Dallas Girls' Weekend

New bed for her doll!

Smoothie with her American Girl Doll!
Shy, Heather, Jackie, Trimble, Becky (four baby boys and a girl!)

Miss Kylie went with me to visit my sweet friends in Dallas for a baby shower and then we had some fun Mommy-Daughter time together!

Jackie is having her first baby, little Olivia. The shower was absolutely adorable. Decorated all in Red, Black, and White. Cutest theme ever. I didn't get to see my friends for too long, but I always treasure every minute I have with them. There were five of us pregnant at the shower! That's out of 9 girls! Very funny.

After the shower, Kylie and I headed to the Westin at the Galleria. Shortly after we got there Kylie was ready to swim, of course. It was maybe 80 degrees, so too cold for mommy! She had a great time and met some friends at the pool. We headed back to the room for a shower and then it was off to ice skate! I couldn't ice skate with her, so I was very apprehensive about her going, but she assured me it was just fine. Of course she did fabulous! She loves ice skating and has gotten pretty good at it for only her second time! After ice skating I told her we could go anywhere she wanted to eat and she picked none other than McDonald's (seriously?). So, we ate at the Food Court - yum. Last, it was a stop at the American Girl store. She picked out a friend for the doll she has and a few other things, such as pj's since she would absolutely need some of those for the night! It was about time to call it a day so we went back to the room. Once we got back, there were little cupcakes, a glass of milk and a doll bed for her American Girl Doll! She was super excited.

The next day we had brunch at the American Girl Bistro, which is actually a pretty great place to eat! They have a little box filled with question cards that you can ask each other so we had fun doing those while we waited. She came up with some pretty funny answers. After brunch, we hit the mall for a few minutes, bought some goodies at Claire's Boutique and hit the road! I just love these fun times with Kylie and I hope she'll remmeber the special times she has with Mom. I know I will!

It's a boy!!!

Oh, he's already so cute! I can tell! So amazing that this is going on inside my body. And, it's just as amazing as it was the first time I did it! The doctor said everything looked good and the baby seemed to be right on track. I have to say, I am so glad to finally know. I was thinking it was a girl for some reason, but it seems I was the only one. Kylie really wanted it to be a girl, but I think she'll soon realize that she is glad it's a boy. I'm so glad Jackson will now have a little running buddy and I don't even have to redo the nursery! I still love it, so I am leaving it as-is. Check that off the list. Now, if we can just figure out if we are going to get to make some changes to our house. Next thing we have to do is meet with a contractor. If only Papa was still alive, we'd be all set!

So, now I am officially halfway done. Hard to believe. Still feeling great, but I run out of steam around 5:30 or 6:00 and I am exhausted! More to come later!!!

April 18th Folks!!!

Man, it seems like a long way away, but this pregnancy is already flying by so it will be here soon I know. We moved my due date up to August 17th today. I wasn't very sure about my "dates" so we used the ultrasound and size of the little peanut to give us a better indication of just how far along I really am. It looks like I'll probably deliver around the 12th (by c-section of course). I liked doing it on a Friday before because it is easier to get help with the kiddos over the weekend and Adam doesn't have to miss too much work.

I have my next sonogram scheduled for April 18th, so we'll finally know what we are having! Yay!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I never really knew the story behind St. Patrick, which I'm a little embarrassed to say. I wonder how many people out there who aren't Christians realize that Saint Patrick was actually responsible for converting many people in Ireland to Christianity. He faced many odds along his way and yet he was faithful and steadfast. He is a great example to all Christians and I am proud to say Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Baby Kicks

Not a whole lot to report today, but I've started to feel little baby kicks now. My little pregnancy app says the baby is about the size of a sweet potato! Funny! It doesn't matter if I've already done this twice before, it's always neat to be able to feel the baby. It certainly makes it more "real". I go to see Dr. McIntyre on Thursday, and it's actually been about 7 weeks since my last appointment. He had knee surgery so I had to postpone my regular appointment. No big deal really. At this point, they are pretty uneventful anyways. But, the fun news is, I'll get to schedule my next big sonogram when we find out what we are having!!! Yippeee. I simply can not wait. It is so hard to wait to find out. I could never let it be a surprise. I can imagine it would be a neat experience to not find out, but I love getting to know ahead so we can start calling the baby by it's name (if we can pick one) and getting baby gear that doesn't have to be gender neutral!

I got rid of most of my maternity clothes, but I'm going to try and keep it simple this time. Summers here are so hot anyways, that a tee and shorts will suffice almost any day.

I'm so grateful for sweet friends who have already offered to lend me some of their baby gear. I just love my friends. Don't know what I would do without them!!!

Apple Juuuuuuice...

We're in to two word phrases now people! Yay! After a little concern on my end for Jackson not being quite the talker Kylie was, he has really blossomed lately! Just yesterday he started saying Apple Juice and not just juice. He can say "kitty cat", "daddy's truck", "hot dog", "bye bye ______" and quite a few other things. I'm so happy! He's a smart little dude. Every parent thinks their own kids are smart, right?

Adam and I got to help out at school for a little bit this morning for Kylie's Reading Rodeo. They did a big two-week Reading Round-Up to raise money for the school library. Each child read as many minutes as they could for two weeks and then people pledge money for their reading. It's a great tradition at Regents! This morning, Adam and I helped with the Spin Art booth at the Rodeo. It is so wonderful that Adam is able to be a part of things like this at school. We are so lucky. I know it means the world to Kylie when we are involved at school. Adam and I had fun helping the little kids make their spin art papers. They really enjoyed it! The Rodeo was really quite a treat for the kids. Other than spin art, they had bounce houses, an inflatable slide, tug-of-war, popcorn, face painting, ball toss, and more games. The kids had a great time and it was a great reward for their hard work reading.

This whole growing a human thing is really wearing me out! I can't seem to shake off the fatigue! I guess on top of working and raising two other kids, it's just a bit much. I'm going, but man I'm tired. It's too bad I can't tank up on caffeine! One thing that has always been strange about my pregnancies is my inability to drink coffee. I love coffee. I typically drink it every day, but not now. Really the thought of it just gives me a sick feeling. So weird. I guess it's a good thing though! I've switched to hot tea which is probably much better for me.

I'm loving this beautiful weather and hope it stays around for a while! God's glory truly shines on these pretty days!

Irish Wednesday

Kylie was really intrigued today with people walking around with ashes on her forehead. But, it was so funny because she said "today is Irish Wednesday and so all the Irish people have crosses on their heads after they went to church and asked God to forgive their sins." It was really cute how she explained it all to me. Made me chuckle.

My Aunt Patsy passed away on Sunday after being in and out of the hospital for quite some time. I think her body finally had just had enough. My dad drove to Midland and got to see her and speak to her before she passed and she was surrounded by all her loved ones when she earned her wings. I was hoping to get to Midland for the funeral today but I just couldn't make it happen. I feel bad that I wasn't there to be with my dad. I'm glad he's getting to spend some quality time with his family in Midland though. He doesn't get to see them very often and I know he needs that. I am sad that we have grown distant from my family in Midland. When we moved to Austin we just didn't get back there very much at all and now it's been years. Family is so important to me so I don't know why I've let that slip away. It was always a little different for my sister and I because our cousins were so much older than we were. Many of them were already grown ups when we were kids and we were closer in age to their children. Needless to say, this has reminded me of how important family is and you really never know how long you'll have them here.

Spring Break is next week already? I really feel like Kylie just started kindergarten. She is super excited to go to camp a few days next week with her friend Erin. They are going to Main Event, bowling and Gatti-Town. She can't wait and I am so thankful to have something for her to do since Mom doesn't get a Spring Break. I'm going to try a new place for Jackson this week too. It's called KidSpa and is more of drop-in childcare place. It seems fun and I think he'll like it, but I guess I'll find out on Friday. He's been so great about being in new situations so far. He loves school and church and never gets upset when we leave him. I love that! It makes it so much easier for me to leave him.

Baby #3 seems to be doing well. Not much action so far though. I can actually still fit in my normal clothes which is unexpected. I imagine one of these mornings I'll wake up and go WOW, where did that belly come from? I'm anxious to feel some movements here and there. It's a comforting feeling to know the little peanut is moving around and hopefully feeling well.
We start our next book in our missional community this week on Sacred Parenting. I am so excited to read this book and discuss it with the group. I'll make sure and share some of my favorite parts in my blog!

Introducing the newest addition to the family...

We are happy to announce our little peanut who will be joining us in mid-August!

So far the pregnancy has been very easy (thank you Lord) with little to no side effects for mommy. Now, we have to start figuring out how to fit this new addition into our house! I am excited about doing a few renovations to our house to make my office a bedroom and add a playroom to what is now our back porch. So, we'll see what comes of our ideas and if we can make it work.

God really has opened my eyes to His plans for my life and as Adam said, we must be doing something right with our kids for him to bless us with another one!

Now, the big question is going to be.... boy or girl? We should know around the end of March.