Merry Christmas!!

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; May the name of the Lord be praised."
Job 1: 21

I cannot believe yet another year is coming to a close! 2010 has been a long, hard year, but has been filled with many blessings as well!! Emma turned 3 in January, and a few weeks later we learned we were expecting baby #3! In the couple of months following my granddad was diagnosed with lung cancer, and we celebrated Bryson's first birthday. The next several months were filled with ups and downs of my granddad being in and out of the hospital quickly declining in health. Though the days in the hospital were long and stressful with a 3 year old, a one year old, and a growing belly, I am grateful for the times we were able to share and that I was able to be there with and for my grandparents. During those months, our house also sold, we started building our new home and moved in with my parents. July 28th, my granddad went to be with the Lord. September 24, we welcomed our third blessing, Ava, into our family. A month later, we moved into our new house, and my best friend's mom went to Cleveland for major heart surgery. Unfortunately, she went to be with the Lord also a couple of weeks prior to the surgery. And then we hit the holidays without a moment to rest...and I feel exhausted just putting the year into writing! I don't know that I'll ever be able to process all that hit in this short year that has seemed close to an eternity, but I do know that my heart has been forever imprinted by the two great losses of life and one amazing gain in my little family over the last 4 months.

Obviously, it has been a busy year for our family. The kids are doing well and have amazed me through it all! Emma is a great big sister, and I am so grateful for her help and independence. She was excited about her new room and quickly requested pink! She loves pretending to talk on the phone, dressing up, packing up and "going to the beach", role playing, being with her friends, and, of course, tending to Bryson and Ava. She is finally enjoying choir at church, and loves any classes she goes to, and we are working on memorizing her children's catechism and some Bible verses. The hardest part of the first few catechism questions for her was that they weren't elaborate enough for her. : ) She continues to be a sweet, gentle spirited little girl and very nurturing.

Bryson is 20 months and is more than all boy! My sweet little man is often referred to with the words crazy and wild, and often hears his full name and the words, "no" and "stop"! He also brings us much joy and laughter, and I am equally grateful for him! He has definitely challenged me in the arena of sleep...something I remember with fondness and long for in the near future! Ava has surpassed him in the number of times slept through the night. Sleep and attachment have been hard for him since he entered this world, and we surely contributed to those issues with our year. I was concerned about moving twice and having a baby all in about 4 1/2 months, but he handled it pretty well. Once we moved into our new house and he got his own room and bed, he really started doing a lot better, and some nights he even makes it to our bed without tears or noise!! Bryson LOVES tractors though real ones in motion do terrify him. He also loves to read books, play with balls, and has mastered catching; he's trying to get Ava to learn now! Emma and Will played a lot of football this fall, so he picked up on that and loves to put on Emma's helmet and run around throwing or kicking the ball while yelling "tackle" and "touchdown". He adores Emma and wants to be with her playing most of the day, and she loves his company most of the time as well! He has hit the language explosion age, so it is fun listening to him these days.

Ava is 12 weeks now and doing an amazing job surviving in this house! Between Emma picking her up and carrying her and Bryson poking her eyes, trying to feed her cookies, and also attempting to pick her up, there are rare moments that she can "rest easy"! I love all my children equally, but she is my favorite baby! She is soooooo laid back, and she has been sleeping through the night since she was about 6 weeks old! Real sleeping through the night...like 10-6!! Of course that is not every night, but it has been the majority of nights the past 6 weeks. Before anyone starts to hate me, remember the last paragraph...she has slept through the night more than Bryson! She has rolled over some and flashes some amazing smiles! The baby talk is starting to crank up as well, and we are curious as to the personality the Lord has given her.

Ben is working hard to keep the business running in an economy that is still not construction friendly. He continues to think through some future additional business ideas as well, so we'll see what the Lord has in store. We are extremely grateful for the Lord's constant provision and could write pages of how He has provided in amazing and unlikely ways. Ben also did a wonderful and fast job building our house! I don't think either of us imagined we'd be living here right now when we purchased the lot and put our house on the market a year ago. I don't know how he made it through the days and weeks of 16 hour days all week and then several more hours Saturdays with the business and house. Those were LONG days and weeks for all of us, and I am so glad they are over! Ben continues to enjoy hunting and just killed his first deer behind our house this week (also his first kill with a bow). He also started back coaching our high school boys church basketball team this week and is still serving as a deacon at church.

I am still at home and am thankful to be with our 3 precious children! Although the days are sometimes very hard, and I often feel as though I am losing intellectual capabilities. "Thing" is a very regular part of my vocabulary as I too often can think of nothing more. Of course I would not trade one minute of my time with the children and appreciate the burden Ben bears to make it possible for me to raise our children full time! I am still involved in Refresh, a mom's group at church. Ben and I are also still volunteering with the high school kids at church. As we are settling in the house with the kids, I am trying to make sure I really think things through before getting back into any "long term" commitments.

This is my favorite time of year as it reminds us of that most precious and Holy child that came in the most humbling of circumstances to save us from our sins with a sacrificial death! And I love doing our nightly advent devotions as a family and passing along those truths to our children as we keep our focus on the coming of Christ! Of course, Bryson's absolute favorite part this year is to blow out the candles, but Emma is conducting her own advent devotions frequently and singing "Always in a Manger". Too precious! I pray regularly that our children will always be more intrigued with the things of God and the simplicity of the truth we celebrate at Christmas than with the shiny, glamorous, materialistic things of the world.

We are grateful for all that the Lord has done in us and for us in 2010 and are thankful that we serve a God we can trust to continue to provide for us in every circumstance in the coming year. May He bless you and make Himself known to you in the coming year as well! Merry Christmas!

Introducing Ava

Our precious little Ava Noel came to join us Friday, September 24 at 8:03 am. We are loving having her with us, and the transition has been simple so far! Nothing like the first or second...I guess from here on out, it's not as difficult to transition with another baby! : ) She weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long. Black hair, blue eyes, and perfect like the first two! ;) So far, we have a sleeper!!!! I realize she's only 1 week old today, and that could change, but we're hopeful it won't. It's been about 2 years since I've slept through the night, so it really hasn't been a shock to the system.

Getting our story in writing now, please feel free to skip on down to the pics if you're not a detail person. : )
After a week-end of "false labor" the 17th-19th and then contractions coming and going for the couple of weeks to follow, we were so thankful to have labor progressing finally! Labor couldn't have been at a worse time for us though--middle of the night!! Sometime around 2:00 am, I was telling my doula that I hadn't pulled an all nighter since college and really wasn't interested! Oh well, God's timing seems to be a good bit different from mine for the past 10 months. My water started a pretty significant leak just before 6 pm while cooking with Mom. I wasn't having any labor feeling contractions though. I started worrying because I knew the doctors wouldn't let me go long like that before they wanted to intervene. I wasn't sure where that would leave me option wise being a VBAC again, so I e-mailed several people to ask for prayers that things would move along. I'm not sure about times, but we walked to the house for a couple of things after dinner, got the kids ready for bed and to sleep, and then got ready for more walking. At the time, contractions had started but didn't seem very strong or regular. I called our doula, Julie, and updated her. I told her it was not urgent but that we were ready for her to head our way when she could. Right after I hung up, the contractions got much stronger and right at 2 minutes apart. After our walk, I went to check my e-mail to see if ppl had responded because I was curious if the contractions were improving because I had so many wonderful people praying. Not surprisingly, I had a long list of replies from dear friends who were praying. It is amazing and humbling to see the Lord work through people and prayers in our lives! We did more walking, the "birthing ball", and resting while I could. Around 2:30, I went and woke Ben (yes, he was sleeping in the bed while I was laboring with our doula!) and told him it was time to go. He said, "Already?"...obviously we had had very different prior 3 hours! :) It was nice to have "normal" contractions this time--they actually peaked and then came back down a few minutes. I kept telling myself through much of the labor that it was so much better and that I could endure that minute. With Bryson, the contractions never stopped coming...peak after peak...until the Nubane. Though still excruciating, it was much more bearable this time! I have to say that I wouldn't have made it without Julie this time; I was way too tired to be motivated. All I could think (and say a lot) was, "I'm just too tired!!"...and then around 5 am, the hunger kicked in! I whined something about not wanting to miss breakfast, and the nurse told me bfast started at 6:30, so I better get busy! : ) Sometime after that, my water actually broke all the way, and the intensity continued to pick up. Several times I was asking myself why I was doing this and trying to convince myself of why I didn't ask to get some drugs; then my wonderful husband asked, "What was that stuff they gave you last time?"...we were laughing later about Julie biting his head off! She didn't really, but she quickly jumped to encourage me and said I was so close and didn't need anything. She convinced me to get back out of the bed to speed the last two cm, and it worked. With a little help from Dr. Hilton pushing past the last "lip", we were able to get pushing...2 pushes and about 15 minutes later, they were telling me to feel her head and that I could help pull her on out!! Amazing! What a privilege to be a part of another miracle! Her cord was short, so I didn't get to pull her up very far before they were stopping everything to cut the cord. Daddy did a great job cutting the cord again, too. : )

We texted Mom--the kids were just waking, so it was exciting there to be able to tell them Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital waiting to introduce them to Ava. Ben brought them in the room as soon as they got there; they were both speechless and in awe of the baby in my arms for several minutes. Emma quickly jumped into her role as big sister and was in the bed holding and kissing her baby sister! Bryson wasn't too sure what to make of everything, no surprise to us! We couldn't have been happier to have our family of 5 healthy and together!!! I was so happy to get out of the bed and go to the bathroom and shower on my own as soon as Mom and Dad left with the kids. It was then that I reminded myself of why I didn't want to ask for drugs earlier. : ) We've enjoyed introducing our little Ava to more family and friends this past week. My grandmother came over this week and helped with the cooking, cleaning and kids; what a blessing and huge help!

I am about to go stir crazy right now though...I had to go to the bank earlier this week, so I took my girls while Bryson slept. I got out with Ben and Ava for her appt too. Today, I took all 3 to the bank--my first outing with 3!! We only did the drive through though!! : ) Don't know if I can physically carry Bryson and Ava quite yet. I was so worried about life with 3 so young by myself, but I'm so anxious to get out and do it on my own now; must be the hormones! I'm sure my first trip to WalMart will end with a treat for myself for enduring such stress. : )

Bryson has surprised us majorly; he LOVES our baby! We were afraid he'd be jealous and way too rough. Rough he is, but he hasn't seemed jealous. He even asks for his turn to hold her and is trying hard to be gentle. He loves patting her and giving her kisses. He and Emma both look for Ava as soon their eyes see daylight. They both run to check on her when they hear that sweet newborn cry. They both want to help change her diapers. It is just a great experience, and I am loving watching them all love so much!! I know we'll have our moments and days, but that is why I'm here with them.

Our house is almost finished, 2 or 3 weeks left. Moving is going to be hard since I'll be limited physically. I don't know how long I'll be able to take boxes and things without a place, but I'm trying to talk myself into taking things slowly. I know I'll have great help, too if I can "let go" some. : ) I love the house even though it's been very time consuming. Ben has done such a wonderful job with it as well as staying on top of people and his timeline. He constantly amazes me with his talents and vision! We are looking forward to settling in and raising our family there. It has been a huge blessing to be at Mom an Dad's while building, too! Life would have been miserable for us anywhere else as much time as Ben has spent there. It's been nice to take the kids to see him on those long days and very convenient with all the running back and forth Ben has done between work, working on the house and meeting people to go over or price things down there. A few more weeks for yet more transition...

Land of the Living

Granddaddy left us Wednesday afternoon to be with our Lord. It's has been a hard few days so far, but I am grateful he died before he got too miserable. The cancer had really been taking its toll quickly, and he was starting to have greater pain lately. Watching Grandmother lose the man she's spent the last 61 years with is most definitely one of the harder things I've done. I miss him terribly and really wanted him to be able to meet Ava, but I know those thoughts and feelings don't hold a candle to wondering how to force yourself out of bed to face days that will never again involve your lifelong companion. I know God's grace is sufficient, and I pray it is abundant for Grandmother in the coming days and years.
The Lord did bless us with a wonderful visit with him Monday. Mom and I headed over to Lancaster with the kids Monday afternoon. He was actually more like his old self than I've seen him in a long time. The kids went in to see him before I got in the living room, and I heard him speak to them by name (he actually never called them by the wrong name, which is more than I can say!), and they were just talking and playing. I was so happy to see him sitting up and so alert. We talked a lot, and his speech was clear. He wasn't dozing off like usual. We sat down in the kitchen to eat dinner before leaving, and he ate like he used to. We ate tomato sandwiches, definitely one of my favorites I've always enjoyed with him. The last things I saw him eat were a tomato sandwich and a Nutty Bar-I told Ben he would know I died happy if that were me. : )
We sang Emma's favorite Bible school song for him and talked about Ava and the house. He talked about leaving the service and the process of getting his job at Springs. He was bragging on the kids and told me I was a great mom. He shared cheese puffs with the kids, took Emma for a ride on his lap in his wheelchair. I truly could not have asked for a better last day with my Granddaddy. I'm just sad it was my last.
Despite the decline, pain and heartache the last 6 months, I still have some wonderful memories from those times. I have been so grateful to be at home so that I was available to help some and go to the hospital some. What a blessing for the kids to have time with him that we probably wouldn't have in "normal" circumstances. Terminal is definitely difficult, but it is good to know it's coming so you can soak up all the time you can knowing each time may be the last. Hopefully, we are living daily life that way since it is always coming; it's just hard to not get caught up in the busyness and forget how imminent our last days really are.

Forever Behind

Yes, I am forever behind...seems like that's true for everything these days! Guess I'll start with where we are for now and then see if I can recall some memories from the last 3 months. We closed on our house and moved into my parent's house June 4. It was a VERY hard move for me, which I expected...we brought our first two babies home there, and we put a lot of "sweat" into building it. Ended up being a lot harder for Ben to leave than he expected because of that. The first few weeks were pretty hard, but we are settled in and excited about the progress on our new home. We ended up at Mom and Dad's because of time and money. It has been a huge blessing to be right here at our lot because the reality of how much Ben's there instead of home is like expected. It's been nice to be able to run the kids down to see him and watch or "help" him some. It's also been wonderful to be able to work with Mom!! We've talked about how hard it's going to be to separate and get used to running households by ourselves again. : ) It just kind of works out as we maintain things and definitely takes less time. Of course, I feel like she is probably doing way more than her share! She promises me she enjoys it, and I am really grateful as I am VERY tired.
The kids are doing well and continue to bring us laughter, smiles and joy...and a few tears and frustration! : ) Emma is very excited about our new house and has many opinions to offer on all our decisions. I love showing her paint colors, light fixtures, etc. and asking what she thinks. She has really grown up a lot this Summer. She has worked hard to be a brave big girl as I've taken her to Summer Jam (kids' program at church)--the first thing she's been "left" to do by herself. She LOVED Bible School and constantly sings "Waves of Mercy, Waves of grace..." so much so that Bryson actually know it enough to "sing along" and do motions. I need to try to capture it on video. It is precious! She's also mostly conquered her fear of the swing--the first week we moved here, she kept begging to go swing and would force herself to have us push her higher (she used to be scared to death!). The other day when we were cooking in the kitchen together, she started telling me how she was going to get bigger so she could live by herself--how sad!! Of course, she rarely goes to sleep in her own bed these days and has developed quite the imagination and fearfulness, so I doubt that's a true longing. : ) She continues to love dress ups and is the most beautiful princess we've seen! Bryson is full speed ahead and rough and crazy! He's developing a desire to be silly and laughed at too, and he is quite funny, I must say! I am enjoying seeing him develop his own personality; he is definitely becoming a little person these days. His vocabulary continues to expand as well as his independence. He still doesn't sleep for any long stretch of time at night, but he has actually gone to bed with Emma several times, and last night, he awoke and walked to our bed without any tears or fears-a MAJOR miracle and first!! That is the first time since he was born that he has woken at night and not screamed and cried. Maybe we'll get there before Ava arrives!! He is still Momma's boy and hates to be taken to the nursery at church. I'm hoping he'll be happier when we move him to the toddler room in a month. He continues to love balls, being outside and playing with Emma. He wants so badly to do everything she does, and they have a great time playing together. She truly is a wonderful big sister and takes such good care of Bryson and tries to teach him how to do everything. I love seeing them love each other and play together, and I hope they will always love being together!
The house is coming along. Ben and his dad put in a lot of time and sweat getting the foundation ready. Ben never ceases to amaze me with his vision, ideas and capabilities! I don't ever want to build or move again, but hopefully we'll be able to do some projects around the property so he can keep showing off his skills! ; ) The first floor is framed, and they are working on the porches today. Unfortunately, we have some beams that aren't in and will hold up the framing a few days. Ben's telling me this roof system is going to be slow and involved. We are making progress with decisions. I am trying to stay ahead so we can do some price comparisons and so I can have as much done as possible before Ava comes.
I think I am 32 weeks now. I just can't keep up this time! All I know is that it is coming so fast! Everything is on track and appears normal. I'm down to 2 week check ups now. Trying hard not to let the weight go--it's so hard to eat well when you're tired and busy, but I know I don't want more to lose than necessary! I am worn out these days; the 3rd trimester hasn't brought so much fatigue in the past, but it's kicking me this time! Between Bryson, discomfort and frequent potty visits, I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep at night either though. I could not ask for more out of life though. I am way more blessed than I should be, and I am grateful for all the joys and "trials".
Now, back to the prior 3 months...in May, the 4 of us packed up and headed to Surfside for a week-end. Weren't planning to because of how busy things were with trying to move, close and start building, but then we decided we just couldn't not go...life was in desperate need of a beach trip. It was wonderful!! Ben and I were asleep with the kids by 9:30 both nights and had perfect weather and time on the beach together. Emma and Bryson loved the sand but were a little uneasy of the water, so that made life somewhat low maintenance. We enjoyed dinner on the beachfront at RiverCity Cafe one night. Bryson randomly said bird for the first time sitting out there watching all the birds! We headed over to Family Kingdom to take Emma on the carousel and ended up with an evening full of rides and fun! She was so brave, and it was so fun to watch her sheer joy at the experience! We all enjoyed the train and carousel, and poor Bryson wanted to do everything with her! Next year maybe! Daddy treated us to funnel cake and lemonade on our way out, too!! : ) Emma started her Summer swimming (alone with swimmies) in the pool with Daddy too, and has done great ever since!! Really was a much needed family getaway with great memories!
Went home to a whirlwind of packing, moving and building, and it hasn't slowed down since! We headed back down to Garden City for our annual week long trip the last week of June. That was wonderful too! We were at a different house this year which was different. : ) Enjoyed our time nonetheless. The kids enjoyed having Evans (my cousin's 3 month old) with us too! Bryson was much more fearless with the ocean, so we had a little more work cut out with him. It was a nice, low key week, but I was still very tired! Lots of sun, sand, and water all week!
Unfortunately, we had to make the trip without my grandparents this year. Granddaddy was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year, and it has really taken its toll on his body. He's been in and out of the hospital several times and has gotten much weaker. It's been very hard to watch especially since he went from plowing his own garden to barely walking on his own in a matter of months. I know it's most difficult on Dad and Grandmother--nothing like watching the most important man in your life decline in health and physical stature. I know they are worn out too, emotionally and physically. The end of life is not a pretty thing, but I am so grateful for the hope we have in Jesus, and I know I'll see my strong and happy Granddaddy once again!
We went out to the Howell's for our annual 4th of July celebration after the beach. Great fun, food and time with family! Poor Ben didn't have the best badminton partner this year, but we did well despite my handicap! : ) Emma had lots of fun playing with Matthew and Mikayla, and, as always, we enjoyed catching up and being with them!
DJ hit the big 3-0 Monday! Eli and I went to her house Friday night to celebrate and hang out with her. We had a wonderful time talking and being together! Didn't get home until 3, which wasn't so helpful in my tired state, but it was well worth it! : ) Mrs. Kimbrell isn't doing well either and is likely headed to Cleveland for heart surgery in the near future. Hopefully she'll hear very encouraging news at her appointment this afternoon.
I'm sure I'll probably get behind on posts again, especially since we'll be adding to the family in the next 2 months!! We can't wait to meet and hold our little Ava!!! I will try to post pictures later.

First Baby Pictures!!

We found out today we're having a baby girl! We were all excited to see our baby growing healthy and on track. Our EDD for meeting Ava Noel is September 20, and we are all eager to meet her! : ) I posted some ultrasound pics of our beautiful little girl for those who are interested...

Also, for those who don't know, we have a contract on our house and are scheduled to close on or before June 4! We got our house plans yesterday, and are hoping to get the permitting process rolling next week! Please pray for us if the Lord puts us on your heart...that we would find a rental place close by since we'll be at the "construction site" a lot and that the building process would be smooth and quick. I know we can't make it in before our due date, but I am hoping to be in for the Christmas season!

Winter Update

I seem to be getting worse at writing about life around here again! I really need to write as I think my memory fades daily, don't know if that's just me, the hormones, or the sleep deprivation at work! Ahh...Where to start?? I just went back to see that I didn't even write about Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year!
So...Christmas was wonderful as always! It was Bryson's first, and he was a great age-curious and intrigued but fairly slow to get around. He didn't bother the tree too much...I did find him crawling under it and sitting up in the limbs a few times, what joy to be "in the woods"! : ) Oh! Our tree fell this year! So ironic, I was telling Ben how some friends anchored theirs bc of little ones at home a while back, but that I was hopeful ours wouldn't be pulling on it...then, CRASH!! came our beautiful tree one evening a couple of days after putting it up, and we had to anchor it to the wall. Thankfully, I think it was a tree issue rather than a child issue. We had a great time celebrating the wonderful season with our nightly family advent devotions. The Christmas songs were definitely Emma's and Bryson's favorite part--precious to hear Em's sweet voice, and our little man faithfully beat on the table keeping rhythm each night. : ) Had a great time at Christmas parties. Christmas Eve, we did our birthday party for Jesus before heading to the service at church. Then we headed home for the kids to open their Christmas pajamas and put out cookies and milk for Santa before heading back out for dinner with the family. Christmas morning was great fun! Emma was a little disappointed at first seeing that the cookies and milk were gone as well as was Santa...her response, "But, I wanted to see him!" It took a minute to get past that and even notice her gifts! At least she's more interested in people than gifts! : ) Bryson didn't know what was going on but loved Emma's balls and the puffs from his stocking. He actually did pretty well opening presents; he does love to tear paper!
Soon after, we celebrated Emma's 3rd birthday! That is hard to believe and so very bittersweet. She had a great time with her 3 parties...one with our little family of 4, a beach party with her little buds, and then a big family party. She was all about her 3 parties bc she was 3; hopefully, she doesn't expect that trend to keep up! We do love our precious girl and are grateful for every day and year of life we are blessed with her in our lives! She continues to amaze me and bring unimaginable joy to my heart! I really need to get a new digital camera with a little video option so I can share her talking. Her body language cracks me up! She is soooo expressive, and it is funny to see her imitations of me and others come through as she talks. I often think, "do I really say that?" or "do I really move like that?"...and, then I usually catch myself later. : ) Some favorite "Emma-isms" these days: park for part, smark for smart, bamb-aid, wipe for white, hanitizer for hand sanitizer...all I can think of for now. She is getting so good at riding her bike, and I can't keep up with her anymore. Thankfully, she's obedient and doesn't get too far away. She continues to grow in independence, which is mostly a huge blessing! Of course, there are times it causes friction or hideous outfits, but that's life. She is pumped about another baby and insists she is going to have a sister this time. She loves my already expanding belly and just tried lifting my shirt in the grocery store today, saying, "I want to see your baby"...how nice! At least a few people knew I was expecting instead of clinging to the post Bryson weight. : )
Bryson is quite attached to Mommy still and still not sleeping well. But, he is full of life, smiles and joy, and I wouldn't trade my independence or sleep for one moment of life with my little man! He is somewhat destructive, stubborn and into everything! He loves to eat and nurse, loves balls, and loves being outside! Momma and ball are the only 2 words he's said as of now though he babbles like crazy trying to tell us all about everything. He has become infatuated with Tanner these days and still loves to play with Emma! It is funny to watch him take shots back at her now when he realizes she's purposely being mean. Oh...the joys of trying to parent "correctly" through the "fights" coming. That is not something I look forward to, and I am praying they will be minimal.
So, I don't know when I first started working on this post, but it is now April 13. Not a whole lot has changed...Bryson turned 1 on April 2. It was a super busy week-end bc of Easter, but he seemed to have a great time! Just the four of us celebrated with him at home for dinner on his birthday. He LOVED his cupcake and the singing! We had the family over Sunday for Easter lunch and birthday celebration. He loved his cake...I made him a b'ball cake bc that does seem to be his passion these days. Of course, he wasn't too sure what to do about the candle, but Emma and Will gladly assisted! : ) He loved his presents and playing in the yard and with an egg as Emma and Will hunted eggs. He's added the word dog to his vocab since I last wrote as well. He's trying hard to walk, and took 7 steps on his own last night!! He's done 5 steps today...shouldn't be long! Only reason I'm eager is bc of his love for the outdoors. I can't stand watching him move on the driveway on those knees!
We did have a couple of snows this winter. The only "real" one I saw from the bedroom window. I had another stomach bug!!! 2 stomach bugs in the first 9 weeks of pregnancy along with pregnancy vomit has done me in! : ) Thankfully, all sickness seem to be gone.
The pregnancy is going well. I'm 16 or 17 weeks along and really showing! We had a big scare with some bleeding, but thankfully, it was only a scare. It finally completely cleared up after several weeks. Because of all that, I was really thankful for sickness; it gave me a little more peace of mind that all was well. We finally heard the heartbeat a few weeks ago, and we go for an ultrasound at the end of the month.
Hopefully, I'll get to posting some pics up in the near future for any of you who don't see my whole life on my sisters' facebook page. : )

Moving Forward...

We are moving forward these days with a B word that I do wish I could say was "buyer". However, our house is not sold...
The B word around here is now BABY!! If you're shocked to read that, know that you're in good company! : ) It is actually Saturday when I am typing this, and I am not sure what day I will actually be ready to post this. We are definitely excited since the initial shock and list of worries and "how are we gonnas" have worn off!
We actually are in process of the ugly B word..stomach "Bug" as well. I feel like that accompanies most of our bigger moments the last few years. Bryson has had it this week, and I was hit last night. Praying it will stop there!
Of course, the Lord's timing is way different than ours, and we are not quite sure what he has in store for us. We are still trying to sell the house and talked to a realtor this week who does FSBO listings, basically a co-broker deal. We are trying to decide which kind of advertising to invest in at this point. The business is still in economic crisis recovery, but we feel like there's light ahead. It's just the trusting of the Lord's provision in steady work. We are definitely more eager to move on with the building process with the news of baby #3, but we continue to wait on the Lord's timing there as well. That is our update in a nutshell...feel free to read on if you enjoy my rambling details of our news. ; )
As for the details of our realizing we are now pregnant, they are quite amusing to us now and probably very amusing to some of you. Several things have come together since I finally took a home test. For starters, I've been debating going to have my thyroid checked out bc I've been so exhausted lately; I chalked it up to Bryson STILL not sleeping through the night and nursing around the clock most of the time. Now I'm glad I didn't blow money on that dr. visit! Then I started thinking my mid-cycle "symptoms" hadn't happened; thought, how nice, maybe my hormones are finally leveling out. Last weekend I noticed other details that are definitely TMI for the ol' blog...that got me worried and thinking. To top it all off, I sent an e-mail to my dear friend Sandi who's been predicting this since she found out her surprise pregnancy about this time last year (We both have girls born in January, then boys in April...when she found out her third was due the fall after her second turned 1, she started then...of course, I NEVER thought that would be true!). Anyway, I joked with her about not following suit on the third child since Bryson was nowhere near weaning; the night I got her response to my e-mail with her joking about the pregnant "glow", I really started putting things together and started to worry. I was really dealing physically with anxiety at the thought. It was, holy cow, not now...Bryson's only 9 months old, I'll have 3 3 and under, my body is finally getting back to normal, we still aren't sleeping through the night, I won't be able to go on walks (only have a double-wide stroller!), I'll be nursing for over 2 years straight, we can't go to Denver (Ben and I were hopeful to plan a Denver trip in the fall), how do I tell the dear people in my life who are struggling having babies, people are going to look at me like I have lost my mind, we haven't even sold or started to build, money's already tight...you know, the list just goes on and on when you allow Satan a foothold. Anyway, I finally thought, "what in the world! It's a baby; I LOVE babies! I can't believe God is blessing us again...who am I that He is mindful of me?!" Then, the thoughts started...now I've been thinking this way, I might be sad if I find out I'm not pregnant. I forced myself out to one of our MANY ventures to WalMart (for those who don't know, they opened a new one 2.3 miles from my driveway in August!!!!) thinking, "okay, I'll throw in a test with a bunch of junk I need to get, no big deal". I admit, I was so embarrased to be buying a test with a 3 year old and 9 month old in my buggy, don't know why, but I was...but, it gets better. Apparently those things are hot items or something bc they are in lock boxes that you have to take to the register where they unlock the box and get your test out! There's no throwing those in the mix subtly anymore! I was just grateful the process didn't involve anyone I know! So, I got home debating when to take it, had to pee, and figured, why not now?? Test was positive; I was overwhelmed and went on to play with Emma trying to figure out how to tell Ben. He had to run by the house for keys, saw the box out with the recycle stuff, and said, "Oh, you took one, so how did that go?" He really wasn't prepared for my response either...We are both very excited now as is Emma, and we are prayerful that this new little miracle grows healthy and strong! Now it's on to the spiritual warfare of worry that something will happen to our little surprise miracle! If the Lord puts us on your heart, please pray for His continued peace for us and that our eyes will remain on Him, rather than the cares of this world and our plans. We trust His good and perfect will as well as His timing, and we know He has our best interest at heart! We are ever grateful for yet another blessing from Him!