Feeling Blessed!

Growing up in a family with four kids I have always wanted a "large" family. Through my experiences in life and work I have become aware of what a blessing it is to be able to have several healthy children. Many families struggle to become pregnant, carry to term and have healthy children. So, when Philip and I found out about three weeks ago that I am expecting Boyer baby #3 we were very humbled, excited and nervous. Tuesday I had my first appointment with my midwife. I must say, it is wonderful to be cared for by friends and co-workers while pregnant! It is such a reassuring feeling to have people who you know love you with you every step of the way. On top of that, I get a little special treatment, which is sometimes awkward, yet wonderful.

So, at my first appointment everyone in the office was so excited to see me and I got lots of hugs and congratulations.{I love my midwife, Tania, and all the other midwives in the group, as well as the office staff. If you are looking for women's health care and live in my area I highly recommend them!} I was also able to get a very early sonogram, and took home several pictures of our newest member of the family. Here is my favorite from the bunch. I love how you can see the beginnings of the amniotic sac (the little white ring around our little blobby looking baby) and the placenta (the small white circle to the right of the baby).

Every thing looked perfect and baby had a strong heart beat (you could even see the little chambers moving!), was measuring perfectly for my estimated due date, and you could even see the beginnings of those sweet little arms and legs. It was an overwhelmingly amazing experience to see yet another beautiful baby growing inside of me. What a miracle!

Although it was wonderful seeing and loving a third tiny baby inside my womb, this pregnancy has been so different and more difficult so far. I have been very tired (which is nothing new), but the nausea this time has been a new level from what it was with each boy. I'm not sure if it is because this is the first time I have ever been early pregnant in the lovely Texas summer heat, or if it is running after two very busy little boys, but the waves of nausea are much more frequent and longer lasting than before. Up until I hit week 6 I was feeling pretty good with only occasional fatigue or nausea. These last 2 weeks have been another story. I have some nausea in the morning, but my toughest part of the day has been in the afternoon and evening. Around 3 or 4 each day I feel very yucky, especially if I don't have a snack. I am struggling to eat dinner, and spending a lot of time sipping water on the couch once Philip gets home. Enough complaining...I know there are people who have much worse pregnancy related symptoms and who spend a lot of time in the bathroom, so I am glad that it is not all day nausea and that I am not throwing up. I also appreciate what a gift from God this baby is and how many people are praying for such a gift every day. It's just different (and I'm trying not to see pink due to this difference!)

All that aside, I am feeling so blessed and excited about baby number three joining our family! My official due date is February 8, 2014. It feels so far away, but I know it will be here faster than I can even imagine. I can't wait to check in on baby with the sonogram machine at work and find out whether Levi and Joel will have a baby brother or sister. I should be able to tell sometime in the next 10 weeks :). As always, being pregnant also comes with a lot of worry, so I am asking for your prayers for me, baby and our family as we enter into this time of transition and growth. Prayers for peace, faith, trust and health for baby and I. I'm so excited to share our wonderful news, thank you for bearing with my long post!

Summer Fun!

We have been very busy these first few weeks of summer! (Well...I should say summer break, because acutal summer doesn't start until June 21st...) This year we went ahead and purchased NRH2O season passes, and I am so glad we did! We have already been several times, and it is SO nice to be able to go for just a couple of hours instead of a long exhausting day. Levi and Joel have been loving it! Another huge plus is that several other families from church have passes, so almost every time we have gone Levi and Joel have had playmates, and I've had a mom to talk with! Levi is tall enough for a couple of the big slides, and he has been so excited to ride with the big kids.

Philip and Levi on "The Accelerator"

Joel loves this "beach" pool

We have also had a ton of play dates; we've been to the park, the Fort Worth Children's museum, friends houses to swim, preschool "camp" at church, splash pads etc...I have been enjoying all of this time out of the house (it is so nice to have two potty trained happy children!) that I have almost always forgotten my camera and have rarely taken out my phone to snap a quick picture. It makes me a little sad, but it's also been freeing!

small group swim party!

Play date at Jaeda's!!!

Joel prefers to wade and play on the steps

Levi loves his goggles and to jump in over and over

Levi's friends Autry (who shares her pool) swims deep!

I'm really looking forward to enjoying the rest of the summer! The boys are at such fun ages and are filled with joy when they try new things, explore and play outside. Summer is WAY more fun with little boy to entertain you :)

Boyer/Wallace Camp-out!

This weekend my sister, Kate, and her family joined our family for a camping trip to Lake Tawakoni State Park. We spent 2 nights enjoying our joining campsites and being surrounded by God's beautiful creation.
 

Boyer family

Wallace family

The kids had a blast catching frogs, looking for other critters, playing in the dirt and swimming in the lake. The big boys had fun fishing on Uncle Dustin's new boat, and playing with fire. The Momma's enjoyed a few moments of relaxing, and a chance to spend quality time with our families. All eight of us enjoyed sitting around the fire, listening to the frogs sing at night, and eating some delicious camp meals.

silly cousins...these two LOVE eachother

happy little fisherman

We brought enough s'mores fixins for both nights and the kids, oh heck, all of us were happy to chow down on one of the best parts of camping around the camp fire each evening. Levi and Nora are actually old enough to roast marshmallows fairly well on their own, and had a blast!

 

The best way to get away from the heat while camping is to enjoy the lake. Even though this park did not have a well maintained beach, we all enjoyed some time relaxing by the water. The kids didn't even seem to notice that the water was muddy and the shore line was very squishy and weedy. Nora and Levi could have lived in the water the whole visit. Asher LOVED playing the in the mud and splashing around on the edge. Joel mostly hung out on the shore occasionally dipping his feet in.

The first night the kids spotted a very small baby raccoon near the base of one of the trees in our camp site. It seemed to be sleeping and possibly injured. The next morning we noticed it had not moved and was still seeming ill. We told one of the rangers and they said they would come check it out. Meanwhile, Kate found another baby raccoon that looked like it could be a litter mate. When the ranger came to check on the first baby he asked if there were any others. Luckily the other little one was still near by and he was able to pick them both up to take them to a safe place and take care of them. He said they were so young they should still be living in a nest, and that we probably saved their lives. It was a very fun experience for the kids and adults alike. They sure were cute!

My parents were able to join us for dinner on Saturday night, which was a special treat. Nora and Levi put on a show for us that involved Levi singing while riding a bike and then a very well planned, rehearsed and  executed "fan dance" by Nora. Nora even made us all personalized fans. It was quite the show, we were so captivated we didn't get any pictures :)

On Sunday morning we woke up to a cooler and very overcast day. Both Kate and I noticed many people we in a hurry to pack up and head home, but neither of us thought of checking the weather. Well, while we were making our yummy breakfast of bacon and egg breakfast burritos it started to sprinkle. By the time we were trying to eat it was starting to pour down rain, so we scrambled to get everything packed up (luckily the guys already had a great start on this before the rain hit) and ended up eating standing under trees and using the one umbrella we had. It was an adventure to say the least, and I think Levi was the only one to really enjoy the experience. He was soaking wet and grinning ear to ear as we pulled out of the camp site. The other kids were whiny and none to pleased about getting rained on. I couldn't really blame them! Crazy weather, but led to family memories for sure! The photos don't do the rain justice...we were all soaked!

All and all it was a wonderful trip and I look forward to more Boyer/Wallace camping adventures in the future. Both of our families love to camp, and I think it will be such a fun way for us to spend time together and for the cousins to build strong relationships. This beautiful world and our families are, in my opinion, two of God's greatest gifts...so how could family camping trips be anything but a great idea :).

Hawken Dalane

Levi loves to sing and I catch him several times a day singing and humming to himself. Recently, Levi wrote his first song :). Well, he has actually been singing "Levi originals" and other songs since he was about 15 months old, but this is the first time he has come up with lyrics and repeatedly sung them to the same made up tune with similar words. He named his song "Hawken Dalane." It is about "a little small boy" who is usually talking about birds, and likes to say Halleluiah! He sang this song for the first time about 2 months ago, and has sung several similar versions daily ever since. He has even serenaded our entire small group with his song during our time of praise. He was so enthusiastic and adamant about the song that a lot of the people at small group that night actually joined him in singing :) It was a sweet and hilarious moment! Philip and I (along with his Bible class teachers and preschool teacher) have been trying to figure out what song he was singing and what tune he was following for a long time. We all eventually came to the conclusion that "Hawken Dalane" is a Levi original. I finally captured this song on video (it was actually longer, I had to edit it to be able to post it here). Enjoy!