Big Boy Indeed

Today is Day 4 of Lincoln sleeping in his big boy room! So far, so good. I'm not betting that it will stay as easy as it has been, but I'm enjoying the ease as it comes. He has not tried to climb out of the bed once, & he loves the extra room he has. He was all grown out of that crib he was in. However, he has gotten all of Levi's "night-nights" & new toys/rattles, & carries them around with him. I can't decide if this is jealousy rearing its ugly head even before the baby is born, or if this is just "proud big brother" behavior. I'm going to go with the latter, in hopes that it might be true. Wish us luck in the coming weeks before Levi arrives that Lincoln will feel comfortable in his racecar bed & not want to go back to his crib.
Y'all sleep tight in your big boy beds.

mewwy chrit-mas!

In the words of Lincoln, Mewwy Chrit-mas! He can't quite say the words correctly, but the spirit is there nevertheless. Our Christmas was merry & bright, filled with family, caroling, good food & laughter. We just got home from the 10-hour drive this afternoon, after a very early morning departure of 5:00am. Linc-Man was a champ though...barely a tear during the entire trip. Wowsa.
Here are some pics of Christmas morning of my boy & me. We're eating Cheerios together...I won't post the picture of Lincoln trying to push a Cheerio through my belly button to feed Levi...this is a public blog after all, & I won't subject any of y'all to that sort of view. But take my word for it, it's a hoot & a holler.


Lincoln's big Christmas present was a GeoTrax Airport and Grand Central Station. He could play with it for hours. And he did. After he came down the stairs to see the GeoTrax all set up, he said "No" to opening up any other presents. So Ben & I were forced to open up his presents for him, showing him each gift. Funny.



After the big Christmas dinner, we all stood around the piano while my mom played Christmas carols & all sang together. My mama's an amazing piano player, BTW.



The three little munchkins...Tatum, Lincoln & Lucy

And here's the cutest one of all...he's taking a breather from the presents by having some breakfast.

I pray that all of your Christmases were just as joyful as ours. Thankfully, my water didn't break during the Christmas dinner...although several times during the holiday, I thought it would get to that point. Not too much longer!

writers strike is cramping my style

Seriously, what's going on with this writer's strike? I'm being forced to watch re-runs of every single show I enjoy, & I am now being shoved into the corner to watch The Real Housewives of Orange County...which ever so shamefully, I actually enjoy. Dreadful. Hate to love it, love to hate it.
Can't we all just get along here...pay the writers more money & be done with it. I tried watching The Colbert Report without their usual writers & it was torture. Just not funny. And that's just not funny to me.
One thing that did brighten my spirits last night was getting a preview for American Idol next month. Praise the Lord that Simon is back in full effect, tight shirt included. I saw a close-up of Paula claiming, "We are looking for greatness." She didn't even slur her words this time. Sure Paula, what you're looking for is a full flask & a plastic surgeon who is also a magician.
Ahh, the season is soon to begin. Blogging about AI makes me giddy.

lincoln and his logs

quick update

Hello all. Just wanted to give you a quick update on how things are going. I had another ultrasound this morning & everything looks good & healthy. Levi was kicking up a storm in there, while I tried not to pee all over the bed because my bladder was so full. Gotta love that.

Here's something that made me smile. The first thing the tech said when Levi popped up on the screen was, "Good Lord, your baby's got a head of hair!" We could see it waving around on the ultrasound...like he was running on the beach. Which is weird considering Lincoln had some slight peachfuzz & that was it. Some people might have even debated the presence of the fuzz at all. I'm hoping it's dark brown hair with some matching big brown eyes. He would be the first out of 8 grandchildren with a pair of brownies. Crossing our fingers.
Here's something that made me cringe. The tech's words: "Big round head!" Those words alone aren't really scary. But when you match them up with the terms: labor, pushing, and sweating...they become quite terrifying. Labor indeed.

I could go about 10-14 days earlier than expected, which would put his arrival in late January. But come on, who really knows.

More to blog about at a later time...until then.

keep on corralling

"That day when you stood before God, your God, at Horeb...You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze wtih fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds. God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing--no form, only a voice. He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live...Guard yourselves...stay alert. Don't for a minute forget the covenant which God, your God, made with you.
You were shown all this so that you would know that God is, well, God. He's the only God there is. He's it...Obediently live by his rules and commands which I'm giving you today so that you'll live well and your children after you..."--Dueteronomy 4

Moses spoke these strong warnings to the Israelites when they were on the brink of entering the Promised Land. Years of wandering the desert, years of disobeying God, & years of incessant grumbling had brought them to this very point with God speaking through Moses, informing the chosen people of what they would be faced with. God's chosen child, Israel, had heard the very voice of God, seen His power through fire, seen the very heart of Heaven--yet she was still disobedient. Still grumbling. Still prone to wander. If Israel had to be reminded over & over again after having heard God Himself (it's almost embarrassing how often throughout Deuteronomy they had to be reminded) to trust & obey God's commands, how much more do I need reminding? A girl living in Franklin Tennessee, age 29, is prone to searching for children's furniture online, prone to watching Days of Our Lives, prone to fixing my gaze on winter coats and home decor...prone to wander anywhere that takes the focus away from Jesus & places the focus directly on me. Jesus knows this about me. Jesus knows I have to be corralled back into His gates. I am that sheep; that distracted, wayward sheep who wanders out on his own looking for other pastures in which to graze. I am so thankful that He warns us, cautions us, begs us to come back to Him. He will plead forever on my behalf to return my obedience to where it has come, & to where it should rightfully be placed. To read straight from Scripture that the Lord will be there if we seek Him out, that He'll find us when we want to be found, is a real comfort & joy. Keep on Corralling, Lord.