Happy Monday!

Garrett loves Daddy's boots and his JD ball cap!
ELMO JAMMIES! We literally searched at least 3 states to find these pj's. I spotted them in our local Wal-Mart, but they only had larger sizes. My mom checked in Georgia and had no luck...so she contacted my sister, who found them I think in Illinois on their way here at Christmas! Garrett loves his "Melmo"!
Doesn't Garrett look like a handsome little man? He's wearing a flannel shirt - just like Dad!

A Garrett First: Playing in the Snow!!!

During the Christmas Break, the weather was warm enough to go outside and play in the fresh snow. Garrett LOVED it!
Garrett & Mama
Making a snowball perhaps?
Garrett & Belle

Christmas 2010

This year we were able to celebrate Christmas with both sides of our family - something we try to do every year, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Our first Christmas was spent in Kansas at Grandma Jackson's. We were all able to get together again, which is so much fun. We ate, and ate, and ate...watched basketball/football, and enjoyed the day together. Garrett made the announcement that he's going to be a Big Brother by wearing his new t-shirt (see previous post for pic). It was fun to see the surprise on everyone's faces!

We all received some nice gifts, but Garrett's were the most fun! He received this fun Elmo hat...
...and a John Deere lawn mower from Grandma Jackson. We literally had to pry the lawn mower out of his hands in order to take our family picture!
Uncle Jim thought he'd be funny and gave Garrett a set of 2 wooden whistles. Fortunately, Garrett doesn't quite know how to use them yet...but Daddy has been having some fun with them!
Our second Christmas was celebrated right at home! My side of the family all made the trip to Iowa, which was a gift in itself! On Christmas Eve, Uncle Dave & Uncle Billy made Garrett a cardboard maze in his play room. He loved it...but I wonder if Uncles enjoyed it even more???
Garrett & his Nana
Stocking Stuffers!
Reading with Auntie & Uncle Curry
Time to shop!
Daddy trying to figure out how to remove the toy from the box!
Reading with Aunt Sandy.
BIG box from Nana!
Garrett is a little small for his new basketball hoop...but he'll be shootin' hoops in no time!
Driving Uncle Dave around in his new pickup truck!
Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas time. It was sad to see everyone go and have to get back to "normalcy". Be we feel blessed that we were able to spend our Holidays with all of our immediate family members...and we send wishes for a Happy New Year to all of you that we didn't get to see this year.

Follow-Up to Yesterday...

Yes - We're expecting Baby #2!
After 6 years of trying for Garrett, it only took 2 months for our second little peanut! God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?

Yesterday (1/6), at our 12-week appointment we got to hear the heartbeat - after a few panicked, anxiety-stricken moments. The doctor tried to hear baby's beat using the hand-held machine. We waited...and waited...and nothing. So he very calmly brought in the portable sonogram machine. We could see baby, but it didn't appear to be moving around much, and it was a grainy picture, so it was hard to see the flicker of the heartbeat. So...Doc sent Steve and me down the hall to the high-tech sonogram machine. It only took about 5 minutes to get it set up, but those 5 minutes seemed like an eternity! Finally the technician got going and right away we saw little baby squirming around, legs and arms kicking all over the place, and it's tiny little heart flickering away. Whew! That was a moment of Joy I won't forget!!! (Steve claims he heard the baby when the doc couldn't...so he wasn't nervous at all - Hmmm...?)

So baby's heart rate was 157 bpm - which some have told me means it's a girl. This pregnancy has already been a lot different than my first - nausea, exhaustion, heartbeat scare, etc., so maybe they're right?? We'll have to wait at least a few more months to know for sure. Until then...here's another cute pic of Big Brother Garrett!

Something New...