And the countdown is on...

Only 2 more days until our big ultrasound. I am so excited, and I can hardly wait. I would be happy with either a boy or a girl, but I am very anxious to find out which one we are having. This is our last baby, regardless of it's sex. We are 21 weeks today, this is by far the longest I have had to wait on finding out the sex. We are still clueless on names, and Dustin has no longer agreed to our boy name. Oh well, he hasn't ruled it out just doesn't want to commit to it yet. I have several good friends who are about to deliver their 3rd or 4th babies in the next few weeks, and I would ask that you pray for them to have healthy and safe deliveries.

Happy Christmas Eve!!!

Yikes, that hurts...

I went to the Emergency Room back on November 2nd when I started having all of the pain. We told them we had new insurance and wasn't sure how that worked. We were told we had a $100 copay, so we paid it then and I was seen. They didn't really do anything for me, since I am pregnant. They did a urine test, which I had the day before at my Ob/Gyn office. Then they did an ultrasound on my kidneys, which they did a week later at my Ob/Gyn's office. Well this week we got a bill from the hospital for another $907!!! I called and apparently we don't have a $100 copay, who knows where they made that up from. We have to pay our deductible first ($1250 and then we pay 30%). If the lady had said I don't know let me call and found this out I would never had agreed to go to the hospital. Especially since they didn't do anything for me anyways. Blah! So now we are left trying to figure out how to pay this right before Christmas. They will let you set it up on a 3 month payment plan, but I don't have an extra $300 a month for 3 months. If you can't pay in that 3 months, then they will give you the privelage of using their in-house financing of 22%!!! Can I tell you how frustrating this is!!! UGH!

A few celebrities in the family...

This past Saturday we drove to my parents' house and went and watched them light the town tree and let the boys see Santa. Well the boys made the front page of the Lexington Leader today. If you scroll all the way down you'll see it, it is not the best picture, but hey they made the paper. lol

http://www.lexingtonleader.com/index.shtml

Another member of our family was also in the paper today:
We have had an unusual run with cats over the past year and a half. We had never owned a cat before, but when we moved to our house last year we have woods behind us. Brandt was sad about leaving his old house, so we got 2 wonderfully, amazing kittens for outside. I have never seen a better cat as either of these 2. They were brothers and raised by a family with small children. When we bathed them the 1st time they were so docile, my mother thought they had something wrong with them. Nope, just that sweet. Last fall, a stray cat came on our property and one of our kittens got into a fight with it. It wasn't a major one, but 2 days later and $500 later we lost him. His stomach had been punctured and it had filled with bacteria, and the vets were unable to help him. We were devestated, and the boys instisted our other cat would be very lonely without his brother, so we found another kitten at the animal shelter. We started keeping both cats inside over night and out to play during the day. After around 8 months, the kitten we got at the shelter decided she didn't like the litter box, no matter how clean it was, and would go on the floor right next to it. So she became a 100% outside cat, while Smokey still came inside 1/2 the time. This summer, we went to visit my parents for a weekend, and when we got home Smokey was gone. Cassie (our shelter cat) was still there, but we have not seen Smokey since then. He was a family member and extremely missed. Since then the boys have frequently talked about how much they miss the cats and how sad they are. Now we still have the outside cat, and she lets them pet her, but they can't hold her and cuddle like with Smokey or Rascal. Plus she is amazing at killing rodents and small snakes that she is our outside cat for good now. So for Christmas their grandparents bought them a new kitten from the animal shelter. Dustin and I went for several days without the boys looking to find just the right one. We found him on Monday afternoon, but because he was a stray he had a 72 hour wait period to allow the owners to come looking for him. His time was up yesterday and we went and signed all the papers. When we got there they told us the Eagle had taken pictures of him and he would be in the paper today. He is at the vet this morning getting fixed, and we get to bring him home tonight.

If you have today's Eagle he is on the front page of the Region section. Otherwise, here he is on the online version:
http://www.theeagle.com/local/A_cat_in_Santa_s_hat

Brandt wanted to name him Rudolph since he got him for Christmas, and Brayden wants to name him Sheepy Sheep. According to the article his name is Jingles. Hopefully, by tonight we'll have a name nailed down.

AND JINGLES IT IS!!!

Big Ultrasound Scheduled...

We were hoping to find out what we were having before Christmas, but our doctor had 2 meetings come up and is very busy the next few weeks. So Dec 26th at 3 pm we will have our big ultrasound. Instead of being 19 1/2 weeks when we find out like he had originally told us, we will be closer to 21 1/2 weeks. Oh well, all good things are worth the wait, right?!? At this point, I don't care if it is a boy or a girl, I just really want to know. We have pretty much decided on a boys name, but are undecided for a girl. So what are your favorite girl names? We haven't decided if it is a girl if she will have a "B" name as well, or if we will go with something completely different. Even if you mainly just lurk, I would love to hear your names.

Looking for a deal on Christmas Presents?

Every year I buy toys on clearance and then sell them on Ebay at Christmas time. With everything going on right now, I don't really have the time or energy to list them. It takes getting pictures, cropping, and sizing them. Then writing out the details, being pretty descriptive. Then finding a box that will fit, printing postage and then dropping it off at Fedex or USPS. Then hoping it arrives safely and quickly. Frankly I am exhausted just thinking about it. I thought about holding them until next year, but with the new baby coming we need to get these toys out of here desperately to make room. I have tons of boys and girls, all ages...not to mention small gifts and some big gifts.

All the toys are at least 50% off plus tax, the tax is just because I paid tax. If you buy a bunch, I can probably make a better deal. Feel free to pass this around, but I ask that you don't send strangers to my house, but if they are friends of yours they are welcome to come look as well.

Any questions, please let me know.

Happy Late 2nd Birthday Bryson!!!

With everything that has been going on, I never posted the montage I made for Bryson's 2nd birthday! He turned 2 on November 5th. It is so hard to believe he is already 2. In the last 2 weeks he has really started talking. He is getting over a double ear infection, and he was actually able to tell me "momma, my ear hurt me". I was thankful I didn't have to guess what was wrong, he was big enough to tell me. Shocked, but thankful!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Busy Week

Last Wednesday Dustin's grandfather passed away, and we started praying about how we could get back for the funeral, since we had just been up there less than 2 weeks before. God answered with a good friend giving us 2 buddy passes, which cost us round trip for both of us around $200. Then there was enough family there that we didn't need to rent a car, and we were able to stay with some friends of the family up there. So all in all it cost us around $300 to make the trip, God was in that for sure. It was really nice to get to see all of his family, we have a great time with them. We came back in the wee hours on Tuesday morning. Then Wednesday was Halloween and the boys were all superheroes (I'll post pics later). We drove an hour to see my parents' new house and took the boys trick or treating around there. It was a lot of fun. Brandt said this is the best night ever, well maybe after Christmas. lol He gets that from me, I LOVE Christmas! Then Thursday I went with Brandt's class and I took Brayden on a field trip to Dewberry Farms. It is really neat and about an hour and 15 minutes from their school. On the way there I started feeling bad, and by the time we left I was in excruciating pain. I drove about 20 minutes home and realized I couldn't drive any further. Thankfully, I had another parent with me, and she drove us the rest of the way. When we got back to Brandt's school Dustin was waiting to take me to the Dr. I hurt so bad I couldn't stand, sit, lay down, nothing. I was so miserable. My wonderful Dr fit me in, and gave me some vicodin, which is a wonderful drug. lol Because I am pregnant no one will do any scans on me to find out what is going on. They think it is either something to do with my kidneys or I have a herniated disc. So after a trip to the ER on Friday, there still is no diagnosis, but I am on bedrest, Vicodin, and a muscle relaxer. I have been feeling better, but today is pretty rough. It doesn't look like I am going to be able to work tomorrow again, and I hate using all my time up knowing I'll need it when the baby comes. I haven't been able to do anything, but Dustin has been great so far. Taking all the kids where they needed to go on Friday, making lunches, and dinner, doing the dishes, you name it. So if you would please pray for me, that this will heal on it's own since I still have 5 1/2 to 6 months before this baby gets here.