We saw Santa.

And we weren't too fond of him.





But a "Stone Mountain Christmas" was tons of fun.

T-giving (and a haircut...)

It has been tons of fun to have a few days off and hang with James and Harris pretty much all day long...

We started the break by playing "Guitar Hero" with our LIFE Group on Wednesday night. It was so much fun, in fact, that Jay went out and bought the game himself so we could all play again on Thursday night. It totally makes my hand hurt. But at least I didn't get booed off the stage...James did, though. Twice.

Anyway, Thursday we spent the day at my Aunt Connie's house. Great food, good company, and lots of fun. Here are some pictures.

Getting ready to head out and meet Dad...

In the "woods" at Aunt Connie's...

Check out those molars! We had no idea they were there!!!

Good food...

Cody was really pumped about the fried turkey.

Ummm...after dinner?!?!?

Thursday night we went to the lighting of the tree in and then back to Mom's for more turkey and Guitar Hero. Again, fun. I even cooked some...macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, and M&M cookies. The three things I know how to make.

Harris and Raven in Santa's sleigh

Lights!!!

Santa needs practice with babies...

MMMMMMM.....TURKEY!!!!

Friday we spent the afternoon with James' family, eating again.

And today we took Harris to get a haircut. And that's been our break so far. Too bad we can't make money living like this...

Before...

During...

After...

Harris was most thankful for his good friend, Woody.

ABQ

Okay. I'm going to attempt to write about our trip to Albuquerque. It was awesome. It was a really quick weekend, but it was so much fun to hang out with Tyler and watch him play in person...and his team even won the game (due in large part, of course, to his QB sack late in the fourth quarter that led to the winning field goal...)!!! Now don't get me wrong, it was a lot of work to travel with a seventeen-month-old, but for the most part Harris behaved beautifully. I had been so worried about the plane ride and the time change and sleeping in a little hotel room with him, but it worked. All of it. He slept when he was tired...no matter where we were. He never does that at home. He slept on the plane, he slept at restaurants, he slept at the football game (while the band marched right beside him), he slept in his car seat...he slept everywhere. And he still slept at night (for the most part). He was great.


James and Harris riding the train to our gate...probably around 5:00 am...

Mom was already in Albuquerque when we arrived (and remember, our plane left Atlanta at 6:15 am!!!!), so she picked us up from the airport in her awesome gangsta Dodge Magnum rental car. James and I got in a quick nap while she took Harry to campus to wait for Tyler to get out of class...they came back with Harris wearing his very own Lobo cap and clutching a stuffed horse (who we've named Paint), that he now clings to in his crib...crazy. He's never had a "lovey" before...never even acted like he was interested in one...and now he's got this little stuffed horse that sleeps right up under his armpit every night. I'm not really sure why the campus bookstore was selling stuffed horses, since their mascot is a Lobo, but that's another story. Mom swears he picked out all by himself and carried it around the store until he suckered her into buying it for him. That's my baby. We spent the rest of Friday eating, hanging with Tyler, napping, and eating again. Dad was also in town for the weekend, so we totally scored in the free meal department.


The gangsta Magnum. Don't ask me what Mom's doing. Or James.

Saturday was the big game. The tailgate scene was awesome. The school is big enough to attract a lot of attention and vendors and stuff like that, but not so big that the crowds are overwhelming. They had moonwalks and a live band and free t-shirts and all kinds of restaurants serving food out of tents in the parking lot...it was really neat. And they sell burritos at the concession stand. The pretty much sell burritos everywhere. Harris did great at the game...he slept for the first half...and that was pretty much our day. We did, of course, go out for some dinner, but then collapsed into our super comfy beds (not really) for the night.


Harris and Pop getting a Lobo tattoo.



Watching Tyler warm up.



Passed out for the first half.


Meeting the Lobos...Larry and Lucy, maybe? Or Lenny?



After the game.

Our plane didn't leave on Sunday until late in the afternoon, so we went to the zoo in the morning. Again, big enough to have all kinds of animals, but not super crowded. Harris loved the zoo. So did Mom...I thought we'd never get the two of them to move to the next exhibit. And usually Tyler is the slow one. Or James. Never me. Anyway, the zoo was great...spending the morning with Tyler was great...eating lunch at Kelly's, this cool sports bar across from campus, was great...almost missing our plane was not.


Checking out the zebras.


Ice cream with Dad.


I'm pretty sure this is a Lobo statue. They're all over the place.

Again, the airport is not really all that big. One terminal. Walk to everything. Except the rental car return. We totally almost missed the check-in deadline. Tyler followed us over to the rental car return and then sped James, Harris, me, and all the luggage over to the check-in counter as quickly as possible while Mom did all the paperwork stuff and then caught the bus. Sounded like a good plan at first, until we actually begin to carry it out...and realized that #1, we didn't have enough room in Emma (Tyler's Altima) for all the luggage and Harris' car seat, and #2, we didn't have enough time to put the car seat in the car anyway. Long story short, I totally pulled a Britney Spears in the back seat...and that's pretty much all I'll say on that. Think Britney Spears and Sean Preston, not Britney Spears and no underwear.

Anyway, we made it home. Harris can't wait to see his Uncle Tyler again. Go Lobos!!!

Something to Hold You Over...

So sorry, Kim, but I'm still sorting through the 8,000 pictures I took during our trip to Albuquerque (which was awesome!). Here's a little something to hold you over until I get them posted...

My kid loves spaghetti. Enough to lick the plate clean. And I promise the plate licking was completely spontaneous. Good thing spaghetti is something I can make (thanks, Prego!).

He also likes potato chips. Evidently this is how he and James spend their afternoons while they wait for me to get home. They're probably watching Jerry Springer.

I love my boys.

Update

First off, thanks to all of you who called to let me know you were praying for us. Your calls truly made my heart happy. And I promise I will call you back...my cell phone battery actually died as we were leaving the specialist's office this morning, and I had a meeting off campus today, so I didn't even have access to my office phone. Welcome to my life.

Anyway, we did want to say a huge thanks to those of you who have prayed for us over the last week. We have truly felt God's perfect peace in our hearts, and we are extremely grateful. Today's visit to the specialist went really well. The Level II ultrasound was really clear, and it actually lasted about an hour, which was kinda neat. The tech did a super thorough check of all her organs, bones, hands, feet, etc., and even though the cysts are still present in her brain, everything else looks good. They drew some blood from me today, and we'll get those results in about a week, and we'll also head back in two weeks to re-check the cysts. Between the ultrasounds and the bloodwork, we're hoping to lower her risk of any chromosomal abnormalities to that of a baby without the cysts present.

Another huge praise is that we won't need to have an amniocentisis now, which I was really dreading having to make that decision. The doctor was awesome, and basically told us that the only reason we would need to have that particular test now is if we were considering terminating the pregnancy, which we're not...the only way to be 100% sure that she doesn't have anything crazy going on is to perform the amnio, but we're at peace with our decision not to pursue that at this time.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted...James and I are continuing to pray for the cysts to resolve on their own, and would love to have you join us. Thanks so much!

Hi Ho, Halloween's here!

I've decided I like Halloween. I mean, it's awesome when you're a kid and you get to dress up and eat candy (that you didn't have to pay for) until you puke, but it gets a little lame sometime during middle school, when you ring the doorbell to a home and the guy who answers gives you one piece of candy while the three-year-old in front of you gets a whole heaping handful. Seriously, who does that guy think will eat more candy? Or maybe it became lame simply because I was (and could still be considered) a dork, and didn't get invited (or don't remember, at least) to too many Halloween shindigs. Whatever. What I'm trying to say is that Halloween has turned out to be a lot of fun the last couple of years.

After our awesome experience picking pumpkins, we let Harry paint his own little guy, while James carved the big one himself. It was messy, but a lot of fun. The look Harris gave me when I told him it was okay to put his fingers in that big blob of messy paint was absolutely priceless. It's one of the same looks James gives me that simply reads, "You must be crazy, woman." Made me laugh.

To celebrate Halloween, we headed over to our church for the "3rd Annual Halloween Festival." This is the first year we've actually had it at our own place (rather than the school where we used to meet), and it was tons of fun. Harris had a great time jumping in the moonwalk, hanging with his friends Quinn and Raven, and sweating to death in his super hot, super cute monkey costume. We gave away our entire bucket of candy, and James even handed out a few single Ritz crackers to a couple of kids...I am in no way responsible for his actions. Here are a few pics documenting the evening:

A snapshot on our porch before leaving for the festival. This might be the same look I got regarding the finger paints. Notice the dogs getting in on the action.

Having a great time at the festival...

Cody competing in the "cake walk..."which he somehow managed to win.

Harris and Raven getting ready to "trunk or treat."

Harry and Quinn hanging out...still contemplating the craziness of the situation...

Monkey man.

And what might possibly be my favorite pic of the whole night...Quinn's cumbersome costume caused her be in the "I've fallen and I can't get up" position, but she continued consuming her Cheetos as if all was right with the world. And her mother let her.

Chillin.

A really, really fun evening.

Our Baby Girl...

So Baby Teague is definitely a girl. Go figure.

In addition to sharing our excitement over this news, we'd really like to ask you guys to join us in prayer as well.

During the ultrasound yesterday, they noticed a couple of cysts in her brain. Evidently, brain cysts are fairly common in fetuses between 16 and 24 weeks of age, and most of them disappear on their own. However, brain cysts, if paired with abnormalities in other organs, can also indicate trisomy 18, which is fatal shortly after birth. The doctor seemed pretty upbeat about our situation, but he has referred us to a specialist where we'll be receiving a Level II ultrasound that will look for abnormalities in those other organs, as well as check out the cysts more in depth. It's going to be a loooooong few weeks as we wait for the appointment and results.

James and I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is knitting this baby in my womb. We're praying that the cysts will resolve on their own and that further tests (amniocentisis, etc.) would not be needed, but mostly we're asking that God would show His glory through our family and this situation. We'd love to have you join us in prayer.

Thanks for being our friends. We'll definitely keep you posted.