So it’s 5 days after Christmas, and boy did we have fun experiences.  Families flew in from Arkansas to stay 8 days with us – and even in the long stay, a few upsets here & there, our Holiday was overall so much fun.  I always enjoy when my mom flies in – we have such a great time together, she helps so much around the house whether its cooking, cleaning, reorganizing Tatum’s closet – our minds are very similiar (this is a good & scary thing at times), so we mesh well.  Our company left & we still have a very clean house, almost all food has been eaten, kitchen is reorganized, Tatum’s closet is reorganized, and we have all that we could ever need or want.  Chris and I are very blessed to have the family that we do. 

I do have to admit, however, that I am very excited that I have my husband and my daughter ALL to myself until January 4th.  I love when Chris is at home & not working late at night - although I’m jealous of his extended vacation.  So tonight, when I pull up into my driveway, I’ll have my sweet daughter running to the door saying MOMMY”S HOME and Chris greeting me with a kiss.  Hurry up 5:00 pm!  I just want to cuddle with my loves tonight. Nothing less, nothing more.

In all of the exciting Holiday Cheer, I have had unusual sleeping patterns, waking up in the middle of the night wide awake – not due to being uncomfortable, but just awake.  Some nights I logged onto to HuLu & watch Housewives of Orange County to get up on my BRAVO.  Last night for instance, I was wide awake at 3:30 am — so I stole my mom’s new book “Dear John” and read the entire thing until 6:30 am, just in time to shower & get ready for work.  I am however, exhausted, at this very moment.  But it was a good read!  The Netty Pot, Tylenol, and Sudafed have been my BF’s since last Tuesday.  I’m contemplating calling the doctor for sinus relief!  I think 7 days is plenty to deal with all of this right?

Monday, we got a sneak peak at Levi McCool!  We are at 30.5 weeks along and wowzers, we are flying along.  I am enormous and wonder how big Levi is going to be.  We are not nearly as prepared as we were with Tatum — I hear that happens your 2nd time around.  End of February/Beginning of March will be here before we know it.  Much still to do.

January will be an exciting month with baby showers (so blessed with my friends), scheduling a much need pregnancy massage, having our carpets cleaned (yes this is an exciting thing!), and working on Levi’s room.

So starts the hussle and bussle of the holiday season. I love it.  I love the smells, the music, the childlike excitement that we all keep in our hearts, no matter how old we get. 

I was a little overwhelmed at the beginning of last week at the personal to do list & the work to do list with Holidays coming up – and planning for a new baby.  I wasn’t quite sure it’d all get done, or get done without enjoying every moment and not rushing through this fun season.  Thankfully this weekend, due to being sick, I was able to slow down, spend 12 hours on the couch relaxing, and at the same time, feeling productive.

We decorated our quaint little house, and thanks to the Scentsy smells, feels so homey & comfy. Don’t you wish you could keep your tree up all year long!

Chris painted Levi’s room on Thursday/Friday, and besides a few touch ups here & there, looks really great.  We hope to soon move baby furniture in there once we get Tatum’s big girl mattress & bedding bought.  It’s all starting to come together – we shall soon be a Family of Four.

We randomly watched two football games on Saturday (again my couch time!) – we never watch football games.  I kind of enjoyed it.  And enjoyed the 5 Oreo Cookies I ate with milk.

Chris and I saw Tatum’s first ‘performance’ of her life on Sunday – her preschool @ Parkhills Baptist Church did a little program for their Sunday morning service.  Tatum was an Angel with the rest of her classmates & they sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Tears fell down my cheeks watching her & how cute she was up there.

After church, we registered for Baby Levi @ BabiesRUs & Target.  This registering wasn’t NEARLY as stressful as when we registered for Tatum – there were major tears & arguments that go around…..we just had no idea what to do, what we wanted, etc.  This time, we were in & out in less than 1 hour. Baby blankets, check. Diapers, check.  Video monitor, check.  Thank God that 2nd Baby gets all of 1st Baby’s big items.

I started wrapping Christmas presents late last night – and am almost done.  Tatum tried to help & put her name on several name tags ‘her way.’

This weekend starts the weekend of parties. Wowzers.  Friday: my work party.  Saturday day: Girls Ornament Exchange Party. Saturday night: my boss’ party.  Sunday night: Chris’ work party.  We will be pooped by Monday, but will have fun doing it!

Baby Levi gets his check up & glucose test today during lunch!  I am officially in the third trimester (says the books) – 27 weeks.  Crazy, this is flying by.

I had been anticipating our Arkansas trip for weeks!  Chris and I weren’t sure if we would be up for the drive with me being 6 1/2 months preggie and having a 2 1/2 year old toddler.  However, when we realized we only go to Arkansas bascially once a year (b/c of the distance) and taht it would be a long time until we go again (because of new baby coming), we knew we had to make this trip count.  Mom and I would email back and forth constantly about who all we were going to see & what types of food we’d cook and what we wanted to make sure we did in our short time together — and the trip was just perfect. 

We knew the drive would be longer than normal because of the holiday season.  12 hours there – and 11 hours back.  Tatum was a trooper and did REALLY great.  We sang a lot, watched movies on the DVD player, read books.  We didn’t have any off the wall tantrums and I was oh so proud of her.

We arrived to my mom’s house at 5:30 am on Thanksgiving morning.  I told Chris that we could just drive down the road to the “Smokehouse” and eat a yummy greasy breakfast – but for some reason he wasn’t up to it.   We went straight to bed instead!  We were delirious.  We slept until about 9:00 am and spent a little time chatting it up with my mom – Tatum of course of was in her wonderful, fun, ‘i love mornings’ mood!  Her and mom headed up to my brother’s house to get ready for our Thanksgiving meal, while Chris and I took our time getting ready. 

My mom, Aunt Sharon, and sis in law, Jenny had a GREAT spread for us!  So much food.  My sweet grandparents even drove in from Little Rock to have lunch with us!  What an exciting day for us all.  It had been several years since we all ate a true Thanksgiving meal together at a dining room table  – thanks to Josh for his new beautiful house!!   Thanksgiving day really really really felt like an actual Thanksgiving day.  Family seated around a table, eating tons of food, hearing the kids play in the background.  Tatum and her cousin Jenna are the same age (7 weeks apart), so they were BCF’s very quickly (best cousins forever).  We loved loved watching them play together.  It’s all about the baby dolls & the kitchen right now!

My nephew Jacob is 10 – and he kept Chris pretty busy with playing the Wii, showing off his ‘toys’ to Chris and bragging on himself for killing his first deer.  My brother Josh has all sorts of toys himself – one including this 1980 motorcycle that he supposedly only drives in his yard?  Chris got a kick out of playing with THAT toy.

We enjoyed my brother’s house & the kids playing until about 8:30 pm or so — we had to get Tatum to bed, but we were sad to leave!  We had a big day planned for Friday & everyone needed their rest.

Chris woke up at 1:45 am to purchase a Barbie Electric Jeep for Tatum (present from Nonna B) – what a good Dad.  Tatum and I got up at 7:00 am and hit up the Wal-Mart Black Friday sales.  Yep, that’s pretty much all that Heber has to offer as far as shopping goes.   Mom (who works part time at Wal-Mart for ‘fun’ outside of her normal 1st grade teaching job) got off at 8:00 am and we ate the nastiest donuts ever at Harp’s.  Ever.  Ick.

Friday we spent at my grandparents house in Little Rock with my Aunt & cousins.  We ate a yummy lunch at Olive Garden, enjoyed my grandparents music/play room with the kiddos, rode on the golf cart, and played in the backyard.  We did hit up ToysRUs before we left Little Rock & found exactly what mom was looking for.  Oh, of course, we didn’t forget our Mexico Chiquito drive through for queso (cheese dip they call it) and salsa for the drive home.  YUM. 

That night we headed to Searcy to spend time with Chris’ mom & husband, Freylon.  I was sad to say bye to my mom (and yes, I cried when we drove off), but thankfully will see her in just a few short weeks for Christmas.  Searcy was nice & relaxing for us.  We watched movies, ate, took Tatum to see the cows that she loves @ Freylon’s farm, and checked out the Christmas lights in the Searcy park. 

Sunday we were on the road by 6:30 am because we knew our drive would be just as long as the drive in – and it almost was, 11 hours!  Our drive was long, our stay was short, however, it was a great time spent with those that we love.  I think for next year, we are already taking donations so that we don’t have to do the drive with two kids – I’m all about flying — just need to find about, oh, $800 or so in order to do that.

Do you ever just get excited about every small tiny little thing – I think its the holiday season that is approaching because I just cannot wait for certain things.  And, my mind will not stop thinking about things to do, people to see, things to buy, etc etc.  Which makes me even MORE excited.

I am excited about getting my haircut & highlighted tomorrow by Amanda.

I am excited about getting some free preggo shots from Dawn’s friend Danielle, who is taking photography classes at ACC.  Although I’ll only be technically 6 months, free shots are free shots, right?

I am exited about ordering Scentsy from Melanie Brothers, and getting everyone else excited about it as well.

I am excited that in 2 weeks, we drive to Arkansas for 3 quick days of family love.  Anyone have a car DVD thingy I can borrow?

I am excited to get our Christmas cash out on November 15th so I can start SHOPPING!  I have almost every thing/every one listed that I need to buy for and what I’ll be getting them.  WOOHOO.

I am excited that Tatum is completely & fully potty trained.  She’s such a big girl.

I am excited that my doctor appointments are about to go from every 3 weeks to every 2 weeks. This pregnancy is flying by! I love my doctor.

I am excited about finally (FINALLY) ordering our family pictures that Meshali took months ago onto a canvas.  I’ve been putting this off way too long.

I am excited that Baby James & Tatum are growing into true little people friends.  It’s so fun to watch them talk & play together.

I am excited that my husband is developing some new friendships.

I am excited to see little things like game night, coat drives, and Micah 6 happening with our small church family.

I’m just plain excited people.

I have returned from a fabulous vacation with my love.  We were trying to think back how long it had been since we’d had a ‘real’ vacation, more then a night away or a few nights in Dallas – and it was 3 years ago, before Tatum, when we enjoyed a lovely stay in Destin, Florida.  So, we were well overdue for an adult getaway!

The cruise was amazing, so much fun.  We had heard from several friends how awesome they are, but its not until you actually experience it that you are like ‘WOW! this is a great way to vacation.’  Really.  We had been planning this trip for about a year, thinking through saving money, etc.  And we were able to get an ‘early bird’ deal when we put our deposit down 5 months early. So glad we did!

We ported out of Galveston & went to Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico.  Each port in its own right was beautiful and perfect.  You can’t go wrong with clear blue ocean water, white sand, and clear skies. Mostly clear skies (there are drops of rain here & there). 

We said goodbye to our Tatum on Saturday & spent the night in Houston.  Sunday, we drove to Galveston & waited about 1 1/2 hours in line to board the ship- which really wasn’t too bad with all the different lines you have to go to.  Once on the boat, we were like, wow, now what do we do!!  We’ve arrived!  We settled into our room after our luggage was delivered, explored the boat for a while, enjoyed the sunset & breeze off the ocean, and then got ready for dinner. We were excited to meet all our new ‘boat friends’ at our dinner table….but guess what. No ONE showed up!  I was so disappointed.   And to note, we only had one night that another couple came and it was like pulling TEETH to get them to talk.  Geesh.  Thankfully, we had Donovan, our awesome waiter from Jamaica, that made dinner every night worth our while.

Monday I honestly can’t remember what we did.  I’m sure it entailed eating, laying out in the sun, and swimming!  Tuesday I had a spa morning while Chris worked out.  I enjoyed a milk & honey scrub, body wrap, aromatherapy shower, and full body massage.  I was so sad when it was over.  Those people on the boat are SALES people!  Every single one of them.  The lady almost had me convinced to buy this Japanese oil & lotion to prevent stretch marks.  Over $100 for 2 tiny bottles, no thanks. 

Chris and I were amazed at how slow (in a good way) time was going.  Everytime I’d look at his watch, I was like no way! It’s only 12:30 pm??  So nice to have complete full days to do whatever the heck you wanted.

The boat had shows in the evening, sometimes before dinner; sometimes afterwards.  They also had dancers/singers – that were honestly realllly corny.  I could hardly stand to watch them!  I would giggle at the guys that looked like they just came out of high school & so wanted to be a part of a boy band.  Nevertheless, it was entertaining.

Wednesday was Jamaica!  Boarding onto the pier wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world – kind of dirty, much like a train station.  We had about an hour to spare so we shopped in the local shops at the port thinking about things we wanted to buy ourselves & Tatum.  When our bus came, it dropped us off at the gorgeous SANDALS RESORT.  Wow, just like a postcard.  Gorgeous.  We found two seats under a tree/umbrella and swam for a while.  We road on a small sailboat that was so awesome and then ate some yummy lunch.  We walked around their little piers & took pictures, absolutely breath taking.  It rained for about the last 30 minutes of our stay there, so we napped in our chairs under the tree/umbrella until it was time to go.  We finished up the day shopping at the port stores & gave Tatum a quick call to make sure things were all ok.

Thursday we ported in Grand Cayman Islands, which I think was Chris’ favorite place.  So much prettier than Jamaica (but much more expensive!).  Here I found some really awesome jewlery though (not diamonds, chunky stuff that I like to wear).  Our excursion for the day was swimming with sting rays & snorkeling in the ocean.  The sting ray part was really cool.  I was a little freaked out, but still, a neat experience.  Chris was like a fish in the water – I couldn’t keep up with him, he was swimming everywhere. Ha.  When it came to snorkeling in another part of the ocean, I just enjoyed myself on the boat (my fear of drowining stepped in), and I let Chris just go have fun out there.  When we got back to the pier, we ate at Margaritaville ($40 for burger & turkey wrap!) and bought some fun tshirts (again $100 for 3 shirts!).  We shopped for a bit before the rain came in & then boarded the boat. 

Friday we ported in Cozumel, Mexico!  We had no plans on this day except to shop & do whatever.  I wanted some real Mexican food, too.  It started to pour not 10 minutes after we got off the boat.  Luckily, we had a poncho & umbrella, so we survived until it quit raining. We were specifically looking for Mexican dresses for Tatum.  The shops at the pier said we’d find what we wanted downtown, so we grabbed a cab & headed to the downtown local shops.  We found a little man that really helped us & we really went back & forth on the ‘costs’ of these dresses and a few other items.  After we left, we realized we could have gone down even more, but oh well.  Tatum got 2 cute dresses, and that’s all we wanted! We shopped some more (in the pouring rain & flooding streets!) downtown and then caught a taxi back to the pier.  Here, we found a lovely Mexican restaurant (the rain had finally stopped) that served yummy margaritas and amazing tamales.  Two little men were outside playing their instruments while we ate, it was perfect.  And I was SO hungry, believe it or not. There is no much food on the ship that I was just getting tired of eating all the time!

We debated whether or not to grab a taxi to a nearby beach or keep shopping. We called & talked to Tatum for a little bit, and then just decided to hang out and relax.  The port days went by so fast!  So much fun, and by this time, I think we were literally exhausted.

Saturday we spent the entire day at the pool.  Ahhhh I love that feeling.  We ate our last dinner with Donovan & said our goodbyes.  I admit, I was a little sad to say bye & prayed that his sweet family back in Jamaica would be blessed.  Staff on cruises stay on there for 6-8 months at a time, away from their children & families.  Made me sad.

Sunday morning we were off the boat in an hour’s time & in our car headed back to Austin at 9:30 am!  We could not wait to see Tatum.  We were proud of ourselves for spending 8 whole days away from her & making it!  I only got teary eyed after the times we talked to her & I heard her voice, but honestly, I don’t even think she knew we were gone. haha.  When we got home, we woke her up from her nap, and she goes “Hey Dad! Hey Mom!”  It was so funny.

It’s great to be home, getting back into the swing of things & back to the real world.

Like I told you, I am growing quickly.  Please see me now (15 weeks) verses Tatum (16 weeks).  Yikes. Help.  Are you praying?

So I hear it’s normal that your belly in the 2nd pregnancy pooches quicker.  But somehow, I don’t like the normal.   I mean really, 14 weeks & wow people are actually already saying (strangers) “are you pregnant?”  I’m embarassed to tell them how far along I am – because it looks like it should be more.

Which then leads to ultimate fear of, holy Lord, how large will I REALLY get?  Chris has a feeling it’s going to be big.  And having a big BELLY is one thing, but having a big everything else, is just another.  And my fear is the whole package. 

So for all you friends out there that pray – please add my very selfish, vain prayer to your list:

Dear Jesus, please keep Summer from growing so large that she’s unrecognizable.  Please keep those stretch marks that occurred during Tatum’s growth to stay PUT.  Please keep those preggo boobs from uncontrollable chaos.  I think that’s all for now.  More later. Thanks.  (insert your name).

I have been a bad blogger friend recently, and even with my super long list of to-do’s at work, as well as personal life, I felt the need to take a moment & write to my blogging friends.

Chris and I preparing for our first vacation together since we’ve had Tatum. And no, she is not going with us! We’ll be sailing on a cruise ship for 7 days, JUST US. We are both so incredibly excited, we are beside ourselves. We’ve been waiting for this day for a very long long time. Now, just to calm my fears of Tatum breaking her arm or having an allergic reaction to who knows what, and I won’t be there to fix it or even know about it? I mean, can they call us or text us while on the ship? I have no idea. I’m trying not to think about it.

Speaking of my big girl, she is in big girl panties. Potty training is going so/so. We have super good days and days where we have like 3 accidents. She’s great at GOING potty, when we are diligent about putting her on the potty – just not making us aware when she NEEDS to go. That’s where the accidents come into play. I guess it’s normal. But it’s so funny – when she has an accident, she cries, and says, “Sorry, Dora” or “Sorry, Elmo” depending on what type of panties where’s wearing. She doesn’t like her ‘friends’ getting dirty.

Nicole moved in this weekend for a few months during her transition between jobs. We transferred all the office furniture up to the front room of our house – and now no more dining room! We barely use the table, so hopefully this set up will work out for us. It’s good to transition now without the extra room – because in 6 short months, there will be a baby in there. Crazy!

And can I also say that I officially look pregnant, at 13 weeks. How is that possible? I need to take a picture of my growing belly but I find it a bit depressing that I’m already showing. I hear it is normal. Yeah, whatever. I’m sure I have much more to write about, but this is at least a good update for now. I will try my best to come back to blogging since I’ve got a cool new look.

Zachary updated my blog! WOOHOO.