3D/4D Sonogram

I know this is a little late (thanks for the friendly reminder Mrs. McCollum) but we had our 3d/4d sonogram on Friday and it was so cool. I was very relieved that she was still a girl since we have sooo much stuff for her and my mom and I finally got the nursery finished. They said we could have friends or family come so it was John and I, my mom, his mom, Aunt Lori, Ashlyn and John's brother Caleb. We wished we could have had everyone come but it was a very tiny place. The sonogram was supposed to only last for 30 minutes and we were only supposed to get 15 pictures, but the technician was very generous and it lasted almost an hour and we came home with almost 55 pictures and a few little videos. It was really neat to see her actually look like a baby instead of a little alien. HAHA. We could very clearly see her face and count her little fingers and toes. We also learned she has big feet just like her daddy. LOL. She will be able to wear shoes home from the hospital :) This was a really great expierence and I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do this. Thanks again mom, this was my favorite Christmas present.

Looks like shes smiling in this one!!

This is a pic of her foot and arm, if you'll notice, her foot is almost as long as her arm..haha

This one is one of my favorites, I think she looks like John with that little smirk!!

Doctors Appointment

Today I had my monthly doctor visit. I got the results back from my glucose test and thank goodness I passed, the last 13 weeks would have been tough without any sugar..lol. My iron levels were low so the doctor put me on an iron supplement but said that it's no big deal and will correct itself when Kaylee is born. I was a little bummed about my weight gain, lets just say I have gained more than what I wanted to gain the whole pregnancy, the doctor keeps telling me not to worry that it's normal, easy for her to say...she's not the fat one. LOL. I go back in 4 weeks for my next appointment and then after that I will go every two weeks. I can't believe how quickly the time is going by. We are having our 4d sonogram done this afternoon. I will be sure to post pictures of Kaylee when we home so be sure to check back for updates.

"It's All About Him" by Denise Jackson

Last week I was in the Christian bookstore and stumbled upon a wonderful book I thought I would share with everyone. It is called "It's All About Him" by country singer Alan Jackson's wife. It is an amazing book and I have not been able to put it down since I started. It talks about their lives and how they have all the material things that anyone could ask for yet were still feeling empty. The book also talks about them turning to God during the darkest times of their life when their marriage had fallen apart and things with their family were rough. This book has served as a reminder to me that in order to have a healthy marriage, God needs to be at the center of it. It also has reminded me that all the material things on earth will not satisfy you like a relationship with God will. This book is definentally an eye opener and one that I would strongly recommend.

Goals for 2008

I can't believe it is already 2008. It seems like each year is going by faster and faster!! It's time to make those new years resolutions and set goals for the upcoming year. 2008 is going to be a busy and exciting year for us and I am so excited to face the joys and challenges this year will bring. Here are my goals I have set so far for this year:

~ Spend more time in God's word and strengthening my relationship with him.
~ Give birth to a healthy baby girl.
~ Be a better wife.
~ Buy a house.
~ Spend more time with family and friends.
~ Lose all my pregnancy weight.
~ Exercise and eat better.

Wishing everyone a wonderful and prosperous 2008! Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Night with the Principe's

Usually the Principe's come over on Christmas eve before the church service and we celebrate with them, this year since everyone is so busy and the family's are growing we weren't really going to get together. Well, my cousin Farryn wasn't having that, she insisted that we all get together on Christmas night for dessert and coffee if nothing else, so thats what we did. I am really glad we got to spend the time with them, it's hard to get everyone together these days so I am glad we got to have Christmas dessert with them even if it was only for a short while.This was the last picture i could get him to take, he was pictured out from the holidays LOLMy cousin Farryn and her boyfriend JTMe and my cousin Katelyn
Me and my cousin AshlynMe and my cousin FarrynMy mom and Aunt LoriPhillip and his girlfriend Lindsey
Me and the girls

Christmas Day at Nana and Papa's

Ever since I was a child, we have always spent Christmas day at my Nana and Papa's house, so this year was no different. We all packed up Christmas morning and drove across town to spend the day with nana and papa and my Aunt Toni and cousin Shelton. We always have such a wonderful time over there and appreciate them preparing Christmas Lunch for all of us!!

Me and John Me and NanaMe and PapaMe and my MommaJordan sporting his new gator hat!!Me and my cousin Shelton with his new puppy he got for Christmas
Dad and John playing with Jordans new puzzle's..doesn't take much to amuse them HAHA

Christmas Eve

For the past few years we have celabrated Christmas with my parents on Christmas eve. This year for some stupid reason LOL my mom and I decided we would wait until the last minute to wrap all the Christmas gifts. We went to the Christmas eve service at church and then came home and started wrapping. We finally got done wrapping around 10:00 just so everyone could turn around and open them up about 2 minutes later. HAHA. You can see below the guys waiting patiently in the living room while we finished up wrapping. I told her next year we will definentally start a little earlier. Thanks mom and dad for the gifts, we really appreciate them. John got a remote control helicopter that he has been wanting FOREVER...all he and the boys wanted to do all night was play with it, and it's not exactly the quietest thing. We also got some money (which is always nice) and they are going to pay for us to have a 4D sonogram in January. I am so excited. I will definentally post some pictures of Kaylee once we get them!! Thanks again mom and dad! Me and Mom wrapping on Christmas Eve Jordan waiting patiently for his presents to be wrapped! Me and my dad, it was getting late and I was looking a little rough!! John opening up his helicopter

Christmas with the Kirklands

Since John's dad had to work on Christmas eve and Christmas day, we decided that we would celebrate Christmas with them Sunday night. We went to Red Lobster for lunch and then back to their house to open gifts. We had such a great time with them and are very appreciative for everything they did for us. John got some new clothes, gift cards, calogne, and his dad got him a new gun...I think that was his favorite. I got some stuff from Bath and Body Works, and gift cards for clothes (which I am in desperate need of). And Kaylee got a new onesie and some stuffed animals. The batteries were dead in my camera so I don't have any pictures of our night over there, but I just wanted to tell them thanks for everything, we really appreciate it!!

Belly Buddies!!

I thought this was a cute picture so I decided I would share it. This was at our Christmas Eve service at church, since Tracy was wearing green and I was wearing red we thought we would make a cute picture with our bellies. John was taking the picture and said that we were so big that he couldn't get both of us in the picture, thats why we were laughing (we smacked him afterwards of course). She is due in February and I am almost as big as her...yikes..I'm gonna be huge!!!

So blessed!!

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has gotten things for baby Kaylee, especially our parents who have done so much for us. When we first found out I was pregnant, my mom and dad bought us our all of our bedroom furniture and I love it. I can't wait to get it all put together and get some pictures up. Since my mom will be keeping Kaylee during the day while we work, she went ahead and bought her a set of the same furniture for the nursery at her house. Her an I are working on it now and will be done with it pretty soon. John's parents suprised us last week with the travel system that we wanted. I saw it at Target a while ago and then went back last week and we found out that the pattern I wanted was being discontinued and there was only a few left. The next day John was at his parents house and came home with it. Apparently she heard me saying that we were going to have to pick a new one and she went and got it for us. I was so excited. I can't wait to put it together. We went ahead and got the pack and play that matched the travel system for Kaylee for Christmas since I wasn't sure if that was being discontinued too, as you can see I couldn't wait to set it up. We have gotten so many outfits and other cute things for her as well. I can't wait until she gets here and can use all her new stuff.

Christmas Dinner at Mortons

This year my mom and dad took us to dinner at Mortons as one of our Christmas presents. It was me and John, my mom and dad, my brothers Phillip and Jordan, and Phillips girlfriend Lindsay. My parents had been there before but none of the rest of us had ever been. We all really enjoyed the food and hope we will be able to go back soon. I didn't remember to take any pictures of all of us there, but I have a few of us from when we got home.
Looks like I may have eaten a little too much! HAHA!

20 Weeks...Halfway there!!

Well I am officially done with the first half of my pregnancy. I just hope the second half goes as quickly and as smoothly as the first. This picture is a little old, I am actually 22 weeks now, and it's a little blurry. But I just wanted to let everyone see how big Kaylee has gotten. HAHA!! The doctors said I am doing great with my weight gain, but I feel like a house HAHA. I am hoping I have no problems getting it off. I am feeling her moving all around now and it is such an amazing feeling. John and I are having such a great time preparing for her and are anxious to meet her.

This picture was taken by our tree at work. Sorry it is not clear, I'm not sure what happened!!

Happy Thanksgiving

As I reflect over this last year, I realize that I have so much to thank God for, He has provided me with a wonderful husband who loves me more than anything, a healthy baby growing inside me, and friends and family that are always there for me no matter what. I know that sometimes during the holidays we get so busy that we forget that Jesus really is the reason for the season, but I pray that as we finish out this year we will remember to thank him for all he has done for us and will continue to do for us in the future.

This Thanksgiving was very nice and relaxing. John and I both got to take a few days off from work and just hang out. This year we spent Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house. It was My mom and dad, my two brothers, my grandparents, my aunt, and John's mom and brother. His dad had to work and we were bummed he couldn't make it. My wonderful husband did all of the cooking and it was delecious. Of course I ate way to much HAHA. I don't usually go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but my mom and I decided we would give it a shot and we got our Christmas shopping started. Saturday John and I spent the day hanging out and just enjoying eachother and Sunday we were able to go to the Jaguar game. We had lots of fun and really

enjoyed our time off. Here is a few pics of us on Thanksgiving day!!

John and I

Me and my Nana

Me and my momma

Me and my daddy

Papa taking a snooze after all that turkey

Kaylee Elizabeth Kirkland

Kaylee Elizabeth is what we will be naming our baby girl. Many of you have asked so I thought I would share. We have had her name picked out from the time we found out I was pregnant but couldn't decide on a boys name, thats another reason I was sure it would be a boy. haha. We are having a great time buying things for her and decorating her room. I am feeling wonderful and really couldn't ask for more :)

Christmas Lights

Okay, I know your supposed to wait until Thanksgiving but we already have our Christmas lights up and they are beautiful. My mom has wanted to put lights up since they have lived here and dad always said we will next year HAHA. Now that John and I are living here we decided we would just take matters into our own hands and get the lights up a little early. We had such a great time decorating the house, and we are very impressed with how it turned out. I can't wait until others start putting up their lights so we can go around and check out everyones houses. This is definentally my favorite time of year.

John hard at work!














Me acting like I am helping..HAHA

It's a.........

girl!!!!! Thanks for everyones prayers and sorry it took so long to post, but we found out on Friday that we are having a baby girl. We are very excited and have already started buying pink. John was suprised because there are no girls in his family so he thought this one would be a boy too. HAHA!! Now that I know she is a girl I feel like I can actually start planning things. I have posted one of the sonogram picures below. It didn't turn out great, but maybe you can get an idea!!

Fingers Crossed for Tomorrow!!

We are having another sonogram tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. Please pray that the baby cooperates for this one because I might go crazy if I don't find out. John said if we don't find out tomorrow we should just wait until the baby is born. I said ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! lol. I am so ready to buy something that is not green or yellow!! Keep your fingers crossed. I'll update tomorrow!!

Disappointed!!

So...all we found out at our sonogram last night was that we have a very stubborn baby. LOL. It wouldn't show us what it was so we have to wait until the 16th to find out. I was disappointed because I was really looking forward to knowing, But at least we only have to wait 10 more days. I am trying to put one of my sonogram pictures up but am having no luck so far. If I figure it out I will post it later.

Today is the day...

...we find out if we will be having a boy or girl. We are so excited. Originally we were scheduled fo find out on November 20th, I was determined to find out before Thanksgiving and scheduled it for then. About a two weeks later the Dr's office called and asked if we could move it up to November 16th, even though that was only 4 days sooner, I was thrilled. Then, to top that off, Beth Miller from our church (who is a nurse) asked if I wanted to be a model for students to practice giving sonograms on and that I could find out what the baby is. Of course I said YES YES YES!!! So we are going tonight at 6:45. Now we just have to hope that the baby cooperates. LOL. I will be sure to update tonight or tomorrow and post sonogram pictures. I know I haven't been too good about putting pictures up, but my digital camera isn't working, so as soon as I get it fixed I will update everyone with some pictures.

Update

Okay, I had my doctors appointment yesterday, everything went well. I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time which was pretty amazing, it was short and sweet because the baby wouldn't be still. LOL. I felt it move for the first time on Tuesday and have only felt it once more since then. It felt like a little butterfly. Our next appointment is November 20th and we will get to find out what we are having. This is going to be the longest six weeks EVER. I am just dying to know. haha. So anyways, this is our last week at our apartment. We are moving on Saturday. Most of the small stuff is already moved and now we just have to get the furniture. I didn't realize that we had so much stuff until we had to fit it all in one room, But we are very grateful that my mom and dad are letting us stay there and we will cram everything in if we have to :) I am going to try to put some pictures up as soon as we get settled in, so keep checking back.