"I'm THREE! I'm THREE!"

My little man turned three years old today! It feels like just last week that we were on our way to the hospital to have him! And yet here we are, three years later, watching him run around in total excitement yelling "It's my birthday! I'm THREE!"

I cannot even put into words what a joy Thomas is, but I will try! He has brought Tommy and me so much happiness and excitement. Every stage that he has gone through so far has been more and more exciting! He has the BEST personality and keeps us thoroughly entertained! It's fun to see him growing more conversant with the world around him. I love to hear the new things that he comes up with every day, and it's true that sometimes I have no idea where he gets it! He is so social. He loves to be around his friends and even occasionally doesn't mind sharing with them ;). He already has a gentle heart and sweet spirit (even though he likes to make us think he's a "mean and 'cary monster"...cary=scary). I hope and pray that I am blessed with the opportunity to see him grow into adulthood; to see what kind of man he will become. I'm not rushing that, however. For now I'll sit back and enjoy him running up to me shouting "MOMMY, MOMMY!" I'll enjoy my eskimo kisses and the "I wuv you so much!" moments. I'll even try to enjoy the times when I have to stop him and correct him for wrong-doing (because those moments, while not pleasant, are just as important in the growing up process).

These three years have been an adventure to say the least. But what an exciting one! I thank God everyday for that sweet boy and for every day that I am blessed to spend with him.

October fun!

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

I love fall!! I love the cool air (that we sometimes get down here), I love the colors. I love college football. I love Halloween. I love that the holidays are just around the corner!

Having a child just makes fall even more fun. It's like living your childhood again through them and their excitement. This weekend is one of the reasons I love this time of year so much. We had a full and extremely fun-filled weekend!

Friday night we went to the Boy Scout Troop 16 "Pumpkin Patch" to pick out a pumpkin. Thomas was going crazy trying to pick out a pumpkin! He was so excited he could barely be still for a picture..but luckily we did get this one good shot!

Saturday (after a morning full of yard work and housecleaning) we went to the 7th annual Estabrook pumpkin carving! Our friends Jim and Hope (Jim works with Tommy at AP) host a pumpkin carving every year at their house. We bring our pumpkins, carve them how we want to, enjoy some fun with friends, and then eat yummy chilli and enjoy Hope's incredible desserts. We go home full, sleepy, and happy :). This year was super fun because Thomas was very into the actual carving of the pumpkins. He helped clean out the "yucky" as he called it. Here are some pics from the event...

(My hubby is an awesome pumpkin carver)


("Ewwww")



(Thomas was proud of this little pumpkin. He and my mom ("memaw"), grew this pumpkin in her garden. He helped her plant the seeds!) It was a perfect little pumpkin. We put glow in the dark stickers on it and it's on our porch now!)

(Family photo with all of our pumpkins-Pumpkin Carving 2009 )

(I made this collage. These are pics of four of the six years that we have gone to the Pumpkin Carving 2006-2009. I'm pregnant in two out of four of the pics..lol.)

And then on Sunday we went to Dalraida for their Trunk or Treat! We had such a blast. We went to evening services, then ate some pizza and fellowshipped with fellow Christians, and then the kids put on their costumes. Thomas was elmo as you can see in the pics below. He was proud of his costume and walked around showing off. They had a costume contest, hay rides, a dunking booth, fun little games, and a bouncy thing that Thomas absolutely loved! He also racked up on candy from "trunk or treating." Our friends from church in Highland came with us. We all had a blast!

(My little elmo!)

(Thomas with his church buddy, Ava)

(trunk or treating!)

What a fun weekend!! I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I tried to get up this morning! T and I decided to stay in bed and watch some cartoons this morning to catch up on a little rest. We still have some huge events coming up! Thomas' birthday is tomorrow..I'll blog more about that tomorrow night!

(don't forget to check out the blog that I posted before this one..this is blog 2 for today! Can you believe it!)

Our Levi!!

Here is our Levi at 29 wks (which was a few weeks ago). This is one of the 4d pics that we got. I'm so happy with all of the images we got!! Now I have one of Levi that I can frame and put next to the 4d of Thomas. I think he looks a good bit like his big bro just from looking at this pic, which automatically means he looks just like his daddy. But I also think he looks a little like me. What do you think?

The pregnancy is going well so far. I've had a few complications this time with anemia, low blood pressure, and passing out some. I spent one Sunday in the hospital getting fluids and being monitored. My OB sent me to a cardiologist just to check on things. I wore an event heart monitor last week. I was suppose to wear it for a month but I had to take it off. It was irritating my skin so badly and making my nights even harder then nights already are when you are pregant, so I made a decision to take it off, at least until my skin can heal some. I'm honestly feeling pretty good. My OB and the cardiologist think that it probably has more to do with the anemia then the heart. As for the low blood pressure, not much you can do about it. Just trying to stay as hydrated as possible.

I am very, very ready for December to get here. It's not too far away, but when you are not sleeping well at night it seems like forever away!! I know once Levi gets here it will be a whole new level of not sleeping at night, but hopefully I can handle it! I just cannot wait to meet him and kiss that sweet little face!! :)

Prayer Request

I just want to ask you to keep the prayers coming for Daniel and Shawna and baby Savannah! When Savannah was first born they discovered that she had a grade 4 brain bleed which has not caused any problems until now. She has now started to accumulate fluid on her brain so she will be sent to the Children's hospital in birmingham one day next week to have a temporary shunt put into her head. She needs to be 4 lbs to get the permanent shunt (and at the moment she is 2 lbs 9 ounces). They are hoping she will only be at childrens for about a week before being sent back to the NICU at South, but then they will have to go back for a permanent shunt closer to time for her to go home. Please, please remember them in your prayers as they deal with all of this and pray that Savannah will continue to thrive after the surgery and will be able to go home and be with her parents soon!!

September: Trains, New family members, and Shower fun!!

The month of September has been a very, very busy and full month. There are so many things to write about, so this blog is bound to be a pretty long one. I will just start with the beginning and work my way from there.

At the end of August we got started on moving Thomas to his "big boy room," so that he could get used to being in there when baby Levi makes his arrival. Thomas is in love with Thomas the train, so Tommy (with Thomas' "help") painted this Thomas the Train on the wall in his big boy room. Pretty huge, right?? T loves it. He talks to him all of the time like he's real. It has definitely been a huge hit and it made the move to a bigger room and bigger bed very smooth. I thought my hubby did an excellent job and I am so blessed to be married to someone with his abilities (and his willingness to use them!). Thanks baby! :)

(This is just a picture of little T being silly. He's growing up so fast!!)

The biggest event in September, by far, was the birth of our niece, Savannah Grace Hatfield, on September 13, 2009. Savannah is Tommy's brother Daniel and his wife Shawna's sweet little girl. She was born very early! Shawna was only a few days ahead of me in her pregnancy. She was 25 wks and 4 days pregnant when Savannah decided to make her appearance (after a long road of trying to keep her inside her momma, she's a stubborn one and came on out anyway). She was 2 lbs at birth at 13 1/2 inches long. She is in the NICU at a local hospital and will be there until at least December. She is doing rather well to be such a young gestational age, and to be so tiny. She has been breathing room air pretty much since day 1 (they had her on oxygen at first but she came off of it fast). The nurses are all impressed with this little fighter. She's had a few complications here and there which is to be expected but I'm so impressed with her! Shawna and Daniel got to hold her yesturday for the first time, after a long two-weeks of just sitting beside her!! They were ecstatic!!! She and Daniel and Shawna have a long road ahead of them so your prayers are much appreciated!! We are proud of our new little niece and can't wait till she can come home with her wonderful mommy and daddy!! (and Aunt Carol Leah can't wait to get her hands on her!!) Please pray for her!!

(I got this pic from Shawna's facebook pics. She's sucking her little fingers! She is her daddy made over (with her mommy's feistiness!!)

On September 20th, the Church in Highland threw me and my friend Melanie a joint shower! Melanie is due in October so they went ahead and had the shower before her little man (Greyson) gets here. The shower was so much fun and we got some very cute things!! It was so nice of the sweet church ladies to do that for us :).

(Me and Levi at almost 27 wks)

(Melanie and Me with our moms and mother-in-laws)

This past weekend Shawna's mom and I threw her and Savannah a family shower! It was very fun to organize and get ready for it (with much help from Shawna's mom, Wanda). And the shower itself turned out nicely I think! Savannah got some good stuff and we enjoyed some time with family and friends. Since Savannah came early we got to place her pictures on the tables for everyone to see. That was nice, because of lot of family members have been longing to see sweet little Savannah! Overall, it was a great day!!

(me, Shawna, and Mrs. Wanda in front of "Savannah's sweet shoppe")

(This is a painting that Tommy painted for Daniel, Shawna, and Savannah. We displayed it on the sign-in table.)

So, as you can see the month of September didn't leave for a lot of time for blogging (and this is just the big events). October is going to be just as busy I'm sure, with the fair, Halloween and T's 3rd birthday coming up. So stay tuned ;).

Baby Levi!!

My 20 week ultra sound was this past Thursday and we found out that we are having another BOY!!! We are very excited to add a new little boy to our family. And we have a name already........ Levi Dean Hatfield!!

Tommy and I both love the name Levi, so it was not hard to come to that conclusion. In fact, as soon as I suggested it, Tommy said "I love it!" And nothing else that we would suggest sounded right for this little man :). I suggested Dean as the middle name since it is a family name on the Kelly side. My grandfather (my dad's dad) name was Wilbur Wilowdean Kelly. When my dad was born they shortened the middle name to Dean (Earl Dean Kelly). My parents named my oldest brother Clifton Dean Kelly. And I've always wanted to add that to one of our children's name, so there you have it!

We are very excited about Levi. I hope that he can know how much he is already loved by his parents! The 20 wk ultra sound went well. He was moving around pretty good so it was pretty clear that he is a boy. He is as active as his older brother was, if not more so! I feel him moving around all of the time. He's already having a party in there :). This pregnancy has been very good so far. I've only had a few little things happen here and there: Like an incedent in a thrift store when I passed out cold for no good reason (Thomas is still traumatized from that one I think!). I have the same leg cramps and siatic nerve issues that I had with Thomas. But it has been another healthy pregnancy so far, and we are praying that it continues that way until it is time for Levi to make his debut!

We are ready now to get started on his room and start making preparations for his arrival!! I am soon to be greatly outnumbered by males in the house, but I think I can hold my own!! :) It is sure to be a great adventure!

I cannot wait to meet our new little man!!

Out of the Mouth of Babes..

Over a year ago I posted a blog with some "things to remember" that Thomas had done. I figured it was time for an update! These are things he has said in the past six months.

"Dear God, mommy, daddy, cookies, Mamen!"

"I hold you, momma!" (when he wants to be picked up)

"Waaaar TIDE!!"

"Hey....sweet!"

"Memaw Pappa house..bye bye daddy, bye bye momma" (he was telling me he wanted me to drop him off at my parents house and leave).

"ook momma, Tee Tee potty treat!!!" (said very loudly anytime we see candy in one of those little candy machines).

Me: "Thomas, who had the coat of many colors?"
Thomas: "MEMAW!"

One night I was putting Thomas to bed and he looked up at me and said "Thomas no cry...Thomas happy!"

(One wed night at Pstreet)
Cherry Chesser: "Are you Thomas the train?"
Thomas: "No, I Thomas Hatfield!!"

One night in the car Thomas had been trying to tell me something but I was talking to Tommy instead of listening so he started crying..
I said firmly: "Thomas, what is it?"
Thomas: (in a whiny voice) "I want to pray!" (and then he did...and I felt guilty for not listening to begin with!)

We have a HeartBeat!!

My ultra sound was this morning and everything looks great!! To say that I was a nervous wreck walking back to the ultra sound room is an understatement, but all of my worry and anxiety has been put to rest (at least for a little while :). We saw and heard the heartbeat, which was at 144 bpm. What an amazing sound. My eyes filled with tears when I heard that sweet little heartbeat. I pray that this sweet little innocent baby makes it through all of the risks of pregnancy! He/she is already loved beyond measure!!

Due Date: December 27th!! Merry Christmas to us :)

Thanks for all the prayers and please continue to pray for us!!

Here are the sonogram pics at 7 wks 2 days. (Not very clear, but you can tell there's something in there) ;)

The Best Change of Plans EVER!!!

Huge news since the last time that I posted. As you all know I was suppose to have knee surgery last thurday (the 23rd), but that has been postponed for at least nine-months. That's right..on the day of pre-op I found out that I am PREGNANT!!! We are so thrilled!!

It is still very early (like 5-ish weeks). In fact I normally would not announce it as early as we have, but since everyone knew that I was suppose to have surgery it would have been hard to avoid telling everyone. Besides, I think it'll be good to have people praying this early!! So please say a prayer for this little baby.

I had bloodwork done last week and my progestrone was at 22 and my HcG levels looked good. We had our first OB appt on Tuesday morning, just the routine stuff. And our first ultra sound will be on Tuesday May 12th. That's going to be a long two-week wait. As most of you know, my last experience in an ultra sound room was horrible (finding out that I had miscarried over a year ago). So I am super nervous, but trying very much to be positive. Please, please keep us in your prayers!!

I really am so excited that I can't find the words to express it!!! We have wanted this for awhile :). And I think that Thomas is going to be the best big brother EVER!!!

(This is my second post today..don't forget to check out the beach pics in the last post...)

Orange Beach Trip!!

Our beach trip this year was so much fun!! We left on Sunday, April 19th after morning worship services and lunch. The ride there was great!! Thomas slept a good bit of the way there and when he woke up he just rode nicely with my mom in the back seat talking to him.

The start to the trip looked a little grim. We got there and put our stuff in the hotel and then went out to the beach before the sun went down. Thomas was so cute walking in the sand and giggling. After that we went back to the hotel. My mom was there for a library conference and she had asked us to stop by the reception so that she could show little T off to some of her friends, so we did. After the reception the plan was to go out to eat (our fave thing to do while at the beach). Well, I could tell Thomas wasn't feeling well. He was clinging to me the whole time we were at the reception. We left there and went to Wal-mart to pick up a few things and to get some tylenol for little T because I could tell he was running a fever. We gave him the tylenol and some cold medicine in the parking lot of the restaurant that we were going to eat. Well, that did not go well at all. He threw it all back up (I was thankful for our decision to give him the meds outside). He felt horrible, so I decided to get Tommy to drop me and my mom and Thomas back off at the hotel so that I could put him to bed, and then Tommy headed out to get us some take-out. Thomas had a pretty rough night that night, waking up 3 or 4 times.

Monday we took it easy and made sure his fever was gone before we went out to the beach. Tommy decided to get a kite at the store so when we finally did go on the beach, Thomas and I sat on the little beach chair with the shade and umbrella and watched Tommy fly the kite (Thomas helped some at first but the sun was really bothering him.) He really enjoyed watching from the shade though. We sat out there a good while and then we met my mom for lunch. We went to Sea n Suds. Thomas loved it there sitting by the ocean!! After lunch we took little T to the doc since he had a fever again and a rash. The doc said he had a viral infection so no antibiotics..just time would heal. Monday night we ate at the Shrimp Basket and then did some souvenier shopping. One of the stores we went to had one of those mechanical dolphin rides and a little carousel ride that Thomas absolutely had a blast riding! I was glad to see him having fun and starting to perk up some. He had a great night's sleep Monday night!




















Tuesday Thomas woke up very perky!! He was feeling so much better. My time on the beach that day was limited (due to my knee hurting from the day before), but Tommy and Thomas spent a lot of time out there that morning. That afternoon after my mom's meetings were over we all went on a dolphin tour with the Glassbottom Dolphin Tours. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! It was the first time Thomas had been on a boat and he loved every minute of it (well, except for the life-jacket that was bugging him to death). We did get to see some dolphins and just the whole experience was wonderful!! After the dolphin tour we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed back to town. The ride home was a little tough. Thomas had started feeling bad again and couldn't fall asleep. I felt so bad for him. We didn't get back home until 10:00 that night.

But overall it was such a fun trip!! We are glad that Thomas ended up feeling better for some of it so that he could enjoy it...and trust me he loved it!!!

The Good, The Bad, and The WONDERFUL

I'll start with the wonderful news. First of all, last week, our brother-in-law Jason decided to be baptized into Christ!!!! Later that night, Myra (Tommy's sister) decided that she was not batized for the right reasons the first time and so she was baptized into Christ as well, and then the next morning, my other sis-in-law, Shawna, came to the same conclusion and was baptized!! I'm so proud of all of them. It is so wonderful to have so many family members that are putting Christ first and that are setting a great example for the rest of us!! I can't think about that without tears coming to my eyes.

Other wonderful news....Shawna is pregant!!! I am so thrilled that I feel like it's me..lol. She and Daniel are going to make INCREDIBLE parents...I take that back, Shawna and Daniel are already INCREDIBLE parents!!! Please keep them in your prayers as they bring this new little baby into the world...and take a look at Shawna's blog to read about their long journey to get where they are now!!

Also, Addison (our little niece) had surgery on Tuesday. It was a pretty major surgery but ended up going so much better than expected. It's still going to be a good bit of recovery time, so please pray that she recovers well. Hopefully this surgery will help with some of the problems she has been having.

The bad news is that I found out that I am going to have to have the knee surgery that I was really hoping not to have. My ACL is totally gone so they will be taking a ligament from the back of the knee and making a new ACL. It will be done laparoscopically..so that's good. So, the part-time job is on hold for a good while. The surgery is Thursday, the 23rd, so please keep that in your prayers! I'm hoping to not be on crutches for too long after the surgery since I have the two-year old to keep up with :).

The good news is we are going to the beach this weekend!! I'm so pumped and ready to be there. Nothing to take your mind off of an upcoming surgery like beach time :). We'll be back on Tuesday with lots of pics, I'm sure.

I'll leave you with some pics from Easter...Enjoy! :)

Day Out With Thomas....the kid and the train ;)

My two year old, Thomas', favorite thing to watch is Thomas the train. He takes his little Thomas toy with him everywhere. So when a few folks (including Emily Glenn, who is a fellow blogger!) mentioned Day out with Thomas Day in Calera, AL we had to check it out! Tommy, me, Thomas, and my mom and dad all went today and we had a blast!!! We rode the train, little T played some mini-golf, we ate pizza and funnel cakes! Thomas even got a new toy and big Thomas the tank engine balloon from Memaw and PaPa! It was a very fun day!

When we got back we put Thomas down for a nap and as we were walking out of his room we could hear him saying quietly "All Aboard," and then he fell asleep. Nothing sums it up better then that!

Wax on...Wax off...

I can't believe it has been nearly THREE MONTHS since I last blogged. What a blog slacker I am. My sis-in-law Shawna has been on me to update my blog, so here goes. I haven't blogged in so long because things have been super busy for us! They have slowed down..in fact, they've come almost to a complete stop for me, but I'll explain that in a minute.

As most of you already know I take and teach Taekwondo (My part time job is with an after-school taekwondo program). I've been involved with this Martial Arts school for a long time.I've been training very hard for the last few months for my black belt testing. On March 7 I did a required fitness test and I finished with my best time so far! So alot of my free time was spent excercising and training for that. After I was done with the fitness test I had to focus on making sure that I knew ALL of the forms and staying in shape for the actually testing. It's taken alot of time and effort.

Well, my testing was Saturday (the 28th). I sparred, did my self-defenses, did all of the forms (that's six full forms-all in a row, exhausting) and then came time for the board breaking. I've done these board breaks many times over the last few months so I didn't expect anything to be different. I went to break the kick...a run, jump side-kick...the board broke (thankfully) and as I came back down I landed very wrong on my knee. After laying in pain for a little while I got up and went and broke my second and final board with a spin elbow and thankfully it broke too! So the good news is, I am an official black-belt now....the bad news is that I have a possible torn ACL in my left knee. I go back to the doc next week after he gets my MRI results in and we will decide if surgery is in my future. In the meantime, I started physical therapy (aka torture) yesturday.

I'm not sure now what will happen with my part-time job. I kinda need my knee to demonstrate when teaching the kids. If it is surgery that I need then I will not be able to do Taekwondo for 6 months. This job has been the perfect set-up for me. I take little T with me and he loves every second of it. How many jobs can you take your two-year old with you?? The owners of the school are absolutely wonderful and are great friends of mine, and, honestly, Tommy and I have enjoyed that little extra income each month.

So, I'm hoping that the results will come back and surgery will not be the answer :). We'll see next week! In the meantime, I am chasing my two year old around on crutches. Fun stuff! ;)

I'm going to try to do better now about updating this! Here are some pics that you missed out over the past few months...

Prayers for a Broken Heart

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Daniel and Shawna Hatfield were expected a baby and were so thrilled after a 2 1/2 year journey to get pregnant. But, sadly, they lost the baby last week. (Shawna would have been 12 weeks along). They are devestated beyond words. So please make mention of them in your next prayer.

Shawna and I go way back. We met when I was 14 years old and we became instant best friends. We've been best friends for a long time and have gone through many, many things during this time. We eventually married brothers and became sisters, like we were always meant to be!! This is definitely the hardest thing that Shawna has had to face, and it breaks my heart to see her hurting. Our broken hearts when were teens were so much easier to cure...give us a fifth ave, dr. pepper, and some Alanis music to scream with and we were over it pretty fast. Sometimes I wish life was simplier like it was then. But then, I know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. This will get easier for her, I know. But just keep praying if you don't mind!! Fifth Ave and Doctor P isn't going to make this one go away.