Santa Letter 2012

Luke did his yearly "Santa" letter this weekend.  He was most proud to write his own name and Santa's name on his letter.  We always send them to this NPSC address and he gets a letter back within a few days from Santa! Santa is a very special person who knows Luke really well and makes sure his letter is awesome every year! ;) I can't wait to see his face!!! 

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!  Luke is at such a fun age to celebrate Christmas.  He has loved decorating the tree, helping daddy with the lights and all the house decor.  He's also gotten a little more brave with getting under the tree and shaking presents. UH OH lol!

On Luke's Santa letter this year:

- A motorized Tractor so he can dig holes in the back yard.

- The Skull and Rock Jake and the NeverLand Pirates play sets.  

I can't wait to see what special surprises Santa has in store for our little man this year! :)

Happy December!

Halloween 2012

Luke had a fun Halloween 2012!

In the afternoon, he did a pinata with his friends and made cute pumpkin bags to catch all the candy.  When it got nice and warm outside, we let the kiddos beat up the pumpkin pinata.  They loved it!  Then we got him dressed in his Thriller WereWolf costume for the evening fun.  He trick or treated with our good family friends, The Mattocks.  He & Maylee went for about an hr then they both decided they wanted to pass out candy.  Luke has loved that every year, he likes answering the door and seeing everyone else in costumes. He was so cute about it too, every time he opened the door he said, "Happy Halloween"!  Such a sweet kid we have :) 

We called it a night around 10pm.   Kids go hard in our neighborhood until late.  I was exhausted, Luke was exhausted and I know Kylee was ready for me to go to sleep so she could wake up.  Every night, as soon as I lay down, I feel her all over the place lol.  

Of the 2 baskets full of candy, Lukes favorite Halloween thing of all was the 2 pencils he got.  Cracks me up!  He loves markers so I rarely ever give him a pencil.  Apparently, those are fun because he can erase.  He keeps drawing lines and erasing them.  Cheap entertainment!  I've never even thought of to pass out anything but candy, but whoever did, that was a good call.  At least for Luke! :)

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

Our Lil' Red Raider

It's. A. GIRL!

Aunt T and Luke giving a big thumbs up to a baby girl!

Our growing family celebrating at the park after doctor appointment!

To say he is excited is an understatement!

Baby girl!  Her forehead and hand covering her face at 18 weeks.

She's getting so big!  Finally!

Friday was such a happy day!  A joyous day, more like it!  

We have made it to the 18th week!!  The doctors had previously been concerned because baby wasn't growing much and was measuring weeks behind and I started having early mild contractions.  So, I have been on restrictions and bed rest non stop.  Although, I am not clear from bed rest yet, we were definitely celebrating baby girl gaining 2 oz.  The doctor said that was a huge deal.  

Justin, Luke, my sister and I all waited (im)patiently while they did their head to toe checks.  Pointing out various things.  We were happy to see she was growing, but, we were ready to get to the good part.  (Lol!) Finally, a simple, "Girl" was stated.  Cheers, tears and high fives were exchanged all around the room.  Luke has requested to the doctor to please, "make this baby a girl" at previous appointments.  Not to mention, he has ONLY called this baby a girl from day 1.  We have had lots of talks about..."what if it's aboy" but he wasn't having it.  He was going to have a sister.  Maybe kids really do know what we don't?!  After miscarriages, fertility treatments, tears, frustrations and lots of prayers, Justin and I would have more than loved and appreciated any sex.  But, to see Luke so excited and having a smile as big as Texas, we thanked God for this incredible blessing.

Kylee was the name we picked out.  It was narrowed down to Jaleigh, Brynlee or Kylee.  Overall, Kylee was our absolute favorite.  She was actually going to be Kylee Faith, but, when we were having our sonogram Amazing Grace (Chris Tomlin version) was playing in the room.  And when they said GIRL they were literally singing Amazing Grace, so Kylee Faith became Kylee Grace.  To further add to this story, when we got to church on Sunday, one of the first songs they sang was Chris Tomlin's Amazing Grace.  I couldn't even sing much, I was in a silent prayer of thankfulness and fighting tears.  Not successful in that I might add ;)

All around us God has been planning this day for us.  We never gave up hope in Him.  We believed we were still going to have a bigger family, despite what doctors have been telling us for the past 3 years.  It wasn't always easy, but Praise God, it was worth it.  This whole journey.  

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

James 1:17

Lately...Luke's World

Luke has been a busy little guy lately!  Soaking up the end of summer with swimming, play time at the park, bike rides, working in the garden, etc.

This summer has flown by!  We registered Luke for soccer in the spring not knowing if fall would ever get here, and sure enough, Luke has already had 2 soccer practices and his first game in just a few days.  Umm, seriously, my son is so darn adorable in his little shin guards and soccer uniforms!  It's so funny watching the kids practice at 4 years old, they push eachother kick the ball, repeat lol.  

We took Luke this weekend, with his Aunt T, to the bubble fest at the science spectrum.  Luke loved every second of that.  We had to bribe with popcorn to leave.  He did not want to leave!  He always does the news reporter booth at the science spectrum for his Aunt T.  He is obsessed with her being on t.v. and now he wants to be so bad.

Luke got super nervous when I went to the doctor without him and they put me in the hospital.  So, now he is a constant companion at doctor appointments.  He asks tons of questions, holds my hand, pats me on the back, etc.  Its cute how protective he is, it also shows me what an amazing big brother and son he is and always will be.  He is constantly kissing my belly, singing , bringing me food, etc.  That is HIS baby, no lie.  He says it like 15 times a day.  "mom, you taking care of my baby?" , "My baby is hungry, lets get some food." Daily conversations lately!

16 weeks!

Baby White at 13 weeks

My mom texted me at 10pm last night...simple.  "Welcome to week 16 little mama, you did it!"

If you follow my blog, or know Justin and I personally, you know HOW HUGE this is!  Even during this pregnancy, there have been struggles, hospital stays, weekly doctor appointments, scares, happiness, celebrations...all in 16 weeks.  But, we are still going strong and me and baby are doing so so so good!

Baby White is still measuring 3 weeks smaller than the doctor would like.  I feel like I've already blown up into a full size whale, yet my doctor is increasing my calorie intake by 300/daily.  So, we have been supplementing fresh fruit smoothies and slim fast shakes.  

We are doing doctor appts every 2 weeks and probably will throughout the pregnancy.  Alternating between listening to the heartbeat and doing sonograms.  I love seeing the baby growing , but I do get exhausted from going so often.  Just being honest. :/  On the plus, we find out the sex on the 28th of this month.  HOORAY!  The whole family is excited and I predict there being 10 people in the room when we find out lol.  The support and love our family & friends have given us is...INCREDIBLE.  The prayers, the sweet messages, food dropoffs, visits, wow, beyond blessed we are.  

Our next baby update will be a sex and name update for our precious little miracle.  A miracle that I was told many of times over the past 3 years I would never have.  Yet, God knew something different.  I feel our miracle moving in my tummy throughout the days, I pray in complete thankfulness everytime.  Not something I will ever take for granted.  God blesses daily, yes He does!

Rafting the Payette

A couple of weeks ago, my mom, Luke and I flew to Idaho to spend a week with my sister.  One of our first adventures was taking a rafting trip down the Payette River.  It is beyond beautiful!  Luke had so much fun.  He's such a little dare devil.  He laughed and begged for more rapids.  It was such a fun family day!!!

Big blessings and changes...

I wanted to remember this day.  I am so emotional (with hormones like crazy) so my mind is a bit scattered.

I have been feeling a bit impatient in life.  Justin and I have had all these huge dreams/goals and I felt like we were in a stand still with them.  Playing a bit of a waiting game.  We laid them at the feet of our Lord, and he taught us a lot about patience.  These past few weeks, thought, God has blessed us with some of our hearts desires and more.

First, Justin just got a huge promotion at work!!!  He has gone from the Unit Supervisor of shipping/receiving at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center to now the Executive to the President of the Health Sciences Center.  Its HUGE.  I am so proud of him, my heart is a bit overwhelmed.  At 28 years old, he will be working with the top people at the University.  He is so unbelievably smart, kind, patient and has a great reputation with Tech already.  I couldn't even be more proud of him.  And the opportunities this job will open up for him and our family.  What a blessing!

We are entering into our 6th week of pregnancy.  Things are going good.  My previous pregnancies, I was already in the hospital and hooked up to IV's at this point.  Not this one!  I can eat. I have a big appetite.  I have tons of energy.  It almost scares me.  I go weekly to get blood work done and I keep being nervous they are going to say something is wrong with my pregnancy.  It's as if its almost too good to be true?  But my blood work has been coming back wonderful.  Praise the Lord!  We get our first sonogram at the end of our 7 weeks, July 20.  They will be checking for multiple babies, since we were on fertility shots, medicine, etc.  But, I will be happy with whatever blessing the good Lord offers.  I am only vomitting 1 or 2 times usually between 1-4am.  How weird is that??  But, then I go right back to sleep.  I feel so lucky to be at home during the day because I do have the opportunity to rest and catch back up on sleep I lost during the night.  It's been wonderful!

We got our MIRACLE...

Yes, we did, we got our miracle!

We are pregnant!!!!!!  9 months ago we were told we would NEVER have another baby, but Justin and I never believed that.  We had more faith in our Lord than that.  We kept praying, our families and friends kept praying, and today we are going to our 1st doctor appointment as expecting parents!!

God is good, even during the storms, He still will shine through.

Faith trusts from God, what is beyond all expectation!

Ruidoso Fires

 This past weekend, the Little Bear fires ripped through the Bonita Lake and Park area of Ruidoso.  Our family cabin was burned.  Gone. :(  The charred truck sits in front of once was our cabin.  It is actually a blue truck and it is the work truck for while we are there.  

Justins grandfather, Pops, pretty much built that cabin with his bare hands.  I've been dating Justin for 10 1/2 years and I LOVED it.  Justin and his family have had a lifetime of memories.  I know in time it will be rebuilt and new memories will be made, but it still deserves a special blog! :)

Reminiscing a bit, Justin and I spent our first New Year's together.  We had been dating for almost a year off and on by that time.  We went to Ruidoso with a group of friends, but ended up staying alone camped up here.  We were young and all we wanted to be with eachother.  Soaking up the knowledge of each other's entire life history and cuddling, watching movies, going for walks, cooking, etc.  Our relationship had really started becoming very serious at that point, and from that week on, the cabin became part of mine too.  I have spent 10 years worth of summers and family church camps with Justins family here.  And throughout the years, any time Justin and I wanted a break from life, we would pack up and make our trip there.  Most of every New Year's is spent here.  We've came alone, with friends, other family, it didn't matter, all fun times.  The dogs came every time with us.  We have NEVER been 1 single time without the dogs in tow.  They LOVED IT!

Our favorite things to do at the cabin:

Hike

Sit on the front porch and watch the deer

Sled down hills next to cabin

Make breakfast burritos

Shop in town all day then come back for naps

wine and the porch swing

watch movies

take a bath!  the bath tub was the best "old time" tub, my favorite

play games at the table

Family Camp in the summers

Laugh

Turning 4, super-hero style

Our sweet little guy is 4!!!  We celebrated Super Hero style with a fun birthday party at Ready Set Go little gym in Lubbock.  He had so much fun jumping, flying, running, and being crazy!

I got so many ideas from Pinterest!  I really love that website lol.  But, everything came together the way I had envisioned and Luke was part of the whole planning process.  Now that he is getting older, I wanted to keep him involved with what he wanted for his birthday.  I was horrible at taking pics.  Most of the pictures I have are a combination of what others took or from Justins cell phone.  I was playing with the kids and loving every minute of watching Luke on his special day!

Luke at 4:

- He is an absolute charmer!  Loves to bat those long eye lashes and smile :) 

- He is obsessed with chocolate milk and pop tarts STILL

- He loves to sing/dance and likes us to record him so he can go back and watch himself

- Into super-heros, dinosaurs, baseball and wall tracks for his cars

- He loves watching movies.  His favorite thing to do at night is cuddle up and watch a movie.  (Fine with me and Justin!)

- still loves his nap!  I feel soooo immensely blessed for this lol.  He will still take a 2 hour nap everyday.  After church on sundays we stop and play at the park or let him play around in the back yard for awhile.  After that he has been known to take a 3 hour nap, and believe me, momma is right there with him. Ha!

- He likes to grocery shop.  He has his own drawer in the fridge and he likes to pick out his own snacks, etc.  It's usually filled with grapes, yogurt, fruit cups and pudding.

 

 

Lukes 4th Birthday wish list:

- He wanted a real monkey

- Happy Nappers

- a new dvd player

- music (got a karaoke machine so he can make his own music)

- more superhero's for his batman cave

- Spiderman movie

 

* We got everything covered except the monkey.  Sorry baby, maybe next year?! ;)

Spring Sunshine!

Luke and his best bud, Tony, have already been soaking up the spring sunshine.  The temps have already been in the high 90's and low 100's and its only the beginning of May. Yikes!