Fall Break and things...

My phone has been a little bit silly sending my pics to my email so I can upload them here, so we'll see how many pics I actually end up with for this post. This week is Fall Break for Taylor at school. I don't know why they have it but I LOVE it!!! Danny took Monday off so he could do something fun with the kids. We decided on a very last minute trip to Lombardi Ranch where Amy and Sophie were able to come join us too! Very fun and special for being so last minute. We even ran into our cousins Riley and Gavin while we were there!! We grabbed lunch at Chipotle afterwards where I downed a whole burritto.**side note: at my dr appointment yesterday I had gained 6 pounds. I swear it was from that burritto! gotta go back there!** That evening Danny and BIL(brother in law) Chris loaded up Chris's truck and took the kids camping at Castaic Lake. They had SO much fun. Us mom's were not invited along for the trip, but later that evening we got an invite to come have some smore's. They woke up the next morning and fished before they headed home. They unloaded, ate lunch and then took the kids ice skating. We then went to our friends house for dinner. 2 very full days equaled two very tired girls who slept in till 8:45 on this cozy rainy morning. =)

Had a high risk dr appointment yesterday that went well. Like I said earlier I gained 6 pounds which was so good to see. At the beginning of my pregnancy I got the flu really bad one night and I lost 2 pounds and up until the other day I had only gained back those 2 pounds. Baby, cervix, everything looked great. I guess I have some notching on my left side, which is a resistence  in blood flow to the uterus. Not too big of a deal at this point. Doesn't affect the baby, it could just mean high blood pressure for me towards the end. But usually notching goes away on its own. They confirmed it's a BOY!!! So that was pretty exciting. Still in awe that I'm pregnant, and in shock that it's a boy. So thankful. Done with the progesterone suppossitories and I start the progestrone shots in 2 weeks, that thankfully Danny will be able to give me once a week.

My latest organizing adventure around here has been our closet. I turned it into a "family closet" yesterday. Sounds crazy I know. I've actually heard of a few families doing this. Mostly BIG families, like the Duggars, but even for our family of 4, it sounded like a great idea. See, one of the things I struggle with most is clothes. We have clothes ALL over our house. In the garage, in the front room, on the steps, in the laundry room, on the floor in the girls rooms, on the floor and bathroom of our room. SO, since we are moving the girls into one room soon anyways, and they will have limited clothing space, I decided to move everyone's clothes into our closet. We have a pretty big closet, so this obviously wouldn't work for everyone. So far, I LOVE it!! Much easier for me to have 1 central place that all clothes go to be put away and 1 place for all dirty clothes to wait to be washed. I think I'm also going to buy a few more laundry baskets so instead of one basket that all dirty clothes go into, and then have to be sorted, I'll just have a basket for each color load that the clothes will automatically go into. Anyways, just trying it out for now. Trying to make things as simple as possible around here. 

And just for a laugh, while our husbands and kids were camping the other night, Dawn and I went to the mall. I was in need for some comfy jeans. I knew that it was time for some new ones, I just  forgot how badly I needed them ASAP. I had TOTALLY forgot about this little hole I had in the jeans I was wearing, until I was in a dressing room at the first store we went to and noticed the hole and that it had gotten a little bigger. Oh well...But the good news is, I found a new pair of jeans. =)

2 big front teeth 2 nights in a row...

Pinterest Project

First Pinterest project completed. I will make another one and I will do it a little differently. I didn't have enough small nuts so I added some bigger ones. Feel like its a bit too much. So think I'll make another one with the right amount of small ones. Super cute and easy to do!!

Homemade laundry soap and then some...

Ok, so this is too awesome not to post. I've been looking to cut costs in every place possible. So when I came across a few people who have made their own laundry soap with these few easy and cheap ingredients I had to give it a try. I don't like complicated projects or recipes. It needs to be simple, I need to know what all the ingredients are, and I like to be able to get them all a one store. Borax, Washing Soap and a bar of soap is all you need. I have seen 2 different recipes and I know there are many more, but this one is the most basic. I made mine after this recipie here. I have also become a fan of white vinegar. I know this is really nothing new, I'm just a bit behind jumping on the band wagon. There are SO many uses for white vinegar. Check some uses out here. I also add some in my laundry where the softner goes, and no, your clothes do not smell AT ALL!!

In other exciting news, Taylor lost one of her big front teeth. Pretty funny! Big exciting stuff for a 6 year old! =)

And last but not least, embarassingly, a belly shot. My pregnancy with Taylor, luckily the week before I ended up having her, I was down visiting my parents and my mom snapped a few pics of me before I headed home. Those are the only pics I have of being pregnant with her. Being pregnant with Devan, I have a few more cheesy belly shots, thanks to the fact that I was submitting some for maternity modeling. So this time around I'm making a concious effort to take more pics, even if they are cheesy iphone pics taken at 10:00 at night. =) My pregnancies have been such a blur. By the time I'd finally start showing I would deliver 5 minutes later. Not really, but you get my point. This time around, I feel like I have a belly earlier than I ever have and I have been enjoying every growing minute. So thankful for my growing bump. I had an impromptu dr visit this past Monday due to some shooting pains I was having on Sunday. But everything checked out great. Cervix is great and baby, who looked like a bird in 4D, looked great too! I have a high risk appointment on Tuesday. Looking forward to seeing baby again and hopefully confirming the sex. Here it is! =)

So far....

...they think it's a BOY!!!!!! The more I thought about it, most people who read this probably already have heard. We've been hesistant to REALLY be excited because it is still SO early...I can't even believe you can tell already!! BUT his little boy parts are what the ultrasound tech kept giggling at cause he kept showing them off! Then the dr came in a confirmed, but obviously said they aren't allowed to say forsure because it's so early. Then the next day, my ob said boy as well, and that was with his legs crossed. Danny was in shock and really didn't want to believe it. I want to cry every time I think about it, because that again just magnifies the Lord's hand in all of this. My girls have specifically prayed for a baby boy the last couple of years EVERY single night. BUT, if somehow everyone ends up wrong, we will be just as excited for another girl. We are just so thankful to be adding to our family...Lord willing.

Dr. Appointments

Well both my dr appointments went well last week! Thursday I got to see my highrisk OB and loved him. I got a very long and detailed ultrasound so that was fun to see the baby so much. We weren't going to find out what we were having...at least that was the plan...Danny's idea, not mine. Danny REALLY didn't want to find out, I did, but because he really didn't want to, we weren't going to. BUT, during our ultrasound, which I'm only 12 weeks so we weren't expecting to be able to find out anyways, the tech chuckled. And then she chuckled again and told us why. I'm not going to say all the details, because at this point I don't think I'm going to tell what she saw. But the dr came in and said the same thing, and then the next day at my regular ob appointment he saw the same thing as well!! So we found out what we think we are having so far but I go back in a couple weeks again, so we'll confirm it then. But everything looked great. My cervix looked good, which is probably the main thing they are monitoring with me. I will start once a week progesterone shots at 17 weeks. As of now, there is no specific start date for strict bedrest. I am starting to feel pretty good, which my MIL was hoping wouldn't happen, cause I start doing too much. =) But I am still just trying to take it easy, enjoying my days with Devan while Taylor is at school.

Devan started cubbies last night at LOVED it!! It was so cute seeing her so excited and being there with all her little friends. =) Since Taylor is not doing AWANA this year, it gives me special time with just her which we both loved last night. Wednesday Taylor starts her group called Girls of Grace, and then I'll have special time with just Devan. So kinda fun how that works out. Danny is in Wisconsin again, doing a final inspection on some fire trucks that they bought. Looking forward to his return on Thursday. I guess that's all for now!

My little hunter

We went to the river for Dove opener. For those of you who don't know, Sept 1st in the first day you can hunt dove. It has always been a big day for Danny since he was a kid. This year, he got to continue the tradition on with Taylor. Like I've mentioned before, who needs boys?? This little girl got up at 4am with all the guys, decked out in all her camo gear and her new gun. She shot her gun a couple of times, and with the help of her daddy, she shot her first dove. She was quite the trooper and while she did enjoy the experience, if you ask her about it, pretty much all she will tell you is how terribly hot it was. I was especially proud of her this trip because she attempted to waterski!! Something I didn't attempt until I was a few years older than her because I was too afraid. She didn't get up and she got a ton of water in her face. So she didn't really like it, but she did try again. We'll have her up and skiing next summer. =)
Overall it was a great trip.  A couple friends came to hang and go hunting and the grandparents were there so that's always a special treat for the girls.

Pregnancy update: Guess I haven't said much about being pregnant. I think I am still in shock. We prayed about it for SO long and even tried for quite awhile, so it's hard to believe I'm actually pregnant now. It has been such a different experience this time around. I guess when you think you can't have something, and then you find out that you can, and then it takes a really long time to get it, you really appreciate it a lot more, which I am so thankful for. Seeing that heartbeat for the first time was so surreal for both Danny and I. I'm so thankful for the years that we spent praying for wisdom and direction about adding to our family. I'm so thankful for how long it took for me to get pregnant because now, I have SO much peace in the unpredictable and long journey that lies ahead of us.

So far everything is going pretty good. Aside from the fact that I already can't do much before my tummy gets "tired". This time around I am super sensitive to every little thing I feel so I'm just trying to rest a lot and take good care of myself. The girls are SUPER excited. Taylor of course if over the moon. It has been SO special sharing this experience with her. If things went "my way" I never would've wanted my kids this far apart. But "God's way" has been working out much better than I ever would've imagined. Go figure. ;) Devan has actually surprised me how much she talks about the baby. I didn't think she would care too much, but she actually talks about the baby all the time. "Does the baby like spicy?' "Does the baby like ice cream?" She rubs my belly often and gives it kisses already. Pretty cute.

As of now I'm taking progesterone suppossitories twice a day and don't really have any other restrictions than the normal pregnant lady. I go see my highrisk OB on thursday and my regular OB on Friday. I think we'll find out if I'm going to get a cerclage or not. I think at some point instead of suppossitories I will start getting the progesterone shot twice a week. Bedrest is also a forsure thing in my future. We'll deal with that when the time comes. It has been neat already seeing our friends and family offereing to help out. My mom told me the other day that she told her boss that I'm pregnant and that I'll be on bedrest so she'll be needing to help me. It's bringing tears to my eyes just typing it, because it really meant so much to me that my mom would be putting her work on the backburner so she could help us out. There is no way that we would be able to be doing this on our own, so to really truly have the support that we do is such a blessing. Anyways....here's to a LONG pregnancy!!!!! =)