A 11:24 am...

Crosby Fox turned 3 years old!!!  Happy Birthday to my precious boy...

Mondays with Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 2 years and 51 weeks old!!!  What a fun week it has been.  There is not thing like experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a child.  Somethings you picture them doing turn out way better than you ever imagined.  While others don't exactly live up to the expectations you dreamed up in your head!  So funny!

On Wednesday, we had an ornament exchange at our house with Margaret, Wells, Crosby and John Christopher.  There are 2 more boys in the mix this year, Mercer and Thomas (JCLW's twin brothers).  They didn't make it to the gathering though.  Maybe next year!  We tried to snap a good picture of all their sweet faces.  This was the best I got!  At least there are 8 eyes..,

We spent Christmas Eve at our our house with the Autrys.  They had a gift for the little man and wanted to see him open it.  Believe it or not, Crosby will actually sit, look at the camera and even offer a smile now!!  Not sure what has gotten into him over the past few weeks but I will take it...

His hair may look a little crazy but he was being so sweet for the camera!  Christmas miracle...

He was excited when I gave him the go ahead...

An Auburn shirt!!!  We all laughed as he threw it aside and reached for the bigger gift!  One day he will appreciate clothes...

Crosby with the Autrys.  Seriously, I wouldn't be 24 weeks (today!!!) without the help of these two.  What a blessing...

Meet Alphie!  Justin and I had one when we were little.  Technically I think it was Justin's but I played with it too.  Such a blast from the past!

We put on his Christmas PJs and had him take a few pictures in front of the tree.  Blake called this his sorority girl pose...

Love this little smirk!

Our tree was a disaster this year.  Of all years...really???  First it leaked 16 liters of water on the carpet.  That lead to pulling the carpet up and letting it dry.  We finally got the carpet stretched back into place and the tree went back up.  LeAnne (our blessing pictured above) spent hours decorating it only to have half the lights go out a few days later!  At least it was big and looked beautiful.  Although pictures don't do it justice...

And here is a picture of the tree AFTER Santa made an appearance...

Crosby had been talking about a bike ALL season long.  I just knew he would be so excited to see what Santa left for him.  Here he is coming down with stairs with a special book of GranBuddy reading the Night Before Christmas.  I caught him just as he saw the red bike...

Much to our surprise, he proceeded to sit and listen to his book from Granuddy!!!

It didn't take too long for him to get his helmet on and test her out!

He was quickly making laps around the house!

Santa found this really loud light up gun for Crosby to play with!?!  Is it bad that I am ready for the batteries to die on this one?

Crosby and his Daddy on Christmas morn...

And there is NO chance I will post the one of me and Crosby... Yikes!

More Christmas Day pictures with the family to come...

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you love and laughter this Christmas season!

Mondays with Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby turned 2 years and 50 weeks old!!!  But wait, his birthday is next week so that means he should be 2 years and 51 weeks old?!?  I am off a week.  It seems like I was off a week when the year started and didn't know how to fix it.  Due to leap year business maybe?  Hmmm...

Another week.  No pictures.  Bummer.  Luckily I have a few pictures left from a couple of weekends ago!  Crosby was able to go to the Woodmont Hills Christmas Breakfast with the Malone/Cyr crew.  As you can see above, round 2 with Santa did not go so well!!  Apparently he was clinging to Blake for dear life.  There would be no sitting in Santa's lap when Daddy was around.  Only for Lulu!  I guess he figured he told the man once what he wanted and that should be enough!

He was quite the big boy with another activity...

He came home telling me all about his ride on the horse!  He let me know about the horse shaking it's head and throwing him forward in his seat.  Pretty sure that one rattled him a bit but he didn't mention it himself.  Nope.  Only big, brave boys ride horses!  We might have a picture of the wee-bit frazzled big, brave boy...  

Then my non-crafty kid participated in cookie decorating AND building a gingerbread house...

He promptly consumed the cookie so I never saw his completed work.  I did, however, see the gingerbread house.  He may have completed 1/4 of the project, if I am being generous!  And he immediately starting eating the candy off the top when he got home!  I am just happy he sat and worked on both activities.  It is not like my boy to sit...for anything!

Of course, I was sad to miss another Christmas activity with my little man.  But it does melt my heart that these two are getting lots of great bonding time in right now.  Blake hung the moon in Crosby's eyes...

I just love them to pieces!

I guess I lied.  There is one tiny picture from this week.  I didn't take it though.  I stole it from Kara and thought I could post it as though I did take it!  Except I confessed.  While this playgroup picture was being taken, I was horizontal on the couch downstairs! 

Yes.  All 14 of these kiddos and all 8 of their mothers were at our house on Wednesday!!!  Talk about full house.  And let me say, it was LOVELY!!  What can I say, I am a social being. I love to be around people.  Some folks would be overwhelmed by this kind of madness.  Me.  I thrive in it!  I am not one for to much organization or structure so this was right up my alley!  And to think, there are 2 more baby girls who are scheduled to join the gang in early 2012!  SIXTEEN kiddos!  I think we will need to rent a warehouse to have enough space for this little ones to play.  So fun!  Oh how I love these children and their precious mommas!  Did I mention just how funny it was to hear the mommas singing, bribing, clapping and cheering to get these faces pointed in the right direction???  It worked!  And like usual, my child cooperated since I was not behind the lens!

On the baby front, I am officially 23 weeks today.  One more week until Baby Girl is viable.  While I am ready to be there, it is also a scary place to be.  I hope and pray I make it well into my 30's before she makes an appearance.  Caroline was born at 24 weeks and 2 days.  She was just old enough to be given a chance at life, but was just to little to make it.  I don't want to re-visit that place...

While my uterus has seemed more cranky (especially starting on Mondays...), my numbers were 3.6 cm and higher at my appointment on Friday.  I am holding strong despite the activity I am feeling.  Now if we can just convince my head that all is well!  I am calm and at ease when things are quiet.  It is a different story when things start to get rowdy.  I know it sounds crazy to say I forgot how mentally challenging pregnancy is for me.  But I did.  I guess I watched lots of folks carry their precious babes with ease and let myself think, "It wasn't that bad was it!?!"  Even reading back through my own blog, I realize just how much I left out from the last go round.  I didn't even sound like I was the crazy person I now remember being.  I tried not to complain and grumble too often but how quickly I was reminded what a mental struggle this is.  And for whatever reason, I genuinely believed things would be different this time given so much space between pregnancies.  I guess I am not meant to join the world of the walking pregnant!  Oh how I was hoping...

Then there is perspective.  I have my precious boy.  And so far, a low dose of meds and bed rest has kept my numbers at a safe level.  Thank you, Lord for your mercy and grace.  For now, I will just pray this trend in continued at my appointment on Friday.  I won't even worry about wanting to join in the Christmas gatherings or getting to attend Crosby's birthday party.  One day at a time.  One request at a time.  I think I can, I think I can...

Mondays with Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 2 years and 49 weeks old!!!  Yes, I am again extremely late in posting this.  I can't blame it on the fact that we have been running all over the place trying to finish up Christmas shopping because that is pretty much done.  And it was done from the couch with the help of a few "elves"!  I will, however, blame it on the fact that the ole uterus was being cranky on Monday and sent me into a bit of a funk.  If I said it was for no reason I would be getting ahead of myself so I won't mention that!  At the time, it had me all anxious and worried.  I just can't type when I get that way.  Sooo...late it is!

Little man only has one more day of school before Christmas break!  So sad for me.  I love that he gets to enjoy 2 days of play time when he is there.  And of course, he has had a fabulous time transitioning the past few days.  No tears about going to school.  Walked right out the door today like he owns the place.  And now we are going to get a 2 week break to set us back again.  Maybe not this time?!?!?!  I snapped a few pictures of him before school Monday morning...

I am pretty sure he was in the middle of saying one of his silly Mickey Mouse Clubhouse lines..."Pineapple underpants!!!" Who knows why he finds that line so amusing but we hear it throughout the day.  It may have something to do with his dad saying it too him all the time and snickering...

It is a shame that I only have 3 pictures from the week.  The photo album (that I do not own) is going to be bare when it comes to November and December of 2010.  So sad.  

I did get a PRECIOUS picture of his baby sister on Friday...

My first thought, "She looks JUST like Crosby did when he was born!!!"  And apparently I am not the only one who thinks that!  A lot of folks have commented saying the same thing.  So crazy!   As far as that appointment went, my numbers were still up in the 4s!  Yay for such good numbers at the 22 week mark.  We have officially passes milestone #1.  Finley was born at 21 weeks and 5 days.  Now just wanting to get to 24 weeks...viability!  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Mondays with Crosby

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 2 years and 48 weeks old!!  That means there are only FOUR weeks left until the first number switches.  I am not really a fan of that number growing. The only thing that makes it a little less painful is the fact that I need March (at the least in my mind) to hurry up and get here. THEN life can slow back down to a snails pace!  Think I could get that worked out.  Maybe I can try the Little Einstein's trick-pat my hands on my legs and go super fast like Rocket.  I'll let you know how that turns out...

So, last week was a mess.  If you recall, Blake left Sunday for Scottsdale.  He was gracious enough to get a Christmas tree for me before he left.  He usually grumbles about doing it right after Thanksgiving because he thinks they dry out too fast.  This year, he didn't say a word!  What a sweet guy!  I assured him we would keep it watered before he left.  And water we did.  A 2 liter bottle works perfectly to keep the base full.  The first few times we filled it, the tree sucked the water right up.  It was a thirsty little tree!    

So we kept hydrating it.  Over and over.  I thought to myself... "Sure seems like a lot of water!" but I had not been so diligent in the past.  (or should I say Lucy and LeAnne were diligent for me)  Long story short, it was not until 16 liters later that LeAnne stepped near the tree only to come up with a wet heel!  Yep.  The base had a leak. How fun to discover at 10:30 at night, when you are on bed rest and your husband is in Arizona playing golf!!   LeAnne and I just decided to sleep on it.  I mean what could we really do by ourselves, seeing how I am useless.  LeAnne managed to track down a neighbor in his yard to come assess the situation.  He and his son pulled the carpet back for us and helped us get the carpet, padding and subfloor dry.  What lovely neighbors I have!!  And what a lovely mess we had to look at.  We finally got a quote today to get the carpet stretched and are hoping that will happen in the next day or two.  I just wanted to stare at a Christmas tree while lying on the couch.  Is that so wrong???  One would like to think this would push me over the edge and make me go fake.  Oh contraire.  It is going to take more than a little water to keep me from my real tree!!! :-)

Little man had a busy weekend!  Our church hosted the annual Family Christmas Breakfast.  In keeping with the Malone family tradition, Blake had to work.  And I suppose you can guess where I was.  Thankfully, Lulu was more than happy to take him for us.  And to top that off, she was able to take a few pictures of the event for me.  I would have been up a creek had she not! 

I am fairly confident Leighton and Crosby were sitting very still and sing along with the words...

 ...on the big screen!

At least that is what I am telling myself.  I hear my little fella was asking for his mommy while he was sitting there.  It kind of breaks my heart that I am missing all of these moments with him.  I know, I know.  I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this.  While I am  praying the end result will make this all worth while, it is still hard to send him out the door all of the time.  On a positive note, he still loves me!

And there is Miss Priss, Charlotte!

And then there is this kid.  The one with his tongue out teaching my child lots of bad manners.  Yep.  That would be the preachers child!  Lucas Graves. Right there. And his mother has her back turned, just ignoring it.  Can you see the shock on Crosby's face?  ;-)

Hehe!!  I jest.  We love Lucas Grave and his momma is one of the best out there!  By using clues in the following picture, I have decided this was the meal portion of the Christmas breakfast!  Wonder how much the little bird ate?

In case you didn't know, waiting to see Santa can be exhausting!  Nothing like a little Veggie Tales to pass the time!

And then the moment he had been waiting for.  Or maybe not so much...

Crosby has been consistent with 2 things this year.  1.) He is not going to sit with Santa.   2.) Santa is going to bring him a bike.  For this reason, I am glad I did not make it to the breakfast.  He would NOT have done this had I been there.  It did not matter how many times we told him he had to sit with Santa so he could tell him about the bike idea. "How will he know if you don't tell him???" Crosby would come back with, "I can stand by him."  Ha!  At least he had a plan.  Buuuuuut, Lulu threw him in Santa's lap before he could think about and here is what we got...

He was able to get his request out at least!  But he wasn't going to crack a smile...

I am guessing they are saying "Ho, ho, ho!"  Crosby is good at that phrase.  He has been saying it since last Christmas!

Apparently, as he walked out of the room, he turned back to Santa and stated, "BIKE!" He said it twice in fact. He had to make sure Santa got it!

Next, my not-so-crafty boy headed to the craft room.  He actually participated, with a little help I am sure...

This was his end result! A cute little reindeer to go on our...tree...

Posing with the reindeer on the stage...

And with his Lulu!

I am so glad Crosby got to make it to the Family Christmas Breakfast.  At least he is not missing out on all the fun activities that take place during the Christmas season!

On Tuesday, I had an appt with Maternal Fetal Medicine.  I had been crabby all weekend because the ole uterus was cranky.  I was a big ball of anxiety.  Which only helps a cranky uterus become more cranky.  So stressful, my organs.  Anyway, I fully expected my numbers to be awful as a result.  My cervical length has been hovering around 3 cm for a while and I doubted we would still be there.  Who would have thought it would be back up to the upper 3s and low 4s!  Insane.  But I would gladly take it.

I had an appointment with Dr. B on Friday.  Things had been seemingly quiet so I wasn't to stressed about numbers.  Wouldn't you know I was back down to the low 3s, upper 2s.   Why can't I just have a normal uterus that carries babies like it was created to do?  One that does not start to contract right when the second trimester starts...  If only we could figure this one out.

At least we got to see Little Miss again...

And she was all over the place.  The sonographer got a picture of her with her hands up by her face.  Maybe you can see her right arm and fist over her right eye, with her little nose and lips right beside it.

Oh how I want to keep this little girl!!!  We are at 21 weeks today.  You may recall that we lost Finley at 20 weeks 5 days.  We have passed one milestone but have so many more to go.  I would so appreciate your prayers for us.  I kind of forgot how mentally challenging this it is to have a uterus that is fighting against you most of the day.  Needing lots of peace here on the Malone couch/bed!

Mondays with Crosby

 At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 2 years and 48 weeks old!!!  And. yes, I know that was a week ago now.  Yes, I know I am super behind.  At least I have a good excuse!  Well, I don't know that it is good but it is an excuse, nonetheless.  I was crabby on Monday.  My uterus (who really needs a name of her own at this point...something ornery) was being rowdy, the hubs was out of town and I was too preoccupied mentally to write anything!  It didn't help that I only had a handful of random and less than exciting pictures to post!  My plan was to post the next day after my appointment, but then chaos happened.  More on that in the next post!  Back to THIS Monday...

On Tuesday night, Gee Gee, Pop, Justin, Katie and, of course, Baby Harper, came over to our place for Thanksgiving dinner.  We decided to meet a little early since Justin and Katie would be heading to Marietta to be with the Tenery crew on Thanksgiving day.  Ornery uterus had been on her best behavior and I was excited to spend time with the family.  Unfortunately, I only took pictures AFTER the meal.  And only a few then.  What can you do???

Crosby with Uncle Justin...

Aunt Katie (and Baby Harper), Crosby and Justin...

We got the family cradle out of the attic for Justin and Katie to use when little bit arrives.  Wouldn't you know our BIG bit had to climb back in.  I am pretty sure my parents have a picture of me doing the same thing when I was Crosby's age!  I need to get my hands on that...

He thought he was pretty cool!

Crosby with Gee Gee and Pop.  Not sure why it is so hard to get both of my parents smiling at the same time but this is the best we got!

And we managed to get one of our little family...

We had a delicious meal and a great time with the Lipscomb crew.  Crosby headed to Columbia with my parents that night and made his way back home when Blake got off work the following day.  That took care of Wednesday!  Then it was time for Thanksgiving day.  Dr. B really hesitated when I asked about riding to Columbia for lunch.  In the end, he agreed that it should be okay as long as I was feeling good.  Because things had been quiet for several days in a row, I felt comfortable riding down for a visit on the Malone's couch!

First things first for Mr. Cros.  He was so excited to get to drive GranBuddy's tractor...

He loves the Kubota!!  It makes GranBuddy even cooler in Crosby's eyes.  It is the first thing he asks for when we go down there!  "Wanna ride the tractor???"

Lucy managed to snap a few pictures of the Thanksgiving meal.  This table was supposed to be for Sam and Gid.  Buuuuut, somehow Crosby landed in Sam's seat!

Sam was a trooper and share the tiny table with Miss Charlotte.  Poor guy could barely fit his long legs under the table.  Such cousin love!

And here is proof that the rest of the family was there...

It is hard to take pictures when you are horizontal most of the day!  Kinda makes me sad.  I hate to miss an opportunity to document the little man's life.  But, as I have stated, what can you do?? I am just thankful for the pictures I have!!

GranBuddy, Blake and Jason had a golf trip to Scottsdale, AZ planned for the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  We weren't sure if Blake would be able to make the trip based on the current situation.  But, I had such a great week and felt comfortable with him proceeding with the plans.  Not to mention I had a friend staying with us the entire time he was gone!  What a blessing and perfect timing!  Too bad the ole uterus caught wind of the fact he was leaving and started back to her old ways. Sigh.  I was really hoping a little early onset uterine dementia this go round.  Apparently she is as sharp as a tack when it comes to being difficult!  Somethings never change I guess!  At least it was a happy and calm Thanksgiving!

I will be on time tomorrow.  I promise. And will have a few more interesting pictures to share of my precious boy.  And maybe a tiny girl... ;-)