Monday, December 31, 2007

Oh Where is My Bathroom

We bought this house 4 years ago. Actually, there was no house here when we signed the deal. We thought half the fun would be making all the decisions that go along with building a house from the ground up. While our house is not the biggest house in the neighborhood, much less the biggest in the group of people we know, it's ours and we love it and will live here until we can unload it on someone else and get something bigger. But I digress. When we built this house we had a fabulous realtor who was able to get many of our requests written into our contract. However, there were a couple of things that he could not do and we had to get to the builder right before it was done if we wanted it changed. One of these things is the popcorn that was standardly (is that a word?) sprayed onto the ceilings. I managed to get here right after the work crew had just done it and left. I have always hated it and wanted it gone. We planned on doing all kinds of things to the house when we moved in, but as luck would have it, I got pregnant the day after we moved in. Obviously, that is not affecting us this time. Second child syndrome?
Yesterday, Jes decided he was going to start removing some of the offending popcorn and started in our bathroom, a logical place because it's a smaller room with tile on the floor. He got about half way done and had to go to work. It is still in that state today. Officially, we are sharing a bathroom with our 2 year old. What fun.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Baby Update

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and while I will spare you all the gory details, let's just suffice it to say that I was tested for everything under the sun at this appointment.
I am 12 weeks along now so we're officially in the throes of all things baby. I was able to hear the heartbeat, 160, which the doctor said sounded strong. We won't have our official "determine the gender" sonogram until February, but at least it gives us something to look forward to. While I would love the know the gender now, but our doctor likes to wait until the baby is around 20 weeks (I'll be right at that) before having this test done. That way there will be little to no issue with development questions. The only thing we will have to be concerned about is position of the baby. Hopefully, this one will be like his/her big brother was and be very open and happy to show what it has!

Friday, December 28, 2007

Our Fun, Festive Christmas

I am so behind in posting these pictures, so there are lots of them. Our Christmas party season kicked off on Thursday when Caleb had his class party at Mother's Day Out.

















Here's Caleb and a few of his friends singing Jingle Bells. I actually got a little misty during this song. I guess I realized it was his first little "program". Who knew that Jingle Bells could make a mother cry. I blame the hormones.
















He is supposed to be singing Away in a Manger here and he did manage to get most of the song out, but he had spotted me and was trying to inch my way. He stood right in the middle of the room for this song!
















Caleb's party included pizza and cookies for lunch. Unfortunately, someone thought it was a good idea to put chocolate candy out on the table as decoration. I guess they thought the 2 year olds wouldn't mess with it. This is Caleb unwrapping his first of five. He was quick and covered in chocolate before I could even get to him.
















Eating pizza. Can you tell he was in a chocolate induced haze here?















The kids had made these as gifts for us a couple of weeks before. If you can't see it well, it's a Christmas tree made out of his hands. It is on a plaque that had been glazed and fired, so it will be nice on the wall somewhere.
















The cookie part of lunch. This was the closest I could get him to it. He didn't want to eat it, but who would after all the chocolate he had had.

















We also had a book exchange at this party too. Caleb got a Dr. Seuss ABC book that he actually already had, but we didn't tell anyone that. He still loved it and it will most likely live in the car so that he can look at it there.
















Saturday night we went to my parent's house for the annual Lee family Christmas party. Here's my mom and the kiddos having a birthday party for Jesus. The Christmas story was read, candles lit and song sung. Caleb had a good time with this this year.
















Then came the present opening.
















Caleb got lots of fun things from his aunts and uncles.
















Every year we try to get a group picture of all the kids, so here's this years. From left to right: Matt (he's 18 and heading off to the navy this summer. We're all pretty proud!), Dixie (Matt's sister), Madison, Tristen and Caleb.
















My mom and dad got Caleb these Cars pajamas. He looked so cute and I wanted a picture of him so bad. After many tries, this was the best I could get. He had not had a nap and was in a foul mood. We headed home right after this!
















Christmas morning we got up and Caleb opened his stocking. This is my favorite part and I could have taken a million pictures, but I did restrain myself and didn't put all of them here. Here he is before digging in.
















Here's Caleb roaring like a lion. I think he liked it!















Of all the gifts, this was his favorite. I got this "blackberry" from Big Lots for $2 when I was there looking for something else. I knew he would play with it, but he is still carrying it around today.
















After our stockings, we headed to my parent's house again for present opening. After a lunch of steak and chicken off the grill, salad and baked potatoes, we tackled the presents. Of course Caleb had a ton!
















As you can see, Caleb loved tearing the paper off all his packages!
















On Christmas Eve, Jes, Caleb and I met my dad at the mall and my dad bought this Coach purse for my mom. After she protested about the price for a short time, I think she came around and likes it. She has always wanted one, but would never buy one for herself.
















Ok, this one has a little bit of a story. Every year Jes talks about wanting summer sausage to eat and I never remember to get it. This year I actually did and he was super excited and I think surprised!















As you can see we all had a great holiday and hope you did too!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Curious Caleb

We have officially entered the why phase in Caleb's childhood. I was wondering when this would hit and he has proven to be full of questions.
Lately, when I tell/ask Caleb to do something, he will most likely respond with "why mama?" I think the cutest thing he does right now, though, is if he is trying to do something and it doesn't quite go the way he planned it, he will look at me and say, "what do I do now, mama?" It's much better than the whining and screaming that he used to do!

Monday, December 03, 2007

This Time of Year

Sorry that there has been an obvious lack of postings here. This pregnancy thing has really thrown me for a loop this time around. I have been so sick lately, not to mention exhausted, forgetful, etc. It seems to hit me in the evening with a vengence. Last time, with Caleb, I wouldn't even take a cough drop when I had a chest cold, but this time around I have been forced to take Zofran just to function in the evenings. I don't have to take it everyday, but just the days when I'm really out of it which has only really been once or twice. For the most part, I just deal with the lingering nausea and try to forget about it. I channel Scarlett O'Hara most days for this!
We are in this busy time of the semester around the Mathis household. Even though I'm the one actually at work, Jes and Caleb have to tolerate a little less of me, or at least a little more preoccupied me, this time in the semester until all finals are over. The good thing is that it will be all over next week. I'm counting the days.
We also managed to get our Christmas tree up last weekend. The last time we had our tree up, Caleb wasn't even 1 yet. With all the traveling we have done and the fear of a toddler pulling it down on top of him, we haven't put it up until this year. Caleb loved helping decorate with me. You can tell the part he did as there are probably 15 ornaments on the same 3 branches. It was cute, so I left it just like that. He also loves it when Jes plugs it in every evening and he will run up to it and say, "green Christmas tree!". Caleb's other favorite thing this time of year are all the snowmen. We have another obsession on our hands, I'm afraid. He's seems to spot snowmen everywhere and never hesitates to point them out.
It seems lately, that Caleb is getting much better in putting together sentences when he speaks too. He will say things very clearly now that he used to muddle together before. Today, when we were getting ready to leave for MOPS, he ran to the door and said very clearly, "I unlock door. Let's go Mama. I go play." It's so much fun to be able to carry on an actual conversation with him now, even if I still have to translate a few words for others!