36 Weeks

This past Friday, we had the 36 week checkup and ultrasound for Little Bouncy. All looked great on the ultrasound.

Her fingers and ear

Her Hair

Her heart rate was 136. They estimated that if she were born that day she would weigh 5 lbs and 15 ounces. She is  estimated  to gain another half a pound per week so if that is the case, it is likely she will be a little bigger than either of her sisters. I had gained another 5 pounds in 2 weeks which brings me up to 30.5 pounds gained total with Little Bouncy.
Based on the ultrasound, she is exactly where she needs to be, so we were not able to get very many pictures this time. We did learn she has enough hair to be seen on the ultrasound and that she seems to like to hold her ear.
Praising God for a good checkup and chance to see Little Bouncy a bit. Thank you all for your prayers for baby and mom and our whole family! Now we just wait and see if she wants to wait to come until July 15th!

36 weeks

Carnival

 Last year we just happened to hear about the Raphine Carnival. The girls had such a good time last year that I was watching for when it would be this year. I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like so I didn't mention it to the girls ahead of time. So last Thursday after supper, we told them we had a surprise for them. They were so excited.
Last year, Rebekah was only tall enough to ride the carousel and one or two other rides and then she basically watched her sister. This year she was a little taller and able to ride more and very excited about it too! They were able to ride more this year with our coupons and their arm bands too.

 They did start out at the carousel again. Their dad rode with them this year. All I could do at this point is take pictures and of course, I took a lot. I really like this picture of the girls. They have their moments of learning to get along but they are really starting to play even more together and look out for each other too.

 They rode the motorcycles and the cars together

 One of Rachel's favorites last year was the swings. Bekah still was not tall enough to ride this year but Rachel wanted to ride. Doesn't Rachel look like she is having so much fun! I can't imagine. I can't even watch her while she is on them without starting to feel sick so her Daddy got her picture. Bekah and I headed to the inflatable. It was really nice this year, they actually had an inflatable that was huge in size but only for the smallest kids. Rachel was actually too tall to go in so this was Bekah's fun spot while Rachel rode the swings.

 I would have to say this was the favorite ride for this year. Yes, the Dragon Coaster... I am amazed at what my almost 3 year old enjoys when her big sister is along to help her. Rachel rode once and then nothing would do but that Bekah ride too. They rode 5 times! (all together during the evening, thankfully not all in a row)

 Nothing like a little sisterly encouragement to raise your hands while on the coaster...I don't know if you can tell...Rachel is actually holding Bekah's hand in her own and helping her raise her hand in this picture.

Of course, by the end, both sisters with both hands in the air!  Roller coasters have not ever been something I could ride even when I was small so I am so glad to see them able to enjoy them. They got their love of roller coasters 100% from their Daddy.
We enjoy the carnival so much this year. It is such a neat carnival here at Raphine and our girls had a great time with all they could ride this year.

Bekah's Boo Boo

Just wanted to give a quick update on Bekah and her cut above her eye. Last night, we got the girls tucked into bed. Bekah has recently started sleeping in the toddler bed in their room. Last night, after we prayed with them and turned out the lights, Bekah asked for a drink of water. I had already gone downstairs and her Daddy walked downstairs to get her a cup. As he was downstairs, Rachel began yelling that Bekah had bumped her eye. We both hurried back upstairs and sure enough, she had bumped her left eyebrow and split it open. She actually split her left eyebrow right in half. Apparently, her Daddy did the same thing on the corner of a picnic table when he was about four.
We checked her eye and it looked ok but when we looked at her eyebrow, we knew we were headed to get it checked then. So we headed to the ER. She took this pretty well. We got her checked in and her special bracelet (the admission bracelet).
Thankfully, when the doctor came in, after checking Bekah, he decided we could use the glue to seal her eyebrow instead of stitches. Bekah didn't have any idea what stitches are, Rachel was scared that Bekah would have to have stitches. So we all were very thankful that she did not have to have stitches but they could use the glue instead. This is just after the glue was put on. That was the only time she cried for about 2 minutes. She held very still and did everything they asked her to, though.

 She told me on the way in to the ER that she didn't know if she could be brave. Yes, Bekah, you were very brave and a big girl! We are very proud of you and glad you are doing ok.
We got home and to bed around 4 am so these pictures are from this morning. She is doing well. We just have to remind her occasionally not to touch her eyebrow but she is even doing well with that. The glue will dissolve in 7 to 10 days and hopefully, her eyebrow will not have too much of a scar.

 Thank you to each of you for checking on us and for your prayers for Bekah!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

I wanted to wish my Dad as well as Papa and Pop and our Granddads a Happy Father's Day. Thank you to each of you for your encouragement, wisdom and all the things you have taught Brent and I and the great Papa, Big Papa,Grandpa, Boom Boom Papa and Pop you each are to our girls as well. We love each of you!

The girls and I all wanted to wish their Daddy a very Happy Father's Day too.

 The girls are noticing more about holidays as they get older. Since Mother's Day, Rachel had been asking me several times a week when Father's Day would be. As she made her way downstairs this morning, I whispered in her ear to remind her that today was the day. She headed right to her table before church and began to color a special picture for her Daddy.

                            

                                         
 Here is Rachel with her Daddy and the special picture she drew him and Bekah with the special footprint craft and poem she made her Dad at Sunday School today.

Both girls also were helped at church to fill out a sheet telling all about their Daddy and the things they like to do with him. My favorites are how tall Rachel says her Daddy is (I thought it was so awesome that her Daddy seems that tall to her!) and what color Rebekah says her
 Daddy's hair is (Green??!!)
Little Bouncy also knows her Daddy's voice already. She kicks and wiggles when he talks to her.
I am so thankful for Brent and what a great Dad he is to our girls. I know he is learning a lot daily about having all girls, especially growing up in a family of all brothers! He does such a great job teaching and leading our girls to Jesus, playing and having fun with them and protecting and taking care of them. I am so thankful for how well he loves me as well!
Happy Father's Day, Brent. All of your girls love you very much and you are a blessing to each of us!!

Graduation 2014

 From our little graduates and their mom and dad, we want to wish several family and friends a very Happy Graduation! Our graduation season started early this year with a very special graduation. Aunt Brittany graduated from Dental School at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are very proud of her and very excited for her as she begins her career as a Dentist!!

 Also in May, we celebrated some college graduations with our church family as well! Congratulations, Tamara and Karyn on your graduations from Liberty!

 This past weekend was quite full of graduation activities. Friday night we attended the graduation ceremonies at Riverheads High School. Our neighbor and part of our church family, John, graduated. Also, our friend and church member, Kelsey, graduated from Riverheads too. Congratulations, John and Kelsey! We are proud of you!

 Saturday morning took us to VMI for graduation for Rockbridge County High School. This year we enjoyed watching Grayson and Victoria graduate. Congratulations to both of you! We are proud of you!

We also enjoyed celebrating with the Mason and Coleman families at graduation parties for their graduates as well.

I know we have had several other friends graduate preschool to head to kindergarten or finish elementary school to begin middle school or close out middle school to begin high school as well. From our family to all our family and friends who have had a graduation milestone this year, we say "CONGRATULATIONS!!"
May God bless you and give you His Grace as you begin the next step in your journey and we are proud of you!

Bouncy's Baby Shower

 This past Sunday after church, our church family blessed us with a baby shower for Little Bouncy. We enjoyed lunch first. We were told to not get too full if we were a Mom with a Daughter attending. At the end of lunch, we found out the first of the baby shower games. The daughters got to feed the moms a jar of baby food and see who could do this the fastest. Rachel got to do this game with me. Rebekah tried to talk her Daddy into playing too but he definitely didn't agree. Overall, Rachel did pretty well but we didn't win that game.

During the next game each person tried to guess the size of my waist as measured by a piece of yarn. It was quite hilarious! Rachel did actually win this game. She guessed to within about half an inch. Because of her height, she does usually hug me right at the waist so maybe that helped with her guess. Here she is with the flower she picked out for winning this game.

The girls loved to help open Little Bouncy's gifts. We received some beautiful bibs and blankets, several really cute summer outfits for our July baby, and lots of diapers, wipes and baby care items. We are so thankful and look forward to using all Bouncy's gifts in a few short weeks.

 Here is Rebekah showing one of her sister's new dresses and one of Bouncy's newborn outfits that looks like it will fit perfectly.

 Thank you to our church family for loving and welcoming Baby Bouncy already. Thank you for the beautiful shower to celebrate with us and for all you blessed us with. We appreciate you all and thank you for looking forward to Bouncy's arrival with us!

Summer Time

Though I know it is not officially summer yet, this past week for the girls and I has really made it feel like the warm weather is here to stay. They have enjoyed the sprinkler

 Planting new summer flowers in the their pots

 Watering their flowers too. This was her idea to water all the pots at one time!

 Evening walks with Dad after work

 

 The girls and I even made it to the pool this past week since they are finished with dance for the summer. They had the best time playing together in the kiddie pool. It is really fun to watch how well they can play together now as Bekah is getting older.
Though I am not being able to be out in the heat very long (I can tell I am 33 weeks for sure!), we  are still really enjoying the warm weather instead of so much cold, the longer days and the fun things summer brings!

Curls

 One of our new adventures for recital this year was figuring out how to get both girls' hair put up. Last year Rachel's hair was not long enough to put up all the way but this year she had a bow that had to go in her hair while it was up. As you know, Rachel has very very straight hair so we tried several different ways of putting her hair up. First, I tried the curling iron. She was very patient and did well but I knew there was no way we could take an hour with the curling iron right before recital.

 I happened to remember the sponge rollers I used as a little girl. My hair has gotten curlier as I have gotten older and my mom used to use these on my hair on Saturday nights before church on Sunday. So we decided to give them a try. Of course, Bekah's hair is a little curlier so I didn't roll hers at first. Guess who was not ok with that. If Rachel does it, Bekah wants to try it too. So I rolled Bekah's hair up too and she went to sleep on the rollers without any trouble.

And we have Curls! Rebekah's hair was slightly curlier but Rachel's curled so well. I was so surprised at how much her hair really did curl. They both looked beautiful and I can't believe my babies are old enough to curl their hair and put it up. They are both growing up so fast!