24 weeks

I'm 24 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of baby: Hollis is the length of an ear of corn

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 9 lbs (I feel like all that pie I ate last week is really showing this week)

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.

Gender: It's a girl!!! Hollis Barrett Stamps

Movement: I've been feeling the baby a lot more lately!

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good!

What I miss: Nothing really - maybe sleeping on my stomach?

Cravings: Mexican, baked potatos

Symptoms: Mostly tiredness, a few Braxton Hicks

Best Moment this week: Really feeling Hollis kick a LOT!

So far I have not done one thing to get ready for Hollis. We have pretty much everything we need except for a few small things like an extra monitor and of course getting her room ready.  I'm going to wait until after Christmas to tackle that.  And she will have a closet full of clothes and bibs and blankets ready for her from her sister.  So this is pretty simple.  But I can't resist maybe getting her a few things new.  I ordered just one thing - I needed to see her name in print! And it came yesterday! It makes me happy to see her name!

Smile for the Camera

We love to take pictures around here. One thing we invested in before Harper was born was a really good camera. And I'm SO thankful. We have taken thousands of pictures of her (if you can't tell) and to me there isn't a price you can put on it because you can't get these days back. I love to go back and look at pictures of Harper. I'm amazed at how even a few months ago she looked so different. I try to make it a priority to take her picture every day. (Blogging helps me with that!)
Scott has a Canon 5D. I get asked a lot what kind of camera we have. It takes amazing pictures but it's VERY heavy and bulky and it's just not easy to take with me. I have a little point and shoot from a few years ago and it takes awful pictures and has been acting up which has left me with my phone as a camera when I am out and about.
With Hollis coming and just wanting to take pictures when we are away from home (which is a lot) - I convinced Scott I needed a smaller DSLR to carry with me. So today I got my early Christmas/Birthday present!!! A new canon!!!
I am SO excited to try it out and so happy to have a camera to take on the go with me. I hate missing any chance to take pictures! So now I will be able to post even more pictures on here!! Whooo hoooo!!! (Can you tell I'm excited?)

Here is a picture I took with my phone today. Harper got to try Peanut butter and jelly for the first time. She is allergic to peanuts and that has always made me sad until a week or so ago when a friend suggested Soy peanut butter. (and since then friends have suggested almond butter as well). She LOVED it! I got her some little vegetable chips to go with it. (and how fun is the mickey mouse plate? That was mine as a toddler and my mom saved it and gave it to me since Harper loves Mickey too. I love that some things never change).

And on another note - I'm reviewing a skin care product and giving away a $100 gift card this week - go here: www.kellyskornerreviews.blogspot.com and read all about it and enter to win!

Thanksgiving

Hello! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving!! I haven't dropped off the earth but we were out of town most of the week and I just decided to take a small break from blogging to enjoy my family!

We went to Scott's family this year for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. Here is Harper in her turkey day outfit. Could this be any cuter??? It's a hand me down from another Harper who has a mother who is an amazing seamstress. The back of the shirt says "Gobble till you wobble". ha!

Unfortunately we had a diaper accident before we could even eat but fortunately I had another turkey day outfit. Her turkey dress from last year became a shirt this year and she looked adorable in it once again. (I love getting at least two years of wear out of things - and now I'll get 2 more years with Hollis!)

Here is Harper going to town on her first thanksgiving meal.  Last year she was still on baby food. She liked the sweet potatos best of all.  Scott's family fixed an amazing meal and we all ate too much!

This picture just cracks me up - her face! She seemed like such a big girl this trip. She had so much fun playing and being with her grandparents.  She has started grabbing us by the hand and saying "Come on" and then she will get you to do whatever she wants you to do. She loves to make you lay on the ground and go "night night".  Or "sit" at her little table and play.  She is so funny!

Friday afternoon Scott, his dad and his best friend Steve went hunting. They each got a deer and they were so excited. They just finished hunting for over a week and barely saw any deer.

Saturday the girls did a little shopping and had lunch together.  Harper is just crazy about her "Gigi".

This girl is a daddy/grandpa girl though. She LOVES her grandmothers but she has a special bond with her grandpas. I think she said "Pap-Pa" 10,000 times this weekend. You can see in her little face that she thinks he is just it! She is the same way with my daddy.

You may have heard that the Hogs had a big game on Saturday against LSU. This is always the biggest game of the year and this year it was especially big.  And it could not have gone better! We won and are now #8 in the country and hopefully headed to a BCS bowl! What a great season! Harper wore the cutest outfit to cheer on those hogs!

Harper and her grandparents! We went to the next town over and met up with my best friend Laurie and her family and her parents for dinner.  It was fun to all get together!

Our family of (clearly) four before we left to eat. 

I have to share that I have been a little nervous because I haven't been feeling Hollis kick as much as I think she should. (I even tried to go to a few ER's one day when Harper was in school hoping they could do a doppler on me but they were both full - because I'm crazy like that) but this weekend she has been kicking up a STORM. I'm thinking it could be all the pecan pie I ate.  I'm afraid what Scott keeps saying may come true - he loves to joke that Hollis will make Harper look like an easy, calm baby. ha! HELP! 

It was wonderful to feel her moving so much!

I also had MAJOR Braxton hicks most of Friday afternoon night. Luckily I was able to rest since Gigi could take care of Harper and by Saturday I felt great. 

Harper and her best friend Sarah Kate. It was so sweet because after we ate - they got down from the table and just starting hugging and kissing each other. Laurie and I loved seeing that because they are usually fighting like sisters. ha! We went over to Laurie's parents house after dinner and ate dessert and the girls had a big time playing together.

We left this morning and got home a little while ago and I'm so happy to be home! I have a fun week and a VERY exciting weekend coming up that I can't wait to share about! I hope you all had a very BLESSED weekend!

23 weeks

 

I'm 23 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of baby: Hollis is the size of a jicama (I have no idea what that is)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 8 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.

Gender: It's a girl!!! Hollis Barrett Stamps

Movement: I've been feeling the baby a lot more lately!

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good!

What I miss: Nothing really - maybe sleeping on my stomach?

Cravings: Mexican, baked potatos

Symptoms: Mostly tiredness

Best Moment this week: Strangers starting to ask me when I'm due. I don't know why I love that - but I do.
(I do not however love that when I'm NOT pregnant - and it has happened to me before!)

I think I look bigger in the Harper picture here - but it's only because of that dress.  You will see that I wear jeans pretty much every day this time around.  One because maternity jeans are SOOOOO comfy and also with Harper I was working and needed to wear dresses.  Also I've realized that dresses usually end up making me look a lot LARGER.
I have a feeling after I'm back to normal - the jeans will probably go away again. I wish all jeans had that maternity panel. It's a gift from heaven. I'm not kidding!

Tonight I met a bunch of friends for a girls night. We ate and went to a movie and it was just so nice to have a little girl talk! I think we were all so excited to be out together - everyone was talking a mile a minute! One of the things I'm MOST thankful for this year is so many wonderful Christian friends.  Each of you make my life so sweet!

I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving! If I had one word to describe myself right now it would be THANKFUL! My life is not perfect and it never will be but I have SO much to be thankful for. We really all do.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,  rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 

Colossians 2:6-7

Daddy's Home

Daddy's home! Scott was out of town for 10 days hunting and working and FINALLY came home to us on Friday! We were both so glad to see him. It's good to be back together!

A lot of you have asked me about Scott working at home and how that's going. It's almost been a year and it's been a WONDERFUL year! I was very apprehensive that it wouldn't go well and that we would drive each other crazy. But it has been a GREAT move for our family. Scott is thankfully one of those people with a lot of drive so he can go into his office each day, close the door and/or put on headphones and work hard. But he comes out at lunch and we get to see him and he's instantly at home when he's done working. He sees Harper more and I have just loved it. I have to work hard at not ever interrupting him or being tempted to pop into his office all day to "chat". But I honestly think it's been the best year we have ever had. It's a lot less stress on us both.

I filmed this last night in our CRAZY game with Mississippi state. All I really have to say is I LOVE college football and I LOVE the SEC. SEC games are NEVER boring. There have been some big ones this year and this weekend there are two HUGE games between us and LSU and of course the Alabama Civil War. Oh and Ole Miss/Miss State. Otherwise known as the "boot", "the Iron Bowl" and the "Egg Bowl". I can't wait!


And the winners of the devotion book "A Minute for Mommy" are:
#6 Jennifer
#223 Samantha
#301 Stefanie

I have your email addresses so I'll be contacting each of you!


If you didn't win and would like a copy - you can find it here:
Her website is: http://berklibinns.tateauthor.com/
Barnes and Nobel link is: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Minute-for-Mommy/Berkli-Binns/e/9781616639655/?itm=1&USRI=berkli+binns
Tate Publishing link: http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61663-965-5
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=138215569538300

Show Us your life - Play Rooms, Bonus Rooms, Laundry Rooms

Today's SUYL is all about those extra rooms in your house - the play room, the bonus room, the man cave, laundry rooms......................anything we haven't covered that you might want to share!

I don't have any of those except a laundry room and I didn't take pictures because there is really not much to it. ha!

But I would love to see your extra rooms - make sure you put a label on your link like "Play room" so others can easily find what they might be looking for ideas for!

Thanks!

AND................................
I have had a lot of requests to do another "Show us your single boys/girls" day! I know of at least 3 or 4 couples that are seriously dating after the last one. I want to do a follow up post so if you are dating someone you met through that day - will you email me and give me an update and hopefully a picture???? And start thinking of your single friends/relatives/yourself........ we will do it again before 2010 ends!

Play Day

 I had play group at my house today.  Yes - it seems crazy to have two things at your house in 3 days but this way I only had to clean my house once. ha! :-)  Harper, Neely and Wells were enjoying their lunch.

 Isn't this the cutest baby? Davis is SO sweet. Although I'm not sure why his momma let him wear a Mississippi State bib in my house on the week of our big game with them. Davis comes from a house divided - Dawg and Hog fans. Poor thing. ha! :-)

 Sweet Kaitlyn. She is just precious. She has the sweetest big brother Braxton but somehow I missed getting his picture.

 

Sweet Ben. He is the cutest. His parents just found out this week they are having a girl two weeks after Hollis so I hope they will be good friends one day!

And this little mess was NOT the hostest with the mostest.   ha! She was not happy and acted just awful the entire time her company was here. I love this age but I'm not a fan of that behaviour. I want her to be sweet and share with her friends and sometimes - especially at our house - it does not happen and it's so disappointing to me.  I think it's time to break out the "Southern Belle Primer" and work on our graciousness. ha!

I don't know about y'all - but I am just WORN OUT right now.  I feel like I just go, go, go and I was making a list today of everything I need to get done in the next few weeks and I didn't even include working on Hollis' nursery and the list is just so long - I just just feel so overwhelmed. I need life to slow down. I love being busy and having lots of activities but I'm just beginning to feel anxious with so much on my plate.  I'm probably going to take a little blog hiatus in the next week or so and re-group.  I want to enjoy the holidays and not rush through them!

Girl's Night

One night a month the girls from my Sunday School Class get together at one of our houses and have a potluck dinner. It has become one of my favorite things. We have a theme each time like soups or comfort foods. Tonight was appetizers and it was my turn to host. I made desserts and drinks and the other girls brought the salty foods. I didn't take any pictures of all the food but we had a lot of dips and sausage balls and roll ups. It was all SO good!

One of my favorite dessert appetizers is a chocolate chip cheese ball. I served it with chocolate animal crackers, graham crackers and those little Pepperidge Farm stick cookies. SO YUM! I also made Bits O Brickle Bars and Coffee Punch.

There were 14 girls here tonight. We had so much fun! Our favorite thing to do after we eat is gather up and go around and answer "get to know you" questions. Even though I've known a lot of these girls for years - I learn something new each time. And I also laugh so hard I hurt.

I made them let me take a group picture. I say this so often it's annoying but I'm SO thankful for my friends! I just love all of you!!! (and we missed all of you who couldn't make it!)

My friend Jessica has a friend in Oklahoma who reads my blog and she thought it would be fun if I gave her a shout out! So Kacy - thanks for reading! Jessica thinks it's hilarious that you know so much about me and all our friends from church by reading my blog! Come visit!!!

ALSO:
I had ya'll vote for me last week on The Bump's Best Mommy Blog and I won both my categories!! Thank you!!! Well - now I'm a finalist to be the overall winner. If I win - I would win an iPad. That's so exciting. BUT .........................
(and Scott may kill me because he would love an iPad) but I don't need it and I just feel an overwhelming tug this morning that if you vote and I win - I'm going to sell it and give half the money to my church's campaign to pay off our building which I'm so excited about because once that is paid off we can use money towards more outreach and ministry and I'm going to give the other half to Arkansas Baptist Children's Homes which is a BIG ministry in our state that takes in kids from troubled homes and raises them. It's the season of giving and I'd have a lot more fun giving than having another gadget I don't need.

So I need your help ...............Please VOTE! (I don't deserve to win - but maybe I can pull in a lot of votes anyway!)

http://pregnant.thebump.com/extras/mommy-blog-awards/articles/best-overall-blog-mommy-blog-awards.aspx

22 weeks

I'm 22 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby H is the size of a navel orange

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 6 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I wear maternity jeans and pants but everything else is regular.

Gender: It's a girl!!! Hollis Barrett Stamps

Movement: I've been feeling the baby a lot more lately!

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good!

What I miss: Nothing really - maybe sleeping on my stomach?

Cravings: Mexican, baked potatos

Symptoms: Mostly tiredness

Best Moment this week: Just feeling the baby more and more

I'm 22 weeks pregnant and Harper is 22 months old today! I think I confused people yesterday because they thought my 22 months post was going to be about Hollis and thought I had lost my mind and thought I was pregnant for 22 months. ha! I love being pregnant so I actually might not mind that (once I get over the morning sickness!) ha! (Oh - I'm over the morning sickness (yeay!!) - but I just mean - as long as I'm not sick - I love being pregnant!)

Also - one of my close friends recently wrote a devotion book for moms! It's a great book and a useful tool! I'm giving away three copies HERE this Friday or I would love for you to order one!

Read all about it on my review blog!

22 months

Harper - you are 22 months old!!!!

In two short months you will turn TWO! I've already been planning your second birthday party which seems completely crazy because I SWEAR I was just planning your first party. I am NOT prepared to throw a 16th birthday party so I really need you to slow this growing down!

You weigh 33 lbs and wear a size 5 diaper. You wear a size 2T and 3T and a size 7 shoe.

You are just a character. You love me to make us laugh. I love your growing personality.

Your favorite thing to say right now is "Where did he go?" You could be talking about daddy, Papa, your "taci", Dawson, .........anyone. You find someone constantly and said "Where's so and so? Where did they go?" ha!

Your favorite thing is bath time. I have to PULL you out of the tub every night kicking and screaming. You would stay in there for hours if I let you. You have toys but what you love is to take a couple of cups and just pour water back and forth. You LOVE water. You always have.

You are borderline obsessed with Elmo and Mickey Mouse. All I hear from the time you get up until bedtime is "elmo" and "mimi".
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! You have finally started sleeping through the night! I wake up amazed every morning. Yes - it has taken you almost two years but you are finally a good sleeper and you have made your momma so happy!

You have started carrying something in your arms at all times. Either a stuffed animal or a baby doll. You always need to carry at least one - and usually two with you every where you go.

You LOVE school! You do so good there. You practically run in the door. I laugh so hard because every time I pick you up there or at church - you will turn around and wave to the kids and say "Bye Girls". It doesn't matter if it's all boys - you still say that. It makes me laugh. You sound like a 50 year old woman waving to her friends.
You adore your grandparents and you think every single old person you see is them. Every time I take you out in public you will wave to anyone over 50 and say "Hi Papa" or "Bye Papa". Thankfully the older men seem to think it's cute.

You are just the sweetest thing! You are so loving and precious! I really wish I could bottle you up and keep you this way so in 20 years I won't have to just look at pictures to remember! I keep looking at pictures of you just 6 months ago or watching videos from a year ago and I can't BELIEVE how much you have grown.

I'm praying for you every day! My biggest prayer is that you will have a HUGE passion for Jesus. I don't care what else you do in life - I want you to be CRAZY about your Saviour! I pray that God will surround you with good friends all of your life who will bring you up and not tear you down. I pray for that boy who is going to one day marry you. I pray he will be a Godly husband and will adore you. I love you baby goose! :-)


Oh and PS- Caroline and Carly - you are the lucky winners of the tickets to the NWA boutique show. I'm emailing you both!

Weekend Fun and GNO

Our weekend started with Harper doing a little modeling for a website that sells unique college clothes for babies, girls and adults! How cute is this Razorback outfit???

(That's 8-2 #13 Razorbacks friends!) ha!
Since Harper's aunt and uncle are Texas grads - we let her model this one too. I think this pretty much sums up how all the Longhorn fans feel about their season. ha ha!

I kid.......but seriously - even the Texas outfit was adorable. You can check it out here:

http://www.passionatelyrivalicious.com/

(I have to add that Harper called the hogs completely on her own when I put her in this Texas outfit. I don't like to brag - but the girl is smart! ha ha ha ha!)

This weekend is opening weekend for deer season so Scott is sitting in the freezing cold way too early in the morning and sitting in the quiet for hours ............so Harper and I decided to go visit my parents. Harper's hair is long enough that I put it in dog ears (pig tails) on Saturday - it was too cute!
She had a great time visiting Nonny and Papa. She is crazy about all her grandparents. I hear all four names on a daily basis!

She didn't want to pose for pictures before church today so this is the best we got.

I know that the majority of you who read this blog don't live in Arkansas or probably barely know where Arkansas is.......BUT if you live in NWA - I have something so fun for you to go to this next weekend! The NWA Boutique show is coming to the NWA convention center!

Friday night is a Girls Night Out which includes early preview shopping!

You can get all the details here:

www.nwaboutiqueshow.com

but if you live in the area and would like a free ticket - I'm going to give away two! I will draw the winners tomorrow night! So check back! Just leave me a comment and let me know you want to go!! It should be lots of fun! I'm hoping to go!!!

Show Us your LIfe - Bathrooms

Are ya'll enjoying the home tours???

We took a quick break last week - but we are back on now!

 We have 3 bathrooms.  This is Harper and Hollis' bathroom. I just recently re-did it. I wanted it to look a little more "kid friendly".  I re-did it before I knew if we were having a boy or girl so I made it blue and pink but I think it's kind of cute.

I painted this canvas with one of my VERY favorite verses to go in there.

When Scott and I got married - we decided it was in the best interest of both of us to have separate bathrooms. ha! Best move we ever made. So this is Scott's bathroom. Honestly - it works so well for us. We can get ready at the same time and never argue over counter space or showers. Except when we go on vacations and have to share a bathroom - it throws us off. ha! ha!
And this is MY bathroom (or the master bath). Do any of you have glass showers? They are SO hard to keep clean? I'd love to hear your tips if you have any!
I'm afraid bathrooms (at least mine) aren't too exciting but I know some of you will have very interesting ones and it's always fun to peek!!!

Growing Quick and Living Out your Faith!

When I was pregnant with Harper I found this dress on ebay and HAD to have it! I thought it was the cutest thing ever. It looked so huge - I didn't know when she would get to wear it!

She wore it as a dress in June. I thought she looked SO big!

Here she was today wearing it as a top! How did she grow so much in just six months??? It makes me wonder what she will look like by this summer? And how long her hair will be! ha!

I had the honor of speaking to a local MOPS group today on "Living out your faith". I feel so inadequate to speak on that subject and yet God has blessed me so much - it's like breathing to me to share about my love for Him. This was a fun group because I had a lot of in real friends there! I had so much fun!

and speaking of living out your faith..............I know someone who does this in a way that inspires me completely. Shaun Groves is a Christian artist who went on a Compassion trip several years ago that completely changed his life. He has dedicated his life to freeing children from poverty. He could use his talent to sell tons of albums and sell out concerts and make lots of money and live in a big house. Instead - he lives a very modest life and travels around FOR FREE singing only so he can talk about Compassion during his concert and get sponsors for children to change their lives. I am honored to call Shaun friend and he is now working on making a new album but he has to raise a lot of money to do it because he has no label. He's not doing this to make a ton of money or get a lot of fortune or fame. His heart is that with a new album he will draw MORE people to concerts and this will be MORE people he can share Compassion with. I love the humble life he leads in order to help those who need it so much more. I would love for you to think about helping him raise this money - you aren't really helping him - you are helping children all over the world in need! GO HERE TO HELP!!!

This is totally for fun but a friend Courtney emailed me today and wanted to know if I knew I was up for blogging awards on thebump.com. It's kind of silly but I could win a prize. You can vote for free - click the badge and I'm nominated under best Baby Journal and Best SAHM blog. ha! You have until 11/15 to vote!