More cute pics

Hanging out with Ruth


A good shot of the new kitchen


Gilbreath's 2007


On her Sit N Spin


Helping Pops blow out his birthday candles

Here are the pictures my mom took of all of the adventures.

Christmas Dinner

Helping Pops with his stocking


Melanie with her new amazing kitchen set and accessories from my parents. She loved it and cooked us all quite a meal that night. I can't wait to get it to our house and all set up- with the rest of the Christmas stuff there was no way it was going in Clint's car that night.

Okay...not too many pics by this point in the night. Hopefully my mom took some more and I will post her pics later.

We went to my parents for Christmas dinner. Boy, we were getting exhausted! Melanie loved all of the presents. Ruth and John came over also and gave Melanie a cute baby set. I forgot to get pics of it. I also got some new maternity shirts from Ruth...much needed! When we got home we immediately put Melanie to bed, Clint unloaded the car and I began the house set up with all of the new stuff. Whew- we were tired by the end. Clint, Melanie, and I came home with so many wonderful things..new shoes, new clothes, new books, new things for the car, and a Roomba from my parents...the robot vacuum...boy am I excited! It was an overall amazing Christmas. We couldn't have asked for things to be any more perfect. Also, Clint and I realized it is our 10th Christmas together. Holy Cow! What changes we have made in our life from 10 years ago...graduate high school, college, and grad school, buy a house, get married, have a kid and get pregnant with the 2nd and hold down 2 great jobs...who would have thought of all this back in our Junior Year?

Christmas Lunch

Digging in!


At this point she doesn't know what Brian has in store for her!


Nanna, Melanie, and baby Grace getting ready for the big day


With her new princess doll Nanna gave her


Nanna saying "good grief" to her new laptop from Pawpaw :)


Her favorite present from Brian and Dawn- a Dora the Explorer Power Wheels 4-wheeler. It is so funny. I just laughed and laughed. She is catching on to steering but the girl has no problem with the gas! I didn't get a picture of it but they also gave her the cutest outfit from Old Navy- I want one in my size!


Playing with her favorite present from Nanna and Pawpaw- a new table and chair set for her big girl room. I didn't get a picture of most of the other presents from them but Melanie got a toy box that matches her new room exactly. I am so excited about it! It was if you bought it with the bedding.

We went to Clint's parents to celebrate Christmas around lunch time. Brian, Dawn and Clint's uncle, Jerry, all joined us.

Christmas Morning

With her new bubble machine Christmas morning.


Daddy helping Melanie open presents. We had moved all presents under the tree to our car except for Melanie's Christmas night. So, she could pick up any one and open it. She walked around the tree saying "let me think" for each present to decide which one she wanted to open.


Wahoo! A new set of keys to destroy!


Shelby checking out what is in her stocking


A wine carrying bag...no much use to a 27 week pregnant lady but believe me...13 weeks and counting until the bag is full :)


Shelby helping Clint open his stocking


Melanie with her stocking which I think she enjoyed more than all of the presents

We woke up Christmas morning to see if Santa had come and eaten the cookies and milk we left him... She said "look mom- no cookies!" She was so excited that the cookies, milk, and reindeer food were all gone.

Christmas Eve

Testing out the reindeer food


Melanie's "getting ready for Santa" clothes


Pops with his birthday britches :)


She got a talking Advent calendar that is really neat with a singing Sit N Spin from my uncle and cousins. The Sit N Spin is so funny- I didn't get any pictures of her on it.


Her new CandyLand Castle game from my grandparents. She is really good at the game...not so good at waiting for her her turn.


Showcasing her new blanket my grandmother made her. She has made her 2 in the past and they are wonderful b/c they are bigger than typically baby blankets. I used to love them for nursing and now they are great from Melanie to sleep with. She slept under it with baby Laura while she waited for Santa that night.


Teaching "Laura" about her new Snap N Style doll "Alexa" from my grandmother


Melanie and her first new baby of the year "Laura" from my uncle


Jerry and his girls


Our family 2007


Our tree

This blog will be in multiple parts due to the many pictures! The fist is Christmas Eve. My parents came over here to celebrate my dad's birthday (on the 25th-but we celebrated it on the 24th). Melanie really wished it was her birthday party...soon enough little girl. We opened presents from my out of town family that night.

Ho Ho Ho

Melanie trying her new paint from Becca- so cool- it is with the Crayola Colorwonder paper and the "paint" is like wax that you dip your finger on and rub on special paper and your picture appears- it is very cool!


Aileen with her puppies new toy


Becca with her new blanket to stay warm


Chris with his Blockbuster gift card


Shelby with her prizes (Marley- Becca's dog- gave her pigs ears- her new favorite treat and Champ, Lily, and Tank- Chris and A's dogs gave her new balls for the ones that have "disappeared" under the fence)


Melanie with the 8 princess Pez Dispensers she likes setting them up and playing with them all and learning the "friends" names


Clint with his holiday beer- Thanks Chris and Aileen


Clint with his new driver cover- Thanks TJ!


TJ showing off his loot- including a pooping reindeer- it poops out candy


Opening her first Christmas present of 2007


Showing Santa her boogers

Santa "AKA Pops" came to my school Wednesday. We had our annual sing along and classroom holiday parties and Santa comes to visit. Clint brought Melanie by. She loves coming to my class. Santa was a hit. Pops was quite good. With practice he gets better and better. I think Melanie knew something was up. She happily sat on his lap- too bad the pic I got is of her picking her nose on his lap. Words cannot describe how crazy it was in my classroom- if you don't believe me ask Clint or my dad- it was officially the craziest my room has ever been- anyway I was trying to coordinate Santa and take pics while the teacher I am job sharing with and the para pro and speech therapist were (and all the parents that came) were trying to wrangle kiddos. So, sorry the pic is not so great.

We had our dinner club Christmas party that night. We had yummy food prepared by yours truly. The only reason I am remotely bragging is because I normally am TERRIBLE at anything that involves food (besides eating) because I find NO interest in any food preparation. However, if I do say so myself, it was a grown up meal that even Clint liked. But, I must admit, I didn't do too much- Thanks Honey Baked Ham for a delicious turkey :) Melanie loved all of her gifts- it was our first look at how she would react to having all of the presents to open. She really enjoyed opening them all but she wanted them all the way open so she could play with them. She got many neat art supplies, a set of Princess Pez dispensers (I think her favorite present of the night), and some fun singing maracas.

Quick Melanie/Pregnancy Update

Well, Melanie and potty training are two peas in a pod! She woke up this morning= dry from overnight!!!! Dry all day, even at gymnastics, Chick-fil-A and Publix. She had an accident at nap and then dry for the rest of the day!!!!!!!! Hooray. Today is her best day so far. She is even telling us when she needs to go to the bathroom. We were taking her about every 30 minutes and now we are up to an hour. I am still going to send diapers to her school tomorrow but hopefully after the long break maybe I won't have to in January. Clint and I have been hard at work getting her new room ready. I LOVE it. I can't wait to show it to her. It is going to be so hard for me to wait until her birthday.

I had my bi-weekly dr. appt. today and everything is perfect. The nurse played a trick on me. I am a little crazy about my weight and refuse to be weighed with my shoes on (I don't care if I am pregnant or not...I don't love to see the scale scoot up). So, I proceed to take off my shoes. So, keep in mind my weight last appt was 145. The nurse started scooting the top weight (the bottom is still on 100). She gets to the end, it didn't budge. I am thinking good grief...what in the world am I doing? Then she moves the big bottom bar to 150 and starts scooting the top bar...and scooting....and scooting...she gets to 160 and I turn around and say "something isn't right." There was no way I had gained 15+ pounds in 2 weeks. She started laughing- her foot was on the scale the whole time. She said if I was so silly about taking my shoes off she was going to have a little laugh. I was about to have a heart attack. But, no worries, I gained the normal 2 pounds and BP was great. The baby was super wiggly kicking the dr. multiple times and I measured normal so maybe last time I was just growing a little quick but I've evened out. Though I don't look like I did with Melanie I am gaining at the same rate so maybe this baby won't be huge after all.

Want to know how I saved $40/month?....

Adios diapers!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes you ready correctly. They are a thing of the past! We have been potty training for a LONG while now. Melanie knows how to use the toilet and does so on a regular basis. She would open the bathroom door, go in, pull down her pants, take off her diaper, throw it away, pee and call for me. So, that was my sign that it is ridiculous to continue this process any longer. So, on Wednesday we said goodbye to diapers. I told her I ran out of diapers (mostly true, I have a few left over) and that she had to wear her panties. Melanie had up until this point cared less if she was wet and I've tried the cool alert pullups- still didn't care that she was walking around with a freezing pootnanny. So, panties it was. I am taking her to the bathroom about every 30 minutes right now to make sure we "catch" the pee. Wednesday we had quite a few accidents (maybe around 4 or 5). But, she knew that she peed and did NOT like being wet. Thursday only 3 accidents and we will see what happens today. At night she still wears a diaper or pullup. Also, at school I put a diaper on under her panties b/c they do not have a bathroom in her classroom. It is not until the next age up. I was pretty impressed Wednesday. I realized that we did not have enough panties and little play pants to make it through the day. So we went to Target and went to Target's bathroom first thing. However in the panty aisle she said "oh no mommy." And a LITTLE bit of pee had come out. But, she was able to stop it until we got to the bathroom and cleaned her up. She picked out Elmo, Tinkerbell, and My Little Pony panties. She really wanted the Dora panties but they didn't have them in her size. I wish they didn't have them any size b/c it teased her. But, all in all HOORAY for my little girl!!!!! I thought this was as good as time as any since she will be out of school for a while and now that I finished with my Christmas shopping we will probably be around the house for a while. Wahooo!!!!!!

Also, enjoy the pics from Chuck E. Cheese. I forgot to post them last week. She went with my parents. Apparently they have a toddler section and she was able to put in her own tokens and do things by herself. The spoiled little girl thought the whole section belonged to her and didn't want to let any other kiddos join in the fun. Oh the rude awakening when the new baby comes.

Busy Busy!

Okay maybe I don't totally hate him





Melanie with her decorated cookie

We have finally decorated our tree. Melanie was so funny. She was really into decorating the tree but wanted every ornament right on the edge of the limb so it almost broke. She talks about "her" ornaments each time she sees the tree. The tree is "so beautiful" when we turn on the lights. My friend Elizabeth gave her a Fisher Price nativity set for Christmas. Melanie LOVES it! She opened it and said "awwww, Baby Jesus, how cute." She knows more about the true Christmas story than I gave her credit for. She must be learning quite a bit in school. We went to look at neighborhood Christmas decorations last night and Melanie was all about the nativity scenes she saw. She would say, "look, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, how cute." Clint and I are having to brush up on our religion to even remotely sound like we know what we are talking about when she is talking to us.

We went to my work's Christmas party on Friday night. She had Ms. Mary Eveyln come and babysit and she brought her cousin Ms. Rebecca along b/c my friend Elizabeth was bringing her 6 month old over to be watched as well. Melanie had a good time with the baby. Apparently she needed a little prompting to share her toys and was pretty determined to get in Sarah's walker but all in all things are looking bright for the new baby. The next morning we went to my school's Winter Wonderland. Melanie got to have breakfast with Santa. This Santa was also super nice and realistic looking. Melanie even sat with him for about 2 seconds. She made some crafts, had her face painted and then decorated cookies with Ms. Claus. That night TJ had his annual Christmas party and Melanie got to stay with Ms. Mary Eveyln again. Today she is going to another work Christmas party with me but this one is just with the special ed staff and normally their little kiddos tag along. She is excited about seeing baby Sarah again.

One reason why I enjoy staying home:
The other day Melanie was playing in the backyard and saw her shadow. She was so excited that she chased it around and then she got on the ground and gave it a hug. Today she saw it again as we were going into gymnastics and she tried to teach it how to march :) I love moments like these!