It's a girl...the story...

So, it happened like this...I've thought really it was a boy most this pregnancy. I was pretty convinced having a girl after five boys was not going to happen--although I continued to pray for one, knowing my dear husband so wanted a girl!

We were able to bump up our ultrasound a week early, hallelujah...waiting for those is so hard! I had bought two little blanket animals--one blue and one pink and we put each one in a brown paper bag. We took them in to our tech and asked her at the end to mark whichever bag it was. We told her we didn't want to know but wanted our kids to be able to open the bag and we'd find out together. She really didn't seem to understand what we were trying to do :) She didn't speak great English so...

The ultrasound went well but as it ended Denny and I both thought we heard her drop "he" a few times during it. She asked if we wanted her to take a picture of the "sex" and then put that in the bag and we agreed that would work. So she took the picture we turned around and she put in the "right" bag. We left convinced it was a boy. We had met there so we had to drive separately and all the way home I just prayed that Denny and I would be joyful with confirmation of having a sixth boy.

When we arrived home, Denny came in with just one bag. I asked him how did he know which bag it was and he said he could feel the picture from the outside of the bag. So, it was a bit crazy because we were running late and Conner and Jacob had violin lessons. So we quickly had them do coats/shoes and then said we had a bag we wanted them to open. I'm still not sure if they knew what was going on but we told them this would show if it was a boy or girl. They tore into it and found the blue doggie blanket. Boy...I immediately said, "sorry Luv" but Denny was busy saying, "alright, six boys, glad he's healthy" BUT then he did a quick "WAIT, WHERE'S the PICTURE?" "IT'S NOT IN HERE"....and I'm screaming, "WHAT? NO WAY!" "AAAHHHH!!!"....He runs back to the garage where the other bag is and I'm still screaming "NO WAY!" and thinking is this really happening?...are we really going to have a girl?...He opens the other bag and sure enough inside is the pink blanket with the picture and she had typed, "It's a girl" on the picture.

Yippee...I hugged Denny and screamed and Jacob and Conner kind of stood in shock and said they wanted a boy. :) (Eli and Nate were still napping but later found out and didn't seem to to care too much.) SHOCK....I still feel in shock...really a girl, after five boys, I can't wrap my head around it!

So for about 10 seconds we truly thought it was a boy...oh, my heart...too funny!

And now....I get to think about decorating a girl room...exciting but overwhelming...I like too many different things...so my head is spinning and I'm dreaming of what she'll look like--sure she'll be the one that finally has brown hair and eyes, like her Daddy!

We'll see...may God keep her safe and bring her to arms healthy!

Baby #6--It's a girl!!

Baby girl is due in July! Yippee! Don't miss the next post about how we found out!

Happy 3rd Birthday "Nater"!

Happy Birthday Nate! My big "3" year old! What a precious boy you are. You are my funny boy. You just say and do things that crack Mommy and Daddy up! You are definitely a little sponge--picking up every word and phrase your brothers utter so sometimes you will just say the funniest things because you really don't know what the words mean--you just repeat it. However, you often know what it means and say it and it's not so kind. That's not so funny :)

You are a little creature of habit--always wanting Mommy to read the same book, sing the same song, do the same tickle-every day before nap and bed. I sometimes have to beg you to read a different book :) You still sleep with a little "lovey" and want a paci (oh, the paci, a habit that has got to be broken soon! The dentist said you will already need braces so I won't bring on the torture yet, but soon!)

You love your brothers and want to be with them doing whatever they are doing most the time. However, you can be very independent too and go off to your room to play by yourself or ask me to do the iPad or computer. You are a roamer :) --never in one place too long. I love the way you have to say "Bye, love you" to your brothers when they get out of the car if we're dropping them off somewhere. It's so cute and you get really upset if they get out quick and don't say it back to you.

You are very affectionate and often run to give Mommy and Daddy hugs. You love to be tickled by Daddy. You give me huge bear hugs every morning which I love.

You are a quick learner--often soaking up whatever I may be teaching your brothers. I still remember when at 15 months you weren't even talking (or walking) and now you are a great little talker (and walker and a funny runner).

Quick facts about you right now--you love oatmeal, you make me sing Father Abraham after circle time everyday (ugh, hee), you won't sit still at all for group reading time, you almost know all your phonograms, you are cutting very well, you enjoy jumping on the trampoline but you aren't a huge fan of the cold--you don't last outside too long, you have become quite fond of Sesame Street and recently you got a little stuffed Elmo doll that you carry around everywhere, you are loving, silly, and just a fun boy!

Mommy and Daddy are so blessed! We love you Nate and pray your B-day today and this next year will be blessed. We thank God for you!

Newborn pic--2 weeks old

One of my favorite photos of you when you were 1 being silly

for Daddy while he was picture taking

My cutie...my only brown/hazel eyed boy

Favorite Family Pictures

We had our annual photo shoot with Jonalee Earles again in Oct. 2011. I didn't post them originally because we wait until after Christmas when all the family gets their copies of pictures :) So here are my favorite. It's hard to capture all of us together in one good picture but we did manage to get one good family shot and some of the boys!

Nicholas is 1...(again...found I wrote two posts, oh well)

It's so hard to believe a year (now 13 months) has passed since your birth...goes so fast! Can I just say I think you are the cutest, sweetest baby ever?!!! Your smile brings me so much joy. You are just precious.

You are a busy one year old. You started army crawling around 7 months, on-your-knees crawling around 9 months, and then you became our earliest walker in December--taking your first few steps around New Year's and then becoming a full walker around January 8th--that means not much crawling and walking all over and now getting to a standing position on your own from the floor. You just love to cruise all over the house. You are very content on your own just investigating. I'm so thankful you are content--not sure what I'd do if you couldn't play and entertain yourself! :)

You are just a happy boy. You are still not my best sleeper but you've become much better the past two weeks. You are moving to one nap a day but it's early in the day so you go to bed pretty early--which is fine except you're waking me up between 4 and 4:30 a.m. every morning crying for milk--which after 10-11 hours in understandable so I get up to get you some but I don't usually make it back to bed--ugh, it can make for a very tired Mommy come 7 p.m. :) Thankfully you do go back to sleep until 7:30ish! Hopefully your nap will gradually move later and then you can go to bed later and HOPEFULLY in-turn you'll wake up later hungry!

You aren't talking yet but that's no surprise. I've learned the more brothers you have the later you're going to talk! :) It's a pattern in our family but you did break the pattern for walking so we'll see. You just started waving bye-bye. We are trying to get you to point--as the doctor says this is important :)

Nicholas, you are a joy, and such a blessing to our family. I am so happy I get to "Mommy" you. I do sometimes wish I could spend more focused time with you but I do cherish the sweet moments of play I get to have with you.

Praying your life will be long, blessed, and joy-filled in the Lord!

Love you lots,

Mommy

LOVE YOUR SMILES and those blue eyes!!

So overdue again...December happenings

Pregnant, homeschooling, still recovering from holiday "hangover" and trying to maintain the home :) doesn't allow me the time I'd like to keep up with pictures and blog, oh well...my posts are just always late...

I tried once again this year to get as much done early (in November) as I could knowing December, no matter what, is so busy...it was better this year but still not want I want this year to be. Somehow I hope we can get to where we don't travel for Christmas and I think that would make all the difference--with 6 kids, people are going to have to come to us :)

We celebrated a b-day on Dec. 14th--hard to believe Nicholas...you're 1 !!!

A highlight of the year is when Conner gets to perform in his ensemble group at the Christmas concert at the church. Conner, you did a great job again this year. Another fun thing you were able to do--is all the ensemble groups met together to play songs in the lobby at church between services. This was a great way for you to get some practice in front of lots of people. You played great but we have to work on smiling :)

In December we enjoyed 24 days of activities as you boys LOVE opening a door each day to see what they might get to do. I enjoy this too but again, it adds to the craziness of the month! I passed on doing our Jesse Tree this year and we just did an advent devotional in the mornings and sometimes at night. We did some school but ended up taking most the month off. Some of our traditions include taking you boys to buy gifts for each other. This year we took you all to Target and had you draw a brother's name. You had a treat at Starbucks while Daddy or I took one of you at a time to pick out a gift. It couldn't be more than $10. Then you all went to pick out an ornament for your tree. You boys have your own tree in the basement that you get to decorate each year with your ornaments. I think come a few years now, we'll have to invest in a much larger one!

Eli--you got a unicorn ornament--how fitting for you

this year--you've been crazy about unicorns half the year!

Conner you picked out a Star Wars ornament since

this year you watched it for the first time

Nate, not sure why you got a gingerbread man

but you did :)

Jacob, you wanted a Rudolph ornament

since it lit up and you watched it for the first

time this year

Another tradition is that the week of Christmas you open your gifts from your Great-grandparents. This year you opened Nana and Grandpa Bell's and you all go pillow-pets--something you'd been asking for! Your reactions to getting them was priceless--so happy! I got that on video, no pictures. Loved it! I saved Great-grandma and Grandpa Milliner's for Christmas morning--but you got a new big bean bag for your reading corner from them. We saved Grammy and Pawpaw's many gifts for when they came on New Year's weekend and you opened Grandma and Pap's in Ohio.

You boys loving your pillow pets--Eli your face

is so sweet in this picture

On Christmas Eve night you opened your new p.j.'s that you get every year to wear for Christmas morning--I debated on buying these this year because really only Nate and Nicholas wear pj's. I bought--too much money spent, and though cute on...not worth it if you don't wear them--though they get passed down each year and one day Nate and Nicholas might wear them unless they choose to be underwear sleepers too. :)

New pirate p.j.s for all!

We had good friends invite us over to have a Nativity show with all our kids. It was so much fun. Conner, you were the angel that appeared to Joseph and you memorized and spoke your words very well. Jacob, Eli, and Nate--you were the shepherds and did a great job. It was a fun time and hopefully will become a tradition.

We decided this year to change things up and have our "Christmas morning present opening" on Christmas Eve, which might become our new tradition. We've wanted to be able to have Christmas morning just be about celebrating Jesus b-day and we usually leave for our trip around 10 a.m. so that was a great decision especially for this year. We could really enjoy watching you boys open your gifts and you had time to play with them all day. You boys had fun opening your gifts. It's so hard to buy Christmas right after you all just had a b-day! Conner you had the best expressions and joy this Christmas. You were elated about almost every gift--especially the new clothes/shoes. You've become quite the fashion guy. You also loved getting the ninja costume you've been asking for. Jacob and Eli you had mixed emotions opening gifts. Not sure what you liked the best or if you liked anything...Nate you were great. You would open a gift and just play with it. You especially loved getting a whole box of food for your kitchen set. We enjoyed snowman pancakes for breakfast. I was able to clean up a little and pack that day and then we made it for worship at our Christmas Eve service--which was BEAUTIFUL!

Christmas morning you boys woke up early, of course, and came to the table to find your Nativity set without baby Jesus...I put this little set out just on Christmas morning. You had to go on a hunt to find the best gift of Christmas--baby Jesus in a gift box. You enjoyed this. Then for our big breakfast--our traditional Sunday casserole, sausage/cheese balls, baked french toast, and a cinnamon breakfast cake to celebrate baby Jesus! We ate, packed up, I cleaned, and then after rushing around for 5 hours, got in the van to sit at 10:15 for a seven hour trip to Ohio.

We had a nice visit to Ohio visiting Grandma, Pap, Ma'maw, and all your cousins. You played lots, enjoyed a visit to a bounce house, Chuckee Cheese, and more. Thankfully the weather was nice. The third night Nicholas woke up having thrown up in his pac n play...this led to 2 days of vomiting for him--clearly a stomach virus. I proceeded to get it on our car ride home--ugh and then each of you boys got it--one each day once we got back home. Not fun at all!! Daddy and I were up each night, multiple times scrubbing the floor, doing laundry, etc. Grammy and Pawpaw were warned about the virus but they decided to come for New Year's weekend anyway. They enjoyed a day and a half of health and then Grammy go the virus and was out of commission a day. Pawpaw was okay until he got back home and then he got it a little later. Oh me! Sadly because of Grammy being sick, I couldn't go to our annual friend's New Year's Eve party which is usually a highlight of our year. I missed doing that.

You cute boys in front of our montrous Christmas tree--12 feet tall and super round!

You know you're pregnant when...

you're eating a chili dog at 10 a.m.! Yep, that's me right now...10 weeks pregnant with number 6! Feeling oh so tired, and most the time not hungry but right now a chili dog is perfect! :)