Tyson James Hall

Brian and I are extremely excited to have a new nephew that we can love on and spoil. I know I am biased, but he truly is a beautiful newborn. The

doctors and nurses were going on and on about how perfect he was. He came out bright eyed and ready to check out the world around him. He has tons of blondish brown colored hair and he has long fingers and toes.

Diana was a CHAMP!! She went into labor at church around 7:30 Wednesday evening. She labored all through the night until her water broke around 5am. She started pushing Tyson out around 6:20 am and he entered the world at 6:54 am. Ladies and Gentlemen, she did all of her labor completely drug free. There were times she was pleading for an epidural, but she stuck with it and pushed through to the end and delivered a 8lb. 14 oz. lineman. Brian was an amazing coach. He never left her side for a minute. He just spent hours putting pressure on her back and trying to massage some of the pain away. I am so excited to see Brian and Diana start their journey as parents. Tyson is blessed to share in their love. Enjoy all of the pictures.

Proud Mommy

Proud Daddy

3 generations

Aunt Tarah and Tyson Look at that BIG boy
Isn't he adorable!!

Ally was so excited to see her new cousin!

Proud Aunt

Uncle Brian getting excited to have a boy of his own.

We Have a New Nephew!!

Tyson James Hall

Born: April 24, 2008

Time: 6:54am

Weight: 8lbs. 14oz.

Length: 19.5 in.

More pictures and information about the labor and delivery to come.

Knights in Paper Armor

Last Friday I watched my 3 nephews and I just had to post pictures of all of the kids in their paper crowns, armor, and swords. Josh's mom has been teaching him about Knights and Castles before they take their big trip to England. It was so fun to see them turn our tiny play set into a pretend castle. Josh was the king of course and Jeriah and Jaiden were princes. That left Ally as the one and only Queen which comes pretty natural for her.

No swimming for me please

Allyson started swim classes two weeks ago and I am sad to report that she wants nothing to do with it. She absolutely loves playtime in the pool, but when it comes to the swimming part she absolutely hates the idea of going under the water. The class she attends is for children 6 months to 2 years old. A little advise to any other mothers out there. Before your child turns one get them used to putting their head under the water. They taught us that a childs initial reaction to being immersed under water is to hold their breath. Our instructor told us that a child will hold their breath up to 5 seconds. There is a 9 month old in our class that goes right under the water and comes right back up, catches her breath, and then just smiles. My Ally is a different story. You would think that she was dying the way she screams before it is her turn to go under.

The basic training of the class is to teach the children water confidence and safety skills. Some of the techniques we are learning are floating on your back, swimming with your legs and arms, being directed under water between mommy and instructor, and floating face down in the water and learning to roll over onto your back. My sister-in-law sent me this amazing video footage of an infant who had been trained in water survival. You have to check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibWxZcgK5SM&feature=email

Terrified to float on her back

Moments after being immersed under water

Refusing to jump into the water

Relieved the lessons are over and it is free time to swim and play without going under the water.

Dr. Appointment

26 weeks

Two weeks ago I had my 26th week appointment. I have been having some concerns with the amount of uncomfortable contractions I have been having so again Dr. Case checked me to make sure I wasn't dialating. Everything checked out ok, but they want to keep a close watch on baby Blake so they moved my appointments up to every two weeks. Other than the frequent contractions, I feel great. Blake is definately active and kicking ALL day long. This makes for a very difficult time trying to fall asleep at night. I am carrying Blake much lower than I did with Ally and I blame this on my frequent visits the the bathroom. My next appointment is on Monday so I will post updates when I get the chance. I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful weather as much as I am.

New beds for everyone!

Brian and I decided that with the limited amount of closet space we have in this house that we needed to buy a dresser for our bedroom. Well instead of just buying a single dresser, we decided to go ahead and buy ourselves a new bedroom set. I posted the picture above from a website, because there was no way I could get an angle in our tiny bedroom that would get a picture of what we purchased.
In the midst of all this new bed buying we went ahead and put Ally's big girl bed together and freed her from her dreadful crib. I had to prepare myself as I thought of all of the ways the crib has made Ally stay in her room for naps and night time. I just pictured the next week being an up and down rollercoaster of keeping our toddler in her bed. It has been almost one week now and our little angel can't wait each night to sleep in her bed. I think she just feels like such a big girl now that she gets to sleep without a cage around her.

I was on the phone with my mom the other morning and I heard Ally wake up and get out of her bed. I was patiently waiting to hear her foot steps coming down the stairs, but minutes went by and no Ally. A few seconds later I heard the upstairs toilet flush and then footsteps back into her room. About 5 minutes later, Ally came down the stairs. I was expecting to see her in her pj's , but she had decided now that she is a big girl she was going to get herself dressed. It didn't shock me to see that her choice of clothing for the day was a shirt, underwear on backwards and a pair of shoes. No pants or socks. I am definately not a morning person so it wouldn't shock me if she may have learned this one from her momma...haha.

We were able to take some pictures of Allyson her first night in the new bed. Let me tell you this girl tosses and a turns all night long. It has made it easy for Brian and I to say no to her sleeping in our bed. Even in a king size bed she is all over the place. We captured a couple of Ally's many different positions throughout the night.

Another year older

I always look forward to birthdays because it is an easy excuse to get all of the family together for some good food, fun, and laughter.

Allyson helped me open all of my gifts

The grandkids love their Poppie

Ally can't get enough of her grandparents

Matt, Tarah and Syndie

Grandma, Grandpa and Susan

Parents-to-be

Can't wait to see our little Blake this summer

25 weeks

Birthday Dinner with the Roomies

My sweet wonderful friends, Erin and Kirsten, took me out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. I truly enjoy everytime we get together. I was telling the girls at dinner the other night one of the many joys of going to see them is the drive there. I have a long period of time in the car without requests to listen to the 50 greatest childrens bible songs. Usually it is just a request to listen to the BIBLE over and over again. It is so freeing to take a long drive in my car, turn the music up, and sing at the top of my lungs. I know other drivers on 465 probably get a good laugh out of it, but it sure does make me happy.

It was wonderful to catch up on all of the new exciting events taking place in the girls lives. I must say between the 4 girls (including Sheila), we have had a lot of life changes in the last couple of years.

While out to dinner the girls surprised me with some wonderful gifts for Baby Blake. Kirsten bought him a really cute sleeper. She read my mind when she bought a zipper sleeper instead of a snap sleeper. The snap sleepers are just more hassel to take off and put back on everytime I have to change his diaper.

Erin bought Blake a extremely cute assortment of "Classic Pooh" Baby items. I have a friend here at home (Kathy) who gave me her first childs bedding to decorate Blakes room in and it is the "Classic Pooh" set. Erin had no idea this is what I was going to be decorating Blakes room in. I guess we can just say that great minds think alike..hah.

Sheila started her wonderful married life almost a year ago and moved to Arkansas. As much as we are excited for her new beginning, we greatly miss having her here close to us all. I just had to post a picture of the hilarious birthday card she sent me. I also included the beautiful necklace she added to the package. I have kept this card in my kitchen as a great pick me up. If I am getting a little frustrated, I just pull out this card and it immediately turns my frown upside down :)

So Excited!

Only a couple more weeks and baby Hall will be here. We are extremely excited!! Hopefully he/she gets here sooner than later.