My Valentine!

This was a picture I had been wanting to take so Marlee Anne and I did it this evening when I got back from the appt. Here is the quick layout I came up with. It's always rewarding to get a layout done. I just usually don't share them because I let myself get intimidated by the beautiful layouts online. Any way I thought I would share this one. I was pleased with how it came together.

No words!

Here I am it's 12:30 in the morning. I was about to post pictures on our blog. I check my email real quick and my friend Cyndi has left me a message. It's funny cause it's kinda like a scavenger hunt. I go to one link only to find another link I have to go to. This one http://cyndiakadisneyqueen.blogspot.com/2008/01/congratulations-kelli.html Daily I am amazed by God's love. Disney means so much more to our family than just Mickey Mouse. It's so very hard to put into words. Once you read what these precious precious friends have done for us you will be able to catch a glimpse of it. I am amazed, touch and so very thrilled. Funny thing is they know how incredible hard it's going to be to wait about opening the gifts. I promise to try very hard. Thanks ya'll! You know I love ya'll dearly and couldn't make it without ya'll!

So I am going to post my email that I just sent out to friends and family. Mainly to have it for later when I print our blog and use it to scrapbook. Also so that I don't have to retype everything here.

I am dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced. The pain that I am feeling is his elbow which is pushing into my belly button, his bottom and his hip bone pushing at the other spot that is hurting. The specialist said it's just that he has no room and that's the position he seems to be staying in. I am so very thankful it's nothing to do with the umbilical cord or anything wrong with the baby. I told the specialist I can handle the pain as long as I know the baby is safe.

The baby weighs 7lbs 5 oz. The specialist is not concerned about the baby's head getting stuck. He said he will just not drop if it's too big but he is thinking I should not have a problem delivering. WOOHOO!!! A huge blessing. A dear friend of mine that is a retired labor and delivery nurse gave me a peace of mind when she called me early this week and reminded me that God made our bodies for this and that I could do it. Well the specialist told me basically the same thing today.

Seeing him on the ultrasound today made me even more excited and anxious to get to see him. Thanks so very much for your prayers! We are getting closer and closer to seeing our little one.

Oh and we are not keeping his name a secret we have just not fully agreed. Well some of us have not. Dad wants to be the one to name him because he didn't get to name the girls. He has chosen Abraham Thomas and call him Abe. Abraham is because it's a name that Mike really likes. He wants an old, strong name. Thomas is after my daddy and brother. So I guess we will see when he gets here but of course more than likely the girls and I will give in and let daddy have his way. Don't tell him but we really like the name. We are just trying to add more excitement to our lives. LOL!!!

Here are some pictures from today of our precious baby boy. The first is of his profile. The second is one of his sweet little foot.

George

George is even getting ready for the little baby to come. He has been trying out all the baby stuff. He especially loves the pack and play. We catch him in there most days. Marlee Anne even got some pictures of him in there. She even propt up his head to get a better picture. She also wanted to get a picture of him touching my belly. Just had to share them with ya'll.

ANOTHER shower?

Well SURPRISE! Mike called and said I just finished with a shower. I said for who? He said, Abe. That's the name he has picked out in case you haven't heard. Abraham Thomas. So anyway he thought they were having his birthday lunch at work. Turns out they had him a surprise baby shower. WOW! That was awesome! He was so touched and very proud. Kim & I joked about how red his face must have been the whole time. Here you can tell.

All the gifts were great and much appreciated. One of our favorites was a denim jacket from Ann.

Marlee Anne had so much fun going through all the fun stuff he got. Michala LOVED the cake he brought home. She is not to picky when it comes to cake colors. Even though it was blue and in honor of her baby brother she ate it.

Marlee Anne's first snow!

Well actually her first snow that she really remembers. It snowed earlier in the week but not as much as it did today. I just wanted to share some pictures of it.

Our couples shower!

Kim and Keith hosted a couples shower for Baby Hopkins. It was so very special because it included Mike. We had a blast celebrating with some very special friends of ours. Keith cooked a wonderful meal that everyone enjoyed. The night was filled with laughs and reminiscing over so many different memories.

Marlee Anne wished that the kids had come so they could have a kids table. She asked could we have another baby so we could have another shower. Aunt Kim quickly said oh no but we can have a celebration party when the baby gets here. That was plenty good for Marlee Anne. Even more reason for her to be excited for him to get here. I don't have pictures of this night yet but will post them soon.

Here is a picture of our beautiful invitation Kim made.

What a day!

Today we had another baby shower for Prince Hopkins. What an amazing day! I was so touched by the people that came. The gifts were just so incredible. The decorations and food were perfect. All of it was so perfect. It was held at my adopted sister's house, Amber. Mimi was telling someone how long she had known me. Yes it made me feel quite old. Those are such special memories. Mimi, Amber & Brooke hosted the shower. Like they do everything it was perfect. I was so proud to show off Amber's castle as everyone was calling it. What a perfect place for Prince Hopkins' shower to be held.

Too many gifts to tell you all about them but I have to share a few of my very special ones and favorites. All of them were wonderful, greatly appreciated and much needed. Each of the girls have very special blankets made by our dear family friend Miss Emmy. Well of course our prince is no exception. I keep repeating prince trying to convince myself that we are actually about to have a baby boy in our home. Well Miss Emmy and Martha made a beautiful quilt along with a very special blanket for him. We love it! Our dear neighbor Sally made a beautiful frog quilt for him. So much detail and love in it. Our Lighthouse family partner Peggy knited him an incredibly soft and lovely blue blanket. All of these will be cherished forever! The one gift that made me cry was a soft blue blanket that had been embroidered with Future Prince Charming. I was crying so hard I couldn't tell the story. Most of you know about our special Prince Charming that works for Disney. It took all of 5 minutes for him to steal our hearts. Well minutes before I opened the beautiful blanket that his mom and sister gave us he called me at the shower. Such a special gift!

You know when you are planning a shower list you sometimes are not sure who to invite. Well each and every person that came was so very excited to be there. They were there to celebrate this very special life that God has blessed us with. I am so very over joyed.

Uncle Papa called and asked Mike what he wanted for his birthday meal. How very perfect! My chose fried Tilapia. As soon as I got home from the shower, got the gifts unloaded we were headed over there to eat. It was a wonderful birthday celebration!

OK I will try to post shower pictures tomorrow. Off to get some rest now.

Mike's 46th birthday

I told several people that he was going to be 45 but after thinking it through - NOPE he is 46. He has done good! Would never know he was 46. Well he 12 month plus pregnant wife just couldn't pull off anything special this year. I didn't even feel up to cooking. Thankfully Marlee Anne stepped in. She made wonderful decorations and even cooked him chicken nuggets. She eats frozen chicken nuggets way too much cause she can fix them herself. She is so very proud. She put them on his plate and even gave him so ketchup. She then fixed him so bacon and cheese sandwiches. It was a fun night and he was happy. All that matters! Granny made him a cake and she and Papa brought it by to add to the festivities.

Prince Hopkins' first baby shower!

Today was my family baby shower. My niece Staci hosted it and did an amazing job. It was held at Party on Main in Porterdale. That's a really nice place if anyone needs a place to have something. Staci did a beautiful job with everything. I was so very proud!

It was so wonderful to have our families together. We got so many wonderful and special gifts. It was such a special day! Marlee Anne was so excited about the first shower for her baby brother. She had not been feeling good but she said she just had to go. She loved opening the presents and seeing what fun stuff we got.

White Christmas!

Not snow white and not really at Christmas. This year our get together with the White’s and Zittrouer’s was postponed because of Brooke’s surgery. It was so good to get together when we did though. We had hot dogs, chili, salad and baked potatoes. Yummy! Do you see a pattern here? Yes usually around here it’s about the food. They pulled out guitar hero and it was so much fun to watch. Once the baby comes I will be ready to play it.

Christmas? No New Year's Ever!

Well it depends on who you ask. For several years now we have celebrated Christmas with Uncle Papa, Aunt Kim, Erika & Grace on New Year's Eve. It such a relaxing and fun time. No one is rushed or worried about what's next. It's kind of a down time and such a special time for all of us. I think everyone has a different reason that they love it so very much! This year we were blessed to have Kevin, Erika's boyfriend join us.

Food is always huge for us. At least for Uncle Papa and I. We love New Year's Eve because we can all choose something from wherever we want. No one place and that's it. Aunt Kim chose pizza, Erika & Kevin Longhorn's, Grace & Marlee Anne Zacby's, Mike Mandarin, Uncle Papa Krystal & Michala & I some of all of it. Mary Elizabeth enjoyed her own concoctions. I cannot believe I did not get a picture of the table with all the food. Amazing!

After eating we opened presents. This is always such a fun time. It always seems to be so many fun and perfect gifts. Mine included lots of fun pampering stuff. I almost forgot. Every year Grace and Marlee Anne get Mike & Unlce Papa with silly string. They surprised them right before we started opening gifts this year.

After presents it's usually game time for Grace, Marlee Anne, Aunt Kim & I while Uncle Papa & Mike take naps. This year they even stayed awake to play pictionary with us. We all had a blast with that one.

Midnight and time for toasts. Marlee Anne's toast went something like this, In the spirit of community thank you for the park for sister and Michala. Most everyday this little girl amazes me. What a way to start the New Year!

Mary Elizabeth usually picks each New Year's Eve to show off and gain a little extra attention. This year her temp dropped real low all of a sudden. Thankfully she had gotten some new blankets to help get her temp up. Just had to share the picture too!

Christmas picture challenge

I have a dear cyber friend, Angie, that's an amazing photographer. She challenged our group to take pictures of our Christmas trees. My pictures are no where near as good as hers but I said I would share them. Thanks for the challenge Angie!

Living room tree

Kitchen tree

Therapy room tree

Marlee Anne's tree

Pizza with Kylie's family

It is so funny how "c" families are recognized. It's usually not by their last names. Usually it's by the name of the child with "c". Well our dear friend's the Harris' are always known to us as Kylie's family. It's one of those friendships that you know why it was started, you know the connection but you can't or I can't put my finger of the time or day. Probably thanks to wonderful Camp Sunshine.

Well 6:00 couldn't get there fast enough. Marlee Anne watched the clock all day. She was so excited for Kylie to get there. Then Noah came to and oh boy it's a boy. She had such a wonderful time with Noah doing "boy" stuff.

Kylie walked in with an plate full of her delicious cookies. I am not even sure they made it a day. We ate delicious pizza and then played Disney DVD Bingo. Really fun!

Well we knew it was time for the decorations to come down after they left. Marlee Anne just couldn't wait to get started. She and Kylie took down all the Christmas cards from the stairs and some decorations off Marlee Anne's tree before Kylie and the rest of her crew had to leave.

After they left Marlee Anne and I finished taking down the decorations from the stairs. Before I knew it we had undecorated three trees. I stayed up and undecorated the last one. I was so tired but it felt great to get all that done.

Pot luck with the Malcom's

We decided that this should be a tradition. A couple of days after Christmas we will all get together and bring leftovers to share. It actually worked out great and we had a wonderful time together. This night was titled "stress free". Love it!

Bailey and Brantleigh even got busy on their scrapbook pages. It was hard for me to stay downstairs and visit and not be upstairs working with them.

Cindi got a new camera for Christmas. When I get pictures from her I will add some to the post.

Shopping!

Day after Christmas what else would we be doing. We stopped by to see Aunt Carol's house all decorated then headed to Conyers. Aunt Debbie, Marlee Anne and I made a full day of it. We were beat by the end of the day. Lots of great deals though, laughs and fun spending time together.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

What a glorious morning! It started around 2:00 AM with Michala beating on her new inflatable Elmo bed that Santa brought. I think it's going to take a while to teach her to sleep in it. Well actually it didn't take as long as we thought. She loves it as a bouncy toy more though.

Mike had told Marlee Anne to listen for Mary Elizabeth laughing because that would mean Santa was here. Santa must have stayed all night because Mary Elizabeth laughed all night long. Marlee Anne slept and slept.

Finally she was up and so excited to see the Leapster that Santa brought her. She was very impressed with Michala's new bed, Mary Elizabeth's umbrella for her wheelchair and her soft new blanket.

Usually we just hang out around the house but Kim's best friend was down from Michigan. Some of ya'll know Melissa who we sent cards and scrapbook pages to whose husband is in Iraq. Well we went over to Aunt Kim's and Uncle Papa's for Christmas lunch. It was such a very special time for us to get to spend time with them on Christmas day. It was a nice relaxing few moments.

Back home for my family to come over. You can never have enough time to prepare for that. Actually it all turned out wonderful and everyone acted good. Even granmama after Uncle Bryant straightened her out.

After everyone leaves Christmas night we usually start taking down the Christmas decorations. This week we have two nights with special families coming over so we decided to leave the decorations up.

Cookies for Santa & Reindeer food!

It's so much fun to see the girls get so excited about Santa. Marlee Anne was so excited to put out milk and cookies for Santa. That of course had to wait until Michala was asleep so that she wouldn't get it. Then of course we had to put out food for the reindeer too.

Christmas Eve

What a day filled with excitement! Christmas is always so hard for me. I miss my daddy around this time more than ever. He was a big kid and made each and everyday of my life happy, exciting and fun. Christmas was no exception. Then it's also hard because that's a time I would love for the girls to be able to get out and go be around people. We are blessed with our "c" family because activities they are involved in we can go to and usually not have to worry about the girls getting sick because everyone is always concerned about the other families. We do miss out through the holidays with our immediate families sometimes.

Well back to the day it was great. It was hard to get the girls to bed, even Mike and I were excited.

PREGNANT!

Here it is 3 days away from Christmas and I am feeling so VERY PREGNANT! Don't get me wrong now that's a good thing. My mom says I am waddling. The lady at Kmart today said oh girl you are carrying that baby so low. If she only knew. Every move I make takes a little more effort everday. I am so excited to get to see this little fellow real soon. I would like it even more if he had a name. Everyone says that will come to us. We shall see. Well I just thought I would share this pregnancy thoughts with you. Here is a picture of "us" at Mike's Christmas party.

TRUST

As I was looking through the past few weeks of pictures that I just now had a chance to download this one popped out at me. This one little picture brings floods of memories to me. The first memory was of me holding my daddy's hand. I can still remember how that feels. For me it was a feeling of trust.

I honestly believe that must be how Michala feels when she reaches out for her daddy's hand. She must have a huge amount of trust that he will always be there for her when she reaches for him. I don't see this often enough but I - we are truly blessed to have such a man in our lives that we can put our trust in him. We know when we reach out to him he will be there.

If you have ever reached your hand out and just let her touch your hand you know how much she feels with her hand. There are of course times when she gets too rough and aggressive and can hurt. Those other times when she touches your hand you can feel so much love and tenderness come from her.

I wanted to do something a little special with this picture instead of just posting the picture by itself. This is the quick layout I came up with. I don't often post my layouts. I am trying to do better with that though.

Well I am off to get caught up on the past few weeks of Christmas fun.