23 Weeks Pregnant!

I finally have a new update on our baby girl and a belly shot of me (now Carrie can stop bugging me!)
19 weeks: The first picture is her profile, the second picture is of her hand and fingers, and the third picture is of her arm.
19 weeks: These two pictures are of her spine! Isn't it amazing how much you can see?!
19 weeks: In this set, the first picture is of her face, and the last two are more profile shots.
23 weeks: These are the latest pictures (taken yesterday). Her face is in the first picture and the rest are profiles. In the first one, you can actually see her eyes and tongue (her mouth was open).

And here I am...feeling huge! It's true that you're bigger the 2nd time around! I really do feel great though. I'm over the exhausted stage, and I was never sick with either pregnancy. Our little girl is VERY active (just like her brother!). She is moving constantly which I love. Sometimes I'll just sit on the couch or in bed and watch my stomach move. I never get tired of it! At my last doctor's appointment, we got a great report. She is actually two days ahead of schedule in her growth and already weighs 1.5 pounds! She is also a little over 11 inches long.

During our sonogram, she put on a show for us. She was moving all over the place, and we could see her opening and closing her mouth. We even saw her tongue! She kept her hands by her head, but would punch and kick me every chance she could. It was really neat to see her moving on the screen and to feel it at the same time! We still don't have a name picked out for her, which is stressing me out a bit. With Nathan, we knew his name at 16 weeks! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Nathan knows that Mommy is going to have a baby and even introduces her to people. The other day, we were playing on the sidewalk when a neighbor and her husband came out to talk to us. First Nathan asked them what their names were ("What's your name?" and "What time is it?" are his two favorite questions.) And then Nathan said, "That's mommy, and that's baby sister" while he patted my tummy. And then he tried to pull up my shirt while saying, "Want to see her?" He talks to her and kisses her and even gives her drinks of apple juice (by holding his cup to my stomach). We are all so excited to meet her!

Relaxing in Mommy and Daddy's Bed

Nathan loves watching Nick Jr. on TV, but he has recently found a new favorite show, "The Bear Whisperer." It's a documentary about bears and a man that helps keep them under control in a town named Mammoth Springs. It was on Animal Planet on a night when Nathan got sick and threw up all over our bed! While I was cleaning up the mess, Nathan and Daddy, were upstairs (at 1:30 am) watching this show. We recorded it for him, and he asks to watch it instead of Dora and Diego now! He still loves his cartoons, but he likes the "real" stuff too. In fact, he also watched a documentary about Yellowstone the other day! Then when we sit in the rocking chair before bed, he wants us to tell him stories (or sing) about the bears :)

Caught Red Handed

Last weekend, Wayne was working on our taxes. He left his folder out on the coffee table along with a pen. The temptation was just too much for Nathan! He loves to color with crayons, but gets especially excited about pens! I did the same thing one time...left a pen out...and Nathan decided to use our couch as his coloring book. Mommy got really mad (although it was my fault for leaving it out) and since then, he knows pens are off limits.

Well, on Sunday night, Wayne and I went to the kitchen to fix a snack, and when we came back to the living room, we caught Nathan drawing on Daddy's tax folder. The funny thing is that he covered his eyes and continued drawing! In his mind, if he can't see us, we can't see him :)

American Idol - Nathan Style

Nathan knows several songs (parts of the songs) and loves to sing them. Of course, on the day I decided to film him, he didn't want to perform. So I promised him a treat if he'd sing his songs. He pretty much rushed through them to get the treat, but you'll get the idea. Oh and he definitely made the songs (as Randy and Simon would say) "his own." Here are his words if you need them :)

Jingle Bells: "Jingle bells, all the way, hey!"

Frosty The Snowman: "Frosty the Snowman, jolly, happy soul."

Jesus Loves Me: "Jesus loves me, I know, for a bible tell me so."

Zacchaeus: "Zacchaeus you come down!" (this is a bible song my mom taught Nathan about a man who climbed a tree to see God...makes more sense huh?)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star: That is definitely his own version :)

Big Boy Potty

We have finally decided it's time to start potty training Nathan. We especially want to have it done before the baby comes in May. So last weekend, we made a big deal about going to Toys R Us to pick out a big boy potty. Nathan was so excited about it. We were trying to decide between the "fun" potties...the ones that look like a car or truck or play songs when you potty or the more "real" looking ones. We ended up deciding on one that looks more "real" because we didn't want him to use it as a toy. It even has it's own toilet paper holder, which Nathan loves!

After picking out the potty, we also let Nathan pick out any kind of "potty" treat he wanted. He ended up deciding on a huge bag of Dora candy. He actually picked out the perfect treats because each candy is individually wrapped and it's all gummy type candy or jelly beans, nothing messy. He gets one treat if he will sit on the potty without his pants and diaper on and try to go. He gets two treats if he actually tinkles, and 3 if he goes poo-poo.

On Sunday, he tried to go several times, and then later in the day he did tee-tee in the potty. He was so happy and excited! Since then, he will sit on the potty and try to go several times a day. And every once in a while, we're lucky, and he actually goes. He loves pouring the cup into the big potty and flushing it, then he runs around the house saying, "I'm so proud of you!"

We figured we'd spend the first week just getting him used to the potty and liking it, then we'll move onto trying to get him to tell us when he has to go. For those of you who have been through this, any tips would be greatly appreciated!!!

Go Hogs!

We spent the New Year rooting for the Razorbacks! Wayne and Chris wanted to go to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis to watch Arkansas play, so Carrie and I decided to go too. We left New Year's Eve morning and drove to Little Rock where we stayed with Chris's parents (Wayne's aunt and uncle). The drive to Little Rock is about 5 hours, but it flew by...Wayne and Chris took turns driving while Carrie and I sat in the back and watched movies!

Once we got to LR, we talked and ate a great steak dinner. Then we waited for midnight...it's funny how different our New Year's Eve nights are compared to college or even 5 years ago :) We watched the ball drop in Times Square, and as soon as that happened, we had a glass of champagne (I took a little sip), had a kiss, and off to bed we went :)

The next morning, we slept in, had breakfast, and then headed to Memphis. Once we got there, we checked into out hotel on Beal Street and waited for Chris and Wayne's cousin, Darrien and his wife, Jennifer.


Wayne, me, Carrie, Chris, Darrien, and Jennifer. We went out to eat at the Rendezvous which serves the best BBQ. The wait was an hour long, but it was entertaining. There were tons of Arkansas fans there, and the guys led the whole restaurant in calling the hogs several times! We even met Matt Jones there (previous quarterback for Arkansas).


Darrien, Wayne, Chris

After eating dinner, we went to the Peabody Hotel where all of the players were staying. I think every Razorback fan was there too! We went to the roof to see the famous ducks and then, on our way down, we got off on the wrong floor. There was a fancy dinner going on with tons of people in tuxes and evening gowns. As we were walking to the stairs, Wayne stops and says, "That's Frank Broyles!" The guys all stopped to shake his hand and talk to him. I wasn't really sure who he was at the time, but it turns out he was a former coach and Athletic Director at Arkansas.

Jennifer, who walked up a little later and also had no idea who he was, saw the guys talking to him and went up to him and said, "Are you an Arkansas fan?" It was so funny! Mr. Broyles was really nice and said, "I sure am." :)

The next day we got to the stadium early and tailgated. Chris's parents, Wayne's brother, and another uncle of theirs also came. It was freezing though so we spent half the time in the cars warming up. The wind chill was 15 degrees! Luckily, Wayne and Chris told us how cold it was going to be so we were prepared. I had on my long underwear top and bottoms, jeans, long sleeve shirt, wool sweater, wool socks, scarf, ski mittens, glove liners, ski hat, and a HUGE red down coat with an even bigger hood. I could hardly move, but I was definitely warm!

The game was exciting, and the guys were all in great moods since Arkansas won in overtime! I really wanted to take pictures of us all bundled up, but that would have meant I had to take my gloves off :)

Nathan's New Big Boy Room

As part of Nathan's Christmas presents, Wayne's mom, my parents, and Carrie, all got Nathan pieces of the bedding that Wayne and I chose to re-do his room. Since the new baby is coming in May, we decided to go ahead and move the crib and furniture to the baby's room and give Nathan a big boy room.

The new baby will use all of Nathan's previous furniture, and Nathan is using my dad's furniture from when he was a little boy. Isn't that so neat?! He has a new twin bed, night stand, and dresser. What is amazing is the condition of my dad's furniture from when he was little. It is perfect and looks so great in Nathan's room.


We chose a camping theme for his room, and it came out better than I had imagined. He even has a tent to go over his bed which he loves sleeping in!


We chose not to put box springs on the bed so that it is lower to the ground in case he does fall out (luckily, that hasn't happened yet).

You can see my dad's dresser on the right, and it even has a little mirror to go on top! After taking this picture, I put bear paw prints going up the wall to the left of his name. That really made the wall above his bed look cute. I'll probably re-paint the letters of his name, but haven't gotten that far yet.

Nathan's bookshelf...I forgot to take pictures of the side, but there are bear footprints going up the side also.

Nathan really loves having a lamp in his room that he can turn on and off :)

Nathan loves that we were able to put his train table in his room.


This is the picture above Nathan's train table.

While we were cleaning out Nathan's room, we found his Mickey Mouse hat. This is now his new favorite hat!

Wayne and I worked non-stop the day after Christmas from the time we got up until 9:00 that night. We completely re-arranged three rooms upstairs. We had to move the furniture from the guest room next to Nathan's room to the OTHER guest room, move Nathan's furniture into the guest room (which will now be the baby's room), get that room set up, then move my dad's furniture from the garage into Nathan's room. After we were able to get the new nursery and Nathan's room set up, we then had to re-organize our 2nd guest room. And we were doing all of this while still having to take care of Nathan! Although Nathan was really good for us on this day. He helped us when he could and then took an extra long nap in our bed! We got a ton done during that time!

I feel so relieved that we have all of these rooms finished. The nursery pretty much looks like Nathan's old room, but already looks more girly because the walls are light yellow instead of blue. I still have to put some finishing touches on it, and then I'll post more pictures.

Merry Christmas!

Santa put all of Nathan's presents under the tree and even stuffed his stocking!


Santa knew Nathan would love this tricycle :)

Nathan slept until 7:30 Christmas morning, which is late for him :) He slept in our bed in the middle of us, and as soon as he woke up, he pushed on each on of us until we opened our eyes. Then he said, "Did Santa come to my house?" He was so sweet and excited. Daddy quickly got up and told us to stay in bed...he was going to check to see if Santa had been there. When Wayne came back to our room, he said, "Nathan, Santa brought you presents!" Nathan started smiling and jumping up and down and couldn't get out of our bed fast enough.


He poured everything out of his stocking first, then sat on his tricycle, and then tried on his new house shoes. He was such a happy little boy!

"Merry Christmas!"

Nathan LOVED this car garage that we got for him. He was so excited when he opened it up that he yelled, "Thanks Daddy!" and gave him a huge hug.

Nathan and Mommy

Nathan got a tricycle from Santa, Cars slippers, dinosaurs, a car garage and roadway, and a Woody doll from Toy Story. All in all, he was very happy and excited. He also loved seeing that Santa ate cookies and drank a glass of milk :)

After opening all of our presents, I took some pictures of the snow outside. It was such a pretty Christmas morning!

Nathan and Daddy peeking out the window :)

Nathan LOVES this tricycle. At first he was riding it very carefully around the house. Now he zooms all over the place!

Nathan helping Daddy put together his car garage and roadway. This thing took FOREVER to put together!

Later that morning, Mom, Dad, Jen, and Helen all came over for a breakfast of: eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Aren't you impressed?!

Nathan and Grandmother having a "stocking treat" before breakfast.

Dad, Helen, Jen, Wayne, and Mom


Nathan had a "mini" fit and decided he didn't want to eat breakfast with us.


But Papa managed to coax him into eating waffles by putting some extra syrup on them.


There are two happy and full boys!

We spent the rest of the morning stuffing ourselves and playing with Nathan and his new toys. Everyone left around noon so that Nathan (and Wayne and I) could take naps. They came over again late that afternoon for round two...we had a roast for dinner :) I think all of us had a great Christmas. We loved being surrounded by our family and are so thankful for all we have.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we all went to my parents' house for a chili dinner and to open presents. Wayne's mom, Helen, Grandma, and my sister, Jennifer, were there too. The weather was crazy that day! We knew that it was supposed to snow, but we had no idea how much. Wayne and I started our celebration by taking his mom to our church for the Christmas eve service (3:00 pm). It was really cold outside and raining. Pretty soon, the rain turned to snow, and the wind was out of control! After the church service, we drove to Mom and Dad's house. By this time, the snow was really coming down, but the roads weren't bad yet.


Nathan with Mama and Papa.


Posing by the Christmas tree...he couldn't wait to get his hands on all of these presents!


Nathan and Papa


After eating a great dinner, it was time to open presents. Nathan played the role of Santa. I gave a present to him and told him who it was for, and he took it right to that person. There were a few times that he tried to put other people's presents in his pile...I'm not so sure that was a mistake :)

After passing out all of the presents, Nathan wanted to help everyone else open their presents first.








Now, it's time for Nathan to open his presents!


This is the huge present he drug to his pile first :)


An art easel from Auntie Carrie and Uncle Chris!


Nathan also got several Thomas trains, and soon that was all he wanted to play with!




"Look Papa, I have Percy, Duncan, and James!" It's so funny to me that he knows all of their names and which is which.


Mom showed Helen her new Snuggie that Carrie got her for her birthday. Helen looked very stylish and warm!


Then Nathan decided to snuggle up too!


After opening all of those presents, Nathan and Cookie were worn out. So I gave Nathan a bath and put on his Christmas pajamas. I was pretty sure he'd fall asleep on the way home.


Nathan and Aunt Jen


I wonder how long this "smile on demand" is going to last. I love it, and it makes taking pictures so much easier now!


Nathan with Mommy and Daddy


Right before we left, Nathan wanted to watch Mama wash the dishes. He loved seeing all of the suds in the sink.


He also loved putting those suds on his nose :)Soon after, we loaded up the car and got ready to head home. Helen rode with us so we were going to drop her off at her house first. Normally, it only takes 25 minutes to get from their house to mine. On this night, it took us 2 hours! As soon as we walked out of mom and dad's door, we saw that the snow was really coming down and already sticking to the roads. Luckily, we were in Wayne's car which had 4-wheel drive. Even with 4-wheel drive, we slid several times. There were cars and wrecks all over the roads. It was really unbelievable. After we finally got home, we put Nathan in bed with us. We thought it would be fun to let him sleep in our bed so that we could all wake up on Christmas morning together. We love sleeping with Nathan. He is so snuggly! We couldn't wait to experience the next morning with him.