Trip to the pool

The high in Raleigh was supposed to be around 90 degrees today. I thought what a great day for the girls and I to hang out at the pool! We got the girls up and ready, bags packed and off to the Finley YMCA we went. We dropped Jody off at work and it took me about 10 minutes to get the girls and all their gear out of the car. We went inside, to change into our bathing suits and take a potty break before we went into the pool, to prevent any unecessary trips to the bathroom while we were soaking wet. We finally go into the pool around 12:00. Everything was going great, Emma and I were making new friends and Anna was just splashing and squealing away! Well. . .Emma had gotten out of the pool and was about to get back in when I noticed a small spot on her "booty". She had said this morning that her tummy hurt, but she doesn't know the difference between hunger pains and a realy tummy ache. I guessed wrong this morning when I deducted that it was hunger pains. So back to the bathroom we went to change back into our clothes (another 10 minutes), then I loaded the girls back into the car (15 minutes more). By the time I got back into the car, I was exhausted and we had only spent 45 minutes in the pool! All in all I think it will be a while before I attempt to go to the pool, and will probably attempt it with more help next time. By the way, the pool was not be closed for a fecal accident from any of the Livingstons, Jody's immediate guess when I called him to tell him we were leaving :-)

Emma & Anna's Dedication

Uncle Matt & the girls
Family portrait
Wanka, Papa & the girls

Monsters, Castles, Sand & Uncle Matt?

I have to share this cute story about Emma. She and Anna spent the evening with Aunt Diana and Uncle Matt while I had bible study and Jody had a meeting last Monday night. The next morning she woke up and we asked her if she had fun, etc. She of course said she loved it and began to tell us this very long and confusing story about monsters, castles, sand and Uncle Matt. If any of you remember 3 year olds they are very big story tellers and Emma is no exception (I do have to say Uncle Matt still has a few on her back in his day)! We went along with this grand story (like usual) and that was that. But every day since Monday we've been hearing this story (which gets bigger), which by a few days ago we had had a long talk with her about telling stories and how it isn't not nice to make things up that aren't true. Well, we ate lunch today with Aunt Diana (whose birthday was today), Uncle Matt and Uncle Josh and found out the story was actually true! Uncle Matt was telling Emma how he was getting bigger tires for his blazer and getting a lift to make it taller, to make it sort of like a "Monster Truck". And that when we go to the beach (in July) they were going to drive it on the sandy beach and then build sand castles! It's funny how we casually go along with her tall tales. . .only to find out they are actually true and instigated by those who were once tall talers themselves!

Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby. . .

Jody and I decided while we were still dating that 4 was a good number. We wanted children fairly close together, around 18 months apart, but God had a different plan for us. Out of the blue we found out we were pregnanct in June of 2002. It was a tough pregnancy that ended up with me on bedrest for the latter part of the pregnancy, but all is well and Emma Marie was brought into our lives in January 2003 (2 weeks early)! We decided it was time again and tried for many months to conceive, we very so happy when we found out we were pregnant in May of 2004. It seemed like a normal pregnancy, but only God knows why that baby was not to be and I had a miscarriage on July 4th, 2004. We grieved and waited until we felt we were ready emotionally and then tried again. After months of waiting we were very apprehensive to find out we were pregnant in February 2005. It wasn't until after the first ultrasound (at 10 weeks) where we saw the baby moving and the heart beating that I felt "ok" about accepting we were having another child. As the weeks went by and from the doctors reassurance the pregnancy seemed to be going well! We waited to tell anyone because of the previous pregnancy, as many of you know I'm a worrier anyway :( The pregnancy turned out to be a beautiful baby girl named Anna Virginia (after my grandma), born in October 2005 (3 weeks 1 day early). She is such a joy in our lives, and a blessing for a woman who is now 5 months pregnant and chasing around a 3 year old as well. God truly has given us two gifts that we cherish every day. We were amazed to find out in January of 2006 that we were expecting again! I still felt apprehensive telling anyone until after we had had the ultrasound. We had the first ultrasound and everything looked good, we were expecting our third child in September of 2006! We waited a long time to tell anyone about this pregancy too, because of my second pregnancy and also because Anna and Baby #3 were going to be so close together. Our apprehension was shattered when we told my family, who reacted with pure delight at the news of a new little one, no matter how close it was to Anna! We then told friends and received the same reaction! We have had some negative reactions, like "WHAT?" or "Isn'a that a little close?", but we have realized that children truly are a blessing from God and He ultimately decided the number and gender of children we were going to have! This past year has definately thrown us for a loop, but as the saying goes "God is good, all the time and all the time God is good!"

Black & White Pictures

Here are the most recent pictures of Baby #3 (taken May 3rd)! There are profile shots and one where the baby was looking at us! You can kind of see a hand or two. My due date is still September 23rd. We look forward to meeting this new little one and seeing if we're buying blue or re-using pink!