Happy Birthday, Calleigh

At 4:11 this morning, our sweet Calleigh turned 2 years old. I can't believe it! Time has flown by. She is still our greatest blessing. She has quite a personality. She is a both a tom boy and a girly girl. She loves Dora, and jumping on her trampoline and playing in her playhouse. Her new favorite thing to do is draw every member of our family. She will sit at her desk and draw each one of us. It is so cute! She still loves to eat, and is not picky one bit about what she puts in her mouth. Ketchup is her favorite right now. We literally eat it with everything! Her two year old check up is Wednesday, and I can't wait to see how much she has grown.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! You make us proud everyday! Your daddy and I love you very, very much!

Fresh Start

As you can see, it has been almost two years since I updated our blog. There is really no excuse,I just got really behind!

Calleigh is turning two on April 11th, and I can hardly believe it! She has a head full of red hair and big blue eyes! She is 33 inches tall and weighs 30 lbs. We don't miss too many meals around our house! Right now, she loves Dora the Explorer, so she is having a Dora birthday party on April 2nd.

Calleigh is also in two wedding within the next month. My sister is getting married on April 9th, and my best friend is getting married May 7th. I am hoping and praying that Calleigh cooperates and walks down the aisle.

All in all, things have been good at our house. God continues to bless us more than we could ever imagine, and for that I am truly grateful.

I am going to do a better job of keeping my blog updated. I hope you enjoy the pictures.....

Happy Belated Birthday

Yesterday was Sean's birthday, and I got so caught up in updating everyone on Calleigh I forgot say Happy Birthday. So, Happy Birthday, Sean! Calleigh and I are so very blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and daddy. We love you!

8 weeks old

I can hardly believe that Calleigh is 8 weeks old. Time has flown by! We are having so much fun! She has starting cooing and smiling at us. She loves bathtime, and strolling around the neighborhood. We went to her 2 month check up last week, and she weighs 13 pounds, 6 ounces and is 24 inches long. She is getting big! I start back to work on July 13th, and am a little sad about it. I know Calleigh will do great at day care, and will meet a lot of little friends!

5 week old...

Calleigh is already 5 and a half weeks old! She is getting so big, and tall! At her one month check up she was 11 lb. 6 oz, and was 22 1/2 inches long! We don't miss meals around our house! She is becoming more alert everyday. She loves looking at lights and ceiling fans. She is sleeping great as well. We usually put her down around 10:00 every night, and she will sleep until 4:00. We feed her then, and she usually falls back to sleep around 4:30, and will sleep to 8:30. She likes her swing most of the time, and really like to stroll. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

One month ago....

One month ago, sweet little Calleigh came into this world. Everyone told me that time would fly by, and I never believed them. Boy was I wrong. It seems like just yesterday that Sean and I arrived at the hospital. We have adjusted to being a family of three, and Calleigh is changing everyday. Her little cheeks are filling out, and she has some rolls on her legs! She is mesmerized by our ceiling fan in our den. She could look at it all day. She is sleeping pretty well considering she is four weeks old.

We took some pictures of her yesterday for her birth announcement. I hope you like them!

Sweet Calleigh Claire....

Calleigh is here!! She made her debut two weeks early!! She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long! She is absolutely perfect! Sean and I are getting adjusted to being at home as a family of three. She has already brought so much joy and happiness to our lives, and I cannot remember what our life was like without her. Watching Sean with her brings tears to my eyes; he is so amazing with her. Calleigh loves to curl up in her daddy's arms and just sleep. Calleigh has changed our lives so much, and we both never thought you could love someone as much as we love her!

She has been a great baby so far. She is very mild mannered except when you change her diaper or her clothes. She does not like that at all, and lets you know every time! There is no denying who her father is. She has strawberry blonde hair, and favors Sean so much. Some people say that she looks like me from the nose up, and like Sean from the nose down. I just see Sean in her.

Sean and I appreciate all of the phone calls and visits we received at the hospital and since we have been home. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of love for our little girl.

Between everyone in our family, we have taken well over 1,000 pictures ( I am not exaggerating!) I will post more soon!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Calleigh Update...

We went to the doctor today, and had an ultrasound and regular appointment. The ultrasound technician said Calleigh weighs about 6 pounds 7 ounces, and has a lot of hair. I went in this morning thinking I was still at 35 weeks 6 days, but after the ultrasound, I am now 36 weeks 3 days. It is just 4 days sooner, but for some reason it feels closer than that! We got to see her, but she is so big you can't really tell what is what anymore. After the ultrasound, we saw Dr. Alverson, and I have not made any progress at all, but I was not expecting any. We are supposed to go to back next week, but my doctor is booked solid. I have an appointment with him one week from Monday, but I can see another doctor next week if I want. I have never seen another doctor, so I am not sure if I want to start? Any suggestions?

Please pray for my friend...

One of my best friends from college got some very sad news yesterday, and it is weighing heavy on my heart. Please pray for my sweet friend. She is such a faithful Christian who trusts in God with all of her heart. I know that He has a plan for her, and will bring her through this difficult time. Please pray that God gives her a peace and comfort that can only come from Him, and that He will provide her with strength and courage in the days to come.

Calleigh's Nursery

We are almost finished with Calleigh's nursery. All we have left is to paint the mirror and the little rocking chair that was Sean's when he was a baby! We just know that Calleigh will love her nursery as much as we do!

Everyone is doing great! We go back to the doctor tomorrow, and after that we start going every week. That is so hard to believe! It seems like just yesterday, they we found out we were having a baby! We have 39 days to go, and are beyond excited!

Hope thing are great with each of you!!

Snow Day!

We woke up Sunday morning to lots and lots of snow!! It was such a pretty sight! We did not get out and play in it, but I took lots of pictures! It was fun to watch for a day, but I would not want to live in a place where it snowed all winter! Hope you are having a great week!

8 weeks and counting!

Well, we have 8 weeks until Calleigh Claire arrives! We are so excited, and can hardly wait. We are having two baby showers this weekend. We are busy getting her nursery ready, and it is almost done. My sweet friend, Hannah, is making her bedding, and it is going to be so cute! Her dresser and crib are in her room, and Sean is painting her book shelf as I type. I will post pictures of her nursery after it is all done.

I am feeling good, I just get tired at the end of the day. My feet have started to swell, and last week while I was at the doctor they started turning purple! Dr. Alverson told me this was all part of it, and that is would probably get worse before it got better. I tried to put on my tennis shoes Sunday, and it took me 10 minutes to put them on and get them tied!! Other than the little annoyances, I feel great! I do have some cravings, though. I eat strawberry frosted pop tarts all of the time as well as Loco's chicken quesadillas. I could eat these all day every day. Calleigh loves it when I eat strawberry ice cream. She moves and wiggles all over the place!

That is pretty much an update on us. I will try to do better on posting. Have a happy hump day!!

4-D Ultrasound

We had our 4-D Ultrasound done this past Friday, and it was so amazing! Calleigh looks so much like Sean. She is definitely a Canaan! She definitely has his chin and lips. She was so funny to watch. She would open and close her eyes and mouth, pucker her lips and wrinkle her nose. She had both of her hands on her face the whole time. She looks great, and I cannot believe we only have 13 weeks left!! I posted three of my favorite pictures below. In the third picture you can see her smiling! Calleigh is not even here yet, but she has been such an amazing blessing to me and Sean. We cannot wait to meet her!!

Murphy.....

My parent's have a king cocker spanial named Murphy, and he is by far the cutest dog ever. I just love him, and I am his favorite!! One day when my sister was leaving for work, Murphy walked up to her car. It was obvious that he had been abandoned. He was very skinny, and the vet told Claire that his teeth were down to nubs probably because he had been eating rocks. Well, Claire saved him and gave him to my parents because she already has a dog, Luke.

Everytime I walk in my parents house, Murphy is right there ready to play or have me pet him. He always had weird ways of taking naps. On Christmas afternoon, he just jumped on the sofa and laid on my side and we both slept. Then, the jumped in my mom's lap and fell asleep on his back with his legs and arms hanging out. I really wanted Murphy to come live with us, but my parents won't let him. He really is the best little dog!!

Christmas 2008

I cannot believe Christmas has already come and gone! We had a wonderful Christmas, and hope you did too. We were so blessed this year!! Calleigh got so many things! She got a stroller system, crib, glider, a bouncy seay, many clothes, an AU piggy bank, a Cinderella Christmas tree, and much, much more. Sean's sweet cousin Leigh, painted Calleigh a trash can to match one of the pillows in her room. Sean and I got some fun things too, but were more excited to open presents to Calleigh!

I am 25 weeks along this week, and doing great! Calleigh is moving around all of the time, and her favorite thing for me to eat is rainbow sherbert. Everytime I eat it, she jumps around all over. It is so amazing to feel her inside of me. Sean is so sweet to her, and talks to her all of the time. We have our 4-D ultrasound set for January 23rd, so please keep us in your prayers.

We are looking forward to a fun and exciting 2009! Happy New Years!!

We have a name!

Sean and I have decided to name our baby girl Calleigh Claire. Sean came up with the name, and it just fit. She will be named after both of our sisters. Sean's sister is Ashleigh, so the "leigh" in Calleigh's name is after her. My sister's name is Claire. I know you are thinking, "Do they know her initals will be CCC?" Yes, we know and thought about that, but love the name so much we did not care. We plan on calling her just Calleigh, but many of our friends and family are already calling her Calleigh Claire.

We had our routine doctor's visit with Dr. Alverson yesterday, and everything looks good. Her heart beat was strong at 153 BPM. I did feel her move when they were looking for the heart beat. I cannot say that I have felt a definite kick. I feel all kinds of weird feelings, but don't know if that is her or just my stomach growling. Once I get her ultra sound pictures scanned into the computer I will post them.

Other than Calleigh, we are busy with Christmas. Sean bought a huge Christmas tree this year since our new house has much taller ceilings. We are looking forward to Christmas, but sad we will not be going on a bowl game trip this year!

We plan on starting the nursery after Christmas. I will post pictures of the progress.

The Pate Twins

One of my good friends from college, Dana Pate, is pregnant with twin boys. Her husband is Rob Pate, who was a football player at Auburn for four years. Dana and Rob already have three beautiful girls, Claire, Ellie and Jenna. Dana is now pregnant with twin boys! Their names are James and John David. These twins are mono mono twins. This condition only occurs in about 1-2% of twins. Basically the boys share on of everything. Dana is now 28 weeks along, and is in the hospital so she can be monitored around the clock. She has a blog that she updates everyday. You can read it a www.patemiracles.blogspot.com Please keep Dana, Rob and their girls and the twins in your prayers. Dana and Rob are such strong Christians, and such an amazing testimony to God.

Baby Canaan is a.......

GIRL!! I was shocked because I just knew this baby was a boy. We had a boy named picked out, and I only looked at boy things in the stores. I even looked at the ultrasound screen and told the lady I saw a boy. She quickly told me I was wrong. The baby is healthy and growing like she should. We are so excited to be having a little girl. I cried when I saw her on the screen. We had an ultra sound done at seven weeks, but seeing her as a little baby just took my breath away. My sister bought her a dress that has cows smocked on the collar, and Sean just loves it. I had a little boys nursery all planned out in my head, so I am now starting over. We don't have a name picked out yet, but there is one name we are strongly leaning towards.

Thank your for all of the support and prayers for our sweet baby girl. Have a great week!!

Boy or Girl???

We will find out in exactly 2 weeks. We had our routine doctors visit today, and scheduled our ultrasound for November 10th. We are so excited!! I just hope these 2 weeks go by just as fast as the rest have. Everyday, someone new will ask me if I want a boy or a girl. We just want a healthy baby, but I do have a feeling it is a boy. I am not sure why, but for a while now I have felt like this was a little boy. I guess we will see soon. The doctors appointment went great. All they did was listen to the heartbeat and talk to us. The heartbeat was a strong 162 BPM. I was talking so much to the Sean and the nurse, I could not hear the heartbeat. I know it is hard for you to imagine me talking too much. At first, the heartbeat was loud, and then it would get softer. That concerned me at first, but the nurse told me the baby was moving around a lot. My doctor is Dr. Alverson, and his nurse is Vicky. They are both wonderful!!! I could not ask for two better people to take care of me and this baby.

Nothing else new is going on with us. We are getting ready for our first Halloween in a new neighborhood. Our neighborhood has a Halloween party for the kids right before trick or treating, so that should be fun.

I will keep everyone updated on whether Baby Canaan will be a boy or girl. Please continue to pray that this baby is healthy and strong, and thank you for the prayers you have already sent. Sean and I both feel them everyday!!

Happy Fall and Tactfulness.....

I am so happy that it is finally Fall!! I am a much happier person since the weather is cooler!! Sean and I worked in the yard Saturday morning. Yes...I did help. I raked the limbs and leaves in piles. I even volunteered to help! Nothing new is going on in our house. I am enjoying have three football weekends where we are either not playing, or playing away. Since I work every home football weekend, I cherish the weekends we have off or away. I love everything about the Fall. I love all of the leaves, the smells and most of all the wonderful weather. Fall is without a doubt my favorite season!!

Baby Canaan is doing great. I go back to the doctor next Monday the 27th. That will be just a routine visit, but our count down is officially on. 19 days until we find out if it is a boy or a girl!! I am trying to figure out a way to push the day up a little.

I know I have blogged about this before, but people just come out of the no where to give you advice about your pregnancy. I mentioned to someone a work that we liked the name Sam for a boy, and this person looked me straight in the eyes and told me they hated that name!!! There is tact for you! I have also had many people encourage me not to find out what I am having, and some people have even gotten mad at me for even entertaining the thought of finding out. Some people don't want to know, and other do. To each their own. All of this advice just blows me away because I would never dream of pushing my opinons about pregnancy and babies on someone else. A complete stranger started talking to me at the Arkansas football game about how I should have a water birth. He said both of his kids were born through a water birth, and his kids are the smartest in their class. I did not even know this man, he just came up and struck up a conversation with me. My favorites have been when I tell people I am pregnant they tell me they are happy to know that because they had noticed I had put on some weight, and now there was a reason. I have had two people tell me that!! I promise, I am not making this stuff up!!

I do appreciate any and all suggestions and advice that people give me, and I love to hear what people have to say. I just feel there is a tactful way of doing it. There, I can get off my soap box now. Please keep sending me advice and suggestions, I really do love to hear them!!