Owen

Owen Reid James, our sweet little baby boy was born December 30, 2008 at 1:38 pm. He weighed 8 lb. 4 oz. and was 22 in. long. He is so sweet and we are so excited to have him in our family!

So Very Pregnant

I try to avoid belly shots at all costs, but I was getting a little sentimental the other day and realized I needed at least one "belly" picture. So this is me at 39 weeks. I have never been THIS pregnant before, as Brooke was 2 weeks early and its not so fun! Oh well, hopefully we'll have a baby soon!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

We had such a fun Christmas this year! We spent Christmas Eve with some friends and then had a super fun, quiet Christmas by ourselves. Brooke loved all of her new toys, but she especially loved her princess dress (Thanks Grandma Q and Grandpa Jim), her tractor (thanks grandma and grandpa James, now she'll be ready for a hayride if we ever get to visit at the right time!), her umbrella and her new bike! We hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well!

Traditions

One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the fun traditions. Especially now that Reid and I get to pick and choose what we want to do. Here are some of my favorite Christmas traditions.


Treats- Reid grew up in a house and with a grandma that were like a treat making factory around the holidays so he doesn't feel like it's Christmas unless we've made a ridiculous amount of cookies and candy. So far this year we've made popcorn balls, sugar cookies, toffee, chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped marshmallows and fudge. It is so much fun but I might say that for the three of us it may be a little much! So if you want some treats this year come visit!

Christmas Books- When I was teaching I did the 12 books of Christmas with my class. Now we do the 25 books of Christmas. I wrap all of our Christmas books ahead of time and every night we open and read one. Brooke loves it and I think it's a fun way to have a few more presents we don't have to buy.


Pajamas- I've always loved getting pajamas for Christmas. In the past we've always waited for Christmas Eve, but this year we decided to get them early. So we got our Christmas pajamas a week before Christmas and have been enjoying them ever since.

Gingerbread house- Making a gingerbread house has always been one of our favorite things to do. We've done it a lot of different ways, one year I made the gingerbread from scratch, and we've definitely done the graham cracker thing but this year we opted for the kit from walmart. We were thrilled at how easy it was and the gingerbread definitely tastes better than stale graham crackers!



So these are some of our favorite traditions! What traditions do you enjoy with your families?

Santa Time

Brooke had so much fun at our ward's primary Christmas party. She was very excited about seeing Santa until we got into the room, then she became very serious, and we just sat down and watched him for a few minutes. Finally, she went up to him and shook his hand and sat in his lap, then she told him what she wanted for Christmas (a bike), asked for her treat bag and told him Merry Christmas and thank you, all in a very serious manner without breaking a smile! After the drama of Santa everything else was very fun! She loved her Rudolph pancakes and getting decorated like a Christmas tree!


We've also gone to two Christmas parades, which are my favorites! I love nightime parades, the lights and candy just make them so fun!

I am really enjoying this holiday season! It is really the first year that Brooke has gotten the whole Christmas thing and it is so much fun to see her excitement and the magic of the season through her eyes!

Oh Baby!

So as of today I am officially 37 weeks pregnant! I've been busy getting everything washed and ready and I am starting to feel a little prepared. It does seem that everytime I think I've gotten everything done I make another mile long list of things that I'd forgotten, but what can you do!

This past week a friend threw me and another girl who is expecting her 1st boy, 2nd baby 2 days after me, a super cute baby shower. It was so much fun, double baby showers are great! Anyways, one of the cutest presents I got was this cute little bib that this super crafty girl made for me, it is so adorable!

Also, I just wanted to take a minute to say I'm really starting to get into the whole boy clothes thing. At first, I have to admit I was kind of sad because they just don't have the selection of girls clothes. But there really are some cute baby boy clothes, and I'm getting pretty into it!

Thanksgiving

It's crazy how once Fall gets here, it just seems like we are always so busy and there is always something going on. Anyways here is what we've been doing lately.

We took Brooke to see a shortened version of the Nutcracker ballet. She loved it! The mouse king and the mice were the hit of the show, Brooke likes to talk about how she's going to be a mouse dancer when she's big. She also loves to dance around and say she is a ballerina.



We went to one of those Jumpity Jump places with some friends and Brooke had a ball (we actually have pictures of this)!



For Thanksgiving we drove down to Atlanta and stayed with Reid's uncle and his family. We had a great time and Reid took Brooke 4-wheeling, don't freak out it really wasn't dangerous as our little girl wouldn't even let Reid take her off the road and kept saying "slow, slow". We also got to visit one of my college roomates and her family and it was just a great time all around!

Behold the Power of Band-Aids

When I was teaching I always found it hilarious what a band-aid and a drink of water could cure. Now as a mom, I just think its funny how quickly Brooke has latched on to the whole band-aid thing. Last night she fell and got a small cut right under her nose. We couldn't fit the band-aid there and she was insistent upon having a band-aid so we put it right over the top of her nose. Now she won't let me take it off. Never mind all the weird looks she has gotten all day and people asking what is on her face, she thinks she looks cool!

Wemberly Worried

"Wemberly worried about everything. Big things, little things and things in between.Wemberly worried in the morning. She worried at night. And she worried throughout the day."
Reid has been calling me Wemberly lately. I am naturally a worrier, but there is something about pregnancy that seems to kick my worrying into high gear. Here is a list of some of the worries in no particualar order that are keeping me up at night (along with my big 'ole belly).

1. What if this belly never goes away? I seriously have dreams where I have the baby, but my stomach still looks like I'm 9 months pregnant.

2. How do I take 2 kids shopping, to the park, to the library, anywhere? I know all you veteran moms are laughing at me, but sometimes I just don't see how it is going to work. Taking Brooke to the grocery store is usually a fairly dramatic event and I am not sure if my sanity can handle two screaming children in the mile long Walmart line.

3. How do I stay at home all day with 2 kids? With the baby being due in January I'm a little nervous about RSV and all the winter sicknesses, but Brooke and I go a little stir crazy when we are home for one day, I can't even imagine several weeks. How am I possibly going to entertain us?

4. What if Brooke isn't a very nice big sister? I think she's a sweetheart, but I'm not really sure how to prepare her for a baby. She loves to talk about how she is going to share all her toys, food, blankets, and clothes with her baby brother but I have a feeling reality might be a little different.

5. What if I go into labor in the middle of the night, is Brooke going to be ok staying at someone else's house?

6. After having several miscarriages since Brooke and going through the whole surgery thing I think my awareness of the fragility of babies has grown since having Brooke and I am even more nervous than I was last time that something is going to go wrong.

7. What if all my hair falls out? I have naturally thin hair so the aftermath of pregnancy does not do me any favors.

8. Boys scare me. Boys are loud and dirty and crazy. I go over to friends houses and watch their little boys and I am completely overwhelmed. I think Brooke is loud and energetic, but she is nothing compared to these boys. I don't know if I'm ready for a little boy.

9. Choking. Baby proofing was not very tricky when Brooke was little. But I now find myself mentally going through all of our toys and thinking about which ones will have to be put away and which ones maybe should be put away. It's getting to be a long list.



So as you can tell I haven't been sleeping much and I know all you more experienced moms are probably laughing at me. But seriously babies bring a lot of worries!

Happy Halloween

Brooke was so excited to be a Purple Flower Fairy Princess (that is what she called herself) this year, she loved talking about her wings and tutu. We had so much fun trick or treating and going to our church party. Brooke was so excited for all the candy (I wonder where she gets her sweet tooth from?) and loved showing off her costume!

Fabulous Fall

We've been super busy this month doing lots of fun fall stuff. We had fun carving pumpkins and eating caramel apples. Brooke decided she wanted us to carve the pumpkin as a princessa, so we tried Cinderella. We also had a little halloween party and I got to try and make some fun halloween food. My favorite thing that I made were the orange jell-o jack-o-lanterns, I didn't get a great picture but I promise they were SUPER cute. Happy Fall!

My Favorite Time

I love mornings. Brooke will usually come get into bed with us for a while and snuggle. It really is one of my favorite parts of the day. I love snuggling with her and just talking to her. What a special time!

Asheville

We took a little mini vacation up to the mountains in North Carolina last week. We had such a great time. We got to go on some hikes and enjoy the beautiful leaves, we were just in time for the leaves changing in the Smokies.



Reid took a golf lesson and went golfing and we all went putt putt golfing. Brooke had so much fun, she would take her ball and put it right next to the whole and then knock it in, she didn't seem to get why we started so far away as it was definitely easier her way.
We also went to a super cool children's museum that Brooke just loved.


The highlight of the trip was going to Biltmore, the largest home in America the inside of it covers over 9 acres! It was quite the house and the grounds are beautiful.


There was also a really nice little farm with lots of animals. Brooke loved the farm and couldn't leave the poor goat alone.



I just love fall and so I was so excited to go on a little fall trip and enjoy the gorgeous scenery and cool fall weather. We had so much fun!