Christmas Morning!

Merry Christmas! I love when Christmas falls on a Sunday, the program at church was so beautiful and it was our last Sunday at 12:30 church. Next week we switch to 9am, but it was fun to have Christmas morning, then all be able to get ready for church!

Santa definitely made it to our house this year! Leighton was so happy to see that he enjoyed his cookies and milk and the reindeer nibbled on all of their carrots! She loved all of her Santa gifts, but especially the guitar to play with Dad and the camera that Santa brought for her to take pictures with Mommy! She finally got to open the presents she's been eyeing under the tree from Idaho and bounced on a horse bouncing ball all around the house in her princess slippers (thanks Grandma and Grandpa)! We watched Christmas Story and Prep&Landing(one of our new favorites) and had tortilla soup(not too festive, but Jack's favorite!). It was such a fun Christmas to spend in our home here in Tennessee. We got to skype with Jack's family too, thank goodness for technology! Exhaustion caught up with us and Leighton got a little sick before bedtime, so that wasn't much fun... but luckily we had tons of fun new toys to keep our spirits bright! We all crashed after a fun day of playing, it was such a wonderful day!

Next year, Santa will be bringing some boy toys our way too! Merry Christmas 2011!

Merry Christmas!

We opted out of mailing Christmas cards this year with everything being a little busy at the end of the semester, but we do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas today! We love all our family and friends, near and far! 2011 has been such a wonderful year for us with Jack's new job and our growing family. We are truly so grateful for all 2011 has blessed us with!

So Merry Christmas from our family to yours...and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve 2011

To start off Christmas Eve morning, we decorated our Gingerbread house. Leighton had so much fun and snuck a little sugar for breakfast... okay... a lot of sugar! Nevertheless, we made a 'sturdy' little house of treats and enjoyed the morning playing at my Mom's and relaxing!

That afternoon, we had a little party with my Mom and everyone to open some gifts and eat some treats. My mom spoiled us this year like always, but at least she got to save on shipping costs. This is the first year we have all been together for Christmas and I know it was really special to her to get to see Leighton open gifts. We missed the Maxfield's a lot and my Mom really wanted Jack to enjoy Christmas here, we appreciate all the extra measures she took to make Christmas wonderful! We are so lucky to have two very wonderful families and feel blessed from both of them, no matter where we spend the holidays (we got lots of surprises from Idaho and Utah this year too!). I think one of the things we will enjoy after grad school is being able to travel! We have so many wonderful people, we want to be able to see them all! Here are some pictures from Mom's house Christmas Eve!

That night, we were able to go spend time with my Dad's family at Charley and Happy's beautiful home for the Chandler Christmas Party. We were a little worried that Leighton would be shy since she was usually heading to bed at this time of the night, but she blew us away! In fact, I don't think Jack and I saw much of her the whole night except to open all of her awesome gifts! We got so spoiled at the party and the food was even better than I remembered! My Dad has become quite the chef! Leighton played with her cousins and they were so sweet to include her in everything and fight over her attention a little! I love how much she loves to see them and play with them! As the night went on, Leighton would sneak off and play with the dancing Santa... she danced her bum off! It was hilarious... Charley said he is leaving her the Santa in his will! I got to enjoy some of Granny Pam's chex mix, it's her Christmas special and usually Addison is sneaky and says she'll bring me mine...then it doesn't make it on the plane ride out! I don't blame her, it's amazing! Everyone was so good to us and we had such a great time!

After the party, we drove the 4 hours back to Tennessee and made it into our beds before Santa visited. It was a pretty exhausting trip, but the drive back was fun with Leighton watching movies and snoozing, and Jack and I listening to Christmas tunes and enjoying spending a Christmas Eve together. We were so glad he had the holidays off, one of the many blessings this Christmas season!

Over the River and Through the Woods, to Grandmother's House We Go....

This year the Christmas party at my Grandparent's house was Dec.23rd. It was SO MUCH FUN! There was tons of food...and tons more food...and every food you can think of! My Grandmother makes a feast for our family every Sunday, but our Christmas dinner could feed the masses...and she always has shrimp for me because I'm the favorite! (JK if anyone in the family is reading this...but really...Haha!) After dinner, Ginger and I planned 'Minute to Win It' games for all the kids and I think it was successful in organizing the chaos! Some of my favorites were "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "The Nutstacker" -- and thanks to Rachel for the live action pics!

For my grandparents this year, the whole family put together a scrapbook where each family got a couple of pages together and Tiawanna, Mom, Ginger, and Addison compiled them into a scrapbook. It was so sweet to see them read it and see all of the happiness that has come from the family they created. My grandparents are such great role models and we love them so much. I hope they enjoyed getting to look through it after the party.

With four new great-grandbabies this year, we'll probably have to update it for 2012 :)

Little Miracles

This morning Leighton kept putting her hand on my stomach and saying "Hey Bro-gan!"(she calls her baby brother Bro-gan...one of our recent favorite things!) and every time she did it, he would start kicking. It was so cute, she got really excited and when I tried to explain that was baby brother kicking, she would just start trying to tickle me. She is so funny and I love that she's usually a morning person! It sure makes up for my recent lack of sleep when she's giggling and keeping my exhaustion entertained!!

I love this little girl, she's going to make an awesome big sister!

(Jack got a little upset when I straightened her hair a little big ago...I know it's a no-no...but I love having a little gal who likes to dress up and do hair/make-up, so every once in a while we break the rules :] )

December Daddy-Daughter Date

For Jack and Leighton's daddy/daughter date in December they went to see the new Muppet movie. Leighton called it "The Muffets" and had so much fun! They came home singing all the songs and re-watching them on YouTube. Jack is the best daddy ever, he loves having his 'dates' with Leighton. I'll try to better at documenting them in 2012, I know she'll love seeing these when she's older!

Ugly Sweater Party

My friend Lorianne hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party for the fun ladies in Relief Society and it was a blast! Here are a few pictures to commemorate the craziness :]

Me and Audrey before the party:

AnneMarie, me, and Lorianne with our Secret Santa gifts:

Some totally awesome ladies:

Classic goofy shot:

What a fun night!

Christmas Parade

I wanted to include some pictures from the Christmas Parade. It was Leighton's (and Jack's) first Christmas Parade because in Idaho if you had a parade in December, everyone would get pneumonia for Christmas. It was so fun to see Leighton run out and grab candy, not to mention the kids on either side of us were bringing Leighton candy because she was the smallest. She left with a huge bag of candy and goodies and talked about the parade the whole next day. I love this age, she is just so much fun and full of excitement!

Bristol Speedway in Lights

Here in Tennessee, one of the big Christmas attractions is at the Nascar Motor Speedway in Bristol about 25 minutes away. They light up all the surrounding area and inside the track with huge light displays that you can drive through. Then you get to drive down on the track and in the middle is a carnival type area with rides. Our friends the Lufkin's and Shawver's(minus Cameron) were able to go with us. There was a bonfire where we all made s'mores and Leighton and the girls rode the train and merry go round. It was a blast! Leighton has LOVED seeing Christmas lights this year and they had every light display you can imagine, from toyland to aquariums to dinosaurs to the Nativity. A lot of the displays were also animated -- for example, Jack's hospital group did a display where Santa takes an unfortunate fall off the roof while delivering gifts... get it - because they're a hospital... HA... Okay, so it was a little corny!

And of course there were a few Redneck Santas :] We'll be going back here next year for sure!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

We kept up our tradition of decorating the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving again this year. Mom was awesome and let us steal one of their extra trees from the attic. It is 7 1/2 feet -- definitely an upgrade from our Charlie Brown tree in the trailer. It was so much fun to see Leighton get excited about putting ornaments on this year! We let her choose where to put them and she did a great job! This is one of our favorite ways to kick off the season and then we relax and watch Christmas movies and drink peppermint hot chocolate :)

Catch-Up on November!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

November passed so quickly, I just wanted to summarize some of the fun stuff we did after Leighton's surgery.

Jack got to visit Idaho and although he had a lot of clinicals(and didn't take pictures!), he did get to see his family after 6 months out East. Leighton and I were sad to miss it, but we're glad Jack was able to see his brothers and sister and their families! We're hoping to make a visit this summer after baby boy arrives and gets settled in. We sure miss them, especially around the holidays!

Leighton and I were able to go visit SC for her cousin Hunter's birthday party! Hunter and Leighton are about 6 months apart and are so cute together lately, as they're both talking so much more. Hunter loves Thomas the Train, so here is a picture of him(left) playing with some of his cool birthday toys with our other cousin Andrew.

We also got to go back for Thanksgiving and I didn't snap enough pictures, but I love this one of Ethan and his fiancee and my long-time friend, Rachel. They are so sweet to each other, I love that we get to see them so much since we moved here.

Another fun past-time of November is Leighton's obsession with Papa's music room. Leighton has inherited Jack and my love of music and Papa Joey lets Leighton sing all day when we visit. She has such a blast...and then passes out with Jammin' (her nickname for my Mom).

Leighton also loves playing football with her cousins! My mom is such a good sport and teaches the kids fun games and Leighton loves hanging out with the boys (who are also good sports when she doesn't understand all the rules yet).

Jack also started his new job in November and is really enjoying it (and is excited to buy some new scrubs that aren't "galaxy blue" --the required color at Johnson City Medical. Ha!). We are so proud of him for getting the ICU job and working hard towards his goals!

We've got a future soccer star!

Yesterday marked 22 weeks 5 days in my pregnancy and Jack got to feel our little guy kicking around and squirming! I have been feeling this kiddo move around since 14 weeks, but every time I try to show Jack he would stop moving or move to the other side of my stomach. We were both so excited for that he finally got to feel the kicks too. This baby is definitely more active in the beginning than Leighton was. I started to feel her move for the first time around 20 weeks and still didn't know if that was her moving or other bodily stuff. But baby boy moves the whole time I'm awake and a lot at night too. Especially after I eat or when I'm trying to relax, I'm so happy that he's so active and present. We just love him already and can't wait to meet him, but he can stay in there as long as he wants, we're patient!

Catch-Up on October!

Leighton hanging out with Mom before Preschool - October 2011

The surgery kind of put life and blogging on hold and we are all so glad it is over, as well as Jack being away for the week and life is getting back to our normal routine!

October came and went and I still have so much to catch up on (like the whole month of November..ha) but here is October, all the same!

We were able to travel down to South Carolina for my Grandaddy's surprise 75th birthday party! It was so much fun! Leighton got to play with all her cousins and she and Hunter had fun feeding Grandaddy all the yummy food! These two kiddos sure got into the potato chips, every time I came back over Leighton asked me for another "sour chip!"(salt and vinegar) My cousin Ginger and I had to sneak a prego picture and she spent most of the party resting...then only a few days later Ellie Pearl arrived at 36 weeks. Ellie wanted to party too!

Then back in Tennessee, my friend AnneMarie's dad plays at Atlanta Bread each week and the girls got to play and have dinner together. It was really fun, I want to take Jack back to hear the "One Man Band" sometime!

Then on October 21st, one of my best Tennessee galpals Audrey's second daughter was born. She was so sweet to let Leighton and I come visit her. Charlotte Marie Shawver is so beautiful, we just love her already! It's crazy that Audrey had been pregnant the whole time I'd known her... and now you can't tell that she had a baby a month ago! Go girl!

We also had the opportunity to go to Leighton's cousin Cole's birthday at Monkey Joe's in Columbia, SC. It was a blast! I wish I could've gotten more pictures of the birthday boy...but it was so cute when he got our other cousin Will to sit in the birthday chair with him. I love how close they are! Will's big sister Maddie was so sweet to take Leighton on all the big slides! She was such a good sport! We also got to meet Cole's new little brother Cooper. Our family is growing so much this year! My cousin Audrey is due in December and then we're due in March. I'm so glad they will all be so close in age! Thanks for inviting us to your party Cole! We love being close enough that we can drive down for family parties!

Here is a picture from my 25th birthday. Jack had to work on the actual day, but Leighton and I got all matchy-matchy for church. We wore sparkle shoes and blue and white and had a really great Sunday watching the Primary program together. I love having my sweet little Leighton, we have so much fun together! Then Jack more than made it up to me with awesome gifts and dinners and movies... I got pretty spoiled!

And finally Halloween -- which was so much fun, despite how crazy we look in the pictures! There are funny stories behind these...but they were funnier if you were there... so just take my word for it! We also got to take Leighton to trunk-or-treat and to the hospital for Jack's co-workers to see her costume. I love Halloween, it's a good time!

Almost 2 Weeks Post-Surgery......

Last night was such a good night after a long string of terrible, sleepless ones! Let's hope the sleep continues:

Erika Lindsay Maxfield

Leighton was in bed from 8pm-7:30am(and was completely asleep by 9pm after a couple potty trips) with no medicine in over 24 hours. I hope this means she is recovering and I'm going to get some more 8-hour nights of sleep to myself... I am so thankful for how easily she is breathing now and that she is not in so much pain. Makes this exhausting experience seem so small in the big picture!

· · a few seconds ago

Leighton's Surgery (11/4/11)

Last Monday(Halloween), I was finally able to see a doctor about Leighton's breathing problems. She has snored since infancy, but month after month it has grown worse and worse until she would stop breathing for up to five seconds at a time during the night, then wake up gasping for air. When I brought this up with several doctors in Idaho, I felt like I was too overprotective when they'd say "It's just a cold" or "She must have allergies" -- not that we didn't love the doctor that we settled on in Idaho, but the pediatricians made me feel like it was completely normal for a 1-2 year old to breathe louder than a train all through the night.

After about 5 minutes at JC Pediatrics, the doctor confirmed that I was right to be worried and recommended us to a specialist although she said it would take a week to get us in. Then that afternoon they called and asked us to come in on the 3rd. After one look in Leighton's throat, the specialist said we needed to have her tonsils and adenoids taken out as soon as possible and they scheduled her for the first surgery the next morning. I was really surprised because I'd been warned that they only perform this surgery in children over 3 unless the case is severe. It was a 30-minute procedure and after 1 and 1/2 hours the surgeon came out to tell me they took out her tonsils and adenoids, but as she was coming out of the anesthesia she experienced a lot of bleeding. Some blood got on her vocal cord and caused her to have throat spasms, so they had to put her back under anesthesia and go in to stop the bleeding, then take her off anesthesia slower the second time. They also told me that the airways to her nose had been completely blocked off and that is why she hasn't breathed through her nose the past six months.

After the surgery, we spent the next 3 days in the children's hospital trying to get Leighton to eat or drink. It was tough for me to watch her in so much pain and know that it was for her own good. By the third day, she was already breathing through her nose when she slept better than I have ever seen...she has always breathed through her mouth while sleeping. My mom came and stayed with us in the hospital and it was nice to be able to leave to shower since we live so close. The second night, Leighton ate some jello and they said if I could get her to drink a sippy and eat again, we could take her home. So I tried...all night and morning...with no luck! If there is one thing she gets from me, it's her stubborn will. And two-year-old's are hard to bargain with!

Finally, around noon on the third day Leighton pointed to a bag of Ranch Dorito's and said "Can I have chips please?" I was really hesitant because she is supposed to be on soft foods, but the girl ate two snack bags of DORITO'S! They must have "scratched an itch"(as Annemarie put it!) and they discharged us that afternoon. Grandmother, Grandaddy, and 'Nana'(Tiawanna) came up for the night to stay at our house and give Mom a ride home(since she brought our car up!) and Leighton loved having them at our house!

Yesterday was probably the worst day yet. Leighton whined and cried for 11 hours straight, but her medicines were giving her problems going to the restroom so we had to cut back some till she could go and would eat again. Today she is still acting somewhat sore, but is getting back to herself and playing! She loved having preschool at our house today -- sometimes her galpals are the best medicine! And her breathing is better than it ever has been, I am so happy to see such a quick improvement. It definitely makes it worth it to hear her breath so easily at night.

Here are some cell phone pictures to remember the hospital stay...I only took happy pictures:

Leighton was 'high' or 'drunk' on the medicine before the surgery... and Jack and I were dying laughing! She would move her hospital bracelet up to and away from her face and tell us how much she loved Dora and stickers(which the nurses were letting her watch and play with). It was hilarious!!

Watching Dora before surgery.

Playing in the playroom at the hospital (we were hoping she would wear herself out after they took her off the IV and realize how thirsty she was).

We love our TN friends! Madalyn and Audrey brought her surprises and played for a while. Hollidae also came to play and AnneMarie brought us dinner(I wish I had gotten a picture, but Leighton was really upset by that time).

Playing some more -- Lei loves letters and her new Minnie slippers that Jammin' brought to the hospital for her!

And finally DORITO'S!! I will never forget this, she is so unpredictable sometimes after I offered her pudding, popsicles, jello, ice cream, and yogurt for days! I love this girl and I'm so thankful we have gotten this over with :] but wanted to 'journal' it all the same!

BOY oh BOY!!

Okay, this is cell phone picture quality and although it's going to take me a while to catch up on the last week or so of festivities that need to be blogged, I just wanted to post all our good news! Baby Maxfield #2 is a BOY! Neither of us could believe it and made them double check because everyone kept saying "With how sick you are, this is gonna be a girl!" So I built myself up saying it's a girl, I'll probably never get a boy... Goes to show that all those pregnancy myths are crazy. We are ecstatic!! We are so excited to have one girl and one boy in our house... it'll even things out! And although I love dolling up Little Miss Leighton, shopping for a boy is a whole new world of fun!

We are so excited to meet you, Little Buddy...as your big sister is already referring to you! Now, let's just see if Mommy and Daddy can agree on a name!

In other exciting news, Jack was offered an ICU position at Holston Valley in Kingsport and has accepted it! He is really excited and this is another big accomplishment for him! He's itching to start graduate school app's and this is just one step closer to our main goal.

Leighton and I are so proud of all his hard work!!

The Big 25

I have to say, Jack spoils me every year, but 25 is my favorite birthday yet! He had to work all weekend, so we celebrated Thursday-Monday! I loved every minute of it, especially when Leighton was singing me Happy Birthday! On Sunday(my actual birthday), Leighton made the whole nursery sing Happy Birthday to Leighton's Mommy for their songtime! How sweet is that?! And since it was the Primary program in Sacrament, we had yummy cupcakes in Primary... so I told my class I was pretending it was my birthday party :]

When Jack got off from work, we were supposed to grill...but it was so late we hit up 5 Guys instead...where they have cherry coke on tap...Mmmm! On Monday, Jack had asked our friends to babysit and Leighton got to play with Hollidae (Thank you Annemarie and Sean!), so he took me out to the movies. It was so much fun to have a date! Then we picked Lei up and went to Amigo's for family birthday dinner -- 75cent tacos on Monday's...woot woot! And Jack let me help pick out some birthday stuff this year, but I'd say he did pretty dang good!!

I got a Canon Rebel T3i with the portrait lens and telephoto lens (say goodbye to the long delay and hello to cute baby pictures!) and some B&BW swag...y'all know I love smelling like Christmas all Fall/Winter long!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband and family!

I really need to start a new blog. Mostly because this blog is my only form of journaling/scrapbooking right now and I probably need a bigger outlet to express all of the feelings and emotions running through me at this stage in my life, but as this is really the only place I write about our family I try to post pictures and keep it light. However, I don't want to let this morning pass by and lose memory of it...because let's face it, whether you're a mom of 1 or 10, you just get busy and forget things if you don't write them down! :)

Every morning while I am pregnant I wake up somewhere between 3 and 5. Rarely can I fall back asleep within an hour.... I am envious of people who are "back asleep before their head hits the pillow." My thoughts get going, and my to do lists, and before I know it my mind is reeling! In fact, if it weren't for a half a Unisom every evening(which is BABY SAFE, so no lectures) I doubt if I would fall asleep at night to begin with. And it's not because I'm not tired... I am EXHAUSTED! I just can't sleep.

I usually use this time now (since I know I'll be up at least an hour) to process what I'm feeling about the new baby, to think about how I can be a better Mom to Leighton, and just to try to have a minute to myself to relax, because those will be far and few between in about 5 months(a reality, but I'm so excited anyway! YAY!). I also go take Leighton to the bathroom **side tangent** she has not had an accident during the day in quite a while -- she even takes herself to poop in the potty now, which was her worst struggle with potty training. Night training on the other hand, she wakes up and tells me she has to go.....from her bed. If I don't hear her at first, she gets upset because she's tired!**

So this morning was like every other morning. I wake up around 3am and have a hard time falling back asleep. But around 3:45am I doze off. And the sleep when I doze off is wonderful because I am so exhausted and will have to take Jack to work at 6am. But at 5am, Jack grabs me and wakes me up and I hear Leighton screaming. This isn't a "go peepee" cry, this is a terrified, weeping crying that instantly has me running to see if she is hurt. I calm her down to a slow sobbing and take her to the bathroom. I let her go potty and I wipe her face with a warm washcloth, but she just has little tears and keeps saying things half asleep that I can't understand. After about 5 minutes, she has calmed back down enough to say she wants to go back to bed.

So I take her back in her room and just can't shake this feeling because I know she's not happy and that breaks my heart. And I know all kids have bad dreams now and then, but as a mother you just can't go back to bed when your baby is so sad. We don't let Leighton get in our bed until 6:30am. It's our rule and for the most part she doesn't ask to, but occasionally when Jack is off it's nice to just all lay in bed for an extra hour and she is so happy that she'll sometimes go back to sleep with us -- till 8 or 9 -- woohoo! This said, I wasn't going to take her to our room because I think it's important for her to be able to go back to sleep in her room and Jack needs good sleep before work.

I lay her back in bed and ask her if she's okay. She quietly leans over and says, "Mom, sing me Heavenly Father?" (A Child's Prayer from the Primary Songbook) At that moment, the Spirit in the room was so strong and I just had this overwhelming feeling that although I have been feeling inadequate about motherhood (whether because I compare myself to other Mom's in the Church, or because I feel like a comment was directed at me, or because simply you never feel like you are everything your child needs and will need) I knew that Heavenly Father is always in my home and with my family and that I am doing everything I need to do to teach Leighton to be a righteous daughter of God. After I sang her this song and she hummed along with me, I hug her and ask "Can Mommy say a prayer with you, Leighton?" And she said, "Mommy say prayer for me." So I quietly said prayers with her that she could be comforted and I know she will be. Right before I got up to come back to bed, Leighton leans over and says "Mommy sing I'm Child of God" and while I sang her another one of her favorite Primary songs, I was once again so overwhelmed by that peace and calm that I knew that the Lord is watching over my family and I felt so much comfort and faith. I am so grateful for the gifts and blessings I have seen in my life and with my family. I know that we are watched over and protected. I love that I can feel so close to my Heavenly Father in my own home and that I can make it an escape from worldliness. And I know that although Leighton is small, she can feel the Spirit too and receive comfort. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father found me worthy to be her Mother.

Some Family Fun in Jonesborough!

My friend Lauren asked me to snap a few photos of her and her family in downtown Jonesborough, so I had her snap a few of us too. (Thanks Lauren!)

Here are a few I think turned out great!

Charity Photoshoot

An awesome photographer in our ward told us about a food drive/photoshoot that was going on last Friday and did some pictures of the girls all dressed in their costumes. She was supposed to leave, but let Leighton sneak in at the last minute before she left. To see a sneak peek of her photos of Leighton and a bunch of other cute kiddos, check them out here:

http://brandilyndavidsonphotography.com/

I'll post them after she emails them to me, but I also had to take a few of all the girls together :]

Almost 2 1/2 years old and we have conquered the swing!

For all my playdate buds, near and far... you probably remember the horrible looks I would get when I practically forced Leighton to try out the swing. Little L has hated the swing since infancy... which made me sad when we had our nice tree in our yard in Idaho and I wanted to get a swing for it... but nevertheless, all we had to do was look at a swing and she shuddered with fear. It actually got to be a joke because she loved the slide, but would start going to the car if I took her by the swings!

Well the past couple of weeks she has been asking to try them and they've been wet everytime so I would just send her to the slide instead, which the other kids had already dried with their bottoms, haha. Then this week, she has been in the swing three times and LOVED it!

I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me it is a huge deal!

She is so much fun! She is going to be a great big sister!!