Changes, changes

It seems time to share with all of you that have been holding us in your hearts and prayers the last few months that we are expecting another baby this fall, around Halloween.

As you can imagine, we have a lot of mixed emotions, joy, excitement, worry, sadness, and more. But also we have a lot of hope. I cannot explain it, but things feel different this time.

I will update the blog after my appointments, I promise.

I went in for 12 week scan today (Tuesday) and everything looks good. I have consulted with both the doctor (I am with the Maternal Fetal Medicine group at Memorial Hospital already and will be exclusively under their care for the duration of my pregnancy) and the genetic counselor, and while the risks are high, both are also optimistic. What has happened before (high Alpha-Feta Protein levels and growth restriction) are "unexplained" and there is always the chance that everything will be perfect this time.

My next ultrasound is not until June 17th so likely there will be not much to report until then.  I will have some more lab work done between now and then, but June will be the next big update.

In other news, I was "let go" a few weeks ago, my position was eliminated to make room for a full time HR person.  It was a disappointing and sudden end to a long relationship with the company, but I am trying to see the silver lining. Being a pregnant military wife who could possibly be on bed rest in a few months doesn't exactly make me very marketable, so for now I'm just going to take advantage of the extra time and less stress. Charles will be changing jobs this summer (around July) and we will be in CO at least until summer 2015.  He is also having LASIK surgery done this week so it's a busy time around here!

Thank you again for your support. We love and appreciate you so much!

Hugs,
Beth and Charles


P.S. Emmy is calling this baby Pickled Peaches.

10 years

Today is our 10th anniversary. What a wonderful day it was, and what a 10 year it's been! As Charles said, here's to 60 more!

Skiing!

We took a trip with Charles' Brigade for a ski trip the end of February/first of March to Crested Butte.  What a beautiful trip!! More photos of the area and our drive home are in the Picasa Album.

Ready for Ski School.

Charles is, too!

They'd had something like 212 inches of snow, with 8 fresh on top, plus it snowed another foot while we were there.

Riding the "magic carpet" to get back to the "top" of the slope.

Ski school with her instructor the first day

She had a blast. She still needs a LOT of practice, but she had fun.

Ready for day two!

Looking back up Mt. Crested Butte as we headed back towards town on our way home.

Downtown Crested Butte.

So.Much.Snow. You couldn't see the front of a lot of houses. They have to shovel snow off their roofs to keep them from collapsing.

February Photos

Here are a few highlights from February. More photos in the January-March album in Picasa.

Charles' Birthday cake...for his Super Bowl Birthday party, I attempted to use Bronco colors. And failed. But it tasted good!

Aunt Mer came to visit!

At the Garden of the Gods

Evening dance party

Ice Festival in Cripple Creek with Caroline and Wyatt, Tanner and Karen.  The kids were sampling snow cones here.

First funnel cake

Dancing to the music

Dance party continues

The view as we headed out of Cripple Creek.

A quick stop in the park.

Again lots more photos in the Picasa album linked at the top of the post!

The rest of January

Here are a few photos of January after we returned home.

Charles is quite popular with the kiddos. We went swimming at Karen and Tanner's hotel (while they were waiting to close on their house) and all three kids were up in Charles' arms being silly.

Gotta get this girl some swimming lessons.

Sledding at the church's ranch in Divide. Perfect day! Warm (50s/60s) and sunny but high enough elevation that there was lots of snow to enjoy.

Another warm day we rolled the windows down. I swear she was a dog in another life, she loves the wind.

Trip home December - January

We arrived in SC late on Christmas evening. It was a long day but we were glad to be "home".

First up, a whirlwind few days in Greenville with SuSu and Big Daddy and a revolving door of family and friends. Sadly I realize that currently I have no pics of the family while my sister and her fiance were there (Mer and Steve are getting married in November!!), or of our visit with Grandma and Claire or Joanna, Justin, or Jess and Nick and probably plenty of others.  Ugh, I need to get better! If I get a few, I will add those later.

Big Daddy's present: a light up dinosaur. If you don't know why we gave him this, then you can ask me later.

While Mer and Steve were there the first few nights, Emmy slept on her mattress in SuSu and Big Daddy's closet, which Rags deemed a great place to sleep as well.

We named him Thurston.

With "Aunt" Cathy and "Uncle" Fal.

 On Saturday Lucas, Lisa, Will and Henry came to visit. So much fun catching up! The kids had not seen each other in almost a year, other than on Skype and Face Time. Yowza.

Will and Emmy in their fort.

Uncle Charles was tickling Henry.

Uncle Lucas gave Emmy a paper dolls from around the world book. I'm not sure who had more fun dressing them up.

Lunch at Moe's (Henry's fave and we don't have them out here, quite a treat)

Love this boy.

Friends. They have a great time together, even when it's been months since they have seen each other.

Next up: New Year's XV. I have ended and begun the last 15 years with these folks. Amazing. Emmy spent a lovely few days back in Greenville while we caught up with Da Group.

We then hurried back to Greenville to eat New Year's dinner with my parents and Uncle Mike and repack to hit the road for more travels. I'm tired thinking about all of it again. 

First up: a night in Augusta! Just got a couple of shots of Aunt Mary Ann and Emmy and one of Josh. We had a lovely visit with several of our friends, thanks to Judith and Greg for hosting us at their home for soup and conversation. And Emmy went back to go to bed at Mary Ann and Joel's with Josh and to spend time with her favorite baby-sitter Miss Ashley.

Theirs is still a very special relationship.

Josh was unimpressed and not feeling very photogenic.

We hit the road the next morning for Rome to see DeeDee and Grandaddy and Aunt Beth, Uncle Griff, and most importantly, Caroline! We had not seen her in almost a year, she's a big one year old now!

Emmy had a GREAT time playing "helpful" big cousin.

At Berry to see the eagles. Emmy was unimpressed. Actually, she was tired.

Too much cuteness.

This one is going to have quite the attitude.

Add caption

Mama and daughter.

I just included this one because I caught Richards taking photos. :)

We headed out after church on Sunday and stopped through the Atlanta area to see Aunt Sarah.

And then to see Uncle Robert and Aunt Jenny in Decatur.  We remembered to use the timer and take a group photo! Not a bad shot!

Then, as previously posted, we headed to the beach to scatter Sara Hawley's ashes. You can read that post here. But here are a few more pictures from those few days. 

Modeling her new Christmas hat from Aunt Sarah.

Found her first shark tooth ALL BY HERSELF. She was so proud, and so was her Mama.

Look!

Then we headed back to Greenville to get ready to fly home, stopping in Durham for one night to stay with Aunt Mer and  Uncle Steve and visit the Durham crew. Sadly, again, I only took one photo, which is fuzzy photo of Emmy and "Uncle" Josh at supper. He is one of her favorite people in the whole world.

So there is our trip to SC, GA, and NC! I think we hit only three states this time. One of these days will sit on our fannies in one place and make everyone come to us, but it's so hard not to go see everyone!