12

12.  I am thankful for my father's handiness!  He made a special trip (with my mom and grandaddy) all the way down here just to change a wheel bearing on Craig's car!  It saved us so much money and I'm so thankful I got to see him and spend the day with him!  He is such a sweet and generous man who always puts others before himself and is always willing to do anything and everything he can to help everyone!  I love my little Dad!

Also, we went to the vet today!  Bryer got some shots and his yearly check-up!  The vet said he looked great and that he was an awesome dog!  WHAT!?!  Usually when we go to the vet he's telling us to look into obedience school and things like that.  When he walked in Bryer did his usual jumping routine and Craig and I start yelling at him.  The vet said not to yell, he was just going to ignore him and he would eventually stop.  The vet then starts examining Bryer.  The vet is standing up holding the ear examiner thing in his hand.  Bryer has one paw on the vet's crotch and the other paw wrapped around the vet's arm and is trying to take the ear examiner from him.  All the while the vet is just standing there talking to us like nothing is going on - eventually - Bryer gave up and ended up laying on the floor!  Who knew?  For anyone coming to visit us - just ignore our dog!  :)  The vet also told us that we should invest in a prong collar and that would make the world of difference with walking him and when the baby comes.  I guess that is our next big adventure, hopefully it will work!

While out and about today we also spotted an Original Pancake House.  THAT MADE MY DAY!  I'm so stinkin excited about that I cannot even explain it!  I thought that the OPH was just a Minnesota thing!  Bacon pancakes, here I come!!!!

7, 8, 9, 10, 11

7.  I am thankful that I was talked into starting riding lessons by my Mother.  I've never really been a HUGE animal person.  When Brett started riding I didn't really see what was so 'cool' about it.  Mom talked me into it and I'm so glad that she did!  I absolutely LOVE horseback riding and the horses are such amazing animals!  I never knew how different their personalities could be and how loving they could be.  Especially one certain sweet Gray horse that lives at Breezy Rock!  I also think that the riding lessons brought my brother and I a lot closer.  He is one of the few people that I trust to teach me and I am glad that we can enjoy something together!

8.  I am thankful to have been blessed with this little miracle that is growing inside me!  Some people try and try for years to start a family, and Craig and I got lucky enough to be blessed with this miracle without any planning at all!  :)  I cannot wait to hold this little guy and see what his personality is like.  I hope I can raise him like my parents raised me and that he will turn out to be a good kid!

9.  I am thankful that 3rd grade is going on a field trip tomorrow!  Field trip days are always fun!  :)

I am also going to go ahead and be proactive and do the next few days while I'm on here since it took me forever to do the last three days!

10.  I am thankful that we are out of school on Friday!

11.  I am thankful that I have a job.  I feel very blessed to have been offered a job while I was pregnant and I'm lucky that I love what I do.  The kids are great (for the most part) and the people I work with are absolutely hilarious and super sweet!

5th and 6th

Before I begin, let me just say I have been Mrs. Susie Homemaker this morning!  I cooked some bacon for breakfast (along with left over sausage poofs), I've got dinner in the crock-pot cooking, all of Baby J's bottles and pacifiers have been washed and sanitized and I'm getting ready to go clean the house and do some laundry!  What a Sunday?!

5.  I am thankful for Bryer.  I know this may come as a shock to most of you, it was even a shock to myself.  I was asking Craig for some ideas of what I could say and he said "How about Bryer."  After some thinking and consideration I've realized I really am thankful for that crazy Marly-like dog.  He has taught me a ton.  Patients being the biggest one of them all!  Yes - most of you all only see him when he acts like a complete moron, but when nobody is around he is really a sweet dog.  He's even been snuggling with us lately!  I love that little guy and our little family would not be the same without him!  I just hope that he and Baby J grow up to be best friends!

6.  I am thankful for health.  I am thankful that God has blessed me with a healthy life and a healthy family!  As far as we can tell Baby J seems healthy and I'm hoping he will stay that way his entire life!  We've all had minor illnesses here and there but overall my huge family is pretty healthy and I couldn't be happier or more thankful for that!

November 4th

Can I just say, that of all the people, Craig is super excited about having this baby!  Since the baby has gotten bigger, some of his kicks and movements are a bit painful, especially the blows to the ribs and bladder.  Every time I say "Ouch" or something to that effect, he starts running around going "YOU'RE HAVING SEIZURES (Craig's term for contractions)!!!!"  He really wants me to go ahead and go into labor!  I'm so excited that he's excited!  :)

Onto Thankful November.  Today is the 4th so here is thing #4:

4.  My entire family!  I am truly blessed to have the family that I do.  My family is the kookiest, craziest, most loving family I've ever been around.  They are all amazing!  We are all so close and I wouldn't have it any other way!  I cannot wait to introduce Baby J to the family.  He is already loved so much and is extremely spoiled!

I am Thankful!

Lately, I've seen a lot of statuses on Facebook about posting something each day of November that you are thankful for.  I like this idea.   I figured I would just do mine in blog form instead of on my Facebook status since I haven't been very good about blogging lately.  I've thought about doing some pregnancy updates but there isn't really anything to update you on.  I'm as big as a house and scared to death of labor - nothing really new there!  Since today is the 3rd - here are three things that I'm thankful for:

1.  My hilarious, goofy and loving husband!  Sometimes I want to kill him but I know I could not live without him.  He makes me laugh constantly.  He can always make me smile - when he wants to.  I'm also giving him major props for putting up with me during this pregnancy.  Living with a girl who is smiling and happy one moment and then pissed and grumpy the next is probably not so easy.  I also know it's frustrating to have me go to bed at like 8:00 each night.  I'm so anxious to see what the future has to hold for us as parents!  Eeek!  I love you, boo!  :)

2.  My Parents.  I have no clue what I would do without them.  That have taught me so much throughout my life, I really hope that I can be half as great of parents as they are.  Yes, growing up we fought a lot and I'm positive I'm responsible for the majority of their gray hairs.  Looking back now I realize that they really did know what they were talking about and were only trying to do what was best for me.  I'm so thankful that we live closer to them now, 18 hours was way to far!  If only I could get them to come visit more - I'm sure Jimmy-John will take care of that issue!  I love you both!

3.  My brother.  I absolutely adore my brother - I haven't always - but I do now!  He is one of the GREATEST horsemen that I know!  I think when it comes to Pager - he may be psychotic - but other than that he is phenomenal.  He is also one of the sweetest, most kind people that you will ever meet, along with one of the biggest goobers I've ever met!  There is not another one like you, Brett!

Baby Shower

This weekend was one of those weekends that was just absolutely amazing, I wish it would have been a lot longer than two days.  The weekend festivities started with a wedding on Saturday.  Craig was a groomsman and I was just there for the fun!  The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun as well.  It also made me realize that my life is about to change dramatically here in the next 9 weeks.  At the reception they were playing all of my favorite dance songs like Soulja Boy, Dougie, Cupid Shuffle and Stanky Leg.  Typically I would have been in the middle of the floor busting out my Chris Brown moves like nobodies business.  When you have an extra 30 pounds in your belly - those moves just don't come that easy - or look as good - needless to say it was a bit depressing.  On Sunday morning I had my maternity pictures taken.  My brother had his herd of 4 looking absolutely amazing.  They could've been in a magazine they looked so good - especially my sweet Gray pony!  I cannot wait to see how those pictures turn out!  Then, to top it all of we had my baby shower!  It was so much fun, I got to see so many family and friends that I haven't seen in a really long time.  Jimmy-John got spoiled like crazy!  I'm almost certain that he has more clothes than Craig and I combined! We played the string game where everyone cuts off a piece of string, they try and guess how big around my belly is with the size they cut off.  Well - my lovely grandmother cuts off a piece of string that literally wraps around me twice - thanks Gogga!  My Mom actually won that one!  While everyone was measuring their string around me, my sweet husband comes up with a piece of string thats about 5 inches long and holds it up to my belly and says something like "Oh, I thought for sure that was the right size!".  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you read that right!  Craig Jarrell had a sweet moment - thats why I love him!  We have sorted through all of JJ's gifts and I've started washing clothes and bedding.  There are a few more things that we need to get before the arrival of our sweet boy but I think we are getting there!  I know I've said it a million times but one more can't hurt - I cannot thank everyone enough for everything they've done for me!  

Here are a few highlights from the shower:

My sweet Gray pony on one of JJ's onesies!

Kristi made those onesies!  

Hand-made quilt from Joy!

THE JERSEY!

Mom kept getting great shots of me talking!  Nan made this quilt!

Excuse the face.  A really cool picture that Christie made!

Blanket Grandma Sue made

Notice how much extra there is!

A rather gross picture of me, but my Mom looks great!

30 Weeks

I went to the doctor today for another ultrasound to see if I had to have a c-section or if I could just let things happen how they may.  I was pretty excited to see the little man again!  Well, turns out that everything is where it should be so no scheduled c-section for me.  We got to watch the blood flowing through Baby J's heart which was pretty wild and we got to see his little face again!  As of today he weighs 3.8 pounds and his head is measuring at 32 weeks instead of 30 weeks which is where it should be - bad news for me!  :)  He's got quite the chubby little face already!  At least this time he looks less like an alien lizard and more like a human!  What a cutie!?