Photo Dump

We are still waiting, waiting, waiting for baby Isaac to make his appearance. One by one I am checking off the things I was SURE I would not get to before he arrived. One of which was clear out my pictures on my camera and phone. I thought I would unload some of my favorite Fall and Winter pics on here from my iPhone. Hopefully, next time I put up pictures, they will include our newest member. :)

I bought these colored links to work with Eli on counting on the days he is home with me. Marc just uses them to make the kids fashionable clothes which is a far more popular game.

 We took Eli and Hailey to their first movie. Finding Nemo in 3D.

Hailey got her car seat turned forward in November. 

 My handsome boy ready for church.

 Sneaking a nap in mommy and daddy's bed. We have still been working on getting Eli and Hailey to nap well in the same room. Yesterday was a success since they both slept 2 1/2 hours without bothering each other.

 We love Play-Doh. Endless fun for the kids (and endless clean-up for mommy).

Eli showing how delicious his cupcake was at a recent birthday party...

 ...while Hailey was not such a fan of the mess.

 Eli sure knows how to make her smile... literally.

 Not long after Hailey began to face forward we learned she gets car sick on road trips. Poor girl. :(

 Our first nice snow came just before Christmas!

Enthusiastically modeling some new Christmas clothes.

 Trying out some "goop." Not sure I made this one right. Eli took one look and said, "No thanks, mommy," but Hailey sure had fun with it.

 Hospital shirts for the kids arrived. Isaac's name became official.

Dunkin Donuts happens to be on my way home from the OB's office and Hailey (and mommy) always enjoy that excuse for a weekly treat.

 Eli and Hailey's room is almost complete. One more alphabet art project to go on the wall. 

My canvas project for Isaac's room finally made it up.. just need a numerical birth date to put below his name.

And that brings us to today....39 weeks and 1 day. My longest pregnancy by a day. Come on baby!

37 weeks!

I can't believe that we have reached 37 weeks, or term, with this pregnancy. It has gone by SO fast and in just a few short weeks we will be welcoming this little guy into our home. The baby room is almost put together, we have a name picked out, and the bags are packed for the hospital. I think we are ready! Here are some catch-up pictures from the past few weeks.

Week 34

Week 36

I originally thought that this labor would come early and go super fast like it did with Eli (4 1/2 hrs. start to finish), but after Christmas all the Braxton-Hicks contractions slowed way down. As each week passes now, I am becoming more aware that every pregnancy is different and each baby comes in their due time. :) I'm not as sure anymore that this one will make an early appearance though I am still hopeful since we scheduled Marc's time off for around my 39th week! Come on baby!

Christmas 2012 Recap

Our Christmas decorations have all been put away for a week now and we are in full BABY mode as we anticipate our little one's arrival in a few weeks. I have no idea how often I will be blogging once he arrives but hope to keep it up enough to document the major events going on with us. I love this blog. It has become my scrap book of our life, and I can't seem to let it go even though I can't seem to find time for it either! Anyhow, I figured I should get up a few more posts before our delivery....

Christmas was lots of fun, and it didn't even seem like we had traveled 1,500 miles when it was all over. We were SO blessed to have found a great deal on a minivan for our family a week before our travels (and to have sold our car on Craigslist the morning we decided to buy the van!). For the first time, we had ample room for all our travel stuff. Normally, Marc would have to work so hard to fit all our stuff in the back of our SUV. It was often like a jigsaw puzzle. This time we just folded down the third row in the van and had so much space for gifts and luggage. We always joked about when we would be forced to drive a minivan, but we are actually loving it!

Our first stop was to my grandparents house in SE Arkansas. We enjoyed getting to see everyone who was there and the kids had lots of fun opening presents.

 My dad was teaching Eli how to pose like the Heisman trophy with his new football

Hailey always wants to hold Bailey in pictures, but never seems to realize she is not that much bigger in size than Bailey when they sit down together! :)

 We are going to have another one in this picture next year!

From Memaw and Poppy's we headed on to Little Rock to visit with my mom's family...and the kids had Round 2 of presents.

Then we headed back to Rogers where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family. We enjoyed getting to relax for a few days in our PJs, eat some good food, look at Christmas lights, celebrate Christ's birth at a Christmas Eve service, decorate cookies, and watch the kids open more presents.

Hailey loves all her new princess stuff and she makes me wear her jewelry as well. Today, she gave me a ring to put on and later scolded me when she found I had taken it off. This girl clearly loves accessorizing more than me. :)

We headed back to Illinois the day after Christmas so Marc could start back to work. I spent the rest of that week taking down our Christmas tree ornaments and decorations. We also made room for some new toys by donating the toys the kids were no longer playing with. I try to involve the kids in this process so they are used to giving as equally as they receive. Eli really seems to understand this. He surprises me sometimes with the compassion he can have at such a young age. Then, we packed up again to go spend the weekend with Marc's family in Bloomington which is a much closer drive! We had more great food and were even able to sneak away to attend a wedding while Marc's parents watched the kids.

We had a great time with our family over Christmas. I am thankful for the unity we have in both of our families that always makes the holiday time so special. :)