Please join us in praying....

Please join us in praying for our newest niece/nephew. My sister Kelly and her husband Kevin are expecting their second baby in early October. This week they did not get a good report when they went for an ultrasound. Here's my sister's note that explains it:

Prayer warriors I need you more now than ever. We went for our ultrasound today and did not get a good report of a healthy baby. We have a very sick baby and it needs ALL of us praying! The baby has cystic hygroma. CH is cysts of fluid between the baby's skull and skin around the back of the head and neck. What does this mean? 1) the baby might not live to full term. 2) the baby is at very high risk for chromosome defects such as Downs or other defects 3) the baby is at high risk for heart problems 4) God willing the baby may be perfect and the fluid goes away. So for now we wait. We will have an amnio in 4 weeks and will know more then. Please pray that God's will be done. It's all up to Him and his plans are perfect ...we know that. If God wants us to be this babys earthly parents then we will. If not then his plan is still perfect. The baby did have a very strong heartbeat so we are very thankful and encouraged by that. Thanks in advance for lifting us all up in prayers.

We are trusting that God is making this baby exactly the way He wants and that He has the power to heal this little one if He chooses. We are thankful for this baby and especially thankful for a strong heartbeat the other day. We appreciate your prayers.

Birthday Week

This past Monday I celebrated my 32nd birthday and on Tuesday Anna celebrated her 2nd birthday. We had lots of fun enjoying both of our birthdays!

On Sunday night, Jay took Catherine and Will to the dollar tree to pick out some fun birthday decorations. When Anna and I got home from the grocery store, the table was set for festivities. There were also birthday banners hanging from the front porch, the banister, and in the living room. And the kids favorite part was the 12 pack of party horns/noise makers they got.

In some ways I can't believe Anna is already 2. In other ways, I feel like she turned into a big girl a few months ago. She thinks she can do everything her big brother and sister do. It's always when the kids start talking more between 18-24 months that I feel like they're not a baby any more.

She loves all things girly--especially shoes. She must change shoes 5 or 6 times a day. Her favorites lately are princess dress up shoes, Catherine's old ballet shoes, and her pink polka dot bedroom slippers. She also likes her leopard print ones and pink plaid tennis shoes. Thankfully she knows how to put them on and off by herself, so I let her amuse herself by changing shoes all day.
She picked her favorite food for lunch that day--yogurt and granola with strawberries. She eats that for either breakfast or lunch pretty much every day. Some days she asks for it twice. She also loves juice and would prefer to only drink juice all day. I try to sneak in water, but she usually gets mad. She has never liked drinking milk, probably because she had to avoid it for the first year and a half of her life.
Aunt Kelly asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said lollipops. So that's what she got! She really loved it! Her favorite song to listen to is an oldie CD I have with the "Lollipop" song on it.
I also took her to Barnes and Noble for a free birthday cupcake (if you join their kids club, they send you coupons for these on your kids' birthdays). She really enjoyed it and thought it was extra special to go out with just mommy for her "cake".
I can't tell you how much we enjoy this sweet little peanut. She brings such joy and laughter to our family. Catherine and Will both adore her. They sometimes even argue over who gets to sit beside her, hold her hand, be the first in when she wakes up in the morning, etc. And she loves them too! I know she'll be a great big sister to the babies and I can't wait to see how her personality continues to develop and grow.

Happy Birthday Anna! You're the best birthday gift I've ever gotten and I'm glad we'll always get to celebrate together!

A "Major" Birthday

Catherine celebrated her friend Abby's birthday last weekend at a local horse farm. These girls have been buddies since they were born. I still can't believe they're 6 years old already.

Catherine really liked the chickens and was especially excited that Abby and her family were taking 6 chickens home to their new chicken coop.

The main attraction was riding the horse, whose name is Major. Catherine informed me that he is the biggest horse in SC. I don't know if that's true or not, but apparently he is a pretty big horse.


Thanks Abby for letting Catherine celebrate with you! (And thanks Special K for the pictures.)

She's ready to be the big sister

Our sweet Anna is excited about "mommy's babies" (that what she calls them). She loves to kiss and hug my tummy, say hey to "brober" and "sissy" (she knows who is on each side), and go with me to dr's appointments. She is really sweet and will be a great big sister.

I had my 24 week checkup yesterday. The babies are looking great. Baby boy measured at 1 lb 6 oz and baby girl measured 1 lb 7 oz. It is great that they are growing at the same rates and both have doubled in weight in the last 4 weeks. Everybody looks happy and healthy in there.

I am feeling pretty well....just extra pregnant :) I feel more like 30 weeks or so, but that's apparently very normal. I get out of breathe easily and have to take it slowly. I really have to pace myself with what I can do each day and I try to rest for at least an hour each afternoon. But overall I can't complain and I'm thankful that the babies are healthy.

I'll go back in 2 weeks and we'll keep monitoring these sweet ones. At most we have 14 weeks until we meet them (although I'm hoping it's really only 12-13 weeks). It seems surreal to still think about holding two babies at once, but I'm getting more and more excited about it.

The $9 Gallon of Milk

Yesterday afternoon Catherine and I went to the grocery store. She very rarely goes with me to the grocery store since she's usually at school when I go. As a treat, I told her we could get one of her very favorite things--TruMoo chocolate milk. I even had a coupon for it. I never buy this because I think it's ridiculous to pay $3.50 for a gallon of chocolate milk when we have regular milk and chocolate syrup at home. But I thought I'd treat her. She was so excited.

Unfortunately, as we were unloading the groceries from the car Jay accidentally dropped the prized milk in the driveway. The side of the container split and the entire gallon of milk spilled right there. Catherine was so sad, but managed to hold herself together. I told her we'd get some more soon. She took that to mean that same night.

So after the kids went to bed, Jay offered to go get another gallon of milk. We had gotten the last gallon at Publix and I didn't want to him to go all the way there and not find any. So he went to Bi-Lo to get some. He came home with the milk and then asked, "Is it normal for this milk to cost $6?" Six dollars?? He paid $6 for a gallon of milk! After we'd already spent $3 on it a few hours earlier. We now have the world's most expensive gallon of milk. $9. Wow. I hope they really enjoy it.

We're going on a bear hunt

Catherine and Will's favorite activity lately is going on hikes and bear hunts. Don't worry, if they find a bear Will shoots it and then digs a hole big enough to bury it. And it only takes him 100 days to dig a hole that big. Before he shoots it, he does take a video of it to show his children because they would want to see. This is a daily occurrence.

We also currently have a rock committee at our house. Not exactly sure what that means, but it's what I've been told.

Happy Bear Hunting!

Celebrating Sara and Sophie

My Furman roommate Sara (on the left) is expecting her first baby in about 10 weeks. This past Saturday all 4 of us roommates were able to be together to celebrate with Sara at a baby shower for her little girl Sophie. The four of us went out to lunch together and then we went to a baby shower hosted by her friends in Charlotte.

Three of the four of us are currently pregnant. I am 22 weeks with the twins, Jill is 31 weeks with baby #3, and Sara is 32 weeks with baby #1.
I loved all the fun baby shower food and decorations, like this gorgeous cake
and these beautiful paper lanterns.
And it was lots of fun seeing Sara's sweet baby presents. Each baby is so special, but there's something just a little extra exciting about the first time someone gets to do all the baby stuff and starts that phase of their family.
Congratulations Sara! We can't wait to meet baby Sophie!