A Fun Weekend!

On Friday night we bought Gracie and new bike!  I knew this weekend was going to be warm enough to ride, so I figured, why not?!  She chose a bike with a carseat for her babies in the back and a basket in the front. It's a Lalaloopsy bike and it's really cute!  She caught on quickly and only fell a few times when she'd get going too fast and Jack-knife the front wheel. She loved riding and I'm thinking we'll be outside riding it all spring and summer long!

We also went to see Fancy Nancy and the loose tooth at the library. My sister is always so good and checking for free programs at the public library. Both big girls had a great time listening to the story and doing the crafts and games!

We also got the chance to see Kyle's basketball game on Saturday. It's pretty cute watching the boys play. Kyle is really good at defense. I think he'll continue to get stronger and stronger as he practices!  I'm proud of him for his hard work. 

On Sunday we helped celebrate the upcoming arrival of Rylee Mae, Miss Rachel's daughter. We had a good time visiting with friends, eating yummy snacks, and watching Rach open tons of baby gifts!  Such cute outfits!  Rylee will be stylin' for sure!  

Bike Riding!

Here's Gracie riding her new bike!  She's really good!  We rode around the neighborhood on Saturday and up at Clardy on Monday.  It was a blast!

Proverbs 3:5-6

It's very very early to be sharing the news, but you know that's never stopped us before!  We're so happy to be expecting another little one, due September 8, 2015.  We're nervous, as you can imagine, but that's why we're sharing the news with you.  Please pray for us and for our tiny, tiny baby.  We've had one very happy ending with the birth of Gracie and two sad endings with our miscarriages in 2013.  This time we are really focused on trusting God and His sovereignty.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."  So that is what we will do... TRUST in the Lord will all our hearts.  Sometimes it's easier said than done, but mostly I find it easier to trust than to worry.  It's kind of outside of my nature to worry anyway, and I prefer the peace that comes from knowing God is the only one who can protect and preserve this pregnancy.  A few people have made comments to me this time around saying, "Be careful!  Don't do anything to cause a miscarriage."  I gently let them know that I didn't do anything to cause the last two miscarriages and also remind them that no one in this world wants a happy ending for this pregnancy more than Daddy and Momma.  Honestly, that type of comment doesn't bother me at all, but it does remind me that everyone in our sinful world needs a reminder than God is control.  He has a plan for us and while we may not always understand why things happen the way they do, there is immense comfort in knowing that God knows what He's doing.  But rest assured, I am doing the best I can to be a safe and smart Momma.

We had our first ultrasound today.  I'm exactly 6 weeks today and the ultrasound showed a teeny tiny yolk sac with an even tinier flashing heart above it.  The heart rate was 115 bpm, which the doctor said was fairly high for this early.  He also noted that it appears that there's only one baby in there, but he won't rule out another for a few weeks yet.  Eek!  The machine translated the visual flashing of the heart beat into sound, so we were able to hear an audible heart beat today.  Pretty darn cool!

It's important to share with you all that while Ryan and I are super excited to let Gracie know that indeed God has put another baby in Momma's tummy, we are NOT sharing that news just yet.  Telling Gracie that the baby had gone to heaven last time definitely makes the Top 5 Worst Days of My Life List.  Days like that I never hope to relive.  So, we're planning hold off on sharing the news with big sissy until the chances of loss are much lower.  And by that, I mean we will tell her when I can't hide it anymore.  I'm hoping to make it to my birthday or hers, but then I'll be 5-6 months along, so my belly may give it away.  We shall see.  But when I see any of you readers face to face, feel free to share your excitement with me, just not with Gracie... YET!  I can't wait until we can share the news with her.  She will be on cloud nine, seriously, this girl LOVES babies!  I'm already trying to think of a fun way to surprise her with the news.  I'll keep you posted!

Here's the first picture of Little Weaver #4 (or #2 or whatever... depends on how you count!)  Not that anyone can really see much, but the big black oval is my uterus (lovely!) and the tiny white dot on the right side of my uterus is the yolk sac.  The baby's heart was flashing directly northeast of the yolk sac.  God is good!

Another Tea Party

For Christmas Gracie got a ceramic tea set. It's super cute and her Daddy picked it out for her, which makes it even more special!  G and I have enjoyed a couple of tea parties with it already, but these two had so much fun together having muffins and water!  Do little kids actually drink tea?!  We've done water and apple juice so far!

Gracie Talk...

Gracie has been fighting a head cold for a while now and she hasn't been sleeping the greatest.  She's got a cough and a super runny nose, which makes laying down uncomfortable.  She's been exhausted at night, going to bed around 7:30 for 4 straight nights, which is good!  But in the middle of the night, she wakes up coughing, or vomiting because of the coughing, a couple of a times.  Last night, around 1:45 am, she woke up crying and simpering.  I let her cry for a little bit, but then she kept going, so I went in to check on her.  She was in curled up with her legs under her and her eyes closed.  I bent down and asked "What's wrong, G?"  She answered, "I'm not having any fun.  No fun at all."  I had a hard time not giggling!  I'm not sure if she was referring to feeling so crummy, or if it was a dream.  But either way, she was having no fun!  I told her that we'd have fun tomorrow, but right now we should just be quiet and sleep.  She agreed and rolled over.  That kid kills me! 

Organizing...again!

This time of year, especially since Gracie was born, I spend countless hours late at night pondering all the organizing possibilities before me. Some call it a sickness (namely my husband) but I quite enjoy coming up with creative and frugal ways to make our house better. And to me, better means more organized, less clutter, and easier to clean. 

My recent project was to re-vamp Gracie's toys. First of all, there are tons of them. Tons. Second of all, she only plays with baby dolls and dress-up 95% of the time. But then, she will complain that she wants to watch TV all the time because she's bored. What?!  Third of all, she doesn't play down in our basement playroom unless Kia is over because she feels 'lonely' down there without her. Seriously?!  Lastly, she doesn't sleep during nap time anymore, but is still required to stay in her room to rest/play quietly for 90 minutes or so. So taking all of the facts into consideration, I landed on the idea to leave her baby doll, kitchen, and dress-up stuff downstairs. She has baby dolls stashed everywhere in this house, so don't feel too sorry for her. But as for the other toys, she and I went through them and purged (very, very little) the items she doesn't play with. Then we moved the rest up to her bedroom closet so that she could play with them during rest time and when Momma and Daddy makes her turn off the TV... which is after 2 episodes of any show. 

Ryan added the required extra shelf this afternoon, so the process is complete!  It was very cheap, I might add. I think the total cost to add some hooks to hang the purple play dough and puzzle bins, a few bins to store sets of toys, a few bins to set out the toys that are in rotation, a few pieces of lumber to build the shelf, a few screws, and an L bracket was less than $25. 

Now her closet has 2 zones - toys and clothes. The left is for her clothes. I have 3 stacking bins that hold shoes, clothes that are too small, and clothes that are too big (top to bottom).  We use a hanging organizer to lay out her weekday outfits each Sunday night. Then on the right side is all toy storage. The 6 cube organizer used to live downstairs, but it fits perfectly in her closet. Each cube holds a toy/activity that is 'in rotation'. I use toy rotation with Gracie for several reasons. The main reasons are to keep her toys feeling fresh and fun, and also it's easier to clean up with fewer toys available. I switch out toys every 2 weeks or so. But I'm thinking that if she requests an out of rotation toy to play with during rest time, that will be a good way to keep her playing independently for the entire quiet time. Sometimes she is ready to be done with rest time before Momma is!

Below are a few pictures of the new toy organization. We're pretty happy with the results!