we are THANKFUL ~ 2011!

Our family of....FOUR!!

My mom, her siblings and mom

Haley and Kris

Dad, Mom, Matt

Court, Shad, Kaleb

Our family

My big baby :)

LOVE this. Jakey loves Papaw...just a little. :)

Gran and Seth

We had a great Thanksgiving! Soo thankful for our family and new addition precious Seth this year. We had lots of family time, food, games, black friday shopping, Christmas decorating, laughing, time with friends, etc. We are so very thankful to the One who gave us everything we have! Lots and lots to thank Him for this Thanksgiving and every single day. :)

ps- we had Thanksgiving w/the Worley side of the family on Saturday, but my camera battery was dead after the long week/weekend! :(

More of sweet baby Seth...(and his precious big bro)!

Seth- 2wks old, first trip to church!

Sooo sweet of Jakey. The best big bro!




He always sleeps w/his hand like this :) He was only a couple weeks here.

my first Christmas!

Loungin on brother! 6 weeks old! (And filling out a 3 month outfit, easy!)

Jakey keeps us laughing!!

First time to church pic w/Mommy

3 weeks old

6 weeks old w/Santa and sweet big brother. Can't believe Jakey's almost 3 :(

Can ya tell that we are all just so, so in love with this perfect baby boy? Lovin' life. :)

Baby Seth is here!

And he is as precious as they come! He's an amazing baby! He looks sometimes like a mini Jakey as a newborn and sometimes doesn't look like him at all. He has a perfect little round head, a little bit of light brown hair and perfect skin. Just like big bro Jakey he has huge hands with long, skinny fingers and long, narrow feet. Although his newborn clothes are loose, his feet are balled up in his footed clothes.

He is a great sleeper just like big bro too, what a relief! Technically we're only getting up one time at night, around 3am. But usually he's up around 7 to eat again but likes to go back to sleep until 9:30 or 10am or around then I wake him to eat/get dressed/get out of the house. I'm hoping he's gained weight since his last weight check so we can let him sleep and not start waking him up at night. We'll see at his weight check tomorrow!

He's very pleasant and seems to be content. There hasn't been a reason yet where he's fussy and we couldn't figure out what the problem was.

We are so enjoying have a newborn again. It's such a sweet feeling during a nap or in the evening watching tv to just pass him back and forth as he sleeps on our chests while we're relaxing and catching up on our shows after Jakey goes to bed. I know it won't stay like this for long, and that just kills me! Now that he's two weeks old and we're starting to venture out to places other than the dr, I'm also trying to find a balance between going out and staying in. When we're out and about I just feel like I'm not enjoying the baby. When we're in more than one day in a row Jakey is asking where we're going, who's coming to visit him that day, and telling me places he wants to go. I know if I just go, go, go these days will pass even quicker. The days I enjoy most right now are the days we're home and I get to play with Jake, love on and hold the baby, and also be productive at home. Obviously with an average of 3 weekly dr appts between me and the baby lately getting out of the house to keep a balance is not a problem! This too shall pass, and this week should be our last week with dr appts 3 days out of the week.

It's so amazing how a baby can bring so much into perspective. I just love Jeremy and Jakey even more than I already did, and fell in love with them both as we all three instantly fell in love with Seth. And our friends and family have been so great with visiting, taking Jakey to do fun stuff, praying, showing Jake speacial attention, bring delicious meals and snacks...etc. You just appreciate everyone in your life even more.

The other thing I must note is how amazed and impressed I have been with Jake! He's so, so crazy about his brother I never even expected it! He wants to hold and kiss him all hours of the day. He's shown no jealousy, other than wanting me to hold him at church while I was already holding the baby. He's never shown any negativity towards Seth and always talks about him. He wants to know where Seth is if he can't see him immediately upon waking up or waking from a nap. He just loves him unconditionally and instantly and usually calls him simply, "brother". If it's not brother then it's "baby Seth". I love how Jakey treats him and how he talks about him and how affectionate he is. It makes me very thankful that Jakey not only got a sibling when he got Seth, he got a best buddy and friend. I guess I didn't expect for Jake to respond the way he has and for the bond to be so instant. I can't wait to watch them grow up together! Well, I didn't really need that paragraph, the pictures say it all!!

More posts to come...first time to church, first playdate and a birth story! Oh, and of course, more pics of our handsome baby boy!! I'm off to go love on him :)

*My friend, Jennifer Watrous, is starting a photography business and took all of these pics for us. I just stare at them! I will share her website when she's up and running! Or, you can ask me for her information and I'll gladly share!

Tomorrow's the day...

that we meet our sweet baby#2. We are so excited, and a little nervous. Jake's been talking about "Baby Sefth" for a long time. He gives him kisses and brings him toys every day. It's crazy to think that tomorrow we will hold him, know what he looks like, and count his fingers and toes. We won't wonder how long labor will be or how big he will be ever again. It's crazy that although I'd expected to deliver him before now, it also seems unreal that it's happening tomorrow.
I've been more uncomfortable this pregnancy, for sure. Or shall I say uncomfortable at all. I was not at all ever uncomfortable with Jake. He was 9lbs 7oz and yet I still felt great after 41 weeks and 2 days. I also remember feeling great after his delivery. I remember only having one stitch and being able to shave my legs in the hospital shower the next day.
This go round has been somewhat different. Just in the past 2-3 weeks have I gotten pretty uncomfortable. I've had some headaches, lots of swelling, tingling/numbness (pregnancy carpal tunnel syndrome), sleeping issues, varicose veins that sometimes ache, and also dehydration/itching (related to diabetes insipidus returning for the third time since my brain surgery). The last thing should disappear right after delivery, along with everything else making me uncomfortable. At least I had a great pregnancy up until a few weeks ago! I gained 4lbs each week for the last two weeks, which I'm pretty sure is all water weight since I can't get shoes on other than flip-flops and also can't hardly grip a pen to write with!
I cannot wait to meet our sweet baby Seth and hold him in my arms and kiss his cheeks and hear his little baby noises and just cuddle with someone who will sit still! :)

Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow for a safe and healthy delivery for me and Seth! Jake could also use your prayers, his world is going to be rocked and I know it will be a transition for him. Please pray that Jeremy and I are sensitive to his needs and are the best parents possible for them both!
Also, I have my MRI 9 days after the baby is born. The results of that will help us make many decisions for our future such as if we'll have more kids of our own and if I'll be having another brain surgery. That's kinda gonna be a big deal for us, our emotions, and our family. Especially this soon after a new baby.

Thank you for all of the texts, messages, calls and encouraging words already! We can't wait to meet Seth and for all of you to, too!

Love,
Amanda, Jeremy
Jakey and Baby Seth

STAY TUNED!!

Haley and Kris' Wedding!

Sisters! (at the very end of the reception after 11pm)

I'm not sure what we were laughing about, but this was a funny pic! (soo not a flattering pic of my 9 month pregnant body and double chin, hehe!)

Court and Matt





Dad and Haley

Bridesmaids

Jakey and Luke

Jer, Shad and Matt

Jakey and "Baby" :) LOVE IT!

The yummy Bride's cake

Mr and Mrs Banner Haley and I made

The sign in table at the reception

centerpieces and cute wedding cake and baseball sugar cookie favors

Last Friday night Haley and Kris got married at Amber Springs. That place is gorgeous!! I can't wait to see the professional pictures because this was the prettiest location/venue I have ever seen. Luckily, the weather was nice and not too hot or too sunny. The wedding was outside and the reception was inside. I was really disappointed with the amount of pictures I took and Jeremy said the camera was acting up when he was taking pics during the ceremony. It wouldn't focus and then wouldn't snap a picture when he tried. Hopefully I can purchase some of the photographer's shots! I literally can't wait to see them.

San Antonio and Sea World...again!

Daddy and Jakey at the Sea Lion show

Mommy and Jake on the Shamu roller coaster! I think he rode it 5 times, which was fine since there was no line. I was just glad that I fit!


Before we left Gran and Lissa's house that morning...

Daddy and Jake waving...again...no line for Shamu!

My boys!

We got there at the wrong time to feed the dolphins, so we just had to settle with watching and trying to pet them.

Letting our boy cool off and get some energy out!

You can see him smiling, it just melts me!

He would ride rides all day if we'd let him, he's just like both of us. We love to ride!

Oh, and eating makes him pretty happy, too. :) Pizza!

Shamu! We hadn't seen the new show, "One Ocean".

Asleep in the stroller before we left.

And then again most of the way home =)

This past weekend we went to San Antonio on a whim. Of course, why not go- we won't be doing much on a whim in a few weeks when baby Seth gets here. I needed to exchange my bridesmaid dress for Haley's wedding next Thursday (and there was a destination maternity on the way into town instead of driving an hour from our house), Jake had been asking to see Lissa and Gran (who live there and have plenty of extra bedrooms), and we already had season passes. And we'd really like to make it back before the end of the year so we can go with the rest of the family, but atleast we got to go this 2nd time, in case we don't make it back again. We had a perfect day of family fun and I know we will have these memories forever!

PS- If you're wondering when the perfect time to go to Sea World is, it's now! Basically the weekends on the off seasons like spring and fall are less crowded than a weekday during the summer is what we've found. There really weren't very many people anywhere, and it was so nice!