SNOW DAY!

I still get so baffled when there is a snow day here in the desert. Growing up in Kentucky, snow days are pretty typical but here in the desert, not so much.
The first scheduled day back for school was canceled due to a snow day. And I am so grateful for the extra day with Ben. The Sunday night before, we had gotten quite a bit of snow already. I was exhausted and went to bed early, but Ben and the kids went out to play in the snow and built a snow man.






The next morning we woke up to even more snow. Ben had gotten a call early in the morning canceling school for the kids, but they contemplated making the staff go in. So, he got up, got dressed and just before leaving for school he got the call that he was out for the day as well.

So, when the kids got up it was time for playing outside again and building another snow man. This time they made her a snow woman, and she was the snow man's girlfriend.


It was a great, relaxing day even though I did have to work some.

2011?!

I just can't believe we are already into 2011. When did this happen? What an amazing year we have had. There have been struggles, but that is with any year. Some amazing things that have happened this year:
* The kids turned 3 and have shown us how to be patient. :)
* Ben and I celebrated our 10 year high school reunion, 5 years of marriage and 11 years together. It feels like I have loved him forever.
*Analise started ballet and is a natural at it. She had her first little recital at the Fair and Festival (aka Harvest Festival, aka Fall Festival) and her Mimi was able to be here to watch it with us.
*We took our first trip to Disneyland. We spent a little time at the beach and an entire day at Disneyland. It wasn't nearly long enough, but the kids loved every second of it.
*Ben and I decided to have another baby - even if it meant we got two more, but were thrilled to find out we are having just one this time. It will be a whole new experience for us. And the little bundle of joy is a boy. We are still deciding on how to spell it, but his name will be Isaiah/Izayah.
*We spent lots of time together as a family and have loved every second of it.
*We have also spent lots of time with friends. I love watching the kids interact with their friends and have their personalities shine.

We spent Christmas in Nevada this year. We missed our family in Kentucky so very much, but still tried to have a great holiday. The kids were so excited Christmas morning to see that Santa had come and brought them some terrific presents. They already can't wait until next year!

We spent New Year's Eve up in Trout Canyon at the Floyd's cabin with our friends. The kids and Ben played in the snow, while I watched. I didn't want to be a party pooper, but I wasn't sure how good of an idea it was to rush down a hill when I'm almost 5 months pregnant. I had a blast watching them have fun. It was fun for me too. :)

Now we look forward to all the wonderful things that will come to us in 2011.
*The kids will turn 4! Which is so very hard for me to believe.
*God willing, we will welcome our newest little addition to the family.
*The kids will start t-ball, which they are both thrilled about
*Analise will have her first, formal ballet recital.

I know there will be so many more wonderful things to come to us this year, and I'm excited to experience them all with my amazing children and my wonderful, loving husband. I am such a LUCKY woman!

Stress!!!

Oh gosh, has it been a stressful week! First I was excited/stressed/nervous about finding out how many babies were in there - in case you didn't see my last post, there is only 1!! And then I've been stressing about my Dad. On Friday he was put in the hospital after a test for bloodflow to his left came back showing that it was diminished. On Saturday they did the first surgery, where they went into the ulcer, cleaned it out and removed a piece of his bone to determine if the bone was infected.

It came back showing that it was slightly infected, but with the IV antibiotics they are very hopeful that it will clear up. Then, today they went in to work on the blood flow problems. They found multiple blockages, but were able to fix them and as of right now he is doing well. We are still praying that the infection in his foot and bone continue to heal, at hopefully a much quicker rate now that he has good blood flow to his foot.

God does answer prayers, and I'm so thankful to him for answering mine for my Daddy!

Just 1 Baby

Today I had my first ultrasound for this pregnancy. I had been so anxious, nervous, nauseous over finding out how many. While I had thought it was just one, Ben had convinced me it was going to be two again.

He said he was just preparing me in case it was two so I wasn't freaked out if there were two, but it just didn't help my lack of sleeping due to nerves.

So I climbed up on the ultrasound table, took a deep breath and thought to myself, here we go. I looked at the monitor as she ran the wand over my stomach and there it was...just 1 baby!! She confirmed it by saying, just one in there. I looked over at Ben and my two adorable kids who were so very excited to be seeing the baby, and grinned. The ultrasound tech said "sighs of relief around the room". I grinned again and said oh yeah!!

While I would have been perfectly ok with two more kids, I was really worried about the pregnancy with two. I was worried about the stress on my body and how I would take care of the two kids I already have while pregnant. While being pregnant isn't easy with one or two, I have a feeling it is going to be so much easier with just one.

I'm so very excited!! The next excitement will come in 8 more weeks, give or take, when we get to find out what we are having. Although, both of us predict girl, we shall see if we are right. :)

Expanding Family

Expanding one's family is a tough decision. One that we certainly didn't take lightly and are very excited that we made the decision me did.

Along with all the normal "concerns", including, money, space, time, etc., we have the fear of two again. Not that we won't lovingly accept two more, just the fear of the pregnancy of two at once. It was very hard on my body the first time, because as my doctor said, a woman's body is not designed to carry more than one baby at a time. And I was able to rest A LOT the first time. Now, I have two very energetic three and a half year-olds to keep up with. Resting a lot is not very practical this time.

While we won't know until sometime later this month how many we are having, we are excited either way. If it is two, great. If it is one, great. If it is three, like people keep teasing me, I may need to be checked in somewhere! :)

No, in all seriousness, we are just so excited to be expanding our family. No matter how many there are, we are just praying for healthy.

The kids are very excited too. Analise wants a baby sister and Antonio wants a baby brother (of course). When we try to tell them it could be just one baby, they aren't okay with that. They each want what they want and aren't afraid to let us know that. It is rather comical. Antonio seems to be more go with the flow about it, so for Analise's sake, I'm hoping it is a girl. Of course, we don't care either way. They both have such great aspects, we are going to be happy no matter what.

I want this pregnancy to go slow and fast both at the same time. I want to enjoy this time I have with us as a family of 4 but I am excited to see how my kids react to a new baby. Life is good and I'm so blessed.

Blogging Slacker

I feel like such a blogging slacker!! Life has kept us so busy this summer and there are certain priorities that we must stick with...and this just wasn't one of them.

Since my last blog, we have celebrated Ben's 28th birthday, our 5th wedding anniversary, our 10 year high school reunion, the kids and I went to Kentucky for a week, we went camping and have filled our days with work and play. A little more work than play most days but we still have managed to have fun!

I'm looking forward to being back into a routine this fall. The kids have gone back to preschool, I'm still cranking out work from home and Ben has switched from 6th grade Science to 8th grade Science. I love my kids more and more every day...more than I truly thought possible. They are amazingly smart and are so funny. They make disciplining them very difficult some times as it is hard not to giggle or just flat out laugh at them!

Analise starts ballet next week and she is beyond thrilled. She asks me every day how many more days until she gets to be a ballerina. Antonio is excited to play t-ball in the spring.

Ben and I are doing amazing. I love him more everyday too. It is amazing to me that we have been together for 11 and a half years! I barely remember what my life was like without him in it. I promise to do a better job keeping everyone apprised of our goings on.

Here is a picture of Ben and I at our 10 year reunion.

Barbie

Oh my goodness!!! Peaches 'n Cream Barbie is now available at Wal-Mart! Now, granted...it costs $45 and is supposed to be a collector Barbie, but I want it so bad. I always wanted that Barbie when I was little. She had the most gorgeous dress - still does, and smelled just like peaches. It was so hard for me to just walk away from that doll today. But I just can't justify spending that much money on a Barbie. And, there is no way I would leave it in the box. That would be pure torture for Analise! Oh, who am I kidding...it would be torture for me too! So...if anyone wants to buy me a gift, I would gladly accept Peaches 'n Cream Barbie! ;)