Adding another one to the mix

We're excited, thrilled, a little nervous and feeling very blessed to be having another baby! We can't wait to welcome another baby into our family and experience all the blessings that are to come. Here is a little time line of what the last few months have looked like as we anxiously awaited to tell the news!!

The week after Christmas I started having suspicions that I might be pregnant due to the feeling in my lower back. That is one thing that I have felt with each pregnancy, even before I would get a positive pregnancy test!

January 4th- scheduled first Dr. appt

January 8th and on- started gagging when brushing my teeth-didn't have that with either of the first two kids!

week of January 17th- Gabe turned 30 and I started to feel the effects of early pregnancy. Usually just in the evenings, mostly just unsettled tummy feeling and a little heart-burn feeling. Also had a nosebleed one morning. Cooking raw meat started to make me feel a little nauseous.
Started taking some cat naps in the afternoons when I could sneak them in!

January 26th- First dr. appt and ultrasound! Due date scheduled as September 8th. I was measuring 8 weeks 1 day, which is a couple of days ahead but she sticks with the original due date if it is within 3 days. Heart-rate was 161 bpm. There was one small spot (2mm) where the baby had not totally implanted, but the doc said she was not concerned about due to the early stage of pregnancy. We will go back in 4 weeks for the next appointment and ultrasound. We did tell immediate family (not the kids yet!) of our exciting news but will wait for the 12 week appointment and ultrasound to announce the news to everyone.

By Valentine's Day, pretty much all nauseous-ness is gone! Feeling great and the occasional nap makes me really feel not all that tired!

February 23- Second dr. appt and ultrasound! Got to see the little cutie again, that actually looked like a baby this time. It was wiggling all around, putting hands together, waving, and poking at the technician while she was trying to get it to flip over to get some measurements. It really is amazing to see this tiny little less than 2 inch baby completely formed and moving around. What an amazing God we have. Hadley was with us so she also wanted to see her baby is her tummy and the tech did oblige and scanned her tummy when I was done. She was thrilled to see her "baby kitty". (What an imagination!) After the ultrasound I had some bloodwork then waited for awhile to see the doc. When she came in, she said all my results of earlier bloodwork looked good but that the ultrasound today showed complete previa. ugh! There is a good chance that it will grow out of the way as the uterus continues to grow and we are really praying that is what happens! But for now, she said total pelvic rest for sure until the 20 week ultrasound. Heartrate was once again 160bpm. I also bought a doppler (off craigslist) and have had a lot of fun using it. The baby's heartrate has been measuring a very constant 160 bpm. So, we will have to wait another 6 months to see if the old wives tale is right about heartrates. (That's right, I don't want to find out the gender this time and I'm pretty determined so I think I can hold out!)

For those of you non-ultrasound techies, the first picture is the baby curled up, facing down, you can see the spine and legs are tucked up under it. The second one (tilt head to the far right), little hand is right up by baby's (alien-ish) face.

Yee-haw!

This weekend we made a whirlwind trip to Tennessee for a Western Birthday party for Zane and Annabeth. We arrived on Friday night about 11:30 p.m. The birthday celebration was Saturday lunch and then we got to let the kids play outside in the super warm temps- it was awesome! The boys got all muddy down by the lake and the girls were quite content to play on the swingset and bikes up where it was dry. What a refreshing break from all the snow and cold temperatures. Then, after church and brunch on Sunday morning, we jumped back in the van and drove the long drive again. It was a quick, but fun weekend.

Sharing the Love

Valentine's Morning was a typical Sunday morning around here, except that we got the special treat of heart shaped cinnamon rolls with pink icing for breakfast. Gabe was already at church, of course, so we arrived at church early (quite a big accomplishment for me!) and delivered him some cinnamon rolls before everyone went to their respective classes. What better way to share a day of love than with some yummy pastries?! The kids each got a special little Valentine's basket, Drake got some new flip flops (in hopes of warmer weather soon!) and Hadley got some cute new socks.

Winter Fun

We wanted to take advantage of all of the snow we had gotten this winter, so we headed over to Nana and Papa's to test out the hills. The kids loved it! They could have sledded even longer but poor Gabe had to keep trudging back up the hill carrying Hadley and the sled. He was a good sport, but I think it really wore him out! Drake can really fly on his sled!

FPU

Gabe and I started FPU in January on Sunday evenings. FPU is Financial Peace University, a Dave Ramsey financial course on dealing with finances, budgeting, getting out of debt, etc... It has been an overall positive experience, but has also caused some stress as well. I was afraid going into the class that I would feel the need to go back to work once we started it. I really didn't want to go back to work (at least not more than I am working now) and for that reason I had a lot of dread and anxiety about starting the class. Well, I'm happy (thrilled, really) to say that while I have picked up a few more hours a the dentist office, we have been able to arrange our budget in a way that (barring any major emergencies) we should be well on our way to knocking out a large portion of debt by the end of the year. (Dave advocates being DEBT FREE, except for your house.) We won't quite be at that point for a couple of years, but we are looking forward to the rewards of being good stewards with our money, even if it hurts a lot right now! God has already shown us the blessings that come with being disciplined in this area and we look forward to the day when we, in turn, can bless others.