Ultrasound

Well, we had our anatomy ultrasound yesterday and we have a healthy baby BOY on the way!!!
He was sweet and cooperative in the ultrasound. Here's a profile picture. Greg and I think it looks JUST like Hunter, with maybe a little more of daddy's chin than Hunter has.
Here he is looking at the camera...
and here's his sweet little foot...
The tech asked me if I'd had a feeling one way or the other for boy or girl. I told her in the beginning I totally thought a boy, but lately I wasn't so sure. When she said it was a boy, Greg said, "That means you get to have another one." For years he has been telling me that we're done after 2 girls, but we have yet to mean that quota!

We talked to the doctor after the ultrasound once he had reviewed all the pictures. He said something about the tubes going to the kidneys, and the normal level being 1, and mine and baby boy's is .9. He said if it's off, it can result in pressure going up into the kidneys. I didn't totally understand what he meant, but he said it's not something to be worried about because the number is barely off, but just to be sure everything is ok, they're going to do a repeat ultrasound in the beginning of February. Other than that, he said everything looks great and we have a healthy baby!

Hunter is sooo excited that he's having a baby brother. It hasn't been 24 hours and he's already talking about sharing his boy toys with him, and things he's going to do with him. I am excited to pull out all the boy clothes again. When I went through the boy stuff to get out the neutral clothes for Kylee, I had so many memories of when Hunter wore it and I'm excited to pull it all out again!

I am a little apprehensive about baby's size though. Hunter was 10 lbs 8 oz, and being that this is another boy, I'm a little scared I'll have another gigantor baby. It's that much more motivation for me make sure I'm gaining slow and steady though!

Gregory and I are so excited for a sweet baby boy to add to our family though. This is the first time we have both wanted the same gender, and I am so grateful that the Lord is giving us another boy. He has been so good to us and I feel so blessed. God is SO good!

It's Christmastime!

We decorated the tree tonight. 

Hunter had so much fun!!! If you notice though, we kept the bottom of the tree clear of ornaments and lights. We have a little crawling monster this year that will eat them if we don't!

My Birthday Project

So next week, it will be my birthday month.

Typically for my birthday, it's a time for me to get a couple things that I've been wanting, but because money is tight, I can't just go out and buy.

However, while on Pinterest, I discovered a woman who spent her birthday a little differently than the average American, and I decided I wanted to do the same thing. You can read about her here.

Instead of getting gifts, I want to use the money Greg may have spent on a gift and complete 25 random acts of kindness (RAOK) for other people (because it'll be my 25th birthday.)

I have every thing I need. God has been so good to me and I have a beautiful family, a great roof over our head, and good food on the table.

If you look at the original woman who did this, she completed hers all in one day. But for a few different reasons, I decided I'm going to do it over the month of December. For one thing with my kids, it would be really difficult to get them all done in a day. But the main reason I want to give myself the month is becuase I really want some of the opportunities to bless people to be spontaneous. I pray the Lord will give me opportunities throughout the month to show His love to people who really need it. If every RAOK was preplanned, it could really take away from that.

So that's that. 25 RAOK for my 25th birthday.

And I'd love if you joined in. If you're out, and you see the opportunity to complete a RAOK and think of this post, could you do it for me? Maybe the person in front of you at the grocery store is just smidge short on their bill and needs a little change, or maybe you decided to take a few carts from the wayyyy back of the parking lot up to the store, or maybe you feel like paying for the toll fee for the car behind you, or you see an elderly person that could use some help loading their groceries in their car...(the list goes on!)

If you decide to participate because of this post, could you let me know what you did? I'd love to compile a list of all the blessings we bestowed upon people!

I will be keeping up with each random act on my blog, so stay tuned!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a good day over here in New Bern.

We ended up having an intimate Thanksgiving with just our family. We stayed in our pj's...and just relaxed. It was an enjoyable day.

We started our day with Pioneer Woman's Monkey Muffins.

She topped them with sweetened condensed milk, but I had leftover icing from the Pumpkin Cookies I made the day before, so I used that. The boys really liked them!

Even though it was just the 4 of us (and one of us doesn't eat meat,) I bought a 12.5 lb turkey...because Greg loves it that much. I made quite a bit of sides too because, let's be serious: it's all about the sides.

We had turkey, green bean casserole, Gulliver's corn (a Wehrman) family recipe, sweet potatoes, stuffing, Pioneer Woman's Potatoes Au Gratin, cranberry sauce, and olives. It was all delish!

Here's the boys enjoying the food. :)

And Kylee learned a new trick during dinner! Here's a video. :) I can't believe how big she's getting!



For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, no-bake cheesecake, and raspberry cobbler. Greg and I dipped into the cheesecake last night...I figured with how many desserts we had and how little number of people we had eating them, the two pieces wouldn't be missed today. ;)

After dessert, we went up to the local fire station to take them a pumpkin pie to say "thanks" for keeping us safe, even though that means working on Thanksgiving.

It was a good day. I am so thankful for how the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful little family, and how next year we'll have another member!

How was your Thanksgiving?

20 Weeks

Wow, I'm at the halfway point already. I can't believe it! I had a lady in choir mention that I'll be in maternity clothes soon. Hah, I've been in them for a while now! I don't think she realized how far along I was either. This pregnancy really is going by soo fast!

Not much to update from last week I don't think. But our ultrasound is Tuesday so, Lord willing, we'll find out if it's a boy or girl. Can't wait!

Pillows

This girl loves 'em! She just constantly lays and hugs it. It's so cute!

19 Weeks

Baby has been a little acrobat in there lately! The kicks are strong enough to feel outside of my tummy, but I'm still the only one to feel them. No one wants to sit there for 20 minutes with their hand on my belly to wait for a kick, I'm sure.

I'm feeling totally normal...definitely in the second trimester. I do feel a little tired, but that might be because we've had Revival all week. But my appetite is good, and I feel pretty good. However, my belly is big enough now that it hurts my back to stand for a long period of time. My lower back hurts after every dish washing session at the sink, and I know it'll only get worse! EEK!

Here's the latest pic...

Only 12 more days until my ultrasound...YAY!!

18 Weeks

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going now that I'm feeling good!

I had a Dr's appointment on Tuesday. I gained 9 pounds back from what I lost, hah! So now they told me to just go with the normal 1 pound per week weight gain. Everything looks good though and baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. 

My anatomy ultrasound is scheduled for the 29th!!! I can't wait! But for some reason, I have this odd feeling like the baby is going to be stubborn and not let us find out. I hope I'm wrong though! I've been feeling like its a boy but lately I'm wondering if it's a girl. I'm only 60% sure it's a boy when before I was about 80-90% sure. We'll find out soon though!

Pregnancy Comparison #1 :)

Guess what time it is...
Pregnancy comparison time!! Woohoo!

I know you're all excited. Don't try to hide it.

Anyway, here it is. Same dress, not necessarily at the same time. And I actually just threw it on for this pregnancy for the picture. It's too cold for a sleeveless dress!

Little Stinker

Someone thought shed help herself to my water. 

17 Weeks

This boy cracks me up!!

Not too much to report this week. Although I have officially gained at least a few pounds. I have an appointment on Tuesday so I'll find out how much for sure, and that's also when well be scheduling my anatomy ultrasound! I can't wait!

Greg told me today he feels like this is a boy...and he felt like Kylee was a girl. So we'll see if he's right!

Hunter's Birthday

Hunter's birthday and party were a huge success!

His actual 4th birthday was Thursday, the 27th, and I did my best to make it as special as possible.

Wednesday night, he took cupcakes to his AWANA class to celebrate. Here he is decorating them.

He was so excited when he woke up as a 4-year-old the morning of his birthday. He had been excited to be able to run as fast as his 4-year-old friend David when he turned 4, and according to him, he was going to be bigger and stronger too. I think he thought he would wake up a foot taller or something! When he woke up, I asked him if he felt stronger. He made big muscles with his arms and said, "YEAH!"

He was a stinker that morning, and this is the best birthday photo I could get.That morning, our friends Jenny, David and Aiden stopped by for a surprise birthday visit and they brought Hunter an adorable suit for church! Then for lunch, our neighbors, the Hair family, invited us over. They were so sweet and got Hunter a present, and made a couple birthday signs they hung up for him too. I told Donna that he likes anything with cheese, so we had a yummy mac and cheese lunch, and this for dessert...
That night after dinner, Greg and I sang Happy Birthday to him with a cupcake with candles, and gave him a small gift.On Friday, my parents flew into town for the weekend to celebrate with us.

Saturday was his actual party. We had a monster truck theme. Here is a picture of his invites (click on it for a larger view.) I found the idea online and my brother designed them, and then had them printed on glossy card stock so they looked like a real ticket. I absolutely loved them, and Hunter loved them too. He constantly wanted to see himself in the truck.
Three of our favorite families, the Coghills, Friedleins, and Goodfellows, were able to come to the party and it was so much fun!

Greg got old tires from work and we build an obstacle course in the backyard. I think that was everyone's favorite activity.

Here's a video of the kids doing the obstacle course race:




After the kids finished doing it twice, we decided that the four dads needed to compete. Here's a video of that:




We also played Pin the Tire on the Truck:Here's a picture of all the kids...

My mom and I made his monster truck birthday cake the day before. He loved it!


Kylee had a party bow on but wouldn't let me get a good picture of her...
All in all, it was SO much fun! Hunter had a wonderful party and he won't stop watching the home videos of it on the computer. I think that means it was a success! Thank you, everyone, that had a part in making his birthday so special!

November Goals

Recap of October Goals
*Continue my studying in 1 Corinthians, studying at least 5 days per week. This was a total fail...I got out of my studying routine when we moved here because I was so exhausted and would sleep in instead of getting up before the kids to study. After a few weeks, I realized my fatigue was because of another pregnancy, but still, I need to get back into it. I did study some, but not the 5 days per week like I'd set my goal of. I'll try harder in November!
*Deep clean the house, since morning sickness has put a damper on my regular cleaning. Success! I even did things like scrub my washer with a toothbrush...you'd think I was nesting again or something!
*Go out on a date with the hubby for our 6th wedding anniversary. Success. We went to dinner while my parents were in town and they babysat. We still have to go see Courageous like I wanted to though.
*Throw an awesome 4 year old birthday party for the best little man. Success! Working on my blog post about it...
*Stick to our Financial Peace budget! Success!
*Make the bed every morning. (I never do this. I don't see the point in making the bed when you're just going to get in it again that night...but I know my husband appreciates climbing into a made bed.) This was half success/half fail. I did NOT make it every morning...however, I DID make it most weekdays throughout the month. I stink at it on the weekends. I'm usually out of bed before Greg on the weekends (especially Sundays) so I don't go back to it to make it. On a side note I must admit, climbing into a made bed is kind of nice!
*Don't let clean laundry pile up before folding it. With a made bed, I'm way better at this because I fold it on our bed, and then since it's there, I HAVE to put it away!
*Learn "Your Great Name" on guitar. Total fail. I'd wanted to sing it for a special at church and I found out our Ensemble team is singing it this Sunday, so I put this one on the back burner...
*Repair Kylee's bows...not really "repair," but I want to add a strip of hot glue to all of them to make them "non-slip" in her hair, and I just haven't dug out my hot glue gun to do it. Success! *Hang pictures in Kylee's room. Success! I ended up putting them on the top of her dresser, but at the beginning of the month, I didn't even have them in a frame.
*List everything on Craigslist I've been meaning to sell. Success!

November Goals
*Study 5 days a week in 1 Corinthians.
*See a movie with Gregory.
*Continue making bed.
*Stick to our budget again.
*Clean at least 15 minutes per day, excluding Sundays. I discovered the FlyLady in October, and I'm trying to implement her suggestions to get in a good cleaning routine before I have three little munchkins.
*Do (at least) one load of laundry per day, excluding Sundays. It stresses me out when I let it pile up and I have a ton to do at one time.
*Memorize (really memorize) at least 4 Bible verses.

I think that's it for now!