Waiting

Well, we went to the doctor yesterday and everything looked great again. Nothing of note to report, really. It was an interesting visit because of several things:
1. I forgot to ask about my Level 2 ultrasound--yes, I've already gotten chastized for this from my husband.
2. I went alone for the second time ever--which was fine, especially since I saw the doctor for maybe 2 minutes.
3. I forgot my pre-registration packet for the hospital.
4. I was told not to wash the dishes for 24 hours after getting my blood taken (wahoo!)
5. I went back after my packet and to ask about the sonogram and was told the nurse sets it up and calls me with the date--this was a little too weird for me, but whatever.
6. I seemed to be one of two married people in the packed waiting room.
7. I'm measuring further along than 17 1/2 weeks--with Logan, I only measured "big" once and it was at 38 weeks...uh oh!

I am feeling better--back to one pill a day. We decided that I must have had the stomach flu and it was prolonged due to taking all of the medicine. I found out that three of my kiddos had it right after school got out for Spring Break...hopefully I didn't make any of you sick.

Today the nurse called to tell me that she scheduled the ultrasound for April 18--we'll be at Sea World, so they rescheduled for April 21. If munchkin cooperates we'll know if we're going blue or pink then.

On a side note Logan informed me last night that my belly is "huge!" Great...what will he be saying come August? BTW: this is after he told me he wanted me to be "FFFFATMAN", aka: batman while we were playing. He's definitely keeping me laughing if nothing else.

Egg Hunting

We went to the Midlothian egg hunt on Saturday, where Logan was a bit overwhelmed and would have much rather played on the "playslide", but he was glad for the extra candy. We then had our church Easter egg hunt on Sunday afternoon. There he got the hang of it about the time the big kids were released and he realized there was some competition involved...so, we had to finally stop him when his basket was full. We had a wonderful spring break and Easter with visits from the Stringers, Annie, the Porters, Gammie Gumpy and Uncle Matthew, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Laurie (not all at the same time.) Easter was wonderful, although the Hemphills had to leave early, we did get to have some special friends over for lunch. I just realized as I was doing this post that I didn't take a single picture of us in our Easter "outfits". I guess that's what this pregnant brain is for--forgetting lots and lots of things!

Dyers Dye

Well, we spent an evening the week before Easter dying eggs. We got started a little rough, with the wind blowing the newspaper all over the backyard, blowing over the pink dye and Maddie trying to sabotage the rest of the colors, but we had a blast eventually. Logan was so upset about the pink dye that we didn't know if he'd recover, but he did and he loved it. Here are a few of the pictures.

NOT Two Peas in this Bod

Okay, after a hilarious email from my friend Colleen I realized the error of the last post's title...Just to clarify, there is only one pea in this body...not two. I was told what havoc it caused to see a post by a pregnant lady entitled "two peas in a pod."

As far as the "pea" (or rather "avocado" at 16 weeks) goes, the morning sickness has not subsided...its actually getting worse...now I'm up to taking two pills a day to help with the nausea instead of the one at night...too many of my friends have had to listen to my complaints over the past few days. I just can't understand how I felt so great with Logan after the first trimester, and how I can feel so absolutely awful still with this one. I know that pregnancy is just a time in your life when you are totally self-absorbed, but I thought that it would be better with this one after I could just get through the sick stage...I guess I'm going to have to fight a little harder to get out of this "selfish" mode. Please forgive my rantings.

On a lighter note, we go to the doctor next Wednesday and we will schedule "The Ultrasound." Yes, we will be finding out the gender of the baby and we will be shouting it from the mountaintops, but we haven't determined yet when we'll be shouting it. I'm also toying with the idea of letting Logan come to that appointment. He's SO interested and curious about seeing the baby and hearing its heartbeat (he sticks his ear to my tummy several times a day to see if he can hear its heart) that I think it would be really sweet for him to be there. Plus, I think that it would be sweet to have him there to be "surprised" with us on the gender. We've been talking the whole pregnancy about how this is just as much his baby as it is mine and Jarrod's so that he knows how special he is and how he fits into this family--he's finally started referring to it as "our baby" which I just love. I'll keep you posted which route we go.

Two Peas in a Pod

Well, we were excited to have a visit from Seth, Baby Blake and Kim this week. Kim and I go to get our hair done by a girl who moved close to my house (okay, well, 30 minutes from me.) So, Kim brought the boys and came up. Annie was SOOO gracious to come over and watch the boys for 5 hours while we went to get our hair done. Yes, I said 5 hours. We love this girl, but she's SUPER slow at this...I think she's even slower when there's two of us to talk to. But, she does a good job and she's cheap...and best of all she's allowing us to spend some time together now that the Stringer's left us for San Antonio.

Let me start by saying that Logan and Seth are very similar. They play similarly, they are both pretty tough, they have and require similar discipline styles and neither of them require a whole lot. Now, there are definite differences--Seth is definitely more adventurous than Logan, but he brings Logan right along with him and if Seth is doing it, Logan's not going to be scared about it. We view that as a huge plus. Seth's never met a stranger and Logan is as shy as they come, at least at first. However, again, as long as Seth's with him, what's there to be scared of??? Needless to say, they have a GREAT friendship and that allows us to have A LOT of fun when we're together. Over two days, they had two "squabbles" and neither one lasted longer than 30 seconds--that's pretty amazing for 3 year olds. They had some adorable conversations, including "we make a great team" while playing basketball together, and "Logan (pronounced Yo-gan) was touching my hand like this when I was asleep" (Logan had woken up and was trying to get Seth to wake up by holding his hand). Here are a few pictures of them after a day of play in their "Wooly Mammoth" t-shirts.

Crazy Weather

Well, if any of you have lived in Texas, you know how crazy the weather can be. On Wednesday it was a beautiful day--55 in the morning, 70 by early afternoon. We went with our friends, Evan, Austin and Mrs. Joni to the zoo for the morning. We had a fabulous time! Here are a few pictures of the boys.

Well yesterday, Thursday, (yes, the very next day)the highs were in the 30s and it was sleeting on Logan and I as we drove home from school. When Logan woke us up this morning, he told us that there was snow and it was winter. We got up and played in it for a little while (no comments on the clothes choices...)before it had time to melt! Here are some pictures!

This World Is not my Home

Too many times over the past few weeks, I've been reminded that this world is not my home. I'm so thankful that one day the pain, suffering and heartache will all be left behind for a much better place--where we are promised a perfect life everlasting with Jesus Christ. Its always amazing as I think how quickly life can change and how often we are reminded that we cannot take one minute for granted. Most of you know that my life was forever changed April 21, 1990 when I received a phone call that my father had shot himself. I was 12 years old and life has never been the same. Some days that means that life has been better than it was then and sometimes that means that life has been far worse--but either way I got through it, I survived and I fully believe that I am a better person because of that survival.

Additionally, you know that Jarrod's life was forever changed October 31, 2005 when he received a phone call from his mother stating that his father had left. Again, though tough, Jarrod has gotten through it, he's survived and has for the most part forgiven his lifetime hero for a hurt that he never dreamed of having to endure. Our hurts were a little different because they were caused by the people that we most loved, but nevertheless, all it took was one instant to realize that life would never be the same.

Last week, our dear friends Jenny and Brad Wims were given devastating news relating to Brad's cancer. Brad is young, he has two beautiful children that are 4 and 1 and he is married to one of the most amazing women I know. Our prayers were so sure, there was no angst in them, we just knew Brad would receive good news from the doctors last week and then somehow God just didn't answer those prayers to our longing--at least not yet.

Today, my precious, precious friend Ashley called to say that they found out this morning that her father, Forrest has colon cancer. He will undergo surgery tomorrow to remove part of his colon--thankfully they have caught it early. I'm once again prostrate pleading with God for the life of a friend. Its amazing to me that Ashley's biggest worry when she woke up was what she was going to teach her 3 year olds at preschool tomorrow and in the blink of an eye, or rather the ringing of a telephone, her course was irreversibly changed.

I'll never understand why "bad things happen to good people." Why the things of this world still overtake the faithful and shake them to their core, but I suppose it all has to do with the fact that we live in a fallen, sinful world and we can't for one instant take for granted the blessings that we have been given. God has blessed us richly and I will strive to make every minute with my child, with my husband count--so that they never doubt that they are the most important, precious gifts I have been given. I would encourage each of you to do the same--love your life, live so that there's no room for regrets and praise God for even the smallest of your blessings.