We have a date!!!!

I am so excited! Went to the doctor today and she went ahead and set the date for my c-section. Sweet James will make his debut on Monday, November 24 at around 9am! Our little turkey will be here just in time for the holidays!! We are so excited to see this little man and boy do I have a lot to do! The doctor says all looks great and he is measuring perfectly! I am tolerating everything really well and there are no real concerns right now. We will probably be in the hospital for Thanksgiving, but otherwise it will be really nice because Strick will have so much time off and Mom will too! We will have Claire covered!!!! What a great big sister she will be ;)

Sweet baby James!

I got my 30 week sonogram yesterday and the lady was in an especially good mood. I explained that after the last sonogram I thought his nose looked "funny". She explained that it was the distortion of the machine and that was totally normal. When we finished she said she was going to play for a bit.........I did not know what that meant until she started and I got to see this sweet baby boy. She asked what I thought of that nose and I said it was just perfect!!! He was sucking on his arm and posing so perfectly!!! I was ecstatic to get to see this and Strick was so sad he was not there. We feel like we have seen him so much since I get so many sonograms, but this was so special! It made me feel like I can make it these last 2 months.....gave me a little added and much needed energy! I left the doctor and immediately went to Strick's work to show him. He has a picture of Claire in his office from when she was born and we think there is a strong resemblance................either way, it was a nice surprise and I was grateful that she took the time to do this for us!

The boy gets a name....

As many of you already know....we have chosen a name for little boy Tudor. He will be called James Strickland Tudor. We had this name picked out before we even knew what Claire was so it was a pretty easy decision. James is after my grandfather, Pop, and Strickland...well that is obvious! We are so excited about this little one and cannot wait to meet him. I just know this name will serve him well. My Pop is the most amazing man on this Earth and if we can raise a little boy to be half the man he is....we will consider that a job well done!

I promise to catch up on posts soon. I thought I would this weekend while my family was here helping out, but we worked and I think the "nesting" is starting to kick in! I cannot get organized enough. With James on the way and the thought of a long winter indoors with a 2 year old and newborn......my list keeps growing! We did get Claire's room started and after the visit during her birthday weekend, I really think all I will have left to do is wash and get out all old baby gear. We are moving her into a "big girl" room.....don't let the name fool you, we will still keep her in a crib, but it will be a new room with new furniture and all. Since we did the nursery in all neutral fabrics we will add a little blue here and there and James will be ready to go! Sweet boy! I have a sonogram tomorrow and hope to talk to the doctor next week about the surgery date. I would like to have some idea of when we will do it....not sure how the whole scheduled date works, but it is looking so attractive right now. I will (hopefully) get to have all my bases covered and Claire will be well taken care of!......and spoiled rotten!

Promise to post pictures soon....I think I have the whole summer to catch up on!!! Yikes!

It's a......

BOY!!!! I cannot believe it! We are so excited! Baby looked great and everything was in working order ;) Claire is going to be the best big sister to her little brother! Hope he is tough enough to handle her!!!!!!!

De Anna Rose

We have made several trips to De Anna Rose to pet some goats and enjoy the nice weather! Our first trip was with baby Beau! At only 4 weeks old he slept the whole time, but we loved the company!!

Here are Kat and I ready to see some animals!

Claire loved the goats! It was hilarious! She would feed them and then laugh so hard, immediately stop and seriously ask them if they wanted more. We were cracking up!

She is so bold and not scared of anything!!!!!

Taking a much needed break!

Cowgirl?

We went back while my parents were in town for more goat feeding fun!

So fun to run and play outside! It has been a long winter!!!

Lovin' some babies!

Claire is so into her babies right now.....very timely I think! She has a particular one that she loves (cabbage patch), but she plays with all her babies. One day we were in the car and she kept saying baby.....so I had to find all the babies in the back seat so that she could hold them. How sweet is she?

Hope this holds out until November!

Strick's big catch!

We have this lovely pond behind our house that the geese swim in and it looks so pretty.....well, it is also stocked with fish! Strick was out running some errands and came home to find Claire and I still asleep, so he decided to fish. He caught a whopper!

This is the pond where all the action happened!

Here is the fish!

The fisherman and his catch!

Helps to show you how big this thing was!!!!

Strick wanted me to skin/fillet it and fry it up for dinner.....I then reminded him that this was not "Little House on the Prairie" and that there would be no skinning here. He called Miss Blanche from next door, and she gladly took it and brought him some fresh fried fish a few days later. To his dismay, it did not taste good at all! Blanche went out and got some fresh catfish and they had a taste test. The stuff from the grocery won! We have heard that the large ones are not as good to eat as the smaller ones. We think this one weighted about 12 pounds because it broke Strick's 10 pound line.

The fish story gets bigger..............

Miss Blanche was out in the neighborhood at a garage sale last weekend and a lady told her that her husband has caught a 25 pound catfish in the pond. Strick thinks the lady is full of it, but he in now on a personal mission to find another huge fish! As long as I don't have to fry it up I am good with it!