Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

a few days late! ;)

We hope you all enjoyed your holiday as much as we did! On Thursday we had the Shacklett Thanksgiving at James' parents house. Bubby was loving it there! The house is "semi" toddler-proofed, so Connor found a few things to get into! ;) His favorite find was of course the house phone!

photos by Aunt Sarai

When it was time to eat, little man was HUNGRY, and he did NOT want to wait for his plate to be made! We had a bit of a melt down while waiting! lol Poor Bubby! (We were a little past nap time too, so that didn't help!)

After the food was served, Connor was in 7th heaven! I ate turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls!! His favorite was the homemade rolls, hands down!! He didn't want anything else once he had a taste! I'll have to get that recipe. :) Connor also provided our after dinner entertainment pointing out his nose, teeth, and belly. Just one of his many talents! lol

Our SECOND Thanksgiving for the weekend was on Friday! That's right... Black Friday. I'm not brave enough to go out in the Black Friday crowds, lol, but I'd rather spend it visiting with family anyway. After all, we only see some of them once a year!! So, on Friday we went to my mother's side of the family, the Granacher family. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken hosted in their new home in Nicholasville, near Lexington. Their new home was AMAZING, the food was delicious, and it was great to see everyone and catch up. Bubby had a great time!!

My cousin took this photo (with Bubby and I in the background). He takes AWESOME photos!!! His nature shots are my favorites! Anyway, you can see some of the delicious spread of food! Yum!! :) The brownies are not in this picture, but I have to mention that they were INCREDIBLE!

Our THIRD and final Thanksgiving for the weekend was on Saturday. My mom had Thanksgiving for our immediate family and we enjoyed a "meal of appetizers!" It was sooooooo nice after turkey two days in a row. The BLT dip was AMAZING! We enjoyed good company and Connor had a blast playing with his cousin Tyler! Too bad we all ended up sharing a virus the next day! lol My brother Andrew, Tyler, Connor and I all ended up sick! Poor Bubby ran a fever and had a sore throat for two days! We are all feeling much better now though!

With that said, I'll conclude with a short list of things I'm sooooooooooooo THANKFUL for this Thanksgiving. (We'd be here for years if I listed everything!) Afterall, that is what this holiday is all about!

I'm sooooooooo thankful for

• my family - all of them :)
• My beautiful, perfect, and precious baby boy
• My special delivery on the way in May :)
• A hubby that lets me pull the pregnancy card A LOT
• Great friends, even though I don't see them near enough
• to feel baby Shacklett #2's first kicks on Thanksgiving day (it doesn't get much better than that!)

What are you thankful for this holiday season?

16 months!!!

That's right! Our BABY is 16 months old! Here are 16 things we want to remember about you, Connor, at this age:


1.  You got your first hair cut this month, and you look so adorable and grown up all at the same time!
2.  Your favorite word at the moment is "no!" but in a cute way.
3.  You shake your head when you say no, and it is so funny.  When I ask you if you are sleepy, you say NO! and run away shaking your head.
4.  You are almost officially off the bottle!  You still get a bottle before bed during cuddles with Momma.  This is going to be so hard to get rid of! :(
5.  You currently have an obsession with shoes.  You bring momma and da-da their shoes all the time, and sometimes you try to wear them! lol
6.  Your new words this month are tree,teeth, wa-wa (water), more, and door.
7.  You love your nursery rhyme book.  You favorites are Baa-baa Black Sheep and One,Two, Buckle my Shoe.  You ask for them by name too... "Baa-baa" and "Door." lol
8.  You weigh 28 pounds and are 32 1/2 inches tall.  90th percentile for both. 
9.  You love the Christmas tree, thus learning the word "tree" this month! :)
10.  You LOVE, and I mean LOVE pears.  You eat an entire pear by yourself!
11.  You like to comb your hair.
12.  You remind me every morning to brush your teeth by pointing to your teeth and saying something that sounds very similar to "teeth!" Its so cute!
13.  You love to eat chicken nuggets and applesauce for lunch.
14.  You give momma and da-da kisses and we LOVE them so much!
15.  You want to be a climber sooooooooo badly! You try to climb on and off the couch and anything else that is in your reach! ;)
16.  You had your 2nd Halloween and Thanksgiving within the past month and you loved every minute of each holiday!!  The candy on Halloween was a big hit.  Your favorite was suckers!  You loved getting to see all your extended Family at thanksgiving too! :)

We love you so much, Bubby and we can't wait to see what you have in store for us next month!  Happy 16 months! We love you to the moon and back a million times!

Love,
Momma and Da-da

Here's a sneak peek at a few of our latest family pictures thanks to Rhea Hickok Photography!

Baby Updates!!!

Pregnancy #2 is going great! We are soooooooooooo thankful everything is going smoothly and that baby is growing healthy and strong!

I'm 15 weeks 3 days today!

The food aversions are still going strong, but I'm hoping they'll let up around week 20 like they did with Connor.

We find out the sex of the baby in about 4 1/2 weeks and I CAN'T WAIT!  It will be so nice for baby to have a name!

As soon as I hit the second trimester, nausea set in! :(  Its not too bad, just bad enough to mess with my appetite and make it even harder to eat healthy.  There are literally 3 or 4 things I can eat right now! :(

Baby's bones will be nice and strong from all the calcium I'm getting because milk is one of the few things I can tolerate to eat or drink!

Baby's heartrate at our 15 week check up was 156!  Predictions on gender?? What's that old wives tale about the heartrate??

I'm a little less exhausted now that I'm in the 2nd trimester.  I still have my days that I'm really tired, but it is no where near as bad as it was in the beginning!

Here are some pictures of baby from our most recent appointment earlier this week.  Baby was a little camera shy and kept putting his/her hands over his/her face! lol

Most importantly we are so grateful that God has give us such a healthy pregnancy and baby and we ask for your prayers for a continued healthy pregnancy and baby as well as a safe delivery!

Halloween!!!

Connor's second Halloween!!!  Of course, Halloween is a 2-3 day celebration in our house! :)

Halloween pajamas are a must! 

We went to Trunk-or-Treat at church on the 30th and you got all kinds of yummy candy, Bubby!  You were NOT into holding your trick-or-treat bag, as much as Momma tried! lol  Maybe next year! :)

Your cousin Colby made a pretty good vampire!

Your cousin Laci Sue was an adorable Miss America!  You guys were pretty excited to see each other! :)

We tried to get a cute picture of you and your cousin Tyler, but you were REALLY distracted by Tyler's sucker! lol You REALLY wanted that sucker! :)

Halloween pajamas - take 2! You are such a cute little model! :)

Needless to say, you had a Very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Sweet 16 to my wonderful, fabulous, special, and absolutely amazing niece Ginny!

She inspires us all each and every day!

We love you Ginny!

Connor is 15 months!!!

That's right! Bubby is officially 15 months old as of October 20th! 


Dear Connor,

It has been so exciting to watch you learn and grow! We can't believe how much you change everyday! So, here are 15 things we want to remember about you at this age:

1. You absolutely LOVE fall! You think it is awesome to go outside and play with your ball or jump in the leaves.  In fact, you get pretty mad when me make you come in! lol

2.  Your vocabulary has really grown this month.  You're saying all kinds of words... Ma-ma, Da-da, Ne-Ne, Ba-bal (Papaw), Yeah, No, ball, uh-oh, eat, ba-ba (bottle), poo poo (Momma didn't mean to teach you that one! lol), and bath... just to name the ones I can think of! You are growing up sooooo fast!

3.  You still LOVE your baths, but you only want to stand up in the tub.  You are too busy to sit down! LOL

4.  You have learned how to take off your shirt.  So instead of napping, you usually take your clothes off instead, lol.

5.  You are on the go, nonstop!  Every time I turn around, you have gotten yourself into a hilarious predicament! (Such as the hamper incident... lol)

6.  You love your Ma-ma and Da-da soooooo much! You like to follow us around and see what we are doing.  The whole time you say, "Ma-ma! Da-da!" My favorite is when you give us hugs and kisses! I hope you always do that!

7.  You are obsessed with cell phones! You steal my phone all the time and even know how to unlock it and call people!

8.  When you take things that you know you are not supposed to have, you run and sit outside Momma and Da-da's bedroom door in the corner like we can't "see" you there! LOL

9.  We announced this month that you are going to be a BIG BROTHER!!! You are going to such a great big brother, too! <3

10.  You all of the sudden have stared to "understand English" as I call it.  In other words, you understand what we are saying to you or are asking you to do! Its so neat to see you learning so much! When I say its bath time, you run to the bathroom door and wait!  When I say bring me the ball, you do!  Your little light bulb has really come on! lol

11.  You LOVE to read!  You bring us book after book and climb into our laps so we can read to you!

12.  Your favorite books this month are Babyberry Pie and Goodnight Gorilla.

13. You think your cousin Ryan is the best! You have to be the one to go in his room every morning to say "Get up!" You love it when he and his girlfriend Kylie play with you!

14.  You LOVE to eat! It is so funny because when you are ready to eat, you yell "EAT!" and run to your highchair and try to climb in! lol

15.  You like to wear your jacket and hat in the house! lol  You bring it to me because you want it on! Its pretty funny! lol

You are the most wonderful, bubbly, sweet, and cuddly 15 month old there is! We can't get enough of you and your little chubby cheeks!  We LOVE you sooooooooo much and can't wait to see what you have in store for us next month! :)

We love you to the moon and back a million times!
Love,
Momma and Da-da

Pregnancy...round 2!

Baby Shacklett #2 is nice and cozy in hotel uterus and hopefully he or she enjoys the stay for at least 28 more weeks! :)

I'm 11 weeks and 2 days exactly placing my due date on May 3rd.  However, the ultrasound dated me for May 2nd.

Does this mean baby is already measuring large?? 10 pounds was REALLY tough last time! I'd be super thrilled with 9 1/2 pounds! LOL

I'm exhausted.  I could literally sleep for 24 hours straight.  I'm sure of it.

I've been very lucky when it comes to pregnancy symptoms in both of my pregnancies.  No morning sickness.  I mainly have food aversions and bloat! :/

HOLY FOOD AVERSIONS, though!!!  I CAN'T WAIT for these nasty food aversions to subside!  Pretty much EVERYTHING sounds disgusting! There are very few things I can eat without wanting to puke!  So, needless to say, thank goodness for prenatal vitamins because my diet is terrible!  I can't look at a vegetable and meat really grosses me out right now.  I pretty much live off of peanut butter and milk.  The more bland, the better!

I have a major sweet tooth this time. 

My only MAJOR craving so far is vanilla milkshakes.  With Connor, it was spicy Cheetoes.

I lost 6 pounds because of food aversions, but then gained it back!  So I guess "technically" I haven't gained anything yet.  Don't worry, I'm SURE that will change real soon!

Did I mention that I'm exhausted? 

Baby's heart rate was 131 at our ultrasound around 6 weeks.  At 11 weeks, baby's heart rate was 160.  Any predictions on gender?? :)

We keep getting asked what we want.  My answer is THIS BABY.  We want this baby that God has given us... be it a girl or a boy.  It would be awesome to have a girl so that we have a boy and a girl, but we'd be soooooooo happy to have another beautiful, healthy boy as well.

The Chinese birth calendar predicted a boy for my pregnancy with Connor and is predicting a GIRL for this pregnancy.  We shall see! ;)

Yes, we already have names picked out! :)  No, I'm not telling! You'll have to wait until December when we find out the gender! ;)

My birth plan is to have a natural delivery without the use of pain medications.  I will totally need your prayers for that one!  I ended up delivering Connor without an epidural, so hopefully I can muster up the get-up and go to do it again.

We also keep getting asked if this is it for us.  The answer is we are undecided.  We'll see how two goes! :)

I almost forgot to mention that  I'm really exhausted ALL THE TIME! ;)

Lastly, my Bubby is super excited!!!  He is going to be such a great big brother!!!