Counting down the weeks

Is it too early to be counting down the weeks until Blakely's arrival?! Well, I am! 12 weeks really isn't that long, right?! Now that Christmas is over, I can really focus some of my time and attention on getting her nursery ready. Dad and mom bought Blakely her bedding that we had asked for for Christmas so now as soon as I get the paint color for her nursery, I can get started on everything. Today, my sister, Stacy came over and did some maternity pictures with me. Truthfully, I am not a huge fan of maternity pictures. When I was pregnant with Allie and Taylor the photographer I was using at the time tried to convince me to have some taken but both times I decided not to.- I mean, I definetly am not going to frame any pictures of me pregnant or anything but I did think it would be something nice to put in her baby book. I am really glad I decided to do some today because Stacy did a great job and I think they turned out really cute!

Thanks so much, Stacy, for taking some shots of us. You did a great job!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Christmas break

Oh how we are enjoying Christmas break! :) It has been so wonderful having a break from getting up every day and having to get to school. It has also been fabulous having nothing to do all day, which is exactly what we have done! Since we have been out of school, we have only left the house 2 days and that was Christmas Eve and Christmas day! So nice!! The girls have been enjoying their time at home just playing too. Especially since they got so many great Christmas presents to play with (but I will post more on that later!)

We love...

                                            Playing board games!

                                            Playing with our Cinderella castle

                                            Cooking (Especially when we get to taste test!)

We had a great Christmas and we still have another week of vacation. Not sure that we will be ready to start back to school after all of this fun!

No words needed!

No words today- just pictures of these adorable kids!

Blakely Kate

I think it is pretty obvious that I am not really great at being consistent at this blogging. We have been so busy and it seems like I haven't had time to sit at my computer for even 5 minutes lately! I can't believe the month of December is almost over. I can say that we have thoroughly enjoyed it though- even though we have had some rough patches. The time with my family has been great!

Blakely Kate is the name we are leaning towards for baby girl #3. She is 25 weeks now! I can already tell, she is going to be fiesty. She moves and kicks so much more than either of my other girls did. My favorite thing about being pregnant is watching my stomach as the baby moves and she is constantly active in there. Allie and Taylor are so excited about her. They are constantly talking to her and trying to feel her kicking. It has been really fun watching them get so excited about her.

Earlier this month, we had a scare concerning her health. Each time I have been pregnant, my body does not make enough amniotic fluid and so my fluid always borderlines on too low. For this reason, I have to see a specialist while pregnant. Earlier in the month when I went to see the specialist to have my fluid checked, they found a pericardial effusion on Blakely's heart. My doctor advised me that we would just watch it and see if it got better, worse, or healed itself. Well, with this news I went home and immediately started googling what this pericardial effusion could mean for her future health...bad idea. Everything I read was really bad news- completely unthinkable actually. Things like congestive heart failure or dying in the womb because her heart would not be able to pump blood fast enough. Wow- so that led to much worrying and praying. This past Monday I finally had my two week followup appointment (Those two weeks seemed like an eternity!) We found out on Monday that much of the fluid around the heart had resolved on its own and her heart structurally looked great. That was the best news I could have asked for and we were so grateful! The fluid had not totally resolved but my doctor assured me that at this point it was not enough fluid to worry about. We are going to continue to monitor it until the end of the pregnancy but I left on Monday feeling much better about her health- and that is something that can NEVER be taken for granted! We are getting so excited about meeting her. March just seems like an eternity away!!

They are back!

Our elves have come back from the North Pole to keep an eye on the girls for Santa and boy have they been getting into trouble! We have caught them coloring, reading books, sneaking into the candy jar, sliding down the banister to the stairs and having a marshmallow fight. Who knows what we will catch them doing next.....

Thanksgiving Feast

Forgot to share these so I figured better late than never. Last week Allie had her Thanksgiving feast at school. They got to choose if they wanted to be pilgrims or indians and even her teacher dressed up as a pilgrim! So cute and they had so much fun. Taylor also had so much fun and ate up all the attention because all the kids in Allie's class love her. Everyday when I drop Allie off the kids run up to Taylor to give her a hug and they all call her Taylor- of course she loves this!

Today, believe it or not, we are home having a snow day. That's right a SNOW day in November! I can't ever remember getting one this early but hey, we are enjoying it!

We are so blessed!

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone... I wait all year for the holidays and here we are with Thanksgiving already behind us! I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year-we always have a great family Thanksgiving, but this year, I believe I am more thankful than I have ever been. So many people I know have had difficulties come along lately that I have been able to realize even more all the blessings I have been given. On top of that, some of the hard times that I have been through personally this year have drawn me closer than ever to God and given me a total appreciation for His goodness to me. God is good!!

We were able to spend Thanksgiving day this year with both of our families. We went to Jeremy's family and had a great meal and then went to my parents and had a great meal there too! It was nice being able to spend the day relaxing with family! We ate all day and just layed around relaxing. So excited that Julie, Daniel, Jenna & Jett were able to be here with us to celebrate!

These are some pictures I wanted to share from Thanksgiving of my beautiful girls and hubby! Can't believe all the ways God has blessed us and I pray that our 2012 is as great as our 2011 has been.

God has also answered a prayer concerning our friends and their new baby, Caleb, that I spoke about in my last post. He came through his surgery well on Friday and the doctors were very positive with the outcome! His parents were even able to hold him yesterday and Lord willing, he will begin eating from a bottle Monday! God is answering our prayers so please continue praying for him and his sweet parents!

Now I am off to wrap some Christmas gifts!!

It's a GIRL!

Last Friday we got some very exciting news. We found out that our baby is another girl! During our ultrasound we were told that the baby looks healthy, which was a blessing. This ultrasound was fun because Allie and Taylor came along this time in order to find out if they were having a little brother or sister. Both of them said they wanted a brother so they were disappointed but I have a feeling once they meet their little sister, they will fall in love with her! I am excited because being from a family of 4 girls, I know how fun it is having multiple sisters and I am so excited my girls will get to experience that too! It makes life so fun.

I feel so blessed that God has given me my wonderful husband and entrusted me with the care of my kids. They are the light of my life.

I couldn't end this post without saying I have a very, very heavy heart today as one of mine and Jeremy's closest friends are undergoing a very trying time. Our friends were blessed with their second child, Caleb, on Monday and they thought he was perfectly healthy. Upon further testing, they received news that he had some problems with his heart. Today, he has undergone his first heart surgery and will have more to come. Please as you thank God this Thanksgiving for the healthy children in your life, take the time to say a prayer for our friends and their new sweet child, Caleb. Pray that God would give them a peace that passes all understanding at this time and that He would heal little Caleb and his heart.

I know this year I have too many blessings to count and I am truly thankful for all of them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Dixie Stampede

In my previous post I mentioned Allie being chosen at Dixie Stampede to be in the show! She was so excited and I just had to share the pictures of her chasing the chickens! It was so dark in the arena that I wasn't really able to get any good shots, but you can still get the idea!

She was really fast and did a great job. So proud of my girl for being brave enough to go in front of all of those people and be in the show!

Weekend getaway

This past weekend we had the chance to get away for our annual trip to Branson, MO. This year was a really great trip. The scenery was especially beautiful because of the wonderful fall we have had and the weather was perfect. It was nice enough during the day to enjoy being out and about and at night it was a little cold, which helped me get in the Christmas mood! (Like I need ANY help with that!)

Friday we went to do some outlet shopping and went to Silver Dollar City. The girls love all the rides at Silver Dollar City so they had a great time and we love the Christmas parade. One thing I especially love about Branson is the way that everyone there remembers the "reason for the season" Santa came through at the first of the parade and Baby Jesus was at the finale, which I thought was very fitting!

Saturday we went to see Santa and the girls got to tell him what they would like to get on Christmas morning. We also went to Dixie Stampede on Saturday. I absolutely love the Dixie Stampede! Not only is the food awesome, but the show is fun too. This was Allie and Taylor's first visit to Dixie Stampede and they fell in love with it. Allie loved seeing the horses and thought it was so funny that one of the horses was named Amy. Her and Taylor kept calling it Aunt Amy the rest of the time! Allie was so intrigued with the juggler who did the preshow (she has been trying to teach Taylor to juggle ever since we got home.) During the show, Allie got picked to go down into the arena and be part of the show. She is usually so shy that I was unsure of how she would do in front of such a large group of people but she did great. She had to chase the chickens around the arena with some other kids. It was so funny watching her. She won a medal and a book. She was so proud of her medal! It was such a great time and I know her and Taylor made some great memories.

We had such a great time spending time with mom and dad and getting away before our busy season (well, actually Jeremy's busy season) starts. Mom and dad had picked out a great condo on the lake to stay in and it was so relaxing and fun. The whole weekend was really fun- can't wait to do it again next year! Jeremy and I were discussing on the way home how Branson has really become a holiday tradition for us, we have been every year since we got married 7 years ago!

On a different note, we are so excited because tomorrow is our big day and Lord willing we will find out the sex of this little baby finally! Can't wait!!

Week 17

Yes, that is right. I am already 17 weeks pregnant! This pregnancy has been so different than my last two for various reasons. For one, the first 12 weeks were horrible. I remember being very nauseated when I was pregnant with Taylor but not to the extreme that I was this pregnancy. Not really sure why it was so bad this time but I think the medication that I was taking to help with the nausea was actually making me more sick than the nausea itself. The day I quit taking my nausea medications I began feeling better. Still not great but better. But, the great news, right at about 12 or 13 weeks I started feeling completely different. These past few weeks I have felt great! Just this past week I have started showing a little! Everyone tells me they still can't tell that I am pregnant by looking at me, but I can for sure. The last few days I thought I have actually been feeling the baby kick a few times. I thought it was a little early for that but it really feels like it to me!

Allie and Taylor are really excited about the baby. They have been guessing the sex, giving me ideas for names and Taylor is constantly wanting to rub my stomach so she can rub the baby! Taylor also has been telling people she has a baby in her stomach and it is coming out when she gets married...not sure where in the world she got that but I guess it is a little comforting to know she wants to wait for it to come out until after she is married. Anyhow, Allie really wants a brother and Taylor wants a sister. Allie also is really trying to push the name Summer if we have a girl. That name really isn't being considered but that is her vote! :)

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my doctor and then at my next appointment the third week of November we will find out the sex. So excited to get a look at this baby and find out what it will be!

On a random note, some pictures of Christmas because today, I am dreaming of a white Christmas!

A day at the pumpkin patch

Today was Allie's first field trip. We went to Priddy Farms pumpkin patch. It was the perfect day. The weather was amazing and it was a really fun time. All the kids got to choose a pumpkin, go on a hayride, make a scarecrow and play on their fun playgrounds. It was really nice getting to meet some of Allie's friends parents and spend time with her and her classmates. They all loved it. Above are a few pics from our fun day!

In other news, it is way past time for some pics of my baby bump. However, I don't have any to share! I will have to take some within the next few days because I am definetely starting to see a little bump in there! 

Costume Party

This year we decided to host our first Halloween party for the family. We get together for pretty much every other holiday of the year but we all usually don't get together for Halloween. This year we decided to have a party and dress up in costume. It ended up being really fun...and funny!!! I have to say everyone did really good thinking of funny costumes!

Stacy and Drew came as vampires and looked quite scary. Mom and Dad surprised us all by being Barack and Michelle Obama! It was so funny!! Amy was a flapper girl and I was a redneck. Jeremy had the idea to go as a build a bear. When he told me this idea, I was a little unsure but it ended up being so funny! He looked so funny- we all really couldn't quit laughing at him!! It was the perfect night for a outside party. It ended up being a great time!

We also celebrated dad's 56th birthday! WOW!!

So thankful for the fun time with family! Hope to do it again next year but who knows if mom and dad and Jeremy's funny costumes can get any better next year!??

64 Days!

64 Days until Christmas! I can't wait!! I put the Christmas countdown on my phone a few months ago so everyday I have been getting a message sent to me telling me how many more days. When I say I love Christmas, I am not actually just talking about Christmas day or even just the Christmas season- I love everything from October until January 1. It is the greatest time of the year and I can't believe it is finally here. The weather has been so nice the last few weeks. We have actually gotten a fall around here in Memphis this year, which is not always the case. Lots of times we pretty much go from cold to hot in a matter of a few days. This year has been so nice we have had at least a few weeks of 70 degree weather- I am loving it!

Every year at Christmas time, we take a trip to Branson with my family. Last year everyone (Mom and Dad, Amy, Stacy's crew and Julie's) was able to go...which was tons of fun! This year since we already went to Disney, not everyone can make the trip to Branson but Mom and Dad and us are going to be going in just a few weeks. This is one of my favorite things we do all year. I love Branson but Christmas time and Branson together are the perfect combination. We are going to Silver Dollar City and hopefully the Dixie Stampede this year (this will be Allie's first trip to Dixie Stampede) and of course, lots of outlet shopping! I am so ready!!

This time of year always goes by way too fast with all of the fun festivities going on. Next month we also get to find out the sex of the baby! The week before Thanksgiving we will finally know if this little one will be a boy or a girl...my suspicion? Definitely a girl! However, the famous old "pencil test" says I am having a boy. So, we shall see!

Goodbye for now and happy weekend!