Two days away!?!?

I can hardly believe that Christmas is two days away! Wowzers... Although, now that Jamin is off work for a week it does feel more like the holidays. Today Jamin is working on the basement. He has finished putting the laminate floors down and is now working on the bathroom floors. It's getting closer to being all done!

I got a bunch of Christmas cards in the mail today. I like getting Christmas cards. Funny because typically I'm not that big of a card person. It's just fun to open your mailbox and have personal mail I guess.

Wednesday night we were happy to have my cousin Amy stop by on her way through. Amy is just one year younger than me and is the closest girl cousin to my age. It was nice to have her visit.Last night Matt & Tamara had us over for a yummy dinner. It's so fun to watch Bethany & Naomi interact. They just get more & more fun!

A cute pic of Naomi before we left home

I liked this shot of Bethany

Naomi eating Bethany's toy

The girls seemed to always want the same toy! They are both tough cookies, so sometimes Naomi would get it, other times Bethany would!The happy familyThis is for the grandmas. I liked Bethany's shirt so much, I put it on Naomi.
What a good friend Bethany is...giving the shirt off her own back for a blog pic!

Festive fun!

Here are a few pics from a get together @ the Stows! I love Christmas parties!!

What do you think of the flu shot?

So, I had the flu again today. Jamin had it on Thursday. That's twice in a week for me! Thankfully, Naomi seems to be fine.

All this sickness has got me thinking about the flu shot. I have never gotten it before. Jamin got it last year & this. Do you get it? Do you think it helps? I normally don't get sick, but this year hasn't been so good! It's extra awful being sick when you have a baby to feed, etc.

So, what are your thoughts?

Christmas stuff!

Have you missed me? :) I've been sick. I'm convinced I had the Norwalk virus, but who knows. Anyway, I'm all better and ready to blog again!!

Every Christmas for the past 5 years I've decorated a gingerbread house. This was the 5th annual decoration fest! In fact, if you look back a year on the blog (Dec 7, 2005) you can see our house from last year. We shared this special experience with our Thursday night small group. We had a chocolate fondue as well to help celebrate Amanda's 27th bday which was Saturday. Happy Belated! Can you tell we cut our own tree down!!? It's fat, yet skinny! We like to say that it's got character! It was also free! We'll have to start grooming our own for future years.I can't believe it's only 12 days until Christmas! Do you have your tree up yet??

Naomi updates...

Today I took Naomi to the doctor for her 9 month appointment. No needles today thankfully; Naomi hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days.

-She weighed in at just over 17 pounds which was just under the 50th percentile and I didn't write down her length, but it's around the 75th percentile. I'll have to measure her myself. So she really didn't gain any weight since her 6 month appointment (she was 17 pounds 3 ounces then). I think she may have dropped a bit in the past day or two because she wasn't feeling well. Also, now that she moves around so much, she hasn't been gaining as quickly.

-Naomi still loves to crawl around. She pulls up on anything she can and now walks across furniture while holding on. She occasionally stands in the middle of the room, but can only stay up for a max of 5 seconds before plunking herself on the ground!

-BIG NEWS...Naomi is now sleeping through the night!! That's right! I didn't want to put it in print until she had done it for a couple of weeks. It's a whole new world! Of course, I'm still not sleeping right through, but that will come! :)

-Naomi has 4 teeth and I think she's working on 2 more.

-She continues to love food. She'll eat pretty much whatever we give her! She has recently tried yogurt, toast, & has been eating some meats for a bit now too. She certainly loves fruit especially.

-Naomi is still taking two naps a day: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I find she's cutting down on the length of them, so she sleeps just over an hour each time.

That's all for now!

Let it Snow!!!!!

So today we had our first real snow fall! Naomi has seen snow before, but she was so little it hardly counts. She loved looking out at the snow as it fell. I decided to take her outside for a minute to see what she would do. She really liked it! Tonight when Jamin came home, we went outside again to help him shovel (well...maybe more like keep him company!). We bundled her up in a snowsuit Grammie gave her for a future winter...it was a bit big!! :)

Here she is this afternoon

Tonight: Obviously the snowsuit is a bit big!

Here she is with her hat on instead!

The snow is soooo pretty! It's even nicer when I don't have to leave the house for work!! :)

Busy & fun weekend!

We had a very busy weekend. My weekend felt like it started Friday because I had the car! I went to the library with Naomi in the morning and we had a great time! I met several moms from the area who were very nice. It was a great outing. Later that afternoon, Naomi & I went to Rachel's house to visit with 5 week old, Ryan. What a little cutie! Tara, Tamara & Bethany also joined us.

Bethany & Naomi playing with Ryan's toys.

Bethany, Ryan, & Naomi. All less than a year apart.

Friday night was our small group Christmas party. We had it at Stephen & Jillian's place. We played a few party games and enjoyed TONS of good food. The girls won Taboo, but the boys were victorious at Four on the Couch. We also played some Dance Dance Revolution! It is so fun! Even Jamin joined in on the dancing!

Jamin getting ready to bust a move!I am enjoying my first glass of eggnog of the season..I really, really like eggnog!

***A special thanks to Margaret & Tyler for babysitting Naomi while we were out. Thanks, guys!

Saturday Tom came over to help Jamin with some painting in the basement. They were able to get all of the primer up. This week we'll start the actual painting.

Saturday night was the big sleepover! That's right...sleepover! Colin & Tara had Jamin, Naomi & I and Stephen & Jillian for a sleepover! How fun is that!?? Several other people came over for the evening. Good times! The boys even had a little surprise for us which I'm not allowed to blog about.....you don't want to know....Here we are in the morning getting some yummy breakfast!

Sunday we went to a Christmas party for the employee's children from Jamin's work. It was nice to meet new people and see their cute kiddies!

Here we are enjoying some food. It must have been noisy...see the boy plugging his ears! :)

Naomi wasn't really into Santa. You can see she wants to get back into Daddy's arms!

It was worth seeing that big guy though...she got a present!

By the way, thanks to all who left such nice comments on my "Count Your Blessings" post. I really appreciate all the words of encourgement :) Have a good week!

Hanging with the girls

Last night, Margaret, Kelley & I went downtown for some girl time. We were planning to meet at Starbucks, but it was too busy there, so we went to Timothy's. (Kim, I spent $4.05 on a drink!! I totally thought of your post! Anyway, it was well worth it :) )

We enjoyed our drinks, cookies (I brought!), and lots of girl talk! It was fun, girls! Thanks for a great evening out!

Count your blessings...

Growing up "count your blessings" was a phrase I heard quite often. Mom would encourage me to think of all the things I had to be thankful for. I feel blessed that it has generally been easy to think of things to be thankful for.

Last night at small groups with the teens we went around the room and all said something that we were thankful for. So many things ran through my mind. I said that I was thankful for the girls in my group and also that I'm able to stay at home with Naomi.

Jamin & I made the decision that I will stay home with Naomi full time. We talked/prayed for a while and in the end made this decision together. We feel very at peace about it and I'm so thankful for this opportunity. I will miss my coworkers very much and the work I did, but I think that the new "position" will be very worthwhile :) I know it's not the right decision for everyone, but we think it is for us.

In good times & bad, remember to count your blessings...what are you thankful for today?

I'm thankful for my family.....here they are!Jamin trying on stilts in the basement

Naomi in her "sleeping bag" on the grass before a walk. Check out the cute hat from Great-Aunt Jane!

I love Toffee/Happy Birthday

For the past 4 days Toffee has been staying at our place. Who is Toffee? She is Kelly, Jamie & Ainsley's doggie. She is such a good little doggie. She listens very well and likes to snuggle. I miss her already....My favorite things about Toffee:
-the pitter-patter of her little feet on our floors
-the way she gets into her kennel on her own when it's time for bed
-the way she snuggles into me when we take naps together
-her doggie tricks
-the way she cleans my floors :)

Toffee...come back soon!

We took Toffee with us to Stephen & Jillian's place last night. She & Guiness became good friends. We all went for a walk together after a delicious dinner.A couple of birthday shout-outs!

Happy Birthday, Shira! (Shira is Jamin's sister) Shira turned 26 today! Wish we could be there to eat cake with you!! :) Answer your phone!!! Here is a cute pic of Shira with her bros. Happy Birthday to Patty!! Patty is my friend from work...she is enjoying her last year in her twenties!! Hope to see you & Mark soon!

Baby Expo

Today Kelly & I (& our girls) went to a baby Expo. Talk about free stuff! Really that's the reason everyone goes :) That & the movie they show afterwards. It was held @ the movie theatre. There were babies, babies, & more babies. I can't guess, but I know that there were hundreds of them!

I should have taken my camera. I would have taken a picture of the strollers all lined up (you weren't allowed to take them into the theatres)...it was quite the sight!

We saw Matt, Tamara & Bethany there. They were very glad they went because they both won $25 for Lawtons ($50 total)! Kelly & I won.....NOTHING! Ah well..the free gifts we got were enough (I guess). I also saw Tonya & Myla there...what a cutie!

Here's a pic of my loot! The bag everything came in also has a diaper change pad. Notice the camera, bottle, nail polish, cream, tons of coupons, etc. Not bad!

Happy Birthday, Margaret!!

November 21st (3 hrs from now) is Margaret's birthday! She turns 26...we will be the same age :) I always tease her about being so young. Probably once I turn 30 she'll tease me about being so old!

Margaret is my best friend; really more like a sister. She knows me better than most people in this world. We met in Cape Breton about 8 years ago. Within a few months, we were the best of friends. Margaret is kind, genuine, talented, Godly, giving, good at listening, beautiful, & easy going. She is irreplaceable. I am blessed to call her my friend.

Happy Birthday, Margaret. Thanks for being such an awesome friend.

All about Kyler

As you (Kelly S) may have noticed, I have been neglecting the blog for over a week (a long time for me). I was in Cape Breton visiting Mom & Dad last week while Jamin worked on the basement. Then we headed to PEI to see our nephew Kyler. I took tons of pics..here are a few! I know there are a lot, but I thought family from away would enjoy!

Jamin working on the basement

Naomi sitting on Nana's tableMe, Peter, Mary & Naomi

Jamin & Kyler

The "men": Jamin, Benjy, Bob, & Kyler

Great-Grammie & Naomi

The whole gang

Jamin & I, Benjy & Lee-Anne & Kyler (Naomi was napping)Naomi & her cousinKyler in Uncle Jamin's armsBrothers & babesGreat-Grammie & KylerUncle Jamin, Aunt Sarah & KylerProud Great-Grandparents
Kyler in Great-Grammie's armsKristi & KylerKyler, moi, & NaomiGavin (Mark & Roxanne's boy)Naomi in her outfit that Grammie made! You'll be seeing more of this :)