A mother's love

I've heard other moms express concerns about whether they'd be able to love a second child as much as the first one, and I have to admit I felt the same concern. It fills me with wonder that my heart has expanded and that I can love Noah as much as I do. Parents with more than one child understand this and know that their love for their first child doesn't diminish in any way when the second one comes along, it simply increases to include the second child. Having Noah makes me appreciate Luke and all that he can do, and it makes me reminisce about when Luke was a baby. It's hard for me to believe he's as old as he is and that one day Noah will be running around and talking and being silly. I am so thankful for my two healthy boys. I love you, Luke & Noah.

One week

Noah was one week old on Christmas day, which of course means I have to start documenting his growth with pictures. This is my sister's idea, and I did it with Luke for each month (now we just do it every year.) So, every month, I'll post a new picture of Noah (in theory, at least). My Nana gave him this teddy bear, and it'll be in the pictures so we can see how much he grows every month.

Christmas baby

Just a few pictures of Noah . . .

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve in new PJ's

What a fun Christmas we had this year! Luke was so excited about every aspect of Christmas, from seeing Santa to it being Jesus' birthday to opening presents. He had a ball on Christmas morning. He got several of the toys he asked for, including Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. His favorite gift by far was a pair of grabbers, but the thing he got most excited about was the orange at the foot of his stocking. My mom always put an orange in our stockings, and I've kept up the tradition. Luke thought it was the best thing ever. He carried it around all morning and finally decided to eat the whole thing around lunchtime. He liked it much more than all the candy and treats in his stocking or any other thing he got. It was pretty funny to watch him carry it around and say over and over, "My orange!"

Hooray for grabbers!

As soon as Luke saw this present, he said, "These are Tinker Toys!"

G-Mommy & G-Daddy gave Luke a real digital camera (a kid friendly one, of course), and Luke snapped pictures all day. He got right up close to everything he wanted to shoot, including Noah. The pictures are pretty hilarious.

The beloved orange!

Christmas program

Luke's school Christmas program was on Thursday, Dec. 14. I wanted to post pictures before I posted pictures of Noah, but I'm just now getting around to it. Luke's class played the part of the angels. They were supposed to wear wings and a halo, but Luke took one look at them and told his teachers he wasn't going to wear them. True to form, he didn't. I actually would have been more shocked if he had worn them. So, he was the only one without wings. I was a little teary at first because it was so cute, but by the end, I was pretty much over the whole thing. Luke lost interest about halfway through and started just acting silly. He played peek-a-boo from behind the little boy's wings next to him, and he alternated sitting down and lying on the step beside him. By the end he was sitting and trying to put his foot on top of his head. A performer he's not, but the video sure is pretty funny to watch.

Welcome, Baby Noah!

Noah Reid was born Monday, December 18 at 8:08 am. He weighed 8 lbs., 5 oz., and was 20 1/2 inches long. His head was a rather normal 14 inches. Compared to his big brother, he's a peanut! The delivery was uncomplicated, and Noah is in good health. We actually had several visitors in the hospital this time, and it was really nice. We came home on Thursday, and other than making the expected adjustments to life with two children, we're all doing pretty well. Luke absolutely LOVES Noah! He wants to hold him and kisses him all the time. Every morning he says to Noah, "Well, good morning pumpkin pie!" He loves it when Noah is awake and thinks he's always looking at or for big brother. He's been a big help to me and is such a wonderful big brother!

Grateful

Today I am grateful for my dear friend Adriane. She came over this morning to help me clean my house, and what a fantastic job she did! When she first offered to help me, I was hesitant to accept because, as most of you know, I'm a bit of a control freak and I like things done my way. But today taught me that I don't always do things the right or best way and that it was as much of a gift to Adriane to be able to help me as it was to me for accepting the offer. So we worked together for a couple of hours to get my house more spic-&-span than it's been in a while. My husband is eternally grateful, too, because he doesn't have to clean the shower or sweep & mop this weekend. So now my house is lovely and I can enjoy the next two days without worrying about it. Adriane is such a special friend, and I am blessed to have her in my life.

"Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

Texas family Christmas

We went down to Waxahachie last Saturday for our annual Texas family Christmas party. My mom's cousins Claudia & Penny are so thoughtful, and they always bring goodies for Luke. This year he got, among other things, a large set of cards from Claudia, and Penny gave him a fleece blanket she made. We've played about 172 games of Go Fish in the last 2 days, and he's been dragging that blanket all over the house and sleeps with it at night. Luke's favorite part of the day was going down to John & Claudia's farm to see the cows. There was a 3-day-old calf that Luke got to see, and he even helped feed the cows.

The final countdown

It's hard to believe, but one week from today we'll officially meet Baby Chumley #2. In retrospect, the time has absolutely flown; however, the day-to-day is dragging by. Not only am I anxious to meet this baby and see who he or she is, I'm ready not to be pregnant anymore! I'm having all the usual aches, pains, and discomforts of late pregnancy, and I'm pretty tired of all my clothes not fitting because they're now too small. So, I'm looking forward to getting a somewhat normal body back in the next couple of weeks.

Luke has been excited about the baby, but in the past couple of week he's started to have some issues. He only wants me to do things for him, from helping him go potty to washing his hands to giving him a bath. He says several times a day that he just wants to stay with me and asks me not to leave, and he's even started asking his teachers at school when I'll be there to pick him up (something he's never done before.) I know he's anxious and doesn't really know how to express that feeling, so we're giving him some grace on this. But it's still pretty exhausting to be this pregnant and have to squat down to give a 3-year-old a bath.

Except for the nausea for the first 5 months or so, this pregnancy hasn't been very difficult (excluding the difficulties of actually being pregnant and also being the mother of a 3-year-old boy.) But nine months is enough, and I'm looking forward to the next phase of my life, mother of two.

Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas

Last night we went to our neighborhood's annual tree lighting party (when I say neighborhood, I mean the community of Stonebridge Ranch, not just our small neighborhood - there's about 12,000 people living in Stonebridge.) There were Victorian carollers, horse & carriage rides, snacks, and, of course, Santa. There was hot chocolate & hot apple cider while we waited to see Santa, and some of Santa's elves were there making balloon animals to entertain the kiddos. Luke was very excited to see him so he could tell him what he wants for Christmas, but before he got on his lap, he decided he didn't want to have his picture taken, so none of them are very good. But he wasn't scared and did tell him a few things he wants. We went for a carriage ride and then headed home because it was really cold.Waiting to get on the carriage (and holding a giant balloon candy cane.)

Three-year-old theology

A conversation from this morning . . .

LUKE: Mommy, did you know that Jesus died on the cross?
ME: Yes.
LUKE: Why?
ME: To forgive us for all the bad things we do and so we can go to heaven to be with God & Jesus.
LUKE: How do we get to heaven?
ME: Well . . . I don't really know, but I know that we'll go there.
LUKE: Maybe we'll go in a hot air balloon! Yeah, the hot air balloon will come down and land and then we'll go whee and up to heaven and see Jesus. Oh, I'm so excited!

Y.I.T.

That's right, folks, my son is a Y.I.T. - a Yuppie in Training. Last Thursday after we picked Luke up from school, we went to Starbucks for a treat because it was so very cold (it was PJ day at school, in case anyone's wondering why he has PJ's on in the middle of the day.) He loved his hot chocolate, and he was just too cute drinking from his little Starbucks cup.

Journey to Bethlehem

Every year our church has a family event called Journey to Bethlehem. It starts with a pancake breakfast which is followed by crafts and a few songs sung by the children's choir. The youth perform a short musical to end the event. We were all involved this year. I'm on the children's ministry team, so I helped set up the day before, Gary got to church at 6:30 to flip pancakes, and Luke sang. I got a little teary when he was singing because I just couldn't believe he was old enough to be on the stage singing. He actually sang most of the songs & did some of the motions - something which really surprised Gary & me. He really enjoyed watching the youth during their performance, too. It was a wonderful way to start the Advent season.

Yummy!

Making crafts

The performer

Belly progression

Only 2 1/2 more weeks till we meet Baby Chumley #2!

Christmas weather

It hasn't felt much like Christmas around here, but it's going to tomorrow. After very mild temperatures lately, including highs near 80 the past several days, tomorrow's high of 35 is supposed to occur in the morning, and the temperature is supposed to drop during the day. There's also a 90% chance of precipitation, so we might get a little sleet or snow, and it's not even December yet. Crazy!

Lukeisms

A few more funny things my child has said recently:

- One day he walked up to Gary and said, "Hi. How's your business?" If you ask him this same question, he usually replies, "Business is fine."
- We were in the car with G-Mommy & G-Daddy while in SC, and Luke said (and this is an absolute direct quote), "I smell something. It must be G-Mommy."
- On our flight back from SC, Luke said, "We're going back to Texas, the land of heart."
- He's been learning Christmas songs at school and in Sunday school, and "glory hallelujah" comes out something like, "glorly halleyuyah."
- Movie quotes:
*from Cars - "Thunder always comes after lightning." (His inflection on this is what's so funny if you've seen the movie, he says it just like Lightning McQueen says it to Chick.)
*from Madagascar - "You're a little coo-coo in the head."
*from Toy Story - instead of "To infinity and beyond", he says "Ode infinity and beyond" (and he'll correct you if you say it the other way)
- One night I let him watch about 35 seconds of The Amazing Race, and now he asks all the time when "The 'Mazin' Race" is coming on.
- When people ask if he's having a baby brother or baby sister, he says, "We won't know until it comes out."
- He kisses my belly and says at least once a day, "I love you in there, little baby."

Bonfire

Thursday night Gary made a fire in our fire pit & we toasted marshmallows. Luke had been looking forward to it since we mentioned it the night before, and he wasn't disappointed. He didn't really like eating the marshmallows and gave all of his to Molly to eat, but he got a big kick out of catching them on fire and blowing them out. It was a pretty warm evening, so it was nice to be outside.

Giving thanks

Some things for which I'm grateful . . .

1) A husband who:
- is kind and loving
- makes it possible for me to stay at home
- loves Luke dearly and is a super Daddy
- is very excited about Baby Chumley #2
2) A son who:
- is bright and articulate
- is the funniest person I know
- is sweet and loving
3) A family who is supportive and loving and is very anxious for the baby's arrival
4) Good friends, both old and new
5) A warm, loving, supportive church home

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving feast

Today was the Thanksgiving feast at Luke's school. His class plus two others ate the "feast" together which consisted of a piece of turkey, cheese, fruit, corn, a roll, and juice. One class made pilgrim hats, and two others, including Luke's made Indian headdresses. I thought to myself on the way there that if Luke actually walked in wearing his "Indian hat" as he called it, I'd fall out of my chair. Sure enough, he was the ONLY child out of almost 30 who had no hat of any kind on his head. My child doesn't disapoint! His teachers & I laughed about it, because they know him well enough to know that's not unusual. He told them this morning that he wasn't going to wear it, and once he's made up his mind about something like that, there's no changing it. He did love the lunch and ate all of it, including an extra roll. One of the moms made turkeys out of cookies and candy corn, and that was by far the class's favorite thing to eat.
What a good tukey!

Chowing down at the feast!

All the Turtles, including their beloved teachers Ms. Cindy & Ms. Kristen.

Hangin' around

Here's what I found yesterday after Luke's nap. Notice that the monkey's holding two puppies. How did he ever come up with this?

Reminiscing

While last week was crazy & hectic at times, we really enjoyed being in Columbia again. Here are a few of my favorite moments:

-Seeing my family all at once. I love watching Luke play with his cousins.
-Catching up with a few of my teaching buddies from Dreher. I wish my good friend Liz could have come, but it was great to see Ellen, Francie, Julie, Jessica, Erik, Carol, & Jenny.
-Catching up with old friends. I love all my friends out here, but it's nice to be with people who have known you for what seems like forever.
-Seeing the sheer pleasure on Luke's face when he saw Cocky.
-Fun outings with Luke & Gary to the Zoo & EdVenture.
-Going to two Carolina games, even though we lost. Tailgating is fun, even at 8 months pregnant!
-Having our friend Kyle come out to spend the first weekend with us. He's an OU fan, but a football fan in general, and he came to the Tennessee game. He didn't bring us any luck, but it was fun to have a little piece of Texas in South Carolina.
-South Carolina style BBQ!
-Spending time with all of Luke's cousins - Lauren, Grayson, Brittany, Katie, Hannah, Benjamin, & Ethan.

We were certainly glad to get back home and get in our routine, but the week was filled with many great memories. See you in June, Columbia!

One last picture - Luke's Uncle Greg is a sheriff's deputy and brought this hat to Luke.

Part V - Family

One of my favorite parts of the week was seeing almost all of my family at once. It was the first time my mom & her husband, my Nana, my sister & her family, and Luke, Gary, & I had all been together. The kids had a great time playing in the backyard, and it was nice to catch up with my mom, sister, and Nana. I only wish we could have spent more time together.

More fun in a tree!

Cousin Ben

More fun with a rope!

Sisters!