All caught up!

Whew, I did it! If you couldn't tell, I just posted a TON tonight trying to catch up from the last month or so. I've been sick for months and spent a lot of time not on the computer- then every time I would get on here, I would feel like there was so much to catch up on that it would just take forever to try and blog. But I did it-- here ya go, all caught up! Now I can keep the blog current again. Well, first I have to start taking more pictures again. I've taken some, but not nearly as many as I normally do. Hopefully I'll feel better soon.

For those that don't know, I'm not terminal- I'm just PREGNANT!

This is the little bean at 9 weeks--

and at 13 weeks.

My doctor usually does an initial ultrasound to check everything and measure the baby. My first appointment got messed up, so I sort of had two initial appointments, so I've had two ultrasounds so far... you don't hear me complaining! It's so fun to see the tiny baby in there squirming around and the little heart beating- so amazing!

I'm 16 1/2 weeks along now, due on July 8th. We should find out if it's a boy or girl in about a month at our last ultrasound. I've been so much sicker this time around, and unlike my previous pregnancies, it didn't let up once the first trimester passed. But, we keep on muddling through. Some days are better than others. Last week, I had a terrible headcold that made it even harder to function, but now I'm back to just the normal pain and nausea... It's better than it was earlier in the pregnancy. I can function a lot better, though I don't really feel like doing much. We mostly hang out at home during the week.

Today was a comfort food day. I go back and forth, but right now I have an okay relationship with food. Nothing really sounds good, but once something does, it feels good to eat. I have to eat frequently to keep the nausea at bay, which is hard when even the thought of food is so yucky. Anyway, I made some kalua pig today, and it was sooooo good. It cooked all day in my oven, and I could smell it- it made me so hungry.

After dinner, Ben and I made some chocolate chip cookies- he loves helping in the kitchen so much. Especially cookies- he just wants to eat the dough though (we have NO idea where he gets that from). The whole time we were making them this time, he kept saying- "okay done, time to lick it it".... "stop mixing, it's time to lick it"... "I wanna lick it!".... haha! It was so cute. Once he got to "lick it" he was just in heaven-- but when I told him that was enough cookie dough, boy was he sad!!

Oh yeah, time to LICK IT!

Little River Canyon

Last Saturday, we went exploring at the "Grand Canyon of the South". We saw a show on PBS-HD about this place, Little River Canyon, and found out that it was only and hour or so away from us and had to go find it. It had these beautiful waterfalls- this was the main one, Little Falls I think it was called.

This was the view of the river at the bottom of the canyon from up on the mountain. It really was like a mini-Grand Canyon, it was a very cool place.

Unfortunately, it was FA-REEEEEZING that day. The first couple of stops we did fleece sweaters and hats, but we had to switch to full on coats, hats and mittens for the rest of the time, which poor nap-deprived Christopher got REALLY tired of pretty quickly. We didn't get to get out and see as much as we would have liked, because of the weather and the exhausted baby, but we had a lot of fun and will for sure be going back there in the spring and summer. They have a kind of beach on the river where you can swim and picnic and spend the day. They also have campgrounds and cabins to rent. We're excited to find such a cool place so close. You learn something new every day...

They had fun "hiking" down to the waterfall. Chris did NOT want to be carried- he walked a long way, he just loved it.

Chucking rocks in the water at the dam...

Dressing up is so much fun...

These boys are so funny sometimes. They have a big basket full of hats- some normal "real" hats- baseball caps and knit hats, some playhats- like cowboy and pirate hats. They both love to play with the hats. The other night, Chris put this one on backwards and Ben came over with a big smile, telling me- "Chris looks like Uncle Jerdy" (my brother). I thought that was so cute that he thought that, especially since he hasn't seen my brother in a year, and we haven't been talking about him or looking at pictures or anything lately- he just thought of that out of the blue. I guess it was the backwards hat... but it was so cute. And THEY were just so stinkin' cute....

Oh, did I mention they also have a couple of furry boas from the dollar store? I promise, other than that- their dressup stuff is not girly!

Wait, I guess maybe this furry hat... but I always thought it was more "pimpin".... haha

Snow!!!

We got snow again in Alabama- on the 16th, we were just home hanging out. This is only the second time I've seen it in 3 1/2 years. It had been raining for a while that day and really cold. Ben and I were looking out the window, and Ben goes, what is that?? SNOW? It was so cute, we both realized at the same time that it was snowing. We ran up to tell Dave who was upstairs, and hurried to put on socks and shoes and coats. They loved it. Unfortunately, it was wet and didn't stick, but it was fun to see anyway. Ben was running around crazy and they were both having Dave twirl them around. Chris kept climbing up on the patio chairs and getting all wet. It was good times.



Catching snowflakes...

More, more, more!!!

Happy Christmas!

Christmastime was fun. We did a lot- Dave's sister was was here with her family for three weeks, so we had a nice long holiday season. Ben and Chris had lots of fun going to Grandma and Grandpa's all the time and playing with their cousins lots. On Christmas Eve, we had the extended family over for dinner, then the kids got all snuggled up in their new pajamas, set out cookies for Santa, then it was off to bed. Chris is still too little to get it, but Ben was so excited for Santa to come. He was so cute.

The next morning, Ben woke up all happy and excited and told us that Santa brought presents. He got up and was jumping on his bed, "it's Christmas, it's Christmas!" I love how he says Christmas "kih-mess". And he loves saying "Happy Kih-mess".

Ben was so excited, we couldn't make him wait to go down and see everything, so we woke Chris up. He usually sleeps about an hour longer than Ben. He was so cute, all sleepy and smiley. It took him a while to get into everything, but he loved it all.

It was a fun Christmas. They loved their gifts, especially a couple of the books they got- Ben loved the Wiggles book that came with a little music player that plays a bunch of their songs, and Chris got a musical Spongebob book that he was soooo excited about. He LOVES Spongebob.

Here's an album with a few more pics of Christmas, and some pics of the fun stuff we did with the family over the holidays. On Jeanne and Steve's last day in town, we all went to the Aquarium in Chattanooga- the boys had a lot of fun. Here's a rare family shot of us--

and the rest of the pics...

Christmastime