Happy Birthday dad!

Makayla Grace Thomas

Alright, prepare to be baby overloaded!
I'm finally putting up pictures of Makayla...yesterday was her one month "birthday!" Seriously, where does the time go? I have always heard other mommys say how fast children grow up, but it isn't realistic until you have one of your own...she changes DAILY! I'm already dreading going back to work because I don't want to miss a thing!
Today was Makayla's one month check up...the stats are(just so I don't forget), 9 pounds 3.7 ounces and 21 and 3/4 inches long. Growing little girl. Now to the pictures(mom, dad, meg, and kel...don't get excited, you've seen all of these!)

1. This is right after she was born, she was maybe 1 hour old...

(I couldn't stop saying, "Look at her hair!!!")

2. One day old in the hospital

3. Home

4. I have sooo wanted a picture of our black and white hands holding her since I found out I was pregnant...didn't really turn out how I imagined but how do you seriously pose a newborn?!


5. Next to daddy's shoe...

6. First bath(was not a big fan!)

7. I think she's a little over 2 weeks old here...

8. Just checking things out, getting more alert last week...


9. How about that belly? ;)



10. And today after our bath time and before the doctors...

She seriously has the most perfect skin! I will look like a fluorescent light bulb in our family for the rest of my life! LOL...

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommys! I feel so blessed to be celebrating my first! :)

Catching up...

Wow! Where do I even begin? How do you recap the past 6-7 months of life when so much has changed?!

I really wish I would have been better about blogging during my pregnancy, that would be fun to go back and read now! Heres a few belly pics that I took to be sending Cornell while he was in Kentucky for school....

14 weeks

16 weeks

21 weeks

This was sometime in November(18-20 weeks) at my old job with my friend Erin....

22 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks(Christmas time)

Then after Christmas, I finally got to move to be with Cornell in Kentucky. It was so so so hard the months before this to be pregnant and away from him. I drove to see him pretty frequently but the 8 hour drive got old, quick! To make a long story short...I got a job in an operating room in a nearby city, we found an apartment to rent, moved only the necessary items out here, and rented out our home(sniffle). We both miss Charlotte so much but will go back after this "season" in Kentucky! :)
These next photos are from my parents visit here in February. They came to watch a few of Cornells games and also helped set up the baby nursery!

31 weeks

"Pregnant" Cornell

After these photos I didn't allow anymore pictures to be taken of me! LOL...I got sooooo big I hardly recognized myself in the mirror! Especially at the end because I developed preeclampsia and was so swollen everywhere. I ended up being put on bedrest at the end of March(with only about 2 weeks to go til my due date)to help with the swelling. A few days later my doctor decided I needed to be induced. So on April 6th, after about 13 hours of labor, our sweet little girl was born. She is the most precious thing I have ever seen and I love being a mommy! I will post pictures of her next time!

Baby Baby Baby

Cornell and I are finally ready to announce that we are expecting!!

It comes as a surprise, but a WONDERFUL surprise! We both can't wait to be parents!

We found out the week after I dropped Cornell off at school. I thought I was feeling nauseated because I was so stressed with Cornell being gone but it just wouldn't go away, no matter what I did. And then I started feeling like I had triple D size boobs and they really hurt so I knew something wasn't right! LOL.. So 4 pregnancy tests later(just to make sure one of them wasn't wrong) my weird symptoms had a reason. :)

So right now I am about 14 weeks, due April 15. Finally out of my first trimester, thank the Lord. I was sick for about 7 weeks I think and it was not fun. Just a constant car-sickness feeling, all day long. No such thing as "morning sickness" for me. I only threw up once but that didn't help any. So I am excited now to be able to eat semi-normal again.

I've had 2 ultrasounds so far and there sure is nothing more amazing than seeing your baby on that monitor and hearing the heartbeat. I cried the first one. The second ultrasound was for some abnormal bleeding I was having and scaring me. Turned out to just be a random blood clot behind my placenta and everything was fine. :) I can't wait til Cornell gets to see an ultrasound.

We aren't sure if it's a boy or girl yet, too early to find out! Cornell is positive it's a boy though and I know it's a girl!

Hello? Are you still there?

Remember me? Jamie? I'm baaaack...

It's been almost 2 months since I last wrote a new post...not even sure if my mom still checks this blog! :) We have had a pretty busy summer with some big decisions that were getting prayed for(and continue to be!)

I guess I'll start at the beginning for those that don't know the "whole" story...so Cornell and I originally moved down here from MN because he had a basketball scholarship for a D2 school here(JCSU). Well, we have been here for 2 years and he still has never played an actual game, only practiced. Every semester, for a total of 4, there was some "new reason" for his ineligibility. We both felt that for this coming year, it would be best to not continue at JCSU and that the "door had shut." And then within two months, the Lord answered our prayers on the what the heck do we do now? question. Cornell got a super random, and I mean RANDOM, offer from a college in Kentucky...the coach came here to watch him play...we went to visit...major praying....thinking...and about 3 weeks ago he was doing this...

Signing the papers for a full athletic scholarship to Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, KY. He decided to major in Christian Ministries, which is so so so perfect for him, and will be done in 2 years. Cornell and I did lots of seeking the Lord on this decision since obviously it affects a few, um I mean NUMEROUS, aspects of our life. For one....us...for two...our brand new house...for three...my job that I love...for four...our awesome friends here...for five...the best church ever...for six...me wanting a baby(like right now)...for seven...paying bills with only one income...for eight, okay I will stop. But you can imagine my mind trying to figure it all out. I am such a "planner" and have a hard time "just going with the flow" and fully trusting the Lord. And you can imagine how much worse it got with him signing the papers July 27th, me leaving for MN July 29th, I am gone til Aug 11th, come back and move him to KY on Aug 15th! Crazy? Yes. Not much time to PLAN.

So now that leaves us to our current situation. I am going to stay here until we can figure out how to pay our mortage here and rent there all on one income. So for now, Cornell is living in a dorm room with 4 other basketball players and realizing how it stinks to have a roommate that snores. LOL :)

The friday night before we left for Kentucky, our friends had a little going-away get together for Cornell. So nice to fellowship and pray with people we love....here are some of the guys...

The beautiful women... (can anyone even tell that Kari (right front) is like 8 months pregnant?!)

Guys again...

Goofy boy picture...

Goofy girl picture...

And then the next morning was off to Kentucky. Jake and Jenna were angels and came with us. I can't thank them enough. Here's a picture of setting up Cornell's dorm room.

And then last day good-byes... :(

Lots of texting and talking on the phone are helping us through this transition. I've never been so excited to check my phone through-out the day to see his messages! And i've already sent a care-package! LOL...I miss him so much.

Keep us in your prayers! :)

Just a few thoughts...

It's time to whip out the good old bullets....

• first of all, did anyone else watch Jon and Kate Plus 8 last night? I am just so sad for them! I feel like I know their family and can't believe they would really split up!? It kind of seems as though Jon just doesn't care about anything anymore(except those cool new EARRINGS? What the heck?) and Kate is truely sad about it all. I know marriage is hard work, and not to mention having 8 children together...can't they just try a little harder?
• it is hot, and I mean HOT down here. Mid 90's all week and it's only June! You can fry eggs on the pavement in July and August. Anyway, the pool in our little new community is finally open...I took this picture 2 weeks ago BEFORE it had opened...
  
• --------> the blue and yellow domes now have water flowing from them like a litte water fall area and there are lounging chairs all around the pool. Oh yeah, and get this...we have lifeguards!! LOL. It is a waste of money if ya ask me! There is maybe like 5 people at the pool during the week and 2 of them are the lifeguards. I can understand the weekends tho, with all the kids there. :)
• My nephew Noah is getting cuter and cuter every week. He is now laughing, grabbing his toys, and trying to roll over! Every week, I look forward to Kellys picture messages and new blog posts with little cute videos of Noah. Check them out here.
• Speaking of babies, remember my friend Landi from the Tripp's Triplets post? She ended up having an emergency C-section on friday. Which means she delivered at 28 weeks and 4 days...the 3 little boys and mom are doing well so far! Please keep them all in your prayers as they spend time in the NICU now.
• Megan is in MN right now and I'm pretty jealous.
• There are some big decisions to be made over the next month or so in Cornell and I's life. The Lord never seems to follow along with the things I have planned for our lives. LOL. Please pray for us. Pray that we seek the Lords direction and not our own. God is good.
• Congrats to my brother Joshua for FINALLY getting called back to work.
• And since it's Fathers Day this week and my dads birthday coming up, a picture of him fertilizing our lawn when he was here in April(after i had already done it *wink wink*)...
  

Target Girls

So every other Wednesday night, a group of us women from church gather at my house to do our "Living on Target" bible study. We have been going strong for the past few months and I have grown to LOVE these beautiful women SO much. We have laughed together, cried together, encouraged one another, but most importantly prayed for each other. Last night, we had a farewell dinner for Jenny and Megan. Both girls are leaving this month to be missionaries (as teachers) overseas for the next few years.

Here is our little group at dinner...

Everyone(except for 2 of us that didn't get the message, thanks Kim *hehe*) gave each girl a journal and wrote a sweet note in it. Here is Megan with hers...


Katie and Ria...


I love this picture of Kim, Cindy, and Joshua(Cindy's little boy). He was the only "man" allowed on our wednesday nights and knows all of our secrets! :)

Kim and Jenny...

Megan and I...(oh yeah, and don't mind my outfit of nursing scrubs. I came straight from work!)

After dinner we headed over to Starbucks to finish chatting...

Megan and Jenny...

Thanks again for the wonderful times over the past few months gals! We will all be praying for this next journey the Lord is leading you on!

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

If they fall down, they can help each other up."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10