Sweet friends!

My friend Megan and I planned this trip months ago, having no idea what my last week of pregnancy would hold!  I'm so thankful that it worked out that they could come.  We've been friends for ages and were roommates in college and after.  They live out of state, so I was thrilled that they came up to see us on their tour of Texas. :)

Out to lunch with all the kids!  

We had quite a car full!  (The two little ones were too busy watching a movie to smile) :) 

Since it's ridiculously hot, we headed to an indoor play place at a local church one day.  Seeing how much Landrie loved having a house full of kids made me even more excited about her new little sister joining our family.  She'll have a built in playmate!

After we got all 4 kids in bed each night, it was like old times!  We got to stay up and chat.  Tatem's bedding was just not working for me, because I was having the worst time sewing with the minky fabric.  Anyone else have that problem??  Well, Megan is super crafty and after a quick fabric switch, we got started.  This preggo mamma stayed up until 1:15am for the first time in a long time, but we finished all the crib bedding!  It's so stinking cute!  THANK YOU, MEGAN!!!  

39 week update!

39 weeks

Belly update: At Tuesday's appointment, my belly didn't grow again, but I really feel like Tatem is still growing!  I can sometimes feel her up by my ribs now, depending on how she's positioned in there.  

What's Baby Long up to?: We had a sonogram (the doctor did a biophysical profile) and a non-stress test on Tatem on Tuesday.  They look at lots of different things that can be indicators of a baby's health, and  she's absolutely perfectly healthy!  My guess is that she's around 7 pounds this week, but we'll soon find out...

Cravings:  Lots o' sweets!

Best part of this week: Was a visit from my sweet friend, Megan!  We had a great time and even worked on a little project.  Here's a tiny sneak peak!

The cuteness is nearly overwhelming. :)

I'm looking forward to: Tatem's arrival next week and spending time with my family when she makes her grand entrance!

39 weeks!

Will the last spot be a belly or a baby??  :)

It's so hard not to be able to travel to see my grandma right now.  (She's about a 7 hour drive away.)  I am so thankful for all of your prayers for her and for us.  We feel each one of them!  God has given us such peace about everything.  She's spent the last week surrounded by her family and talking with her family on the phone, and that's what she loves the most. :)

Still here!

I'm still here, still praying for my Nonny and still pregnant!  We've just had some sweet friends in town, so I haven't updated lately.  39 WEEK update is coming soon!

Please Pray!!

Thursday night I got one of those calls that makes your stomach sink.  My mom said, "Your dad and I are fine, but..."  Ugh... I knew it wasn't good news.

Please pray with us for my sweet grandma, Nonny!  She collapsed, and they think she had a heart attack.  She lives alone, so thankfully she was out to dinner with my uncle when it happened.  He said she was completely unresponsive.  He called the ambulance, and they were able to rush her to the closest hospital.  They had to do CPR in the ambulance because she was unresponsive again.

There are so many things I am thankful for in the middle of this.
-She was with my uncle, who is a doctor.
-She was sitting in the car when she collapsed, and not walking.  No one wants her to go through another broken hip!
-Although she was completely unresponsive several times, God breathed life back into her!
-I got to talk with her for a few seconds last night, and of course, in the middle of all this, she just wanted to check on me and make sure I wasn't in labor.  That means she's coherent and herself!

Please join me in praying for her complete recovery!  We all love her so much!

***Saturday afternoon update: Thank you all for praying for Nonny!  Today they hope to move her out of ICU and into a normal room!  The doctors have run many, many tests to see what happened.  The good news is that they haven't found anything bad (like that she would need a quadruple bypass), but that makes it difficult because they also don't know why this happened.  We would love for them to find a reason for this that is simple to treat, so we can be sure it won't happen again.  She is surrounded by LOTS of family this weekend, and is well-loved and covered in prayer.  We are so thankful!

38 week update!

38 weeks
***We are NOT getting induced tonight or tomorrow!!***

Belly update: At today's appointment, my belly measured 34 weeks.  It grew!

What's Baby Long up to?: We had a sonogram a few hours ago with the specialist again and got great news!  Tatem is HEALTHY and active, and she gained more weight!  She measured to be 6 lbs., 7 oz!  She's gone from the 7th to the 19th to the 24th% in the past 2.5 weeks.  We were SO thankful to hear this answer to prayers!  

Cravings:  I've still been eating lots of protein, but I added in lots of Fun Dip too.  Seems to be a good combo! :)

Best part of this week: Was hearing the specialist say, "There is no longer a medical need to induce you before 40 weeks!"  We had all of our bags packed and in the car, Landrie and I had matching pink toes, and Mark had cleared his work calendar.  We were almost certain that we would go to the hospital tonight and be induced in the morning.   Our prayer was for wisdom to know what to do and that the choice would be very clear.  It doesn't get much more clear than that!  I was never a fan of being induced, but obviously want to do what's best for Tatem.  Now I get to go into labor on my own, and Tatem gets to "cook" a bit longer!   (Would she cook better out here?  It's way hotter than 98.6!!) :)

I'm looking forward to: Telling Mark, "It's time!"

38weeks!

2 more spots for 2 more weeks!

Guess what?  Van Reet Photography has a special for all of you here in the DFW area!  Mention that I sent you, and you'll get $20 off your session!   And just because I love them, here are a few more shots of my loves loving on Tatem. :)

Last weeks as a Family of 3!

We've done so much to prep for the arrival of sweet Tatem Rose.  A BIG part of that is soaking up every precious moment with our adorable Landrie Grace!

Saturday morning we introduced her to Shipleys.  Mmmmm...donuts!  This was her first sprinkle-covered donut.  

She had a BALL.  We kept telling her it was a donut, and she would obediently repeat us, then say, "Mmmm...cupcake!"  

Love it!!

She is SUCH a JOY!

Silly girl!

Sewing Landrie's bedding was a challenge because we only had 5 weeks to get everything done.  Sewing Tatem's bedding is a challenge because my sweet helper is by my side 24 hours a day!  I finally just let her use her end of the fabric for a blanket for her and her baby while I cut from the other. :)

Landrie's also being a helper by learning to accessorize herself!  She was SO proud of her outfit (complete with my shoes on her little feet!).

Landrie is such a little snuggle bug, and couldn't be happier "guggling" with Daddy.  My heart just melts!

Mark got the car seat down from the attic and put one of Landrie's babies in it before he put it in the car.  She was thrilled!  She was so excited and ran to get Baby a blanket and baby doll.  She loves for her babies to have a baby doll when they go night-night.  Her smallest baby dolls get a plastic Little People!

 Such a little mommy!  She loves to play mommy, and we crack up as she does things just like us!  She has to turn on the sound machine and fan for her babies, cover them up, then says, "Shhh!" with her finger over her lips.  She'll rock them, put them in the swing and bouncy and LOVES to feed them.

If she stands on her tippy-tippy toes (check out that future ballerina!) she can reach the 'poons all by herself.  We now find spoons all over the house, from where she's been feeding her babies. :)

This morning she had to have her baby join her in the high chair.  She shared her Cheerios so sweetly!  This means we won't ever have any trouble sharing, right??  :)

 We've been trying to keep busy inside a lot, since this 9-months-pregnant mommy doesn't like to play in 108 degree heat!  We finger painted with dyed vanilla pudding.  It was a huge success!  Thanks for the idea, Jessica!

 Then she realized she could eat this kind of "paint" and she liked it even more!

When Mark took the cradle out of the attic, we reminisced about how tiny Landrie was in it.  Do you remember the story of this special cradle?  If you are new to the blog since then, you've got to read it. :)

Then she insisted on climbing on in!

I'm just so emotional about adding another baby to our family.  I want to savor every moment left with just one baby girl!  Did anyone else feel like that as you were about to add a second??  I cannot wait to meet Tatem, but I feel so nostalgic about these last few days with our first precious little miracle. :)

Back to School!

It's that time of year again!  In Texas, teachers and kids are frantically prepping and shopping for the big FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!  I taught for 9 years, and this part of the year was my favorite.  Everything's fresh and new, and I had a whole new room of kids to meet.  Of course you want to make a great first impression, so here are some fun ideas to bring to Meet the Teacher or the first day of school!

What a cute wreath for her door or behind her desk.  See the directions here.

I love these because you can easily make them for several teachers! Well, that and because they involve Rolos, one of my favorites. :) The tutorial is here.

If you are REALLY ambitious, or if you just went a bit overboard during all those good school supply sales, you could make this "cake!"  Any teacher I know would say YUM. :)  The tutorial is here.  Now is a great time to make this since these things are so cheap!  You could even make one to save for your school's auction later in the year...it would be a great seller!

This one's for you bakers or chocolate lovers!  How easy and adorable??  The directions are here and so easy your kids could do it!

I don't know that I've ever met a teacher who DIDN'T have a sweet tooth.  :)  This blog post has cute ideas for caramel apples and other cute stuff, PLUS, she includes the printables!  You get to cheat and just look super-crafty!

Want to see last year's back to school "Make Your Teacher Love You" post?  Just click here for lots of ideas that will get you an A+ in her book!

If you like to plan ahead, you can check out my "12 Days of Christmas-Teacher Edition" post for 12 more fun ideas in every price range. :)

Happy first day!!

On a side note, I found all of these ideas on my new favorite site, Pinterest!  It's the best of the internet, all in one place! You can "pin" favorites that you find on the internet to your virtual boards so they are all in one place.  Follow people with your same taste and let them do all the searching for you!  :)  If you want to follow me, try this link: http://pinterest.com/corlistal/

Maternity Photo Shoot!

During our church's spring bible study, I had a precious little secret!  We had the shock of our lives, and after 5 years of infertility, we were pregnant!  A sweet new friend Bobbi was in my small group, and since the study was about "wilderness times" of our lives, of course my table got to hear about our years of infertility.  I was bursting to tell them the end of the story, and finally, at the end of the study, I did. :)  I think Bobbi's gift was our first one for little Tatem...she is a talented photographer and gave us the gift of a maternity shoot!

I think this one is my favorite.  The other night Mark said, "Do you realize that they are going to be best friends??"

Bobbi has two little girls too, so she knew just how to convince Landrie to play along. :)

Every picture was taken after Landrie's bedtime.  It was 103 degrees at 8pm.  All of her mornings were booked, and we thought we were going to deliver in just a few days, so we braved the heat.  I came armed with a frozen slurpee. :)  

We are SO thankful for this tiny miracle, and we want to shout about God's faithfulness from a mountaintop!  Since we live in an oh-so-flat part of Texas, this blog will have to do!

Our cup is full and overflowing.  Oh, how I love these 3!  

I am still in awe of God's plan for us.  Really?!  Landrie and another baby?  I know so many of our sweet friends are still in the waiting time, for husbands, babies, jobs... you name it.  We are praying for you!

There are even more on Bobbi's blog.  Click here to check them out!  She's got a back to school special AND a maternity/newborn photo shoot special running right now too.  You need to go check out her beautiful pictures!  :)

Thank you, Bobbi, for such a precious gift!  We love them!

PS- I can't believe that this time next week Tatem Rose will be in my arms!

37 weeks preggo!!

37 weeks

(I'm starting weekly updates now, because we are SO close!)

Belly update: At today's appointment, my belly measured 33 weeks.  It grew a tiny bit!  

What's Baby Long up to?: We had another non-stress test today, and Tatem Rose is healthy and strong!  On Thursday, at the specialist, she measured 5 lbs., 10 oz.  We have another sonogram next week to measure her growth again!

Cravings:  The specialist said to eat lots of PROTEIN, which is not normal for me, but I've been trying to eat some twice a day!  Grow, Tatem, grow!

Best part of these 2 weeks: Was finding out that Tatem does NOT have Intrauterine Growth Restriction, and watching the miracle of her growing a POUND in two days!

I've also been BUSY getting everything done before the BIG day!  I made these shirts and bows for our girls after drooling over them in Etsy.  This shop has adorable ones!

Here's a close up of their flowers for their hair. I used this easy tutorial, and I love how they turned out!

I'm looking forward to: Well, today my doctor said we may go ahead and induce at 38 weeks, which is next Tuesday!  We have another appointment with our doctor and for a sonogram with the specialist, and depending on how little Tatem looks, they might send us to the hospital to get the induction started.  Everyday we are getting more and more things crossed off our pre-baby to do lists!

37 weeks!

 The end of this belly chart is not quite as exciting as I thought it would be!  I've been doing my part and have gained over 20 pounds, but since Tatem's head is already at a -1 station, she's just hiding in there!  :)

We thought it might be a good idea to have a few pictures of me pregnant and wearing something other than a tank top!  My friend Bobbi did a maternity photo shoot with us last weekend and I can't WAIT to see them!   She's going to post them sometime this week.  Will you find them here before me??  I don't think so. :)

Baby Shower!

Last Sunday, my sweet friends from church threw a beautiful shower for Tatem and me!

Jenna, Jenny, me, Tracy, Amy, Kimi, Shari, Amber and Renee did a FABULOUS job hostessing the shower for us.  Lindsay and Bethany aren't in this picture, but they did too! I love you girls!

Look at all that yummy food!  I love that they also had a dessert table for this sweets-loving girl!

My niece Adelynn, Kimi, Amber and Summer

Wendy, Amy and Amber

As with any party, the kitchen is the place to be! 

Bethany and me

I think this was one of the first things I opened.  How can you not love a precious baby on a box of diapers?!

Tatem's Aunt Christy, Aunt Beth, Aunt Megan and GranJan 

Beth and Megan are checking out the adorable bag Megan made for Tatem!

Tatem is going to look so-so cute in this!!

Bethany made this gorgeous board for Tatem's room that matches her bedding.  I love it!

I loved the precious cookie favors that Renee made!!  Landrie later figured out where my stash of cookies was and kept bringing them to me, nodding her head and saying, 'nack??  Why, yes, Landrie, I'd LOVE to share a snack with you. :)

Many of us remembered 2 years ago when Brianna went into labor with Landrie DURING my baby shower! We are thankful that didn't happen again, although I think those Braxton Hicks were about 5 minutes apart through the whole thing!  

We are so, so thankful for our sweet church family!!  We are so overwhelmed by the blessing of your friendships!