Our little girl is walking!!!

Alivia started walking on Friday, she looks so stinkin cute toddling around the house!!!

10 Things I LOVE!!!

The warm weather is making me HAPPY! I don't even care if it's gloomy outside, as long as it's warm! I LOVE springtime, it's my favorite season! I thought I would make a list of some of the things I LOVE!


1.) First of all, I LOVE these 2 little girls! They are so sweet and they are growing up so fast. This picture was before church this morning, we were getting ready to leave and Abby said "Mommy, take a picture, take a picture!" (I think she gets that from my mom, my mom is addicted to taking pictures. And Abby LOVES to have her picture taken :)


Aren't they beautiful!!!!!


2.) I LOVE my hard working husband! He works so hard for us, and we all appreciate him SO much!

3.) I LOVE going to church and feeling like the sermon is speaking to me! I often leave church feeling like the pastor was addressing whatever has been troubling me.

4.) I LOVE hearing the birds outside. I have the back window open right now and can hear the birds singing.

5.) I LOVE coffee....Lots of creamer, 2 sugars... Enough said...

6.) I LOVE the way a clean house smells! Nothing is better than being in a clean house.

7.) I LOVE thunderstorms! We are supposed to be getting some in the next day or two, and I can't wait!

8.) I LOVE happy hour at Sonic! A LARGE Vanilla Dr. Pepper for $.90, it doesn't get better than that!

9.) I LOVE summertime hot dogs! Ya know, cooked on the grill...kinda crispy black on the outside...MMMmmmm....No kidding, I could eat like 6 at a time!!! The absolute BEST summer food EVER!!!!!!

10.) I LOVE my kids, but also LOVE the peace and quiet of night-time. When the girls have gone to bed and there are no noise-making toys in the background, no one yelling "Mommy" for the 1,354,869,209,832 time that day, and there is nothing to do but relax...awww...peace and quiet!

Update on our life...

It has taken me a long time to get the courage to write this on our blog. We are not very open about our life. I mean, we have nothing to hide, but it's just not our style to broadcast our business for the world to hear, not to mention 'read' about on a blog. But, here it goes...we have decided to put updates about our life and this pregnancy on our blog so that our friends don't have to "wonder" how we are doing.

This is LONG! It is about the past 6 weeks of this pregnancy. I have to also put it out there, that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, our OB doctor! Personally, I think he is the absolute best there is!

Ok, here it goes...
I am now 17 weeks pregnant, it has been a LONG 17 weeks and we know it will not start to move faster anytime soon. I think we are OK with the waiting for this pregnancy to be over, though. It has been a really bumpy road so far and it's not going to get any easier. This pregnancy was a big surprise to us, not a surprise to God, but a surprise to us. We were nervous about having 3 children under 3, and still are nervous about this. I guess God knows what he's doing though.

Things started out normal with tiredness, nausea, and 4 positive pregnancy tests! I started having some spotting at about 11 weeks, which made us nervous. I called the doctor and they said that it could be perfectly normal, just let them know if it got worse. Over the next couple weeks, the spotting just kept happening. I went in for an appt. and they checked the baby's heartbeat and everything was ok. They set me up for a sonogram at the hospital just to make sure nothing else was wrong. At the sonogram, they concluded that I have total placenta previa. My placenta, which is supposed to be attached to the top your uterus, is sitting completely on top of my cervix and it's putting some pressure on the cervix (not good). Doctor gave me restrictions for work and told me as long as I was careful, everything should be fine. They made sure to tell me to carefully follow my restrictions because if I didn't, and something happened, I could bleed to death before I got help. That REALLY freaked me out!!! I went to work the next day, followed my restrictions, and was very careful to not do anything I shouldn't. It was right before lunch, I stood up from a chair, and my pants were immediately soaked with blood down past my knees. We called the doctor and he was waiting at the maternal/child unit for us. I ended up being in the hospital for 4 days, not fun at all! He took me off work for the remainder of the pregnancy and told me to take it easy at home (not an easy thing to do with a 1 year old and a 2 year old). I am following orders best I can, though.

It is hard for my mind to process the fact that I need to be on restrictions, I don't feel sick and I don't feel like anything is wrong with me. Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and kind of got "slapped" back to reality! He didn't tell me anything new, but just reaffirmed that I'm not "ok". I took my printed calendar with me to show him the days in February that I had spotting or bleeding. There were 11 days, 11 out of 28 days! That is alot, and it didn't make him happy, he is very concerned for us. So, he put things into perspective for us (or more for me!) Our doctor is SO good about putting things into perspective and being extremely blunt and he's really good at bursting bubbles! But, that's why we like him so much, he doesn't sugar coat anything. He tells you the ugly truth, no matter how bad you don't want to hear it.

Here is what we were told yesterday:

• We are officially a "high risk pregnancy." I should have known this was coming, but hearing him say it made it more real.
• We have an appt. on March 19th with the high risk pregnancy specialist in Wichita. Our doc said he wants us to become comfortable with her and he wants her to become familiar with us. She is going to do an extensive sonogram to check for other problems.
• We have small goals set with the doc in this pregnancy. The final goal is for me to reach 34 weeks. If I reach 34 weeks, they will take the baby by c-section at that time.
• The doc also said the reason he wants us to become comfortable with the specialist is because he doesn't think I will reach 34 weeks, therefore the specialist would be the one there for the deliverly.
• He also said that if I keep spotting or bleeding, no matter how minimal, by the time I'm into the later 20's weeks, I WILL be in Wichita in the hospital until they take the baby :(
• And, I need to continue to be extra careful while at home.

So, the appt. yesterday went well. Nothing new thrown at us, just kinda brought me back to reality. We have had several people bringing us meals and helping out with other tasks that we may need, and we appreciate this SOOO much!!!! This whole situation is very stressful to our life in more ways than one. The whole pregnancy situation is stressful in itself, but then we have the stress of being forced to have only 1 income which was definately not in our plans anytime soon.

Pray for our family, this little "baby bean", and our finances in the coming months. I will make regular updates from here on, and I'm sure none of them will be even close to being THIS long!!!

cranky mama

*(Wow, this post turned out way longer than planned, oh well...)*

The purpose of this post is not to call together a pity party for me, or make you feel sorry for me. It is just simply to vent some frustration and hopefully make me less cranky after putting my feelings into words...Here is our day so far...

slept in till 7:15...YEAH!!! (that's a big deal in this house).
happy children. they played alot early this morning.
cinnamon rolls for breakfast, YUM...
coffee...one of the best drinks ever...
get everyone ready for an outing to pay a couple bills.
STILL, happy children.
run errand to pay a bill.
alivia gets tired while in the car.
no more happy children, alivia starts yelling and crying.
more crying.
more crying.
alivia falls asleep, BAD NEWS!
richard carries her in the house insisting she will stay asleep.
she stays asleep. awww...thank you, Lord!
take abby potty, lay her down for nap.
get lunch started for a visitor from my hometown church.
abby gets up claiming she has to potty again.
abby eats a bite of chicken nugget, goes back to bed.
abby spits out chewed up chicken nugget on her bed.
mommy tells her that's gross, and tells her to go to sleep.
alivia starts crying in her room, 30 minutes after laying down :(
alivia crys some more.
i go get her, and she screams even more!
she keeps screaming.
i lay her back down.
she cries some more.
abby gets up to go potty AGAIN!!!
abby goes back to bed.
richard gets alivia up, she is extremely cranky. this makes mommy cranky.
our lunch guest arrives.
abby gets back up and says, "abby's awake!"
we have lunch.
richard leaves for work.
our lunch guest leaves.
abby is bossy, and is deliberately disobeying.
alivia is still cranky.
i lay alivia down again, thinking maybe she will take a nap.
she lays in her room for an hour, whining and talking and whining some more.
every time i tell abby to do something, she firmly tells me "NO." (when did this happen, i mean, when did it happen that i get tired of arguing with my 2 year old child. i'm the parent, right? richard is good at making her listen, and most of the time she obeys me without alot of trouble. today is different though. usually she obeys in fear of going to time-out, but today she doesn't even care about time-out. at the moment i have no insight into the mind of 2 year olds, other than they want to do WHAT they want, WHEN they want to do it!)

I am so thankful days like these don't happen often. I don't know if my brain could handle it, I don't like being cranky. I'm sure these darn pregnancy hormones have something to do with my mood too. Oh well, back to reality...
P.S.-since finishing this post, alivia has gotten quiet...maybe, just maybe, she has gone to sleep for awhile. When she wakes up, maybe she will be a happy 1 year old!

Makes me smile...

No matter how many times I watch this video, it always makes me smile. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Assurance

Never look ahead to the changes and challenges of this life in fear. Instead, when they arise look at them with full assurance that God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. Hasn't He kept you safe up to now? So hold His loving hand tightly and He will lead you safely through all things. And when you cannot stand, He will carry you in His arms.

Do not look ahead to what may happen tomorrow. The same everlasting Father who cares for you today, will take care of you tomorrow and everyday. Either He will shield you from suffering or He will give you His unwavering strength that you may bear it. Be at peace, then, set aside all anxious thoughts and worries.

~Francis de Sales

This passage came from a very special blog. Joel and Jess are such AMAZING people who have endured so much over the last year. If you have a chance, you should visit their blog here.

This passage has such great meaning. I think sometimes I forget that I can't control everything that happens in my life. And sometimes we go through tough situations so that we can grow into a stronger and better person. At the time, we may not realize Gods ultimate plan, but we need to be assured that He knows HIS plan.

In his heart, a man may plan his course, but the LORD will determine his steps.

~Proverbs 16:9

We have had a bumpy road the last couple weeks with our pregnancy. We go to the hospital tomorrow morning for a sonogram to check and make sure everything is alright. Please keep us and "baby bean" in your prayers. We are trying to remember that God is in control and He already knows our future.

Little friends

This is Abby's friend Brooke. They are such good little freinds. It is actually kinda weird how much they act alike. When they are together, they are like 2 peas in a pod. Brooke came over a couple weeks ago to play for a little while. They had a blast playing with Manny on the bed. And he was LOVING the attention!

I hope these 2 can remain friends for a long time. They are so cute together!

Our Christmas...a little late

We were very thankfully off on Christmas day this year. With our jobs, we have to every other holiday, all year round. Well, Christmas this year, fell on our holiday off. Here are the girls meeting Santa. Neither one of them wanted anything to do with him. Abby didn't even want him to talk to her. So, this is the best picture we got of the girls with Santa. After we got home though, Abby talked about santa ALL night!!! She wanted to know all about him! Aren't kids funny like that?

When we got home from seeing santa, we baked cookies to leave out for him on Christmas eve. Abby was so proud of her cookies.

Alivia's first Chrismas.

I thought this picture was so sweet. We were getting ready for church and Abby was kissing Alivia. Alivia wanted nothing to do with her and kept trying to get away. Alivia is not in to all that mushy stuff!

Crazy times

Our lives have been SO, SO, SO busy this fall (which is why I am failing miserably at blogging)!!! Richard and I are both in school right now, we are both still working full-time, I am still doing jewelry shows regularly, AND we are having fun with our 2 beautiful little girls! We have almost no down-time it seems. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed at everything going on in our lives, but then we realize that it won't be this hectic forever! On top of it all, Abby is now fully potty trained (except at nighttime)!!!!!! YAY!!! It was SO easy, she decided one evening that she wanted to go "pee-pee" and that was it! No more daytime diapers!

At times we may feel like we are going crazy, or like we are trying to do to much. But this is our life, and it will all be worth it! Everything we do is for these 2 beautiful little girls.

Our girls

Here are some close-ups of our beautiful girls! They are getting so big!!!