Catching up with the Cullens

Days 30-32

2012-02-01T14:09:00.000-06:00

I walked in after cleaning up from dinner and found Jon and Carter having a ball. Carter was literally belly laughing at his daddy!

Carter enjoyed his first chocolate chocolate chip muffin!

Carters adorable pants I got on clearance for $2.99! :)

soapbox....

2012-01-30T11:48:00.000-06:00

Today as I sit and watch Carter eat and watch Mickey I just can't stop and thank God for such an amazing gift. Yes, the last week while Carter was up at least 4 times a night was extremely difficult, but I wouldn't trade these days for ANYTHING.

Watching him grow each day and learn something every day just amazes me. I am SO blessed to be able to stay home with him. I wouldn't want anyone else watching him all day. I am his MOM and that is MY job. I recently had THIS very conversation with someone at a baby shower a few weeks ago. We both agreed that anyone can be a stay at home Mom if they want to. SO many people say they can't afford it, but I am here to tell you, IT CAN BE DONE. It is WORK, HARD WORK, but it is possible. You just have to have a major lifestyle change. Dave Ramsey has been it for us. I griped, moaned and GROANED when Jon said it was time to be back on it. BUT, oh my gosh, its amazing how much $$$$$$ we save when we live on a budget. We know where every penny is going. And we don't have a SINGLE credit card. So, we can't HIDE purchases from one another and that way we can't live outside our means. Seriously, Dave Ramsey can change your life. Check him out!

Jon and I toyed with the idea of putting him in Mother's Day out in the fall, but have pretty much "xed" that idea. For one thing its EXPENSIVE to do it! AND the main reason is...I know it's crazy, but I just don't think I can leave him for that long yet. I know it's only 4 hours and I could use the break, BUT, I just LOVE our routine that we have going. We have a great schedule and it's not like he is bad to take anywhere. In fact, I love getting out with him. I can't wait until its the Spring time and we can go to the park. I think he is going to LOVE it. He already loves to ride in his stroller outside, so I know he will love the swings at the park! :)......Sure, maybe this time next year he will need it for the socialization, but until then he is mine. :)

Anyways, thats my soapbox for the day. :)

Day 21-29 of 365

2012-01-30T11:16:00.000-06:00

We LOVE to make homemade pizzas! Jon makes the best!

I ADORE this picture of Carter. Doing what little boys do...play with CARS!

Carter was falling asleep in his highchair watching Mickey Mouse!

We have LOVED this spring like weather lately!

Chi and GranJan! Carter and I went and spent a few days while Dad was in Jamaica. :)

Carter in all his glory...GranJans TOYS!

Carter and Laura. <3 <3 <3

It won't let me rotate my picture!!! WHY?!?! AHH, oh well..I LOVE living in the "Rocket City!"

That bib says it all! HA! Here is Carter enjoying Strawberries and cool whip!

Day 18, 19 and 20 of 365

2012-01-20T13:17:00.000-06:00

Jon's Mom gave us a heated blanket for Christmas. Not sure who is enjoying it more. Me or Mr.Wiggles?? :)

Jon's brother, Jeff, gave Carter this super cute hat and shirt for Christmas. Carter was NOT in the mood to have his picture taken, but I did it anyways!


And my latest obsession. This picture of Carter. Taken on a fluke. I mean just in LOVE with it.

Philippians 4:6

2012-01-17T13:07:00.001-06:00

Today I am reminded by Philippans 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

I joined a Mother of young children Bible study at Asbury today. I will be the first to tell you. I was ANXIOUS. Almost to the point of having an anxiety attack about leaving him. I had NIGHTMARES last night and my stomach was in knots until we left. I tried to find every reason under the sun NOT to go, but kept repeating Philippans 4:6 to myself over and over.

I texted my Mom all morning and she kept encouraging me to go. Especially since I had already told the leaders I would be there. She told me I had to give it ONE shot. And if I didn't like it I didn't have to go back.

Reluctantly I got myself ready and WOKE Carter up form his nap to go. I got there and dropped Carter off. My first time to leave him for an hour with complete strangers to him. I know that now is the time for him to get some socialization, but I was still nervous about leaving him.

Of course, Carter did great and OF COURSE the Bible Study was JUST what I needed. I feel SO thankful for my Mom for encouraging me to GO and not let the devil get in my way. The ladies leading the group are such GODLY Christian Wives and Mothers something I STRIVE to do and hope to learn LOTS and LOTS from them. Bringing Carter up in a Christian home is absolutely the most important thing to me. SO, I need all the advice and support I can get from these women.

Here is my 365 picture from today:

I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks. I know it will be a weekly struggle to get there. BUT, I refuse to let Carters nap, being sick or just lazy keep me from getting there. Those are just bad excuses and the devil keeping me from hearing what I need to hear.

Thank you, GOD, for putting these amazing women in my life. I can't wait to see how I am changed. You are my potter, I pray you will MOLD me into the Christian wife and mother you want me to be.

365 Catch up and a Baby shower!

2012-01-16T21:56:00.000-06:00

First things first! :) My Project 365 for the past 4 days!

We hosted a shower for my cousin Laura on Sunday. Here is the UNFINISHED banner..

Here was my first ever attempt at a diaper cake for Laura's shower!

The FINISHED banner! :) (I made the onesies, too!)


FINALLY after 9 months, I decided it was time I put a picture in this frame! It has been hanging on Carters with a picture of another baby in it! HAHAHAH!!

Now, here are some pictures from Laura's fun shower. Everything was so cute. She got some really cute things. I can't wait to meet sweet baby Jake. Not too much longer now! :)

LOVE this!

CUTEST DOOR SIGN EVER!!!!!


Carter has these jammies and we LOVE them!!

We had such a fun/fast weekend! I hope Laura had as much fun at her shower as we did planning and making things for it. :)

Day 11 and 12 of 365

2012-01-12T13:14:00.000-06:00

Happy 9 Month Old handsome boy!


Today we took Carter to the Dr for his 9 month check up. His stats are: 23 pounds 6 oz and 28 inches long! Getting to be a big boy!!!!

Happy 9 Months, my sweet boy

2012-01-11T12:43:00.000-06:00

I simply can NOT believe that today my sweet boy turned 9 months old. I can honestly say that I have NO idea where those 9 months have gone. I feel like a broken record because that's all I talk about. But, it really is just CRAZY how time has just FLOWN.
I feel like in the last month Carter has really grown up. Lots of things happened in his 8 month. He began to crawl and pull up. He is ALL over the place these days. I am not able to keep my eyes off of him for 2 seconds. Yes, he is a naughty little monkey sometimes! HA! :)
The other day he stood up with NO help and stood there for a good 5 seconds. I think he is going to be an early walker. Not sure how I feel about that!!!! Although I am not sure how much more my back can handle. HA! So, I may need him to walk sooner than later. :)
He is SO independent. He wants to do things HIMSELF. That includes eating. He won't hardly let me spoon feed him anything. He wants to use his hands and do it himself.
He is also very determined. NOT sure how that's going to be when he is a 2 year old. My Mom looked at me the other day and said, "hes going to get a lot of spankings when he is older." HAHAH. NAUGHTY little thing, I tell ya!
Tomorrow we go to the doctor for our 9 month check up. Can't wait to see how much he has grown since his 6 month appointment. (Which I feel like was just yesterday!)
Here are some pictures I snapped of him. (These are not my 365 pictures!)

Sweet book from Nana and Pappy!

Love these two boys!

Remembered me saying he was determined....

Look at the back of his hair! Curling up!

My HANDSOME 9 Month Old!!!

STUCK!

CURLS!!!

My sweet sweet Carter,
Everyday I fall more and more in love with you. You are such an amazing little critter. You are always studying and looking at things. I think you are going be a computer nerd just like your daddy. HA! :)
Even though you can be very naughty, you have the CUTEST personality and are 99.99% of the time SMILING and LAUGHING.
I love you more than anything in this world, sweet angel!

Day 10 of 365

2012-01-10T19:57:00.000-06:00

Tonight after dinner, we were having our usual play time before bath. Jon sat down with Carter on the floor and began to ~~read~~ listen to the book that Nana and Pappy made for Carter. SO sweet. Carter is really starting to get into books now.

I have also started using another website to upload my pictures on daily. SO, I might be doing that one more than this one. Here is the link to follow us!
http://365project.org/thecullenfamily/365

Day 9 of 365

2012-01-10T10:11:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure yesterday could have been any better. Why you ask? Because not only did Alabama show up to play football last night, they showed up and SHUT OUT LSWHO. To all the haters, keep hating. It just makes us that more fired up!
And if you honestly believe in your heart that #14 (NOT #9) isn't as SPECIAL as your 2 than that's just pathetic. Just shows our domination. And once again we can't help it that ALL WE DO IS WIN WIN WIN NO MATTER WHAT WHAT WHAT!
ROLL TIDE BOYS! SO incredibly proud of y'all and what you accomplished this season!

And just for fun!

Day 8 of 365

2012-01-09T14:17:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had a pretty down day. We did go to church and took Carter to the nursery. They said he did really good. I was so proud. :)
Here is my Day 8 of 365 picture for the day. Carter did NOT want to go to bed last night. Here he was standing up, screaming, trying to get me to get him out!

HOPEFULLY tonight we will have a ROLL TIDE 365 Picture for everyone!

Day 7 of 365

2012-01-07T21:08:00.001-06:00

Today was such a fun day! Since we don't have long on our lease in our apartment, we decided it was time to start looking for a new place to live. Today we went out and about to look. We compiled a list and began our trek from Madison to Huntsville.

We found some great houses and well, some SKETCHTASTIC houses as Jon and I like to say! :)

Our FAVORITE area is Jones Valley in Huntsville. We stumbled upon it. It was love at first sight for me. Its just beautiful. Lots of trees and quiet. MY kind of neighborhood.

Here is our Day 7 of 365 (or as Jon has reminded me 366 since its a LEAP YEAR this year!)

Hopefully soon we will be posting a 365 picture of our ~~new~~ old house! :)

Day 6 of 365

2012-01-06T21:18:00.000-06:00

I don't tell my hubby enough just how proud I am of him. SO, this blog and TODAY we will be just that. :)
Jon, YOU are the MOST amazing Daddy. You are SO patient with Carter and sweet with him. You melt my heart when I see you interact with him. He is already 110% obsessed with you. I love to watch him when you come home. He hears your voice and will stop what he is doing to look and see what you are doing. Soooooooo sweet.
You know that you are giving me THE best job I could ever have. YES, it's the HARDEST job I will ever have, but I am forever thankful for the sacrifices you make to make that dream happen for me.
Since Octoberish we have been on pins and needles thinking we maybe moving to Atlanta. We were excited, yet scared about this new endeavor we were about to embark on. We halted plans on our house that we were building and began to plan for our future in Atlanta.
Today we found out that Jon will be STAYING in Madison!!!!!!!!!!!! This is THE greatest news we could have gotten. We feel "established" here and feel like this HOME now. Finally!
So now we get to start looking for houses again. Something I am really excited about. We don't have long because our lease expires in March, but I know God is going to help us find the most perfect house.

I adore this picture!


Now we can all see where Carter gets his LONG eyelashes!

Days 3,4 and 5 of 365

2012-01-05T09:06:00.000-06:00

I am really enjoying the 365 project so far. Actually, I'm not sure who is enjoying it more..me or Jon! He asks me everyday, "Have you done it?! Which picture are you using?!"

Here is Day 3.
We had a pretty low key day. We stayed home and got caught up on some much needed housework. That night we put him in the tub and he was being ULTRA cute. I had already taken my 365 picture, but these definitely won out!


3/365 My current favorite picture of Carter!

Carter has THE longest eyelashes!

Learning to pull up in the bath tub!


I did it!

Yesterday my friend Kimberly asked if I wanted to join her and her friend and their babies at the mall. I was BEYOND ready to "break free" of this apartment so I joined them!

Of course, I had only been to this mall 2 times, so I missed my EXIT and then got lost trying to find the food court. Sometimes I wonder if I really am blond. HAHA :)

We had a great time and it was nice to have some "adult" conversation. Of course, it was mostly about babies, but we wouldn't have it any other way!


Here are our 3 sweet boys! Carter (almost 9 months), Isaac (8 Months) and Rowson (7 months!) (not the greatest quality as it was taken with my phone!)

This morning I was trying to work on my photos and edit them. I brought all of my stuff and set it up in Carters room. He was playing with his toys until he saw me with my computer. It was all OVER from then on! :) It was too funny not to be my 365 picture!

I think he is going to be a computer guru like his daddy! :)

This afternoon we are going over to have play date with Isaac. I will take some pictures of post them this afternoon! :)

Project 365!

2012-01-02T15:15:00.007-06:00

My Mom has convinced me to start the 365 project! :) I am SO excited about it. She tried to get me to start it last year, but I was too lazy. HA. Actually, I wish I had. Its amazing how much Carter has grown in this first year.

Mom gave us all scrapbooks from her 365 project last year. A gift I will cherish forever.
HEre are my first 2 days! :) I will be better about blogging this year. And doing this project will help me be better with it! :)

Here is day 1!
January 1, 2012
Carter is 8 1/2 months.

January 2, 2012-
I gave Jon a SODASTREAM in effort to save money on drinks. Between the two of us we can put down some sodas!

Picture update!

2011-12-15T14:59:00.006-06:00

Well, its been a million years since I've had the time to sit down and blog.

Carter is every where these days! He turned 8 months old a few days ago. I seriously do NOT know where the last 8 months have gone. Its crazy to think that in just 4 months I will have a ONE YEAR OLD. BOOHOOOHOOOO. :(

Carter is SO fun these days. His little personality and smile just MELT my heart. There is nothing I love more than getting him up from his nap and seeing him smile when he sees me. He is a mommas boy and I LOVE it. I know it won't be much longer that he will be all about his DADDY, so I am taking it and soaking it in while I can. :) Love that lil monkey more than anything.

Here are some recent pictures of my handsome fella..

Carter with Santa for our shoot with Amanda Traywick :)

wordless wednesday

2011-12-14T09:41:00.002-06:00

Poor Monkey

2011-11-03T13:10:00.002-05:00

My poor little monkey had to have a minor surgery on Monday. He had tubes put in. Poor baby had a DOUBLE ear infection for over a month. None of the antibiotics worked on him. The last time we took him to the pediatrician, he said it was time to see an ENT.

Everything happened with it SO fast. We saw my doctor on Wednesday and the ENT on thursday and by Friday we had his surgery scheduled for EARLY Monday morning. Monday couldn't get here quick enough. Sunday night was miserable. He couldn't have anything to eat passed midnight. He still eats at about 3 am. Well, when he wanted to nurse and there was nothing I could, I felt TERRIBLE. Lets just say, I owe all my neighbors a CAKE. I'm sure they were all up with us. From 3 until we left to the surgery center at 5:30 he screamed. I felt SO helpless and SO bad for him. He was STARVING and in pain.

I was so thankful to Jons Mom and Step dad (G and Grandpa) for coming up for the surgery. My Mom wasn't able to come, so it meant a LOT they would get up as early as they did to be with us. Even though it was a minor surgery, my baby had to be put to sleep. Which made me EXTRA nervous. When they took him back, I *almost* cried, but was able to hold it together. I knew he was in great hands.

No more than 15 minutes later was he DONE and ready to EAT. God LOVE him. He was SO pitiful when they brought him to me. All discombobulated. I could hear him coming down the HALL. HAHA! I was SO ready to hold my boo and nurse him. He couldn't eat quick enough. :) (even G and Grandpa said they heard him in the waiting room!!!)

He has done SO much better since getting the tubes. I am so thankful that it was such a quick and easy process.

Thank you to those who have callled, texted or sent an email to let us know you were thinking and praying for us. Its nice to know who all is there for you when you need them.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T14:48:00.001-05:00

M-i-c....

2011-10-15T15:49:00.003-05:00

SEE YOU REAL soon...K...E...Y...WHY........BECAUSE WE'RE HEADING TO DISNEY!!!!!! :)

We are actually heading to Orlando on Friday so we can see KELLEY and RYDER!!!!!!! YAY! :) Kelley is visiting her parents and we decided to make an impromptu trip down to Orlando.

and it gave us a GREAT excuse to introduce Carter to MICKEY MOUSE! :)

Me, Carter, GranJan, Natalie, Brad, Kemp and Daisy are all heading down on Friday! (Jon just got back from Switzerland for work so he is staying back!) We haven't told Kemp or Daisy yet. We are going to tell them on the way! YES, it will be videoed! I can't wait to see his reaction. We went last year and had a BALL. I LOVE Disney World.

Carter is INTRIGUED whenever Mickey Mouse is on TV, so I have a feeling he will too. We may become "that" family that goes every year! HA! :)
We are going to the "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" Sunday night. It is my most favorite thing to do! Jon and I went for our Honeymoon and just loved it. Last year when we went I took Kemp for his Birthday. He LOVES Halloween anyway so I just knew he would be beside himself. He was and I can't WAIT to see his face when we tell him we are going back! :)

**Carter is FINALLY feeling better. After my last post, Carter began projectile vomiting so I rushed him to the doctor. Poor baby is allergic to penicillin like his mommy. They were glad they changed his medicine because the other hadn't done a thing for his ears. He will probably be a candidate for tubes. I definitely think he could benefit from them. 2 terrible ear infections and he just turned 6 months. Just thankful that's all it is and not something else. We are so blessed.**

Well, I probably won't update until we get back. My next blog will be filled with pictures of DISNEY!!!!

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU KELLEY AND RYDER!!!!!!! Love yall!!!

Blessings!

Happy 6 Months, my boo!

2011-10-12T13:12:00.003-05:00

I can NOT believe that it has been 6 months since my sweet boy has been born! Where did the last 6 months go????????? They went tooooo fast thats for sure!!!

Carter has been dealing with an ear infection for the past few weeks! :( We went back on Monday to see if it was gone and not only had it COME BACK, but it was in BOTH ears. Poor little thing. Never would have known, because he has been SO sweet. Even at night he has been fine! So glad I didn't cancel the appointment like I had thought about doing thinking he was fine.

This morning he woke up and had a RASH all over his little tummy. I was heading out the door to meet my friend Monica when I noticed it. Her hubby is a doctor, so I figured I would ask her about it. She took one look and said "call your doctor and see what they say." Sure enough, he's having an allergic reaction to his antibiotic. Poor kid. He can't catch a break! They told me to give him a 1/2 teaspoon of children bendaryl, give him another dose of his antibiotic and see what happens. If the rash comes back, they will take him off of it and go from there. Poor thing.

We had fun while we could with my friend Monica and her adorable baby girl Nora. Monica and I were friends at Faulkner and both ended up in Huntsville. It was so fun to catch up with her and meet Nora. :)

At 6 Months Mr. Carter: You weigh 20 POUNDS. BIG boy. You OBVIOUSLY love food, you gave 2 teeth, can sit up ALL BY YOURSELF, your trying to crawl, still love to nurse, have a new found interest in Wiggles (which makes me a little nervous!), LOVE to watch other kids and LAUGH and "talk" to them.

I know I am your Mommy, BUT, LITERALLY every where we go someone stops me and says what a beautiful baby boy you are. It makes my heart smile SO big. Of course, I think you are the cutest thing EVER, but to hear complete STRANGERS say it makes my day.

Sweet Baby,
You are growing tooooooooooo fast. Can you slow down just a bit please?!?! Everyday I fall in love with you more and more. I am SUCH a proud Mommy. Being your Mommy is the best job I could ever ask for. Thanks for making a Mom. I love you more than anything!

Splish, Splash...

2011-10-06T14:49:00.004-05:00

.......Carter was taking a BATH! :) One thing is for certain. My baby LOVES the bath tub. He LOVES the water. Going to be a little water baby that's for sure!

Check out the pictures below!

All about JON! :)

2011-10-02T19:13:00.007-05:00

In Honor of our upcoming 3 Wedding Anniversary, I decided to do a little survey on the man behind the blog!

1. Who is your man? Jonathan Christoper Cullen

2. How long have you been together? a total of 9 years! 3 years married!

3. How long dated? We dated for a total of 6 years before we were married!

4. How old is your man? 27

5. Who eats more? without a doubt--HIM!

6. Who said “I love you” first? LOL! I can remember it like it was yesterday. Silly high school. I sent him a text that said "I wuv you" and he sent me one back that said "I love you too!" AWE :)

7. Who is taller? Jon

8. Who sings better? um..neither

9. Who is smarter? without a doubt...JON

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine

11. Who does the laundry? I do all the laundry, fold, and put away but he HANGS it all!

12. Who takes out the garbage? That would be JON! I don't do garbage!

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

14. Who pays the bills? That would be Jon. I don't do bank account stuff!

15. Who is better with the computer? Well, obviously Jon! That's what he does for a living

16. Who mows the lawn? The lawn people at our apartment. LOL! :) Once we get our HOUSE built, he will tho!

17. Who cooks dinner? We take turns!

18. Who drives when you are together? He won't let me drive! LOLOLOL!

19. Who pays when you go out? He does, but it comes out of the same account regardless!

20. Who is most stubborn? Oh Lord. Both of us are pretty hard headed.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? ME

22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine

23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first

24. Who asked who out? Technically, I guess I did! LOL! :0) I needed a date to Sadie Hawkins, but was tooooooo shy to ask anyone. Our friends played cupid and set us up. :0) 9 years later, here we are!

25. Who proposed? He did- ask him about the bats!♥

26. Who is more sensitive? Me

27. Who has more friends? Him

28. Who has more siblings? Me

29. Who wears the pants in the family? We both do

30. How did you meet? Well, kinda explained it earlier. BUT, I met him standing in my friends living room. As crazy as it sounds, it felt like I had known him my whole life after only knowing him for 5 minutes!

To Jon,
YOU are the LOVE of my life. I am SO thankful that you said "YES" to our date 9 years ago and that you said "I DO" 3 years ago.
We have certainly had our ups and downs in our relationship, including a job loss less than 6 months into our marriage. But, we learned to lean on each other and more importantly lean on GOD.
Of course, we were blessed with the most beautiful baby boy anyone could ask for. Yes, he looks just like you. The way you are with him just melts my heart. You are such an amazing daddy. There was no question you would be!
I can't thank you enough for giving me the best job. Staying at home with Carter is the BEST job ever. Thank you for the sacrifices you make in order for it to happen.
Of course, there is one small thing wrong with you. Your a stinky auburn fan. BUT, the NICEST auburn fan I know. Saturdays wouldn't be the same if we both cheered for the same school! And we both know its all in good fun. BUT, we all know who Carter is going to cheer for.....RAMMER JAMMER! :)
I love you more than anything in this world, Jon Cullen. Thank you for choosing me to be your wife. Thank you for putting up with me on daily basis. You make me the happiest girl in this world.
Here's to the next 50 years together!

Sittin' like a BIG boy!

2011-10-02T12:45:00.004-05:00

We have SUCH a BIG boy on our hands!!
Carter is officially sitting up!!!! I can't believe it! He is so proud of himself and thinks he's SOOOO big now! :)
On Friday, he got up on all fours and rocked. Yeah, we're going to have a crawler in the house VERY soon! (We have a VERY determined child on our hands! Which maybe a bad thing when he's about 2! HA!)
All of this done before he was 6 months old! Way to go sweet boy, but can you slow down a bit? I want my BABY back! Your growing tooooooooo fast, Mr. Carter!
Its so amazing to watch you learn something new everyday.
I love you more than anything in this world!

Praise Baby

2011-09-29T18:00:00.004-05:00

Ever since Carter has been a wittle bitty baby he has LOVED Praise and Worship music. Especially the Praise Baby Collection. If he is screaming, we can turn on his music and he will instantly calm down. No one ever believes me when I say it, but he does.

Well, I remembered that Kemp LOVED the Praise Baby DVDs, so I asked Natalie if she had those I could borrow. She did and Carter is in LOVE with them. GranJan had to go find some more of them because we have watched them so much they are SCRATCHED!!

2 nights ago we had a pretty rough night. Carter was up every 30-45 minutes SCREAMING in pain. I have never heard him scream like he did. And he wouldn't eat. And if you know Carter, then you understand. The boy loves to nurse and he wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with it. Unfortunately, we are here in Birmingham and I didn't quite know what to do. I kept telling myself over and over again, "If we can make it until the morning, Ill take him somewhere as soon as they open!"

My Mom suggested Dr.Marshall, which is who I used for my primary care doctor before I moved to Huntsville. He is SUCH a SWEET/CARING doctor. The nurses and the ladies in the office are always so sweet. So there was no question where I would be taking him!

We took him in and literally when I say they had a FIT over him. THEY.HAD.A.FIT. :) I mean, he is the cutest thing I've ever seen, but to hear other people say it makes my heart so happy. He was smiling and laughing the whole time we were waiting for the doctor. I was afraid I was going to be made out to be a liar AGAIN by the little man! HA.

Dr.Marshall came in and Carter started to have a COMPLETE and TOTAL melt down!!!! Dr. Marshall took one look in his ear and said "IT'S VERY RED!" Poor baby has his first ear infection. No wonder he couldn't sleep and didn't want to be laid down.

I am SO thankful to Dr.Marshall and his staff for getting us in and helping my sweet boy to feel better.

Last night was a bit rough, but I could definitely tell the medicine was helping. He was up about every hour or so just wailing. Poor baby was in so much pain. It broke his Mamas little heart.

My sweet/amazing Mom came and got him around 3 am to help. She took him for about an hour so I could get some sleep. I took him about until about 6 and then she took over. I couldn't be more thankful to her.

She put on Praise Baby and in the midst of him being sick, he watched it. And cried when the credits rolled.

I really think that Carter is going to be a Praise and Worship leader when he is older. I hope that he gets some singing talents from his Aunt Nat Nat. Because nothing would make me prouder than to hear him sing praise and worship.

Here are some pictures of him from this morning...

mmmm mmmm mumm mumm!

2011-09-27T16:59:00.004-05:00

Since my BIG boy has teeth, I was trying to think of something he could eat to teach him to feed himself. After doing lots of research I found the Baby Mum Mums.
I looked online and it said our local Wal-Mart had them in stock. So I waited for Carter to wake up from his nap and headed to Wal-Mart. I got alllll the way down there ONLY for them OUT. I was so disappointed. I decided to ask the girl that works in that department if she would PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE go to the back and get me a couple of boxes. She was so sweet and went to the back and came back with 2 boxes for me! I couldn't wait to get home to try them out!

We got home, I stuck Carter in his highchair (that MOM and I put together-another blog another day!), and decided to try one out. Oh my goodness. He knew what to do IMMEDIATELY! He picked up the wafer, took it to his mouth and it was love at first taste. That boy has eaten two of them in about 5 minutes. They are SO neat. They MELT the minute they get in his mouth and helps him learn to feed himself.

Check out the pictures below of Carters first bite of Mum Mums!

Yes, I'm a HIPPIE!

2011-09-22T19:34:00.008-05:00

Just call me a hippie. HA! I am a nursin', baby wearin', cloth diaperin', food makin' mommy! :) I NEVER thought I would be ANY of those things! (well, I always knew I would NURSE- just not the others! LOL!)

I started cloth diapering him about 2-3 months ago and I LOVE it. :) It's not as gross as everyone thinks and boy does it save us money. Jon even likes the cloths, which is funny to me. The diapers are simply adorable and sometimes we just wear a tee shirt and cloth diaper when we are at home! :)

Just today I broke down and bought the ERGObaby carrier. OH.MY.GOSH. Where was this thing the past 5 months? I had it for 2 seconds before it was out of the box and I was wearing Carter. He seemed to really enjoy it as well! :) It sure makes life so much easier for me. I had a regular carrier, but it is NOTHING to compare to this one. This one you can wear up to 40lbs, so I figure he will be able to wear it for a while. Not to mention our next few (yes, few..LOL!) babies will be able to wear it. It was definitely an investment.

For my Birthday my Mom and Charlene gave me the same gift! A Baby Bullet! Funny, I must have dropped a LOT of hints for it.LOLOLOL! :) Anyways, the Baby Bullet is AH-MAZING!
I have SO enjoyed making Carters food. The Baby Bullet is SO easy to use. I HIGHLY recommend it! :) Carter is definitely a growing boy, so solids are a MUST for him. We eat 3 meals a day and still nurse about 4-5 times a day. :)

So far we have tried the following foods:
Avocado- Carter LOVES it
Sweet Peas- NOT a fan
Carrot- LIKES (not LOVES) them
Apples- LOVES LOVES LOVES
Spinach- Lets just say I threw out a weeks worth..LOL
Bananas- LOVE
Sweet Potatoes- LOVES LOVES LOVES
White Acorn Squash- LOVES LOVES LOVES

I have found that Carter has a food allergy to plain white rice cereal. We have to use brown rice for him. The other totally upsets his tummy and he gets a bit of a rash.

The past 5 months have been nothing short of amazing. Hard at times. But there is nothing greater than being a mommy. Let me reword that...There is nothing GREATER than being a MOMMY to a LITTLE MONKEY!!!!!

just an update!

2011-09-18T19:09:00.002-05:00

So, its been a while since my last post! Not toooo much has happened! :)

Jon found out last week he is going to SWITZERLAND in 1 1/2 weeks for work. All expense paid trip. Can we say LUCKY?! I am very jealous, but happy that he is getting to go! And its for work, so there won't be much time to play. (or so he says! LOL!)

Carter had been REALLY fussy the past few weeks. Well lets be honest, since July. Poor baby. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. I had taken him to the doctor back in August and they said he looked perfect. I liked to call that our "social" visit to the doctor. Well, he seemed to get fussier and fussier and the worst was at night time. After 3 nights of literal NO sleep, I decided to take him back in. Come to find out my sweet boy has GERD (acid reflux) and that's what has caused all of his pain and no sleep. We were prescribed Zantac and oh my goodness, what a DIFFERENCE! He is like a totally different child. He is now sleeping in his OWN bed from 7pm-4am with a little "breakfast" as I like to call it, then back to sleep in his bed from about 4:30-7! :) I am AMAZED and so THANKFUL to our pediatrician for finding out what was wrong with our sweet baby. :)

I have been having some tummy issues ever since my gallbladder surgery. I've lost down to 20 pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight, which concerned the surgeon. He put me on some medicine, which doesn't seem to be doing one thing. I am hoping and praying that it will kick in. The not being able to eat anything is just horrible. (the weight loss is fine with me, tho!) If this stuff doesn't work, they want me to go to the GI for more testing. YIKES. So, please say a prayer that it will start working and that I will start to feel better. :) (and actually able to EAT!)

Anyway, just a quick update. Next one will be about the BABY FOOD I've been making! :)

Such a big boy!

2011-09-08T16:51:00.004-05:00

Today I decided to try Carter in his "jumparoo!" He LOVED it!!
Here he is jumping!

Weekend recap!

2011-09-06T13:45:00.003-05:00

I can't believe next Monday, Carter will be 5 months old!!!!! Where have the past 5 months gone, seriously?!? Everyone told me to soak it in because it would go fast, but I didn't know it would go THIS fast!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a growing little BOY on our hands. Over the past week our sweet boy has started rolling ALL over my den. I can't keep him on his pallet anymore! He rolls from one side of the room to the next. I can't believe he has mastered rolling back to stomach, stomach to back all before being 5 months old. He is one determined little boy! Not only is he rolling, but...
he CUT 2 TEETH this weekend!!!!! The doctor told us last time we were at his check up it wouldn't be long. I didn't think it would be this quick tho!! Poor thing, I wondered why he was so fussy and it all makes sense. Its like 2 little razor blades on his bottom gums! The boy is ready for FOOD! HA! :)

We enjoyed spending the past few days with Ryder and Kelley. The last time I saw Ryder he was barely even 2 weeks old! Now he is 4 months. And boy do they change so much in those first few months. I loved being able to snuggle and cuddle with him. He is such a sweet baby boy. I so wish that he was here to be Carter's buddy. I know they would be best of friends and probably get in LOTS of trouble, too! HA! :) I definitely cried when I told Ryder good bye. It will be after Christmas before I see them again and it makes my heart VERY sad. Kelley and I have got to figure out the 2 hour difference so we let our boys skype each other! :)

We also spent Saturday night with G and Grandpa. (Jons mom and step dad!) They are keeping him again for us on Saturday so we can go to a wedding. It will be the longest I will be without my little man. (other than my gallbladder surgery!) I am sure going to miss him and I'm sure Ill be wanting to get home ASAP! :) (but, it will be nice to be able to have a "date" with Jon!)

Here are some pictures that I took of Carter this morning! He is growing SO fast that I don't think he is going to be able to wear any of the clothes I got him for the fall! I am glad it was "chilly" today to at least put him in some of it!

Well, baby boy just woke up from his nap! Better run!!

Have a great week,

RTR!

2011-08-30T16:07:00.002-05:00

So..Jon and I always have had the debate over which school Carter is going to attend/cheer for. He says Carter will say, "war eagle" (yucky words!) and I say he will say, "ROLL TIDE ROLL!" I think Carter already knows Mommy is ALWAYS right...check out the pictures!
Rammer Jammer!!!!!!!

BIG boy!

2011-08-18T10:57:00.003-05:00

Well, we have a BIG ole boy on our hands!! Carter weighs 17 pounds, 4 oz!! (90th percentile!) He is 24 3/4 inches long (50th percentile!) and definitely TEETHING. They said his little gums were very swollen, but that it could take a few months for that tooth to break. UGH. NOT excited about that part!! He looked in his eyes and believes he will definitely be a blue eyed baby!! He didn't see any brown flecks in them! YAYAYAYAYAY! :)
I love my pediatrician. He is so sweet and always has a fit over Carter. I heard him tell the nurse in the hall, "That Carter is SO cute!" Made my day. Even though I already think he's the cutest thing ever! :) HAHA. :)
Poor baby had to have 3 shots and an oral vaccine. Sweet boy only cried for 2 seconds and then stopped. He was pretty fussy yesterday, so we just cuddled most of the day yesterday.

I don't think I tell Jon just how much I appreciate the sacrifices we have made in order for me to stay home with Carter. I LOVE it. There is NOTHING I have ever waned to do more than be a mommy. There are definitely days that are harder (and YES-I KNOW THEY WILL GET HARDER!), but I wouldn't trade them for anything. So to Jon: Thank you for allowing me to stay home. You don't know how much it means to me! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-08-16T14:31:00.002-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!

Jon and I got the BEST news today! We are approved for BUILDING OUR FIRST HOUSE!!!!! It's been a LONG time coming for us to be able to do this! I can't WAIT to start the process! It will probably be the 1st of the year before we will be in *OUR* house, but I have been in this apartment for this long..whats a few more months right?!
It is going to be so fun seeing something of OURS come together. And I can't WAIT to be able to pick out everything!!!
We are moving to Towne Lakes in Madison. We are going tonight to take some pictures of the different lots that are available and when we get back I am going to post them! :) I'll be posting pictures of the progress! :) Such an exciting time for us! This time last year we found out we were preggers, this year we are building our little family a house! SO fun! :)

Carter is getting BIGGER and BIGGER by the day! :) We go for his 4 month appointment tomorrow and I can't wait to see how big he has gotten! I bet he is almost 17 pounds now! Such a BIG boy. :) I love his rolls. I LOVE a chunky baby! :)
He has discovered his feet this week and thats his new favorite toy! He will sit and "talk" to them! It is SO cute. Carter laughed out loud for the first time at my Moms house last week. It was the CUTEST thing ever. He now laughs ALL the time. And SMILES constantly. Don't get me wrong, the boy can pitch a fit, BUT over all he is very chill. Just like his daddy. I always say he has his mommys hot temper. HA. :)

We got to celebrate my Mimi's 97th Birthday on Sunday! How awesome is that?!? I don't have any pictures on this computer. I need to get GRANJAN to email me some. (MOM, if your reading this-SEND me some pictures via EMAIL!) Mimi is doing amazing for 97. She got to see all of her children, grand children and GREAT grandchildren. (even Pat, Kelley and Ryder on Skype!) Over all she had 59 people to wish her a happy birthday! Amazing. I hope I am as spunky as she is when I am that old! :)
We also to see some cousins that we hadn't seen in a while, so it was nice to see them! My Aunt Judy did a wonderful job hosting us all. She was VERY brave to let us all come to her house! :) It was such a perfect day and I think Mimi had a great time! :) (Thanks, Aunt Judy for having us all! SOOOO much fun! We need to do it again soon!)

Short post, but just wanted to share our exciting news! :) I'll post pix as soon as GranJan sends them to me! And Ill update about Carters doctors appointment tomorrow!

4 months?!

2011-08-09T12:16:00.004-05:00

I can't believe tomorrow my baby boy will be 4 months old! Where oh where have the last 4 months gone?? They have flown by and it makes me sad! Although, he is getting into the fun stages. He is learning something new every day and I am constantly amazed by him.

He is working really hard on rolling from his back to his tummy. He has been rolling from his tummy to his back since we brought him home from the hospital!! TOTALLY crazy, I know. We can't even do tummy time anymore because he instantly rolls over!

One of my most favorite times with him is when he first wakes up in the morning. He is the SWEETEST thing in the world. He just smiles and "talks" to me. He says "o,o,o" over and over again. It melts my heart. He really is the sweetest thing ever.

This week I decided to try him in his exersaucer. He has GREAT head control, so I figured it was time. He LOVES it. Of course, it only last for about 20 minutes, but I will take it! He loves all the lights and music. Definitely a MUSIC baby!! (Side note: A nap time we HAVE to have Praise Baby music going. It is the ONLY way he will go to sleep. And it has to be Praise Baby! I guess he remembers the Praise and Worship music from being in the womb. Its all I listen to!)

I had to take him to his first sick doctors appointment last Thursday. He was so fussy, wouldn't eat (which is UNLIKE him!) and would wake up them minute we got him to sleep. I figured he had an ear infection. Well, we got to the doctor and he IMMEDIATELY started laughing and smiling. Can we say WASTE of $30?! HA! Oh well, better safe than sorry. YES, he was FINE. Doctor didn't see anything except a little bit of a red throat.

We got the go ahead and start cereal with him when we went to the doctor. However, I will be waiting until our appointment on the 24th to give it to him again. It hurt his little tummy so BAD. The sad thing is, he LOVES it. Can't get enough of it!

At 4 months old, Mr. Carter: You weigh 16 pounds 3 oz. (You have gained 10 pounds in 4 months-GOOD JOB BUDDY!) You LOVE Praise Baby, Get so happy when your daddy comes home from work, smile constantly, LOVE LOVE LOVE the bath tub and of course love being held by your mommy. Love sucking on your thumb or your index and middle finger.

Things you don't like: You hate being seperated from mommy and daddy at night time. (So of course you get your way and sleep with us. HA!) You hate tummy time. (It makes you REALLY mad!) You don't like bottles. (You would rather have the real thing. LOL!) You don't like your pacifier anymore. (which is FINE with me!)

Sweet Carter,
It is so hard to believe that tomorrow will mark the one year date of finding out I was pregnant with YOU and that you will be 4 months old. You are such a sweet and happy baby. You make me the proudest mommy in the world and are the apple of my eye. I love you more than anything sweet baby!

Here are some pictures from yesterday!

My Monkey

2011-08-08T11:18:00.002-05:00

S0, I decided to do a little photo shoot with Carter. We call him "Our Little Monkey!" I bought this outfit before I was even MARRIED. :) I just thought it was too cute. It definitely won't fit him at Halloween, so I needed to at least make his picture in it!

2011-08-02T18:15:00.007-05:00

WOW, 2 post in a week. Are you proud of me, GranJan?! (OK, so I started on this post a WEEK ago and have YET to finish it!!!)

Carter and I had a fun day out yesterday. Carter got to model for a local store in his cloth diapers. He looked SO cute in his cloths with his little chunky legs and big tummy hanging out! HA. :) I can't wait to see the pictures! Hopefully she will have the pictures up very soon! :)

Carter has really amazed me lately. He has been rolling over from his tummy to his back since we brought him home from the hospital. No one (except GranJan) believed that he was doing it. But, we finally got a video of him doing and he hasn't stopped since. :) When I went for his 2 month check up and told my pediatrician he wasn't a BIT surprised. We can't even do tummy time anymore because he IMMEDIATELY flips over! He has REALLY been trying to roll from his back to his tummy this week. I don't think it will be much longer. He is also doing really incredible in his bumbo seat. He has great head control. I have a feeling he will be sitting up in the next month or so. He thinks he's bigger then his. I *really* need him to slow down and be a BABY. He is growing to fast!!!!

For Moms birthday, we got to spend the week at the beach! It was SO nice to be able to get away. The last time Jon and I were at the beach together was when we got married almost 3 years ago! I can't believe its been 3 years! My parents kept Carter for us and we went and ate at Fish out of Water in Watercolor. The FIRST time we had any time alone since Carter was born. Was so nice to have a nice dinner, but of course all we talked about was our sweet little man and I couldn't wait to get back to him. (I think I am realizing that as much as I like the idea of getting out without him, I just miss him too much! :) Even last saturday Jon kept him while I was going to do some errands and I was home within an hour, picked BOTH of them up, and finished our errands. :) Yes, I am a bit obsessed with my baby boy. ) Anyways, back to the beach....

We spent 7 days in paradise. We were so afraid it was going to rain the whole time because it was 60% chance every day we were there. We had rain the first day but after that it was BEAUTIFUL. I couldn't take Carter to the beach except for one day. It was just too hot and with him not able to wear sunscreen yet, I just didn't want to risk it. Still, it was fun just to get away! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the beach:

By the way, these are in NO sort of order. I hate how blogger uploads pix!

WAY OVER DUE FOR A POST!!!!!!

2011-07-29T12:21:00.010-05:00

WELLLLL. I can honestly say I had TOTALLY forgotten about my blog!!! Sit down, this is probably going to be a long post!!

Here is a recap of the past 4 months!!!!!!!!!!

On April 8, I went into the hospital with contractions every 5-7 minutes apart. My doctor had already told me the day before he wouldn't be a BIT surprised to see me before the weekend was over. I called my parents and they made the hour and a half trek to Huntsville. By the time they got here the contractions had stopped, but I was dealing with some pretty high blood pressure. (Which had been high the past few weeks.) My doctor is in a big practice (5 doctors total I think) and wasn't on call that day. They did all the blood work to test me for preeclampsia, but all came back clear. And I was SADLY sent home to be on total bed rest until Carter wanted to come. The nurse said, "I wouldn't be surprised if you were back here at Midnight tonight!" Which made me a little irritated that they were sending me home!

Here I am in the hospital with my new iPad 2! I stood in line for it earlier that morning! Jon gave it to me for my push gift!

My Mom decided to stay with me and help me get the nursery done and she was also afraid I would have him and she would miss it!

Remember how I said I was suppose to be on total bed rest?! Well, if you know me, you know I can't sit still!! :) I did it for the first night and enjoyed being waited on hand and foot, but I wanted that baby OUT! :)

That sunday, April 10, Mom and I decided to go to Bridgestreet for a little shopping and some yogurt. As I walked into the yogurt shop who of all people is sitting there with his family?! Um, yes..MY DOCTOR!! I almost turned and walked out thinking he was going to fuss at me for not being at home in the bed. BUT, to my surprise he didn't even KNOW that I was suppose to be on bed rest and couldn't believe they sent me home! He had said "come see me Monday, if you make it through the night, and we'll talk baby!" I couldn't believe it! I knew at that moment I was going to have Carter on April 11th more than likely.

Here I was the day before he was born. Look HUGE!!!!!

Well, we went home and finished the nursery at about 10 pm. I laid down, but just couldn't get comfortable. My back was KILLING me and I was having TONS of pressure and the contractions were getting stronger and stronger. Jon and I timed them on my new iPad and they were less than 5 minutes apart. Mom was sleeping during all this and had NO idea what was going on. I woke her up around Midnight and said "it was time". I've never seen her move so fast. HA! :)

We got to the hospital and the reality started to set in with me. I was going to GIVE BIRTH that day. I remember being so nervous, but tried not to show it. My nurses were absolutely INCREDIBLE. They walked me through everything they were doing and that calmed me and eased my fears/anxieties. My biggest fear of the whole labor process was: GETTING an IV!!!!! YES, I know, but I had NEVER had one. I had NO idea what to expect and always heard they HURT. But, my nurse was AMAZING and got it on the first try and it didn't hurt AT ALL!!!

Funny side note: They were doing clinicals at my hospital and asked if I minded if a student nurse could come in to observe. As most of you know, I'm pretty shy and modest. Much to everyones surprise I said, "SURE!" Well, little did I know that it would be a 6'6" 250 pound MAN!!!!!! All I could do was LAUGH- JUST my luck! But, he was SO sweet and kept in the background saying "THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO DO!" HAHA! Poor thing..

At about 6 am they started potocine(spell check!) to help with the process. (the D word just grosses me out so I won't say it and you won't read me mention it! HAHA!) At around 8 they told me if I wasn't going natural that they encouraged me to go ahead and get the epidural. I was very nervous about that as well, but didn't even feel a thing!! 9 they checked me and said my water was bulging. We kept waiting and waiting on the doctor. Of course mine wasn't on call that day either-ugh! Finally around 10 the doctor came and broke my water. They started this thing called "wedging". It was the neatest thing. They put pillow all around me on my right side, then 30 minutes later changed it to my left side. They did that until about 12:30 and I knew then I was getting closer. The pain was getting more intense and I got in the "zone" everyone talks about! My sister had just gotten there with my Dad and I was SO glad Natalie could make it. My Mom and Sister went to the waiting room to talk to him and it was then I felt the urge to push. I called the nurse and she came in and checked and said "um, your ready to push where is your mom and sister?!" Jon was going to get them, but luckily Jon's Mom was there and ran and got them for us.

I literally pushed for 10 minutes and out came my beautiful baby boy. Just thinking about it makes me cry. He, Terry Carter Cullen, had FINALLY made his grand entrance. And it was nothing short of amazing and perfect!!! My first questions was: DOES HE HAVE HAIR?! All that heartburn need to count for something...and BOY did he have hair!!!!!!!

He was a PERFECT 6 pounds 13 oz and 20 inches long. So tiny and absolutely beautiful. I'll never forget after they brought him back from the bath, the nurse said, "this baby doesn't have one dimple, he has 2 HUGE dimples!" I was sooooo happy to hear that he got at least ONE thing from his mommy! Everything else is Jon made over!!!!! He is his daddys child! :) We call him little Jon Jr! :)

My life was changed for the better the moment they put him in my arms. Nothing else at that moment seemed to matter. I've never felt happier in my life. The love I felt for him was so unconditional. He was perfect. :)

One thing that was VERY important to me doing was breastfeeding. I had made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to let anyone tell me I couldn't do it. And boy have I stuck by that. Carter was named a breastfeeding champ by the nursery staff. He latched on immediately and we haven't had any problems since. I was so happy to go to a hospital that was for breastfeeding and wouldn't give them formula unless you asked for it.

Fast forward about 5 weeks........

The scariest day of my life. Jon and I had just gone to Wal-Mart and grabbed some Arbys while we were out. He had JUST told me, "Don't call I have a very important meeting with Universal Studios today!" (thats where their annual conference was being held) He left, I put Carter in his vibrating seat and I began to eat my lunch. Almost immediately, I felt a pain in my stomach that was WORSE than child birth. I was literally in agony. I called my Mom screaming on the phone because I didn't know what to do. She told me I HAD to call Jon no matter how important the meeting was. I did, and he didn't answer. I texted him "911" and he was home within 5 minutes. (good thing about living so close to work!) By that time I was in the bath having horrible horrible stomach pains. I called the doctor and was waiting for the nurse to call me back. It literally took them 2 hours before I had to call them BACK. I was hurting so bad and so frustrated. and scared. I didn't know WHAT was wrong with me. They sent me straight to my doctor. He took one look and said, "it's one of 2 things. Gallbladder or appendix." He ruled out appendix because it was on my right side and because I had just eaten. He ordered an ultrasound for the following morning to see what it was for sure.

My amazing Mom came up to go with me and help with Carter. We had to be there at 7 am. I went back alone. The ultrasound tech obviously couldn't say much. At the end of the appointment I asked him if he saw anything. All he said was "I hope your not real attached to that gallbladder!" The next day it was confirmed I needed surgery to have my gallbladder removed. This all happened so fast. The surgery was scheduled for a Monday and I had 4 days before it. I have NEVER been SO SICK before in all my life. I don't wish Gallbladder attacks on my worst enemy. Trying to take care of a newborn and being SO sick was NOT my idea of fun. Again, I am blessed with an amazing Mom who was there through it all. She helped me with Carter and I laid in bed with agony. If you've ever had an attack you know how bad they are! I had a total of 5 attacks and thought I was literally going to die. I kept praying that I could make it until Monday to have the surgery and obviously I did. :) Literally a very simple surgery and I was able to pick up Carter the following day. I am so thankful I will NEVER have another one of those attacks again!!!! :)

The following weeks were very quiet, thankfully!! Carter is growing like a weed! He weighs over 14 pounds at 3 1/2 months old. He is the cutest baby boy in the whole wide world. :) I have started cloth diapering him and absolutely love it. It's not like it use to be. It's totally different and I have become obsessed with it! :) The good thing with clothing too, is that I can use them for all my babies. So its definitely an investment and my doctor told it was the best thing for his little skin. :)

We just got back from the beach with parents. We had a BLAST!! The next post will be pictures from there. I think this one is long enough!!!! Here is a sneak peak and my current favorite picture of him:

I PROMISE to be better about blogging. Now that we have a schedule and I have some down time, I will try and do it once a week...at least!! :)

Prayers, please

2011-03-08T10:56:00.004-06:00

I have been meaning to do this blog earlier, but had Daisy and Kemp all last week....

Anyways, PLEASE pray for my sweet, beautiful, amazing friend Amy. I am going to copy and paste her story from Caringbridge so you can get the background on her...

Background Story

The most important thing you can know about Amy is that she has a strong faith in Jesus Christ. She walks daily with Him and has leaned on Him throughout her life. The light of Jesus Christ shines through Amy and in her you can see the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, and meekness.

Amy was born on June 16, 1985. Amy's immediate family is her mom, Tommye, stepdad, Kerry, and sister, Lauren. She also has a stepmother, four step-sisters and uncles, aunts, cousins, coworkers, and friends who love her. Amy has been in a serious dating relationship with the love of her life, David Boyd for five years.

At two months, Amy was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. In 2003, after seventeen years of hospital stays and lung and digestive issues, Amy required a lung transplant to continue living her sweet life.

Amy, her sister Lauren, and I relocated to St. Louis, MO in June, 2003 to wait for God to provide lungs for Amy, expecting a wait of several months to possibly a year or two. Within a week of listing, Amy received her lungs and her brand new life.

Amy uses the gift of new life provided through the generous gift of lungs offered from a grieving family to the glory of God. She lives her life to the fullest. Only six months after transplant she entered the University of Alabama as a full-time student. Amy chose nursing as a major because in Amy's words, "other than my faith and my family, nurses have had the biggest impact on my life. More than just taking care of my health, nurses have held me, rocked me, loved me, entertained me, and supported me. I believe God used my life to prepare me to give back to other children and their families who also have needs."

While at UA, Amy was a dean's list and sometimes president's list student. She was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority. Amy decided that she wanted her nursing degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was accepted into their nursing program, and received her BSN (BS in nursing) in December 2008. She became a nurse in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) at Children's Hospital in January 2009 and has been employed in the NICU at Children's since that time.

Amy has been working full time on her MSN (Master Degree Nursing) as a Nurse Practitioner and is now in the final semesters. At the time she became ill, Amy was precepting with Dr. Amy Albert, a gifted pediatrician, at Alabama Pediatrics Clinic in Homewood, Alabama.

Amy has a quiet, gentle calming nature. She loves her Lord, David, and her family and friends. She loves the babies she gets to care for in the NICU. Amy enjoys hanging out with her boyfriend, David, music, shopping, travel, and is a roller-coaster enthusiast! She loves college fooball, the New Orleans Saints, and is a fierce fantasy football competitor. Amy enjoys holidays and especially Christmas. She celebrates remembering the birth of her Lord with enthusiasm, decorating, shopping, and with David, hosting an annual Christmas party.

Amy has had an excellent outcome with her lung transplant. Other than an occasional sinus infection that required antibiotic therapy, Amy has had no issues. She has never encountered any rejection, and her last hospital stay for treatment was in 2007, almost four years ago.

The illness Amy now has is completely unrelated to her cystic fibrosis but is complicated by the immunosuppressant therapy that is required to prevent her from rejecting her transplanted lungs.

Amy unexpectedly came down with a sudden onset of fever on Saturday, February 19th. The fever continued through Sunday but seemed to subside on Sunday night. However, on Monday morning Amy experienced excruciating pain in her left side so severe that her transplant team referred her immediately to the ER. While in the ER, Amy was diagnosed with pneumonia, admitted into the hospital, and placed on IV antibiotic treatment, continous fluids, and some other treatments. We learned on Tuesday, February 22, that the infection had spread to Amy's bloodstream and that it was caused by a bacteria called Streptococcus Pneumoniae. On Wednesday, February 23, Amy's condition began to worsen. Throughout the day and night Amy continued to deteriorate. After trying all options to provide oxygen and control her blood gases, especially her CO2, which at that time had increased to 75, Amy was diagnosed with respiratory failure and placed on the ventilator. On Friday, Feb 25th Amy also developed renal failure and placed on continuous dialysis.

Please keep Amy is your constant prayers.

Please pray for Amy! You can follow her CaringBridge at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/amycrews/journal

Thanks so much!

8 weeks and counting

2011-02-22T18:23:00.010-06:00

This weekend we went to Jon's Moms house for her 50th Birthday dinner celebration. My mom decided to take it as an opportunity to make some pictures. (surprise, surprise!)

Here we are at 31.5 weeks pregnant! I am feeling GREAT and can't complain at all!

Our Family Picture! Can't wait until Carter is in it!

Yours truly... :)

On Sunday I got to see my best friend of 26 years! Her brother is getting married and Mom and I went to the tea! Here is Carly and Me. Couldn't have asked for a better BFF. Love ya, Carly!

We were really excited to have My Mom and Kemp come back with us for the night. She took me to Posh Mommy to pick out my Baby gift! (A beautiful piece of furniture! THANKS, GRANJAN AND BIG T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Here we are at Cracker Barrel for dinner!

Jon and Kemp coloring together.. Jon is going to be an amazing daddy..

As if I didn't eat enough at Cracker Barrel..Jon and my Mom FORCED me to eat an Ice Cream Sundae. ;-) I had been craving one for about 4 days, but TRY really hard to be good and not eat things like that. I have done SO good with my weight gain and don't want to ruin it at this point, BUT I gave in. And man it was worth EVERY single CALORIE!

(Don't worry Mom documented me eating it! HAHA!)

Drive Thru at Mickey D's..

OMG, so good. And worth it!

The next day we got up on went to Posh Mommy. Here is a picture of my BEAUTIFUL gift. I couldn't be happier and more excited. Thank you so much, Mom and Dad! This is something Jon and I couldn't have afforded ourselves. Carter is SO BLESSED to have you to call Grandparents.

After we got the armoire, we decided that yes, I was hungry again. HAHA. We decided on Logan's. I have had the ODDEST pregnancy craving. SWEET POTATOES. I have always HATED them, but ever since I have been pregnant, I can't get enough of them!! Well, I saw it on the menu and I was done. Sweet Potato it was for lunch!!

Mom and I

My YUM Sweet Potato!

After we ate we headed back to Birmingham to take Kemp home. That boy is the sweetest thing in this world and has the BEST manners of child I have ever known.

Last night we had dinner with Kelley and Ryder at the mall. Here we are with our Bumps:

Today we picked up Daisy from Playschool. That child CRACKS.ME.UP! She is her Mom MADE OVER. Everything she says is HILARIOUS and kinda bad. HAHA. Here we were today spending some time together...

Well, there is my life over the past few days! It has been a whirlwind, but so much fun! :) I am going home tomorrow and will be back AGAIN next weekend. I am having Maternity pictures done with Amanda Traywick next week. Check out her Website. www.amandatraywick.com

She is also doing Carters newborn pictures, which I am SO excited about!

Well, I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL WONDERFUL week!

Love and Blessings to all,

Katie

Blessed.

2011-02-11T15:47:00.003-06:00

This week has been a very very hard week. I had a friend who was 5 weeks behind me in her pregnancy. (Which made her 25 weeks.) She was pregnant with a sweet little girl.
I found out on Friday that she had been admitted into the hospital due to preeclampsia. Her blood pressure was through the roof and they wanted to keep an eye on her. I chatted with her for a bit on Facebook and she had the BEST attitude. She knew that God was in control and He was going to take care of her and the baby.

On Monday night I got news that she was being induced because her blood pressure was high again. On Tuesday morning, I got the most heartbreaking news...

She delivered her sweet baby and yes, you guessed it, the sweet baby girl just didn't make it. I was so shocked and honestly just plain SAD. I kept thinking about me being in her position and how I don't know if I could deal with it.

I went out to try and do some Birthday shopping and the song "Homesick" by Mercy Me came on the radio. The words that really hit me and I immediately thought of my friend were "I close my eyes and I see your face; if homes where my heart is then Im out of place; Lord won't you give me strength to make it through somehow; I've never been more homesick than now." I sat in my car and sobbed thinking about them. The pain, the hurt, the confusion as to why it happened.

But, I chatted with her again on Facebook the following night. Let's just say she has the most amazing strength that I know I would NOT have.

I sat on the couch, cried and just praised God for blessing me with a normal pregnancy. Why was I so fortunate to have such a great pregnancy? I took a vow to myself and to Jon that I will NOT complain about my back hurting or little man kicking me in the middle of the night. In turn, I will consider it all a blessing. Because I know, that my friend would give ANYTHING to feel her sweet baby girl kicking again.

I had my doctors appointment and was drawn to tears as I heard his sweet little heartbeat. After this weeks events, there was nothing more I wanted to hear. Feeling him kick each time makes me realize just how blessed I am.

Please pray for my sweet friends, the McKays. They need all the prayers they can get right now...

Long time no post!

2011-02-04T15:15:00.002-06:00

Well, I know its been a while since my last post and I PROMISE to be better once Carter is here!!!

What have we been up to?? Well, lets see..We are entering the 30th week of our pregnancy which is crazy hard to believe! Where did those last 25 weeks go?? It seriously sees like just yesterday we were announcing to our families that we were expecting. I am so anxious for the next 10 weeks to fly by. I just want to see my little man and hold him in my arms and kiss him! Feeling his sweet little kicks and flips make me smile. I know some people get annoyed with it after a while, but I love feeling him and knowing he's there and ACTIVE!

We were so fortunate to have my Mom come help us with the nursery last week. She helped me get everything organized. Let's just say that Mr. Carter has more than enough clothes! His mommy might have a bit of a shopping problem. ;-) But what can I say?! I learned from the best of them. AND, I want my little boy looking like a DOLL every day! :) Sitting in his room and seeing the crib and his clothes just make me so excited! There is NOTHING more that I've ever wanted to do than be a Mom and I am finally ALMOST there. :) He just needs to "cook" for a few more weeks!

We've had great reports from the doctors. NO stretch marks, the weight gain has been perfect, NO gestational diabetes and my blood pressure is back to normal. :)(The heartburn is pretty bad but if thats all I'm dealing with-then so be it!) I do have to have a shot called the "Rhogam" because I have a negative blood type and if Carter has negative blood type he will have to have it as well. NO big deal, just more of a pain. I'll have to have it each pregnancy. BLAH. Oh well!

I was able to get the pediatrician I wanted for Carter. I just HAPPENED to stop in there one day last week and the nurse said he was accepting ONE more patient! I filled out my paperwork there and we got in with him! I am so excited. He is a member of our Church and I've heard wonderful things about him. Truly a blessing to get him!

Jon is getting more and more excited with each passing day. He picked out some shoes and a shirt from Gymboree. SO cute to see him SO excited about everything. He is going to be the best daddy. I am SO blessed to have such an amazing support system with him. He SPOILS me rotten. I can only imagine that Mr. Carter will have him wrapped around his pinky within minutes. :) I love you, Jon. Thanks for being so so sweet and amazing. I can't wait to see you become a daddy. Not to much longer now! :)

To my little man...AH, every time I think about you I get teary eyed. To feel your kicks and flips make me so happy. I can't wait for the day that you come into our lives. It won't be toooooo much longer now. I can't wait to hear your sweet heartbeat next week. Always so funny when they get your heartbeat, you start KICKING the doppler. (Are you going to be naughty?!) I love you more than life itself already! Can't wait to meet you sweet boy! Love you always, Mommy!

Well, I guess that's all for now. Ill post more on thursday after our appointment. :)

Blessings and Peace,

20 week appointment

2010-12-04T12:21:00.005-06:00

Here are is a picture from our Fetal Assessment. (I have a TON more but they all keep flipping the wrong way and I don't know how to make it not do that!) They said everything looked PERFECT, what huge blessing!!!!!!!! :) We got to see his beautiful face in 4D, which was a HUGE surprise for us! The Sonar Tech said he was in the perfect position for them, so she went ahead a did a few! :) I LOVED seeing his sweet sweet face. She kept talking about his beautiful, pouty lips. I know where he gets those pouty lips from. HAHA! :) Already learning from his Mommy! :)

I have been feeling Carter like CRAZY here lately. Its just so amazing to feel him move. Even at the appointment the sonar tech laughed and said "WOW, he's active! He must have loved your lunch!" HAHA. OH dear, what am I in for! HAHAHAH! :)

We've got the Nursery almost DONE. Can you believe it?!?!? We have a few pictures to hang and one piece of furniture we are getting, but everything is almost done! Jon and I have been working our butts off to get it done! I worked on it a few weeks ago, getting all his clothes hung up. Let's just say. I went through over 100 hangers in a matter of minutes. Carter will be the BEST dressed little boy. I have a HUGE shopping problem and finding him cute outfits isn't helping that problem at all! We have an ADORABLE shop but here called Posh Mommy and Baby, too (we got our chair there!) and they have the CUTEST boy clothes. We all know how hard it is to find cute boy things! I am pretty picky about what I like for him. HAHA. I LOVEEEEEE smocked Jon Jons. MY FAVORITE for little boys! :)

I can't believe that I am 5 months pregnant. It's really flown by, but I really need for April to get here! I am MORE than ready to meet my little fella! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful CHRISTmas! We will be getting our present a few months later, but think its the best gift we could ever ask for! :)

To my sweet Carter,
I am so thrilled that we got to see you on the sonar. Your BEAUTIFUL face brought tears to my eyes. Your daddy was so cute looking at you. Counted every finger and toe. He was even teary eyed seeing you. WE love you more than anything and can't just wait to hold you and love on you!
We get so excited thinking about how different the Holidays will be for us next year. It makes us so incredibly happy to know YOU will be joining us next year.
Love you,
Mommy

It's a.......

2010-11-20T10:45:00.004-06:00

I have been so so so needing to update my blog, but very very busy over the past weeks.

Anyways, Jon and I were able to find out about 3 weeks ago what we are having and we couldn't be more excited and happy....

Its a.............
BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon and I are elated and feeling so blessed. Blessed that the sonar tech said everything looked perfect. That was our MAIN and ONE concern that HE was healthy.

Baby boys have always had a special place in my heart and always MELT my heart. After working in the nursery I found that the boys are easier than little girls.
Having older brothers always made me want boys first as well. Just knowing they were there for me always was something so special. (and at times a little annoying-HA!)
And then there is Kemp. The moment I laid eyes on my precious nephew I was in love with him. (of course my other nieces and nephews as well!!) But something about being in the delivery room when he was born, made us have a special connection. I'll never forget some of my first words after seeing him is "HE makes me want ONLY boys!"

Jon of course is thrilled of the idea being at the ball park and doing all things boys! :) He would always say "I think its a girl", but I think he kept telling himself that so he wouldn't be disappointed if it wasn't a boy. When we found out, my heart melted over Jon's excitement. He was beyond happy and hasn't stopped smiling since the day we found out and I haven't either!

We have decided to use family names for our sweet little boy. We are going to name him Terry Carter after both of our dads and will call him Carter. We are so excited to finally be able to call our angel boy by his name!

Carter is definitely growing and I definitely have a bump. I love looking down and seeing it. I can't help but smile. And, I felt him move for the first time a few days ago and it was amazing. Jon is definitely ready to be able to feel him move. The doctor said it wouldn't be to to much longer until he could feel him as well!

I am so thankful that at my last appointment my blood pressure had gone down and was back to normal. It had been high but my doctor did assure me that preclampsia could NOT happen until after 20 weeks. HUGE relief and something that did worry me ever since my last appointment. I am also very thankful that the morning sickness has FINALLY gone away. My mom told me just the other day that Carter must be going to be a sweet baby since he was giving me all that trouble for a bit. HA. :)

Anyways, I guess thats all for now!

To my sweet CARTER BOY,
I could not be more thrilled to know you are a healthy boy! I keep imagining what you are going to look like and wonder if you will look more like your daddy, more like me or a good combo. For your sake, I hope you look like your daddy.
I already love you more than words can explain. It has been fun buying you little gowns and getting things monogrammed with your name on it.
I love you and can't wait for April to get here!
Love always,
Mommy

Here are some pictures of me at 19 weeks.

3rd Doctors Appointment

2010-10-21T09:28:00.002-05:00

Well well. It sure has been a while. I have been hearing "UPDATE your blog from EVERYONE!" And I really have NO reason as to why I haven't. :)

We had a WONDERFUL time in Disney World. I will need to have a special blog entry just for that. But we really did have a fabulous time and hated for it to end!!!

We had our 3rd doctors appointment yesterday. (I am a little off on my weeks due to Disney and then my doctor being out of town!) My doctor wasn't there yesterday so it was a SUPER fast appointment. They are having me come back in 3 weeks to see him. I have lost a total of 4.5 pounds. The morning sickness has been terrible for me. I think I am (FINGERS CROSSED) getting over that stage of my pregnancy. Praise the Lord for Zofran. :) My blood pressure was a bit high and I had a trace of protein in my urine. They told me NOT to worry until this happened and I was 30 weeks. However, my name is Katie and I am going to worry over EVERY little thing! SO, PRAYERS please that I can get my blood pressure down. I should probably mention that I have always had EXTREMELY LOW blood pressure, so this is very unusual for me. :) Hopefully when I go back in 3 weeks we will be back to normal and NOT have any traces of protein in my urine.

Everything was great with the little one. They did find the heartbeat with NO problems. She found it immediately. It still brings tears to my eyes to hear that little heart just going. His/her heart rate was 150 bpm. EVERYONE thinks I am having a boy due to the heartbeat. I don't care what we are having, BUT, my nurse told me there is NO truth to the heartbeat test. I will be interested in seeing if it does have some truth to it. Either way, I don't care. We will be perfectly content with whatever God has in store for us. This will NOT be the only one for us. SO, we are just going to enjoy this baby and pray he/she is healthy. :)

Well, I guess thats it on the update for now! Again, PLEASE pray that I can get my blood pressure down! :)

Blessings and Peace,

2nd Appointment

2010-09-21T16:47:00.003-05:00

Jon and I had our second doctors appointment today. Our usual doctor was out, so we saw another one. Who was REALLY funny and made us feel really comfortable.

I was REALLY sick the past few days with the stomach bug and couldn't wait to get to the doctor to get some medicine! The morning sickness has been a KILLER for me. Thankfully, he prescribed me Zofran. (and all I can say is thank the LORD for insurance! Otherwise it would have been $399.99! YES- you read that right. And all I had to pay was $10.00! Not a bad deal!)

Anyways, the doctor said everything looked wonderful. We even got to see our little angel again. I was really happy because Jon missed the first appointment. He found the heartbeat and showed us on the screen. You could see it flittering. It was so unreal. This time, it was more real for me because it actually looked like a baby. I couldn't believe how much he/she has changed in the past few weeks.

It is so surreal to me, to see MY baby on the monitor. I can hardly keep my eyes off my picture they gave me. It is really really neat.

Jon has been absolutely amazing while I haven't been feeling well. I am so so so blessed to have a husband who will do anything for me and not complain one time. He cooked, did the dishes and 3 loads of laundry without me even asking. (Jon, thank you. YOU are such an amazing hubby and I couldn't have been blessed with anyone better. I love you so much.)

To Baby Cullen,
I can't believe how much you have grown in such a short time. I am constantly amazed with you already. You are already so loved. I can't wait to find out what you are. Not because I care one way or another but so I can start calling you by your real name. Carter or Bella. What are you, sweet angel?!? I love you more and more each day, angel.

Blessings and Peace,

Weekend recap

2010-09-07T19:08:00.003-05:00

Jon and I have had so much fun together the past few days. (He had some time off due to working so much at the conference!)

We had to take Mom back home on Saturday. (Which was a bummer.) I love having her here. So glad she is only about an hour and a half away. Mom and I had a great week while Jon was gone. Got to have some girl time, which was nice! Thanks, Mom for coming up and staying with me. I would have felt so sad about going to my first doctors appointment alone! :)

After we dropped my Mom off, we headed to Jon's Moms new house. His Mom just built a beautiful house. We had lunch over there and spent time with his family. It was nice seeing his brothers because we hadn't seen most of them since Christmas. (Thank you JM and Charlene for a delicious lunch!)

Yesterday we went to Babies R Us and looked around. Jon was SO cute in there. Melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes just thinking of the kind of daddy he will be. He wants the BEST of the best of everything. We have picked out our stroller traveling system. We are going with the Chicco system. It is REALLY easy to open and close and very easy to maneuver. SO exciting to be looking at all this neat stuff for the Bebe.

Today, we went and ordered our chair. We ordered it from the cutest store in Huntsville called Posh Mommy (and baby too!). They have THE cutest clothing, beautiful furniture and great Maternity clothes. I found the chair with Mom last week and wanted to wait for Jon to see it before I ordered it. We happened to go back when it was $100 off, which definitely helped! They said it would take about 4-6 weeks to come in. I can't wait to get it in. It is going in our den until the baby comes.

I am still feeling great. Just a few times I have been sick. Just don't talk to me about red meats. UGH. Just the thought of a hamburger, ground beef, or a steak makes me queazy. The fatigue is killing me. I can hardly make it through the day without a nap. Sometimes I just need 30 minutes and I am fine, others I need a 3 hour nap!

Anyways, theres the recap on our weekend.

Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend!

"For this Child I have prayed..."

2010-09-02T17:26:00.005-05:00

Well, Jon and I have some pretty exciting news to share with everyone! We're expecting our first little one in April 2011. (I know it seems like FOREVER but *hopefully* the time will fly by!)

The day we found out we were pregnant I should have seen all the signs God was giving me. After about 6 negative pregnancy test, I became very very discouraged. Wondering why I couldn't get pregnant, etc etc. I called out in prayer for God to give me a sign as to if I were pregnant or not. Boy, did I get that sign.

As I was getting ready for work on August 12th I was doing my usual routine of doing my make up and listening to Jeremy Camp Radio on my Iphone. As I was doing my make up the song "Arms wide open" by Creed began to play on my phone. If you have never heard the song, go listen to it! Its amazing. But the first lyrics are, "Well, I just heard the news today. Seems my life is gunna change. I close my eyes began to pray, then tears of joy stream down my face. With arms wide open under the sunlight. Welcome to this place Ill show you everything, with arms wide open." If that wasn't a sign I didn't know what was. I went on to work and met Jon back at the house for lunch. (which we do everyday now, and its AWESOME!) I told him that maybe I should get ONE more pregnancy test. One that said "PREGNANT OR NOT PREGNANT". He told me to go ahead and go Wal-Mart and get one. He had to go on to work, but I went on and got one anyways.

When I got home I was going to wait until the morning, but we all know that I am impatient as they come. I took the test and within a MINUTE the words "PREGNANT" read across the screen. I was SHOCKED. TEARS of JOY streamed down my face. I immediatley called Jon because I couldn't wait to tell him. He answered the phone and I said "HI DADDY" and he said "WHAT?! OMG." and began to tear up, Which of course made me cry. Something we have wanted was happening for us. We were both so excited/scared/shocked/nervous/BLESSED/over the moon. The emotions just were so overwhelming in that moment. We knew we wanted to tell family and friends immediately. We decided we would want the support of our family and friends if God forbid something were to happen. We came home the next day and told everyone. All of our family and friends were elated.

Jon and I are just feeling so incredibly blessed about Bebe Cullen. I got to see him/her yesterday and hear the little heart beat. Which, was unreal. Jon had to miss the first appointment because he is in Vegas for his business trip. SO, I got my Mom to come with me to make video and pictures. It was so surreal to see OUR baby on that screen. My doctor (WHO I LOVE) said everything looked perfect. Which was SO reassuring to hear.
I can't wait to meet our precious one. April can't get here soon enough. We don't care one way or another what we are having. I just want a HEALTHY baby. Nothing else matters to me.

To Baby Cullen,
I can't wait to see your precious little face, little fingers, and tiny toes. I can't wait to kiss you and hold you. I pray for a healthy and safe pregnancy for the both of us. I love you so much already.
Love you always, Mommy

M.I.A

2010-07-29T16:17:00.002-05:00

Geez Louise!! I had almost forgotten about my blog! Things have been pretty busy around here and this has been put on the back burner.

I started working at our church and I absolutely love it. I have made some incredible friends and feel so blessed with this job. It's very laid back and everyone is so great to work with. Reminds me a lot of Little Lambs, which as you all know I LOVED! :)

I met a new friend, Heidi, who also works at Asbury. We instantly became friends. We are so much alike that it is scary. She is married to a great guy named Jay and he and Jon have become friends as well, which is so fun. They also have an adorable little boy named Hayden. He is SO cute and chunky. I feel really blessed to have found the Smiths. :)

I have started a little business called Pouts and Pigtails. You can find my stuff at http://www.etsy.com/shop/poutsandpigtails. I am *HOPING* to buy a monogramming machine sometime in the near future. Lucky for me, my sweet sister in law said she would teach me how to use her Moms. I am REALLY excited about it. Watch out because everything is about to be monogrammed! :)

Jon is still doing great. He has been INSANELY busy at work. They are getting ready for their annual confrence. Orginially it was suppose to be at the Opry Land Hotel, but due to the flooding that occured they have moved it to VEGAS. He is BEYOND excited about this. I SO want to go with him, but I have to work and he will be really busy so I wouldn't really see him anyways. I am excited for him because he hasn't been anywhere since our Honeymoon. I know he will have a blast. :)

Another reason I opted out of Vegas is because....Mom, Michael, Kadie, Lily, Brad, Natalie, Kemp and Daisy are ALL going to Disney World in September! I am SO excited to see my sweet babies faces when they see Disney for the first time. (Techinically its not Kemps first time, but he was only 2 when he went for the first time) Mom and I are actually flying out of Huntsville and the others are driving. We got a CHEAP flight out of here. Birmingham was trying to do all kind of crazy connections, so we were happy to find the one from H'ville to Orlando with NO stops. We are staying at the Port Orleans-French Quarter. I am giving Lily Bippity Boppity Boutique for her birthday and Kemp Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party for his. Needless to say, we are going to have a blast! 60 days...........Come on September 27th!!!!!!! :)

Well, I need to finish up the laundry and get dinner on before Jon gets home!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Graduates!

2010-05-04T18:42:00.003-05:00

So Jon and I are officially graduates of Financial Peace University. It is a bittersweet feeling for sure. We SO enjoyed the class. We NEVER missed one class. We stayed committed to each other and to God to do this. We are in such a better place than we were 13 weeks ago. By December we will have NO debt. Yes you read that right..we will be DEBT FREE!!

I can't wait for that day. I WILL be calling Daves radio show and letting him know! :) We not only learned how to get out debt, but how to send our kids to college with NO student loans, where to invest our money and how to buy a house with a 15 year loan. I am SO glad we took this class before we ever thought about buying a house. I didn't know there was any other loan besides the 30. We had a bunch of people in our class already change their loan from a 30 year to a 15 year.

We have really been working out butts off to get DEBT FREE. I have even gotten another job at our Church and every penny I make from that job goes to bills.

For anyone who has any debt at all, I highly suggest the class. I can't URGE you enough to take it. It has forever changed the way Jon and I live. We now live by a budget and while its hard, its the best thing in the world.

If you are interested in the class please go to www.daveramsey.com and find a class in your area. It will be the hardest, yet the best thing you can ever do for yourself. :)

Life is so good. We are so blessed. I just can't say it enough.

"If you will live like no one else, LATER YOU CAN LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE!"- Dave Ramsey

What a year!

2010-04-11T16:21:00.003-05:00

I can't believe its almost been a year since Jon lost his job in Auburn. What a year we have had!

I will never forget calling my Daddy in tears and him saying to me, "You can't see it now, but this is all part of the bigger picture." I can remember being annoyed that he had said that. Jon and I were freaking out and thats the advice he had for me?!?

But, boy was he right! It WAS all part of the bigger picture. We have since moved on to bigger and better things. Our marriage is at a great place, both of our jobs ROCK, our finances are getting on track, we have the most adorable Chihuahua ever, (yes, mom, CHI CHI is cute too!) and most importantly we have found a Church that is AMAZZZZINNG. (Cornerstone was awesome, but Asbury is pretty awesome too!)

We are definitely in a much better place than we could have ever dreamed. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would be moving to Huntsville, I would probably have laughed! I never would have dreamed we would have ended up here! But, I am so glad God knew all along we would be here. :)

So, thanks to everyone who has prayed for us in the past year. While it was the most trying year of my life, it was also the year I grew the most in my life. I learned to TRUST TRUST TRUST in my Awesome, NEVER FAILING God more than I ever had in my life.

Blessings and Peace,

2010-03-11T16:30:00.001-06:00

Well, once again I have been MIA for a few weeks! I've actually been really really busy here lately.

I took a full time job being a nanny and I am absolutely loving it. The family is just precious and I couldn't have found a better one to work for. It is a LOT less stressful being a nanny than it is working in child care!! Michele, the Mom, is home while I am there. She actually had surgery yesterday on her knee, which is why I became their nanny. She was unable to pick up her kids and do things we take for granted! Anyway, I am really enjoying it and so happy that God worked things out the way He did!

Last weekend, I went home to help Natalie with Cottontails. It was fun. The booth looked GREAT. Had a ton of compliments on it! (Good job Natalie and Brad!) I think Cottontails was really good this year. I can't wait until I can go when I am preggers because they have the CUTEST children's clothing. I will be BROKE when that happens! haha.

Jon and I are officially living on a budget. 3 weeks now and we are right on track. I complained and gripped about it, but can honestly say it is changing our lives. We are living on an envelope system and it is amazing. We have been staying right on track with our budget with the envelope system. :)

YAY, one of my favorite person just called to say hello! Thanks, Kelley. I wish I was going to Disney with you and Pat Pat! Have fun you guys! Love you both to death! Have fun and be careful!

Well, I need to finish getting ready for work!

Blessings and Peace,

MIA....

2010-02-23T17:30:00.002-06:00

Ok...I know I have been totally MIA from the blogging world lately. But, to be honest, I haven't had that much to Blog about!

Jon and I have 2 special visitors come and stay with us. Kemp came and stayed with us for the week back in January, then my Mom came and stayed with us the next week. We had fun hosting them here! Kemp was an angel of course. He really truly is one of the sweetest boys in this world. Has THE best manners of any 5 year old boy I know! We had fun and I hated to tell him bye!

Mom came the next week and stayed a few days to help me make some KnickNats earrings. We made over 200 pair! We worked our butts off on those. They looked really good once they were done!

Speaking of Knick Nats, don't forget about Cotton Tails March 5,6, and 7th at the BJCC. I will be there Friday and Saturday to help! So, come by and see us! (And maybe buy some earrings! haha!)

I think I mentioned Jon and I taking Financial Peace University at Asbury. We are LOVING this class. We have learned SO much and have only been to 5 classes! We are working on living on a budget. Which, if you know me, is EXTREMELY hard. I am learning to ask myself, "Do I NEED this or do I WANT this?!" It is a real eye opener to say the least. Even if you have NO debt, I highly recommend this class. You will benefit from it GREATLY! I promise! :)

Well, like I said, we don't have much going on! SO, I guess thats all for now!

Blessings and Peace,

Here I am...

2010-02-21T16:29:00.002-06:00

This video was shown today at Church. It REALLY touched me. Every time I watch I cry. It really is incredible. Please watch it....

All the way my savior leads me..

2010-01-13T14:57:00.000-06:00

I just heard this song on Pandora. It brought tears to my eyes. Please listen to it. I think you will all enjoy it.

2010-01-13T10:37:00.002-06:00

I don't have to much to update on, but I am trying to be better about updating. :)

Jon and I started Financial Peace University on Sunday. It is a 13 week course by Dave Ramsey! Check out his website. www.daveramsey.com Jon and I are thrilled about taking it. Everyone I have talked to who takes it, loves it. We are doing it before we even think about buying a house. We want to be TOTALLY debt free before we do that. We are thinking by the fall we should be almost totally debt free. Which will be more than amazing! ;)

Jon and I have also been trying to decied what to do for our 2 year anniversary since we didn't do anything for our 1st! We have decided that we are going to go on a Cruise with our dear friends Emily and Kyle! (Their 3rd anniversary is in October as well!) I can't wait! We are planning on going in September for 5 days. I have never been on a cruise before. I am worried that I will be sick the whole time, but maybe not! I can just remember being sick on my Dads boat everytime I got on it! Even dramamine didn't help me! However, I was really young and maybe I have out grown it by now!

Mom and Dad are leaving for their Cruise on February 4th! They had to change the date because Dad had already made plans to play golf in Palm Springs on the orignal date! It is going to be really neat for them because they will be on the cruise for Dads birthday! Great birthday present too! :)

Jon and I have been visiting Asbury when we have been here on the week-ends. I can't say enough just how much we love it there. I miss not being able to go to Lakeview and hear Steve, but I know God has us at Asbury for a reason. I feel so blessed to have found such an amazing church where God is ever present there. I feel the Spirit as I walk into church. Its one of the most passionate services you will ever go to. The music is absoutely incredible. I have to pinch myself from not crying each time. I LOVE that they have the altar open during Worship for anyone who wants to pray. They also have people that will pray for you. It really is amazing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us there.

Blessings and Peace,

Hey Long Horns

2010-01-08T16:27:00.003-06:00

Theres no other words I can say to describe today other than:

HEY LONG HORNS, HEY LONG HORNS

WE JUST BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU

RAMMER JAMMER

YELLOW HAMMER

GIVE EM HELL ALABAMA!!!!!!

We had an unbelievable season. Followed by our first Heisman Winner.

To all you HATERS out there...ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Can't wait until next season!!!!!

Christmas Recap

2010-01-05T16:53:00.002-06:00

Whew. After a crazy busy month I am finally home! It has been fun being able to spend time with my parents, but the saying "Theres no place like home" is ringing very true! I am glad to be home and be back in a routine of things!

Christmas was amazing. We spent Christmas Eve with Mimi in the morning. It was great being able to get to spend yet another Christmas with her. I know my mom gets sad each Christmas, but I just keep reminding her how Blessed we truly are to be able to spend so many Christmases with her!

After we left Mimi's we went and had our traditional Christmas Eve lunch with the family. I was pretty sad because Jon had to work most of the day so he missed out on lunch. We made it to the VERY end of it, but it wasn't the same without him or Pat.

We enjoyed spending time with his Moms side of the family. We went to church 2 times on Christmas Eve and enjoyed hearing John Mark preach. That was the first time for me to hear him. After church we enjoyed a yummy dinner and then opened gifts. We got lots of great things! (Thanks, Charlene and JM)

We didn't get in until almost 2 am on Christmas Morning! We were pretty worn out, but still managed to get up and enjoy the rest of our day. This was one of the best Christmases I have had in a LONG time. We went to each siblings house and got to spend time with each of them. (THe kids are older now and don't want to leave there toys! Which I understand-I use to be the same way!)

Natalie and I surprised Mom and Dad with a Cruise for Christmas! It was one of the biggest surprise that I have EVER pulled off! (I have pix- will have to load those next blog!) I hope they enjoy themselves! I wish I was going with them! I think this is a MUCH deserved trip for the 2 of them. They do more for us than we can ever thank them for! ENJOY yourselves, Mom and Daddy! We LOVE you both!

Jon and I gave each other the Canon Rebel for Christmas. I am IN LOVE. Wow, it takes amazing photos! :) Poor Wiggles is tired of seeing that flash in his eye! He is going to be the most photographed dog, EVER.

Mom and Dad out did there selves of course, and gave me a ton of great stuff! My favorite being the lens for my camera! It makes ALL the difference in the world on taking photos! Thanks, Mom and Dad! You always do to much! We appreciate every bit of it!

Mom got the cutest Christmas gift ever! An adorable little Chi named CHI-CHI! I can't even begin to tell you just how cute he is. I am in LOVE with him.I tried to sneak him in my pocket and bring him home with me. He is a doll. I call him Stewie because he looks just like Stuart Little. HAH. He really is a doll! I am so glad Mom and Dad got another dog. I think they realized how much company Wiggles was when I was there and when he left I think they were pretty lonely!

Speaking of my BEAST. He is SO mad at me. He got neutered yesterday and still hasn't gotten over me leaving him. HA. He had to spend the night at the Vets last night. I have a feeling he caused some drama. He usually sleeps with Jon and I, so I felt pretty bad for leaving him last night. Interested in seeing if he will sleep all night in his crate now?!?

Well, the hubs should be here soon. I need to get dinner started!

In case I don't update before thursday....

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Facebook

2009-12-22T18:32:00.002-06:00

Facebook. Wow. We have a LOVE/HATE relationship with one another. I loved Facebook when it started out for people in college who could reconnect with their high school friends. It is always so fun to see someone on Facebook who you haven't seen since you graduated.

Then it allowed everyone to be on it. I can honestly say that there are some days that I just want to delete my account and be done with it. People can be SO mean and use it as a tool to get back at someone.

It has happened to me a few times. (by the same people..) I can't tell you how childish it is. Especially, when it is someone who is extremely close to me.

I wish I didn't wear my heart on my sleeve and let my feelings get hurt so easily. I've always been the sensitive one in the family who cries at the drop of a hat, and I think makes me an easy target at times.

But this time, I'm not letting this get the best of me. I am tired of worrying about what happened today. Because, what happened was STUPID and didn't even make sense. And I honestly didn't do anything to deserve what happened. SO silly.

I am going to stop focusing on facebook so much and use that time to focus on the Baby that is in the Manger. Because nothing else is worth my time right now. I wish that everyone could get that....

Merry CHRISTmas everyone

Heartbroken...

2009-12-17T18:55:00.002-06:00

Tonight I sit here with my heart broken into a million pieces. So many questions we will never have answers to. How could someone do something so heartless?

Early this morning Heaven got a special angel. Courtney went to be home with her Mom and Jesus.

You may remember an earlier post I had about Sara Stevenson. Well, Courtney was the daughter of Sara. She also has the beautiful little Grace that I babysit when Mrs. Stevenson was to sick to take care of her.

Courtney and I really reconnected as I saw her a lot while babysitting Grace. We went to youth group together and then lost contact when we graduated, but over that summer I began to know Courtney and we became Facebook buddies. I had just chatted last week with her about what kind of camera she was getting so that she could start up her photography business she was so excited about.

Courtney was involved in a horrible crime. She was shot at her home last night by her ex-fiance. I can not imagine what good it has done to kill her. He took away a MOTHER to a beautiful little girl over something that was so petty. Poor Grace will now grow up dreading the holidays because her Mom was killed a week before. My heart breaks for the Stevensons.

I know that Courtney is in Heaven seeing her Mom again, what a blessings. But, there are so many here who just don't understand why this had to happen.

To Courtney, I will always remember you. I am so sorry that something so heartless happened to such a sweet, sweet person. You will always hold a special place in my heart. And Grace. Well, Amazing Grace will always be reminded what a wonderful mom she had. Until I see you again...

Hebrews 13:2

2009-12-13T23:03:00.002-06:00

Hebrews 13:2, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it..."

Tonight, Christmas came a little early for me. I am home with my parents through the Holidays. :) So they invited me to go with them to the adult Christmas party at Lakeview UMC. I feel old going to an "adult" dinner. HA.

But anyways, we were getting ready to walk in the doors at church and I look over to my right and there sat a homeless man. I couldn't help but just stand there, kinda shocked to see him to be honest. The doors were locked to the church, because we were a bit early.

Of course, my first thought was so judgmental. What we HE doing there? WHY was he there? Was he going to hurt us? I didn't give him the benefit of the doubt..

My dad began to talk to the homeless man, whose name was George. George had been traveling from Centerpoint and trying to get to his brother in Gainesville. He had been on the streets since Friday.

He told my dad that he was extremely tired and hungry. He had been sleeping under the interstates and on the side of the road for the past few days. With hardly anything to eat.

My dad invited him in and to sit and have dinner with us.

My dad asked him if he would like him to take him to the Greyhound Bus station and buy him a ticket to Gainesville. I wasn't really surprised because my Dad would give the shirt off his back to anyone.

But, I couldn't help but think of how odd it was that George was there. I couldn't help but think it was a test from God to see how we, as a Church, would react to him. My amazing father didn't miss a beat. He didn't think twice about it. George took Dad up on the offer and off they went.

Still in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but freak out that my Dad was in the car ALONE with a strange man we had never met. I kept looking at my watch and thinking to myself, what if he tries to hurt my Dad.

About an hour or so later, my Dad came back in. I was very relieved to see him. I asked him a lot of questions on the way home. The first being, "WERE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL?" And Dad replied, "No, not at all." He just kept saying, he couldn't let him get back on his bike and ride and ride. He probably would have never made it there.

I have to thank my Dad over and over again for what I saw tonight. Dad didn't hesitate for a second. He didn't think twice.

Here, I have been so concerned about Christmas gifts, and my own petty problems. And then there is George. Who was living on the side of the road. Hungry, cold, and alone. It definitely reminds me to COUNT my BLESSINGS on a daily basis.

So, thank you, Daddy for being such an example of Christ tonight. What you did tonight, will forever be in my heart. I love you...

Blessings and Peace,

Thanksgiving Recap

2009-12-01T12:22:00.002-06:00

Jon and I are finally getting settled back in Madison. We were gone over a week, so I have LOTS of laundry to catch back up on. YUCK. :)

We had a great Thanksgiving week. Mom and I began cooking on Tuesday morning. I love watching her cook and learning new secrets from her. :) We got everything made on Tuesday and that way all we had to do was throw them in the oven and cook them. :)

Jon and I had a wonderful lunch at his Moms house. Everything was great. Jon loved the Mac and Cheese so much, that I am going to attempt to make it tonight. Should be interesting. :)

After we had lunch with his Mom, we scooted back to My parents because we had a Baby Shower planned for Rachel. (Just family.) She got LOTS of cute PINK things. I can't wait to meet Miss Blakely for the first time. Not much longer now! :)

It was great having everyone around for Thanksgiving. There was one person who was missing and I missed him greatly. Pat, I can't even begin to tell you how much you were missed. I can't wait to see you. 26 more days!

After everyone left Mom, Kelley, and I began to go through the ads and plan out our day of shopping. We invited Kelley to go with us. She was a good sport considering she had to be at work at 3:30 pm- AT LEAST 11:30 pm that same night. We got up and headed to Target around 5 am. BUT, the line was so long to get in, we just left. It was WAY to cold to wait in that line. There was nothing we needed badly enough to stand in it! haha. We decided to head to the Summit and check out Belk and a few other stores. We went to Belk and racked up. I got some really cute boots that were only $20! Mom got Pat's Christmas gift in there as well. We decided to take a break and eat at Cracker Barrel for a quick Breakfast. It was yummy.

We then headed back to the Summit to finish up our shopping. As always, we got lots of great deals. And, we have a new place to shop the day after Thanksgiving. NO one was there! It was great.

We went back to Moms and slept until the IRON BOWL came on. We watched for a bit and then decided that Bama was making us to nervous so we left! We took Kelley to work and then we went to Target. BUT, it seemed like every where we were going the game was following us! So, we decided to go back home and finish watching the game. I can tell you that I was FREAKING out. I even went upstairs and took a bath because I didn't want to see the ending. Jon watched the game with a friend and kept texting me. He was SOOOOOO annoying. I hate dealing with him on Iron Bowls. HAHAHA. :) BUT, we all knew what happened in the end. CHAMPIONS ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO WIN!!!!! ROLL TIDE! ;)

Anyways, I have some laundry that I need to finish up on!

Have a great week and ROLL TIDE ROLL! Lets kick some FLORIDA TAIL!

Rammer Jammer....

2009-11-27T21:08:00.002-06:00

I've got three words for all of you...........

RRRROOOOOLLLLLL TTTTTTIIIIIIIDDDDEEEEEE RROOOOLLLLLL!!!!!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

2009-11-19T10:18:00.003-06:00

I always look forward to Thanksgiving each year. Not only because of the good FOOD, but because its always a time when the family is together.

This year will be hard because it will be the first year that Patrick won't be there. I would love nothing more for him to coming walking in and surprise us all on Thanksgiving. But, the likely hood of that is pretty slim. We ALL will miss you, Patrick. Can't wait to see you December 28th! Counting down the days. 38 to go.. :)

This year Jon and I have LOTS to be Thankful for. We are getting a new start at life in Huntsville, a new job, new church, and time to restore broken relationships. I am FOREVER THANKFUL for all of these things.

We will spend some of our day at Jons moms house, then the rest of the day will be spent at my parents. It is always SO hard for Jon and I to balance the day out. Trying to be at 3 different places in one day is tough. We tried it one year and it was horrible. We were at each place for like an hour or 2. We didn't even get to enjoy ourselves. (Not to mention we ate so much we made ourselves sick. Haha.) So, we decided from then on that we would have to pick and chose where we would be. Rotate it each year. :)

Another reason I love Thanksgiving is..................

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!

Haha! SAD but TRUE. I love nothing more than sitting next to the fire Thanksgiving night, looking through the ads and scoping where I will spend my day. Last year, Mom and I made the BIGGEST mistake by going to Wal-Mart. I was seriously having anxiety attacks. Mom decided to SPLIT up from me and go get something she wanted. I can remember calling out, "MOM" and about 50 women turned around to see if it was their child calling them. HAHA. SO, I told her I can't do Wal-mart again. Unless she wants me to have a SERIOUS, SERIOUS melt down in there. HAHA. I think this year we will be going to Target, Big Lots (who always has GREAT deals), Hobby Lobby, and Michael's. We are usually DONE shopping by 10 am. :) We can seriously get some good deals! :) I HOPE to be completely done with my Christmas shopping by then!

Well, I hope you all have a VERY VERY Happy Thanksgiving. :) We ALL have LOTS to be Thankful for! :) And I am THANKFUL for each one of you who read my blog. :)

Blessings and Peace,

Jesus Freak..

2009-11-04T21:36:00.003-06:00

So, I decided to come "home" a few days early and help my mom with the kiddos while Natalie works Christmas Village this week. I was SO glad to see Kemp and Daisy. I have missed ALL of my nieces and nephews so much! :) Of course, they were more glad to see Mr.Wiggles than me. Haha. :) Kelley, Pat's new girlfriend, came over and helped with the kiddos. They instantly fell in love with her. She was SO sweet and good with them. :) Kemp asked mom before she came over, "Is she good with children?!" HAHA. I love that. He is a funny little duck to say the least..

Anyways, on my way home I heard a song I haven't heard in years. It made me instantly think..

Who remembers the song, "Jesus Freak" by DC Talk?? I use to listen to it a lot during youth group, but haven't really heard it since then.

Here is the chorus of the song:

What will people think if they hear that I am Jesus Freak

What will people do if they find out its true

I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak

There ain't no disguising the truth

These lyrics REALLY made me stop and think. I had to think about how many times I may not have shared my Faith with someone else because I was afraid of what they may think of me.

I have finally allowed myself to "get lost" in the worship at church. To lift my hands and cry out to Christ. I had always been too concerned with who may or may not be watching me and make fun of me for raising my hands. But, I have finally gotten to the point where I don't care. I want to worship my God and I finally feel comfortable doing it.

Just recently I have learned there are some people that I know VERY well who aren't Christians. They believe that Christians aren't even real. They believe that Christians only believe in Christ because thats what their parents taught them.

That REALLY breaks my heart and makes me mad to be honest! Because, I KNOW that there is a God. There have been WAY too many things in my life that could never have happened without God.

I couldn't imagine not having a relationship with Christ. He is someone I can ALWAYS talk to. Even when no one else is there, I know He is always right there with me.

I feel like in the past year I have become so much stronger in my walk with Christ. I feel a lot of that is to do with me being married. I am so thankful to have a hubby who believes in the same beliefs as I do. I couldn't imagine not having a hubby who wasn't a Christian. That was ALWAYS something that was FIRST on my list for even dating someone. I would have had a really hard time dating or marrying someone who didn't believe in Christ.

I pray that I can really show my Faith to these people who are not Christians. Show them that I am a JESUS FREAK and I am NOT afraid to prove it. :)

Blessings and Peace,

KnickNats at Christmas Village!

2009-11-03T16:20:00.003-06:00

Just a friendly reminder that:

KnickNats Designs will be at Christmas Village!

Christmas Village is held at the BJCC from Wednesday- Sunday. I will be there on Saturday to help! Natalie has texted me a picture of her booth and it really looks GREAT! I wish I was there to help her! :( I can't wait to see it in person.

I can't even begin to tell her how PROUD of her I am! Christmas Village is a HUGE thing. She deserves this! :) Congrats, Natalie! Can't wait to be there to help you! You are going to do AMAZING this week! YOU rock. Love you!

Hope to see you all out at Christmas Village this week!

First Annual Cullen Halloween Party

2009-11-01T20:04:00.008-06:00

Happy Halloween Everyone! :) (Just one day late!)

Jon and I hosted our First Halloween Party yesterday. It was a very very fun party if I do say so myself.

Jon and I went as...

Hugh Hefner and his NEW BRUNETTE girl. (BRUNETTES do have MORE fun! hehe)

*Jon looks JUST like his dad with his hair gray like that! It freaked me out a bit!*

Everyone had cute cute costumes!

Awards for the best costumes were the following:

Best all Around:

Funniest:

Sexiest:

Tie between yours truly and Amy

Most Original: (Amelia Earhart!)

Scariest: (Just b/c he's Jason-haha)

Then we carved pumpkins:

All in all Jon and I had a great night. Thank you to everyone who came!

Blessings and Peace,

2009-10-27T19:17:00.002-05:00

I've been at my parents this week while working at Little Lambs! I have SO enjoyed being able to see all my friends and my precious little ones I have missed so much. Laurie and I have had so much fun making those tiny handprinted ornaments. The babies are the most precious as well as the most difficult. I am going to have to do one for Miss Daisy for MY tree. She wanted to do one SO bad. Kept giving me her hand to paint. Haha. :)

I have enjoyed being here with my parents this week, but am DEFINITELY ready to get back to the ole hubby. I am ready to have a week when I am HOME and not on the go. Ready for a relaxing weekend, but I don't see that any time soon. We are hoping to go to the beach with my family for Thanksgiving. (If we can find a house big enough for all of us!) I think that would be a nice relaxing time for us. Just hope we get to go! (HINT HINT, Big T! haha!)

I am really hoping we get to go to the beach so we can hit the outlets the day after Thanksgiving. Mom and I have had a tradition of going for AT LEAST 10 years now. JUST the 2 of us. No one else likes to shop like we do! :) Actually, I am ALMOST done with my Christmas shopping! I have tried to get a few things here, a few things there. :) One I am really excited about! Can't wait to give it! How will I ever wait 2 more months?!? I am the WORST at keeping surprises! And this one I am really excited about, so not sure it will be a secret much longer. Hahahaha!

The Halloween party is getting closer and I can't wait for it! I am glad that Alabama has a "bye" weekend this weekend and can actually enjoy the day! I have to give it to Bama for playing their HEARTS out. Last week was a bit scary, but Terrance Cody (aka MOUNT CODY!) saved the day for Bama! They've got some work to do against LSU, but I think Bama can win! Roll Tide Roll! :)

Well, I guess that's it for now! I am trying to blog more often..

Blessings and Peace,

Wow, its been a while!!

2009-10-22T19:23:00.003-05:00

I have been a complete and total slacker on my blog lately. haha. My mom had dinner with Mrs.Konie and she told me that I was in trouble for not blogging. SO, Mrs.Konie, here we go....

Jon and I have been doing wonderful. We are SO enjoying Madison! And couldn't be happier to be where we are. And to make matters EVEN better we have found a church that we are in awe of, Asbury Methodist. A couple of Sundays ago it was JUST Praise and Worship. I had chills the entire service. The service was one of the MOST moving services I have ever been to. If NOT, the best. I left with my cup overflowing. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was. Jon and I both left and looked at each other and said "THIS IS WHERE WERE SUPPOSE TO BE!" Jon and I have been totally blessed with finding amazing Churches. :)

Mom came and spent the week with Jon and I this week. We had a BLAST. I even tried to convince her to move into our spare bedroom. HA. I know Jon was probably ready for us to get out of his hair. Poor thing, he is now SICK as a dog! I feel so bad for him. He was suppose to go on a "MAN WEEKEND" this weekend, but he is feeling so bad, he's not going. Which, I know Jon MUST be sick to miss it. I feel bad that I am not there to take care of him. (I am in Hoover because I am working at Little Lambs on a project next week! I can't wait to see all my girls and all those adorable babies that I have missed so much!)

Jon and I are having our "First Annual Cullen Halloween Party" on Halloween night. Mom helped me decorate the house and get it ready for the party. We have found our costumes and I must say they are so cute. I will definitely make some pictures and post them when the party is over! :)

Wiggles is still just the CUTEST thing ever. I think he is beginning to have more clothes than I do! He looks SO cute in his clothes and ALWAYS has on a shirt! He is getting to be a big little boy. At the last vet appointment he weighed 5 lbs 10 oz. I laugh because he was only suppose to be 3 lbs full grown. NOT that I care. (No, mom, I wouldn't trade him for anything..) We took him to the Petsmart Halloween Costume Parade and had his picture taken! LOTS of cute Halloween costumes! This year Wiggles was Mickey Mouse. He was a darn cute Mickey Mouse, too! :) Too bad his costume was just a bit to small. (I guess its all the dog bones he's been eating! LOL!)

The next few weeks are going to be BUSY, BUSY! Halloween Party, and then...KNICK NATS at Christmas Village! I couldn't be more happy/proud of Natalie for all she is doing with her earrings! :) Way to go, Nat! :) I know Christmas Village is going to be AWESOME! I can't wait!

Well, I guess that's it for now. Jon and I are kinda boring these days..LOL!

Blessings and Peace,

1 Year Ago..

2009-10-05T17:06:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was mine and Jons 1 year Wedding Anniversary! I can't believe it has been a year! AND, what a year it has been at that. I'm not to sure there are a lot of couples who can say they've been through what we have in our first year. Saying that, we as a couple had to learn to fully and totally trust that God had His hand in every moment of our marriage. There were many times that we were uncertain and scared about our future. I am SO incredibly blessed to have my Mom and Dad who totally supported (financially as well as morally) 110%. They were there when I cried my eyes out and just hugged me and told me it we were going to be okay. Jons Dad and Step- Mom have been amazing as well. Jon and I are so blessed. :)

And as weird as it sounds, we are better off today than we were 1 year ago! We are at a better place in our lives. We have become stronger in our walk with Christ, more mature, and I fall in love with Jon more and more every day. I am SO blessed to have such an amazing man to call my husband.

There was some drama that occurred before, during and after our wedding. One in particular that Jon and I are having a hard time getting over. It's one of those things, that I just can't seem to get passed. And, just when I think I want to start working on making them better, I am QUICKLY reminded why we are in the situation we are already.

I have prayed and prayed about the "SITUATION" but just don't know what to do anymore. I have shed way to many tears over it and am tired of crying over it. But I am simply at a loss for what to do. I would have thought a year would have been plenty of time for things to be resolved, but I guess I was totally wrong.

I am going to totally "LET GO AND LET GOD!" Because, I don't think there is another way to go.

My prayer for Jon and I is that our 2nd year will be a little less eventful than the last. And that we will continue to fully trust our AWESOME, AMAZING God in everything that WE do as a couple.

I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us!

Blessings and Peace,

Introducing...........

2009-10-02T18:19:00.004-05:00

Well, here is my secret that I've been working on for the past few weeks. (No, Im not preggers!) But, I do have a new shop on etsy called.......

K9 Barkery! I make homemade dog biscuits!! Please check out my shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8043361

"My dog biscuits will leave your pooch drooling for more!"

More to come later!

2009-09-19T21:13:00.002-05:00

Last night I experienced something I had never experienced before. (And hope I don't EVER again.) I had my first migraine. It was seriously one of the scariest things ever. My sight became blurry and then the whole left side of me went numb. I could hardly talk. I was freaking out. I remember my sister use to have these so I immediately called my mom. I am so glad she was calm. She kept telling me that Natalie had the same exact symptoms. She told me to get in a dark room and just sleep it off. I did just that. I woke up at like 11 pm and still had a monster head ache. So, I went right back to sleep. Luckily, this morning when I woke up it was completely gone. I hope and pray that I don't have another one of those. :( Totally a scary experience.

On a lighter note, I met up with my friend Monica before all that started yesterday. She has a cute little 2 year old named Ava. Monica is teaching me how to COUPON. :) I can't wait to start. If anyone has any advice on this please let me know. I already have the Southern Saver website,but if theres another please please let me know!

I was going to do my grocery shopping today, but kept thinking that I needed to cut my coupons before I go. I am trying to show Jon that I can save money. (This way maybe I won't have to work as much! This is my goal at least!) Anyways, Monica was telling me that she generally saves like $50 each week on groceries. She also taught me how to make my own laundry detergent and cleaning supplies! Which she says saves major $$$! I am all about that these days! :)

I got Mr. Wiggles Halloween costume in the mail on friday. It is seriously the cutest thing I have EVER seen! I can't wait to take pictures and post them! :)

I am going to Birmingham on monday since my dad is going out of town. Mr.Wiggles and I will spend a few days there and then come back. I am also excited because Jons dad and step mom have invited us to go to the beach. Unfortunately, since Jon just started work he can't take off. BUT, since I'm not currently working, I will be taking advantage of this beach offer! :) I haven't been since when I got married, so I am having beach withdrawals! :) haha. I will miss Jon and I SO wish he could be there, but I will still have fun without him! :) hahaha.

I am currently working on 2 projects. I know I keep saying I am going announce them, but they are taking a bit longer than expected! :) At least one will be up by next week! :)

PS..Happy Birthday, Michael! I hope your having a great time at the beach! See you guys soon!

Anyways, I hope everyone has had a great weekend. :)

Blessings and Peace,

Long weekend

2009-09-08T08:21:00.003-05:00

Jon and I had a good LAZY weekend! We were planning on going to Birmingham on Friday because Mr.Wiggles needed his last round of shots...BUT..the cable guy could only come Saturday or 2 weeks from Saturday! SO, we had to stay here and wait for him. UGH! We were even more annoyed because they told us they would be here between 2-4 and it was 5:30 before they even showed up! Annnnnoooooyyyyyiiiinnnnnggg! :)

So, how about the CRIMSON TIDE?!? Wow, I was SO nervous during the game! Jon will tell you I could hardly eat my dinner! Bama always makes me SO nervous. BUT, they looked REALLY good! :) I can't wait to see how they play the rest of the year!

Jon and I were both saying on Saturday how GLAD we were NOT to be in Auburn on game days. We DO NOT miss game day traffic and I DO NOT miss my house being wrecked after weekend visitors.

On Sunday, we decided that we wanted to start looking for a church up here. While we were out driving last week, we saw Asbury Methodist Church. HUGE church. We decided that we would try it out! We were running a bit late on Sunday morning (OF COURSE!) and had to hustle to get there on time. Luckily, it takes all of about 10 minutes to get there!

We got there and I couldn't believe how many people were in their Contemporary Worship service. I'd be willing to guess there was 300+ people in there EAISLY.

The music was uuuunnnnnrrreeeaalll! I mean, SERIOUSLY. They sang songs that are on 93.7 wdjc, so I knew most of them. It was a VERY worshipful time for me on Sunday. Something I definitely needed!

The preacher was great as well. He was really funny. He kept my attention the entire time. :) All in all it was a great service. We will definitely be going back!

Jon really liked the service as well. (I am so glad he is now a METHODIST! haha! He is finally seeing the light! NOW, just gotta make him a BAMA fan!)

I hope to be able to announce next week what I've been working on! :) NOW, to keep you in suspense until I tell what it is.. haha...

Well, I had better run and start cleaning this house! :)

Have a great week!

Blessings and Peace,

settled in

2009-09-04T15:29:00.002-05:00

We are officially settled in! I finished the last of what needed to be done today! The apartment looks so cute. (If I do say so myself!) I have enjoyed being able to stay home, clean and have dinner ready for Jon gets here! :)

Jon is really enjoying his job so far. Of course when I ask him how it went he tells me "Its classified information, I can't discuss it with you!" He is SUCH a brat. (But thats one of the reasons why I love him!) He was told that they interviewed QUITE a few (around 20) people for this position! I think that speaks VOLUMES for Jon. Finally things are going well for my sweet hubby!

I am excited to be meeting up with a long lost friend next week. Monica and I met at Faulkner in 2004 and instantly became friends. She and her hubby and her adorable daughter Ava live in New Hope which is about 30 minutes from here. She is going to teach me how to COUPON. Which I am REALLY excited about. She is also going to teach me how to sew and make cleaning supplies by myself. :) I can't wait to see her! :)

We'll not much of an update, but I am trying to do better about blogging! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

ROOOOOOLLLLLLL TTTIIIIDEEE ROOOLLLLL!

Blessings and Peace,

Pictures

2009-09-02T08:53:00.005-05:00

Here are a FEW pictures from the apartment. I haven't taken any of the guest bedroom or guest bathroom yet, but here are the rest!

The Patio

Our Bedroom

Master Bathroom

My angel boy!

My cute lil kitchen!

My piggies!

Dining Room

Den

My FAVORITE lamp ever!

Jon chilling on the couch

Jon and I are settling in! We still have to do our closets, but other than that things are pretty much done around here! It took us less than 48 hours to get everything cleaned, neat, and organized! :)

Jon starts his job tomorrow, so please say a prayer for him. ;)

Hope everyone has had a great week and a wonderful long weekend! Can't wait for some Alabama Football! Roll Tide!

Blessings and Peace,

Just an update...

2009-08-28T10:20:00.004-05:00

I can't believe its already FRYday! This week has come and gone so fast!

Pat (aka the blonde angel), has been in town visiting for the week, which has been fun. I know he was wanting this week to go by slow, but it has done the opposite!

I had a WONDERFUL birthday. Of course my mom out did herself and gave me WAY to much. I do, however, LOVE it all! My favorite being a necklace from this girl: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=17732568.

It is absolutely adorable and I will wear it everyday! :) Thank you, mom! You are ALWAYS so thoughtful and always do WAY to much. Thank you for EVERYTHING!

My sister did WAY to much as well. I love my dresses and Ulta gift card! THANKS, Natalie!

Jon and I start the moving process today. We go and sign paper on our new apartment this afternoon. We are going to go ahead and fill up both cars and take a load since we can get our keys today! We are SO excited. Jon is thrilled to have a job. I can't express how proud of him I am. :) Ill take some pictures today of our new place and post them tonight when we get home!

Mr. Wiggles has been a bit under the weather the past few days. Wednesday night, he woke me up coughing off and on. So I took him to the vet yesterday. They said he had a cold, so they gave me a steroid to help his throat. Well, last night it got worse. Poor little man didn't sleep to good. He is coughing and now sneezing like you wouldn't believe. I called the vet and I am waiting for them to call me back. Hopefully, I won't have to take him back in today. I am hoping they will just tell me to come get him some different medicine. Jon and I decided that since we love our vet so much, we are going to keep them for our primary vet. We will get another one in Huntsville to keep in case of emergency, but will be bringing him back down here for all his important vet stuff! ;)

Well, I need to go and help Jon do some last minute packing! Ill post pictures tonight of our new little apartment!

Blessings and peace,

Falling into place..

2009-08-20T21:47:00.002-05:00

Things are FINALLY going on the up side for Jon and I! Today was so much fun! My mom, Jon, and I all went to Huntsville to fill out an application for an apartment that Jon and I fell in love with. It is SO nice. We filled out all of the paper work and the lady said she would get back to us in a few days with the results of the application. I told her that tomorrow was my birthday, so we needed an early birthday present of more good news for Jon and I! hehe..

After doing that we went to the Bridge Street Town centre to have lunch. I have to say that I am in LOVE with this shopping center! They have a lot of great stores including JUICY COUTURE!!! :) (YES, YES I am OBSESSED with Juicy!)

We went and had lunch at Cantina Laredo and it was the BEST mexican food I have EVER had. It was a little pricy, but totally worth it! If you ever go, I HIGHLY suggest the guacamole. They make it fresh at your table. Absolutely delish!!

After having lunch we walked around a bit and headed back to Birmingham. Jon and I went to Best Buy this afternoon to do a little price comparison! (Can't tell why, its a secret! hehe) While we were in Best Buy my phone rang. It was a 256 area code and I threw the phone for Jon to answer! It was the lady from the apartments we wanted. She was calling to let us know that....

She had an early Birthday present for me.....

WE GOT THE APARTMENT!! :)

Not only that the rent had gone down by $30 a month today. Jon and I are STILL on cloud 9. We get to move in earlier than we thought as well! We move NEXT SATURDAY!! SO thankful that I really didn't unpack anything from our move from Auburn. Just got to go to dad's office and decide what I want to take and what I am going to leave in his storage area. Lots to do between now and next saturday. :)

I am beyond excited and thankful for this new opportunity for Jon and I. I couldn't be ANY more proud of my hubby. He has been busting his butt to get this job and it has paid off.

Jon and I have been through a LOT from before our wedding until now. I can only pray that this is a turn for the better for Jon and I. I couldn't imagine going through this with anyone, other than my amazing husband.

So to Jon..I am so BLESSED to be your wife. Thank you for CHOOSING me as your wife . I am MORE than excited about our new adventure that we are about to embark on. You make me the HAPPIEST girl in the world. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us. I LOVE YOU..

Doubts into Dragonflies

2009-08-18T18:27:00.008-05:00

Many of you know that Dragonflies have always been my thing. Whenever I am doing something I feel like I should be a dragonfly appears. ..

Well, one afternoon Jon got a call about a job in Gulf Shores. He seemed very excited about it. And it all seemed perfect. I began to pray that God would send me the sign of the dragonfly if he was meant to have the job. The next afternoon I came over to my parents house and was sitting on the back porch. I saw it! There sat a dragonfly. I called my mom out and explained to her the situation. We tried and tried to get a picture of it, but it just wouldn't hold still. Every time I got close, it would fly away. Still, I felt like this was a sign from God that we were on the right track.

Jon went and interviewed in Gulf Shores and he was very disappointed after his interview. He said he just didn't feel like it was a "fit." I was disappointed because who wouldn't want to move to the beach?! Still, I trusted that God would continue to show us the way we should go.

A couple of days later, I sat back on my moms back porch. I began to pray that God would just let us know where we should go as far as a job. Jon got a call that afternoon from a company in Huntsville. About that time in flies a dragonfly. Ok, many of you are probably thinking its totally coincidence. I called for Mom to run get her camera and try again. Well, this time this is what we got....

(And actually we got a TON more but it is a PAIN adding them, so I am going to stop here..haha!)

Anyways, after my dad got home from work he was sitting outside and we were telling him about the job possibility in Huntsville. He then proceeds to tell us that his friends son lives in Huntsville and he needs to call him. I ask dad where he worked for and guess what?!? It was the same place Jon was interviewing with! I couldn't believe it! After seeing the dragonflies and now hearing that we had someone who worked with the company! Could it seem more perfect? Jon went the next day and interviewed with the company. He seemed very excited when he was done and even told me that there were dragonflies dancing along his car on the way up! But, he did tell me they were interviewing someone else and we would know NEXT week. I was SO bummed and discouraged! I just was READY to know something! Still, I kept the faith and kept praying and asking God to let us know if it was the right place for us. Later that night, Jon's recruiter called him and said the company wanted him to go to Atlanta to meet with the Executive Vice Presidents of the company! Jon was BEYOND excited and nervous about this opportunity. Of course, I didn't have work so I decided to ask mom if she wanted to tag along and go shopping! She did and we left for Atlanta bright and early the next morning.

We had fun in Atlanta, however, I will say I could NEVER live there. I was a basket case during traffic and it wasn't even rush hour. On the way home, I just about freaked out. On the car in front of me, guess what there was????

Yep! On the back window of the car, there was a decal of a dragonfly!

Each and everyday while waiting to hear about Jon's job I saw a dragonfly. I felt like this was the perfect situation for Jon and I.

We decided that this past weekend that we would go ahead and go to Huntsville and start looking for places to live. We went and got to meet up with Jon's college roommate/lifetime friend, Ryan, and his girlfriend, Emily. Ryan moved there a little over a year ago and is really enjoying it. He showed us Huntsville and then showed us the best part! The new shopping area! Man, is it nice! I fell in love instantly! :) We had lunch and then Ryan suggested that we go look at some apartments that he has seen pretty recently. Jon and I found them and laughed because we marked them off of our list for being "to expensive!" We talked with the leasing manager and they had some specials that Jon and I could actually afford. She then showed us the model apartment and we both looked at each and said this is IT! The apartments are SO nice, and even have screened in porches! PERFECT, I tell you. Jon and I left feeling very happy and excited about our future and could see ourselves living there. Jon decided that he wanted to GPS how far it would be from these apartments to his potential work. Wanna know the best part??? It was only 2.0 miles!!!!!!!! Everything was falling into place for us!

We came home feeling overjoyed! Not wanting to get let down, but it just felt RIGHT. The following evening we were celebrating my Mimi's 95th Birthday. We wanted NOTHING more to be able to announce at her party that we would be moving to Huntsville, unfortunately there was NO news to announce. I went to wish Mimi a Happy Birthday and almost began to cry. Mimi had a DRAGONFLY pin on. I couldn't believe it! It was like God was telling me, "Be patient! I am still here, and I have a PLAN for you and Jon!"

Well, yesterday, we were totally hoping to hear some news. But, 5:00 pm came and we had nothing. I began to get upset. I was angry that I let myself get so excited about the job, but feeling like I got to excited over nothing. Jon was in MUCH better spirits then I was. He kept telling me, "I'm not giving up on this until I hear NO from the company." His positive attitude soon made me continue to trust that God was STILL in control. There was NOTHING we could do until we heard for sure.

Well, this morning I had to babysit. On the way to work I heard this song. And the lyrics went something a long the lines of..

"Gods not finished with me yet, and He won't forget the plans He has for me". I immediately knew at that moment that God was speaking through that song to me. To again, just be patient and TRUST in Him.

Of course, I had my phone in my hand waiting for Jon to call. At about 11 am he called just to say hi. He seemed all down in the dumps. I anxiously said "WELL DO YOU HAVE ANY NEWS?!?!" And he said.........

"YES WERE MOVING TO HUNTSVILLE!" I couldn't believe it. My eyes began to well up with tears. I am so PROUD of Jon. And, even more so , THANKFUL to God who has never let us down through this whole process. Yes, Jon has been out of a job for 5 months to the day almost. But, we know that God had this planned for us. At the time, Jon losing his job seemed like the worst thing in the world. When in turn, it has been the best thing for us. I am feeling incredibly blessed and my cup is overflowing with thankfulness right now.

I just want to thank you ALL (yes, I know there are some SECRET readers out that-hahaha!) for praying for us! You all mean the world to Jon and I. We are extremely excited about this new journey we are being led us. We can't wait to see what God has in store for us.

I will update with our move to Huntsville. Jon begins work on MONDAY! I will follow as SOON as we get an apartment! Things are happening fast for us!

Again, thank you so much!

Long time..no blog!

2009-08-17T20:11:00.003-05:00

WOW. I didn't realize it had been so long since I have blogged!! :) Its funny to look at those pictures of Mr.Wiggles, because he has GROWN so much. Both of his HUGE ears are standing up! I will have to get some of my moms pictures and post them on here! Mr.Wiggles is still doing great! I have to say that he might be the cutest thing I have EVER seen. He's my little baby boy! If I am this obsessed with a DOG how will I be with my CHILD?!?!? Jon is just as obsessed, if not more!! He is so funny with him! :)

I know you all have probably been reading on the job situation, but nothing new as yet. I am asking for PRAYERS as we are waiting to hear ANY day now on a job in Huntsville. We want this job like we have NEVER wanted anything before. He had an interview with the web director in Huntsville last Monday and then on Wednesday they sent him to Atlanta to meet with the Executive Vice President of the Company!! I am so proud of Jon for getting as far as he has in the process. I just pray and I mean PRAY that it works out. It seems like the PERFECT situation for Jon, Mr.Wiggles, and I! SO, please pray that we will get good news SOON. They said we would know in the beginning of the week. Well, monday and has come and gone so we are banking on them to call tomorrow. My birthday is Friday and there couldn't be a better birthday gift I could get! :) I will BLOG as SOON as I hear something.

Yesterday we were blessed enough to celebrate my Mimis 95 Birthday! It was fun being with some of my cousins who I haven't seen in a while. With just Mimi's kids and grandkids there were 30 at the party. One big person was missing however! That would have been Pat! BUT he was there in spirit! (And a couple of pictures that Mom took of the BLONDE angel!) Mimi looks great! I hope I look half as good as she does at 95! I just feel so blessed to have a grandmother who celebrated her 95th birthday! I am not sure there are a lot of people that can say that!

So, as I was saying earlier that Pat didn't get to come down for Mimi's birthday party. I am SO excited to say that he will be here on FRIDAY for my Birthday!! We haven't seen him in MONTHS, so it will be GREAT to finally see him!

I can NOT believe that I am going to be 24 on Friday! 24! That is MID-TWENTIES, which is almost THIRTIES!!!! I am NOT ready for this yet! HAHAH. I know I sound CRAZY, but really, 24 does seem OLD to me. :) Its weird to think that Jon and I started dating when I was 17! We have been together for almost 7 years now! That to me is crazy as well! In a way it seems like just yesterday that we were going on a blind date. NOW were an OLD married couple! HAH!

Anyways, I better go. Kemp is down here and we are having a spend the night party! We are watching Finding Nemo. Which to me, might possibly be the SADDEST Disney movie. NOT my favorite Disney movie, but KEMP loves it! Whatever keeps him entertained! :)

I PROMISE to update as soon as we here from the JOB. (Even if its not great news!)

Blessings and Peace,

Introducing...

2009-07-13T11:52:00.007-05:00

Here is our new four legged furry baby! :) Meet Mr.Wiggles! After being distraught about losing Twinkie we decided that we still wanted another puppy. We went to the humane society on saturday with mom and found 2 dogs we really liked. 1 was a chihuahua mix who was about 1 year old. Jon had already told me he wanted a puppy not an "adult" dog. I was sad because I really LIKED him. He was very shy and timid and I was afraid thats how he would be once he was home, so we asked to see the next dog. Sarasota. A female mixed terrier. She was precious, but I did NOT want a girl dog. I've always heard male dogs are easier than female dogs. So we left the humane society empty handed on saturday. I was bummed, but did not give up.

On Sunday morning I had to work the church nursery. Jon was in charge of calling the classifieds. I called him as soon as work was over and he had bad news. All the ones he had called were already SOLD OUT or they only had females. I was SO bummed out. I got home and found a few more and asked Jon if he had called them. He said NO, and I called them. 1 of the breeders was SOLD OUT and 1 had 2 males and 1 female! I JUMPED on this opportunity. I asked if we could see them that day and he said YES of course! So, I scurried Jon out of the shower and asked if Kemp wanted to go with us. We finally made it to our destination to see the puppies. They were ALLLL SOOOOO cute and tiny!! JACOB aka Mr.Wiggles ran up to me and started licking me and that how I knew he was the one for me! His brother Rusty tried to follow after us. I was SO sad to leave Rusty behind and if I were a millionaire I would have bought that sweet boy too!!

We got Mr.Wiggles home and the kids, Natalie, and Brad went nuts over him! He really is the cutest thing I have EVER seen! ;) Hes SO sweet.

This morning I knew Mom was going nuts to see him. So, we took him over there. SHE did in fact go nuts over him!! He LOVED her too. :) She helped me make his FIRST PAW PRINT mold. Which is adorable, by the way. And she helped me bathe him, which he HATED! But, he needs to get use to it, because he will be bathed at least once a week! :) Mom taught him his first trick today. And that is to HOWL. And its the cutest thing EVER. I know it won't be very cute at 1 am, but for now it is! :)

I am so glad that Mr.Wiggles CHOSE Jon and I. Jon is so cute with him. He very paranoid! But, its hard not to when you have a 1 pound chihuahua. The tiniest little thing could hurt him!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and Ill put up more soon!!

Blessings and Peace,

Heart broken

2009-07-10T21:38:00.002-05:00

Well, sad news came to Jon and I today. We found out that Mr.Wiggles is VERY sick with mange and his 3 other siblings have been put down do to it. I am ABSOLUTELY heart broken. I have cried and cried. I don't think I have any tears left. I know it's silly, but this was a HUGE thing for Jon and I. Something we've waited for well over a month. Just to think that we were 1 week off from getting him is devastating. So, please remember us this week. :(