We are Home!

We came home a day early. I hurt one of my teeth on Tuesday {1 of the 2 teeth that have the expensive veneers on it}. It has gotten worse as the week has gone on, so we decided to head back to Alabama today. We were supposed to go back to the Magic Kingdom and then over the Jacksonville to visit some good friends from college. We really hate that that isn't the way it happened.

I talked to the dentist today and he can't see me until Monday. So, I'm praying that the pain won't get any worse before then.

Also on Monday we have Ian's 5-year check-up and my 1st ultrasound. It's going to be a busy day!

We had a wonderful time, but it is so nice to be sitting on MY bed right now!

I'll try to get started on pictures this weekend, but I'm not making any promises. It may be Monday night or Tuesday before I get any up.

Talk to you soon!

More Info...

Thank you all for your notes!

So, I'm sure that the picture didn't say it all...

I'm 5 weeks pregnant.

On Thursday I was filling out some paperwork online for my yearly doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I realized that I was late and started calculating in my mind. I took the one test that we had in the house and could tell that it looked like a plus sign, but what if it wasn't? What if my mind was playing tricks?

I took a picture of it and sent it to Brandon. He thought there was something there, but said it wasn't clear to him, either. So, I bundled the boys up and headed to the grocery store. This time around I bought the digital tests.




I was excited, nervous, shocked, etc.

I went for bloodwork on Friday and was told that I could call the office on Monday for the results.

Monday was nerve wracking, to say the least...

I was going to wait and call around 10 or 10:30, but had to take Noah to the doctor. I decided to call at 9:30 just to leave a message for her to call me because I didn't think they'd be in. The lady at the front desk said that yes, the results were in, but the nurse was in with a patient and she'd have to call me back.

1 hour passes...no call.
2 hours pass...no call.

By the time we got home it was 11:45. I called them back to tell them I was at home and she could call me there - and secretly hoping Ginny would answer the phone or be available...no such luck.

SEVERAL more hours pass.
Several more phone calls from Brandon asking if I'd heard anything.

The whole time my stomach was in knots. I went between thinking that the results were bad and she was putting off telling me - to thinking that the results were good and that's why she was in no rush to call me back.

I knew that the Prattville office closes early, so at 4 I called again. She was still busy.

At 5:05 p.m. the phone rings. By this point I'm just jumpy. I answer the phone and find out that my quants are good for this stage - 129 - and that my progesterone looks good {this was a relief to us because I had low progesterone with both Ian & Noah, so it was like one more affirmation that things will be okay.}

I already had an appointment to see Dr. Martin on Tuesday, so I got a "pre-natal" appointment early. He said that everything is looking good and that my progesterone is actually higher than what they normally look for at this stage.

He has set me up for an ultrasound and more blood work on February 2nd and then I see him for my 1st "official" prenatal appointment on the 17th.

We were going to try and wait until after the ultrasound to tell you guys. But, I'm too excited. Plus, I'm too nervous. I need to know that we have friends & family out there praying for our little bean.

We'll definitely be keeping you updated and once again, thank you for the prayers!

Much Love,
Brandon & Jenny

The Picture Says It All...

This & That...

We had a mouse in our house last week. Brandon & I first heard it on Sunday evening. Monday morning, after I dropped the boys off at school, I went home and headed for the kitchen for some cleaning supplies. I see this small ball of fur fly across the floor and under the oven. EEK! We set out 2 traps that night, both with peanut butter on it. Brandon got up Tuesday night and the peanut butter was gone, but the traps had not gone off.

Tuesday afternoon Ian was on the floor in the living room and Noah and I were on the love seat. All off a sudden I hear scurrying and see something fly across the floor following the hearth. Ian, luckily, didn't see it. I get up and got to stand on the chair to see if I can see where it went to. I sit back down and it then scurries back in the direction it came, but this time it was ON the hearth. It headed into the fireplace. I promptly grab our ottoman and shove it into the fireplace...as IF that's going to keep that thing in the fireplace.



When Brandon got home and moved the ottoman it was long gone. We tried the traps again that night and once again he ate, but did so without setting off the traps.

Wednesday after Bible study we head to Target for the glue traps. We got it that night - before we even went to bed. I do have to say that I think those things are one of the most in-humane things out there.

Thursday night we hear scratching from around our mantle and then up into the wall & ceiling. Brandon put a trap in the attic and we got another.

I'm sure there are more, but we're out of the glue traps for right now. I know we need to get a cat, but, I don't really like cats. It would have to be strictly outside because Brandon's allergic to it, so I would feel bad for it during cold days/nights like we're having today. PLUS, you have the added expenses of food, etc. I think we'll just stick with the traps for now...

Ian saw the camera out while I was taking a picture of the ottoman and wanted his picture taken. Please excuse the rabid looking football with flames coming out of it. That shirt does NOT go out of this house :)



And, while Mommy was looking for the rat, Noah grabbed up my Sodoku puzzle and got busy...




I also wanted to share a picture of some new "decor" in our kitchen. After I put Christmas up I rearranged a little. We have a new coffee pot that we actually use more than once a year now. I found these great canisters from Kirkland's to store coffee, sugar and creamer in. Mom got me the cute silver coffee scoop hanging on the wall.

The New Jeep

So, I guess it was about 2 weeks ago, we FINALLY made it outside for the boys to play with the Power Wheels Jeep that Santa brought them...

Let's just say that they got GYPPED!

That thing is not great quality...and definitely NOT meant to go off-road {which is all that we have out here}. It did come with "treads" that you can supposedly attach to the wheels for better traction, but those things are NOT going on there. We don't know how they expect you to get them on.

It was so comical to watch Noah, then Ian, try to drive them.

Noah started out in the new Jeep, but Ian wanted it because it was NEW. I think he quickly realized that he got the short end of that stick...


Ian barely fits in the new one... he could drive it under the trampoline, though!






Brandon & Ian trying to get the treads on...


The old Jeep doesn't go very fast, either. We think it needs a new battery. Noah gave up and went to swing...he can swing in the "big boy" swing now!

Seen & Heard

We were at Sam's today and Ian needed to go to the potty. I needed to go to, so I told Brandon I'd take him. As we were walking into the restroom Ian said...

"Mommy, is this the one for girls and humans?"

I am SOOOOO excited.....

.....THIRD DAY is going to be in MONTGOMERY in APRIL!!! We are SO going to be there!

Since we saw them in September I (we) have become a HUGE fan. That concert was actually the first time I had {knowingly} listened to their music and I was blown away.

We've both been waiting and hoping that they'd be close to us sometime soon...you can't get much closer than Montgomery! The next best thing would be if Switchfoot were there too...

And yes, we will be joining the fan club before April so that we can go to the "Meet & Greet". And yes, I may make a fool of myself, but so be it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Seen & Heard

Noah was on a roll Tuesday with all sorts of things coming out of his mouth.

We were getting ready to head to Publix and I was putting my shoes on. He grabbed one of my shoes, started trying to shove my foot in, all the while saying, "I Bee How-per, Mommy! I Bee How-per!" {Big Helper}

We head into his room to put his shoes and socks on. He grabbed a shoe and tried to put it on. I handed him the sock and told him that it goes on first {I knew he couldn't put it on, but I was working on the other foot...}. He tossed it back to me and said, "No Mommy, you do sock. I Bee How-per." and continued to try and put the shoe on.

While we were checking out at Publix the lady bagging groceries was talking to Ian about how old he is. She looked at Noah and asked how old he was. Noah said, "I five! I five!" The rest of the day this is what we would go through...

M: Noah, how old are you?
N: I five, Mommy, I five!
M: You're not five! How old are you?
N: I two Mommy, I two.

He would try to hold up 2 fingers...it ended up being all five fingers, but the 2 he was trying to hold up were crossed over each other.

***** This is the 1st time since he turned 2 in November that he's said how old he is! *****

After we got home I came upstairs to put something up. Ian came up right behind me and headed for the ladder to the loft. I told him not to because I was fixing to go downstairs. I hear "Aw Man!" {which is par for the course these days}.

Right after this I hear Noah clomping up the staircase and I tell him not to come up because I'm coming down. I hear "Aw Man!" Like brother, like brother :)

This & That...

Just a random post...no pics and a lot of writing. SORRY!

We have gotten into a great routine since Christmas.

Ian is glad to be back in school. He's working on learning his full name {which he's known for 3 years}, how old he is {which he's known} and his birth date {which we've got to do some work on}. He and I were doing some workbooks yesterday morning and while looking at a picture of a bib, he could sound out the words "bus" and "bib" and tell me which was the correct word. He did this on about 6 pictures. He's such a smart boy and I can't wait to get started with homeschool!

I can't tell if Noah misses being at school 3 days a week or not. When we get ready to leave the house he gets all excited and starts yelling "Schoo!!!!" {yes, I meant to leave the "L" out} or asking for his "pack-pack" and "munch box", but, when we get there to drop Ian off he doesn't complain. He went on Monday and had a good day. He has been a little ball of fire lately - our little "Wild Card".

Brandon started another semester of school on Monday. He seems pretty excited about it...more so to get another semester underway so that he can be closer to being DONE!

We were once again reminded how AWESOME his company is when he brought home a copy of an e-mail telling the company that they were all being giving a "cost of living raise" - and that this will not affect any raise they may receive at their yearly eval. God is SO good!

I am LOVING being at home full-time again! I feel much better and am getting so much more done {most of the time}.

I had to go to the podiatrist on Tuesday - obviously 29 is the new 59!!!! The week before Christmas I began having pain in the ball of my left foot that was so severe I could barely walk on it. I put off going to the doctor and it got better. It still bothered me occasionally, but I didn't want to spend the money to go to the doc. Brandon finally convinced me to go get that seen about as well as a plantar's wart on my big toe {so sorry if this is TMI}. He did an ultrasound on my foot and I have metatarsalgia, basically inflammation around the toe. My primary physician though it was Morton's Neuroma, which would have resulted in SHOTS in my foot, so I was very thankful for the other diagnosis. He also gave me a $45 round of treatment for the other problem. I think my jaw hit the floor in Publix when she told me the price. Our insurance is great and we rarely pay more than $10 for a prescription.

We have a house guest for the time being. A mouse decided to make it's appearance on Monday when I went into the kitchen. We set 2 traps that night with peanut butter and it ate it off of both traps without setting them off. On Tuesday the booger got brave and ran into the living room TWICE! We set the traps again last night...and it helped itself last night. We think that it's relatively small and not heavy enough to set off the traps. Brandon's going to pick up some glue traps tonight.

I know it's a product of living out in a "field". We had the all the time growing up, but I'd rather it not be here if we can help it. We're contemplating getting a cat, but it would have to be a strictly outside cat since Brandon's allergic to them and, frankly, don't want to deal with cat hair on top of all the other things that need to be cleaned with 2 boys in the house. Plus, I don't want to pay vet bills, etc. We;ll have to see how it goes once we get rid of this little critter...

Two of my sister's, my brother-in-law, and niece and nephew are coming in this weekend for us all to celebrate Christmas. We started this tradition last year. Between all of us we have 5 or 6 families to celebrate with. We found it easier, and much more relaxing to just celebrate in January. Ian is super excited. Austin is 4 months older than Ian and they LOVE playing together. Austin's going to spend the night with us, so I'm sure they'll have a big time.

We have a new addition to our family - Stella. She is our British-sounding GPS system. She came in on Monday and is SO easy to use! We got her because we're going on a trip to...

DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We lave on Thursday, the 22nd, and will be back on the 31st. We got a Buy 4/Get 3 free deal {or maybe it was buy 3/get 4}. Basically we're paying for 4 days and getting 3 additional days free. We can's wait and are hopefully going to get to see several friends from college while we're down there.

That pretty much catches us all up.

I hope your year is off to a great start! Brandon and I have done a really good job of sticking with our nightly devotional. I haven't really lost any weight, but am I exercising with Wii Fit for at least 30 minutes 4 - 6 days a week, so that counts for something, right?

Talk to you soon!

P.S. Keep you eyes open...we're going to be adding a recipes blog/page/site real soon. I've been making a list {and taking pics} of some of our favorite recipes as I've fixed them the past couple of weeks and want to share them with you all.

Outside...finally!

We have had such YUCKY weather lately! We did grab a small bit of time the other day for the boys to jump on the trampoline. It didn't last long, though. Notice the dark skies...








We have had some great sunshine today {after the rain passed}, but it's still too wet and muddy to go outside. Maybe tomorrow...

Grand Central Station...

Ian had been playing with Thomas Trains since he was 2 or 3 and has always liked them. When we got the loft "finished" we moved his trains up there.

Noah started a Geo Trax system this year for his birthday. We were going to leave them in his room since Ian's trains were upstairs, but those suckers are HUGE! So, we decided to move it upstairs and leave Ian's up there as well.

We found these great foam mats at Target. We need at least one more set of 4...probably 2 more sets.

Brandon getting ready to come up to the loft...



They also have legos & the T-Rex Tower up there...


There is NOT a lot of room up there...



"GeoTrax...All Aboard!"


Thomas the Tank Engine...this isn't even all of the pieces!

Painting Time!

Did you ever have these little paints when you were growing up? I use to LOVE them! Ian got some from Santa and we finally thought to try them out...he thought it was pretty cool.

The Picture Says It All...

HAPPY. BABY.

Our 1st Day Back...

...to reality was not so great.

Brandon went back to work after 2 weeks off, which means that it was me & the boys by ourselves for the 1st time in 2 weeks. Top that off with gray skies, on top of the fact that we've had gray skies for like the past week and my melatonin supply is low, and to top that off apparently neither of the boys nor I were in good moods.

We headed out to the chiropractor's office for Noah and then to Sam's and the grocery store. By the time we were in the car at 9:45 I was at my wits end. The hour + wait in the chiropractor's office was HORRIBLE. Brandon met us at Sam's and I decided we were NOT going to even attempt the grocery store...we'll do that tomorrow.

We did have a good time with Brandon at Sam's. We got in the car, stopped by "Cute as a Button" to pick something up from Nan, and then headed home for naps/rest time. Noah, of course, took a LONG nap. In fact, he's just NOW woken up {at 5:34 p.m.}.

After about 30 minutes or so in his bed, Ian came to my room and asked if he could lay down with me. Normally this is not a good combination. He wants to talk, toss, make noises, etc. BUT, since the morning had been so yucky I decided to let him so we could have some down time together. Within 10 minutes that child was ASLEEP! This almost NEVER happens!

God truly knew what I needed. I am so refreshed and excited to have this evening with Brandon and the boys. AND, tomorrow WILL be a better day!

Seen & Heard...

I keep a box under our bed with little toys that we pick up throughout the year. We use them as prizes for good behavior, etc. We also planned to use them as stocking stuffers. A month of so ago I was in my bathroom and Ian & Noah came in with a couple of toys out of the box. I took them away and when I went to put them back only half of the box was out from under the bed.

We decided not to use many {if any} of the toys from the box, but there were a couple of Christmas toys that we had bought LAST Christmas, so I decided to chance it. Noah pulled out a Christmas Tyrone {from the Backyardigans}...

I: HEY! Santa got that out of the box under your bed!
M: What was Santa doing in our room?!?!?
B: We didn't even hear him come in!

Luckily, that was the end of the conversation and the other 2 or 3 items went unrecognized...

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When we had pizza the other night for New Years Eve, Noah was SUPER excited. We told them before Bible Study that we were having pizza AFTER. So, all the way to church, to the pizza store, and then once we got home whenever Noah would say the word "pizza" he would clap fast 2 times after. It was the same EVERY time...



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When Ian was a baby - Noah's age or younger - he had a BAD drooling problem. Pepaw would carry him around on his shoulders and Ian would just shower his head with drool. Pepaw would laugh, wipe off his hair and keep on.

While in Georgia a couple of days ago he was carrying Ian around on his shoulders. Ian was laughing real hard and started to drool. Pepaw promptly put him back on the ground.

A few minutes later Cookie and I heard this come out of Ian's mouth...

"Pepaw, can I ride on your shoulders? I promise not to drool on you!"

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Ian & Noah have a Scooby Doo movie called "The Curse of the Wiki Tiki" {or something like that}. Noah LOVES to say Wiki Tiki...it's pretty funny. We love the way he says "Scooby-Doo", too. He had his papi in, so it's not quite as plain here...



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I: Noah, you can just shake it like a maraca.

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Ian had a BAD habit of getting up once he's been put to bed. Normally when he gets up we hear, "Mommy/Daddy, I need to tell you something."

Tonight we heard, "Daddy, I need something to tell you."

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Did you know that "TOS" is the English word for "fun"?

Ian clued me in to that bit of knowledge today while jumping on the trampoline...

New Years Resolutions

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL and safe New Years Eve!

We spent a nice, quiet evening with the boys...



eating pizza...


...and making banana splits and watching "Kung Fu Panda" {not impressed, BTW}.



The boys were in bed by 10 and Brandon and I rung in the New Year while watching the 2nd "Pirates of the Caribbean". We then slept until 8:40 this morning...BLISS!

Here are some of my New Years Resolutions

- Make more time in my day to spend in quiet time with God. Learning Him more ~ loving Him more.

- Spend more quiet time with Brandon - less TVs and computers. Just him & me...

- Take more time to enjoy the sweet simple times with my boys rather than be concerned with the laundry that needs to be done or shelves that need to be dusted.

- Hand my desires/fears/hopes of getting pregnant again over to God and know that it's all in His time.

- While I'm waiting on that time I'd love to get in better shape and lose a little weight.

- Remember and recognize the birthdays of people in our family. We have 3 LARGE families between the 2 of us...it can be hard to remember to get cards, presents, etc. out. BUT, I'm going to do a better job this year.

- Get a handle on this fibromyalgia so that I can enjoy life more.

What are some of your goals for the New Year?

**Keep scrolling down for a re-cap of 2008 and Christmas pictures**