It's a BOY!!!!!

Well, last Tuesday we started the Thanksgiving holiday by going to the doctor for an ultrasound. We found out that we are going to be having a baby BOY!!!! We are thrilled! Payton didn't act surprised or really excited. She really wanted a "brudda" but I think she thought that since she wanted it, that she would get what she wanted. So when she heard, she was just like, yeah, we know that already. Too funny! Maci, on the other hand, reacted with excitement first and then remembered that she wanted a girl and got really pouty about it. She is happy about it now, but we had to convince her that not all boys are really messy and really wild. (a little white lie to make her happy ;)) Alan was beyond thrilled!! Before we got pregnant, he really wanted another girl (if we had anymore) but once we actually got pregnant, he decided he really wanted a boy. We have been calling him Blake since the moment we found out we were expecting. I just had a feeling about this one. :) Well, I am 17 weeks along now and the baby is looking really good. Thankfully the subchorionic hemorrhage is also GONE!!! How awesome is that!! I have an appointment next week to hear the full report of my ultrasound, but everything seemed to be great. We couldn't be more excited! We celebrated by filling up Blake's closet! I've never shopped on "that" side of the store before, and was really not looking forward to it. However, I had a ton of fun shopping for this little guy! We are so blessed and really hoping the spring flies by so that we can meet this little one as soon as possible!! Thank you all for all your prayers during the rough part of this pregnancy! God is sooooo good!!!

12 Weeks

Well, I had another check-up today that went really well! God is so good! Payton went with me to my appt and we got in just as soon as I got there...that NEVER happens! The dr met me in the hall as I walked in and pretty much stayed with me through the entire check-up. The baby delivering business must have been really slow today :) Anyway, two nurses and the dr tried to get the baby's heartbeat using the doppler, but none had any success. Yay for me though, I got to get another ultrasound! The baby had a great, strong heartrate, and measured right where he should. At one point, the baby startled my dr with his amazing acrobatics! It was super cute to see. I asked how my hemorrhage was looking, but the dr could not find it! Praise God! He said that he saw no evidence that it is still there, but that I have to remain on "rest" for four more weeks until he can confirm with a big ultrasound that it is in fact gone. However, he did order my "big" ultrasound for the week of Thanksgiving. That means that we will probably also find out whether this third miracle is a baby boy or a baby girl. That is so much better than having to wait till Christmas, which is when I thought I would find out. Yay! I feel very relieved and excited about the news we got today! My ticking time bomb inside may be completely gone. You wouldn't believe what a load that takes off a mommy's shoulders. I feel like I can breath again! The Lord has been so good and so faithful to my precious family. I am praying for a very blessed and calm 2nd and 3rd trimester. Thank you so much to any of you who have sent up prayers on our behalf. We are certainly blessed by all of our dear friends and family! I suppose the next baby update will be in four weeks, so stay tuned! :)

10 Weeks!!!

Well, I am ten weeks preggo today! Only two weeks left of the first trimester. That went fast! I thought with all this sitting on the couch, and playing wait and see at the dr's, that time would surely stand still. Thank goodness that did not happen. I had an appointment yesterday that went really well. My dr did an ultrasound in his office, so I got a chance to see my little one again. This time, he looked so much bigger than two weeks ago. Looked like a baby, well, and baby with a very large head :) The baby's heartbeat was 160 BPM which is very good, and he/she was moving his little arms and legs. Very sweet! The dr still saw the blood clot, but he thought it might even be getting smaller. Woohoo!! His ultrasound machine isn't as good as the ones I usually go to, so he didn't try and measure the clot, but he thought it looked better. I think at my appointment in two weeks, he will order another "big" ultrasound to find out for sure. So, until then, still sitting...

Some fun facts about Baby Meers #3: baby is about the size of a cocktail shrimp (about an inch and a half), it is sprouting hair, the inner workings of its ears are complete, so it can now hear the girls goofing off and playing (a sound he will be very familiar with when he arrives,) he's now growing fingernails, and is able to kick and swallow. What a little miracle!!!

My mom came to Houston yesterday to play with the girls while I went to my Dr's appointment. When I got home, my house was sparkling clean!!! What a glorious smell to walk in to! She then informed me that she will be coming every few weeks on her day off to clean my house so that Alan doesn't have to do it on his days off. That is incredibly generous! Alan so didn't mind doing it, in fact, he was a really great sport about it! And, always did such a nice job without a single word of complaint. Really a rock star of a husband, but I am glad that mom offered to help him out a little bit. It was a really sweet offer. Hopefully we'll find out in a few weeks that this thing is gone, and I can get off my tail and carry my weight around here :) Until then, I am so thankful for all the help I am getting.

I brought home another ultrasound picture yesterday, and instantly Maci said, "Mom, it looks like a jelly bean!" So, we are now calling the baby our jelly bean. How cute is she!! This new baby has two big sisters eager to get their hands on it! Watch out little one!!!

Our Newest Little Miracle

I am so happy to say that we are expecting our number three! This little peanut will be here sometime at the beginning of May. We are beyond excited! I have really prayed for this miracle for sometime now and have to pinch myself that it has finally happened.

A week after we found out that we were expecting, I had a huge scare. I was being silly with our youngest and I swung her into her carseat and immediately started bleeding. I went to the emergency room to be checked out and left pretty much thinking that we had lost our baby. The ER Dr. was terrible and never even considered another possible cause for the bleeding. Anyway, it was a very long weekend of bedrest and "wait and see." On Monday I had my levels rechecked and found out on Tuesday that they not only doubled (the dr wanted them to double in three days) but they more than quadrupled! That was quite a relief to say the least, but not nearly as relieving as seeing our baby's heartbeat on an ultrasound that Friday! It was the tiniest little miracle I have ever seen. A little dot with an even smaller dot going about 150 beats a minute! Praise the Lord! The scripture I continuously prayed over our sweet baby is:

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16

Well, we have had several additional Dr's appointments and other ultrasounds and the baby appears to be perfectly healthy! Me on the other hand, I have a small subchorionic hemorrhage, which is a blood clot. My understanding is that it has the potential to burst and could cause harm to our baby, but if I take it easy and don't do much, it can just dissolve back into my body within a few weeks. That is what we are praying for. I am pretty much a couch potato these days, and feel pretty silly about it because I FEEL perfectly fine like I could be up doing my normal stuff, but I know the threat, so I am being a good girl on the couch! My Dr. will be keeping an eye on the clot every other week or so with the hope that it will go away on its own very soon. I just feel unbelievably blessed to be carrying this child, and I am confident that the Lord will put His heeling hands on my body and protect our beautiful little one.

I am only 9 weeks preggo, but looking at me you would think I was over 3 months along. The bump poked out a LOT sooner this time around. Every time Alan looks my direction, he just laughs at my belly. Its so funny! He is very excited about this little one too. So much more relaxed than with our first two pregnancies. He says its because now he knows its all ok. He says its just different this time. Yeah! I thought of all our pregnancies, this one is the one that would have him nervous. 3 kiddos is a lot! But I guess not. Since he's so "experienced," he knows he's a pro at this daddy business and is just relaxed and excited. It is very cute and really reassuring, especially when I start to get a little nervous about it all. He's the greatest daddy in all the world, so this child is already blessed beyond belief!

The girls are pretty excited too. Maci has a small fear of boys (they are loud and rough she says) so she is hoping we have a girl. She says if its a boy, we can keep him while he's a baby, but when he gets big we can give him to a family that really wants a baby. Yikes! I asked her if we could do the same thing with her, and she quickly saw the flaw in that idea :) She wants to name a girl Abby Cadabby, or a boy The Count. No, we never watch Sesame Street. There was a short Sesame Street performance one night while we were in Jamaica and they got attached quickly. Payton wants a "brudda." She says she wants to change that baby's diaper. Done. I'm off the hook for diaper detail. She thinks that Elmo is a great name for a boy and that Boopa is a suitable name for a girl ( I think that comes from a show called yo Gabba Gabba??) She is a little bummed that mommy can't carry her around anymore, so she likes to cuddle with me on the couch while Maci is at preschool. She says when the baby gets here, I can hold her all the time and daddy can hold the new baby. Keep in mind she is 3 in a month, a little big for all that holding! She has it in her head that she's still my little baby! I'll take it! They grow up way too fast.

We have 4 or 5 friends who are due in the same 4 month time period with their third babies, so we should all have a ton of fun spoiling these #3's while their siblings are all in school/preschool. Alan and I are really looking forward to these uncharted waters. Our families both stopped at 2, so this is going to be new to us all. Alan has one brother and I have one sister, and we have now agreed to let ours outnumber us! Yikes! May seems like such a long way off, so I hope it goes fast. I just can't wait to get my hands on this child. Once May gets here, I hope time will then stand still. Although I'll be new to this mother of three thing, I am a veteran and know full well just how fast the time flies by when you've got kiddos. I know enough to know, that I will have to cherish every single second of it...even the up all night, tired out of my mind part, because I will NEVER get the opportunity to do it again!

Princess Prep School

We signed Maci up for Princess Prep School and it was last week. She had the best time learning what it means to be a true princess, a daughter of The King. I was very impressed with the camp, and she really seemed to learn a lot. On a more shallow note, I loved getting to fuss over hair and dresses every morning. She insisted on wearing a dress every day, and so that is what she wore. What a doll! Anyway, I hope to see the seeds that were planted this week come to life in her little heart. On Friday, she had a Royal Graduation. She dressed in her Cinderella dress-up clothes. Cute. She sang a song, said a "Princess Prayer" and did awesome. Her Granddaddy blessed us by driving to Houston for her big day. We were thrilled that he could make it. After her ceremony, we celebrated with a McDonald's meal. When Alan came home, he gave her a graduation present to let her know how proud of her we were. What a special way to celebrate being a girl in God's Kingdom!

Maci before Princess School one day

Maci before Princess Graduation DayPayton before Maci's graduationme and my beautiful princessMaci and her special guest, Granddaddy!celebratory lunch at McD's daddy giving his princess her gift

A Princess Date in the Middle of Princess Week

This was the week of Princess Prep School and we knew there was to be a graduation the last day. Alan would not be able to attend due to a training at work and was seriously bummed. So, when Tonya sent me an email letting me know that the princesses would be at Chick Fi la on the second day of Princess School, we thought a princess date was only fitting for the week. Alan really appreciated it since he was going to miss graduation. Anyway, we got them all dolled up in their royal attire and took them over to Chick Fi La. They loved it. Cinderella was definitely the woman of the hour, but they enjoyed getting to see the others too. Tinkerbell (Payton was a big fan) Cinderella (by far their favorite)

Mulan???

Snow White

Salt Lick and The Oasis

We went to Austin for a Tonya's bridal shower and for dinner went over to The Salt Lick. I don't really care for bbq, but I hear that its about as good as it gets in the bbq world. We had a good time and got some cute pictures. I have been trying my hand at photo editing. I would say photography, but I don't have a cool camera to take great pictures with, so I am having a little fun with "post production," thanks to Stacy for the tutorials! Anyway, we went over to The Oasis for a little dancing and to watch the sunset after we ate. Maci was unbelievable on the dance floor. That girl can move. Talk about freestyle, it was hilarious! I don't have any pictures of her dancing that her hair is not flying up. Very fun to watch. Maci dancing by herself in the middle of the dance floor all 4 of us dancing
me and my honey waiting to be seated at The Salt Lick

Vacationing At The Lake With Dear College Friends

A family from Abilene, a family from Beaumont, and a family from Cypress...college buddies decided to meet up for a chance to catch up and spend time loving on each other's ever-expanding families. The Phelps' and the Drake's drove out to Lake Conroe where we took over the Meers' lake house (HUGE thanks to you for making our special time possible!) We all arrived at the lake Friday morning and had to be kicked out late Sunday afternoon. We all had so much fun. Lots of lake time, plenty of good food, and great conversation! I definitely didn't want it to end. I am already looking forward to the next time.

Payton, Lily, and Maci

Payton, Harrison, and Maci
Kris, Eric, and AlanStephanie, Jennifer, and StacyThe gals and our girlsthe big kid tableboat time!!!Kris, Maci, Eric, Stacy, and Lily taking a dip to keep cool Stephanie and her sweet Haylee (LOVE those cheeks)Eric, Maci, and Alan on the jet ski

A Daddy Date

Alan and I had plans to go on a date last night and the plans were almost changed. But, instead of cancelling the date altogether, we just modified it a little. We brought the girls with us. The girls knew we were supposed to go on a date, so when I told them they were gonna get to come too, they started calling it a Daddy Date. Cute! Anyway, we went to Ruggles in The Village for dessert. The girls got to decorate their own cookies, and we got to enjoy awesome desserts (I LOVE their red velvet cake!) After dessert, we went to Hermann Park. We really had a great night. Our yummy dessertsPayton decorating her cookieMaci decorating herschecking out the turtles Daddy and his girlsMommy and her girlslooking for fishDaddy's Girl monkeying aroundMommy's Girl

Gorgeous Mess

Payton watching daddy kiss mommy

see-saw

a stroll through Hermann Park

chasing ducks

Maci is faking a smile while keeping a close eye on the duck behind me...scaredy cat

screaming because the duck is walking toward me (like ten feet away) I think the kayaking incident has her scarred for life

I'm sweet

The 4 year old head tilt...its the only way she takes pictures right now :)

Chasing pigeonschasing more pigeonswanting to jump in with the duck...why not??literally dragging the drama queen to the car kicking and screaming--fun!

A date we won't be forgetting any time soon. I just adore my sweet family and the precious time we get to spend together! Thank you, God, for the greatest life ever!