Just Being Cute!

We have rounded the one year mark and we are on to more and more independence everyday! Clara Beth definitely has a mind of her own and I am a little surprised that the tug-o-war has begun so early! At times I think, "This is supposed to happen when you are 13 years, not 13 months!" Oh the joys! We are rolling along and having so much fun watching our little angel learn, grow and develop into a beautiful young toddler. Her hair is blonde and she is starting to thin out, which makes me sad. She looks like a little girl now instead of a baby. Her mouth is full of teeth and she says words and makes all kinds of funny sounds!

This was taken at David Dewese's concert during Thanksgiving!

CB sitting in her rocking chair! We love this corduroy dress from Aunt Linda!

Sitting in her big girl carseat!

Learning to do business with daddy! (Actually watching a football clip on YouTube!)

Sitting in a big rocking chair on Thanksgiving at the Ranch!

Visiting Grandma Wright - CB's great grandmother!

Just hangin with Dad.

Do The Twist!

CB was a 50s girl for her first Halloween. Last Halloween she was 10 days old so we dressed her in a pumpkin onesie! We had a great time at a birthday party for our twin friends Carson and Riley and then again at the fall festival at Prestonwood.

They say the shoes make the outfit! Well that was definitely the case here!

Thanks to Jennifer Hill for these awesome tennis shoes that matched perfectly!

Princess Henley, CB and Fireman Liam

CB, Kate and Foster

CB and her sweet friend Cale!

Doing the twist at the Sock Hop!

Hanging with Daddy and Toddy

CB loves her Daddy!

Precious little 50's girl!

A Year of Thanksgiving

Last year on this day, I was checking into the hospital with great anticipation and a little bit of fear. You just never know how the labor process will begin or end, so I was really nervous, but also the most excited I have ever been in my life! It was a wonderful 24 hours, especially after I got the "drugs" and I was able to just relax and wait it out. CB took her own sweet time - that is for sure! Her birth was the most incredible experience of my life and this past year has been full of learning, growth, change, joy and most of all gratitude. I am so thankful to finally have her in our lives and I am overwhelmed everytime I think about how much happiness she has brought not only me, but so many others. I am sure that tomorrow will be a day of reflection for me. I will remember every detail of CB's birth but I will also remember how long it took to get to that day! The scripture reading at our wedding was Psalm 100:4-5. It says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." I am so thankful that our Lord is good and He is faithful. He hears our prayers and He answers them. It's not in our time, but He answers and if we continue to seek Him, hear Him and trust Him, we come to understand gratitude in a different way.

About to make her birthday party debut!

Learning to walk with a new toy!

CB checking out the icing!

Happy mom and dad!

Little precious sugar of America!

The birthday girl in her TuTu!

Junk Food, Anyone?

October brings cooler weather, pumpkins, good football and the State Fair! I haven't been to the Fair in several years but I gave in this year. The last few times I have been out there I wander around asking myself why I am there spending money and eating junk. Having Clara Beth made the trip worth my time this year, and we sure did have fun! Our friends the Robys and the Brantleys came too and we had a ball watching Henley and McKenna play amongst other fairgoers. We ate a corn dog, a funnel cake and some cotton candy. In normal Randy fashion, he muttered the words, "I don't feel too good" several times! Maybe it was because he and Todd Brantley decided they would play a game of two-on-two basketball (in freezing cold weather) after eating all of that junk! Here are some scenes from the day!

Todd, Henley, Susan and Randy

Susan (smart lady in the toboggan), Wendy and Me

McKenna, Henley and CB

Enjoying a corn dog! CB got to eat Squash and Applesauce. :(

Mommy and CB had on matching pink warm-up suits!

Laughing at a Carney!

Having fun with my Toddy!

Henley and Randy being silly!

Another Angel

I found out on Labor Day that I was officially pregnant again. I had to take three tests just for proof and they were all positive! I called the doctor and did two blood tests and those came back positive as well. As you can imagine, I was in complete shock! After all, we tried for what seemed like an eternity to get pregnant and never could and then all of a sudden, I am pregnant?! But, you hear about these things all the time, right?! After a few days of denial I started to try to wrap my brain around what was happening. Me? Two kids? Really? We have been around this block a few times so we did not want to say anything until we knew for sure. I went for my first sonogram and I was technically supposed to be 7 weeks that day. Our sonogram lady couldn't see much except for a sac and maybe the fetal pole. We knew that was not quite right, but we also thought that maybe my dates were off. We waited a week and went back! This time we saw some progress and a heartbeat. It was 154 and Judy said that anything over 50 was good. My doctor cautioned me and said, "we are not out of the woods yet" so I knew not to get my hopes up. She also told me she thought it would be good for me to come back once a week for a sonogram just so we could keep up with the progress. Well, the tough side in me thought I can wait for two weeks before the next sonogram, but I changed my mind and I am so glad I did! I went back this past Friday for my third sonogram and Judy could not find the heartbeat. I have to admit I wasn't surprised by this news as I had prepared myself for the worst beforehand. You kinda get used to hearing bad news when you go through as many things as we have, but it still stings when you hear it. I went ahead and scheduled the D&C for Monday and got that over with. Physically, I am feeling fine. Emotionally, I am doing ok. Anytime something like this happens you have a lot to process and think about. It's a rollercoaster. I am so happy and content with Clara Beth that it was hard for me to think about another person in our world. But then when I thought about that new person I was happy and excited to think that we were going to have another someone to bring us as much joy as Clara Beth has. However, as I said before, we have been down this road and every time we find out again that God has a bigger and a better plan. Randy and I discussed whether or not these little embryos with beating hearts will be waiting on us in Heaven. Maybe they will be little fireflies with wings. I can only imagine, but I know that if they are there we will have three waiting on us.

Rah Rah Ree!

Clara Beth went to her second football game last weekend! I stopped on the way in and bought her some pom poms and as you can see, she loved every minute! This in no way changes my feelings about cheerleading, however seeing her playing and having fun was priceless. We have not played with the pom poms since that night! Ha! Ha!

"This is so fun Mom!"

"I've got it now!"

"Oh, so you shake em?"

"Hey, what are these?"

Validation

THANK YOU to the ladies who shared with me last night at Bible study that your kids sleep with you too! SHEW! Thank goodness I am not the only one! I hope that one of you will run into my husband and explain to him that this happens in other households and that I am not a push-over wimpy mom! Sleep is necessary and I am happy to hear that there are others who are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!!!

Bow Head

My little bow head turned 11 months on Monday! And you would think that by 11 months she could sleep in her crib all night, right?! NOPE. Not so much. We (I) have probably done a bad, bad thing by letting her sleep between us. She goes down in her crib at the beginning of the night and then ultimately ends up with us. The night before last, she decided to keep us up ALL night because she wanted to play with BoBo. Last night we tried the "cry it out" method and she threw up her entire bottle. SIGH. I just couldn't put her down in those early days. I was too nervous about her being in her crib alone and now we are paying for it. I am completely sleep deprived and I know I am not functioning to my best ability. All I do is think about my next opportunity to sleep and then I get this sick feeling because I know it's not going to be sound sleep. But this won't last forever and I am beyond thankful that I have this problem.

On to more positive things! Her birthday party plans are underway! None of you, well maybe some of you reading this are invited! Ha! Ha! Only family (Debbie Downer sound). I would love to have all of my friends over for the big event, but it's just not going to happen. I will try to share it through photos to the best of my ability. We are doing a "cupcake" theme with lots of pink, yellow and green. I know, I know...completely UNoriginal but I have seen so many cute things with cupcakes (and who doesn't love cupcakes?) so I just thought that would be fun and festive. We still have a few more weeks until the birthday bash though. It's not until Oct. 17. I am sending out invitations but have not found the time to get them addressed...perhaps because I need sleep. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Little Ham with bows!

For some reason I want to call her "Maude" here.

Aerial shot

Her daddy did this to her when mommy wasn't looking!

Henley is THREE!

Our sweet Henley turned three last Saturday! She had a party and her mommy made her an adorable cake! It was a Barbie skirt with a doll in the middle. It took nearly a week to make and not only was it cute, it was quite tasty! Henry the dog enjoyed the cake too!

Here are some scenes from the party.

Susan putting the finishing touches on the special cake!

Clara Beth sitting in the LuLu chair!

Henny playing with her new drums (Her daddy got these for her!)

Time to blow out the candles!

Henny, LuLu and CB!

Little Biter

Would you believe that this little sweet thing is biting the dickens out of her playmates?!! I do not know what to do! Earlier this week she bit Lucy and today she bit Banks. Both bites made pretty significant marks, however, they didn't break the skin! I am at a loss. I never thought my kid would bite! I know she is not doing it out of meanness and obviously her teeth hurt, but how do you control a 10 month old who bites? If any of you have any suggestions (other than the obvious ones) please let me know. I have called the doctor to see what they recommend. Luckily, both of the victims' mommies have been really nice to me. I have apologized profusely, but if it continues they might revolt and we will be kicked out of Ms. Jodi's house.

I can full-on crawl now!

Little sugar playing at church!

Pretty Close

I know people like to comment on which parent the baby resembles and I am guilty of this too! This photo of CB was taken at the football game last weekend and then my mom found the photo of me. I believe we are around the same age and the resemblence is pretty amazing! I had some really bad hair though! My mom said I had a long mud flap that hung down in the front so she had to cut it straight across. CB was blessed with some great hair so we don't have that problem!

Baby Clara Beth

Baby Allison

Sports Fan!

We took CB to her first football game on Saturday! She did really well considering the game started at 8:40 p.m. which is 10 minutes past her bedtime! I couldn't believe how much she clapped and hollered! It was like she knew exactly what to do! The weather was nice, the Scots won and it was a great way to kick-off football season! CB on the field with Granddaddy before the game!

Grandmommy made us take this photo with the pom pom!
Don't get any ideas CB...cheerleading is out of question!

My two favorite sports fans!!