Fireside

We helped my grandmother set up her Christmas tree over the weekend. And by "we," I mean Jason and my dad - I was busy chasing a toddler. Now that we've moved and live just a few minutes from my grandmother, Russell is starting to have his favorite spots in her house. One of them is a little antique rocking chair.

This photo just says "Christmas" to me!

Thankful

We have so, so many things to be grateful for this year!

My parents are here for a few days, and I think Jason was thankful to have someone to play this (super boring looking) game with:

Russell is always thankful for snacks - due to a turkey snafu (mine) the actual turkey dinner was after his bedtime. But he was none the wiser. And he is also thankful to have a dog visiting. The dog is just as grateful (for different reasons, I think; perhaps having to do with dropped food):

We are all always grateful for good food. I don't think we stress that enough - the fact that we do not at all have to worry about being hungry is a major praise, considering the plight of many people in our world. And our food tonight was excellent.

My sweet little boy turned 17 months old today. I'm grateful for him and his little turkey handprint (which says "Mommy" because I used these as place cards).

And I'm so thankful that I'm 20 weeks pregnant today and halfway to meeting our baby girl.

Another wonderful Thanksgiving! Happy Turkey Day.

Lil Wolfpacker?

Over the weekend, we stayed with Paw Paw and Kacki. Jason wanted to go to the football game. It was at a weird time - 2 pm - which happens to be in the middle of Russell's nap...so guess who didn't go to the game? :) Kacki, Russell, and I stayed home - which was fine with all of us.

I just have to show off the outfit Russell wore that day. It's a hand-me-down from one of my brothers (my parents don't remember which one), so it's about 25 years old. The top says "I'm a Lil Wolfpacker" and the pants say "NC State Wolfpack."

One more with Daddy - this photo looks kind of vintage to me (which goes with the outfit!)

It's a...

sweet,

precious,

baby

girl!

I would have bet anyone that it was a boy. I had boy bedding picked out, a few boy names, etc. Apparently everyone else thought it was a girl, though. So much for mother's intuition! Of course, we are thrilled. Now I'm changing my thinking to pink, and hairbows, and cheerleading (if she's like her mother :)).

The ultrasound tech had a tough time getting all the measurements she needed - baby was doing a headstand, and it was difficult for her to see the heart, brain, etc. But she did find it all eventually and baby girl is perfectly healthy!

She was also in a bad position for pictures: here she is with her arm in front of her face!

And Russell had a great time with his sitter, thank goodness! What a wonderful day :)

18 Weeks Pregnant

This pregnancy has not gotten the attention it deserves (from me, anyway!) It really goes by so much faster with the second. We're almost halfway there - well, assuming baby is on time, which I am not assuming!

I was not this big until probably 26ish weeks with Russell! My goodness!

Pregnancy Info:

Size of Baby: Baby #2 is as big as a sweet potato

Clothes: Living in maternity clothes...um, pretty much since 12 weeks.

Movement: I felt the first kick while laying out in Jamaica - pretty awesome! I feel them here and there but this baby is not nearly as active as Russell was (or maybe I was just paying closer attention with Russell).

Sleep: I am SO TIRED. It would help if Russell was sleeping better!

What I miss: Honestly, a glass of wine here or there. And caffeine.

Cravings: They've subsided a bit - it was spicy foods for a while (salsa especially).

Symptoms: Mainly just tired; oh, and this huge belly I have.

We find out in 4 days (Monday) if Russell gets a little brother or a little sister! I can't wait!!

For the doctor's appointment, we are getting our first paid babysitter ever for Russell. It's a high schooler we know from church and I trust her completely. We've been so blessed to have family and friends watch him up to now, but I felt like I was imposing on them a little too much.

Oh, and here's a picture of the big bro from dinner last night:

He was cracking himself up by looking at me and talking to me through his bowl. What a silly kid!

This and That

We have been super busy lately (hence the lack of blogging!)

1) My hard-working husband has been doing so many house projects and they all look great. I want to do a big "reveal" post when everything is done so no pics for now :)

2) Russell is working on his 2nd and 3rd molars and is completely off-schedule from daylight savings. This all means not much sleep for Mommy.

3) I have had a couple photo sessions and have a few more scheduled - I love to do it and am having lots of fun! Definitely keeps me busy though!

Here's what I call a "mommy snapshot" of Russell before church on Sunday. {Mommy snapshot = not good quality pic because I was in a hurry :)} He is such a big boy now! I can't get over it!

Combination of 3 Loves

If you know me, you know that these are 3 things I love:

a) Christmas

b) photography

c) a really good deal

For the first couple years we were married, Jason thought Christmas cards were stupid. "Too expensive, who cares about cards, my parents never did them (I don't know if that last one is true, but that's what he told me)." Somehow, I finally got him to see the light, and now he looks forward to getting them in the mail just like I do :)

I've used many kinds of cards over the years: store-bought, photo cards, etc. But my favorite are photo cards, and specifically, the ones from Shutterfly (http://www.shutterfly.com).

Personally, I have lots of favorites this year from Shutterfly already; here's one:

The site is very user-friendly, and the photo cards are pretty foolproof. This card is very easy to design - just drag and drop your photo and add your text, and you're done! And I love that this card is in a special Christmas cards section (http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards) separate from holiday cards (http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards), because I always have to search through other sites to find the cards that say "Merry Christmas." (I always prefer to give out Merry Christmas cards, since we are celebrating Jesus’ birth.) This card has the "classic" look I go for - very timeless and pretty. The red and white say “Christmas” to me without being tacky or too trendy. I also love the spot for a big photo to show off your family (because I suppose that's what we're all really doing ;)). And another thing: it’s 25% off if you order today or tomorrow – sometimes it’s good to be an early bird.

So what does this have to do with c) a really good deal?

Well, if you have a blog, you can get 50 free photo cards from Shutterfly for writing a review like this one! Just go here for details.

Happy Halloween!

Unfortunately, Russell caught a cold last Thursday, so in addition to skipping church in the morning, we also weren't able to go to the Halloween party we originally planned to go to. I kept hoping he'd get well in time, but no such luck. We didn't want to go to someone's house and have him drool on other kids' toys.

So instead, Buzz Lightyear made his way to our church Pumpkin Bash. I knew he wouldn't get anyone sick there because there wouldn't be toys to tempt him.

Jason and Russell:

Looks like he's on a mission of some sort:

When it became apparent that a) the activities were definitely for older kids and b) Russell was more interested in walking around the parking lot than hanging out with everyone inside the church, we headed over to Great-Grandmother's house to "trick or treat" (aka visit). She was kind enough to fix us plenty of hors d'oeuvres.

Lastly, we hung out outside at our friends David and Lisa's house for a bit. I wish I had gotten pictures, but at that point it was pretty dark. Anyway, I think this was Russell's favorite part of the day. He loves trucks, and David let him climb in the bed of his pickup truck! Russell was ecstatic.

So even though it wasn't what we anticipated, we did have a great Halloween! Our little guy enjoyed it, and that's the whole point :)