Birthdays

Today is my brother's birthday


It is also my dog, Rudy's, birthday!!!

Rudy is 7 today and Jerral is much older than 7. Reagan got to celebrate with me in giving Jerral his gift on Friday. Rudy got to enjoy some rainbow sherbet today from Baskin Robbins....yum! he liked it!

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite guys! : )

Baby Bryan Update

I had an ultra sound test done today to get a more accurate weight guess on Baby Bryan. The sonographer used several measurements to determine his weight. He weighs over 7 1/2 pounds right now! So, she is right to be figuring that he will be at least nine pounds if he goes all the way to his due date of November 29th. His measurements are all about 2 weeks ahead...so he is a big boy! He is in position and ready to make his entrance into the world when the time is right! We also got to see his manhood again today....just this week, I was thinking, "hmmm, sure have lots of monogrammed stuff around here....would be a real shock to have a girl now!" Bryan showed us today that he is VERY much a boy. John and I could BOTH see the images of THAT quite clearly. Other than the head, I really have a hard time seeing all of the parts that the sonographer shows to us. Everything looks great, so now we finish out the next couple of weeks and then we have him in our arms. I still have a hard time fathoming that are about to have FIVE kids! Just recently, I have been asked multiple times is this is my first, or second baby....you should see the eyes of those that I tell "no, this is our 5th"....I don't think that they really know what to say back to that!!!! We are excited and look forward to meeting our little guy. There was a newborn at the office today and we had Whitney, Blayne and Reagan with us and we all just stared at him....I think with excitement as we dream of what our little Bryan will be like! Please continue to pray for us as we journey ahead with the pregnancy, pray for my health and for that of Baby Bryan. Pray that I can get everything in order that needs to be done within the next two weeks, and that I can prioritize my time and energy in the right direction. I will keep you posted!

Stonecipher Weekend Away

We went away for 24 hours with our Extended Stonecipher family Friday and Saturday. We went to a place called "Cherith". We went there last year and look forward to making it an annual event. The kids had a blast. Because I am nine months pregnant, I chose to go spend the night at my brother's house instead of sleeping on the gym floor! Reagan accompanied me and enjoyed her only child time at Uncle Jerral and Aunt Dilia's house! We got there at bedtime and had to leave the next morning, but we had a nice visit. When we got to Cherith on Friday night, the kids could not wait to get into the pool! They had fun swimming with their cousins. We had dinner together and the kids played and played. On Saturday, they got to swim some more, we celebrated my niece, Brittany's, 12th birthday and Uncle Keith shot off rockets with the kids in the afternoon. One rocked went on top of the roof, and while Nana read a story to the cousins, my John climbed ON THE ROOF of the large building and retrieved the rocket! I saw him up there and snapped a couple of pictures! He was the hero!!! We all came home exhausted last night, but we were thankful for the memories made! ***More pictures to come when I receive them from my sister-in-law.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Libby

NEW UPDATE!!!!
Libby is home...and apparently DOES have the Flu. I guess the test that they send off showed up positive. She is is responding well to Tami-flu and is feeling good! Thanks for praying for her.

*UPDATE* She tested positive for a UTI....whew, in the scheme of things, that is GREAT news! She will stay in the hospital through Saturday to receive IV antibiotics. Pray for her that there are no more complications or infections!

Gracie with her mom, "Omie"

I have been texting back and forth with Gracie today. Libby is in good spirits considering she got very little sleep last night. They got admitted to a room late this morning, so they should get some rest. They are treating her for the flu although her test was negative because of her symptoms. She will be in the hospital at least through to tomorrow night. Gracie in true "Gracie Form" is making arrangements to cover all of her duties at school and such so that she doesn't leave anything undone that she has committed to! The boys were missing their mom this morning. I was sad for them. Blayne forgot his backpack (and cried when he realized it as I was dropping him off for school). Reagan got carsick and threw up as I was pulling into the parking lot at the school and probably grossed out all of the kids! Oh, and we overslept this morning because an (ahem) unnamed man turned off our alarm and went back to bed and his huge pregnant wife had already retreated to the couch in the night to try to get her pregnant self comfortable...so an after 7 wake-up when you have to leave by 7:30 is a PROBLEM....yep, that was the start to our day.
Oh, and to make things more exciting....the realtor called and one of the lookers from yesterday has us on their "short" list. Nice, let's sell a house and have a baby....that would be a great cause for celebration, don't you think? All of you that have offered to help with the move are probably panicking as you read this!!!! Doesn't God have a GREAT sense of humor?

What a Day!!!!

***Libby UPDATE***
She has some type of infection. They admitted her and will watch her for 48 hours. She was neg for H1N1, but they are watching her closely. Gracie's phone was about to die when she was texting me, and she forgot her charger, so I don't know how easily it will be for her to contact me.
****Will post more when I hear something****Thanks for praying.

It has been one of those days around here....yep....a day that doesn't go how you expect it to go. I haven't shared on here that we have our house on the market...realized that today when I got a lot of response and SHOCK on Facebook when I made a post regarding a showing....ooops! details...details... We have had our house on the market since August. We have had showings, but ZERO showings in the past 5 weeks. Today I had TWO!!!! Should I put on the flyer that I am having a baby in less than 3 weeks???? This kind of thing is the story of my life! Anyway, along with no showings lately and the fact that I am bigger than a barn, I have let things go around here....seriously! So today, I had to pull off a modern day miracle! I did months worth of of housework in 3 short hours! My wonderful husband is the laundry folder around here. He folds like what you would see at a GAP store...it is awesome! Anyway, last night I had a fun dinner with two close friends so he had encouraged me to get lots of laundry DONE yesterday so that he could get it all folded last night. I did my part...three loads washed and dried and DUMPED and ready for folding....well, I returned last night LATE to a dark house, and my dumped laundry. He had an exhausting day and had chosen to spend time with the kids instead of folding laundry and then he went to bed after getting them to bed....which was all okay by me...until I got the 7:45 phone call this morning scheduling a showing!!!!! YIKES! I called him, got some encouragement and started working like a mad woman! He encouraged me to have someone watch Reagan, but I didn't feel right to dump her on someone so last minute...well, that was until she dropped a full container of bubbles onto my kitchen floor....I gave Gracie a call to ask if Reagan could do a ride-along to Libby's school this morning for her drop-off. That would buy me an hour. Gracie, who is a lot like me with things like this, said sure, not a problem...no big deal that it was time for her to leave right then, she had to give Libby food AND get herself dressed. She quickly got them ready and headed over her and picked up my girl! Reagan was thrilled, Libby was thrilled to have "Sissy" come along to school and I was MORE than thrilled. Thank you God for friends! So back to work for me....got it done....left just in time as the clients were pulling in the drive...AHHH...a MAN without a woman with him...no white glove inspection today! Plus, he went straight for the backyard! I ran to pick up Reagan at Gracie's house...she was having a blast and had gotten to get a donut and chocolate milk after dropping Libby off at school! Needless to say, she wasn't quiet ready to go home! I visited for bit, and headed home, only to receive another call for another showing!!!! So, it has been an adventurous day, I am exhausted, and plan to go to bed SOON!!!!!

Switching Gears....I received a text from Gracie a couple of hours ago, and I FELL apart...maybe because of pregnancy hormones, maybe because I am exhausted, maybe because I am stressed a bit, maybe because I am worried, maybe because of all of the above! Gracie was on her way to the ER in Dallas. Libby has fever, low oxygen sats, and a high heart rate! (all not good for Lib!) With Libby's condition she has NO reserve. Illness is very scary for her. Fever is bad. My kids were in the car with me when I got the text. They saw me sad, and I had to tell them that she was headed to the hospital. I guess that they had talked about it on the way home from school (they carpool together). Mason had told Whitney that Libby was purple and that she could die from being sick. Blayne was talking about her being sick and that she has a little heart....I just cried. Sometimes reality sucks! (that is such a tacky word, but that is how I feel right now) Anyway, I am so reminded how quickly things can change....I was JUST talking and laughing with Libby THIS morning. She was soooo happy to have Reagan sitting next to her in the car. I called one of the dwarfs in her book by the wrong name and she was trying to give me clues as to who it was, she was showing off her silver sparkly shoes and smiling...smiling her Libby full face smile. Things can change so quickly for her. Please pray for Libby tonight. Pray for wisdom for all that see her, pray for protection for her from H1N1 (she did get vaccinated---last week, I think it was). Pray for Gracie, and I am sure that this is very scary, especially KNOWING that her valve is leaky and not functioning well. Pray for the boys (Mason and Camden) that they will feel peace right now. They both have mentioned to me that they are concerned the Libby is going to get the Swine Flu (they both had it a few weeks ago). They are cautious and understand that her getting sick is very bad, and they really try hard to protect her as good brothers should! Gracie is supposed to keep me posted. I will update when I know something! For now, pray.

Storybook Character Day

Every year, our school has a Storybook Character Day that coincides with Halloween. Whitney (being WHITNEY) has had her costume planned out for months. She was in shock to learn that her best friend didn't know what she was going to be just last week! Whitney planned down to the detail and you will remember LAST YEAR'S costume was all a Whitney plan too! Blayne was excited to get to participate this year and it was no surprise when he picked out to be a Star Wars Character for this big day. The weather did not cooperate on Friday, so there was a mix-up with the parade. I called the school to find out what the plan would be, and was told that we would have to go to the alternate plan and not have a character parade because of the rain. Two other people confirmed this for me so Reagan and I headed back home....only to learn later that the parade DID go on in the drizzle and I MISSED it...BUMMER. I was able to take pictures later when I returned to work for the teachers and Whitney's teacher even asked me to take a picture of her class. So, although we missed the parade, I did get to take some pictures of my characters and see them with their friends! Oh well, sometimes things like that just happen!

Church Fall Fair

John took the kids to the church fair this week. I stayed back and enjoyed some peace and quiet here. I am really feeling the pregnancy home stretch. My legs go numb when I stand for long periods of time and my back really hurts. I try to limit the time on my feet when I can....
They all had a great time.
Reagan was a "horse" (actually a zebra)
Blayne was a cowboy
Whitney was a pig
Savannah was a cat
John was a "birthing coach" and wore his scrubs shirt!
They came home sugar loaded and carrying bags of candy, popcorn, and cotton candy. Our church really does a great job with the games and festivities. Maybe next year, I will make it with Baby Bryan in the stroller and not in my belly!!!!