Happy New Year!

Thomas says, “Happy New Year!”

My Sweet Boys

James loves his new baby brother Thomas.  He has come up to the hospital twice now to see us. 

Tonight he just couldn’t wait to hold him.  Here he is getting in some much needed big brother time.

Here he is getting to hold him without any of Daddy’’s help.

He just adores him, and I am sure that Thomas will adore James when he is just a little bit bigger. 

Richard Thomas Roe

He’s here… Thomas has arrived.  And he’s beautiful.

Thomas was born at 11:18 this morning, weighing in at 7 lbs, 11 oz, and 19.25 inches long.  The C-Section went perfect and everyone, including the big brother, is doing great.

 Mommy and her new boy just after delivery.

Our first family shot, minus James.

Such a sweet little Angel we have here…

He’s perfect!

Tomorrow is the big day!

Well, I haven’t said much about this pregnancy on the blog, but tomorrow (OK, just a few hours from now considering that it’s 12:27 AM when I am blogging this) is the BIG day. 

I have had a very good pregnancy with this baby.  I made it two weeks longer than I did with James, and if tomorrow weren’t planned, I am sure that I could probably go another two weeks.  I am extremely uncomfortable lately, but for the most part, I think it’s just because I am so huge.  I asked Jim what he thought my waist measured tonight, and he answered honestly.  (He had a little clue, we’ve been measuring along the way.)  The answer was 45.5 inches around the largest part of my belly.  He said 46 so he was pretty close.  I actually thought bigger. 

We have explained to James as much as we can that tomorrow he’s going to be a big brother.  He knows that he’s going to school in the morning and that Mommy is going to the hospital.  He knows that after the baby is born that Daddy will come to get him and take him to the hospital to see Mommy and meet his new brother.  And he knows that the baby is going to come home to live with us.  But I don’t think that he gets that his life is about to become so different. 

I have such mixed emotions about this whole deal.  Yes, I am thrilled to meet the little man inside of me.  And yes, I am thrilled to add someone to our family.  But I am scared, too.  I guess it’s just all part of change.  Change is good, right?  Well, in any case, I can’t take any of it back now, not that I want to. 

So, all that being said, in just a few more hours I will no longer be the mother of one.  I’ll be the mother of two beautiful boys.  That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?  I can’t wait!

Yea! Santa Came!

James still didn’t quite get the whole Santa thing this year.  When Christmas morning arrived he came into our room and asked for his milk and Diego like it was any other day.  Jim and I were so excited for him, but he just didn’t get it. 

I asked him, “James, what happened last night?”

He replied, “It rained.” 

Well, yes it did… so I asked some more questions…  “It thundered.”  “There was lightning.” 

Finally Jim asked him who came to our house. 

“Santa?” 

YEA!  So we told him to go to the landing and look over the side.  From there he saw his new bike, his new scooter, and his new see-saw!

RRRRRR…Matey… 

Such a violent Pirate we have here. 

Look at him go.  He loves his scooter. More than the bike, I think. 

He couldn’t wait to get at his stocking.  He just wasn’t quite tall enough.  It was stuffed with all kinds of good treats. 

The recycling truck doesn’t come until Thursday, a full week after Christmas.  I was so stressed each time that I opened the garage door that I had to have Jim pull the truck out and just pile it all in the middle of the garage. 

Jim and I had an excellent Christmas, too.  It was nice to be home this year with James.  I rested a lot.  I think I took two naps that day.  For dinner Jim made a wonderful lamb, some mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and homemade macaroni and cheese.  I liked it so much that I suggested it be our regular Christmas meal.  Christmas Eve meal consists of lasagna.  Both delicious!

T’was the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house…It smelled like Christmas cookies,

and that’s where my rhyme ends. 

James is getting to be such a good cook.  He likes to do everything by himself, and for the most part he can.  He can even crack the eggs all by himself now.  (Not that sugar cookies from a bag need eggs, but when we do need eggs he can do them by himself.)

He put the sprinkles on all by himself.  We did one dozen red and one dozen green.  Santa likes both. 

Here he is just before bedtime leaving the cookies for Santa.  We were out of celery and carrots, but he thought that the reindeer had enough food in our backyard.  After all, we feed the deer all the time back there. 

This picture was taken the next morning after Santa had come.  James was pleased to see that he ate all of the cookies and drank all of his milk.  Drinking all of your milk makes you grow up to be big and strong. 

Nog and Grog

Grandmommy and Grandaddy Lucy and Leon hold their annual Nog and Grog each December 23 without fail.  This year I was a little worried that we might not make it, but the baby was quite cooperative and we had a great time.  Here is a picture of us girls just as the party was starting.

The kids were just too cute posing for their picture.

Twins!

No… now you just get that OUT of your mind!  I am not carrying twins.  There is only one baby in this belly here.  But James on the other hand, he had a twin at school today. 

James and his buddy Ethan dressed as twins today at school.  They were having a blast this morning when we dropped them off.  They were so cute.  I felt bad for the teacher… we couldn’t even get them to sit still long enough to take a picture.  This was about as good as we were able to come across. 

For those eagle eyes out there, you might notice that James is wearing jeans today.  Yesterday we got family pictures taken and I asked James if he would please wear his jeans for the pictures.  He didn’t hesitate at all and was fine wearing them.  Jim and I kept complimenting him so he came to the realization that he likes them.  I told him that Ethan was wearing his jeans today and that they would be twins with the same shirt and jeans if he would wear them.  There was no issue at all.  You’d never know, if you didn’t already know, that there was ever an issue.

Come on! You can do it!

James took his Grandmommy and Grandaddy to Monkey Joe’s while they were here.  He showed them how to climb all over the jumpies and which slides were the fastest.  It wasn’t long before they were pros, just like James Roe. 

See?  Just grab onto these and climb the red things, Grandmommy.  It’s easy!

Grandaddy isn’t so sure that it’s easy.  Maybe for a three year old. 

But James Roe knew that he could do it.  He cheered him on the whole way, even giving him hints from time to time. 

Once they were all up to the top it was, “One, Two, Three, GO!” 

That was SO FUN Grandaddy!  So fun! 

Next they tried another slide.  Right this way Grandaddy… follow me! 

Wheeeeeeee!

Come on… we can do it together!

I think Grandmommy and Grandaddy were pros by the time we left.  We spent at least two hours there playing.  It was awesome.

Saaanta Claus is coming to town!

OK- so he already came to town.  Our town, to be exact.  Here’s what happened. 

Earlier this week James’s grandparents were in town for a few days.  Jim and I were able to take some much needed time off from work to hang out with them and do lots of fun “Christmas things”.  On Monday morning just after breakfast I was cleaning the table when I noticed that we had three deer in our backyard.  I quickly yelled to James and anyone else within ear shot, “James, come quick!  Santa’s reindeer are in our backyard!”  Soon everyone in the house was standing at the kitchen windows looking at these three beauties. 

James was very excited to see Santa’s reindeer back there and asked if Santa was anywhere out there.  We said that he might be, he really doesn’t leave his reindeer for too long.  But then again, he might still be at the North Pole with the elves working on those last few toys and getting the sleigh loaded.  But in any case, he’s going to have to come back for them sometime. 

That night as we were waiting for dinner to magically appear on the table Jim heard a jingle coming from the backyard.  He asked James if he heard it, too, and he ran to the window to see if it might be Santa back there checking on the reindeer.  Wouldn’t you know it, it WAS! 

James ran outside on the back porch and much to our wondering eyes Santa appeared!  He said hello to James and told him that he was back there checking on them.  James was in complete awe.  Santa asked if he could come inside and I thought that James might actually leap off the deck into his waiting arms below.  Luckily that didn’t happen.  He ran to the gate and opened it up, directing Santa right up the stairs and into our house. 

James was thrilled to show Santa his Christmas tree and all of his ornaments.  He sat on his lap for a bit and told him about how he was being such a good boy and asked him for a few special toys this Christmas.  Magic filled the room.  It was one of the most amazing moments of my life, much less my three year old little boy’s.  He was just in Heaven. 

After a few minutes of chatting with Santa he told James that he needed to get back to work.  There was still a lot of work that needed to be done in the North Pole and lots of other kids needed to see him, too.  James was OK with this and merrily showed him how to get back to the woods behind our house where the reindeer were waiting for him. 

I just love this magical season… don’t you?