Meeting the Big Guy

Greg & I took Darius to Woodland Hills Mall to meet Santa. This is probably the first & last time in a long time that he will sit on Santa's lap smiling!

Look how big I am!

Thanksgivng at Granny & Papa's

We celebrated with my family the weekend before Thanksgiving. All of the Pannell cousins together!

Thanksgiving at South Carolina

We went to South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Greg's parents and his Grandmother. Grandpa, Greg & I took Darius around the campus of the University of South Carolina for some pictures. While we were there, Greg'g grandma fell and broke her hip. She's had surgery and is doing rehab now getting ready to move to a Skilled Nursing Facility.

Random pictures

These are some random pictures that I like from Darius' Shawnee naming ceremony and Grandmother Anderson's birthday party that I haven't posted before.

Darius is 4 months old!

My baby is 4 months old today! He is growing so fast. He is now 14 lbs 4 oz and is 25 1/4 in long. Both are in the 50 percentile. His doctor said he's perfect! He did much better with his shots this time. At 2 months he cried all day until I gave him Tylenol but today he slept for about 5 hrs afterwards and then woke up happy. These are some pictures we took today (We were just trying on the Santa outfit but it looked so cute I had to include it) Here are a few things he's doing now:
* rolls onto his side
* chews on his hands (or mine) every chance he gets
* twirls his hair in his fingers when eating or sleepy
* teething (he actually has a tooth coming in on the top, it will be awhile before its all the way through but it's poking out now)
* very interested in my food (we're starting cereal tonight when Daddy gets home)
* sleeps from 10pm until 6-8am
* laughs all the time
* plays with rattles and teething toys
* melts my heart every time I look at him

We're final!!!

Darius' adoption was finalized on Monday, November 5th. We are so happy and relieved. A big thank you to everyone who has lifted us up in prayer & support over the last 4 months! We could not have gone through this without you!

Branson, Birthday, & Football

Greg, Darius & I went to Branson last week. Greg's parents were there for a few days and it was also my niece's birthday. We then followed Greg's parents to Fayetteville, Arkansas to watch South Carolina play Arkansas. The Gamecocks lost unfortunately but we still had a great time.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Belated Halloween! Darius was a turtle for his first Halloween. We went to our church's Fall Festival where Greg & I worked one of the booths and then went to see Bump Bump (my Grandma) & Granny & PaPa (my parents.)Darius was very cute but he didn't enjoy Halloween too much. He had to wear a hot costume and didn't even get to eat any of his candy. His future wife, Rylie (my friend Kashia's baby girl) was a little pink pig. My picture of the two of them together didn't turn out so I'll have to get one from my sister & post it later.

Our first family tradition

My Danny Zuko impression

Darius' hair has started to take on a life of its own. I never know what it's going to do. I was holding him the other day and a lock of his hair kept falling down on his forehead. Right before this I was singing him songs from Grease, I guess he just got inspired! So far, Darius loves show tunes, Sunday School songs, and girl bands of the 50's and 60's. His favorite song is "Do Lord." He is either tone deaf and thinks Mommy is a great singer or he is laughing his bootie off at my attempts at singing.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Late Birthday to my wonderful husband, Greg! (Don't worry, I'm not just now wishing him a Happy Birthday in person!) Greg turned 37 on Sunday, Oct 21st. It was also the 4th anniversary of the day we met. Darius & I love you very much and we hope this year brings you as much happiness as you bring us!

igguolhngv (I love you Daddy!)

Welcome Gavin Asa Pannell

My newest (& 8th!) nephew, Gavin Asa Pannell, was born Sept 28th. He was born awake and alert and ready to go! He was my family's biggest baby weighing in at 8 lbs 10 1/2 oz. He and Darius had the same size feet! He is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see him and Darius play together. I hope they will be the very best of friends. I didn't have any cousins my age growing up and I'm glad that Darius will have some playmates in the family.

Are you ready for some football?

I know it's been awhile since I updated. I tried to add these last two slideshows several weeks ago but photobucket wasn't working for some reason. Darius went to his first football game Sept 14th when the Bartlesville Bruins played Stillwater. We lost of course. We took him to his first college game at TU the next night and watched them beat BYU. He was awake the whole game and was content to just sit in his sling and watch the activity. The next weekend we took him to his first OSU football game and watched a very exciting game as we beat Texas Tech. The biggest highlight of the day was when Mike Gundy spoke to Darius and said he was a beautiful baby and well dressed. I got so shook up that I missed an incredible photo opp. He will go to his next college game Nov. 3rd when we take him to watch his Daddy's alma mater, South Carolina, play Arkansas. How many 3 month olds can say they have watched 3 different college football teams in 3 different stadiums? We'll get our OSU season tickets back next year when the stadium renovations are complete. I've been going through withdraws this year not being at all the home games.

More football

Football

Playing with Daddy

Darius had his first lesson in Playstation when we took Daddy for his play date with Derek. We spent the afternoon with our friends Derek & Michelle a couple of weeks ago. The guys played PS3 all afternoon while the gals got caught up and played with Darius. Once Darius is old enough to play video games and golf with Daddy, I may never see either of them again. Hopefully I'll have a little girl to shop with me by then!

Darius' room

I finally hung Darius' name above his crib the other day. I took the other 3 pictures right after we moved the furniture in his room. I painted one wall green, one blue, one with green, blue and brown polka dots, and the other I left white with his name. The only thing I have left is to hang his curtains. They are the same material as the bedding.

My baby is 2 months old! (& had to get shots!!)

Darius will be 2 months old tomorrow & had his 2 month well check Friday. He now weighs 10lbs 15oz and is 22 3/4 inches long. Dr. Mickle said he is right on target for growth and development. (Personally I think he's way advanced when it comes to looks, intelligence and personality) Dr. Mickle always spends extra time talking and playing with Darius. I think he's her favorite patient. He did get his first shots too. He was such a champion, so brave! I had to take him to Walmart after that to reward him with a toy. He picked out some wrist rattles. Does the fact that I saved his bandaids and put them in his baby book show that I'm a first time mom? Next time he goes to the Dr for his 4 month well check, our adoption should be finalized!!

Darius moves to his crib...for 1 night at least

On Tuesday I decided it was time to move Darius into his room and let him sleep in his crib. He did great, I on the other hand was a basketcase. I didn't get any sleep and kept waking Greg up to make sure he could hear Darius breathing on the monitor too. Well the next night I put Darius in his crib and about 10 mintues later picked him up and slept with him in the recliner all night because the cradle was even too far away at 5 inches from the bed. Needless to say Darius is back in our room in the cradle. He's going to grow up so fast anyway and I want to keep him near me as long as I can.

Darius watching his first OSU football game

Trip to Branson

Darius & I went to Branson Thursday to Saturday to spend time with my sister and brother and their families. Darius had his first trip to Silver Dollar City and we went to Celebration City Friday night. It was the first time for all of the Pannell cousins to be together. We had a great time but I won't be traveling that far with Darius by myself again any time soon. He cried most of the 3 1/2 hr trip both ways.

Celebration City