16 Weeks and Growing!

My first post starting this blog was when I was 16 weeks pregnant with Levi...my how things have changed since then! I shared a belly pic then and also every 4 weeks after that, so I am planning on doing the same with this pregnancy. I had my 16 week OB visit today and everything was perfect. I am actually 16 weeks and 4 days along today. The most exciting thing is that they scheduled my routine sonogram for December 15th! So, I only have to wait 2 more weeks to find out if Levi will have a brother or sister :) I will be 18 weeks and 5 days then so they should really be able to tell. Other than that not much else is going on around here...just running after my very very busy but oh so happy little guy!

Here I am 16 weeks along (this is from Friday)

Very Thankful!

This year we have soooo much to be thankful for. I won't list them all, but here are the top few:

1. Philip's Mom being alive and here with us in TX

2. Another healthy baby on the way!

3. A wonderful and healthy little boy in our lives (we love you Levi!)

4. A strong marriage that is built on shared faith in God and trust in each other

5. The many blessings God has given us (Home, Jobs we love, Family and Friends)

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Abilene this year with Philip's family and spent 3 days and 2 nights at his sister Tamara's house. I must say I have one awesome sister-in-law that I love! It was a wonderful time full of relaxation, good food and special memories with our family! Having Carol there was really special and all the cousins playing so happily together was wonderful as well. On Saturday I had to work, but Philip and his parents headed out to the Oldham's ranch for some farm fun! Levi had a blast and I wish I could have gone. The Oldhams are old family friends of The Boyer family and they used to do Thanksgiving together every year. We got a bunch of cute pics, so the rest of this post will just be in pictures! Enjoy :)

Here I am with the lovely (and super-sister-in-law hostess)!

 The cousins (especially the girls) LOVED having "baby" Levi around to play with or watch eat...whatever!



 Grandma brought two cooking crafts to do with the kids and they really had fun!

 One of the things Philip and I were in charge of was the Turkey...Philip cooked it in the fryer and it was perfect and oh so yummy!

 

 

 The boys all enjoyed playing outside even though it was in the 20s and 30s the whole time :)

Levi enjoyed lots of attention!

 

Even though all the adults stuffed themselves at lunch the kids know when to stop, we weren't hungry, but they were!...so they enjoyed a corn dog dinner (Levi's first!)

 

 Aunt Tamara bought all the kids matching PJs to wear and they were so cute!

Here are a couple from the Oldham's ranch...Levi loved all the "cars" he could help drive and the cows and chickens! He sure does love to be outside!

 

 

 I hope you all had wonderful a Thanksgiving as well! God Bless :)

Carol is in Texas!

I am overdue for an update on what all is going on with Philip's Mom, Carol. She made the decision last week to pursue getting a bone marrow transplant here in Texas instead of staying with the doctors she was with in Miami (where she lives). She arrived here on Friday and had an appointment with a bone marrow transplant specialist on Monday afternoon. They did some lab work and other tests and she will have a follow up appointment with the doctor to discuss the results on this coming Monday afternoon. She may possibly need some chemo therapy while they look for a donor to keep her in a sort or "remission."

They have accepted her as a patient and have begun the search for a bone marrow donor. This process takes 4-6 weeks on average, but due to the fact that Carol is of 100% Russian heritage it may take a little longer and they are having to search the international registry as well as the US registry. Once they find the donor it will take another 4-6 weeks of testing on the donor and Carol before the actual transplant process can begin.

She has moved in with Philip's Dad and will spend her time there during the 2 month (minimum) wait for the transplant. She is still very weak and easily fatigued from her previous rounds of chemo and all the complications she suffered during those treatments. She has lost a lot of weight, almost all of her hair and still has limited use of her fingers. Her feet and backside ache as well as her hands and she is always tired. Please keep her in your prayers. Pray for increased strength and over all health (mental, spiritual and physical). Please pray for the family so that we may all support her to the best of our abilities. Finally pray for a donor to be found as quickly as possible and for all the medical staff dealing with her case.

Thanks as always. We are very glad to have her close by.

A Healthy Baby!

Well, some of you may remember for my 1st post about my current pregnancy that I mentioned that there were some small concerns about a possible fibroid in my uterus. I had an appointment yesterday with a perinatologist (high-risk pregnancy specialist) and got to have a very fancy sonogram. Thankfully (praise God) everything looks 100% perfect with baby and what appeared to be a fibroid in earlier sonograms turned out to be a harmless and common thing called a uterine stricture (sort of like a Charlie Horse in the muscle of the uterus). I have been a little crampy, but otherwise have had no symptoms of this stricture and am so glad to know that it is harmless. The Doctor took a very close look at all of baby's little parts and everything looks perfect! We are so happy and feel very blessed! Philip and I both really enjoyed looking at our little one wiggle and move with all 10 fingers, toes and a sweet beating little heart. He or She already has us in love. Levi was there too and briefly glanced at the big TV screen with the pictures, but didn't really care (of course).  It was still too early to tell if Levi will have a brother or sister...guess we will have to wait until the routine sonogram at 18-20 weeks, sometime in December.

Thanks so much to all who were praying and please continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy, baby, labor and birth. Here is a cute pic of our love snuggled on his/her tummy!

A Ducky Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year! Our church has a "Trunk or Treat" every year on the Sunday before Halloween and this year it was actually on Halloween since it was on a Sunday. We had a congregational hot dog dinner and then all headed out to the parking lot to hand out candy from our cars as the kiddos ran around "trunk or treating". Levi was a duck his year (thanks Nora for letting him borrow your costume from last year!) and he was very excited with lots of "kkkwackkks" and running like crazy every where! He sure was a cute little duck and we weren't the only ones that thought so :) The fluffy little tail on that costume is just too amazingly cute! I was so glad that he didn't seem to mind wearing it one bit because I thought he might complain about being too warm. I guess all the distraction of people and candy helped.

Here are some pictures for the festivities as well as a short video (listen close and you can hear him quack as he runs wild toward the candy). We also went to 3 of our closest neighbors that all wanted to see Levi the duck and did a little real trick or treating. He had a blast!

Levi entertaining some of his friends (Autry - orphan annie, Evie & Abbie - indians)

 And a little video of our happy, busy duck! Quack!

We sure had fun....can't believe we will have 2 trick or treaters next year!!! Hope everyone else enjoyed the beautiful weather and candy too!