black friday ...

Black Friday ... what can I say ... my family is psycho about finding good deals, so Black Friday is a big day for us... and it starts EARLY in the morning ... none of this 8am or 9am stuff ... we are up and shopping when the stores open at 4 or 5am ... and this year was even earlier! It's sad, really, but we LOVE it! This is one family thing that I was worried would terrify Ashley, but instead, he has just embraced it and he is just as crazy as the rest of us now!

Thanksgiving day ... checking through all the ads and planning our attack ...



With Kendall around now, we had to adjust our previous year's plan, but we still managed and she even came out to shop (don't worry ... it was much later in the day!). We had a lot of fun and got some really great deals on some Christmas gifts and things we had been saving up for. We love Black Friday ... but I am really glad it's only once a year ... I really do like my sleep, especially with a baby!

happy thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' in Abilene!

Our Thanksgiving week began with my sister, Estee and Taris driving in from Florida and staying with us the weekend before ... the boys enjoyed HOURS of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (that's a video game, in case you don't know), while us girls hung out and wrapped Christmas gifts (I know it's a little early but all of Ashley's family lives far away so we ship everything to them, so I try to get all the shopping and wrapping done in pleny of time.)

We arrived in Abilene on Tuesday morning and enjoyed lunch at Harold's ... ohhhh, Harold's, how we've missed your amazing BBQ! Then it was time for my family to get ourselves ready to meet Tammy Marcelain (an AMAZING photographer) so she could take some family pictures. We've known Tammy for many, many years (before she was married, had kids and became a photographer!) and she does awesome work ... check out her blog: http://marcelainphotography.blogspot.com/ . (I'll post some of the pictures she took in a separate posting, when we get them ... so stay tuned.)

We spent Wednesday at MawMaw's house making all the pies for Thanksgiving and taking turns being on Kendall and Mason duty.

sweet Kendall helpin' out with the pie-makin' ... well, in between her feedings and naps every 3 hours, that is!

My Mom and I making the pumpkin pie

MawMaw making her famous pie crust ... from scratch, every year, every pie ... no store bought stuff here, folks!

Auntie E and Kendall ... Miss serious ... pie-makin' is serious business!

my cutie-patootie nephew ... Mason is sooo much fun and has quite a personality ... and he LOVES baby Kendall (or as he says "boby kennel") ... I know they will be great friends!

Thanksgiving day at MawMaw's house ... we had a full house and had lots of fun visiting and laughing and telling old stories on each other!

the whole family at MawMaw's house ... we missed Michael (my brother-in-law) ... he was away on a business trip.

our little family ... Kendall's first thanksgiving (and second outfit of the day) ... happy thanksgiving!

Pops and Grams

Uncle T and Auntie E

Aunt Rach and Mason ... and baby #2 (I can't wait for Rae to find out if it's a boy or a girl ...)

MawMaw ... thanks for hosting Thanksgiving at your house again this year!

the Whitt family ... cousin Curtis, cousin Kayla, Aunt Nita and Uncle Todd

Aunt Rach and Kendall

our sweet Kendall hanging out on her play mat ... her favorite toy at the moment, well, besides eating her hands, that is.

Pops lovin' on Kendall

my youngest sister, Rachel and me

MawMaw rocking Kendall

I know there are LOTS of pictures on this posting, but we took so many pictures on E's fancy pants camera (and I had to try out her camera too).

Oh, there is soooo much to be thankful for this year, as God has blessed our life more than we could have ever imagined by giving us Kendall ... and growing her little 2 lb 6 oz body outside of me when I could not carry her anymore at 29 weeks ... and continuing to grow and develop her to the 12 lb, 7month old sweet baby girl that she is! To God be the glory - Great things He has done! (One of my most favorite songs from my childhood)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, as well!

laughing all the way ... ha ha ha

Kendall laughs! (and we think it's the cutest thing EVER ... as all parents think about their own kids!)

Kendall laughed for the 1st time 2 weeks ago ... thanks to her daddy! He was doing something silly at her and she must of thought it was silly too, because she really got going! By the time I arrived on the scene with the video camera, she was nearly done and was down to her "barely laugh" ... isn't that how it always goes! (Later that week, I was able to get a little laughing out of her, but not anything like Ashley had done.)

Then this weekend in Abilene, Pops (my dad) got her to laugh a bit on Friday night. But, Ashley's old college friend/roommate Ryan Morris, gets the prize for the biggest laughs from her ... and this time, we got it on video.

So, here it is ... our sweet Kendall laughing at Ryan ... Thanks, Ryan for still being so silly, after all these years! I think Kendall has found a new friend!

more fun in Abilene ...

We were back in Abilene this past weekend to attend our adorable nephew Mason's 2nd birthday party ... at the Abilene Zoo! (Mason's birthday is December 4th but my sister decided to have his party a little earlier this year so more of his little friends could come celebrate ... and come celebrate they did!)

It was a great party ... all about the animals, this year! Everyone had a fun time ... eating pizza & cake, visiting with each other, making the animal crafts, opening presents and then checking out all the animals! (At the Abilene Zoo you can feed the giraffes, which is an experience we had never done until Saturday ... they were up close and personal!)

Aunt Rach with Kendall

The birthday boy enjoying his pizza ... he was being shy and didn't want his picture taken, so this is the best shot that I got, with a smile.

"the Grandparents table" ... Leroy & Lois (Michael's parents) and my parents, Glenn "Pops" and Cindy "Grams"

Mason's cake

Grams & Kendall

Happy Birthday, Mason!

After Mason's party, we got to visit with some old friends from college. We were able to catch up with Ryan and Holly Morris and their 2 sons. We had a great time hanging out with the boys and were sad we didn't get to see Holly, as she was working. Kendall made a new friend with Ryan who got her laughing while we were there (you'll have to check out the next post, if you wanna hear her laugh!) The boys are full of personality and were very entertaining ... Boston (age 7) said he was happy baby Kendall was coming to visit, but he wished she was a boy and was 6 ... ha! Boone (age 4) gave me a tour of the house (he's hilarious ... I do LOVE the age of 4!) and said that Kendall was a pretty cute baby. They are sweet boys and we enjoyed getting to see them again!

We also got to meet up with Becky ... she's another friend from college and she owns Relics (in downtown Abilene ... fantastic store if you get a chance to go by there!) It had been a while since we had seen her so it was really nice getting to hang out with her and catch up!

We had a great weekend in Abilene and we are getting pretty good with all the traveling we've done over the past month! Kendall has been quite the sport!

welcome to west Texas ...

Lubbock, that is! We took a long weekend trip to Lubbock to see some family members and friends that we haven't seen since before Kendall was born! Kendall was a perfect traveler ... sleeping nearly the entire way to Lubbock ... we couldn't believe it!

We stayed with Ashley's Aunt Judie and Uncle Mike ... they were such gracious hosts, as usual! Aunt Judie is a Nana to 13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren, so her house is set up for accommodating kids! She had practically everything we needed for Kendall already set up for us when we arrived! And we really enjoyed visiting with them and seeing them with Kendall ... Aunt Judie has been so special to us on this journey with Kendall ... praying for us and Kendall, and emailing us with encouragement & prayers.

Kendall with Aunt Judie

We met Russell & Alison, Grant and new baby Colt McGuire for lunch ... it was really great getting to catch up with them ... it had been a couple of years since we had seen them, even though we talk and email ... and we had not met Colt yet, or introduce Kendall to them.

Russell and Grant, Ashley and Kendall

Alison with baby Colt

Aunt Judie and I enjoyed a little shopping and then picked up MaMaw (Ashley's grandmother) for a homemade dinner ... we got to introduce Kendall to her great-grandmother and they hit it off.

MaMaw with Kendall

Kendall tellin' MaMaw "all about it" ... she is quite a little talker already ... she may look exactly like her daddy but she does have some of her mommy inside there somewhere ... ha!

On Sunday, we headed to Abilene to spend the night at my parents' house. We got to play with Pops and Grams (my parents) and drove back to Dallas on Monday morning. Ashley took Monday off of work, so we got to enjoy the day together and did a little work around the house.

All in all, we had a great weekend seeing family and friends!

happy 6 months old!

Kendall is 6 months old today ... already ... I still can't believe it ... 6 months already ... where has the past 6 months gone? She is such a sweet baby and we could not be more in love with her!

We are sooooo thankful for the past 6 months with Kendall in our family and praise God for all He has done for her little body! Every day Kendall gets a little bit bigger and shows us more of her development ... she is soooo much fun!

Last Friday I took her to her 3 month observation check with her 3 therapists (an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, and a speech therapist) ... this is normal practice for NICU babies in checking for current development and pinpointing development delays, etc. We went for the first time when she was a newborn (as her adjusted age), when we had just been released from the NICU ... and she got a good report then and wanted to see us back in 3 months when she would be an adjusted age of 3 months old, so that is what this appointment was. They checked her out and gave her a great report again ... she is right on track for development of a 3 month old and so far, no additional delays. We are soooo happy to have another good report. We will go back again in 3 more months, when she is 6 months adjusted age.

We've also moved up to the level 2 bottle nipple ... and that has made a huge difference in her feedings! She is now eating much faster ... a feeding now takes about 25-30 minutes where as before, it could take 45 min - 1 hour. Not only are the feedings faster, she is also taking more at each feeding ... between 3 1/2 ounces - 5 ounces. Woo Hoo!

She is growing and is very comfortable in her 0-3month clothing ... there are even a couple of things that are starting to get a little snug, so we'll be moving to 3-6month clothing soon enough!

Tomorrow, Monday, we go to her peditrician for a check-up ... (we go every month for a check-up and weight check) ... so we'll see what she's gained since last month. I'm thinking she's about 12 lbs, but we'll see ...

Here's our little sweetie pie at 6 months (adjusted age: 3 1/2 months):

You've come a long way, Baby!

(in case you were wondering ... she did wear a little brown sweater with this dress ... I just took it off for the pictures ... we were in her room, where the space heater was still on, so we were plenty warm!)