Our family needs lots of prayers

As I sit here typing this I am still in total shock that my mom passed away on Tues, Dec 16th. She was my best friend and the world's greatest mom and #1 grandmama. I am so thankful she got to meet Connor, yet I hate it that he never got to know what a wonderful grandmama she was. Connor was cheated by never having the chance to know her. Words alone cannot describe my grief - I am absolutely devastated and heartbroken. Mom was such a wonderful woman - we have soo many memories to cherish.... I am just not sure how to move on from here. Thank goodness we have Connor - even as the tears are streaming down my face, when he smiles at me I can't help but smile back and feel my shattered heart filling with love. She may be gone from this earth, but will never be forgotten. She is now Connor's guardian angel.

The Broken Chain:
We little knew that morning that God was going to call your name,
In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same.
It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone.
For part of us went with you, the day God called you home.
You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide.
And though we cannot see you, you are always at our side.
Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same,
But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

A special thank you to all of my wonderful friends who have been soo absolutely wonderful to me during this difficult time - the calls and text messages have helped soo much and I feel blessed to be surrounded by such great people. I am not sure when I will blog again, but I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. PLEASE pray for my family as we struggle to cope with the loss of my mom.

Our quick trip up to Indiana

The three of us made a very quick trip up to Indiana over the weekend. The three of us are exhausted after all the driving, and I know Connor is totally worn out from meeting soo many new people in such a short time! We had a great time with Wade and Steph when they took pics of Connor - we just know they will turn out great and we can't wait to see them! Here are some pics from our trip... no time to tell you all about it - I am getting ready for bed shortly! Have a great week!
Connor meeting his cousin Amberlee for the first time

Me and Connor, Summer and Quintin, Angel and Jacoby - it was soo great seeing my friends!

Me, Connor and Adam with Curtis, Amberlee and Marisa

Connor got a giant stuffed puppy dog from his Aunt Darlene and Uncle Mike

lounging with his puppy dog!

Connor with Summer and I

Uncle Joey giving Connor a bottle

Papa and Connor by the Christmas tree - Connor loved hanging out with Papa over the weekend! They would talk and play and then Connor would sleep with him for awhile!

Family photo in front of the Christmas tree

Mr precious himself!! Love that face!!! It melts my heart!!!

2 months old already!

Connor is now 2 months old (+1 day!) He went to the doctor today and had his first shots - it broke my heart to watch him lying on the table screaming while the nurse kept poking him! I had tears in my eyes too! He now weighs 13 lbs 13 oz and is 24 1/8 inches long! We have a big boy!!! He started day care yesterday - I was able to (mostly) keep it together while I was still in the building, but once I made it back to the truck the tears were really flowing! I knew he was going to be OK, but I hated having to drop him off! Luckily I only had to work 5 hrs yesterday, and only 4 hrs today, so I have been able to still be with him the majority of the day! Last night Adam and I argued over who got to hold him since we had both been at work!! I am soo fortunate to have a job where I am a full-time employee but only work part-time hours!

We had a great 4 day weekend at the beach! Mom and Dad left their camper down here so we were able to use that. We LOVE to camp - you get to grill out and build big fires every night! And at the place we stayed at this time there was a hottub at each site so even though it was 35 degrees outside at night, you could sit in the hottub by the fire!! I do have to say, when my dad is responsible to bring the firewood, we always run out (Adam likes to have huge, roaring fires), and when Adam is responsible to bring the firewood we always have way too much! We had gigantic fires each night and still brought a lot back home with us!!! We look forward to returning in the near future!

Our sad news to share is that Missy, my family dog growing up (a cute little ShihTzu) passed away last Thursday. She has been a part of the family since I was 13!! And although I didn't get to see her every day anymore, whenever I went back to IN she would still sit with me on the couch (and expect me to pet her the whole time!!) and times when Adam didn't go back to IN with me, she would lay in the bed right next to me like she always did before I moved out. I was soo sad when I found out she had passed away and wouldn't be there when we get to my parent's house on Friday. (even typing this right now I have tears running down my face!!) She was a great dog!

We are still planning our trip up to IN this weekend. We will drive all day Friday to spend Sat/Sun there and then drive back south all day Mon! It will be quite the trip! And of course I will have a very hard time sharing of Connor over the weekend - I will be holding him lots and lots after being away from him all week! Oh, and I can't wait for Connor to have his pics taken by the Carignans!


Connor at 2 months old!
Mommy and Connor in the camper at the beach

Mommy and Connor outside

Daddy and Connor outside

Connor taking a nap on daddy - what a precious little baby boy!

Cheesing for the camera!

Laying with his puppy dog

Hope you are all doing fabulously!! Have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend! I can't believe Christmas is almost here!

The Holidays

Hard to believe the holidays are here again! It seems like the year just flew right on by! We had a wonderful thanksgiving up in NC with family. And then when we got back home we went and picked out our Christmas tree and spent hours decorating the trees and the house! I can't wait for Christmas! It is definitely my favorite time of year.

We are headed to the beach for a nice 4 day weekend (Thurs-Sun). Unfortunately I then return to work next Monday - I am soo not ready for that! Hopefully my first week back won't be too terribly busy. And then for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to go to IN for a few days - it will be a rough two weeks for me since I am just starting back work and doing all that traveling in between. I can say, if people thought I was a baby hog before, they better watch out because I will be holding him the whole time that weekend since I will have been away from him all week for the first time! It will definitely be VERY hard for me to leave him that first morning! One great highlight of our trip back is that we are having pics of Connor done by Wade and Steph Carignan - their work is excellent and we can't wait for them to take photos!! And of course it will be great to see my parents and brother and best friend Angel!

Connor is doing soo great! He continues to grow every day. The best part now is that in the morning time when I take him out of his crib he gives me his precious smile which just melts my heart! It is so fun to sit and play with him - he will smile and coo at us! He has become such a great sleeper - for about the last week he now sleeps 8-10 hours each night! And since we have a video monitor on our night stand, when I wake up during the night I can look over and see him laying in his crib to make sure he is doing ok! He wiggles around a lot in his crib already and I think soon he will graduate from the swaddle blanket. I wish he would stay small longer!

Hope you all have a fabulous week! And be praying for me as I return to work!


Our real Christmas tree
Our artificial M&M's tree

Our decorations!

Our family on Thanksgiving

Us with Connor on his first Thanksgiving!

Connor hanging out with Uncle Joey

Connor with his great-PaJoe

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope this finds you all doing as fabulous as we are doing! My 6 week appt went great - my incision is totally healed and looking good, I no longer have lifting precautions (not that I was following them anyway! - Connor himself weighed more than the 10lbs I was allowed to lift/carry!!), and I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am not looking forward to returning to work in 2 weeks! Connor is growing right before our eyes. He is now doing social smiles (not really to strangers, but definitely to us) and he is cooing now when we talk to him! We have been showing him off to everyone this past week now that he is allowed to go out into public - we took him to my workplace and also to our Sunday school class! Of course everyone says he is super cute!
Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! We look forward to traveling up to NC - my brother Joey will get to meet Connor for the first time! Have a great week!! P.S. We love to read comments!

What a sweet, precious baby boy!

Daddy giving Connor kisses - how sweet!

Peyton and Bailey snuggling in the chair

Family photo - Connor at 6 weeks old!

Taking pictures for our Christmas card - Connor was super cute wearing his outfit from my parents!

Take number 2!

Connor goes to the beach!

Hello everyone!!! We had a GREAT time at the beach!! It was rather windy standing right by the ocean, but on Sunday the weather was beautiful and we were able to take a few pictures! We stayed with Mom and Dad in the camper - we had a nice oceanfront spot where you could look out the door and watch the waves crashing onto the shore! I wish we could have stayed longer!!
I go for my 6 week check-up appt on Thursday - I can't believe it has almost been 6 weeks since my c-section! Next week is Thanksgiving!! We will be traveling up to NC to celebrate with family - hopefully the trip will go well, that will be the farthest we have taken Connor!
Gotta run - Connor is calling!! Have a great week! Enjoy the pictures!

The most precious baby boy!!

The whole gang while at the beach!

Connor with his "my grandma rocks" shirt!

Connor wearing his "grandpa's little sidekick" outfit!

Our family on the beach!

Connor with his grandparents at the beach.

Five weeks old!!!

We can't believe our precious baby boy is now five weeks old!!! We are amazed at how much he continues to grow and change! Our hearts continue to grow each and every day and we can't imagine our lives without Connor! We are trying to cherish every minute since time is flying right by! Unfortunately we didn't get any pics of all of us on his one month birthday - Adam and I were VERY sick over the weekend, but thank goodness Connor stayed healthy! I did take a picture of him in his swing though!

Mom and Dad will be here tomorrow and then we will be spending some time at the beach! I can't wait to take pics at the ocean! It should be a great weekend!

Here are a few more pictures - we continue to take lots! I have already filled an entire scrapbook (most of you know how much I love to scrapbook!) I would post more pics but we are having trouble with our computer being slow so I just don't have the time right now! Hope you all are doing fabulously!

One month old!

The precious face he makes when he is pouting!