happy wednesday

homecoming

so we are finally home! here’s a vid from our short ride from the hospital. it has been very nice to get back with maddox and cora under our own roof. we are so blessed!

a maternal legacy

Cora has many strong women in her family that proceed her. And she has already had the privilege of meeting them. I’m not just talking about cousins, aunts, or even grandmothers, but Cora has already had quality time with both of her GREAT grandmothers, Nana and Mimi! Here we have a pic for four generations of Alticks:

And here is Cora with my Nana:

my valentines

I can’t take credit for the flowers – Maddox brought them (with a little help from G.G. and Pops).

look but don’t touch

Maddox had a big day yesterday – saw lots of new things. He hit the aquarium with G.G. and Pops in the morning and then met sweet Cora in the afternoon.

birthday bath

Psalm 126:3

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Beautiful child, right from the moment you were born

you overtook my heart, my world, my beautiful child.

Tender and sweet, both in your crying and your sleep

you radiate a sense of hope. you’re beautiful.

and i have seen the most amazing sights in my travels on the earth.

moonlight sweeping on the canyon heights and other things of matchless worth.

but next to you all of the beauty seems so plain,

you would think i’d never seen a beautiful thing.    -Sara Groves

Cora Anwen Thomas was born today, Thursday February 12th at 2:09pm. She weighs 7 lbs. 11 ounces and is 21 and 1/2 inches long.

oh, oh here s/he comes

we could not be more excited that baby T2 is coming in 2 days! since i know somewhat WHAT is required of us as parents of a new baby and i know somewhat of how i will feel about this new person, i am both more excited and more anxious than the first time through. unlike what most people say about their 2nd and beyond pregnancies, this one has seemed much longer than my first. i am absolutely DYING to know if it is a boy or girl and WHO s/he is! with maddox, i was excited, but didn’t know the magnitude of love that would occur. so, esp this last half has dragged on and on.

on saturday the 7th, i got to hold our friends katie and art’s ONE DAY OLD little girl harper. she is precious, we are very excited for them and it made us look all the more forward to ours. i have really appreciated everyone who has been encouraging and asking about us. the #1 questions are how are you feeling? and how do you think maddox will react/does he get it?

1) i am feeling very uncomfortable but good and healthy. i know the uncomfortable-ness is normal but ayayay. the pains and typical “issues” are upsetting to deal with when you are expected and want to play all day with a toddler! shout out here to dear friend courtney who annoys herself by updating her facebook status too much. ha. i know you feel me with this little answer. you have 2 more months and YOU CAN DO IT! the waiting will make it all the more sweet when larson comes to meet us all. “easy for you to say with 2 days to go” right?

2) no maddox has no idea what is about to hit him. we call the baby’s room the baby’s room, put a teddy bear in the cradle, we strapped a stuffed dog into the baby car seat, show him baby in mommy’s tummy, etc. all these little tricks! but now i just think that he thinks baby is another word for tummy. last night, however, we did get him to respond when we said “what’s the baby going to do? he might eat … he might sleep … and he might cry. what will we tell the baby when s/he cries? ‘it’s ok baby! shhh.’” so his response is now lifting up my shirt to say “hi baby” but he also pretends to cry. oh well, we gave it our best shot! i am glad though that they will be so close in age.

i was blessed to have a baby essentials shower given for me and baby T2 by my cousin melissa and sis-in-law jessica. every one of my closest friends was there and we took time to each pray God’s Word for this baby as well as for our family. it was such a special and unforgettable time.

aunt jess is always full of fun

don got baby noah to laugh for the first time! here they are with maddox.

thanks to our friends and family for your prayers for thursday at 1pm AND BEYOND. they are priceless to us and we love you!

make way

we kept putting off everything baby-ish til “after the holidays, after the holidays” and there has been precious little time to do these things as january raced by. we cleared out many closets and shelves, rearranged the whole basement, moved the guest room downstairs, put together bunk beds, refinished a bookshelf, moved maddox’s room into the guest room and basically kept the baby room the same except it is now filled with diapers. when i say “we” i mean “don” as he did everything but buy diapers.

maddox loves his new room and new beds. he loves his new beds to play and jump on but hasn’t slept there yet. we’ve crammed the crib in this room until the baby transistion is made. i don’t think i will want to deal with a feeding baby and a wandering-around-the-house toddler at just the same time. i think he can move to his bed in a couple months. don’t worry – the baby has a drawer all cleaned out for him to sleep in. ok – it’s a cradle. and it’s not necessarily a him.

other things maddox is very into at the moment is brushing his teeth, playing chase and still … playing with balls and vacuuming. he enjoys trying to dribble balls as don has taught him now. the vacuuming is basically turning it on and then running around screaming while i vacuum. hm. is this a plot? we did get a pic of him using his own little vacuum but it’s about a tenth as loud as the big one and he likes LOUD things!

Christmas continued

Christmas day was a whirlwind but SUPER fun. maddox liked all the hype and activity, but did not like being distracted from whatever one toy he was focusing on to open another. what a bother. we enjoyed spending Christmas eve night at GG & Pops’ house along with cousin thomas; aunt B, uncle D and nana. what a fun morning we had celebrating Jesus’ b’day (pic #3 in gallery below) then letting the chaos begin. i never knew how happy i would be seeing my kid being happy. before nap, maddox and don went out to the backyard by the river and maddox learned how to kick a ball (#6). yes, he is in his PJs!

merry christmas

then it was off to chattanooga to have Christmas on the 26th with Big Mo, Didi, Uncle Brett, Uncle Reed, Aunt Jess … Lissa, John, cousins Jacob, Sarah, Caleb and Noah … Lainey and Papa John … and great grandparents Mimi and Granddaddy!