this just in: snow.

Yep, it's true!  On the way to church yesterday it was flurrying a little bit and Matt and I had maybe a 10 minute conversation about how mild this winter has been in the snow/ice department.  It's been darn cold, don't get me wrong, but no major snow to speak of.  Well....we spoke way too soon.  While we were in church, it continued to snow, not flurry, but snow.  We only had like an inch or something, but a major weather system moved in today and it's supposed to snow all night tonight and tomorrow.  The snow now is so peaceful.  The dark of night, stillness of cars on the road......just snowing.  It's like a quiet concert or something.  

The sad thing is....Matt is leaving town.  He has left town for a night or two before for a press check, but now there is Graham and I've always had to work in the past.  Usually we have many things to do and places to go, but not tomorrow.  See the city is cool in that they don't plow our streets.  We have to wait for it to melt or for enough cars to go by to make tire lines.  So my car will be snowed in and we would be all alone all.day.long.  So, I'm hoping that tons of cars go by tomorrow morning and make tire lines so that I can go play at my parents for the day and spend the night.  We'll see how that goes.  Until then, Graham and I will just snuggle and talk about how much we're missing Matt.

Maybe if we're lucky, we can get a good picture of Graham in the snow.....

30 Rock

is my new favorite show....i watched them endlessly while on maternity leave.  Thank you TV on DVD.  Feel free to surprise me with the gift of my own copy.  

from thursday's show:

"did you know that Janis Joplin speed walked everywhere and was afraid of toilets?" -Frank

"can I replace it with a wheel like Rosie from the Jetson's?"-Tracy  "I imagine so, but then you'd have to register as a motor vehicle" -Dr. Spaceman

"you are a lion, take what's yours" -Jack

"Now that you have your cool Six Sigma friends, I can go back to the lake and make bracelets with the fat kids" -Liz

"Lemmon....like a waitress" -Jack

15 weeks

My little baby is 15 weeks old today!  On one hand, I feel like he was born last week, but I also feel like he's always been with us.  He is changing every day (I say that all the time)...but it's true!  He is mr. smiley...all the time.  We are enjoying his always growing sound vocabulary...and his increasing knowledge of his own volume.  We also love his super expressive eyebrows!  He loves to sit and be held facing out these days so that he can watch all that is going on around him.  We notice him watching us as we move around the room and really zero in on his hands.  They are his favorite toy by far...I think he's not going to be satisfied until he gets both hands totally in there.  He is also quite stiff.  I call him my little lego man.  We have to almost bend him so that he'll sit down...he'd rather stand in our laps.  His favorite game (other than mastering chewing his hands) is to jump in our laps.  He gets the biggest grin on his face and actually jumps with his legs as we're bouncing him up and down.

I started back working 2 weeks ago....and it was so hard!  I cried the whole night and morning as I was getting ready.  But praise the Lord, He is so good.....my company was able to let me work part time!  I truly enjoy my job and my co-workers, but I enjoy my baby more!  He has adjusted to drinking from a bottle after a few *less* than perfect days with Mimi and Nana.  I know they enjoy their time with him (they each have him one day a week) and as he continues to grow, he'll love his days away from me!

Also, thanks to Gammy, my dad's mom, for the adorable blanket that Graham is laying on.  She made blankets for all of my brothers and so I was so excited for Graham to receive one!  When he does tummy time, he just stares at those little faces, it's so cute!  We miss you Gammy and can't wait to come visit you!

Our Covenant Child

Graham was baptised on the 11th.  We are so thankful for our Covenant God who welcomes our children into His covenant of Grace.  We pray that Graham will seek Him and honor Him as the Lord of his life at an early age.  Until then, we seek His guidance to live as parents who model a life serving our God!

how babies do bible study

Our small group Bible study started back up this week.....and this is how the mamas handled it.

It looks like they're on a double date!

Isn't little Meredith so cute?

Sweet Kate and her awesome hair.

Little Parker's beautiful blue eyes.

My little smiler.

17

My brother, Andrew, turned 17 this month.  Wow.  He is no older than 7 in my head....and yet here we are.  He is a junior in high school and researching colleges.  I'm so proud of my little brother!  When I was in college and then living in Wisconsin, I hated missing the little things in my brothers' lives.  Thank you Andrew for including me in your sporting schedules and for being such a wonderful little brother.  I'm so glad Graham is getting to spend so much time with you, I know you'll be a great role model for him!  Whatever you do, don't go too far away to school ok?  Happy Birthday!

(this is a card from Miss Kitty, Andrew's favorite pet, haha)

buddies

Graham and Parker.....they're going to grow up with cute pictures like these to haunt them.

But the mamas love it!

bath time

He is loving his hands these days...the more fingers inside, the better.

This was much cuter in person....Graham was actually talking with Matt, haha!

fun at the farm

While in Alabama over the holidays, we spent an evening out at my grandparent's farm grilling and playing games.  The boys, I mean men went out there early in the day to shoot guns and ride four wheelers.  We had so much fun hanging out by the fire and just spending time together.  It's so hard to live so far away from our extended family!

Graham meets Nana

Nana is my mom's mom...so this is Graham's great grandmother!  

She has been looking forward to meeting him for quite a while.

binky smile

The eyes give him away.

it's all about the entertainment

There is only so much to do while in the car for eleven hours..........

precious

matchy matchy

Graham is going to love matching his uncle Jon!

our gift

Granddaddy and Pop

Pop

Granddaddy

Graham's First Christmas

Someone doesn't seem too excited....

silly matt

This is how Matt wears my Moby wrap......

I love him.

resolutions

Well, it's that time again.  Every year I make one or more resolutions...and by the end of January I can't remember them.  So does that mean I'm a failure?  Probably.

So here I go again.  Maybe because they are documented someone will hold me accountable.  But wait...isn't the point of these resolutions that I hold myself accountable?  hhmmmm.

I'll start small.

1. Take a shower every day.

2. Do yoga at least 3 times a week.

3. Work back up to running (I quit somewhere around 28 weeks and walked exclusively...and now that it is winter, walking outside with a baby doesn't seem like a great idea....any suggestions?)  Plus, I went for a run with Matt over our Christmas trip (thanks to my aunt and cousins for watching Graham!)...and lets just say that I was maybe 1/3 successful at running our route.  But can I have a break...I haven't run for about 6 months!

4. Try and keep my "problem areas" under control.  I have a "paper pile" problem on 2 main surfaces in our house....it drives Matt crazy, so I'll try and be better about keeping them clean!

5. Should I really try and have 5 of these?  Well, if I can...try to cook one "new" meal a week.  Wait, that's a big one...maybe 3 new meals a month.  Matt will appreciate this one :)

Feel free to ask me about these....I tend to give up easily.

Christmas and travels

Well, Christmas has now come and gone....and all I did was blink.  We had a wonderful holiday celebrating with our families.  Matt, Graham and I spent the night Christmas Eve at my parent's house.  We did this for two reasons.  One: I think it's fun to wake up on Christmas with family and I've always enjoyed Christmas Eve night with my family watching movies and wrapping presents.  And two:  if we spent the night, then Matt wouldn't have to wake up *quite* as early to get out to my parent's house.  See, Matt HATES waking up.  And my brothers can only wait so long for us!  So, we went to our church's evening service and then ate soup and popcorn and watched "White Christmas" with my fam.  My brothers were so funny...as soon as dinner was finished, they said "well, off to bed...want to get this night over with and on to tomorrow".  It was 8:30.  So they went to bed and we watched the movie...good times.  We had fun Christmas morning sharing presents and laughs and all enjoyed little Graham.  I don't pretend that he enjoyed his "first christmas"...if anything, he got tired of me propping him places and taking his picture, haha!  But I'm sure deep down he loved it.  We then went over to Matt's parent's house and spent Christmas afternoon and evening with them and some other dear friends of theirs.  Graham got some awesome high-top Converses to match his uncle Jon (in a year or so) and an adorable onesie with a turtle on it from uncle B (for him to wear when they go to the Turtle Park near his apartment).  Graham loves his bath time, but no one usually gets to see it because we're at home...but we brought bath time with us...and he performed quite nice for Nana, Granddaddy, uncle B and uncle Jon.  Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas with our family.  We are blessed that everyone lives so close!

We then packed up all of our stuff (which is QUITE a lot now that Graham is with us) and drove 11 hours to south Alabama to see my mom's side of the family.  Graham did GREAT in the car (considering he's only almost 3 months old).  He did so much sleeping though that when we got there and laid him on the floor next to my cousin's little girl (beautiful little Mackenzie is 3 weeks older than him), he went crazy!  He cooed and shrieked constantly and his arms and legs resembled a hummingbird.  He did this for like 30 minutes straight....then as soon as I picked him up, he was out.  Poor little guy.

The four days included many family gatherings, some old friends, a day at the farm, and many pictures.  We were bummed not to be able to get to the other side of Alabama to visit my dad's side of the family...we miss them but Graham could only handle so much car seat time.  Hopefully we can get down there soon though!  I'll be posting the pics soon...I'm too overwhelmed to do it at this moment.

On the way home, we stopped to spend New Year's Eve with one of my best college friends, her husband, and her baby bump.  We were also able to see one of my other college friends, her husband and her baby bump while we were down there.  It's so much fun to think that all three of them will be in the same grade in school (and obviously they'll all be best buddies even though we don't live close, haha!)  I miss my college friends terribly and treasure the short visits we are able to work in!

Now, we are home.  And to reward Graham for being such a good sport with our travels...he got a shot yesterday.  Gosh, the good times just keep coming.

As we begin 2009, we are so thankful for the time with family and friends that ended 2008, but have so much to look forward to this year.  Little Graham is such a blessing each day and we know he will continue to grow and bless our lives daily.  With growing, we know our lives will be stretched and there will be pain and trials.  We are thankful for Christ our Foundation and our Rock.  We pray that through the times ahead, knowing that not every day will be easy, we will lean on Him and not on ourselves.  That He will reign Sovereign in our lives this year.  Yay for a new year!