Big News!

FINALLY I think we have all of the close family and friends told so we can let the secret out...We found out in September that we are expecting a new addition to our family and Isabella will be a Big Sister in late May 2011!   We are beyond excited, although we had planned to start trying it came as a shock to us as to how quickly I became pregnant - Although from the 1st pregnancy I'm not sure why!

Although Isabella doesn't actually know yet that she is going to be a Big Sister, for the past few months or so she has been talking endless about wanting a baby sister & baby brother...twins like Dora.  She will be extremely excited when we do decide to tell her (9 months is a little hard for a 3 yr old to grasp)  but we have been assured on several visits it is NOT TWINS!  THANK GOODNESS because my OB told us she seemed to have been running a special on twins for the month of October having 3 sets of expecting parents expecting twins.  I am now 15 weeks according to the Dr and last ultrasound and have a due date of May 20th, 22nd, or 23rd depending on what you go with...conception date or my Dr's first few sonogram measurements.  Also according to who you talk to as to who's birthday or anniversary they are rooting for our little one to arrive on.  Right now we have bets from the 17th-29th from several of our friends and family.  We were hoping to find out before Christmas the sex, however unless my Dr can tell us on the 7th, it will be Jan 3rd before we have the official sex determining ultrasound.  I'm so excited to find out. We will be thrilled either way, although I'm leaning towards another Girl and Alan is Boy Bound, we've just been praying for a healthy pregnancy and baby. We had a little bit of a scare at the first of the pregnancy but all turned out just fine. Our last appointment we heard the FHR (fetal heart rate) at 144 bpm.  Normally we have had a pretty active baby however our appointments have been in the afternoon and the last appointment was at 8am...so I'm quite sure we have a little one that likes to sleep in.  The baby was having nothing to do with cooperating with the ultrasound.  The better picture she tried to get the tighter the ball our little one curled up in.  Here is the best of the ultrasound pictures from that day. I was 13 weeks 1 day. This is a front view of the baby's face and it has it's hands up (the two white spots) and curled up in a little ball.

I haven't been sick hardly at all...maybe 1 or 2 days of queasiness and several headaches (but nothing new with the headaches).  I didn't have many days of pregnancy related sickness with Isabella so this pregnancy has turned out to be not much different than the first one.
We can't wait to share if we need to pull all of the pink out or if purchasing blue is in order.  We pretty much already have our names picked out, but we are waiting to officially reveal them.

Below are a few pictures of how we revealed to Family & Friends that we are expecting and that Isabella is a soon to be BIG SISTER!

Christmas Cards

Attention Bloggers!

I know everyone likes free stuff.  Here is an opportunity to get 50 FREE Holiday Cards from Shutterfly.  I usually send out Christmas cards, sometimes ordering them and sometimes designing them on my own.  This year I have decided to use Shutterfly for our photo Christmas Cards.  Now I've just got to get on the ball and decide where to have our family picture made and what for the three of us to wear.  That's the hard part....or is the hard part picking out my favorite Christmas Card design??

So far these are my favorite designs ( I love sharing LOTS of pictures so of course I picked ones with multiple pictures):

I have used Shutterfly's products before such as just simply printing pictures, making calendars of Isabella for the family, also printing photo Christmas cards and I have been very pleased with the quality, result and pricing.

I know that family and friends who aren't able to always read our blog and since I don't send out many pictures, enjoy the at least once a year updated picture of our family.  And honestly....who doesn't love getting mail?  I know I do and it is the highlight of Isabella's day if she receives mail!  So spread the joy and spirit of Christmas and sign up for your 50 Free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly.

Fiddlesticks Farms: Farming...with a Texas Tune

This past Sunday I met my mom, Isabella and Nana Gina in Midland and we all headed out to Fiddlesticks Farms.  This was a first for the 4 of us and I do believe, despite the wind, we all had a wonderful afternoon.  Isabella got to ride on a horse train, slide down a potato sack slide, play in the sand, bounce on the corn popper, among many other activities.  We all went on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where Isabella showed off her independence and wanted to pick out her pumpkin BY HERSELF!  She would pick out the biggest pumpkin she could carry!  My mom finally convinced her that we had enough pumpkins at home and how about two gourds!  We also went through the Learning Barn and looked at and petted goats, pigs, cows and sheep.  They also did a milking demonstration that we watched then Isabella got to help bottle feed a calf with the milk they had gotten.  She also had a blast leading us through the Maize.  She was the leader and loved getting us lost!!  I just hope they aren't still looking for us since she decided to take a short cut out the side of the maize to finish!  If you are in the area and haven't been or if you are ever in the area....it is definitely a fun time had by all!

Lots of Sugar!

We definitely had a weekend full of sugar Halloween weekend! 

Thursday Isabella had a play date with Kaegan.  As always they had a blast playing at the park till it got too chilly for us to stand it. 

Our weekend started off with the birth of Emerson McCall Cross on Thursday.  

She is Isabella's 6th cousin, now that's distant relatives but I hope these two sweet girls are oh so close.  We fell in love with her Friday afternoon when we went to visit.  Isabella was so excited about getting to hold and sing to her.  At first she just sat there staring at her with so much amazement in her eyes and commented on all of her precious tiny features.  With all of the newborn practice lately, she will be a great big sister one day!  We both look forward to the next visit when get to love on sweet baby Emerson and visit with Candice & Brady too ;). 

Friday before we headed to the hospital we spent some time with my grandmother for her 90th birthday.  I do believe she had a really good day.  She opened cards she got in the mail, opened a few gifts and ooeed and awwed over the beautiful flowers from myself & Isabella and my brother & Rachel. 



Pillow from Christopher & Rachel



From Isabella & Me

From Christopher & Rachel

Friday evening, Sandi & I took Isabella over to a small Trunk R Treat at the Catholic School in Slaton.  She had a really good time.  

She was the CUTEST OTTER EVER (yes I know, probably the ONLY OTTER ever).  She picked out that costume 5 months ago and I purchased it for $10 but unfortunately 5 months later the kiddo could barely fit in it.  We had to strip her down every time we put her in the car seat. 

Sadly we laughed once at her for trying to reach down and pick up a piece of candy and the poor kid couldn't bend all the way down because the costume was so tight.  But she enjoyed the short longevity of the costume, we got some cute pictures and it didn't keep her from consuming at least 5 suckers before arriving home.

Saturday was a wonderful but extremely LONG day for us.  We started out early, Alan and I heading to Lubbock to pick up the cake and run a few last minute errands and my mom to the church to try and get everything set up for the party. 

Although we cut it extremely close we managed to have everyone and all of the food ready and out by 10:30 (party time).  I worked all week on preparing for this 90th birthday celebration.  Sent out invites and printed/cut/delivered invites to go in the previous Sunday's bulletin, planned the food spread and made/prepared every dish.  I did order the cake from Mrs. Camp's because that was too much responsibility for me to take on and it turned out way better than I ever could have done.  I'm not sure on the exact count of people that showed up but I was very pleased with the crowd. 

She even had a friend that she probably hadn't seen in 20+ years show up that drove over 6 hours from Clifton, TX to get there just for the party and then turned around and went home after only a few hours of visiting.  My grandmother was thrilled with her visit and seemed to be in very good spirits and very alert on this particular day and she was much appreciative of all of the hard work put in to make this special day happen.  I would like to thank my mom, Sandi & Alan for the bit of help they were able to provide when possible.  

~Happy 90th Birthday Grandmother!~

After the party it became a rush for everyone.  We had been having sewer problems at my grandmother's house so Alan had to head back and help my dad try and get that fixed and my mom, Sandi, Isabella and myself headed to Lubbock.  1st stop Kaegan's Birthday Party @ Chick-Fil-A!  He made a haul on "BOY STUFF" as Isabella puts it and the kiddo's had a blast playing in the play area. 

Unfortunately our last big stop before heading home was the Dr.  Through all of these celebrations my poor baby was battling the discomfort of a Urinary Tract Infection and she was a real trooper!  Thank goodness I think we finally have that under control.

Sunday brought forth the ultimate of all Sugar.  Sunday night Isabella dressed up as an adorable black kitty cat and we headed out to several Trunk R Treats!  She was way more interested in all of the activities the churches had going on rather than the candy.  She loved the train rides, haunted playgrounds and most of all the bounce houses, slides & mazes.  After they were all over we stopped by several of our friend's houses for Isabella to Trick R Treat at, then enjoyed Sonic's Halloween Special of 50 cent corn dogs for supper!  She had a really good time and totally wore herself out!

~Happy Birthday Grandma Thompson on the 31st!  We hope that you had a wonderful day!~