Keepsake Quilts

Jeremy's Aunt Jane and Uncle Dave gave us a baby quilt the Christmas before Wyatt was born. I remember them saying they had a family friend make the quilt. I love this quilt and remember putting Wy down on it for tummy time when he was a little guy. Here he is when he was about 4 months old - I forgot that his hair was so dark!





He always has been partial to the quilt and while many blankets found their way to a drawer, this one always stayed within an arm's reach. It is now his official school nap time blanket.

We saw Jane and Dave again this Christmas and they gave us a new quilt for baby boy. This quilt was also handmade by the same lady who made Wyatt's quilt.





When we opened it, they told us that if we were going to have any more children, we needed to let them know now because....the sweet lady who made the quilts is now 97 YEARS OLD!

My goodness - I couldn't imagine having the steady hand and eyesight needed to quilt at age 70 much less 97! And I will probably never have the natural talent or patience to take on a project like this.

I have made a mental note (that will probably go right out of my little mind once the baby arrives) to take a picture of the boys with their quilts and have Jane pass it along to their friend.

Merry Christmas!

We had such a fun week with cookie decorating and several family gatherings. We hope you had a wonderful time of celebrating with your loved ones. We are looking forward to all that 2010 will bring!























For weeks prior to Christmas, Jeremy teased Wyatt that he was getting a Barbie Castle for Christmas. I am talking non-stop teasing to the point where Wyatt would ask me if he really was getting one and he would tell me that he really didn't want one. So, we decided to get his daddy a "Barbie" to open when we were at J's parents house. This is the picture of Wyatt giving it to him and J opening it up. Wyatt LOVED that his daddy got a "Bawbie" - I think it was the highlight of his Christmas!

Martha Stewart I am Not

This year I volunteered to host the annual cookie decorating event for the younger cousins at my house. All I had to do was bake the sugar cookies the night before so that the kids could get right to decorating. How hard could that be?

Well, it would have helped if I had started the process earlier in the day when I had more energy and what is that other thing? Oh yeah, patience.

I bought the already made sugar cookie dough in the tubes figuring that would be the easiest. When Wy and I got down to business, I realized that 1) I did not have any wax paper to roll the dough out on and 2) I didn't have a rolling pin.

It was too late to do much else except improvise. So I just heavily floured my countertop and used a plastic cup as a rolling pin.

Of course Wyatt wanted to help and I was too tired to fight him much on his technique. He kept saying "Just a pinch more flouwaa". My hubby was snoozing on the couch after WORKING all day so I didn't feel like I could bother him for assistance. This was what I had volunteered for. I think the colorful expressions exploding from my mouth finally woke him from his deep sleep and this is what he found.




Note the heavily floured area on my protruding belly - and the lovely ensemble that you have come to know as my "comfy clothes."

So why the cursing? Because a plastic cup is not an adequate rolling pin. And I do not do well with second rate looking cookies. And I was not rolling the dough out thin enough so when the cookies came out, they looked like this:



Yes, those are supposed to be GINGERBREAD MEN - not clouds.

UGH! I didn't have much dough to spare but thankfully J could see I was heading towards dough throwing and foot stomping so he took over the rolling and it went much smoother from there. Here are the ones that were suitable for decorating:



Then J took this lovely assistant off to the shower while I finished cleaning up.



You know, just keeping it real - didn't want to give the impression that I just waltz through life making dreams come true for little children. HA!

So those sweet children arrived, very excited, and didn't even snarl up at my clouds.

Here are Jack, Wyatt, and David Aaron. Jack and DA did an excellent job decorating while Wy basically licked the icing off the knife.




And next, Carter and Emma who were also very precise and detailed in their work.




Clara YouMei had a system down and did NOT want any help at all. She also would go retrieve whatever decorating supply she needed on her own if someone had the nerve to borrow it!




And finally Morgan and Chloe. Morgan helped supervise while Chloe would take a bite, decorate, take a bite, decorate, take a bite...




Thanks to Didi and Papa who brought all the kids and the decorating supplies. And also for bringing me an extra special hostess gift.



Any guesses? It is the "Limited Edition 2009 Simple Life" ornament made exclusively for me by my talented mother. Yes, it causes me shortness of breath when I look at it but it will get better with time - it is part of the therapy. :)

Bump Watch - 32 weeks - and Bedding

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and overall, everything is going well with Baby Boy Donaldson. (Except for the fact that he remains nameless.) He is very active, his heart rate was in the 140s, and all is well from where he is...curled up.

I, on the other hand, am dealing with the aches and pains related to his growth. It is really mostly discomfort with my skin feeling like it is stretched to the max. And my ribs are so tender from spreading as well. I have also started having the Braxton Hicks contractions. They are short and infrequent but I had one this morning at 5 a.m. that woke me from deep sleep. I am just trying to relax and not think about the fact that I still have another 7 - 8 weeks of growth to deal with!

I did not get to see my Dr. yesterday as she had to go over to the hospital to deliver babies. So the nurse practitioner did my measurement and said I was measuring at 34 weeks. I am anxious to see how I measure at my 34 week appointment. Maybe he had a growth spurt and will not continue to grow at that rate. With Wyatt I usually measured one week ahead and he was 8 lb 1 oz. At this point, I am guessing I won't have a 6 lb baby. What do you think?




I did make some progress with his nursery. I have been looking online for weeks for something and had just about decided on a cute Puppy Dog set on Gap.com that was mainly brown and blue - standard 4 piece set for about $250. Of course Jeremy was expecting me to reuse the bedding that I had with Wyatt but I insisted on getting new for this baby. When we moved, we all got new bedding and baby boy will be using TONS of hand me downs - so he can have new bedding too.

But with knowing that, I kept looking for a better deal. I ended up finding a super cute set on Target's website and it was only $130...and it came with TEN pieces instead of the standard 4. Hello - sounds like a super good deal to me. In addition to having blue and brown, it also had some orange and green in it. So I ordered that up and it came yesterday and I love it in person too. As soon as I get the bedding washed, ironed, and put on the crib, I will post pictures. Here is the picture from the website.

I Got Nothing

It has been a week since my last post and I can't come up with anything good to blog about!

Wyatt had his Christmas party at school yesterday and I grabbed my little camera on the way out the door. Of course when I got it out to use it, the battery was deader than dead so...I got nothing.

Jeremy perused the list of approved names I gave him, narrowed it down to two, told me the two he liked, which weren't really the ones I had hoped for, so then I announced that I don't like either of those names anymore so...I got nothing.

I can't even think of a cute conversation to share, haven't hit a pregnancy milestone, and I haven't had anything to take pictures of so...I got nothing.

Aren't you glad you took the time to read this post?

We do have some fun activities planned in the next week prior to Christmas. Wyatt's cousins, at least 7 of them, are coming to our house next Wednesday to decorate Christmas cookies. He is beyond excited and mentions it daily. But until then....I got nothing. :)

Flashback Friday - Brothers Edition

In another 9 weeks or so, Wyatt will have a new title at our house. No longer will he be "The Prince" - he will have graduated to the role of "Big Brother."

And since getting a sneak peak at the new baby, I have been thinking even more about what this new little brother will look like.

I found Wyatt's 4-D ultrasound pics and was surprised to see that they look more alike than I initially thought.

Here is Wyatt at about 27 weeks....




And here is still to be named baby boy at 30 weeks....




And another comparison.

Wyatt - 27 weeks




New Baby - 30 weeks




So will I have another Wyatt look-a-like?


Or will my boys be more like these brothers?


The Hammond Brothers...



Yep, these are my big brothers. Born just 14 months apart and different as night and day in looks and personalities!

Both are just adorable - but one curly, red haired little boy followed by a straight, blond haired little boy. Who would have thought they were brothers?

We are definitely getting excited about the upcoming arrival and will love, love, love him whether he looks like Wy or has brown, red, or black hair - and if he takes after me, he won't have any hair! And Jeremy has the name narrowed down to 2 - although he hasn't told me which 2. Hopefully we will have a name to share soon too! Woo Hoo!

Making His Blog Debut...

I am so glad I went ahead and had the 4-D ultrasound because 1) I was able to reconfirm that I am having a boy and 2) it has inspired me to name this child! Of course I have to get Jeremy to agree to a name but this was what I needed to get inspired. I compiled a list this morning complete with meanings for Jeremy to pick from. That is how we named Wyatt so hopefully it will work for us this time as well.

I actually had the 4-D done on the last possible day they will do it. I think I had Wyatt's done at about 27 weeks and his were clearer as there was less baby and more fluid at that point. With all the focus being on whether or not I had gestational diabetes, we forgot all about doing the 4-D.

I, of course, think he is a cutie but see differences in his pics versus Wyatt's at this stage. This baby's features seem larger i.e. Wyatt didn't have a chin, had thin little lips, and a button nose. This guy seems more of a bruiser. He has big, beautiful lips and seems to have an actual nose that will be useful for breathing!

This picture shows his facial features the best.



This picture is zoomed out more so you can see his ear but his hand is in front of his mouth & nose. I think he may have his eye open in this one. What do you think?

Hodgepodge Post: Snow, Cornbread, & 30 Week Bump

We woke up Saturday morning to something we rarely see around here - especially this early in the winter season.



SNOW!



Just enough to be pretty but not enough to interfere with the plans for the day.



Two of my really good friends that I have kept up with since high school visited us Saturday morning to see the new house. Wyatt had fun playing with Tara's kids while Tara, Lori, and I had a chance to catch up.

Then our friends Jan and Dale came over that afternoon to watch the Alabama Crimson Tide ROLL over the Florida Gators! It was a great game and so fun to be able to host friends in our home. I made a couple appetizers and then served Santa Fe Soup with a really yummy cornbread recipe that I am going to share at the end of this post. Believe me - it's not your average cornbread. It is moist and delicious and I can never limit myself to less than at least 3 pieces.

Tomorrow I go in for my 30 week appointment and am having a 4-D ultrasound. I am excited to see what he "looks" like at this point. And because I was dressed up from church, I went ahead and had J take my 30 week bump pic a day early.



And just because I like to post pics of my little guy, here is Wy playing with the Legos he swiped from his Didi's house this afternoon.



He has just recently become very interested in building things with Legos and this is a garbage truck that he made. And because I am pretty sure he doesn't read my blog, I feel it is safe to share that he is getting some of his very own Lego's for Christmas this year.


NOT YOUR AVERAGE CORNBREAD RECIPE:

Preheat oven to 425
Grease & flour a 9 x 13 pan

Mix the following ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups self rising corn meal
- 3/4 cup cooking oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 small can (6 oz I think) of cream style corn
- 8 ounce sour cream
- shake in a couple tablespoons of minced onion

Pour mixture into pan and bake 15 - 20 minutes

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I spent Thanksgiving night putting up our Christmas tree and thought I would share a few photos of some of my favorite ornaments. I know, I know - just what you have been waiting for I am sure but I just love my tree and just about every ornament means something to me so I wanted to share just a few.

I know I mentioned last year that we are carrying on a tradition that my parents did for me - giving an ornament to Wyatt each year to represent what that year was about. Most of the ornaments on our tree are from my childhood and I love rediscovering them each year. This year was a little tougher for me with Wyatt b/c they don't make ornaments of unhappy boys living in a trailer which is what I feel so much of 2009 was about. :)

So I thought about the highlights of the year and the fun times we did manage to have together during our 'escape from reality ' sessions. The obvious choice was TRAINS. We took a train ride with his cousins and his Didi and Papa. We also spent the night in a train car at the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel which thrilled him as well. And the child knows all kinds of things about trains that he has learned from watching YouTube clips on all the various kinds of trains that are out there. And don't even get me started on all the trips to Southerland Station we took this summer.

So I got him this ornament:



And then the other big thing he was slightly obsessed with this year was Dinosaurs. We have several books, we have Discovery channel movies, we rented Disney's Dinosaur movie several times, and we saw an IMAX movie about Dinosaurs when we took Wy to the McWane Center in Birmingham.

So I got him this one too:




I don't usually get one for J and I but I wanted to be sure to get one to remember our move.



I am also working on creating one with my mom that I will share once we get our rears into gear and make it!


Here are a few others that represent places we have visited:

New Orleans




Bahamas




Hawaii




Paris




My parents brought us this from their trip to Ireland





Here is my Baby's First Christmas ornament from 1977




Here is Wyatt's Baby's First Christmas ornament from 2006




Even Phoebe got an ornament back in 1998 for her first Christmas with us




And here is our tree which Wyatt helped me decorate this year.



Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Camper

Happy late Birthday Phoebe! She turned 12 years old last month!