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!

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