New Years Eve

We got back down to Jackson to spend a little more time with Bert's family late Thursday (29th) night.  We've had a great visit so far.  Bert's sister, Carrie, flew back to CA early this morning We were sad to see her go, but we're looking forward to seeing her in a few months when she comes to visit us in Wake Forest after Hannah's born.

This morning we started out the day with a trip to Macon to visit my brother, Stanley.  Stanley's been living in Macon since August, and since Macon is just about 40 minutes from Bert's parents house we decided we'd hop in the car to go see where he lives and what he's been up to.:)  It was great to see him.  He's participating in the year long Fellows Program through First Presbyterian for recent college graduates.  He's staying really busy, but I think he's really enjoying it.  It was fun to be able to meet his host family...they're so sweet to him!

On the way back, Grandmama (Bert's mom, Linda) had the important job of keeping Emily awake until we could make it back to her house.  It had been a busy morning so Emily really just wanted to go to sleep...she was fighting it the whole way back to Jackson.  Linda did an amazing job keeping her entertained.  She kept pulling fun things out of her purse for Emily to play with, she sang to her, read her books, etc.  It really was impressive!

Just as we were turning back onto the interstate to head back to Jackson we heard something bounce across the top of the car.  We first thought we accidentally left Emily's sippy cup up there, but then we found it.  We still were not quite sure what had fallen off but nothing seemed to be missing.  About a minute after we'd been driving down the interstate Bert all the sudden remembered he'd set his phone on top of the car when he was putting Em in her car seat.  Sad, sad day.  Bert and I both felt sick to think it was gone.  His phone is just a few weeks old, we don't have a land line, we're about to have a baby (so I need to be able to get in touch with him), my phone died about a month ago and I'm not up for renewal for another year.....you get the idea....all these things were going through our minds.  Bert got off at the next exit and we headed back to look for the phone.  Thankfully, the phone had fallen off while we were still on the ramp getting onto the interstate.  Bert and I got out to start looking for the phone and Grandmama stayed in the car with Emily (still working hard to keep her awake).  Well, we found the phone in the grass on the side of the ramp.  SO thankful!!  The battery and back of the phone had broken off and were separated from the phone itself...we were able to find all three pieces.  Bert had to work on the phone a little after we got back to Jackson, but he was finally able to get the back on the phone, and it seems to be working well.  Woohoo!  The phone definitely looks like it's taken a beating, but Bert doesn't seem to mind.  I think he might even like that phone a little better now.:)

Later on, Jeff and Linda treated all of us to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  Bert's Grandma came with us...it was fun to see her as we haven't seen her in awhile!  Here are a few pictures from our night out.

We finished off New Years Eve by watching a fireworks show put on by Bert and Jeff.  The fireworks were beautiful and very impressive!

2011 has been a wonderful year, and we're looking forward to 2012 and the arrival of our Hannah!

Happy New Year!

A Trip to Target

Misty has been one of my best friends since kindergarten.  I just love her.  She lives in Gainesville, GA with her husband and daughter (also named Emily).  Bert and I had to make a quick trip to Target so I called Mist to see if she wanted to meet us there.

The girls are about 3 months apart and both named Emily.  They've met several times, but they were much more interested in each other this time.  They both kept calling one another "baby."  My Emily thinks every child under the age of 4 is a baby so that was no surprise! :)  

Hugging for the first time.  SO sweet!

Emily Jean (my Em) took something away from Emily Ann (Misty's Emily) and I had to get on to her.  I think Emily Ann thought I was getting on to her and was a little confused about why she had just gotten in trouble for having something taken away from her. :)  

It was so fun to see Misty and Emily.  I wish we were able to see them more often, but I'm thankful for the time we get!  

Working

Papa Stan loves for us to stop by and see him while he's working.  Emily loves it too!!  Here she is "helping" him work.  

She was fascinated with all the keys on his desk.  I was worried she was going to set off the alarm for one of the cars, but Papa Stan wasn't about to take the keys away from her.:)  I feel sure she could have stayed in there for hours.

Just as we were leaving the dealership we heard a train coming down the track.  Papa Stan ran Emily across the street so that she could see the train better.  All the noise didn't bother her one bit....she loved it.:)  

Christmas in Toccoa

We made it to Toccoa at about 11:30pm on Christmas Eve.  Christmas day fell on a Sunday this year so we changed our "normal" Christmas routine a little so that we would be able to go to church Christmas morning.  It was definitely a little different, but we were thankful to be able to all worship together and celebrate Christ's birth with other believers.  

It was fun to all be in church together.  Emily and Jacob did SO well.  Emily only wanted Uncle Brett to hold her during the sermon and she actually stayed really quiet.  Bert and I were quite impressed!  

Family picture.  Emily 20 months and Hannah 32 weeks in-utero.  

A few pictures we got of our sweet girl.  She was so excited!  

Emily did pretty good with the presents.  She was really excited at first and would open a couple, but then she was done....she was ready to run around.:)  She was still really excited about everything and just enjoyed all the people being in one room.  

We decided to watch the Lion King together one afternoon.  Emily was so entertained by these candy canes.  She would take them one at a time to each person in the room (taking breaks to dance to the music in the Lion King of course).  

Emily loved helping Jacob play in his exersaucer.

Enjoying our Christmas meal together.  

Papa Stan and Mimi ended up holding Jacob and Emily for the end of the meal.  Don't feel bad for them.  They enjoyed every minute of it.  

Emily hanging out with the Sanders...

A few pictures of Jacob and Emily...Jacob is 4 1/2 months here.  

Uncle Stan with his niece and nephew.  They love their "Uncle 'Tan."  

We had a great Christmas!  We were actually able to have 3 full days with everyone there.  It was definitely wild with a 20 and 4 month old, but we so enjoyed being together!  We're looking forward to having our Hannah with us next Christmas!

Second Cousins

We got together with Bert's cousins and their kids on Christmas Eve.  Emily truly thought she was as big as them.  They were so sweet to play with her!  

Bailey (5), Jordan (9), Kathryn (10), and Emily (20 months).

The day after Christmas we got together with my dad's brother and his family.  RJ (my cousin Jamie's son) is 6 and he really is too cute!!  When Emily first saw RJ she ran over to him with her arms open wide to give him a hug (I think she also thought he was her size/age:) ).  RJ started running away and Emily proceeded to chase him around the room.  Haha!  He was really shy around Emily at first, but then he slowly warmed up to her throughout the night.  Jamie caught him giving her a hug when no one was looking.:)  By the end of the night he didn't even complain when I asked him if Em could sit in his lap for a picture.  So sweet....love these two!  

Christmas in Jackson

We started out our Christmas travels in Jackson this year.  Linda had a few more sewing orders to finish up the first morning we were there and Emily wanted to be right beside her.  If Linda tried to leave the room Emily would grab her hand and drag her back to the sewing room saying "sewing, sewing."  Emily was standing on a bin right beside her and couldn't have been happier!

Bert's grandparents (Mamaw and Pawpaw) drove up from Florida on the 23rd.  Emily had a great time playing with them.  She's dancing for them in the picture below.  

Aunt Carrie (Bert's sister) flew in from Los Angeles the same night we were getting into town.  We literally arrived at Jeff and Linda's house within a minute of each other.  Crazy when you think about the fact that we were driving from NC and Carrie was flying from CA, and she left after us!  Emily LOVES her Aunt Carrie.  Carrie and Emily played outside for quite awhile.....running around the yard, picking up leaves and sticks, etc.  

Some of the girls....we're missing Alison in this picture.  

Emily and her Pawpaw.  

The Watts have the fun tradition of filling each others stockings.  Every adult has a stocking and we all get something to fill up each stocking.  It really is so much fun.  The stocking stuffers don't have to be expensive, but it's just fun to see what is in there.  There's always such a variety of things since everything is coming from different people. :)  

Here are the stockings after they've been filled up.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but the stockings are about to bust.  Such a fun tradition!  

Wordless Wednesday

32 weeks and counting

I had my 32-week check up today.  Hannah and I both got great reports...I'm so thankful! Hannah's heartbeat was 150bpm, and I was measuring right on track for 32 weeks. Because of Christmas travel plans it will be about 3 weeks before I'm able to go to another doctor's appointment (I'm going for check-ups every two weeks now).  The doctor was TOTALLY fine with all of our travel plans and said to just make my appointment when I get back into town.  He even went on to say I'm still early in my pregnancy so he's not worried at all about me pushing my appointment back.  Ha!  I totally understand what he means, but I certainly don't feel like I'm "early in my pregnancy."

I try to make my appointments at a time when Bert will be able to meet us there, or have someone keep Emily for me, but this time it couldn't be avoided: I had to bring her to my appointment and Bert couldn't make it.  I was slightly nervous about how she would do, but she did AMAZING!!  She actually stayed in her stroller during the entire appointment.  She definitely wined and squirmed a little, but she never cried.  I'm calling it a success!

I'm actually sleeping a little better than I was about a month ago, but I have many more aches and pains.  When I'm riding in the car it takes about 45 minutes for my back to start hurting and my feet to start swelling.  (Please pray for our 8 hour drive tomorrow.)  I have started swelling a little.  I had to take my wedding rings off about a week ago because of the swelling in my fingers.  They don't look swollen, but the marks left by the rings told the truth.  Bert was beginning to get worried we were going to have to cut them off one of these days.  I finally gave in and put them away for a few months.  Sad day.

I'm not really having any cravings that I can think of.  Hannah is constantly on the move.  I feel like she might be more active than Emily was, but then I don't really have that good of a memory, so I may have just forgotten what it was like at 32 weeks with Em.

I really do think Hannah already likes to be read to.  I was talking to Bert late yesterday morning and told him that I hadn't really felt her that morning (that I could remember).  I was sure she was fine, but I was paying pretty close attention to her movements just to put my mind at ease.  I sat Emily in my lap to read a book to her, and about 2 seconds after I started reading, Hannah started moving.  It made me smile.:)

I'm thankful for the sweet little girl in my womb.  Thankful she seems to be doing so well, and so excited about meeting her soon (although hopefully not too soon)!

A look back....

4 years ago:  Christmas 2007

3 years ago:  Christmas 2008

2 years ago:  Christmas 2009

1 year ago:  Christmas 2010

Watts Family Christmas

This year we decided to celebrate Christmas as a family before heading down to GA.  The idea of packing up our gifts to each other just to bring them back up after they were opened didn't make much sense to us.  Plus, we just love family time and we thought it would be fun to make some traditions of our own.:)  

Emily working hard to open a gift from Mama and Daddy...

Emily had lots of jobs.  She would bring us our gifts and then help us open them too.  She loved it....so did we!:)   

I decided since we were celebrating our family Christmas that we needed a family picture.  Emily was still REALLY busy and was not in the mood to sit down.  This is what we got....

I love our little family and we are SO excited about welcoming Hannah into our family in just a few short weeks!!