Baby Winston #3

Thank you so much for all your sweet comments, emails, text messages and phone messages of congratulations for our big news!  We are so thrilled and excited to be able to finally share the news with all of you.  We are currently due October 19-25 (there is some discrepancy about the exact due date right now because the baby is measuring big but we are hoping to get it all worked out at the next doctors appointment next week) and I am currently 14 weeks along!
Yes we were planning for this baby, and yes we were trying so we were thrilled to see this after just one month.....


I got a positive test a few days before Valentines Day and was ecstatic and of course Matt was out of town so I sent him a little surprise to let him in on the good news...


Pickles and Ice Cream!  I sent it through his room service with a little note that said "Third times the charm!  Congratulations Daddy!  Your Loving Wife"  Luckily he caught on to my news and called me just over the moon with excitement.


We had a doctors appointment at 6 1/2 weeks were we got a sono and heard the heartbeat (first HB was 122bpm) !  Such an amazing sound and we have been followed pretty closely through the first trimester because of our history of a molar pregnancy.  I felt pretty nauseated from 4-10 weeks and was even put on Zofran to help with the nausea. Zofran caused a few other problems for me so I really just had to deal with the nausea on my own.  Luckily I never actually got sick but all-day nausea is exhausting and not something I was used to from my other pregnancies.  But luckily it went away right at 10 weeks and I immediately felt so much more energy.

After another great sonogram at 11 1/2 weeks (heartbeat was 171 bpm this time) we decided we were in a safe enough to position to tell the two most important people - Avery and Gracyn!




There were pretty excited and have not stopped talking about it and they love the Big Sis necklaces that we surprised them with.   Obviously the hardest part is the fact that the baby is not going to be here for a while.  Gracyn keeps saying "Mommy, you baby coming out today?"


But overall the pregnancy has been good so far and last week at 12 weeks and 3 days we went in for the perinatal screening where they check for Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18 (heartrate was 163 this time) and everything came back 100% normal and baby seems to be developing normally on all the sonogram pictures that they took.  We feel so blessed to have this reassurance so early on and blessed for a healthy baby.  At that same doctor's appointment they also can detect the gender.......but I have a whole other post for that little bit of news.....i will work on posting as soon  as I can!
Thanks again for all your excitement for this new baby and if you would please keep us in your prayers for a healthy pregnancy we would be so grateful.

Another Blessing

"From the fullness of His grace we have received one blessing after another."

~ John 1:16

Random Updates that have nothing to do with my pictures

With all the hubbub over the past month I have obviously let the blog slide a little bit.  And Nicpics haven't been done in almost 4 weeks now!  Whoops!  I'll try harder!  But we have had A LOT going on!


First of all- we bought a house!!!  We are staying in the same city and the new house is actually within 5 miles of the house we have been living in so we are crossing our fingers for an easy move!  We have been renting for the past 2 years and are so excited about the house that we have found.  We close this Friday so it's not totally a done deal yet, so say your prayers for us and cross your fingers that it all goes off without a hitch.  Lot's of house updates coming once we actually get the keys to the new place!!


I registered Avery for kindergarten.  Sniff sniff!  How is it possible that our baby girl is going to be in kinder next year?  I am seriously so bummed.  She is sooooo ready for it and I have no doubt she will excel in school, but I really like hanging out with my girl and enjoy my random weekdays home with her, and I feel like kindergarten is the beginning of her being in school each and every day and also the beginning of an inevitably hectic schedule for us with homework, extracurriculars and just life in general!  It's just all gone so fast.  I am going to be a mess come August!


Gracyn is officially pull-up free!  She has been potty-trained since last August but has been still wearing pull-ups at night (not at nap) to sleep.  I randomly asked her one day last week if she thought she could hold her pee-pee in at nighttime and keep her pull-up dry.  Her response was "Sure!"  LOL.  And just like that she was dry at night.  After 4 nights of dry pull-ups we tried a night without them and she did it!  WAHOO!  Such a big girl!  And once again I am astounded at how easily she tolerates these big transitions like potty training, getting rid of paci, transitioning to a big girl bed, etc.  She makes it all seem so easy!


Poor Macy got her first cut of the summer, courtesy of me :-)  Thanks to Aunt Katie who gifted me her extra pair of dog clippers I am now Macy's officially dog groomer.  She looks pretty happy about it right?  She has so, so, SO much hair that it looks a little scraggly right now but after it grows out for a few weeks I'll go at it again and even it all up.  Lucky dog.


Matt is knee-deep in all the draft stuff since the draft is at the end of this month.  April is always the worst, most busy month for us but its followed by him off for the entire month of May, so hopefully May will be here before we know it!


And I've been busy working 2-3 days a week, and juggling the part-time working mom, full-time mom, and most-of-the time (in April) single mom stuff.  Its such a juggling act this time of year but we have been having a blast.  I feel like I always say this but the girls are at such cool ages.  They are just my little sidekicks and we go everywhere and do everything together.  Tonight Avery got to stay up late, and watch a movie with Mommy and have a sleep-over in Mommy's bed, and I'm not sure who had more fun- her or me :-)


Like I said we have been incredibly busy with Avery's birthday, Gracyn's boo-boos, Allison's wedding, the new house, and all the rest that life has blessed us with over the past few months but hopefully we are all caught up now and can keep up-to-date as much as possible as we can this time of year with all the of end-of the school year stuff spiraling down on us soon!  Life is good!

She's Married!!!!

My baby sister is officially a married lady!  It was an amazing, whirlwind of a weekend and everything went unbelievably smoothly.  It all turned out so wonderful and she was the most beautiful bride.  The only downside of the whole weekend was I FORGOT TO BRING A CAMERA!  Seriously!  I was so mad at myself so I am stuck with these so-so Iphone pictures :-(  At least we have the memories.....and the professional pics whenever they come in :-)

It all started at the rehearsal on Friday.  Allison's wedding was at this gorgeous outdoor gazebo on this amazing piece of land in McKinney.  We got so lucky with the weather too- 70 degrees and sunny!

A few months ago Allison took my mom's old wedding dress (I WISH I could find a before picture) and had the sleeves cut off and re-made a little bit and surprised my mom by wearing it at the rehearsal dinner!  Besides the fact that my mom was so surprised and so honored, Allison looked amazing!


Nothing like a bride at a bar ;-)

Her rehearsal dinner was at this really neat antique store/lunch eatery in downtown McKinney called Gather.  They serve lunch but only rent out for events for the evening.  It was such a cool ambiance and atmosphere, once again I really wish I had more pictures!  Jessica and I gave speeches which caused a lot of anxiety but turned out pretty well.


No idea why this picture looks distorted?  Either way Happy day before your wedding!


Me, Jessica, Allison and my mom all stayed together in one room on Friday night and celebrated Allison's last night as a single lady (picture all of us girls dancing around in our PJs, eating lots and lots of snack mix and M&Ms, and drinking delicious wine while staying up way too late).  It was such a fun night and I was so glad to get to be with my sisters and my mom on such a special night (and a HUGE thanks to Julie, aka Grandma, who was at home with my kids!  I could not have done this weekend with out you Julie!!!)

Then we woke up bright ad early for Allison's wedding day!!!! Ah!!!!!!


All the beauitfy-ing started at 8:30.  Takes a lot to turn 9 bridesmaids and 1 bride into the gorgeous sight that we became ;-)


It was so fun to hang around the hotel all day, just playing with the kids, visiting with family, and laughing with all our friends.  Such a perfect beginning to a perfect day.


Think of this as the before picture.  Jessica said she looked like George Washington.  Allison gave all her bridesmaids a shirt that either had a heart, LOVE, or some love-associated saying on it that we wore to get ready.  She picked out a specific, different shirt for every girl.  I thought it was such a cute, individualized gift, that we will actually get to wear again!


Then it was time for the flowergirl gifts!  Allison got duplicate flowergirl dresses made for their American Girls.  It was so cute and the girls loved it!  I can't tell you how many times I have had to take that dress on and off Avery's AG Ava over the past week!





Then it was time to head to the wedding site!  All dressed up and ready to go.....doesn't my baby sister look amazing!  I had a hard time holding it together when I saw her.  Obviously as the oldest I am fiercely protective over my sisters, and I am just so proud of Allison and the woman that she has become, and the beautiful life she has built for herself.  Seeing it all come together on her wedding day was just amazing and beautiful to watch.


I've said it once and I'll say it again, I do not know what I would do without my sisters.  They are my whole life and my best friends.  I am so incredibly blessed.


And I guess the flowergirl was pretty cute too :-)  Their dresses turned out beautifully and both Avery and Emersyn did a great job as the flowergirls!














Since I was standing right next to Allison as she married the man of her dreams, I obviously don't have any pictures of the ceremony, but it was perfect.  I stole this one picture from someone off facebook lol




Then we all headed inside to party!!!!












It was such an incredible night and watching Allison marry her best friend was so much fun.  We had  blast with all  the family and friends who came into town for the weekend.  Can we do it all again next month?

Happy wedding Allison and Matt!  We are so unbelievably happy for you both and wish you a lifetime of happiness!

Official Easter pic 2013

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Class Picture Day

Dressing these two up for pictures is almost as much fun as watching them pose for pictures. Say cheese!









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Easter 2013

We had a really nice, although rainy, Easter this year.  Luckily the Easter bunny checked the weather ahead of time and hid all the eggs indoors.  The girls had a blast!

Princess on Ice

Four tickets to Disney Rockin' Princesses on Ice - $70

Two new (untorn) princess dresses - $40

Watching the excitement on my girls faces that only princesses on ice skates can bring out - Priceless :-)


































Special thanks to Aunt Alli (who is getting married THIS weekend!!) for buying Avery such a special birthday present and letting Gracyn and I tag along too. We had such a unbelievable fun night! Love you!