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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Life Changing News

(Ok. Bare with me. This turned out longer than I had planned but I was behind on blogging and wanted to use this post to share something with you and also to document it all.)

If you follow me on Facebook or if you follow my sister-in-law on her blog, By God's Southern Grace, you might already have an indication of what I am about to post.

Judd and I feel so blessed to share some very exciting news.

We are expecting our first child!!! (Cast your vote on the baby's gender by leaving us a comment with your guess or respond to our poll on the top right of the page.)

I found out on an away game football Saturday (Nov. 9, 2013). Judd and I had already watched the Auburn vs. Tennessee game that afternoon. After the game, Judd walked over to the neighbor's house to watch some other games and to visit. While he was out, mostly on a whim, I decided to take a pregnancy test. Needless to say, I was very surprised and so thrilled with the results.

Being the planner that I am, and knowing that we were just starting to try, I had already planned out how I wanted to tell Judd. I had the materials prepared in advance. They were all themed for football season, so if things had not worked out in a few months I would have needed to start over with my decorations. It was all meant to be in every way I guess. :)

My original thought was that he would be in the house and I would need to put together the surprise in a place where he would not catch me in action. I thought I could sneak out to the car for a few minutes undetected.

Although he ended up being gone, I stuck with my original plan. Immediately after reading the results, I quickly grabbed my "telling Judd" folder of materials and ran outside to the car. I managed to get it all together and close the trunk before he came home. I sent him a text message about dinner as an excuse and luckily it only took him about 10 minutes to get home. That was such a long 10 minutes to me. My heart was racing. I was so happy and still kind of in disbelief. I couldn't wait to share this life hanging news with the love of my life.

Upon his arrival, I told Judd I had something that I needed his help with. Being the sweet husband that he is, he walked right out to help me. I've included below a couple of pictures of what he found.

Judd was in disbelief as well for about a second; however, once the news sunk in, he was elated.
I felt like we needed a second confirmation using a test that actually read the words "pregnant". The first test was the kind with two lines. We hopped in the car and headed to the pharmacy. We quickly bought a second test and shortly after, we saw this.
Our dreams literally came true before our eyes at those moments.

Since then, we've had several other really special times.

We had the joy of being able to share our big news with our family at and just after Thanksgiving. We tried really hard to be able to tell both sides of our family in person at the same time; although, travel schedules and holiday plans got in the way a bit. It ended up turning out just fine though.

We told my family first. We celebrated the holiday with them. Just before Thanksgiving dinner, following our Thanksgiving tradition of blessing the food and giving the thanks through a family prayer circle, each family member shared what he or she was thankful for this Thanksgiving. When it got to Judd, he shared that he and I were so glad to share some very special news with our family and that he was so thankful that he was finally going to get to know what it was like to be a daddy. About that time, everybody in the room lost it. It was a precious moment that I will never forget.

The following day, November 29, we got to share the news with Judd's parents since they were coming to Auburn for the Iron Bowl game. The 29th happened to also be Judd's dad's birthday. Judd sketched and water colored a special birthday card for his dad that featured Aubie the tiger, Auburn University's mascot, as a baby cub. It was precious. Inside, we wrote that we made him something special for his birthday. We, of course, meant another grandchild and the card itself. Judd's parents were so sweet and happy for us.

Skip forward another month to when we started sharing the news with friends. I had the pleasure of telling my dear friends, the fab, at our annual Christmas gift exchange party. I carried in my gift with the following tag attached. I placed it under the tree and waited for the girls to notice. It didn't take long. It is such a pleasure to have friends who can celebrate in our joy.
Throughout all of this, we had a chance to see our precious little one and to hear his or her heartbeat. Our first appointment was on Dec. 4. We were 8 weeks along at that time. Judd did have the doctor double check that we were not having twins. Ha. The heartbeat was most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
We have yet another milestone this week. We find out on Thursday, February 13, 2014 if we are having a boy or a girl. We are going to make this news a special Valentine's Day surprise for both sets of parents who will be coming to visit on the 14th.

What do you think we are having? We would love to see your guess. I will provide a little detail to help inform your decision. I feel great now at 18 weeks but was a little sick during the first trimester. I am loving pickles and all things pickled like never before. Ice cream has also been especially delicious lately.

Leave us a comment with your guess or respond to our poll on the top right of the page.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Southern Sliders

Our last few tailgates have been just as much fun as the ones I posted about here. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, when our Auburn University tigers played Ole Miss, we went all out with a southern themed tailgate.
Our menu included fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, hashbrown casserole, green bean casserole, and brownies with pecans on top. Don't worry we did have fresh vegetables to offset the potential heart attacks caused by the rest of the menu.
There is one thing in particular on our menu; however, that I want to share with you.
While enjoying great food, we've also had a blast spending quality time outdoors with friends and family the last few weeks.

During our southern food themed tailgate we served these little tasties as appatizers. I'm calling them southern sliders. They were so delicious that I wanted to highlight their goodness and share them with y'all here on TLP.

Southern Sliders

Ingredients:

  • French bread
  • Pimento cheese
  • Conecuh sausage (cooked)
  • Pickled green tomatoes
  • Toothpicks

Recipe:

Slice bread into thin pieces. Place bread slices flat on an ungreased jelly roll pan. Toast in a 350 degree oven for approximately 5 minutes.

Spoon your favorite store bought pimento cheese over the top side of your toast pieces. Or, if you have time, spoon homemade pimento cheese over the top. ;)

Cut your cooked sausage in half to create a flat side. Then cut it in 1-2 inch pieces. Rest 1 piece of sausage on top of each piece of pimento cheese covered bread.

Slide toothpicks through wedges of pickled green tomotoes, one piece per toothpick. Place a piece of green tomato atop each piece of sausage making sure to press the toothpick all of the way through to the toast layer.

The pickled green tomatoes we used were canned by my Uncle Frank. In case you don't have an Uncle Frank, I suggest you can your own or try to find some store bought pickled green tomatoes. I think pickled okra would be great with this as well.

These southern sliders were a crowd pleaser. They pleased me too because they were easy and delicious.

Enjoy! Who knows, you might eat so many that you will feel like this.

 

Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Dr. Diva Days Of Our Lives

I am so thankful for the friends in my life. In particular, I am glad to know these women, the Dissertation Divas.
I mentioned them in this post a while back. 
 

From left to right, Dr. Langham (me), Dr. Carter, Dr. Greer, Dr. Searby (our mentor), and Dr. Zimmerman-Brown.

We all saw each other through the absolute most difficult years of our lives both personally and academically. Amazingly, the four of us, under the leadership of our Dr. Diva mentor, were able to graduate together a whole year early with our Ph.D.s while also working full-time. That is a VERY rare accomplishment.

We have not all been together since just after our commencement ceremony in December 2013. About that time, I moved to Auburn, AL to accept a new position at Auburn University. Our mentor, Dr. Searby, also took a job at AU.

Luckily, we were able to enjoy some time together this weekend. It was so fun to catch up with each other. The three Divas still living in Birmingham, AL came down to Auburn for a Diva weekend. We ate delicious food at Acre and Ma Fia's, drank good wine and yummy cocktails, shopped, and enjoyed special fellowship. It was a fantastic weekend!

Our toast at dinner on Friday sure was so much sweeter than the toast I wrote about in this post from when we were still in school. It is glorious to be finished!!!

 

Earning our doctorates together was truly a bonding experience. It was such a special time to be with friends who can commiserate with one another about such a challenging time.

We had a blast! Thanks for a great weekend, ladies!

 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Tailgating Langham Style

 
Football and tailgating have been big successes so far this season. Our Auburn University tigers have won their first 3 home games of the year. Home games mean that we get to tailgate with our friends and family. We love it.

We tailgate at our home which is literally across the street from campus. We have enjoyed delicious food such as smoked Boston butt, fresh from the Gulf of Mexico oven roasted BBQ shrimp (thanks to our friend Tripp from Southern Fish & Oyster), burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and lots of brown drinks. We've also had some really great fellowship.

We even got to tailgate with our precious brand new nephew, Landry, and his proud parents, Judd's brother, Colby, and our SIL, Brenna. Landry was about a month and a week old in these pictures. We are so glad to have been the destination for Landry's first road trip.

The very first tailgate took on an unexpected theme - tailgating Langham style. Look closely at the pictures on these cupcakes. Our friend Katie made toppers with pictures of Judd's face photoshopped on Si's body doing the Gangnom style dance. Get it, Langham style?!?! Ha! She also included pictures of my face, our dog's face, Judd's face when he dressed up as a rockstar for Halloween, and Barry Gibb's face because Judd does a good Bee Gee's impression. She is so creative!
We hope you're having a great time cheering for your favorite teams this season!

War Eagle!

 

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Introducing Landry

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If you follow my SIL, Brenna, on her blog, Instragram, and/or Facebook then you might already know that we have a new nephew.  Brenna and my BIL, Colby, are proud parents of little Landry Read Langham.  We are all smitten with him.  He is a perfect, blonde-headed, angel.  He is also a mini me version of Judd’s dad, Terry.

Landry was born on August 5, 2013.  He was born on a Monday.  Judd and I thought we were going to  have to miss his birth because I had meeting that day that I was not going to be able to postpone; however, when I arrived at work that morning, I noticed an email that someone else had delayed the meeting.  Woo Hoo.  It took me all of about 3 seconds to notify my colleagues that I was leaving immediately in hopes of being there for my nephew’s birth.  I went straight home, packed a bag, and grabbed my camera.  We hopped in the car as soon as possible.  Judd and I still were not sure we could make it in time.  After all, Brenna was already in labor and we had an approximately 3 hour drive ahead of us.  Landry was born in Milton, FL and we were driving from Auburn, AL.  We did make it just in time.  Landry was born about a half hour after we arrived.

We all waited anxiously at the hospital.  A few weeks prior to his birthday we created a pool for Landry’s birth.  To help the time pass, I awarded the birthday award to Terry.  He sure was proud to become a grandpa that day!  The prize was popcorn since we were all guessing when Brenna was going to pop.

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All of a sudden, Judd got a text message from his brother.  Landry had arrived!

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We could not wait for Colby and the doctor to walk down the hall to retrieve us.  We rushed in to see this sweet moment.   We were so glad to see a healthy mommy and baby!  Brenna sure did look great, too!  I’m amazed!  Bloggers, meet Landry!

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We had fun showing the new mom and dad the winners of the baby pool.

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We, of course, all could not wait to take a turn holding him. 

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He was such a good sport for his first bath and check-up.

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Brenna and Colby chose to keep his name a secret until his birthday.  We all knew in advance that his initials were LRL.  My sweet Mother-in-Law couldn’t stand the suspense.  She took drastic measures.  Smile  She went through the Mobile, AL phone book looking for names that started with “L”.  She is so funny.  When we got back to her house after his birth, she went back to her list to see if she “guessed” it.  She came  close to his name but didn’t have it exactly on her list.

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We could not take being away for too long.  We all went back to the hospital after dinner.  We took them a seafood dinner and snapped a few more photographs. 

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Unfortunately, duty called and Judd and I had to drive back to Auburn to go to work.  It was hard to leave.  We came back to visit the following weekend.  By this time, Brenna, Colby, and Landry were home from the hospital.

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We couldn’t wait to get a few more snuggles in with that sweet baby.  We love you, Landry!