35 Weeks with Maebry

Today marks 35 weeks with Miss Maebry! It is so surreal to already be this far along with her!! I have no idea where the past 6 weeks went, but they are gone pecan! You know, I really have no complaints at this point in time. Of course certain things become a little harder (i.e. bending over, getting out of bed, 4 potty breaks in the middle of the night), but that comes with the territory. This morning I had to ask Shawn to buckle my shoes for church and his response "can I do this when you're not pregnant too?!" I love him!

This past week I had two doctor appointments. Wednesday was with my OB and all went well. Baby's heart beat was in the 130's and my blood pressure was 112/62. My doctor said that he wants me to remain in the Dallas area for the duration of my pregnancy, which is fine. I'm sure I have a few things I can do around the house until Maebry comes. Ha! Then on Friday I went in for an ultrasound. It wasn't a full scan, but to check the baby's position, placenta and amniotic fluid. All looked great! Heart was beating at 134 BPM, she weighs about 5 lbs so far and she is head down. In the picture below, you can see her little profile with her foot just below her chin and her hand directly above her foot. She is nice and snug in Mama's belly for sure! While watching her on the ultrasound, you could see her rubbing her face, ahh so sweet! Can't wait to snuggle with her. Well, let me get her room squared away and my room picked up first, and I'll be ready to snuggle! Kidding!

Love you little sister! You have a Daddy, two older brothers and a sister who are so excited about your arrival! Today they got to feel you have the hiccups, it was so cute! They would just giggle when they felt you hiccup, especially your big brother, Jase. You are a mover and a shaker; our nighttime entertainment for sure! I'm sure not much will change once you arrive...you will still maintain our attention, especially at night! Can't wait to hold you in a month or so. Love, Mommy.

Bench seat is complete

After starting on the bench seat earlier this week, I am glad to report that we wrapped it up last night!! I love how it turned out and it is pretty comfy too. Kudos to my hubby for being my handy man on the job; he was clutch! It is hard to make out, but the rug is a teal color and it matches the deepest color in the fabric. Glad to have this project finished, especially since I thought this would be knocked out prior to moving! Hahaha!! 

Happenings at our new home

September 22nd...this month is flying by. We have been so busy lately, I rarely have any extra time to sit down and blog. I miss doing it and documenting what we have been up to. The kids seem to be getting used to our new home and surroundings. They have been real troopers with all the change that has been going on. Finn and Jase share a room upstairs and both boys have twin beds. Jase downsized from a double and Finn upgraded from a crib. Ha! They have matching Star Wars bedding and in no time, we will have the room decked out with The Force! Speaking of Star Wars, below is Ally this evening on the left. She told me this is her Star Wars pose! Ha! She cracks me up! And the other picture of her was from last week, when she modeling it up with her tiara and Cinderella light up shoes. I just love her!   

One full week down with homeschooling. Woohoo! I can already tell this year will be more of a challenge for me. Our school days are much longer than last year and I have realized that Jase is not a fan of writing. He has neat print and spells great, but getting him to write several things has become a challenge. We will continue to work at it and I am trying to find the best way to split it up. Last week I even played music from Pirates of the Caribbean {his new obsession} and that helped. Since the start of 2nd grade, he has also started cursive and he loves it!! He said once he knows how to write all of his letters, he will probably use it more when completing his language arts. I'm glad he is a fan of it! Here is a sample of his practice today. I complimented him on it and he wanted me to send it to Daddy for him to see! Sure thing, bud!! Even with all of the challenges that homeschool presents, I am still glad we are going down this road together and I am able to have a part in their daily victories.

My mom came up to visit this past weekend and it was nice having her. We finished sifting through the rest of the boxes indoors, which was great. We had over 100 boxes and some were pretty big. On Sunday we hung up our first decor on the walls. This is in our breakfast area, right across from the kitchen. It is starting to feel a little more like home with our familiar items on the wall. I have still yet to finish painting the chairs and I also want to make a pad for the window seat...maybe this weekend!

Last night, we attended our first church service since the move, and it was great!! 1. It was great to be in the Lord's house, 2. the message was truth, and 3. the kids loved their classes! Kindergarten through 2nd grade stayed together, so that meant that Jase and Ally were in the same class, which was nice for them; a familiar face. After we picked up Jase he said "can we go here next Sunday and the next and the next?" So blessed to hear him respond so positively, when change can sometimes be hard on the kids {and us}. We told him that yes, we plan on coming back next week, but are continuing to ask the Lord to lead us to the right church for our family. This may be the one we end up at, but want them to understand we may visit elsewhere as well. Jase said "If I was leading the family, I would choose this church, but there are probably other good churches too!" He is too funny. Below is a blurry pic of Finn and I after the service. He really enjoyed his class too!

Before moving up to our new area, we signed the kids up for a gymnastics class. It is a homeschool class that meets every other Friday during the day. The older two kids absolutely loved it! They will go again this Friday and are excited about it. The gym is very nice and it has tons of equipment for them to practice on.

I was so proud of Ally during her class. She was doing things that she would have never tried at her old gymnastics class; she was being so brave!! Here is her doing a backwards roll, which is a first!!

And here is Jase jumping around at class; he loved it as well!

School is in session

Today was our first day back at school! We have a second grader, kindergartener, and a 2 year old preschooler. Both Allyson and Jase have daily lessons to complete. We are continuing with Heart of Dakota again this year; it is very user friendly. Ally's curriculum is slated to take 1.5 hours and Jase's is 3.5 hours. His curriculum this year is more in depth than last year, with a lot more Language Arts and we have added in cursive handwriting in the mix, which he is really excited about! Today wasn't bad at all and we got through everything, but I'll have to continue working through all of the subjects and figure out the best routine for us. I was a little overwhelmed at first when looking at all of the subjects both kids needed to complete, but it all worked out.

Finn was such a trooper and pretty much stayed busy and by us the whole day. Allyson loved her first day! She told me "and we even took pictures before school!" Jase loved reading and me reading to him. Heart of Dakota has great book selections that keep the kids' attention.

We are looking forward to this school year and pray that God guides and directs us each and everyday.

Almost There

I have a song that keeps playing over and over in my head. It is "Almost There" from Disney's "Princess and the Frog". Today we closed on our new home! Woohoo!! "There ain't nothing gonna stop me now 'cause I'm almost there."  That's how I am feeling! Ha! The past two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind. We packed up our bags on 8/25 and stayed with my sister for a few days before heading out to Disney. We left on 8/30 and stayed the night in Tallahassee, then 7 nights in Buena Vista, then 1 night in Mobile, Alabama, and 1 night at my sister's. The next morning we headed up to Frisco and have been here for 3 nights. This is our last and final night in a hotel! Yes!! The movers are scheduled to arrive at our new house in the morning! We are so ready to sleep in our own beds and not live out of a bag. "I'm almost there." I'm going to keep on singing!!

Tuesday morning we started our last leg of this journey. We had both vehicles loaded down and the kids packed up and ready to go. See Olaf in the back seat? Haha!!

It wasn't 2 miles down the road and poor Finn got sick. I look back at him in my rear view mirror and can see the orange juice coming up. Poor little guy. I pull over and clean everything up the best I can and we get him strapped back in. He never had any other tummy issues the rest of the day. He had a small fever, but it went away that evening.

After being stuck in traffic for nearly an hour and a half in Huntsville and only going 5 miles {so thankful for DVD players!!}, we finally made it to our new house. We had a walk through scheduled for that afternoon. Below are a couple of pictures of our kitchen, living and breakfast areas. It is an open area and I really think we are going to love this space. We spend so much time together in these areas, I'm so excited to be able to see everyone while standing in one of these spaces. Our last home was more than great, but it was pretty closed off and none of the these three spaces were connected. This was a prerequisite when looking for a new home and I'm so thankful that we found a home that met this criteria. Oh and Finn below is helping us mark spots that needed touching up during our walk through! A roll of tape + a 2 year old = GOLD!

The kids have really been troopers. They have been in the car for quite some time lately, especially with our trip to Disney...16 hours one way. I know they are ready and excited about their new home and to get settled in, just as much as Shawn and I are.

This was yesterday after lunch, walking back to the car. I asked the big kids to hold hands in front of me and then Finn ran up there and took Jase's hand. It was the sweetest thing. Seeing this made my heart smile.

All packed up and ready to go! Shawn loaded up his truck with our belongings from the hotel tonight. This is the last of the final leg of our trip! Oh, and before closing today, I had a doctor's appointment with my new doctor. My blood pressure was fine, weight was up {way up}, and the baby's heartbeat was 147 BPM. Oh, and he did a quick sonogram of the baby to check a few things, which was a nice surprise. I've never had an ultrasound after my 20 week appointment, so this was a bonus. Everything he saw looked just fine. He confirmed that we still have a little girl in the oven, which was nice to know! Ha! The doctor seemed nice and thorough. I'll have another appointment in 2 weeks when I'm 34 weeks and he also does an official sonogram with all of his patients at 34 weeks, so I'll get to see Miss Maebry again!

Our Princess turns 5!

We celebrated Allyson's 5th birthday today in royal fashion at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World! We had a great day. She met tons of characters and she loved it. "Mom get my autograph book ready" was a phrase I heard quite often! Ha! I will have to blog more in detail when time permits, but for now here is a little sneak peek of our day!