And the winner is...

So, this baby must be lucky! At the recent FHI Holiday Party, Jamie and I both won raffle gifts! A few days before the party, the company raffled off a night's stay at the hotel where the party would be held, to be used the night of the party. And guess whose name they drew? Jamie's!!! It was a wonderful surprise to find out we'd won anything at all, considering there are over 400 employees in the running for the hotel stay.

Now, fast forward to Saturday night. The company reserves most of the prizes for the night of - and to entice people to come out, you have to be present to win. Prizes usually include a host of gift cards, plane tickets and hotel stays. During dinner, everyone followed their congratulations on the room with comments like, "you guys better not win anything else!" and "you know you're not allowed to win another prize..." all teasing because, in fact, we were allowed to enter the raffles! But, I always responded, "Come on, what are the odds?!" Well... apparently, the odds were pretty good...

Thanks to our little lucky charm, I am the proud winner of two, first-class, round trip airline tickets to anywhere in the US! Maui here we come!!!

I'm just waiting to hear the comments we get on Tuesday... :)

Rachael Ray with Special Guest...

Check out the video below to see who starred on the Friday, Jan 16th Rachael Ray show!

Happy New Year

With the holidays coming to a close, things are beginning to settle down into our normal routine. The weight of house hunting has been lifted off our shoulders and now we can look ahead to the arrival of little CanCan and all the many blessings 2009 is sure to hold. Pictures of the house and more blogging is coming soon. Happy New Year, y'all.

Our Last Christmas

My friend Hilary posted a blog not long ago about her "First Christmas" - something I am still rejoicing over! While she was preparing to celebrate her first, everyone around us kept telling us to enjoy our "Last Christmas" - last Christmas without kids, that is. As if we don't normally enjoy Christmas or something. So, I tried with all my might to "enjoy it" for what it was, but everything inside me, both literally and figuratively, kept jumping forward to next Christmas and how wonderful it will be with our baby boy. In the end, I can safely say I did thoroughly enjoy our "last Christmas" complete with all the hopes and wishes it brought for next Christmas.

Thank you to everyone for making our Christmas so wonderful this year. It was truly amazing and we are so blessed to have such a beautiful and generous family.

22 Weeks

How your baby's growing:

At 11 inches and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

21 Weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know his better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

He is very busy moving around and swallowing amniotic fluid. You most likely have felt your baby move by this time and have realized that he is not necessarily on the same schedule that you are. As your baby swallows amniotic fluid, his digestive tract is continuing to mature. Your baby is also receiving some of the caloric intake from the amniotic fluid.

Home Sweet Home

It's official!!! We now have the keys to our very first house!! We couldn't be more excited or relieved. It's been a long, arduous process, but with a very sweet ending: home-sweet-home. Not just another apartment, but OUR place, where we can do whatever we want without hearing dogs trample above us, fight for a parking spot at night, or settle for out-of-date appliances. Now, that's what I call sweet.

Of course, you can't be a home owner without visiting a big-box home improvement store, right? So, immediately after we closed, we headed back to the house and made a list of things we needed. Because the list included re-keying all the locks, Jamie stayed behind to man the house while I drove up the street to Lowe's. After finding the light bulbs, caulk, air filters and getting the locks re-keyed, I headed back home. As the doors opened to the parking lot, I was awestruck by the biggest, brightest, full, double rainbow I've ever seen. I still can't describe how perfect this rainbow was. I know, it sounds too good to be true. But I stood there, locks in hand, in awe of the gift God had just given me. ...yet another confirmation that this is where we exactly where God wants us. And, that is sweeter than anything else. Here are pics taken from my phone. Sorry for the low quality - I'm hoping to get a nice new phone for Christmas... hint, hint Jamie.