I'm still here...

I'm going to be posting some new stuff this week so keep checking the blog :) Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

4 Month Old Kelson

Well another day of shots for my little angel. This time was ever harder cause she knows more of whats going on around here. It's so hard to see them go through that, but you know its for the best. Jason and I both teared up when she started screaming. The nurse did really well again and did them quick. I grabbed her as soon and she was done and she quit crying and just breathed in and out. So pitiful. Anyways, she is now 25 1/2 inches long (75%)- went up 3 inches since her 2 month appt and she weighs 12 lbs 15oz (45)- went up 2lbs and 1 oz from last appt. Her eyes are still blue and getting bluer each day- hope she gets my eyes! Its looking that way. She is drooling a bunch and always sucking on her hand (she can pretty much get her whole fist in her mouth- gets that from her Aunt Keri) Lol! She said that she may cut a tooth real soon, but most babies drool a month or two before teeth ever come in. I asked her pediatrician what she suggested about a formula- the enfamil seems to make Kelson cramp up so bad, so she suggested the Similac Sensitive - lactose free- formula. She gave us a few samples and she seems to be doing better. Course its hard to tell cause she is still sore and uneasy from the shots. Let's hope it does make things easier for her- its hard to have her upset like that after feeding. Also, I asked her if brand name formula was any different from the generic and she said ABSOLUTELY NOT, so I am excited to hear that. The parents choice is half the price of the brand name.
Jason is home now- after a couple long days in the studio- we are so excited and can't wait to have some quality time together. Merry Christmas Everyone! Love you all.

Are people reading my blog?

I don't seem to ever have any comments or anything- just trying to make sure that all my "hard work"- haha is going to good use. I must admit that I am going to print all these entries off to put in Kelson's book, but I just wanted to see if people are actually reading my blogs.

Heartland update/Jim Brickman Concert...

Well the guys are back in the studio this weekend (going to record 3 or 4 new songs)in Nashville. We are all very excited about it. The guys are looking forward to working with James Stroud (has already produced albums for some big names). The management company aka Country Thunder label is doing a fantastic job of taking care of the boys. Their booking agent (Jerry Lee Attractions) just booked them a show in Alaska and possibly a USO tour for next year. After this weekend, all the guys get a chance to go home with their families for a few weeks and take a well-deserved break. Thank Goodness.

Last night Jason returned back from Tx and had a chance to go to the Jim Brickman Holiday concert with mom, dad, and I. We had a fabulous time! Jim Brickman always puts on a great show and is a phenomenal piano player. He was accompanied by Anne Cochran, long time friend of Jim's, and she did a wonderful job. Ritchie McDonald (former lead singer of Lonestar)- he's got one of the coolest voices EVER. He sang "I'm already there" and my heart just melted cause I thought of Jason singing that to Kelson and I. Things bring on such a new meaning when you have a child. He also had a new member to the tour- David Klinkenberg- he was a GREAT fiddle player. They jokingly asked him if he was playing a fiddle or a violin and he said it depended on the number of teeth the player had. haha! Alabama joke for ya! They all put on a wonderful show. We had the pleasure of meeting all of them (thank you Steve Maples). We got some autographs and Jim was very excited that Jason was there and congratulated him on their #1 single success. It was so neat that people knew who Jason and Heartland was. Ritchie was so ecastic that Jason was even there. He said I can't believe your here- I'm at home every chance I get. He told him that I really wanted to come and that he didn't live too far. Plus he wanted to come see him. It was really neat how inspiring Ritchie was with Jason. Ritchie told him that James Stroud was a VERY good man and they should be excited about working with him. Ritchie was one of the nicest men I've ever met. Very inspiring and you could tell that he was feeling what Jason was feeling (many years ago when Lonestar first started out). I hope to meet more stars in the future who are as positive and sweet as Ritchie McDonald. Here is a link site to our GO Magazine here in HSV that mentions the concert... http://blog.al.com/go/2007/12/brickman_holiday_show_has_righ.html. It even mentions that Jason and I were there. Pretty cool! Thank you Chris Welch for the great write up.

Where has the time gone...

Sorry its been so long since I've written. Been a little pre-occupied with things! Well Kelson is 4 months old today. I know- ALREADY! Can you believe it. She is getting so big and doing so much now. She loves to play with her hands and smiles ALL the time. I'm working on getting her to say Ma Ma and Da Da, but no luck yet. She does knows her mom and dad now. We go to Dr. Zbell on Monday to get her next round of shots (not looking forward to that- and its Jason's first time to go). Both kids are going to be crying :( The nurse adminsters the shots really fast, so I'm happy about that. I've noticed a few things about Kelson already: She loves sleepy time and nap time- she is SOOO happy and always smiling when she wakes up. She LOVES to suck on her hand (I think she is about to start teething). I really believe that when I sing to her that she is trying to sing along- its so cute. She is already getting too big for her favorite bouncy seat and is adapting to her swing (when she wants). I just noticed my sister Keri had Corgan (my nephew- a few days younger than Kelson) already in his stand up exerciser, so I need to get that out for Kelson. She would love that. She is so strong and so independent. Speaking of that- I do believe that she is a lot like me in that way and her lack of patience. When she screams cause she wants something- she wants it right then and won't stop till she gets it. Lol. Kelson still looks a lot like Jason, but is starting to look a little more like me everyday. Its so amazing that we created this wonderful child together. Her eyes are getting slightly bluer each week too. She has already rolled over a couple of times. She still has to sleep in her swaddler. She sleeps around 8-10 hours at night-THANK YOU JESUS. She is still getting passed on to every babysitter whose available that day while I'm at work. Thank you to all of you. I misplaced my camera charger, so I haven't been able to take many pictures, but I found it the other day so I'll be posting some new ones soon. I can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner.

Now to catch you up- we had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving with all of Jason's family and my mom, dad, and brother. We ended up with 51 people for dinner. It wasn't too hectic and sadly we didn't get a chance to go around and say our "thank you's" (family tradition), but we managed to get lots of great pictures and made lots of great memories. Since Aunt Louise and Jeannette moved up here, there was more places to stay, roam, and party. It was great having everyone and their children here for the holiday. I posted some pics on my Kodak site if you wanna check them out. Chopper- Heartland's guitar tech, and son Brandon join us for dinner too. We don't allow people to go to Denny's around Thanksgiving time :) We enjoyed being with everyone and having lots of good times. Above is the picture of the girl cousins that had matching holiday dresses (including my little one) it was so precious. The "Video shoot" was a whole event in its own. I was sweating by the end. haha! We were doing the stupidest stuff: ringing the bells for babies to look up, singing Christmas carols so the kids would laugh, making weird noises to get the kids attention, bribing them with Christmas cookies if they just sat through a few more pictures, etc... that's what the holidays are about!

Florida Time!!!

We had a wonderful time going around to all the theme parks- thanks to Aunt Patty and family :) We went to Sea World, Epcot, Universal and Islands of Adventures, and the Magic Kingdom. Keri and her family were all still sick, so they came up a day later, but I was happy they waited to get rid of their colds/etc so we didn't catch it. Jason, Kelson, & I all came back fine, so that's GREAT news. Mom/Dad/Donald Family all came and met us Sunday at the condo. I had brought several outfits for Kelson to wear with her cousins and Keri managed to get several wonderful photos. Keri is such a great photographer. Great ideas too. We actually got a picture of Corgan and Kelson together, Belle wasn't very cooperative and didn't want to partake. It was amazing how much bigger Corgan felt after holding Kelson. He is def her bigger, younger, cousin. He is such a cutie. Reminds me so much of my brother and dad. Annabelle was a handful too- she is soooo smart and likes to explore everything. It was a wonderful trip. I'm not going to post pictures yet, cause I want to use some of them for our Christmas card. We had a great time in FL and I can't wait to see them all again during Christmas time.

While we in Orlando, IKEA, opened up their new store. I had never heard of it before but Keri was a HUGE fan, so her and I went. We were there for over 5 hours. Got in some good quality sister time. The store is 30K sq ft- Its a HUGE place. Very cool modern stuff for great prices. I wanted to buy several LARGE things, but seeing as how we flew, there was no way to get it home. So I bought smaller items and put them in Jason's bunk on the bus since he was flying with me and didn't need it (cheap shipping). Jason and I are going to go visit the store in Atl and get some neat furniture from there. Keri has turned us into IKEA fans.

A night to remember

Well we made it back from FL. Kelson was WONDERFUL! She went on vacation like a pro. Had no problems with her on the plane rides nor at the theme parks. She got cranky every now and then, but you have to expect that from a 3 month old. While we were down there, Heartland had a show in Williston, FL at a theme park (pretty redneck, but still good times, and they had funnel cakes). So anyways, Kelson and I rode with Cousins Tab and Chris to the show and Kelson got to attend her first Heartland concert. She sat in her stroller next to me and watched and listened the whole time. She fell asleep and then Jason asked me to bring her up on stage so he could sing to her. I was shaking and crying- it was the sweetest thing EVER. He held her and sang "I loved her first" to her. We captured it on camera too. She slept the majority of the song and then at the end woke up and everyone AWWWWWWW'd. It was so awesome. I will try to upload the video if I can. Its so sweet. What a special moment for daddy and his little girl!

Santa Baby... special gift from above

I took this cute picture of Kelson lastnight while Jason and I were cooking in the kitchen. She is our little "santa baby". Lastnight the girls and I played bunco and had a great time. Of course I suck and lost AGAIN. Jason watched Kelson. I came home around 9:30pm and she was already in bed- he said that the "Bobfather" came up alittle before I got home and wanted to see his grandaughter, so they went into her nursery and were just staring at her. He started to cry and hugged Jason and told him what a neat miracle he had so of course Jason started to cry too. Its moments like these that we never want to forget! Happy Holidays All.

Christmas Tree Competition...

Well for those of you who don't know, each year its a race between Bob and Lucy and our family to see who can put their tree up the fastest after Halloween, well unfortunately since Jason wasn't here, we weren't able to do it :( A couple years ago, Jason and I had gone out on Halloween night and came back to find our tree missing, well we went down to Bob and Lucy's house and looked through their window and they had stolen our tree (it was still in the box) and was sleeping with it in their bedroom. haha! So its a fun game with play with his parents. This year, Aunt Weeza (Louise) said she was going to partake, but I have a feeling she was a little busy too and has yet to put hers up. Bob and Lucy were pretty busy this year too- working on Theana's new apt- so they got theirs up on Sunday night, Nov 3rd. Our tree is up, but still has to be decorated, so this year I will declare 2007 to Bob and Lucy! Next year we will have a anxious little 14 month old girl who will be able to help! Well sorta :)

Another tradition- Nov 1st Bob turns on the corner tree for everyone to know that Christmas is coming. This year a little boy and his mom were driving by and they stopped the car so the little boy could ask a question. He rolled down the window and asked "Are you gonna put Santa up on the tree this year?" AW!!! So of course he's going to now. He's honored that the Christmas "corner" tree spreads Christmas joy and love to all ages.

Smile... Your on Camera

Lucy, aka Memere, decided to take Jason, Kelson, and Grand Memere to Sears yesterday for a "4 Generation" picture. I got off work around 3:00pm and headed over there to see how things were going. Kelson was dressed in her blue outfit from her Aunt Natasha. She looked precious, but wasn't in the best mood, she had just eaten, so she was tired. They managed to get a few cute pictures. There were "Santa helpers" (Aunt Weeza, Aunt Nin, and Aunt Theana) all there to help get Kelson ready for the camera. We took a break and let another family go while we got Kelson settled down and a little nap. We changed her into an adorable "Santa" outfit and she was much happier and ready to go. I happened to have on a red shirt, so we took a family picture. This was our first professional family photo. It turned out really cute and I think Kelson liked having her mommy and daddy with her. They asked me about getting pics for our Christmas Cards this year, but I knew my sister was going to be taking some pics while we are in FL, so I'm gonna see what we take then. She is growing so fast week to week, so who knows what the next holiday's picture will entail. Its gonna be so much fun. Well we have LOTS to do before heading down to FL for Daddy's shows, Family time, Hanging out with the cousins, etc.. Pray that she does well on her first plane ride! :)

Kelson Updates...

Its amazing how big Kelson is getting already. I was just looking at her the other day in her bouncy seat and realized how much bigger she is now. Its so exciting, yet sad, cause that means she is growing up so fast. She is showing more expressions too. She loves to smile- esp in the mornings. That's her favorite time of the day- I think. We have started the Enfimil with Iron formula and she is doing great. Well except for the GREEN poo poo that has come with it. But we are just supplementing, so its not all the time, but good lord what a difference in breast milk and formula. I noticed the other day that she was watching me eat some pringles and she started "mocking me and chewing" and staring at me eating. It was amazing.

Kelson LOVES bathtime. She loves to have the running water over her and just lay in there. Its amazing how much stronger and bigger she is now. She used to SCREAM when I bathed her but she loves it now. I love the smell of a clean baby.

She loves when people sing to her. She already has a knack for music. A few weeks back I laid her on my chest and I was singing "I loved her first". She was smiling so big and cooing and singing along- it was the neatest experience ever. Of course I was bawling and couldn't sing. Jason wasn't her to experience it, but I'm sure I can get her to do it again. I played this song all the time when I was pregnant, so I really think she remembers it and it soothes her.

I broke out the bumbo yesterday to try out and she did GREAT. She could sit in it pretty well, but she still needs a few more weeks to really do it by herself. But I think around Thanksgiving she will be doing it on her own. Don't worry it will only be on the floor- no tables! ;)

I can't believe my little girl is already 2 1/2 months old. Jason comes home Sunday and will be home for a while. We are going to Orlando next Thurs for a week. Heartland has two shows down there. Kelson's first flight- well see how she does.

Carving the pumpkins...

We are a little behind on carving this year, due to Jason's schedule, but we managed to get it done before Halloween, so this past Sunday, Jason and I turned on the "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and "Haunted Mansion" and got to carving. I was VERY impressed with our carving this year. Jason had a scary face, I had bat eyes and star nose and mouth, and Kelson's was the best. I bought a Disney princess pattern book from Wal-Mart and laughed when I realized how detailed it was gonna be, but thought I would give it a shot. I think I did GREAT. Kelson's pumpkin was the rose from the Beauty and the Beast movie. Of course Kelson wasn't able to help, but she slept while we carved, so that was help enough.
I had seen a picture online of a baby in a pumpkin and thought of that idea for our Halloween e-cards this year, so i cleaned out my pumpkin really well, blew out the candle in it- hehe, and we stuck a cloth inside and Kelson. She did SOOOOOO good. She seemed to really enjoy it. We got some great shots of her. What a wonderful Halloween we had. I made a joke that last Sunday was pumpkin carving time and this Sunday will be the putting up of the Christmas Tree!

Catching up...

Well our Halloween Costumes this year were a hit :) Jason was Popeye, I was Olive Oyl, and Kelson was Sweet Pea. Jason and I went to our annual Halloween party (can you believe Jason was in town on a weekend- I still can't believe it) hehe. Kelson stayed home with her memere and we went out. We had a great time. I'm going to post some pics from that night on my kodakgallery so check out the albertsland website. It was hard trying to get myself dressed then wake up Kelson to dress her. She was NOT happy. But we managed to snap a few pictures. We all had a great time!!! I'm just now catching up on my sleep from Sat night. Guess those days of staying up all night are over now... ;)

Prayer Circle for Robbie Mathis...

Jason's godson, Robbie Mathis, has been feeling ill for the past two months. It all started with an ear infection that turned bad. He was taking antibiotics, but nothing seemed to work to get rid of the infection. After many weeks of antibiotics and pain meds they got the infection to go away, but the pain wouldn't subside. He has been in excruciating pain for the last two months, so his parents recently took him to Vanderbilt children's hospital to find out what was wrong and what was causing him so much pain. Apparently Robbie's brain was still sending the message that he was in pain and somehow a nerve was damaged in the process. He has been unable to go to school or get up and play - like a normal child. This young man is one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet (the whole family is that way). The dr's believe that he is going to make a full recovery with the proper meds and rehab. Robbie's motor and walking skills were somewhat damaged through all of this. I know that he will make a full recovery and FAST. He is such a fun kid with lots of spunk, so I know he will do just fine. Being a mother now, I realize how much you go through what your child is feeling. Please keep Robbie and the whole Mathis family in your prayers. I'm attaching a picture of Jason and I with the Mathis family- we went to Disney last summer and had a blast (Robbie is standing in front of Jason). Just want him to know that we are ready to do it again next summer! Here's to a FAST and WONDERFUL recovery. We love you guys.

WE MADE IT!!!!

Well my little angel did wonderful! She got her ears pierced like a champ and was so good during her shots. Of course, she cried (like the breathe baby breathe) crying, but she stopped soon after to get some milk- thank God for that. Lucy gave Kelson some baby Tylenol before the appt, so I think that really helped ease the pain. The pediatrician's office did a great job with her and administered the 3 shots so fast. Mom, Lucy, and Theana got to meet Dr. Zbell for the first time and they loved her. She's so good with Kelson. We gave her a copy of the "Country Weekly" to post on her board in the office. Thank you to Memere, Grammy, and Theana for going to the appt with us. They make a great back-up team. Kelson now weighs 10lbs 14oz and is 22 1/2 inches long. They think she is gonna be a tall girl (around 5'8) and have bright blue eyes- yea! We also talked to her about formula and she suggested Enfamil, so that's what we are gonna try out. The hospital gave me lots of samples when I came home with Kelson so I'm gonna try combining 3oz of breastmilk, 3oz of water, and then the powdered formula once a day (at night) to see how she does with it. If she does ok, then I will slowly ween her off the breastmilk and just use water, to give me a break from pumping all the time.
Kelson slept very soundly on the way home. I sent Jason a quick video on my phone showing him Kelson's pierced ears, well needless to say- he wasn't pleased that I got that done. He KNEW that I was going to do it, but I guess seeing it done he was mad because she was put in more pain than needed, but honestly she did better with that then with the shots. So anyways, he got over it after a min or so, but was sad that he wasn't here to comfort her and be with her, but he is glad that our baby girl is fine and happy again. I reminded him that I would NEVER hurt our daughter. Little babies get their ears pierced all the time- right Annabelle? ;) All is well. I told him that she will love it when she is older. She will be one step ahead of her friends- hehe. Most toddler girls want their ears pierced, but are afraid of the pain, so if you do it when you are still in control of their actions, they will thank you for it later.
Just an example on letting your kids make decision for themselves: My dentist told mom that I didn't medically need braces when I was younger, but could get them if I wanted straight teeth. Well mom of course asked me if I wanted then- and being 9 and scared to death, I declined. I only wish that my mother would have MADE me get braces instead of ASKING me. Luckily my teeth are in good shape and I can always get invisiline to get them really straight now :)

Kelson's 2 month appt

Well Kelson is 9 weeks today, but we are just now going for her two month old shots. I am SOOO not looking forward to it. I know how hard it can be to hear her cry when she's hungry, needs changing, etc.., so knowing that she is will be in pain and I have to sit there and watch it (more than once) is gonna be really hard. All i remember and keep telling myself is that EVERYONE had to go through it and NOONE remembers it as a newborn, so that is keeping me sane about going to this appt. With that being said- the pediatrician, Dr. Zbell, offered to pierce Kelson's ears too, so we are gonna do that as well. MIGHT AS WELL GET IT ALL DONE AT ONCE. I'm really excited about getting that done. I always said I would do that if and when I had a little girl. Unfortunatly Jason isn't in town so Lucy (Memere) and Linda(Grammy)are gonna go with me to the appt. There's no way I could go alone! I'll let ya know how we do tomorrow. I am anxious to see how much she weighs now and how long she has gotten. She has seem to really grow in the last couple of weeks. I'm gonna get video and pictures. Wish us luck!

Country Weekly Magazine

Kelson, just a few minutes old, has already made an apperance in a nationally distributed magazine. Jason and Kelson's picture is in this week's issue of "Country Weekly" Magazine (Nov 5th issue). Right after we found out it was in there on Friday, the whole family went and bought copies. They are on page 4 - right next to Jason's idol- Garth Brooks. Its amazing to be in a store and open up a magazine and see your family in it. Course I chose not to have my picture in there with them- seeing as how I didn't want my debut picture of me in that magazine to be no makeup, fat, and just not so cute. hehe. I'll wait till another event comes up. Maybe a follow up picture or something? Its really a sweet picture and caption. Go grab yours today! The cover is Alan Jackson and his family. Love you all.

Introducing something new...

Kelson's baby acne/heat rash is ALL GONE now. I think it was a phase and glad that its over. I talked with Chantell, Jason's cousin, today for about an hour about baby stuff. I'm thinking about introducing Kelson to formula. Not full out, just supplement, so I don't have to stress over producing too much milk when I'm at work or want to go out one night. I love nursing, so I'm def going to continue as much as I can, but I want to have a backup plan just in case. The question is - which brand do I use? What are ya'lls opinions and thoughts on this? I'm up for comments on this.

The time has come...

Well I started back at the gym last night. It went GREAT. I did 30 min on the elliptical and 15 min of free weights. It was so weird to go back and not see a single person that I knew- I just laughed to myself and wondered where had everyone gone. Were they off having babies too, decided to go somewhere else, just didn't care anymore and become fat, etc.. I had lots of time to think about these things while working out. Even the people who worked there were different. One girl that taught classes when I left was there, but that's it. My workout buddy, Stacey, is having her baby soon, so unfortunately she can't come and workout with me for a while, but I was ready to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Funny story- i was working out on the elliptical and I kept smelling this foul throw up smell and I was looking on my shoes and at the girls around me trying to figure out where it was coming from. Finally I wiped my mouth on my shirt (from sweating) and realized- OMG- it was me, well Kelson. I had fed her before I left and apparently she spit up quite a bit and I didn't realize it or wipe it all off. So i had to work out for an hour with the smell of throw up on me- haha! That was the only part that I didn't care for, but it was pretty cool to have a little bit of Kelson with me at the gym for the first time. But from now on, I'm gonna check myself before leaving the house.

Keeping it in the family...

I was just browsing through my sister's pictures of Annabelle when she was Kelson's age and OMG- they look so much alike! You can tell a tid bit of a difference, but overall they look so much alike. You can really tell how she starts to get her features (like she has now) around 4 months so I can't wait to see how Kelson looks around that time. I told my sister that I didn't think Belle looked like Corgan either, but after seeing a few pics she does resemble him. I just found this SO cool and amazing!