oh me oh my, how time does fly...

I have been meaning to share our special news on the blog, because, come on, it's blog-worthy!!  haha, but seriously

We are having a baby.


I've been trying to wrap my mind around it for the past, oh, I'd say 14 out of the 18 weeks I've been preggers now, and I can't.  That has been the most common similarity between my 1st pregnancy with James and this 2nd one with we-don't-know-who yet.  I looked in the mirror tonight at my belly and thought, "and it jiggled when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly..." and then I thought, wow, our baby IS there, somewhere, in that way-more-round-than-the-average-belly belly.

So, here we are.  My sweet baby James will only be my 'baby' for 5 more months, and then we get to welcome a new baby to our family.  I'm 18 weeks today and our new little one is the size of a bell pepper today. :-)  I wish I had a picture of this little pepper to show off, but sadly I have to wait about 10 more days for our new pictures and *hopefully* news of whether this little pepper is pink or blue.

Sorry it took me so long to say so little pepper, but you are welcome to our family and the whole world knows it now. :-)  We can't wait to give you a name!!

Here we are, 18 weeks!!  and yes, you could say that the belly has POPPED.  Its a preggo belly, no doubt.

To be continued....

Some Gatlinburg love

We love Gatlinburg, TN.  Yes, yes I know its a terribly commercial place filled to the MAX with people at all times (except, we discovered, when its cold AND raining), but it holds some seriously special memories for me, and as much as I hate to admit it, I love Gatlinburg.

You may be wanting to ask me, recommendations?? Well, here you go:  The Pancake House with all the team flags hanging from the ceiling, sitting by the fire eating pancakes is awesome.  The Crossroads Winter Conference held in Jan every year is awesome (where Matt and I met actually).  The Smoky Mountains are awesome.  The Fudge is awesome.  The Donut Frier is awesome.  The shopping is entertaining, and taking Old Tyme Photos is actually hilarious, especially as a family.  We just checked out Ripley's believe it or not and the Aquarium this year and those were pretty fun.  The Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge, oh my, awesome.  The Christmas store scares me to death!! haha, but awesome.  The outlet mall is pretty awesome.  So there you have it: food, shopping, entertainment, more food.

I was just looking through the pictures we have, and we normally always take a photo during our 'Prose Family Ski Trip' which ends the week of skiing in Gatlinburg for some good food and fun.  We always take it in front of this fountain.  Here are some of my favorite shots from the last few years.

Gatlinburg 2009 - my totally hot hubby. :-)  Our fire fighter and high school teacher days, good times.

Not a surprise from the Prose boys

Gatlinburg 2010 - James was about a month and a half old.  So much fun.

Gatlinburg 2011 - 3 generations of Prose boys

My hubby, looking just as hot as 2009 :-)  But, now he has a super cute little 1 year old boy in his arms, sooo there is no comparison.

Uncle John's birthday

This is the second year in a row that James has gotten to celebrate his Uncle John's birthday.  February 2010 was basically our first trip out with James- and we drove to Tennessee. haha!  Our 3 week old little fella and a fun little car ride.  We weren't sure if we would make it or not, so we decided not to tell Matt's family that we were planning to come- we wanted to be able to turn around if we got 30 min down the road and needed to!  But, luckily, we made it.  Wow, its so amazing to think of what we were doing last year at this time with James.  Check us out.

Happy 26th Uncle John- from James, 3 weeks old.

Our first meal out, if I remember correctly.  Cracker Barrel.  Still a favorite.

This year for Uncle John's birthday, we got to go to Gatlinburg and meet up with Matt's parents and John.  It worked out great for us because we all got to stay together in a cabin, and it was only 3 hours for us from Hickory.  Another fun fact: Matt and I got engaged in Gatlinburg, because that's where we met 7 years ago this year.  Our cabin was actually just a minute or two from the spot where he asked me to marry him.  Memory lane was so much fun to stroll down.

John boy wanted a kilt for his birthday this year.  We have Scottish heritage- and he's proud.  Check out how proud he is. :-)

Is that a kilt Uncle John??  yes, yes it is. :-)  We love you John boy.  Happy 27th birthday.

James: "are you sure I can't jump in the fountain??"