Thanksgiving 2012

Hmmmm...I just WISH I had something this year to be thankful for...

But I just can't seem to think of anything...

I'm not getting as much sleep as I'd like,

My presidential candidate was not elected,

The Hogs and The Cowboys are having terrible seasons...

There is an endless amount of laundry to do...

Yep, I just can't think of a single thing.  =)

Clearly, I'm being VERY sarcastic.  Do you ever just feel so incredibly blessed that you can't find words strong enough to express your gratitude?  I keep trying to write Thank You notes to people, but feel like they are falling short of letting everyone know JUST HOW APPRECIATIVE I am.  People are just going way out of there way to help and serve our family and have made this transition for us CRAZY easy!!  I know I'll never be able to "pay everyone back," but hopefully God will provide avenues for me to pay it forward!!

So very thankful for:

1.  ERIN!!  My neighbor kept Brooklyn ALL DAY LONG on Gibson's delivery day!!  She got her to her gymnastics lesson, took her to Chick-fil-a and really just made it such a special day for her.  She picked up our Thanksgiving turkey for us so we didn't have to get out and make that trip.  AND she made dinner for us the first day we were home as we began the adjustment to life with 3 kids.

2.  SHELLY!  Another neighbor did the actual transportation of Brooklyn to and from gymnastics.  It was so nice and comforting to know that Brooklyn was in the care of people that I totally trust and B is still talking about how much fun she had that day!

3.  ELIZABETH!  ANOTHER neighbor (I have the best neighbors, don't I???) helped Erin prepare the dinner on our first day home.

4.  STEVE - a.k.a.  DooDad!  Since Chan woke up with fever on the delivery day, she couldn't go to the neighbors house as planned.  So Dad stepped up and agreed to keep her all day long by himself.  He made her lunch, set his watch and took her potty every couple of hours, played toys, put her down for a nap, drove her thru Chickfila for dinner and then picked up B from the neighbors house and kept BOTH of them for a while!!  Whew!  That's a lot!

 some pics of their fun day

 pretty happy!

5.  EDDIE - It was really overwhelming for me to think about preparing a Thanksgiving meal.  I would have been totally happy ordering pizza or doing something non-traditional, but Eddie volunteered to take care of everything so that my only jobs were to heal and feed the baby.  He did an AMAZING JOB!!

6.  MARGARET - a.k.a. Gigie!  She was never formally asked, but jumped right in and helped Eddie with the Thanksgiving meal.  She helped time everything to be warm at the same time and did much of the work in helping the meal to look pretty...using nice serving dishes, pretty pitchers, etc.  She helped do all of the meals actually and did much of the clean-up as well.  She also prepared a casserole for us that she left that we've been able to eat on all week so evening meals every night have been so easy.  SO INCREDIBLY thankful!!

7.  LOU - a.k.a.  Big Bird!  Although, he was feeling terrible while he was here.  He still managed to help with the clean-up and hand-washed many of the dishes.  Such a trooper!

8.  NATALIE!  She and her family were able to come down the day after Thanksgiving to meet the baby and she was a HUGE help while they were here!!  She cleaned up after meals, put food away, washed dishes, made tea, prepared plates for my own children while I was in the back feeding Gibson. I was completely amazed to come out to find my kids totally fed and the kitchen all cleaned up when I was done feeding him.  SUCH A BLESSING!

9. SUE - a.k.a Mimi!  Where to even start?!?  She got the girls up and dressed on delivery day and got B to the neighbors house.  Took care of them the next day and brought them to the hospital to meet their brother.  She came back several days later and has helped me get all my Christmas decor out, taken the girls to school, done fun things with them every day, prepared dinner, cleaned up afterwards, bathed Gibson, done laundry, done dishes, cleaned our stroller, I could really go on forever.  Really, she has just made life so easy and given me a chance to get back to 100%.  She leaves tomorrow and I feel very "on top of things" and am totally healed.  I'm ready to take on these 3 kids!!  (At least until the next wave of relief arrives on Monday =))

This has been a very special Thanksgiving and one that will be hard to top!  Thank you to everyone who helped make it so special for us!!

The FALL Guy!

He's here!  He's here!!

Gibson Palmer Nalley

Born November 19th and 4:58pm

7 lbs 9 oz

20 1/4 inches

Because there was some concern over his size (thought he might be too big to fit thru the canal =)), I was induced 6 days before his due date.  Mom and Dad came up the day before his induction.  Their job was supposed to be to get the girls up, dressed and ready, take them to the neighbors house and head to the hospital to be there for the birth.  Well...things don't always go as planned.  =)

I was a little stressed about being at the hospital by 6 am in Dallas (30 minute drive) because I'm so NOT a morning person.  Well, turns out I shouldn't have stressed because I was up all night anyway.  Chandler wet the bed around midnight (which never happens) and then woke up again at 2am with fever (probably hasn't had a fever in 1.5 years).  =)  Change of plans...Chan can't go to neighbors house if she's sick!!  And won't be able to meet her brother!!  Pretty sure this was causing some serious tears for this overly emotional mother going on no sleep and nervous about the next days events!!

So after a less than ideal start, Eddie and I finally headed to the hospital for this very exciting day.  Once we were checked in, they gave me some jelly to start preparing my body for labor and my body responded positively.  Then they broke my water, which was also a success and I dilated a 1 to a 2.   Next, they started pitocin, which really kicked my labor into gear and I quickly dilated to a 3.  Then stayed at a 3...stayed at a 3...stayed at a 3 for hours.  Mom, Eddie and I were starting to get a little discouraged when suddenly around 3 pm, they came into check and I was dilated to an 8!!  After an hour, it was time to start pushing.  He was very stubborn!  Took an hour to get that little guy out and then he came out with the chord wound tightly around his neck!!  Initially we had a little scare with some labored breathing, but it turned out that he just needed some good suctioning and then everything was perfect!!

By Tuesday afternoon, Chan had been fever-free for over 24-hours so it was finally time for Gibson to get to meet his sisters!!

There very first meeting was priceless!!

Poor Brooklyn got very carsick on the way to the hospital, but by the time she got to the room she was all better.  Chandler was very interested in the baby, but is very much a mommy's girl so she needed to come see me first.  I was behind the camera so that's why she is not in this video.

Soon after they got there, we had a little "Birth-Day" party for Gibson.

We sang, had cupcakes and blew out candles.

Baby Gibson was so nice to get the girls presents to help try to win them over from the beginning!

 I think it worked!

 Gibson got them some crafty-type things to do in the room so they wouldn't be bored.  Both of the girls went right to work and after about a minute, Brooklyn stopped what she was doing and went over to Gibson to tell him Thank You for the gifts without being prompted by anyone.  Melt my heart!!

Every once in a while, her maturity amazes me and I think God has really blessed her a thankful heart!  Love that!

 Soon after that, the took Gibson away for a little "male procedure" so the girls didn't get to spend much time with him at all.

But they did get one last chance to see him before they left and we got a chance to do our first ever photo as the Nalley, Party of 5!!

Later that night, after the girls were gone, Gibson and I were also released.  Less than 48 hours that the hospital!!  We are all home now and doing well!

We feel so blessed that everything went well and that we get to have this new little guy and part of our family!

Thanksgiving Feasts at School

Hmmmm...I just couldn't pick a favorite and just thought they looked so cute (I'm very biased) so here are the girls all dressed for their Thanksgiving feasts at school

 Sometimes Chan doesn't like for B to put her arm around her so Brooklyn just does the fake.  

I LOVE THAT!!

Those were just a few of the pics we took at home before we got to school, then we took a couple more...

To get the girls to smile at the same time, I often have them go thru different facial expressions...above are their sad faces which was probably the best and clearest picture I took of all.  =)  Go figure.

And then...

 Happy Faces!!

Our first feast was in Chandler's class.

 It just so happened that Eddie didn't have any cases scheduled that morning so he got to come as well.  Such a treat!!

One thing that I'm so thankful for with Chandler is that she is willing to TRY just about any food.  She was happy to sample all of the foods at her feast and we all had a great time.  Such a blessing!

Next up, Brooklyn's feast.  But first all of the pre-K classes had a special performance for us.

 B's very hard to see...4th one from the right on the very back row.  She's smiling really big and did a FANTASTIC job on her performance.  We were so proud!

 They made their own placemats filling in what they are thankful for on each feather.

 Brooklyn is thankful for her family, instruments, her toys and for Mac-n-Cheese.

These are B's best buddies at school

From left to right:  Ainsley, Harper, B, Audrey

How cute are they?!?

37 Weeks Pregnant

Gibson has been measuring big for a while now and so my OBGYN thinks that it will be safest and best for the baby if we induce and take precious Baby Gibson about a week early.

So, at my last appointment, we scheduled an induction date for Monday, Nov 19th!!  

That is just 1 week from today and we are all SOOOO ready to meet this little guy!

I've really avoided the camera with this pregnancy, but after numerous requests and prompts,

here I am:

 Larger already now than I was with either of the girls on their delivery dates and I still have a week to go!!  Impressive...I know.

Eddie should definitely be getting some major kudos for all he has done over the last several weeks!!  Not only has he been very patient and sympathetic with me and all of pregnancy "issues", but he has also been extremely helpful in the kitchen and with the girls!!  And he's done this all on his own without ever being asked.  He's given almost every bath the girls have been given over the past 3 weeks.  Thank you, Eddie!!

Gibson's Nursery!!!!!!

Mom came in town over the weekend to help me finish the nursery!!

That's right...at 37 weeks, I finally got around to finishing it...better late than never right?!?

This changing table was kind-of the inspiration for the room.  We originally got it for Brooklyn's nursery and it is SOOOO handy and useful with all of the drawers and baskets.  Brooklyn was still using it in her nursery when Chandler was born so my sister-in-law, Ashley, let me borrow her nursery crib and changing table that we painted black.  Now that the girls are sharing a room and this changing table system was no longer being used, I decided it would go in the new nursery...which meant back to white  furniture and using B's old crib for Baby Gibson.

 Since we were using white furniture, I wanted to make sure we incorporated a lot of color with the bedding and other decor and wanted to use really boy-ish colors so I chose:  Orange, brown, turquoise and lime green.  That was the easy part.  The hard part???  Finding those colors in actual bedding.  In fact, I couldn't find any so my saint of a mother volunteered to MAKE the bedding!!  I know, I totally spoiled!

 I mentioned in passing that I thought orange chevron and turquoise polka dots would be a cute combo for nursery bedding not realizing that mom would make it her mission in life to find just that.  I think she visited 1000 fabric websites and found just the patterns I had envisioned...AND THEN, if that weren't enough, found another striped pattern to use as the skirt that would tie in the green.  She also used that fabric for the bumper "ties" and added brown velvet piping to the edges of the bumpers.  LOVE IT!!  Great job, Mom!!

Those pictures above the bed were quite the project, too, but they LOVE how they turned out!

Next, the window treatment.   I was thinking we might just do simple panel curtains, but once again mom had much more in mind.  (which was probably good since that it the FIRST thing you see when you walk into the room.

 No surprise, she MADE this window treatment using that same striped pattern from the bedding.  The only problem was...we needed more of the orange up there.  As we were looking for ideas, we kept seeing those little flag banners in nursery/kid rooms and voila, perfect way to add a little more color to the window treatment.

 Don't know how well it shows up in the picture, but my friend, Michelle gave me that brown/orange and white Chevron monogrammed blanket that is on the glider.  Mom, of course, made a couple of throw pillows to go on it as well.  THEN she found this super-cute cross at hobby lobby and MADE the sign to match it.  This might be one of my favorite things about the room!!

"Little ones to HIM belong!"

She's SO CRAFTY!

Finally, again just in passing, I mentioned that my friend Dana (who had just finished her nursery) had a library wall and that might be a cute idea for the 4th wall.

I looked on like 2 websites for shelves and after not finding the right heights and widths, gave up and was ready to move onto another idea.  Mom doesn't believe in giving up and continued the search for days and weeks without me and still had no luck.  She showed my Dad what she was looking for and he thought he could make them himself and he did!!!  I'm so impressed and love how they turned out!  The books add so much color to that wall and fill the space perfectly!

Thank you so much Mom and Dad (and Michelle and Dana) for helping out with the nursery!  It makes me so happy and I can't wait to finally get Baby Gibson in there!

And I have to give a HUGE shout out to Brooklyn and Chandler.  Mom and I were really busy all weekend working on the nursery and Eddie had a golf tournament so the girls were kind-of on there own and were AMAZING!!  They played in the play room for HOURS without whining or fussing and totally got along.  They made me so proud!!  I know you are too young to read this or understand right now, but you are both pretty fabulous little girls!

Now just hurry up, Baby Gibson!  We are all ready for you! 

Costumes 2012

Costume Day at School

 My 2 little Minnie Mouses

They made treats for all their little friends at school

(took these pics before I tied on the ribbon so they are not as cute here...)

They got to go to the pumpkin patch that day at school with all of their friends.   It can be a little traumatic for Chandler's age to have their parents show up for a little while and then leave again so I only have pictures of Brooklyn's class.

 Here she is sitting next to one of her best friends at school, Harper, the little butterfly

 The little genie is her other best friend, Audrey

The girls got to dress up again the next night when we went to our churches fall festival.

Fearless Brooklyn!

And their 3rd and final day to wear their costume was Halloween night.  We went to Eddie's work parties and took the girls trick-or-treating.