Blogging Break

It has been a whirlwind of a month for this Lewis family. We all have been sick, some minor, some more severe, one required a hospital stay, and one of us sick more than once. Another reason for the delay is our computer was FULL and almost out of memory, we were afraid to add any more pics to our hard drive. We were basically trying to prevent a computer crash. That would have been B.A.D. Plus all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and we had a visitor for a few days. It's been a crazy, yet memorable month.

Lucky for you, we are back in business thanks to an external hard drive and can once again get caught up on this thing. We did purchase a shiny, brand new camera so hopefully our pictures will be better as well.

Thank you for your patience. The end.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great and COLD turkey day. Wonderful company and conversation, delicious food, and enjoyed watching the little ones play. Gabe and I hosted Thanksgiving at our home this year. We ordered a cajun turkey from Dickey's BBQ for the second year (highly recommended!) and our families provided the rest. Here are a few pics for our memories.

Brody Man helping Aunt Devon stir the gravy

Why are you taking my picture? Just give me food!!

Adorable Bella, our niece

This is what Cash did most of the day....

Lunch time!!

Brody playing with the football that I HAD to get ON Thanksgiving Day. Not sure who is more of a child, Gabe or Brody??? ;)

Dog pile...not sure why they did this, but Brody and Bella loved it!!

My dad and stepmom with Baby Cash

Brody Bear watching football with Uncle Chris

O, Christmas Cards

O, Christmas Cards

O, Christmas Cards

How lovely it is to receive you...

I really do enjoy receiving each of your Holiday cards in the mail every year. The pack rat in me likes to save all the cards from the previous year and every Christmas season, I like to go through the old cards and look at them. It never gets old. In fact, I just did it on Sunday while we were finishing up decorating our tree. Each year when the mail comes I get excited to see what kind of card I am getting and from who. Christmas cards are one of my favorite things about the holiday season!

For the past month I have been debating whether or not I should even bother sending out cards this year, especially since we have had an unexpected extra busy month so far (more on that in another post). I thought about just doing a "Christmas Card" blog post with a family picture wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and letting that be that, but then I kept seeing and hearing about this new Shutterfly promo for bloggers. After talking with one of my friends about it, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. So far, the process could not be easier and quick too! Lucky for you, you will be receiving a Lewis Family Christmas card. You can thank Shutterfly by ordering something, or taking advantage of the promotion yourself!

I was not a Shutterfly member, but know tons of friends who use them on a regular basis and now I am addicted to all of their products. I have been playing around with their photo books, calendars, and Christmas cards. I am even thinking about ordering birthday invites for Brody's 2nd birthday off this handy little website. I could spend hours on Shutterfly diddling around! Everything is very reasonably priced and they make it oh so easy. And best of all, you can pick up your prints at your closest CVS, Walgreens, and/or Target in as little as one hour!

You better hurry, time is running out on the promotion. If you have been debating whether or not to do it, like me, I say do it! If you haven't heard about it yet, you better get going!

Thank you Shutterfly for making my Christmas card process easy and fun!

I really do hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and look forward to receiving your Christmas card in the mail!

Cash is 1 month old

I cannot believe it has been four weeks since we welcomed this precious baby boy into this world. On one hand, it seems like time has flown by, but on the other it seems we have had him a whole lot longer. He continues to be an easy-going, content baby unless you let him get cold and change his diaper. His most favorite thing is to be held chest to chest, facing the person who is holding him. It almost instantly calms him down. He is definitely growing! He now weighs 8 lbs 13 oz. He is getting strong neck and back muscles and is working extremely hard at lifting his head and turning it side to side. He is doing great! Cash still likes to be curled up but is stretching out during playtime. He is becoming more and more alert by the day and loves to look around and check out his surroundings. We are enjoying this little peanut so much and are excited to watch him grow up!

Christmas before Thanksgiving?

It seems as though we start celebrating Christmas earlier and earlier ever year. Do you feel the same? It isn't even Turkey Day yet and I have already been to one a Christmas tree lighting, Christmas decor is of course in the retail stores, one of our local radio stations has holiday music playing 24/7, neighbors have lights up, friends have trees and home decor out, and I know there are some of you out there who already have a good start to Christmas shopping! Well, we still have a Halloween decoration out in our yard that doubles as a welcome baby sign. (I am just waiting on "someone" to take it down.)

As I stated earlier, my friend Brooke and I went to a Christmas tree lighting last night. The weather was in the upper 60's (aka: gorgeous) and I really had a fun time. We laughed and laughed at our boys, visited Ms. Claus,

saw Santa Claus,

we chased after them and danced with them,

snapped pictures of them,

saw the tree light up,

and had a delicious dinner with them.

Brody was exceptionally well behaved which in turn made my evening more enjoyable. Brooke's hubby was out of town and Gabe stayed home with baby Cash, so it was just the four of us. I left with a smile on my face while Brody crashed on the way home!

Tonight we have another tree lighting to attend, this time with the Colberg's!

Adjusting

We have been so blessed with two wonderful, amazing little boys. Gosh, that is still weird for me to say I have 2 kids!!

Brody could not be a better big brother, surpassing every expectation I had. He loves "brother" and wants to hold him, carry him when Cash is in the carseat, he lays his head on him, lays next to "brother" on the play mat, gives kisses, brings mommy diapers, and brings "brother" the paci. The most difficult part right now is that Brody is consistently waking up in the middle of the night, climbing out of his big boy bed. This usually falls during my 1.5 to 2 hour night-time nap. Gabe tries to go in a help, but he cries for mommy. Which is sweet of him and I love that, but at the same time it can be very trying. Any suggestions on how to help him sleep through the night? We are currently trying a later bed time but wanted to see if there is some magical trick I could try.

Cash is a calm, easy baby. Not sure if he seems easier because I know what I am doing now, or if it is a combo of both? What ever the case may be, he is awesome. He is still so small and snuggly. I am trying to embrace it because now I know how fast they grow, but at the same time, I can tell he is starting to get spoiled by being held so much. I need to find that happy-medium. He is already doing well at tummy time and working those neck muscles, even though he doesn't like being on his stomach for very long.

We are loving life and seem to be adjusting very well. I know we will face our share of tough times, but couldn't be happier at the present time. We are so blessed with these 2 gifts of life, and I am extremely proud to be their momma!

What a difference a year makes....

Halloween this year....

Halloween last year...

Halloween

For the past 2 years we have had a few sets of friends over on Halloween evening. We had a great time last year, but this year was a little bit more exciting than the last solely due to the fact that this was the first time for the kiddos to go trick or treating, minus baby Cash although he did tag along for the stroller ride.

I had seen a costume in one of the Halloween catalogs sent to my house which I thought was pretty cute. I showed Gabe and he agreed it was pretty funny. A few weeks before Halloween I hadn't done anything more on getting a costume for Brody, so I turned to the internet to do some browsing. I found that same costume but for $50 and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that especially since I wasn't able to locate one in his size. That weekend we stopped at a local Halloween store to see what they had. Low and behold there it was. The exact costume I was eyeing. And for half the price! But they still only had sizes that were too big for Brody. Oh well, we purchased it anyway and had my MIL do some altering. I think... wait... I know Brody is the most adrable UPS delivery boy you will ever see!

Baby Cash in one of his Halloween outfits!

Here are some pictures of our evening, compliments of Brooke.

Look at those sweet smiles!!

Gavin, the zookeeper, and Brody

Gavin and Teagan, the duck

Brody and Teagan are off to Trick or Treat! They did so great and it was one of the cutest things to watch!

D-Day

Otherwise known as "Delivery Day!"

I woke up Monday, October 25th around 2:00 am in excruciating pain in the lower left portion of my abdomen. I have had a slight pain problem in the same spot throughout the pregnancy. The area where your ligaments stretch as the baby grows, but only on my left side. I could not lay down and the sharp pain would come every so often. I got up to google "contractions" just to make sure these pains weren't contractions. I was convinced that it wasn't a contraction, but I also wanted peace of mind. I guess I thought it would subconsciously help to ease the pain and let me go back to sleep. As I was sitting up with the computer in my lap, the pains seemed to ease up for the most part. I thought I would try to lay down for a little bit before I had to get up and go to work. WRONG! Pains were back as soon as I lay horizontal. I ended up propping myself up on the couch and was able to catch a few more zzz's before it was time to get up and get going for the day.

The whole morning, I felt a little yucky and weak but still didn't think to much of it. Mid-morning I started to have some cramping like one would during their "cycle," but still didn't think much of it. Gabe asked me to call the doctor just to let them know since I am close enough for the baby to come. I left a message, they called me back and I missed the call. They were on lunch, I left another message, never heard, and finally I called back again around 4:00ish and was able to talk to the nurse. By this time my cramps were becoming a little stronger, but silly me wasn't timing them. The nurse said I had two options: 1) Go home, rest, and time the "pains" or 2) Go to the hospital to be monitored. We chose home. Within the hour, my "pains" were becoming more apparent to me that these are in fact contractions and they are coming closer together. Quicker and quicker. Some are more intense than others but all in all they are all fairly painful. Once we hit 7 mins apart, we called the doctor, Gabe packed up the car, our sweet neighbor came over to stay with Brody, and headed out to the hospital. We have not notified any family members at this point since we don't have any real news to share and didn't want anyone to make a trip out here for false labor. I convinced Gabe to call my mom just to give her a heads up, but we didn't need her to do anything just yet. It was probably the tears that made him eventually cave.

(Early Evening) Once we were in our L&D room, they hooked me up to the monitors and saw that I was having real contractions and the nurse said I was "booming them out." Whatever that means? I guess she meant that they were pretty strong. I was dialated to a 3 and the nurse was pretty confident that my doctor would go ahead and admit me to stay and have this baby! Well, she was right. I was given an epidural pretty quick again (thank goodness!) and also pitocin in order to move this process along. My doctor came in around 10:00 pm. She told me to get some rest and she was going to go home and do the same, but that she would see me later. I was checked again close to midnight and the nurse said we were ready to start some practice pushing. By this time, our families have arrived at the hospital. They made a call to my doctor, but this baby couldn't wait. I started practice pushing right at midnight on Tuesday, October 26th and my sweet baby Cash arrived a brief 10 minutes later at 12:10 am (delivered by my L&D nurse, my doctor arrived just after he was born). He weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. What a beautiful and healthy baby boy! We are so very blessed! God is good!

Sweet bundle of joy!

Mommy and Baby Cash

Daddy and Baby Cash

Birth stats

Pregnancy - Baby #2

I haven't commented and/or posted much on this pregnancy, mainly because it has been a breeze. I am so much more comfortable this time around. I am not sure if it is because my body has been through this before, or if because this baby is smaller? Maybe a combo of both? Every doctor visit goes smoothly with a great sounding heartbeat and measuring right on time. We did have a 3rd trimester sonogram this time to get some measurements. I think the doctor ordered it because I would ask how big the baby is every. single. doctor. visit. She probably was getting annoyed. ;) Looking back, not sure this was the best idea. The sono tech said the measurements could be off by 3 weeks. All the sonogram did was make me worry that my baby was going to be awfully large! My plan is to work until I have the baby, just as I did with Brody.

Hair Cut

Brody was in dire need of a "real" haircut. Gabe has been Brody's full-time barber for the past year. His hair grows so fast, just like mine, so I am thankful to have saved the $18 every few weeks for the past year. We were torn. We loved his curls and weren't sure we wanted to chop them off, but at the same time, we were resorting to hair-do's like the ones below just so he could see. It was time we did something about it.

So we decided to put this conundrum into the hands of professionals. We were pleased with the way it turned out. Gabe said it was exactly what he wanted. And Brody did really well.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Behind!

I am so behind on blogging. I am going to try to catch up as quickly as possible, especially since we have had a life changing event take place since the last post. The next few posts happened a little while ago, but still want to have them documented.

Sneak Peek

Gabe and I have a friend from high school and college who is starting out her photography business, even though a lot of you blog readers are her friend too I am still giving a shout-out to Paige Walker Photography. She was kind enough to drive to our home last weekend to snap some photos. We were glad she brought her whole family along with her so we could all catch up and the kids could play!

Here are a few "Sneak Peek" pics she posted today on her blog. We are under the heading "SOON TO BE 4"

Lewis Family Pictures

If you are looking for a portrait/special events photographer, give Paige a call!

www.paigewalkerphotography.com

Green Beans and Ketchup

Sounds delicious, right????

I caught Brody dipping his green beans in his ketchup during lunch today. Yuck! We all do crazy things, I guess!

Happy Sunday!

The Cutest Little Ring Bearer

Earlier this year, Gabe's college roommate proposed to his girlfriend in Paris. (How awesome!!) When they returned home, the wedding plans began. Choosing the date and venue as well as selecting bridesmaids and groomsmen. Well, Colin was sweet enough to ask Gabe to be a groomsman. I knew it meant a lot to Gabe to be asked and I could tell he was excited. I'm sure mainly due to the bachelor party! :) After continuing their phone conversation Colin expressed how much it would mean to he and Kristen to have Brody be the ring bearer in their wedding, now I am excited! First of all, what mom doesn't think their child is the cutest thing in the world? And who wouldn't want their adorable 18 month old to dress in a mini tux? I just about died when I saw him in it at the tux shop.

Back on track...

Their wedding was in Houston at a gorgeous country club in mid-September. He are some pictures from the weekend, all of Brody of course.

"Go"

Brody was repeating "go" every two seconds, because he was ready to "go" to the rehearsal!

Thanks Colin and Kristen for the adorable rehearsal outfit!

Gabe and Brody at the rehearsal, watching "Brody" videos

***WEDDING DAY***

Watching the pre-wedding entertainment. A man singing with a little guitar playing.

STILL watching the man play

Right before this picture, Brody is having a HUGE, MASSIVE, LOUD fit because Daddy left to walk down the aisle. He is screaming with tears streaming down his face. I am in panic-mode wondering is he going to be able to do this? I'm almost tearing up.... I finally set him down, in line right before he is to start his walk. The 7 year old flower girl just takes his hand and completely takes over. Brody does just fine. He made it all the way down. Just stopped briefly to pick up some of the petals that were being dropped by the flower girls!

And they are off.... This flower girl (holding Brody's hand) was so sweet to him and did a great job of helping him walk down the aisle.

Colin and most of the the groomsmen. Cut one guy off....sorry!

The only picture I got of the bride all weekend. (I hate it when I do that.) Kristen is one of the kindest, sweetest, happiest people I have ever met. And she was glowing the whole weekend!

This is what Brody and I did during the ceremony. Up and down the stairs, up and down, up and down. Oh yeah, and we played cars for a little bit. His sweet flower girl friend was kind enough to bring Brody some toys so he would stay quite during the ceremony. How kind is that?

Where is Brody? He is standing the dance floor right in the center, solo. He could have stayed and watched them play all night long! Definitely a fan of music.

Dancing!! Not really, looks like he just finished a routine or something, but in all actuality, he was clapping to the music. Makes me laugh!

Doing some dance moves with Daddy

Intently watching the band play....

Showing us some skin

Enjoying his time on the dance floor

My 2 loves

Mommy and Brody - excuse the ponytail, my hair was not cooperating with the Houston humidity (especially since it rained an hour before the wedding)

Sunday morning -- total "man pose"

The wedding was absolutely stunning and we were so greatful to be included in all the festivities. Wishing Colin and Kristen a very long, blissful marriage!