2012 Year in Review

It has been a year that to me has flown by.  As I sat during Christmas Eve services last night I realized that it seems like just yesterday we were there doing the same thing with Cullen's family, and really it has been a year.  2012 was great to the Pollards.

January- We rang in the New Year in Oxford with our friends Bo and Joanne.  Leslie and I judged a pageant, and I took and passed my administrator's licensing exam.

February- Cullen turned the big 29 and has inched closer to 30 every day and I took up welding.  My brother and his wife welcomed their second child into the world on Leap Day, finishing out the month on a sweet note.

March-  We kicked off March at the Ole Miss baseball games, and I along with my friend Kim went to my first McCarty sale.

April- I continued welding, we celebrated Easter with the whole family here and also squeezed in a Pontotoc birthday party for Ellie turning three.

May- May was packed each weekend with lots of things to do.  I graduated with my Specialist, Henry was baptized, I went on a quick vacay with Oxford girls to the beach, and then moved back into the dorm.  We also added a new cousin to the mix with the birth of Daisy Kent Carter.

June- I spent my June days in the dorm at Ole Miss finishing up the last class of the Principal Corps Program.  Cullen and I celebrated five years of marriage and were able to tell our families a little surprise that we in fact would be adding to the family with the birth of a baby in the coming months.

July- The month of July was super busy.  I started my new job as an assistant principal for the Lafayette County School District.  Cullen and I finally were able to see the RedSox play, his birthday gift from me, and enjoyed a great vacation in Boston.  I made a flying trip to Minnesota for a wedding.

August- School started.  Uncle Wayne turned 70 and we found out we were having a baby girl.

September- Football season got underway, I continued to grow rounder, and the summer days quickly faded into fall nights.

October- Most of October was spent showering friends having babies, and getting married.  My sweet friend Natalie married a precious guy named Bo, I did my first groom's cake just for the occasion.

November- We started the month celebrating Ms. Julie's 50th.  We found out that our little girl we were preparing for was a little boy, and we had Thanksgiving at our home again, serving around 30 friends and family.  We rounded the month out with baby showers and the baptism of sweet Daisy Kent.

December- A month filled with baby showers and Christmas Parties.  We helped our friends Leslie and Bill welcome sweet Lily James into the world, and celebrated our last Christmas with just the two of us.

Little Boy Blue

The past two days have been super productive for Jett's room.  Once everything gets complete I will post better pictures, but for now this is what you get.  My father in law repainted the mantle a nice shade of white from the precious pink it was.  Cullen and I covered the space at the bottom with a piece of wood covered in batting and the nursery fabric.  Mom and I finished the bumper pads yesterday afternoon, and this morning when I woke up at 2:30 I made his door sign for the hospital.  I even packed the paint to complete the weight, length, and time when he gets here.

Little Lily

 Okay so just a week ago I was so proud that Lily was here and that my friend was recovering nicely.  I can't believe it but with Christmas and family in town I managed to not see baby girl in person until last night.  I knew that Leslie had lots of family to visit and we talked but as for me seeing her I knew it just wasn't the right time, I wanted her to get adjusted, but by last night I could wait no longer.

 Les is looking great, but my preggo double chin is absolutely awful.  Lily was just as quiet as a mouse.

 Ginger doesn't know about being a big sister, she is a little jealous and starved for attention.   She almost ignores Lily James.

 Cullen practiced his baby holding skills and did a great job keeping her calm when it was feeding time.

Leslie is a natural mother.  She was just at ease and a baby is exactly what she needed.

Nesting Recipes

So my nesting has come in very different stages. When I found out we were having a girl, I began readying everything for her in pink and green, and had closets filled with smocked dresses.
Next when she became a he, I was instantly wanting to get things over to blue, but life happened and backorders and the like kept me from getting much accomplished, but I did start planning food.

Today I decided I would cook some more to freeze and I thought I would share the recipes.

Taco Soup

1.5 lbs. hamburger meat

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 packet of ranch dressing mix

1 can of rotel tomatoes

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 cup of water

1 can of pinto beans

1 can of kidney beans

- brown hamburger meat, empty all contents in crock pot and cook for a while

Chicken Spaghetti

1 onion diced

1 can of rotel tomatoes

3 cups of cooked shredded chicken

1 box of spaghetti noodles

1 lb of velveeta

Cook and shred chicken.

Boil pasta.

Cube velveeta and add rotel tomatoes to noodles.  Add in the onion and the chicken.  Put in three loaf pans, wrap with saran wrap and then foil and freeze.

As I cooked the chicken I poured the boiling water onto my hand.  I had to assemble the rest of the recipe with one hand in a metal bowl of ice water doing everything else one handed.  So no picture was made for the other recipe I made this morning.

Lasagna

1.5 lb of hamburger browned

2 jars of spaghetti sauce

1 large container of ricotta cheese

3 eggs

4 cups mozzarella cheese

1 box of lasagna noodles.

After browning the hamburger and adding the spaghetti sauce, put a small amount in the bottom of your pan.  Place a layer of noodles on top of the sauce.  Next, layer meat sauce, ricotta and egg mixture, and cheese, and then noodles again.  After two more layers of this top with meat sauce and cheese.  Cover with saran wrap and foil and freeze.  

I love to take this with a salad and italian green beans, and garlic bread to new parents, or to families that have been in the hospital.

Please Pray for This Gal

 This is my friend, Molly, from high school.  Please in your quiet times lift up her family, her mom, dad, and brother.  Her brother, Will, has been very sick for the last couple of months, and was recently put back in ICU in Oxford.  His prognosis hasn't been the best, and we are praying for a miracle from the GREAT Physician.  Add them to your prayer list please.

Cousins and Christmas

 Friday night my aunt and uncle volunteered to keep their granddaughter Daisy Kent.  Since my cousins were up from Florida it became a fun time to just be together and watch this precious girl with all her tricks.

 Her Daddy gets her to sleep every night by playing the guitar and singing to her, so as her bedtime drew near, Aunt Rayanne played the piano for her.  She liked it, but she fights sleep like no baby I have ever seen.  She wants to be in the mix at all times she has one eye on the comings and goings of all around her as she rests the other eye and then changes out.

She only really cuddled up with her Daa, my Uncle Wayne.  I personally think that if she would have been cool and not so warm she would have fallen asleep as I rocked her, but the temperature in their house has been long debated.  My mom always freezes, and Uncle Wayne usually.  But it may be me being pregnant, but I was in a sweat the whole time I was there, and Daisy was beyond warm, too.  While it was fun to sit and watch I must say I did enjoy handing her off as I headed home to sleep in my own bed for a few short more weeks unawakened by a baby.

35 Weeks-

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 35 Weeks

Size of baby: Big

Maternity Clothes: Still a mix of my own regular clothing and some maternity

Gender: Boy

Movement:  He is slowing his movements down a little.  His once normal routine is not so routine anymore.  I think he is just readying himself to come into the world.

Sleep: I am able to sleep really well.  Naps are welcome and when I nap it is a hard sleep.  Getting to sleep at my normal bedtime is just a little more difficult and I am waking now very early in the morning, but I'm able to get a lot accomplished.

What I miss: I miss my old body.  I want to be me again.

Cravings: Twice I have wanted Mexican food over the holiday, but nothing I would call a major craving.  I think I pick it because I know they say spicy food can make you go into labor.

Symptoms:  Last weekend I stayed pretty swollen, but I really didn't stop from the minute we got out of school until Sunday.  So I blame my constant on the go nature.  Sunday I crashed and it was NICE.

Best Moment this week: Having a break from school and being able to rest.  Meeting Lily James Hilliard.

Some Random Happenings: I fell this week.  It wasn't a big fall.  My front steps were wet and they often get slick, Cullen was coming up the steps behind me, my hands were filled with bags and as I stumbled on the last step I managed to catch myself with my knees and hands.  I was so proud of my save, I turned to tell Cullen and he was in freak out mode.  Bless him.  I knew I was fine, but he was worried sick.  

* I have my heart set on a New Year's Day Baby.  I have had an overwhelming feeling he was coming on the holiday, but in the back of my mind I know it will be a while. 

Christmas 2012

 The Radko Tree I finally put up just a two weeks before Christmas.  Once I found out we were having a boy I went into a slight depression of sorts, not having a plan b for the nursery I was a little behind and thought I might only do one Christmas tree this year rather than the four or five I have done in the past.  I did get two complete, but all my Christmas decor didn't make a debut.

 On Christmas morning we celebrate first thing with my mom.  She comes to the house and brings a big country breakfast and then we open presents with her.  After we shower and get ready for the day we drop our gifts by my Uncle Wayne's house before we head to Oxford for Christmas with Cullen's extended family.  After lunch and a gift exchange we head back to Pontotoc and celebrate the afternoon  at my Uncle and Aunts house and that usually runs into dinner.

 This was Daisy's first Christmas and she was so much fun to watch scoot around.

 My favorite cousin, Jason, we have a secret gift exchange that isn't so secret anymore, but we keep it up.

 He and Ally announced to the family that March 9th they will be getting married.  I can't wait for the date.  Hopefully I won't look like a whale by that time.

After the afternoon naps we usually gather in the kitchen to await dinner.

Cullen didn't make it to the big people table this year.  He sat with the kids and took this picture to document my place at the left side of my Uncle.  Most everyone knows this is my seat of honor and no one sits here, but last night I had to even uproot my mom who made the mistake of sitting in MY seat.

Labor of Love

      I normally don't blog random lyrics or pictures, but I can't think about printing my 2012 blog book without this being in there.  On Christmas Eve, every year since we have been married Cullen and I have accompanied his parents to the candlelight service at Calvary in Tupelo.  I honestly believe that his mom loves us going to that with them more than any other part of Christmas.  We debated this year going because we were so tired and worn out from the holiday, but decided that since next year with a baby we will have new traditions we went.  Each year I have loved the music, but  this year the music was provided by my doctor's children, Kyle and Kara Young.  One of the reasons I chose Dr. Young as my doctor is while I didn't grow up in church with him, I did with his parents, nieces and nephews, and I knew that his faith was a large part of his practice, and I knew that would is rare and important. 
     So Kyle and Kara sang this song just before the message from Brother David, and while I didn't cry, because thankfully I haven't been that emotional, it was very moving.  So moving, that I downloaded the song on iTunes for my mom to listen to and the lyrics to share with my new mom friend, Leslie.  Having sat in the delivery room and waiting room just days before with her and knowing that my own labor and delivery was just around the corner, this song seemed so much more meaningful to me, so I had to share.


It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

Christmas Baby Loves

My brother sent me these pics of the babies just before Christmas.  Are they not the sweetest kids ever.  I still think that Ellie is my mini me down to the sideways cock of the head.  Love them.

Crafty Christmas

So our Sunday School socials have fallen by the wayside in the past year.  Our class is going strong, however we have had some members leave to teach, leave to go to other towns, and we have just been busy.

 So in years past we have traded ornaments among the girls and tools among the guys, but this year our teacher came up with the idea that we would hand make something to exchange as a couple.  I was skeptical of how it would turn out.

 The Vandivers came with this frame that would be perfect in Jett's room over his mantle.

 The Goldens brought a plasma cut reindeer.

 The Harris' brought a really cute picture hanger.

 The Jefcoats brought stocking hanger/picture holders.  Which I had seen at Anna Claire's house and asked her to see if Chase could make them....I didn't go home with those.  

When I ran in the house from Jackson I had this grand idea I would whip up a burlap table runner.  I now want one for myself.  

There was a mix up and confusion and Cullen isn't a patient player at Dirty Santa and didn't want to hurt feelings so we came home without a handmade gift rather a scentsy candle burner, because he didn't follow my newly made rule- Always go for what you can see, not the unopened bag.