Christmas 2012

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the excitement of getting a new ornament. I remember my mom buying us kids new ornaments each year, and I've loved continuing the tradition with my own little family.  

And here's a list of more traditions I hope to hold on to:

* Get a real tree

* Watch Catherine Hardwicke's 

The Nativity Story on Christmas Eve 

* Make Jesus a birthday cake

* Do some sort of service for another family on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day. 

While I really enjoyed this Christmas, I felt it could have been a little more spiritual. So my goal for next year and the years to follow is to give Christ a gift: the gift of serving others. I'm not sure how we'll do it yet, but I think it'll be a good lesson to teach my babies. And so fitting at such a special time of year. 

This year Santa got Annabelle a one-of-a-kind wooden kitchen. He slaved away on it, and I'm quite impressed with how it turned out. Him and I have very similar taste. :)

And it was so fun to see her face Christmas morning. 

And this year Henry got a little toy. And that cute candy bar. I had never seen one of those before, and I have no idea if they're even good. But I'm pretty sure he's gonna get one in his stocking. For the rest of his life :)

I think Santa knew his kiddos really well this year, cause Annabelle hasn't stopped playing with her kitchen since Christmas morning . She loves bringing us a cup of hot chocolate and a fork to stir it. 

And just this morning I asked for a quesadilla and an apple, and she came back saying: "No more apple. Taco?"

Close enough :)

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas as well.

Now onto 2013. 

I have a feeling it's gonna be great :)

Sweet Henry

I was 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant, but I felt like I was 2 weeks past due. 

I got my membranes stripped twice that week in hopes that the nurse would accidentally pop my water. When that didn't happen, I finally set an induction date. 

I chose December 6th. An even number. 

Lauren arrived late Tuesday night, just in time to get ready for the big day. We made our grocery list for the week and headed to Target Wednesday morning. I got all my last minute essentials, like a plethora of snacks for Annabelle. And a jar of nutella. For me. :)

Then standing in line I suddenly felt my heart speed up. I knew it was happening, but kept telling myself it wasn't. My water was trickling. Ahh. Not here, not in public. This is supposed to happen in the middle of the night in the comfort of your home.

I kept bracing myself for the big gush. What would I do? It's just water, I could probably still check out. I mean, I needed these groceries. 

Luckily Lauren had checked out in another lane and was done, so I handed her my wad of cash and quickly waddled to the restroom.

Nothing. No gush. False alarm, I guess.

Then I started cramping.

And in my head I knew I was in labor, but I kept telling myself I wasn't.

(Which is crazy, cause an hour before I was praying to be in labor!)

I was scared.

I casually texted Jake:

"Hey, so I'm kind of leaking a watery substance. But no worries. It's probably nothing. Keep you posted."

He immediately called me insisting I call a nurse. Turns out it wasn't just "nothing"...

He raced home, threw our bags in the car, and we headed to the hospital.

I wasn't in any crazy pain, I was just really scared. And not scared to give birth. Or to get a giant needle shoved into my spine.

I was scared to have a son.

I felt so unprepared and inadequate.

Tears streamed down my face the whole way to the hospital and I just kept praying that I would be a good mom for my boy.

Once I was all situated in the hospital bed, the nurse checked my cervix. I was dilated to a 4. (Did you know that's the size of a Ritz cracker? You're welcome!) :)
Jake gave me a sweet blessing, most of which I've forgotten now. But what I do remember is him blessing me with the comfort and knowledge  that I would be an adequate mother for this boy.

Shortly after that I got the epidural, during which Jake almost passed out. Haha. All of a sudden he was leaning over my bed and the nurse was rushing him over to the couch. His face had gone completely white, and if she hadn't grabbed him some soda he probably would've been a goner. Haha.

Oh, but getting that big needle in my spine was no big deal. ;)

I actually almost passed out like 15 minutes later from all the medicine in my body and the lack of food. I kept begging my nurse to let me at least chew on flavored ice, but she was kind of a beast about it. Luckily there was a shift change and my new favoritest of all time nurse let me drink Sprite! :D

Her name was Terah. And I love her.

After a couple hours and only progressing to a 5 they started the pitocin. And 30 minutes later I was at an 8. And then 15 minutes later I was dilated to a 10. 

So I pushed through 2 contractions and he just slipped right out. And immediately peed on the doctor. (He had been holding it for a long time!) 

My Henry was here. 

8 lbs 1 oz. 20 inches long.

Born at 12:12 am. December 6th.

They immediately placed him on me and the very first thing I noticed were his adorable lips.

He was so perfect and finally in my arms. 

I just cried and cried while thanking my Heavenly Father for this precious baby. 

I have never felt so overwhelmed with gratitude. 

My perfectly healthy boy was here.

And he's mine forever :)

Cousin Loves

We just got home from our Seattle trip last night.

It was so fun!

The perfect mix of relaxing and accomplishing :)

We made a list of things to do and did every single thing:

Make bow-ties

Take pictures

Eat yummy food (i.e. nutella)

Go on 30 min walks every night

Have a girl's night

Start: Project-Flower-Shop-Beautification

(OK, so potty train the girls was on that list too, and well... 

it didn't quite happen!) ;)

But really, just having precious cousin time was enough for me.

We really love you, Washington cousins :)

Like really.

A lot.

Press Pause

My baby is getting really big and old and it makes me sad. :(

We're almost to her 2nd birthday (!!!) and I kind of just wanna skip over it. She can stay 23 months forever :)

I wish I could film every second of these toddler years and then show her later on how happy she made me every day. Where's my pause button? 

I catch myself watching her, thinking: She's really mine? I am so blessed.

She tiptoes. Everywhere.

She thinks my belly button is named Henry...

She can jump. Really high.

She just started potty training herself and says: "Mama, pot-tay"

And then she says: "Treep, mommy. Treep." (treat)

She could watch Finding Nemo all day, every day.

She says "Good job, mommy" when I wash my hands.

When we read books she points and asks "What's that?" to everything...

She refuses to say the number seven. Instead it is always "nemy". (idk??)

When daddy walks through the door she immediately says "Watch this, daddy!" and does a little hop and a skip. 

She would jump off the table if we'd let her.

She thinks the main purpose of our computer is to look at googled images of puppies.

She gives me this look out of the corner of her eye when she's doing something naughty. It's her "I'm- not-doing-anything-suspicious" face.

She loves "aipwanes & hewicoptoptuhs"

(yeah, that last one's "helicopters")

She says "yeah, sure" in a raspy voice to just about any question.

And I love her.

And she loves me too.

Cute Little Buddies

Grandpa stayed with us for a week and it was like heaven. I loved hearing Annabelle say: "Gwampa" anytime she saw him. And watching them play and laugh together made my heart so happy. 

He took us to get milkshakes almost every day, and during church he tickled her face with his pen. 

Just like he used to do to me when I was little. :) 

During our outings he'd always help her out of her carseat, push her in the stroller, or carry her on his shoulders. They became such cute little buddies.

This past week was such a perfect memory, I wish it could have lasted forever.

He left this morning, and it's always sad to see him go. This time especially since Annabelle doesn't understand where he's gone...

Thank goodness for timeless photographs and beautiful memories.

We really loved having you, Dad!

Can't wait til the next time.

"Happy D Day!!"

French Toast with fresh blueberries.

Waking up to 18 balloons with 18 reasons why I love him.

(apparently there's some sort of helium shortage, say what??, so I couldn't get him the full 27) 

Breakfast in bed.

Annabelle singing "Happy D Day" down the hall.

Lunch at his favorite wing joint with his girls.

Annabelle gifting him a new chapstick since she always loses his.

And cake with good friends to end the night.

Those are some of the highlights of Jake's 27th birthday :)

It was a really fun day. He got a coupon book from me and already cashed in on his 10 minute back tickle last night. Haha. I have a feeling it's gonna be a long year with all those coupons.

He reminded me that one of them says THIRTY minute back tickle.

What was I thinking?!

Happy Birthday, honey!

We love you so much :)

Lemonade & Cookies

My activity day girls had a lemonade/cookie stand the other day. They all brought a plate of cookies and I made the lemonade.

It sounded like a fun activity, as long as we could sit in the shade.

I had no idea it'd be a BLAST and they'd put on a full-blown show for all of Carterville road!!

Seriously, they dressed up in costumes, and sang, and danced. They screamed at every passerby.

Which is probably why they made bank! 

One guy even bought a whole plate of cookies for like $5.00. Haha. Most expensive couple o' cookies ever.

The girls had a lot of fun, and I loved watching them rack in their $32.00! Which is going towards next week's pizza party with rootbeer floats and a water balloon fight.

I really love my calling :)