This & That

We have been busy going here and there, mainly getting ready for Jaiden's arrival. Although it is several months away, we have had lots to do - registering, looking for going home outfit, church outfits, etc., etc. All of you mom's out there know how much there is to do before you can bring a baby home. I am STILL waiting on Hannah's furniture. The place we ordered it from gave me a refund and basically told me they wouldn't be able to get the furniture from Ashley furniture. I am so aggravated but went to Barry's in Jasper and he ordered the same suite for $5 cheaper. It should be here next Thursday and I am READY!!!

The Noodler (Josh & Casey's boat) is finished and they took it out on the water Saturday. Hannah is dying to go fishing with them and they have promised to take her soon. We just have to get a life jacket and some time to go. Below are the pictures of Hannah helping Josh work on the boat. She is such a tomboy!




I am officially in my 3rd trimester! YEAH!!! I went to the doctor Friday for a check-up and my glucose screening. Hannah stayed with Kim & I got to go by myself. (Thanks again, Kim!) I hate the glucose screen. Thankfully I passed and do not have to go back for the 3 hour test. I never had to do that but I don't think I would make it. Jaiden is growing & growing (and so am I). Her heart rate was 166 (probably from all of the sugar I had to drink for the glucose test). My iron levels were up so they didn't have to increase my iron intake. I am very thankful for that because two iron pills a day is torture. So I am just taking my one iron pill a day, feeling for Jaiden's kicks (which she does ALL the time - very active like her sister), and counting down the weeks. I am still loving being pregnant but am getting ready for October (sorry to all you teachers that I am wishing your summer away). I am not ready for the pregnancy to be over, I just want to see her face! Here are some pictures from 27 weeks...



Hannah becomes more hilarious by the day! She told me the other night that I wasn't going to fit in the church building anymore! I must be huge in her eyes - LOL! She will be three years old in one month and I can't believe how big my sweet baby is getting. We are planning a Disney princess party and she is so excited. I wanted to have a McDonald's party. However she wants all of her friends to come to our house to play on her swingset & a pinata. So we are granting her wish. I just hope the weather is good so we aren't rained inside like last year!

I put up an ExpectNet poll. You can guess Jaiden's birthday & how much she will weigh. I think it will be fun to see how close you can get to guessing the stats! So if you have a little time and want to join the fun, enter a guess. BTW, no prize will be given to the guess that wins. You will just get the satisfaction of knowing you won & a mention in the baby book!

Some info that may sway your guess:

* I am due October 11th. Although when I went for my ultrasound they measured it as October 14th but didn't change the date because it was only 3 days.
* Hannah weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz. She was 21 inches long.
* Hannah was born 1 1/2 hours before her due date.

I can't think of anything else to tell you but if you want to ask a question (as long as it is not too personal) about the pregnancy, I will answer.

Another thing is that I need a new blog name. I know that "Hannah's Mommy" is a very boring name but I was not into thinking up something clever at the time I started my blog. Also I am not good at coming up with creative, catchy names. So I need your help. I do ask that our last name not be mentioned in the suggestions or title. I am sure anyone can find us if they wanted but I don't want to put it out there like that. I am up for anything else. So, Go, be creative and help my brain out!

It's Official...

Our baby has a name. Her name is Jaiden Ashley. There are several reasons for picking this name. First of all, I don't know one single person named Jaiden. The second reason is that it means "God has heard" & "Thankful." I love both of these meanings, especially after loosing our angel in November. I know God answered my prayer when He sent Hannah to us and we are thankful for her but after experiencing the miscarriage we are so much more aware of how thankful we are for this baby. I think I took my healthy pregnancy and Hannah's good health for granted a little bit. I think it is easy to do when you haven't really thought about (or had to think about) what it would feel like if that was taken away from you. God has been with us every step of the way and continues to bless us daily! We are beyond thankful for Hannah & Jaiden!!

I am not sure what Ashley means (I need to look it up) but this was my cousin's name. She died when we were little girls. She was the sweetest, kindest soul. I consider myself privileged to have know her during her short life!

Now that she has a name I am REALLY excited about getting to meet Jaiden face to face. I cannot wait for October!! I have so much to do before then and I know it will pass by fast. We ordered furniture for Hannah's room in May and it STILL has not come in. I am getting frustrated and hope it will be delivered within the next week or so. They are waiting on the mirror I ordered before they will deliver. I need to go through Hannah's stuff and see what Jaiden is going to need. I wish I could be sorting through the stuff, washing, folding, putting away, deciding what needs to be kept and what doesn't but I can't do that until I get the new furniture. All of Hannah's clothes are in Jaiden's dresser. Plus I can't finish buying wall decorations for Hannah's room because I am not sure how the furniture is going to fit. Hopefully they will deliver in a week or so. I am ready for it all to be done!

On another note, our 4th of July was wonderful. I couldn't sleep that well so I cooked breakfast for Josh & Hannah. Then they worked on the boat while I cleaned a little. We went to David & Susan's for lunch, swimming, & laying around. Then we went downtown for the fireworks. Josh & Hannah got ice cream from the ice cream truck that was parked in the park (that man made a fortune that day). We sat on the bridge and watched the firework show. Hannah was asleep before we left the parking lot. She was exhausted, we all were! What a great way to celebrate our nation! God has blessed America, I just hope we remember to thank Him and pray that He continues to bless our nation!!

I need to be better at updating my blog! Last week Josh was gone to camp all week. Hannah & I missed him terribly! I hate it when he isn't here and Hannah cried a lot for her daddy. She has become a daddy's girl and loves it when he comes home from work! Every morning when she wakes up she asks me "Where is daddy?" We visited him on Wednesday & Thursday night. We were both SO happy to see him. We are happy that he is home and we are back in a routine again.

One day last week, I went out to water my flowers and ended up spraying Hannah with the water hose. She played in the water & with her umbrella for as long as I was willing to spray her!







Friday afternoon I had a doctor's appointment. Everything is looking great. I had gained a little more weight than I wanted - 6 more pounds! Oops :0) The baby's heart rate was 153 & I am measuring right at 25 weeks. I am anemic and now have to take an iron pill a day. YUCK! I hate taking those things. It makes my stomach hurt and everything tastes like I have licked a penny. It isn't fun but necessary. I just hope that my iron levels are up next visit because I don't want to have to take two a day. I ended up having to with Hannah and that was no fun. Other than that, everything is going along as planned. I am getting more and more excited about seeing this little angel's face! Only 3 more months to go! We are still undecided about a name but Hannah now thinks we should name her "Holla." Luckily she will not be involved in the final decision. :0)

Saturday we decided we were going to go to a farm to pick strawberries. I had looked it up online and thought it would be fun. Hannah was so excited about going. We drove a good 45 minutes to the place and when we got there they were out of strawberries. Hannah cried the saddest, broken-hearted cry and made us both feel bad that we had to leave empty handed. So we took her to Chic-Fil-A to play which made her happy. Then we went to Wal-mart and bought her a sprinkler. She played in it all afternoon.

Sunday we spent the afternoon (after worship services, of course) around the house still trying to catch up from the lack of sleep the week before. Then we went back to church and went to eat at Subway with the usual Sunday night group.

Monday Hannah & I made our Publix run. I didn't do as good this time but still saved almost $40 in coupons. We spent the rest of the day cleaning house.

Tuesday Pam & Emily brought Xander over to play with Hannah. We were going to let them play in the sprinkler but Emily's friend called and told us to all come swimming at her house. So we took her up on the offer. We swam a good 3 hours. Hannah is a little fish and loved being with Xander all day. We came home, got ready, iced our cupcakes, & went to the devotional at church. Paul spoke and did a great job.

Wednesday we met Emily & Jared at the movie to see the free movie. It was the Tale of Desperaux (sp?). It was a terrible movie but Hannah made it through without getting too loud. It didn't really matter because it was full of kids anyway. Although one lady that sat by us didn't like Hannah being excited about the movie starting and shushed her. This was after she told Hannah to sit down even though the movie hadn't started and Hannah was trying to ask her if her child could have some of her candy. Oh well maybe she was having a bad day. Anyway it was only the second time Hannah had ever been in a theater and the first time was at the dollar movie so it wasn't that great. She was so excited! Here is a picture of her before the movie began...


After the movie we met Josh for lunch. Then Hannah & I hit a local consignment shop. I bought Hannah a few dresses and the baby several things. Hannah found some rain boots and fell in love with them. I bought them for her and now she walks around the house in her rain boots with her umbrella singing Barney songs. Mainly the one that goes "if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops." I need to video this and take some pictures because it is adorable!

Today we just lazed around the house and then went to David & Susan's house to swim. We stayed for dinner, which was delicious. I really need to put my child to bed before she tears our house apart. When she gets tired she gets wild and destructive. But before I end this very long post, I have to tell you a little funny. Today Hannah was laying her head on my belly and she looked up at me and said "Mommy, is our baby naked in there?" I told her yes because babies don't have clothes on while they are growing in their mommy's tummies. I told her we would have to wait until she gets here to put clothes on her. She wanted to take her out, put clothes on her, and put her back in. I told her we couldn't do that but we would put clothes on her in a couple of months. I have no idea what made her think about her being naked but it made for a good laugh!