And His Name Shall Be Called...

Well, we told our fams on Christmas, so now you can know...
Each family member received a personalized version of this card "from Baby Sumners":

With this inside:

So now you know. And knowing's half the battle.

Merry Christmas!

So I didn't post any more this week about ornaments. Oh well. I looked at them and thought there were a bunch of cute old ones, but not any with really good stories like that first one. So we'll leave it at that. We're going to have a long Christmas tomorrow. We're starting at Jon's parents' house with all of them at 10:00, doing presents, eating lunch, and then driving to Ft. Worth. We'll get there around 7:00 and have presents and dinner with my family. Yay! Long day. Then I think I'll be making us do stockings Friday morning because you have to be in pajamas for stockings. It's the law. We'll be coming back to Little Rock Monday or Tuesday. At some point along that timeline I'll post pictures. They'll be great, I'm sure.
But for now, here's just one. It's December in the ridiculous "Jack: The Calendar" that I made online. One of my friends told me about this great website, artscow.com. It's for making junk with your pictures. When you join you get TONS of free stuff and only have to pay shipping. My first free thing I got was an 8x8 photo book, which I used to make a new better version of our honeymoon book I made online a few years ago. The second thing I got for free was a calendar. Since we're a couple of months away from the kid, I decided to go ridiculous and make a calendar of Jack. The other night I took pictures of him for the whole year. You'll see them through the next year, but I'll go ahead and show you December now.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree!

I FINALLY got the Christmas tree up on Monday. Because the icy weather was starting on Monday afternoon, the family I work for let me go home early after picking up the kids from school early. I had multiple hours to be at home and finally get up decorations. When we moved into the house, we talked about that we could get a full-sized tree this year, since we'd only had a four foot one up to this point. I figured that one more year with Shorty would be fine and we could get one on clearance after Christmas and save some money.
Due to Jack's love of chewing things up, I put the tree up on a short table last year. (Two years ago, he had chewed up an ornament Jon's mom made with flowers from our wedding. Yes, the glass, flowers, and everything.) I did the same thing this year...

I know some people like to have a color theme or whatever to their tree, but I like colored lights with the cornucopia of random ornaments from my whole life.

It's so pretty with the lights off!

When I moved out after college, my mom was gracious enough to let me take all of the ornaments from my childhood with me. Over the next week or so, I want to feature a few of them and tell their adorable stories. Here's number one:

When I was six years old, I got a letter in the mail one day from Santa! He had sent me this small brass reindeer ornament and told me that he wanted to be able to see it on the tree when he came to see us on Christmas Eve. Every year, the reindeer was hung on the side of the tree facing the chimney, so he could see it! When I moved into my own place after college and got Shorty the Tree, the reindeer was still hung facing my chimney. When we got married and were living in an apartment without a fireplace, the reindeer was hung facing the front door, because, of course, that's Santa's only way in. A few days after we moved into the house this year, I was a little sad to realize that there wasn't a fireplace. (Yeah, I was slow.) So the reindeer ornament is still facing the front door, so that Santa can see him when he comes to visit. The End.

Caution: Bridges May Ice In Cold Weather

Neither of us had to work today because all of the schools in the area were closed! Yay! But I had my 28 week appointment at the doctor. Jon offered to drive me since it was icy out and the roads were dangerous. We went to the appointment, then went to Target and by the library (which was closed because of the weather.) We were on our way back home and driving down I-30. There were small patches of ice along the way, but nothing major except along the edges of the bridges where nobody drove.
Well, our left tires got on some of that ice on one of those bridges and we started to swerve. Jon tried to get out of the swerve, but we hit the retaining wall, which sent us spinning. We then spun back into the road, hitting the side of an 18-wheeler, which sent us spinning again, and the guy behind us hit us. Somehow with all of this spinning and hitting, we were only damaged on the front end.
My head hurt for a little while because I grabbed that handle up over my window and hit my head on my thumb joint - you know, that hard one where your thumb connects to your hand. Jon got a burn on his right thumb from the airbag. It's still bothering him pretty badly and he's treating it with cold packs, tylenol, and aloe. I called my doctor to see if I needed to come in since I hadn't had any trauma to the belly. (Neither of us even hit the airbags - guess the seatbelts worked!) The doctor said that as long as I was still feeling the baby move (which I am) and wasn't experiencing any severe cramping or bleeding (which I'm not), I was alright.
God really protected us and we came out really well in several different areas. Everyone was driving slowly because of the ice and the traffic was really spaced out so there wasn't a chain reaction or anything. We didn't get a ticket for the accident, I'm guessing because it was caused by ice. We already got the reimbursement check for the towing ($245!!!) and the insurance said that our insurance should only go up around $40 per 6 months because of the cancelation of the Good Driver Discount or whatever it's called.
My camera batteries were almost completely dead, so I just got a short video of the front of the car. (For some reason, it takes less battery power to make a video than take a picture.) Here it is:



Simply amazing that was all the damage.

28 Weeks!

This is going fast! So here I am at 28 weeks aka 7 months aka cauliflower-sized baby.
Technically, 27 weeks was cauliflower-sized, but 28 weeks is chinese cabbage, and who's gonna eat some of that? And also, can you buy that? So it was either 27 weeks cauliflower or 29 weeks butternut squash. I pick neither, but I figured someone would be more likely to eat the cauliflower. The End.
Oh, and yes, that's a different backyard. We took it at our house this month.

Important facts at 28 weeks:
Baby Name: Will be announced in the coming month!
Belly Button Status: Still an innie and still has some depth to work with! Yay!
Hair: Not falling out at alarming rates anymore like it was about 10 weeks ago.
Nails: Growing very fast, but they always have.
Complexion: Awesome, except for this red rash looking thing on my chest that has gotten way worse since pregnancy. It doesn't itch or burn and isn't hot or anything. Just ugly, but I've managed to hide it in my monthly pictures.
Breathing: Very difficult when sitting back or lying down. Makes sleep quite enjoyable.
Digestion: Very difficult when sitting back or lying down. Makes sleep quite enjoyable.
Feet, legs, and back: Only hurt when standing for eight hours at Target on the weekends, but that will be over next week! Yay!
Weird things: I've started waking myself up with random grunts or snorts when I'm just about to fall asleep. It's embarrassing, but I think it has to do with pregnancy congestion, so I have an excuse.

Another Reason to Love Our Neighbors

**Don't miss it: The post I was working on before this ended up BELOW this one!**

I was in the middle of composing another post, but this required an immediate post... Remember our lovely neighbors? A few minutes ago I started smelling smoke. Like that nasty someone-is-burning-something-that-shouldn't-be-burned smoke. I went out the front door to look and the whole street was filled with white smoke. I looked right. I looked left. To the left, I saw the smoke was coming from the house next door. So I went out the back door and saw the backyard was filled with smoke. Went to get the camera. Took these pictures.

Our backyard filled with smoke. (It's hard to take a picture of smoke.)

Whatever-the-heck they're doing... taken through the fence again.
I'm getting really good at taking these sneaky pictures.
Oh... and notice their house is covered in the mud from last season's four-wheeling. Gross.

Christmas Fun!

I decided to have another Christmas party at the job house like I did last year. We had the girls from my Sunday School class and their kids over. We decorated my homemade gingerbread men and watched some of the old Christmas classics (Rudolph and Frosty). Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

My pre-made gingerbread man on the cookie plate.

The decorating options.

D is ready for everyone to come!

We also had hot chocolate.
And now a montage of little hands decorating cookies...

Sweet Kaleigh decorating while Ethan watched.

D with his finished cookie.

Alyssa Kate and her cookie.

D enjoying his cookie.

Hannah and her crew with their cookies.

D folded into a pretzel while watching the movie.

Hannah during the movie.

Candice, Alyssa Kate, and Caroline watching the movies.

Look at that big girl standing!

And last night we had our Sunday School class Christmas party at our directors' house. It was a lot of fun, but I only took one picture all night.
And technically I didn't take it:


Thanks Mom!!!

Yay! Whoop! I have a new computer! Over the past year or so, my old computer had been sporadically shutting down and restarting in the middle of me doing things. It was really annoying. Right before we moved, I got all of the files off of the computer and put them on an external hard drive. Good thing, because when I plugged in the computer at the house, it worked for about 20 minutes then shut down and basically wouldn't turn back on. My mom felt really bad for me and really wanted me to have a new computer. So, after discussing it with my dad, they decided to use some of my grandmother's money to buy me a new one! Here are some pictures.

Before: All of the cables and cords behind the desk. Yikes!

The new computer (and printer!) came in two separate shipments. Those geniuses at HP shipped the printer in that box AND didn't require a signature, so just left it on the porch.
"Hmmm... wonder what's in that box FedEx just left at that house," thought the thief.

Pretty much hilarious cartoon warnings that were on the bag that the computer was in.

Thanks, HP!

After: Much better, even though it doesn't look like it. The mouse, keyboard, printer, and internet are all wireless. Most of those cords that are left are the modem/router and the tv/vcr.

Left: Oldie Right: Newbie!


My old printer/scanner/copier wasn't very good either. The scanner never really worked well, so my mom decided to include that in the order. It's wireless, so Jon can print stuff from his laptop. From the living room. Awesome.

I Love Old People

I only wish that I'd shown up at McAllister's tonight about 20 minutes earlier so that I could have listened to more of the couple at the table across from me. They were absolutely hilarious and adorable. They were probably 70 years old and appeared to be on a date (not married) from their conversation. Here are the highlights:

Old Man: (sits back, finished with food, watching Old Lady)
Old Lady: I wish I could eat faster. I don't have my bridge in.

OM: (hands OL mint wrapped in white wrapper that comes with meal) Do you want this?
OL: What is it?
OM: I don't know. Maybe a lozenge?
OL: (opens mint) Oh, it's a mint. I don't like mints. Do you want it?
OM: No.
OL: The only kinds of mints I like are the square pillow shaped ones. They're really soft... That's the only way they can ruin chocolate. By wrapping it around a peppermint.

OM: (stands up to help OL with jacket) I'm not rushing you.
OL: I'm still chewing.

OM: (helps OL put one sleeve on of her jacket)
OL: I can't find the other sleeve.
OM: (grabs OL's arm and pulls it up at a rather awkward angle to put it in the sleeve)
OL: Put the sleeve down. It's too high!

They were so funny! I would love to work around old people, if it weren't for all of the dying. So many of them are just so funny!

About That Cemetery

Remember the time I told you we have a cemetery behind our fence? I got asked a few questions about that tonight. There seems to be no church attached to it, so I don't know if it's still used. I told the people that I thought the cemetery was maybe only two houses wide. I got on Google maps and saw I was a little wrong:

It's not huge, but bigger than I thought it was. It's good to see that the other four houses that border it also have headstones directly behind their fences too. I have also been put on mission to find out how old this cemetery is. I have to find somewhere to park because I really don't want to walk that far or pole vault over the fence. As soon as I go, I'll be sure to get back to you and let you know. I'm sure pictures will be involved.

High Ambitions

Today while having school, we were doing Social Studies. One of the pages asked him to draw what he wanted to be when he grows up. Here's the conversation and what he drew:
Me: So what do you want to be when you grow up?
D: That's hard. I just haven't decided yet.
Me: Well, what would you like to do that would be really fun?
D: A video game person?
Me: That's not really a job.
D: Well, what about...

...working at Toys R Us! Sweet.

24 Weeks and First Presents

So for those of you who were wondering how I was going to hold a fruit/vegetable and hold up more than the number five, here's the answer:

24 Weeks aka 6 Months aka Corn-sized baby
(You can't buy corn right now at the store, and then my printer ran out of ink, therefore you get a printed picture of rainbow colored corn rather than the real thing.) Also, it's weird how very different the sunlight is in this picture than in all of the other pictures. Same time of day, same place, different sun. (Yes, I know the time changed, but one hour shouldn't make that much difference.)

So as soon as we found out that it's a boy, I went to Target and picked up a couple of things for him. I love Mommy and I love Daddy! :) And yes, we're wearing blue in honor of his boyhood.

His first gender-specific gifts. Friday night Candice (Jon's sister) gave us these adorable outfits that she went out and bought on Friday afternoon. They are both super cute, but I love the little longjohns with kneepads for a 0-3 month old!

Sunday Jon's dad gave us his first of many future Cowboys outfit.

Last week Boss Man was in College Station on business and came back Friday. He got out of the car and said "I guessed wrong," and handed me this. So freakin' cute! I was so sad because this was the sweetest thing he's done in the 16 months I've worked for them. I told him not to worry, because hopefully the next baby will be able to wear it.

24 Week FAQs:
Q: Do you have a name picked out yet?
A: Nope.

Q: How are you feeling?
A: Still good. Thanks.

Q: Do you feel the baby moving?
A: Yes. It was general movement inside and random pokes like kicks, until this past week and especially the last few days when it's been a BUNCH of kicking. He was kicking me in the lower stomach area for the entire day Saturday. It wouldn't have been too bad except it was in the exact same place all day long.

Q: Is the nursery getting ready now?
A: Nope. I was waiting to find out gender and then will go looking at bedding at Thanksgiving with my mom and will work from there. I'll keep you updated.

We Finally Know!

Well we went to the doctor yesterday and finally got the long-awaited ultrasound! She squirted the goo on my stomach and asked "So... do you want to know what it is?" She got a quick response of "YES!" so she moved the camera dealie over to my side and KA-POW:

This is the very first thing we saw. No searching. No questions asked. There he is.
31.8% of you were right.
So she kept looking at everything else and made sure it looked good. It did. He was only one day off of the average size for where he should be, so that's good. (He's measuring 23 weeks 6 days at 24 weeks. Good job, kid.) After 15 minutes of looking at everything, he would never turn away from directly facing the camera, so instead of one of those cute little profile pictures like everyone else gets, we get this:

Little alien skull face baby. Isn't he so cute?! Looks like he's also raising his fist at us. "How dare you bother me? I'm busy playing soccer with a bladder here!"

We'd have other pictures and videos and stuff, but BOTH of the discs we took had nothing on them when we got home. I will try to go back and see if they can make another disc. Hopefully that will work, but for now we just have the few pictures they printed for us.
I know your next question is if he has a name. Answer: no. We'll let you know as soon as we decide. Check back in a couple of days to see my growth for 24 weeks. I seem to be getting bigger every day. It's great.

Field Trip

Today D and I had to pick up C and take him to meet his mom at the doctor. We had to stay in the area, so we went across the freeway to the Arkansas Capitol Building!

Isn't it pretty?

The view looking up from the bottom.

Looking over the ledge from the second floor.

A Texas flag! In the Arkansas Capitol!

We kept heading up. To upstairs. Which is apparently two words now.

Looking down at one end of the Capitol Building toward the House wing.

Looking up in the same place as the picture above.

Looking down to the bottom floor from the fourth floor: as high as we could go.

Back at the first floor, we went in the Governor's Reception Room.
Remember this guy? He tried to be president.

The view of the beauty that is Arkansas fall out the window of the Reception Room.

With the flag he got from the visitor's desk.

Some lady asked if she wanted her to take a picture of both of us. This is what she took. Thanks for getting the Capitol in the shot, lady.

Little boy and a giant tree.

This weird eagle statue outside the Capitol whose
poor wing has a huge rock at the end of it.

The statues honoring The Little Rock Nine.

The statues with the Capitol in the background.

On the way out, we passed a big circle thing with
the names of all of the counties engraved.
I found mine!