The Gift That Keeps On Giving

We had a very good Christmas with our families this year, but we each received an early Christmas gift from an unwelcome visitor...the stomach bug.  I am pretty sure that the source of the bug was Andrew.  He had been sick the week before Christmas with a hodgepodge of things, stomach bug, cold, ear ache, and pink eye.  My mom came up on Thursday of that week to make gingerbread houses with him and went home Friday and got sick Sunday night.  My dad and sister got sick on Tuesday, followed by Jason on Wednesday, his mom had been visiting and got it Wednesday night when she got home to OKC.  I thought that I had narrowly escaped the virus, because I was the caregiver for two children and a sick husband.  I stayed up until 2 am Wednesday night cleaning and making cookie dough for Andrew and I to make Christmas cookies the next day and preparing for my family to come to our house and Santa to make his debut with gifts for the kiddos.  Well, about 4:30 am I got sick too.  I was sick all of Christmas Eve- couldn't even get out of bed sick.  Jason took the kids to church by himself!  I felt better Christmas morning, thank goodness, so I was able to enjoy Andrew's smiling face.  Come to find out later that day, my great uncle, and two second cousins came down with the virus Christmas Eve (they had been at my parent's house for Emily's b-day celebration the 23rd).  Just when we thought that the virus had circulated through enough of our family members, my  grandmother got it today.  It truly is the gift that keeps on giving!

By the way, I have a ton of Christmas pictures, but the kids and I decided to stay in Conway for the week and then we're headed to the Liberty Bowl, so once we get home (where the camera cord is) I will post plenty of Christmas pictures.  

What A Sweet Boy!

The other day we had gotten home from picking Andrew up from school and Madelyn was hungry. Now, if you know Madelyn, you know that when she is hungry she will SCREAM until that bottle is securely in her mouth! Well, that day I had to go to the bathroom so I made her bottle, set it on the coffee table, and went to the bathroom. I could still hear the screaming- as could the neighbors- and then all of a sudden it just stopped. I walked into the living room and this is what I found!

Andrew had gotten her bottle and put it in her mouth to feed her. He looked at me and said, "Ma-lynn (Madelyn in Andrew talk) crying need bottle." How sweet!

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

We are getting ready for Christmas around our house! Andrew is really enjoying the season. He loves the Christmas lights and the Christmas trees. Anywhere we go that there is a tree he says "hi tree, pretty tree." Jason put lights on our house this year- I have yet to take a picture of them- and Andrew tells him everytime we come home and they are on "awesome lights daddy." Jason is very proud of his exterior illuminations! Madelyn is enjoying the season too, she lights to look at the lights on the tree. Andrew also likes Santa in books, pictures, or on tv, but not in person! Here is a peek at what's going on at our house this Christmas season.

This year I decided to make some "homemade" gifts for people. I probably won't do it again!

These are jars with Chocolate Chip Cookie mix in them. They are for the teachers at Andrew's school. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

They were very easy to make. I just put in all the dry ingredients in layers and then tied a ribbon around the jar with the recipie connected to it.

I made these initial ornaments for the girls in my Sunday school class. I teach 1st and 2nd grade girls. These were easy and fun to make too.

Andrew and Madelyn getting ready for one of the many Christmas events at our church. You can't see Madelyn's outfit, but it has a cute tree on it and matching pants.

Andrew had a Christmas program at school. He was a little bit shy about going on stage. His teacher had to carry him out there.

You can tell he was thrilled to be out there! As long as he was in Haley's lap he was alright. That little girl next to him kept trying to get in her lap and he kept pushing her out.


Jason and I did all of our Christmas shopping last Saturday and so I spent Saturday evening wrapping everything. Thankfully, I had a great helper!

Now for the Christmas decorations.....

This year I got a small tree for my dining room to hang our Christmas cards on. I never have a good place to display them, so I decided to do it on a tree. I really like it.

One tradition that I have started is having the kids paint a piece of Christmas pottery every year. This is Andrew's from this year.

And this is Madelyn's.

Here is my centerpiece on the dining room table. Just a bunch of Christmas balls placed into my glass vase.

The table

These are my Christmas plates I got from Pottery Barn a couple of years ago. They match my china, so I just put them on top.

This is our tree. It doesn't really have a theme, just a bunch of ornaments that we have collected over the years. Some of them are missing from the bottom, because I have a little boy who likes to "rearrange"!

I collect Old World Christmas ornaments. They are all at the top of the tree so that Andrew can't get ahold of them. I started this collection last year and have gotten quite a few. Eventually, I would like to have a tree with only Old World on it.

A few of my ornaments. The dog is a Golden Retriever like Gracey!

I love Andrew and Madelyn's stockings. I got them from Pottery Barn Kids.

Here is our mantle. I didn't really know what to do with it this year, so I just kind of used what I had in my decoration box and I think it turned out alright.

I hope that everyone has a happy holiday season! We are looking forward to spending time with family and seeing Andrew's face Christmas morning! Right now Andrew is battling a virus, pink eye, and an ear infection- yuck! So we are trying to keep him away from Madelyn as best we can. Otherwise all is well around here!

Thanksgiving And A Trip To The Square

This year we decided to have Thanksgiving at our house- for the obvious reasons! My parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousin and his wife came for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We have a lot to be thankful for this year, especially for Madelyn being born healthy and full term. We are also always thankful for Andrew and that he is a happy, healthy two year old.

Here is Madelyn all dressed up for her first Thanksgiving. Notice the brown bow that is actually clipped in her hair- the girl has a lot of hair and it is long in the back!

Andrew with his great-grandfather Don. He absolutely loves him! He always talks about Don!

Andrew was a big helper in the kitchen this year with his Mimi and great-grandmother Mere.

Andrew and his Daddy

Madelyn and her granddad. Madelyn loves to snuggle on your chest. That is how she prefers to be most of the time.

Our family of four!

I really wanted a picture of the two of them together- safely, because Andrew is still a little rough, although he is learning to be much more gentle with her. He immediatly decided that he wanted to hold her.

I let him hold her (if you look at the right hand side you can see my fingers ready to grab if necessary!) after we finished the picture he kept saying, "more hold her, more hold her." It was very sweet!

After dinner, Andrew decided that he wanted to iron. He ironed for an hour- no kidding! We got the tree set up without any problem!

My two babies!

We stopped by the square the other night to look at the lights. Andrew enjoyed looking at the lights, but not at the camera!

Jason, Andrew, and Madelyn enjoying the lights. I was not wearing any makeup, because it was a spur of the moment trip to see the lights, so I did not get in any pictures!

We are getting ready for Christmas around our house. The trees are decorated and Andrew is afraid that the lights are hot, so he isn't even trying to touch it! Yea! He does walk up to it every day and say "Hi tree" and hold his arms out to give it a hug! I will post pictures of the decorations soon. Madelyn is sleeping pretty good at night, she likes to eat every 3 hours to the minute- like if she ate at 12:06 she'll wake up at 3:06. I like that she is starting out scheduled...I wonder where she gets it from??:) I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Andrew's Trip to Conway

Andrew went with my mom to Conway yesterday. We thought it would be the best thing for him to go and have fun with his grandparents, since I still can't lift him or anything yet. He is obviously enjoying himself!

We just hope he wants to come back home to us!

**All the pictures from Madelyn's birth are on the next post!**

And Finally...The Pictures!

Here are all the pictures from Madelyn's birth up to today! I am feeling 100% better. I had to go to the ER yesterday and get an epidural blood patch done to stop the headache, which is caused by a leakage of spinal fluid. The leaking fluid causes your brain to be pulled down and stretches out the nerves causing the headache. To do the blood patch, they have to give you an epidural (without the pain meds, just the needle) and then draw blood from your arm and insert it into the epidural in your back. This causes a clot which stops the fluid from leaking. I just have to take it easy for 48 hours, but I swear it was instant relief! My doctor told us it would be a good idea to go to the ER and he called a friend of his who is an anestesiologist and he came in and did the blood patch. So, here she is!