New Football Gear

For a big brother gift, Brenton's Granny, Papaw, Nona, and Popa got him a full UT football uniform, including the most exciting football helmet. Brenton was so excited to open the gift and was even more excited to see the helmet. Now he has enough helmets for all of us to wear, which makes for some funny scenes around our house, as we are sitting around all wearing helmets.

Thatcher's First Bath

On Thanksgiving, my family (or part of it) came over to have lunch with us. Being our first day at home, we were not all ready when they arrived. In the middle of getting lunch prepared, we gave Thatcher a bath, which he could not decide if he liked.

Welcome Thatcher Blayne

On Monday, November 24, Michael and I went to Baptist West Hospital at 6:00am and they started to induce my labor. After a fairly simple labor (compared to labor with Brenton), at 4:50pm, Thatcher Blayne entered our world. He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz and was 20 inches long (1 oz bigger and 1/2 inch shorter than Brenton). At first, he looked very much like Brenton, but he has changed a little over the last few days but still looks like Brenton a lot. We came home from the hospital yesterday and are doing well, except that Thatcher seems to want to be awake and fussing from about 12:00am until about 4 or 5am. Hopefully, we can work on being awake some this evening and be able to get a little more nighttime sleep, so we can keep up with Brenton during the day. Brenton loves Thatcher and kisses him all the time. Nursing Thatcher is the hardest part at this point, but we are working out ways to keep Brenton busy. Thanks to all those who have been praying for us! We have much to be thankful for this year!

Dollywood at Christmas

Last night, we took our last family trip to Dollywood this year. With Thatcher's induction scheduled for Monday, it was a now or never situation. We had planned on going last Friday, but it kept threatening to rain and left us going on the coldest night in November. So at 39 1/2 weeks pregnant in about 25 degree weather we braved it and spent a couple of hours at Dollywood. We mostly went from one building to the next and watched a few shows. We managed to stay warm, well, at least not too cold. We had a good time and enjoyed some cider and cinnamon bread (yummy!).

Football Time

Over the last month or so, Brenton has become obsessed with football. Our nephew Justin, plays for Alcoa and Brenton thinks all football players are JT. Justin found a small helmet to let Brenton use and he loves it! The night we got it, he wanted to watch football on tv wearing it and even read his bedtime story with it on. Michael had to leave it on his changing table so he could see it before he would go to bed.

Brenton's Christmas Tree

As many of you know, we are a little obsessed with Christmas decorations. We decided last year that we would have a tree for each of our children, so that we could have a special place for their ornaments to collect over the years. Last year, we started Brenton's tree with blues and browns (what else would we use) and this year, so far, he has added a duck and a football to the tree. We want the trees to reflect where the boys are each year, so we are adding things he makes or is especially interested in. He wants to turn the tree on every morning right after he gets out of bed and can even turn it on and off himself. To say the least, he loves it!

Big Brother Training

Last week, we decided to give Brenton some big brother training. We got out a bottle and a bowl and spoon and practiced feeding his bear. It was so cute, but I hope that whoever he feeds is not very hungry because he is a fast feeder. Brenton's favorite part was wiping the bears mouth with a cloth.