Who is more powerful than He?

Baby Palmer is only the size of an ice cream sprinkle yet I was able to see and hear the heartbeat of this child on ultrasound yesterday. I can't imagine how small it's heart is right now. To watch it flutter on the screen was the best feeling ever. I said, "thank you, Lord" rather loudly when I heard it. Not only am I extra excited because of all we've been thru with this baby already in it's tiny 6 wks of life but I am amazed every time I think about it of how awesome our God is to create the human body and the pregnancy process. There is not one single person on this earth who could even come close to thinking the things on his own that God has already done. We really do serve an awesome God!

real grades

You know your child is growing up when she brings home papers she did at school with real grades on them. No more smily faces =) , straight line faces =l when improvement is needed or sad faces when she does poorly =(. So far she has brought home a 94 and a 96! On both pages she only missed one. I'm so proud. I hope she keeps up the good work. I'm making a big deal out off all the good pages to hopefully encourage her to keep it up! She's so smart and I really want her to care.

The nose knows

I have never had many bad experiences with being pregnant. So when they say "third times a charm" it really is true this time around! Today my nose has been the major problem. I walked out into the livingroom this morning and the stinch of dog was soooo strong that I wanted to vomit. It only got worse from there. I warmed up spaghettios for Hannah to take to lunch in a thermos and the smell was horrible. I was cleaning up the dishes and the smell of cottage cheese that the kids had just ate was so overwhelming that I wanted to vomit. I was brushing Hannah's teeth and hair in the bathroom and all I could smell all around me was pee! Of course, I wanted to vomit. And the bathroom is clean so there was no pee in sight. So after I took Hannah to school I got the laptop and Ryan and I went outside. After awhile we came in so I could take a shower. After that it hasn't been too terribly bad.

I have another dr appt on Thur. They want me to have another ultrasound while my dr is there. I'm praying that this baby is growing and is no longer a watermelon seed!

It's official....

...summer is over. As of tomorrow we will spend the next 9 months waking early, rushing around both in the morning and in the evenings, packing lunches, doing homework, worrying about the well-being of my child, hearing "will you play with me, mom?", and "Can I please ride the bus?" Tonight we didn't get in bed as early as I would have liked, with church and all. Not to mention that I'll be doing this while slowing growing a human, growing a belly, growing swollen body parts, and growing my heart to love someone else. I'm really excited see daily see what the Lord holds for our family.

I was telling Brad's mom that I think Brad is about the only man in the world who doesn't get all crazy when he's having a baby. Seems like lately all the new fathers around are all about it, wanting to hold them constantly, jumping at every noise made, and so on. Brad has never been that way, and it's no different this time around. I know deep down it's in there, somewhere. It just doesn't get out very often. This afternoon, it made a small appearance in the form a prayer. When he prayed before we ate lunch he thanked God for the good news about mommy we got with the second bloodwork. It brought tears to my eyes. It's nice to hear that he cares. Even tho I know he does, it feels good to hear it.

I'm back in action!

I finally got a new camera! Happy birthday and Merry Christmas to me! It has 10x zoom, which I love. I can spy on neighbors way across the road now. =) Here are some pics I have taken so far.

Hannah's 6 yr checkup

My girl is still healthy and growing! At her check up today she weighed 41 1/2lb and is 44" tall. That is around the 25th percentile in both groups. That's where she's always been so that's where she needs to be. All this sound familiar, Jess D?! Hannah passed the vision and hearing screening with flying colors. She didn't get any shots today and won't until she is 11. That's all folks!

baby drama

Yesterday evening, right when my dr's office closed, I started spotting blood. Of course, that kind of think never happens first thing in the morning! So I talked to my sister who has been thru many a bad pregnancy situation and got some good advice from her to lay low for the evening and pay attention to cramping or pain. I was reading in my book that many women spot early on in the pregnancy and I, honestly, debated whether I should call the dr this morning or now. I wasn't that concerned. I did decide to call them! They wanted to see me to do an ultrasound this morning and make sure everything was ok.

Here were their findings so far: According to the date of my last period I should be almost 7 wks but the embreo sac they saw on the screen that looked like a big watermelon seed indicated I am only about 4 wks pregnant. They said since I was just coming off my birth control pills, there's no telling what my body was doing and maybe I didn't ovulate when I normally would have or whatever. The watermelon seed was obviously too small to see a heartbeat so they took blood (surprise!) to test my HCG level and progesterone level. I have to go to a hospital on Sat to have blood drawn again to check the same levels. If the levels increase, I'm def pregnant and everything should continue like normal. If the levels are the same or lower than what they were today then the pregnancy isn't viable and we'll be starting over. So there is really no news right now. The dr took my cell phone # so she can call me on Sat and let me know what the second bldwk shows.

I was really looking forward to seeing alittle human on that screen today. If everything turns out ok I'll be having another ultrasound in a few weeks, I bet.

While I was gone Cheryl swept and mopped for me! That was a big help.

Now, my sister in law on Brad's side of the family is in the hospital about to have her baby girl. She went in this morning to be induced this morning and so far everything is going smoothly. We are going to go up there and see them later. They are prediciting Acelynn will be here around 6pm. Brad's mom just called and said she is pushing so it will probably be sooner than 6.
That's enough baby drama for one day!

Has it really been.....

six years already?! I can't believe that six years ago I was a whoping 20 yrs old and having my first baby. Part of me thinks that seems like so long ago, while the other part of me remembers it like it was yesterday. God was doing me a favor by giving me that girl. She's so smart, caring, sweet, sensitive and just all around wonderful. She has her moments of sassiness, stubborness, impatience and just plain meanness but what child doesn't? Besides me, anyway!! I think I was a near-perfect child.

The first thing Hannah said to me when she came out of the room this morning was "birthday girl!" So I gave her our gifts to her. I didn't even wrap them. Her favorite is a clip-on radio type thing that sings Camp Rock songs (it's a movie for tweens and teens I guess) and her educational laptop. I did a few things around here then we ate lunch and we went to mamaw's to swim. A tree company was cutting down trees and some limbs out of other trees down by the road so this winter hopefully they won't loose power as much. I think they had just as much fun watching them as swimming! Hannah got another gift from her uncle. Then we came home for supper. Brad's g-ma has her sister in town so her brother and s.i.l were all over there. Hannah went over to see grandma and came back with more money from all them! It all went straight to her piggy bank. Then we ate cake and now the kids are supposed to be sleeping but they aren't yet. I'll be ready soon myself!

say what?!

I had plans for a really good blog earlier today but I forget what it was going to be about so I'll just tell you about me day instead!!

We went to church this morning. Ryan was actually being good and Hannah was the one getting in trouble during SS! Today must have been an off day for her. I think I know why Ryan was so good, now that I think about it. We started a new set of lessons about bravery and he loves anything where people are having to be brave!
Brad's g-ma's side of the family had a family reunion today somewhere WAY out in the country. We usually don't go with church and everything but they managed to talk us into it this year. We ended up getting lost so what should have been a 20 min trip turned into an hour trip! I was feeling SOOOO sick by the time we made it out there from all the bumps, sudden slow downs, sharp turns.....UGH!! Normally it wouldn't have bothered me. I continued to feel sick all afternoon until we ate supper later.
Then we went back to church. Hannah always begs to stay in the nursery with Ryan and I always tell her she is only staying back there if I have to stay back there with him. So when the other lady came back I told Hannah to come on and she had a meltdown! She has done this in the past and then the nursery worker says "it's ok, she can stay back here" and usually I give in b/c we're in public and I want to avoid the meltdown. Well, today I said no because she only cries like that b/c she knows I normallly give in. She threw a fit! I had to drag her into the auditorium. You don't have to ask, she did get her bottom spanked good. It only lasted a few minutes in the church and she was like it had never happened! I was very upset with her.
After church Brad talked me into DQ (for a change)! I am determined to keep my weight down during this pregnancy like my sister did her last one! We'll see. I asked Brad if he thought I could do it. He just smiled so I know what that meant.
Tomorrow Hannah and mamaw (Brad's mom) are spending the day together. Mamaw wants to take her shopping for her birthday and go out to eat whereever she wants to go. Hannah is sooo excited about it! I am too. I know it will be fun for them both. Kids are surprisingly different when you get them out without the other siblings.
I have a list of things I need to do tomorrow, phone calls, appts to make, grocery store. I really wanted to go to the eye dr but I won't have anyone to watch Ryan.
That's all folks!

school

Today I got all Hannah's school supplies. She picked out a High School Musical book bag at the beginning of the summer. I love school supply shopping! I don't know why. Buying all those pencils (I actually didn't buy pencils b/c we have a tub FULL of unsharpened pencils here), markers, scissors, 3x5 notecards, folders, etc. She had to have four specific colored folders, one for each subject. So I let her write the subject and her name on every folder. It was so cute. She's such a big girl. We packed her pencil box, which made me think of the real pencil "boxes" we used to have. Remember those?! Brad didn't remember actual boxes. And got everything in her backpack. We're both getting excited. I hope she loves school. It'll be much easier on us all. =) We've been slowly getting into the school schedule which means this week started no naps and earlier to bed, which automatically means they get up earlier. Next week I'll actually start waking them up at 7, maybe earlier.
I am rather sad about one thing. My sister has got to spend the whole summer off work and home with her new bundle of joy. I know she is dreading the return to work. She used to say she would never be able to be a stay at home mom but I know she would love it now. I remember the days of longing to be home with my kids while I was working. I'm going to be saying a special prayer for her every time I think about it for awhile. It'll be hard for awhile.

productive day

Today started out good cuz we slept in until 8:30! Ryan and I did, anyway, Hannah didn't get up until after 9. I had already made up my mind that today would be a major cleaning day. I had a hard enough time keeping the house clean when it was just the 4 of us with 2 dogs, add 2 more people and another huge dog and there is no way I can keep up with that!! I have been for days looking at all the filth and thinking about all the things that need done. So I got right to business and swept and mopped the floors, loaded the dishwasher, doing laundry in between, hanging it outside. I cleaned the windows at the front of the house, where the dogs rub their wet noses all over them and cleaned the window sills that they slobber all over, or put their front paws on so they can get a better look outside. I dusted everything, which Brad had done before I came back from NC (love him!) but it needed it already. Then I started wiping down the walls and cleaning off the baseboards. Ughh! My house is disgusting! There is so much more to do but I only did as much as I did because the kids were very good while they were here but spent several hours next door with grandma. We had chicken alfredo, salad and cottage cheese for supper. I was going to make corn but I forgot. Soon we're going to do a few worksheets and then it will be almost time for a bath and ealry bedtime since they didn't take a nap. I'm exhausted so I'll probably go to bed early myself!

Summertime blues

After spending the week in NC with my parents, reality has finally struck. There are only 2 weekends left (after this one) before school starts!! I can't believe it! I feel like just yesterday Hannah was missing the last 2 days of school so we could go to the beach. How can it possibly be over so fast?! At the beginning of the summer I had a hard time adjusting to a different schedule of getting up later in the morning and being up later in the evening, entertaining the kids and doing my normal stuff between fun things for them. Now that it is about time to get the kids back on the school schedule, I'm so not looking forward to it. My time with Hannah is about up. Soon I'll be giving her up to the school. I don't even feel like we got to do that much together. I had big plans to do tons of worksheets, start them on chores, and get Hannah ready for first grade. I'm sad to report that none of that happened. We did get some worksheets done but never made it to the chores. Since Nat and Cheryl moved in to Hannah's room in the middle of June, she doesn't have half the chores I would have given her. And her being gone for 2 weeks didn't help. It's been an all around hectic summer. We have decided that Teddy will go up on a shelf when she goes to first grade. I keep reminding her because I don't want her to forget and then spring in on her on the first day of school. I know she'll be fine without him. He doesn't leave the bedroom, therefore she has been without him for 2 weeks straight and never asked about him. She did, however, carry him around about all afternoon when we got back today.

I am already excited for what next summer will bring us. Since I'm off my birth control pills, Lord willing, I'll be about ready to pop by then. =) We also want to skip the beach and maybe go to Pigeon Forge or somewhere like that. I'm done with the camper. It has given us some major issues and I'd like to roll it into the river. Will ins pay for that?!

Anyway, there are few things I still want to do in the last 2 1/2 weeks I have before strict scheduling starts again. A few girls I was good friends with in high school had kids in Hannah's class last year and we want to get together and go to the bouncy place. Hannah has her 6 yr, yes she is turning 6 very soon, check up soon. That also means there should be a birthday party in the works....I'm still undecided on that. I want the kids to be able to spend the night at mamaw's one last time. My sister wants to go to a waterpark in Jackson, OH one weekend. Brad wants to go camping one last time. And for some reason I don't see some of those things happening!

I guess my point is, I'm not ready for summer to be over!!!

Not as Planned....

The evening didn't end quite the way I would have wanted it to! I'll just start at the beginning. Ryan would not go to sleep during naptime. I didn't really expect him to because we didn't do anything today except the free movie. I went in and spanked him twice. The second time I went in it was cuz I heard banging on the wall. (he was on the floor and the girls were in the bed) He was doing hand stands against the wall! I had to hold back the laughter! I don't know how anyone can't just love boys! Especially my Ryan. He can be a handful and I get mad at him lots but I love him so!! Anyway, Hannah fell asleep but Kara didn't. She was busy wondering if what Ryan was doing was ok. Finally I didn't hear anything for awhile and I thot maybe they all went to sleep. Well, guess what?! I heard talking some time later and walked in and Ryan wasn't even on his bed! He was walking around the room. I think it's funny that whenever I walked into the room and raised my voice at him Kara automatically plugged her ears! He had woke Hannah up so I sent him upstairs to the couch. When I went back into the room Hannah had Kara all taken care of. She told me Kara wanted to stay in bed so Hannah had found her night night for her. I let Hannah get up since she had gone to sleep. Meanwhile, I could hear thunder in the distance. It was getting dark out and knew a storm was coming! a few minutes later Kara was crying and she didn't want to stay in bed so they were all up. But the weird thing is that they were being happier and playing and laughing more than any other day that they had actually taken naps on! So we thought no naps might not be a problem!! The storm got worse, the power flickered on and off several times them the storm passed and the power went off for good right before VBS. It always happens that way! THe kids were all still extremely happy and the power came back on just in time. About half way thru VBS, snack time to be exact, Kara had a melt down cuz she couldn't find mamaw, who was in the kitchen not far from her. That ruined the evening for her. She wouldn't leave mamaw's side after that. Which was fine. Then while we were playing duck, duck, goose a girl ran by the american flag and knocked it over right on top of Ryan and another boys' heads!! SO they were both crying. Ryan's head was bleeding and he has a knot on it now. So we went home and I gave the kids a shower right away cuz they were both crying about who knows what. I knew it was for sure bedtime! Then mom and Kara came over. And guess what?! The power went out again. It was already dark outside so we couldn't see anything. Ryan and Hannah started crying again. Kara just laughed and had a good ol' time! About the time we finally found matches to light the candles the power came back on! Since Jess J and her crew are gone I have the big bed to myself tonight. I asked Ryan if he wanted to sleep with me. I didn't ask Hannah cuz I knew Kara needed her to sleep with her and even I wouldn't want to be left out in the livingroom on the floor by myself. So she was crying cuz she couldn't sleep in the room with us. Kara came up and told her she would be ok. So I put Ryan in my bed and as soon as he knew I wasn't sleeping with him right then, He didn't want to sleep in the bed with me anymore so he went back to the couch by the girls. Finally mom read them a book and it was lights out! I've had enough crying for one day!! Good night!

the simple things....

I have noticed several times this week that Hannah is doing a good job looking after her cousin, Kara. Whenever she is upset or needs something, Hannah always knows what it is and what to do! Just today when I had to get Ryan out of the room during naptime b/c he wouldn't stay in bed, Hannah and her were sitting on the bed talking and Hannah told me she was making sure Kara had her night night because she looked like she was going to cry but that she wanted to stay in bed.

I have to tell you this right now b/c it is happening. It is thundering and Kara just came in the room and told papaw "maybe it is thundering b/c the trees and grass are thirsty." SO cute!

Anyway, Hannah is always making sure she's ok. Even tho her and Kara have been spending time seperate from each other, Hannah is always there when Kara needs her! =)

Ryan and Kara are also doing well together. They are closer in age but a lot of the things he does she says "what is he doing that for?" I must say, I find myself saying the same thing!! I love that boy! It is so cute to hear them talk to each other. At lunch he said, "Kara, you should get some salad, you like salad." She just said, "I don't want salad." And that was that!

So I've really enjoyed watching the kids interact this week. It's been fun so far.

Wednesday

Here's the short version! We went to the mall and ate lunch, mom took the kids to play in the play area while Jess and I stopped at 2 different places to shop. I got a couple good deals for next summer. Then we came home, took naps, ate supper and went to VBS. Came home, took baths. Now everyone is doing different things, quietly, and winding down for the evening. Jess and her crew are leaving in the AM so it will just be my crew and Kara. So far, it's been a great week! Nothing exciting happening today.

Tuesday

This morning we decided to go to the pool. We had conflicting weather reports, some saying no rain and some saying slight chance. We took our chances because it was HOT out there! Finally around noon we were all ready to go! All the kids had a great time and even Sawyer liked the water! The pool we went to had 2 different kiddie pools, one with spouts and one with nothing and a big pool. They changed the rules from last year so all the kids under 4ft tall had to wear a life jacket thing unless they knew how to swim or could pass "the swim test". Hannah is a good swimmer but she didn't want to take the test so the little ones had to wear the life jacket, even Sawyer! We didn't stay in that pool too long. The kids had more fun in the baby pool with the spouts. They didn't have to have life jackets over there. Three hours later we went to DQ and went home for the kids to take naps. All of us ended up taking naps except Michael and mom!! At 6 mom woke me up to start waking the kids up to take baths and eat something. No one was hungry b/c of the ice cream they ate earlier. So we are all just now eating! But it has been a fun day. Everyone is playing well together. Ryan's new thing is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so him and Michael have been playing ninja turtles a lot. Also his new thing is "I bet you can't do this.." So him and Michael have been jumping around! Hannah and Kara colored several times. I brought the bikes and scooters so they spent some time out on them too and swinging. Tomorrow we are going to try to be more on the ball and have more of a schedule so we aren't napping at 4 and rushing around getting ready for VBS. Speaking of that, VBS is going great. All the kids like it, of course. Kara made a new friend tonight, Elise. On the way back over to the house tonight, Kara told me that she hopes Elise is there tomorrow and she likes her so much because she is beautiful and she is fun. Last night, whereever you saw Hannah, there was Kara. But tonight I didn't see Hannah with Kara at all and it was where ever Elise was there was Kara! Soon I'll be laying down the blankets in the livingroom for Hannah, Kara and Ryan to sleep on. I can't decide if I'm gonna sleep in the bed with jess again or go to the couch. We'll see! Oh yeah, and Hannah has 2 other loose teeth!