She's a miracle already

Monday we had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Altman at Texas Children's for Grace's heart. About 6 weeks ago when we were there, her echo showed leaking in one of her heart valves which was concerning to the doctor because she worried it was similar to Jake's problems. On Monday, the leaking was totally gone...just gone. The doctor said she didn't know what happened to it. We think we have a pretty good idea :) So many people have been praying for Grace when they haven't even met her yet, and I know God healed her heart. We are so thankful for the prayers and for God's grace to our Grace. Another positive in this situation is that we really love Dr. Altman and will be switching Jake to her care starting in May for his next appointment. I felt so comfortable with her and appreciate her thoroughness. I had to laugh a little bit because last time I was so overwhelmed with our long appointment and all of the "heart" jargon so this time Ty and Jonesa came with me, and it took about 10 minutes for her to say all was well.

I went to Dr. Turner yesterday for my regular OB check-up, and she had only good news as well. It looks like Grace is about 6 pounds right now, and she could feel her head so she's in position to come. I'm not dilated yet, but am having several Braxton Hicks contractions. Dr. Turner said she's definitely dropped and looks like she's wants to come out. Jake never did that so this is progress for me! At 41 weeks he was holding strong and not wanting to come and meet us so I was induced at that point.

Also, I wanted to give an update on the True Woman Bible study challenge I had talked about before. I started so strong, and have fallen sadly behind. I won't finish it this month, but I am determined to finish it--it just may be 20 days late or so. Jake's naps have been shorter and shorter and the Bible study is online which really requires him to be asleep for me to do it. I just did a lesson today, and it was on working joyfully in the home. This is a concept that has honestly overwhelmed me lately. Taking care of the house and Jake has been difficult as of late, and for the first time I started panicking thinking about balancing everything with 2 little ones in the house. God knew I needed to hear that today! So now, I'm going to get off this computer, march myself into my kitchen, and clean joyfully because I LOVE my family :)

The Locked Door Incident

We've now had our second "big boy room" ordeal with Jake. Thursday afternoon he was "helping" me fold laundry in Ty and I's room and we were going from our room to his to put up his laundry. If you've been to our house, you know the upstairs is quite small--all four bedrooms are very close together. Jake went ahead of me to his room, and I was coming behind him with some laundry when he shut his door and then I heard a lock. I didn't think much of it because he locked our door the other day, and I just got a bobby pin out and opened it right away. I looked at his door and noticed instead of the little push button lock, Jake had an actual keyed lock on his door. We have lived here almost 5 years and never noticed that you had to have a key for that lock. Since we never had noticed it, we most certainly didn't have a key for that lock. It was like a outside door lock. Before this room became Jake's a month ago, it was the office and we'd never had a reason to lock the door.

I called Ty at work and he didn't know it had a keyed lock either. A year ago my dad re-keyed our downstairs doors and we got rid of all of the keys that came with the house. It could have been one of those keys...So I called my dad who lives in Oklahoma because he just happens to be a locksmith and asked him how to get Jake out of the room. He said without locksmith tools, there would be no way to get in without breaking off the doorknob or breaking down the door. It wasn't even the kind of lock you could use a credit card with. He suggested I try a hammer and a screwdriver which I did for about 15 minutes to no avail. I then called back Ty and asked him to come home to get the knob off; he came right away but works almost an hour from home so it took a little bit.

Meanwhile, Jake had a blast playing in his room. I heard him playing his drums, working his puzzles (several have sound effects when you put them together), and I heard him drag out his books. I sat by the door and every 5 minutes would ask him a question to make sure he was OK. I would ask, "What does a lion say?" and he would roar loudly back at me...we did all of his animal sounds in the next hour and a half. I also kept hammering away at the knob, but just managed to chip off the paint on the door. Jake never once cried.

When Ty got home, it took him about 10 minutes to break the doorknob off and rescue Jake. Jake wasn't phased in the least and was just glad that his dad was home from work. Here's the door now...we will definitely be replacing the doorknob with a simple one with no lock at all!

My Baby Shower

Two Sundays ago my wonderful friends at church threw me a baby shower for baby Grace. My mom and dad came up for the weekend as well as Ty's sister Destin and his Aunt Kaye from Louisiana. My friend Rachel from Sugarland came up for it and also my friend Michelle came who I hadn't seen a long time. Its so different having a girl--everything is so pink and I love it :) Grace now has her first pair of high heels, a baby bracelet, a wardrobe of cute clothes, and huge headbands and bows I can't wait to put on her. I also got some great practical items including several packs of diapers. Now we just need our baby girl. I have three and a half weeks to go. (We'll see the cardiologist for an update on her heart tomorrow and I'll see Dr. Turner on Tuesday and she'll start checking to see if there is any progress yet--I'll post about that later this week).

My hostesses: Bronwyn, Claudia and Lillie Beth Babb, Lauren, and Claudia Crawford

The beautiful cake made by Bronwyn--it matches my nursery!

Lillie Beth and me--she was our special helper at the shower. She's my friend Claudia's adorable little girl. I love her!

My mom, Jonesa, Destin, me, and Aunt Kaye

Baby Gentry

Here are some pictures of my sweet neice Gentry. We haven't gotten to see her again since she was born in November and probably won't until this Spring. I love that Ryan and I are having kids so close together--it just makes seeing them hard when I can't travel there because I'm too pregnant and they can't travel here very well with a newborn and two and a half ago. I got these pictures from my parents camera--she's cute as can be and looks a LOT like Hendrix's baby pictures.

Gentry watching the National Championship game--unfortuntely her outfit didn't affect the outcome of the game.

Hendrix and Gentry on Christmas Eve--I hope Jake looks this happy when his sister comes next month!

Cookie Decorating and Finger Painting

Monday and Tuesday this week I was blessed to get to spend time with some of my Northland girls. Monday, Jake and I had lunch at Berryhill with Angela, Holly, and Amy all who I taught and played Varsity tennis for me. Angela is a senior at A & M, Holly is a junior at OU, and Amy is a junior at UT--they're all three doing so well in school, and it was great to catch up with them! Tuesday, Molly and Chelsea came over for our second annual cookie decorating party. Molly is a sophomore at UT and Chelsea is a sophomore at Case Western--the girls were the president and vice-president of the student council when I was the sponsor. They're both such wonderful Christian girls who I'm so proud of for their amazing scholastic achievements and strong convictions. Seeing the girls again made me remember what a wonderful job I got to have for 8 years--I loved working with high school students and teaching them English and hopefully a little about life as well. I feel like God gave me some time to practice mothering for years before I started my real mothering job with Jake and now Grace.

Anyway, Molly, Chelsea, and I have started the tradition of baking New Year's cookies which means they can be absolutely anything--we made all different shapes and used whatever sprinkles we wanted--no theme necessary :) While we were baking cookies, Jake was taking a nap upstairs. When we heard him starting to cry, Molly went upstairs to get him from his room and found Jake looking like this:

Apparently, Jake had some fun in his new room before going to sleep. He must have gotten up out of his bed and found his finger paints. This was totally my fault for leaving them within his reach in the desk drawer. They were all sealed so I didn't think about him being able to unseal both the package they were in and the individual paints--I underestimate my son! He had painted his mouth, hands, feet, and the carpet a wonderful shade of blue. Luckily, it was non-toxic and didn't hurt him a bit, and its almost out of my carpet :) I guess after painting, he fell asleep on the floor because that's where Molly found him waking up--the perils of the "big boy bed." I have to admit after this, I desperately wanted to move him back to his crib of safety, but we've left him sleeping in his bed, and and he's done well the past two nights. I did put all art supplies safely out of reach though...I learned that lesson!

His artwork on the carpet

He also must have been "reading" a bit before his nap

With the girls after he was all cleaned up

True Woman Makeover Challenge

This isn't really my New Year's resolution, but nonetheless I wanted to share about the True Woman Makeover which I discovered through my friend Stacey's blog. I know I'm probably in need of a physical makeover (I've had the same haircut since Jake was born and I'm sure its time for a change--I just like it!), but this more of a spiritual makeover. Stacey had blogged about it awhile back and decided to take the challenge starting January 1st. I'm a day behind and didn't start until January 2nd. The website for this challenge is http://www.truewoman.com/.

The premise for this idea is to start a revival of women who seek to become more like the woman in Proverbs 31--you know the extremely perfect woman who gets up at dawn to make her family breakfast, sews her family beautiful clothes, helps the poor, makes linens to sell for extra money, and is praised by her husband and children. When I first started reading about this, I was a bit skeptical because I know right off I can never emulate this woman, but in the reading for day one the study asks you to read Proverbs 31 everyday for a month and promises you will gain insights beside what you first read. The ministry sends you an email each day for the month with insights about different sections of the text. I've read through the text three times so far and do believe imitating the Proverbs woman is more than going through a checklist of chores and duties; I'm learning its about having a servant heart for the Lord, your family, and others. Also, I've noticed that this woman does not have idle hands. In our society, I know we are way too busy, but I think we also tend to be idle at times in the wrong ways. If I would be busy more with the "right" things, I know I would have less time for gossiping, worrying, etc...So, I'm excited to study this woman more and see what God can teach me this month if I will just make time for Him.

I really want to take the month of January and digest this chapter in the Bible and dwell on how I can be a more Godly woman. I know I desperately need to be in God's word more. I have such good intentions, but have failed miserably the past few months. I've been trying to read the book: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World since October, and I do love the book, but I've been distracted and haven't made it past chapter three. That book has a Bible study with it which delves into scripture, and I do want to do that study as well. I can say I'm busy (which I am), but I also know I had time to read the four books in the Twilight series during the month of December so I'm not THAT busy :) I just need to make God a priority and seek him first like the scripture says (Matthew 6:33).

So, I'm going to start now and take this 30 day challenge and pray that God will renew my heart and help me to make Him the priority that I know he needs to be!

Jake's new room

We've had Jake's new room ready for about a month now but have been hesitant to have him start sleeping in his "big boy" bed yet. I wanted to give him plenty of time before Grace arrives to take ownership of his new room and be excited about his new bed so he doesn't feel like she's stealing his crib. We kept the safari theme from his nursery and I found a twin quilt with the theme for his bed and got a rail for the side at Target so he won't roll out at night. We love the furniture we found on Craig's List--it was such a good deal and is nice furniture that should last for quite awhile. The bed is a captain's bed with drawers underneath which we've filled with Jake's toys. I put several of his books in his desk drawers since he obviously won't be using that for several years!

Thursday night, New Year's night, was his first time to sleep in the big bed and he did fantastic! He crawled right up in it and went to sleep. The next night wasn't so easy. He got up at least 10 times...I heard him playing his toy drums, "reading" books, playing with cars, and my favorite--he took all of the clothes out of his drawers and put them in a big pile in the middle of the floor. Finally, he did go to sleep Friday night and slept until about 6:30. Last night, he only got up once, and tonight so far he's gone right to sleep so here's hoping it will be a smooth transition! I'm honestly a little sad to see him in the big bed and out of the crib. I'm realizing more and more how hard it is to let go of each stage! Here's some more pictures of his room:

The dresser with the animal pictures from his nursery above it.

The nightstand which really just holds toys...it doesn't quite fit by the bed :)

Jake's desk...notice Ty's lava lamp behind it (I made him take it out of our room and this is where it ended up!). Ignore the laundry basket too...it was laundry day when I was taking these!

The "big boy" bed