Peyton's 2nd birthday

Here are the cookies I made for Peyton to take to his friends at daycare tomorrow!

Here is our little ball player shooting baskets tonight!

I can't believe it has been two years since Peyton was born. Two years ago at this time, I was still trying to be brave and endure labor without an epidural. Silly me. I have wised up and will be getting one right away with this baby!!!! We had a long labor and actually thought he would be here today....and then didn't come until 5:29am on the 30th. It has been a wonderful year and Peyton seems to be getting more and more verbal everyday. We are amazed at what he comes up with and the things he is able to do. I will post pictures of his birthday party on Saturday as soon as I can.

PICTURES!!!

Reading books with Great Grandma. She is very silly!

My birthday cake with Grandma, Great Grandma, and Joey. It had a dog that looks like Copper on it!

Sitting by Uncle Joey. I love that guy!

The "pet whisperer" Grandma. Copper and Lucy just love her!

Eating popscicles with "Uncle Josh." I thought he was a pretty cool guy!

Visitors!

We have been very busy during the past two weekends! Last weekend, my aunt and uncle, Linda and Bruce came to visit on their way to Branson. They took us out to eat and went to the big Washburn vs. ESU game. We really enjoyed having them here. That same weekend, Josh and Scott "Sterles" came to visit as well. Sadly, Sterles got sick while he was here, but I think the guys still enjoyed hanging out.

This past weekend, we had more company! Joey, Grandma Mary and Great Grandma Benish came to celebrate Peyton's birthday. The Grandma's stopped at Northwest Missouri State on the way down to watch the Bearcats vs. ESU. Sadly, the Hornets lost. We had a busy day on Sunday and a fun party! Peyton got some new clothes, sheets, and a cool blow up football player from Uncle Joey. He loved it all and had to try on his new clothes right away! I will be posting pictures very soon!!!! Grandma Benish (who claims she does not like animals) seemd to get along very well with Lucy and Copper. They followed her everywhere and Lucy was on her lap constantly! Peyton got to spend today with the Grandma's and did not have to go to the babysitter. I think everyone had a good time. Peyton loves having company and new people to play with. He was very tired tonight and is fighting a little cold, so I hope he sleeps well!!!

This week will be another busy one for us. I have a regular doctor's appointment on Wednesday. This will be my last monthly appointment and we will be going to bi-weekly. Peyton's birthday is on Friday and we have scheduled our 4-D sonogram for that day. My mom and dad are coming into town so hopefully they will get here time to go with us...we plan on taking Peyton too, so he can see the baby!!! Then Saturday night, we are going to have a birthday party at our new Pizza Ranch. We have a lot of our friends from Emporia coming and the theme is basketball....who would have guessed!?!?! It is sure to be a busy and fun time! I will get pictures of all of our visitors on as soon as I can....I have started my ESL practicum classes and seem to be a little overwhelmed with all I have to do before the baby comes. Our closing session is scheduled for three days after my due date...I swear I will not take ANY more college classes for a VERY long time!!!!!

24 weeks!

Here is Peyton holding Lucy again. He just can't get enough of his baby kitty. She is the most tolerant cat in the whole world. He holds her like this all of the time and kisses her. Then he carries her around the house and sings to her. Lucy also has a great time playing with Copper. She has really fit in well to our household! I am so excited that she no longer has front claws! I have many less scratches!!!!


Onto the pregnancy update. I decided not to shock everyone with a picture of the belly. Instead, here is a picture with sweater down. I am 24 weeks here and recently had another doctor's appointment. My belly continues to measure at least 2 cm bigger than the week I am on, so we may be looking at a big baby! I also had my blood glucose test and everything checked out great. I have been feeling more short of breath lately and just fat. When I went back to work on Monday everyone thought my belly looked a lot bigger! My new student teacher came on Friday to meet my students and one of my students said, "Mrs. McCollum, are you going to tell her..." when I asked tell her what, the student replied, "about the baby!" It was so funny because there is absoultely no way of hiding it at this point...I said to her... "I think she has probably figured that out already! :) It was hilarious. The kids are now giving me hugs and saying hi to the baby. They are pretty excited about it all.

Ben, Peyton and I had a fun family night last night. We went to the new Pizza Ranch and then to the high school basketball game to watch our family friend and Ben's newest Hornet play basketball. Pizza Ranch is just as delicious as I remember it and it is so nice to have a little taste of Iowa here in Emporia! Peyton loved the pizza and had two pieces! He also enjoyed the game...until half time when he said, "Bye bye ball."

Lucy and BIG BOY BED!

Here is Peyton's latest trick with Lucy our cat. He picks her up and gives her rides on his tractor. She is such a sweet cat that she just lets him do it...we did have to have a time out the other day for shooting Lucy through the ball hoop. Poor little kitty. :) He does love her up a lot though and spends a lot of time giving her hugs and kisses (right on the mouth). He also sings her songs and rocks her. They are quite the duo!


Here is a picture of the new room!

It is official...we have a big boy in our house. This week, we switched the crib and the guest bed so Peyton could have a big boy bed in his room. He had just gotten a new quilt from Grandma Ackerman and lots of room decor so we though it would be a great time to make the switch. I must admit, I was a little sad to see the crib move rooms and to see him on his new bed. He looks so big and is no longer a baby. He was a little sad the first night...not quite sure about it, but he has been doing great since. He wakes up in the night and gets a little scared, but then goes right back to sleep. It is so weird when he gets up by himself and comes in our room in the morning. Sometimes he scares me! Here are a few pictures of his new bed and room. I think the quilt looks great! Way to go Mom!!!

Merry Christmas!

Wow...what a fast week it has been. We left for Iowa on Sunday morning around 8:00. There was a blizzard warning up in Northwest Iowa, so we were a little nervous to leave any earlier. It is actually a good thing we didn't because when we got up near our hometown, there was so much snow and it was blowing and drifting across the roads! It was a little scary at times, but we made it safely to my mom and dad's house. We spent from Sunday to Christmas Eve with my parents and then traveled up to Mason City on Christmas Eve morning and stayed until last night. We had bad weather again last night from Mason City to Ames and then everything was OK. Ben had to drive a lot of miles, but we got home by midnight! We were all thankful to sleep in our own beds!

We had a great time with our family. At my mom and dad's, we enjoyed relaxing and just hanging out! Peyton loved Grandma and Grandpa's kitty, Garfield, and spent a lot of time looking for him with G&G. His new line is, "Garfield, are you?" When Peyton did find him, he gave him lots of hugs and kisses and thankfully Garfield is a very nice cat! We also played in the snow one day when it was not 30 below and got to hook up the sled to the Gator. Grandpa took Ben and Peyton for a short ride before everyone got too cold! Peyton also got to sit in the semi, combine, and tractors and see all of Grandma's outside kitties! We opened WAY too many presents and Peyton was SPOILED by Uncle Mike, Aunt Steph, Trevor, Ethan, and of course Grandma and Grandpa...and the nicest gift (Mommy thinks so anyway) was the handmade quilt Grandma Ackerman made for Peyton. She used some of Grandpa's old jeans and picked out some great basketball fabric to put on the back side. Then she did a really cool fraying technique and it looks AWESOME! I will be posting pictures of Peyton's room with his new big boy bed/quilt when we get it put together. I am so excited...it is going to look so nice!

We had a great time with the Benish/Timko side as well. They have started a new tradition of having a Holiday Inn catered brunch before the gift exchange. It is really nice to have a good meal and have time to visit with everyone. Then, we all go to Grandma Benish's for the gifts. Opening with such a large number of people takes a really long time, but it is really fun and all of Ben's aunts/mom keep us entertained with their explanation of gifts/wine drinking. Peyton was spoiled MORE at Grandma Benish's by Ben's cousins and aunts! We stayed the night and then had more Christmas's with Ben's mom, Roger, Joey and Mary Rose on Christmas Day. Grandma Benish made us a delicious lunch and after Peyton woke up from his nap, we opened even more gifts. (We were really feeling sorry for Peyton at this point....hahahahaha). Ben got the I-Pod he wanted and I got a really neat cast iron pot...I will be roasting things very soon! Peyton loves his Uncle Joey and continued to use his new line, but with Joey's name..."Joey, are you?" They played and played together!!!! Peyton thinks he is pretty big stuff when he hangs out with the big boys!!!! We left Mason City around 5:00 and like I said earlier got back around midnight.

Today, I am frantically trying to put things away and get all of the laundry done. I am going to take a rest now though because I am exhausted myself from all of our traveling. We plan on letting Peyton open the rest of his presents from us tonight, so we aren't quite done with Christmas yet!

Santa brought Peyton a new art easel and accessories. It is pretty neat!

I will post pictures very soon!

Snow fun

It snowed in Emporia on Tuesday and Peyton has been in heaven! Ben bought him a bunch of new snow gear and they have enjoyed playing in the snow together so much! They went sledding last night and Peyton loved it. Peyton loved looking at the Christmas lights too! Here are a few pictures of Peyton all bundled up to play with his dad!

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