Just call me the "Fried Chicken Queen"...

22 days....I only have 22 more days until Will's arrival. I must be honest with you, I am a little nervous about this whole "2 under 2" deal. But on the other hand I feel completely blessed! Oh, how I truly wish he wasn't due to arrive until maybe mid April (this would give us some time to get settled somewhere instead of having to move his sweet little 2 week old self an hour and a half [thankful we don't have to travel by plane any further than that b-c an hour and a half drive TOTALLY beats a plane ride with 2 little ones ALONE.....can I get an AAAAMEN!?]) Other than that...God's timing is just amazing, isn't it!? I look back on my life within the past several months and just think how blessed I am to serve a God who knows what's best for me and my family. I praise Him for that & for his perfect Will (His plan...and our new son! JUST saw the connection there!) These past 8 months have been a roller coaster of emotions but praying fervently daily has been my refuge!

We are praying so hard to be able to actually bring this little boy home & NOT spend 2.5 months at Children's Hospital this time. Although, I do LOVE Children's and their ENTIRE staff, but we would MUCH rather spend the first 2.5 months of our 2ND child's life holding him the DAY he's born (not a month afterwards) and allll the days remaining. There are no complications to make us worry about not being able to bring him home the 2-3 days prior to his birthday, but there were also no complications with Reagan, that we knew of, until she came into this world. So I ask you to just pray.

February 24th is THE day he'll be here (if all goes to plan....) I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM and surgery is scheduled for 7:30 AM. We are not sure if Chad will be able to be there yet. We are still working on that. I have to call Red Cross well in advance (like next Monday!) so that they are able to get all his paperwork squared away and get approval from the commanders or whoever they get approval from. But...here's "the thing", Chad will be right in the middle of "FTX" (Field Training Exercise) and this is a mandatory thing he has to complete in order to graduate. He only has to complete 72 hours of it...soo this, too, is yet another thing we are praying super hard about, that they will be compassionate enough to work something out where he is able to finish up FTX and able to be at the birth of our son. Oh how devastating it'll be for me to not have him there...ESPECIALLY (hopefully) being able to actually have a "normal" birth-DAY, being able to experience that first night with Will in the hospital room and learning to actually nurse him and just having all that to experience with my husband and our new baby would just be soo joyous for me! so please, help me to pray for this.

On a much lighter & mouth drooling note..... Just click here, you won't regret it!

That's right Ladies & Gentlemen...I made that last night! First time EVER frying chicken and it was a successful experience! My husband will be SO proud of me! It actually looked JUST LIKE the picture...go figure! :o) I have ordered this woman's cookbook after hearing such amazing things about her food and I figured my husband would L-O-V-E me for it! (Although, he is THE cook in our family..I have a feeling that will change here shortly!) I feel like I owe it to him to learn some yummy dishes so he can just relax when he gets home from work and enjoy the aroma of this great food swirling around our kitchen! Oh how wonderful....(and all of a sudden I get this mental image of me wearing a dress wrapped in a cute apron and high heels, kids playing calmly in the living room, table set...the whole stepford wife thing....umm..NOT SO MUCH! Reality check...Sweatpants and a t-shirt please...I'll have make-up on, at least!) :o) But seriously..if you haven't jumped on this Pioneer Woman bandwagon...GET TO JUMPIN' SISTER! She posts recipes on her website..DAILY! so have fun! Print them out...order her book and make your husband or man in your life happy for a change! I dare you...Like I said, you won't regret it! :o)

so for now, I'm off...I'm extremely exhausted today and SO WISH I could just crawl in my bed and go to sleep...but alas! I am at work and the previously mentioned is impossible at this moment in time...but oh, honey...when 8:00 pm rolls around...you better believe that I will be in my bed....or at least trying to chase Reagan around to get her in the bath tub! Wish me luck....

God Bless, Ya'll!

This is a picture of the barracks my husband is staying in during Basic Training...My sweet sister-in-law captured this for me when she made a trip on post for her husband. I just wanted to share with you all what it looks like, because I thought it was super cool to have a picture of it to look at everyday. (Cheesy?? I don't care! hehe)

Our Christmas was AMAZING! I am soo thankful to have had those 2 weeks home with him! He was soo happy to be with Reagan and me this year it truly was a special time for all of 3 of us! :o)

I will post more later! with pictures!!! :o) woo hoo get excited!...

A Chance for You...

To give back!

TheMomJob has posted an amazing opportunity for you to donate to Children's Hospital of Alabama! For every post she'll donate 10 cents to CHildren's and she has EVEN put a donation button on her site (top right) so you can make your OWN donation! (SHE'S FABULOUS! I KNOW!) We will definitely be donating soon! And we will definitely be making that a tradition each Christmas! Just click on her name" TheMomJob" at the begining of my post (it's already linked to the post) and read her awesome (shortened) story of her sweet baby boy! God is SO good!

As many of you know Children's Hospital plays a VERY important role in my life as a mother. You can read some of Reagan's story here. But just like Children's saved my friend, Amanda's son, Chase...they also saved my baby girl's life and I am FOREVER AND ALWAYS thankful. As I told Amanda, they will FOREVER be on our Christmas Card Address List! lol. Children's definitely holds a special place in my heart and my husband's. We spent countless hours next to Reagan's bedside...countless hours waiting on visiting hour to come back around...countless tears...I could go on and on, but I digress. God is SO faithful and SO sovereign! He amazes me daily and I feel SO blessed to have this life He has so graciously given me. The husband he has provided for me. And the children He has entrusted with Chad & I.

*This is Reagan's very first day home at almost 3 months old!

If you don't donate to any charity this year (I know how hectic this year can be with soo many charities asking for some money almost nerve-racking) please donate to Children's Hospital of Alabama. Do it for Chase...Do it for Reagan! :o)

I'm SO Proud!!!

I FINALLY got a stinkin phone call lastnight from my husband! (I just L-O-V-E saying that!) anyways...He's doing GREAT...except for being sick...he thinks it a sinus infection. Anyways....after finishing decorating our Christmas Tree my phone rings..it's a 706 area code!! (woooo hooooo!!!!) I answer in excitement and say "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" LOL....he replies with.."You have no idea!"

He goes on to tell me that he got his marksmanship badge! (YAY!) and they just completed Red Phase!! (Thank God!) ANNND the most exciting...the Drill Sergeants made him into a "Team Leader" ...Which is GREAT news! I was SOO proud of him. He seemed very accomplished and proud of himself when he told me. They got to eat Burger King the other day at the PX lol..He said he drank Dr. Pepper and it totally freaked him out! LOL. and they were about to have a pizza party! (haha! I felt like he was in Elementary School when he told me that. haha!)

I am SO proud of all his accomplishments thus far! 12 more weeks to go and he'll be done! BUT! 4 MORE DAYS and...*sings in the tune of "I'll be home for Christmas!"* He'll be hooome for Christ-mas!....

I'm ecstatic! as you can imagine. I have planned a romantic evening of just the two of us...ya know...because I'm a good wife! :o) There's no surprise factor on his behalf because I just blurted it out last night all our plans! LOL. oh well...it will be SO FUN!

BTW....YAAAY FOR MARK INGRAM GETTING THE HEISMAN!!! ROOOLL TIIIDE!!! :O) Bama BEATS Aub, for the 2nd time...Bama TAKES the SEC...Bama gets their first Heisman!...Bama goes to National Championship!!! WHAT A GREAT YEAR!!

I'm never lucky enough to win anything SUPER cool! BUUT.....

MckMama is giving away an HP TouchSmart 600 desktop computer! It's SUUUPER cool! (and it looks GREAT in her FABULOUS red living room!) You can enter to win it too...but I'm not going to wish you good luck (I'm sorry...I'm an aweful friend) but this would DEFINITLEY save me a bunch of money on buying a new comp. to have for when my husband gets deployed! :o)

SOOO...Have fun! Go! and enter in the giveaway! You have until Christmas Eve!!!

Hello Lovah Boots!

'Ello 'Ello! Glad you finally arrived!

*Please excuse all the wires and junk..I'm at work! :o)

1 Boot, 2 Boots. Where Boots? TARGET!

I would like to announce the newest member to my shoe closet.....!:o) And for ONLY $29.99 you can enjoy these lovelies too!! Target.com baby! I am SOO excited about them. So here's my story about these boots....

So..I was walking around Target lastnight, (last minute decision to go "Target Shopping" after work yesterday) browsed ALL 2 racks of clothes in the wimpy Maternity section and of course...those 2 racks just so happen to be right next to the shoe section! soooo...I began my browsing of the shoe racks...LO AND BEHOLD I find this one boot just hanging out all by her lonesome (see boot above). She was a size 11 and dying for me to just try it on. I was curious anyways because my WHOLE life I have not been able to wear tall boots because my calves are just too dang big (that's what all those 13 yars of cheerleading will do for ya!) When I slipped it on...IT WENT OVER MY CALF! Can you imagine my excitement!?!? My FIRST pair of tall boots that ACTUALLY FIT! So I began to scrounge around for anymore because this one boot was a size 11...and it did NOT have a match ANYWHERE...(I couldn't help but wonder, "Did big foot come in here and still this poor boots match or WHAT!?) I began to think someone was playing a joke on me and when I couldn't find not only the MATCH for this size 11 boot but I couldn't find any OTHER sizes...I began to get FrUsTrAtEd! I slammed the shoe down...(not really, I didn't want to cause a scene in Target for Boot's sake.) [haha I know...I'll be here til 11!] and stormed off to grab some diapers and an address book and L-E-F-T!

I JUST happened to remember that precious, poor ole' lonely boot and logged onto Target and FOUND THE BOOTS! not just ONE boot by her lonesome...but a matching PAIR! and..IN MY SIZE! :o) then...I looked at the price...$29.99...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? ....

They'll be on my doorstep around December 10th-14th.