Thanksgiving 2012

Here's a little look into our very busy Thanksgiving Day.

Wednesday, Nov 21st (Thanksgiving at our house with Steven's family and my family.)

Steven, Brady & Jimmy (Pap)

Steven, Brady & Papaw Mills

Aunt Susie, Teresa (Meme), GG, & Aunt Debbie with Brady

 Thursday, Nov. 22nd

This is how Steven & Brady watched the Thanksgiving parade.

Brady & Makenna

Brady & Nana

Nana, Big Nana & Brady

Aunt Kayla

Aunt Debbie, Uncle Bobby Gene & Meme

Aunt Kristian

My little turkey!!

Love that turkey booty!

Looking at the leaves (& eating them too!)

Loved his shirt: it said Gobble til you Wobble

Grandma & Brady

Me & Papa

Brady, Papa, & Me (by this time Brady had had enough!)

Bath time makes everything better!

Be Blessed! Be Happy!

SO BLESSED!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you're enjoying  this day with your family and loved ones. I have been pretty emotional today. Just the sight of Brady brings tears to my eyes. God has blessed me so much! On Facebook, people have been posting what they're thankful for on a daily basis. Well, I'm not organized nor do I have the time it takes to stay on top of something like that so I'm going to do it today.

My most precious blessings in my life.
*I'm thankful for all the worldly possessions in my life. I have all the "stuff" I need and for that, I am thankful.
*I'm thankful for my education. I never in a million years would have thought I'd be able to go to college and succeed. Academics were never my strong point.
*I'm thankful I live in the USA! Yes, our country has many problems, and I fear that we're getting away from our Godly roots, but I'm thankful to have the freedoms that I have.
*I'm thankful for the men & women of our military. Freedom doesn't come free.
*I'm thankful for the doctors in my life. They take such good care of me & my family.
*I'm thankful for modern medicine. Medicine has saved many lives, and because of medicine we now have Brady.
*I'm thankful for Dr. Bingham (my OB/GYN). She's my hero. She never gave up on me having a baby and I know God put her in my life to help me get through some awful moments in my life, and she was there for the MOST wonderful moment in my life.
*I'm thankful for my friends. God has put some amazing people in my life to be there for me when I needed them most. So many of my friends live far away and I don't get to see them like I'd like, but I love them never-the-less. I love each of my special friends in their own special way and I'll never forget the good times I've had with them.
*I'm thankful for my sweet in-laws. Jimmy & Teresa are seriously the best in-laws any girl could ever ask for. They don't get into our business but they're always here for us when we need them. They are also unbelievable grandparents. It's amazing how much they love my sweet little boy.
*I'm thankful for my niece & nephews. Gage, Makenna, and Gavin all taught me great lessons on how to be a good mom. They are all special kids. Gage is our athlete. Makenna is our little mama. Gavin is the wild child. I love them all so much.
*I'm thankful for my brothers. Preston & Chayce are both in high school. It's hard to believe they are that old. They're both growing up to be handsome young men. Preston is the loud, crazy one. Chayce is the quiet, sweet one.
*I'm thankful for my sisters. We may have our disagreements. We may not always agree with one's choices. But we always are there for each other when times get tough. I love hanging with my sisters.
*I'm thankful for my parents. They have loved me unconditionally and I will never be able to repay them for all that they've done for me. They are also wonderful grandparents to Brady.
*I'm thankful for my grandparents. They are the best- and that's all there is to it!
*I'm thankful for my church family. I love all the people that we go to church with and they are such a blessing in our lives.
*I'm thankful for my home. It's not the biggest or nicest house ever, but it's warm and full of love and laughter. What more could a girl ask for?
*I'm thankful for my job (& Steven's too). I complain a lot about having to work, but I'm truly blessed to have the job I do. I actually have a job where I make a difference in people's lives. There are so many people desperately looking for a job, I'm thankful for the stability of mine.
*I'm thankful for Brady. I honestly got to the point where I thought I'd never be a mom...and that made me SO sad. But God's answer to my prayers for a baby were, "Not right now." & "YES!" I'll never forget the babies we lost- there will always be 3 holes in my heart that no one can ever fill. BUT, I now can see that Brady was the baby God wanted us to have on this earth. He is an amazing little boy. He's full of life. He's in to everything! His smile lights up a room. His laugh makes you laugh. He brings so much joy to my life and so many other people's lives as well. My hope is that he'll always be as happy as he is now and that he'll grow up to love and honor God with all his heart. I'm SO BLESSED to be Brady's mama! I love my little boy with all my heart!
*I'm thankful for Steven. I'm thankful for our good marriage. I'm thankful that he takes such good care of me. I'm thankful that he loves God and puts God first. I'm thankful that he is an amazing daddy. I'm so thankful that he loves me the way he does. I'm SO BLESSED to be Steven's wife. He's the love of my life and my soul mate. I hope and pray God blesses us with many, many, many, many more wonderful years together.
*I'm thankful for Jesus. He lived a perfect life and he died for my wicked sins. If it weren't for Him, I wouldn't have any hope to get to Heaven. I am so blessed to be a Christian. I can't wait to go to Heaven someday.
*I'm thankful for a loving Father in Heaven. I don't know how anyone could look at the beauty of nature and not believe in God. I don't know how anyone could experience childbirth and not believe in God. God is everywhere...if you'll just open your eyes & heart, it's easy to see that God is real. His love is real. I'm thankful for a loving and forgiving God. He sent his only Son to die for me...so that I could someday go to Heaven. I'm SO BLESSED! I serve an AMAZING and WONDERFUL GOD!!!

I'm so thankful for all the blessings in my life.

8 months with Brady

Brady- 8 months

So, I’m a little late getting Brady’s 8 month post up, but that boy is keeping me extremely busy! He is non-stop all the time and the only reason I’m posting now is because he’s at his Meme & Pap’s house.

Here’s what Brady has been up to this past month:

*He weighs 19lb 3 oz.

*He eats 6 oz of formula with 1 tbsp of rice cereal per ounce of milk. He has 4 bottles a day.

*He’s a good eater, not picky so far. He used to spit his food when you’d feed him, I think he thought he was being funny, but it wasn’t too funny when it got all over the person feeding him.

*He takes Zantac for acid reflux twice a day, and has for several months. It really has helped with him spitting up.

*He crawls everywhere, sits up like a champ, and pulls up on everything.

*He can climb! He climbed out of our garden tub on his own.

*He’s getting very brave… He’s starting to let go and stand on his own a little bit (for very small amounts of time).

*He’s still a wiggle worm especially when you’re trying to change his diaper or put clothes on him.

*He’s not a cuddly baby at all. The only time I really get to cuddle with him is when he falls asleep in my arms.

*He likes to chew on his toes.

*He refuses to wear shoes, I know people probably think I’m a terrible mom or that we’re just redneck hillbillies, but the way I see it, in a few months he’ll have no choice but to wear shoes, so I let him enjoy going shoeless while he can.

*He always pulls his socks off when you put him in his car seat. It’s usually always the left sock and he likes to chew on his sock.

*He has 3 teeth. (two on bottom & one on top)

*He sleeps pretty well, unless he’s sick. After he turned 7 months, I decided it was time for him to sleep all night so I started letting him cry himself to sleep. None of us enjoyed that, but after about a week he was sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, last week he was sick, so when he’d wake up I’d put him in bed with us because I was afraid to leave him in his bed alone.

*He’s a very loud kid!

*It’ pretty easy to make him laugh.

* He wears nine and even a few 9-12 month clothes.

*He’s wearing a size 3 diaper.

*He loves his bathes.

*He’s still attached to his pacifier.

*He loves to be on the floor. He usually doesn’t want to be held.

*He loves to watch Wheel of Fortune! It’s the funniest thing, but he’ll stop what he’s doing to watch Wheel of Fortune.

*He is a very curios (or noisy) baby.

*He has the goofiest smile and expressions.

*He’s doing so well riding in the car now. It sure makes going places much more pleasant.

*Everyone always asks me is he always in a good mood, and he usually is. He’s getting to where he cries when you walk out of the room.

*He’s not afraid of anyone. He’ll let anyone hold him.

*His eyes are still blue.

*His hair is starting to get longer. It’s really frizzy. His hair is still very light.

*He has no problem at all with letting you know that he’s unhappy. He can throw some major fits.

*He is very impatient!*He loves to look at himself in the mirror.

Here’s Brady this month.

Standing on his own (holding the string for a little support).

Climbing on Daddy.

Showing off his big blue eyes.

the C word

The dreaded "C" word has hit my family in a big way. Back in August we found out that Steven's dad, Jimmy, had lung cancer. He's taking chemo and will be going to Dallas next week for more tests. My uncle Robbie also has throat cancer. He's taking chemo and radiation right now. And last week, we found out that my grandpa, Bobby, has lung cancer. He went to the doctor today for more tests and he has mesothelioma, stage 1-2 and it has not spread to his brain. He doctor thinks between 4 to 8 treatments should do the trick. So we are very thankful for that good news.

So please keep these 3 men in your prayers and lets all pray that a cure for this terrible disease will be found very soon!

Decision 2012

I am so glad today is election day. I am SO tired of all the campaigning. Politics, in my opinion, as a whole, is so corrupted. Its just one negative comment after another. However, this election is Brady's first election to be a part of, so I snapped some pics of him watching the election results.

Sleepy Head

There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby. Brady hasn't gotten used to the time change yet, so the past two mornings he's ended up in bed with us. I don't want him to sleep with us, but I have to admit, he is so sweet when he's sleeping and wants to snuggle with me.

My sleeping angel.

Halloween 2012

First of all, I'd like to say, I'm so glad Halloween is over. I enjoyed it and it was fun to dress Brady up and it was special because it was Brady's first Halloween, but man I was exhausted after all the festivities were over. I had my class Halloween party at school. Thankfully my parents this year really took over and did most of the work. Then we went to 8 different houses (all but two were family members). We ended at the church. Here are some pics of Brady's first Halloween. I'm so excited about the next two holidays. They are my favorite.

My little froggy!

He was the cutest little frog I've ever seen!

Opening a present from Nana.

GG & Brady

Papaw Mills, Steven & Brady

Brady with his friend Coby

Trick or Treating at Ms. Cindy's

Trick or Treating at Aunt Kayla's

Gage, Brady, Makenna, & Gavin

Brady & Grandma

Loretta & Brady

Aunt Marty & Brady

Brady with Skyler, Taylor, Gavin, Grandma & Papa

Brady & Pap

Pap & MeMe

Our first Halloween together!