May 16, 2009

We finally found Ashley’s sonogram pictures since we have cleaned the entire house, and we were able to compare them to Lacey’s sonogram pictures. They look so similar – so we just can’t wait to see what Lacey will look like, and if she will look like her big sister. Ashley can’t wait for Lacey to come, and of course she is okay with missing school to be at the big event.

May 14, 2009

Went to my weekly doctor appt and my protein counts are still up, so Dr. Patel scheduled us for an induction on Monday night, the 18th! Yikes, it is right around the corner now. I can’t wait to see Lacey but I am a little anxious about things not happening on it’s own. Lacey will be 39 weeks so they feel there is no risk to her development. We have the end in sight and we are very excited. We are delivering at Mease Countryside hospital. I will continue bed rest and hopefully Lacey will be here on the 19th! Stay tuned – next update will be to send everyone pictures of Lacey.

May 11, 2009

Ashley had orientation tonight for the Vet Academy program at Tarpon Springs High School. She is so excited that she will be able to get training and education for the field she wants to go into. She will be taking electives Vet 1 & 2, and AP Human Geography. This is a really great program that she got into and she will be able to graduate with a Vet Tech certification and have close to a Associate’s Degree! The staff and teachers there seem to be fantastic. She is going to be in the same program as many of her friends, so we are so glad that she is going to be able to really focus on her career goals while in high school. I can’t believe she is going to be in the ninth grade – she is growing up into such a wonderful young lady. We are very proud of her. I am glad to know that things are prepared for both of my girls now as we were really unsure of what high school she was going to attend and God just worked this entire opportunity out for us!

May 10, 2009

On Mother’s day, we went to the hospital for the additional screening and fetal monitoring. It was great to hear that the baby’s heartbeat was great and all of my test results came back normal! Yeah – they still decided to keep me on bedrest as a precautionary measure. The nurse and doctor said that they will most likely not wait till my due date – so this is pretty exciting realizing that Lacey could be here any day now.

May 9, 2009

Knowing that the baby could come any day now, and the house wasn’t quite ready – my friends from church (Andrew, Chandra, and Rita) came over to deck out Lacey’s room. They came up with some really cute decorating ideas and we even used the ribbons from my baby shower (see pictures). Andrew and Tim put all the toys, exersaucers, and highchairs together, while Chandra, Rita got busy with hot glue guns and decorating the nursery and washing and folding all the clothes. I tried to help as much as I could, but it was hard to not be able to do a lot of stuff while everyone else was working. I really appreciated all of their help! Also, my mother and father-in-law (Sheryl and Leon) came into town, they were taking the Murphy bed and cabinets out of the office for us so we could combine the guest bedroom/office. With the baby arrival coming quicker than anticipated, my mother-in-law stayed and she has been amazing. We just had new carpet installed in the girls bedrooms so the house was in total disarray. Sheryl went to town cleaning and organizing every room in the house and Tim finished painting the rest of the house, they have the whole house ready for our new addition! Thank you Sheryl and Tim! Tim finished his first semester in school and he got straight A’s, we are so proud of you! He starts up again the week of May 18th.

May 7, 2009

Went to the doctor today, had Dr. Marks again, he’s the funny one. He and Tim just hit it off talking about movies and football. This is the first of my weekly appointments. The Dr. expressed some concerns because I had a high protein account. He put me on bed rest (but he said I could still work from home) and then I had to do a 24 hour screening followed by a visit to the hospital on Mother’s Day. He was concerned that this was heading towards preeclampsia, which can be dangerous for both the baby and mother. So, the Dr. said if tests don’t go right this weekend, it is “time to get out of dodge” because the only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby and since we are at 37+ weeks, it is not a risk to Lacey.

Friends and Family Shower

April 18th :
It was a shower weekend for us! On the 18th, my sister and my good friends from church, Rita and Chandra threw me the most exquisite baby shower for my close family and friends. They had the church decorated to the nines, my sister made the most adorable diaper cakes, Rita and her husband provided an amazing spread of food including wraps, and my favorite- chocolate covered strawberries, my mom got the cakes, and Chandra hosted some crazy games and did my pregnancy photos! It was as beautiful as a wedding shower! I cannot express how much this shower blessed us, not only from the thoughtfulness that went into the shower, but the gifts that each person gave us really seemed to be so personable and highlighted many of their talents. We got blessed with a ton of more fashionable clothes and some other great gifts, like AJ’s letters that were made for Lacey and our personalized overnight bags for “team keiser” and “big sis”, a beautiful memory box, storage baskets, bedding, high chair, cleaning service, decorations for the baby room and more! We could barely load the car up with all the goodies and I had so much fun showing Tim the great gifts. Ashley was a big helper and she started the shower off with a gift from my mom – a 14 year old size “Big Sister” shirt! My junior high girls were also there, so that was a treat. My mother in law, Sheryl, were able to be there as well as my aunt Lynn and cousin Brittany who all live out of town. I definitely have to say that the games we played were quite atypical of a baby shower – no clothespin games here! We actually played cranium style baby shower games – where we got see some pretty interesting ways to spell Lacey! Overall, God has truly blessed us and has provided all of our needs in preparing for Lacey’s arrival. Many of you know how Tim is going back to school, so financially it hasn’t been the easiest to prepare for a new arrival – but we have truly seen God’s provision throughout this journey. Thanks and love to all of you for your encouragement, love and support during this exciting time!