Baby #4 is on the way!!

We are so excited to have another Dayton baby! The girls couldn't be more thrilled about "a baby in mommy's tummy!" Ally has been asking for a baby brother for a couple of years now, so she is convinced that it will be a boy. Annalise and Megan on the other hand want another sister and think it is a girl! I can't wait to find out, but unfortunately I still have a long time to wait because I am not due until the end of February. These are a couple of pictures that Ally wanted to take on the morning Annalise was starting preschool. We were up and getting breakfast ready and I was about to make Annalise’s lunch when Ally begged me to try her hand at photography. She did a great job taking the pictures, however, it was early in the morning and I’m not a big fan of these pictures since I look so lovely in my pajamas. I will have to take some more sometime soon. These pictures are of me when I am like 13 weeks along. Now I am 15 weeks along and 1 day (I have to include that day!). It has been crazy how fast my stomach has been growing. Everyone keeps asking me if I am having twins since usually you can’t even tell someone is pregnant at 13 weeks along! I am only having one baby, but the doctor just says that the more kids I have the quicker I start to pop out…boy is he right!

I have been so blessed thus far in the pregnancy and know that the Lord is guiding me in everything that I do. It has been such an incredible experience. Usually my pregnancies have been a lot tougher than this one, so I am just so grateful that I am "able to get everything done" if that is ever even happened before!
When Josh and I prayed about whether we should have another child (we had "talked" about it ever since Megan was born and the answer was always no) it was a pretty miraculous experience. The Lord has been planting many things in my heart to help ensure this little spirit reached our family because all logic pointed against having another child (my pregnancy’s and recoveries after delivery are historically pretty tough!).

I would bring the fact of having another child up (in a joking type of way) every now and again to Josh to see what he thought and the answer was always a pretty strong no. I wasn’t sure if we would or not myself, but the Lord just kept prodding me. Finally I talked to Josh one last time to see if he still felt the same way and after seeing that there was no way to change his mind (because it was already made up) I gave up too. The only request I had for Josh was that he pray to the Lord to make sure that this was His will for our family instead of going with our own desires ( it would be a lot easier to have 3 kids instead of 4) and logic (we were very concerned about my health in carrying another child).
So after giving up after that conversation I was happy to be done having kids because I was completely content with my three little sweethearts. The only thing I did was pray to my Heavenly Father and let Him know that if it was His will for us to have another child then He needed to tell Josh because as far as things stood then were done. It was easy to decide because I trusted that Josh knew what was best for our family and I knew that he would pray about it to make sure . I even called my sister and told her how neat it would be from then on out knowing that we were done and that it would be so nice to able to plan for the future. What a surprise it was when some time later Josh came to me (Easter Sunday) and told me that he felt really strongly that we needed to have another child! That completely blew me away and needless to say it was a pretty emotional and spiritual time for the both of us. Ironically enough I was scared to death. I had never fully decided that we needed to have another child; I would just bring it up from time to time to keep the possibility open in case that was what the Lord had in mind since I had never had a strong feeling that we were done. The Lord really kept sending little things my way to keep the door open. It is really neat to look back on that.

Anyway, the reality of what Josh had said hit me and it took me some time to pray to the Lord and talk it over with Him (and Josh) to make sure that I could do it. I am so stubborn huh?! I felt bad that after all of the little promptings I had been given that Josh had to help convince me that this was what was right for our family. It just all came as such a shock! I got such a strong feeling that if we were to get pregnant (remember we were just trying for a baby...that didn’t mean we would actually get pregnant) that the Lord would strengthen my body and that things would not be as bad as they had been in the past. The Lord was so kind to calm my fears and Josh's. We had such a strong impression that we should start trying for another baby that we were not expecting it to take almost a year and a half! There was a lot that went into that year and a half including many miracles (and trials) that have lead us to today where we couldn’t be more grateful for this child that will come to our family. We know that the Lord had it all planned out and that we just needed to learn to submit to His will and be patient.

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is so mindful of me as His daughter. My testimony has been strengthened in so many ways through all of these experiences. It has been so evident that He is guiding me (otherwise there is no way that I could continue to serve as Relief Society President and be pregnant at the same time!) and giving me the strength that I need to keep going with all of the things that He has asked me to do. I am grateful for such an incredible example in my life. Josh couldn’t be more perfect for me. He loves me despite my many flaws and he helps me grow and develop in the things that I am lacking. Best of all he loves me and supports me better than anyone else in this whole world could even possibly try to do. I love him and I feel so blessed to have him with me for eternity and for us to have another child together that we can love and cherish as we strive to raise him/her to return back to his/her Heavenly Father. We are SO blessed!

Ally's 1st day of 1st grade!

It is hard to believe that Ally is actually in first grade already! My goodness time sure does fly by fast! Ally was pretty excited and also a little nervous to start school on Monday. She knows that she is going to have to work even harder than last year and she isn't a big fan of that idea. She started on Monday and that started us back into the days of getting up when it is still dark (not my favorite thing to do). Josh and I are really excited (and so is Ally) because her kindergarten teacher Ms. Hendrix (who we all just love) moved up to the 1st grade. Ally was able to get her again! We really feel that this will be a blessing for her academically and behaviorally. There will not be a transition for her with a new teacher and they can just pick up right where they left off. It will be great because her teacher already knows how she works best and how best to help her. Josh gave father's blessings for family night the day school started and gave Ally (and the rest of the girls) a wonderful blessing. I know that with hard work (by Ally and us) Ally will have a great year as a first grader!!
I had to make sure that she knew where she was going (since it is a new classroom of course) so I walked her into her class on the first 2 days of school. Of course I brought the camera and Ally was such a ham!! She posed for everything. I asked her if there was anywhere that she would like to take a picture and she said that she wanted to go over to the gym. There we went and she just went crazy posing left and right. That girl just cracks me up! She is too cute even for herself! I just love her personality!

Josh being goofy

Josh is such a good dad. He makes the girls laugh all of the time. They always tell him how much fun he is and you can just tell by their smiles when he is around. He is such a goofball himself that the girls just have a ball with him! After the girls got home from their haircuts they came in one by one and modeled off their new dues for daddy. Megan had already taken out her bow on the car ride home, so she brought it into him. Of course this meant that he needed to put it in his hair, right?! He had just come in from doing yard work in the hot Texas sun, so he was nice and dirty. He decided to "clean himself up" by amusing the girls and putting the ribbon in his own hair! They thought it was so silly! It took him a few tries and then he got it! It was pretty cute if I do say so myself. I am so grateful for such a silly husband who is the best dad in the world. He sure has been getting in touch with his feminize side lately and the girls and I love it!

New Haircuts!

Back in May when my mom was here we were out and about and I told her that the girls really needed their hair cut. We were driving around in Round Rock and my mom said, "hey there is a place right over there...let's go check it out!" We went in and it was like a paradise for kids! Little did we know it was a kid’s hair cutting place. I had never been to one before and let me tell you it is just adorable! They were able to get all 3 girls right in so we stayed and boy do they pamper the kids there. I wish I could've gone to a place like that when I was a little girl! Each of the girls had their own station with a t.v. monitor where the little ones could watch a movie to help them hold still while their hair is being cut. For the older kids they can play a computer game! They just put the mouse and mouse pad underneath their little cover-up thing and they play away! It really gives them something to do while they are sitting trying to hold still. Plus, it helps them hold still because they are concentrating! The girls just love it! When they needed haircuts again we went back (last Saturday)and this time I came prepared with the camera! Since it was the weekend before school started they had even more fun things for the kids to do. They had a bubble machine that blew out a ton of bubbles for the kids to have fun with while they waited; I thought it was pretty cute. They also had sand art that the kids could do too! Each of the girls made their own necklaces and they turned out so beautiful with all of the colors. They even had Mr. Snips come in and say hello. Ally and Annalise wanted to get pictures with him, but Megan only liked him from afar. After their hair was cut then they got it styled! They put jewels and glitter in Ally's hair and they put a ribbon and glitter in Megan and Annalise's hair. They sure were fancy and ready for a party (too bad we weren’t going to a party!) They all got a lolly pop and then got to go and turn their "ticket" in and get a prize! It is just such a fun place and everything there is kid friendly. They even have dress-ups in the back for doing little girl birthday parties. I will have to check into that one sometime! All in all it was a fun girls day out with mom and her girls and the girl’s hair turned out great!

Annalise starts pre-school!

Last week Annalise started pre-school! She has been waiting for this for years! Ally went to pre-school when she was 3 years old and 4 years old and then last year she was in kindergarten. Annalise has patiently waited for her turn the entire time. She has been such a good girl. We told her that she was only going to go the year before kindergarten, so it has finally come! It seems more like she is ready for kindergarten than pre-school though! She just loves to learn and would treasure the times we would go to Ally's class last year. It is just too cute because now with Ally being in 1st grade and Annalise being in pre-school they get to talk about what they are doing and what they learned at school. Annalise only goes 2 days a week; she goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-1pm, but she thinks it is great! She is going to the same pre-school that Ally went to and she even has the same teacher. We all loved Ms. Barb, so Annalise didn’t have an adjustment period which was nice. Josh and I were a bit worried about Annalise going to pre-school because she can be so shy. To our surprise she just bopped on in there and was as happy as could be! Megan and I miss her at home, but she still gets to be with us most of the time and it is great for her to be there learning and developing!

Ally's swimming lessons

Ally was so excited to get to do swimming lessons again! She took them 2 years ago, but barely remembered them. She was in a class with 4 kids! It was awesome! She got so much attention from her 2 teachers and really did a good job learning how to swim with her "big arms" better. She learned lots of tummy and back floats and she just did a great job. Her class was called level 1/2. Some of the kids in her class just passed level 1 at the end of the lessons, but she did so well that she passed level 2! She has always been such a good little swimmer and has just loved the water. Hopefully swimming lessons will just help her to continue working on her technique. Way to go Ally!

They did it!

Ally and Annalise with their certificates for completing and passing their swimming lessons!