Happy Birthday Uncle Dave!

We have so many December birthdays in this family it isn't even funny and now baby girl joins the ranks too! Today is James' brother David's birthday. So Happy Birthday David!! He is joining me in the ranks of the 30 somethings this year too!!


We love ya!

FAMILY

In the spirit of Christmas, Life and Family I wanted to share something personal with all of you. Every year as Christmas approaches I find myself stopping to try and slow down a little and be mindful of all of the gifts that God has given me. Since this year had a little "extra" busy-ness with the approaching birth of Alaina Claire, I was especially mindful of these gifts. Three very special gifts that I am grateful for are my three departed grandparents. I probably didn't take enough time while they were alive to fully understand their traits which live in me or to thank them for their love.

As Alaina's birth approached I wanted to have my departed grandparents there with me, not only in spirit, but in a symbolic or physical way and so I come to the picture above. The three things in the picture are a knife that belonged to Grandaddy, a rosary that belonged to Gran-Gran and a pen that belonged to Grandpa. Last Friday morning I carried these items in my pocket from the time we left for the hospital, through the delivery room, and until late that night. I can't tell you how many times that day I found my hands sliding into my pocket to hold one or all of these precious items as a source of strength, never to be let down.

And so to explain a little more about the three items and honor the memory of my departed grandparents I want to share with you the significance of each item. It is my hope that the qualities I speak of that I remember so well regarding each of my departed grandparents continue to be strengths of mine and things that I can pass on to Alaina as well as Jacob and William.

The Pocket Knife (Grandaddy)

Grandaddy had many traits that I admire so much and try hard to emulate. He especially was a man that was prepared for whatever may come his way and had a special way of not worrying about things which he could not control. To this point, he always had a liking for pocket knives and I can remember giving him one on several occasions for birthday or Christmas gifts. To me, the liking of knives is a reminder of the preparedness that Grandaddy always seemed to have; that by being prepared and not caught off guard allowed him to live what I remember as a life that was slower and less worrisome. I admire that tremendously. I love you Grandaddy.

The Rosary (Gran-Gran)

Honestly, I do not know much about Gran-Gran's rosary. My dad gave it to me after her passing. However, it reminds me tremendously of her faith and how though it wasn't something that stood out about her, but was something that was always there, hidden at a much deeper, personal level, driving her actions and acting as her foundation. In a way, not knowing or remembering the specifics about her rosary fits this trait. You see, like Gran-Gran's faith the rosary wasn't something obvious and noticeable everyday, but was always there acting as a reminder to her of the importance of God in her life. What I do remember about Gran-Gran, as would most who knew her, is that she was a woman of tremendous strength to the point that sometimes caused her to be a little bull-headed (a Wilson trait). It is now after her passing that I realize that her strength was rooted in her faith. As strong-willed and maybe even stubborn as she could be, I think it was always a distant second to the strength of her faith. Truly a gift that I am proud of and hope that I can instill in my children. I love you Gran-Gran.

The Pen (Grandpa)

This pen was a gift that I gave to Grandpa and that I am told he loved very much. The picture may not show it, but the pen is engraved "Grandpa". Grandpa loved a good pen and seemed to always have a pen on his person. To me the pen symbolizes Grandpa's assertiveness. When it came to faith, Grandpa had a strong one, and with it came opinions on most everything. He loved to "share" his beliefs with anyone that would listen and to this point he reminds me of the evangelist that God has called each of us to be. Grandpa read and studied his bibles constantly. A reminder of this is the number of bibles he left behind and all of his thoughts and notes written (with his pens) in the margins of those bibles. His bibles were truly working bibles and a record of his thoughts and his dedication to wanting to know and understand God's will for us. I think this sort of effort, in and of itself, is a humble discipline and something that pleases God very much. I hope that a little of that is in me. I love you Grandpa.

This Holiday Season it is my wish that each and all of us can recognize the importance of the gifts that God gave our departed loved-ones. That we can each find the will to work hard to strengthen those qualities in our own lives as well as teach those qualities to our children.

Call me a new mama....

So I started freaking out a little this morning. =) I'm guessing it is because it is a girl. Everything is so different or at least I think it is. I'll brief you. So from the beginning this little bundle of joy decided that she will take at least an hour to nurse and during that time I am having to try to keep her awake the entire time because really she just wants to sleep. SO that is what I have been doing since she has been born. Really nothing else but trying to feed her and then by the time I am done I am doing it all over again. I KNOW I am preaching to the choir to several of you out there. Those that did this and tried to do this I am forever amazed at your patience now because if this happened on my first kid--not so sure I would have done as good or had as much patience as I do now. BUT ANYWAY.....the reason I say all of this is because both experiences I have had with breastfeeding my boys have been just easy breezy. They latched on they ate like gangbusters and then they were done. 20 minutes flat!! They meant business!!!! Not my sweet girl--she likes to take her time. And all of that is fine as long as she will eat......and to the point of this post.

So last night she decided to go like almost 8-9 hrs of no eating--couldn't wake her up to eat longer than like 3 minutes for ANYTHING. {I know some of you are saying are you crazy let her sleep--but folks she is just 4 days old at this point--can't do it yet sorry!} So being that we have this whole tint of jaundice thing going on (remember that I am not familiar with) I started to get nervous. Is she gonna wake up and eat or just sleep the day away?!! OF course I am looking at her thinking that her color has gotten worse but I think that had alot to do with my 3 year old----

here is that quick story--last night he was looking at her hands, feet, etc. He said what color hair does she have and we said dark brown--he just said black and then he said what about her face and of course I looked at James and back at Jake and said I don't know what color do you think it is {remember the dr telling me only if she looks orange like a pumpkin should I be worried} So again I ask what color he thinks her face is----ORANGE!!! My 3 year old said my infant's face looked orange.

SO this morning when I was worried about her eating all I could hear in the back of my head was Jake saying her face looked orange on top off all of that. YES I KNOW...he is a 3 yr old....but he knows his colors and that is what he saw!!! Good grief.

So anyway, we trekked to the dr today. He promptly looked at her and she had not lost weight since the hospital #1 good sign and #2 he looked at her and said her color looks fine. Uh ok Dr K so maybe we jumped the gun but better safe than sorry--holiday coming up you know. {insert cheesy grin here}

OF course as soon as I called the dr this morning as I am trying to change her to go she decided she was hungry--when we got to the dr she decided she was hungry again AND she was AWAKE the entire time we were gone to the dr. Gotta love how kids prove you wrong every time no matter how little they are!

Bottom line she is fine and like the dr said I just have a lazy eater and just wait she will wake up and figure it out soon enough. Ok so I feel better even though I probably could have figured it out on my own given a few more hours but Oh well it's nice to have the Dr say she's ok too. =)

Daddy had to make sure his little girl got her sticker at the dr's office today--nobody is too little for a sticker from the dr you know! {see wide awake!}

Happy Birthday to Me!!

WOW!! What better birthday gift for your 30th!!!! {oh my gosh am I really that old!} birthday than to be able to be home with your happy, healthy precious family. God has truly blessed me these past 30 years! What wonderful family and friends I have, an awesome husband who can put up with me (HAHA) and now THREE beautiful children. I can't wait to see what the next 30 years has to offer..... bring it on I'm not scared

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Rachel...happy birthday to me!

Off to changing diapers and nursing a baby--that is what my birthday consisted of--but I wouldn't have it any other way! Oh I did get supper and birthday cake--thanks to my mom AND my dad came over since my sister came home from college today. All was good! Oh and how can I forget what my loving husband did. He framed our engagement picture and my bridal portrait that we have had in a closet for 5 years now. They look awesome and we can finally hang them up!!! Thank you honey!!

Check out my babies.....

Home from the Hospital

We made it home from the hospital today! Yay! Of course what did we come home to but more cooties. I get a phone call this morning at the hospital and it is James and he says of course not only is Jake still sick but now he has gotten some kind of stomach bug. FUN STUFF. So yeah the day we are supposed to bring home our baby girl the house is still full of yucky stuff. Oh and just an update to the already hilarious week Jake had last week with his sickness. His "pink eye" turned out not to be pink eye at all. James ended up taking him to the dr the day Alaina Claire was born and YEP double ear infection and it was only crap coming out of his eyes because he had so much crud in his head. That was all. Can we say gross!!! He was getting better by today either so the dr has called in a stronger antibiotic in hopes of kicking this thing of his to the curb. Will--still great--thank goodness.

Ok so fast forward a few hours. My mom ended up being the one to come get us from the hospital. When we left the hospital Alaina Claire was given an A+ though she is a little yellow or that pretty complexion color that babies can have which is awesome as long as it doesn't get any worse. The dr wasn't worried and just told me as long as she doesn't turn orange like a pumpkin we are good. I'm not used to this jaundice thing--the boys never had that but he tells me we are good that she just has a touch. So back to going home---lucky for me mama lives next door. SO the baby and I went there for a few hours while James was busy sanitizing the house from top to bottom. Thank goodness whatever he had was gone by the afternoon guess it was 24 hr and NOONE else is showing signs of that. We were beginning to wonder if it was something he ate yesterday. I digress.....

So around 8:30 in the evening I finally get to bring my baby girl HOME to HER house. Her brothers and her daddy were SUPER excited to see her. Of course the boys couldn't understand why she wouldn't open her eyes. They just made over her like nothing I have ever seen. They are so sweet to her. What fun days we have ahead....

Oh and today is Papa's birthday on top of everything else so HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!!! We love you!

Here is the picture we had done at the hospital:This was the gown that James wore as a baby and David, Amy and Abbey wore home from the hospital. It was so special to have this for our sweet baby girl!

Alaina Claire

Thought I would share a few more pictures from when she was born for those that didn't see them in email.

Here she is!!!!!



Mommy with her precious new little girl




In the nursery right after she was born

Update from the hospital...

Hey everybody! You can thank Lea Ann and Travis for this post. They brought me their laptop so I can say hello! By now you have obviously seen our brand new precious baby girl. She is awesome. It is amazing that everytime you have a child they are each different and special in their own way. She is just such a sweet little girl and already starting to show her own personality. Right now she is snoozing in her pretty little dress that we had her picture made in today. (will show those later when we get them in)

We are doing good and I am feeling well. She is nursing great and is just content when she is in someone's arms. Not a problem at all right now of course. =) We will get to go home in the morning sometime. I'll definitely let you know how the transition home with the boys goes but they have been very sweet to her so far.

Thanks for everyone's sweet comments!! Love to you all....

Here is a cute picture Travis took Friday at the hospital--she was showing out for them it was so cute!

Daddy's Baby Girl

Well the Spence family is now at 5 and we could not be prouder of the new addition. She arrived hair first (and a head full of those dark locks) just as her brothers did. Forgive me (the Daddy) for this simple first attempt at a post, but I couldn't have chosen a better title than this.

The boys have been great with her so far and I can't say enough about how strong a mother Rachel is and how her love for our family strengthens me everyday. I'll finish this by saying that ones heart truly does grow larger with the birth of each new child.

Introducing...

Alaina Claire Spence in all her pink bow glory.

(Camera phone photo from James--better pics to come)
-Misty

She's here! She's here!

Hi everyone...Misty here...

Alaina Claire Spence, long awaited baby sister of Jake and Will, arrived this morning at 7:49 am. In the words of her proud Daddy, "She's here and she's perfect". Those are always the words we want to hear first.

She weighed 7 pounds 15.5 ounces and measured 19 inches in length. In true Spence form, she has a head full of dark hair (perfect for little bows I'm sure).

James said Rachel is doing well and the c-section went off without a hitch. Rachel is in recovery now and Alaina Claire is in the nursery. Rachel should be moved to a room in the next few hours.

Pictures to follow some time today after April makes it to the hospital. She and Jeannette have the boys and they are not allowed in recovery so it may be a little while before I have pictures to share. James said he would send a few out in the next few days (or maybe he'll post them here).

Thank you Lord for a HEALTHY baby girl...what a blessing she will be to all of us.

-Misty

Tomorrow is the day!

Getting ready to head for bed and sleep--if I can! Tomorrow morning is the arrival of Miss Alaina Claire. Wish us luck--we have to be there bright and early at 5:30am. =( I am trying to convince James to post pictures when he comes in but no promises. My friend Misty is going to update you with the basics in the morning though. So stay tuned--the Spences are about to become a family of 5!!!

Good night!

Something new....

So last week a friend of my Courtney of Courtney Marler Photography took some maternity pictures of me. I have never had these done before---not even any formal pictures of me pregnant like our family picture we did this year. Anyway--I'm being very brave and telling you she has a couple of the pics on her Photo Blog and you can check them out--just click HERE.

If you are in the market for Maternity or Newborn photos--Courtney Marler is your woman. She did an awesome job and is so much fun to work with. Thanks Courtney for capturing some of the last moments of my pregnancy with Baby Alaina Claire!

You know you're near the end when....

{Of my pregnancy } When I just go in and wake up my husband and accuse him of leaving the back door wide open so that just anyone can come in the house and do whatever they want. He says he did shut it and I say that well someone must have just opened it while I was in the bathroom why don't you get up and go see about it?!?!?! He says no I know it was open just a minute ago when I went to bed but I closed it earlier when I came back in. LIGHTBULB---turns out I had just opened it myself to try to put a wreath on the door. And I(yes it was me) left it wide open. I did say I was sorry and quietly backed out of the room. hehe Oh boy, is it Friday yet?????

SORRY HONEY!! =)

The best laid plans.........

ARE YOU KIDDING??!! Those are imaginary. Where should I start? Guess I'll start with Sunday. We have had plans for quite awhile now to take our kids and go see the lights at Opryland with the Wheelers. What happens first thing Sunday morning??? We wake up to Jake puking. YEP he had a stomach virus. So we had to forego the beautiful Christmas lights and deal with that all day long. I think it started on Saturday but anyway, on to Monday and of course he had crud coming out of his eye. SO yep you guessed now Jake has pink eye and when we tried to eat something on Monday morning all that came back up again so that wasn't over yet either. YAY! Called the dr and got medicine for the pink eye. Of course me already thinking about the next day knowing what would happen---Tuesday--Jake's done with the stomach virus but now has a fever (from the cold he has been fighting) and of course pink eye. (no it didn't go away overnight) So no mother's day out for Jacob today. =( At least he was able to eat and seemed to be feeling pretty good. Gramps came to stay with him while I had my dr's appt {no change--still dilated to 4--ready to go on Friday} and he got to go outside for just a bit with him. He seemed good and laid down to take a nap. When he woke up BOTH of his eyes were oozing. Lovely Yes it looks like it spread to the other eye. It's not that bad and has not gotten that bad--just a little bit and looks nothing like the first one so hopefully it will stay that way. Not sure when he'll get over this pink eye business--we've never had it before--let me tell you--IT STINKS.

{Sidenote} First off, who in the heck decided that putting ointment in a 3 yr old or younger OR older for that matter--putting that in their eye---who EVER in a million years truly thought that could happen. Do you know what a fight I have gone through EVERY SINGLE TIME I have tried to put that ointment in his eyes. Oh yeah I tell him I am doing it for his own good and so his eye will feel better and so he can SEE! Does that matter??? what do you think--nope! Everytime--screaming bloody murder and wiggling all over the place. Imagine pregnant me with a belly the size of Jupiter holding down legs and arms AND at the same time trying to PRY OPEN his eye to get at least the teeeeeniest bit of this stuff in there--pretty funny I am sure if you were to look at it from the outside. BUT from here.......IT STINKS.

So onto Wednesday--today--things seem good--fever is down no more throwing up FOR SURE but we still have that darned ole pink eye! There is one miracle to all of this (as I knock on wood, cross my fingers and stand on my head for luck) Will has NOT gotten any of this mess. Of course my hands, their hands and faces all are so dried out from the washing to keep the spread down--that he better NOT get it.

So the point to this post--yep I had one--was that I had this list with about 8,000,001 things to do on it before Friday when our little one makes her appearance. Ask me how many have gotten done to this point--reminder it is Wednesday--we're talking made the list on Saturday. Ummm let's see.....3. Yeah 3 out of 8,000,001---those are BAD statistics. I must admit--I finished Christmas shopping on Sat with my mom because she is the only one that will put up with me right now out in public. Then Sunday we actually did accomplish some things between the cleaning up puke. BUT the ones that I have been trying to get done like get all of this baby's clothes put away and put up the Christmas decorations, oh yeah and PACK my bag for the hospital. Those things haven't gotten done yet.

I know--I don't want any nasty comments about it will all be here when I get home and that I should take care of myself. I KNOW THAT!!! But if it were you--you would want to get it all done too--especially with Christmas so close!! Aaaaggghhh!

So yeah the best laid plans were laid by a fool because there is no such thing as best laid plans. I'm gonna remember that and just get done what I can (instead of blogging that would probably help--haha) and what doesn't get done will be here when I get back.

Hope everyone else's holidays are going by very smoothly. Sorry for the rant and if you made it this far......Thanks!

Whaaaaz uuuuup?

I love the fact that Will likes to "dress up". I can try any of his clothes on him to see if they still fit and he loves it. {he is sleeping with his jacket in his bed now because he thinks it is supercool} That is what we were trying to get done on Sunday. He had the best time putting on different clothes. These are outfits he had to keep on for awhile--got mad when I tried to take them off.

Will with Santa

Remember I told you Santa was at Chuck E Cheese. Will was the only one that would get in his lap. As you can see even when he got there--he wasn't very happy. My boys will just have to write letters instead of telling him in person. =)

Does Santa have a mouth??

Kids Wonderland---Parents Nightmare

You said it--Chuck E Cheese!!!! Well that is where we were tonight. James' work is so nice to do a Christmas party not only for the adults but for just the kids too! (I really do mean that is nice--they do lots of fun things for family) This year, like last, they had the party at Chuck E Cheese--what better place right?? Of course it was a night when it was cold, rainy and everyone else had the EXACT same idea. So the place was literally crawling with kids. I KNOW some of you know what I'm talking about. Now, I'm not a person to get anxious or get anxiety but THIS place brings it out in me. Once we braved walking away from our "safe place" at the table in the party area where we were just watching Chuck E dance, etc---we headed straight for the Toddler area. At least it is partially fenced in! The kids had a great time and would have loved it if we had just said GO have a great time. Problem is we never would have seen them again. It was crazy!! Guess they are used to it because of course it doesn't bother my kids---they just keep right on going. Enjoy a few pictures courtesy of one of James' co-workers--thanks!

Will and Daddy pose with Chuck E.

Daddy attempting to help both boys "eat a good dinner" before we play----that only works for Will.

Jake was busy telling me all about what he wanted to go do while he was riding the caterpillar and trying to make it go faster.

Oh--Santa was there too! I was so excited when I found out that Santa was going to be at this Christmas party--that meant I didnt' have to take my kids into the mall to get their picture taken. Well guess who was acting like a big goober and would have nothing to do with Santa???!! Jacob Nolan of course. He is that way when Chuck E Cheese walks around or any other character anywhere for that matter. It's like once they are really life-sized he's not so sure about them. So my ideal picture of them both with Santa never happened. Will of course went up there just fine. James' work took the pictures so I hope to get that one soon and I will post it.

Will was just daring somebody to get him off of there--once he is on one of those rides its definite "fit" time when its time to get down. He loves them!

Jake and Daddy peruse the "big kid area" for something more exciting than riding the caterpillar---and he found plenty!!

No tokens left this time, folks! We did CEC---once again. Probably the last time for quite awhile!! {at least mommy and daddy hope so}

Reading with Net Net

Will is all about reading now. He started a little later than Jake did. Jake sat and read books-- right side up mind you, too-- at 6-8 months old. Will waited until he was a year old and then started to show much more interest. Now he just brings the book and says "read, read". So Net Net was reading him The Foot Book by Dr Suess. In one part it says "His Feet, Her Feet..." Yep that's it. Well she decided to demonstrate. She held up Will's feet and said "his feet" and then she held up her feet and said "her feet". Well this got Will's tickle box turned over and everytime she raised her feet he cackled as you can see. It was hilarious. It only worked on Net Net's feet though. She tried to show him Mommy's feet and Jake's feet and he didn't care. It was when Net Net did it that it was so funny! He is a riot, I tell ya!

He even had to hold his face in his hands he thought it was so funny!

Happy Birthday Yaya

One day late! Yesterday the 3rd was Yaya's birthday and she and Steve went out and painted the town. SO...We went over tonight to celebrate with her. We had some yummy spaghetti and the boys had a good time playing and what else but watching videos (at least Jake anyway). Of course we didn't take any pictures tonight but here is a walk down memory lane for ya:

Yaya (aka Deborah or Mom) with James when he was around 3

Beautiful Wedding

Tonight a friend I grew up with from kindergarten--maybe before--got married. It was truly a beautiful ceremony and the reception was decorated so nice (loved the colors) and she had a cool band! Prego over here was excited about the food and the yummy cake. My most favorite thing was shaved ice and the lemonade they had---what can I say--little things make me smile these days.

Here is a picture of our whole crew--friends from growing up----some from kindergarten and before! The only one missing is APRIL??!!!

Shannon, Misty, Me, Andrea, Suzanne

Congrats Andrea--we wish nothing but the best for you and Neil!