Prayers Please!

I went to the Dr. last Thursday for the routine anemia and diabetes test. The nurse said that no news is good news so when I saw Dr. Burley's name on my caller ID this morning, I knew something was up. She informed me that I am anemic and need to start an iron supplement. Not a big deal. I've done this before. She also told me that my levels for the dibetes test came back high and needed to be tested further. What?! I have to drink that nasty drink again and have my blood tested every hour for 3 hours after drinking it. AND I'm supposed to fast before that!! As much fun as it sounds, I would rather pass, thank you very much! But I guess I have no choice, so please pray that this test will be "normal" and that I do not have gestational diabetes. And if I do have it, please pray that it can be controlled with diet and excercise. I know there are worse things that could happen in pregnancies so I am thankful that is has been uneventful this far. On the flip side, I just want a healthy baby, so it's hard not to worry! I am going in either Tuesday or Wednesday morning so hopefully we should know something soon!

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to the best father in the world!! I couldn't have asked for a better dad for my kids!!!! Thank you for everything you do for us! We love you Justin!

Our first week of swimming lessons ended today. They have one more week and then we are done for the summer! Paycos is doing awesome! He can swim, he justs panics in the deep end if he can't touch the bottom and resorts to doggie paddling. He is learning how to keep swimming while coming up for a breath and not having to depend on touching! He has really shown so much improvement in 4 days! Today was "parent watch day" (they encourage us to leave everyday so that the kids are not distracted) and OF COURSE I forgot my camera! Anyway, Paycos was doing great but I was mortified by the way Kyler acted! First of all, the water is very chilly and the lessons are at 10:15 am. Kyler pretty much shuts down when she's cold! (she gets it from me!) So she refused to do anything they were telling her to do. When the teacher got out of the water to go get her, she ran off screaming! I was a little embarassed at that point so I went over and told her that if she did not cooperate, she didn't her special treat after the lesson! With that on the line, I guess she decided she better do what she was supposed to and she started participating. But every few minutes, she would start to get whiney again. As soon as she would spot me in the crowd though, she instantly started smiling sweetly and following directions!! It was hilarious!! I wish I would have been videotaping it! So she did get the Lifesaver gummies in the end but I made sure she knew that if that happened again, there would be no special treat for her! Luckily all the girls that teach are super sweet and do their very best to keep her happy and having fun. As soon as she gets used to the water, she has a blast and is always ready to go back!

After lessons, we grabbed lunch and met my friend Mistie and her two kids at the library for a magic show! I thought it might be lame but it turned out to actually be good! The kids loved it and were very intrigued. At one point, he turned a hankerchief into some doves, then turned the doves into a poodle! Kyler was MESMERIZED by that! Then we met back at our house to swim and everyone had a good time. I think we started swimming around 2:00 and didn't get out until 5:30! By the end of the day, Kyler was going completely under water, holding her breath, moving her arms and kicking her feet! She was so proud!! She was actually swimming and getting somewhere!! Major improvement for the girl who would hardly put her face in the water! They were exhausted after a long and busy day, so it was dinner, bath, book and bed by 7:30!! Which gives mommy some lovely quiet time!!!! I LOVE SUMMER!!!

My little fishies after a fun day:

Baby Names

We all made a trip to the hospital this morning to see baby Barret! He is so cute with big round cheeks! Totally squeezable!! It was the first time my kids had seen him and they were in awe! They really surprised me though!! Kyler was interested in looking for about 45 seconds. And after "petting" him, as she called it, she was done and moved on to other things! Paycos, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of him!! We were fighting over who got to hold him! He held him 3 different times and each time, he wouldn't give him back!! It was so sweet!! I hope he has the same reaction with our baby! I really thought the roles would be reversed!!! I thought we would be fighting Kyler off of Barret! Paycos is going to be a GREAT big brother with this baby. He could have cared less about Kyler when she was born, but this time I think he will be a HUGE helper. I think Kyler will come around. Maybe if it's the sister that she wants, she will be more involved! Who knows with that girl!!

We are having a hard time coming up with (and agreeing on) baby names. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas! A great friend of mine did this when she was pregnant with her third and I'm stealing the idea! (thanks Kari!!!) If you have any suggestions on boy or girl names, we would LOVE to hear them. As much as I love traditional names, I'm thinking it has to be something different so that it goes well with Paycos! Kyler is more common but definitely not overused! If you plan on using the name for your own kids, let me know so I don't use it!! I have a few girl names that I love but Justin doesn't like them as much as I do! But I am really struggling with the boy names. And since I am thinking it's a boy, I would like to have several choices to throw out to Justin. He seems to turn a lot of them down!! (Like my #1 favorite- Brody...rejected!) One thing that we agree on is, if it's a girl, we would like the middle name to be Chaney. It's not set in stone, so if we find a first name we like, and it doesn't flow well with Chaney, we would be willing to improvise! That being said...any ideas?!?

Another busy week!

Well, we are still enjoying summer! Staying busy, but having fun! The great part is that the kids are so tired by lunch time that we ALL get to have a nap!! I had an ultrasound on Tuesday and Justin had to work so I had to go by myself. It was unfortunate for two reasons: 1. He didn't get to see that cute baby squirming around in there and 2. It was REALLY hard for me to not secretly find out what the sex is!!! It was very tempting to just tell the nurse to take a look, but I have too much of a guilty conscience. Actually, she went by that "area" once and I thought I saw a boy thing. I was excited until that darn guilt kicked in and I felt awful even though it was truly an accident. Then, she went back by the "area" and it looked like a girl thing! So now I can honestly say that I really don't know! I thought I was pretty good at figuring out what everything is on ultrasounds, but apparently I'm not that good. I do feel relieved that I didn't see anything promising because it will be an awesome surprise on the birthday. (I am still thinking that it's a boy though! I have absolutely nothing to base that on but mother's intuition I guess!! I am in for a HUGE surprise if it's a girl because from day one I have been convinced it's a boy!) From here on out, I will schedule my appointments on the days Justin is off so I will not even be tempted to look! The baby is still measuring to be a week ahead and Paycos and Kyler were larger than average babies so Dr. Burley told me that she will induce me up to 10 days early. Yay!

On another baby note, Justin's brother Branum and his wife Cayce had their baby! His name is Barret Zane and he was 8 lbs 14 oz. He wasn't due until the 18th but when she went in for monitoring on Thursday, her blood pressure was high and they bumped up her c-section to 6 that night! He was a big boy but had to go to NICU for some breathing problems. Apparently he took a big breath right away which caused his lungs to collapse. The nurses said this sometimes happens with large cesarean babies. But he is back with mom and dad (and big sister Maryn) today and doing great! I got to see him in the nursery after he was born but I can't wait to hold him!!

I guess I should be doing something productive right now since everyone is quietly napping! We went to a birthday party this morning at 11. It was a swimming party and they were both worn out by the time we got home. We have another b-day party at 4:30 and then we head to the end of season party for Paycos' baseball team at 6. Busy busy busy!

Ahhhh....summer!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE summer?! The best part is not having to wake up early and be somewhere by 8am! Although, my kids are still in school mode and waking up at 7. We are working on that one!! I have already learned this summer that I must have constant entertainment planned for Paycos and Kyler. If not, by 7:45 the fighting has begun!! I have not made ANY plans for all summer (except swimming lessons) and now I'm realizing that might have been a mistake! I had this wonderful vision of lounging in our pool all day, every day, and everyone getting along. Yea right! They want more! So we have been to the Science Spectrum, park, Dairy Queen with the outdoor playground, gone fishing, read books, played with friends, etc. etc. so that we are NEVER bored!! We have really enjoyed every second of it though. And by the end of the day, we are all exhausted! Luckily, there are also a lot of activities going on at the libraries and parks and most of them are free! So we will definitely be attending many of those.

Both of the kids spent the night with my mom last night and it was awesome!! They swam and played in the mud, I got to shop and get a pedicure, and Justin played golf!! Everyone wins when they stay with grandparents! Tomorrow is another busy day! Paycos has a baseball game at 8 in the morning (what the heck were they thinking when they made that schedule?!?) Hopefully, that will be followed by lunch and a NAP, then we head off to Marilyn and Zane's (Justin's parents) for a family reunion! They have a pool and a big water slide so we are looking forward to it!! So that is how we have spent our first week of summer and so far so good! And just for fun, here are some pictures of Kyler!!