Merry Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. The crazy shoppers are out, doing last minute gift buying and causing massive traffic issues as usual. Are you a last minute shopper? I know my dad always waited until Christmas Eve. Not sure why though. We are so excited to be celebrating Christmas with both of our parents (grandparents) this year. My parents are coming Tuesday and Eric's parents are leaving the day after Christmas. We will have them both here for a little while and we love having our house full of people. Sydney will be completely spoiled by New Years I am sure. :) We hope that you all will enjoy the holidays with your family and be safe if you are traveling.

For New Years we were invited to Eric's cousins house in Missouri. So we look forward to spending a few days with his family and a few of Eric's uncles and aunts. Sydney will also get to meet her cousins Elias and Phin.

For all of you who don't think Sydney cries.

It took a strange old man in a red suit!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Love, Kris, Eric and Sydney and Scamper too!

(there are more pictures in our photo album, don't forget to check them out)

Interviews, Sitting Up, & Holidays, OH MY!

We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents in Charlotte and they enjoyed every Sydney moment. We brought the camera and forgot to take any pictures, sorry!

Eric had two interviews this week and they went really great, we expect to hear something from them by Christmas. Hopefully good news! He has also had some great conversations on the phone and we are thinking those companies may wait to interview until after the holidays. Please keep us in your prayers.

I had an eventful time yesterday at the County Food Stamp office. It turns out we are to rich for government help. Go figure with no income! It was a very depressing 3 hours of my life and I do not wish that experience on any one. You never really know how bad government programs are until you really have to deal with them, so I am being proactive and I intend on contacting the local or state officials and explain my experience to them. I just think that people should be able to get some aid, while they are still on their feet and not completely desperate for it. Oh, and the kicker here is we have to have less than $2000 in our possession to qualify for food stamps. I told the lady if I get down to this point in my bank account I am not worried about food stamps, but where can I keep my baby warm and sheltered. I know she was just doing her job and following the rules and she felt horrible, especially when I started crying in her office. I can't imagine what other families are going through. At least we are still in our home for now and we are healthy. Praise God!!!

Sydney is doing great! She is sitting up and playing a ton and has started waving "hi". It is super cute and my parents were able to wave back to her on Skype and she actually played along. I think it is interesting that Sydney will be use to calling people and seeing their face when she grows up. Technology is amazing.

She went to her first birthday party and had a great time at Gymboree. I wasn't sure what she would be able to do but they included her in everything. She enjoyed watching the bubbles, chewing on the wiffle balls and playing with the colorful parachute. Happy birthday Mady and Emma!

Where to begin?

We'll just get the bad news out of the way. Eric was laid off on Monday November 10th, along with 4 others from his work. We are pretty devastated by the news, but we are hopeful that we will find work quickly. So, please keep us in your prayers and my parents also, my Parents are searching also. If you hear of anything in the IT industry please let us know. I am also now back in the hunt for graphic/website work, either full time or a freelance project.

Good News! We are all healthy and planning on a great Thanksgiving with my folks and sister. Sydney is doing great also, she has reached 15lbs! This is a little on the small side, but doctor said she is growing great and to keep up the good work. She had her first cold this week and was pretty pitiful, with her little cough and runny nose and eyes. Below is a picture of her in her new hat I crocheted the other night. She has a matching blanket that I completed while I was pregnant. If anyone is interested in a cute hat let me know, for a small fee :) you can have an original and choose your own colors too!


We are enjoying our time together and we know that God has a plan. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and from the Theall's Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving Prayer

Our Heavenly Father, as we approach this day set aside to give thanks for all the blessings that You have given to us, help us to remember the most important blessings...
The blessings of Family, The strength of Friendship, the joy of Life, and the Peace in You.
Help us to remember to give thanks not only on this day, but everyday.
Help us, also, to remember that the gifts You have given to us were meant to be shared with others.
Lord, we love you and we thank you for our lives. Amen.

Grand Ole' Weekend

This past weekend we had a great time at the pumpkin patch with Sydney (more pictures in the photo album top right)!

A special Happy Birthday wish to Eric aka "Daddy". Your girls love you!

Eric and I celebrated his birthday by going to the $1 theater to watch WALLE and then out to our favorite Mexican restaurant Amigos. Our friend Megan watched Sydney and she had a great time with her daughter Bailey doing cheerleading cheers. Thanks Everetts we owe you!

A Few New Shots

Eating Sweet Potatoes

Feeding herself

Nap Time

Grandma Louise got Sydney this little bonnet.
Isn't she cute!

Not Much To Say

Just a little update so you know we are all still kickin'. Sydney is doing great, she is a little rollie pollie. We had to get a bumper for her crib this weekend, because she likes rolling so much she was getting stuck between the mattress and crib slats. Not a great position to sleep in.

She is now a huge fan of sweet potatoes and avocado mush. Daddy fed her this weekend and she ate two cubes of sweet potatoes. "It was less messy than I thought!" A relieved statement from Daddy.

A scary thing happened to us on Friday. I was taking Scamper and Sydney for a walk and just two houses up from us on our way home, we were attacked by two dogs. Scamper did not know what was going on and I just kept pulling his leash trying to runaway. Of course Sydney freaked out from all the growling and yelling from me. So we ran the rest of the way home and waited for Daddy to get home so he could go tell the neighbors to keep their dogs in the fence. Lucky there was no injuries and Sydney is not afraid of Scamper.

We hope all our readers are having a blessed Monday and I will try and remember to take some updated pictures of the family.

New First

Sydney has rolled over for the first time. I took her to Early Birds story time at the Hoover Library this morning and after singing and playing I laid her on the floor to clean up and "Bloop!!" (that is the sound I make when she rolls over!) She is still laying on one arm and doesn't seem to know how to get it out yet and she is not so sure how to roll back on to her back, but I am soon this will come in no time and I will be running all around chasing her.

My little girl is growing so fast. She also looks very proud of herself and is enjoying the new view from her belly. We hope everyone is having a blessed week.

time flies when your having fun

We took new pictures of Sydney last night eating her first rice cereal meal and I realized I have not posted anything new in almost a month.

Well we have been super busy and having a blast with Sydney. For Labor Day weekend we drove to Lexington, Kentucky to meet Eric's parents. Lexington was a good half way point for both of us and we also were able to explore a new city. Lexington's downtown was very clean and they had revitalized all the old buildings. We had a great meal and had the best cornbread, which we got the recipe for. Also, Lexington we visited the Kentucky Horse Park, where they have over 40 breeds of horse. We watched a breeders show and got to meet the horses after. Sydney was not so sure about all of it, but she did touch her first horse.



We all had a great time at the park and enjoyed our time with each other. Sydney also went swimming for the first time (those are on Grandma's camera, we'll get them soon).

Then the next weekend my folks decided last minute they wanted some grandparent time, so they drove out Friday and spent the weekend. We had a blast with Scamper on Saturday at the Alabama War Dog Festival. Scamper was a huge hit with all the crowds and I think he was the only dog that didn't bark!

This weekend Kariann and Seth came to Birmingham for a high school friend's wedding and stayed with us. We went to the Greek Festival Saturday night and ate some yummy food. Sunday I took Kariann and Seth to Aldridge Gardens and took some engagement photos. Sydney also had her first taste of rice cereal and she did really well with it. She only spit at me a few times!



We have had a busy month and we have enjoyed spending so much time with our family, but we are exhausted! I have posted a bunch of photos on the photo album, check them out.

Love the Thealls!

What a great weekend

Thank you everyone for making Sydney's baptism a very special day for us.

Most of our immediate family was able to visit us and we enjoyed every minute, especially watching Sydney's cousins interact with her. We miss you already Emme, Josh and Jake.

Eric and I feel so blessed to have such supportive family and friends that were able to share this sacrament with us. Sydney did great during the weekend and is now back on schedule :). We can't wait for the next gathering of our family. Check out the photos from the weekend on the album link in the top right corner.

3 Months

Sydney is growing so fast and is quite the jabber box. I have been trying to get some video of her talking, but every time I put the camera next to her she goes silent and just stares in the lens. She is smiling a lot also but won't smile in the camera, so what this means is that you have to come visit her in person.

We are having a big crowd this weekend for Sydney's baptism on Sunday and we will post a bunch of new pictures then, but to tide you over until then here are a few snap shots I took of her on her three month birthday.

Sydney's half smile

two, countin' em' two leg rolls!

Cali Trip

We had a great time in California at my friend Stephanie's wedding. First off, what a party Stephanie and Justin! We had a great time and you were so beautiful Steph.

Sydney did great on the plane and the 6 hour car ride that should have only taken 3 hours. We got our rental car in LA at 5 o'clock, which means spending 1 hour in traffic and only traveling 10 miles. (I am not kidding) At that point Sydney was hungry so we pulled off in Hollywood at some park to feed her. Another hour gone and we are back on the highway, we ended up getting in to San Luis Obispo around 11 pm. We were pooped!!!

Friday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at Angie and Guido's home. They served an amazing Italian spread with 5 courses for dinner and 6 courses for dessert!

Saturday was the wedding and Eric took care of Sydney all day so that I could fulfill my bridesmaid duties. It was a nice break and Eric had fun with his daughter. The wedding was elegant and heartfelt and you could really feel the church overflowing with love. The reception was a blast and we danced the night away.

Sunday we had breakfast at Deb and Ray's house (Steph's parents). Again, another great feast and fellowship. After we had enjoyed most of the day with our friends we decided we had to go to the beach. It was a little cloudy that day but we could not pass the chance to bring Sydney to the Pacific Ocean.

Sydney with her feet in the Pacific Ocean.

"Not warm water like my baths."

Kris, Eric and Sydney at Montana de Oro

Monday was another great traveling day and we were home by 10 pm. We all slept well that night and Eric headed in to work. All in all it was a great trip and we met a ton of great people and enjoyed the west coast weather. Alabama is beyond hot!!!

Check out more pictures from our trip in our photo gallery.

shameless promotion

We are loving SKYPE!!! We bought a web cam a few weeks ago and downloaded skype so that we could talk and SEE our parents and friends. The best part it is FREE!!! That's right free for skype to skype calls. So go and do it now, download skype on your computer and give us a call and you can see Sydney live. This sounds like an ad, but I swear it is amazing.

You do not need a web cam to see us but we can't see you until you get one. I think it is worth the minimal fee so that Sydney can start to recognize her family and friends. Call or email me if you have any questions. We hope to be skyping (new dictionary word?) with you soon.

2 Months Old

Sydney had her 2 month check-up today. She weighs 10 lbs and 2 oz and is 22 inches long. The 4 shots she had to get were not much fun, but she didn't cry too much and I promised her that I would hold her all day! She is enjoying that!

Some of you readers may know that my folks moved to North Carolina earlier this year for a new job, well my dad got laid off this week. This is a huge surprise and pretty much stinks since they just sold their home in Washington. Please keep them in your prayers. We know that God has a plan. We love you Granny Jan and Pop!

this much!

Happy 4th of July!

$3 to wash clothes!!!

I cannot believe the cost to wash a load of wash at the laundromat. Three dollars is a far cry from the fifty cents I use to pay in college.

Sydney enjoyed her first trip to the laundromat and was in awe of the florescent lights. So you are probably wondering why for heavens sake I am having to drag my 6 week old in the 90+ heat to the laundromat. Well, not only has are wall collapsed, our almost new tv broke, downstairs furnace needed a new circuit board, upstairs ac unit needed to be replaced, our dryer now needs a new part. We have obviously angered the appliance gods!

Eric ordered the part and we should have it Tuesday, so hopefully I should not need to do laundry till then. Sydney can create quite a mess though!

I am healing nicely from surgery and just a little tender to the touch. My mom is leaving tomorrow to go home to Charlotte and we will have another cry fest. So think of her tomorrow as she leaves her granddaughter again.

Everyone have a blessed day!

Thank you for your prayers

I made it out of surgery with flying colors and no gallbladder! This weekend I just took it really easy and let my mom and Eric help me around. I am a little sore but healing up nicely.

Thanks again for your prayers and well wishes.

1 Month Old

Sydney is doing great and is enjoying spending time with both Grandparents. Here are a few photos to show her progress.


3 weeks

3 weeks

1 month

1 month

Back to the hospital

I am scheduled for surgery on June 13th at 8:00 am at St. Vincent's to have my gallbladder removed. Hopefully this will be the end of the horrible pain that I have been having since January. When Eric and I met with the surgeon on Tuesday he told us the main factors that contribute to having gallstones; they are: female (strike 1), pregnancy (strike 2), family history of gallstones (strike 3 thanks mom), and native american ancestry (strike 4). The ultrasound shows that I have a very large amount of tiny tiny tiny stones which, are of course the worst to have because, they can travel into other organs like the pancreas and make you really sick.

Anyways, please keep us in your prayers that day and weekend. I have experienced the new fear that comes with parenthood and the risk of surgery. This has been weighing on me since her birth, knowing that I have to have this surgery has been very heavy on my heart, that is now extra full of love for this new little person.

Here is a link to learn more about the surgery: click here

I am a Mommy!

I am a Mommy! I went in Wednesday May 7th at 6:00 am for the scheduled induction and everything went great. They induced at 8 am and then at 8:30 Dr. Goolsby came in to break my water. She examined me, and gush, my water broke right there. I got my epidural an hour later and started progressing well.

About an hour into labor I started to really start feeling the contractions, so they gave me a booster shot of drugs. Forty-five minutes later I am having to hee-hee breathe and I am really uncomfortable. My nurse called for the anesthesiologist to come and give me a new epidural. What had happened was the catheter had fallen out. Not fun!!! So I experienced about an hour and a half of active labor up to 7 cm. After I got the new epidural life was grand! I started pushing at 1 pm and Sydney Yvette was born at 2:42 pm. The doctor said she came out with her eyes wide open and she was holding the umbilical cord in her arms. She weighed a whopping 6 lbs 5 oz and was 20.75 inches.

We came home Friday afternoon and we are doing great. I have to say this is more than I ever could have imagined and my heart is over flowing with love for this little person.

Happy Birthday, Sydney Yvette!

She's here!!  Sydney was born on 05/07/2008 at 2:42 PM. She weighed 6 lbs, 5 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.  Mom and baby are doing well.

Here are few pictures:  

http://picasaweb.google.com/erictheall/SydneyYvetteTheall

More to come in the next few days.

- Eric

Update

As of April 24th (last Thursday) I am 3 cm dilated and progressing well. My doctor decided that we could plan an induction for May 7th and let her come a little early. No medical reasons, just logistics.

Eric and I are very excited and can't wait to meet our daughter.

Baby Shower

Thank you ladies for a great shower!

Sydney's Room

Eric's mobile

Feel my pain!

Eric has BRIEF sympathy pains!

Eric blew his trumpet and look what happened...

Happy Valentine's Day

We have finished painting the "Rainbow Room"!

Update

Baby, Mommy and Daddy are all doing great. We are in the process of painting her room and will post pictures soon. We think Scamper is aware of the changes. He investigates every little baby item brought in and is a snuggle bug with Kris. It might take a little time getting use to her but we think he will adjust.

Time is flying with only 4 months left!