Determination

Is this not some serious determination?? :) Grady insisted on eating his lunch (cereal and milk.... I know weird...) on his Elmo potty today. Nothing has yet been ummm "put" into the potty yet but he still tries every single day! I'm so proud of him! We don't pressure or make him sit here and there is usually some sort of candy bribe involved. Today after sitting long enough to eat 2 lollipops and ask for more I head to the kitchen to get him some lunch started. I had him at the table but he told me "No, eat on the potty". This is probably the most un-hygienic thing that you could do but oh well!

I love this little man soo much and I know that here pretty soon all the potty trying will just click!

What I'm Loving Wednesday ~ Baby Edition!

***UPDATE BELOW***
This week I'm joining up with Jaime again to do WILW! This week just HAS to be one of the easiest weeks for me to come up with stuff that I love! I have been just dying to do a post with these pictures. Even though my husband and I agreed to wait to tell everyone until after our big appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist and to where I was almost at the second trimester I have wanted soooo badly to cheat and tell ya'll all early!

I already posted these pictures before but they were really hard to see. I had taken a picture of the pictures while they were laid out on my kitchen table :). My lovely husband agreed to quickly scan them into the computer for me this morning if in exchange I ironed his work pants for him.... Guess how quickly I said "HECK YEAH"! I still have some serious doubts about my ability to not screw things up when scanning my pictures...

So with our further ado here is the first of my loves for this week! (and I'm super sorry for the huge space between the two pictures. They scanned kinda funny!)
In the first picture the circle at the top is the baby's abdomen and the triangular shape at the bottom is the baby's head. (You may have to use your imagination! HA!)





In this second picture you can see the baby's spine and at the bottom is the baby's head!

I should have been 12 weeks and 4 days on Monday but the baby was measuring big at 13 weeks already!

***We just got the call from the MFM Specialist's office and all screens came back great for down syndrome, trisomy 13 and trisomy 18! YEAH!

The next things that I'm loving are pretty obvious... :)



I love these two little guys with all my heart! They are what gets me going every morning and praying every night!

If you want to read more of our baby story you can go here and here!

What are you loving today? :)

Weeks 1 - 13!

Now then, where did I leave off? Oh that's right! The joy that is no other than a positive pregnancy test. My hearts skips a beat then rushes very hard and I tear out of my bathroom to track down Bobby so that he can look at the test with me. He is just as mystified and overjoyed as I am! He knows that's it waaaaay too soon for me to be testing but only jokes slightly when he sees me walk into the bathroom with what only could be the equivalent of a mortgage payment's worth of pregnancy tests in my arms. He has know that I am a complete loon for such a long time now that he only smiles and shakes his head when I'm at my worst...

Before we were expecting, I had some really specific prayers to God. They were completely selfish (and I know that God operates on his timeline and not mine) but I couldn't help myself. I could not see myself NOT pregnant when my birthday rolled around (February 10th) or by Caroline's due date (February 27th). I knew in my heart that both of those days were sooo close not only to each other but in relation to when I started these specific prayers. I will probably say this every single post but once again GOD IS GOOD and we received our first positive on January 21st. I was beyond overjoyed to have reached those two dates with hope in my heart and in my tummy!

With all the hope, joy, and optimism I have right now, we have been going through some scary times. To back up just a little bit (and here is probably just a little bit of TMI) I began to suffer from bladder infections after I had Caroline. I had never had one before in my life (except maybe 1st grade I think??) and all of a sudden I was having one like every 6 weeks. I went in to my OB at 4 weeks pregnant to have them check me out and sure enough it was another one! This time they sent the sample off for a better culture than what they can do in the office and guess what it came back as! It was a Beta Strep infection. I'm sure most of you Mommas out there know that this is usually something that they screen you for at around 30 weeks and it really has almost zero effect on the Moms just the babies when they are born. Once my doctor saw my results he became very suspicious. Why was this normally benign infection not only "infecting" me but why had it spread to an area that you normally don't find it at? I've been trying to get answers from  them to find out if this is the infection that caused us to loose Caroline and I haven't been able to get an answer yet. I know that they biopsied her placenta but I don't know if they did a culture on it to find out the exact stain of infection. The doctor told me that he would like me to test at every checkup now (symptom free or not) to look for it again. He said that if they find it again that he'd put me on antibiotics for the rest of my pregnancy so it wouldn't be able to take hold again.

Around 8 weeks I began to spot just a little. Normally I wouldn't have worried too much. I know that spotting is totally normal but I really felt that I'd been through so much I needed the peace of mind that only an OB visit can bring. My normal doctor wasn't there that day and we saw another from the same practice. She was beyond sweet and totally understood all the upset and cause for worry. Bless this doctors heart she gave us a referral to a SPECIALIST! Whoo Hoo! This was the answer to all my hopes and fears! My regular OB I'm sure does a great job on ladies that have very text book pregnancies but I have always had the feeling that hes just too busy to address all my questions and concerns.

We had our first visit with the specialist on Monday for our 12 week visit. Glory Be! All was well! The baby's heart rate was a nice 153 bpm and was even measuring 3 days ahead! To sum up our visit with her we'll be able to go and see her every 2-4 weeks so that if a problem happens again they'll know right away and maybe we can prevent another tragedy. The MFM specialist (as well as my regular doctor) still don't know what exactly happened with Caroline. Did my water break and infection set in or did infection set in and that caused my water to break? Did my cervix give out and no one knew? To sum it up, she will be looking at and for EVERYTHING! What a relief! They also want me to start Progesterone at week 16 to help things along.

And now for just a couple of pictures.  I only started doing belly pictures of myself at week 11 because up until then I just looked like I gained a lot of weight!! HA!

I already did that intellegender gender prediction test and I'll have to do a post tomorrow or the next day on how funny that turned out :). I'll end for now again because you are as tired of reading run-on sentences and everything ending in exclamation marks! as I am of typing them .... :)

13 Weeks!

Its taken me soo long to post this but I just don't know where to start! Typically one should just start at the beginning of ones pregnancy but I feel like this just goes back soo much further than that. The story of this sweet baby growing inside me starts when his or her older sister still occupied the space that they are growing in now!

Bobby and I knew immediately that we wanted needed another baby right away. For us there was no need for "time to heal" or "get used to what just happened to us". We knew in our hearts that we had to have another baby right away and we decided this just hours before our sweet Caroline was born.

It was as if we just innately knew that the only thing that could completely heal us was another child. Don't get me wrong. We still grieve deeply for our lost daughter (and probably will until the end of time). With the raw pain that we were dealing with after the death of our child we just knew that somehow this was the only way to make things "better". I'm sorry, I wish I had a better explanation for our emotions and our decision but truly it was one made by our hearts and I know also that a lot of other couples would make the exact opposite decision from ours. I wish that this all made better sense...

After Caroline was born there was of course the standard 6 week post-partum waiting. I thought that this wait would kill me! I was soo anxious for the "alls clear to start trying" from the doctor. During the 6 week checkup he mentioned that he would like us to wait an additional 2 cycles before trying again. I thought I might fall off the exam table! I completely understand his reasoning though. He was worried about any lingering infection that might compromise me or any future children.  I understood his logic, I just was so MAD about it! I had these dreams of surprising my husband at Christmas time with a positive pregnancy test but that went completely out the window. Every day waiting of those 2 extra months I thought would kill me.

All that I can say (of course with out being terribly graphic ) :) is that God is great indeed! He blessed us with this miracle child after only that one month of trying. I have to say that I was honestly floored by the news. During the dreaded 2 week wait I was a complete nut job. Four whole days into the 2ww I was already imagining that I was feeling bloated, nauseous, and every other pregnancy symptom in the book! On day 5 into the 2ww I started POS. For 2 days they came back negative (because hello stupid Hillary you have to wait at least until 6 days before a missed period and I wasn't even that close). I decided then and there to just embrace the lunatic that I was and I spent more than I care to admit purchasing countless more test. Everyday for the next 3 days I tested. 7 days before my missed period I got this....



I was honestly floored. I took this at night just because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wholly expected it to be negative because it was just too early! Like I keep saying God is good and the comfort that he brought to my heart that night can not be compared to anything! (well except when I get to hold this child for the first time!)

I think that I'll leave off here for right now. Graham is home from school now and homework calls! I'll try and update again later with more of the story (and there is tons more!) later this evening maybe.

Love to you all and thank you soo much for all the sweet comments and prayers that everyone is saying! Bobby and I will take every (and need every!) one that is being sent our way!



So I've Been Keeping A Secret...

And I can't wait any longer to tell you about it.



Top two pictures are from around 6-1/2 weeks and bottom 3 are from 13 weeks today! Grow baby Grow!



Welcome to the newest edition of the Mueller Family. We are already so in love and can't wait to meet him or her in late September or early October! We have been thanking God morning, noon, and night for this blessing that he bestowed upon us!

More to come later when I have more time to tell you the whole story!

I have to close this post with whats right below my header. It truly has been the sole thing that kept us going during the dark days and how God brought us back to the light!!

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, for He who promised is faithful! ~ Hebrews 10:23

Friday Favorites : Favorite Nursries/Nursery Ideas!

This Friday I decided to join up with Lyndsie to do Friday Favorites! This week she is doing nursery ideas and that just happens to be one of my favorite subjects. Bobby and I have no idea yet what God has in store for us as far as future babies much less the gender of them so I found a bunch of girl and boys stuff that I just love!!



I am fairly certain that this is a look that will never show up in my house but I still am in love with the whimsy of it!!



I love the sleek look of black and pink in the room.

 

 

 

 

Isn't this Flea Market Fancy just too cute??

This is my top favorite as far as little girls rooms go! Its bright and cheery but still soft and soothing all at the same time. I die.

 

I love that this nursery has the feel of an older boy's room. It would transition so well into toddler hood.

 

This room to me just has a really fun and trendy look to it!

 

 

 

 

Of course I couldn't pass up the accessories that would go in the babies room now could I? :) I know that my taste is all over the place. Some contemporary, some old school and believe me it makes me crazy too! It took me forever to find and put together my boys rooms when they were newborn because I just couldn't decide! 

 

Happy Friday everyone!  

 

 

 

Spring Time In Texas!

I can't believe how warm it is already here! Grady and I walked outside to play this morning and I realized that we have flowers blooming already in our yard! I couldn't believe it and I just had to get a couple of pictures.

Here's what I took today (with a little editing help from http://www.picnik.com/) ...

My sweet little helper Grady just had to have his picture taken today!

I hope that the rest of the country gets to see some warmer weather soon!

Random Wednesday

Today I'm feeling a little scattered brained so I thought a nice bullet point post would work best for me today! Its been one of those "odd ball days" where funny/strange things have been happening...

• Crash (the dog) went crazy outside today and so I went to check on him. A parakeet had landed on one of the boys toys really low to the ground and he about had a panic attack trying to get it. You could totally tell that it had been someones pet and I briefly debated calling animal control to see if some 85 year old lady had reported it missing.... Yeah, I didn't call.... It's still out there.

• I had to make a run to Walmart for groceries this afternoon and while I was there I figured I would grab the postage stamps the awesome checkout lady had forgotten to give me two days ago (I had already paid for them). I was told that I would have to come back tomorrow when "accounting" was there and they could check and see if they had an "inventory overage". All I can say is that I want to work at Walmart if one the country's largest retailer's accounting department is all gone by flippin' 3:30 in the afternoon.

• I know that lately I've been all Kindle Snob Like but when I was at Walmart I noticed a large bin of books with an even larger sign say "$1.99". Can you guess how quick me and my cart were parked there? :) I picked up 4 superior novels the likes of which would have made my high school English teacher barf. Said books might include the titles of "Enchanting the Beast", " Enchantress", "Black Horse", and "The Christmas Ball". In case you are still confused they all have half nekkid men on the front....

• We're having tacos for dinner tonight thanks to this lady. She made it look soo good that we're having it for dinner tonight too!



And because I'm a crazy person that can't go a post with out posting a picture too...

Happy Hump-Day everyone!

Our Little Day

Nothing super duper exciting going on around her today. Just eating lots and lots of these...

There is just something about springtime that makes me crazy for fruit! Maybe its the long and cold winter here in Texas. But, the second that it warms up I'm grabbing the closest pair of shorts and flip flops and heading outside with the boys.

I just had to get a picture of this strawberry faced cutie! I swear he must have eaten half of the Poteet Strawberry's that we had! He shares my love of fruit....

I hope everyone's week is going well so far and if anyone cares to join me in a prayer of thanks to God for a small  (and private) blessing he bestowed upon me today that would be awesome!

Little Changes

So you may recall from one of my past post this picture....




These are the new lights for our hallway! I was crazy excited this weekend when Bobby found a few hours to install 2 of these.

Before:



Odd cheapy lighting circa 1980....



After:



I know, not such a big difference but for us every little bit helps! I'm trying to go for warm, cozy, and a little bit rustic. Pretty much this whole house needs to be re-done. When we purchased this house we knew that we wanted something with tons of space for our family to grow into. In order to get that in the neighborhood that we wanted to live in we had to make the sacrifice of there being zero upgrades and an older home. Structurally this house is fabulous. We purchased this home from a retired military gentleman who had tons of time on his hands and he piddled all the time and pretty much kept up with everything! All Bobby and I need to do now is to paint every single wall of this home and change out door, bathroom, and lighting hardware. Really its not too bad but I know that it will take us a while to get everything done between chasing kids and Bobby's job.

All I need you to do now is to imagine the hallway here painted a really pretty tan color and the front door will be painted a really sharp black. The large wall space that you see on your left will be my cross wall. I can't wait to get started on that project! Imagine all the fun that I'll have in Hobby Lobby finding new crosses to add to my collection!!

I wish I could say that you'll be seeing TONS of great posts coming up soon from me about all sorts of great renovations that Bobby and I have being doing, but lately we're doing great if the dishwasher gets loaded and the floors are at least swept (but honestly seldomly mopped :)). But, I'm ok if all this takes a while... Isn't that what 30 years mortgages are for ?? Haha. :)

Ssss... Is For Snake!

Ssssss.... Is for snake! Our spring break is almost at an end :( so today Bobby and I decided to take the boys someplace local, fun, and educational! We of course had to go the the SNAKE FARM! I'm not sure how many of ya'll have cruised down I35 South Bound through Texas but if you have then you've seen this place!

The Snake Farm now ranks right up there with America's Largest Ball of Twine (orsomesuchthing).

These two little guys sure did enjoy it though! It was nothing but squeals of delight at "Momma come lookit' how big this one is!" and "Daddy, help me find this one in here. I don't see it!".



Bobby and I laughed as we were going through the Snake Farm. This place has literally been in the same spot forever and neither of us has ever been. It has other animals other than snakes so that was pretty fun for all of us. We were in and out in less than an hour and that was perfect for us.

Do ya'll ever watch the show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe on the Discovery Channel? He featured the Snake Farm on one episode. And he's super funny. And pretty cute too. (Love you Bobby!)



And yet another funny tribute to this place to help liven up your weekend....

One Year Ago Today!

I thought that it would be a fun post to do on what the boys were doing (and what they looked like one year ago today)! I have to admit that this is kinda fun for me too. I get to pull out the trusty 'ole external hard drive and see whats even there! I have already forgotten what things were like then even though it really wasn't all that long ago. This makes me so thankful that I've started blogging!




How funny is Grady here? He still smiles like this when I tell him to say  CHEESE! This picture was from last March 2010 at our old house.

 




This is Grady this morning here at the house playing. He's getting soo big and it HARD for me to come to terms with the idea of "he's not my baby anymore" {tears and more tears}

 




And just for grins, this picture is from 2 years ago in March of 2009! Talk about babies!! Graham still has all his little kid teeth and well... you can see how little Grady is here. (And GAH, must clean out clothes drawers this weekend... I recognize the Pajama's that Graham is wearing in this picture and he still has them! )

Happy Friday Friends!

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Graham and Grady!

We plan on eating some of these today....



and reading a lot of this!

Hope everyone has a great St. Patty's Day!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

This week I'm joining up with Jaime to participate in What I'm Loving Wednesday. This is probably one of the most favorite post that I get to do every week. There are always so many things that I'm either thankful for or loving!

This week I'm Loving...

• Baking!



Yummy! Cherry Turnovers!



I also made some chocolate chip muffins and added some fun cupcake toppers that I had found and tucked away!

• Our newly mowed law!

As soon as Grady woke up from his nap and heard the mower he just had to go outside and catch a ride.



• A delish find at the grocery store!

When I passed by the produce section this baby just looked waaaay too good to pass up. Its starting to get warm again here in Texas and it makes me crave fresh fruit like this!

• Ocean Spray Sparkling Cranberry!
• 

This juice is so yummy and summertime-ish. Can you tell that I am soo ready for warmer weather and some summer fun! (And for the life of me I can't figure out why its adding an extra bullet and won't let me add a comment to this picture ) :(

• I'm loving that I got to have a "date night" last night with my older son Graham to see Rango! We had such a fun time together. I can only hope and pray that as he gets older and into his teenage years that he'll still want to hang out with his Mom!

• I'm also loving that hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have an awesome surprise to share with everyone!

Happy Humpday!

Support for Joanne!

Back in Janurary I read a blog post somewhere (don't even ask me where... I'm a bad blog hopper) and I read the most touching story about a woman named Joanne. She is a Momma of two just like me and only a couple of years older than me. On January 11th of this year she suffered a massive stroke.



This incredibly brave, strong, and godly woman has been fighting so hard and has come such a long way! Her husband Toben and several other family members have taken over writing her blog for her while she finishes recovering. And I fully believe that God will grant her a full recovery!
Her friends and family ask that in we show off our charm bracelets for her birthday today! One of Joanne's favorite things was her charm bracelet, so much in fact that its her blog header. How cute is that!

Here is a picture of my charm bracelet. It seriously pales in comparison to hers!

Hope on over to wish her a Happy Birthday and check out her charm bracelet and many other ladies that contributed in support of this wonderful woman! http://thesimplewife.typepad.com/

Love you Joanne and Happy Birthday! I can't wait to see what further miracles God has in store for you over the next year!