December

December seemed to be a rough month for us with traveling and sickness. But on the bright side, Jonathan finished his first semester at Hardin-Simmons University. I am tracking through the 3rd trimester and Luke continues to grow and learn everyday.

My parents came to visit us the second weekend in December and we got to show them our favorite park and the zoo. Luke loved having an audience besides Mommy and Daddy. :)

Showing Mams and Pops the flamingos and ducks at the zoo.

Dad trying to provoke the peacock that was loose.

Playing in the fort Mams and Pops built for Luke.

Then we left our house on Wednesday, December 15th to go to Carrollton and visit Jonathan's brother and wife. Part of Jonathan's Christmas present was going to a Dallas Mavericks game and we were glad Sam and Jenn got to go with us. It was Luke's first experience at a Mavs game and he absolutely loved it!

The next day I got sick and just laid on the couch all day. It didn't help that I started having Braxton Hicks contractions too! That scared Jonathan. :) I was sick for about 48 hours so it continued when we went to the Mitchells in Fort Worth for Mitchell Christmas weekend. Luke started running a fever Friday afternoon but didn't have any other symptoms.

Saturday we opened presents with the Mitchells and had our Christmas meal together.

Opening his stocking.

Luke LOVED his baseball "glub" and baseball.

Papa and Gramma got Luke his own bike!

By that night Luke started throwing up. That was the saddest experience I've ever had (I'm sure the pregnancy hormones didn't help)! That was the first time Luke's thrown up and he was so scared, poor baby. It took everything in me to not break down when he did!

Sunday morning Luke was still a little sick but was getting over it. We decided to stay at the Mitchells and not risk going to church. By Sunday night it was Jonathan's turn. He was still feeling yucky Monday morning which was when we were scheduled to go to Palestine for Taylor Christmas. He wasn't feeling 100% so he asked me to drive to Palestine. Jonathan rested the rest of the day and was feeling better by Tuesday.

We did Taylor Christmas Wednesday night with my immediate family. Luke got a lot of fun things!

Luke's own work bench! I think Daddy was just as excited as Luke :)

Luke got his first piggy bank from Dave Ramsey aka Mams and Pops

And he got his first real guitar from Granny.

We got out my Grampa's hunting hat and Jacob and Luke modeled it for us. :) So sad Luke never got to meet his great Grampa but Luke has definitely taken over as the "ham" in the family for him.

After we opened our presents, we headed to Beaumont for extended Taylor Christmas. It was a late night and rough on my dad who got our sickness next. :(

We opened presents the next morning with the family.

We have many goofy people in our family :)

We came back to Palestine Friday afternoon and celebrated my parent's 27th anniversary with just the 8 of us. That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church. I even got to sing a song with Bek during the service.

Saturday morning my parents and Bek went to deliver goodies to people working on Christmas day (firemen, police, hospital, etc) then came back to the house for breakfast with the Hinson crew. The rest of the day we got ready for Christmas lunch and had great quality time with the family.

Sunday morning I woke up and couldn't walk without a lot of assistance. Probably all the traveling. I sat with a heating pad on and off all day. And by Monday morning I was a little better as we headed back to Abilene. We were so happy to be back home!

We set up all of Luke's toys he got and took down Christmas decorations. I went to the doctor for my 33 week appointment and found out that my glucose test results were elevated so I had to take the 3 hour glucose test. AWFUL!!! But I did just find out that I passed so no gestational diabetes but I do have anemia. That explains why I'm always weak and light-headed! I'll start iron pills today.

December had it's ups and downs for us, but we had a great Christmas and great family time! Luke was so fun this year with presents and Christmas decorations. He would point out Christmas lights on houses when we would be out driving and loved having a Christmas tree in his room. When I would ask who's Christmas tree that was he would say, "Uke and Pahkers!" I hope he's that willing to share with Parker after he gets here! :)

We hope you and your family had a great holiday season!

the Mitchells in November

Goodness, another month has flown by! Here's what we were up to this past month...

Jonathan has been winding down his first semester at Hardin-Simmons and has a lot of funny stories as a result! He still loves the work environment and the people he works with. Now he is getting ready for finals.

Katy has now entered the third trimester or "uncomfortable" stage in pregnancy. Parker is already measuring over 14 inches and is almost 3 pounds! She has updated Parker's baby book and enjoys taking Luke to play group at the play ground.

Luke is learning more and more how to be Mommy and Daddy's helper. He likes words like "mine", "Uke (Luke) do it!" and "all by myself" a lot these days. We have already entered into the "terrible twos" even though he has 3 more months until it's official.

Playing hide and go seek in Mommy and Daddy's closet.

We enjoyed all of our Thanksgivings over the past week and a half. And it was fun to see Luke interact with all the cousins this year. He is quite the picky eater so he missed out on all the yummy food!

We have also put up our Christmas tree and lights outside. Luke even has his own Christmas tree in his room this year. He loves everything Christmas! And wants the lights on the tree and house to be on all the time. We even enjoyed our first fire of the year last night!

October Festivities!

We had a very busy, fun-filled October! This year Luke was old enough to participate in so many more things.

We started out the month by visiting our friends the Matthews and the Lonergans in Plano/Dallas. We hadn't seen the Matthews trio in a while and I was in baby heaven! And Jess brought sweet Fynley over and it was so fun to see her little personality developing!

My pantless son listening to Ashlyn reading

Ainsley and Asher

Luke and Ashlyn playing with sweet Fynley

My precious friends Jess and Kandace

Then we had the Reveal Party to announce we're having a BOY! I posted more pictures on my Party Blog here.

Everyone biting into their BLUE cupcakes!

Then we took Luke to the little Pumpkin Patch here in Abilene and bought him and Parker their own pumpkins.

Trying to find the right pumpkin

Showing off his and Parker's pumpkins

And Luke got to help carve the pumpkins this year too! Of course we had to choose a Mickey Mouse for one of them (Daddy worked very hard on it)! And Mommy did the silly face. Luke didn't know what to think of all the gooey stuff but he had fun exploring!

Helping with the cleaning out

Daddy with his Mickey Mouse pumpkin

Helping Mommy with her silly face pumpkin

The finished products! We were pretty proud since it was our first pumpkin carving :)

We were excited about trick or treaters on Halloween too since we were in a house instead of an apartment. Jonathan saw my 3 big bags of candy I bought and thought I was crazy... needless to say we'll be getting 4-5 bags next year! We decided that since we didn't have a fall festival to take Luke to we would dress him up with what he already had. So he got to be a Honduran soccer player (thanks to Aunt May's mission trip earlier this summer). He loved carrying around his soccer ball and saying "soccer player!"

Our little soccer player

Trick or Treating at our neighbors

Showing his skills

Checking out the candy bowl

Luke handing out candy... he would only hand it to the little kids :)

At the end of October, Jonathan had his 10 year high school reunion. We went to the football game Friday night and Luke loved every second! He loved sitting by the band and watching them play and dance. He kept saying "march, march!" After the game we put Luke down at Jonathan's parents house and headed out to a restaurant to visit with some of Jonathan's old friends. It was a lot of fun to hear old stories about how he was in high school and meeting some of his old friends.

It seems like every month we watch Luke develop and grow by leaps and bounds! He seems to be excited about being a big brother and says "Parky Andon belly, right there!" all the time. He is amazingly good at all sports so we're anxious to see which he will choose down the road. He sings songs while playing his toy guitar and does a little dance with it sometimes. :) We are looking forward to more family time in the coming months as the holidays quickly approach!

The Big Secret

So we went to have THE sonogram last Tuesday and I can honestly say that I have not let it slip once!! That's a huge deal for me! :) It helps I have a whole party planned around this particular secret.

The baby looked great! And it was so fun to see baby kick and punch on the screen and feel it. The doctor said that my placenta was about 1.9 cm away from the cervix and they usually like it to be 2.0 cm. He was pretty sure that it will move but just to make sure we'll have another sonogram on November 15th. That means we get to see baby again! :)

I'm gearing up for the reveal party this Saturday and trying to space things out so I'm not overly stressed come Saturday morning. I can't wait to see it all put out and together! I'll be sure to post pictures along with the BIG NEWS!!

Here's one of the pictures we got from last week!

Sorry it's so blurry, it's from my phone!

Family Update!

The Mitchell 3, soon to be 4, have been very busy lately! Here's an update on everyone...

Jonathan - is loving his job! It is such a blessing for this new position to "fit" so well. He is enjoying the classes he is teaching and loves how tight-nit the math department is. Jonathan has also been working very hard in our yard. We recently landscaped the front yard with some shrubs and pavers and added a few shrubs in the back.

Katy - is adjusting to a small town very quickly! I absolutely love the feel of Abilene and have become pretty familiar with how to get around. I am also LOVING having a house (surprise, surprise!). I have really connected with a childhood friend of Jonathan's who lives in Abilene. It's been nice to find friends so quickly.

Luke - is constantly growing and developing. He is a little ball of energy and loves to pull out all his toys just to put them back. We have started going to a play group of about 4-6 kids and Luke is learning how to share and take turns. :)

Baby #2 - is growing right on track. I started feeling the baby move a few weeks ago and I always anxiously await to feel the next kick! I had my first appointment in Abilene this week and really liked the doctor. It was a big relief to find a doctor so soon! We should have "the sonogram" when I'm around 20 weeks.

So that's a little update on the Mitchells. Check back for details of the Reveal Party for baby #2!