A Christmas Wrap Up

We enjoyed a fabulously peaceful Christmas yesterday and we've succeeded in being lazy bums all day today! J.K. is officially Santa's biggest fan and loved everything about the big day. His favorite gift? The new play set in the backyard. However, after spending two days building the thing his Daddy refused to give Santa the credit.

We spent the day at my parents' house with the family and ate entirely too much food. The kids opened a pile of gifts and the adults played a mean game of Dirty Santa! After developing the perfect strategy hubby and I went home with the best gifts! He has a new motorized grill brush (yes, there is such a thing) and I'm the proud new owner of a pizza stone (yes, we brought it and I went home with it, we call it Dirty Santa for a reason).

So without further ado, here are a few shots from our Christmas festivities:


Santa visited our house.


J.K. checking out his gifts.


He wasn't so sure about this.


The play set!


I see you!


His Pawpaw and Cici gave him a new tricycle.


And last, but not least, blackmail for when we hit the teenage years. He was trying out Cousin A's Barbie bike!

Oh the Things We'll Do for Our Children

My Mom has a saying that always makes me laugh and sigh at the same time. "I always thought that you just got pregnant and nine months you had a baby." Well, that is the case for the majority of Moms, but not this one or many others like me.

On Friday we took step one in doing all we can to ensure this baby gets a full nine months to grow into a healthy and happy bundle of joy. It was time to place the cervical cerclage, or stitch in the cervix. The goal is for this little stitch to reinforce the cervix so that it may be strong enough for me to carry until at least 36 weeks. It worked with J.K. and we're confident it will work again. It was a quick surgical procedure and after spending the night in the hospital for observation I was back in the comfort of our home on Saturday. We were able to have another ultrasound after surgery (this is #5 and I'm only 14 weeks, high risk has its perks) and everything looked great. There is a risk of miscarriage with the procedure so we were all relieved to see a busy little baby on that screen. The only major downside is that I'm stuck in bed or for the rest of the week. Yes, that means that I'm restricted during the week of Christmas. Luckily I have been given permission to visit my parents on Christmas Day, but I'll just be hanging out on the couch.

So where do we go from here? Well, step two is weekly P-17 shots starting in about two-three weeks. I know you're all jealous! After that it's bed rest starting at 22 weeks. I'm hoping that the contractions will stay at bay and we won't have to use medication to control them, but that's always a possibility. This all sounds very overwhelming when I actually put it on paper, but it's really not that bad. We'll just take one step at a time and before we know it we'll have a healthy baby.

But you know, I am kinda curious to know what it's like to "just get pregnant and have a baby nine months later"! :)

The Evolution of a Christmas Card Photo

The following is what happens when you try and try and try some more to get the perfect Christmas card picture of your rambunctious two-year-old son. Enjoy!










Yes, he's trying to eat the icicle ornament.


FINALLY, a Winner!

Playing Catch Up

Yes, I've been MIA for a week or so. Now let's play a bit of catch up. We woke up on Saturday morning to this..

While it wasn't much, just a dusting, it was still enough to excite this little Alabama family.


The hubby completed the fun by commemorating the day with the traditional writing on the car in the snow.


J.K. had a blast making snow balls and running from one yard to another.

Since the weather outside was frightful we decided to spend a delightful day in the house. We stayed in our pj's, listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree.