Happy New Year!

All the fam is headed here today to re-do our family Christmas that was missing Bec and Joel last week because of weather. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and know that Eli will be thrilled. We worked on some projects this week (Brandon only had to work on Tuesday). The furloughs have come to an end and probably will not be back next year. Thus, he will save all of his vacation until Cora is born. We put together Eli's big boy bed (twin bed) and picked up a side rail to keep him from falling out onto the hard wood floor. As soon as Eli and I are over our colds (doctor said he really just does have a 3rd virus) we'll start him sleeping in it and move the crib to our room. It should be interesting! He loves the bed and we've been reading books on it etc. getting him used to it. My brother helped us set up our fish tank that he got us for Christmas. Tomorrow we can get some fish to go in it. I think we're going to get pink and green glowfish for Eli's sake. I think he'll love them! Yesterday, we got over an inch of snow that had pretty much melted by the afternoon, but we still saw kids going down the hill by our house so we took Eli out to try. Even though it was half grass everyone was still going really fast. Eli loved it! Brandon has been dying to take him sledding, so it was perfect. Eli kept yelling "MORE!" at the bottom of the hill. It's so wonderful to get to experience the joy of these new things through Eli's eyes!

Christmas Video!

Christmas festivities!

Although, Bec and Joel were unable to make it up here because of TERRIBLE weather both here and there we had a wonderful Christmas. We had a big winter storm with blizzard conditions, but we were still able to go to Christmas Eve service at our church and celebrate! We're all headed up to the farm next week for about 4 days to make up for it and open our presents to each other. Eli had the time of his life. He put a cookie out for Santa and ran out in the morning to see if Santa had come. Santa, in fact had brought him a kitchen, a full stocking of goodies, and left him a candy cane in place of the cookie :-) My parents got him the kitchen and we got him food to play with. He's been having a blast playing with it! I think he's fed us all tons of food and especially cups of "coffee". He also got: bathtub markers, paints, and a little goal and balls, big brother books, a puzzle, clothes, doctor's kit, and foam swords (which Brandon enjoyed just as much as Eli ;-)). My brother got him a "big boy" basketball and train set. Eli literally jumped up and down so excited for the "real" basketball! I'll post the video later! We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas feast yesterday and last night headed over to my cousin's house for a Christmas snack party! It was great to be with all the family. My cousin Megan was there with Luke, so we were able to take a picture with both of us pregos! She's about 2 weeks ahead of me, so it will be great fun having the cousins the same age. One of Eli's new hiding places is behind the couch pillows. He thinks it's great fun! What a cutie! We're so thankful for the birth of our Savior and for all the blessings he's bestowed upon us! We're very thankful for our wonderful family and life!

Merry Christmas!

I am thrilled to have survived the sick month of December and am happy to announce we all are well for Christmas! Poor Brandon has survived some serious hormonal/sick melt downs this past month. I am all the more grateful to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas! Eli said "Jesus!" two times yesterday. So sweet! The other night we were amazed because we were out and about and decided at the last second to run him over to the mall to see Santa and ride the train. Last year he was scared to death of Santa, so we figured it would be the same this year but wanted to give him the chance. We were sure to point out while waiting in line that Santa was giving the kids candy canes. When he saw this he started jumping up and down so excited to get his turn. He told us he was going to ask Santa for a "Ball!" He went right up and sat on his lap, took a picture, and listened contently while Santa talked to him for a while. He even kissed Santa as we left! What a shock! It was really fun. If you ask him what Santa is going to bring him he says "BALL!!" Here's some quick pictures of Eli and Brandon overlooking the runways at the airport (with some Cessnas in the background). When we go and eat lunch with Brandon Eli loves getting to watch the planes while we eat! Looking forward to my parents arrival today ahead of the big storm we're supposed to have! Merry Christmas to all!

Everyone is one the mend around here! I'm at least encouraged that by Christmas we should all be well, finally. We may have a white Christmas as there is a snow storm coming in this week. It missed us last time, though, so I'm not convinced. I hope it doesn't affect all my family coming! I got Eli out a bottle for him to pretend feed his stuffed animals. He went around making sure this morning that all of them were fed...then he moved on to my stomach sticking the bottle against it making sure Cora was fed ;-) It was so cute! The one picture of him spreading his arms and leg is him doing "yoga". If you ask him to do yoga he gets in that position. It's hilarious. We've also been working a lot on putting words together this weekend. If he wants something he'll say "Mama please!" or "Dada please!". He's so proud of himself he'll jump up and down smiling for remembering to use his manners. About five times yesterday I got him to say "Mama, ball please!" One step closer to using full sentences!

I take back my previous title...

I laughed when I came on here today to blog a little. Eli was healthy for a week...I was healthy for 3 days...and now...we're all SICK AGAIN! It's quite comical actually. This time even Brandon gets to join in on the fun. We went to church Sunday and Eli caught a different cold virus...thus spreading it to the rest of us. Luckily he's on the mend, and Brandon and I are just getting started in the worst of it. The one thing I'm grateful for is that we finished all our projects we wanted to get done before the second bout of sickness began. I even got Eli's twin bed ordered (it's white with drawers for storage on the bottom) and his airplane bedding set ordered (which happened to be on sale). Everything will match his future blue and white room upstairs but for now will be downstairs in his black and white themed nursery until he's able to go upstairs on his own. Brandon and I had a fun evening the other night after Eli went to bed. We watched 4 Christmas' and put together the adorable kitchen that my parents got Eli for Christmas. We definitely felt like Santa. I'm seriously ready to play with that thing...it's so cute! We've got it hidden in the basement for a Christmas surprise. Since we're hosting Christmas here this year I decided to do my big grocery shopping and have everything ready so it's stress free. For our Christmas dinner we're having steaks, hash brown casserole, green bean casserole, wheat rolls, cream corn, cheese dip for Joel ha ha, strawberry pretzel salad, pumpkin pie cake, and cherry cobbler. Should be yummy! Yesterday my best friend Courtney and her boyfriend Matt came over to hang out and make Christmas goodies. We made Reindeer poop (aka oreo bon bons), spiced pretzels, and peppermint bark. It was a lot of fun! So grateful we all have time to get better before Christmas! Praying for a healthy Christmas :-)

Recovered!

I am on cloud nine finally feeling well and enjoying furlough life :-) Saturday, I was able to sort through all of Eli's clothes and pull out gender neutral stuff for Cora. It was bittersweet going through those adorable clothes not knowing whether we'll have another boy someday to wear them. I then was able to officially put all of Eli's clothes in storage containers and put them away for good. I have his future room completely cleared out (except for Cora's stuff, which I won't bring down until the last minute). It's a great feeling to be getting so much done! Saturday night we went to a Christmas party at the Glennen's house. Eli had a lot of fun with the kids and snacking on goodies. Glennen's twin girls were dragging Eli around making him play with their kitchen/play food. It was hilarious. He loved it! They also put on the kid's favorite Christmas song and all of them danced around. Eli was jumping up and down and yelling "MORE!" Christina (who was my nurse and Eli's nurse at his birth) was holding Eli and he wouldn't come back to me! He loved her and kept wanting her to hold him and pay attention to him. Brandon and I were cracking up. We've never seen him act this way towards anyone. Maybe someone has a crush? I thoroughly enjoyed finally seeing my friends again and getting to go to church! Eli and I haven't been in over a month because of traveling and sickness. Today, I was showing Eli a nativity ornament off of the tree and he pointed at the baby and said, "Jesus! Jesus!" It was so cute! I hope he'll keep saying it. Perfect time of year!

Cora Eleanor Judson!!!

I had to write that at the top so maybe it will sink in a little more! I've been so focused on being sick and not sleeping this week (because of terrible night coughing) that I haven't really got to sit down and appreciate the fact that we're having a GIRL!!! Oh my GOD! I still had a terrible night last night coughing nonstop (even with a vaporizer, cough syrup, and cough drops), but am feeling a million times better during the days so I'm getting optimistic! My parents got over a foot of snow on Tuesday (we only had black ice and less than an inch of ice pellets and snow) so my mom got stuck here after the sonogram. It was a God thing! I needed her help SO much. It just happened that Brandon had to cover a shift at work where he wasn't getting home until Eli's bedtime, so she was my savior. I couldn't have dealt with the sickness and no help in the evenings without her. I guess it's true that you always need your mother!! Will came over every evening while my mom was here, played with Eli, and taught him how to do T-ball. Eli loved it and is really good at hitting the ball pretty far.

I'm looking forward to starting on baby projects now that I know I have a little girl kicking and wiggling inside of me! I'm celebrating Friday by having Brandon pick up my favorite food, Chicken Fajita Roll-Ups from Applebees (the truth is I have no groceries from being too sick to leave the house). This weekend also starts another week of furlough, which I'm calling BABY furlough. AKA: I get to work on baby projects while Brandon wrangles Eli ;-)

I had to put a picture of Eli taking part in the "family hug". If he sees Brandon and I hugging or kissing he has to join in! It's so cute! I did manage to do one thing during this sick week....and that was to go use my $10 JcPenney coupon to buy the pinkest, frilliest, girliest outift I could find for Cora. Eli helped me pick it out and kept saying "PINK!" Get used to it son!

It's a GIRL!!!!

We're proud to announce that we had a wonderful sonogram today and got to watch our healthy baby girl wiggle and kick around! Needless to say, we were all SHOCKED when she said it was a girl. We all had been squinting trying to find the penis :-) and kept exclaiming so (we were seeing the umbilical cord). Finally the sonogram techinician was like, "I don't know how in the world you can be seeing a penis when it's a GIRL!" Both our moms started crying and I just kept saying "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!" She was very nice and let us check several times until we were all convinced. We can't wait to meet Cora Eleanor Judson in May! She was so active during the sonogram. I've been telling everyone for weeks that she is a mover and a shaker. I literally feel moving and kicking all the time. Pretty much every time I stop moving she's moving. With Eli's sonograms we never got to see very much movement, so it was a treat. What a blessing. It was wonderful having both our moms here to share in this special moment. Eli even enjoyed watching his sister on the tv screen! I had the worst headache (trying to get over this nasty cold) and am losing my voice and was suffering all day, so our moms saved the day and helped me with Eli so I could rest. I never would have survived without them! Praise God for a healthy baby! Everyone is already out shopping for girly clothes!

Tis the season to be Jolly!

I haven't been on here in a couple days because...no surprise...I got Eli's cold! Once we got home, it was obvious he just has a cold with runny nose etc. Then, a couple days ago I came down with it (luckily I didn't get the fever though). Eli and I have been holed up in the house these past freezing days just drinking fluids and resting. Brandon has been sent out on many an errand! We finished up Brandon's furlough working on a lot of projects. We bought Eli a new nicer book shelf which took Brandon all day to put together. We also moved the changing pad top over onto our dresser. I also got my Christmas present. A 64 gig flash drive! I am so pumped about it. I have thousands and thousands of photos and videos that take me forever to back up by CD (because you can only fit like 2 videos on a cd), so we finally broke down and got something I can do in a matter of seconds. All of our entire My Pictures folder was only 27 gig, so I should have plenty of space to keep backing up files for a few years to come with it. What a great feeling! It was on my "to do" list before the baby was born! Cross it off! Last night we treated my brother to Pei Wei and I took him to a movie in thanks for babysitting and taking care of Rica. As kids the only movie we owned (because it was a gift given to us) was Muppet's Christmas Carol. Thus, I took Will to see the new Christmas Carol with Jim Carey. We both loved it and had fun watching it in 3D! We have a chance of snow this evening and Tuesday a 70% chance of Wintry mix all day, so my mom and Donna are going to travel here tomorrow to make sure they get here safely for my sonogram! We are thrilled! Eli isn't going to know what to do with himself having BOTH grandmas here!

Photo dump!

We are home recovering from a wonderful week in Texas! Eli did come down with something the last couple of days and had a fever, but we'd already done all our fun so we rested and all was well. Funny story...my mother-in-law and I were driving to look at the proofs of Eli's portrait she had done (which turned out awesome I might add) and I started feeling extremely sick. She had to pull over and there I was puking my brains out during rush hour on the busiest street in Plano. Those people had an interesting sight on their way to work! Brandon's mom babysat the last night we were there so we could go see the 2nd series in the Twilight Saga (the books I'm in love with). We had a great date, wonderful movie, and Brandon was able to feel the baby kicking like crazy for the first time. What a wonderful feeling. I feel so much more connected once the movement begins. I can't wait for Eli to be able to feel it! Eli was fabulous for our drive home and now we're just resting and recovering! This morning we bought and put up our Christmas tree. Eli was a joy putting up ornaments! I gave him all the unbreakable ones to put at the bottom.