'Twas a very Merry Christmas!

I just love the Christmas season... the decorating, the fellowship, the shopping, the baking, the eating, the wish lists, the Christmas programs, the music, the children and Santa Claus, and the list goes on and on... however this Christmas season included much more than the things that I love.

This Christmas season certainly included the wonderful Christmas things that I love, however it also included much illness and an extremely busy schedule. Next year, I will kindly say, "no". : ) I won't be pregnant next year, but instead will have a baby and a two year old... hopefully they will understand! : ) Anyway, our home was hit with many waves of illness during the month of December.

Lawson began the doctor trend on Monday night, November 30, with an evening trip to the Children's after-hours clinic... double ear infection. That Wednesday night, December 2, he got into my anti-seizure meds - we were in the kitchen with him on the other side of the island when we realized he was dropping my medicine, one at a time, into a cup of his, so we were off to the ER for a fun night of "six-hour observation"... the six-hour observation began at 6:30; they finally let us leave at 10:30 when there was obviously nothing wrong, but we were thankful for the kind, yet cautious medical attention. The next week, Lawson began vomiting on Wednesday and Russ stayed home with him. By Thursday night both Russ and I were very sick with the same stomach virus... we weren't sure we were going to make it. The next week we were healthy - I was determined I was going to make the last week of school!!! And then the week of Christmas... Sunday afternoon, Lawson spiked a temp and vomited. Monday morning we are off to the doctor and he had strep throat. By Wednesday morning, Russ had a high fever and was "in the bed". Finally on Christmas Eve morning, he went and got a shot and by Christmas morning, he was much better! And our Merry Christmas began!

This is Lawson's second Christmas and our second year to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here in Evansville at our house. The markets are open until noon on Christmas Eve, so Russ typically works that morning, allowing his employees to be with their families, however this year he was at the doctor and Lawson and I went to the Roache's for their Christmas Eve Open House. It was fun and the food was delicious! They had a full house and it was nice to see many of our friends from church and be able to spend time with them. Lawson LOVES Phoebe and she was so sweet to wag him around even though her friends were also there at her house. We came back home and spent time as a family before going to dinner at Outback and then taking a ride through the Fantasy of Lights. Lawson slept through the lights last year, but truly enjoyed them this year and began to cry for "Santa" as we exited the park. It was beautiful! As nontraditional as it is for us to not be with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, I enjoyed it very much this year... it felt more traditional as it was Lawson's second Christmas and there was more meaning in what we did since he is older and is more aware of what is going on. He was in bed by 8:00 and Russ and I just hung out until bed time. We watched a movie and went to bed feeling very relaxed and ready for Christmas Day!

Christmas morning...





Lawson must have been a good boy!!! This Christmas he got his very own chair, a magna-doodle, an Elmo DVD and bath toy, waffle blocks, puzzles, books, a tractor, a walkman CD player with headphones because he LOVES to wear headphones and listen to music, a musical TV, and pull-along-dog.

Lawson's first peek at what Santa left...

He's pointing at his chair...

Trying out his new chair and looking at his new "big truck" book...

He loves to color and draw and this magna-doodle is lots of fun!

Santa brought a cool tractor...

And I like my new dog, too!

Lawson received many fun things from Santa and was so sweet Christmas morning playing. He also did some Santa shopping himself and did a great job! I received a Mommy-To-Be massage and a new point-and-shoot camera! I was so excited and loved my gifts! Daddy received a new iPod touch with a few accessories from me and Lawson and he was very excited and surprised too! It was such a fun morning and was hard for us to leave, but we headed out around 8:30 and arrived in Martin around 11:30. The Christmas marathon had officially begun.

We arrived at Mr. Richard and Mrs. Jane's and had Christmas with everyone there. We had a lot of fun and received way more than we deserve! Granny was by far the prettiest gift there! I am ashamed to say that as the Christmas celebrating went on, the picture taking became less and less. Next year I will ask someone to take pictures of Lawson and Emmitt because Russ and I would forget about the camera as we were helping Lawson open gifts so the pictures become sparse as the day went on.

His first gift at Grandmother and Granddad's... He knew exactly what to do!

A TRICYCLE!! Thanks Uncle Jim and Aunt Erin!

Here's Granny! Doesn't she look beautiful? She is doing great!

Here's Lawson with Ms. Judy, Erin's mom. He was so interested in "seeing" the pictures that had been taken... "see, see"!

I am ashamed to say that that is all that I have, but it is... there are more from our time there to follow in another posting.

Once we opened gifts there, we went to my grandmother and granddaddy's. It was nice to see them and get to visit with my aunts and a few of my cousins... It was so busy that I didn't even take the camera out! Next year will be better.

After visiting my grandparents, we went back to Russ' parents for mid-afternoon Christmas dinner. We ate around 4:00 and the table was full of family and the food was delicious!

The last part of the day was to be spent at Mama B and Daddy Denton's. We were to be there at 6:30. We loaded up and headed to their house. By this time, Russ and I were tired however Lawson was still very excited. As the night went on, he became tired and then the exhaustion mixed with the excitement made for a tough close to the night, but we made it and we had fun! It was nice to see my cousins and their children. We got to see little Nolan for the first time and we had fun playing a game of Dirty Santa! I got a pretty scarf and Russ got a "charging station" for cell phones.

Pretty Miss Maddie Claire! She gets prettier each time we see her and she loves Lawson!

Maddie Claire and Lawson playing...

Lindsey, McKenzie, Deena, Devin, Lauren, and Lanna...

Daddy Denton got Mama B a new laptop for Christmas!

And that's all for Christmas Day! We arrived back to Russ' parents around 10:30. We had a sleepy baby boy and he had two sleepy parents! We all rested well and were up the next morning for "Christmas morning" with my parents.

My dad had to work, so my mom had breakfast ready and we all met there around 8:30 on Saturday morning. By this time, Lawson knew exactly what to do with his gifts. And once again, the pictures were limited!

His first gift to open was from Daddy Bell...

A TRACTOR!! It makes really cool noises, too!

He also got a tent with 175 balls to play with from Nana! It was really cool, but quite wild once we got it all set up. We haven't yet set it up here at home and I am hopeful that he will be calmer. And you may notice he has no shirt on... undressing is the new game!

And in a nutshell, that was it! It came and went so quickly, but we had so much fun! We stayed in Martin from Friday until Wednesday and truly enjoyed spending time with family! One night, Russ and I went on a date to Jackson while mom, dad, and Julie Anne kept Lawson and then another night we went to see Blindside while Mr. Richard, Mrs. Jane, and Granny kept Lawson. Russ got to duck hunt with his dad and brother. Russ got to help his dad on the farm. I got to be in town for my best friend's baby being born. We got to visit friends... Ben Sinclair and his family, and Ben Moore and his family. We went to church and got to see lots of people there. We were with family... cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. We were together. We made great memories and we had fun. That's what Christmas is about! A huge thank you to Mr. Richard and Mrs. Jane for "keeping us" and all of our STUFF! Your patience with our mess means a great deal to us. And a Thank You to both sets of parents, siblings, and grandparents for your generous giving... thank you for loving us and sharing with us. We had a great Christmas!

A Beautiful Baby Girl

Today was a special day for my best friend, Jennifer, and her husband, Bryan!

They welcomed a baby girl into their family and Russ and I are so happy for them. She was born at 8:45 this morning, weighing 9 pounds and 8 ounces, and was a little over 20 inches long. I stopped by the hospital late this afternoon to visit and she is absolutely beautiful! Her name is Ruby Claire after her grandmother and I must say that her name fits her perfect!

Congratulations Bryan, Jennifer, and big brother Rhett, and thank you God for a beautiful and healthy baby girl!

A little brother...

Our Lawson is going to have a little brother!

Today was the big day! Russ and I visited the doctor today for our 20 week ultrasound and check-up. We were anxiously awaiting to learn whether Lawson would have a little brother or a little sister and of course, were most concerned about the overall development of our baby, no matter the gender.

Both appointments went well and we are very excited about being the parents of two Bragg boys! The ultrasound looked great and it appears that he is growing and developing into a perfect little boy. He was very active and measured accurately with my due date, April 30.

Below are a few images from the ultrasound CD that they made for us. We typically aren't that interested in the 4D, but these don't look too scary so I wanted to post them for our parents.

His name will be Emmitt after Russ' grandfather... we are still thinking about a "fitting" middle name.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a day... we have eaten and eaten and eaten some more, and we have one more stop before calling it a day. We have enjoyed great family time at Grandmother and Granddaddy's, here at Mrs. Jane and Mr. Richard's and will go to Mama B and Daddy Denton's shortly. I love this time of the year for not only the "lucious food", as Granny says, but for time with family. I got to see cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in six months or longer and it was nice to visit with them and catch up with them and their families. Living away from "home" makes holiday visits even more meaningful, bringing me to things in which I am thankful... too many to list, but a few truly shine and stand out...

1. Our loving God who meets our every need and loves us unconditionally.

2. My amazing husband and the father of our son and future baby who provides unselfishly for our family in every way possible. In addition to our marriage, which grows stronger each day.

3. Our little Lawson Bragg who is practically perfect in every way! He is precious and brings joy beyond measure to our family.

4. The special baby that is growing inside of me right now. We look forward to welcoming it into the world to join our family.

5. Our families, including parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins, who raised us both, helping us become the people we are today.

6. Our jobs, which we both enjoy, allowing us to contribute to society and provide for our family.

7. The great nation in which we live with the freedoms to do as we please and to worship our God.

8. Our health.

9. Our friends and those around us who bring us joy as we go through each and every day... specifically, the many wonderful friends we have all over the United States; Martin, TN; Columbia, TN; Bismarck/Mandan and others, ND; Westfield/Carmel/Indianapolis/Noblesville and others, IN; Evansville, IN and the many other locations. We are thankful for each of you.

10. And although our "things" here on Earth are worldly, I am thankful for the worldly possessions that God has given us such as our home and other physical necessities. He is so good to us all and for that we are thankful.

Lawson and I send Thanksgiving love to North Dakota tonight... Russ is there hunting right now and we send him much love tonight and want him to know that we love him very, very, very much and look forward to seeing him soon! We are very thankful for you, Daddy, and we love you very much!

Russ, your mom took this picture of us today...


Happy Thanksgiving to all; may God bless each of your homes as He has blessed ours.

Happy Halloween!

What started out with a meltdown and a fit, ended up with lots of smiles and fun!

Lawson was a duck for Halloween this year and played the part very well. He knows what a duck "does" and what a duck "says" and he enjoyed his duck costume very much tonight!

The meltdown...

He wasn't excited about getting ready to go "outside", as he just wanted to go! (We couldn't keep from laughing at the Halloween duck drama!)

Now he is happy...

He LOVES the pumpkins and puts forth great effort to say "pumpkin".

"What does a duck do?"

Our neighbors have a black cat, Mia, and how fitting was her appearance tonight! I am almost certain that Lawson scared her as he had chased her to this point and she had no where else to go...

Too cute!

On a side note, he is holding a duck call as he has learned to call the ducks and we just had to do that tonight, too!

Hoping everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Lawson's Language

Lawson's vocabulary is slowly growing. He has added a few new words worth noting...

"psss" - please... For quite some time now Lawson has been communicating with us by using his baby signs. Using the signs eliminated frustration on both ends with regard to determining what he was wanting/needing. We have been very pleased with how well he has used them and how helpful they have been. The sign for please is rubbing your chest in a circular motion. He uses it quite often when he wants something whether it be getting on the couch, more to eat, going outside, and the list goes on and on. Over the past week he is now signing please and making the noise, "psss". :) It is very cute and exciting. The whining of "m m m m" prior to the "psss" is not so exciting, but slowly he will learn other words.

"day-oh" - thank you... We have also worked to instill "thank you". For as long as I can remember, we have said "thank you" when we have given him something, in hopes that he would eventually say thank you when receiving something from someone else. It has worked! He now says "day-oh" when you give him something and it is with great "voice" as if he is sincerely saying "thank you!"

"BOAH!" - WOAH! We must say this often. I had noticed he was saying "boah", but honestly thought it was another translation of ball, "bah". However, on Saturday afternoon he was pulling my cookbooks off of the shelf one at a time and as they hit the floor he was saying, "BOAH!". He was saying this very loudly with excitement and I must say that it was funny and it stuck in my mind, but didn't think much of it until later that night. We were giving him a bath and we were knocking the ducks, turtles, and horses off the edge of the tub when I said "woah!" and he smiled and said, "BOAH!", and the rest is history. :) It is really cute when he says it as he draws the "long o" sound out as if it is going to echo... like we would make a "booooom" sound of something exploding. Anyway, it is cute and mainly because he uses it in perfect context.

And lastly...

"ouf, ouf" - What does a dog say? Last night we went outside and as soon as we stepped out, our neighbor's dog, Lexus, who by the way is a big beautiful black Great Dane, was barking. He immediately walked to the edge of the patio and began pointing and barking, "ouf, ouf". We were shocked! He gets so excited when he sees a dog and we knew he could identify a dog, but had no idea he could bark!!

So, we now know that Lawson knows that a cow says, "bbmmvvv" and a dog says, "ouf, ouf". And he knows that if he says "psss" and "day-oh" it will make Mama and Daddy real proud and they might say "BOAH!"

It is simply amazing to see him grow and develop and begin to transform into a little boy. He is imitating us more and more, esp at the table when using a napkin, which means it is time to watch what we do and what we say as there are little eyes and ears in the midst.

Although his "words" are simply sounds, they are his little language and we think it is the best language to be learning at this point in life!

The 89th Annual Vanderburgh County 4-H Fair

This year was Vanderburgh County's 89th Annual 4-H Fair!

Russ was a part of the 4-H livestock show and auction again this year through Cargill. They have the opportunity to give back to the agricultural community by sponsoring young 4-H-ers through a livestock auction. This is very enjoyable for him and his sales team.

On Saturday morning, we decided to take Lawson to see the animals and he thoroughly enjoyed himself... I am not sure whether the animals or the tractors were the most exciting for him!

The stroller didn't last very long...

For some reason, I really like this picture... I think it might be that my two favorite people are standing behind a good ole' Holstein cow like the ones that I grew up with.

Now to the tractors... he is such a natural.

People were getting a kick out of him waving as they walked by...

This is my favorite tractor picture...

I like this one, too. We have no clue what made him decide to reach down and attempt to pull on the lever/knob/gear/whatever it may have been, but it was really funny.

We left the fair discussing agriculture and the impact it has had on our lives, making us the people we are today. Living in a "city setting", it is so easy to forget the hard work and the "beauty" of agriculture. We are both very thankful for our agriculture backgrounds... We are hopeful that at some point in time our children will also have the opportunity to experience the rewards of agriculture in their lives.

How thankful we are for the farmers and ranchers that grow and produce our food.

May their harvests be plenty and full of blessings.

Back to school and a little bit more...

The school year is in full swing and much has happened in the last week...

Last Wednesday was the first day back to school. First days back to school always involve "butterflies"... this year was no exception. It was a beautiful morning and I was truly looking forward to returning to elementary school and it was a great day!

I have 22 third graders, 10 girls and 12 boys.

My new school, Delaware Elementary.

Ready for school...

A snapshot of a few of my students

And then the-first-day-of-school pick-up...

I arrived to get Lawson around 4:45 that afternoon, running later than normal due to it being the first day of school, and when I arrived he was sitting with Miss Shelby and as I walked towards him, I thought she was going to cry. She had the "incident" papers in hand and began to tell me that he had a little incident... she was sitting in the floor, holding him in her lap when she picked him up to sit him in the floor beside her. He didn't want to sit next to her, so he threw a fit, slung his little head and smacked the edge of the table... so sad. It looked bad to me and the more I looked at it, the harder it was not to cry. Miss Shelby was so upset and felt terrible and I told her that it was a wonder he hadn't had a little "incident" prior to now, given his fits... It busted the skin and she said that it bled for quite a while, but the "lady" there didn't seem to think it needed stitches and she was right. It scabbed over fine and changed many different colors before it completely healed. He didn't seem too bothered by it, but we gave him Tylenol the following day just for comfort.

Day of "incident"

Morning after...

That night...

2nd morning... looking pretty rough...

3rd day...

We realize this is only the beginning and that there are more than likely many more "incidents" to come, but we are glad his eye is better and we, including Lawson, just love Miss Shelby.

The newest trick...

He isn't ready to go in for dinner.

However, dinner was good...

Signing "All Done"

He loves to sit in the recliner... and he is trying to figure the "rocking" part out.

One of his new words is ball. We decided to get him a ball and he loves it! We aren't sure whether he is going to possess the athletic ability that is obviously absent in the make-up of his parents, but none-the-less, he is loving this 74-cent soccer ball from Target.

When he actually kicks the ball, a barrell of laughter flows from him... so cute!

More standing...

A fun bath! Lawson received these bathtub markers for his 1st birthday, however I had decided to put them away for a little while longer. We decided to pull them out last Saturday night... they are GREAT! He absolutely loved them!!! We wrote on the wall, we wrote on him, and he wrote on us! It was lots of fun and ended with tears as he didn't want to put them away!

The broom is just nasty... but he loves it! Yes, he just woke up and his diaper appears to be in need of a major change... but, he doesn't care as he is waiting for his milk.

When the toys seem to be boring and nothing else works, we pull out the cookware... it's always fun!

Although it isn't a "mud puddle", he loved it!

Where is Lawson?

Peek-a-boo!

More fun to come!