Christmas!

Well, this Christmas was a great one! Bailee got all the princess stuff she could handle (and I could stomach). Not only did she get a princess dress up kit, but she also got a Pop star dress up kit. You would think that she loves to perform in front of people, when actually she's very shy.

We were finally able to get a family snapshot.

And Santa paid us a little visit at Nanny's house. Bailee was very excited because she got some pretty nail polish, a nail file and some lip gloss! She LOVES her lip gloss.
And finally, my girls! Aren't they adorable. I was even able to get a shot with BOTH of them smiling.

Elli...2 months

Can you believe that Elli is 2 months old TODAY!!! These are some pictures that I took this last week. She's doing A LOT of smiling! It's so cute.


This one reminds me of Elvis! She's looking more and more like Tim everyday. I'm not even sure that she's gonna have red hair like we thought earlier. We'll just have to wait and see.

Brinkley family updates...

Well, it's been over a week since my last post. I figure some of you are wondering about Tim's knee, so here is the update. He got his stitches out this morning. To date, he says this surgery was MUCH easier than he expected. He had horror stories from the one he had 10 years ago, so he's pleased that this one was much simpler and with less pain than the first.

On another note, we had all of the Brinkley family at our house this weekend for Christmas. I can't figure out why I didn't think to take a picture of the whole group, but I didn't. The only thing Bailee has asked for this year is "A pretty dress and princess presents"....Well, she definitely got the princess presents! I don't know how she's turned into such a girly-girl, but she has!!! Her eyes were beaming when she opened a Barbie DVD!

I'll try to be smarter this week and get some group family shots to post. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!!

The knee bone's connected to the...leg bone

For those of you who know, and those who don't, Tim had his knee surgery this morning. We arrived at 7:15a.m. and he was being cut around 8:35a.m. The surgery took 2 hours and then he had to be in recovery for an hour. Apparently, we were pretty lucky to get back and started as soon as we did because there were several people there who had been there as long as we had, but still hadn't been called back to pre-op by 9 a.m.
He made it out without getting sick, which is a miracle since he doesn't take anesthesia well. He's home and resting and so far isn't feeling pain. I know that will soon end. Thanks for all your prayers.

6 weeks

I can't believe it's been six weeks since Ellison's birth. In a way, it seems like it's been a lot longer than that and in another way it seems like it was just yesterday. She's changing so much. She LOVES her feeding time. She's definitely gonna be like her mommy and sister and LOVE to eat! Her eyes are so big and she's trying to start smiling. It doesn't happen very often, but she's cracked a smile or two in the last week. I'm pretty sure she's gonna have red hair, so at least they got something from me!

In a three year old's mind...

Today on the way home from picking Bailee up from school, we had a conversation much like we have any other day. It went something like this...

Bailee: "I want to go see Neena."
Me: "She's shopping"
Bailee: " I want to go see Grandpa"
Me: "He's at work"
Bailee: "Well, I want to go see Ashley"
Me: "She's at work, too."
Bailee: "Ryan's at work, too?"
Me: "Yep"
Bailee: "Is papaw at work?"
Me: "No, he doesn't have to work. He's retired."
Bailee: "Oh, he's sleeping?"

I had to laugh after that one...Of course, she doesn't know the difference between 'tired' and 'retired'. I thought it was cute!

Heather's senior pic

My cousin, Heather, is a senior this year at Pocola High School and I got the opportunity to practice using my new camera on her the other day. I'm also trying to teach myself a little basic photoshop, so here's the end result. I was pretty proud of it.

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

This is our tree. Every year when I pull it out of storage and start to set it up, I think "oh how pitiful!" It kinda reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree because of all the gaps that are in it. I don't know if you can really see it, but I can. Now that we're in the new house with a taller ceiling, we'll be able to get a larger, fuller tree for next year and years to come. This year during the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS SALE I'll be on a mission to find a nice tree. I guess I should start asking for Christmas ornaments as a gift so that we can have more to put on it.

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and Happy Day After Thanksgiving Shopping to all!!!

Christmas...a little early

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I got my Christmas present a month early! I'm SOO EXCITED! I actually have a camera that TAKES GOOD PICTURES! I'll post some as soon as I get a little practice in.

Once in a lifetime pic

Bailee and Jacob LOVE to play together! I just had to share this picture, because Jacob usually says CHEESE just long enough for you to get your finger on the button and then by the time you're pushing the button, he's looking away or just stopped cheesing. We couldn't believe it when this picture came out as good as it did.

Bailee's new hat and Elli's pics

Bailee and Daddy went to Target the other day (mainly to get out of the house). This hat was the most prized purchase of the day. She's turned into quite a CHEEZER lately.

I've had a lot of trouble uploading pictures lately. In fact, this is the first picture I've been able to upload since a couple of weeks ago. I think it's my internet connection.

My great friend Leigh Ann took some pictures of Elli the other day. To view them go to www.stillmomentsbyleighann.com
Click on "capturing life" then "client proofing" and the password is Elli. Let me know which is YOUR favorite!!!

Things I forgot I forgot...

Tomorrow marks Elli's 2 weeks of life and I must say she's been a very good baby. Still yet, she is a baby and, of course, in need plenty of attention. I started thinking back to when Bailee was this age to try to remember if life was this way with her. I think as a mother, or at least with me, our brains tune out all the moments that are the "hard times". Here are the things are forgot I forgot:

1. Late night feedings that seem to come every hour.
2. Actually being able to function the next day after being up all night.
3. Changing a diaper and then 2 seconds later changing it again.
4. Getting peed on.
5. The little smiles that you get (even though you know it's probably just gas)

I'm amazed at how much energy I have during the day, but how fast it gets zapped once the sun goes down. It's all worth it, though!

Baby pics

Since I can't seem to get any pictures to load, I thought I'd share the website that has some pictures from the hospital. Go to our365.com to view the pics. She was born on Oct 23. Let me know if you can't see them.

She's HEEEERRREEEE!

Ellison Maegan Brinkley made her arrival on Thursday, October 23rd at 8:41 am. She was 8 lbs and 21 inches long. We finally got to come home today, which is a relief. I feel like I haven't seen the light of day in too long. She's been a very good baby! I think she looks A LOT like Bailee did at that age and she may even look more like Tim than Bailee did. What do you think? I will put some pics as soon as my computer connection will let me.

The countdown is ON...less than a week!

So one week from today, I will be finished with pregnancy! I'M SO EXCITED! Bailee spoiled me a little...I had a VERY easy pregnancy with her. No pains, no sickness AND she came 2 weeks early. Now this pregnancy hasn't been all that difficult, but my hands and feet have swollen more, I have carpel tunnel that is driving me crazy, and it's not looking like this one is going to come any earlier than planned. I can't wait until Oct 23rd at 7:15 am!!!!!!

Kissinger Wedding

Today Bailee was the flower girl in Ashley and Ryan's wedding. It was a very pretty fall wedding with perfect weather. They had a fall theme, also, so Bailee got to throw leaves on the ground instead of flowers. I was a little nervous as to whether or not she would go through with it, since she does get a little stage fright. Since I was serving as Wedding Coordinator, I thought it may be a little easier to give her directions and pump her up just before playing her part. So when the time came, we stood at the end of the aisle and I gave her the direction to go and she FROZE~But just for a minute. She threw one leaf on the ground and then instructed the audience to "look the other way" in order for her to be able to do her job. Once everyone stopped looking at her, she proceeded down the aisle and did a wonderful job. She is definitely not an attention hog. She hates for people to focus on her. She looked so beautiful, though. I didn't get any pictures of the Bride, since I was busy coordinating, but I thought I would show you my little girl. Isn't she precious?

New addition to the family...

No, not THAT new addition. She won't be here for another 2 weeks. Bailee, however, got a new addition to the family that she LOVES! Our new kitty(Miss Kitty) is suppose to be our mouse/rat catcher when she's finally larger than they are. This kitten is the toughest and dumbest. She's already lost one of her nine lives during a garage door incident. (I won't go into detail for those that are weak at heart, but Bailee cried yet the cat is OK)...Now we will all just sit patiently, and slightly miserably, until our little darling gets here on Oct 23rd!

I haven't disappeared!

I know some of you are wondering about me. I haven't posted in a really long time. I plan to get back in the blogging business soon. We finally are in our house and are 2 weeks away from little Elli being here. I've got some new pics that I will put up of our new kitty that Bailee is so proud of. They'll be up soon!

Name upgrade...so sad.

I realized this weekend that Tim and I have reached a new place in our "parenthood" lives. We were moving to our new house this weekend and Bailee was a little less that cooperative at times. We had a few yelling matches and on more than one occasion I heard Bailee say "MOM!"...not Mommy..not Momma..NOPE it was just MOM. I guess I'm ok with that, but the cute little "mommy" name I used to have has been upgraded. Tim was also referred to as "DAD" at times instead of "Daddy". That must be the first sign that this new baby is coming at just the right time, so we can hear "mommy" and "daddy" again for just a little while.

Finished...almost!!

Tomorrow is suppose to be the completion date of the house...Most of it is finished minus the septic system and a few touch ups. The carpet and grout was done today, so I took a few pics to share. We're gonna start moving stuff in the weekend. I'll be EXHAUSTED by the time the weekend is over. Anyone ready for a yard sale???

I've got issues!

Ok, ladies...I'm having problems. My first pregnancy was a breeze. Never sick...never swollen...no problems. This time around my hands are falling asleep at night, not to mention the complete uncomfort as I try to sleep and my back is KILLING ME. Anyone else experience all this? I know I'm not the only one and I should just shut my mouth and deal with it like everyone else does, but COME ON!!! I've got 5 more weeks of this. I think I really just needed to vent about this and know that I'm not the only one.

Annual Baldor softball tournament/family day

Today was the annual softball tournament and family day that Baldor puts on. The kids get to play on the jump arounds and do fun games and the adults play softball. Of course, since Tim doesn't have an ACL he couldn't do much, but coach. His team lost both games, anyway. Jacob and Bailee sure had fun and were pooped by the end of it all. The rain held off until we left. Here are some pics.

House update...

Well, as of today our house should be finished in a week. Maybe I'm being a pessimist, but it seems like there's a bit more to be done than can be done in a weeks time. I hope I'm wrong. I'm still excited with what we've seen so far. I've attached some pictures to show the latest. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll be in by the end of October!

I'm new at this...

So I finally bit the bullet and created a blog. I figure this will be a good way to keep those "out of towners" up to date on our little lives. I plan to post some pictures of the new house as it is today. We've only got about a week and a half until it should be completed!! Yipee! I can hardly wait. I'll also be able to keep the updates on family pics, since that will be changing soon, too!

More to come....