Christmas Day

When we woke up on Christmas Day, it was sleeting. Colton and Corbin got their gifts from us and Santa, then we headed over to my moms.

We got to my moms and started passing out gifts. Colton got a Buzz and Woody from my mom and Don, which he was so excited about! He wanted Buzz to fly so he lifted him over his head and threw him. After the second time of him doing that, his arm broke off. Poor Colton just wanted him to fly. But he still loves him and plays with him.

After opening gifts, we had breakfast. My moms made a yummy breakfast casserole and another thing that I can't honk of what it's called right now, but it was good too! After that, we came back home so we could get ready for Christmas lunch, which was also at my moms. This year, I was just in charge of the salad. So we got ready, made the salad and went back over. The roads were a little more slick this time and it was actually snowing! A white Christmas!! This doesn't happen very of the around here.

One of my aunts didn't come because of the weather and she had a 2 hour drive from her house. So my other aunt, grandma and the rest of the family got together at my moms for lunch. TONS of food!!! The usual holiday spread.

After lunch, we relaxed a bit, then came home to get the boys down for a nap. It had been a busy couple of days so far, but we weren't done yet! That night we just hung out at home and didn't do anything.

I am so very happy that Adam didn't have to work though! It was a great Christmas and having Corbin here made it so much better! The next day we were headed BACK to Henryetta! More to come on that...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent at my grandmas (Nene) house in Henryetta. This is with my dads side of the family.

We woke up that morning, got ready and headed to Henryetta. When we got there, Coby and Nene were hard at work making cookies. This was the first time coby had seen Corbin, but since she was making cookies, so couldn't stop to hold him. Plus he was asleep, so we left him in his carrier until he woke up.

Pretty much, all day, we hung out with Coby, Sami, Chase, John (Sami's boyfriend), my dad, Mayson, nene and pa. We caught up on life and laughed abd had fun! Sami and John made buffalo chicken dip for the evening and I made crab stuffed mushrooms. About 6:00 that evening, my aunt and other cousins arrived, so it was time to eat! We had a big pot of chili and tons of appetizers. My grandma used 15 pounds of meat for the chili 😳 that's A LOT of chili!! Afterwards, it was time for presents. I honestly had never seen so many presents in one place. It was out of control!

By the time we started opening presents, Colton had been so tired (due to lack of a nap), but got excited again when we were opening! He doesn't really like to OPEN them, but he loves to play with the toys. Both boys were very blessed this year! We came home with a ton of stuff for them!! After opening gifts, we stayed to hang out for a bit. By around 830, they were both exhausted, so we decided to pack up and head home. They went to sleep pretty quick once we got in the car.

Colton doesn't quite understand the concept of Santa, but little did he know, we had another big day ahead of us!

It's almost Christmas!

It's finally starting to feel like Christmas around here. Friday afternoon, I picked up my cousin Sami from the airport. She is currently working a job where her training has sent her around the country for 10 weeks in each place. She's now in Utah, but will be placed at a location in February. Anyway...I picked her up and we had a little "us" time. We went to the mall (why oh why?!?) and to get a mani/pedi. I now have festive red sparkly fingers and toes.

After our mani/pedi, we came back to my house to relieve Adam. I made dinner and we had a couple glasses of wine while chatting. Her brother and twin sister, left Saturday morning like waaaaaay early, picked up her boyfriend (who is coming to OK for the first time) and drove through the night. They live in Florida, so they had a long drive ahead of them.

Saturday morning, we got up and I got the kids ready and we headed to my grandparents house in Henryetta. I was just staying for the day, but that's where her and her family always stay when they come to OK. Last night, around 9, the rest of the floridians finally made it. Sadly, I was already home. BUT we are headed the tomorrow to spend the day and do Christmas with that whole side of the family. I absolutely LOVE it!!!! So much yummy food and hanging out with family all day. My cousins are my best friends and like sisters to me. I love seeing them!

Tuesday will be spent at my moms and then Wednesday, we are headed BACK to Henryetta because my uncle and cousin can't come until Christmas night, so they will get to open their gifts and we're doing a big Christmas dinner that day. So the next 3 days are going to be filled with LOTS and LOTS of yummy food! I can't wait!!!

I'm super excited to see Colton open gifts this year! And I'm so incredibly thankful to have Corbin with us. Our family is complete and I can't wait to start making traditions.

Two Months

Mr. Corbin is 2 months old today! I've ready said it and I'm sure I'll say it plenty more...time going so fast! Here's a little update...

Weight: 12 pounds 14.4 oz (75th percentile)
Length: 23 inches (25th percentile)
Sleep: 12-14 hours per day. He's a pretty awesome night sleeper. Waking up between 2:45 and 4. Then again around 7. This is great for me!
Diapers: Size 1
Clothes: 3 month
Misc: Social smiles all the time! He coos quite a bit. Loves to be swaddled when sleeping. Likes laying on his play may and look at his toys.

Along with his 2 month check up, came shots! I hate that!! Last night was rough because he was so fussy from them. But today has been great!

I will say that I'm hugging my babies a little tighter tonight. What happened in CT today is absolutely heartbreaking and makes me sick to my stomach to think about.

Smiles

Corbin has been smiling since he was almost 5 weeks. At first, it was just a half smile and he wouldn't do it very often. Then at 6 weeks he was full on smiling. NOW at 7 weeks, he will smile so big when I just talk to him and he will start cooing at me. I just LOVE it!!! I love it when he wakes up and I talk to him and get huge smiles. It melts my heart!

He will be 8 weeks tomorrow and 2 months on Friday. We go for his 2 month check up, which means shots. Yuck! When Colton would go for shots, I always scheduled it when Adam was off work so he would hold his legs and arms still whole he got them. It always makes me so sad. On Thursday, Adam works, so I will have to do that at his appt. We are going a day early, because we are leaving for Wisconsin on Friday.

Ill leave you with a picture of Corbin while we were playing on his play mat. I caught a huge smile!

Mommy Time

After 7.5 weeks, I got some mommy time. I went to dinner with one of my dearest friends! Now, I was only gone for a little over 2 hours, but it was nice to be kid-less for a little bit. Adam stayed home with the little ones while I enjoyed dinner. Betsy and I have been friends for almost 11 years. In those years, we have started a few new chapters. We both got married and I've had 2 kids. One day when she has kids, I can't wait for our kids to play together. She has been such s great friend and besides Adam and my mom, she is someone I talk to everyday. I can talk to her about anything!

Our husbands are going to the Thunder game together on Friday night, so she is going to come over and hang out with me and the boys. I truly am so thankful for our friendship! And I'm glad our husbands are friends too!

I loved my evening out, but of course, I loved coming home too. Colton ran to give me a hug when I walked in the door. That boy is such a sweetheart! Maybe I need some mommy time more often :)

Football Friday

Last night, my high school played in the state championship game. They've never made it this far since the school has been open, which was in the late 90s. The game was in Stillwater and I knew some people going. I debated all day about going with my family. Adam was at work, and obviously we would be taking the kids. We were checking the weather and wondering if it would be too cold for Corbin or if it would be windy or how long Colton would last. I planned on wearing Corbin in my carrier, so I knew he would be warm. I had a coat and hat for Colton, so he would be warm too. Finally, at the last minute, I decided to just go. So we loaded up in my moms car with big car seats and headed to Stillwater. To say Colton was excited, would e an understatement! He had the biggest smile on his face! Corbin fell asleep shortly after I put him in the carrier.

We had blanket and coats and the boys had warm hats on and we were set! I got to see friends that I hadn't seen in a couple years, which was great! The game however, was not so great. At half time, the other team had score 35 and North hadn't scored at all. Colton had completely run out of gas and was exhausted. He didn't nap yesterday and was too excited on the way there to sleep. So we left at half time. Both boys did amazingly well! Corbin slept the whole time and Colton did great too!

It made me so excited to take them to more sporting events. We have plans for Brewer games (in Texas) this coming year and hopefully football games. Colton already loves sports!

It's the most wonderful time...

A couple weeks ago when we ventured out to the mall, they had Santa out there. My mom and I stopped to see how Colton would react. He gave Santa a high five but didn't say anything. Last year, he flipped out! Like screamed when we got close, so this way much better than last year. Ever since we saw Santa, he has been so excited if there's been one on TV or if there's been a fake one anywhere else we've gone. Oh and a snow man...gets him so excited! Christmas lights do the same. As well as any Christmas movie on TV. He is pretty much obsessed with anything Christmas!! Which is totally exciting for us!

We are planning to take him to a couple of light displays around. And of course we're recording anything Christmas on TV. I would REALLY love to get his picture taken with Santa this year too.

Having kids makes Christmas so much better! It's fun to see everything through their eyes. This year he's reacting to everything and gets so excited. We have all of our decorations out, but we just need to set everything up and put up our tree and house lights. He will be super excited when we do that!

This picture is while he's watching the Grinch cartoon. I love his excitement!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Of course, we did what everyone else did...we ate! Yesterday morning, we had breakfast, got ready and headed to my aunts for Thanksgiving lung with the family. I LOVE holiday meals! Although, I will say, I'm not a huge fan of turkey. I'll eat ham over turkey any day. YUM! We had the whole spread...turkey, ham, 2 salads, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, reg green beans, dressing, home made Mac n cheese, rolls, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and peach cobbler. Delish!! Corbin slept most of his first Thanksgiving and Colton ran around like a 2 year old. Colton crashed as soon as we got in the car. The best thing about Thanksgiving lunch...leftovers for dinner!! I decided that one day, I would love to host a holiday dinner at our house. I really enjoy cooking and I just think it would be fun to do it at our house. Like I said...one day.

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving as well!

It happened

After 5 weeks, it finally happened...Colton WANTED to hold Corbin! We have asked him since day one if he wanted to hold his little brother and he's always said no and kind of freaked out if we tried to put Corbin in his lap. He's always been good about giving him kisses and hugs, telling him he loves him. When he's awake, Colton will say "Heeeyy!" and wave at him but he's always said NO when asked if he wanted to hold him. Until tonight.

Corbin woke up from a nap and Colton went over and held his arms out. We asked if he wanted to hold him and he said yes. We told him to go sit in his chair and he did. Corbin was fussy so it didn't last long. A little while later, I asked of he wanted to hold him again and he said yes! He held his arms out again. I told him to sit in his chair and he could hold him. He ran over to his chair and elf his arms out again and I laid Corbin in his lap. Colton smile and looked down at Corbin and had a proud look on his face. It was seriously the sweetest thing!!!! It took 5 weeks but I'm glad Colton finally wanted to hold
Corbin. I know they will be beat buds!

Shopping Day

Last week, Adam returned to work after before off for 3 weeks. Not going to lie...I have been scared to go anywhere by myself with the two kiddos. For fear for one of them having a major melt down. But, like any normal human being, I was getting cabin fever by just staying home. First, we would just go to my moms for a couple hours. Well this week, I ventured out shopping...with my mom. But still, I took the chance to get out with both boys. We don't have a double stroller yet, so I pushed one and my mom pushed the other. We went Wednesday to the outlet mall and they both did great. Today, we went to Penn Square mall, then back to the outlet mall and both did awesome again!! When we were leaving Penn, I let Colton push Corbin. He was so excited!! He smiled the whole way!



Once we got home, Corbin passed out cold! I guess it was a big day for him too! I told Adam that we need a double stroller pretty soon, so I can actually go places by myself...even if it's just out for a walk in the neighborhood. This momma is beat and ready for bed! Yes, it's 9:00 on a Friday night and that's perfectly ok with me! Good night!

One month

Corbin is one month old today! Crazy how fast time flies!! I can't believe it's already been a month since this sweet boy joined our family.

Weight: as of 2 days ago, 10 lbs 14.4 oz
Sleep: still sleeping about 18 hours a day. He's getting up twice a night to eat. During the day, he's more alert.
Clothes: we've graduated to 0-3
Diapers: wearing size 1
Misc: he's starting to like a pacifier! We are also working on social smiles. He's working in it! He likes to be held upright and not laying down unless he's really tired.

We went to the dr a couple days ago because I had suspicions that he had a little acid reflux. He does and we got some meds to help out. We're on day two, so hopefully we really start to see an improvement soon.

I know I keep saying this, but I am so proud of how well Colton does with him. He really loves his little brother. Of course mom and dad do too. He is a sweetheart and loves to be held close and cuddled. Yes there are some sleepless nights but that's to be expected, and we couldn't be more happy that's he's here with us! We can't wait to watch him grow! I especially can't wait until he starts smiling at us! I am one happy momma!!

Colton the Helper

Thus evening I decided to make cookies while Corbin was asleep. Of course, Colton wanted to help me. I got everything out and sat him up on the counter next to me. I measured everything, handed it to him and he poured it in the bowl. He did great until it came time for the mixer. He does not like the sound of it, so at that point, he was done. It was so cute though that he wanted to help me and he did such a great job!! I wish I had a picture of it. Next time I will for sure.

Also tonight, we introduced the bottle to Corbin. I plan on exclusively breast feeding (given I keep my supply) but in the event I'm not around, I want him to be comfortable with a bottle. I asked Colton if he wanted to help feed Corbin and his face lit up, he ran over to us, grabbed the bottle and held it with a big smile on his face. He was so proud that he was able to help. Of course, my hands were full and I don't have a picture of that either. I will next time, because it is absolutely precious!!

Colton has been so much help and he's such a big boy, I sometimes forget he's only 2. I love him to pieces and love playing and cuddling with him. He's so sweet! And he is ALL boy! Christmas will be fun with him this year. I can't wait!!

Brothers

Colton is getting more comfortable around Corbin. He's always been good with him, but now he wants Corbin to lay next to him while watching Mickey. He kisses and hugs him on his own ad tells him that he loves him. It's seriously adorable. I hope that they will be best friends! These pictures melt my heart! Enjoy!!

Our New Normal

Well here we are, 2 weeks after Corbin joined our family and I think we're all getting used to each other. Colton plays with his toys (even the loud one) just like nothing is different. He still wants to see "baby" when he wakes up in the mornings, he kisses him and still tells him he loves him. He likes to watch me change his diaper. He always wants to give Corbin his paci. He brings us a burp rag. He loves to gently play with his hair. There are some times, especially when he's tired, that he gets a tad jealous if I'm holding or feeding Corbin. When Corbin is sleeping, I lay him down so Colton and I can have our time. We will either watch Mickey, read books or play.

I'm not going to sugar coat anything and say having a 2 year old and an infant is easy, because it's not. At least not to me. Nights are especially difficult. Adam is still home but that's one thing that I'm particularly not looking forward to when he goes back to work. Colton gets a huge surge or energy right before bed and it's a little hard to get him to calm down.

I have a week to get in the groove of things before Adam returns to work. For the past 2 weeks, we've switched off watching the boys while the other does whatever they need to do. I need to figure out how to do these things without help. I'm sure it won't be as bad/stressful as I think it's going to be. There will probably be a few tears the first couple times he's on shift though. People do it all the time and I'm sure I can handle it. Although, I think Colton may have a hard time with his dad being gone.

We will shortly figure out our new normal. Right now, it's going really well and I'm finally feeling like myself again. I'm just so glad that Colton likes his brother. I was worried about how he would react towards a baby. I'm proud of him.

We have a new bedtime routine that starts about 8:00. I look forward to that time because that means I get to sleep soon ;) I'll keep you posted about how things go! Goodnight!

Newborn Pictures

Today, we had newborn pictures done by one of my greatest friends!! She also did Colton's year pictures and will do his 2 yr and family pictures again soon. It was fun to get to catch up with her while she took the most adorable pictures of Corbin. Colton and her little boy got to play while we were doing the shoot too! I can't wait to see the finished product and for her to take them of our family as well! For now, I'll leave you with a behind the scenes look of one of the poses...

It takes a special person to have the patience to do newborn photography. It can be very time consuming, plus of course they will pee or poop as soon as you take their diaper off. Or when you need them to be asleep, they will be wide awake...or hungry. I'm so glad she was the one to take them of our little guy. She did a great job and had more patience than I could've ever had!

Corbin's Birth Story

My due date with Corbin was October 16. My Dr had scheduled me for an induction (if I wanted) for October 15. Honestly, I didn't think I would go to my due date because I had always heard that the second baby comes faster and sooner than the first. Colton was 12 days early and my labor + delivery was about 3 hours. With Corbin, I started having contractions at 33 weeks, so I really thought he was going to be early. Since 33 weeks is pretty early, I had a list of things to do from the nurses on how to stop contractions, but obviously if none of the things worked, then to go to the hospital and they would try to stop them. So from 33-36 weeks, I had contractions weekly. Not Braxton Hicks...full on contractions. Of course once I got to 37 weeks, they stopped completely. So we waited...and waited. I felt like a ticking time bomb.

Well the Wednesday before my induction date, I went to my last dr appt. I was 70% effaced and dilated to about a 3 1/2. My dr was out of town, so I saw the nurse practitioner. She said she really wouldn't be surprised if I went into labor over the weekend and I wouldn't be induced on Monday. But since Colton came SO fast, I had more questions about being induced and the whole process.

Saturday (October 13), I felt perfectly fine. That evening, I picked up Colton's toys in the living room and we went to bed. About 4:30 am, I woke up, thinking that I needed to go to the restroom. I did and once I was finished, I realized my water was leaking. It was exactly what I felt with Colton. Then I felt a tiny pop and a little gush. I went to the bedroom and told Adam my water was in the process of breaking. I knew it hadn't fully broken yet because with Colton, it full on broke and what I had experienced wasn't quite like that. So, Adam got up, we both got dressed and I called my mom so they could come over and stay there with Colton until he woke up. We put my bags in the car and waited for them to get there. By the time they got to our house, about 5 am, I was having contractions about 5 min apart. They weren't absolutely horrible, but I wasn't comfortable either. The hospital is about 7 minutes away and by the time we got in the car and on our way, they were closer to 3 minutes. We get to the hospital, get checked in and once I got to triage and was checked, I was dilated to a 4 1/2. By how badly my contractions were hurting, I thought I would be further than that.

I was moved to the delivery room, got dressed, answered some questions, assured them I DID want an epidural and fast! At one point, I told them that my first baby came really quick, so once they heard that, they kind of stepped things up a bit. I was checked again and was at a 7. Still didn't have the epidural. OUCH! Once the lady got there with the epidural, I got in position and she gave me all the risk statistics, numbed me and stuck in the epidural. Once she was done, my whole mouth went numb, then my face, then my ears started ringing. The epidural had gone the wrong way. At this point, I felt like I needed to push. So after for sure knowing that the epidural didn't work, she got ready to give me another one and the nurse said she felt like she needed to check me again. At this point I was at a 9...in a ton of pain and thinking I was going to do this without an epidural. I got into position again, she numbed my back again and did the epidural AGAIN. This time, it worked!!! They called the Dr on call in, he asked me to do a practice push and said I was ready. He went and got a cup of coffee while I pushed. The nurses are amazing and pretty much do all the work...the drs come in and catch the baby :) So I looked at the clock when I I started to push because I wanted to know how long I was going to do this. It was 7:40 am...

Well the epidural worked pretty good and I couldn't exactly feel how I was pushing. Once I got the hang of it, she kept saying she could see him and he was making his way down. At one point she said he didn't have much hair...then a little while later, she said he had a lot of hair. About 8:15, she told me to push again then said wait wait wait...she called the dr to come in. I pushed a couple more times and he was here at 8:22 am. At first, I thought he looked SO much like Colton. They weighed him and he was 8 pounds 13.4 oz and 20 inches long. And man did he have some lungs on him!! Yes, he has a ton of hair too!! After almost 4 hours of labor and delivery, we had we welcomed our second little boy. I was now a mother of 2, Adam was a father of 2 and Colton was a big brother.

Adam and I held him for a little bit, then he went to get Colton in the waiting room. When he walked in with him, I got a little teary eyed and he crawled up in my lap and told me he loved me. It was SOOO sweet!! We introduced him to his baby brother, but I think he was a little weirded out by the machines and everything. Then my family came in to meet Corbin. Colton seemed to warm up more and touched Corbin and kissed his head.

On October 14, 2012 at 8:22 am, we became a family of 4. I am now the only female in this house, but I have a wonderful husband and 2 perfect sons and I could not be happier!!

He's here!!

Corbin Ryan Stuckey decided to make his grand entrance this morning!! Born at 8:22 am, 8 lbs 13 oz, 20 in long. We are all so in love with him already! Colton loves his baby brother. He's given him kisses and checks on him when he cries. It's been a long, crazy day, but we are so happy he's here and can't wait to start our lives as a family of FOUR!!

Snow boots

Yesterday, one of my friends was having a garage sale. They had SO many little boy clothes and shoes. We ended up buying a ton of shirts and PJs for Colton as well as a couple pairs of shoes. His favorite shoes are come snow boots. I know they won't be used around here much, but hopefully he can use them in Wisconsin this year.

Trying again

January was the last time I wrote a post. As many of you know, we've had a big change since then. We are expecting our 2nd baby ANY day now. I thought I would try to start this back up to update family and friends of our new little guy and us settling into our new life as a family of 4. Hopefully I will be able to post more from my phone as well since I have that on me pretty much all the time.

I was super sick again with this pregnancy, from about 5 weeks until 26 weeks, it was a daily battle. That takes a lot out of you, especially with a toddler running around. Other than that, everything has gone great! We are expecting another boy. Colton knows there is a baby in mommy's belly and has recently been telling him to come out! Haha! Super cute! When I was pregnant with Colton, I was much more wide, I swelled quite a bit in the 3rd trimester and you could really tell weight gain pretty much all over my body. With this little guy, I am straight out, I haven't really had any swelling (still wearing my wedding rings) and people say I don't look pregnant anywhere other than my belly. It's funny how pregnancies can be SO different, even with the same gender. I am VERY ready for him to greet us.

Colton turned 2, Sept 29. TWO!! I can't even believe it!! It's been so fun watching him every day and seeing all the new things he is learning. His vocabulary has picked up a lot. He does such a good job at communicating with us. Yes, some words don't sound like what they really mean, but we know what he's talking about. We still don't know if he's going to be a lefty or a righty. He switches off, but I think that's normal. For his birthday, he got a basketball goal, tball set, gold clubs, football and soccer ball. We've been teaching him how to play each one. He likes to shoot the basketball, then clap for himself when he makes it. Too cute!

Anyway, like I said, I hope to be able to keep this going and keep people updated about the new changes. I'm just waiting for some consistent contractions. I've been having them on and off since 33 weeks. I think he's just comfortable in there...obviously.

Have a great evening! Hope you enjoy reading again.

Marissa

Little boy

In the past couple weeks, Colton has become his own little person. We will get him dressed and he will bring us another pair of pants to put on. He will also bring us the shoes he wants to wear...which have been his snow boots. Although, he obviously hasn't needed them yet.

He has been playing with his trucks and making truck noises when he pushes them around.

He will bring us books to read all the time. We'll start to read it to him and he will grab another one, then another.

About a month ago, we thought he was just going to be a quiet little boy, but ohhhh were we wrong. His vocabulary had increased so much in the last couple weeks! He has a book that we've been reading to him for a long time and now we can say "pig" and he will make oink noises. As well as sheep, duck and dog. But he is now saying: momma, dada, Ba (which is pop), nana, bye bye, hi, ball, and many more that I'm not thinking of right now. When you ask him how old he is, he will hold up one finger.

He will chase Tucker around and make a game out of, which he thinks is hilarious.

I will say he is one persistent little boy. He knows exactly what he wants!

He always wants to brush his teeth with mom and dad...and every time we go in the bathroom for that matter. He will also never have chapped lips. He has seen us put on Chapstick so many times and he knows where we keep it, so he will point to where it's kept and put his lips together. He definitely knows how to communicate with us.

Goodness, we love this little boy more than we could ever imagine. It's amazing how fast they grow!

Pros and Cons

Now that I have been a stay at home mom for a couple months now, I thought I'd let you know the pros and cons. Let's start with the Cons:

- I sometimes quite often forget what day of the week it is.
- Now that I'm home, Colton is a major momma's boy and it's hard to leave him places.

Hmm...well that's all I can think of so far. Now onto the Pros:

- I get to spend all day with Colton, which means I don't miss out on any firsts.
- When Adam is not on shift, we get to all 3 get to spend time together.
- Colton has learned so many new things! He is saying quite a few words and he is catching on to things we say and do ALL the time!
- I get to cook most all of our meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) - yes I cook lunch too
- We have some house projects that we're getting to do.
- We get to go to Wisconsin pretty much any time we want and don't have to worry about me taking off work for it and how to use PTO.
- I get to be the mom and wife I want to be.
- Most importantly, we get A LOT of family time that can never be replaced.

Obviously the pros seriously outweigh the cons. I am so very greatful that I have an amazing husband that is willing to work hard so that I am able to stay home. Yes, sometimes, Colton has a grumpy day and wants to be held and yes, it can get stressful, but I there is nothing better than being able to spend all day with him. And most recently, it melts my heart to hear him say "Momma". Of course, I enjoy my time with Adam too. I absolutely love being home when he has his days off. It's especially really nice to be home when he has his 4 days off in a row. While I was working, there were many weeks when he had his 4 days off during the week, so we only had evenings together. So this is so much better and I am a MUCH happier person! I have Adam to thank for that!!

After Christmas

A few days after Christmas, Colton and I went back to Henryetta to hang out with our cousins. Adam had to work, so he wasn't able to go. We had a bon fire the night we got there and he had so much fun watching the flames. Although, he started to get antsy and wanted to get down and walk towards the fire. Thats when we decided to go inside. Afterwards, Colton was ready for bed, so I got him to sleep then caught up with my cousins. We all stayed up and talked for a while before the rest of us went to bed. It was so good to see them some more and get to catch up! We got up the next morning, had delicious breakfast and played outside. It was so gorgeous, we couldn't stay inside! About mid afternoon, we said our good-byes and headed home.

New Year's was pretty quiet around our house. We ordered dinner out and we planned on staying up until midnight, but Colton had other plans. He went to sleep early and instead of going down for the night, he decided it was just a nap. So we watched the New Year's shows on TV and Colton danced around to the music. This didn't last long and we were all asleep by about 11.

A few days after the new year, we headed up to Wisconsin. We actually made the full trip all in one day! Colton didn't sleep well the night before because he was sick, so leaving the next day was nice because he slept 7 out of the 12 hours we were on the road. Thankfully, winter had not actually hit up there, so we didn't have any snow to deal with. We got to see some friends and of course family. We all went out to dinner one night and the next day, we went to see Nicole's new house. It was absolutely gorgeous on top of this huge hill (which is what we would probably call a mountain.) It was a great time while we were up there and we probably won't be back up until Nicole's wedding in July. Maybe they can come down sometime between now and then though. We shall see.

Well...I think I'm pretty much caught up on what all has been going on since Christmas.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day is always at my mom's house. Starting with Christmas morning. When we were little, us kids would get up really early to see what Santa brought. My grandma and Aunts and Uncle would come over bright and early to watch us open our presents. Now that Adam and I are married and have Colton, things are done a little differently. We do Christmas morning at our house, then go to my mom's and do Christmas there and have breakfast and open gifts. Later in the day, we have a big yummy lunch with the rest of the family and open more gifts with everyone. Here are some pictures from Christmas Day...

Testing out his new toy...

Christmas morning at my mom's

He went straight to his new chair (which he has loved since the day he got it!)

Maddie shocked at her necklace from Mallory

Adam opening his gift....

YAY!!!! He loves it!

Nana and Colton watching the Disney Christmas Day Parade

After Christmas Dinner. He seriously loves his chair!

Christmas 2011 was so much fun having Colton around! Last year he was only 3 months old, so he couldn't do anything, but this year, he was able to help open his gifts and get excited about his new toys! I know Christmas will only get better from here on out.