15 Week Appointment

We heard the heartbeat today, and it was relatively slow at 146 (hmmm...).  It took the Dr. FOREVER to find it which of course made me a nervous wreck.  After she searched for it for awhile, I thought to mention that I'd been feeling the baby move higher up to the left.  She moved the doppler up to where I showed her and landed right on the heartbeat!  Guess Moms know best lol.

Everything looks great with baby so far, and I am super excited to get our ultrasound at next month's appointment.  Sooo ready for another peek at my sweet baby!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us so far!  We are feeling super loved and extremely blessed!

Jess

And Baby Makes Five....

What happens when everything falls into place for me...both kids are in school, I have a great job to go to, things are pretty stress-free and going smoothly?  Well, I end up pregnant, that's what!  Talk about a surprise! 

Two weeks after starting my new job, we found out that we were expecting again.  I truly believe God has a sense of humor, and I know he probably laughs at me on a daily basis.  He has shown me over and over that my plans are not always His plans and no matter how hard I try to plan out every little detail in my life, He is the one in control.  After going through the loss of our baby in February and dealing with the hormone problems that came from that, I had pretty much made up my mind NOT to try to get pregnant again right now.  God had a different plan in mind however, and despite our best efforts, we found ourselves pregnant with baby #3 (technically 4 I should say).  What an exciting, happy surprise-and a bit scary too!  I, of course, was immediately nervous and fearful, but if I've learned nothing else throughout the past few months, it's that I have to place my faith and hope in God and give it all to Him.  And that's just what I did.  I didn't even schedule a Dr. appointment until I was 11 weeks along because I knew whatever was going to happen would happen. 

The Dr. appointment went great. I felt so tremendously blessed when I saw this:

And hearing that precious heartbeat...oh, I loved every minute of it!  I got to see little arms and legs moving around everywhere!  I hate this pic is from the back and you can't see those sweet legs kicking.  It's safe to say I'm in love all over again, and I can't wait to meet this sweet little one that I consider such a gift.

Our girls are beyond excited.  They have prayed every single night for a baby brother (and we continually remind them to pray for a healthy BABY lol).  I don't think they realize what they're asking for when they say brother, but if it turns out to be a little boy, and he is terrorizing them in a couple of years, I will definitely be sure to remind them that they asked for him!

Baby #3 is due March 20th, and we are counting down the days!

First Day of School

It is sooo hard to believe both of my babies are old enough to be in school.  Breaks my heart!  They however were MORE than ready to go.  Presley was sooo excited about her first day despite my fears that she would cling to me and scream for me not to leave her (ok..wishful thinking on my part...well maybe not entirely).  In the end, I really was grateful that she did so well.  I don't know that I would have been able to leave her otherwise.  I would have probably snatched her right back out of there and kept her home with me another year! 

When we got out of the car to go inside, Presley looked at me and said, "Hold my hand and don't leave me until I say."  To which I replied, "Yes, ma'am." LOL!  We walked inside and Presley found her teacher and was introduced to some of her classmates.  She took her seat, waved, and said, "Ok Mom, you can go now."  What?  Wait...I'm not ready to go yet! Makenzie thankfully walked up at that point and took my hand and told me that she still wanted me to stay.  Who would have thought my older, more independant child would be the one to ask me to stay? Both girls were settled all too soon, and I made the lonely walk back out the door.  Thankfully, I did NOT have to go home to an empty house and mope for the rest of the day.  Both girls going to school allowed me to go back to work full-time, and I have to say I was very grateful for a job to go to that morning.  It took my mind off my babies for a few hours, and when I picked them up that afternoon I couldn't wait to hear about all of the exciting things they did.

Beach Vacation 2011

Ok...so it has only taken me a month to get this post written.  Can you tell we've been busy?  Here are the long overdue pictures from our "Girls" trip to the beach (plus Tucker...poor little boy).  My friend Julie invited the girls and I to go with her and her oldest little boy to the beach, and we jumped at the chance for some fun in the sun.  Poor Daddy got left at home, but he was such a sweetie to let us go on without him.

The kids had sooo much fun together! We took them to the zoo one day, and it was so neat.  They had animal encounters where you could pay a few dollars and actually go in with the animals. 

Petting zoo

Makenzie riding a camel

Baby kangaroos...they were sooo cute, and the girls just LOVED playing with and holding them.