A peek at our week

Woo hoo! 

2 whole weeks of bed rest down! 

Hopefully only a couple more to go.

I can't tell you how excited I am to get back to normal life. 

I'm definitely going to look at the little (not so little) things like walking, driving, being outside, playing on the ground with my kids, even cooking and cleaning with a whole new perspective once I'm up and about again.

*Feel free to remind me about the cooking and cleaning part if I forget :) 

But in the meantime I'm trying to make the best of being on bedrest.

One of my favorite perks is getting so many visitors. 

I think Aaron and I definitely feel more loved on now by the people around us than we ever have. 

So many people have totally stepped up to the plate and gone above and beyond to help us. 

We are so blessed! 

Anyways, here's a peek at our week through the camera lens of my phone. 

Enjoy!

This girl cracks us up

We have been blessed with so many yummy dinners. 

This bed rest thing is not helping with the pregnancy pounds. 

monkey see. monkey do.

The only person Wesley will willingly nap with. 

bedtime stories with Nonna and GranDaddy 

Mackenzie is such a little momma.
Sometimes Maddie just loves to cuddle with her. 

Aaron came across this old picture of me when I was little. 

I think it's the only picture I have that Maddie actually looks like me.

The other 99% of her is all Daddy. 

I had an at home Mommy daughter date with Mackenzie 

And my 3 favorite people decided to have a little Halloween prep. 

Oh, I love them!

Hope you guys had a great week!!

Yosemite Photo Recap

 Remember way back when (2 months ago) we went to Yosemite?

I just realized I never posted any of the pictures! 

Here's a little photo recap of our awesome trip.

Side note...yes we survived the hantavirus and I wish I could go to Yosemite at least once a month (darn you 6 hour car drive). 

Our trip was filled with lots of beautiful views, bike riding, hot chocolate, 

swimming, banana boat smores, deer and BEAR spottings, 

playing in the dirt, exploring, laughing, campfires, great times with friends and so much more. 

I love camping! 

Until next year Yosemite! 

P.S. Per your request I'm going to be doing a camping with kids post (hopefully it won't take me 2 more months to write it but don't hold your breath). 

One week down...and some new news!

We did it! 

We survived the first full week of bed rest 

(with LOTS of help from friends and family). 

And...I have some good news!! 

So I started bleeding again Wednesday night and had to go back to the doctor first thing Thursday for another ultrasound.

Well during the ultrasound they realized that I don't have placenta previa!!

(I'm not sure how they messed that up before but whatever) 

I actually have a really large subchorionic hemorrhage which is the same thing I had when I was pregnant with Madelyn (just worse this time). 

Basically a subchorionic hemorrhage is a huge pocket of blood in your uterus.

Here is a picture from the ultrasound...

Can you see the thick white line down the middle?

Well the part on the left hand side is where the baby is and everything else on the right is blood (yes like half of my uterus right now is filled with blood. kind of gross and freaky).

So the long and short of it is that I'm still on bedrest but finding out that it is a subchorionic hemorrhage instead of placenta previa is great news. 

Hopefully in a few months the hemorrhage will be gone and I'll be back to normal. 

Yay!

I go back to the doctor on November 5th so I'll keep you posted on my progress. 

In the meantime I've been doing lots of bed resting. 

Last Sunday at church one of our good friends was baptized.

I was SO bummed to have to be stuck at home

but thanks to technology I was able to kind of be there to see it. 

Yet another reason I love the iPhone.

Yay for face time!  

Although I haven't really been bored on bed rest (since I'm at home with the kids and whoever is helping us during the day) I was able to start a book on my to-read list. 

I've also got lots of couch snuggles with my boy. 

My favorite!

And thanks to a friend, I found my newest series to watch. 

so. funny.

On Tuesdays my mom has been taking care of me and the kids. 

This was my view from the couch.

I love them!

My aunt brought me a hand sewing project to keep me busy.

Can't wait to start!

We have a big comfy chair with an ottoman in our living room that I spend most of my day in. 

It allows me to be in the middle of the fun and craziness and to visit with our helpers and "play" with the kids.

I told Aaron that it's going to have a permanent indent in the bottom cushion by the time my bed rest is done. 

We have been SO blessed by our friends and family that have been helping us during this time!

Every day it seems like someone does something or brings something that totally amazes me and makes me so thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives. 

We have been blessed with yummy meals and treats,

people coming over to watch the kids or to stop by for a visit, 

and friends helping to clean my house! 

I'm feeling totally spoiled on bed rest. 

Thanks for everyone who has helped or prayed or texted or emailed or called to say hi or to check in.
We feel so loved and supported during this time! 

Bed rest

It's been a crazy month 

actually couple of months.

And by crazy I mean stressful, busy, emotional, hard, heavy...fill in the blank.

But in the midst of the stress and tough times God is here and God is good.

I go to a weekly bible study where we are currently studying the book of Job.

Oh how this book has been so good for my soul!

In God's sovereignty He knew that it would be just the book I needed to be digging deep into during this season of life. 

So Thursday's are Bible Study day. 

This past Thursday I woke up early to finish the last bit of my study. 

Part of it was looking at Job 38:39-39:30 where God describes in detail how He is the Great Provider. He takes care of the animals and creation, He sustains the universe, etc., etc. Our study also pointed us to Matthew 6:25-33 which is a great reminder that God loves us and has promised to take care of us (see below).

 ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Then later that morning before Aaron left for work we spotted this beautiful rainbow in our backyard and I posted it on Instragram saying this,

"So good to be reminded of God's promises."

Later in the morning I went to Bible Study. 

During our small group time we talked about how God uses all kinds of circumstances to work in the lives of his children. Many times he uses trials to refine our faith or character and to make us more like Him!  

We each had an opportunity to share some of the impurities he has already removed from us and which ones he was still working out.

I shared how these past couple of months have been really tough and how I have been feeling stressed and anxious about so many things. I know worrying is a sin but I had been thinking all week about the root of the sin that was causing me to worry in the first place and I think it boils down to pride (wanting to work things out on my own) and not trusting the Lord. I told them that when trials come, I don't want to have an attitude that says, "Why me?". Rather I want to think, "Why not me" because really I'm no one special. Why do I feel like I should be exempt from trials, tragedy or hard times and have a pity party for myself when things are tough? I want to have a posture that welcomes difficulties with a joyful heat knowing that God works all things out for His good and that He promises to make me more Christlike through them. 

Well...I got what I wished for!     

And not that I think I jinxed myself by saying those things (I don't) I just feel like in God's grace and love He spent the whole day gently preparing me for the next storm to hit our life. 

Because later that day as Aaron, and the kids, and I were out house hunting (did I mention that we are moving at the end of the month? Just locally) I started bleeding...a lot. a lot. a lot.

I called my OB in the car and they told us to go straight to the ER. 

Thankfully my mom was able to meet us at the hospital and take the kids home with her. 

(Side note...you know you have been to the ER too many times when 3 different nurses remember you).

   

The whole time we were thinking it was probably the same thing that happened to me when I was 16 weeks pregnant with Madelyn because they were the same exact symptoms and both happened when I was 16 weeks pregnant.

 Turns out it was something completely different.

After a loooong ultrasound, Aaron getting yelled at for breaking the rules (FYI don't take pictures during an ultrasound) and many hours at the ER, talking with my OB, etc. they determined that I have a complete placenta previa and that I have to be on bed rest for at least the next month until I have another ultrasound and doctors appointment to see if the placenta has moved. 

Yes bed rest. 

for at least a month. 

with 3 kids.  

Then on the way home, just because He is good and we are doubters sometimes

God gave us another reminder of His promises. 

That He is good, and in control of all things, and all powerful.

He knew that I would be bed rest from the beginning. 

This didn't catch him by surprise. 

He cares about the details of our life and He will work everything out. 

 We don't have to worry.

 All we have to do is trust Him

because He is trustworthy. 

Welk Weekend

Last weekend Aaron and my dad were away at the men's retreat with our church so my mom and I decided to go away on mini getaway of our own. 

The kids, my mom and I, drove down to Escondido (San Diego) where we stayed at a timeshare called Lawrence Welk that my parents have owned for years. 

Every summer growing up my family went to Lawrence Welk. 

I'm pretty sure there is a picture of my brother and I on these same steps back in the day. 

This place holds such special memories for me

so it was extra fun to be able to share it with my kids.

My mom did what any good grandma does...

spoiled the kids with lots of new goodies.

One night we played poolside Bingo and guess who won?

She was so excited! 

We also did a lot of swimming

(little Missy is crazzzy in the splash pad) 

and after many fearful tears I finally convinced Mackenzie to go down the water slide.

I don't think she did anything else the entire time. 

(Poor Wesley wasn't tall enough...next year Buddy!)

Cuddles with Gamma

 Me and my chickadees 

I had an awesome weekend with my Mama and the kids

but after 3 days we were all missing Aaron so we said goodbye to our "vacation home" and headed home sweet home. 

Hope you guys had a great weekend too!

Pinterest success

Finally a Pinterest success.

Actually I'd call it a super success.

Zuppa Toscana. 

So so so good. 

I want to eat it all the time. 

It's hearty, spicy (too spicy for the kids but Aaron and I loved it), filling and delicious. 

And it has bacon in it so you pretty much can't go wrong. 

Recipe here. 

Try it now. 

We hate ants

Mackenzie reading a book about animals in the other rooms yells to me in the kitchen,

"Mom! Come heeeerre."

I come.

Kenzie: "Look! I just found the thing we hate more than anything else in the whole wide world."

Yes ants. 

They are from the devil and are full of all kind of evil. 

I'm pretty sure I almost cried today over ants.
They are everywhere. 

The other night Mackenzie came into our room in the middle of night to report that her bed was full of ants.
She wasn't lying.

So gross. 

And annoying. 

Ok I'll stop complaining now. 

Happy Thursday everyone. 

Hope you have an ant free day! 

Soccer Hair Bows

Every girl needs a little hair bling. 

Especially when you're out on the soccer field. 

I think our hair bows must hypnotize the other team or something because our girls have been kicking major booty out on the field. 

Well that and they are just really good. 

 Anyways, want to make some pretty hair bows for your daughter or her sports team?

Then follow this tutorial :)

It was super easy and they turned out adorable. 

After I laid out all of the ribbon in the star shape I sewed down the middle (like she suggested) with the sewing machine. I figured since the girls were going to be running around and scoring a million goals it would be better to make sure they were extra secure. 

But instead of using the zip tie like she does in the tutorial I just scrunched up the sewn ribbon pile with my hand and hot glued it to the top of the pony holder. Then I tied a long piece of ribbon around the top of the ribbon pile and the pony holder to secure it and finished it off with a knot. 

(Tell me if this isn't making sense)

 I love how all the ribbon is at the top of the pony holder. I think it makes it way easier to put into the girls hair instead of the kind where the ribbon is just tied in knots all the way around. 

Yay for hair accessories and being a girl! 

Go bumblebees!!

Zoe Clothing Giveaway Winner!!

And the lucky winner is...

Alaine Elise

Congratulations! 

Bummed you didn't win the Zoe Clothing Giveaway?

Don't fret! 

Zoe Clothing Co. is having a giant 12 Weeks of Christmas sale! 

Every week they have a new online sale or promotion for the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas 

(did you know we are already less than 12 weeks away from Christmas...crazy!)

All you have to do is be on their mailing list or be a Zoe Clothing facebook fan for the promo code. 

This week the 12 Weeks of Christmas special is FREE SHIPPING on everything in the store!! 

Go. shop. now.