Around the middle of December, Mark returned home from Midland for a fabulous 4 week PA School break. It was much needed and much deserved! He stayed home with Kolbe while I finished up my last week at Lubbock National. It was certainly a bittersweet end to my "career" with the bank. I will certainly miss all of my co-workers greatly, but I am more than thrilled to get to stay home with my little Kolbe and get ready for Reagan. We also had to say goodbye to Miss Debbie, Kolbe's sitter for the past year. Yet another bittersweet moment! She was truly a God-send for our family and the amount of time and effort she put in to getting Kolbe through his first year will always be appreciated. We are forever greatful to her!
Kolbe and Miss Debbie and Mr. Jay on his last day!
The weekend before Christmas, we had a wonderful time celebrating with Mark's parents here in Lubbock. It was kind of sad not to get to meet up with the rest of his family (especially Uncle Brian) like we have in the past years, but it was wonderful to have an evening with the grandparents all to ourselves! Kolbe was totally pumped to get a brand new red wagon! (I must admit, I was certainly excited about it too! A two seater!) We had a great evening!
Celebrating Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma!
Going on a walk in the new red wagon with Daddy! Brrr! It was freezing that day in Lubbock!
The next day, Mark, Kolbe, and I packed up and headed to The Woodlands for a two week stay with my parents. This was a special event since all 4 of my brothers and their wives (for those who have one) were able to come as well. It was awesome to have our whole family back together! Who knows when that will happen again with so much changing these days! It was a great vacation filled with lots of football watching, way too much food, plenty of relaxing, and tons of love. About the only con was that the majority of us came down with a lovely case of the good ol' head cold and just passed it around from one person to the next. I guess when you have eleven people staying in one house, it's bound to happen. Kolbe was in hog heaven at "Pinkie and Pa's" house! There's so much to touch and get in to! Luckily, we only had one minor incident with the staircase. Good thing Kolbe is such a tough guy!
Uh-oh. Somebody doesn't like his Christmas pajamas! (actually, I don't think he liked the fact that it was about 10:30pm and he was still awake...)
Aw! Cheesy family Christmas pic...
Eating breakfast with Pa in their matching "Big Guy" and "Little Guy" sweatshirts...it's a long story...
Kolbe also had his follow up appointment at the Shriners Hospital in Houston from his surgery back in November. Dr. Blackwell said that everything is looking great and we don't have to come back for another check up for a whole year! Thank goodness! What a long journey!
This past Friday (January 16th), Kolbe finally had his ear tube surgery. Suffice to say, it was pretty much a non-event for him. We arrived at the hospital here in Lubbock at about 6:45am and were back at home by about 8:45am. The surgery took very little time at all and his recovery was a walk in the park. From the second we left the hospital, we never heard another squeak or squeal come out of him! Seriously! You would have thought he just went in for a round of shots or something. Glad that's over too! Now no more surgeries for a while! (unless it's me having the baby...) Kolbe has been an amazing child through all he's had to experience. We couldn't be prouder of this fella! He's still growing and changing more and more each day. (He has 9 teeth now, weighs just over 20 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches tall.) He loves to run, climb, read, play, and still loves to flirt!
Does this picture say 'busted' or what!?!
Trying out his new swing that Pinkie and Pa gave him for Christmas. Good thing he's strapped in!
Speaking of the baby, the pregnancy is moving right along. I'm 33 weeks now (man, how time flies!) and getting bigger every day. (I'm kind of kidding myself...I'm still not very big.) Because of my lupus and all the complications that happened with Kolbe, I'm having to go to one of my various doctors all the time now. Non-stress tests twice a week, OB visits once a week, sonograms every other week....it's exhausting. And to think there's a possibility of seven more weeks of this! Iick! (I'm still thinking the baby will be a little early, but we'll see.) I've included some pictures below of Baby Reagan. These are back on December 18th when I was only 29 weeks pregnant, so it's been about a month. Nobody thinks he looks much like Kolbe! He definitely has chubbier cheeks, that's for sure! I can't wait to see him face to face. I'm sure he'll be a doll just like his big brother!
Lovely double (or is that triple???) chin!
Check out how flexible I am! Yes, that's my foot to the left of my face... 
Mr. Chubby Cheeks
Ok, that's all for now. More to come as the time is available.... Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed holiday season!
