Pregnancy Update: Weeks 11 & 12

 

Week 11:

Continued throwing up but less

Continued tiredness

Continued face breakouts

Heart burn/acid reflux 

Craving spicy foods, specifically homemade salsa

Dreams that the baby is a girl

Still losing weight, 12 lbs total since 5 weeks pregnant 

Week 12:

Continued:

Throwing up but less

Tiredness

Heartburn/Acid Reflux

Baby girl dreams

No face break outs this week

No cravings

Could hear the baby moving on the Doppler like crazy

Braxton Hicks towards the end of this week. We went in to be monitored because I thought that I was having contractions fairly often. I know my body extremely well but I honestly questioned myself on this one. I knew what I was feeling felt like contractions but I thought that there's no way that I'm having them this early. Practice ones or not. No way. I was though. The doctor said that they are common early on in women who've had many pregnancies. They are typically harmless but I'm being watched even closer now and on temporary bed rest. Resting has slowed them down a lot thankfully. Even being harmless they gave me major anxiety. I want this baby to be safe and to be born full term. I'll do everything in my power to make that happen. 

This week I made an appointment with a midwife that several of my friends have used. My dream birth has always been a home water birth but Brian is not on board. I'm praying that after meeting the midwife and getting his questions answered that he will see the benefits of home birth and not only focus on the risks. I can't do a home birth without him on my team 100%. I know that he trusts me and that he knows how well I know my body. He's watched me coach all of my own births. From me telling the nurses when it was time to push and them not believing me because I was JUST 4cm dilated to me refusing to leave the hospital when I was in labor with my son even though the nurses were trying to send me home. I lead my births. I know my body insanely well. Heck I even caught our oldest child and pulled her onto my own chest. I truly birth without fear and that's all there is to it. My birth team (mom, best friend, husband, photographer friend, and mother in law) will all tell you that I was born to have babies. Brian jokes and replies to that comment that I was born to have HIS babies ha. Anyways he knows the struggle of hospital births and with the nearest birth center being over an hour away, home birth would be wonderful. We will continue to pray for God to lead us which direction we should go. In the mean time I'm very excited to meet with the midwife and get all of my questions answered. I will post a follow up blog on Tuesday after our meeting. 

The Verdict is in! We're Having a....

GIRL according to gender predictions. 

Recently we've all been talking about what everyone wants the baby to be/thinks the baby is. We aren't finding out the gender so for sure I'm doing prediction section in the baby book. From old wives tales to what we all think he or she might be. That whole portion of the book will be guesses on the baby's gender. Here's what we have so far:

Chinese Calender: GIRL

Baby's Heartrate: GIRL (Higher than 140)

Mom's Cravings: BOTH (Sweet & Salty)

Sickness: GIRL (All day long)

Dad's Weight: BOY (His weight is the same)

Mom's Skin: GIRL (Bad Breakouts)

Headaches: GIRL (I rarely have headaches)

Dreams: GIRL 

Mother's Intuition: BOTH (It was very strongly boy but now I think it might be a girl) 

Sleeping Side: GIRL (Right side)

Ring Test: GIRL 

Ramzi Theory: BOY 

Nub Theory: GIRL

Guesses/Wants:

I want BOTH ha. I genuinely don't have a preference. 

Brian wants a BOY

Charlee & Hudson want a BOY

Andlee wants a GIRL

My mom doesn't have a preference 

My dad wants a GIRL

Brian's parents don't have a preference 

Our grandparents don't have a preference

So as of right now according to old wives tales this baby is a GIRL. We shall see. 

Pregnancy update:

We made an appointment with a midwife for next week. I've finally talked Brian in to considering a HOME BIRTH. I'm so excited and can't wait to hear all of the details so that we can make that official choice together. 

Braxton Hicks at 13 Weeks Pregnant

I've spent the afternoon being monitored for contractions. All morning I kept having tightness in my uterus that felt all too familiar. Fairly consistent tightness on and off in contraction patterns. I went to the doctor to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind. Sure enough, I'm having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions. These are totally normal however this early on it was alarming to me. The doctor put me on bed rest but didn't seemed overly concerned. He said that because I've had many pregnancies it's common to have BH this early. It's typically harmless. They will just monitor me closer. This pregnancy has already been a bumpy ride but I refuse to let anything steal the joy of it. We could definitely use prayers that things progress safely and that we carry a healthy baby to term. 

The Importance of Giving Back

Every Christmas growing up my parents took my brother and I to shop for other children. Children who other wise wouldn't get anything. As the years passed my parents number of children that they adopted each year grew greatly. They are the most giving people and my dad will tell you that giving all that he can is why the Lord has blessed him so much financially. He also says that it's because he gets up and goes to work every day. He works hard for what he has and he has been very blessed.

Anyways, naturally of course when I became an adult I took over those same traditions of adopting children each Christmas. When we became parents we decided that our children would be responsible for adopting another child. They would pick out his or hers gifts and help me wrap them. We normally do 3 kids. Two girls and a boy. We buy each child a coat, socks, undies/diapers, clothes, several toys, a basket full of necessities such as tooth brushes, tooth paste, shampoo, body wash, lotion, ect and a stocking full of little treats. Stockings are my all time favorite thing to do. This year we adopted one child for each of us so 5 total. Next year we will adopt 6 since we will have another family member. We also give both of our hired hands bonuses every year to buy their kids Christmas gifts. So all in all I guess we actually gifted to 9 kids this year. It is my goal to continue to adopt more and more each year and to deeply instill the importance of giving to my children so that they continue to give as well. With as big as our family is we can reach a lot of families over the years. Giving can make a huge difference even if you don't feel like you can give enough. Even if it's just one child that you can adopt or one toy for that matter, you made that Christmas for that one child. You put a smile on their face. You did something amazing. Don't ever down play it. 

The spirit of giving is also why I've NEVER sold our children's clothes or toys. I ALWAYS donate them. Always. We are blessed to have all that we do and to be in a position where we do not need that extra money bad enough to pass up giving to others every single opportunity that we can. Give back. You will feel so good about it and you will be blessed. If you can't give things give your time. Volunteer. Visit the elderly. Bake goodies and give them out or donate them to a bake sale for a good cause. There are a million ways to give. 

Speaking of donate I'm currently purging all of the kids old toys, clothes, and most of my kitchen stuff. Pots, pans, plates, knives, ect. We got have brand new things in boxes from Christmas and I'm 100% positive that it alone could fill a large house. Everything in those categories that we had prior to Christmas has got to go. If you are local please hit me up. I usually send the toys and clothes to foster homes but I can split it if I need to. The pots, pans, plates, ect are in great shape. I just got several new sets of stuff as gifts. I don't have any need for that many kitchen tools. I'm totally seeing this move as a brand new fresh start in many areas and Christmas was perfect timing for this. It was like a house warming/Christmas all at once ha. I can't believe this is our last 10 days in our home and the new house will start being built on Jan 10th. 

Merry Christmas to All!

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed your time no matter what you spent the day doing. 

For us Christmas is about celebrating Jesus's birth with the ones that we love. This year that privilege was extra special because my dad is here to celebrate with us. Something that 6 weeks ago we all thought would not happen. We've spent the past 3 days packed full of family fun. It's been incredible. Our children were showered with endless love and gifts. They got what they asked for plus much more. We are blessed with family that goes so big on them. We decided to wait to tell the kids about our trip to Disney World in 3 weeks. Last time letting it be a surprise was so worth it that we want to do it again. They've got so many things right now distracting them and exciting them. Waiting to tell them when life has calmed down will be better.  

Our holiday has been perfect and we are ending it cuddling on the couch and watching Beauty and the Beast, my favorite Disney movie. 

God bless all of you. May your joys be overly abundant. 

Santa got caught setting out the kids stocking stuff. They thought this was the coolest thing ever. Charlee admitted that she heard his sleigh bells leaving last night ha. 

 

 

 

Our Trip to See Santa Claus

Our yearly trips to Bass Pro to see Santa are always a gamble. The kids go in to it pumped to see him and rehearsing what they will say then once it's their turn to go up, they freeze. Last year Charlee was the only one who would set on his lap or even go near him for that matter. This year, however they ALL loved him. It was the sweetest thing ever. When it was their turn they grabbed hands and walked right up to him. They never even looked back to make sure that Brian and I were right there with them. Once they got up to him they hopped right into his lap and smiled for the camera. One shot. It took them one shot to get the picture. The workers were shocked. Three young kids and one smiling shot within seconds. Hell, I was even shocked ha. After they took the picture Santa asked them several questions. They all talked at once and answered his questions. Plus they told him that he couldn't forget to bring the baby in momma's belly something too. How precious is that? Already thinking of their baby sibling. I choked up. It was an awesome experience. They told Santa good-bye and we finished our night out. We shopped and had dinner at an amazing steakhouse. Like seriously, my new favorite place to eat around here. It was called Sante Fe Steakhouse. I believe it's a chain. If you ever see one stop and eat there for sure. Literally everything that we ordered was on point. We wanted to take the kids to see a bunch of walk through Christmas lights like we do every year but it was freezing and drizzling outside so we opted for ice cream on the ride home instead. I can't believe it's Christmas Eve and the holiday is almost over. I also can't believe that next year we will have a new baby in our family to enjoy all of our traditions with. Life is absolutely beautiful. Even the less than ideal moments. 

Hopefully our trip to see Saint Nick next year will go just as perfectly as it did this year. We will have a 6 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old, and 6-7 month old infant. Should be loads of fun. 

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 9 & 10

Here are my updates for weeks 9 & 10: 

Week 9:

Continued all day sickness.

Breakouts! They are so bad. I never have acne issues. Like ever. One here and there but never more than one at a time. Now I have them all over my face. 

I found the baby easier on the Doppler this week but still not every single try.

Constipation! Nasty I know. 

Extremely tired!

Emotional to the max. I cry over every thing. 

Acid reflux constantly. 

Week 10

Spotting! I had light pink spotting out of no where. A nervous break down is an understatement. The doctor said that it's common and not to worry unless there's cramping or the bleeding increases. 

Break outs continued. 

Continued puking throughout the day but not as bad. I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel in that area. 

I had a dream that the baby is a girl. My gut all along has screamed boy but that dream has me not as sure.

I find baby on the doppler every single try very easily. It's loud and strong. Such a joy to hear. The kids and Brian love our nightly baby check ups. 

Fatigue is easing up. I definitely feel more energetic. Still a mombie but not as severe ha.  

Emotional wreck continued. All of these sappy Christmas shows don't help a gal out any. 

Acid reflux continued. 

Being to notice a slight bump. Yay!  

Arguing with Your Spouse

Let's be honest, it happens! For us it happens the most when we are stressed out about things totally unrelated. It's not even about being mad at eachother. We've both been over stressed recently. Moving during Christmas time while pregnant after spending a month in ICU thinking that your dad wasn't going to make it is rough. Tension has been tight at times. Typically Brian and I don't really fight much. We agree on most things and there's just not much to fight about. When we do fight it's usually a teenage mouthing match ha. I'll mouth him about how he's being a shit head and he'll mouth me about how I'm being annoying. When our friends see us bicker they laugh. Our fights are comical 99%. I think it's because we rarely have anything big to fight over. However, this morning we got into a fight that had nothing to do with stress. We fought because I told him that I want to go to my doctors appointment alone and he insists on coming with me. That normally would be fine but today I planned to go get his Christmas gift. Of course I can't really tell him that though so instead we bickered. How silly is that? We can't be the only couple who fights over stupid things and fights like children when we do fight. When I'm pregnant Brian feels overly protective. He wants to be close to me constantly and treats me like I'm disabled. From not letting me carry gallons of milk to not wanting me to wanting to go to every doctors appointment. It's sweet. I know. But when you're on baby #4 you'd think that he'd know how well I have this covered. I was all types of annoyed when it dawned on me how lucky I am to have someone so caring to annoy me. I felt bad because I was mad at him for caring. He didn't know that I had private plans for the morning that involved him not being with me. He was innocent and I was wrong. At the end of the day he can't read my mind. All he knew was that I was telling him that I wanted to go see our baby alone. That is my wifely lesson of the day that I'm sharing with all of you. Hopefully it helps someone to see what I saw. To see that we are blessed to have someone to argue with because they care about us and their unborn baby. Because they are protective of us. Because they WANT to spend time with us. I feel like a jerk for getting so upset with him. I ended up explaining to him what was really going on then of course he was like, 'Why didn't you just say that to begin with? That's fine. Just take a video.' 😅

I want to add that Brian and I have had horrible fights. We went through rough patches and barely made it through. But as time passed fights changed. What used to be a big deal wasn't anymore. How we used to react stabilized. Things became more casual. We had more perspective on what matters and what doesn't. I don't want to come across like we never have ugly fights. We have had plenty. We just don't have them often. Less and less as the years pass. I assume that's common in marriage? To get better with time. 

World's Worst Procrastinator

I, my friends, am the perfect definition of a procrastinator when it comes to Christmas. Kids birthday parties? Planned and finished months in advance aside from the typical day before set up. Other people's birthday gifts? Thought of and purchased weeks prior to the event. Church functions? Halloween costumes? Holiday outfits? Family picture prep? All done way in advance. Yet for some reason it never fails that I'm that person wrapping ALL of the Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Seventy percent of gifts that were just purchased that same week. I plan out what I'm getting everyone in the fall time. I write it down in my planner and order the custom things online so they are here in time. However the rest of stuff I frantically search for the week before/week of Christmas. Today I purchased our final gifts for the kids. The ONLY gift that Andlee asked for was a $400 ride on carriage. Of course that would be our luck. Four hundred dollars for ONE toy for ONE kid.

I always swore I wouldn't be that mom who bought her kids a ton of expensive gifts for Christmas. One 'big' gift then several normal fun gifts along with clothes and books. However, this was literally the only thing that she asked for. She's said for months that this was all she wanted. I knew that we would do whatever it took to make that work. We are so thankful to be able to purchase our children what they ask for. My soul aches when I imagine parents who can not get their children what they wanted. I wish that I was rich so we could buy those gifts for the parents to give their babies. Adopting a handful of children each year just doesn't feel like we do enough. 

Anyways, I finally got Andlee the one and only thing that she asked for today. Such a relief. I still have all of the wrapping to do and 4-5 gifts left to buy but I'll get there. If you're a procrastinator like me, it's okay. As long as it all gets done that's what matters, right? But really, next year I might turn a new leaf and be perfectly pre prepped. I might have everything done before December. 

HA. Yeah right. Let's not be an over achiever here. This momma will always be a last minute Christmas elf.

 Being exhausted, pregnant, in the middle of moving, busy with appointments and Christmas prep, raising 3 young children, house planning with my dad, ect all at once has wore on me but a lot of that is almost over. Come next week our farm will be closed on, the moving will be temporarily done (until the new house is built), and the holiday stress will be over. 

I'm trying my best to enjoy these moments. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year and I WILL cherish this time with my loved ones despite all of the craziness. Our week is jam packed full of busy.

Today, I'm finishing most of the packing. 

Tonight, we are making a gingerbread village while fulfilling my Mexican food craving. 

Tomorrow, we are checking up on our little rainbow then finishing the Christmas shopping. 

Tomorrow night, we are wrapping all of the gifts that aren't the kids. I'm making those little mini elves help momma elf out. 

Wednesday, we are moving all of our furniture out of the house aside from the living room furniture and the master bed. 

Wednesday night, we are taking the kids to Bass Pro to see Santa then going to see the Rhema Christmas lights if it's not too chilly.

Thursday, we are moving all of the tubs and boxes into storage. 

Thursday night, Brian's taking the kids out to eat so that I can wrap then hide all of their presents. 

Friday, baking and cooking for Christmas #1. 

Friday night, Brian's sibling Christmas at his parents house. 

Saturday, day spent at my parents shooting skeet with family. 

Saturday night, Christmas #2 the Hudson's side Christmas my parents house. 

Sunday, Christmas #3 our personal Christmas with the kids, #4 Brian's parents Christmas with our kids, #5 my Noblin's side Christmas at my grand parents, and #6 Brian's big family Christmas at his grandpas house. 

Monday, WE CLOSE ON OUR FARM and have 10 days to be completely moved out. We are moving into an adorable newly built cabin on our new place while our house is being built. I'll do a picture tour of it once we are all settled in. It's built on a small lake and seriously the neatest place I've ever seen around here. There's a big deck off of the cabin over the water. It has a diving board on it and a lot of safety railing. The lake has a huge spring running into it. Yes, we will soon have our own little lake. I'm totally being braggy but it really is incredible. I'm obsessed with it. It used to be a fish breeding lake. It's full of fish and has abundant wildlife. If you know us you know that's our kind of heaven. 

The place on the creek that we had originally gotten a contract on fell through. The seller backed out. We were so upset. We had looked long and hard for the perfect place. God had a plan though because where we are ending up is unlike anything else around here. In fact it has a special certificate for it that hasn't been given anywhere with in 10 counties of us in the last 50 years. Apparently having a spring as big as this on your place is of great value. I can't wait to show you guys it. I'm obviously very excited about it. I just imagine sitting on that deck watching the ducks and geese while listening to the water run as I'm reading a good book drinking a cup of coffee. Ahh yes. 

11 Weeks Pregnant & Officially Bumpin

Today my husband told me out of no where that my belly has popped. Most girls dread getting big but not me. I look forward to having a big baby belly so when he said that I was like, YESSSS ha. I didn't notice it but looking back it makes sense. The past few days I've found the baby up higher on the doppler. He or she is definitely growing. 

Tonight we had another special moment in this pregnancy. It was the first time that I have checked on the baby while Brian was home. He hadn't heard the heartbeat with our doppler yet so I showed him the difference in my heart beat and peanuts heart beat. Seeing his face light up when he heard 'our little drummer boy' made my whole life. Baby #4 and he still gets just as excited about stuff as he did when it was his first time ever experiencing it. That feeling is so mutual 💗💙 

I'll post my 9 & 10 weeks update soon. 

Easy & Affordable DIY Christmas Gifts

The girls and I wanted to do a little something for their teachers this Christmas but since between the 2 of them they have 4 teachers I wanted to go the affordable route. Here is what we decided on:

We had so much fun throwing these together. The girls definitely made these with love. 

Here's what you need per gift:

A bag of cookie mix

A spatula 

A cookie cutter

A set of oven mittens/pot holders

A gift tag

Ribbon

And we added a cute cookie that we had made by a baker. 

We also did 40 little treats as gifts for their class mates but these weren't DIY ha. 

 

If you're looking for a fun, easy, and cheap gift for the holidays I hope this idea helps you. Happy gifting 🎄🍪

 

 

Using a Fetal Doppler Early in Pregnancy

 

One of my absolute most favorite pregnancy items right now is our pocket fetal Doppler. I've always heard that a Doppler wouldn't work early in pregnancy however that is not true.

Here is my experience and my advice on using a fetal Doppler at home:

First and foremost, If you are early in pregnancy know that YOU WILL NOT ALWAYS FIND THE HEARTBEAT. You have to prepare yourself to know that when the baby is that little he or she can be very hard to find. They are under your pelvic bone and you have to get the probe just right to pick up anything. I do not recommend using a Doppler if it's going to be a stressful thing for you. I was 8 weeks the first time that I tried to find the baby's heartbeat. It took me 5 days of trying to finally find it and even after that for my whole 9th week of pregnancy I wouldn't find it 100% of the time. Now I am well into my 10th week and I find it easily every time that I check. Knowing what you're listening for and the location to search for it is key.

 Yesterday I had some light spotting and it was the most amazing thing to know within minutes that the baby was okay. The heart was beating strong. Obviously having a history of miscarriage I didn't take the spotting lightly though and I did go to the ER but because of the Doppler I didn't go in worried that the baby wasn't alive. I went in to find out what could be causing the spotting. The relief that using the Doppler gives me is incredible. I'm so glad that I have one. 

If you are 8-10 weeks pregnant and just learning how to find the baby's heartbeat hopefully this will help you. Baby will be very low. Often you have to find your pubic bone and place the probe right on top of it then point it downwards to get it underneath your bone. Do not press too hard. Start in the middle and slowly work the probe to each side of your uterus. The first several tries this might be time consuming. I searched and searched off and on for almost a week before I successfully found the heartbeat. 

Determining your heartbeat from the baby's is another thing that you need to know. Your heartbeat will be louder, slower, and easier to find. You'll hear it a lot no matter where you put the probe. The baby's heartbeat is more subtle but very fast. You don't hear it right away when you start searching usually. If you or the baby move you'll lose the heartbeat and have to refind it. Our baby is very active and I can never keep a solid heart tone for long ha. He or she moves away so I always have to relocate it. You can look on my Instagram for a video of what the baby's heartbeat will sound like if you'd like to have a reference sound. Just search Callee Lane in IG. 

I hope these tips help someone in some way. If you have any questions at all feel free to ask. 

We're Going to Disney World!

 Disney World! Where do I even begin? We love WDW so much. Brian and I went on our honeymoon there and we've taken our children back 3 times since then. My parents took my brother and I several times when we were kids too. I also went with my cheerleading squad to nationals there once. For a small town Oklahoma girl I think it's fair to say that I've been to Disney World more than most people around here. I'm a child all over again every single time that I go ha. I love it. Last time we took our kids we took them on our sons 2nd birthday. Even at 2, 3, & 4 the trip was overwhelming worth it. A lot of people think that's too young but they are wrong. Atleast in my experience they are. Our kids had a blast. Our girls rode most of the rides and our son was in heaven with all of the characters. We had dinner in Cinderella's castle and that's an absolute must again. 

We've said all along since we listed our home for sale that the first thing that we were going to do when we were chicken house free is go to Disney World. We've never went on vacation without having Brian constantly checking his phone and making sure the chickens are okay. That will be an incredible experience to have his undivided attention. Because our closing date has changed to the week after Christmas and we have 10 days to move out after it closes we've made our reservations for the 3rd week in January to be safe. We can't go until the chicken houses close because we are in full production so if for any reason something postpones closing we will have to move our vacation dates but thankfully winter time isn't a busy time so the agent we spoke to with WDW said that moving those reservations around would be no problem. I kind of think being there on Valentine's Day would be AMAZING but Brian's really wanting to go asap. Plus that day will be packed I'm sure. Our kids have no idea that we are going. We are telling them on Christmas morning with big gift boxes full of Disney themed stuff. Disney DVDs and snacks for the ride, Disney stuffed animals, Disney clothes and PJs, ect. I'm also going to include disposable cameras for each of them. I want to see Disney World from their perspective. I think it'll be the neatest thing to have to look back on. 

If for any reason at all our sale falls through at this point not only do our buyers have to pay us a big chunk of earnest money but we will still be taking our children to Disney World of course. We'd never tell them that and not have a back up plan. We just won't be able to take them until our chickens are older. 

Brian and I are so excited. Last time we took them we didn't tell them where we were going. They realized when they saw the castle where we were. So fun! We aren't doing that this time because we want to surprise them on Christmas morning with the news but for any other families planning a secret trip I highly recommend waiting to reveal it. It was so fun and very rewarding.

I get asked a ton for my advice on taking young children to Disney World so my next blog post will be full of advice and tips on planning your family's trip to the place where dreams come true. 

Baby Shower Plans

I have gotten asked several time if we plan on having a baby shower with this baby since it's our 4th. I also see this question a lot on mom groups that I follow on Facebook. Questioning baby showers when you have multiple children. Yah or nay kind of deal.

Our church and family threw us baby showers with all of our children and I'm sure that they will want to this time as well.

 However, because we aren't finding out the gender of this baby and I do not want a bunch of neutral things we've decided to have a Sip & See after the baby is born. The baby is due in the summer time thankfully. The risk of viruses and what not will be significantly less although we will of course wait until after the baby had his/hers first round of vaccines to have the shower. This gives people plenty of time to plan and to get gender specific things if they want to. It also give the baby and I time to breastfeed and build up his or her's immune system on to of getting the vaccines at 6 weeks old. 

*Obviously if someone isn't feeling well even if it's just a cold you will not be allowed to be near the baby. Hand sanitizer will be on each table but we will still be taking reasonable precautions. 

Honestly because we aren't finding out the sex all we can really purchase is baby necessities so by the end of this pregnancy we will be totally loaded on those things. The Sip & See will be more of a fun meet and greet kind of thing. No gifting pressure. 

For those of you who don't know what a Sip & See and haven't caught on yet it is a baby shower after the baby is born so that people can meet the baby. Their themes range from coffee and breakfast to beer, bubbly, and appetizers/BBQ. Anything related to drinking. Knowing my husband the whole beer and laid back thing will be what he wants to do ha. Our church shower will be a brunch themed Sip & See though I'm sure. One of the amazing ladies who always puts on our baby showers makes an incredible blueberry French toast casserole type of dish. It's the bomb. Perfect for a brunch.

For anyone who isn't finding out their baby's gender or simply just wants to show their baby off after he or she is born a Sip & See is the perfect solution. Pinterest has the neatest ideas for those of you who want more details on what it's like. 

If you're a mom of multiples and you don't see the point in having a baby shower for each child that's totally cool. I definitely can see your reasonings. I wouldn't have had them if ours hadn't been thrown for us because we had most of what we needed. It's all about personal preference and what your loved ones want to do. We are blessed to have a big group of people that love to shower us with their gifts, presence, and well wishes so we humbly accept their kind gestures. 

Baby Lane's Name Reveal

Originally I thought that we wouldn't reveal our baby names due to the fact that we didn't want them 'stolen' by someone that we know. However, these are our names regardless of if someone else's uses them. They are special and frankly they took us 3 years to agree on. 

Eilee Louise: My gmas name is Eileen so Eilee is after her. My husband's gmas name was Louise. 

Edited to add after further discussion!

If we have a girl we have decided to wait until she is born to name her. We can not chose between two girl names so we think seeing her then naming her will be perfect. Here is our other choice for a baby girl.

Pariee Eileen: Perry is my father in laws name. We really want to keep atleast double e's since this name doesn't end in 'lee' so we changed the spelling. It's still pronounced the same as Perry. Eileen as mentioned above is my grandmas middle name. 

Granger Wayne Claud: I'll call out the obvious. It's awkward and doesn't flow. We know. That's okay. Granger is after Hermione Granger. Don't judge me. My hubby thinks it's after the meaning for farmer lol. Which is oddly enough true. It does mean farmer in the northwestern U.S. Wayne and Claud are our papas names. Our sons name is Brian 'Hudson' Joe after all the special men in our lives and my maiden name. It's flow is crap but the meaning is priceless to us.

Coming to this agreement was very hard. We (I) had several names on the 'love it' list but Brian disliked 99% of them. These were the names that almost won the race:

Gracelee 

Leighton

Everlee

Sutton

Ledger

Beckett

McCall

Brecken

Langston

Baby Lane's Nursery Plans

I've shared in previous posts our woodland themed neutral nursery from when we were foster parents but here it is again incase you haven't seen those posts. 

For the most part it will be similar to the nursery in our new home. However, I am making a few changes to it. 

Instead of grey toned walls I'm going to do light beige on three of the walls then light beige with darker beige/taupe stripes on the wall behind the crib.

The furniture will be an antique distressed white. The crib already is but we will buy and repaint a dresser to match it. The aqua dresser in our previous nursery will be going to Charlee's new room. 

The decor will be the same as before. Porcelain animal heads, twig framed mirrors, an owl lamp, fur rugs, rustic quote signs, ect. 

After the baby is born I will add gender specific accents. For a boy we will add accents like this:

I will put his name above his crib with tin letters. 

For a girl we will be doing lace and floral accents like this:

I'll do a big 'E' with flowers on it just like this above her crib. 

We will do the alphabet wall again but paint the grey letters dark beige and paint the aqua letters dark brown or light pink depending on the sex. 

For bedding I'll do a neutral base with a sheet and skirt. It'll be similar to this but in beige/taupe shades: 

For the blankets I'll wait to have made after the baby is born. 

For a boy this is something like what I'll do:

For a girl:

 

I can't wait to see this room come together. It'll be created while our entire new house is also being created. Very exciting all around! 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to My Person

December 7th is one of the most special days to me. It's the day that my husband was brought into this world just for me. Brian and I are far from perfect but we are living our own little fairytale. Despite the hard times we always seem to fall even deeper in love. He protects me, respects me, cherishes me, supports me, nurtures me, guides me, fights for me, cheers for me, uplifts me, and loves me. He has fought for me and to win my heart since day one. Let's face it, that didn't take him long. His personality and happiness is contagious. I fell hard and I fell fast. We date for 3 months before we got engaged and now we've been together for going on 8 1/2 years. When you know, you know. Even when he's upset with me he's weak for me. He is truly everything that you could want in a life partner as well as to father your children. He was made for us and for parenthood. He keeps me laughing even when I'm mad. He doesn't turn his back on me in my bad moments when I'm feeling not good enough. I got to bed at night so complete because of Brian and the family that we've created together. I know that what we have is like a unicorn. It's rare and it's beautiful. Hard times and all. We come out on top. I can't wait to celebrate this special day with our loved ones so that we can continue to show him what a gift he is to us. Happy birthday Brian Joe. You're something to be celebrated for sure! 

 

A Change In Plans...

All along we have known that we would use the same contractor that did our add on to build our new house. We have a history with him and we were pleased with his work. We never really considered anything else even if it meant paying more money to use him. We didn't get bids or anything. We just gave him our budget and must haves. He made it happen in a smaller form. 

However, after my dads awful health scare once he woke up from a coma and was taken off of the vent he kept telling me all of the ways that he'd build our house. Apparently while he was awake but unable to talk because of the vent he had thought a lot about the new house. Mind you that my dad isn't a builder. His dad was so he's worked with him and has some experience but that's not what he does for a living. He is a part owner for a large industrial electrical company and he does all of the contracting for their jobs. They build casinos, hospitals, power plants, ect. Large jobs. Their primary way of winning the bids to do the electric in those businesses is to save the owners money during the build as well as long term with energy efficient details. Longer story short I am so dang excited to say that my daddy will be contracting our home. Not only is he going to get us a bigger home built for less money but he is also doing things with the electric that will cut our heating and air bill down by 75%. He is having our walk out basement made entirely out of concrete and hurricane grade windows so it will be a huge storm shelter. How safe and amazing is that?! He's going to use the builders that his business uses so not only will our home not be your typical home because it's being built by people who build giant buildings that the main goal is to save money and energy but it also will have my dads hand in every single part of it. This journey was already super exciting but walking it along side my 2 heros (Brian & Dad) will be the neatest thing ever. He's already started to redraw our floor plans for a bigger home. The outside will look exactly the same as the original plan aside from log siding. We can't decide now on what we will do. I've seen a few things that I like more. The layout on the inside will be similar to our original floor plans but every room will be bigger and we will have more closet space. We've also moved our laundry room to our master closet and added another bedroom so the 'play room' down stairs will be a 2nd living area with a kitchenette in it. I'm having him try to figure in where we could put a theater room too which I'm probably the most excited about ha. I've always wanted one. We have movie nights weekly and as the kids grow they will absolutely love having that space with their friends. Momma will be able to keep a close eye on them but they will have a LITTLE privacy. (Security cameras in there is a little privacy, right?) 

We aren't allowing TV's or computers in our kids rooms. That will be something that I never allow. Ever! So it's important to me that they have access to those things in a open area where they can't retreat to their rooms away from all of us to mess with technology or electronics. If they want to watch TV or get online they will have to do it in a room together or a room that's easy for me to monitor them. Kids don't need that kind of seclusion and privacy. They need to be engaged with family. Hell, even toddlers these days are handed an iPad and sent on their merry way to babysit themselves. It's ridiculous. Wow. That's a whole nother rant/post. We won't go there right now ha. My thoughts on the way kids are raised today is definitely not popular and I feel strongly about it. 

Anyways, back to the new change in plans. A big house wasn't anything that I cared about. I wanted each kid to have their own room to sleep in but size didn't matter as long as a bed fit in it. I wanted an open living room, dining, and kitchen with tall a frame windows and a fireplace. Didn't care how big those areas were either though. I wanted 2 double vanity bathrooms because let's face it we need it as a large growing family. Brian wanted a mud room. That's really it. We aren't extravagant people. We don't care how big a persons home is or what they drive. We like having nice, clean things sure but we could care less about the size or the fancy details. We never once considered using a cheaper contractor to get a bigger house because that didn't matter to us. However, I'm excited about all of my dads new plans for our home. I'm excited to get things that I didn't consider having before. This home will be our home forever. It will not only be where we raise 4-5 children but it will also be where our children bring their own families when they are grown. The extra space will be much appreciated. Especially when you have a family as big as ours. I'm soooo happy to be doing this with my dad. We sat and talked house plans for hours yesterday. He was so fired up and has a sparkle in his eyes when he talks about it. I can tell that this has helped motivate him to get better. What more could a daddy's girl ask for?! 

Our home is will be breaking ground in January and as long as baby doesn't come early we will be moved in before he or she is born. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is HERE!

I am a huge sucker for this time of the year. From Christmas movies & hot chocolate to all of the decorations & holiday traditions. I eat, sleep, and breath Christmas time. We always do a ton of things with the kids. Family Christmas get togethers (we have 7-8 every December), bible stories, cookie decorating classes, trips to the Christmas train, trips to see all of the lights, visits to see Santa, elf on the shelf, PJ traditions, movie nights, cocoa by the fire, Christmas crafts, school parties, ect. The list is endless and we love it. Tonight the girls are going to the Christmas train (it's a train that takes you through the story of Jesus's birth and the real meaning of Christmas) with my in laws so Brian and I are taking Hudson out for a 'just us' date. We are going to eat at his favorite restaurant and taking him to see a lot of Christmas lights. We really enjoy spending time one on one with our children. It's something that I've blogged about before and it's very important to us. Our month is jam packed full of festivities. If you guys have traditions or favorite Christmas places please feel free to share it with me. We are always up for something new. I'm a huge believer in spending the holidays with your loved ones and making the most of your time together. It's not about all of the materialistic stuff. It's about being with family and making memories. For some those moments are filled with stuff like what we do and for some it's simply sitting at home around the fire with all of your loved ones. Maybe it's baking with your mom or grandma. Maybe it's wrapping gifts together. Maybe it's traveling and seeing beautiful new places. No matter what you do or where you are take advantage of this time. Don't let the stress of the holidays get to you like it so easily can do. Stop, take a deep breath, look around, and enjoy. 

Cookie decorating with the princesses 💗

The Nutcracker Ballet 💗

 

MOVING UPDATE: My sweet and amazing husband informed me this morning that he has arranged it to where our closing date on the farm was moved back 30 days. He knows how much I love this time of the year and how distracted I've been with my dad as well as with our pregnancy on top of moving. It's all been overwhelming to say the least. I've had several break downs over it so he took it upon himself to request that our closing date be moved back. The buyers were very understanding and quickly agreed to this arrangement. We will be home for Christmas, our last Christmas here,

and we will be able to relax a little. I cried when he told me what he had done. He's such a thoughtful and amazing man. Now I can simply enjoy this pregnancy and the holiday without all of the extra stress. Our movers are still coming to pack up everything up for us but now we can wait and do that after Christmas. Praise the Lord that the buyers were so thoughtful and for my sweet hubby who is always there to take care of me.