Playing together....

Well, I am starting to see the girls loving playing together these days. We had a long couple of months where Ellie was just a little more advanced and Anna was always taking her toy etc... I felt like all I said was "if you don't share, mommy will have to take it away." Lately, they love to go in their room and play pretend. Their favorite right now is "doctor". I gave them a thermometer and they love to take each others temperatures. It got really quiet the other day and I walked in to Ellie putting diaper rash cream all over Anna. She told me Anna needed cream. They also love to play in the guest bed and act like they are having a sleep over. It is so fun to see them enjoy each other and not need any toys to have so much fun! It has been a beautiful week here (86 deg. today)! We've played outside a lot lately and I give them each a plastic shovel. They love to play in the dirt which makes this mommy very happy. I would hate for them to be afraid to get dirty! Mimi and Granddaddy are coming for a visit tomorrow while Mike goes to Minnesota to speak at a retreat. I am so thankful that they are coming to visit us! It has been 3 retreat weekends in a row so I am just a little tired. I am so glad Mike is getting to go see our good friends and am so jealous I don't get to see them as well! It will be a little more cold there this weekend as they just had a blizzard! Anyways, I am off to bed. The "belly" is wearing me out lately. Mainly, from bending over so much to pick up toys or kids! I am still sleeping so well and feel great besides the exhaustion, but who wouldn't be chasing a two crazy little girls!

George and Laura....

Well, the Bush's have moved to Dallas. I just saw on the news that their moving vans have arrived. I did a mapquest and their house is about 6 miles from ours. However, their zip code is the wealthiest in Dallas. Their house appears to be pretty "Texas" normal on the outside and not that large. It did cost over 2 million mainly because of its location. The news also said that Laura went out to dinner last night at a local mexican restaurant and it was kept pretty quiet. So maybe we will bump into our new neighbors!

Twins......

I am getting the question "Are they twins" more and more as Anna grows up. They mostly look like twins when they are both in the stroller or sitting down. It is normally from older men who don't have a clue that Ellie is about 4 inches taller than Anna. I think they look alike as well, but not as close as twins! I'm sure in a couple of years we will get the question "Are they triplets"?

On another note Mike got home yesterday from speaking at a retreat in Kentucky. The girls and I did pretty well, but I was ready for him to come home. We're taking the girls on a Valentine's surprise tonight that I think they will enjoy. Mike doesn't know what it is either, but I know he will like it! We have a really busy next couple of weeks. We have d-town (disciple now) this this coming weekend. I will have my small group girls at our house and Mike will stay with his guys somewhere. He's also speaking at it! The next weekend he is going to Minneapolis to speak at Travis and Steph's church for a retreat. I am so excited for Mimi and Granddaddy to come for a visit that weekend. I don't know if I could do 3 weeks in a row! Our sweet baby girl #3 is still mellow, but moving a little more. The doctor said in the next couple of weeks I will feel her more often. I can't believe she will be here in 15 weeks or less. We have a lot to do for her room! I hope you all enjoy a great week!

Thanks for making room for me....

Our church shows these videos periodically and it just shows the story of people who recently joined Watermark. It is really neat for us to see what all is going on at our church besides student ministry!


Thanks for making room for me 3 from Steve V on Vimeo.

You're Beautiful....

You're Beautiful - Phil Wickham from Steve V on Vimeo.

I love this video so much. Our video guy at Watermark made it and it was shown last week as we are studying prayer. It is to show us how to remember who God is and exactly how beautiful He has made this world. I love the end cause it shows baptism day at our church which is a huge celebration that they have once a year. Mike and I both get teary-eyed every time we see this video. We are so blessed to be a part of such an awesome community of believers.

Silly Anna....

Ellie's funny comments....

On the way to ballet today, Ellie said:
"Mommy, I'm going to listen to the teacher today and I'm not going to run". She has a slight problem with sitting still!!

We were delivering a meal to our friend Elizabeth who just had twins a couple of weeks ago who are so precious. I told Ellie we were going to visit Hampton's family. He's their almost 3 yr. old son that is in our play group.
Ellie: " Where's Hampton live"?
Mommy: "He lives kind of far away so we will have to drive there. It is about 20 minutes away."
Ellie:" Does he live in China? We have to fly there"?

A little boy in Ellie's class just moved to China cause his parents are becoming missionaries there. Ellie has been so intrigued with Eli's story about flying on the airplane to China. I love her little imagination!

The "belly" at 23 weeks....

Well, here is what I look like at 23 weeks pregnant. I tend to blossom a lot in the next couple of months. I think I will gain about the same amount as I did with the girls, but we will see. I have enjoyed my food a lot this time and exercised about once. However, I think my daily job of chasing a 3 1/2 yr. old and 2 yr. old is pretty good exercise these days! This pregnancy has been the easiest by far except for the fibroid problem which only gave me pain for one week. It is still there and I can feel it easily, but I am not in any pain from it. I most likely will get it removed a couple of months after this baby girl comes in June! I am so excited to hold her and meet her. She is still mellow baby (PTL)!!! I have to be really still to feel her move and she pretty much just sleeps it seems like. I go to the doctor tomorrow for my 24 wk. appointment so I will give you an update. I think we have narrowed down our name choices, but I don't think we are gong to share this time. Something has to be a surprise! It am so thankful for this sweet little girl and what joy she will bring our family. God is so good to us......

Anna's Stats at 2!

For the record since I am not doing so good on the baby books!

Weight: 22 lbs. (exact same as Ellie) -5%
Height: 32 inches 20%

She was not a fan at all of the doctor, but she was a tough girl. He said at least we can tell that she is a 2 yr. old!

Anna's 2!!!

Anna turned two years old and we had such a fun party for her. We had a small party with our comm. group friends and a few play group friends. I planned it for Friday morning at Chuck E Cheese's. A little tip is that they will let you bring your own cake, etc... without doing the "official Chuck E party"! It was so fun and the kids had a blast. I think they all slept for a very long time that afternoon. Anna loves Elmo so we had an Elmo cake, balloons, and plates. She was in such a good mood except for when I wouldn't let her eat her Elmo cake for breakfast! Ellie was just as excited about Anna's party and she was all about playing games. I cannot believe my sweet Anna is two years old. However, she is talking so much lately and for sure has the emotions of a two year old. There are days she tests all of our patience! I am so thankful that Lord gave us Anna and I look forward to seeing her grow into an incredible girl. She has all of this mama's heart. We love you Anna Katherine!

Train up a child....

A verse in the Bible that I constantly think about is "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." I know lately there is A LOT of training going on at our house. The picture above is my sweet little Anna who loves to take many of these items to bed with her, but she also likes to take them out. I've been telling her we can only take one toy out and she tends to get a little upset about it. My girls are so different in personality. If you are around our house long enough you could observe it pretty quickly. They are both angels most everywhere we go (church, mdo, friends house, etc....) Ellie is my rule follower who for sure loves to tell me when Anna is disobeying mommy and she has to follow all of our daily routine. We must brush our hair, teeth, hands, pray, milk, books, etc.... she would never let me forget any of them. Anna is the one who tends to be more emotional, but then melts in your arms after she has to be disciplined. They each respond differently to discipline. Ellie doesn't mind it very much and forgets about it in a short amount of time. Anna responds really well to time-out. She hates it while she has to sit in her crib, but when I go in to get her she always says "sorry mommy" and then gives me a big hug. She's like a new person after time-out. I am certainly learning much during these toddler days and I'm thinking baby girl #3 will teach me even more.  What are some ways your children respond to discipline? I love to get new ideas!

ps- our ice storm lasted about 3 hours. My driveway is completely dry, but school was cancelled today. It was fun while it lasted!

Ice Storm 09

I am still waiting for this big ice storm that is supposed to hit us anytime now. We got out of preschool early which was nice, but there is still no ice. We mainly got out cause many of the teachers live pretty far away from school. I think Texas is the worst on people going crazy. NC was pretty funny as well, but there were many northerners that were used to it.  Anyone from seminary remember our big ice storm? ha! What a fun memory. So I guess I will stay glued to winter weather coverage all day. It does get pretty amazing watching there coverage. Many out of state people have heard of Dallas and all the loops/bridges that go around the city. We have one about a mile from our house called the "High Five" where there are 5 loops/ bridges that intersect. It is crazy, but they always show cars slipping all over it. I don't like driving on it when it is dry so I think I will stay home for the day. I'll keep  you posted if our "extreme weather" ever gets to us.....

Ellie the ballerina.....

Ellie went to ballet this week and it was so cute. We were excited to see two of our playgroup friends were also in the class. Ellie was ready to move and dance right away, but the teacher wanted to "instruct". It was pretty funny to watch. I think the more they do she will start to love it! I think she looks so cute in the black leotard and tights. She will be wearing tennis shoes as most the girls parents did not buy ballet shoes! I was glad that they didn't have to wear them. Anyways, Anna watched with me through the window and I know she enjoyed the one on one time with me. She tends to be quite the mommy's girl. 

Ponytails....

The girls hair is finally long enough to put up in a pony tail. They want me to do it everyday and they love picking out what rubber band. I love it cause it keeps the hair out of their face. Ellie's hair has taken forever to grow and Anna's is actually longer. They look super cute and I love it! 

What are we having? Spiderman?

Go down to the next video to see what we're having...

Third Time is a Charm......

Well, the third baby is a charm cause baby #3 is another precious baby GIRL! We will be full of pink and estrogen in our house, but we are so excited. Baby Girl tricked us all including my doctor. He said it is so rare for someone to feel so different and it not be a different gender. However, I think God knew  I could not handle being sick, two toddlers, working, ministry, etc... I am very thankful that she is so healthy. I have been really concerned cause I am still not sure if I've felt her move, but she is perfect. She was sound asleep during the ultrasound which will be good if she continues her trend of mellow baby in about 5 months. Mike really wanted three girls. He is such a girl dad and even though a boy would have been so fun I like the idea of three girls. I am very sad that I don't get to use my boy name cause we actually agreed on it and we have NO girl names. My boy name was Graham and I just loved everything about it. If you want to give me some ideas on girls names feel free! I took a lot of pictures and some really fun video of the girls, but we left our camera at the doctors office. I hope to go get it today, but it is in downtown Dallas (not a fun drive). The other funny thing I keep thinking of is whenever the girls are teenagers. We will have a 16 yr. old, 14 1/2 yr. old and a 12 yr. old. When I was at my 10th grade girls s.g. the other night and I listened to all the drama. I really can't imagine our house during those fun days!  Anyways, sorry to keep you hanging last night, but I was so tired from a really long day. Have a great Friday!

You think you've had a bad day and baby #3 is......

You have to read my friend April's blog of her day with her kiddos. She has some "memory maker" stories with her kids and I love her so much cause her craziness at home reminds me of how we are all in toddler world together! Oh and I will let you know what Baby #3 is tomorrow cause I am to tired to tell the story!
Read Here

My Big Girl...

I signed Ellie up for ballet class for the spring semester. I feel like she is so big and changing daily. I don't even have to stay for the class. How crazy is that? I will love to watch though I am sure. I did it through our city recreation dept. The dance classes at a real studio are a little more than I want to pay for a 3 year old who I am unsure if she will like it. I am pretty sure she will as she loves to do anything with other kids and especially if it involves movement. I feel like she is gaining weight for sure as she is so heavy to lift up into the car seat. I think she is still under 30 lbs., but is growing like crazy. Her favorite things to do currently are:
- drawing
-painting
-feeding the ducks
-pre-school
- playing outside
-anything with a ball
-tormenting her sister!
A funny thing she said yesterday at pre-school according to her teacher is that there was a boy who was having his birthday. The mom brought in sponge bob party plates, cupcakes, etc.... Ellie said "Sponge Bob is wierd, I can't watch that show" in front of the little boys mom. I am thankful that a few other kids commented!
We are finding out the gender of baby #3 on 1/15. It is only six days from now and I can't wait. I will be so excited either way. My prediction is still a boy cause this pregnancy is so different from the others. Ellie wants a sister, no brother for her!

She amazes us daily and we are so thankful for such a sweet little girl. Have a great Friday!

Mike's Marathon!

Mike ran the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December. He did amazing and I was so proud and impressed. He had been training since September and then at the end of November he injured his knee. He didn't decide until the week of the marathon that he was for sure going to do it. He was determined to do it after months of early morning runs etc...The day of the race was horrible weather. It was 80 degrees, humid, and 40 mph winds. All of his training partners finished as well, but all said it was miserable. The times were much slower than in previous years, but they all ran 26.2 miles! I think he will do another one next year, but all of us wives are hoping for somewhere fun and with more predictable weather than Dallas.

"Extreme Mothers"

20/20 tonight at 9 is doing a special on "extreme motherhood". All I saw was a preview of a mom who is still nursing a 7 yr. old who I think was a little boy! Wow! I think it was enough to make me watch! It should be good Friday night entertainment.

Christmas Recap!

I don't want to forget this Christmas cause it was so fun with two sweet little girls. We had a great week prior with Mike being off work. Watermark takes off the week after Christmas, but since Mike is on a ski trip the student ministry team took off the week before Christmas. We had such a great week just hanging out at home. We got so much done around the house and laughed lots. Our girls were both in really good moods/behavior so it made for a great week! We are now back to working on obeying and all that fun stuff! Here are some highlights:
* Christmas Eve service at Watermark was awesome. I think Mike and I have talked about it so much and what a celebration of Jesus birth we had with our church family!
* I loved hearing Ellie talk and sing about Jesus' birthday. She is totally into singing all the songs she knows so we hear the same 10 or so lots each day!
* Spending time with my whole family in Arkansas.
* We were so blessed with amazing gifts from our family! Thanks so much!
* Anna really likes presents and loved to open them. It was really fun to see her get so excited.
* Ellie saying "one more present, please"
* Anna's favorite present was this crazy purse that holds little puppies. I saw it for her at Wal-Mart and she would not let go of it. She loves to carry anything in her hand and becomes quickly attached to whatever that item of the day might be!
*Ellie's favorite present was art supplies or the fishing game where there are tons of plastic fish that open their mouths. She has a little plastic pole to try and catch them . They also got a fun Dora tent, but we haven't set it back up in the house!
*Yummy food! We ate so much and enjoyed it way to much. My dad always gets a honey baked ham from a customer as a gift so we have it for Christmas dinner. It is so good. Mike and I also went to AQ Chicken in AR. It is a really popular Chicken restraunt in AR that is soooo good. They always cater to the President when one happens to visit AR which is about once every four years.
* We saw the movie "Seven Pounds". It was really intersting and I really liked it. Will Smith is becoming one of the actors where I want to see all of his movies. Mike also saw "Valkerie" and he said it was awesome.

Mike is now in CO on a ski trip with the high-school ministry. My mom is here with me and we've been busy here. She's helping me organize all the kids clothes. I so wish I knew if this one was a boy or girl cause it would make my process a lot easier. I find out January 15th and I am so excited. I am starting to really show now, but am still feeling good. I am so thankful to be healthy and not in any pain.
I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Tis The Season......

We had many attempts this year at the "perfect" Christmas family picture and it just didn't happen. Ellie was totally into it, but Anna would not sit still for a minute and then on the second attempt she wouldn't let go of her blankie so I could only get her from her neck up! I got some good individual ones, but not to many family ones. I still like our cards as we used some other pictures from earlier in the year. I can't even imagine with three little ones next year!
I am now 16 weeks and just went to the doctor this past week. The apptmt. went great and I am feeling good. I thought I would have gained at least 4 pounds or so, but only 1/2 pound. I think it was a good day! I have been enjoying my Christmas food to say the least. We've had lots of fun parties to go to and they are all over with now. We are staying in town for Christmas Eve service at Watermark and then we are off for a few days to my grandpa's house. We are looking forward to it! I am so glad we are not flying anywhere this year. I am exhausted just thinking about it and our fun Christmas present this year is we got a mini-van! I am so excited and love it. Our pilot would not hold 3 car seats and the van is perfect. We looked for a long time and finally found a great deal and what we wanted. We went with the Honda Odyssey. It has so many mom features that make life so much easier. My favorite has to be the automatic sliding doors where all I have to do is push a button. I was also able to fit my whole high school girls small group in it tonight which was nice. Anyways, we have a fun week ahead and I am excited to celebrate Christmas with the girls. Ellie sings Happy Birthday Jesus so cute. I will post it on video soon!

Ellie's first performance!

Ellie had her first performance on Wednesday night with her preschool. She loved it and they did such a great job! They sang Jingle Bells and Happy Birthday Jesus. She knows all the words and sings them all the time. It was so fun to watch her! We are so thankful for their school and it has been such a blessing this year.

New York Day 1!

New York Day 2!

New York Day 3!

Busy Times....

I am doing a quick update before we're off tomorrow. We leave for NYC in the a.m. for Mike's brothers graduation. We are so excited for him and to see all the family. The girls will be in GA at my parents house. We had such a great Thanksgiving and were so thankful to be able to spend it with my family. We have traveled so much lately and this will be the last flight for awhile. The girls have flown 3 times in one month. It is still never easy and you never know how it going to go! I am watching The Rockefeller Christmas show in NYC that is on t.v. tonight. I am so excited to go to the city during Christmas time. I really don't know what to expect since we have never been before. I will take lots of pictures and update when we get home. I really need to get to work on the Christmas Card pictures, but it will have to wait!

I am feeling really good! I am 14 weeks today and time is flying by that is for sure. We will find out the gender in January. I would love for him to do an u.s. at our next appointment (16 weeks), but it is doubtful. He's super nice though so you never know. Mike is really busy preparing for a ski trip that is over New Years and trying to stay healthy for his marathon that is on December 14th. He did 24 miles a couple of weeks ago and it went well. However, his knee has been pretty sore since he did that run. He's kind of had to take it easy the past couple of days. I know he will do great and I can't wait to cheer him on.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing awesome and I'm sure you are all busy with the Christmas season. More soon!

It's finally Fall.... and 12 week appointment!

We wait awhile here in Texas for it finally to be fall. Our leaves have changed and the weather is cool! I love it! We took these pictures a couple of weeks ago at Mike's parents house in KS. It is always so beautiful there in the fall.
I had my 12 week appointment today after preschool. It was a very long Thursday cause we were all at preschool today and then drove to my dr.'s appointment. I ended up taking the girls cause I knew it would be a short appointment. My dr. was on time and the kids did really good. We got home at 6:00 and were all pretty exhausted. All is great with baby #3. He asked how my appetite has been and let's just say I am for sure eating enough for 2. I am so hungry all the time and it is so nice to not be sick. The doctor found the heartbeat right away and it was so amazing to hear it so clearly. Ellie and Anna are totally amazed by the whole doctor process especially when the drew blood and I got a band-aid. We leave tomorrow for my parents house for Thanksgiving. I am so excited as I haven't been there since June. I'm sure I will eat plenty of turkey and pie!

How it all went down.....

I've yet to tell how I got to surprise my family with the announcement of baby #3. I kind of felt yucky and tired the week prior to taking a test. It was a Saturday and Mike was out with Ellie. I snuck off to the Dollar Tree to buy a test (Yes, the work)! I took it and there was for sure 2 positive lines. I went out that afternoon to do some errands. I stopped by Pei Wei and got us dinner as well as a cookie cake. I hid the test under Mike's fortune cookie. He was totally shocked and it was the first time it was a surprise for him cause with the girls I would be throwing up so he knew I was pregnant. It was a really fun night!

I Survived!

I wanted to thank you all so much for your comments and prayers. I could totally feel so many people praying for me. I have learned so much about pain and suffering through this time. I cannot imagine the slow suffering of cancer etc... The pain can be so unbearable at times to where all you can do is pray. I felt really awful from Saturday-Tuesday. I started to not vomit anymore on Tuesday. I think I vomited around 20 times during this three day span and so the relief of that alone made me feel better. My mom was such a servant to us and literally did everything for me and the kids during her time here. She made us awesome meals and cleaned my house! The girls loved having her here and in the mean time they both got colds. She was taking care of three pretty pitiful girls. I saw my doctor today for a follow up visit. It was really informative as he did another ultrasound. The baby is great. It pretty much sounds like the fibroid will not effect the baby just me. I can have a normal delivery he thinks so far and everything seems fine. He said I was in so much pain because of the rapid growth of the fibroid due to all the hormone changes with the first trimeter etc... I look huge. I am not kidding it really makes you show a lot earlier and he said it was normal. The fibroid has not grown, but it could. I am praying it just stays the same size. I was able to go to work today and did pretty well. The huge praise is that we've had a trip planned to FL since June leaving tomorrow. The doctor said it was fine for me to just to take it easy which should be pretty easy to do. I am so glad I didn't have to cancel our trip. Mike has so been looking forward to it since it is his first break after a busy fall. We are going with another family in our church and their children. We will do Disney a few days( I may get a motorized wheel chair ha ha!) and just relax at our timeshare. I will keep you all posted and I have so many pictures from the past month that I hope to upload in Florida. Thanks for your friendship!

ps-I forgot to mention the doctor is predicting a boy because I have had no morning sickness etc... until this last episode, but that was due to pain. I feel totally different than I did with Ellie and Anna. We will have to wait and see, but maybe not to long cause I think I will get an ultrasound almost every visit. I am 9 weeks and due June 10th!

Update on my Wife...

*UPDATE: Sorry friends that I have not even wrote the post yet about baby #3. I've been wanting to do it in a fun creative way and life got really crazy and now sickness. I'm glad Mike decided to put a picture up of a fibroid! PLEASE PRAY that this pain will go away. My mom flew here to help us and I don't know what I would do without her. I am going to my Dr. on Thursday so hopefully he can help us out as well instead of just the ER doctor. I have the best husband in the world. He has been there for me and the girls in amazing ways. Please, pray for this sweet baby. I don't know how he/she is making it with all the stress going on in my body. I am throwing up almost everything including vitamins. I am truly learning how to call out to Christ in the midst of my weakness. Thanks so much!

It has been a crazy couple of days. Many of you are probably wondering what has happened to my wife, so I'll explain, but let me first back up a few months. Last June we were at our church's family camp in Estes Park when my wife had some really bad back/abdominal pain and was throwing up quite a bit. We took her to the ER, they gave her lots of fluids, tons of pain medicine, and the pain went away. They said it might have been a kidney infection, but weren't sure. The pain eventually went away, and Holly was eventually able to enjoy the rest of the week. Friday morning pretty early the pain came back. She just happened to have some pretty stellar pain meds left over from her wisdom teeth taken out a couple months ago, so she took a pill and the pain went away, but if she got off the couch or out of bed she'd throw up. Friday she refused to see the doctor because the trip to the ER in Estes cost us $1500.00, and our insurance didn't cover it. She figured the pain would go away like it did in Colorado, and she would be back to normal. Saturday the pain was still there, but she's thinking it took two days in Estes for it to go away, and that she'd go see her doctor on Monday if the pain hadn't gone away. In the midst of all this we had a pretty big event with our high school ministry that I couldn't get away from, so we're still not sure how our kids survived during this time. Sunday morning I got in at 2:30 a.m. from our high school event, and then left at 6:30 a.m. to go run a half-marathon with about 4,000 other runners at White Rock Lake. Crazy, I know, but everyone in my house would be asleep right up until I got home from the race. It was good therapy in the middle of a crazy weekend. (this doesn't have anything to do with the reason of writing, but I ran a personal best, 1:52 after getting very little sleep, I was excited). So I get home, shower, and my wife's not feeling very well. So, I take the girls and we give mommy some alone time to continue to rest and she takes another pain pill. We had a lunch planned with some friends from church, so we went to their house and stayed until about 2:30. As we were leaving the Hornberger's house, Ellie is sitting in the car screaming about her ear. I rush her home and ask Holly what we should do. We load everyone up, and take Ellie to Urgent Care. On the way there, we pull over so Holly can puke. Crazy. We find out that Ellie has an Ear Infection, and get two prescriptions for her. We leave there and I've had enough, and take Holly to the Emergency Room. I'm glad we did. The ER doctor did an ultrasound, took over 40 pictures (according to Holly he was touching her ovaries with the ultrasound thingy, OUCH!) of the uterus, etc....We find out the baby is fine, but he has some concerns and wants to move Holly to the OB floor. This morning we find out that Holly has a baseball sized Fibroid (non cancerous) attached to her Uterus. That's what hurt so bad. The OB thinks that's what was hurting back in June in Estes Park. Crazy huh? It's grown to be the size that it is now, and nobody has ever picked up on it. At the end of this post I've put some info on Fibroids I found online if you're like me and have no idea what a Fibroid is. The Doctor tells Holly there's nothing they can do until after the baby is born. So the pain will come and go during the next 7 months, and he's prescribing some more pain medicine. We're supposed to leave on Friday for vacation, if you could pray for minimal pain/discomfort that would be great, and are obviously still thrilled that we'll be having a little one on June 10th!  One other thing I would mention that I learned during this time is how important community is.  I was dumb and didn't think to call our community group into this until yesterday afternoon.  Once I did it was a HUGE blessing.  All of the couples in our group either called or came by, and our friend Adam came over, watched our kids, and I was able to go to the hospital to be with my wife.  Thanks for reading and praying,  here's the info. on fibroids if you're still with me at this point :)
"Fibroids are muscular tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus (womb). Another medical term for fibroids is "leiomyoma" (leye-oh-meye-OH-muh) or just "myoma". Fibroids are almost always benign (not cancerous). Fibroids can grow as a single tumor, or there can be many of them in the uterus. They can be as small as an apple seed or as big as a grapefruit. In unusual cases they can become very large."

Ellie on video!

"High Stakes" Parenting Conference Video from Steve V on Vimeo.

Schedules.....

I was going to get some mommy opinions on if at any point after the first year you felt like your kids schedules started to change? Ellie is a little over 3 and takes a nap 3-4 days a week. On those days she goes to bed at 8:30 or so. If she does not take a nap then she goes to bed at 7:30. I'm wondering how long I should expect her to nap? I know that no matter what she will have quiet time in her room for at least an hour. Anna is the one who is changing like crazy. It seems like all summer she would take these crazy 3-4 hour naps in the afternoon. She still takes a good nap, but it is more like 2 hours. It really is not long enough for her cause instead of waking up at 4:30-5:00. She wakes up at 3:30 or 4 and is really cranky. Tonight, I put her to bed at 6:45 and she was totally ready. She hasn't made it past 7:30 this entire week. I don't know whether to try and go back to her old schedule in which she went to bed later or just work with this new one and let her go to bed by 7:00. Ellie doesn't have meltdowns no matter what amount of sleep she gets which is really nice. Anna is like her mama she needs her sleep!

It is starting to feel like Fall....

Today, it rained and I loved it cause it dropped below 80 degrees! It was so nice and we now have a pumpkin for our front porch. Here are some more pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch!