How many more sleeps?

So, Meredith is turning 3 on December 15th. UNBELIEVABLE. She is excited 24/7 about everything she has going on right now. Birthday, Christmas, Maddox...no kidding, she can't walk anywhere - she skips. How nice would it be to have all these fun things to look forward to without all the worry that comes with being an adult?!?!? I want to make it all special for her. She is such a sweet, sweet girl - (even if she is a raging grump like her daddy in the mornings. I literally have to keep them separated until each has been awake for 20 minutes) The other day I was swamped with monogramming. I had piles of stuff to get done. I was sewing and she was playing with all the baby stuff we got out for Maddox. She went downstairs and got herself a juice box. She thinks it is pretty cool that she can open the refrigerator now. I put her stuff on the lowest shelf to promote her independence...and so I don't have to get up every 5 minutes for something to drink or a snack. Anyway, she brought her juice box upstairs to me to insert the straw for her - which she immediately took out of the juice box and drank from the hole I had made instead. Gross, I know. I made some comment about that juice being good, she agreed, and I went back to sewing. The next thing I know, she had reappeared with a juice box for me. How thoughtful was that?!?!? I stopped sewing and we sat and enjoyed our drinks talking about her birthday. We are celebrating on Saturday. She needed a way to understand how long it was until her party. We went with "sleeps." That helps her count days. We are down to one more sleep until her party...hallelujah. I think we have been counting down the sleeps since we had 7 more sleeps to go. Of course the weather is supposed to be terrible. If you ever want inclement weather, just have me and Gray plan something. On our wedding day there was 6 inches of ice all over north Mississippi. It took us 3 hours to drive to Memphis in an attempt to go on our honeymoon. Tomorrow, according to Todd Demers, is going to be "very stormy, very cold, with a chance of frozen precipitation." Did I mention that we have pony rides as part of the birthday party? *sigh*

This is the picture we used for her party invitation.

She really likes these pants.

Trying to be festive, without being to Griswold-y.

My silver tree.

My $.98 poinsettia.

Can you guess what this is?

Gray's stocking. Meredith's stocking. My stocking. And a little one for Maddox!

To the mothers of boys...

To all my friends who have boys:

1. I am having a BOY in April :)

2. I know NOTHING about boys.

a. How to dress them.

b. What they play with.

c. Hygiene.

3. Advice welcomed.

Last week, I began having contractions at 16 weeks. I had an appointment for the following Tuesday, so I wrote them off as early Braxton Hicks and decided to wait it out for the appointment. By Wednesday, they had not eased at all and were definitely more noticeable. I called my doctor. Knowing my history of premature labor with Meredith and the fact that I had no clue I was even in "real" labor with her when I was admitted to the hospital and drugged to make them stop, I decided not to play around with this. They were able to get me in on Thursday. Gray and I got there and Dr. Tonkin ordered an ultrasound to make sure my cervix was not changing. Sherry, the sweet ultrasound tech, was swamped. I was "undressed from the waist down" and waiting on the doctor. The nurse came sprinting in telling me to hurry up and get to the ultrasound room before anyone else got on Sherry's table. I nearly ran down the hall with nothing but my shirt and drape on (I did put my clothes on but managed to put my pants on backwards...don't ask). Anyway, I beat out the other pregnant women and got to Sherry first. She took a look and thankfully, my cervix had not changed yet. Gray and I thought that was the end of the ultrasound, but she said she would let us take a peek at our baby really fast. She scanned and showed us his precious little profile, hands, stomach, and legs... On the way to the legs, Gray and I simultaneously squeezed each other's hands...we thought we "saw something." She quickly moved her hand and nonchalantly asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Of course we did!!! She froze the screen and asked me if I recognized "that." I said, "well, that's a boy!" Yes. No doubt. He was one proud little guy. We tried unsuccessfully for weeks to find out what Meredith was. She never cooperated. Below is a picture of Meredith's ultrasound. It doesn't show her head, but if you look, you can see she has her little hands folded over her "girl parts" just perfectly. She sat like this with the hiccups for 10 minutes. I wish she was still this modest. Anyway, Thomas Maddox Nickels will be here in April. We are calling him Maddox. I am taking injections each week to help ward off preterm labor. So, moms with boys...help me out.

Princess Snow White and Princess Pup

Meredith looking oh-so fabulous in her beautiful gown. Pup, too, was dolled up for the occasion.

Get the full effect.

And that hair!!!

On her throne...

Pre-church photo.

Snow White, Pistol, and the Lone Ranger

Meredith had a blast carving the pumpkin...she and her daddy had my kitchen covered in pumpkin guts by the end of it all. Can any one guess what she is going to be for Halloween???

SNOW WHITE...go figure.

Meredith had to dress up for a Halloween party at school. I didn't think she could make it all day in the big Snow White dress, so we decided on a cowgirl. The vest was Gray's during his Lone Ranger days.

Morning sickess is the pits. I am so excited and blessed to be pregnant and have a great family...but being sick and pregnant was easier when I did not have an almost 3 year old at home. I could sleep whenever I needed to...eat Froot Loops for dinner...forget the laundry...etc. Not this go 'round. Gray and Meredith have been precious to me. Meri will ask me at least once a day if I feel okay. Gray's new job has him home most every night so he has turned into quite the domestic goddess. It has been really nice especially when unloading the dishwasher can seem like the most daunting of tasks...the bending over, standing back up, and smelly dishes are far from my favorite thing when I am sick. With the second trimester here, I am waiting on my energy to knock on the door any minute. We had a great doctor's appointment the first part of the month. "Pistol" as we are affectionately calling the baby, looked great. Maybe we will know what Pistol is at our next visit. We have no real names picked out for the baby. We began calling it Pistol while watching Professional Bull Riding last week. Our dear friend Colby Yates was riding (AND WON THE WHOLE THING!!!) in the PBR Nationals. Baby Nickels fluttered for the first time when Pistol Robinson rode...so we are calling it Pistol. I have no clue what this baby is...with Meredith, I knew from the start.

Last week we celebrated Gray's birthday. I got him a pretty great gift...one that I, too, can enjoy. I was thinking back to his 30th birthday party...we had a fiesta at our house. It was so much fun. I got a pinata full of fun things that grown-ups would like (chapstick, mini-flashlights, etc.)...Gray went to take the first swing at it. When he did he knocked the whole chili pepper pinata off and hit me in the head with it. Moe's was still around in Oxford and catered the burrito bar. I wish I had a burrito right about now...

Super Slacker

I won't even apologize for my slacking self about the whole blogging thing. I have been busy. Working at MBI, teaching 7 classes this fall, Meredith, Gray started a new, awesome job, the heat (we can blame everything in life on the heat, right?), and I drank the water at church. Let's break all this down:
1. The Cold Case Unit has been rocking! Some really cool cases (no pun intended) have come our way.
2. Seven classes this fall..."are you on crack, Whitney?" you ask...No, but this should just go to show how much I love teaching. Plus the schools I teach for are great.
3. Meredith...sweet, stubborn (like her daddy - though he would argue she gets it from me - point proven :), and an absolute joy. I could eat her up. She is still a runt at 22 pounds and pushing 3 years old.
4. Gray started a great new job. Still in law enforcement - super co-workers - FANTASTIC hours (woohoo no more night shift).
5. It feels as though hell moved its headquarters to Panola County. Come on FALL!
6. There are 9 pregnant ladies in my incredible Sunday school class. We have had 4 who have recently had babies. There is seriously something in the water at Calvary Baptist Batesville. We have people who won't even walk by our classroom for fear that they, too, may catch what we have.

Here are a few new pictures of Meri. Snow White, turned Buzz Lightyear who rides Spirit the stick-horse.

Snow White Nickels

I have been quite the slacker...lots of blog-worthy information...I have just been lazy, I suppose.

• Meredith has changed her name to Snow White Nickels. She likes to be called this at all times. She often reminds me of how much she believes she resembles Snow White.
• Gray bought me a deep freezer. I am STILL giddy over it. I skipped away to Kroger to buy various frozen good to stock it. We have an under-the-staircase-space that is fairly large. We put the freezer in there along with my shelf...I have this OCD-ish "thing" where I can't stand to run out of something. Well, that is kind of an understatement...I like to have at least 1 of everything on standby for when I do run out. Right now on this shelf, we have 3 tubes of toothpaste, 2 bottles of shampoo, 4 deodorants for each of us, 6 jugs of juice, 2 packs of razors, 2 shaving creams, 4 body washes, a dozen light bulbs, extra Tums, Tylenol, hand sanitizer, etc...you get the picture. It is like a mini Wal-mart in my closet. I know it is crazy, but at least I am well stocked.
• Snow White is potty trained. I know she probably could have done this sooner, but this mama feels like diapers are incredibly convenient. And Snow White's babysitter prefers if you wait until they are closer to 3 so that they have an ability to hold it when necessary. I must admit I have dreaded the thought of potty training since I was pregnant with her. It just sounded awful. I sat her down and we talked about it. I put big girl Dora panties on Snow White and that was the end of the diaper. She does sleep in a Pull-Up...but I probably would too if Gray wouldn't make fun of me...(getting up to go pee when you are good and asleep is the worst). Anyway, Snow White was a PRO! We didn't have any accidents...AND, she knows the urges of both bodily functions. I bought a box of Pull-Ups and they came with a chart and some character stickers. She got a sticker to put on her chart when she went to the potty. I noticed that she was grouping the like stickers together. The ones with Buzz Lightyear were all in a cluster, Woody was with another Woody, etc. I asked her about it and her reply, "Cause he wants to be by his mom." She may not look like me, but she is OCD like me!
• Gray, Meredith, and I had some pictures made the other day on a whim. It was not easy...Meredith and I were fine, but Gray...ugh. He was hot, and didn't want to sit on the ground and wah, wah, wah...
• My mom, sister - Jodie, and I took Meredith to see Toy Story 3. Meredith loves to go to the movies and get her own popcorn, candy, and coke. She sits and watches and laughs. I cried at the end of Toy Story 2, as did mama and Jodie. Heaven forbid we all watch a Hallmark movie. Now my child is the targeted prey of all marketing companies in the world. We have Toy Story Pull-Ups, movies, shirts, pajamas, gummy candy, cereal, macaroni and cheese...if Buzz or Woody is on the package, we got it.
• Gray surprised me with the most beautiful flowers the other day.