i'll be home for christmas...

This was our first christmas morning here in birmingham and not waking up at my parents house in roswell. since i am still pregnant (thankful), that means i am still on bed rest. so- our families came to us! our christmas this year was much more low key when it came to christmas parties, it was sad to miss out on a few fun traditions this year. but, even though we were low key in that area, this pregnancy has been a constant guessing/ faith game! last week i was in labor and delivery 4 times. yes, i wrote that right. i started going in to labor with massive contractions, so i went in and gave me more meds to stop them. this has been a non-stop journey. lets just say once miss ellie is here, we will all cry tears of joy and thankfulness b/c she is here, and everyone that has constantly been standing by my side through this all can hopefully have a little rest too! i had to go in two other time last week b/c ellie was showing signs of being stressed from my contractions. oh the fun! through it all- i kept reminding myself that last week years and years ago mary was in her third trimester riding on a donkey! hmmmmmmmm.....ok, no thanks! i get in my car and just have to grip the side when mike is going over any bump. also- even though i spent many hrs in the hospital last week, at least i had heat, a bed, a bathroom- poor mary was in the cold, on a stone floor, no one to tell her medically everything was going ok, a smelly barn, and who knows what else. i think all those thoughts came straight from god, b/c as i started to get frustrated and tired of going back and forth from home to my 2nd home recently (labor and delivery), all these thoughts of thankfulness started coming to me. i am sure all of you have been praying so thank you! we are more than thankful that ellie is still in me, just trying to make it a day at a time at this point and making sure she stays as healthy as possible! i will keep you all updated if anything new happens!
this is the play table daddy made for graham...he loves it!!


my parents with g at the christmas eve service.

back to christmas- my parents came in from atl with my dear grandmother "me me" and spent christmas eve with us and christmas morning. i did get to go to our christmas eve service and had the joy of taking graham with us. he loved watching everyone sing christmas carols, and of course what boy doesn't love fire, we had candles and he just about tackled mike for the candle. i couldn't have been in heaven more- sitting with my amazing hubby, son, parents, and grandmother, we also had some friends join us for the night- and she is expecting a little girl in jan also! it was a blessing for me to be with my family- carrying a child- thank you lord for all your sweet sweet blessings!

christmas morning- graham didn't really understand the whole santa theme, but he did know what to do with presents. although- he would open one and then want to just play with that toy- so to get him to open all of his gifts, from us, santa, and my parents, was a bit overwhelming for him- but he did love all his gifts. mike and i decided we didn't need to get him much b/c with our families coming in town we knew our house might be a toy land if we did. so sweet mike spent many long hrs making g a wooden table with different shapes on top and blocks to still through the holes. all of you that know mike, he is super handy and loves building things. he build our coffee table and many other cool furniture pieces in our house, i feel like all those skills are such a lost art these days- so hopefully as i am sure he will- pass the skill to graham through the years, just as mike's dad passed it to him!

this is graham's christmas morning pancake!

below- g and daddy on christmas morning!

after lunch my parents headed back to atl to spend some time with step and sarah and their other sweet little grand kids, brooks and reese, we were sad to miss them this year! all the loopla of the day was catching up with me, and mike too....so after lunch we all crashed for a nice long nice...i think all the christmas goodies got to us all! =)

then- we had some fun with mike's family christmas afternoon/night as our andrew and terra's with mike's parents and our sweet little twin nephews will and logan! we had a nice dinner together and opened some gifts together....our family is getting so big that we have to have cycles of everything food, gifts, baths, bottles, it's so fun to all get together but for sure different than just 2 years ago when it was all just adults! This was Will and Logan's first Christmas and we were so thankful to be with them and watch how much they have changed just in the last few months. It was a sweet day for us as a family. Graham was completely pooped, but had a blast all day!

uncle andy with graham- being silly and having fun!

i am thankful for you all being in my life and the love you all have given mike, graham, and i the last few months through this pregnancy. my heart can't truly express thankfulness in the right way b/c it's truly more than words. all i know is, when ellie is here we will be absolutely excited to share her life with you all!

here is graham with nana and pappy- mike's parents- even though graham's milk is in the pic- we got it!!!!!!!!!

pappy and graham playing cowboys on christmas day after!

*highlight of the day was pops (my dad), (below pic)- putting together a play house for g and graham trying to help while pops was in the tent and graham....we were all laughing!

i am always the one with the camera so i am not in many pictures!

my sweet hubby found time to schedule a night away just the two of us the night before christmas eve, he surprised me and took me to a fun dinner and we had a night together just the two of us. it was needed more than we both realized! i loved just sitting at dinner having no schedule, no where to go, and just being with him! he always finds a sweet way to bless me!!!!!!!