It's a .....

Hi! Thank you to all who participated in the poll! We had fun watching the numbers change. Well, the technician looked and she kept saying things like, "come on, move just a little," and "stop doing that!" We have a very active baby in there, but ony when the baby wants to :). Abi was too! The same technician used to say the same things to her. I told her I wanted her to put the answer to the burning question into an envelope and seal it so that Mark and I could open it together. She did just that, but not before she accidentally turned the screen to me, showed me everything and explained her guess. Yes, I did find out that day.... by mistake. For those wondering, I did tell Mark when I go home. We kept it to ourselves until Christmas morning though!

The technician was only committing to 80% accuracy as the umbilical cord was there as well. When I heard that, I was hoping for a story like my friend Jessica where they weren't100%, but at the last second everything was clear as day! However, not the case. The umbilical cord just didn't want to move that day. Have I dragged it out long enough? ;P It's a girl! We will know 100% toward the end of January, but after comparing pictures online and knowing what Abi's picture looked like, I would be surprised otherwise.

Onto the next burning question many seem to have. Yes, we are thrilled! We would be thrilled either way, so I guess I didn't need to say it :) However, many are asking if we are okay with that since we already have a girl and the answer is, "of course!" We are blessed with the opportunity to raise another child and are humbled that our Heavenly Father would bless us with this gift. He has a plan for our lives, our children and all the details in between so we get excited about the reveal of every detail along the way. This is one of those exciting details!

Happy New Year! Have a wonderful day, evening and night, be safe and we will check in next year!

Fun in the Snow

As promised, here are some pictures of Abi's first snowman, along with her first ride on the lake across the street! We have some wonderful neighbors and Abi loves to watch and play with the neighbor boys. I know that she would play with the girls too, but there aren't any! :) One of the boys came and helped build the snowman on our porch. Then a few more joined in the fun on the lake, all taking turns pushing her n her sled and then giving her a turn on the "big boy" sled. She had a ball! And boy was it cold out there on the ice. Daddy even made a snow angel. Enjoy!

Sunny Florida

We are in sunny Florida and I must say it is nice to be able to take Abi for walks to the park in December! I promised pictures of Abi's first snowman and will get that up this evening - I am a little behind!

I wanted to pop in for just a moment to ask you to join in a ittle fun! If to look to the right --> you will see a poll. Please let us know if you think we are having a boy or girl! This will be fun to track and then we will let you know the results when we find out :)

I need to run, but will be back soon!

Yikes! A New Cry!

It's 4:50 a.m. The house was quiet, peaceful, everyone sleeping when all of a sudden....... a strange, unknown cry from the nursery! Yes, Abi started crying in a panic, a cry that she has never done before, and scared me right out of the bed (not to mention startled me out of a deep sleep)! I ran down and had to make a quick pit stop, so I talked to her from around the corner so she knew I was there. Mark had just fallen asleep before the cry, but also came to the room as he noticed the strange difference in her cry as well. He asked me if I was going to get her before he went in (we have been letting her work through most of her nighttime wake-ups - which are few these days).

"Yes," I said, "she sounds scared and I think we need to let her know we are here."

Mark went in and got her, she grabbed all of her animals and when I saw her and started talking to her she kind of looked dazed - like she was trying to figure out her surroundings. Then she came to me and after a few minutes, I just brought her to bed. I asked Mark if she was shaking when he picked her up and he said she was. Could it be possible she has started having bad dreams? After some milk and a little awake time, she went back to sleep at about 6:45 a.m. and woke up with smiles and talking up a storm at 7:23 a.m. - her usual time. So scary! She is fine though. I think mommy and daddy are okay too :) We just don't wake up quite as refreshed as Abi does when sleep is interrupted ;)

Next post will be about Abi's first snowman! I just have to download the pictures. Stay tuned!

Let the Pregnancy Blunders Begin!

Many who know me know that I am not the most graceful when I am pregnant. Some would clarify that I am not the most graceful, especially when pregnant. Yes, the past proves this through the many trips on the stairs, the fractured ankle at 26 weeks, falling into walls, tripping on my own feet (who doesn’t when you can’t see them?)… I think you get the picture. None can compare however, to the trip and fall on the main stage at Willow Creek last year … I was one week from my due date and I gracefully caught the toe of my shoe on the top step and fell forward. Yes my whale-self fell, I got some help standing back up, smiled and walked to my spot right on the end of the first row! Sometimes you just have to laugh and chalk it up as a memorable experience. What did I learn? Find out ahead of time which way the choir will be entering the stage and make the walk BEFORE you actually file on in front of an audience of thousands :)

It doesn’t seem that this pregnancy will fall short of the amusing blunders of the last pregnancy. :) It seems I may be a disaster in the kitchen this time around! At least a disaster to myself. It seems I have lost my ability to drain pasta water, pour coffee or stir something hot without burning myself. This is not in place of the two left feet mind you, but in addition. Yes I continue to trip, bump into walls, put the whole coffee beans in the basket of the coffee pot instead of the grinder (that is new this time too!), etc. Abi is confused and Mark seems to be getting a good laugh out of it – after he finds out that the burn is not serious of course. I have abandoned slippers and replaced them with slipper socks (I kept catching the toes of the slippers on the stairs last time), so hopefully I won’t be quite a disaster on the stairs. We’ll see! Now it's the slipping I need to watch - we have hardwood floors and stairs. I may have a whole new set of blunders to keep everyone entertained!

Stay tuned for more entertainment! :)

WOW! I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have written! Time sure does fly by. We were out of town for a bit for Thanksgiving and now I am getting back into the swing of things. So much to catch up on! I guess we will start with Thanksgiving.

We first went to NY to visit most of my family and they had snow while we were there! Abi got to wear her snowsuit for the first time and go sledding with her cousins! Every time she went down the hill and we pulled her out at the bottom, she pointed to the sled and grunted to signal it was time to go again! As hard as it was for her to move in the suit, she wouldn't have been anywhere else. She is an outdoor girl for sure!

From there we went to CT to visit some of Mark's family and we had a wonderful time there as well. Abi had some live music by Uncle Bob and experienced her first high school football game. The fields are right behind their house and on Thanksgiving, they had a game so we walked over to see all the excitement. And the drive? We made both long drives in one day! Abi is a star traveler. What a trooper! She rode 12 1/2 hours to NY, 4 1/2 to CT and then 15 back to home! The meltdowns were minimal (really just one on each long drive) and can we get a Praise the Lord for Little Einsteins? Yes, she watched the same movie the whole way home... 15 hours of helping the caterpillar get to the tree so he could get a new outfit and then helping the butterfly find his invitation. However, it kept her happy and she loves the music! We are now taking a break :)

So, now we are home and have had some snow here as well. The first snow of the season came on Saturday. Did I tell you about the story of the neighborhood boys? One thing we LOVE about our location is that the neighborhood kids (mostly boys) play in our backyard. They are middle school and high school age, so their games are a little more intense (but still fun to hear them laughing at each other). So one day they were playing in the back (Abi wanted to play too) and Abi and I had fun watching them run around trying to hit each other with whatever they were shooting. I saw that Mark had pulled out some of our storm windows back there, so I let him know the boys were back there. He sometimes likes to go and say hello. A couple of hours later, we were back outside and all of a sudden Mark looks back and says, "No way! There is no way they did that." I wasn't sure what happened, but the next thing I know the boys are following Mark into the back, all looking a bit somber. Turns out they were using the windows as shields.... ummm yes, glass for shields. Too funny!! We weren't upset that it happened, just that no one said anything. Mark handled it very well and just explained that when something like that happens, they need to tell the homeowner. They agreed to come and help Mark with the leaves in the yard one Saturday. The day they picked was the day of the first snow storm. Yes, they came to rake just as the snow began to fall. So five boys had a blast raking leaves in the snow, at least what they could find. The snow was falling so fast that they began to have a really hard time seeing where they were! AND it was freezing outside!! I think it turned into sleet before they were finished. I made hot chocolate for them when they had done all they could do, but they did have a good time jumping in the leaves and throwing each other in the piles as well. It wasn't really about getting the leaves up, but rather following through with what they had agreed to do. They are great kids! We hope they will still come utilize our backyard. I am sure they will.

During this time, the neighbor's dog was also playing with the boys and Abi was watching from the front door. She was so excited to see the dog and watch him zip back and forth that she was screaming at the top of her lungs! I asked her if she wanted to go outside and she squealed with even more excitement. I explained that she had to put on all the gear, including the snow pants, and she actually helped me put them on. I couldn't move fast enough for her! We got outside and the dog came and zipped past her a few times, knocking her down a couple of times, and she just started laughing. Didn't matter that she ended up face-first in the snow - she was playing with doggie! I guess this answers our question of "how will Abi like the cold and wearing the suit she can't move in?". Mommy is going to need to get some warmer clothes for her legs!

Well, I will try to be back again later today or tomorrow. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!