Celebrating 4 Wonderful Years

-We have been married for 4 wonderful, crazy and happy years as of today. Wow! The past 4 years have been an adventure of learning and growing together. We have endured many struggles and hard times and survived them together and we have celebrated many happy, life changing experiences together. The struggles have made us stronger - unemployment, 3 high risk pregnancies, 2 premature births, watching Daniel fight for his life in the NICU and caring for a preemie in the NICU and a toddler at home. We have celebrated together the happy times - the births of Daniel and Caden, bringing Daniel and Caden home from the hospital, moving into our dream house, watching our boys grow, seeing Richard putting on Christ through baptism, the list could go on and on. We have supported each other through the good and the bad. We are best friends and great life partners. We have enjoyed creating many memories together and are looking forward to creating many more memories (hopefully more happy then sad). We are celebrating with a nice romantic dinner (Papa John's pizza) at home since Jenny is on bed rest for the 3rd time in 4 years. (Year 5 will be celebrated with a romantic dinner out of the house while the boys are with a babysitter.)

A Name for Baby #3

-We found out about 13 weeks ago that baby #3 is a boy. We soon decided on the name Isaac but have not been able to decide on a middle name.....Nicholas, Hayes, Benjamin and Samuel are the names that have been mentioned and "made the list". After much discussion and debate we have finally decided on a middle name, baby #3 has officially (not really official until the birth certificate is signed).....baby boy #3 will be named Isaac Benjamin. If the ultrasound/ultrasound tech just happens to be wrong and baby boy #3 is actually baby girl #1, she will be named Avery Mae or Avery Claire.

32 Weeks

-I went for my 32 week check up today thinking I would get a good report. I have been feeling great, my blood pressure has been great and I have had very little swelling. I was surprised to hear that my blood pressure was elevated (194/108) and that my protein level was slightly elevated. The doctor had me lay on my left side and relax (HA!) and the nurse check my blood pressure again (170/100). The doctor decided that it would be best for me to head over to labor and delivery for monitoring and testing (for preeclampsia). I was monitored for several hours, my blood pressure came down to the normal range (excellent for me) after laying on my left side for 15 minutes. My lab work all came back negative for preeclampsia. Baby Isaac's heart rate and movement were great. I was sent home on bed rest and a long list of "to-dos" and "not-to-dos". The plan is for me to go to the hospital twice a week for monitoring and NSTs and I will see the doctor (in the office) once a week. The goal is to do a scheduled c-section around 38 weeks (about 5/6 more weeks). The timing is not perfect as we are not completely unpacked and there are a lot of "projects" that we wanted to to do before we brought baby #3 home but boxes and "projects" will have to wait because we want to bring home a full-term, healthy baby and will do whatever it takes to reach that goal.

Our Home (Moving Time)

-We have been busy packing boxes. The moving truck will be here this afternoon. We will be moving into our "dream home" this weekend. (Our first night will be Sunday night.) We are really excited (and exhausted) and can't wait to make this house our home.

Caden's 1st Birthday Celebration

-We celebrated Caden's 1st birthday at home with a yummy supper of spaghetti, salad, garlic toast and cupcakes. We had planned to have a big party for Daniel and Caden but with all the craziness that have been going on (Daniel's hospitalization, getting ready to move and Caden and Mommy being sick) we have had no time for party planning. Daniel was discharged from the hospital today and is feeling LOTS better. Mommy is feeling better. Caden is still feeling yucky which has made for a (un)happy birthday. We enjoyed our time together as a family (sick and tired) and we especially enjoyed having Everhett and Jarod with us to help celebrate.

yummy spaghetti

yummy cupcakes

Celebrating the 4th

We enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July by spending a relaxing day at home. The boys spent most of the day playing outside on the slip and slide and playing with water guns. We enjoyed a yummy supper of lasagna, salad and garlic bread and enjoyed a yummy dessert made with chocolate chip cooks, cool whip and hot fudge. We ended the night with our own personal firework show (thank you, Daddy). We hope you all enjoyed your Independence Day.

*Thank you to all the men and women who serve our country and fought and continue to fight so that we can celebrate our freedom.*

Everhett and Jarod's Arrival

-Everhett and Jarod's flight was scheduled to arrive at 8:44 p.m., we were told that we would need to arrive at the airport 2 hours early to allow enough time to get our gate passes and go through security. We arrived at the airport a little after 6 p.m., found a parking space, loaded Daniel and Caden into the stroller and headed to the ticket counter. We got our gate pass, went through security and went to the gate to wait. Daniel and Caden enjoyed playing in the play area while we waited. We kept an eye on the screens that showed arriving and departing flights and noticed that several flights in and out of Nashville were delayed or canceled. We began worrying when we did not see any information on Everhett and Jarod's flight. There was no one at the gate to ask (apparently they had all gone home). I called to find out some information using one of the courtesy phones and we were told that there flight had been delayed until 9 p.m. The lady that I spoke with was not very polite and hung up on me as I was in the middle of asking a question. RUDE! Richard called an spoke with a polite person and found out their flight was scheduled to arrive on time, he also pointed out that no information about the flight was appearing on the screen. (The information quickly appeared after Richard got off the phone.) The plane arrived around 8:45 p.m., we got the boys bags from baggage claim and headed to the car. We went through the McDonald's drive-thru and grabbed a LATE supper before heading home. We arrived home a little after 10 p.m. All the kids are in bed and we are headed to bed very soon. We are so happy to have Everhett and Jarod with us for the next couple of months.

*I am usually not one to complain about a specific company/product but we are not fans of United Airlines. We have flown them before and were very impressed but after tonight we will probably never fly them again. It was very hard to get answers about the flight information when needed it. We saw people from every airline but United. We have decided the boys will fly back via Southwest.