Thanksgiving Holiday at the Mosses

We left Wednesday afternoon to head north to Brownsville to spend the holiday with the Moss family. Thursday was spent at the farm doing the traditonal Moss family things...walking through the woods, chopping wood, riding the kaboda, sitting around the campfire. These are all the grandchildren around the fire. It was smoky and very cold.

Elizabeth joined us at the farm and had a good time playing with Philip. In this shot they were riding the mule. You can see how Philip is dressed to get an idea of how cold it was that day.

Friday morning we slept late and got ready for the Egg Bowl. Renie and the women went shopping and left the men to make rotel and watch the game. Mississippi State played poorly and Big Philip gave up on the dawgs in the fourth quarter and headed to join Jamie and Bop Bop deer hunting. It was a good day for the Mosses. Not only did Mississippi State win but Jamie and Big Philip both killed 8-points. No, we do not have new wall decoration for our living room. Big Philip is waiting on a bigger deer to mount.

Bananas and Turkey

The baby size comparison this week is that baby girl Moss is now the length of a banana, approximately 10 inches long. My check up this week assured us that so far, I am not going into preterm labor as I did with Little Philip. I'm getting sweet little kicks and jabs now, reassuring me that this a healthy pregnancy. Little Philip has regressed to not responding to our conversations about his baby sister anymore. However, our affectionate and sweet little boy will give Mama's belly a big hug and kiss, gently patting and saying "Mama's baby."

We are considering doing FLOR carpet tiles for the new baby's room. We are trying to find someone else that may have used these carpet tiles. I am specifically interested to know if, when vacuumed, they pull up off the floor, possibly separating from each other over time. It is a relatively inexpensive product and the patterns are really cute and bright for a child's room. If anyone has FLOR tiles in their home or knows if they wear well with hardwoods and vacuuming, please let me know!

As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Mosses this year, we give thanks for all of our family and friends! We wish you happy fat bellies stuffed with turkey and all the trimmings, and happy endings to all your holiday football games.

Imagining doing this with two

Daddy comes back tomorrow from a very long trip to the "motherland" (a.k.a. - Starkville, MS). Granted he "had to work" on Saturday, welcoming prospective students to campus but the historic game that ended with the 'Dawgs beating Bama had to be an exciting moment for him. Mamie and Bop, along with Emily, Martha, Elizabeth and Jamie were all there for the game. Philip ended Saturday by going to an MSU basketball game. I had emergency on call duty with BSC so I couldn't make the trip over to meet them. With NeeNee and Poppy Porter now living in Mobile, I've been flying solo, handling Little Philip, chores, and the typical weekend to-do's all by myself for what, tomorrow, will be four days. I'm exhausted, to say the least.

I've spent the weekend soaking up quality time with Little Philip, attempting to bring up potty training again which failed, again. Friday night we stayed up late, watching "red car movie" according to Little Philip (Cars). I hoped he would sleep in on Saturday after going to bed almost two hours past his normal bedtime. Nevertheless, we were up with the chickens at 7:00 a.m. We made egg in a basket and headed out the door for a few morning errands before going to Callen's 2nd birthday party. Little Philip had a wonderful time with all of his friends. It's so fun to see these little ones starting to be more social with one another. It was also good to see friends I've not seen in quite some time due to work responsibilities during evenings and weekends. We headed home right after Little Philip had a total meltdown when Mommy took one little bite of his Elmo cupcake. He never did quite recover. While Philip was napping, Mommy napped too. It was wonderful with both kitties curled up on my feet and the soft sound of Philip's soft little snoring coming from the monitor next to me.

Aunt Lizzy spent the night on Saturday night and then Sunday morning, we actually made it to church after dropping her back at home. Afterwards, it was nap time again and Mommy took a little nap before trying to get laundry done to prepare for another week. Since we now know we are having a girl, I kept peering into the guest bedroom/office, trying to figure out how to reorganize to make room for baby, without losing a guest bed and Big Philip's very necessary office space. I gave up and, instead, began prepping myself for the ultimate exhaustion, something that breaks a cardinal rule for me. First we were going to the pet store to give Riley a dog bath and then, we were headed to Walmart.

If I could knit Little Philip socks I would to avoid Walmart I would but I can't. He has just about outgrown sizes at Babies 'R Us (just across the street from WalMart) so I really did not have a choice. The boy's sock drawer has diminished to about six pair that fit, or actually form a pair , and finding time to do laundry for that one extra pair of socks to make it to Friday just isn't in the cards as a working mother. The Walmart crowd wasn't too bad, and we were only partially searched as we left. I'm not sure what the clerk thought my potential for shoplifting was, me obviously pregnant, pant legs soaked from having given the dog a bath, hauling a two and a half year old out the door who is fervently gripping Elmo slippers, with two giant rubber maid tubs balancing against his back in the cart. Incidentally, once home he refused to wear them. I think they scare him.

At the end of the day today, I filled one full rubber maid tub full of 12-18 month clothing of Little Philip's, carefully placing all of his finer clothing in quart or gallon size ziploc bags. His closet and drawers are virtually empty now, except for the massive boxes above and below where hanging clothes might go. By then it was 8:15 p.m. and I read Little Philip his quota of two bedtime books, his choices: Elmo's ABC Book and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. I tried to offer the books I'm a Big Brother and What Shall We Do with the Boo Hoo Baby? but he was not the least bit interested. Again, he has no grasp on what the spring holds in store for him.

Despite trying to keep the house as clean as possible while Daddy was away, it still looks like a tornado touched down. My pregnant sense of smell is ridiculously strong and I keep trying to make the house smell like a giant lemon or pine forest, but to no avail. It just smells like a wet dog. My back is killing me and the heartburn has set in a lot earlier than was the case with my pregnancy with Little Philip. So at the end of the day, I am wondering how the heck I will do this with two little ones? Countless other women have stood this test but I'm prayerfully considering my emotional strength, or lack thereof, taking stock of my time management and organizational skills as I realize that in about four months, I better have my act together because it will be showtime.

For now, I'm going to toss myself into bed, a bed I wholly intend to hog all to myself tonight, with piles and piles of pillows all around me to support my aching back. I will pray for my husband's safe keeping as he travels home tomorrow because despite the luxury of being able to hog the whole bed, I have horribly cold feet that only he can keep warm.

It's a Girl!

Our little bell pepper

As we enter 18 weeks, our little baby is now the size of a bell pepper. He or she is about 5.5 inches long now, and weighs about 7 ounces.

This coming Tuesday we will have our second ultrasound, and with any luck, we will be able to see if we are having a boy or a girl. The main reason for an ultrasound at this point in the pregnancy is to determine if there are any major birth defects visible by ultrasound. There is nothing we could do if a defect is detected and we certainly would do nothing other than pray for the best and prepare for any special needs in this child's life. However, we would appreciate your prayers that we see nothing but a very active and very healthy baby on Tuesday.

I'm keeping a list of guesses around the office and with some friends. So tell us, what are your hunches? Is this a boy or a girl?