Levi Jackson Is Here!

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Levi Jackson

Born 12/30/10

At 9:22 AM

7 pounds

18 inches long

Mommy and Levi are well!  We are so thankful!  

We were surprised to see that Levi has a very minor cleft lip.  But he is nursing like a champ, so we are okay.

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139:14

Glimpses of Christmas

Well, we have no baby news yet...except that he's still hanging out where it's warm! lol. I'm feeling really good and enjoying these last few days with my hubby and baby girl. I remember being so eager for Lily to hurry up and get here, and how dreadful those 4 days were that she was overdue - but this time is different. I don't feel in a hurry. I'm doing my best to cherish every moment as a family of three. 

Yes, I am ready for Lil' Guy to get here, and I certainly hope he comes in the next couple of days! Today we got our Christmas tree put away today, laundry done, baby clothes organized, and Christmas presents put away. Tomorrow I plan to clean the bathrooms and sweep/vacuum the floors then our house will be pretty much in order. I have this thing about wanting to come home to a clean house. ha!

I wanted to share a few pictures from our Christmas - all these pictures are stolen from my sister's facebook! I still need to upload all the pictures from our camera. Guess I should do that tomorrow too. ha.

Lily on Christmas morning at my parent's

We had a White Christmas in Alabama!!! It's the first time I ever remember it snowing on Christmas - the closest thing we ever had was an ice storm over Christmas that put our electricity out for 5 days!

 Lily loved playing in (and tasting!) the snow

Jacob, my three brothers, and bro-in-law built this huge snowman!! Not only do we "never" get a White Christmas, we "never" get enough snow to build this big of a snowman!

I will hopefully share more about our Christmas in the coming days! I'm planning to get my sister to update when Lil' Guy arrives, so you can be watching for that soon...hopefully.

Happy Due Date!

Yay! Little Man and I have made it to 40 weeks!! Now if he will just stay inside until after tomorrow! ha. Even though Lily was four days late, we didn't take a 40 week picture to compare this pic to. Oh well.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Photo Shoot

Warning - Picture Overload!! Over Thanksgiving break Jacob's brother (who is a cinema major in college) did a photo shoot for us. I just love how the pictures turned out! 

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

39 weeks

39 weeks with Lily and Little Guy

Well folks, I am still here! I was actually 39 weeks on Friday...but failed to get a picture until last night. So we are 3 days away from Lil' Guy's due date! 

I'm feeling good, but I can tell I'm slowing down and not having as much energy. I'm still exercising and trying to eat alot - although I haven't gained any more weight. Oh well. 

We're almost finished packing our bags (yes, they were packed much sooner with Lily...but I guess it has something to do with subsequent babies...), our Christmas shopping is done (we just have a ton of gifts to wrap!), and I have a few more things to bake, then I think we can just sit back and enjoy Christmas and possibly have a baby!

Favorite Baby Item

This Portable Place Mat is my absolute favorite baby item in this season of Lily's life. It is so great to just keep in the diaper bag to use at restaurants, church dinners, or meals with family and friends!

As Lily is showing you (LOL), there is a place to catch extra food so you don't make too much of a mess on the floor. The place mat is easy to clean up and it rolls up for easy storage. It's great to protect little hands from germs on restaurant tables too.

We've found that the mat is fabulous for bridging the gap of time between when you feed your baby with a spoon and when they "get" a plate. For the last few months Lily's been feeding herself, but if we put her food on a plate, she usually picks it up and dumps it on herself or the floor.

PS - I was in no way compensated to write this review. I bought the place mat for Lily and loved it so much I wanted to share it with you!

Have a great Wednesday!

38 weeks

38 weeks with Lily and Little Man

Thank you all so much for your sweet encouragement about my rough week! I must say, I am so thankful that God's grace is sufficient for our every need, and He never gives us more than we can bear. Many times last week I was at my wit's end and my strength's end and He filled me with more patience and more strength. He is so good!

This week is definitely off to a better start - Lily decided last night to eat more than just applesauce, so that makes this mommy happy! I guess the ear infections made her not want to eat anything but applesauce and her bottles, of course. It was so hard because she's never ever refused any food before! Now we just have to get sleeping through the night down again and I'll know she's 100% better!

I'm honestly feeling great, and it's just fine by me if Little Man stays put until the week between Christmas and New Years. I've been able to slowly mark things off my crazy long to-do list, so that's helped me feel more prepared! 

This is Jacob's last week of teaching, Christmas concerts (conducting), and Christmas gigs! I am so ready for him to have a break! Lily and I hardly saw him at all last week and this week isn't much better...but we are thankful for the work and for the light at the end of the tunnel! Ha!

Happy Monday!

My Girl Is Walking!!

Happy Friday!

What A Week!

Oh my, this has been quite a week - a rough week!

On Monday, I witnessed a dog fight with my neighbors dog and two other dogs that have gotten loose before. The last time one of them attacked our dog. Anyway, long story short, the dogs tried to attack me as I stood at my neighbor's door watching for the Animal Control guy to come pick them up. So I was basically traumatized for the rest of the day and I have to testify in court at some point - so I've been having to answer lots of questions and phone calls over the last few days.

Monday night Lily screamed all night and pulled on her ear. I got her in to the doctor early Tuesday morning, and for sure, she had infections in both ears and one ear drum was blistered and very close to bursting. Bless her heart, it's just so hard seeing your little one sick!

So we got her an antibiotic and Motrin (for inflammation) and headed home assuming all would be fine. Lily took her first dose of antibiotic and Motrin just fine, but when I tried to give her the second dose of each, she literally fought me! I have no idea why she wouldn't take them. I tried putting them in everything I could think of, and tried giving them to her in about 10 different syringes - all to no avail.

I was a mess. She was a mess. Jacob was not home.

Late Tuesday night when Jacob got home, we tried again, but even with 2 people we couldn't get her to take them. She choked, spit up, cried, and fought.

On Wednesday morning Jacob called the doctor's office and told them what was going on. He told them that I was nearly 38 weeks pregnant and couldn't fight with Lily twice a day for the next 10 days to get the medicine down her. So, we bundled up and headed back to the doctor to get a shot of antibiotic.

The shot was not fun, but thankfully we don't have to fight anymore - except with the Motrin, but that's not too bad.

Lily will take Tylenol just fine. I have no idea what it is about the Motrin that she doesn't like. I even got the dye-free kind that's the same flavor as the Tylenol.

Ok, so add pregnancy hormones to all that and what do you have? A mommy who has cried more in the last 3 days than she has since Lily was a tiny baby! Trust me, it's been b.a.d.!!

I bawled:
- when the dog catcher got the 2 vicious dogs locked up
- all night Lily was screaming and I didn't know what to do
- on the phone with my mom, the doctor's office, Jacob, and my midwife
- when Lily wouldn't take her medicine
- in anticipation of the shot
- during the shot
- dealing with a grumpy baby
- etc...

Can I just say, it's hard being a mommy sometimes! Do any of you ever feel that way??

Along with all this, I had several food fails that I must mention.

Fail #1 - On Tuesday, I popped a frozen pizza in the oven for Jacob's lunch. The next thing we know, the kitchen is filling with smoke and the pizza is quite black!

Fail #2 - On Wednesday, I was making Jambalya for supper. As I was cutting up the smoked sausage, I noticed it was a different texture than normal. When I looked at the package, I saw that I'd bought Turkey sausage instead of the normal Beef sausage that we get! I thought maybe it would taste ok and Jacob wouldn't notice the difference. HA, in my dreams! As the Jambalya cooked, the sausage pieces swelled up really big and they tasted nothing like Beef sausage.

Fail #3 - Tonight I was in the middle of making homemade pizza, and I realized we had no pasta sauce and nothing to "make do" with! I just had to laugh at myself because just a little while before I'd thought to myself how nice it was that I hadn't had a food fail for the third day in a row! LOL. That's what I get for prideful thinking! ha.

Thankfully today was a much better day (besides the pizza sauce fail) and Lily seems to be feeling better!

37 weeks

37 weeks with Lily and Little Guy

Thank you all for your encouragement about my weight gain (or lack thereof. ha!). I'm definitely doing better emotionally this week. Ah, pregnancy hormones ... you've got to love them! HA! 

I'm so looking forward to my little boy being here. Life is going to be crazy busy for awhile, but I know by God's grace it will be ok.  

11 months

Wow, my sweet little girl is 11 months old! I know I say this everytime, but seriously - how fast these months have flown by!

So what has Lily been up to this month?

• Playing with our adorable puppies - our chocolate labs had 9 puppies back in October. Lily loved playing with them, but unfortunately we had to find good homes for all of them. 
• Standing alone and taking a few steps by herself
• Walking everywhere when she's holding onto our hands, a toy, the wall, or kitchen cabinets

• Talking - she tries to say everything we do
• Playing by herself for longer periods of time
• Helping mommy put clothes in the dryer (or take them out)

• She has 8 teeth - 4 on top and 4 on the bottom - and she is cutting 2 more on the bottom!
• She loves to eat and hasn't shown any picky-ness so far
• She's very friendly as long as mommy or daddy are close by and after she gets used to new surroundings.
• She's not a big fan of being held by extended family or friends - she's much rather be on the go!

• We finally found a sippy cup that she will drink her water and juice out of! 
• Whenever we ask her where baby brother is, she kisses mommy tummy and tries to say brother. So sweet!
• She's started playing sweetly with her dolls - hugging them, kissing them, reading to them, etc. She's going to be a great big sister!

Lily Grace, mommy and daddy love you so much and cherish each day we have with you. You are so precious!

36 weeks

36 weeks with Lily and Little Man

I think the two pictures are the most similar they have been this whole pregnancy! Lily had dropped by this point.

I been feeling a lot more tired this week, but it could be from all the rain we've been having! One concern that I've had is that I've only gained 18lbs (so far) with Little Man and I gained 25lbs with Lily. Even after two big Thanksgiving dinners I didn't gain anything. I mean, I'm ok with not gaining a lot, I just want our little boy to be getting enough nourishment! If I hadn't lost all my baby weight from Lily before I got pregnant again, I wouldn't really expect to gain as much, but I started at the exact same weight with both pregnancies. Anyway, I talked with my midwife, and she reassured me that everything is ok - that the baby is growing and doing fine. 

I'm busy this week getting out orders from my Etsy shop's Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sale and then I've got to get busy on Christmas shopping, goody baking, baby clothes organizing, and many other Christmas/Baby preparations!

Christmas Photo Cards

I have always loved getting Christmas cards and letters in the mail during the month of December. It's so fun to see how family and friends have grown up and changed. Last year was our first year to get photo cards printed of our little family. I loved sending them out and I can't wait to do it again this year!

So...Shutterfly has a huge selection of Christmas photo cards! I think I've been through them like three times to try to narrow down my favorites. Here are three of my favorites:

Which one do you like best?? I have the most trouble deciding on things like this, so if you have a favorite, please let me know!! ha.

Shutterfly also has awesome wall calendars which would make great gifts for grandparents or out of town family. I'm going to have to keep their super cute birthday invitations in mind for Lily's birthday next year - they are adorable and such a fun way to personalize a birthday party!

**Disclosure - I'm participating in Shutterfly's offer to bloggers for free photo cards in exchange for promoting their site. All opinions are my own. :-)

Thankful

These pictures were taken on a recent family getaway at a state park. Enjoy!

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise:

Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

God has truly blessed me beyond measure. My cup runneth over!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!