Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas - Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

What a fun and exhausting Christmas this year. Matt and I both looked forward to Christmas morning this year to see how Isabella would react since last year she wasn't too excited. We had lots of festivities this year including hosting the Cardoza family for Christmas day. Matt's parents came Christmas Eve and spent the night with us to be there for "Santa".

Side story- Isabella has been potty training and I have been hesitant to write about it in fear of jinxing the great progress she has made. Anyway, she is still sleeping with a diaper at night and doing great during the day. She does still have accidents and won't poop on the potty but that is so much better than refusing to sit on the potty. Randy slept with her Christmas Eve and apparently decided she wanted to wear panties instead of her diaper. So, Christmas morning I heard her on the monitor and turned the video on. There she was in all her glory with her little behind shinning. She had wet the bed and they had taken her panties and pants off. I was cracking up. So, we ended up getting her up and putting her to sleep in our room to make sure we were ready for her when she got up.

She still didn't really know what to expect that morning and was kinda of hesitant when she came out. We did talk about Santa coming but I definitely want to put more emphasis on Jesus' birthday so I talked a lot about baby Jesus versus Santa. Santa is exciting and all but he is not the reason we celebrate Christmas.

We rotate who's family we spend Christmas with each year. This year, Matt's family was Christmas Day which meant my family was technically Christmas Eve. It is kind of difficult to get to Waynesboro and see everyone we want to see for only Christmas Eve so we went to Waynesboro the weekend after Christmas. As I said earlier, we had Matt's family over for Christmas Day. It was quite hectic with 3 preschoolers and an infant. But fun at the same time. By 3:00 in the afternoon, and only part way through opening presents, Isabella and I were both exhausted. Her little eyes were glossed over but she persevered. I could have taken a really long nap but made it through. We packed that night and headed to Waynesboro the next morning. We were able to see my grandparents and hang out. We headed back on Sunday evening to a house that seemed like a tornado had gone through. It was great to be back home and have a chance to relax and enjoy the kids. Matt has two weeks off. Yea!!!

Things we did over the Christmas break:

Visited with Santa

Made ornament cupcakes for Isabella's Christmas party at school

Made cookies for Santa and the reindeer

Isabella wanting to eat the cookie for Santa

Read "T'was the Night Before Christmas"

Tried to get a good grandchildren picture

William, Andersen, Ansley, & Isabella

Christmas Day family picture

Opened presents and dressed up

Smiled

Smiled a lot!

Our Anniversary

Matt and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on December 15th. We had a great time. We went out to eat and to a movie. We were supposed to go to Michelangelo's but they weren't open on Mondays so we headed to Outback. We then met our good friends Krista and Michael at the movie theater to see "Four Christmases". I thought it was hilarious. I laughed out loud throughout the entire movie. We were a little worried about seeing the movie because we had heard several people say they didn't like it or not to waste your money but we enjoyed it very much. It was great to go out with Matt and have an uninterrupted adult conversation over a nice dinner.



Matt and I got married in Statesboro, GA at First United Methodist Church. We decided on the church for multiple reasons. My grandfather was the pastor there when I was little, it is absolutely beautiful, it has a center aisle, and you don't have to go outside to enter just in case the weather was bad.



It was the wedding of my dreams along with the man of my dreams. We were able to celebrate with family and friends. We had a bagpipe player which was very cool for our Christmas wedding. We also celebrated our first communion as a married couple together with entire congregation. I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me such a wonderful husband to spend my life with. I love you, Matt.

Pictures with Santa

Hi, Santa

We took Isabella and William to visit with Santa yesterday in Covington near the square. It was quite cute. Isabella was not so sure about good ol' Santa Claus. William on the other hand was perfectly content in his arms. We ended up taking a family shot sitting in Santa's chair with him peeking around the corner. It turned out cute. We ran into Zach, Sarah, and Micah there so Zach got a couple of shot for us.

William and Santa

Then we all headed to the square downtown. It was decorated and we got some cute shots of the kids. We think Micah may have tried to propose to Isabella. How funny if they really did get married and we had all these cute pictures of them growing up together. One could only dream. Isabella May, that sounds good right?

Possible proposal?

Me and Isabella

Milestones

William will be 2 months old tomorrow. He is getting so big and the time is flying. I only have 3 weeks left at home. So, hopefully I will be able to really enjoy it even with all the chaos of Christmas coming.

William smiling

William is the cutest thing ever. I have so enjoyed being able to stay home with him and look forward to having the summer with he and Isabella. He has the cutest smile. His little eyes squint together and he looks so precious! His face just lights up. I LOVE IT!!!

William goes to the doctor on Wednesday for his 2 month check up and shots. So we will see how big he has gotten. I am thinking somewhere between 12 and a half and 13 pounds. He is waking up usually one time per night if he eats pretty well during the day. Maybe he will sleep through the night soon. That would be awesome!

Isabella is so cute with him too. You should she the way she looks at time. It is almost as if she in in awe. I am so thankful she loves him and isn't having any major issues being a big sister.



We went to see Santa today and have the kids pictures taken in Covington. Isabella wasn't very sure of him so we sat in his chair with him and he peeked around the from behind. We got one really good one of William with Santa with our camera and one with all of us. We also ran into our good friends the Mays there so we went to the square and took some more pictures over there of the kids. Isabella and Micah were very cute .

It's December already?

Well, it had been awhile since I have last posted on our blog. I apologize to those of you who actually visit our site regularly to check up on us. So, here is our update.

Thanksgiving- We had a wonderful time over Thanksgiving. The Saturday prior we went to Matt's parent's house in Newnan to celebrate our nephew, Andersen's 3rd birthday and a small Thanksgiving. We had a nice time. He is really into the superheros so we got him some spiderman things that he really enjoyed. It was fun to watch a little boy and see how different they are from little girls. Especially since we have one now.

Andersen and his cool spiderman phone

My mom and sister came that night to spend the night and take Isabella back to Waynesboro with them a little early. It was nice to have a couple of days with just William since Steph was already gone to LA. Isabella had a great time with my family decorating her Christmas tree and playing.


We left on Tuesday night to head down to Waynesboro for Thanksgiving with my family. I made my Mama's chocolate layered cake and peanut butter pie on Wednesday. They were both delicious! We ended up eating dinner instead of lunch since my sister and her husband were with his family for lunch. Matt learned how to fry a turkey, my favorite, and carve one too! He did a great job. The majority of my mom's family was with us, except my Aunt Beth, Uncle Tom, their daughter Rachel and my cousin Danny his wife Robin and their kids Bryte and Britton. I ended up taking some picture of Isabella on Thursday outside in her pink coat from Grandy. They turned out soooo well!!! Check them out.

Matt carving the turkey

We were able to meet my friend Melissa's little girl, Lauryn on Friday and hang out for the rest of the day and took some family pictures for our Christmas card. We came on Saturday and watched the rest of the GA Tech game. GO JACKETS!!! Super excited about that one.

Isabella and William

OK- I started this post on Monday and I am finally back to finish on Friday. Now let me figure out where I left off.

Isabella had permanent tubes placed in both ears on the 2nd. They will stay in for around 3 years and then we will re-evaluate to see if she should keep them longer. I have noticed an improvement in her hearing. She has mentioned several times that she hears airplanes outside and she had not done that in a while. Dr. Herrmann did a great job. It was a very fast procedure. We choose to have it done at Meridian Mark which is right beside Scottish Rite because we were both able to go back with her to pre-op and I was able to go back with her into the operating room until she was put to sleep. I have seen several surgeries and dissected a cadaver, but it is very different when they are putting your little one to sleep. I got a little over whelmed when we walked into the OR but composed myself and reminded myself it would be over shortly and they know what they are doing.

Her surgery started at 9:00 and was over by 9:10 or so and we were on the road back home by 9:30. Dr. Herrmann did find a complication when he we in there. Her left eardrum has dropped into the ear. The treatment would be to place tubes like we have done. Hopefully the eardrum will begin to move back into the correct position. If not, we will be looking at more surgery to prevent complete hearing loss and damage to her ear. So, you can pray that her eardrum returns to it proper position.

Siblings

I can't imagine what it must be like to be a 2 1/2 year old and all of a sudden have your life turned upside down by having a younger sibling enter into the picture.

Isabella has always been an easy child. She listens well, follows directions, etc. I know this and am reminded frequently how easy we have had it with her by my family. I think they were wishing the devil child on us so we could see how a real two year old behaves and how difficult children can really be. Maybe not the devil child but a difficult or typical one.

I am glad to say, William is not a difficult one yet. He has been pretty easy so far. He is pretty much on a 3 hour feeding schedule and goes longer through the night. Hopefully this will continue and the night will spread out even more over the next month or two.

Isabella has been more difficult since William was born. Whinny, not listening, testing the limits, you know what I mean. But still not bad. Just wearing her tired mommy down on certain days. To her defense, she has had 3 ear infections since he was born (they actually started the day he was born). I had been trying to figure out what the biggest culprit was, ear infection or new sibling. I am sure it was both, but her behavior is better now that she feels better and the ear infection is gone. She asks to hold William even though he is just about as big as she is. (10 pounds 14 ounces as of yesterday). It is very cute. She also gives him butterfly kisses and smiles at him. So , things are on the up swing with her which is a true blessing. I think she really likes her little brother now.

Loving on her little brother

We visited the ENT for our regular appointment last week and as I suspected, they recommended the permanent ear tubes. She will go in Dec 2 to have them inserted. Hopefully that will help with her ear infections and also her hearing.

Oh Christmas Tree

Wearing the tree skirt

I know it is early to be blogging about Christmas, I tell Matt and the guys that every time they mention watching Christmas Vacation before Thanksgiving. No Christmas movies prior to Thanksgiving is my rule. We have to celebrate Thanksgiving even though all the commercialism tells us it is time to think about Christmas the day after Labor Day.

Anyway, Matt was off today for Veteran's Day and able to spend the day with us. After we dropped Isabella off at school we headed over to the stores near the movie theater to look for a small white Christmas tree to put in Isabella's room this year. I saw a small white one last year and have been excited about getting one for her this year. Matt saw one at Kohl's when we were there the other day but we went to Michael's first because they had them on sale. We also got some ornaments (pink and green of course) and then I found a hot pink tree skirt at Hobby Lobby. It will be so cute! I can't wait. So, we will probably put up what we have tonight and continue to decorate it as we go. Isabella was wearing the tree skirt around her neck today like one of those shawls. Too funny.

Working hard on the tree

Isn't it cute?

Look at that cute little face

William is now 4 weeks old. Time sure flies! William enjoyed his swing for the first time today. I am hopeful I will be able to get a little more done around the house since he likes to be held a lot. We will see how it goes.

Pup-cakes

Happy Halloween!

Little Red Riding Hood

How cute it she?

We planned on heading over to Zach and Sarah's house for a low-key Halloween gathering this year since the kids are getting a little older and with the addition of William. I was very excited about it and wanted to make some cute Halloween cupcakes. I found several different ones to try but decided on a cute one from Pillsbury.com. They had gravestones made out of nutter butter cookies and mellow creme pumpkins on them. I like to bake fun things like this but don't often get the chance.

Helping Mommy cook


I love that she sticks her tongue out when she is concentrating.

I figured it would be best to split up the task so I started on Thursday with Isabella as my big helper and made the cupcakes (batter only). Isabella is still substituting the beginning sound in some words for the ending sound. (i.e. pup instead of cup). So cupcakes comes out as pupcakes. Too cute!! We got the batter made and cooked. Matt got home soon after we finished them and was talking to me in the living room. He went back into the kitchen and found Isabella eating the little bit of batter still in the bowl with the scooper. She is such a scavenger! Always wanting to eat the things you don't want her to.

Aren't these cute?

Isabella enjoyed them

On Friday I decorated the cookies for the cupcakes with icing. Isabella of course wanted to eat the cookies. Asking for, "one more cookie?" over and over again. I did give in a few times. The cupcakes turned out very cute!

We also made witches hats using fudge stripe cookies and Hershey's kisses. They were also very cute! I was pleased with the way everything turned out and glad I started on Thursday. William was not as cooperative as I had hoped he would be on Friday needing more attention than he had previously which meant less time to make our goodies.

William before bed.

Isabella dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood. She was too cute! She had her party at school on Thursday. It was a little chaotic with 9 two year olds running around, plus parents. I am assuming this improves as they get older but I could be totally wrong. I finally got to see some of her friends that she talks about and put a face with the name. She has a kid in her class named Bubba and we thought this whole time she had made it up because he wasn't on the list at the beginning of the year.

At her school party

Pictures and update

I was finally able to upload some pictures for you. Sorry it took so long. If you have kids you will understand the minute you sit down to do something, someone needs something. Anyway, here are a few.

Isabella meeting William when we came home from the hospital

Isabella beginning to warm up to William

On the way to our check up. He looks happy , right?

Look at those little toes!

Sleeping soundly


Wow, those are some cheeks!

Checking him out a little more.

William is doing great. He returned to his birth weight when we went for a weight check on this past Thursday. So he is eating well and sleeping pretty good too. He has even given me a few 3 hour stretches of real sleep at night. I guess they are his way of making up for keeping me up for 2 hours straight last night for no real reason.

Isabella also seems to be doing better too. She was definitely whinny this past week but has been great this weekend. I think she may have been missing her daddy since he returned to work this week. She is warming up to William too. Paying him some attention and giving him kisses.

This will be my first week on my own. Well, sort of. Steph is going to come over for a couple of days which will be really nice. Hopefully I will be able to get some rest when she is here so I can function by myself when she isn't.

Thank you to everyone who provided meals for us. They have been fantastic! It is so nice to not have to think about what you are going to have for dinner. You are life savers!