Baby M #2: 16 weeks (& 4 Days) Survey & Belly Shot

How Far Along: 16 weeks & 4 Days (As of Christmas Day)

Size of baby: An Avocado! (About 3.6 inches long)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have no idea. Won't know until next appointment on January 9

Maternity Clothes: Pants, Yes. Most of my shirts are still regular ones. I popped early with #2 so I've been in maternity pants since about 11 weeks. 

Gender: Don't know yet - Find out January 9!

Movement: Nothing yet. 

What I miss: Turkey sandwiches. 

Sleep: Decent. Can't complain. 

Symptoms: Other than the occasional craving, nothing else. 

Cravings: Hanging steady with candy and salt and vinegar chips. 

Best Moment this week: Spending Christmas with family and friends. 

What we are looking forward to: Finding out the gender on January 9.

Semi Wordless Wednesday: What a Difference A Year Makes

2010: Mason was 3 months old

2011: Mason is 15 months old and I'm 16 weeks with #2

Baby M #2: 15 weeks (& 6 Days) Survey & Belly Shot

Please ignore the outfit, the hair, everything. This is what you look like when you are up from 1145p-2a with your 15m old who is teething really badly. 

How Far Along: 15 weeks & 6 Days (this picture was taken on Tuesday, December 20)

Size of baby: Naval Orange (About 4 inches long)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: No idea. I think I'm right back to my starting weight.  

Maternity Clothes: Pants, Yes. Most of my shirts are still regular ones. I popped early with #2 so I've been in maternity pants since about 11 weeks. 

Gender: Don't know yet - Find out January 9!

Movement: Nothing yet. 

What I miss: Turkey sandwiches. 

Sleep: Decent. About as good as you can get when you are waking up to pee or getting up with your 15 month old. 

Symptoms: Nothing new. Still gag at the Chik Nuggets. 

Cravings: Candy. Salt and Vinegar Chips. 

Best Moment this week: Getting ready for Christmas!

What we are looking forward to: Finding out the gender on January 9. 

Welcome Home, Jason!

It may be Christmas Eve but to one of our most favorite families, it is something far more special today. Today, after 7 long months, one of my best friends, Jennifer, will finally be reunited with her husband! And Reagan will get to see her daddy again! 

I can not tell her how excited and happy we are for them to finally be back together as a family and for Jason to see the two girls that mean the world to him. Jason, thank you for all you do. Thank you for the selfless service to our country. You are an amazing Marine, an amazing husband and an amazing father. 

Jennifer, you are an inspiration. You are stronger than any mother/wife I know. You have navigated first year motherhood with ease. You make it all look so easy. You have raised Reagan to be such a well mannered, bright little girl. I know Jason will be proud. 

I could not ask for a better Christmas gift for your family. We love you all and just wanted to say WELCOME HOME, JASON!!!

Happy Birthday Zach!

Happy Birthday to my big brother, Zach! I hope you have a wonderful birthday! 

Mason would like to say " Happy Birthday Uncle Zachy!"

Semi Wordless Wednesday: Visiting Santa

Well this year didn't go as well as last year but I fully expected it...

I even told the lady as we were walking up that he would cry but I still wanted a picture. She thanked me for being realistic. Ha ha. Too bad Santa's hand is covering Mason's adorable Lulu McGee shirt. Mason walked up and smiled at Santa and then freaked out when I sat him on his lap. After I picked him up he smiled again at Santa and waved bye. Oh sweet boy, one day you will LOVE Santa!

For a look back.. 2010

Amazing how fast they grow up!

How did your kid react to Santa?

A Child’s Ten Commandments to Parents

I originally found this on Facebook and then found the original source via pinterest. It was too good not to share and I will admit that I had a few tears in my eyes when I finished reading it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's a wonderful reminder! It makes me want to be a better mom every single day!

A Child's Ten Commandments to Parents by Dr. Kevin Leman

1. My hands are small; please don’t expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture, or throw a ball. My legs are short; please slow down so that I can keep up with you.

2. My eyes have not seen the world as yours have; please let me explore safely: don’t restrict me unnecessarily.

3. Housework will always be there. I’m only little such a short time—please take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world, and do so willingly.

4. My feelings are tender; please be sensitive to my needs; don’t nag me all day long. (You wouldn’t want to be nagged for your inquisitiveness.) Treat me as you would like to be treated.

5. I am a special gift from God; please treasure me as God intended you to do, holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by, and disciplining me in a loving manner.

6. I need your encouragement, but not your praise, to grow. Please go easy on the criticism; remember you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me.

7. Please give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail, so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then someday I’ll be prepared to make the kind of decisions life requires of me.

8. Please don’t do things over for me. Somehow that makes me feel that my efforts didn’t quite measure up to your expectations. I know it’s hard, but please don’t try to compare me with my brother or my sister.

9. Please don’t be afraid to leave for a weekend together.  Kids need vacations from parents, just as parents need vacations from kids. Besides, it’s a great way to show us kids that your marriage is very special.

10. Please take me to Sunday school and church regularly, setting a good example for me to follow. I enjoy learning more about God.

Emily Elrod Photography

Our 2011 Christmas Card

Today I am linking up with Faith for her annual Christmas Card Carousel ( a few days late!). Be sure to check out her blog and link up too!

Now that our cards have been mailed and most of the recipients should have received them, I can show them off! We love using Shutterfly for our cards and decided to use them again this year. Here is our 2011 card!

Front

Back

I love the look of black and white photos so we decided to use them this year. The family picture as well as the pictures on the back with Mason were taken by the lovely Emily Elrod Photography.

I am in love with our card this year!! It's perfect. It's just what we wanted.

Now, go link up on Faith's blog and show off your Christmas card!

Oh, What Fun It Is To... Decorate!

Today I am linking up with Erin at Blue Eyed Bride to show of our Christmas decorations.

If a 15 month old boy running loose in the house, we decided it was in our best interest and best for our sanity to keep our decor simple this year. 

Some things I didn't take pictures of include candles in all our front windows, our advent wreath on our dining room table, Christmas Wreath on the front door, Christmas flag as well as two Christmas decorations on the front porch. Perhaps when I have more than five minutes of free time, I will get around to taking pictures of these things. 

We finally have a fireplace! We didn't have one in our previous house so I was very excited to be able to hang our stockings on the mantle this year. Our stockings are from Pottery Barn and the pups stockings are from Home Goods.

One of my favorite pieces of our Christmas decor is our Nativity scene by Willow Tree. It was one of my Christmas gifts from my in-laws last year and I am in love with it!  

This year we decided to get our Christmas tree from a local place in town instead of driving to the mountains to cut our own down. We found a beautiful tree and we decorated it with all our fun ornaments that have sentimental value. Our tree skirt was handmade by one of Brian's aunts.

A few of my favorite ornaments...

1. My Baby's First Christmas Ornament from 1980. 2. Mason's First Christmas ornament 3. Hand woven star from Germany 4. Moravian Christmas Star 5. Moravian Advent wreath

One last decoration is the fun Rudolph pillow made by to talented momma,  Meredith. Mason loves to point to Rudolph. 

Like I said, we kept things simple this year but I love how festive and cheery our house looks and feels. 

Don't forget to link up with Erin today and showcase your Christmas decor!  

Now tell me, What are some of your favorite Christmas decorations?

Guest Posting at Love to the Moon

Today you can find me over here talking about one of our favorite Christmas traditions. Be sure to head over to Lindsey's blog and check out my post!

Thank you Lindsey for letting me be a guest on your blog today!

Oh, What Fun It Is To... Make Memories!

Today I'm linking up with AP at I Love You More Than Carrots (who I adore and think we share the same brain) to talk about our Christmas traditions and memories.

Since Mason is still young, we are still trying to establish our family traditions. Right now our traditions are a mix of ones carried over from each of our childhoods as well as new ones that we started as a family. I love mixing old with new.

Since Mason was born we always said that we would spend the night at our house on Christmas Eve and wake up on Christmas morning in our own home and experience Christmas morning through the eyes of our children. This is something that is so very important to us. We want to embrace and remember Christmas and spend time with it being just us.

A few of the memories/traditions we look forward to either establishing or continuing are:

1. Christmas Eve Love feast Service:  This is something I always remember attending as a child. It is the perfect way to get your mind right and your heart fulfilled in the love that is Christmas. While Christmas and the whole idea of Santa is fun for kids, we really want our children to know the true meaning of Christmas. We want to make sure that Jesus is always front and center.

2. Advent Calendar: What a wonderful way to count down to Christmas and the birth of Jesus!

3. Our Annual Christmas Card Photo: I love to send cards. Love it. I would send them for every holiday if I could. This is something that we will do for many years to come. And if you send me a photo card, you better believe I keep them! I have a box full of them!

4. 3 Gifts From Santa: Like I said, Jesus is the real reason for the season. And while we will also have Santa in our homes, the gifts will be limited. I love the idea of three gifts from Santa (like the gifts from the Three Wise men) for each child: something to wear, something to read and something to play with.

5. Annual Christmas Dinner: This is something we have done for the past three years and we really enjoying hosting it. We invited my family over sometime the week before Christmas and share a meal and reflect on the   past year. It's such a wonderful time for fellowship.

6. Elf on the Shelf: I was a little sad when I realized that Mason was too young to fully understand and grasp the idea this year. I look forward to bringing out Elf next year and letting Mason name him! I think it's a really fun and neat idea for kids and there are so many ideas/activities for your elf on pinterest!

7. Christmas PJs: I love this one! We don't do matchy-matchy but we do coordinate. I pick them out each year, wrap them and then Brian and Mason open them on Christmas Eve. We go to bed wearing them and wake up the next morning in our coordinating pjs and of course, take a family picture. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who is willing to go along with my ideas.

I love carrying on traditions while at the same time making new memories/traditions. I can't wait to see what new traditions we develop as a family in the years to come.

So tell me, what are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Movember Results

Source

Have you heard about Movember? October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and November is Movember. Taken directly from the site:

" During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men's faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men."

Brian decided to participate this year and I was very surprised that he went the whole month without shaving an area of his face. I was proud of him!

The Before: (taken Halloween night)

 And the Afters (taken the last night of November)

Good job, B! Such a great way to raise awareness for cancers that affect men. I'm proud of you. But I will admit, I was happy when he finally shaved!

Did any of the men in your life participate in Movember?

Baby M #2: 14 weeks (& 3 Days) Survey & Belly Shot

Please ignore the straight out of the shower hair.  Can you tell I'm carrying very low?

How Far Along: 14 weeks & 3 Days (as on Saturday when the bump picture was taken)

Size of baby: A Lemon! (About 3.5 inches long)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: -1, can't believe I actually lost a pound but I blame it on being sick. 

Maternity Clothes: Pants, Yes. Most of my shirts are still regular ones. I popped early with #2 so I've been in maternity pants since about 11 weeks. 

Gender: Don't know yet - Find out January 9!

Movement: Nothing yet. 

What I miss: Turkey sandwiches. 

Sleep: Decent. About as good as you can get when you are waking up to pee, trying to breathe (major congestion as of late) or getting up with your 15 month old. 

Symptoms: I haven't had morning sickness as bad as I did with Mason (Thank You, Lord!) but I do still gag every now and then. Especially the smell of Mason's Chik-nuggets. GAG ME! Poor Brian has to feed them to him when I am not around. 

Cravings: My cravings have been anything and everything. Sour things are my go to.. hello Sour Patch Kids! 

Best Moment this week: My appointment this past Friday and hearing that sweet baby heartbeat (164).  The Nuchal Translucency Screening Test came back normal. Thank you Lord for a healthy growing baby!

What we are looking forward to: Finding out the gender on January 9. Spending Christmas with sweet Mason and seeing Christmas through the eyes of your child is a wonderful experience. 

Introducing... Baby M #2 at 11 weeks! 

I didn't do these surveys when I was pregnant with Mason with the exception of one at 40 weeks so I am going to really try and take a picture each week and do a survey. Wish me luck!

Visit with the Smart Family

One of my dear friends, Sarah, recently relocated to Durham for her husbands job. I can not tell you how excited I am that they are finally closer to us! Sarah and I have been friend since elementary school and her oldest was one of our flower girls in our wedding. They recently welcomed their newest addition, Archer, into their lives so when the chance came for Mason and I to go visit them, we jumped on it.

Since Brian was out of town last weekend, we decided to make a little trip to Durham to meet Archer and visit with Sarah and the girls. Unfortunately, Bradley was at work so we didn't get a chance to hang out with him.

Mason had so much fun playing with Harper and Palmer while Archer was napping. The girls wore him out and he passed out on the ride home.

Harper

Palmer

Mason - those spots on his head.. the result of a face plant in our driveway!

Thank you Smart family for letting us come visit and meet Archer! We love y'all and Archer is adorable!

Wordless Wednesday: Our Thanksgiving