Um....where did 2008 go?

Man, time has flown this year. I've heard that time really starts to fly when you get older and I am definitely believing it. It seems like just yesterday that Jennifer and I were at the "after Christmas sale" at Peacocks in the Parlor and I picked up a sweet pair of baby reindeer booties and exclaimed "I have to get these!! Someone is BOUND to get pregnant this year.....". Little did I know that one month later that someone would be ME!! And that on April 2nd, that little pink line on the pregnancy test changed our lives forever!! It also seems like just yesterday that we were finding out that my dad's cancer had spread to his liver. A couple of weeks after I found out that I was pregnant, the doctor told us news that would also change our lives forever. It was terminal and he did not want to put my daddy through the chemo that would make him sick and still not get him better. Today is my dad's birthday, by the way. He would have been 72 and he would have loved this little boy who is a gift from God. This year has been hard. Really hard. I've lost someone I love so much and have been given someone I love so much. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Funny how that happens...So many people that I know seem to be going through a roller coaster year. This year has been filled with joyous new babies, deaths of parents, loss of babies, divorce, marriage, healing of sick babies, re commitments to loved ones....the list goes on and on. 2008 will definitely be the year that I feel I "grew up". So much has happened when I reflect on this year. I have made great new friends and become distant to some that I used to share so much with. I am so blessed beyond what I deserve....

 

After a long day gone from my boys, I arrived home to find the house unusually quiet....this is what I found in our bedroom. This is my favorite picture of all time!! Doesn't it just melt your heart?? Tom really is a wonderful daddy to Luke!

 
 


I LOVED the Santa Monkey outfit that my friend Alea got for Luke! It was too cute and I thought he looked adorable! Also, here is a pic of monk-monk (a new nickname...)asleep in his bouncy!

 
 


Here are some pictures from our family Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house! Awwww....

Where oh where have I been???

Hey all! So, it's been about 16 days since I last blogged (not that I'm counting!) and I figured I'd better get something on here! I know I get frustrated when people don't update ('cause, like I said before, I'm nosy) so I'd better get back to it! Here is a reader's digest version of life since we last talked:
~got my car fixed ($2200.00!!). We had to beg, steal, and borrow for that one! At least it's running now, but unfortunately something happened to my air when he replaced the transmission!! figures.....
~Luke's first Christmas was really good! He was so worn out by the end of the day's travels to various family that he rewarded mommy and daddy by puking on us...lots...like, the whole bottle! Think Linda Blair in the Exorcist!
~Speaking of monkey, he is now 12lbs. 10ozs!! Chunky, chunky, monkey!! His 3 month doctor visit went well and he is doing GREAT according to Dr. Gleason!
~My sweet husband surprised me this Christmas with a pair of diamond earrings! I was shocked!! He apparently had been putting a little back from his paycheck each week and even sold some of his computer parts to get them for me!! I totally do not deserve them because I have been a bit of a witch lately to him! In fact, right before he gave them to me, I was just railing on him and saying the most awful things because I was stressed out and ill. And of course, I take it out on him and I shouldn't! Now, though, he totally has something to hold over me, and he just LOVES that! The earrings are gorgeous, and I have been wanting some for a few years! Never shall they leave my ears.....
~I did some after Christmas shopping and got TONS of ornaments for next year's tree! It will be a white/silver/cream/clear tree next year. Tom said he wanted a "classy" tree! So, I also got a smaller tree ($10 at Wal-Mart for a six footer!!) to put in our kitchen that I will decorate "hodge podge"...you know, special and different ornaments and such...
~I have to go back to work the week after next, and I have to admit that I am very sad! I have been with monkey 24/7 and leaving him will be so hard! I might have to get his daddy to drop him off with his sitter because I just don't think I will be able to do it!!
~I am getting sick and it sucks.
~Courtney had her baby!! YAY!! Little Shelby is a beauty and I went to see her with Meg and Doreen. Shelby looks just like her mommy!! Click on "The Snuggs' family" to see pictures!
~I just found out some really sad news...My friend's(Meg) sister-in-law lost her baby today. I think she was around 25 weeks, so it is pretty devastating news. Please be in prayer for the Simmons' family (Emily, Casey, and Addy). This time of year will forever be hard for this family from now on and I can only hope that God gives them comfort. Little Audrey Snuggs now has baby Simmons for a playmate up in heaven...

Well, I have to go check on Monkey...He is squawking because he does not feel well! Six teaspoons of cereal in every bottle makes a very constipated little boy!! I've missed blogging and will post some pics soon!

Christmas Memories

Ok, so my friend Meg tagged everyone to share their Christmas memories/traditions. What a great idea...or so I thought! I realized quickly that I need to start up some traditions now that I am a mom. After reading Meg's I have decided that I have had pretty uneventful holidays while growing up! But, here's what I came up with...

1. I remember getting a baby stroller one year and I was so excited about it! However, after breakfast we all smelled plastic burning. The source of the smell was, you guessed it...my brand new stroller! We had one of those floor furnaces growing up and I had left it on there and the wheel melted to the heater grate! So sad...

2. Now a good one! I remember my sister and I getting adoption dolls! Mine was named Amanda Renee and she was a pre-cursor to the Cabbage Patch doll I got a few years later. (I was never into Barbie dolls - only baby dolls!)

3. My sister and I would get up sooooooo early on Christmas morning and BEG my momma and daddy to let us go ahead and open presents but every year they would say, "Wait until we have breakfast!". We would beg and plead and they always let us go ahead and tear into them!

4. In the past, our whole family would come over Christmas afternoon and eat lunch together. More recently, we have been doing a "family get together" a few days before and exchange presents. There are so many people in my family that we have to draw names (I am one of 8 kids and there are LOTS of grandkids!). We usually draw names at Thanksgiving.

5. My mother is the most difficult person on earth to buy a present for and she has always said she hated Christmas. Kinda a scrooge, but we all know and accept that about her! My daddy was the easiest person to buy for and he always LOVED Christmas!! This will be my first Christmas without him and it just won't be the same. He was like a kid opening presents and I will miss seeing his happy face on Christmas morning.

6. Tom and I do not buy presents for each other. We have always taken the money we would have spent and given to a needy family. This year, funds are very low thanks to a $2000 transmission, so we won't get to do it :(

7. Tom proposed to me during our family Christmas in 2005...so sweet!

8. I love scrawny, Charlie-Brown type Christmas trees with cheap tinsel and home-made ornaments. They are the best!

Now....everyone else post their Christmas memories because I am nosy and like to know these things!!

 


Introducing Chubby Cheeks!! Um, do they make slim-fast for babies?? He is PACKING on the pounds!!

 


Ok, I know he is mine, but is he not just stinkin' cute??

 


"WHASSUP UP????"

 


"I...can't...believe...I...ate...the...WHOLE...thing...!!!"

 


"Ummm, define naughty Santa...."

 


"Put the camera away, Mommy!! I'm OVER it!!"

 

"Why are you forcing me to look like an elf?" (more pics on next page)

 

 

 

 

World's cutest Christmas baby!! He's so stinkin' cute! I'm starting to dress him in his super cute Christmas outfits!

 

 

Here is Monkey with his Daddy on the recliner! And here is sweet Sojo looking oh so cute and hoping her daddy will give her a bite of the chocolate cake he was eating!

Zantac bound

Well, the doc decided to put lil' Lukester on medicine yesterday. I guess I'm ok with it...I mean, the past couple of weeks have been super hard on him and me! His tummyaches, gas, constipation, diarrhea, spitting up, etc. finally got the best of me and I called and said "Ok, we have tried cereal and no cereal...He is miserable and I really need something to give!" So, they called in a prescription of Zantac and told me to continue with his cereal and add some dark Karo syrup in his bottle a couple of times a day (so he can poop. So, currently, this is how we do his bottles: 1 teaspoon of cereal per oz. of formula for every bottle, .7ml of Zantac 2 times a day 20 min. before he eats, 1 teaspoon of Karo in a bottle 2 times a day, .5ml of poly-vitamins in bottle once a day, and mylicon gas drops in his bottle as needed! Whew! It's crazy! But if this will make him feel better, I'll do it! Also, I'm struggling with him getting his days and nights mixed up. He is WIDE awake between 3 and 6 in the morning and he crashes all day! This makes for a very tired mommy! I am also gonna TRY to get him to sleep in his pack-n-play bassinet and not with me on our big chair! I tried last night, but it only lasted about an hour and a half before I had him back in the living room and asleep with me on the chair. It's so strange...it's like he wouldn't get into a deep sleep in his bassinet. He was kinda asleep but then would cry for a few seconds without opening his eyes. Then back to sleep. Then he would repeat it....Could this be his belly hurting? He never does this when he sleeps with me. Is is too early to just let him cry a little? I have a feeling that we will have some sleepless nights ahead of us! Any suggestions....send them my way! I really want him to sleep by himself!! I am missing my new comfy bed but I also love the security of him right next to me. Well, we finally got a rental car! Yay! I am free to leave the house again! The transmission in my car is shot and we have to get another put in. Who would have thought that one hole in the road could cause sooooo much damage? Supposedly, it was a freak thing that happened to my wheel where is was air-born for a split second, caused it to keep spinning and threw a gear in my transmission! Ick. On a happy note, some friends of ours got to take their little one home from the NICU yesterday after 10 long weeks! YAY! Morgan and Matt finally got to take Paisley, Luke's future wife, home and I know they are so happy! I'm happy for them! It has been a long road for them but Miss P. is gonna do great! Morgan has a blog you can link to from mine - it is named The Eddy's. I don't think she has had a chance to update yet, but you can see pics of her beautiful little one on there! Hope everyone has a good night! Say a prayer that I can get Luke into that bassinet tonight!