I grew up in Jacksonville, TX, where my parents still reside. On the 22nd, we headed to the heart of East Texas for Christmas with the Banks family. Our holiday always starts out with getting our teeth cleaned by my dad, which is always so nice. Okay, on to explaining the next picture… we went to Santa Fe as a family for Thanksgiving, so Mom decided to take a break this year and not put up a tree. On Christmas Eve, Mom and I went to visit my Gran’s graveside, and when we returned, our mood was immediately lightened. John and Mike had gone into the woods behind our house and chopped down this tree. The huge colored lights are also the work of the boys.
They even included a family photo to top the tree and said we all were the “Star” this year…

John wrote a book in the 3rd grade called, “The Happy Christmas!” The story is about all of us siblings building snowmen and sledding, until John always somehow gets in trouble. He gets spankings throughout the book, and the story ends by saying he learned his lesson at home… not very happy, which makes the title so funny now. Throughout the book are halarious mispelled words and sayings like, “Michele was wearing her snow boats… I couldn’t believe it!” Every other page ends with, “I couldn’t believe it!” Reading this is one of our Christmas traditions – here is a picture of Brother John and me.

John’s major is construction science at A&M. He will graduate in May and has several amazing job offers – we are so proud of him! Anyway, he had the priviledge of working on an episode of this next season’s Extreme Makeover – Home Edition. He specifically worked with Ed, the British guy who has a shaven head, doing woodwork on an elaborate door, a special desk in the little boy’s room, etc. He was able to get several really cool decorative kid’s items for Noelle’s room from the muralist who he became friends with. Some of the cute stickers and things were in this stocking he made for Noelle – isn’t he so sweet!

When the kids of the house become adults, Santa does some crazy stuff. On Christmas morning, it appeared the only person Santa had come to see this year was my dad!!! And he even brought back a blast from the past – 1984 tennis trophy, video camera that is 10 times bigger than those today… incredible how Santa knew those things were cherished. Dad had some prior knowledge about several of the new things Santa brought – we’ll let that be his little secret.

I am a volunteer counselor at the Arlington Pregnancy Center and have been there for a little over a year now. We had our annual Celebration of Life Banquet and several hundred were in attendance… although I NEVER win anything, guess who won the door prize this lucky night – Oh yeah, that would be Mike and me. The prize was a Christmas lights tour by plane over DFW! My mom and brother John went with us on December 16th. Mike just got his new really nice camera (for the baby), technically known as the Canon Digital Rebel XT. He took this picture from the plane–
and here is the two of us getting excited before take-off. .
We had head sets to talk to each other and the whole deal – it was incredible, and we will never forget this experience!!!

We wanted to take the next few posts to catch everyone up on what’s been going on in our lives over the holidays… so we’ll start out showing the festivities with some pictures of a wonderful night we shared with our dear friends Ty and Elizabeth Kelly earlier in December. We had a holiday meal at our house, and busted out the Christmas music. The CD player didn’t stay on for long though, because one by one we all picked up Mike’s instruments and went to town. Those of you who know me well know I absolutely love music but can’t play an instrument for the life of me, so I always hold the friendly egg shaker… that’s my destiny, and I always embrace my cherished role in the mix. Plus, as only an egg shaker would be able to pull off, I managed to take a break and catch the action… so here are the cute pics… I love them so much because we were having such a blast together!

Here is the requested photo of my tummy taken the first week in December…

Hi everyone! We found out today that we are having a little girl… Her name shall be called Noelle (hey, it’s Christmas!), although we are still thinking about the spelling. This is the best Christmas present EVER, and we couldn’t be happier. Thanks to all of you for your steadfast friendship and love. It means the world to us to have you in our lives!

We are going to the doctor for our next sonogram on December 20th. We will be finding out the gender so stay tuned! We are sooooo excited!!!

We had a sonogram today, and it was amazing! We were hoping to find out the gender but the little buddy would not uncross those legs for anything. The heartbeat today was 141 bpm. At the beginning of the session, the baby put his/her little hand up toward the screen and started moving it in a waving motion. Mike thinks the baby was sucking his/her thumb, but I don’t know??? One time the baby stood up and started marching on the uterine wall, but the cord was in the way so we couldn’t see the, you know. The nurses asked if we were runners and said they have never seen a baby stand up and march before. We were going crazy! At the end of our session, the baby got the hiccups. The baby would bounce to the top of the screen and float back down (like a feather)… that was really cute. Ever since Friday, I have felt the baby moving off and on quite a bit. The baby is now 4 1/2 inches long and the size of a softball.

P.S. We have a video of this entire session, and of course, would be so proud to show any of you who are interested! Moms, Dads… come on over!

Tonight, Mike and I felt the baby move for the first time! We just started our 16th week, and the books say this is the time when you can begin feeling first movements, which they call “quickening.” I call it awesome! Mike’s mom described it best, “It feels like a bird’s wing is flapping against your stomach.” Before the pregnancy, I couldn’t even dream up what it would feel like to have a baby living inside me. Now it just feels right…

We began calling close friends and family this week! Can you believe we kept the secret this long???

Today, October 1, was the day we decided to celebrate Mike’s birthday (10-03) and tell our Arlington friends the good news all together. Through Mike’s hesitation but
excitement from peers (Mo was pretty excited too!) we finally decided to celebrate at Chuck E. Cheese’s. I ordered a cookie cake for Mike that said, “Happy Birthday Daddy!” Okay, maybe it was a little cheesy, but we’re livin’ it up! This is big time… The entire night was a blast! Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate Mike’s birthday and our surprise announcement!

Week 9 – Our first doctor’s appointment and sonogram.

What can you say about hearing your baby’s heart beat for the very first time? Our vocabulary is so limited at a time like this. It was the most beautiful and miraculous sound we have ever heard in our entire lives. This was by far one of the happiest days of our lives! The baby’s heart beat was 180 beats per minute – did you know you can see the heart contracting on the sono machine? That was really neat. The baby was one inch at the time and everything looked great!

Rosie and Michael came to Arlington, but we didn’t tell them the real reason why we wanted them here. I told them I have never asked them to come for a visit but I am asking now. I was going to St. Louis the next week, and I really did need their support. When they arrived, Mom gave me a gift from France she had been keeping for just the right time. It was a beautiful limogue box with the RCA dog with his ear up close to the golden microphone. Painted on the body of the box are the words, “His Master’s Voice.”

I chimed in, “Now we have a surprise for you…” (which might I add, I had rehearsed all week because she had been telling me she had a special surprise for me when she got here- little did she know…) When we announced we are having a baby, Mom burst into tears and Dad jumped up to hug me and Mike. We went for a celebratory dinner that night and it was GRAND! Mom kept saying in the restaurant, “I want to jump up and scream at the top of my lungs, ‘I am going to be a grandmother!’ but no one would really care.” We laughed and laughed – boy did we four care – our lives are about to change forever!!!

We told Kay, Paul, Stephen, and Mattie Ruth the next night over a Sunday evening meal. Mike announced the great news and Kay burst into tears and Paul was grinning from ear to ear (just like Mike). Paul said, “I knew you two were smiling awfully big tonight. If I was paying attention I would have seen it written all over your faces.” Stephen was wonderfully supportive and happy and then there was sweet Mattie Ruth. She said, “What did I hear?” She has dreamed of this baby for so long… she actually said, “I think I am the one that got this whole thing started.” (:

I called John and Michele the next day, and they were so excited!!! We love all of you and were thrilled to share the great news with our wondeful family.