shocked

Well, the results are in and it's a

GIRL!

We are all shocked and surprised.

Sam is a little sad.

Poor guy, I know how he feels.

I wanted a sister more than anything, and got a brother...twice.

But time will ease the disappointment.

And by the time the baby is here, he will be excited to see her.

Otherwise, she is healthy and right on target according to the ultrasound.

She is very wiggly and even sucked her thumb for a second (just like her brother).

Whether or not she has CF, still remains a mystery.

We have opted not to do an amniocentesis (same as with Ava).

But the ultrasound markers were clear, which is a good sign.

Thank You, God, for another little life!

tomorrow

is the day that I find out the sex of babe #3.

Marko and Sam are totally rooting for a boy.

Honestly, I'll be surprised if it's not a boy.

My pregnancy symptoms have almost been identical to what I had with Sam.

And nothing like what I had with Ava.

Sooo, we'll see.

I'll keep you posted!

 

does this

ever happen to you?

I had one of the best times with the Lord on Friday morning.

And then, by Friday afternoon I felt like the biggest heathen ever.

Giving in to temptation,

snapping at the kids,

being lazy,

whining,

the list goes on and on!

I find myself exclaiming with the Apostle Paul.

"Wretched person that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

 (Romans 7:24)

How can I be walking in the presence of the Lord one moment

and then totally not walking in it the next?

The answer:

my choices.

In 10 minutes

I can make enough wrong choices

 to take me from

life

to

death.

But...

here is my comfort.

Jesus rescues me.

He picks me up,

brushes me off,

lifts my face,

and speaks tenderly to my heart.

"I love you.

Let me help you up

and together we can continue on."

O, what a wonderful Savior!



open up the sky

I woke up this morning with this song in my head.

Waiting for His touch,

immersed in the shower of His presence,

satisfied with nothing less than Jesus.

Looking at my Savior,

awed by the glory of my Lord,

Face to face with Love Divine.

What a spectacular way to start the day!

in other news

Alternately titled: Random thoughts that have nothing to do with each other.

Tomorrow I will be 18 weeks pregnant.

Now that I am fully into my 2nd trimester, my energy has returned and my stomach has settled.

My tummy is starting to pop out a bit and the maternity clothes have come out of hiding.

Can I just tell you how much I love wearing maternity clothes...cute ones, anyway?

I love them.

I love that I can have a tummy and people look at me with a twinkle in their eye,

instead of giving me the stink eye because they think I've had one too many twinkies.

Just kidding. I don't really normally get the stink eye.

Only if I'm walking passed a gym eating twinkies.

Sam has finally decided that he is okay with the boy name that we've most likely chosen.

Whew.

Now he wants to name the baby Charlotte Leah, if it's a girl.

Not our first choice, but it sure beats Gator!

Anyways, my 20 week ultrasound is coming up soon and all mysteries will be revealed.

Speaking of Sam, his mouth is healing well.

He had his stitches removed yesterday, and the scabs have all fallen off.

Unless I look into his mouth, I can hardly tell that he was a bloody mess one week ago.

His teeth have not shifted back into place yet, and I'm not sure that they will.

I'm just happy that they are all baby teeth, that will eventually come out anyways.

Ava is taking her first steps, and will soon be on her way to full-on walking.

She has also acquired several new words and has become quite a chatterbox.

She is fascinated with babies (baby dolls, specifically)

and anything with a face-that is smaller than her-is a "baby."

The S.W. Florida version of fall is finally here, which means pumpkin patches and fall festivals. 

It also means weather that is NOT scorching hot! 

I'm thrilled that our highs are in the 80's and the lows are in the 60's.

Outdoors, here we come!

the hiatus is over

Honestly!

What a slacker I've been. 

I can't believe that it's been almost a month since my last "real" post.

Much has happened in the past several weeks.

There have been births,

and birthdays,

a trip to Sea World,

and most recently, our first kid ER visit.

(Gorey picture ahead. Consider yourself warned.)

Sam was swinging on a baby swing on the neighbor's patio (read: brick floor) 

Sunday afternoon, and decided to jump off of it.

The landing was less than perfect and the bricks caught his fall. Heh.

Marko came running into the house with him and

blood

was

EVERYWHERE.

Sam was bleeding so much that I couldn't even see inside his mouth.

So, off to the ER Marko and Sam rushed.

Once there, they discovered that Sam had knocked out one of his bottom teeth

(not adult, thank the Lord!)

and needed about 6 stitches on his lower lip.

A trip to the dentist the next day revealed that there were no fractures or permanent damage to the bones in his mouth/jaw.

WHEW!

Well, I guess all's well that ends well.
Sam has learned his lesson, and will now be traveling the preschool circuit extolling the virtues of swing safety.

happiness is...

...balloons

a ladybug smash cake,

and turning ONE!

Happy Birthday, Ava!

To see what others are happy about, check out this blog.