My Sweet little Tucker, how are you already turning 6 weeks old today?! You are such a good baby and we have enjoyed every second of your little life so far! I want to "note" some things about you so I can remember this short but sweet newborn stage!

At 6 weeks:

*You are such a laid-back baby. You go with the flow and are always very relaxed!

*You smile so easily! You love when we talk to you and usually have a big grin across your face as soon as we start! Taelyn ALWAYS gets you to smile! (you "officially" smiled for the first time at 4 1/2 weeks)

*You love to take everything in. You have got bright curious eyes and love to watch all the chaos going on around you!

*You are soooooooo adorable. Between Dave, me, and the kids, I am sure it gets said AT LEAST 100 times a day.

*Noise does not seem to bother you. You seem to actually sleep better with the door open so that you can hear the kids' chatter.

*You are so responsive to my voice. Actually to everyone who comes up and talks to you, but MINE seems to be your favorite! ;)

*You always have your hands up by your face and have ever since you came into this wide world! Both fists... right up under your chin.

*You have monkey toes. They are so cute! The nurses in the NICU used to say that you could climb trees with those toes!

*You LOVE your swaddler blanket!

*You have a love/hate relationship with the binky. If you are really tired, you will take it. Otherwise, you want NOTHING to do with it.

*We just broke out the infant swing, so far you seem to like it!

*You still sleep quite a bit. Usually you will be awake for a couple hours, 2 or 3 times a day.

*You like to have your butt patted hard when we rock you to sleep. (I know I shouldn't rock you, and I say every time that I am pregnant that I am NOT going to rock my baby, but I do. It's so hard to resist)

*You have always slept good at night. Generally you eat around 9:30 p.m. and then wake up and eat again around 3. You eat and poop a few times and then go right back to sleep until 7:00 a.m. Neither Daddy or I feel sleep deprived yet! =)

*Most of your meals consists of breast milk from a bottle. You favor the bottle over breast, which is fine. I pump around the clock and we make it work! The times that you have had to have formula, you are NOT impressed and tend to eat only half as much.

*You drink about 5 ounces every 3-4 hours. Sometimes you take as much as 6 1/2 ounces.

*You generally don't spit up. You've probably only spit up about a handful of times.

*Daddy and I enjoy watching our King Of Queen dvds every night when we are feeding/pumping.

*You poop A LOT and you poop LOUD! Usually it's as soon as we put a clean diaper on.

*You weighed 12lbs 13oz and measured 23 1/2 inches long at your appointment today.

*You've grown out of some of your 0-3 months clothes. I've just started pulling out and washing your 3-6 months clothes.

*You are loved by EVERY member of this family and we love to spoil you every day, all day. Thank you so much for being such a sweet little you!

Here are just a few of my favorite snapshots from the past couple weeks....

Welcome Tucker!

Tucker Lee was born on Thursday, April 8th at 6:44 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and measured 20 1/2 inches long. He's got reddish hair and looks like an absolute angel! He definitely resembles his big brothers and sisters and there's no doubt that he fits in just perfect with the rest of our family! My heart is bursting with love for this little guy!



After a rough start, they admitted him to the NICU when he was just 4 hours old. He had severe breathing issues and a pnuemothorax (collapsed lung). He had a LONG 10 day stay in the NICU and made a full recovery! These issues are not something that we should ever have to worry about again! They simply had to do with his transition into the world and now he is a very healthy boy! Praise the Lord!





After MANY people praying for him, we were able to bring him home on Sunday, April 18th! What a WONDERFUL day!





Sunday was also the first day that his brothers and sisters were able to meet him since there are very strict visitor policies at the NICU. They ALL fell in love with him instantly! This is our first night that we were ALL together.




Tucker is 2 weeks old today! He is such a sweet baby and he is about as perfect as they come! He is a great eater and has already gained 10 ounces, weighing in today at 9lbs 7ozs! He smiles ALL the time. I know they are not "on purpose", but the boy constantly has a big grin on his face! He loves to be talked to and is very alert and curious. He usually has 2 times during the day where he will stay awake for about 2 1/2 hours. The kids all love to hold him and sing or read to him. He is a very lucky and loved little brother!

The Final Countdown.....

I had my last check-up today with my doctor. He said everything is looking really good for being induced on Thursday! The baby has dropped considerably since I met with him last week. I am also dilated to 3 now! YAY!

This pregnancy has been awesome! Not that I haven't said it already on my blog! But at almost 38 weeks, I still feel amazing! Granted, it's not extremely easy to bend over or walk up the stairs... especially since the baby dropped last week! But I am so thankful that:

*I have been able to eat whatever I want...and MOST of the time, whenever I want it!

*I sleep comfortably at night. I wake up every couple hours to go to the bathroom, but I go right back to sleep!

*I have been able to keep up my energy throughout my pregnancy! I take my power nap in the afternoon and I'm good to go for the rest of the day!

*I don't have any aches or pains! I generally have absolutely no back pain! On a few occasions, if I have been up on my feet and runnin' around ALL day, my back will be a little sore at bedtime.

*I don't have any swelling.

*Besides one (pretty painful) UTI, this pregnancy has went perfectly smooth.

I LOVE THAT:

*Dave tells me everyday, all day, that he thinks I am adorable when I am pregnant. He rubs my belly every night. He is already head over heals in love with this baby... as am I! (I thank God for that man every day!) =)

*The kids love to get updates on the baby.... "What's he doin?", "Is he sleepin'?", "Does he have the hiccups?", etc. The girls and my littlest guys love to sit by me and rub on my belly. Even Ashton, being the oldest, has an awesome attitude about being a BIG brother for the 6th time! You would think this would get boring to him, but it doesn't! Bryson, my 5 year old, will say he's got a big hug for the baby and he will hug my belly! They are all so excited and talk about what/who he will look like, etc....

*Dave spoils me rotten! I am the type that usually will "over-do" myself. When he is home, he takes total charge and TRIES to get me to sit and relax as much as possible. Bless his heart... it usually doesn't work, because I am stubborn and like things done "my way"... but in the last couple weeks, it has worked quite a bit more than usual, and I am thankful he is such a sweetheart! He even gives me spontaneous foot rubs every couple nights! I likey!!! =)

*The baby is SOO wiggly! He is constantly moving still.... I have no idea HOW he has the room to move, but he is an active little thing! He pushes off of both hips and my ribs at the same time. He still has the hiccups SEVERAL times a day! And as I said, since he dropped, he is LOW, LOW, LOW... =) He already has his own little personality!

I have to admit, I am so sad to be at the end of this pregnancy. I enjoy being pregnant and feel blessed that God has allowed me to carry these 7 amazing little miracles! I enjoy every minute of the 9+ pregnancy months that I have gotten with each of my children! I know it sounds strange to a lot of women, but it brings tears to my eyes to think of NOT having my BIG baby belly with me everywhere I go and to NOT be able to feel his movements inside of me. So many times, I just sit with both of my hands on my belly and feel him. It brings a smile to my face. BUT the thought of meeting this baby face to face instantly makes me excited and giddy! He is so special to us and so loved (by so many) already! The thought of holding him in my arms and looking at his precious face does make it a little easier to "give up" the baby belly!


Big Mama... 37 1/2 weeks
(Dave said, and I quote, "You DO know that your belly is actually way more massive than it actually looks in that picture, right!?!?" HA!)


Bird's eye view



Anyways, our plan is to get things off and runnin' first thing Thursday morning. Pitocin started and my water broken right away! My longest labor (with pitocin) was 5 hours and my shortest was 2 hours. We are praying that this delivery will be as smooth and uncomplicated as my others were!

Please pray with us for a good labor and delivery and most of all, a healthy baby! =)

29 and Feelin' Fine!!!

We had our 29 week checkup with an ultrasound today! We got to see our "little" guy and he was just totally adorable! Here's some details...

*There is only ONE lil guy in there! No other babies were hiding!

*He is one BIG (healthy) boy! BIG as in....He is weighing in at over 5 pounds already and is in the 99th percentile. (FYI-the average weight for 29 weeks is 2 1/2 pounds!) And BOY as in.... we saw "boy parts" again... 2 words for this fella... NOT. SHY.

*He is head down... YAY! He had his hands and feet by his face!?! (kinda as if you were changing his diaper and then some) Did NOT look comfortable at all!

*He has the CUTEST chubby cheeks that I already want to just kiss right off of his face!

*I will start seeing my doctor every 2 weeks now!

*In order to deliver him naturally, like I have all my other children, I will probably be induced at least 4 weeks early (by the end of March) if he has not come by then! =)

*My 3 little guys LOVED seeing him in the ultrasound! They were so excited! At one point, the screen went dark and Nevin totally panicked, saying "Oh no!! Where'd he go!??!"


On a side note, here's some other random facts (for my records mostly)....

*I'm still feeling awesome! Even though I do feel pretty "stuffed with baby" at this point, it hasn't slowed me down much. I do tend to ask the kids (more often) to pick stuff up for me off the floor... so I can avoid bending over!

*For the first time ever, I got acid reflux the other night. Come to find out, I can't eat sweets after 9:00 pm or this acid reflux rears it's ugly head at about 3 a.m.! YUK! So I avoid the late-night sweets now and it's all good! It's probably best anyways! ;)

*Even though I look like I've swallowed a watermelon, I've only gained 13 lbs so far. YAY!

*He still wiggles around... 24/7! They are different "bigger" movements now, but it is CONSTANT!

*He still gets the hiccups quite often. One day I counted 11 times! The kids love to feel the hiccups and my little guys think it's hilarious for some reason!

*ALL of the kids get more and more excited every day!

*Dave is still crazy about my belly! He is always rubbing it and trying to get him to kick...which usually doesn't take much! The other day when I walked into the bedroom, Dave started laughing hysterically. I asked him what in the world he was laughing at. He said, "Your belly enters the room way before you do!"

*We plan on doing some MAJOR baby preparation over these next couple weeks! Up until today, I was thinking I still had 2 1/2 months left to plan and organize! Now that we are down to 4 to 6 weeks, my OCD personality is gonna kick in and I WILL have everything ready ASAP! We need to buy quite a bit because a lot of our boy "hand-me-downs" had been handed down too many times, so I got rid of a lot. PLUS when we moved, we stored stuff in our unfinished, leaky basement and a lot of it got moldy! =( But it's ok....buying baby stuff is the fun part! I'm sure I will have a ton of help from my girls when it comes to shopping!

*I am already "whining" about NOT being pregnant already! I'm so NOT ready for this pregnancy to be over.... I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being pregnant. Not that you didn't know that already!

*That being said... I also have this overwhelming feeling to snuggle, smell, and kiss this new sweet babe! I totally adore seeing my husband hold and care for our kids... especially our newborns! (ahhh... it makes my heart skip a beat!) I also enjoy seeing our older kids fall in love with their new sibling! Needless to say, this appointment got us even MORE hyped and ready to meet this little sweet face.....


(That's his right arm crossed over with his hand under his left cheek! It was so angelic looking! I wish the pic would have scanned up better, but you get the point)


And for the record... here's a pic of the big-belly Mama...


Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support! We appreciate it! =)

27 Week Check-Up

I had my 27 week prenatal visit this week! This pregnancy is flying by! I did my glucose screening and I flunked it by 4 points! I had to go back and retake it by doing the 3-hour test at the lab. I have never had to retake it before, and after doing it, I am very thankful I haven't had to up until now! =) In the end, the results came back perfectly normal. Praise the Lord!


I have gotten BIG... FAST! I have only gained about 12 pounds so far and that has been in the last 2 months. When the doctor did my uterine measurement (which should've measured 27 because it corresponds with the number of weeks that you are pregnant), it actually measured 35!!! YIKES! That means the baby is measuring 2 months ahead! He said even a "bigger" baby would normally measure around 29. We are, by the way, absolutely sure about our due-date, so this really puzzled the doctor! Now I am scheduled for a sonogram in 2 weeks. They are going to check and see just how big he actually is and also make sure there is NOT a second little one hiding in there. The doctor said that he thinks there is only a slim chance that would be the case, but that it IS possible! I, personally, just feel like he's very big, but I will admit that this pregnancy has been almost identical to my twin pregnancies. I would be thrilled to find a second babe hiding in there, but I REALLY want to know that our "little" guy is healthy! That sonogram can NOT come soon enough!


It was so sweet to hear his little heartbeat again. It almost always runs about 147. He is STILL constantly movin' and shakin' around! He gets the hiccups at least 3 or 4 times a day still too.

As for me, I feel awesome! I sleep good, eat good, and have plenty of energy as long as I can sneak in a 15 minute nap on most days! I absolutely LOVE being pregnant and I'm sad that this one is already coming to an end. I definitely feel that God has blessed us so much!

The kids are also getting into the pregnancy more and more! My girls will sit around and feel him kick all day long! Ashton, Bryson, and Nolan always come up with their fair share of questions/comments about the baby too... mostly about what he'll look like and how fun it will be when he is out here with us! Nevin is totally into it and always tells me that he loves my big belly and asks if he can "pet" the baby. He is still insisting that he has a baby in his tummy too. His baby's name is Toby, he says. He is so funny!

I will be sure to update when we get some more answers! Keep us/him in your prayers please! We appreciate all of the support that we get from our family and friends! Thank God for all of you!

Here's a 27 week belly shot...

I couldn't resist posting this one.
"The View From The Top".....

Happy 9th Birthday!

Yesterday, my baby girls turned 9 years old! Every time my children have a birthday, I am absolutely amazed at how time flies by! The girls have grown up so fast and I am so proud of the little ladies that they have become!

They are truly best friends and share such a unique bond! They are constantly playing together here at home, but at school, they have different best friends and are quite the social butterflies!

Right now, they spend most of their time reading, playing American Girl dolls, doing crafty projects, and playing with their little brothers! They are so great with the boys! They have such big hearts and love to teach the boys new things, usually while they are playing preschool with them! Both of the girls are SO excited about having a new baby brother! They are almost ALWAYS willing to help out (with a good attitude!) and have become a big help to me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAELYN AND MARIYA! WE LOVE YOU!!!

22 Week Update

I am 22 weeks pregnant today! Oh my... the time is flying by! I feel fantastic! I always thank God for ANOTHER wonderful pregnancy so far! He supplies extra energy and a positive attitude for me everyday! As with my other pregnancies, I have honestly enjoyed every minute of this pregnancy! I wanted to write out a few things... mostly for my records since I am terrible about writing in my journal anymore!

It seemed like it took a little longer this time before I felt the baby move. In previous pregnancies, I felt the baby move around 15 to 16 weeks. This time, I was almost 18 weeks before I felt that ol' familiar flutter! I have just started feeling the baby kick "on the outside" now. So far, he is shying away from his Daddy and his siblings. They have yet to feel that kick! (Dave tries to feel him every night and usually he will kick as soon as Dave takes his hand off! He's a shy one, I guess!) I just can't get over how busy this little guy seems! He kicks all day long on most days. He also gets the hiccups several times a day.

We have tried to brainstorm and come up with his name, but have still not settled on one yet. We usually have our name picked out by this time, so we are getting a bit anxious! It seems like with the Holiday busyness going on in our home right now, it may not be settled on anytime in the next two weeks. In the meantime, we are keeping our ears and eyes open for that perfect name!

My belly is expanding in leaps and bounds and I love it! I enjoy being able to look down and witness God's new miracle for our family at any time of the day! I also love that Dave LOVES my belly! He can't seem to keep his hands off of it! He is constantly rubbing my belly and talking to our little boy! He tells me constantly how beautiful I am. No wonder we are on our 7th child, I am spoiled rotten!

Most strangers tend to think that I am due "about any day now", so when I tell them that I am due in April, they are usually pretty surprised! I have yet to gain weight at my doctor's appointments! (I'm sure that cutting off my coffee and night-time eating had something to do with that!) I do have an appointment coming up this next week, and I am sure I have had to gained some this month! Which is just fine with me.... carrying this big boy has to catch up with me sometime!


Here's a 22 week belly shot for the record!




I hope you are all enjoying the Holiday season!

18 Week Sonogram Info

We had our 18 week sonogram last Friday and of course, it was full of all kinds of excitement. Dave and I actually let our 3 older kids skip school because it's a tradition that we all go into the sonogram room together. They knew that we would be finding out the sex of the baby, so they were totally pumped! We were fortunate enough to be able to have my Mom and Dad go into the sono room with us as well! My mom has been there with us for every single one of our kid's "revealing".... so it was important to me that she was there! My Dad was totally new at this! It was the first time that he has ever seen a sonogram! Needless to say, he was quite impressed with medical technology!

Our most exciting news was that we found out we are having a BOY!!!!! (I really felt deep down that the baby was a boy from the beginning, but I have definitely been wrong before, so it was really a surprise to me as well!) Obviously, we are THRILLED! We would have loved either boy or girl, but this Mama certainly has a soft spot right now for boys! We seem to be surrounded by little boys in this house, which is just fine with us! One of my best friends just had a sweet baby boy in July and my sister-in-law, Jackie, had a gorgeous baby boy on Nov. 5! And with this little boy coming in April, it will make 4 of our little boys 5 years old and under! How fun is that!?!?!??!!?

Ashton, my oldest son, and the girls, Taelyn and Mariya, were thinking that a girl would be nice. But they have been so awesome and accepting of this little guy! The girls said "Oh well, maybe next time!" They have already moved on to "helping" us come up with names! (Which is going to definitely be a challenge... but one that we are up for!!!!) They are counting down until April! We are all dying to meet him and see who he resembles!

We are so thankful and praise God that the baby looks totally healthy! Everything checked out perfect! The sonogram lady kept saying... "Oh my... look at the size of his feet!" I told her.... "That's a requirement in the Harris family!" He showed off for us like crazy! Moving around, kicking, squirming, putting his arms up over his head, hiccup-ing, and opening and closing his mouth the whole time! It was adorable and the kids TOTALLY picked up on all his little moves! It was just so fun! He weighed about 11 oz, which is a little big at this point, but my babies generally measure that way!

I didn't get a lot of "good" sonogram pictures, but I had to post a couple! We saw so many good views of his face, but we just couldn't get him to stay still long enough for a picture! (I am sure some things will never change!)

She gave me about 7 pictures of his legs and feet!!! Isn't amazing how you can count his little toes in this one? His other leg is behind... kinda like he was jogging?? =)

This is from about his waist down. Look at those long skinny legs! Just like the rest of us!

My personal fave... his sweet little profile picture....

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! =)

ALMOST Wordless Wednesday!

My sweet little boys turned three last weekend! We've had the flu and bronchitis at our house, so their birthday post has been delayed! It'll be coming soon!

Wordless Wednesday: 13 Weeks Pregnant!

Soccer Season 2009

This soccer season has been so much fun! We have both Ashton and Bryson playing this year.

Ashton has been playing for 6 years and this is the first year that he has played in a new town. He has played defense for the last 5 years, but this year he has played a lot of offense. It has been so fun watching him learn and improve his soccer skills. Personality wise, he is not a real aggressive person, but in the soccer game, he has really surprised us with his determination. He is so fast too! His games are so fun to watch and keep ya on the edge of your seat!

This is his team picture... Ashton is 2nd from the right on the top row, with the blue soccer ball.






This is Bryson's first year! He has wanted to play since he could walk! He sure does have the energy that soccer requires! He seems to be a natural! His main asset is his speed (just like Ashton)! He loves to get the ball and run down to the other end of the field and score! He has scored 6 or 7 goals so far this year! Dave and I coach his team and we have really enjoyed working with this group of kids! They are all first-year players and all but one little boy, is just 4 years old! They have improved 100% since our first practice! His team is a lot of fun to watch as well, but more for entertainment purposes! There are definitely times we score for the other team! One time, one of our players took to ball to a whole different soccer field and scored a goal! Of course, we all cheered him on! =)

This is Bryson's team picture... Bryson is the redhead in the middle and of course, the good-looking coach in the back is my hubby! =)




Aren't they just so cute!!?!?

"Not Me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. What a perfect way to get some things off our chest and admit some things we "didn't" do this week!


I did NOT resort to PINK Barney "big boy pants" for Nolan when I skipped my laundry day last week. I mean, he is ALL boy and I would never even ASK him to put on girl underwear. He definitely did NOT reply with a huge grin and enjoy wearing them for the rest of the day, even AFTER our "boy" underwear were clean and available.






I did NOT just put up my Fall decorations LAST NIGHT! I put my decorations up EVERY year during the 2nd or 3rd week of September because I absolutely LOVE Fall. 5 out of 8 members of our family have birthdays in the Fall... so we OWN it! That's just how WE roll! I am always right on the ball with Fall!





My husband and I do NOT absolutely love chatting it up with my OB-GYN doctor at my monthly appointments. That would be silly, right? They are just regular routine appointments and his upbeat, positive, fun attitude does NOT just totally make our day! And I did NOT just get overly excited to add my OB-GYN doctor as my "friend" on Facebook. YES, I do think he is one of the coolest people that I know and I would totally entrust my life to him if I ever needed to, but a friend on FACEBOOK??? Wouldn't your Ob-GYN doctor be a bit odd to have as a friend???


I am NOT getting stressed out about the HUNDREDS of odd little jobs that need to be done around the house. Everything from hanging a piece of trim to scraping paint off the windows to adding more shelves in some of the closets. For crying out loud, we totally gutted the kitchen and started from scratch and I didn't stress out then, why would I stress out over LITTLE tiny jobs that SHOULD take a fraction of the time and energy???


After sitting in the car-rider line for 15 minutes, Bryson got an urgent look on his face and said "I've got to go pee NOW!". I slightly panicked because Bryson... whom we call "Firehouse Pete"... waits until the very last second to go to the bathroom and peeing on the tire was NOT an option at this point! Looking around the van, trying to figure out what to do, I was NOT thrilled to find an empty water bottle! I definitely did NOT let Bryson pee in said water bottle and then tightly put the cap on it! I did NOT forget to throw it away as soon as we got home (as I had planned to). The next morning, when the girls got in the van... one of them did NOT ask if it is was a water bottle with one of the lemonade mix-ins. Yuck. Gross. Would NOT do that.


Have a great Monday!

11 Week Check-Up

I am a little over 11 weeks along in my pregnancy and we went for my check-up today! We went hoping that we would get to hear the baby's heartbeat and we did! We actually got more! Dr. Shepherd brought in the little portable sonogram machine and we got to take a peek in there at our little peanut! Notice... I said peanut, NOT peanuts! Yep, it looks like there is ONE baby in there! Although our doctor would not give us any guarantees, he is "pretty sure" that there is only one! We are thankful for what God has given us!

We got to see him/her wiggling around. We saw arms and legs kicking all about and being so cute! The baby's heartbeat was around 160. Generally my boys have been around 160 or 170 and my girls were almost always in the 130's. I am feeling like it is a boy and Dave is feeling like it is a girl. Bryson, my almost 5 year old, says that he thinks it's a boy and we should name him "Chinese Harris". Yikes... that might confuse the poor kid! My doctor (who is by the way, one of my favorite people in the world) says he has a feeling it's a girl too! Guess we will have to wait and find out in November! I will be taking a poll before the sonogram!

It was just such a blessing and complete miracle to see our baby! God is so good to us!

Thanks for your prayers! We will keep you updated!

9 weeks and counting....

I am so grateful for awesome friends and family that are so supportive of our pregnancy! Everyone seems to be so happy for us and often check on me to see how I am feeling! And by the way... I am feeling GREAT! Other than having to give up my nighttime eating and my morning cup of coffee (since apparently it did NOT agree with this pregnancy), I have felt so good! Thank you God!

With all of my pregnancies, I seem to have a day where all of a sudden, my belly just pops out! With the last couple pregnancies, it has happened earlier and earlier. Well, this pregnancy is no different! I had a "pop-out day" on Friday for sure! I absolute love watching my belly grow, it is such an amazing miracle! So I decided to take some pics and keep track of my ever-growing Baby belly!

So here's my 9 Week Belly shot....







So the crazy thing is....I had another "pop-out day" today! I think I have doubled in size since these pics were taken! Yikes! Ha! Have to do a new post with pics soon....

Frequently Asked Questions.... TWIN TALK

When we go out to Walmart or anywhere that is in the public eye, we usually get hounded with attention and questions. It usually starts out with "Are these ALL your kids?", then comments about all of the red hair, and then once they figure out we have two sets of twins, the questions really come POURING out! Quite honestly, I can't believe how rude some people are... saying things like "Did you use fertility drugs?" or "Glad it's you and not me!" right in front of my children. BUT most people are very nice and friendly, and usually will compliment us on how well-behaved or cute the children are. Most questions that people ask, I believe, is just out of curiosity and not to be rude. We generally don't mind answering the questions that most people have. Dave and I have joked around about typing up a FAQ Sheet that we can hand out when people start asking questions! We wouldn't really do that... but since many questions are arising now that we are expecting again, I figured I would type up a few questions that usually get asked....


Question 1. Are these really ALL "your" kids?
YES! They are! Neither of us have been married before, neither of us have children with anybody else!

Question #2. What are their ages?
At the present time, 10,8,8,4,2,2....

Question #3. "Do twins run in your family?"
This question can be the most confusing.

~Dave's side has no PREVIOUS twins that we can find when we searched back several generations.
~My side has ONE set of fraternal twins. They are actually my first cousins, that are my age, and I grew up very close with them! Very sweet boys!

THAT being said...Here are some basic twin facts....
~Identical twins are NOT genetic. Identical twins are made up of ONE egg and ONE sperm. Once fertilized the egg splits. There is technically no rhyme or reason for the egg splitting. It just "happens".

~Fraternal twins ARE genetic. It runs on the woman's side. Usually a woman only releases ONE egg per cycle, but a set of fraternal twins takes 2 eggs and 2 sperm.

Our first set of twins was our identical girls. We were told that since they were in separate sacs when in utero, that they could be identical or fraternal. When the placenta was tested at birth, it came back that they were 100% no doubt identical. Since they were identical, we were told that we had NO chance of ever having twins again. At least, not any more of a chance than anyone else... which is about a 3% chance.

Fast forward, about 5 years later, we found out when I was 17 weeks pregnant, that we were carrying another set of twins. These twin boys were "set up" the same way as the girls were, so once again we did not know if they would be identical or fraternal. When they were born and looked SO much alike, we really thought they were identical. When we sent the placenta away for testing, it came back "inconclusive". We COULD have done DNA testing, but we really didn't care if they were identical or fraternal... we love them like crazy no matter what their "label" was. Once they turned about a year old or so, they really started getting their "own look" and we unofficially deemed them fraternal. They don't have the same hair color, which makes it easy to know that they don't have the same exact DNA!


Question #3 1/2. "Do twins run in your family?" PART TWO.....

Twins did not PREVIOUSLY run in our family. (the fraternal set of twins that were on my side of the family, genetically would have ran on the female side. I am NOT blood related to my Aunt, she was married to my dad's brother, therefore, I would not have any of her genes passed down to me.)

BUT.... since we have had our twin girls 8 1/2 years ago, my husband's sister had a set of fraternal twins and my brother and his wife had a set of identical twin boys!!! It's crazy, I KNOW!!??!?

Question #4. "Did you use any type of fertility drugs?"
NO. We do just fine on our own!


Question #5. "What are the chances of you having twins again?"
The statistics go like this:
~Once you have ONE set of fraternal twins, you are 70% MORE likely to conceive twins again.
~Oddly enough though, the chances of having 3 sets of any type of twins is VERY rare... only 1 in 500,000.


Question #6. "Were your twins born healthy?"
YES! Praise God! I had wonderful pregnancies and deliveries! I was actually out playing in the snow the day before I had my girls! With my girls, I was induced 2 weeks early, mainly because of my doctor going out of town and because the girls were getting "too big" to wait too much longer. They were both born naturally, weighing 5lbs 9 oz, and 5 lbs 14oz.
I went into labor exactly 4 weeks early with my boys. My doctor decided to proceed with labor (instead of stopping labor) since their lungs seemed to be developed already and they were "big" as well. They were both born naturally, weighing 5 lbs 13 oz, and 6 lbs 11 oz. None of my twins had to go to NICU. I have been truly blessed to have wonderful pregnancies and deliveries with all of my children!


I have some doctor appointments this week. I don't know when we will have our first sonogram. Technically, it's not suppose to be until I am 17 weeks. I am going to try to pull some strings and see if I can get an early sonogram. I just want a healthy baby. Period. If God wants to give me two...I will praise him twofold! Please pray for smooth appointments! I love the peace that comes with seeing/hearing a little perfect heartbeat!

Wordless Wednesday: Praising and Praying...

"Not Me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I did NOT ask Dave if I could use his dremel on my feet. My heels are definitely NOT rough like sandpaper from being barefoot as much as humanly possible. I have dainty, girly feet that are soft as a baby's butt. (By the way, Dave did NOT deny me of his dremel... in fear that I would burn up the motor.)


When taking our trip to the Indianapolis Zoo this week, we decided to stay on a very tight budget and spend next to no money. It was pretty easy, considering we already have a membership to the Zoo and we packed our own lunch. So when it was dinner time, we definitely did NOT drive right past a McDonald's that had 25 cent chicken nuggets and head straight towards a steakhouse where we spent $60 on our dinner. Noooo.... it would have cost us a mere $10 to eat at the McDonalds, we definitely would NOT have passed up that opportunity!


My 2-year-old definitely did NOT have a 45 minute pout fest one day this week. He would NEVER throw a fit over not getting a third cup of chocolate milk before 9:00 a.m.. He is NOT my most stubborn one of the bunch. My kids are very well behaved. Perfect Angels. He would NEVER do such a thing! His face tells the story of his innocence....

My husband has NOT been showing my kids Weird Al Yankovic videos on YouTube. Those songs are totally ridiculous and we only let our kids watch educational videos. The kids have NOT loved the dumb songs and begged to see more! My 2 year-old has NOT asked me 3 times today if we can "Pleeeeease watch 'Eat It' bideo".

Brown County FAMILY Vacation... Part One

Dave and I usually enjoy Brown County for the peaceful activities that Nashville has to offer. We love the endless shopping, quiet evenings on the porch, meaningful uninterrupted conversations that we have, and being on absolutely no schedule. For those reasons alone, we have NEVER taken the kids down. MOSTLY, because we didn't think the kids would enjoy it. It's such a friendly place, but it's just not a "kid" place. Well, at least we didn't think it was until this summer.

While we were down on our "date" vacation, we made a point to look for specific things that the kids would enjoy. We talked to quite a few people and got their opinions on kid-friendly activities. One thing that was mentioned was The Abe Martin Lodge. It was located in the State Park and had a brand new indoor aquatic area. I thought it sounded great, but didn't get too excited. After all, as you can imagine, we stick to a VERY tight budget. I was sure that this would cost a fortune. But to my surprise, when we got home and I looked it up, it was very reasonable. I loved the fact you could rent family cabins. They family cabins came with 8 wristbands for the water park. I was also thrilled to learn, that our Brown County Visitors Card (which we had purchased for $12) would save us $18 on our cabin. It was 100% worth the money spent and we ALL had a blast! We spent a fraction of what we normally spend on vacations and the kids said that this was the best vacation ever! Here are some pictures of us at the cabin....


There are about 20 family cabins nestled deep in the woods in a little cabin "neighborhood". They are about 1/2 mile to the lodge and water area.

There are 2 bedrooms upstairs in the loft. One with a king size bed and one with a queen size bed. The kids loved picking which room they wanted and they enjoyed being able to look down at the living room area. The living room had 2 sofas with queen pull-out beds.

Off the back of the cabin is a large deck that overlooks the woods.

This picture was taken right outside of the Lodge area on our way to dinner...
(BTW.... we do color coordinate the kids. It's so much easier to keep track of everyone if they are all in the same color!)

Of course, being in the State Park, there is so much to see! There were BEAUTIFUL breathtaking views. It was amazing and I am sure the kids have never seen anything like it before. We had to stop and pose for a few pics....

We were only about 2 miles from Nashville, which is where we usually stay. There are so many shops and places to eat. We stopped by to visit with the fine people at the Cornerstone Inn, our "usual" place to stay. They have been wanting us to bring the kids in for quite some time. They seemed to really enjoy meeting them "in person". We tried to take the kids' picture outside of the Inn, but the sun was in their eyes...

They loved exploring though...

This is a picture of the guy that plays his guitar and sings. He will usually sit at the main corner in the middle of town. He seems to be a nice gentleman and has definitely got talent! We always enjoy sitting and listening to him.

Of course, having many train-lovers in the house, we had to take the 25 minute grand tour of the city. It is on a tractor/"train" and takes you around to see all Nashville. The kids LOVED it! Here we are waiting for the "train"...

Daddy and Taelyn...

Bryson and Ashton...

"All aboard"...

Dave and Bryson...

Nolan and Mariya...

Mama and Ashton...

Up next... our water park pictures....