Breakfast with Santa

This past Saturday we went to Columbus to have Breakfast with Santa. It was so much fun to see my nieces with Santa and the way they just looked at him!!! Calli Ann did great and of course didn't even think twice about being in Santa's lap. I'm sure this time next year will be a different story. I cannot believe we are already celebrating Christmas. I love this time of year! We still have a little shopping left and are planning on going to Nashville this weekend to be with Aaron's family. Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the best time of the year!! Merry Christmas!!<

Grandmother

Aaron's grandmother came from Ohio and spent a week with us! It was so much fun having her here. I actually cried when I had to tell her good-bye. There is nothing like having someone you care for so much spend a whole week with you. I loved just sitting each day with her and hearing all of her stories, advice, wisdom and her own trial and errors as a wife and mother. We had the best week and Calli Ann loved sleeping in her arms all week. We are having to get back to "normal" now that she is gone and we cannot hold her all the time but it was worth every minute she was here with us. I actually even learned to make homemade pie crust and two different pies. I know Aaron is excited because they are his favorites. I say it is easy but I haven't tried it by myself yet. So we will see how it goes. Hopefully Grandmother can come back soon to see us.

Thank You

God has also blessed us with so many friends and family. The love we have received from everyone since Calli Ann was born has been amazing. I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the phone calls, emails, food, visits etc. You will never know how much it has meant to us. We love you all.

3 weeks old

It has only been 3 weeks but it honestly feels like a lifetime. I really can't remember what I did before Calli Ann was here. It is hard to believe that this time 3 weeks ago I had not even met her and how much 3 weeks can change your life. I am absolutely loving being a mom. We are finally getting adjusted to things and figuring most of it out!!!! She has already grown and changed so much. Even though I look forward to the many different milestones of her life I just want to soak up every minute of her right now and don't want her to change. I look at some of my friends babies and it seems like yesterday that we were visiting them at the hospital and now they seem so big. So one of my prayers for myself and for all my friends are that they savour every minute. It goes so fast!

Calli Ann

Calli Ann has arrived and I'm sure everyone reading this already knows. Our phone has been out since last week and I haven't been able to update. She is doing great and has already changed so much. She is actually a week old today and I cannot believe how a week goes by so fast. We are getting settled in and loving every minute of it. I never thought I could love someone as much as I love her. Our lives will never be the same and the joy she has already brought to our lives is amazing. Cannot wait for ya'll to meet her. I'll keep ya'll posted on our lives. The website below are pictures Aaron keep updated of her. Thanks for all the prayers and support. We have felt them all!

http://picasaweb.google.com/mystephensfamily

Update

Aaron and I went to the doctor yesterday and I had not made much progress but he wants to go ahead and induce me on Monday October 15th. I think we would have gone today but he thinks Monday is a good day. He said for us to go home and think about it and call him later after we made our minds up. There wasn't much thinking for us. We called him back and he had already put us on the schedule!!! So we will keep ya'll posted if anything changes before then. Please keep us in your prayers. It is really hard to believe Calli Ann is going to be here in just a few days. God is SO good.

Today

We went to the doctor today and there is not much progress from last week. We thought she may be coming soon but I guess it was wishful thinking. She is just not ready and know I have to keep reminding myself that she'll come when she is ready. I am so anxious to meet her!!!! We'll keep you posted. Hope everyone is doing well. War Eagle!!!!!

Baby Copeland

Baby Copeland went to be with Jesus this afternoon. Please continue to lift them up in your prayers. I cannot even begin to imagine what they are going through right now but know that Copeland is safe in His arms now.

Fall

If you didn't know Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year. I am in love with fall leaves and just taking pictures of them. I have yet to do anything with the pictures but it is one of the most breathtaking things to me. I am in love with almost everything that has to do with Fall. I have been asking my sweet husband to plant some plants in just a few of our planters before Calli Ann arrives. So today when he got home he was on his way to Lowe's. I thought he was just going to get a few plants but instead came home with a truck load of plants, mulch, and some other things I don't know what they are used for. So I thought I would share of few pictures of Aaron planting and getting ready for the Fall season. Thanks Aaron.

Farley Family

I wanted to share a blog of a pledge sister of mine from Auburn, Boothe Blanton Farley. She and her husband just had their second daughter who was diagnosed a couple of months ago with a rare genetic disorder called Trisomy-18 and statistics show that her chances of survival are very slim but she is still here on this side of heaven and even got to come home yesterday. I have been very blessed by her Blog and I wanted to share it with ya'll. Their faith and testimony throughout all of this has been incredible and the way Boothe has shared her deepest thoughts and prayers is amazing. I hope you will be blessed and inspired by her and pray that most importantly through God's will He will be glorified through their precious child of God. Here it is...
http://conorbootheandgirls.blogspot.com/

3 More Weeks

We are on the end stretch of our pregnancy!!! I honestly cannot believe that Calli Ann will be here in just a couple of weeks. We have been so blessed to have a healthy pregnancy this time. Everything for the nursery is almost ready and we are going to the police station this week to get the bases for the car seats in the car. I still haven't packed our bags but hopefully I will get around to doing it this week. I think I am understanding what people mean when they say "nesting" I think that has occurred these last couple of weeks. The things I have been doing are not typical of myself and my family would be in shock if they saw some of the things I have been doing around the house to get ready.

I went to my last AU football game last night and it was crazy to think that will be my last game before I become a mom. We tailgated for awhile and got to watch Tiger Walk which always gives me chills even though I have seen it a million times. Even though we have not had a great season starting off there is nothing like being an Auburn fan and being in Auburn during football season. It is wonderful and thank goodness we won last night.

We will keep you posted on Calli Ann's arrival and hopefully it won't be too long. Thanks for all the prayers and words of encouragement these last couple of months. We are so blessed to have precious friends and family like you!

Calli Ann's Shower

Well

Well, Aaron and I have decided to start a blog in order to keep people updated on what is going on in Auburn. We felt this way would be the easiest way for everyone to stay in touch with our lives. So this is just a glimpse of what is happening right now.

Aaron and I have been married for almost 4 years and still live in Auburn and love it here. I never imagined I would still live in Auburn but it is amazing to see the plans God has for our lives. We have a precious dog named Cayman. He is so sweet and I have been sad because he is now an outdoor dog. I think he is use to it now but it has been an adjustment for me not having him inside with us at times. Aaron works for Northcutt Realty and I am teaching at the Auburn Early Education Center. We just moved to a new house. This is the second time we have moved since we have been married and we hope we do not move for a long time. Moving from our old house was really bittersweet. We had done a lot of work in our little house and had made so many memories there but know that this was the right time to move somewhere else in Auburn.

The biggest news of our lives right now is that we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first child, Calli Ann Stephens. She is due to arrive on October 16th and we can hardly wait! God has truly blessed us with this precious child and we are so thankful and in awe of the life God has created. Please keep us in your prayers these next few weeks. We will keep everyone posted. This was one of the main reasons for starting this blog. We thought this would be a good way to keep ya'll posted on Calli's Ann's life. We cannot gurantee it will be updated weekly but we hope to be able to give ya'll a glance of her life.

We are also very excited about football season starting this Saturday. War Eagle! I cannot believe football season is already here. Aaron has alreay informed me that it all starts Thursday and he has a date with ESPN!! Wow, how time flies. Our house is always open. We hope to keep this updated as often as possible, so please be sure to check this site for further postings!