Christmas for Poco . . . ALREADY?!

Well, Christmas has passed.  Kind of sad, but it was good and looking forward to next Christmas makes me smile again.  I will say that on the days that our family celebrated Christmas (each family celebrates it on different days due to schedules) I wanted to savor every moment, but Poco has me pooped and I spent a good portion of my time lying around and/or sleeping.

I wanted to show you a few of the gifts that made me smile.  In a later post I'll put up some pics of us having Christmas fun and listening to that never old story of our Savior's birth.

Caleb's sister and family gave this to us for baby Poco.  I cried when I opened it.  Don't really know why...Hormones I guess.  My nephew wanted to make sure I was ok... So sweet!

This outfit my mom got for baby Poco.  I can't believe Poco already has clothes!

Of course we can't forget little feet!  Grandma bought these too.

And the last one.  Yellow!!!  And pretty non-gender specific.

I have been eyeing this Willow Tree statue since I found out I was pregnant, but didn't want to get it for myself.  I guess my mom and I think alike because she got it for me for Christmas and said this would start a yearly tradition between her and I.  I love it!!!

And last.  I keep looking at this statue, also from my mom, and think about how wonderful it will be when I get to hold Poco in my arms!

By the way, I think we have chosen Emmalyn Marie as our girl name.  Still pondering over a boy name!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that 2010 brings many blessings!

Haley - The McMillion Family

About 4 months ago this little one's mom came into the hospital in labor!  I was able to be there for her birth and help with her care afterwards.  Since, he mother and I have become friends.  Little Haley has gotten so big and has an awesome little personality!  I took some Christmas shots of her and her family.

Beautiful eyes!

She looks a little confused.

LOVE this one!

Yay for smiles!

The whole clan!

List of Baby Poco Names - So Far

Choosing a name for your child is really nerve racking!  It will be with them their whole life and I want it to say something about the person behind the name.  I have a few boy and girl names that I've been playing with, so let me know what you think and PLEASE give some feedback or other suggestions.

GIRLS (Middle name Marie)
Emmalyn
Madilyn
Alana

BOYS (Middle name undecided)
Brycen
Everette
Brady


I LOVE LOVE LOVE the girl names, but not too crazy about any of the boy names.  I don't know exactly what I'm looking for though.  HELP!

Letter to my unborn child

I wrote this about 6 weeks ago.  Its hard to imagine that wasn't that long ago.  Caleb was in SERE at the time and away and I couldn't sleep so I decided to start a pregnancy journal.  This was my first entry.

To My Unborn Child,
Today I have had you in my tummy for 6 weeks and 4 days.  Mommy is not feeling very well, but I'm okay with that because I know that it is all for you.  I love you to the moon and back already.

It has been hard not to tell the family about your existence, but for now you are mom and dad's very tiny secret.  You are now the size of a pea and your heart just started beating this week.  Mommy is trying her best to eat healthy and remember to take her vitamins so that you can grow big and strong!  The next few weeks are very important because not only will you be growing so fast, but all of your important body parts are forming too.  Your heart, and brain, and even your arms and legs.

Daddy has not been around for the past 3 weeks, but he is coming home on Sunday and I could not be happier.  I want to tell him all I've learned about you and how much I love you and talk to the one person in the world that loves you as much as I do.  Dixie and Bumper haven't quite been great to have conversations with.

Last week at work I tried to see you on the fuzzy black and white screen at work, but apparently you like to hide, just like your daddy.  However, on Wednesday, you need to show your face because Dr. Pollard needs to see how big you are and mom and dad would love to see your heart beating.  Until then, get some rest and mommy will try to do the same.  Can't wait to wave to you on Wednesday!

                                                  I'll love you forever 

                                                  I'll like you for always, 

                                                  As long as I'm living 

                                                  My baby you'll be.

Love , 

     Mom

Baby Poco to Mom

Dear Mom,

I have few things I would like to discuss with you.

1. Please save me and you and stop eating sugar.  I realize that you like it, but I take after dad and like meat better.  If I'm ever going to be able to keep up with my cousins, I'm going to need the extra protein.

2. Would you please stop putting that thing on your belly that makes those awful noises.  I know that you like to look at me, but if you haven't noticed, the reason I'm moving like a jumping bean is because I don't like those sound wave things.

3.  Would you please tell dad to stop poking at me.  I'm trying to grow in here and the poking just interrupts my peaceful surroundings.  Let him know we will have plenty of time to play when I'm done in here.

4.  I know that me being in here makes you sick and you keep running to that big white thing in the bathroom with a hole in the middle,  but it's cold out there right now, and I'd rather stay snug in here until it gets nice and warm outside, just like you did!  So just let me cook a little while longer (say - 6 months) and then we can meet and you can have fun running to me every 2 hours!

Ok...I'm going to go see how many times I can flip now.  Pretty soon I'll be big enough for you to feel my acrobatic stunts.

With love,
Your growing child

Christmas Decor!

Christmas is my favorite time of year and today has been jam packed with Christmas festivities.  Caleb and I started a tradition for our small but growing family of cutting our own Christmas tree.  It was cold today so it felt even more like Christmas.  I've posted some pictures of our trip to the tree farm and a little bit of our Christmas decor so far.

This is a wreath I put together for our front door.

This is Caleb and I at the tree farm standing in front of our first real tree as a couple.  I'm so excited and it makes the house small awesome!

And here is my handy husband being Tom Sawyer and cutting our tree.

The finished product in our home.  It was so nice to decorate the tree with Christmas music in the background, our dogs lying close by and the smells of Christmas surrounding us.  We can't believe that next year we will have a little to watch out for!

And...I would like to say a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to KB and Aimee!!!

Baby Wilkes - Monthly Checkup

Baby Wilkes and I had a check up today.  Everything was fine, but he/she was giving me a bit of a scare while at the Dr.  They tried to find the heart beat with the portable Doppler and couldn't.  Two different nurses tried and the second one made me feel like she was going to have the doppler go in through my abdomen and come out my back because she was pressing down so hard.  I think they even got a bit worried and kept saying things like "the baby is so small at this point and their heart rates are so fast and that makes it hard to detect."  If only they knew they were talking to a nicu/nursery nurse... he he.

Well, after a few minutes of trying to find the heart beat, they sent me to ultrasound.  As soon as the sonographer saw the baby, she said, "no wonder they couldn't find it, the baby's wiggling around so fast in there!"  I just smiled and thought, yes, that's my child, can't stay still : )

She did manage to get one still shot, it is a bit blurry because he/she was moving so much! I saw the feet way up in the fluid (air ha ha) and the hands were reaching far out.  It was great to see that there really was something in there that had life.  On our last visit all we saw was the heart beating.  At that point the baby really had not developed to many muscles and wasn't able to move its extra short limbs, but now that it is has long legs (compared to the rest of its body) and arms and hands it loves to move around and mommy loves to watch it.

I wish you all could have been there to see it.  I want to show my child off already.  In the picture you can only see parts of the leg because it was moving it so fast, but it is perpendicular to the rest of the baby's body.  I will say that if we are having a boy it looks like soccer will be in the future, but I think this baby, if a girl, is ready for dance classes!

The heart rate was 173 today and is measuring right on track.  As of this week baby Wilkes is the size of a lime.  Of course I had to buy a lime at the commissary to keep on the kitchen table for this week.  From the sonogram, Caleb said it looks like our child has a mohawk.  He laughs now... just wait until is comes out bald like both of us did.

A side note:  I don't like calling Baby Wilkes, "It" so I'm nick naming the baby for blog and conversation purposes.  My nephew, Micah, helped me with inter-womb baby names and we chose Poco.  So, from here on out "it" is Poco.  I like it...  Maybe a bit spanishy, but it'll do.

Notes from the Pregnant Gallery

So today I woke up complaining about how sick I felt and how I couldn't eat but 2 spoon fulls (is that even a word?  I think it is in the south so I'm going with it) of my oatmeal and I told my husband I couldn't eat lunch with him because I had not showered yet and looked like an old lady with a scary animal on her head.  Then I went to the grocery store and complained about the number of people and driving in the rain and all the house work I need to get done.

Then God decided to show me all I have to be thankful for.

I went to a movie with a friend.  We saw The Blind Side and I loved it!  It kind of got me thinking about being thankful for the little things.  Then I came home to my dog, the big one, Bumper, following me around.  He watched me brush my teeth, the followed me outside, jumped up and down for about 10 minutes when I got home from the movie and even sat with his paw on my leg while I peed.  Strange, but it made me happy.  I guess with Caleb being a guy he just wasn't very cuddly but for some reason Bumper needed my attention.  He is now lying beside me.
Then I caught up on some blog reading.  My best friend has a blog that she uses kind of as a diary.  What's on her mind for the day, what is God teaching her, what has annoyed her lately - and her blog is actually fun to read because she can write well.  Her posts always make me think.

All of this made me so happy.  I can go to see movies whenever I want  (meaning I have the funds to do so - not always the time), I have a great husband, even if he does leave his dirty dishes at his desk (guess I'm never going to change that one), I have best friends that I keep in touch with weekly and we help each other through whatever life is throwing at us at any particular time.  Heck, I'm going to be a mom in  7 months, something I've dreamed about since I was as young as my nieces toting their baby dolls and caring for them just like their own mothers.  There is no reason for me to have a pity party so allow any sorrow to ruin all the other things that are so wonderful.  Today I let my looks and dirty dishes get in the way of having conversation and even maybe a lingering kiss with my sweet husband.  And the crowd at the commissary and weather outside get in the way of my good cooking judgement (don't really know how much of that I have, but whatever it is, I totally lost it all).

This feeling really makes me want to go out and change the world right this second!  Not exactly realistic, so I'll settle with working on changing the world of those around me.  I know I've said this before, so obviously I struggle with it, but I'll try to be nicer and not find everything to complain about.

I love my God.  I love the peace he provides and the fact that he continually reminds me of that because I so easily forget when things don't go my way or get tough and I start complaining or have a bad attitude toward something.  There is no other reason for me to be happy other than Jesus Christ.  Without him in life I would be able to find bad in everything, but instead, because he lives in me and I know of his love, I can find the good in anything.

Okay, so if you know me at all you'll understand my chaotic thinking here, but if you don't just reread the last paragraph and try to be happy about your life today, without looking for all the bad in it.

Thanksgiving at the Steeles

So I didn't quite get any pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, but we had an awesome spread with Carolina football for dessert, and my what a delicious dessert it was!

After the game my dad, brother, caleb and I went to the shooting range to practice...  well, for me to practice, they just played around.

Here's my hubby shooting, we were aiming, at this point, at a milk carton.

Sierra Mist is very needed!  Especially when you shoot a full can!

This was my photography for the day.  My brother and I timed this shot (well, both shots :) just right so I could get the gun actually firing.  A bit blurry, but I thought it was cool.