Saturday, December 27, 2008

7 days...

Okay, so we are at the one week mark!
I think that we would both be lying if we said that we were not freaking out just a little...
We can't believe that this whole thing has flown by so fast and that we will have a beautiful baby boy any day now.

The remainder of our time before the baby will be spent preparing and freezing meals for the spring semester. We bought all of the groceries yesterday and so far we have 9 batches of pancakes, 4 meals of enchiladas, 3 pasta bakes, 9 meals of spaghetti sauce, 3 chicken fajita taco meals and a freezer full of chopped onion and bell peppers. We have a ton of food left to cook like King Ranch Casserole, green chili enchiladas, lasagna, and a ton of cooked ground turkey for pizza and tacos.

Did I mention that mom got us a FoodSaver for Christmas? We are very excited...

Speaking of Christmas, thank you to everyone who called and texted us to wish us a wonderful day. It was so nice to know that even though we were not there, that our family was still thinking about us!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Our Christmas Eve...

Last Saturday night we were excited to have Tif's parents and Brad and Alison come down to celebrate Christmas Eve early with us. We wanted it to be special, so we decided to cook a big dinner and try to make it special since we were staying Norman for Christmas!



After our awesome dinner we opened presents!
Here is mom with the third copy of "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" for her new Wii- we all know her so well!


Brad and Alison...

Dad with his new cell phone battery...


Brad and Alison opening a present for Emmaelynn...


Mom's new TV for the kitchen from dad...


Dad's new combo rifle from Brad and Alison...


We are so thankful that they took the time to come visit us before the holiday! We are every excited that next year we will be in Amarillo and able to travel!
Here is our Christmas picture this year!


We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Monday, December 22, 2008

December happenings!

Okay, so we have had a little bit going on this month, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to catch up on the blog!

At the beginning of the month, the wonderful people that I work with in Student Life here at OU threw me a baby shower!
It was perfect...Kathy made pancakes and we had all kinds of breakfast goodies! I am so thankful for my job and all of the wonderful people that I work with; Student Life really does have the most fun of all the OU departments! (But, I might be a little biased.)

Kathy, the pancake flipping queen!


Opening gifts...



Allison and Teresa...


Lindy, Carlos and Zac...

Linda and Donna...

Alta and Becky...
Kendra and Jason...

Kristen and Emily...

Unfortunately, Chris had class the morning of the shower, but he did come by at the very end...
Here we are in my office...

A couple of weeks ago the WOC was part of a Christmas tree decorating contest hosted by UPB- here is our pink breast health awareness tree!

In celebration of the end of this difficult semester, Darcy, Karen, Jess and I went to BJ's for a fun girl's night out! We had a ton of great food, fun, and laughs!
Also, they surprised Chris and I when they came to pick me up with a mini baby shower! They are all so thoughtful and sweet. Honestly, I don't think that I could have made it through this semester with out these wonderful women in class with me! Baby P is so lucky to have so many wonderful aunts!!!
Me and Darcy...


The birthday girl and her pazookie! We all shared...it was heaven!
Cheers to my wonderful friend who taught me what erging was...



Jess and Karen...
Oh my goodness...what a fun dinner out. Just look for me toward the back of the rowing boat... :) Love you girls!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Happy News!

We found out yesterday that the little guy is head-down and now we are just waiting for him to decide that he is ready to leave his comfy home.
Speaking of a comfy home...it apparently is a very crammed home as well. From the measurements of the ultrasound, he is weighing in at 7 lbs, 11 oz at the moment...that will put him around 9 lbs if we make it to our due date. Chris and I were both premature, so we really don't have a good judge to know if this is normal for our family. I do know that my dad weighed more than 8 lbs and my uncle Nicky was 9 lbs though!

Congrats to our friends David and Amanda! Their little guy, Liam was born 2 days ago!
Congrats guys!

Blessed

Well, it’s finally my turn to get to write a blog. (Since we created the blog I think I’ve written maybe, maybe 5 times…yeah, I stink.) Tif has been so amazing and wonderful with all of her posts, this one doesn’t even purport to be at her level. So I hope I don’t bore you, especially since I have no fun and exciting pictures to post.
As most of you know, Tif and I have been in our obnoxiously busy time with both school and work. We are both finally finished with our finals and are looking forward to only having one semester left! I simply have to say that I am so amazingly proud of my beauTIFul, smart wife. Up to this semester, she’s been carrying a 4.0 in her graduate work, but has been worried about this semester because of her unusually high amount of hours that she took, meanwhile carrying our first child. However, as I get the opportunity to hear her talk about her school work, and as I get to watch her smile and see the passion in her eyes over what she is studying, I have no doubts that she will assuredly keep her 4.0. Every time I get to hear her, I sit in sheer joy because rarely are people so excited (truly excited) about what they are studying and their future careers. We should all be so blessed to have this outlook. Thank you, Tiffany, for always helping me see the bright side of everything!
As many of you know, both of our lives were changed four years ago. Yesterday, we celebrated our fourth anniversary…the four best years of my life! We spent the entire day together, which neither of us can remember the last time that happened when there wasn’t some impending amount of school or work lurking behind our backs. To the onlooker, it may seem a bit lackluster, but those of you who have been married for at least one day recognize how wonderful it is to spend the whole day with your gorgeous bride, strolling around and Christmas shopping with no concerns about time or work. We started by eating breakfast at a place called Mimi’s CafĂ©. It is a chain that we found in Denver, and their breakfast is amazing! We found the one in OKC, and got our traditional fare of pancakes and pain perdue (French toast filled with orange marmalade cream cheese). Next, Christmas shopping. We did have to break from shopping long enough to go have another sonogram, though. A couple of weeks ago our doctor thought our little guy might be breach, which means automatic C-section…not what we wanted at all. We were both quietly concerned, and were a bit scared at what might be the outcome. So, on our fourth anniversary, we got to celebrate by “seeing” our son again! How amazing is that?! God was with us and Baby P yesterday as we found out that he is NOT breach, so we can keep going with our birth plan. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for blessing us so deeply and richly and for keeping our little guy healthy and safe! So, I have to say that our day was pretty amazing. Tiffany, thank you for the last four years! You have become my best friend, my confidante, my lover, my rock, my partner, my love, the mother-of-our-soon-to-be-son…my wife! I hope each of you reading this may have as wonderful and blessed a marriage as we have been given. God, thank you for blessing us with each other, for planning such an awesome journey, and for the many wonderful years ahead!
In law school they have tried to teach us the power of the pen, of words, but they have failed. For no amount of education and training will allow me the knowledge to scribe my love and passion for my wife. Other married couples understand my dilemma. I fear that some of the most beautifully written works have been penned at the hands of those trying to imagine the experience of true, God-given love, though not knowing it. So, please forgive my lack of words and use of colloquialisms. Tiffany, I love you more than anything, more than you know, more than I know. You are the love of my life, and I am so excited to see what God has in store for us. I love you!
For everyone else, I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season! We hope you have the chance to celebrate with family and friends, enjoying their surrounding love and comfort. Remember why we celebrate. Two thousand years ago we were blessed with a love so powerful. We were given the chance to enter the Kingdom of Heaven through the cleansing power of Christ’s blood, and this season we celebrate his birth and first coming. Have a Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Dr. Kaci!

We are very excited to welcome the first doctor into our family!
Tif's cousin, Kaci graduated from Parker Chiropractic College in Dallas this last weekend.

We know that it has been a very exhausting three years for her and we were happy to be able to share in the joy of her graduation!
She is planning to head back to Amarillo to begin her practice...we are very excited to move to Amarillo this fall so that we can start our routine visits!

It is all about the hood...

Cort and Cindy got to come down from Kansas City! It was so wonderful to see everyone!
Cort, Nanny and Cindy...

Here we are with Dr. K!


Stef and Kaci...


Robin, Maddison, Abbi and Kaci...


Nanny and Kaci...


Lori and Kaci...


So those are all of the photos from the day that we have at the moment. Chris has one more final (yippee!), and then we plan to catch back up with our blogging!

We also are finally getting around to Christmas cards!
Here is the picture that we are sending to family members just for fun...


Here is the one that is going to dad's customers! A little more refined!



Less than 3 weeks left until our little bundle is scheduled to arrive! 19 days to be exact!
Thank you all so much for the suggestions, prayers and thoughts. We will find out on Thursday if our little guy is head-down or not- pray that he is! :)
No matter what happens, I just have to say that carrying this baby has truly been an incredible experience. It is the neatest feeling in the world to know that this little guy in my tummy will be out and in our arms in just a few short weeks, but I am not in any rush. I am just relishing these last few days. Thankfully, I am still sleeping well and comfortable for the most part.
I did have a bit of a reality check in birthing class this weekend though! I was informed by our instructor that you should be packed and ready to go to the hospital no later than 36 weeks...so I was a couple of weeks behind on that. Because Chris and I are the youngest and the first couple due in the class, everyone looked at us to see if we were packed yet. Of course with the rush from finals work, and just feeling great, I had packing on my list of things to do, but it was at the bottom!
As of tonight, all baby clothes are washed and put away, the car seat is in the car and a baby bag is packed for the hospital with another bag about half filled with some of my things. We are finalizing our birth plan with our doctor on Thursday and then sending in our pre-registration paperwork...
Speaking of Thursday- I just want to take a minute to thank my wonderful husband. Thursday, December 18th will be our 4 year anniversary. I am so thankful for Chris and even more thankful to be called his wife. Thank you for 6 wonderful years together...Every time I stop to think about with whom and were I could have ended up, I am amazed and so grateful that things worked out the way that they did. You are my very best friend and I am so excited to have a baby with you...you are going to be a great dad.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

25 days!

Less than 4 weeks to go!

We are very excited to meet our little guy!

Thankfully, I am now finished with my finals...I really can't believe that I made it through this semester. We are so thankful that we have had such a wonderful pregnancy experience.
Chris has two finals down and three to go. He will be finished on the 17th.

We have some wonderful news and some not-so-wonderful news to share. Today in my appointment with the doctor, she expressed concern because she isn't exactly sure where the baby's head is. I told her that I had been noticing a lot of low kicking, so she recommended that we have an ultra sound to find out for sure.
So, we are very excited that we get to see our little guy next week! Next Thursday as a matter of fact- our 4 year anniversary. I can't think of a better gift.

We are a little disappointed that he might be breech and we would have to have a C-section, but we are choosing not to worry about it until we know for sure.
If you have talked to us at all about our birthing plans, you know that they do not include a C-section, but all we truly care about is baby P's health.

Please keep the little guy in your prayers in hopes that he turns before next week!
Here is the official 9 month picture!

Monday, December 01, 2008

5 weeks to go!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great time getting to see family and friends! Of course, the holiday wasn't as productive school wise as we would have hoped, but we will just have to make up for it this week!



Here are some pictures that I have been meaning to post for a while now!

Our co-sleeper baby bed from my dad...




Our awesome stroller!





and here is the rocker that Chris's mom and dad got for lil P...



Here is Chris with the three photos that he submitted for the Norman Park Foundation photo competition.




and the most recent picture of the baby bump...we are a couple weeks behind in posting them, so this was about 3 weeks ago.



Hope that everyone is doing great! We are excited that our finals will be over with in just over two weeks and then hopefully we will be able to rest a bit and celebrate our 4 year anniversary before our little guy arrives!
P.S. Boomer Sooner! We are so proud of our Sooners for making it to the Big 12 Championship. We wish that we could go, but Chris has a final that next Monday and Tif has her last weekend class that day...:( It would have been fun to go see all of our friends and family in Kansas!
Chris is a tad busy, but when he gets a chance he will edit all of the pictures from our night at the Coldplay concert (that was Chris's birthday gift from May and the concert was re-scheduled for 11/16) and he and Brandon's trip to the OU/Tech game!