Look-alike?

While in Texas this weekend, visiting my family, I came across this picture and thought it looked like Nora...what do you think?

My mom and I decided that she looks like me from the nose downward and Matthew from the eyes upward. Either way, at least she's not a "Matthew clone"!

FREE, FREE, FREE

I love free things! Seriously...anything free calls my name. And I have found some FREE things that I thought I would share with those of you who check my blog occasionally.

VistaPrint is the website to go to. I went there and got some free sticky notes (personalized) and a rubber stamp with our name and address on it...all for free! I did have to pay for shipping, but it was minimal. And, if the stuff comes to my house looking good, then I will consider the price of shipping worth it.

Right now they also have an offer of 100 free postcards. You can upload your own design and make it look however you want it to look.

I hope this is a good deal! Apparently, they change the free products often, so I will be sure to check back in about a week to see if there are anymore good deals.

Another FREE thing that I am crazy about is "freecycle". It is a yahoogroup thing. People that live around you (in your county) can post on the site anything they want to get rid of (within reason...you can give away your old aluminum cans because they are taking up too much space in the garage) and if it something that catches your fancy, you reply and hopefully are the first one, and you go pick it up. My local "freecycle" has given away some great things recently. A twin bed (nice condition), book shelves, outdoor play equipment, etc. Usually there are pictures that accompany the freebie so you can look before "buying".

Enjoy the tips!

Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend at our house! Saturday morning we all got up bright and early, ready to "Race" for the Cure. Actually, it was more of a turtle crawl. There were so many people and the line to the start line was so long that it took us 10 minutes just to get to the start. We walked the 3.1 miles and had a great time. The weather was beautiful! Nora slept in her stroller the final part, but I woke her up to walk across the finish line.

When we got home Saturday, Matthew headed off to Lowe's and Nora and I headed to our beds for an hour. It was so nice to take a nap! My body was tired from the early morning :). That afternoon, Matthew started breaking up part of our yard for a garden!!!!! This is our first ever attempt at gardening (vegetable, we do flowers every year).

Saturday evening was "Parent's Night Out" at church. We dropped Nora off at 5:30pm and headed for our reservation at P.F. Changs. This is a new restaurant for NW Arkansas (I have eaten there a few times in Fort Worth) and we really enjoyed it! Our favorite dish was the Crispy Honey Shrimp...yum! Actually, when we left Matthew said everything we had was his favorite. We will definitely be going back!

Sunday, after church, we had a quick lunch at Wendy's and then headed to Lowe's again to pick out our vegetable seeds. We got cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini squash, green beans, and 4 tomato plants. When we got home, I put Nora down for a nap while Matthew finished the tilling process and then we both planted our garden. I am extremely skeptical about it working. I know, in theory, it is supposed to work, but I just don't see how a little seed can produce a plant. I know, I know, where is my faith? This is a picture of our garden.

Matthew went to softball practice (church league) that afternoon while Nora and I played. While we were playing, she fell (still not the most balanced kid) on a plastic Easter egg (her favorite Easter "toy" to play with...why did we even spend money on the other things?) and got a scratch on her eye. It is amazing, because if you look closely, you can see the egg imprint on her forehead. Poor kid! She did not want either one of us putting ice on it!

We went to Home Bible Study last night, really enjoyed that. Came home, bathed Nora, and sat down to watch Amazing Race (DVR'd each and every Sunday because it is my FAVORITE reality show...I really hope Danny and Oswald win it all, but I just don't see that happening, they are way too nice. It will probably go to "The Blondes", they know how to play the game.).

It was a very busy and very good weekend!

Time on your hands?

If you are looking for something to do because you have some extra time on your hands (who am I kidding?) try this game...http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html

It's easy and it's hard.

Good luck.

How white is white?

1. While at the park today, enjoying our Mommy and Me group, one of the other mommies looked at me and said, "You are WHITE!". Um, yes, but actually the PC term is Caucasian.
   
   I don't think she was referring to my ethnicity. She was mentioning my super-pale skin. So, I ask you, How white is white?
   
   I wanted to remind of her of a few key facts (a few I did mention, but it was useless):
   

1. It is APRIL for goodness sake! The last time I had a good tan in April was my senior year of high school when I was convinced that I had to have a tan by prom.

2. This is the first week of the year that the weather has not been crazy. If she remembers correctly, a week and a half ago, we were getting snow!

3. Does she think I am really going to go to a tanning bed? I am pregnant!!!! And, I remember my friend, Brooke, going to a tanning bed in college and leaving before her session was even over. The verse that her body is a temple kept running through her head. I haven't been able to lay in a tanning bed since without thinking of her.

4. I now have a one year old...laying out is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE!

5. I have the rest of the summer to take on a little color...back off!

In my defense, I wore a tank top today. I was trying to get the ball rolling. And, now that I am older, I am a little more worried about skin cancer. It is not necessary for me to be a nice golden bronzed color to be happy with my body. Who am I kidding...I am not going to be "happy" with my body all summer. As mentioned previously, I am pregnant!

Have I lost it, am I supposed to be "beach ready" yet? Am I expected to have color on my body at this point in the season? Help a girl out...am I that out of touch with reality?

Me and my girl

Here are a few pictures of me and my baby girl...she is growing up so fast! She is a walking champion now, hardly ever resorting to crawling...that's for babies you know :). She is also a talking maniac. She carries on nonsense conversations with me all day long. I can't imagine what it is going to be like when I start to make sense of what is coming out of her mouth. I really think it will be non-stop chatter. I am so lucky to be her mom and pray daily that she grows to serve God. Matthew and I pray that we are the examples to her that she needs.

In the first picture she is doing her favorite thing...reading. She comes up to me about a million times a day, with a book in her hand, demanding that I stop whatever I am doing and read her the ultra-interesting book that she has chosen. She loves books!!!!!! They will keep her quiet for a very long time. The second picture is of us in our matching sweaters. Matthew's Grandma Henderson crocheted/knitted (I'm not sure which) us mother/daughter sweaters. Mine does not compensate for the protruding belly I have, but Nora's fits great. Thanks Grandma!

1st night away

Tonight is going to be my first night away from Nora...and I am VERY excited! It has been almost 14 months and I think it is high-time. I am actually going to Little Rock with a bunch of ladies from my church to another Women of Faith conference. Even though I was just at one, I am looking forward to the stories, the singing, and the inspirational things that will take place.

Nora has been a grouch with a capital G today. I think it is because of her shots yesterday (all 4 of them). She has not stopped whining/crying all morning. Even though it is pouring cats and dogs here, I had to get out of the house! We took Matthew lunch and enjoyed 25 minutes with him. She whined the entire way home and as soon as we got here, I put her in her bed. I am worn out too!

Matthew and Nora will be going to visit his mom and stepdad tonight and spending the night with them. It will be good for them to have some nice quality time together. Hopefully she will be feeling better and won't be such a grouch.

I should get back home tomorrow night around 9:30. Please pray for a safe trip (rain is expected all weekend) and a rejuvenating experience!

What time is it?????

This is the phrase that Matthew and I were mumbling last night at 12:30 when Nora started crying. WHAT!!!!!!! Keep in mind that Nora has been sleeping straight through the night, 12 hour stretches, since she was about 8 months old. Oh, occasionally she will wake up at night, make a sound, and lull herself back to sleep. I refuse to get out of my warm cozy bed until she has been crying for over 45 seconds (I don't know why 45 seconds...30 seconds seems like I am rushing in there and 1 minute seems like I am being really mean). Usually she cries for about 10 seconds and then rolls over and she is sawing logs again. (Of course, when she was learning to put herself back to sleep, I would sometimes let her cry for up to 10 minutes...glad those days are over!)

That is until last night. At 12:30 she was crying, and I mean really crying. Not the, "I lost my pacifier, where is it, oh, there it is, now I can go back to sleep" kind of cry. It was the, "I am in pain!" kind of cry. I went in her room and there she was, sitting straight up in bed, holding her blanket in one hand, pacifier in her mouth, and crying like she had a straight pin in her leg. I sweetly whispered that everything was okay, lay her down, covered her up with her blanket, and tip toed out of the room.

She kept on screaming! I waited it out though and eventually she went back to sleep. For an hour.

Then she woke up again, pretty much doing the same thing. Matthew's turn. Usually we don't take "turns", but I think I was too slow getting out of bed for his liking, so he went to her rescue. He went in, and patted her bottom until she went back to sleep. And again, as he was tip toeing out of her room, she erupted. Eventually though, she quieted down and fell asleep.

For an hour. Round three!

This time, I leaped out of bed (I wasn't going to have him out-do me again) and went to her room, thinking she probably had a 105 degree fever or something. Nope, no fever. So, I picked her up and started rocking her. As SOON as I picked her up, she fell right to sleep. I rocked her for about 15 minutes and figured she was in the REM stage good enough for me to deposit her back in her bed. Wrong. When I got up from the rocking chair, her eyes shot open and she started clinging to me. Sorry kiddo, your going to you own bed!

I laid her down and she finally slept the rest of the night! Is this God getting me ready for child #2? I hope not, because that is 5 1/2 months away! She woke up this morning at 8:30 (about an hour later than she usually does) and was as happy as a clam. Although, as I am typing this (10:20am) she is fast asleep in her crib. I guess all the action from last night is catching up to her and she is getting her beauty rest.

Little does she know that in about an hour I am taking her to get her 1 yr. shots!

Masters, Easter, and Walking

What a fun weekend (cold, but fun) we had! It was extra wonderful for Matthew. He was able to go to the Masters (big golf tournament, maybe you've heard of it) with his dad. He flew out on Thursday, went to the Masters on Friday, and flew home on Saturday. He said he was able to see "everyone" and the weather was beautiful. It really was a dream fulfilled for him. I am so happy he was able to go and especially glad that he was able to enjoy it with his dad (who has the tickets and gets to go every year. He knew the course like the back of his hand and all the good places to see "the players".). I told him that I wanted him to get a lot of pictures, of the flowers, the players, the club house, etc. But, you are not allowed to take any cameras or cell phones in when the tournament is going on, so these are the pictures that he was able to get:



The water tower outside the golf course and the hedges surrounding the golf course. Great pictures, huh.

Easter Sunday was FREEZING! All Easter outfits were modified with tights (Nora) and sweaters (both me and Nora). Matthew was lucky because he was in a suit, so he was toasty warm. She seemed to enjoy taking things out of her Easter basket, but had no clue about the Easter Bunny, maybe next year.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought!

I love everything in my basket...especially the food!

Easter family photo...really, we are happy, but the boy who was taking our picture had just asked us a question and we were about to tell him the answer.

Nora and her friends, Taylor and Gibson. These are the youngest members of our home Bible study that we have on Sunday nights. Taylor was born in November and Gibson and Nora were both born in February. We all hope they grow up to be great friends!

We had Easter lunch with the Brown family, the Rickard family, the Lee family, and Andy.

We have been eating Easter lunch with the Browns since we moved here and I always bring the dessert. Here are pictures of my attempts for this year:

Bunny cupcakes, which turned out pretty cute and

an Easter basket cake, which, in my opinion, turned out to be a disaster. You were supposed to make the sides look like a basket by using your fork, but I was in too much of a hurry and didn't take the time to make it look really good. Oh well, it tasted good. (I got both ideas from Parents magazine).

But, the biggest news of the weekend is that Nora started walking! And she is walking! All over the place. There is no slowing her down. This is a video of her on Easter walking at the Brown's house. Thirteen and 1/2 months and finally walking :). We are so proud of her!

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Our spring break

We had a fantastic spring break last week! Very relaxing and lots of good family time. We went to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to see Matthew's dad and step mom (aka Pops and Lee Lee). Matthew was able to play golf for a few days and I was able to kick my feet up and relax, go shopping one day, and finish TWO books! Nora had a lot of fun too. She was entertained by their bulldog, Angel. Every time Angel came too close for Nora's liking, Nora would say, "Uh oh", and start backing away. Angel was a good sport and didn't seem too annoyed by our 1 year old. Thankfully, Nora also did very well on the extremely long car ride there and back (10 hours!!!!). We did make a detour on the way home. We stopped in Searcy, AR to see Matthew's grandparents, which is always a treat too. Enjoy the pictures!

Yea! Spring Break is finally here!

The rest stop that we had our picnic at in Louisiana

Our first family picnic...and it was a windy one!

Stretching legs before the long car ride continues

Pops reading to Nora before bath/bedtime

Nora's first chocolate chip cookie...she loved it!

On the way to the golf course in Pops' golf cart

Everyone on the putting green, Nora got a lot of balls in the hole :).

This is how she did it

I'm pretty sure he got it straight in the hole

I love coming here! Chocolate chip cookies AND ice cream! It doesn't get better than this!

Nora and Grandma

Nora and Papa

Matthew and Nora having fun with Grandma's walker. Wheee!!!!

Doctor's visit

I went to the doctor today for my first "official" appointment. It was quite eventful to say the least. I got there early because I had to sign the insurance contract and pay some money. Then, I went back to the waiting room and waited...and waited...and waited. It took forever for them to call my name. My actual appointment was for 10:40am. I told Matthew that I would call him when it was over and maybe we could go grab some lunch (he had teacher meeting all day and was going to get a lunch break). He called me at 11:00 to say that he was leaving school. I told him I was still in the waiting room, just to come on to the doctor's office. Boy, was I glad that he did!

A few minutes after he got there, the nurse called us back. I had to do the "weigh-in" (always my favorite part...note sarcasm) first. The nurse had us sit and told me that the doc would be in soon. So we waited a few more minutes. Actually this wait was not bad at all...he was very speedy. Probably because the hospital had just called him and told him that one of his patients was about to start pushing...nice.

I am 13 weeks along, so we knew that this was the visit where we were going to get to hear the heartbeat. The doctor pulled out his doppler and tried for several minutes to hear it, but with no luck. I could see the panic in his eyes and I started to feel it too. Actually, I was getting tears in my eyes. Did I mention that I was so glad that Matthew was there? He poked around on my stomach and tried to get the baby to wake up and move so possibly he could hear the heartbeat. He still couldn't and told us that he was going to order an ultrasound right away. Well, I lost it...I was crying so hard. All the bad stories I had ever heard ran through my head at that moment.

Matthew and I went down the hall to the ultrasound doctor with heavy hearts. We were not expecting anything positive to happen. The doctor saw us immediately. He tried to put us at ease, but I was still crying. When he turned on the monitor to begin the ultrasound, I closed my eyes...I didn't want to see anything.

After about 3 seconds of silence, he said, "Well, there is the baby and there is the heartbeat!". I cried even harder-tears of joy! He explained that the reason our doctor couldn't find the heartbeat with his doppler is because this baby is a MOVER. It moved the entire time during the ultrasound. So much so that the ultrasound doctor had a hard time figuring our a heart rate. He eventually snuck up on the baby to get a rate and it is 166 beats per minute (boy or girl? I don't know).

Matthew and I were so happy and so emotional...I'm sure you understand! Many prayers of thanksgiving were offered up in those few minutes.

So, the baby is healthy and active. Here is a picture. You can see the head and spine really well. I go back in 4 weeks and hopefully the doppler will do its job!

Thank you for your prayers!

Easter Bunny Disaster!!!!

We had a great trip (which I will write about tomorrow or Tuesday). We just got back and I had to post this hilarious picture of Nora with the Easter Bunny. It is very similar to her picture with Santa. I wonder how many years we will have to buy pictures that look like this?