Almost Time

I am WAY behind with our blog...partly because time is flying by...the other is because the computer that I put our pics on is upstairs, and I just don't venture up there that much right now. So, to play catch up a little...Right after I posted last, we had an offer on our house after about 4 years on the market. It sent me into a little of a panic at first. Wouldn't you know it..when the nursery is half way complete, someone would want our house. Long story short- we were suppose to be out by April 21st, but we are waiting for their house to sell. So the contract has been extended till June 30th. Whew! I can breathe again for a little bit. And I'm glad that we will be able to bring Ava home to her beautiful nursery.
In other news...If you are reading this, I guess it's evident that I have made it to 38 weeks! Yay! Short cervix and all..This pregnancy has been pretty easy for the most part, and I am thankful for that. Just for the sake of it, I'm going to do a Pregnancy Highlights-so I can remember this time.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 38 weeks and 1 day

Size of Ava: According to our weekly checkup last Friday, she is estimated to way a whopping 8 lbs and 6 ozs- and she's not even here yet.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Around 20 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Yep! Yep! Got about 9 lbs of baby in this belly

Gender: We better be having a girl!

Movement: She was really active a couple of weeks ago, but the bigger she gets the less space she has in there. I still feel her every day. Now, it's just like whole body parts rolling across my stomach. She's really been responding to Trent and music.

Sleep: Is good till about 2 or 3 am. After that, I toss and turn for the rest of the night.

What I Miss: Absolutely nothing. I'm just ready for this sweet girl to get here!

Cravings: Let's see... Icee's still-especially coke Icee's. I feel like a bad mother admitting this but for the past two weeks, I have craved a coke everyday. Thank you Sonic happy hour! Other cravings: mushroom quesadillas with fresh pico de gallo-thank you Mi Pueblo! and the list goes on...

Symptoms: Waddle everywhere! I feel like I've become a side show attraction at school. The little kids love to make comments about the baby. The Junior High girls take one look at my stomach, then look at theirs, and then have this look of fear. I'm thinking it may be a good form of birth control for them.

Best Moment This Week: Was actually last Friday, when we found out her due date is moved up to May 18th with plans for an induction-if I don't go into labor before then! Exciting times!!! We are busy to last minute things in the Haynes household.

So to catch up to date a little more.. Here we go with some pics.

A sweet little diaper wreath for Baby Ava. You can't really see all of them, but there are these little wood humpty dumpty figures attached to ribbon that were on my nursery mobile when I was a baby.

Forrest City Baby Shower- April 3, 2011

It was beautiful, and we are so grateful for wonderful family and friends.
Ava is already one blessed and spoiled little girl.
Momma and Grandma Ava
Our sweet bassinet from the hostesses
My mom had this surprise for me. It was a framed picture of my great grandmother (Opal Leona), my mother (Ava Sue), me, and then we will put one in of Ava Leona when she's around the same age.
All of our sweet hostesses, me, and mom. Pretty sure my eyes are closed but oh well!
Soon to be family of 3-or 5 if you count our canine children!

I still have A LOT of catching up to do, but this is a start for now. Hopefully, I will get some more posts in before sweet baby comes but if not, life will go on! And how exciting it will be!

Playing catch up...

Wow! Where has the time gone? I don't even know where to start as it's close to a month since I posted anything. For starters...3rd trimester hit with a bang! We had a little scare around mid-late February. I had some weird pains one Thursday night and hadn't felt Ava move just a whole lot that week. This didn't really alarm me as she has not been a real active baby. But I called my OBGYN on Friday anyway, just to me on the safe side. They had me come in to do an exam and by a fluke chance at this Dr.'s visit determined that my cervix was a little short at that point in the pregnancy. The Dr. who saw me that day put me on bed rest for the weekend and scheduled a follow up visit for Monday, which needless to say freaked me out! I went in that Monday and they determined my cervix hadn't changed any, so that was good news! Basically from what I understand, is that your cervix shortens as your pregnancy progresses. So the fear would be that as she gets bigger and starts pressing down, my cervix won't be able to take it. The ultrasound tech reassured me, though, that she has monitored a woman all during her pregnancy that still ended up having to be induced in the end. So the good news right now is that my cervix is holding it's own, they are going to monitor it, and the longer she stays in there, the better...even though we are so ready to hold her! On a side note- If I get put on full bed rest, I'm not sure Trent's going to be able to handle it!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 29 week...and 2 days!

Size of Ava: 2 1/2 lbs and about the size of a butternut squash. (I think she probably weighs more than this as she was about this weight 2 weeks ago.)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 10-11 lbs *I think. Our scale is broke, and we're too cheap to replace it right now. I really need to get on that. But I'm basically wearing the same clothes that I've been wearing the past couple of weeks.

Maternity Clothes: Definitely on the pants...still able to wear "some" regular tops. It's about time to go Spring shopping.

Gender: We cannot wait for Baby Ava to get here!

Movement: Some days she moves more than others, but for the most part she is still a pretty tame baby. She loves to respond to music!

Sleep: I sleep walk to the bathroom at least 5 times a night, and my body tends to get real sore if I lay on one side for an extended period of time.

What I Miss: Right now...Sleep!

Cravings: I had a craving for sherbet today and could have killed for an icee last night at Target-but the machine was out of order.

Symptoms: Expanding belly. Trent said my belly gets bigger each week-at least it's for a great purpose!

Best Moment This Week: I'm just so thankful to be pregnant and each week she stays in there and I feel her move, it's just reassuring that she's growing and everything's going to be alright.

And we had a FUN moment this week...Ava's first baby shower. Pics are below!

School Shower: March 3, 2011

Pics of her mommy and daddy to greet the guests

I didn't get a pic of what all she got. I'll try to get one later. We are SO thankful for all of my coworkers/friends. She is a lucky little girl to have such wonderful people in her life.

Ava's little diaper cake!

My mom had this surprise for us to open. The outfit is one that my grandmother Opal Leona made for me (Ava's name sake). And the pic is one that my mom had made of me before I was even a year old. Look at all that hair!

The wonderful hostesses that threw our shower and our awesome gift...the Baby Jogger City Select. I am SO excited about this stroller...and I LOVE all of these ladies!

Had to throw in a pic of the grandmothers! My mother (Ava's other name sake) is notorious for not opening her eyes in pics! Maybe little Ava will be able to help her grandma with some photo skills.

And here's the proud daddy! He's going to be such a good one!

We also had this little pic taken about a week ago. Let me just say...I am not a huge fan of these. I think most babies look the same in them and like they are covered in jello. Ours is no exception. Even though I love getting pics of my daughter, Trent and I both feel she kind of resembles something off Harry Potter in this pic. I accidentally put the really good one in her baby book tonight before I could scan it, so this one had to make the cut. She was actually breech the whole time (no matter how much sugar they tried to force down me), and she wanted to keep her head in the placenta-which made all the pictures cloudy. We thought the pic below was funny though because right before this was captured my mom said, "Ava- if you don't turn around where we can see you, I'm not going to buy you any more cute little outfits." She, in return, put her hand up by her face as if she were saying "Oh, no." So meet our future Harry Potter star or the next President of the U.S.!

In other good news: I passed my glucose test and Trent's on the straight A track in his Master's classes. I hope I don't jinx him by posting that!

Lots of Snow and Less Than 100 days to Go!!

You would think with three and a half snow days last week that I would have updated the blog a lot sooner than right before going back to work on Sunday night...but I didn't. I was, however, more productive in other areas that needed attention around our home.
Trent and I both had a snow day on Monday, went to work Tuesday, and then both were released from work early on Wednesday before the blizzard hit. The weather reports were saying that this was the most snow our area had seen in years. I, personally, love snow..but do not like to drive on ice! We stayed in all day Wednesday. Then Trent made a birthday breakfast for our friend that lives down the road Thursday morning. We ventured over to the Burrows on Thursday night to take JP his Valentine's present. And then we finally got out of Marion late Friday afternoon. Trent and I decided to celebrate Valentine's a little early because we knew the weekend would be crazy with people wanting to get out and work would be even crazier with trying to play catch up. So we did a little shopping, had dinner at Jim's Place East and then went to see True Grit. You can tell we are playing catch up with our movie selection as it's been out for about 2 months now, but the pickings have been a little slim lately (Come on Hollywood!). Anyway...this will be our last Valentine's Day just the two of us, so we are trying to sit back and enjoy all of these LASTS before Ava gets here.
Other than going to Little Rock on Saturday to pick up a table for the nursery from a lady I found on Etsy (Have I mentioned that I LOVE that place!), we have enjoyed our time at home together.

Our little Porkchop is so excited about the snow!

And our canine son loves the snow as much as he loves his daddy! We'll look over and he'll just be eating it.

This is a TERRIBLE pic! Let me just say that I have no weather proof clothes at this point right now, so Trent loaned me some of his. This is probably the 3rd time of my life that I have ever worn camo-besides camo day for homecoming in high school. I felt like the Marshmallow man on ghost busters. Anyway...since this was taken on Thursday when my countdown hit the 100 day mark, I wanted a pic to remember it. I need to be better about taking belly pics but like I said before, it's just not that glamorous!

And the two of us...just rolled out of bed and weather proofed. That's about as real as you get!

And... on Saturday I hit the 26 week mark, so let me do a pregnancy weekend update :).

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 weeks

Size of Baby: Almost 2 lbs and about the length of an English hothouse cucumber-whatever that is!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I think I've gained back about 9 lbs out of the original lost, but our scale as been acting whack for the past couple of weeks and is showing that I've lost 15 to 20. That would be great if I weren't trying to grow a baby, so it's probably time for a new scale.

Maternity Clothes: Yes please!! It's time to do some Spring shopping. I can still wear some regular things but the maternity clothes are so much more comfy.

Gender: It's a girl! Ava Leona Haynes will be here in May!

Movement: She's still a pretty passive baby, but the thumps are feeling more like jabs. It makes me laugh to feel them for some reason.

Sleep: Had gotten better until here lately. I'm starting to see what 3rd trimester is going to be like.

What I Miss: Sleeping all the way the way through the night and not being able to eat sushi, undercooked steaks, etc....

Cravings: Um...pretty much have just wanted cucumber and tomato salad everyday for the past week-so weird. And I could probably eat a whole watermelon right now. I could also drink sweet tea all day long, but I don't!

Symptoms: Heart burn like you wouldn't believe! It seems that my nausea is starting to come back a little. It's getting harder to bend over and pick things up, and the list goes on....

Best Moment This Week: Feeling her move stronger and hitting the 100 day mark! Yippee!

Until next week...when we enter the 3rd trimester!!!!!

24 weeks and counting!

I've been a bad blogger lately...but between starting back work after Christmas, dealing with crazy weather, fighting off a mild case of the flu, and planning a nursery...life has been a little busy! And I am loving every minute of it! Baby Ava's nursery is starting to come together! Yay! We went to pick up the chair and dresser this weekend, and her bed should be in this week. Now that all the big details seem to be underway, I can't wait to focus on the small details! She will be here before we know it :). And as much as I've planned this nursery out in my head for a long, long time...the most important thing is that she arrives here safely. She's not going to care what her room looks like at first! I did want to share a little peek at one of the inspiration fabrics for her room. The fabric below was picked out first, and then everything has fallen into place around it! I'll have to share pics of the finished product later on!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 weeks!

Size of Baby: About the size of a Rutabaga; as long as an ear of corn

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 5-7 lbs back of the original weight lost

Maternity Clothes: Most Definitely..the need is growing from one week to the next!

Gender: Every ultrasound confirms that Ava Leona will be joining our family! There has been no question!

Movement: Beginning to feel more noticeable thumps...Today in church it almost felt like she had the hiccups. I definitely feel her better in certain positions-like leaning back in bed or in a chair.

Sleep: Has actually gotten better the last few weeks. Maybe I'm getting used to being uncomfortable. I still have to get up about three times during the night.

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach

Cravings: Still Icee's, fruit, salad...my appetite is def coming back.

Symptoms: Protruding stomach...nausea seems to be gone! Praise the Lord!

Best Moment This Week: Everytime I feel my daughter move inside me, it's all the more reassuring and I love it!

These were taken a little over 23 weeks. Everytime I look at them, I feel blessed beyond measure!

I think it already looks like she has a little round face! She has no hope between me and Trent!

20 weeks down, 20 to go!!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 weeks (and 1 day today)!

Size of Baby: About the size of a banana

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Still not gained a whole lot back from what I lost..maybe a couple of pounds. Dr. is not concerned though because the baby is growing!

Maternity Clothes: Yep! Definitely at that point. I'm having to wear more and more maternity shirts to cover the belly band on most of my pants.

Gender: It's a GIRL!! Ava Leona Haynes. My regular Dr. confirmed this, also, about a week ago!

Movement: Definitely feeling little flutters more, although, she doesn't seem to be a very active baby even on her ultrasounds. New Year's Eve night she thumped by stomach so hard I could feel it with my hand!

Sleep: What sleep?

What I Miss: Uninterrupted sleep

Craving: Icee's (all the time), still salads and fruit, and mexican food (which Trent discourages more often than not).

Symptoms: Nausea seems to have decreased somewhat. Stomach is protruding a little more. Bathroom trips are increasing again. And WOW! The heartburn I have been experiencing makes you want to curl up into a little ball.

Best Moment This Week: Everyday is a great day knowing she is growing inside of me and feeling her little flutters is all the more reassuring! Hitting the 20 week mark is exciting in itself!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!!! 2010 has gone by super fast, and I can't wait for 2011! Bring on the New Year! Above is our Christmas card this year. I've used Tiny Prints for the past two years and have been super pleased with the way they have turned out. My dad shot this in front of our Christmas tree, and I think the card pretty much sums up how we feel about the year- Blessed beyond measure! We have so many things to be thankful for! And this will be our last Christmas just the two (or 4) of us!
I don't have a ton of Christmas pics to share this year, because 1. I didn't worry with my camera a whole lot and 2. We had a very low key Christmas-which I highly enjoyed! We attended several little family and friend get togethers and got to hang out with some of our favorite little people. We went to see a movie on Christmas Eve and had dinner at McEwen's, where we had our first date 5 years ago. We ate a lot of good meals, had some really good rest, and got a lot of baby planning done and underway. *Elvis did give us a scare on Christmas day and decided to have a little joy run in my parent's neighborhood right before night time. Thanks to my keen tracking skills :) I was able to locate him after about 45 minutes down the street in a cove. Trent was already making his way across town. Sad to say, but I don't think Prissy was to concerned about us finding her brother.
I have an aunt that says whatever you are doing on New Year's day is an indicator of how the rest of your year will go. Tomorrow I plan on spending the day in my pj's, putting all of Christmas up, and organizing. So maybe I will have a productive 2011! I will be having a baby, after all!

17 weeks and "HO, HO, HO"!

We went to NEA women's clinic Friday the 10th and had a gender scan done! We figured that we had been patient for two years waiting for God to bless us with a child, why not be a little impatient in find out if we are going to have a daughter or a son!? AND.....It looks like Baby Haynes is a GIRL!!!!!!!!! I asked the tech if she was 100% certain and she said YES! Trent said he knew it was a girl before she said anything! We have named her Ava Leona Haynes, after my mother Ava and her mother (my grandmother) Opal Leona. We are THRILLED!!! She was a little modest wanting to keep her little ankles crossed! Looks like we already have a little lady! (I hope she stays that way!) The tech made her move around, and we could see her little arms and legs fly up! It is such an AMAZING experience. There is nothing like seeing her move around and I'm sure it will be even more amazing to hold her when she gets here! We go for my scheduled appointment at Ruch in a couple of weeks for the big ultrasound. I can't wait!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 17 Weeks

Size of Baby: About the size of a turnip or sweet potato (depending on what you read)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 2 lbs from the 10 lost

Maternity Clothes: Love my maternity jeans/pants and am having to wear more of my maternity shirts. Some regular things still fit with the help of the belly band.

Gender: Just found out Baby Haynes is a GIRL!!! Ava Leona!...had been feeling that the baby was a girl for the last couple of weeks!

Movement: Nothing defining yet, but I'm starting to feel more pressure in my abdomen were her head is.

Sleep: Differs from night to night, but I'm pretty sure I had my last full night of sleep a long, long time ago and probably wont for a long, long time! Her head rest right on my bladder.

What I Miss: 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep...and I think I'm about to have to give up my occasional glass of sweet tea.

Craving: honey dew, cantaloupe, salad, chips and cheese dip

Symptoms: Nausea...that's part of the reason of haven't blogged in a while. 2nd trimester hit me HARD....meaning after every meal, I went and got sick. Some nights I would just come in and go to bed to stop from getting sick. Over the past week, though, I've started having more specific cravings. And one of the biggest symptoms- is that my stomach is noticably becoming harder and rounder.

Best Moment This Week: Was actually last Friday (12/10/10)...Finding out that we are having a GIRL!!!

Ava Leona Haynes

Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4

Had to throw this picture in, too! This was taken last night at the Vaught annual Cookies with Santa party. Trent was asked to play Santa this year...seeing as we have easy access to a Santa suit :)! We both had a really good time, and he enjoyed seeing the look on the kids' faces! They were all too cute. And, Kelly, he has already said that he would do it next year. I think he wants to upgrade his Santa suit, though, so we'll be on the look out! *Dana Johnson insisted that we get this pic, so I'll get her back later :)! I guess we could say that this is the first pic of Baby Ava sitting on Santa's lap!

13 and 1/2 weeks :)

I'm a little late posting this, but I was in bed sick the majority of last weekend. When you're pregnant and sick, it seems to make all your symptoms worse...but no pity party! I'm feeling much better now!
I have a friend that asked me to post pregnancy pics on here (you know who you are) ;)! I still haven't decided if I am into doing that yet, but we will see. Nothing has really changed bump wise! In fact, I've lost weight-which is fine with me as long as the baby is growing!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 13 and 1/2 Weeks (evidently I thought I was entering my 2nd trimester last week, but it seems that it might start this weekend! There's so much conflicting information out there!)

Size of Baby: Baby Haynes is the size of a lemon (or a peach! Who knows!)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Lost 10 lbs so far

Maternity Clothes: Wore my first pair of maternity pants to work today! They are still plenty roomy, but the waistband on maternity pants is a whole lot nicer to your stomach.

Gender: Highly anticipating finding out December 10th! We can't wait!

Movement: Haven't felt any movement yet! It's still surreal to me that there's a baby growing in there!

Sleep: Still waking up 3 or 4 times a night! I've been tossing and turning from left to right trying to find a comfortable position. Sometimes the only thing that help is lying on my back, but I think I'm suppose to stop that at some point.

What I Miss: Not a whole lot, but I did give into my craving for sweet tea! I limit myself!

Cravings: Haven't really craved anything in particular recently! Mexican food always sounds and looks good!

Symptoms: Nausea! It was bad last weekend, but it seems to be getting better! Today was a good day. And I feel like I'm getting more of an appetite back!

Best Moment This Week: Not getting sick today!

Blessed

God is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine.

Ephesians 3:20

This has been one of my favorite verses for the last two years. And after patiently trying and waiting for God to grant us with a child, we are THRILLED to announce on our blog that we are 12 weeks pregnant!!!! Most family and friends and everyone else that has been in hearing range know this already, but I figured it was time to make it blog official. The upstairs computer and I have not spent much time together for the last 2 months due to exhaustion and going to bed at about 5 o'clock everyday- no lie.

I must admit that in a world and time when you are so used to instant self gratification, the process of conceiving has been a very learning, draining, and maturing experience. I truly don't know if we were ready two years ago when I first asked God to grant us a child. But looking back I feel that He used those two years to strengthen our marriage and help us grow as a couple so that we would be ready when that time came. And His timing could not have been more perfect- in every aspect!!!! Baby Haynes will be here sometime around May 21st, and that means that Trent and I can pretty much have the whole summer off with the baby. I have this feeling that he or she will make their debut before the actual due date (My birth weight was a little over 8 lbs and Trent's was almost 11 lbs)- so I'm praying that we can make it as close to the due date as possible.

Today I am officially 12 weeks pregnant, which means I am entering into my 2nd Trimester. We have had great Dr.'s visits so far, and at the last appt Baby Haynes had a heartrate of 178. We did find out that I am Rh-, which means that I have to get a shot at 28 weeks but no big! Evidently my body is not exactly immune to Rubella either-even though I had all my shots when I was younger. So I will have to get a booster shot in the hospital right after the baby comes.
I'm stealing something from Kelly at Kelly's Korner. I am probably not going to be as devoted about doing this as she is, but I think it is a neat way to keep up with the progression of the pregnancy.

I'm 12 Weeks!!! First Trimester Down! YAY!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 12 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Haynes is the size of a Peach-which I was craving today!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Lost 6lbs so far due to food aversions

Maternity Clothes: Not really wearing maternity clothes yet. However, sometimes it is uncomfortable to button the top button on my pants due to bloating so I bought a maternity tank top to smooth things out. I can tell maternity jeans are going to be GREAT!!!

Gender: We CANNOT wait to find out. Looks like December 10th is going to be THE day! Everyone thinks it's going to be a boy.

Movement: Can't feel any movement yet and will probably be a while

Sleep: Usually great until about 2 or 3 in the morning and then I alternate between going to the bathroom and switching back and forth from R to L side. Sometimes the only way I can get comfortable is on my back, which is unusual bc I'm kind of a side/stomach sleeper. The Boppy full body pillow is coming in handy.

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach, sweet tea, and being able to make it through a meal

Cravings: Salads, soup, salty foods, and starbursts the past couple of days- trying to limit that intake

Symptoms: Tiredness, Extreme food aversions, bloating, headaches the past couple of days, metallic taste in mouth most days and then some I'm just not going to name

Best Moment This Week: Everyday is great because we are so THANKFUL to be pregnant!! I am also glad that we have made it to the 2nd trimester. YAY!! and Praise the LORD!

Better Late than Never!

I have been a BAD blogger lately! Life got crazy with working this summer, then summer vacation, then starting back my first job, and so on and so on! But speaking of summer vacation, I wanted to try and update our blog with a slideshow from our little trip this summer. We had a nice little get away. It was really not long enough!
Trent and I took off the last week of July and headed to Durham NC (while stopping at Knoxville and Ashville). He has always wanted to see Duke's basketball arena, so that was first on our trip. Then we headed down to Charleston for a weekend and met up with two of my besties from grad school, Jonee' and Whitney and their fellas. We had a great time catching up and sight seeing! Charleston is such a beautiful city.
After we left Charleston, we headed down to Hilton Head-which we loved! Trent is dying to go back and stay longer. Then after leaving HH, we headed to Savannah for a bit! We were busy, busy! I truly loved our vacation and am so thankful that we were able to get away together, but next time I think I am staying in one spot!
On the way home we stopped at the GA Aquarium in Atlanta and just across the way- The World of Coke. Um....let's just say Trent was in heaven. Drinking coke is not really a habit I support of his, and he truly has gotten better about it. But that boys loves him some coke!

Above is our slideshow. I still haven't figured out how to combine everything into one post, so if anyone knows, please share the wealth!

4 years and going strong!

Four years ago today....Trent and I were getting ready to dance our first dance as husband and wife. We danced to the song we had our first dance to, on our first date (about 6 months before). And every time we hear Al Green's "Let's Stay Together"...it brings back so many great memories. Here's to many more great years and the fun that lies ahead!

July 21, 2006

This and That...

Oh my! Where has this summer gone? I can't believe it's only a month until school starts back! I guess we better make it a good one!
These pics are actually in reverse from when they were taken. Trent and I went to Dallas over the Fourth of July for a long weekend. It was a very relaxing but quick trip. We were able to spend some time with Trent's best friend from high school, Tab, and his family. I didn't get any pics from our time together, but we always enjoy visiting with them. And...I played shuffle board for the first time. I don't know if it was the rush of learning a new game or...the fact that I beat Trent our first round :)- but I have to say that I am a fan now. I was a little intimidated, though, because I was playing on a team with Mr. Gary, Tab's dad. This guy is way more athletic than I'll ever be, considering he's officiated two Super Bowls.

Now, jump ahead....The next two pics are from when Trent and I babysat my best friend Sarah's little boy, JP. He is such a little ham, and I love all his little curls that he is getting. He turns the big 1 next week. I can't believe that a year has already gone by! JP loves Trent and cracks up whenever he's around. Although, I don't think he's too sure about having his picture taken.

He's thinking.."What's so interesting about me and my veggie puffs?"

Now go back to Dallas....Thank you Rebekah for this recommendation below.....

I think we'll plan all future trips around cities that have a Sprinkles from now on!

We ate lunch at a great little place in the Highland Park area.

And this was the sunset right before fireworks lit up the night sky.

*On the brighter side- Trent had more of the area removed from his shoulder, and UAMS was RIGHT...he in fact did not have melanoma. The cells were abnormal, but they did not meet all the criteria for melanoma. Praise the Lord! I know that many people have melanoma removed every day and go on to live long healthy lives. But...it's still a scary word to hear regardless, and I pray that we do not ever have to encounter it again.

Thanks for the prayers (Shea) and anyone else that might have sent some up for us. They are always appreciated :).

Family Time

We've had a busy time with family visits during the month of June. My brother, his wife, and two little ones came in the second week. And we stayed busy with a huge family fish fry, a trip to build a bear and the Children's Museum, swimming, and the list goes on. I think the hit of the trip for my nephew Avery was watching his dad and me play old school Nintendo. (I'm talking 1st generation!) Mine is still in perfect condition.
We do not get to see them enough because we live so far away from each other, but I'm already looking forward to our next get together-hopefully sooner rather than later.

We were able to get some family pics before they left for the airport...minus Prissy and Elvis!

And here is all four of the Hankins men. I think Avery got some jelly beans for staying still long enough to get some family pics.

Here in one pic from our trip to CMOM. The boys both loved it!

And then it was time to say our goodbyes. Trent is so good with kids....probably because he knows how to act like one himself.

Our neices and nephew from CO also came for a visit in June. I caught this cute pic of Garrett and Trent swinging in his parents backyard. Lawson and Kennedy were too busy running around, but I think Garrett was about to play out. We are lucky to be the aunt and uncle of some great kids!

*Other June news.....Trent took a new job, we put our house back on the market, and Trent is going in for a surgey on Tuesday at UAMS to have an area of skin removed from his back. The initial biopsy indicated that it was Melanoma. Now there are a few questions. If you read this, please send up a few prayers for us this week...that it is in fact NOT Melanoma and wisdom for these doctors, so they will quit giving us the run around.

Updates

Wow! It's been a long time since I put anything on here! What a fast year so far.... I know I can't possibly go back and remember everything that's happened since January, so I'm just going to hit a few of the high points.

Our nieces and nephew from CO came in sometime in the Spring, and we had a nice little visit with them...even squeezing in a picnic and trip to the zoo.

Before that, Elvis celebrated his third birthday in February. He loves his extra special treats from Three Dog Bakery. He even got a bison bone, that I think is still around somewhere. For anyone that know Elvis, that is pretty rare. He can destroy a stuffed animal in under 5 minutes.

And we had a special celebration with the birth of Lawson Thomas in January. One of our closest family friend's little boy. He has grown so much since this picture and is such a cute baby!

Christmas 2009..part 2

I could spend all day posting Christmas pics, but I have a million and one things around the house that I need to be doing...like taking down our Christmas tree! I know! We are terrible! I might just put a big heart on top of it to celebrate Valentine's Day....I've been helping out at a nursing home in West Memphis on the weekends, so the weekends are short and sweet for me!
I would much rather be doing what Prissy is doing below, today!... This pic was taken a couple of days after Christmas, and I think she was pretty much worn out! I got a few pics of Elvis over the holidays. But...mostly you just see a leg or a tail! He is a CRAZY dog, but we love him!

So today I am taking advantage of this SNOW DAY!!! and getting caught up around the house! Yea! for snow days..even though we will have to make it up :(.
We had a very busy Christmas season...school parties, birthday dinners, baby showers, baby arrivals, Christmas get-togethers...you name it and we probably did it! We said goodbye to 2009 and rang in 2010. And I must say, although 2010 has gotten off to a rocky start; I am optimistic that 2010 is going to be a great year.

Prissy loves her daddy...and her grandpa and grandma!

Christmas Eve night! We almost forgot to take a pic. Trent was too busy playing with his new Benelli...and no, he did not shoot his eye out!

My parents gave us a Fontanini Nativity before Christmas and I cannot wait to add to it in years to come.

2009 Christmas tree...looks a lot like 2008!

We love our stockings Ms. Joanne made us. They are one of my favorite things to put out at Christmas.