What a Year!

I try to end each year with a blog about what happened all year long.  

In January my sweet momma spent several weeks in the hospital and left without a real diagnosis. It was a scary time for all of us, but after several months of rest (and retirement!) she is feeling her normal self again.  

In May we celebrated Hannah's first birthday! What a milestone!!

We shared lots of family birthdays, especially with our cousins.

Wesley's brother and his wife, Jenn, moved to Tyler this summer.

We had lots of fun trips to the lake, especially with my family for our annual lake/beach vacation.

In September we found out that we were expecting a new baby!!

In December we found out that baby was a BOY!

Wesley spent 9 weeks working out of town during the summer and other than that and our baby news, we had a pretty uneventful year. 

We are excited to see what this year holds for us, including the birth of our little boy! 

I can't wait!

Before Christmas I mentioned to Wes that I wanted to make memory boxes for our little ones.  I have all Hannah's keepsakes in a tupperware box, but I wanted to make something a little cuter.  Well, I got on Etsy to get some ideas and FELL IN LOVE with this box and knew there was no way I could make it - so I ordered it today!

I am totally in love and can't wait to get it in. I have her first little locks of hair now, her bracelets from the hospital, some of her first drawings, etc.

I think this will be perfect to keep all that stuff in. And I love that it's so dainty and girly.

They make the same one for little boys, too.  I thought the rhinestones were a little girly for a boy, but I've been talking to the seller and she said she can "boy" it up a little.  I decided to wait to order one for little Ethan until he gets here. 

Isn't it precious!? I'm dying to get it in! 

We think we have it...

We aren't 100% certain yet (so mom, no monogramming yet!), but we think we've decided on a name for our little one.

When we were pregnant with Hannah we had our boy name chosen almost right away - Gavin Wesley.  But now that this is a new baby, we have a new round of names to choose from. 

As we discuss names we always look up the meanings. Hannah means favored grace and we fell in love with that.  Another name in the running for this little boy is/was Jacob Wesley.  The meaning of Jacob is "supplanter." Although it's a biblical name, the meaning didn't jump out to us.

When we looked up Ethan and found that it meant strong and firm we really liked it.  That's my prayer each day for the type of faith this little boy will have.  It just seems so fitting. 

So for now, we're calling him Ethan.  Being married to Wesley, however, that is subject to change. Wes isn't a big planner like me, so he's not ready to settle quite yet! 

Merry Christmas

It's a.....

BOY! 

We are so excited to announce that we are having a precious baby boy!! And I'm so glad to call him a "he" instead of an "it!" 

Although there were many photos that clearly indicated his gender, I'll spare those to protect his future embarrassment! 

20 of you were right on my poll - way to go!  I was certainly wrong. I was so shocked.  The heart rate at our last appointment was in the 170's, so I just knew it was a girl.  This time it was 154.  I can't wait to start on all the decorating and I'm excited to make Wesley nail down a name over the holidays!

In addition to seeing a sweet baby boy, we saw a HEALTHY baby. Praise the Lord.  We got to see his sweet little fingers and toes, legs and arms, and got to see him swallow and suck, too! 

Yay for trucks, tractors, sports and mud! 

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Pslam 127:3

Christmas Fun

I saw on my friend Kathryn's blog that she and her husband have made it a tradition to get their daughter a snow globe each year around Christmas. I thought that was such a fun thing, so I decided I wanted to do something similar. And thanks to an episode of Special Agent Oso, I decided to MAKE a snow globe with Hannah. 

We headed to Wal-Mart to get all the supplies:

Glitter

Jar

Figurine
(already had ribbon & hot glue)

We got home and Hannah put all the glitter in the globe.

LOTS of glitter.

Then we found a stick in daddy's garage to mix it all together.

Wes said it looked more like a blizzard than a snow storm. haha!  Next was gluing the ornament (figurine) onto the lid.  Hannah couldn't really help with any steps after the glitter - but she didn't mind. That was enough fun for her. 

I thought this ornament was very fitting since this will be our last year as a family of 3!

Then we put the lid on, turned it over and viola......water leaked EVERYWHERE.  Apparently buying the cheapest jar at wal-mart wasn't the best idea. So after lots of trial and error, taking it all apart and bringing daddy into the mix, we got the lid on with no leaks.  Only problem is that we didn't let the glue dry long enough and it mixed in with the water and now it looks like a fog globe.

So that's the semi-finished product. I didn't bother gluing the ribbon and everything back on (after having to take it off once) since you can't even really see what's inside.  

So even thought this year's globe with most likely end up in the trash, it was a GREAT idea and lots of family fun and we'll definitely do it again next year - with a better jar! 

Hair Cut!!!

Well, I did it. I broke down and cut Hannah's hair. I know that's a no, no for little girls, but I had to.  Hannah was looking pretty straggly.  We set up shop in our living room and Wes cut while I snapped 1,000 pictures.

Before

She sat so still and did so good!

It was way more traumatic for me than it was for her!

Wes had a cape from his hair buzzer kit and she loved it!

All done!

And after mommy hair dryed it.

So pretty!

I'm not going to keep cutting it, but it TOTALLY needed to be shaped up and now it's close to all the same length, so it should grow out more evenly.

Thanks, Wes, for being such a good sport and being our barber! 

Cuteness, Baby Dolls and Christmas Tree

**Don't forget to vote on the right side of my blog - boy or girl?**

Wes has been busy outside lately working on his shop (updated pictures soon). And Hannah LOVES being outside with her daddy. Since it's been so cold outside, we've had to make sure she's nice and warm when she goes out.  She's such a big girl and sits so still while we bundle her up with layers and layers. 

Since it's been so cold outside, we've spent a lot of time inside. I know I've mentioned before that Hannah loves her baby dolls.  Well, last Wednesday after Mother's Day Out she was in the sweetest mood and came home and played with her babies for about an hour all by herself - which is amazing!

As you can see, a lot of her "babies" right now are stuffed animals.  But Santa should help with that!

Since Hannah only had a hand full of bottles in her life I never had that image of her walking around with a bottle in her hand.  I kinda missed not having that, but today I thought she looked so cute carrying those bottles around.

And lastly, some of you have asked about Hannah's little pink tree.  I posted about it last year and I was so excited to put it up! I think it's the only Christmas decoration I had out before Thanksgiving!

It's definitely lacking some things and not as cute as I envisioned in my head, but it will work for now! She's done really well with it and when she wakes up from her naps she always points to it and says: lights!

That is until....Sunday night Wes and I were in the living room and Hannah walked in with an ornament from her tree.  Wes said something to her about it and she said "uh oh." Well about 10 minutes later I went into her room and the tree was knocked over on the floor and several of the ornaments were broken - including 2 precious ornaments that were handmade by my friend Tamala,one of which we only received days earlier.  I was SO SAD.  But, what do you expect from a 19 month old, I guess?  I bought some more colorful, PLASTIC ornaments at Target yesterday, but I haven't added them yet. 

Any ideas of what I can put as a tree topper?

Santa Claus

**Don't forget to vote on the right side of my blog - boy or girl?**

So this weekend we went to meet Santa.  Hannah actually met him last year and did really well. 

I can't say the same for this year.  She was completely terrified of him! Right at first glimpse she held on to my arm tighter than ever. I felt so cruel putting her in his lap, but I knew it would make for a great picture!

I was right!  Poor Hannah girl!  Maybe when she realizes that Santa brings fun presents, she'll warm up to the idea of sitting with him for a picture! 

Boy or Girl?

When we ask Hannah things she doesn't know the answer to, she shrugs really big - it's the cutest thing!

Lately we've been asking her if she thinks she is going to have a brother or sister. Her response is always a shrug with an "I don't know."  How would she know, she doesn't even know what a brother or sister is! 

I'll be having a sonogram soon to determine gender and I want to know what you think! There is a poll on the right side of my blog - so start voting!

I really think it's a girl!

*The poll will be up for several weeks - so you have plenty of time!* ha!

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 16 weeks

Due Date: May 23, 2011

Size of baby: avacado

Day we first saw our little one: October 12, 2010 at 8 weeks, heard heartbeat again on November 11, 2010.

My current thoughts about having 2 kids: total excitement. And I'm probably naive to how hard it may actually be to have 2 in diapers and 2 in cribs! 

Names we are considering: Ethan Wesley for a boy. Wesley has mentioned lately that he also likes the name Jacob. Sydney for a girl. We've been having doubts about Sydney because some people we tell think we are saying Cindy. Considering Daylee, too.

Sickness: Still not feeling 100%, but I can't complain.

What Hannah thinks:  She doesn't really understand, but she loves saying "big sister." She also 100% thinks that the baby's mouth is my belly button.  When I tell her to give the baby kisses she makes sure and hits me right on the belly button. She also thinks that she and daddy have babies in their tummies, too. 

Things I miss: Cokes and being able to take any medicine I want. I've gotten used to not sleeping on my stomach. 

Cravings: tomatoes and orange juice.

Biggest moments so far: 

 Seeing and hearing a sweet little heartbeat. 

Feeling little, faint and sporadic flutters.

Can't wait to know if this sweet angel will be a boy or girl!!

Christmas Pictures

Aunt Jenn and Uncle James gave Hannah an adorable Christmas dress. She wore it to church yesterday and looked absolutely precious in it. So, this morning we decided to head to a local park and get some cute pictures in it.  Enjoy!

Right when we got out of the car Hannah covered her face. I thought: "oh, this may not go over so well!"  But, she did great!