's wearing his cute new Roll Tide shirt.  I thought he looked so precious in his big boy outfit!  We were actually on time to get to playgroup early today, so I took some pictures before we left.

When I asked John Michael who he thought would win the big game this weekend, he said:

Woo

Pig

Phooey!

Roll Tide, Y'all!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'm glad tomorrow is Friday!  I sure hope it's not going to rain all weekend, that would not be any fun for us.

An Office Party!

Last week our neighbors from Sunday, Jessica and Wayman, had a few of us over to watch the premiere of The Office.  We all brought a dessert and then watched the show.

Jordan thought it would be hilarious if we made a Jell-O mold of a calculator.  I guess you'd have to be a big fan of The Office to get that one.  It was more work that you would guess.  We looked around online for the best way to make it.  We made it the night before and spent a lot of time trying to get the calculator to submerge into the liquid.  We had to drill a bunch of holes in it to get it to sink!

It came out perfect!  We were so excited, maybe a little too excited...it's only Jell-o!

When we got there we realized we weren't the only ones who had the idea...

Robert and Lindsey had done a Jell-O mold with a stapler!  Ha!  Either way, JM and Braxton had a really good time playing around with all the trucks and all the adults had a good time talking!

We need to get JM his very own tiny chair!  He loved Braxton's!

I was going to post the recipe and pictures of the Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bars that I made...but they were very good and we (I) ate them all up!  I'll definitely make them again for something else.  It was a whole lotta cream cheese, but it was gooood!

Verse O' the Day:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

Happy Birthday, Meme!

Today is my mom's birthday!  She is known as Meme and she was recently here for a visit.  After John Michael got over being sick for the first few days of her trip, he was really happy she was here!  He hasn't learned to say Meme or Papa or anything like that yet, but I know he will soon! 

I know both grandmothers are sooo mad that they didn't choose the name Nana, because John Michael CAN say Nana!  Ha!

Facts about my mom!

She's a retired home-economics teacher...yep, you guessed it, she teaches manners, etiquette, parenting and cooking.

She's the mom of a special needs child, which means she has a special heart!

She loooooves Southern stuff.  I mean she loves it all: china patterns, flatware patterns, manners, no chipped nail polish, never going out without lipstick or earrings, making fried okra and the best cornbread ever.

My two brothers and I turned out pretty darn good, so I'm thinking Mom (oh yeah and Dad!) had a little something to do with that!

Although we've had our fair share of health crises in our family, God has never left us or abandoned us, ever.  Even with all the medical problems and dilemmas, you know your Mama is the one who holds the family together. 

A special wedding picture of us.

These are my all-time favorite pictures of Mom.  I surprised her last year for her birthday while they were up here visiting and took her to get her picture taken with John Michael.  She was so surprised and I know she loves those pictures!  The pictures turned out to be some of the best she's ever taken!  She and JM looked so precious together!

Here's John Michael and Mom last Christmas.  I can't believe how much he will have changed by this coming Christmas...plus we'll have one more to add to the bunch!

This is one of the best family shots that we have taken in a long time.  It was Mother's Day of this past year and everyone was visiting us to celebrate John Michael's birthday and then baby dedication at church!

Here's Mom on her last trip to visit us.  She got a lot of one-on-one time with John Michael for the first time!  He would go into her bedroom in the mornings and roll all around her bed and then watch cartoons and drink his milk.

Swingin with my Meme!

I know Mom is super excited about Baby #2 and Lord knows, she's praying for a girl!  I joke, but she's excited about the prospect of the 50/50 possibility she might get to go buy a whole bunch of pink frilly stuff.  If it's a boy, she'll be equally as excited to celebrate new life with us! 

The holidays are around right around the corner and I know everyone in our family is just waiting to celebrate with a new little addition to the family.  Family is so important, so go hug yours today!

Happy, Happy Birthday Mom!  Sorry we can't be there to celebrate with you!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Here are a few of our favorite things, as of late!

We now have John Michael's pumpkin shirt for Halloween!  A girl from Sunday School does these, along with monogramming.  I love this shirt so much!  His name is just so cute with the candy corns.  We also have a pumpkin shirt that Meme bought him, so he's going to be ready for October!

Here's our most favoritest books!  I cannot tell you how many times a day we read "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish".  He loves it. He calls it "shhhhh" when he sees it; his word for fish!

 He also loves his "I love you daddy" book!  He picks up the book and says "Dadin, Dadin, Dadin!"...don't ask me why he calls Jordan Dadin, he just does!

I'm so glad he has let us read to him these past few months!

One of our favorite afterwork activities with Dada is reading books.  I let Jordan read them at night after work because I have already read them about 2 dozen times that day!

Another favorite that JM has recently discovered is this old print from the office.  He discovered it when we started taking everything off the walls to get the nursery ready.  If you can't tell, it's a Gene Stallings print that has football players on it.

John Michael loves to sit in front of it and point at the football players and then do his throw the ball motion.

He seriously loves it and wants to pick it up and take it with him to go play!

What a little mess.  I really do think he loves football already!

And this is one of my favorite things! When I saw this picture I knew I had to get it on canvas and get it framed.  I love it.  He reminds me of the Gerber baby and I just always want to remember him looking so precious. 

I got a steal on this ready-made frame at Hobby Lobby.  It was already half-off and I talked them down even further because it has a scratched place and the only other one had a gash in it!  I was so proud of myself.  I think the frame looks great with it.  It's hanging on our bare entryway wall.  I'll eventually get some sort of little table to go in the entryway!

Alabama won, so it's a happy weekend around here for us!  Roll Tide!

Daddy's Helper

"When it's nice and warm outside, I like to play in the grass in my bare feet!  I love to sit in my little red car and pretend to drive it.  I also love my big, yellow Tonka truck.

That truck is pretty handy when I help Dada bring in the tomatoes from the garden.  I am such a big helper!  I can haul the tomatoes all the way from the garden to the house.

Dada loads up my truck and then we bring all the tomatoes to the back porch.  Oh yeah, I also have my trusty sidekick, Jackson, to help me with the harvest!

My new favorite thing to do is try and climb up on any chair possible.  I love to rock...kinda like my Uncle Ray, I guess!

Then, Dada tries to teach me how to throw a football!  I think it is so funny and I laugh every single time!

I sure do love me some football.  Mama and Dada think it's hilarious, although Mama sometimes says she thinks she'll be outnumbered in the sports department if this next baby is a boy!

And of course, my Mama just had to get a picture of my curly curls.  She says I won't have them forever, and then Dada asks when we can cut it...Mama usually replies, "over my dead body!"

Our Weekend!

Last week we met two sweet friends from Sunday School and met up at a local park!  The weather has been especially nice, so we had a great time!

Jordan even got to come by and see us for a little bit during his lunch!  That's always a plus to get to see him during the day!

As usual, on Saturday we went downtown to the Farmer's Market.  We don't have too many Saturdays left until it's over, so we're taking advantage of the last few that we have left.  Good bye Summer, Hello Fall!

Here's JM watching a little band that was set up around the square.  He's always interested in music!

We had to tickle his legs to get him to smile for this picture!  He got mistaken for a girl THREE times that morning.  Eh!  That hasn't happened in a while!

We had to splurge and get him a balloon elephant since it was gameday!  It's a very cute elephant!

We came home with 1 eggplant, of which I made eggplant parmasean tonight.  Jordan liked it but I'm not sure I loved it.  I've never made it homemade before.  I don't think I've ever made anything that Jordan would turn down.  Maybe he's just being nice....

After the Farmer's Market we went to the hospital to visit some friends who had a baby on Friday.  They're big Alabama fans like us, so I got a cute pair of baby booties with blue elephants on them!  Unfortunately, their baby had some breathing problems so he was in the NICU and we couldn't see him.  We just dropped by to lend some support and say hi!  I'm glad to report that the baby is doing better and should be going home in a few days!

Here's JM by the nursery window.  He was one of those little babies wrapped like a burrito in a bassinet over a year ago and I just can't believe that in a few months he'll be looking through that window wearing his Big Brother t-shirt and staring at his new baby brother or sister. 

How exciting and weird, at the same time!

At the hospital, they have this fun, interactive wall for kids to play with.  We let JM play with it for a few minutes and he really liked it.  Hopefully he'll play with it and be entertained while he's there visiting me in a few months!

Sunday was our day to help out in the nursery and wow, we were tired afterwards!  It's a lot of work, but fun.  It's neat to see JM playing with things and checking out different surroundings. 

It was so weird to see him sitting at a big boy table eating snack.  He's always in his high chair, so I thought that it was just too cute that he could sit in a tiny chair and eat his little snack! 

And here he is, munching on a Little Einsteins character while he patiently waits for me to fix lunch!  What a weekend, but it sure was fun...as usual!

Verse O' the Day:

Be still, and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10