Christmas in Texas

We went to Texas for the weekend to have Christmas with MiMi and Grandad.  We were so excited to get to eat MiMi's famous irish potato casserole and chocolate pie that the food alone was worth the trip!  Wm was excited to get to open more presents, and he sure got some good ones!

First trip on my new scooter...it's going to take a little practice!

Dad and Grandad hunted on Sunday morning and had a great hunt.  They got their limit pretty quickly and killed every kind of duck except a mallard.  They had a great time, and Wm loved getting to see the ducks when they got home.  Won't be long before he gets to go, too!

It was such a fun and relaxing weekend, the perfect ending to our holiday week.  Now, we're back in the real world...Dad is working today, Wm and I are headed to the grocery store and will take down Christmas decorations this afternoon.  Ugh.

Welcome to the world, Greenlee!

The morning after Christmas, my phone rang around 7:30 am, and Wm and I had just rolled out of bed and were still in a haze.  It was my friend, Whitney, telling me her water broke at 2:15 that morning and they were at the hospital.  I'm awake now!  Her due date was January 8th, so Greenlee was coming two weeks early.  I got dressed, went to the hospital, waited with her family and friends until Greenlee Elizabeth was born at 12:26pm.  The baby had to spend a little time in NICU, and I had to get to Texas to have Christmas with MiMi and Grandad, so I didn't get to meet that precious bundle until Sunday afternoon.  She weighed 9 lbs. 11 oz. and was 21 inches long.  One of the nurses said yesterday that she witnessed one of Greenlee's fits in the nursery and boy, was she a drama queen.  Like mother like daughter!  She is absolutely precious, and we are so excited she is here.  Mom and baby are doing well and will get to go home Monday afternoon.  Welcome little punkin, we love you!

Auntie Elizabeth

Would you look at those cheeks????

Mommy Whitney, Elizabeth, me, and Emily

Santa Came!

William must have been a good boy this year because Santa came and was sooooo good to him. He miraculously slept until 7:30 on Christmas morning.  Dad and I went to get him out of bed, we checked to make sure Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk (which he did), and then we were off to the Christmas tree!  

Love my teepee...

And my Mommy.

William shot a lot of ducks on Christmas morning.  He's since shot a couple of monsters, too. :)

Oh boy, an orange in my stocking.

This teddy bear is bigger than Wm and is almost as heavy.  Wm has named him Bingo, and he sleeps by Wm's bed at night.

Battle of the bellies....

Yes, my stomach is bigger than Anne's, and yes, she's due 4 weeks before I am.  I've measured 3 weeks ahead of schedule at my last two appointments.  Dr. Cope assures me I'll either even out over the next few weeks or I'll just have a really big baby.  I guess that's one good thing about having a c-section. :)

Christmas was a great day.  We had a fun filled morning followed by a yummy lunch at Anne's house, no naps (even for little Wm), A Christmas Story movie, and candy filled bellies at the end of the day.  Now, if I can just get those little elves to come and take down all my Christmas things...

Ready for Christmas!

Well, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, it's just been a busy month.  Daddy William has been hunting a lot, hiking, and mostly working his tail off at the office.  I've been busying around with Christmas stuff and POTTY TRAINING.  We're at the beginning of week #3, and so far....just okay.  We haven't had an accident in almost two whole days, which is an accomplishment. Patience is not a natural virtue of mine (thanks to my Dad), and being 7 1/2 months pregnant makes that fuse a LOT shorter....and I'll be the first to admit it wasn't long to begin with. Probably not a good combination with the whole potty training thing, but I didn't really feel like I had a choice unless I wanted to have two in diapers.  So, here we are.  

On a lighter note, here are a few pics I snapped while trying to get a Christmas card picture.  I ended up with a few cute ones.  William is super excited about Santa coming (unless I'm using it to bribe him to going to the bathroom in the potty, in which case he doesn't want Santa to come, but that's a whooooole different story)...all he has asked for is a race car with fire on it.  He showed it to me at Toys R Us so I could be sure and tell Santa exactly which one he wants.  I've asked him a few other times what Santa is going to bring, to which he replies "an orange."  How many?  "One for me, and one for Mommy, and one for Daddy."  I think he got the idea from a Christmas scents book that MiMi and Grandad gave him.  Anyway, our house is all ready for Santa, and we've all been good as gold.  Can't wait to see what he brings us!!

On a funny note, when Wm woke up this morning, I was telling him it was only 3 days until Christmas.  We've been trying to talk to him about what Christmas is really about and about when Jesus was born.  He asked me if baby Jesus was coming to Christmas, to which I responded "Jesus is always with you in your heart, but you can't see him."  Later, when I was putting him down for a nap, he started patting his tummy telling me Jesus was in there.  I corrected him and said, "No, that's your tummy, Jesus is in your heart."  And I moved his hand to his little heart.  Wm's reply was, "I can feel baby Jesus in there kicking my heart."  I'm assuming it was either the beating of the heart or the talk of the baby moving in Mommy's tummy.  Either way, I about fell over laughing.