Merry, Merry Christmas!

This is my most favorite time of year. This year Stephen and I reflected on all the miracles that have happened in our lives. We have had some pretty rotten years in the past, but we are finally over the hump. We have a beautiful home, Stephen has a fantastic job, and best of all, we have two incredibly wonderful children to share our life with.

Little Stephen was so excited about Christmas this year. It was the first time he truly understood what was going to happen. His top three gifts were: the Nintendo DS and all the games, a pogo stick, and a Batman cave. Jillian's top three gifts were: a vtech play jewelry box, a lady bug rocking seat, and a new bouncer/exercise seat.
My favorite gift was a bike seat attachment and my hubby got a new bike... for his exercise regiment... we'll see.

Anyway, we are in NJ, having a great time with friends and family. We laughed so much on Christmas Eve, it was much needed and enjoyed. The best part of the night was the Dirty Santa gift exchange. What fun and so sorry I'll miss it next year. (We alternate families).

Here are some pictures, hope you enjoy!

November

November was a busy month for us. We had a family wedding in NJ, Thanksgiving in Winston and lots of stuff in between. We have so much to be thankful for this year and just wanted to share some of our thoughts. First and foremost we are thankful for our family and friends. Without family and friends, there's not much to life. We are so thankful for our two wonderful children and thankful for the joy they bring into our life. I am most thankful that Jillian is sleeping through the night and I get to also! We are thankful for Stephen's job and all that he does to provide for our family and my lack of a job and all that I can do to provide for my family at home. We are thankful for our parents, that they are so loving to our kids and so generous to them. Lastly, we are thankful for our home. We really feel like we finally have a home, (as opposed to a house). This neighborhood is where we are meant to be and we did take the long, scenic route to get here, but we are here. We have fantastic neighbors and have enjoyed our time here so far.

I am thankful for all my blog followers and friends from the internet. Without you and your support, these last few years would have been much more difficult, lonely, and uninspiring. I'm sorry I'm not on your blogs commenting as often as I would like, but I'm trying. I pray for you all each and everyday to have your heart's desires come to fruition.

Please enjoy some of our pictures from this month...

Daddy and Jillian

Uncle James with the kiddos. Not even funny how much Stephen LOVES Uncle Jamesy Wamesy

Muscle Maker food is paying off!! How funny is this face!!

Will they ever both look at the camera?

Cutie Pie!

Newest Endeavor

See what I mean? Looking different ways again...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ready for Santa!

Thanks for reading and happy holidays!

Dear Santa...

For all family and friends, we decided to make it very easy and post Stephen's and Jillian's Christmas list here. If you get something, please let me know and I will cross it off the list. Sorry for all my other blog followers, please ignore this post :)

Stephen:
Disney Pixar Cars 2 Action Agents Combat Ship Playset

Disney Pixar Cars 2 Memory Deluxe


Disney Pixar Cars 2 Movie Exclusive Die Cast Car Racing 4 Pack

Disney Pixar Cars 2 Trouble Game


Go!!! Disney Cars 2 World Grand Prix

Fisher-Price Imaginext Disney Pixar Cars 2 Tokyo and Villain Playset

Rio for Nintendo DS

Carnival Games for Nintendo DS

Disney Phineas and Ferb for Nintendo DS


Disney Pixar Cars: Mater National Championship for Nintendo DS


Melissa & Doug See & Spell

iTunes gift card (for iPad games)


Llama Llama Home with Mama

Madagascar Kartz


Jillian:
Enfamil AR Ready to Feed

Pampers Swaddlers Size 3

Tiny Talk Light up Phone


VTech Fun Shapes Jewelry box

Alex Toys Jr. Stack-A-Cake


Fisher Price Hug 'n Giggle Baby

Sesame Street Talking Abby Plush

I Wished for You: an Adoption Story

God Found Us You


Honey Bunny Funnybunny



Sesame Street Abby Cadabby~Bedtime Stories~ Bath Time Bubble Book

Octoberfest

What a great month October is turning out to be! Hubby had a birthday, Stevie had a great month with his t-ball team, and Jilly has started eating cereal and sitting in her exasaucer (now known as stationary entertainers).

We also had a visit from my mom and dad that was too quick. The greatest part of their visit was Stevie also had a t-ball game while they were here. So, my parents and Stephen's parents were there to watch his game. Now, in some families, that may be a common occurrence, but in our family, (because of location) it doesn't happen very often. Those are the times I am most happy for our children. It is wonderful to see them with all four of their grandparents. Too sweet!!

Next we celebrated my hubby's bday and I made him this:

Yes, that is a chocolate, peanut butter cake, complete with fudge in the middle with chopped pieces of peanut butter cups, then iced with a thin layer of fudge and peanut butter icing, decorated with peanut butter cups around the cake. See, hubby is a peanut butter cup LOVER!! But... he's not the only one...

I wonder who that could be...

Caught in the act! He loved the cake as well. In fact, he already requested one for his birthday in May. Gotta love my peanut butter men!!

A few days later, our doorbell rings and there is the FedEx man. Stevie loves him because he knows that it usually a gift from his Aunt Jackie. Well this time it was a gift for Jilly from Aunt Jackie. (His came a day later!) But he enjoyed her gift I think more than she did at first. She has since gotten the hang of the exasaucer, but poor thing can't reach the bottom to rotate herself. :(

A few days later, we attended the NC State Fair. This is a stretch for me. Fairs are just not my cup of tea. I like places that are clean, not crowded, and a fair share of healthy food choices. Well, we got skeavy booths, way too may people, and fried everything. It amazes me how people walk around the fair with no shame. Eating crazy things like turkey legs (hubby tried one), funnel cake (not zeppoles, but close enough), fried anything and everything. We did try the fried oreos. I've lived in NC for six years now, I've heard a TON about them, so I caved under pressure. They weren't half bad, but I'm sure they are terrible for you. Stevie even gave a thumbs up to them. All in all, when the night was done and we used all our tickets on fun rides with Stevie, I have to admit we had a good time. Maybe next year I won't be so reluctant to go. :)

Our neighbors turned 50 and threw themselves a party. I volunteered to make some cake pops, because, quite frankly, I am in love with these cutie pie cakes. Take a look at these yummilicious cake pops...

We are off this weekend to visit the Cav's and celebrate some more birthdays and babies. We both have two kids now, born the same years, both sets of kids are four months apart. Gotta love how family keeps going on and on. Pictures to follow :)

Jilly Giggles...

Enjoy!

Two Cutie Pie Pics!

Not too much new going on here. Stephen is loving his new job, although he is working non-stop. Life gets a little hectic when he travels, but I am settling in to it again. Stevie has been learning how to write his letters in school. This week was "B" and today for show and tell, he brought in his blankie. This is by far his most prized possession! Love it! Jillian is doing great, sleeping more and more in her crib (her room is almost finished)! We haven't made the jump to the over night sleep yet, but it will be coming soon. She is giggling up a storm and using her voice for more than crying. Here are some new pics of her. Sorry so short, but I'm exhausted! More to come in a few days...

School, T-ball, and Jilly, Oh My!

That's right, school is back in session. Although, Stephen is the only one going to school this year. I am staying home with our little Jilly Bean. Stephen is absolutely LOVING school. He has made some new friends and is crazy about his new teacher. He even had homework tonight. He had to trace the letter A in upper case and lower case form. Ummm... it took 20 minutes! Is this payback for all the homework I've given over the years? Just kidding. He really enjoyed doing his homework and proceeded to tell me that he wants homework every night. If he only knew. ;) He is also playing t-ball. Granted, we only made it to 2 practices and no games yet. This is the craziest league ever. The first game was cancelled because of the hurricane, the next weekend was Labor Day, then we were at the beach, and this past weekend, it rained. So, we have a game Saturday and then a double header on Sunday. Stevie may just be baseballed out this weekend.

T-ball Practice


Stephen, my hubby, started his new job today. He is now working for a new company that is business partners with IBM. He is excited for the possibilities at this company and I am just so proud of him for getting to where he's wanted to be in his career. <3

First Day of School, practice smiles

Jillian is growing like wild. She will be three months on Thursday. She probably weighs around 12-13 pounds. The cutest thing of all is that she is giggling and smiling all the time. She also blows bubbles and makes raspberries with her lips. Super cute! Love, love, love her!! She is getting on a regular schedule, which is really starting to help out here with our daily routine. Jilly is also sleeping through the night. Her last bottle is around 10 PM and she sleeps until 6 AM. I'll take that!

Smiles!!


So, finally, the update on me: I think I rebroke my toe. I don't know what the deal is, but I'd like to chop it off. It's the pinky toe and I've been told that it is a wasted appendage. Haha! I just wish that it would get better. It is affecting my exercise regiment. I have been turning into a Suzy homemaker lately. I painted Jillian's room. Just waiting for the trim to go up and then I will post pictures. I have been making chicken soup for the fall. Yum! Also, I made a yummy-licious apple pie (with the wrong apples). I used the wrong apples because it was our turn for snack for Stevie's t-ball game and it was cancelled. So, what was I going to do with all those sliced apples? We couldn't eat them all in a day or so. The pie came out delicious!!

First Day of School!

Lastly, I visited my favorite doctor, Dr. Lipscomb, for my annual visit. It was a really special visit because we were able to introduce him to Jillian. He has been down this journey with us and had celebrated our positives and then listened to the stories of the negatives. It was so wonderful to let him see us come full circle and be triumphant. We also had a great discussion about more naturalistic medicine treatments rather than pumping our bodies with hormones. I have become a big advocate of this in the last year or two (as much as my family thinks I'm crazy). It was nice to have a doctor actually see a patient as a human that deserves the best treatment medically and emotionally. He discussed a more natural method for birth control and also for family planning. Unfortunately, neither of these two topics pertain to my "situation" down there, but I'm sure it does apply to some. He has a medically proven way for women to come off the pill and use their own hormones to regulate their cycle, plan pregnancies, and prevent pregnancies as well. If anything, it is something to THINK about!