It’s a BOY!!!!!!!

Well most of you reading this probably already know that we are having another boy!! I’m just a few weeks behind in blogging! Anyway, we are THRILLED! Drew wanted a brother more than I anticipated and was SO happy to have it confirmed (although he thought it was a boy and probably wouldn’t have believed me if it wasn’t- so I guess they really do have a 6^th sense about it!) I had the opportunity to take Drew to my “BIG” sonogram with the sonogram specialist (my doctor does sonograms in his office every visit so I’ve already had several, but this was with a different doctor that has much higher equipment and is trained at more details and such and is able to spot any potential problems much better). It was AWESOME!! I can’t get over how much technology has changed just since I was pregnant with Drew! The sonogram lady was wonderful with Drew and explained to him what he was seeing. I was surprised at how much he understood. The baby looks wonderful!!! He seemed to have an A+++ report card. The doc said as far as babies go he couldn’t ask for a more healthy and perfect baby! YEAH!!!!! Let’s continue to pray that his growth will continue on the same path. We are halfway there!! Anyway, Drew loved listening to the heartbeat and could have listened to it all day- he kept asking to hear it again and again. Luckily, baby was awake and started kicking and Drew went NUTS! He kept screaming, “Mommy, he’s kicking a football, he’s kicking a football!!” SO CUTE and SO DREW!!! My belly has also popped this month and Drew has started talking to my belly a lot more. I think it was still pretty abstract for him until he really started to see the belly grow. He is going to be the best big brother. We still don’t have names yet but we are working on it. When the nurse asked Drew what the baby’s name was he told her “Floppy”. He has called the baby that ever since. The nurse thought that was so funny that she even put it on one of the sonogram pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Baby was weighing in at 9 oz., at the time I was almost 19 weeks along.

Tiny foot- his little pinky toe sticks out just like Drew’s does- I can’t believe I can already tell that!!

3D- I was surprised we got some 3D pictures. I heard they don’t like to show them so early because baby is still forming but we got them and I think they are soooo cool!! Notice “Floppy”

Skinny little leg!

3D Face

Skinny little legs and arms!

Front view of baby- Baby look straight with arm across his face and legs folded up on either side

NO DENYING- It’s definitely a BOY!!!

Oh how I love this baby already!! I can hardly wait to hold him and smother him with kisses!!!

Well, I’ve obviously been in a blogging mode today so make sure you check out all the other posts!! Until next time…

House updates

A lot has happened since my last post regarding our houses. First, our contract fell through. Our house is back on the market. All though we are a little annoyed at the circumstances, we aren’t crying a bucketful of tears.  We know God is 100% in control and will ALWAYS lean on that!  He’s so amazing!  I won’t go into all those details but basically we feel very blessed to have our Safety Net program that Heritage Homes is offering us. After what we have seen, we have realized just how fair of a price they offered us. We still have to keep our house on the market and will still hope there is a strong buyer out there, but if not- we are OK- maybe even better! I’m just sad we have to play the realtor game again, although showings have slowed down quite drastically.

On the building end, our house is coming along perfectly!! We have been very pleased with the progress and how easy Heritage has been to work with. We went out on Monday and took a few pictures and discovered all the wiring and “behind the walls” stuff is complete. Andy said he went by on Friday and all the walls have been sheet-rocked. So now we need bricks and the details inside! Here are some of the latest pictures.

September 15, 2009

September 26, 2009-

Roof is finished and wiring inside mostly finished

Kitchen (sink will be in the corner under the windows- walls will have cabinets and an island in the center)

Dining nook- same room as the kitchen (above picture is to the right side of this)

Laundry room- garage on right and master bedroom on left

Master Bedroom/bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master bath- you are looking straight where the tub will be, closets on both sides, double sinks to the right, shower and potty to the left

*Updated from above picture. After seeing how dark our bathroom was going to be we asked to have glass blocks installed- these are right above the tub and made a HUGE difference- so thankful we made that choice!

Baby’s room (the room with the doors is the office is on the other side)

Drew’s room

Guest Room

Guest Bathroom

Office

I didn’t get a picture of the living room- don’t know what I was thinking! The pictures taken on Monday are pretty much the same except insulation is on all the walls and there are a few more wiring things so I won’t post those pictures. I’ll wait until walls are up! Hope you can somewhat see what the rooms will look like- I’d say it’s changed quite a bit since my last posting of house pictures!!

Football Season!

As most of you know my two boys are sports FANATICS!! If you know one then you know the other! Drew is just a mini-clone of his Daddy- which I ADORE!!! I’m sure it melts Daddy’s heart when he hears, “Daddy can we watch ESPN or (whatever team is playing) football?” So all though Drew loves all sports, he is a man of whatever season it is. Drew has become quite the football fan since that is the current season. He LOVES watching football, playing football, reading about football, drawing about football, and of course going to football games. I bet you can’t guess what his favorite teams are? Yep- Texas Tech and Frenship Tigers. Since Andy calls the Frenship games on the radio I have been taking Drew to the games on Friday nights. Fridays have become quite a special little date for the two of us! I enjoy watching him at the games more than anything- he is his happiest! We also enjoy the home Tech football games on Saturdays. We don’t have season tickets but my parents do. Drew LOVES it when JuJu and Grandaddy come to town for the games! We still have managed to find tickets for most games and Drew is a genuine Red Raider. He will sing the Fight Song and clap and cheer, which draws all kinds of positive attention around us! And of course, on Sunday morning when we pick him up from Sunday School we hear all about how he told his teachers about the game the night before and made the building blocks into yard lines and field goals. So right now we breathe, eat, and sleep football- which is ok with me because it’s my favorite season too (now basketball season will be a whole other story). I hope you enjoy just a few pictures from the football season (some are a few months old- but you know how the story goes!)

My mom, Kyla (college roomie), and I all went to the Women’s Football Clinic back in August. We got a tour of all the football facilities and got to meet all the football players and coaches, along with them teaching us a few of their moves on the football field. I’m surprised Leach hasn’t called me with the mad skills I showed him! HA HA!! Anyway, it was a blast and I highly recommend that any woman should take the opportunity to go the clinic! I look forward to going next year when I’m not pregnant so I can participate a little more! Drew thought it was pretty cool that I got to meet some of his football favorites.

(Barron Batch)

Sorry dudes- I don’t remember your names but you were HUGE!!!

Checking out the locker room- look how tall those hand dryers are- these players are monsters!!

I love this girl, who loves her some football!

Brian Duncan

Going on to the field

I’m so glad my mom came!! I love her!

…and look at her skills catching the football and attempting to tackle an offensive line!

 

Taylor Potts

Coach Mike Leach

Brandon Carter

The girls of course couldn’t be outdone! While I had a MOPS retreat to go to, Andy took Drew to the autograph signing night. He was able to get his football signed by Barron Batch and met the cheerleaders and had a blast running on the field!

Drew is a major fan of Miss Kyla and he saw all our pictures from our Women’s clinic. Andy said the second he saw this he ran up to it and did “what Miss Kyla did”! (see above picture of Kyla) He adores her- isn’t that funny!

I’m sad to say that I’ve taken my camera to almost every game and just haven’t taken any pictures so I don’t have any of us at an actual football game. Oh well, such is the way it goes sometimes! I really need to get some from the Frenship Tigers games!

In addition to Andy calling all the Frenship games on the radio. He has been asked to be a host of a two-hour talk show on Saturday mornings (7:00AM-9:00AM on FM104.3). I’m very proud of him for getting this opportunity! He has quite a schedule from coming home late from Friday night football, to collect all the stats from all the area games, to being on air by 7:00AM but he has seemed to handle it well! He asked one of our friends, Garrett Luft, to be his partner. Garrett hasn’t done any radio work before but he has turned out to be a natural. Andy has really enjoyed working with him and I think they are a great team! I’m very proud of them!

God is Amazing

If you haven’t read my previous post titled “Sweetest Boy on Earth”, go and read it first then come back to this one.  You’ll understand why, I promise!

God simply was laughing at me last week and shaking His head saying, “Regina, when are you going to learn?  I’m in control and know the perfect outcome for every situation.”  

I LOVE seeing God’s face.  He reveals it to me in so many ways and I’m sure I’ve missed it in so many others.  After having my sweet moment with Drew last week it woke me up and reminded me to start leaning on the Lord again.  It seems so easy to get distracted by all the things going on in this world and to forget our true purpose here on Earth.  God sent me such a sweet message through my son about grace and forgiveness that it really was my own spiritual revival in a sense. 

Well through God’s wonderful sense of humor, He sent us a buyer for our house!!  The very person that came to look at our house that caused my mental breakdown but resulted and my precious moment with my son!  Is that not the most awesome gift from God?  Not only did He send us a buyer but he sent us a very sweet and generous one!  He offered us full price, however,  if we would pay his closing then he would let us rent our house back from him until our new house is ready!!!!!  That’s right folks, we only have to move once!!  This was a major stress and worry we have had because temporary housing is very hard to find- not to mention the fact that I’m pregnant and won’t be much help in moving.  Can you believe how simply amazing it has all turned out to be??  I praise God and feel that I need to shout from the rooftops of His praises!!

Sweetest Boy on Earth!!

     I just had one of those “Mom” moments with Drew and I just had to journal it because it was a moment I will always treasure!

   Today was not one of the best days in the world of mom.  Over the weekend we decided to start a project of thinning out our closests since showings had slowed down.  Well you know how the story goes and a project like that ALWAYS gets messier before it gets better.  Well of course we had made a lot of progress yesterday but it was still in a VERY messy stage when I get the phone call about a showing this morning.  I only had an hour and a half before they were going to be here and we hadn’t even gotten dressed for the day or anything.  Anyway, I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off and became quite the monster mommy.  Let’s just say I had a little bit of a nervous breakdown and let it out on my poor baby.  Well, I got it all done in time even though I was shaking, exhausted, and hurting quite badly since this body is not capable of doing these things anymore.  Anyway, Drew and I were loading up in the car to grab some lunch and go to the library so the realtor could come, and I just busted into tears.  Poor Drew had no idea what was wrong with his momma.  I told him how sorry I was for being so mean and yelling at him and that he wasn’t in trouble, it was just Mommy making a bad choice.  Anyway, he starts crying not because he thought he was in trouble but because he hated seeing me cry.  He then tells me that Jesus loves me even when I make bad choices.  I give him a hug and a kiss (and of course cry harder-because how cute is that?) and he holds on tight, pats my hair and starts singing, ”You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when the skies are gray, you never know dear how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away”  It makes me tear up all over again just writing it.  Soooooo Sweet!

Now how blessed am I to have such a wonderful little reminder of God’s grace and forgivness?  Children are a true gift from God!!!!

Baby/House Updates

Well since I was so inspired to blog today I better get one last one in! (Don’t forget to scroll down because I have posted a few other posts today as well). The house and baby are both growing very smoothly!!

Drew and I both had doctor’s appointments on the same day a little over a week ago. Drew had his three year wellness check (can you believe they couldn’t get me in until two months AFTER his birthday and I called a month before! CRAZY!) Anyway, he got a perfect report! He weighed in at 32.5 pounds and measured 37 ¾ inches tall, both in the 50^th percentile. I think he has gone through a pretty big growth spurt over the last month because most of his friends just towered over him, but I noticed that he is gaining ground and doesn’t seem ions shorter anymore. Dr. G seemed to think everything else about my sweet boy was perfect!!

We then headed to my doctor for our monthly check-up and got see our sweet baby again!! I thought Drew would be a little more interested since this was his first time to go to my doctor, but he really had a hard time seeing- I thought maybe a nurse would help him stand on a chair and they would take just a little bit of time to point some things out to him but I was mistaken. Next time I go with Drew, Andy will go with us so he can help explain things to him- poor kid. Anyway, it was amazing to see how much my little bean had turned into a baby that is now about the size of my fist- check out our first sonogram pic and then look at the new one- it’s amazing how they change so much in a month’s time. You can even see the spine just as clear as can be!

The baby was still measuring right on track and Dr. K thinks that at my next appointment (Sept. 17^th) we should be able to find out if Drew is having a sister or a brother!!! If he can’t tell at that appointment we are having our big “half-way there” sonogram with a sonogram specialist on October 5^th and should find out for sure by then!

It was so cool to walk down the hall to my doctor’s appointment right after Drew’s and get another perfect report on baby! Talk about a blessing from the Lord to have TWO great reports on both of my babies!!

On the homefront, our house is now officially on the market. It’s a little earlier than I would like but our builders put it in our contract that we had to put it on the market now in order to qualify for that safety net program come closing time. We have had to learn to be creative with keeping house show ready and filling time while people are coming to look. I have been caught in a few situations- one being in the shower (luckily they waited in the car until we pulled out with wet hair and thrown on clothes!) We are averaging about one showing every day or at least every other day. We have even had an offer (from the people that caught me in the shower actually) but we weren’t willing to come down on price right now because we need the extra money to pay for temporary housing. If the offer had been in October we would have jumped on it! We know God has the perfect timing and the perfect buyer out there!

Our new house is progressing nicely:

End of July…

Our lot! Yes we own that dirt…errr weeds!

August 17^th…

Action!!! First time we saw anything happening- laying the ground work for all the plumbing

August 30^th…

We have a slab!

Since this was the first time we got to “walk” in our house we decided to have a little fun with it.

Welcome! Come on in (Drew is “knocking” at our door and I’m letting him in)

Drew found his room and he’s sleeping on his bed! (It will be fun to see if he still picks this as his room when there are actually walls!)

Daddy and Drew are sitting on the Big Brown chair in the Living Room!

I’m leaning up against my island in the kitchen!

One last pic of Momma and Drew in their new house…

We have a feeling a frame will be going up this week! I’m glad that everything is still on pace for December! Come on weather- hold strong!

I do just want to take the time to say that the Good Lord has blessed us in so many ways- more than we deserve! We just want to make sure the God gets ALL of the glory and we want to praise Him for his true blessings!

Boys Trip

Andy and Drew had their very first Father/Son excursion to go see the Rangers play the Red Sox a few weekends ago. I stayed back because I had a wedding to photograph (besides I don’t think that the girls were really even invited!) I think they had so much fun together that Andy wants to make this a summer tradition. Maybe at some point they’ll ask the momma to go too because it sounded like a blast! Drew and Andy are definitely two peas in a pod. Drew is 100% sports nut and can’t get enough. He has learned so much this summer about baseball that I’m almost scared he knows more than I do!

Andy and Drew drove down with some of our close friends Garrett and his son Colin early Saturday morning. They got in town just in time for lunch and naps. After everybody rested they all headed to the new Dallas Cowboy’s stadium. They were hoping to take a tour but it was a two hour wait so they just checked out the gift shop that is apparently the size of a small mini-mall!! Andy got some really cute video.

Afterwards, they headed to the stadium for the Rangers game and met up with our friends Kyle and his son Pearson who have moved to the metro-plex. Andy said that Drew was so enthralled by the game that he didn’t even want to leave his seat for snacks or restroom breaks. That child really does have a longer attention span than his mom when it comes to baseball!! Andy said one of the best parts by far was when the Rangers hit a homerun and the fireworks started going. He said Drew started yelling and screaming such an excited scream that it was a sound he has never heard come out of his body before or even since! The boys even managed to make it to the very end of the game which ended at 10:30- I was quite impressed that 3 three year olds were all able to last that long! But they brought home a big win with lots of memories and a new tradition in tow!!!

 

Pops’ 60th Birthday

I came to check my blog for the first time in a while and was appalled to see that it’s been over a month since I’ve updated. Sometimes blogging can be an overwhelming task that I’m not always up for- do other fellow bloggers feel that way? Oh well, anyway, in the last month so much has happened! I’ll try not to overwhelm my two readers with too much, but I do have a lot of updates. Today we’ll start with Pops’ 60^th birthday.

At the beginning of August we met Andy’s family in Fort Worth to celebrate Pops’ BIG 6-0 birthday! It’s hard to believe that he’s 60 when he is literally jumping flips off the concrete into the swimming pool. What he is still able to do is quite amazing. We were delighted that Matt, Theresa, Carter, and Claire were able to come too! On Saturday we started off the day with a trip to the Fort Worth zoo! It is always so cool to see all those animals. I must admit that it’s a little too big for my attention span and shouldn’t be tackled in a day! Needless to say, we barely even saw half before everyone was pooped!

Carter checking out the Gorilla!

Our own Penney version of the Monkeys!! Needless to say, the monkey’s are now officially Drew’s favorite animal!

After the zoo we all came back to the hotel for a nap and I’m pretty sure that 100% of us took a nap!! Then we got all cleaned up for an amazing dinner at Papadaux’s! This meal has actually been one that I have mourned over because it was SOOOOOO yummy, yet so big that I couldn’t even tackle half of it. I didn’t think six hours in a car ride home with seafood would be too wise either so no doggie bags for us. Such a sad day because the food was incredible!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Oh sweet Claire- you are sooooo cute!!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to swim off our huge super! It was a great time around the pool! And of course you can’t have a birthday celebration without some presents and cake!

To sum it all up- HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!!! WE LOVE YOU!!

OH BABY!!

That’s right you guessed it!!!  WOO HOO!!!  We are soooo excited to share that Drew is going to be a Big Brother!!!

We are super excited to be adding a new addition to our family around February 25th!!  I had my first doctor’s appointment this past Thursday and everything looked perfect with a very strong heartbeat and little legs and arms already forming!!  Even though this is the second time around it still absolutely amazes me of the miracle that the Lord has chosen to give us!!!

The question I’m always asked is, “How are you feeling?”  Well I’ve had good days and bad.  I was very nauseous with Drew but rarely got sick- this time around I’m actually getting sick but it’s nothing consistent and it’s not every day so I really can’t complain!!  Besides, everytime I get sick I always look at is as a blessing because that just means the baby is still there!!

We shared the news with our family when they were in town for Drew’s birthday party.  Andy had made this amazing video highlighting Drew’s third year and all the things he has done.  (I wish I could post it but it’s longer than 10 minutes and you-tube won’t take it).  Anyway, at the end of the video Andy ran some “credits” of the major events that happened throughout the year and the last one was “I found out I’m going to be a Big Brother!”  When everybody read it there was a massive gasp and all kinds of jumping and screaming- the GREATEST reaction I could have ever imagined!!!  We didn’t really share with Drew until we had the doctor’s appointment because we didn’t want to have to go back and explain if something happened.  He seems very excited and seemed to understand what it all means.  I guess he has seen both of his cousins get a new sibling so he had something to compare to.   Of course, he doesn’t think about it much because he hasn’t really seen my belly expanding yet so it’s still a little hard for him to grasp.   He’s going be an amazing big brother!!

In other news, we are adding a whole different addition to our family because we have decided to build a house!  We are moving out to Wolfforth so that Andy can be much closer to work and Drew can be in the Frenship school district.  We weren’t wanting to build but found a house we loved in the neighborhood we wanted.  We decided to make a phone call to the builder before we put an offer and found out it is thousands upon thousands cheaper to build- CRAZY!!  So here we are!!  We thought it would be a really good idea to make the hormonal, emotional, sick, preggo lady that’s indecisive in the first place make all these big decisions!!  HA HA!  Just kidding- it hasn’t been that bad at all.  However, I am claiming that if my colors don’t go well together when it’s all is said and done then I’m blaming it on that!!!  Our house is projected to be done by December so that should give us a few months to get settled before #2 comes!  Let’s hope they stay on track!!  We will have to put our house on the market in the next few weeks so we do have a fear of selling our house before the new one is ready and having to find temporary housing.  Poor Andy will have his work cut out for him.  Our builders do have a safety net program that if we don’t sell our house by the time we get to closing they will buy it from us!  We got the official numbers and were very pleased- we’ll do better if we sell it on our own but not by a huge margin, plus we won’t get stuck with two mortgage payments!  GOD IS GOOD!!

Here is a picture of our floor plan…

So like I have said in many of my posts these last few months have been CRAZY!!!!!  I wouldn’t trade it for the world!  Sorry for the novel on this post- I know most like to just look at pics and not read forever- but I had to share all the good news!!

Also, I have posted several posts today so don’t forget to keep scrolling down if you haven’t seen the rest yet!

Until next time…

4th of July!

We had an amazing 4^th of July! We love celebrating the 4^th here in Lubbock. Our 4^th has become quite the family tradition. My side of the family always comes into town because Lubbock does a great job throwing a big 4^th celebration. Last year we were in Ruidoso celebrating my mom’s 60^th birthday so we were really excited to be back in Lubbock this summer. We started off our day at the city parade down Broadway. We had great seats thanks to the McKinnon’s finding and saving us a spot underneath a big shade tree!!

Jaycee and Drew- if you haven’t been able to tell in the last several posts these two are joined at the hip and love each other more than anything!!

The kiddos waving their flags waiting for the parade to start.

JuJu with her three grandkids!

Aunt Shane getting in her lovin’

Of course Mommy needs hers too…

Aunt Shane getting all kinds of lovin!!

Look- it’s starting!!

I LOVE this picture- it captures the whole scene, the Flag, Drew clapping, Daddy next to him…AHHH!! It just screams Independence day to me!

After the parade we came home for a great cookout of burgers and hot dogs, naps, and then packed up a great picnic and headed down to the park for fireworks. Those pictures unfortunately are on my little camera, which has gone MIA for the time being. I’ll post those pics as soon as I find the camera! Drew LOVED the 4^th of July. This really was his first year to remember it since we didn’t really celebrate the 4^th last year. He was enthralled by the fireworks and asks to see them again nearly every day. I’m delighted that he loved it as much as I do because I think the 4^th is one of my very favorite days of the year!!!