Praises and Prayer Requests

Our Sweet Baby!

I know you all must be dying to know what we are having this time. Well, we almost didn't make the appointment because I got violently ill with a stomach virus Tuesday night. Luckily it was short lived and I'm just exhausted from being up all night, but no longer throwing up. In the above picture our baby is using the placenta (the darker colored area) as a pillow. The baby was really squished in there and it was a very long ultrasound appointment because the technician had a hard time getting the baby to move and getting all the views needed to confirm a healthy baby.

We were able to find out that we are having a boy! We are all thrilled, but Chandler is warming to the idea of another brother because he had his heart set (as much as one can at three years old) on a sister. It was really special that my dad came to the appointment (he was off for Veteran's Day) and has never come to any appointments like this before. We will name the baby Maverick Robert (Robert is my Dad's name) and he was really touched.

Now for the prayer requests:
Luckily we do not have the complication of a single umbilical artery like we had with both boys, so that is a HUGE relief. One of the kidneys is measuring large at this point which is indicating reflux of urine from the bladder back into the kidney. This is fine in utero, but if the problem persists once the baby is born, bacteria would be easily introduced into the kidney which could seriously damage it. Worst case scenario would be surgery after Maverick is born. The good news is we are scheduled for a third trimester ultrasound (2/1/11) to check the kidney's size. In 90% of cases, this issue will have resolved by this point. We will be praying for that. If it is still measuring large, Maverick will need to go on antibiotics as soon as he is born and then based on the severity, surgery would be considered. Thank you so much for your prayer for this to resolve on it's own. I know the Lord is the ultimate healer and I put all my faith in him!

Secondly, as I mentioned a terrible virus is making it's way through our house. I am pretty much over it, except for exhaustion, but now Chandler has been up all night puking at least once an hour. More than likely it's only a matter of time until Brighton and/or Derek start. Alice (Derek's grandmother) came to help me on Wednesday as I was useless and now she also has the virus and has been sick since noon yesterday. My parents watched the boys for us on Thursday night, so hopefully they don't get it as well, or the family that watched our boys (THANK YOU JENNIFER) while we were at the ultrasound appointment. Please pray that by some miracle at least Derek doesn't also get it, or that this passes quickly and I can get some rest. I was up late trying to disinfect kitchen, bathroom, etc...and also have several (puked on) loads of laundry to catch up on.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Here's one last picture of Maverick. It's hard to tell for those of you not familiar with looking at ultrasound pictures, but Maverick has both of his feet and both hands up in front of his face. Looks like we may have a gymnast!

Also, Chandler is already much happier today (than he was yesterday) about his new baby brother. Yesterday he insisted that he was having a sister and if it was a brother he was calling him "Indiana Jones". Today it's "Maverick" so that's a good start :)

When did Fall become packed with activities??

Okay, so maybe Fall has always had this many activities, but now that our boys are old enough to do most of them we're exhausted. Where do I begin?

First Daddy took the boys to a story time at the Leesville Library while mommy went to a party. Chandler wore his police man costume and Brighton was a monkey. The story time was outside and at night, so the boys had a blast.

Then there was the annual Women's Birth and Wellness Center farm party. We keep having babies just to get invited :) Chandler was the UPS man and Brighton was a football player because it was so HOT!! Here we are getting ready to go on our hayride. WBWC said they will max out at about 420 babies this year! Wow! Lucky for me they never turn down somebody who has had a baby there before. Otherwise....who knows where this baby would be born?

There will be a separate post about Brighton's B-day on 10/28 and the party on 10/30. We also squeezed in a party for Patrick Little who turned one on 10/29. Then the day before Halloween we finally got around to picking out a pumpkin to carve. We went right up our street and quickly grabbed one before heading to a fall festival.

The church where we go to MOPS has a fall festival every year and this is the first year we've been. What a fun time. There were games for the kids, pony rides (we didn't do the wait for this), inflatable bouncy things for kids, free food, including cotton candy----a hit, and dinner too! Definitely will do this again.

Finally there was Halloween. Here are my two cuties getting ready for trick-or-treating. Chandler was officially a fireman and Brighton was a monkey. They got way too much candy and Mommy sent 75% of it to work with Daddy who was instantly the office favorite.

Happy Fall Everybody!

Baby Belly

Here's the first official picture of the baby bump. There's really not a big bump yet (in my opinion) but at least I'm "starting to show". This picture was taken on Halloween (obviously) as I was dressed up as a clown. I'll be 18 weeks tomorrow! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. We are scheduled for an ultrasound next week (11/11) and we'll hopefully find out the gender of this baby. That is a first for us. I'm somewhat excited, but also nervous about the appointment. I foremost want a healthy baby and wonder if this baby will have a single umbilical artery, like both previous pregnancies. I know that both boys turned out fine even with that complication, but I'm still curious if we'll be that "lucky" again. Then there is the whole finding out the gender part. I know that whatever they tell me, assuming the baby cooperates, I will not quite believe it until I see it! We've never traveled this path before and if it was up to Derek we probably would still wait until the birth. I, on the other hand, just can't take the suspense one more time.

So here is your chance....if you are a reader of this blog, go ahead and put in your guess with the link above. Nobody has guessed boy yet. Could this be that we all are hoping for a girl this time? Not sure, but anyways, put in your guess and we'll find out the gender soon enough.

On one last note, I've been feeling this baby move every day since I went to visit my grandmother, Thelma, a few weeks ago. I was 15 weeks, 4 days at the time and this is more than two weeks earlier than I felt any tiny movements with either of the boys. This is so reassuring to me and I love it. I feel the baby all the time, but especially when I'm still (which isn't often in the day) and while trying to fall asleep. Love it!

Wax Moustaches!

They were all excited until they actually took a bite of the wax. Does anyone actually like the taste of wax?





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2 Years Old!!!

Look at me on my new birthday bike!!!


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Happy Birthday Sweet Boy

My baby boy is two! I can't believe it....how fast these years have flown by. Luckily I have another baby on the way, because it makes me sad to think he's not a baby anymore. Most of the time he insists he's a "big boy" but sometimes he'll still say he's a baby and the baby says "wah, wah, wah".

Today we went to our photographer and had his two year pictures done. I can't wait to see them. He did so good, but it was funny...he'd put up his hand and say, "right back, bye". We were all laughing at how funny he is. He has a very funny sense of humor and knows it.

Brighton loves to do everything that Chandler does. He even says he is three years old. Every thing is "me too!" That's one of his favorite phrases. Brighton and Chandler still share a room and Brighton does great sleeping on the trundle bed. The boys' bedtime is about 8 p.m. and they normally get up from 7:30 -8 a.m. Brighton still takes an afternoon nap sometime about 1 p.m. Lately I've been shortening it to 1 1/2 hours so he's ready for bed.

Brighton is so outgoing! He loves going to preschool and I often leave him in the two-year-old class while I volunteer at church. He's actually not in that class because of the birthday cut-off, but you'd never know. He fits right in and gets mad when it's time to go. His vocabulary is very good, and I think is probably ahead of others his age. He will often speak in 6-8 word sentences.

Brighton's two year appointment is sometime next week, so I'll post stats then.

I love you sweet baby boy!

Love, Mom

First Homeschool Field Trip

Today the boys and I took our first homeschool field trip. While we are not currently homeschooling, this is an option that we are exploring for our family. Chandler currently goes to PGUMC's preschool and loves it, but we aren't sure what we are going to do once "real school" begins. Today was great to get out with other homeschooling families and do something that both boys could take part in.

We went to CiCi's pizza and got a tour of the kitchen, freezer, and prep area. The boys got to walk inside the freezer and thought it was very cold. They got to see the oven and then got to make their own pizzas.

Chandler selected mushrooms, extra cheese, pepperroni, and meat (sausage). I selected Brighton's toppings for him and picked out ham, pineapple, and tomatoes. Chandler was able to put the toppings on his side of the pizza by himself and Brighton munched on his toppings out of his bowl before I realized what he was doing. After stopping him, Chandler helped Brighton put his toppings on the other half. The pizza baked in just a few minutes and then we go to dig in!

Here's Chandler showing off his pizza.

And Brighton.