It's official...

Today I went from this...

 

to this. Makes me a little sad, in a way.

 

Guess it's about time!

One Year Old Jenna

 

Happy Birthday. Here, want some?

1 year....can it really be one year?

January 11, 2010. 38 weeks into a pregnancy with a baby that, just the week before, had been presenting with her bum first, I was sent for yet another ultra sound to confirm the placement of said baby. I walked away from the Dr's office with one of the biggest surprises of my life. FINALLY! We learned that we were having a little girl. Not that I wasn't excited to learn that the boys were boys, just that I was NOT expecting to hear words like 'her' or 'she' or 'hair bows' for several more years (like until one of those little boys grew up and married and had babies of their own). It was a pleasant surprise. And so was the news that sometime over the weekend, she had done a summer-sault; she'd flipped to a head first position. So, January 12, 2010, I went to see my OB/GYN at her office. She looked over the ultrasound report, and with a smile on her face, told me that, if I was ok with it, she'd like to cancel my appointment for a C-section and schedule me for induction. Hey, that works for me! But even more surprising was when she called the hospital, the L&D nurse persuaded her to send me to the hospital that day, instead of waiting 2 more days and chancing another flip from the baby. I left Dr Whatley's office about 2 in the afternoon to go pick up William from the babysitter (Thanks, Lori and Tad Sharum), receive kids from school and make arrangements for another sitter to spend the evening with them. Dr W told me she'd meet me at the hospital after her office closed at 6 pm. I was going to have a baby...a baby GIRL! What!!
But Jenna had other plans.
Meanwhile, we didn't hear about it until after we'd gone home from the hospital, but thousands of lives were being affected elsewhere. Haiti was hit with a violent earthquake and several aftershocks. Lori and Brent have been trying to adopt a couple of children from Haiti.

New Year, new 'do

 

I did it. I finally did it! I got brave enough to commit to something different; a long over-do change. I got a new hair cut and I actually like it. It will take some time to get used to, and to learn how to do my 'do, but I like it. Over ten inches of locks were donated to Locks Of Love. Almost makes me feel lightheaded
Happy New Year!

...And May All Your Christmases Be White...

Well, Merry Christmas, Ya'll!
This is what we woke up to this morning. Unusual for these parts! We love it though!
Apologies to the locals. It seems that the snow followed us from Illinois.

(Please don't notice the date. It's not accurate. Ben changed the batteries in the camera and didn't reset the date. Oh, and pardon the construction equipment in front of the house. It's not my husbands 'project car'. I does belong to a contracted construction crew. They assure as that they're almost done, but I've been hearing that for a month. Of course the project completion date was Nov 15, and we still can't use the road.)

Baby Jenna is growing up!

It's exciting and sad at the same time, but my sweet baby girl is growing up. She's been capable of walking for a few weeks now, but suddenly it just all came together for her. Crawling isn't cutting it anymore--it's gotta be on her feet! And when she tries to run...Oh What Laughter! She has the most adorable little shuffle. Oh, how I love this little girl!

First Snow Day in Tennessee

 

Yeah. So this is what things looked liked like this afternoon when we got the call that school's cancelled tomorrow. For SNOW! Hmmm.