24 Weeks!

Today I am 24 weeks pregnant! Hooray for viability :). Everything continues to go well with the pregnancy and I am feeling very blessed. This little one moves all the time and the boys and Philip have been able to feel lots of kicks and nudges in the past couple weeks. Feeling my baby wiggle, stretch and grow inside of me is one of my most favorite parts of being pregnant (along with not having to constantly try to hold in my gut!).

On Saturday I was able to take a sneak peak with our sonogram at work and baby was moving alot, in the breech position and sucking his thumb on and off. He is so cute and has a precious profile that I think favors his biggest brother a little. I tried to get a look of his boy parts again, but he continues to be very modest when I'm the one looking ;).

our littlest love, fist near his face

At my appointment with my midwife everything looked good with my health and baby. Levi and Joel came with me and they enjoyed "helping" listen to his heart beating with the doppler. I have officially reached my pre-pregnancy weight, and am hoping that I can continue to have very minimal (yet healthy for me & baby) weight gain with this pregnancy. To be at zero pounds gained at over half way through the pregnancy makes me optimistic that this baby won't be too giant (Levi was 8# 9oz and Joel was 9# 8oz).

Please continue to pray for my pregnancy, although my stress level is less these days, knowing my friends and family are praying for me and baby give me great comfort!

feeling big and blessed at 24 weeks!

Ranch Weekend with Pop & Moe!

This past weekend Philip, the boys and I, joined Pop and Moe for a fun weekend at the ranch! We had a great time relaxing, riding horses, swimming, fishing and playing outside. Thanks to some successful fishing we have a couple of meals worth of fish in our freezer to fry up sometime this summer! Yum! Pop & Moe's ranch is such a beautiful place, and we always have a wonderful time when we visit. I can't wait until they have a place of their own built out there and we can spend even more time there! Thanks for a great weekend getaway Pop and Moe! We had a blast!

nothing more fun than yelling into a fan :)

yee-haw little buckaroos!

one cute cowboy!

I love the way Levi is looking a Joel here...

and Joel at Levi here :) Sweet brothers!

the big men about the head out on a trail ride

Joel's BFF for the weekend!

Pop and Daddy threw Levi about 1,000 times in the pool...his idea of heaven

gotta have s'mores!

Joel and I caught this 2 pounder :)

Not a complete trip without some lap "driving." So serious :)

Levi and Pop's turn :)

20 weeks!

As of today I am 20 weeks pregnant with our fourth BOY! Yes, you read that right, we are expecting another little guy and he is half baked :) I'll admit, I was surprised to hear we were having another boy, so many people in my family were convinced we were having a girl, I started to really feel like baby was a she, and even had dreams about her birth. I may have shed a few tears and have been feeling a bit overwhelmed at the idea of having three mini Philips running around my house. However, now that I have had a couple of weeks for the idea to sink in, I am so excited for Levi and Joel to have another brother to grow up with. My two sisters are my very best friends, who I can talk to about anything, and I look forward to my boys growing close through the year and with God's help learning to love, support and encourage each other as Christian men. I was definitely a "tom boy" growing up, and I look forward to lots of camping trips, bug hunts and sporting events in the years to come. I will never be able to completely let go of my desire to have a daughter and share that special mother-daughter relationship, but only God knows what is in the future for our family. I pray that one day I will have a daughter in law or three and that I can have a close, loving relationship with those girls. I'm open to the idea of another little one, but I'm taking it one day at a time and waiting until this little one is here, and running around my house before deciding if another Boyer would push us over the edge.

I am still feeling pretty good, and although I am pretty fatigued by bedtime as well as having some uncomfortable sciatic pain most days, I'm healthy, baby is healthy and I know for certain that he is MUCH easier to care for while on the inside than he will be once he arrives :). I am huge, and people are always surprised to find out that I still have 4-5 months left until my due date, but that's nothing new. Especially with my large diastasis (separation of the abdominal muscles) I expected to show early and grow quickly.

20 weeks...photo by Levi

I had my detailed sonogram about a week and a half ago, and our little love was looking healthy, measured about a week ahead (just like his brothers) and was moving, stretching and making it easy on our sonographer. When she informed us that we had another boy on the way Philip just laughed and smiled. I told him he has a lot of hard work in his future teaching three boys to be good men as well as taking the lead on potty training again, navigating the whole puberty issue and teaching them to drive etc. Thankfully, he agreed completely. :) We have yet to get anywhere on giving this little man a name, and I have a feeling he will be nameless well into my third trimester. It sure is tough to come up with 4 boy names in a row, especially when you and your spouse don't really agree on favorite names.

sweet baby boy

Please continue to keep baby and I in your prayers, not only for a health pregnancy, baby and safe delivery, but also for me to be well prepared and to remember to lean on God when I feel like I can't handle one more ounce of testosterone in my house!

Sea World!

We recently took a short family vacation to San Antonio to take the boys to Sea World. Philip is ever the deal finder, and the trip ended up being very affordable thanks to some hotel deals, discount passes for us and free passes for the boys to the park. Levi and Joel are both animal lovers, so Sea World was a perfect fit for our little guys, and we had so much fun watching the shows, riding the rides and taking in the exhibits. We all have passes that last until the end of 2014, so we may make another trip once the weather cools down in the fall. In addition to visiting Sea World for two days, we also went to the river walk one night, ate on the river and took a river boat tour. The boys also had a blast swimming in the hotel pool! It was a great trip, and I'm so glad we were able to spend some quality time together before adding another little one to the family (and before I get to huge and uncomfortable). We got a lot of great pictures, and I know I will enjoy looking at them for years to come!

Levi refused to meet the Sesame Street Characters...

But Joel was THRILLED to meet Elmo :)

Watching the Shamu show, the boys favorite show of day #1

adorable baby and momma beluga whales

feeding the sea lions

the shark/coral life aquarium was also a huge hit...if the pictures didn't give that away

 

 Levi and Philip went to ride the "big boy" rides while Joel had a blast cooling off at the splash pad :)

"Azul" was everyone's favorite show. Joel loved the dolphins and Levi loved the "green guys" (trick divers)

 While Philip and Levi did a few more rides, Joel and I took one more ride on the carrosel...he was thrilled!

We let the boys each choose a souvenir toy, Joel chose a Shamu bubble gun and Levi chose a "diver pretend set" They have already had lot of action and have lead to lots of fun and laughter!

Neither Philip, nor I had been to Sea World in a very long time. It was so fun to take the boys and see the park through their eyes. They helped us to feel the magic and awe at God's amazing creatures and the joy in the thrills of rides, toys and seeing animal tricks. I'm sure it's a trip Philip and I will remember fondly for years to come!