Pictures!!

We recently had a photographer out to take some pictures of our growing little family... she was AMAZING!! Young, talented, tons of props (including- get this- a portable HEATER for newborn babies!), loads of patience, large time slots for each shoot, shows up on time, and super nice on top of all of that. Thank you, Ashlee, for taking such wonderful pictures of our fam!

Kisses from sister

Sweet kiddos

Good thing our leaf blower is broken :)

Sweet smiling baby

Sleeping baby

Love this one

Love this one more... I have a weakness for baby hats with ears!

Took forever for him to get comfortable in this pose!!

Daddy took this one of Abbey eating her promised lollipop after pictures were done

My sweet girl

Maxwell McKinley Jackson!

He's here! Baby Max was born on November 4, 2009 at 3:21 in the afternoon. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 9 oz, and is 21 in long... big boy! Mom and baby are doing fantastic!

Max with Mimi

Max with Pops (who shares his middle name)

Granna and Grandpa

Snuggling with Mommy

Mommy and Abbey

Abbey, Mommy, and Max

Last Day!

It's the last day for a couple of things around here... the last day for me to be pregnant with Max, Chris' last day of work before his (AWESOME) 4 weeks of paternity leave, and our last day with just Abbey-girl. I'm so excited to have a son, and to add to our family, but a small part of me is just a little sad that it won't be just Abbey anymore. Of course- that's the entire reason we wanted to have a second baby in the first place- to have more than one!! But it's still kind of a "We can never go back to the way it was" feeling. Which is happy-sad. Mostly happy. I'm just going through my "mommy list" wondering, "Did we do enough with her when it was just the three of us? Did she feel special and loved, or was half of her life spent focused on my pregnancy? Should we have done more memorable things with her when we had the chance to do them with just one kid?" Thankfully, she's happy, well-adjusted, and seems to love her Mommy and Daddy, so I guess we're doing all the right things!

Newborn baby girl

Abbey and mommy

Napping with Daddy after church

Abbey's first dress-up with what turns out to be a frequent outfit in her little life!

Helping Daddy lower her crib at Granna and Grandpa's... getting so big!

"The Outfit" photo shoot for her first birthday party invitations

Teaching Daddy to play the guitar

Catching some winks with Mommy at Mimi and Pops' house

First Birthday!

Giving Daddy some chips and salsa

Second birthday party

Sweet fairy princess

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween we had our usual festivities of chili, It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, plenty of candy, and trick-or-treating, and our friends the Tharps joined us! It will be even more fun next year when we have THREE kiddos big enough to trick-or-treat... and harder to keep up with! This year, Abbey was our only trick-or-treater, since Lauren is only 11 weeks old.

Pumpkins!

This afternoon we all went to the Arboretum with a friend of ours (Chris) and his daughter Zoe. We had so much fun! We also ran into Josh, Amy, and Aidan, Amy's sister Megan and her twins, and Amy's parents. What a day!

Chris of course documented the occasion well, and even got a few good 37 week belly pics in... have a look!

Max and Mommy at (one day before) 37 weeks!

Surprise! Abbey loved the Alice in Wonderland house at the Arboretum

She had fun crawling through all of the tiny doorways and windows

We don't know what she saw, but it looks fun!

Aidan and Abbey sharing a hug

We don't normally make faces like this for pictures, but we were trying so hard to get Abbey to smile! Didn't really work...

Abbey's pumpkin

Abbey and Zoe

Our sweet girl

Look at that precious face!

Abbey's Best Guys

Three men around one baby finger is a lot, but she's managed to do it well!

Daddy

Pops (Bop)

Grandpa (Beebop)

Max's Baby "Sprinkle"

A few weeks ago, our Community Group (Bible study group) threw us a surprise baby "sprinkle", and it was so much fun! The girls made up that term, because it was a small gathering, or sprinkle, instead of a large gathering, or shower. Cute and clever! Annnnnnnnddd.... knowing my love for Sprinkles cupcakes, they had the perfect "sprinkle" dessert for us!

The surprise! Clearly, Chris was in on it :)

Sign complete with airplanes!

Dining room where we ate an amazing lasagna Tyler made

The Sprinkles cupcakes Adrienne made and decorated- yum!!

Reading the card (although I couldn't keep my mind off of that bottle of Dreft, and thinking about when I could use it... the cleaning "need" is getting out of hand!!)

We got our pack and play!! Our group is so generous, and we were truly surprised and grateful!

Happy parents of an already loved baby Max!

We love you guys, and can't thank you enough for all you've done for us!