Whew! A busy January

It's a lot of work getting ready for a new baby! We have converted our office/playroom into Maddox's new room. Finding a new home for all the "stuff" that was in that room has been a challenge. We love our house and are thankful that we have 4 bedrooms, but we could really use a separate office. Oh well, we are going to make it work!

Maddox's old room will now be the baby's room. Both bedrooms have gotten a new paint job as well as the den, foyer, and hallways. Two bathrooms to go and the painting will be done for now. The master bedroom and dining room could use a fresh coat, but that will have to wait!

Our house has been a wreck pretty much all month and it's about to drive me crazy! Our schedule is pretty hectic this semester, too. The kids and I have school/work three days a week. Kindermusik one day and my junior league placement at the UCP preschool the other day. Of course, we have church on Wednesday nights and Sundays. Saturdays have been painting/organizing days pretty much all month! I'm now in the third trimester of my pregnancy and running out of energy! Britt has been really busy with work and church stuff, too.

We have found some time to play! Here are a few cute pictures of the kids from a couple of weeks ago.

Maddox is turning into such a big boy and Briley is talking more and more every day. They are at cute ages right now. They are playing together more. Briley loves to hold Maddox's hand when we are walking into school in the mornings. If they start fussing with each other, Briley will say "tiss, tiss" (kiss) and lean over to kiss her brother!

She is saying short sentences now such as "Where's Dada?" and "Look, look, there's a dog"!

Christmas Evening

For dinner, we headed over to Mimi and Pops house. We were happy to spend more time with my grandparents.

Christmas Morning

I'm up at 7. Can't wait for the kids to wake up and see what Santa brought!

Maddox finally wakes up around 7:30 and can't believe his eyes!

A kitchen for him and his sister.A big red 4 wheeler for him and a little pink one for Briley

The toy library that he asked for!!

Briley finally wakes up and has no idea what is going on!

She figures it out really fast. The favorite things in her stocking- a new toothbrush and toothpaste!

Sticking with the tradition I grew up with, our family came over for brunch at 10(ish)!

This year we had Katie and Jeremy, Bae and Grandad, Mimi and Pop, Grandmother and Grandoc Hunt, Granny and Grandaddy Bethea.

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at SHBC

Snowshoe, WV

We spent Thursday night in Pensacola, flew to Atlanta Friday morning, and got stuck in Atlanta with no luggage Friday night (because of an icy runway in WVa) with a baby wearing diarrhea stained pants (because of the antibiotic for an ear infection she was on). We rented a car, booked a hotel, drove to wal-mart, bought clean clothes, and met Krista at cool place called Atlantic Station.

Finally made it to Lewisburg, West Virginia Friday at noon.

We drove 2 hours up the mountain to Snowshoe Mountain Resort. They had maybe 2 feet of snow and it was beautiful! The whole place looks like a Christmas tree farm!

This was the view from our back porch. Well, actually through the window. We couldn't open the door to the back porch because the snow was piled very high out there! You can see one of the ski lifts and one of the slopes.

The kids really, really loved the snow! The temperature was in the 20s during the day. They got bundled up and played and played!

Briley wasn't too fond of the mittens!

Aunt Katie joined us a couple of days later. We loved having her there, and Britt really enjoyed having a ski partner.

We rented these skis for Maddox, but he didn't really ski. He would much rather go sledding and tubing. I was so proud of him for trying, though!

I'm glad I was able to do a little sledding and tubing despite being pregnant!

Aren't these the cutest little pink snow boots? She loved them and even learned how to put them on herself! Such a girl!

We had a great time and were ready to be home just in time for Christmas!

A Baby Brother!

At our 16 week ultrasound, we asked the ultrasound tech to call the bakery and tell them to make a pink or blue cake. The next day, we had our family over to cut the cake!

It was a really fun and different way to find out if this baby is a boy a girl!
I have quite a bump at 16 weeks!
Maddox got the honor of cutting the cake and was thrilled to see the blue!

18 Month Update

Today, we finally made it to Briley's 18 month check up. And, she finally got her 15 month shot and flu shot. It seems like she has been sick off and on for months. Thankfully, it hasn't been anything major. Just a couple of yucky throat viruses, sinus infection, bad cough, yucky nose, etc. One of her viruses even caused her to break out in hives all over her legs!

Here's her stats for today: She is 34" tall (95%) 25 lbs. 2 oz. (60%) head circumference is 47 cm (60%). She's getting so big!

She is starting to talk more. She says: mama, dada, bubba, backpack, car, duck, uh oh, bye, hi, bubbles, Pop... I know I'm forgetting some... Oh, she says "there it is" and "there you are". She understands every single thing we say-in english and spanish!!!

She wants to do everything her brother does! She loves to play and jump on our bed with her brother.

She tries to dress and undress herself and is sometimes picky about what she wears.

She sometimes insists on climbing into the car and carseat by herself and sometimes refuses to sit in her highchair to eat. She wants to stand up in a big chair at the table to eat! As Pop says, "she likes to live on the edge". One night she wanted to eat a piece of chocolate cake. I told her she could have a piece if she sat in her highchair to eat it. She was being so stubborn, she decided she didn't want the cake at all unless she could sit at the big table!!

The terrible twos seem to start early with my kids!

She's a smart and loving little girl and she's so much fun!

Love that sticky-up hair!
She loves her new red shoes!


Briley is still a very good sleeper when she's not sick. She sleeps about 12 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap. She sucks her thumb so much that it has a blister on it, and she loves her Woo-woo just as much as her brother did!