Christmas tide

We've had a good time with the Ford family over Christmas eve and Christmas day. In the days to come we will celebrate Christmas with my dad and then my mom. We're taking this whole Christmas tide idea and running with it... we're taking our time like the three kings and will celebrate until Ephiphany. We are thankful for the time and for our family. Isabella Renee will be a fortunate little girl to be born into such love and excitement! :) MERRY CHRISTMAS.

So much to do... so much has been going on...

I'm so sorry it has been so long since my last post. In the time that has passed, so much has happened....
* Robert went to Vegas for the 5th year in a row and the guys had a GREAT time.
* It snowed two inches in Houston. It was the coolest thing I have seen in a long time... and so out of context!
* School is out, first semester down. My kids were overly generous and gave me lots of great presents. One little girl brought me a pair of red baby crocs for Isabella (our baby to be).
* We passed the 100 day mark, and now can count down the birth date in the double digits.
* I made Janice's homemade mac n cheese for Robert to take to his pot luck at work and it TURNED OUT!
* We purchased the baby's crib and will get to go pick it up this weekend and put it together... stay posted for photos!

We're ready to see friends and family over the holiday break.... :)

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

We fought the good fight and went to Garden Ridge to buy our first Christmas tree.
We have a few ornaments, but lots of lights. I think it looks great.
This time next year, Isabella will be in the ornament mess helping us pull it all out and put it up on the tree!
We hope the holidays are filling you with moments to sit, take in the light, and give thanks for all great gifts.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a great time to enjoy family, food and great cool weather. We headed up north to Dallas to visit our families. It was wonderful to see moms and dads and sister Sarah and Ken. Football victories didn't quite turn out in Robert's favor and we didn't win the 111 million dollar lottery. We DID eat great food, laugh a lot, and enjoy some of our favorite people. We never busted out the camera, so this morning, I snapped some photos to make this post a bit more entertaining. YAY for family, fall and the beauty that comes with each.

Isabella's Room Decor

We made a decision and have begun our wish list process...
Isabella's room decor is CoCaLo Couture - Tahi.
Her nursery furniture is made by Munire and is part of the Essex Collection.
We've also started to find some things at Babies R Us and have started a registry at amazon.com.
Enjoy browsing... we can't wait to start purchasing and getting so we can set up her room. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Odom

This weekend we drove out to the hill country to watch two great friends get married! They held the weekend of fun at camp Waldemar outside Hunt, Texas.
On Saturday, we ate great food, walked around camp and even ran into the camp donkey... FLAP JACK! Desmond was the brave one who bonded with Flap Jack.
The wedding was at five on Saturday night and it was pretty COLD outside. Everyone looked great, but we had to take pictures fast or just settle for picture with our coats! Here is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Odom with HCE teachers and... of course, a picture of the new parents-to-be! :)

It's a GIRL!

Today we sat through a crazy ultrasound session. The technician was so sweet. She asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby and we resounded with YES! Then, she asked if we had any names picked out. We told her Robert or Isabella. She was wonderful and really into all the details that she could see and measure...
head, thigh, arm, back, feet, and eyes!
Robert and I were trying the whole time to play catch up and actually SEE what she was seeing. Toward the end of our session she hadn't said anything about the sex and had just been measuring and labeling all these parts for our doctor to see. On the last take she typed... I-S-A-B-E-L-L-A! Wahoo, a healthy baby girl.
Yes, Robert is ok. He's already mapping out their plan for domination over the golf world... father/daughter tournaments... WATCH OUT!
We spent the afternoon looking at baby furniture and baby things. We are hoping in the next week to make our wish list and register at a couple of stores.
Thanks to everyone who has been so excited and supportive!
:) Robert continues to be out numbered... GO GIRLS!

9 days and couting

While the rest of the world anticipates the upcoming Presidential election, we are counting down the days until we find out if Baby Ford is a boy or a girl.

Until then, we are working and enjoying life.

This weekend we went to Bryan/College Station and celebrated a Aggie win and my birthday with my dad's side of the family. It was great to be with family, enjoy good food, fun games and all the great momma and baby presents that came with the day!

Today at church I played and sang with the kids in Sunday School. What was most touching about the day was remembering all the saints who have passed through my life. How thankful I am for the men and women who have taught me lessons of love, life and how to love life.

It's my hope that our baby will be touched by just as many sweet and beautiful people as have graced my life!

Ethan came to visit

Ethan is my cousin and my god-son! He, his mother, his grandmother and his great-aunt (my mom) came to visit for a short but wonderful weekend. Ethan can do so much these days! He is able to tell us what he wants and what he doesn't want. What I think is so amazing about Ethan is that he is so bilingual he makes the rest of us want to learn Spanish. Ethan loved visiting the "duck lake" at our house and found his happy place in the "boat". He kept pointing at the sky and saying "azul" which means blue! He loves to wear his "zapatos" (shoes) and watch all the Dora or Calilou you can stand. I love him and can't wait for all us to meet his new cousin... Baby Ford!

Do you hear what I hear?

Everything I read tells me that at 17 weeks our baby can hear loud noises and even some voices. It has made me much more sensitive to the sounds that I encounter.

Some sounds that Baby Ford knows now...
what Robert sounds like during a frustrating football game

or what Robert sounds like in the evening when he's singing his favorite country tunes

what the organ at church sounds like when we're singing hymns

the school song at my elementary school where I teach (it is SO loud at the beginning of the morning announcements)

the vacuum cleaner (though thanks to our new found Maria (she's cleaning our house twice a month), he or she will hear less of it)

the children in my class when we work in groups or partners and my voice when I'm getting their attention

it's amazing at what sounds surround us!

I'm thankful for the sounds of love and life that surround me every day!

Boy or Girl?

We will find out come Nov. 11 if we are having a baby girl or a baby boy. The anticipation is exciting. We've received a few baby things from family members and it will be so fun to start to imagine how he or she will look in them!
Next week, Mom, Alice, Margaret and Ethan will come and stay Friday night. It will be fun to be surrounded by family and celebrate and share this time with them.
Robert's still holding out for some improvement in his TAMU football program. Until then, Sara Evans on CMT Crossroads seems to be keeping his hope alive! :)
Until next week, all our love.

Baby Bump?

We went to the doctor to hear the baby's heart beat this week. The nurse was so sweet and let us listen for a long time. Robert started thumping out loud with the baby to keep up with what sounded like such a fast heart beat. We received test results that confirmed that Baby Ford is growing just he or she needs too (very comforting news).

Robert loves to rub on my stomach as if he's going to see the future or get three wishes granted. Unfortunately, my stomach does not grant wishes and TAMU didn't win this week.... maybe next week?

I'm finally frustrated with my clothes and I'm currently searching for MATERNITY CLOTHES. Houston doesn't have as many maternity shop choices as Dallas (weird huh). So, I'm excited about our Thanksgiving trip to see parents and do some clothes shopping in big D. Until later, all our love! Enjoy this post nap-in need of a visit to a salon-16 weeks pregnant picture.

Pictures at 11 weeks

We went for a check-up after our vacation and received lots of great pictures of our newest family member.

Family Vacation

We took our first trip as parents-to-be. Thanks to the generosity of some good friends we went to New Mexico and stayed a few nights in Red River.

On our way to Red River, we stopped in Taos at the town square and had the best green chili chicken enchiladas at Ogelvies!

Our two days in Red River were great. We loved walking around town and hanging out, soaking up the beauty. For some reason, my belly decided to start growing this weekend (it could have to do with how well we ate) and Robert documented the weekend!

After our stay in Red River, we drove to Albuquerque (through a National Forest) to meet up with some friends for the football game against the University of New Mexico. The whole weekend was wonderful and ended with the Aggie's first win. Here are some of our photos.... ENJOY!