Another Wedding in Natchez

Natchez is a beautiful place for weddings and they have them there ALL the time. There were 2 other weddings going on while we were there. Corey's sister Lena is the one that got married this last weekend. She married Esla who's family is from Sri Lanka so the wedding was half his traditions and half hers. It was a very pretty and interesting wedding. I know how hard it was to plan a wedding for two families that are similar, I can't imagine planning one for families from different cultures, countries, and backgrounds.It was South Mississippi in May, needless to say it was HOT!
But everyone put on a happy face and tolerated the heat.The families - Corey's mom Mrs. Brenda looked so pretty.

And I had to have a picture to prove it, but Corey was actually talking to a child and they were not crying. I think she is putting forth more effort since Peanut is on the way. Either that or this child's evil sensor was broken.

If I look a little sleepy here it was b/c I woke up from my nap 9 minutes before the ceremony started, luckily I was staying at the house where they got married!!

And in other wedding news Lauren (QD) got engaged this weekend and is having a March wedding in Oxford! I am SO excited!!! Cannot wait.

Headline: Consumer Spending Up in Q2

Observation by Rex - You can stop holding your breathe, I am not about to post something off color from my dad, but it is funny, mainly because I think it is true. Almost every night when I get home there are boxes on our front porch of baby items and every night I call my mom and give her an update. Well last night when I called to tell her my baskets and snap and go stroller came in my dad's response was "this one baby is going to pull us out of a recession." I just laughed and thought - you know he really might be right.

This same time last year we were preparing to go to the Ukraine (crazy how much has happened in a year). While we were over there we obviously learned a great deal about their culture and [socialist] government. One of the things we found most interesting was their death rate was higher than their birth rate. In order to combat this the government paid families a hefty amount to have more than one child. Good idea I guess if your population was slowly dwindling to nothing. I said all that to say this - maybe Americans should have babies to pull us out of a recession?? We do get a tax break and Lord knows kids cost an arm and a leg not to mention all the joy they bring into our lives!! Just a crazy thought, but y'all are use to that from me. It is genetic, I can't help it.

So any way. Here is a picture of the baskets under the bed. They fit perfectly and all but one if full of wipes. Thank you to everyone that gave us baby wipes!! We are SO grateful!!

Cousin Shower

My sweet cousins Kristi, Ashli, Suzanne, and Abby and then Katie Rose (who is almost family) got together and threw me a shower at home last Saturday. It was a blast!! I love getting together with everyone, we are a lively group to say the least.Here is the Speck side of the family. My Aunt Teresa and cousin Carrie came over from Birmingham which I was really excited about!! Then of course my sweet Gran and Mama. As I said in a previous shower post, I obviously get my height from the Dickerson side!

My Uncle Rivers dropped by for a few minutes. Don't him and my dad look alike?

This is Tobi and Jodi. Jodi lives in Florida and Tobi lives in Texas and I had no idea they were coming. I walked in and there they were! They surprised everyone!!!!!!! It was great. They had a quick trip, flew in late Friday night and out early Sunday morning. Thank y'all SO much!!

Katie Rose obviously took this picture because it is so good. This is Taylor, my second cousin. How cute is she???

This is only a few of us - all first or second cousins. It's a pretty good looking gene pool!!

Daddy (Big R) dropped by too. I don't understand why he won't smile in pictures?? He is always smiling in real life.

And this is ALL of the Dickerson women. Some by birth and others by marriage, but it is a lot of people and not everyone was there! I loved getting to see everyone and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. As crazy as we all may be. Thank y'all for an amazing shower.

I had another shower on Sunday, but my camera battery was dead. As soon as Mrs. Shelia send them to me I will post those pics.

Baby Projects

It seems like the baby projects to be done increase daily! Many of them require Matt, but some I can do on my own. The latest 2 were putting our BOB together Monday night and hanging curtains Tuesday night. Matt needs to be studying rather than doing these projects, but we both want them done and it's way more fun than studying. The BOB required no assembly except for the infant carrier adapter so that went smoothly. However last night we were not so lucky. How hard can it be to hang curtains? Well harder than we thought. The drywall screw made a mess of the dry wall and it now requires patching and painting. Needless to say curtains will not be hung until after May 28!I think he is the only man in the world that reads instructions.

And here is the aftermath of our curtain project.

So what is left to be done? Hang pictures, hang curtains, the glider has been ordered, more baskets have been ordered to accommodate the millions of things this child has, put together a swing, put together a bouncer, put together a pack and play, put 5 giant boxes in the attic of things we will not use until he is older, a mountain of laundry, set up the video monitor, put together the every day stroller, and pack our hospital bags. I think I covered it all, but I am sure more will come about. I will keep you posted.

Man Oh Man!

There is so much going on these days so let me play catch up. I had a work shower last Monday and then 2 showers at home last weekend. My wifi camera card decided it didn't want to download pictures after my work shower so I am behind on posting. I finally got them downloaded and now I need to work on the pictures from last weekend. I will work on that this week because this weekend I will be in Natchez with Corey at her sister's wedding! I am super excited to be Corey's date, we are just keeping our fingers crossed that I don't go into labor in Natchez. Then the next weekend it is celebration time because Matt will have taken STEP I and it is our 5 year anniversary!!!!!!!!!!! I am not sure who will be more excited, him or me. And to celebrate (the STEP being over, our 5 year anniversary, and our last trip before Peanut comes) we are taking a trip to Birmingham for the SEC baseball tournament like we do every year, only this year we are staying at the Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa. I can't wait, I have already booked our spa package. Whew.... that's a lot going on.

So back to the work shower. Just like all of my other showers I was overwhelmed by how generous everyone was. I am not sure it's me, I keep telling Matt its him, but now I think people just love babies. It was a joint shower with Kimberly Goza, she is having a girl and her due date is about 5 weeks after mine. The decorations were adorable and the food was fabulous. They made tomato sandwiches b/c I made a comment at work one day about how much I loved them.

Shannon (she is stuck with me personally AND at work. Bless her heart.) made these cute banners to go on the gift tables. As you will see below Kimberly has told the name they have picked out and mine says Peanut!!! I LOVE IT!This was a game where Kimberly and I had to answer baby type questions. We tied at 2, but there were 10 or more questions. Obviously we are not that baby savvy!And all the loot from the shower. Again overwhelmed is the only word I know to describe how I feel about every one's generosity.

We Love Visitors

Jimbo and Britney brought Abney out to see us this weekend and he has gotten SO big! He is 6 weeks old today and has already almost doubled in size. He came into this world 4 weeks early weighing in at 5 pounds! He now almost weighs 10 pounds and has grown 2 inches. He is SO cute and such a sweet baby. I was holding him and Peanut started kicking and moving around, I think they are ready to play with each other. Abney was a little jealous of Peanut's golf clubs though, but I am sure he will have some of his own before too long.

I love the picture below. It looks like he is trying to tell us something. I am so proud of Jimbo and Britney for getting out of Belhaven to come see us! Thanks guys! We love you!! And Happy Birthday (yesterday) Jimbo!

Small Group Shower

I know I keep saying it, but Peanut is going to be ROTTEN and I am taking no blame for it! We had another shower this last weekend that mine and Matt's small group and Kimberly threw. It was such a wonderful shower and I was so glad to see so many people showed up because it was nasty and rainy outside. Thank y'all for coming!!! As you can see from above we got the swing we registered for now Matt just has to put it together!

Matt's mom and the grandmother!!

The hosts!! Melissa, Jennifer, me, Kimberly, and Andrea. I am not sure why most of us decided to wear black, but we are all happy people so don't let the clothes fool you.

The adorable diaper cake!! It was my first one!! And look at those shoes!! Anything that small is adorable

The family! Gran, Anna, Grandmaw (Matt's grandmother), me, Mrs. Shelia, and my mom!!

Ok - So I look freakishly tall next to my mother and grandmother. I am taller than they are and I was wearing heels. Obviously I get my height from my dad!

It was a wonderful shower!! Thank you SO much!!

A Dog's Life

Matt is done with his boards and took a few days off from studying this last week. He picked it right back up this morning and will not stop until May 27, the day before the STEP 1. During his sabbatical he was home with the pups and we always wondered what they do while we are gone. Well, now we know for sure. They SLEEP. ALL DAY LONG! Oh to be Elle and Knox. What a great life they lead even if they are democrats (since they don't work and live off us). They had a big weekend this weekend too. My mom and grandparents, Matt's parents and grandparents were all in town for a shower AND Elle and Know went for a hair cut. So they had tons of people in town and got their hair buzzed. I will post pictures from the shower and their haircuts later.
I would also like to point out Knox's tongue. Does anyone else have a dog that sleeps like this? Every time he sleeps it is sticking out. We call him our little clown. Even the groomer asked if he was younger than Elle because he acted so much goofier.


Please pray for Matt's last stretch of studying. It will be over before we know it, but he has a full month of 24/7 studying ahead of him.


Oh and I would also like to point out that Peanut will be here NEXT MONTH! Crazy!