In Love

We are so blessed to announce that Baby Ella was born January 18, 2008 at 9:34 a.m. She is absolutely perfect and we could not be happier! She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and is 20 inches long. She has sweet, little chubby cheeks and LOTS of dark hair! Great for bows :) Daddy is completely smitten and she had him wrapped around her finger from the second she came in the world. It was such a priceless moment when we heard the words, "It's a girl!" I cannot tell you how many times I have looked at J and said "oh my gosh...we have two children...and it's a girl!?" Jackson is already the BEST big brother, and that makes my heart so happy to see him love her so much. He was a little unsure at first, only smiling at her, not wanting to hold her or kiss her. After a little while he sat with me and held her and kissed all over her. It was so precious and I will never forget that moment.

From the Daddy: Jackson and Ella are the most wonderful blessings a father could ask for. Jackson is already a great big brother, protecting Ella and loving her so much. It was very cute yesterday to hear him tell everyone to "roll up your sleeves and wash your hands" and say "It's ok El-wa, It's ok." as he didn't want to leave while she was crying. And as far as Ella goes, I am smitten and completely wrapped around her finger. From the moment I saw her, I knew she was just perfect in every way. It is such a different feeling to have a little girl, especially because they are so few and far between in my family. It will be so much fun getting to know her and watch how she and Jackson learn about each other. What a wonderful little family we have!

We went to the Dr. today...

Jason and I went to my weekly check up today and had an interesting visit. Sorry if this is TMI for some of you. My cervix is pretty much completely thinned out and I was dilated to a 2 and when I left I was dilated to a 4. She said that she will not be surprised if she sees me in the next 24 to 48 hrs!! When I got home I was having quite a few contractions, but they have slowed down. No pattern to them at this point. Mom and Dad are on their way for the weekend, so hopefully we will have some action in the next day or so. Who knows? I sort of feel like I have gotten everyone excited for no reason, but only time will tell! I am feeling good, just very anxious and excited. We have had the best week with Jackson. We spent the day with YaYa and Heston on Monday, went to Chuck E. Cheese on Tuesday night, spent the day with Lainey, Aimee, Carlien, Micah, Whitney, Paxton and Mackey on Wednesday, and went to Marble Slab last night. He has been back to his old, fun self so we are thankful to have had this time with him before baby comes. He is such a gift and Jason and I are so thrilled that we are about to have 2 to love! (Jackson is still insistent that he is having a sister named "Milam.") Please keep us all in your prayers as we get ready to embark on this new chapter in our lives. Pray for little Jackson, that he will adjust well and that the transition is smooth - as it can be :)

Love to you all!

You know you go to Starbuck's too often when...

Jackson spent the night with Nanny and Grandpa last night so he is out running around with them today. They went to eat lunch and Nanny asked Jackson if he wanted to go to Target and get a toy. Here is their conversation:

N: Jackson, do you want to go to Target to get a toy?
J: No, I want to go to Starbuck's.
N: Starbuck's? You don't drink coffee.
J: I drink coffee with Daddy. I want decaf Americano.

This is what Mommy drinks, and I do not give him coffee, Daddy does. Although I must go too often for him to know my order. He later added that he would like a blueberry muffin to go with that. This made us laugh so hard and puts the biggest smile on my face :) He cracks me up!

We saw our sweet baby today!

We went to the doctor this morning and got to have a sonogram and see our sweet baby's face! So cute and looks like he/she has chubby little cheeks :) I think the baby has Jason's lips and Jackson's nose. Other than that, it just looks like a little baby. Jason thinks he/she looks like me and a girl. I told him he is crazy, who can tell whether it looks like a boy/girl? He is silly. Everything looks great and she said that baby is "practice breathing" which tells her that the lungs are developed and in good shape. I have not made too much progress and she did a guess on weight...already 7 lbs. 9 oz! This is just an estimate and can be very off, but she said she is typically accurate within just a few ounces. She said she expects that this baby will be over 8 lbs. Who knows?? (she delivered a 10 lb. 6 oz. baby yesterday!!) We are so excited and it was such a fun appointment and so weird to see the little face that we will soon meet! Can't wait! I have a picture that I will try and put on here later tonight so check back later if you want to see.

19 days to go...

Well, we are officially on the countdown to Baby I's arrival. The nursery is finally being done, the girls came today to start working on it. For those of you who don't know, we have had the fun opportunity to have a girl who owns a children's boutique (Lil Couture) in Mansfield come in and do a surprise nursery for us. We picked out a boy's room and a girl's room and my doctor wrote down the sex of the baby and put it in an envelope for me and I gave it to her. She is going to put together the baby's room and lock the door until we get home from the hospital and we will get to have yet another fun surprise! It is a little weird that she is upstairs as I type knowing and creating my baby's room! I am really excited, but a little nervous too. I know you all think that I am going to try and peek and see, but I promise I won't. I have gone this long, why would I ruin the fun at this point? I am so glad that we chose to keep this baby a surprise, it has been so fun. Difficult at times, but overall a really neat experience. I will keep you all posted on our little one. I go to the doctor on Thursday...

Happy Anniversary and Happy New Year!

Jason and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on Saturday! We actually spent the evening with our good friends, Dave and Kate, eating panini's and playing with their Wii (so fun, by the way!) We went out for an official evening on New Years Eve. I surprised Jason with tickets to a murder mystery dinner at the Gaylord hotel. It was so much fun and so entertaining! We had a wonderful time. I can't believe it has been 6 years, but in many ways it seems that we have been together forever. I mean that in a good way, honey :) I am so lucky to have such a fun, loving, sweet and loyal husband and I thank God for you daily. I love being married to you and I look forward to many more years! 2008 will bring many blessings with our new, sweet baby coming soon, and watching our family grow. I love the New Year because it is always a good time to reflect on all that you have been blessed with!

A Very Merry Christmas

We had such a nice Christmas this year! Jason, Jackson and I went to church on Christmas Eve and then came home and ate dinner, put on our new pj's, and put out cookies for Santa, and reindeer food in the yard for his reindeer. We put Jackson to bed and began the putting together of the train table...it was a beating. It took us well over 3 hours and we could not get several of the pieces together so quite a bit of frustration came along with it. We finally got it all done and were off to bed. Jackson was wide awake at 7 a.m. and we headed up to get him for the fun. He had the best time and was so precious and excited about Santa and that he had come and eaten almost all of his cookies. We opened gifts and ate French Toast casserole and played all morning. Then we made some birthday cupcakes for Jesus to celebrate His birthday and he decorated them with sprinkles. After all, He is the reason that we celebrate Christmas! Jackson loved it and loved the chocolate icing even more! After a bath and a long nap, we drove to the Irons to celebrate with Nanny, Grandpa, Aunt "Ashwee", YaYa and Heston. He was surprised with a cool John Deere tractor that he can sit on and ride. It was hilarious watching him tear through the living room and kitchen on it. We ate a wonderful dinner and then opened gifts. As usual, he (we, really) were spoiled rotten! We put the kids to bed and settled in to watch "Christmas Vacation" and were all so tired we did not make it through the movie. It was such a fun and special day!

Putting out cookies for Santa

Decorating cupcakes



John Deere tractor




Playing with the train table


Reading a Cars book with Nanny

Heston on his new rocking horse