The City of Lights

We took Chase to Canton one night to see all the lights. It was sooo beautiful, we all felt like we were in a magic land! Joe was here visiting, and had never seen the square decorated for Christmas, so it was a real treat for him, too. I would have given anything for Jimmie Dean to see it!!

Christmas Cards 2008

Here are some pictures we took of Chase in front of the Christmas tree, trying to get that perfect picture for our Christmas cards. Of course, we didn't get a "perfect" one, but they were all so cute, I wanted to share.



One thing I'll never forget is how much Chase loved the Christmas tree this year. He wanted to help decorate when I was putting the ornaments on, so I let him put some of the plastic balls on the tree. It was so funny, he hung every ball on the same branch, and then proclaimed, "Look Mommy! Chase did it!!!" We eventually got him his own little tree, complete with colored lights, and gave him his own ornaments to decorate it with. He loved his tree! And he loved getting up every morning and turning the lights on to the big tree. As soon as they came on he would say, "It's so pretty!!" At first, this comment concerned us a little, but we soon found out that on his Barney Christmas DVD, after they finished decorating the Christmas tree, Baby Bop says, "It's so pretty!!" - just the way Chase was saying it. He watched that DVD so much that he was reciting the lines before the characters said them. He even learned all the words to the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," including the dance moves. So cute!!!!!!

Early Christmas Present

On December 8th, we got an early Christmas present. We found out that we're having a GIRL! We are so excited!!!!!!!!!! We decided to wait until Christmas to tell our families, and it was very hard to keep the news to ourselves!! Chase seems very excited about his baby sister. He kisses her and gives her hugs. He's going to be the best big brother! Here is our sweet baby girl:


It is amazing how much her profile looks just like Chase's. There's one difference though: he was all sprawled out laying on his back with his legs straight up in the air, and she is all scrunched up in a ball with her knees to her chest. You can see her feet above her head. It took us a while to find out she was a girl because she was so active and moving all over the place. And then she covered her privates with her hands (already modest) - it was so cute! Billy and I just knew it was another boy, so we were in shock when they announced it was a girl. I wish you could have seen Billy's beaming face!! We are so very blesssed!!!

A healthy, happy boy!

After we got home from Thanksgiving, Chase got even worse. We ended up taking him to the after-hours clinic on Monday, December 1, where they first tested him for RSV. Luckily, he tested negative, but we spent the next fews days giving him breathing treatments twice a day. The first treatment was given to him in the doctor's office, and it took three of us to hold him down. It was the most traumatic experience I've had so far as a mother!! But, he was such a good sport after a few treatments, and we finally got him well. This is our healthy, happy boy that following Sunday night.

Thanksgiving Memories

This year's Thanksgiving was unique in many ways. For the first time, I think ever, I was the only child spending Thanksgiving with my parents. Melody and her family spent Thanksgiving in Texas with Thomas' family, and Amanda and Rob stayed in Jackson with his family. It was very odd being the only ones there, and you would think we'd enjoy the peace and quiet. But peace and quiet was far from what we experienced! Chase got sick the day before we left, so we went to the doctor where they gave him a shot and put him on a round of steroids. Needless to say, he was not a happy camper the entire time we were in Tupelo. I think everyone was ready for us to go home by the end of the weekend!! But right before we left, Paw took Chase for a ride on his school bus, and that made our whole weekend. It's a trip that he will never forget - thanks Paw!!!

The "Fix-it" Man

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we decided to go ahead and get our Christmas tree down and put up, so that after we got back from being out of town through Thanksgiving, we would have plenty of time to get it decorated this year. Well, Chase LOVES to help do everything, and even more so he loves to "fix" things. For example, when riding in the car, he will turn off the DVD player, pretend that it is broken, then turn it back on and proclaim, "Chase fix it!!!" Here is Chase helping Daddy get the tree up:


And here's a picture of "cool dude" playing with some of his new birthday toys:

All Aboard: Chase's 2nd Birthday Party!

Chase loves choo-choo trains, so we had a Thomas the Train birthday party. Unfortunately the stomach virus was running rampant through the day care, so most of his classmates didn't get to come. And we barely made it through the party before Chase took it. But fun was had by all, and Chase loved his birthday party!! We had it at his school and had a bouncer for the kids to jump in. After the party was over, we came home and let him open his gifts. I'm not sure which was his favorite part?? Here are pictures from the day.