the williams family

updates!

2011-06-16T21:22:00.001-05:00

a lot has happened since i last posted. i went back to work in march, claire started daycare (which she seems to enjoy), morgan finished 4k and - we are building a house!! this is a dream come true for bo and i and it has been so fun (and a little stressful) so far.

Claire looking cute!

matching easter dresses

Morgan's dance recital

Morgan trying to teach Claire how to roll over

We also took our first family vacation as a family of four. we went to hot springs, arkansas and just spent a few days sleeping in, eating out and taking naps! it was great! we also went to the big water park/amusement park and morgan loved it. she went down one slide (the smallest one) well over 100 times. that's all she wanted to do :)

hopefully i will find time to post again to show our house progress. currently, the bricks were just finished, the roof is finished, and they are starting sheetrock tomorrow! we usually go out there at lunch and after work to check the progress. it's been so fun!

january 2011

2011-01-28T13:10:00.000-06:00

january is almost over, and claire is now 6 weeks old. she's still doing really well and morgan loves being a big sister. claire is getting bigger. as of today she is just over 10 lbs, is wearing 0 to 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. she is still exclusively breastfed and she sleeps pretty well. and she LOVES bathtime!

morgan turned 5 this month. it's hard to believe she is 5 years old!

we also had a "big" snow - at least big for cleveland. morgan got to make her first snowgirl thanks to mae mae. it was too cold to get claire out and bo was at work.

maternity leave has been wonderful and i still have over a month left. i am not looking forward to going back though. i'm just gonna enjoy the rest of my time at home and not think about it for now.

claire is here!!!

2011-01-05T23:28:00.001-06:00

Claire was born on dec 15th at 12:05 pm - she was 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
She has plenty of dark hair (just like morgan did at birth) and her eyes are still blue.
She is 3 weeks old today and she has been a really good baby so far. She only cries if she's hungry, tired or getting her diaper changed. She sleeps most of the day and sleeps well at night too. Breastfeeding has been going extremely well this time around and I'm proud to say she has not had an ounce of formula! In fact, I've already frozen 19 oz of breastmilk for when I return to work. I still have 9 more weeks to build up my freezer stash.

And I have to brag on Bo. He has been the best dad ever. He just adores claire and loves to hold her and look at her. He changes diapers and helps with baths.
He also was so helpful to me while I was recovering from my c-section. I am very blessed!

Morgan is enjoying being a big sister. She has been a little jealous, but she really loves her baby sister!

I will post some pics soon!

Also, starting back on ww soon. I've lost 20 of the 40 I gained, so I have to get back on track!

maternity photo session!!!

2010-10-19T08:49:00.002-05:00

we had pictures taken this weekend by rachael boyer. http://www.rachaelhboyer.smugmug.com/ here are a couple she posted on facebook.

isn't she talented!! i love them!

Claire's room! almost finished!

2010-10-18T09:44:00.000-05:00

so it's not quite finished...but getting close!

the crib and Bible verse behind it

up close of crib and bedding

up close of verse on wall. the blue in this pic is not right. the other two are closer to the real color of the wall

only 8 more weeks!!!

watch my belly (and claire!) grow

2010-10-07T09:48:00.000-05:00

5 weeks - day we took pregnancy test - happiest day of our lives!

12 weeks - starting to show!

18 weeks - strangers start to notice i'm pregnant

23 weeks!

28 weeks - had to upgrade to a maternity tank top - i'm huge!

i've taken a picture almost every week, but i didn't think anyone would want to look at 20+ pics - and we're getting professional pictures done next weekend, i'll be sure to share those as well!

Lead Me: The Call to All Men

2010-09-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

pause the playlist below before you start the video.

i have to say, my husband takes very seriously his role as the "leader" of our family and strives to be the best husband and father he can be. i am very blessed and i thank God for him every single day!

morgan is having a baby.....

2010-08-02T09:52:00.000-05:00

SISTER!!!!!
we are so excited to have two little girls!!! bo and morgan went with me to the ultrasound. of course, we had to wait forever in the waiting room. morgan just couldn't understand why we had to wait!
but anyway, bo brought the video camera, and he taped what we could see on the screen. it didn't take long for the ultrasound tech to tell us we are having a little girl. and she also checked all of the organs and measured the baby. she said everything looks like it's supposed to look, and that the baby is in the 90th percentile for size! neither of us is very tall so we figure most likely the due date is a little behind, because we just don't see how our baby could be big!

we have already gotten our crib and changing table in and have put them together. bo also installed a new fan in both the baby's room and morgan's room. next step is the bedding and painting the room. i have been obsessing over bedding, so hopefully i can make a decision soon!

on being pregnant....

2010-05-17T13:34:00.000-05:00

strangest things i've heard so far....

- co-worker (who has no children) "why did you want to do that?" me- because we wanted another baby "i know, but why? why would anyone want to" all i could think to say was "you'll understand one day"

- lady - "so, it was a surprise?" me- no, it was planned "oh, I didn't know you guys were even trying" (do people usually announce to the world when they are trying to have a baby? this person is not a relative, or even a friend - just an acquaintance) i thought it was very bizarre

- "i could tell you were pregnant" (i was 6 weeks at the time and had just announced it)

fathers are expecting too....

bo has been so cute. he's been wanting ice cream all the time and eating cookies at work. he says he's having "sympathy cravings". also, i'm very happy that he is so interested in the whole process. he gets the same weekly emails i do about our baby's growth and development. he'll say stuff like "you know the baby is the size of a kidney bean"..."and the lungs are developing".

he's also been enjoying reading "what to expect when you are expecting" - which is great because now he understands why i am moody and tired. he has been very helpful with morgan and with doing laundry, etc. he also is very overprotective, which is cute. he doesn't want me bending over, picking up anything even remotely heavy - the funniest thing is when we first found out, he said "don't be letting anybody bump into your belly. i know you'll be careful, but just be really careful"

as far as symptoms go, i did have morning sickness for about a week. i have been fine for the past 5 or 6 days, so hopefully it is over. i have also been really tired. i never take naps, but i took two this weekend! and i didn't have any trouble falling asleep each night so i guess i really needed the extra sleep. also, i've had at least one weird baby-related dream. i dreamt i took the baby to daycare and he was only 2 weeks old. at the end of the day the lady informed me that she didn't take infants until they were at least 20 weeks old. then i left the baby in a closet - he was in a bassinet and it was a walk-in closet, so he was ok. but i do remember that i had forgotten he was in there, so i felt bad. i'm sure i will have many more dreams like this, becuase i remember having them with morgan. hopefully none will be too scary.

i guess that's all for now. we've been taking "belly pics" each week so once my bump becomes noticeable i will post several of them .

the rock

2010-05-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

oh the trouble this little rock caused us!

yesterday, like every wednesday, i picked morgan up from school and rushed home to get her bathed, hair washed, and redressed for church. but yesterday, as i'm getting her bath ready, she says "my ear hurts, i put a rock in it." not really believing there is a rock in her ear, i tell her i will get the flashlight and look in her ear once she gets in the tub. she claims she put the rock in her ear at nap time. she never saw it come out and now her ear hurts. i look in her ear and don't see anything, so i text bo and let him know what's going on so he can look when he gets home.

once out of the tub, i make morgan lay down on her right side so maybe the "rock" will fall out. when bo looks in her ear he thinks he sees a rock, but then looks at the other ear and it looks the same. at this point he doesn't really believe there is a rock in there. we look online, and it says to put water in the ear to help get the object out. we try it and nothing happens.

we ask morgan what the rock looked like and she says "long, and the color of my skin".

we still don't believe there is a rock but morgan still says her ear hurts, so we head out to the clinic (about a 15 minute drive). on the drive we tell morgan the story of "the boy who cried wolf" and the importance of always telling the truth. about 5 minutes from the clinc, she suddenly decides her ear feels better so we turn around and head back to cleveland. once back in cleveland, her ear starts hurting again. still not believing there is a rock in there, i tell her that once we get to church she has to lay in my lap so the "rock" can come out. no playing, talking, eating candy - just lay there. so we get to church and less than 1 minute after laying in my lap, she reaches under her head, and pulls out the rock. i was so shocked!!! it looked exactly as she described it, and i felt so bad for not really believing her!

so we told her how sorry we were for not believing her and how important it is not to put anything in your ears or nose (just to prevent another similar incident).

i was actually relieved to see the rock and to know that my baby was not lying! i would have felt terrible had it fallen out and we never saw it.

morgan wants you to know that she is gonna be a....

2010-05-02T07:54:00.000-05:00

and we couldn't be more excited!

baby williams is due december 26th. morgan is hoping for a little sister, but has finally come around and decided that she would be ok with a brother too. bo has a "feeling" our little peanut is a boy, but of course would be happy with either a boy or girl.

so my half marathon dream will have to wait. i am tentatively planning to run the marathon makeover half marathon in october of 2011. you may wonder why i would have even started preparing for a marathon if we were trying to have a baby. the thing is, we had begun trying to conceive in january of 2009. and at some point we decided we could not put our lives on hold waiting for something that may never happen. something that we could not control. i can say that it was very humbling to want something so much and to not be able to achieve it. God is defnitely in control, and we are just so blessed that He has decided to answer our prayers in this way. looking back over the past 15 months, we can now see how God was using this to teach us many lesson that we otherwise may not have learned. we will never take our ability to become pregnant for granted again.

the 15 months of testing, dissapointments, researching, dr's vists where "nothing" was wrong, anxiety, praying and worrying seem like a distant memory now. it's like a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders and we are so thankful! we can not wait to meet our son or daughter in december!

2 years....

2010-04-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

(that is a picture of a picture. i couldn't get my scanner to work)

two years ago today, we became a family of three. i can speak for bo and say that this has been the most wonderful 2 years of our lives. every day we get to spend together is a joy. bo is more than i ever could have asked for in a husband. and he thinks i'm a pretty good wife too :-)

i hope and pray that everyone who is married is as happy and fulfilled in their marriage as we are. and i am so blessed that morgan will grow up in a home where the father is the leader of the household, and that she will have high expectations when it comes to choosing a husband (although no one will be good enough for her in my opinion)

thank you bo for making me the happiest woman in the world! and for giving my daughter something i was worried i couldn't - a strong, responisible, loving, involved (bonus) father who loves her as if she were his own flesh and blood. i love watching you videotape her school plays, play barbies and babies, teaching her how to count and read letters - and i love how you try to act all tough in front of me when she acts up, but then you don't have the heart to spank her.

i am blessed!

SPRING BREAK!

2010-03-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

since morgan was out of school for spring break, i took the whole week off of work. bo was lucky enough to be able to take off thursday thru saturday. on tuesday, morgan and i went with some friends to clarksdale to see baby abby (morgan's friend's new little sister). Morgan just loved abby and is now naming all of her baby dolls abby.

isn't she adorable!

when bo got off of work on wednesday, we left home to go to clinton to stay with my parents and enjoy all of the benefits of being in a "big" city that we don't have in cleveland. thursday morning, morgan and i went to the mall to a store called zoe's world to "get fancy". we got pedicures and manicures and also got our hair and makeup done.

afterwards we met up with bo and ate lunch at mazzios and went to chuck e cheese's.

on friday bo and i both got massages and then ate lunch at ichiban, where he set his personal record for eating sushi - 42 pieces!!

then on saturday, i participated in my first "real" 5k. i did a 5k back in october in rosedale, but it was only about 25 or 30 runners (i finished last with a time of 34 min 21 sec). this 5k had over 1,000 participants with about 800 of them being runners. my sister april ran it with me. it was actually pretty difficult, and i blame it on the fact that i had eaten everything in sight while we were in jackson. the night before the race i ate chicken on a stick, hushpuppies and fries from penn's. while i felt awful during the race, it didn't affect my performance. i finished in 31:54 which works out to just over a 10 minute mile. i usually average over 11 minutes a mile in training. so i learned from that mistake and will not eat like that before a race again!

here is a picture of me and morgan before the race:

i want her to grow up seeing me be active and hopefully continuing to run. i hope that when she is older, we can run together .

the start of the race:

and me during the race - i was coming to get a kiss from bo and morgan - that's why i'm running on the grass

as some of you know, i am training for a half marathon in june. i am enjoying my training, especially my long runs. so far i am up to 9 miles at one time! hoping for 10 this week. i still have over 2 months until the race, so i think i should be ready in time.

New blog link

2010-03-03T13:04:00.000-06:00

I have added a new blog link to the right side of the screen. If you are a fan of LOST, you must check out this blog. It is written by a guy who has never seen lost, and is watching the final season and summarizing each episode. As someone who has watched every episode (some of them twice), and is still somewhat "lost" about what's going on, it is so funny to see a newbie's interpretation.

http://neverseenlost.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

Morgan is 4!!!!!

2010-02-05T12:26:00.000-06:00

morgan turned 4 in january. in some ways it's hard to believe it's been 4 years since i was in the hospital having a c-section, but in other ways it feels like a lifetime ago.

there were many festivities to celebrate morgan's 4th birthday, which started with a "family only" birthday party...

as you can see, the "theme" was lady bugs - morgan LOVES lady bugs. back in the fall, when they were everywhere, i would pick her up from school and she's have 10 or more in her hand. i always tell people she loves lady bugs to death!!

cake was made by delta cream in cleveland....it was so cute and delicious!

the next day we went to lunch after church at la cabana. morgan had her first embarrassing birthday singing - complete with a mexican hat!

the ladybug theme continued with the cupcakes i made for her to take to school.

and of course we had our traditional birthday balloons - 4, because she is 4.

and unfortunately i did not take any pictures, but we did go to lost dog with 2 of her buddies from school and their parents.

i'm so proud of my baby girl! she is so beautiful and sweet and such a joy!

4 year old stats:

she weighs about 30 lbs and is about 38 inches tall - she's a little bit!

she loves to eat pasta - mac and cheese, spaghetti, etc.

but, her favorite thing to eat is candy and anything sweet!

she loves to play hide and seek and memory

she pretty much knows all of the books of the new testament

she loves school and learns something new every day

she hates to go to sleep and thinks of any reason to call us in her room at night

she doesn't take naps and hasn't in about 2 years

she always wants to help us do everything, from cooking to cleaning to fixing things

she loves going to dance school and dancing in general

she loves taylor swift!

she's pretty much the cutest and smartest little girl ever!

for my baby on her 4th birthday (tomorrow)

2010-01-12T15:27:00.000-06:00

"In My Arms" by Plumb

Your baby blues
So full of wonder
Your curley cues
Your contagious smile
And as i watch
You start to grow up
All I can do is hold you tight

Knowing clouds will raise up
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Story books full of fairy tales
Kings and queens and the bluest skies
My heart is torn just in knowing
You'll someday see the truth from lies

Knowing clouds will raise up
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come true
But you are never all alone
Because I will always
Always love you

Clouds will raise up
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

merry christmas and happy new year! (a little late!)

2010-01-08T13:51:00.001-06:00

we had a wonderful christmas at the williams' house! unlike a lot of people, i wasn't glad when christmas was over! i loved every minute of it! morgan got a TON of stuff - and she knew it too...after seeing all that santa got her and opening all of her presents from us, she said "yall got me too much!" which is crazy coming from the girl who wants everything she sees a commerical for - even boy toys. she'll say "i want one of those, but a girl one"
do you think she got too much? the gifts on the right are from santa, and the wrapped presents are from us. not pictured is her v-smile from santa, which was hooked up to the tv.

here are a few pics of morgan trying out her first "big girl" bike

after all of the excitement of christmas morning, morgan left us for about a week to spend time with her dad. so we had plenty of time to clean, organize and "de-christmas" the house. for new year's eve, with bo having to work new year's day, we didn't make it until midnight. we did watch the ball drop in new york at 11 (bo barely made it!) and at midnight i was rudely awakened by fireworks.

as far as new year's resolutions, the only one i could come up with was to be a better housekeeper. actually, my first thought was to hire a maid, but bo quickly shot those dreams down! this is probably the first year ever that i don't have a goal of losing a certain number of pounds, or trying to eat healthier, or trying to exercise more. i feel like i'm the healthiest i've ever been. i am at a healthy weight, i drink mostly water (no caffiene at all) and eat fairly healthy.

also, i have taken up running, and i love it!!! i always thought i wasn't able to run. i had sort of tried before and it hurt my ankles and legs. i just thought i couldn't do it. but i started doing a couch potato to 5k program late in the summer and have just increased from there. i did my first 5k on oct 31st and i believe my time was 34 minutes and 21 seconds or so. i was the last runner to finish, but i beat all of the walkers!!! which brings me to my 2010 goal: run a half marathon!!! actually, my goal is to run a half marathon before i turn 30 (which is in july of this year). there is a half marathon in new orleans at the end of february. i think it would be tough to be ready for 13.1 by then (the farthest i've run so far is 6 miles) and we'd have to get a hotel. so it looks like i'm shooting for the marathon makeover half marathon in ridgeland on june 12th 2010!!!
i am so excited at the prospect of completing a half marathon. i always admired runners and always wished that i could run. being able to run 6 miles is something i never imagined in my wildest dreams, much less 13.1! and i can't wait to go to fleet feet after the race and by my 13.1 decal for my car. and who knows, maybe i'll shoot for the full 26.2 next time!

i'll keep updating my running progress. if there's anyone who is reading this who wants to try running, i highly recommend it! even if you say you "can't run" - i say you can! good luck!

it's christmas time!

2009-12-12T07:58:00.000-06:00

in our house, the holidays mean many things, but the first sign of christmas is the arrival of curtis, our elf on the shelf!

he showed up this year while we were in gulf shores, alabama for thanksgiving. we had a great time in gluf shores. our beach house was right on the beach. morgan loved playing in the sand, looking for seashells and "muscles" and getting in the water a little bit. i really didn't take any pictures though! i did get one of our beach house - ours is the third from the right. we stayed there with bo's family - his parents, grandparents, sister, aunt, uncle and cousins. it was really fun and relaxing!

another sign of christmas is the tree. we put ours up 2 weeks before thanksgiving because we knew we would be out of town on thanksgiving and morgan was out of town the weekend before thanksgiving.

since we don't have a fireplace, i have to get creative with our stockings....

morgan is so excited about christmas this year. it makes it so much fun! so far, we have been to the christmas parade, breakfast with santa and morgan's christmas program at school. at breakfast with santa, morgan sat on santa's lap and was just mesmerized by him. she kept looking at him and smiling. she planned to tell him that she wanted a baby doll and a bike, but i think she only said baby doll because she was so nervous and excited!

bo also makes christmas very fun - he wants morgan to have a ton of presents under the tree. he keeps counting what we've gotten and saying that it's not enough, she needs more! on christmas, i'll take a pic of them and of santa's presents too.

i am so blessed to have a husband who sees the value in making each holiday special and fun for morgan. i hope she has great memories of family traditions that she will continue when she has a family of her own.

a wedding and a new addition!

2009-07-13T17:24:00.001-05:00

well, june was a busy month in the williams household! my little sister got married! of course morgan was the cutest flower girl ever - and i was the cutest matron of honor (the only matron of honor, actually!)

the wedding was in new orleans, and we went down there thursday night because the bridesmaids luncheon was friday morning. while i was hanging out with the girls, bo took morgan to the aquarium of the americas. bo said it was REALLY crowded, but, as luck would have it, they ran into my brother and nephews while they were there.

here's mo making a silly face!

oh, and i have to share the cutest picture. morgan LOVES "cousin nathan" and wanted to dance with him at the reception all night. he didn't want to do it, but i offered him a dollar to dance whenever she wanted to. he did, and he earned that dollar!

and as for the new addition to our family, NO, it's not a baby! you may know that we got a kitten last summer. we named her tessa. she was such a cute kitten! we had her fixed and declawed and were content with just one pet. but she got really sick - and we had to have her put down. morgan still talks about tessa and has been asking for another kitten. well, bo's sister allison's cat got "knocked up" and had 7 kittens in may. we decided to get two this time, so they could play with each other during the day while we are gone.

we had planned to get a girl and a boy (so bo wouldn't be the only male in the house anymore!) and were going to name them lucy and desi. when the time came to get the kittens, the only 2 big enough to leave the momma were both girls. so we named them lucy and layla. we got them while morgan was out of town so we could suprise her when she got home. when we picked her up, we told her we had a suprise for her. she said "is it a hippopotumas?" bo and i both started laughing and said that a hippo was a little too big for the house. she said "no, i meant a stuffed one!" she went on to guess a few more things - shoes, baby doll, candy...but never guessed kittens.

so she was very suprised when we got home!

and i think the kittens were suprised too! morgan loves them, but i'm sure drives them crazy! she wants to be wherever they are and is constantly picking them up, moving them and sometimes dropping them. i know they are happy when we leave for work/school in the mornings!

morgan is out of town for this week :-( so maybe i'll have time for another post before she gets back!

i know i said i wouldn't post about relationships...

2009-05-13T11:28:00.001-05:00

but i am.

i have always hated adultery, infidelity, cheating...whatever you want to call it. but before it happened to me, i never understood how it happens, why it happens and how devastating it is. i also didn't know that it can be prevented.

the reason i felt the need to write this post at this time is seeing several people in my life experience this pain in the last year. i never realized how widespread infidelity was.

once it has happened, you can recover from it - i do believe that. (see http://www.marraigebuilders.com/) but nothing in your life will ever be the same. i wish that no one would ever have to experience the pain that i, and so many others, have had to experience. and i wish that i was in a position to help people prevent it. this is my only platform to possibly help someone, so i'm gonna put what i know out there. if even one person somewhere is spared this terrible pain by putting my words into practice, i will feel successful. although i (and that person) may never know that an affair has been prevented, i still want to try.

you may be thinking this doesn't apply to you. but if you are married, or ever plan to be married it does. if you think "it can't happen to me" that is your first mistake. it may very well never happen to you, but you need to be aware that it can. on a side note, i really hate to use the phrase "happen to you" b/c it sounds like it's no one's fault. adultery doesn't just happen. it is a selfish, irresponsible action done by someone. a terrible pain inflicted on one's family.

so anyway, most everything i know about affairs and how they start and why they start can be found on http://www.marriagebuilders.com/ - it's defintely worth the time to check the site out and educate yourself...if i had only known then what i know now, i could have nipped it in the bud before it ever started! not that i would want to change the past or change where i am today, but for someone who may be able to prevent this heartache for themselves, that site is a must-read.

one of the primary ideas on MB is the idea of emotional needs and a love bank. according to dr. harley, everyone has a "love bank" for each person in their lives. when someone's love bank maintains a consistenly high level, it causes you to feel love for that person. and ideally, the love bank you have with your spouse will always have the highest balance of all of your love banks. but what usually happens in affair situations is that the spouse makes more withdrawals than deposits. this can happen over time when you start to neglect your spouse's needs. you get caught up in the demands of your career and your children. you don't take time to make your spouse feel special and loved. you assume your spouse knows you love him/her and understands that you are extremely busy. in short, you take your spouse for granted (or he/she takes you for granted). then along comes mr or miss "makes me feel important". this person doesn't have to worry about whether the kids are sick, making the mortgage payment on time, or why you still haven't fixed that leaky sink. this person makes plenty of deposits in your "love bank" b/c yall seem to have so much in common and he/she always makes you feel good. in turn, you make deposits into this person's love bank and over time, you both start to feel "love" for each other.

i think you can see where that scenario is going.

so, in order to prevent your spouse from being vulnerable to an affair, you need to keep the love bank full. the primary way to make deposits into someone's love bank is to do things that fulfill their top 3 (or so) emotional needs (EN). dr harley defines an emotional need as " a craving that, when satisfied, leaves you with a feeling of happiness and contentment, and, when unsatisfied, leaves you with a feeling of unhappiness and frustration. "
the 10 primary emotional needs that dr harley identifies are:

affection
sexual fulfillment
conversation
recreational companionship
honesty and openness
physical attractiveness
financial support
domestic support
family commitment
admiration

please follow this link http://www.marriagebuilders.com/graphic/mbi3300_needs.html to find descriptions of these needs and how to meet these needs. you will also find a link to an emotional needs questionnaire which you can print out (2 copies) so you and your spouse can identify your top emotional needs and begin to make an effort to fulfill those.

in my opinion, this topic is important for all married people. bo and i are both very aware of each others needs and make an effort to fulfill them. it's not only for people whose marriages are in trouble. it's for anyone who is married, who wants to stay married and wants to be as happy as possible in their marriage.

good luck making your marriage as fulfilling as God intended it to be!

happy "mudders" day!

2009-05-08T09:12:00.001-05:00

morgan's class had their mother's day breakfast this morning. they sang a song for us and chose our breakfast foods...which consisted of several different types of donuts and some apple slices. then miss mandy read the book "i love you forever" and the kids knew some of the words. the book is so sweet, i was worried i might tear up, but i managed to hold it together!

morgan's teacher (who we love!) helped the kids make mother's day cards. she asked them the following questions:

all about mom

1. what is mom's name? ashley

2. how old is mom? 28

3. what does daddy call mom? boo

4. what does mom do at work? get money

5. what do you and mom do for fun? go to wal mart

6. what do you want to say to mom on mother's day? "give me some food"

i think it will be a cute keepsake to remind me of this age...
they also made a cute little flower pot and gave us a packet of sunflower seeds. we'll see if anything grows!

all because two people fell in love...

2009-04-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

bo and i have been married for one year this sunday. most people say that the first year of marraige is the hardest, but for us it's been pretty easy. i never realized how fulfiling and fun marriage can be. this truly has been the best year of both of our lives. bo always puts me and morgan ahead of himself. he is proud of our home and our family. i feel so blessed to have found the perfect mate for me. and while most couples can hardly believe they've been married a year, bo and i both agree it seems like we've been married a year or longer ~ but in a good way! so much has happened this past year. we have bought our first home together, and spent months painting it (well, i didn't actually paint - bo and his dad did). we've both gotten new (used) vehicles, and morgan has almost completed her first year of 3k.

another big change in our life has been losing weight. bo decided in november that he wanted to lose a few pounds. and of course i wanted to lose weight too, so i suggested we start weight watchers.

when we first started, i was hoping to lose about 5 pounds, which would get me back to my pre-pregnancy weight. (3 years after giving birth!) but it came off so easily i didn't want to quit there! as people started to notice my weight loss and my clothes all got too big, i got even more inspired. to date, i've lost 26 pounds and am wearing between a 4 and a 6. i'm extremely happy as i was in a 10 before we started.

one thing i didn't realize when i was overweight was how bad it made me feel. i always felt embarassed to meet new people or to see old friends. i was ashamed of how i looked. but i didn't really realize how much until i had lost the weight. thanks to my wonderful husband's support, i am now more confident and happier than ever before. every aspect of my life is better now. and while i still miss eating certain things from time to time, i get to enjoy my new body every day. every morning when i step on the scale, i am happy. when i get dressed i am reminded of how far i have come. no food has ever made me feel this good!

i do want to brag on my husband a little bit more. he is an amazing father to morgan. he loves her just as much as he would if she were biologically his child. i am very happy and proud when morgan says that she wants to marry her daddy bo. i am so glad that i am giving her a father figure that she can look to as an example when she looks for a mate. he loves and protects both of us and i hope that morgan will have extremely high standards when choosing a husband.

God has richly blessed my family and i wake up every day happy to be me!

do we look alike?

2009-04-01T09:18:00.000-05:00

growing up, everybody always told me that my sister and i looked just alike...many people thought we were twins (she's 2 years younger) . now, everybody says how much morgan looks like me...and i do remember when morgan was born i thought she looked more like april than me...so i know there is must be a resemblance....

so, what do you think?
april, morgan, me

weekend fun

2009-03-21T17:55:00.001-05:00

a couple of weeks ago, we went down to visit my parents in clinton. morgan LOVES her grammy, grandaddy and cousins so much, it's like i'm not even there!

since morgan slept with grammy and grandaddy, bo and i were able to get up early and go to the gym (at the healthplex) and get back home before morgan even woke up. then we went shopping in flowood. we had 3 main goals with this shopping trip: to buy size 6 jeans for me (yippee!!!), to find some diet cherry 7 up, and to eat at ichiban - bo's favorite, since they have all you can eat sushi!

so we got the jeans and checked target and kroger for the diet cherry 7 up...neither had it. then went to ichiban - bo ate about 20 pieces of sushi and i discovered that ichiban has my beloved "pink sauce" that kyotos serves. so all i ate was rice and pink sauce - soooo good!!

we continued our quest for the diet cherry 7 up by going to the other target and the walmart and kroger in clinton, all to no avail.

when we got back to my parents house, morgan was playing outside with "cousin nathan" and christian. she calls him "cousin nathan" so not to confuse him with her boyfriend nathan.

here are some pics of them playing

bo recently got a blackberry and he took some video of morgan playing. i don't know how to post video yet, but i did get a picture of bo showing morgan the video on his phone. i thought it was so sweet!

and now some more pics of our sweet girl

valentine's day!

2009-02-14T20:39:00.001-06:00

since valentine's day fell on saturday this year, i "suggested" to my husband that it would still be ok if he sent me flowers to work on friday. i know some people think it's a waste of money but it means a lot to me to get flowers at work on special occasions. i guess my "hint" worked.

ever since we met, he has always sent me 3 roses, b/c he says it means "i love you" and he always sends me pink too...

also on friday, morgan had her valentine's party at school...somewhere between 25 and 30 three and four year olds...mass chaos will always ensue...but the kids enjoy it!

morgan did a couple of crafts but her favorite part was decorating (and eating) a heart shaped cookie....

morgan got a whole box full of valentines from school and a special present from her momma and daddy bo. she also decorated cupcakes with mae mae and pappe and got a bunch of gifts from them. then on saturday morgan got 3 special valentines in the mail - one from mae mae and pappe, one from her daddy and a package from her nannie and papaw that had a bear in it. she was excited and felt very special! she also got a valentines happy from grammy and granddaddy last weekend when we went to visit them.

saturday night we went out for mexican b/c we hadn't had it since we started weight watchers in november. here we are before our "big night out"

10 months!

2009-02-11T10:14:00.000-06:00

bo and i have been married for 10 months today! things have changed a lot in the past 10 months...we bought a house, bo quit dipping, i've found a job that i really like, we both got new (used) vehicles and we both lost about 20 pounds. bo was telling me not too long ago that if the first year of marriage is the hardest, we are in for a pretty good life!

morgan has also changed a lot in the past 10 months...she's completely potty trained (which we were beginning to think might never happen!), she can count to 10 in spanish, and has recently figured out how to buckle herself into her carseat...she can't unbuckle herself yet, which is good or she would be all over the car! and she also has 3 boyfriends, at last count...she loves school and on weekends when i tell her school is closed she will ask "is it closed tight?" she always makes me laugh.

maybe i can post some new pictures of morgan this weekend....

morgan's 3rd birthday!

2009-01-19T11:48:00.000-06:00

i can't believe morgan is 3! she is getting so big and so smart, and of course, so cute!

here are some pictures of the festivities...

these are her 3 birthday balloons

her dora cake...

morgan with her daddy bo and momma just before her party

we love this girl, so expect to see many more pictures of her!!!