Happy HALLOWEEN!!!

YIPPEE! Another rocking Halloween has come and passed. We had so so much fun, as always, spending the evening at my cousin Nicki's house in Plano. It is always so great to see her two beautiful boys, Brennan and Breckan. And I love catching up with my other cousin, Wendy, and seeing her twins, Kamryn and Cullum (who, by the way, started kindergarten this year... wow.) So Cade was a Zebra and Marin was a pumpkin. There you have it. Oh, and Marin HATED the trick or treating part. She screamed the WHOLE time. I would've totally bailed on the whole thing if I didn't have to stand there and make necessary Cade memories. So she just bawled and we trick or treated as if nothing strange was happening. PSYCHO chick. So here's some Halloween photos for all to enjoy... except note that Marin is NOT so very photogenic in her pumpkin costume, so ignore the not-so-cuteness of that child. But Cade is still cute... so at least there's one. :)

Okay. She looks kind of cute in this picture because she's posing a bit. And she isn't screaming... yet.



Cade is smiling good here for the camera strutting his zebra self. Oh, and this was funny: that night when I tucked him in bed, I said, "Night, night, little zebra." And Cade goes, "No, Momma. Big Zebra Pants!" "Okay. Night, night, big zebra pants." I have no idea where that came from. David said he was declaring his indian tribal name... I am Big Zebra Pants. Whatever.



Here is Cade with Aunt Saucey (a.k.a. Kelsey). This is his special camera smile that I'm trying to extinguish. Usually, if I just tell him to say "cheese", he gives a pretty natural smile like the photo above. However, when I say, "Hey Cade, smile at the camera," he does this grimace/constipated look. NOT as cute. We have got to get him out of this photo phase.




And here is David and Cade having a moment together during our trick or treat walk. Cade is doing his sullen, model pose. At least it isn't the constipated grimace. And his zebra costume made for cute black and white photos. I don't have any clever story to go with this one... so just look at it.

My Mom's Dress

I took a photo of Marin today in a baby dress that was my mother's. Pretty cool!!! So this dress is way back from ... 1954!!! Sorry, Mom.... but it's cool that it's a dress that old. Anyway, just wanted to share.

The Potty

Ladies and gentlemen -- as of this week, my son, Cade, is potty-trained!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and can't believe that he trained as easily as he did. Typically, boys are harder than girls and I was ready for a battle, but he basically "got it" in half a day. AMAZING. Here's the rundown --

My friend, Amber, and I decided to potty train both our kids this week. She has a little girl, Abbie, who is exactly Cade's age. At 2 1/2, we knew they were ready. It was just a matter of us deciding to be consistent and do it. So this was the week.

The first day, I literally stripped Cade down naked all day. That way, he could see when he went and there was no diaper/pull-up to allow him to be lazy and not see the consequences of not going in the potty. And I thought underwear would just be one more step to deal with when he had to go. He peed in the house, he peed outside, he peed in the garage. Everywhere except the potty. Then, I loaded him up on juice and we sat on his little potty in front of the TV watching Dora and I basically didn't let him get up. I knew he had to go b/c he had so much liquid in him. He went in the potty and just got it. From then on, no accidents! And that was 3 days ago.

But then there's the poop issue. Well, Cade thinks it's fun to go poo poo in the garage, apparently. The first day, he pooped in the garage and came into the house and handed it to me!!!! GROSS! So goes the glories of being a mom. Funny thing is, I have had Cade's poop on me too many times to count since he was born, so it really wasn't even that big of a deal. I don't know if that's a good or a bad place to be as a mom.... hmmmm... Anyway, then the next day, he did it in there again. Then the next day -- AGAIN. But today, I dead bolted the doors and forbid him to go in the garage. It is like it was his hiding place to do it and avoid the potty. So he went in the potty! I am so proud of him.

I have even been brave enough to venture out beyond the four walls of my home. We've gone out to eat, to the grocery store, to the doctor (he has a cold), out to eat again... anyway... he has had no accidents and has even asked us to use the "store potty" or the "restraurant potty" and he goes in it! I am just so excited.

So as of today, we are officially diaper-free (except for bedtime and naptime... we'll see when that comes). So now I only have to change Marin's diapers. What a great, great week. But I was so lucky, Cade just caught on and basically trained himself.

Totally Psycho

Cade cracks me up daily. He woke up from his nap yesterday while I was on the computer... I walked in the living room and found him like this. He is so hilarious.

Updates

Well, I haven't blogged in forever, so lots has been going on. My last post was that Marin was sleeping through the night -- well, that's not true any more. I just don't have babies that sleep through the night. It's genetic, I guess. She's doing a heck of a lot better than Cade ever did, though. So it's livable. She's sleep through a handful of nights, but nothing regular or predictable. DARN IT.

Marin went to the doctor today for her regular 4-month checkup. She's doing fantastically. She's right at 14 pounds (50 percentile); 25.5 inches (75 percentile) and 16.5" head circumference (75 percentile). Pretty good. She also is rolling around like a beast now. When I put her down on the floor, I never know where I'm going to end up finding her in five minutes. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but she does like to roll over a lot. And she's starting laughing, which is darn adorable. You would think a little girl would laugh all high-pitched and cute... well, her's is more like a throaty, manly laugh. Very butch.

We took the family down to New Braunfels/San Antonio with David's parents. It was a ball. Cade LOVED Sea World and hasn't stopped talking about Shamu and the dolphins since. He says he saw the "Shamu show." And we got him a souvenier T-shirt (but it's so big that he just sleeps in it at this point.) But we did lots of swimming in the pool with Cade and he is ADDICTED to swimming. He even will let you let go of him in the water (of course, he has floaties on) and he'll kick and paddle to the edge all by himself. He is so proud when he does it. He is just cracking me up lately. He is so funny and adorable. Of course, I'm bias. But he really is. Marin has LOTS to live up to in the adorable department -- not sure she'll get there, but she'll try real hard. She's just so different.

Hard that you can have two kids from the same parents and they can be so different. Cade was always an extremely high-maintenance baby and continues to be a high-maintenance toddler. Not at all a bad kid, he actually is very very very well behaved (I'd like to take some of the credit), but he's very high-maintenance. He likes to constantly have your attention and you constantly have to play with him, color with him, go outside with him, tell him what EVERYTHING is and what EVERYTHING says, etc. My mom says he's just like me in that regard -- just totally CONSTANT 24/7. He never ever stops talking. Ever.

And then there's Marin who is such an easier baby. She only cries when she needs something (like all babies should) instead of just for kicks. She sleeps well, she's happy most of the time, she watches things... and is altogether easy (a total breeze compared to Cade at that age.) Who knows what she'll be like when she gets older? Of course, I appreciate her laid-backness, but sometimes, I'm like, "Come on, girl! Show me some spunk, some fire already!" Perhaps I should just enjoy the passiveness. I'm just ready to get to know her. I'm anxious to meet Marin as she will be as a person... does that make sense?

Okay -- I've blogged long enough and shared more than enough. Thanks for reading and check back for pictures soon. Our computer is broken and I don't have the software on this one to put pics on ... so stay tuned!

Marin wins the contest.

Ladies and gentlemen, for the last two nights, Marin has slept all through the night w/o waking up. And I'm not talking just sleeping for an extended time between feedings. She has gone to bed at 9 and gotten up the next morning at 8. That is better than Cade, folks.

So, let's just be honest. I love her more now. :)

I had always heard rumors that babies existed that sleep through the night at 3 or 4 months old, but I never believed it. At least never believed it would actually happen to me. That I would be so lucky to get one.

Also, some new pictures taken in the last week or so. Marin is doing great and Cade is getting so darn verbal, he's starting to teach me words. You'll notice how much fun I'm having getting Marin all dressed up in the morning. She's looking super cute and Cade's still in a p.j. shirt and a diaper that's about 2 pee sessions overdue. Ha!

Marin Photoshoot

Poor Marin. I made her pose for me today to get some pictures of her. I don't take near as many pictures of her as I did Cade when he was little. I think that's pretty normal, though. But I captured some cute ones of her this morning hanging out in her Boppy.

Cade is at my in-laws house for A WEEK!!! Woh! He was so excited to go and I know he's having a great time in Hot Springs, Arkansas!

4th of July Festivities

We had such a fun 4th of July this year!!

In the morning, we went to my Aunt Marilyn's house and hung out with family. We had awesome hot dogs and the most amazing home made ice cream ever! It was fun to let the all the kids play together and (of course) pose for the annual picture on the outside bench! You can see it below.

And then that evening, we went and partied hard with our church group. It has been such a blessing to have such a strong 20s and 30s class. The people are just amazing and actually want to have fun together. The guys all go mountain biking and get together and play HALO and dodge ball (which is wierd, but they love it). The girls go see movies and hang out, too. God has truly answered our prayers of finding a strong group of friends at church. What a blessing! So... we had fun swimming and grilling and hanging out for the 4th.

You can see some of our swimming fun on You Tube. HA!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRirxMYgB7M

Honda Gas Mileage

P.S. The car gets approx. 28 MPG average -- maybe a little more hwy and a little less city. But that's about what I get per tank.

Selling the Car

Yo people. I realize there are a whopping 2 people that even look at my blog, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case I get a few non-normal visitors. Anyway, we're selling our 2000 Honda Accord. It's an amazing car, but it has 2 doors and our growing family just requires 4 doors. I am tired of crawling into the back seat to do the kid-shuffle. It's totally souped up w/ leather interior, the V6 engine, woodgrain interior. It's got 92K miles and is totally perfect. I've gotten every major service checkpoint done at a Honda dealership. Seriously, it's an amazing car that someone will be lucky to get. We're asking $8,800 for it, which is below the Kelly Blue Book price for this trim package.

Let me know if you know of anyone who might be interested or if you are interested in saving gas and owning a safe, reliable Honda car.

Marin's 2 Month Dr. Visit

Well -- Marin went to the doctor today for her 2 month checkup and SHOTS!! She got 5 vaccines today and they wore her out. She has been konked out all day. I'm sure that means she'll be up all night. YES!!! :0)

Anyway, she's looking great. She's in the 80% for height and the 40% for weight at 10.5 pounds. The doctor says she's long and lean (just like her brother... and just like me in about a year!!!).

Just wanted to post some super cute pics of my kiddos. They are the best in the world!

Hiking in the Rain

Well -- we weren't the brightest last night. It has been raining in Dallas for like a month straight and definitely all day yesterday. But -- in a brief break from the storm, we decided it would be nice to take our family of 4 out for a leisurely evening walk before bed/bath routines began. So David strapped on his new hiking boots so he could start breaking them in for his big mountain trek Colorado trip coming up in a couple of weeks, I got Marin in the Baby Bjorn carrier pack on my chest, and Cade...well, he didn't have to do anything to prepare. And we started walking.

By the time we had rounded the first block, it was sprinkling pretty good. No big deal, though. I brought an umbrella for Marin and myself. Then when we got to the farthest point from our house, it started POURING. And I mean really pouring. And lightening and thundering. We looked like idiots out walking in the monsoon. I am SO glad hardly any cars passed us. In this part of town, it really would've sealed the deal that white people are stupid. :)

Anyway, we walked back to the house as fast as we could with rivers running down all sides of the streets. It was flash flood in a BIG way. Kind of a funny story in the end. :)

Sick Little Dude

Well...

It's actually been about a week since all of this happened, but I'm just now getting around to updating our blog. Last Sunday, we had to take Cade to the ER (which is nothing new... he went there two times before he was 9 months old). But it was pretty scary, actually. He was having a real hard time breathing. He had had a cough all day and by the way it sounded, I knew it was what they call croup. But then when he was straining to take each breath and you could hear when he breathed in or out from clear across the room... it was time to go.

Well, they said it was definitely croup, which was no surprise to me b/c I had already self-diagnosed him and since I have always loved medicine, I'm pretty cocky about my thoughts. :) However, they said the breathing complications brought on by croup were bad enough to have to admit him to a room for observation for a while... WOH! I understand going to go the ER, but to actually have a room and stay in the hospital??? Crazy!

But he was such a trooper. He was so so so great. Mom wanted to cry he was so good. He laid on the CAT scan table real still while they took pictures of his head/throat and never moved a muscle. Just looked around with eyes like saucers. My poor baby!

Anyway, all is well now and he's back in to as much trouble as he was before and is as crazy as he was before, so that's good.

PS -- Marin slept 7 hours in a row last night. HALLE-FREAKING-LUIAH!

Life at Home

I have a couple of pictures for your pleasure. Yippee! This first one is of my amazing 2 year old. He has just been so wonderful with Marin's arrival. He helps and generally doesn't get jealous. He loves to kiss Marin a thousand times a day. I am so so proud of him. He will always be my best boy! :)

This photo is one of Marin that I think is kinda humorous. She is making a funny face. I think she was only about 2 weeks old when this one was taken, so it isn't particularly recent, but you just have to take what you can get. I haven't really taken many recent ones lately.

And these next two pictures are from Marin's first Sunday at church. She was 3 weeks old (we were going to go when she was 2 weeks, but I got sick, so we didn't get to). I love the photo of David with the two kids. I actually have that one on my desktop right now.


A couple weeks ago, the four of us and my mom went to Main Street Days (a festival in Grapevine) to see some bands play and let Cade play on the carnival rides. We all had a great time. Cade loved the hot dogs and the carosel and getting to ride the ponies!


And I lied. I do have some recent pictures of Marin, but she is screaming her head off in them. We were finally able to give her a bath for the first time two nights ago because her umbilical cord FINALLY fell off. The pediatrician had to put a chemical on it to speed up the process...but it's gone and it left a very attractive innie in its place. As you can tell, she just LOVES the bath so far... Cade screamed his first few baths, too, but now he's all over it. So we'll just give her time.

Marin Regains Birth Weight

Well -- it takes most babies 1 week to do it, but apparently Marin wanted to create havoc with a bazillion pediatrician copays by waiting until she was 4 weeks old to reach her birth weight again. Granted, she was a chunker at 8lb 10oz, but it was still a VERY slow climb back to that weight marker. Thank goodness she made it, though, b/c the doctor was about to tell me that I needed to start supplementing with formula to make her gain more quickly and I think with all I've been through with mastitis and continuing to nurse through that -- I would've either punched out the doctor or broke down bawling. But she's right at 9lbs now and doing fabulously, so all is well. And she's gotten much cuter than when she was born. She had a rough few days for sure on the looks... but she's a great baby, so I could handle a few days with an awkward-looking newborn! ;)

I am feeling human again now that the mastitis has subsided. That was literally hell on earth. I wanted to die. I laid in bed with tears streaming down the sides of my face and into my ears because I just felt so cruddy. David was so nice through it all. He felt so bad that he couldn't help me at night with feedings and stuff b/c of nursing and all, but he was supportive and great. He always is, actually. He's the best dad in the universe. I always watch him with the kids and am just so proud of my family.

My in-laws are here right now. They got here this evening and I am WAY excited!!! They are going to be able to bond a bit with Marin since they hadn't seen her since her birth with all the drama that insued... PLUS they can help a bit and I can get some well-deserved (I think) sleep. Maybe even a nap during the day????? WOW!!!!!!! Or they could get up with Cade when he wakes up at 6:30am (that has GOT to stop) and I can sleep until Marin wakes up. That will be awesome!!!

My mom has offered to help as much as she can with how busy busy busy she is with Mary Kay right now, but Cade has temporarily been banned from long visits at Ima and Popsy's house because he likes them too much. He ALWAYS wants to go over there and when we get him back, he has to go through about 48 hours of Ima and Popsy Detox. He just cries for them and throws fits when he can't go back. It's really cute, actually, because he is so in love with them. Maybe we'll lift the ban soon and he can go back and visit. I think the detox was just really bad this last time because he was over there so much during Marin's birth and then we had to stay there during the power outage right afterwards for 4 days... so he was basically there for a whole week non-stop. We'll have to break him back in slowly with small visits... :)

We feel so blessed to have our new little family unit! God is amazing!

The 2 Week Mark -- Still Alive

Well, I wish I could say that things have started to run smoothly again at the 2 week mark, but I'd be lying. On Saturday, I had to go to the emergency room because (warning: the following might be TMI) my fever climbed to 103 degrees in a matter of an hour and ... yes... my right boob felt like it was going to fall off it hurt so bad. It was so swollen and tender and BRIGHT RED. I feel wierd putting that on a blog, but it's the truth. I was in so much pain and my fever was so high, the doc said to go to the ER since it was Saturday. It is what they call "mastitis" which is a severe breast infection. It's a lot of pain and lasts for up to a week, but it apparently is extremely treatable and I can continue nursing through it, which I am glad about because nursing is actually going really well this time around. I would've hated to have to quit b/c of something out of my control. So I have been bedridden for 48 hours and am just starting to feel a tad bit better, but I wouldn't have told you that last night at about 10:30pm when my temperature soared again to 103.5. GEEZ!!!!!

But get this everybody -- MARIN SLEPT FOR 7 HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT. Holy gosh. I have never heard of a 2 week old that could do that. She geared up for it for sure by eating non-stop from about 4:30pm to 9pm and didn't sleep hardly at all during that stretch, but I certainly didn't expect her to sleep that long. Somehow, I guess God knew I needed her to since I was so severely ill... hope that's a repeat performance someday. Cade didn't do that until he was months and months old... wow. I did pray while I was pregnant for an easier baby than Cade was and apparently I got it. I don't know what it's like to have a baby that doesn't scream constantly, fuss while eating, hardly sleep and require constant bouncing/walking/rocking. It's bizarre. I feel blessed to have had the easy baby as the second baby. But of course, Cade's great. I don't mean to sound like I didn't love him to pieces anyway... ;)

I'll post more pics when I take some... it's been a bit much the last few days to try and snapshot anything. Plus... she sleeps all the time! Yippee!!! :)

Welcome Marin (i.e. Drama, drama, drama...)!!!

Marin Anne Williams was welcomed into the world on April 30. She weighed in at a whopping 8lb 10oz and was 21 1/2" long! Long girl! She was a full inch longer than Cade... wow. That's exactly how long Kelsey was when she was born. Cool. Plus... she kind of looks like her Aunt Kelsey did when she was born...

So, I'll spare you the birthing details, which were kind of intense. I will share the fact that I didn't get my freaking epidural until I was 7 cm dilated. HELLO! Talk about pain people. They had trouble getting in my I.V. b/c my veins kept collapsing or something. They had to call the anesthesiologist to come put in my I.V.... that took 30 mins for him to get there. Then I had to wait for the drip of fluids to get in me... another 30 minutes. Then I could get the epidural... minor complications with that... so that took 30 minutes... GEEZ! But Marin is here nonetheless and there you have it.

She is a wonderful baby. She has her days and nights mixed up for sure. I have to literally wake her up in the day to feed her after she's been asleep for 4 hours straight... and then at night... well, let's just say I basically try to sleep in the glider between nursings while holding her because the second I put her in the bassinet she wakes up. I think I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep last night and even that was interrupted sleep. Hopefully she'll figure things out soon. I'm just trying to enjoy the moments we have together.

So -- the story. About an hour after Marin was born, my father-in-law collapsed in the waiting room when his back gave out on him. So... he was wheeled down to emergency and doped up on super narcotics. My mother-in-law was keeping Cade, so she had to leave to put Cade to bed. Well, my father-in-law couldn't even sit up on his own, so he couldn't go in the car with her to our house... so he slept on the couch in my recovery room for the night. Glad we had the room and glad he was so doped up he didn't know what was going on around him. If you don't know it, the night you have your baby isn't exactly glamorous. Your body is displayed for all to see and you have lots of blood/nasty issues. Anyway...

The next day, he still couldn't sit up. So they wheeled me in my recovery bed out of the way so that they could get him out on another stretcher. He went back to emergency and took enough drugs for Carol (mother-in-law) to get them both home to Hot Springs. They made it...so that's good. But there goes our house/dog/Cade-sitters. So my mom and dad took Cade, some friends from church came and let out the dogs. But woops! My chihuahua BIT HIM when he was getting her out of the crate. Drew blood, people. Not good. I felt horrible about that.

We get released from the hospital on Wednesday, only to get to the parking lot to find a flat tire. Had to fix that on the way home.

Got home. Time to relax with the new baby. Just kidding!!!! Two hours later, a huge storm left us without power and neighborhood rumor held that it could be several days before it was back on. So pack up 2 dogs, diapers, new baby, clothes, food from the fridge, and head to my mom and dad's house. It was a good thing we did, too, because we didn't get power back until Saturday. So we spent 3 nights there.

It was trying and David and I did our best to keep our senses of humor roaring, but it was a rough week. Things are better-settled now as we get to know our new family-of-four unit. We've already eventured out to Target with the clan and all went well there... of course, I had David to help. I'm wondering when I'll get the adventuresome spirit up to do an outing... gulp ... alone. We'll see.

Anyway, for now, enjoy the pic of our new beautiful baby girl. I just gaze at her in amazement. God is so good.

To the doc again...

Now that I am almost about to deliver, it seems like all I do is go to the doctor. :) But this last visit was pretty exciting. I am already 2.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. In layman's terms, that's basically just that I'm getting ready to pop out this baby! It was at least encouraging to see progress.

I go in next week (if I'm still pregnant by then) and have another sonogram. My doctor and I will then decide if we think we should induce labor based on her GINORMOUS size. Ha! I told David last night, even if she's not really that big, it doesn't sound too bad to induce... I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore! But at the same time, there is something kind of exciting about going into labor on your own -- it's like the rapture... you don't know the day or the hour. Ha!

Stay tuned for updates...

Latest Doctor Appt

Things are looking good on the pregnancy front. I know I've mentioned this before, but apparently, my doc things Marin is going to be significantly bigger than Cade. As in, she may be 8 to 8.5 lbs. Which I actually prefer as far as newborns go... I have friends who have had 8+ pound babies and they just seem a bit less puny and sleep and eat better and stuff... so all sounds fine by me!

The biggest news is that "unless I go into labor on my own in the next 2 weeks, I'll be induced." So, ladies and gentlemen, that means by May 1, we're probably gonna have our new baby, Marin Anne!

I have a baby shower today that my best bud Amber is giving me. Should be a fun affair. I don't know how I got so lucky as to swing a shower with baby #2, but hopefully people will just come with smiling faces to visit and not fuss with gifts. We have all we need... course, most of it's blue... :) Amber told people it was a "diaper and wipe" shower, so hopefully I'll get stocked up with those consumables.

David is excited that the school year is winding down. Marin comes, then he gets summer vacation! How wonderful is that!!??? He'll be home to help me all summer with a baby and a toddler. Hopefully we'll all survive. We have several banquets and dinners we've gone to and are going to to honor David's Teacher of the Year award for Duncanville. It's been really nice. There's a big one in Waxahachie to honor all the Teacher of Year noms on April 30... Marin will either be coming the next day or I'll probably still be in the hospital... I told David he has to go no matter what, though. The only reason he can't is if I'm literally in labor or pushing. Other than that, I think he should be there. So we'll see.

Have a great Sunday! And see below for bluebonnet pix... I posted that just a few mins ago... so the post below is new, too.

Bluebonnets!!

The bluebonnets were gorgeous this year!! Best I've seen maybe ever. Wanted to share a couple pix from our afternoon out in them with Cade. He loved them! He kept running and flopping down on his stomach in them.

Busy Spring!!

Things have just been rolling along quickly lately. The Williams household has been busy, busy, busy!! I am working this month full time for my cousin, Nicki at a mothers' day out program in the North Park Mall area. Nicki is the director at Northway Christian Day School and one of her workers had to leave for a 6 week maternity leave, so I'm filling in. Cade absolutely loves going to "school today." I think his favorite thing is all the new girlfriends he's made!! Ha! Last night at church, he and Abbie (Amber and Justin Robinson's daughter) literally walked around the church lobby and hallway for five minutes holding hands, parading around. Everyone was laughing at them. It was absolutely adorable. I think a few pictures were taken on several cell phones.

I am feeling great for the most part. I have certain days when I feel a bit sluggish, but what can you expect when you're in your 8th month. Woh. That sounds pretty far along!! I can't believe Marin will make her debut in about 2 months! I feel so much better than I did when I was pregnant with Cade. For a while, it almost had me worried that I felt so good... I was thinking surely something was wrong if I have this much energy and can just get on and off the floor and on and off the bed and on and off the couch easily... but apparently feeling good is a good thing according to the doctor.

Speaking of the doctor, I'm starting to go every 2 weeks now! It feels like all we do is go to the doctor. I am sure Mom feels that way, too, since she's the one that has to watch Cade when I go for my visits. I could just take him with me, but it's nice to be able to just concentrate on me and ask questions without being distracted. My last visit was a big sonogram. It was pretty cool. With Cade, I only had a 20 week sonogram. Well, this one being 29/30 weeks along, you could see A LOT more. it was WAY cool. I mean, you could see her face. Not just a skull/embryo looking face, but a real, chubby, baby face with eyes that were opening and closing and stuff. It rocked. She is obviously going to be adorable! Right! :) Apparently, her head is measuring pretty small compared to her tummy and legs. So, doc says I"m gonna have a long-legged, big-bellied baby with a peon head. ATTRACTIVE!!! :) In summary, what the sonogram told us was that she is healthy and perfect. But my due date is now up for speculation because her legs and tummy show that I am on track to delivery end of April/beginning of May... but her head shows May 10... so first half of May, she'll be here for sure. I just assume keep her cooking as long as possible -- they are easier to take care of when they are inside your body versus outside. MUCH EASIER.

David is doing well. He is going on a mens' retreat this weekend with a large group of the men from our church. The theme is "The Power of a Praying Husband." I think he'll enjoy it. If not for anything other than the fact that he will be able to spend some fellowship time with good guys. Bryan and Justin (a few of our good friends) are going, so that will make the weekend a good one. He's been doing some good mountain biking lately. He's caught a few afternoons with Bryan after work and goes on Sundays a lot with the guys in our Young Adults class. I am only mad because I bought a brand new mountain bike about a month before I found out I was pregnant, so no biking for me!! I have a new bike just sitting in the garage begging to be ridden. I tried riding once while I was only about 4 months along and took a "head over the handlebars" fall... David benched me from then on. Woops.

Cade turns 2 tomorrow. Wow.

BTW -- Kelsey and Derek come home at the end of March!!!!! I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. It will be great to have them back home. Keep them in your prayers as they transition back to America!!!

Finally a name!

Well, we have officially decided to name our baby girl Marin Anne Williams. We like it and if you don't, I don't care. That's her name. Marin is just because we like it and Anne is because it's my middle name. So that's pretty cool. Keep all of us prego people in your prayers right now if you think about it. I just read on Tracey's blog that she had a scary fall and had to stay in the hospital (and she's due when I'm due) and an old friend of mine from high school, Kevyn (Pascoe) Yuditzky, just gave birth to her and her husband's first baby boy 2 1/2 months early (she was due when I am due). Luckily, everything is turning out okay for everyone, but it sure gives me the scares!

God Bless!

Baby #2

We've known the news for a little while, but we waited until a second sonogram just to be sure that IT'S A GIRL!!!! We are almost sure we know the name for her, but when David commits 100% and gives me license to start monograming things :), we'll share it with you, too. But until then, you'll just have to wonder... and congratulations to Tracey Shepherd for finding out that she and Brian are, too, having a baby girl! I tell you what, I've already bought a few outfits for her and can already tell that this is going to be the end of me. It's LOTS more fun shopping for girls -- there are just a lot more choices! And you get to have fun with bows and hairbands and tights and all that stuff. Boys just require jeans, khakis, maybe some navy pants and lots of different color polo shirts and such.... but girls, WOH.

We feel so blessed to have a wonderful, healthy boy. I can't wait to meet our little girl that will complete our family. Yes, after this one, we're DONE... God willing...

Have a blessed day!

Big Boy Bed!!!

Well -- Cade officially took his first nap today in his new big boy bed. We got his new room set up (we still have quite a bit to do in it, but the basics are done) for Christmas. We figured, better to get him used to and transitioned into a big boy bed now before the new baby comes along. I don't want to have to be getting up 4 times a night to feed our baby and 2 or 3 times to deal with Cade's transition into a new room/new bed. So, there you have it!!!

I'll be posting Japan pictures soon -- our trip was awesome back at Thanksgiving and I am a bum because I haven't posted it yet. But with Christmas and our recent trip to Seattle, we've just been busy busy busy!