Christmas Eve night has always been spent with at my parent's house. But not this year. This year, a lot of things changed. The main one being we stayed in Alabama for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so AC could wake up at her home Christmas morning to see her gifts from Santa.

Our morning started off with sausage balls on the dreary morning. Terry and Papa went out for some light shopping, and I had them pick up McAlister's Deli on their way home. I wanted it all day on Tuesday, and finally got it Wednesday at lunch.

After some naps from everyone, we got ready to see Santa! Our local fire department brought Santa to our neighborhood before his big night of deliveries. It was really cold so we bundled AC up so much you could barely see anything but her face!

She wasn't afraid of him or the sirens. As a matter of fact, she just waved at every person around. After we saw Santa and visited with some neighbors, we walked back to the house and got ready for our Christmas Eve dinner.

For years, and years, and years, I can only remember having turkey and dressing for Christmas Eve dinner. Not this year! We had filets, baked potatoes and salads. The meal was perfect and hit the spot.

The rest of the night we watched some Christmas movies and got AC ready for bed. An important visitor was on the way to make a little girl's Christmas morning, and let's be honest, her mommy and daddy's, too!

#babysowell2015

If you follow us on social media, you probably already know the news we shared yesterday...

After a great 12 week appointment this morning, we decided to let AC tell our big secret... #babysowell2015 due the end of June!!

Yep, we've been keeping a big secret at our house for a couple of months.

On October 28th, I woke up and knew I needed to take a pregnancy test. The only problem was Terry was out of town for training with his new job, and mom was here helping out with AC. She had a hair appointment that morning, and I told her to take Terry's vehicle (that way AC and I could run to CVS to get a pregnancy test). Well, his vehicle was low on fuel, so she had to take mine. She asked if I needed anything while she was out, and I mentioned a pregnancy test. The look on her face was complete shock!

She came home and brought lunch and a bag from CVS. And after lunch I decided to take one of the tests. It didn't take a minute for both lines to appear. And I just stood there staring at the test. WOW... and all I could think was... we're having another baby!!

I came out of our master bedroom and mom was holding AC and I said, well I guess I better let Terry know. Her exact words, you've got to be kidding me. Ha! Nope, not kidding at all. I knew it was a slim chance that he would answer, but I called anyway. He didn't, so I sent him the picture posted above. And he immediately wrote back, I see two lines!!!

He called a few minutes later and I think we both were shocked and excited. When he started his new job, insurance started immediately, but we didn't have our cards just yet. So he had to get me the information I needed to give to my dr.'s office. And the next day, I went in for blood work. The look on the ladies' faces when I walked in was priceless. They were so excited to see me, and to hear our news. After I got back from the dr.'s office, I took the other pregnancy test, and the line was much darker than the day before. Which made me smile, big time!

That Friday (Halloween) I got a call first thing from the dr.'s office saying I was indeed pregnant, but it was early, and my progesterone level was low. This was the same with AC. So she called me in meds to start taking, and rescheduled more blood work for the following week. While we were at the Disney on Ice show, I started crying when AC saw Mickey and Minnie for the first time. And I immediately sent a text to Terry telling him, yep... there's no doubt I'm pregnant, because I just started crying watching AC see Mickey and Minnie.

The following week, AC and I went in for my second round of blood work, and the next day was called to say everything came back great. My progesterone level was at the level they wanted, and my pregnancy hormone was steadily climbing. And she scheduled my first appointment for an ultrasound.

So far, we've had three ultrasounds to check on #babysowell2015. I'll have a separate post with photos from them so y'all can see what we saw at six weeks, nine weeks and then at twelve weeks.

At our appointment yesterday, my dr said everything is going great. I've actually lost nine pounds so far due to the stomach virus before Thanksgiving, and haven't gained any of it back. My dr put me on BP meds, and it has helped tremendously. And she took me off my progesterone yesterday. The placenta has formed and it's sitting at the top of my uterus. The baby is due July 4th, but we will have a c-section towards the end of June. And if you're calculating in your head... our babies will be 16 months apart!

We scheduled our next two appointments and already know when we are having our anatomy scan. Just seven weeks until we know the gender of this sweet baby!!

Not only are we having the best Christmas ever celebrating with our baby girl, AC. But, we are also excited that in six months, we will add another sweet baby to our family!!

Visiting Santa...

We knew we wanted to take AC to see Santa since the holidays began. We thought we would go the first weekend of December... well, it rained and we ended up staying home. Last weekend, the Mr had the flu, and I vowed to not take her the weekend before Christmas. So, we made plans to go Wednesday afternoon. We got to the mall around 3:30 and walked right up to Santa. No lines to wait in — hallelujah!

They took a family picture of us, but we had no idea that was happening so the Mr said, let's just not show anyone that picture. And I agreed. I mean, I would have at least not had my hair in a ponytail, and he would have changed out of his work shirt!

I took AC right up to Santa and told her here is Ho Ho Ho that we've been telling you about. She went right to him and was in awe. He told her she was a good little girl, and that she was really sweet. And he gave her a book that she held onto tightly until we stopped to shop in Belk.

No tears, no beard pulling, and all of that combined with no line equaled success!!

 
We are officially ready for Santa to come down our chimney!!

Tis the Season...

... for cute Christmas clothes for AC.

Our 2014 Christmas Card...

By now I think everyone we sent Christmas cards to have received them, so I can share it now with y'all! We get our Christmas cards every year from Shutterfly. This years just might be my absolute favorite!!

We wish y'all a very Merry Christmas!!

Westwood MWP — Our Small Group

We've lived in Alabama for two and a half years, and it took us almost two years to finally find a church. Back in 2012/2013 we visited quite a few churches several times, but none of them felt right. We did come from a smaller home church in Mississippi where everybody knows your name, and we knew it would be hard to find something similar, we just didn't know how hard it would be to find the right fit.

I will say that we visited Westwood Baptist a few times before we even moved to Alabama, and then visited again once we got settled in our home in 2012. However, after four visits we agreed it wasn't for us. Fast forward to last May 2014, and we decided to give it a go one more time. This time was it different. We were spoken to by a few different people, there was a new preacher, and we actually felt like we fit in. Maybe it was our cute daughter that drew the attention of others to speak to us, but we felt for the first time that the members wanted us to come back.

And we did. We've been attending since the weekend after Mother's Day 2014. We found that the 8:15 service fit into our schedule best, and we've enjoyed every Sunday. We've had to miss due to sickness and being out of town, but it's funny because when we come back "our seats" are waiting for us. Come on, you know all Baptists have "their" seats!

Back in October after the service was over, we turned around to gather all our/AC's stuff, and a guy extended his hand to the Mr and I and struck up a conversation. A few minutes later we were invited to the small group they lead (MWP — married with preschoolers). We didn't attend that morning, but we promised we would try it out soon.

You see, the Mr and I had wanted to see if we would fit in with a small group. Not only to meet other people in the church, but to have fellowship with other believers. The only problem, we aren't comfortable leaving AC with anyone just yet. (Yes, we are over protective of her. I waited 32 years to hold our baby in my arms, so I feel like I have the right.) And we figured no small group would want us bringing our daughter with us. Wrong. We didn't even have to mention our issue with leaving her, we were told she was more than welcome to join us, too. So the next Sunday, we made our way to the room where they met. And I guess you could say the rest is history. We've loved getting to know the members, the conversations, the group study and how everyone gets involved with the lesson each week. The discussions get pretty in depth, which makes you think and dig a little deeper, which is exactly what we were looking for.

Friendships have been formed, and we've come to realize that not only are we thankful for their friendships, but also the fact that our group is full of prayer warriors who will send texts during the week "just to check on you." The week we were so sick with the stomach virus, I'm pretty sure I had a text everyday asking how we were feeling.

This past Sunday night, we had a Christmas social at our group leaders home. It was so much fun to gather together and enjoy each other's company. Everyone brought finger foods, and their kids. Well, we actually left AC at home with my parents so we could enjoy a couple of hours out. All of the other kids are older and mobile, and we knew we would be holding on to her all night, so it was a nice evening out for us.We enjoyed watching all the other kids playing and having a great time and can't wait for AC to get a little older where she can enjoy all the fun.

We had a few people missing due to sickness and other obligations, and they were missed!

We're so thankful that our group leaders, Wade and Robin, extended their hand to us that Sunday morning.  

Christmas at our home...

It took awhile to get our living room completely ready for Christmas. With the stomach virus hitting us hard, and then a trip to Mississippi for Thanksgiving... it's been a slow decorating process. But, the living room is now finished. We still have to work on the outside, and set the dining room table, but that will all happen in due time.

Here's a little glimpse at Christmas at our home...

 

Our Thanksgiving Recap...

We originally thought this Thanksgiving would be spent at our home in Alabama due to the Mr taking a new job. However, we're finding each and every day how much we are loving this company he is working for. They take Thanksgiving Day and the day after, so we were able to travel to Mississippi to spend time with family over the holiday. A possibly the best part is he had no work phone calls the entire trip. It's so nice not having him breaking away from our family at night and during holidays to answer phone calls!

We left Wednesday afternoon and arrived at my parents house around 5:30. I made two pans of chicken spaghetti to take with us, and mom had the oven heated and ready so we could warm it to enjoy for dinner. My brother and sister-in-law (Uncle B and Aunt Mar Mar) had just arrived before we got there, so AC was excited to see familiar faces.

Mom got out all of my old baby toys and had them in the floor waiting for her to play with. And she had a blast playing with all the family with them.

After a good nights sleep, we woke up Thanksgiving morning to the smells of sausage balls, pigs in a blanket and cinnamon rolls coming from the kitchen. And while we ate, AC provided the entertainment on the piano.

After breakfast AC sat with Uncle B and Maggie. Maggie is slowly starting to like to be near her. Of course, that will all probably change when AC realizes she can pull her hair like she pulls ours!

There's nothing like mom's Thanksgiving meal. I've never had dressing I liked other than my moms. And I could really be happy with just a plate full of dressing and vegetables. But this year, I did eat a slice of turkey. We had turkey and ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, peas and butter beans, fried squash and okra, asparagus casserole, corn and more.

And this little turkey even had some "real" food, but I think the dressing was a little much for her because she decided to give all her food back to us. =( So, we will try again another day, and in small doses. This is also the new look we've been getting since Thanksgiving. We're pretty sure she picked it up from her Uncle B.

We hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving with a little one added to the family. She kept us all entertained, and laughing — that is for sure! So thankful for the blessing of being her parents.

Here are my thoughts...

We live in Alabama, and we are Mississippi State fans. We wear our maroon and white, adorn our front door with a Mississippi State door hanger, and will proudly say #hailstate after anyone says/yells "roll tide" to us. By the way, this is the only place we've ever lived that year round have people saying that when you walk out of their business.

I was born into a Mississippi State family. I even bleed, maroon. And thankfully, I married another "true" Mississippi State fan. Last February we brought a baby girl into the world, and she is, by default, a Mississippi State fan.

We've sat through plenty of games where our boys fought hard, but the game was lost. We've left voiceless and defeated, but we've never lost our team spirit. We've seen coach after coach come and go, yet, we've never said "fire that coach"!

With all that being said, we're State fans. And we're proud of it. When "We Believe", you better know WE BELIEVE.

This past week we were all nervous, and I'm speaking for the Alabama fans, too. For the first time ever, we went into the match up with Alabama as number one! Ask any Alabama fan this statement and they'll tell you it's true... when you're number one — everyone is gunning for you. While I think State could have pulled off a win Saturday afternoon, it just wasn't in the cards. Did they want to win? No doubt! Alabama just wanted it a little more, and fought to make it happen. There were errors on each teams part, and there will always be that "what if" from each team after last Saturday's game. But in the end, the win went to the team who played better.

Truth be known, I'm so proud of our team for not giving up last Saturday. We've sat through many games where they just stopped trying. And it didn't happen this past weekend. We aren't bandwagon fans, so just because our team dropped to number four doesn't mean we won't proudly tell you who we root for. We will proudly take the same record as the team who has national championships. And as I said on social media after the game, there are still two more games for each team to play. The outcome of those are yet to be known, and the playoffs are still in our reach.

So, as for me and my family, we will still yell #hailstate!! We will still ring our cowbells!! And we will cheer on our team win or lose, ranked or not ranked.

And this little bulldog fan will proudly learn to say "goooooo bulldogs" by next season!

 

A little weekend recap...

I'll be honest with you, at home weekends that are low key are sometimes our most favorite.

Friday night kicked off with steaks and baked potatoes cooked by the Mr, entertainment by AC, and DVR catch up fun! It also ended with us all in bed before nine o'clock. We're old, what can I say!

Saturday morning we had good intentions of house cleaning, car washing, etc., but instead it started with McDonalds for breakfast and more snuggles with our baby girl. And once the football games started, we were set for the day. And so was our little bulldog!!

Mississippi State is now 9-0 (first time in school history) and this weekend our boys face off with Alabama. I know how we'd like the outcome to be, and it could happen. Anything is possible, and we will be cheering for our boys loud and proud come Saturday.

We were all in the bed by nine o'clock again that night, and watched the LSU vs. Alabama game until then. Much to my surprise it was still on going when I woke up after eleven. I rolled back over after telling the Mr who won. The next morning I saw my social media was filled with lots of fans stating they were "holding their breath" and a lot of "when is the team going to show up" — so I can only imagine what the game looked like after we quit watching.

Sunday morning we were up at and 'em to get to church on time. And, we actually made it before the service began. Score! After the service we enjoyed our small group time before headed home to lunch that was ready when we got home. Slow cooker pulled pork, and it was delicious! If you click on the link I've changed one thing about my recipe. I now use a pork tenderloin. Hardly any fat, and it tastes amazing!

Our little pumpkin was pretty cute at church in her new dress.

We all took naps after lunch and got ready that evening to head to dinner at our friend's house from small group. They have a little boy who is about a year older than AC and they had so much fun playing together. The Mr and I enjoyed our time with them and our conversations. Oh and dinner, it was divine! They had chicken parm with a side salad, and we took husband's delight for dessert.

Another great weekend in the books, and now we gear up for the weekend ahead. #ha1lstate