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!!!